Not a pretty tale, for it finds that subsidization of “green jobs” in alternative energy is simply a failure.

Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world” (The Guardian 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.

–SPQR

A critically ill Hamilton preemie turned away from McMaster Children’s Hospital is all alone in a Buffalo intensive care unit because her parents don’t have passports to get across the border.

Uh, no. The premature infant is all alone because Canada does not have enough neonatal intensive care units. Period.

The infant is in Buffalo, because a decaying ex-industrial town in the United States has more health care resources than an entire Canadian province.

Enjoy the contrast in these two lines of the news story:

A second area mom has also been separated from her children since being turned away from McMaster’s NICU, which is closed to new admissions about 50 per cent of the time….

Dr. Peter Fitzgerald, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital, said he’s in discussions with the Ministry of Health about getting more beds for the NICU, which is already the largest and most modern in Ontario.

–SPQR

Three of the five researchers disagree with the UN’s IPCC view that recent warming is primarily the consequence of man-made industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. Remarkably, the subtle and nuanced language typical in such reports has been set aside.

One of the five contributors compares computer climate modelling to ancient astrology. Others castigate the paucity of the US ground temperature data set used to support the hypothesis, and declare that the unambiguous warming trend from the mid-part of the 20th Century has ceased.

Hat tip to JustOneMinute blog.

–SPQR

The word “agnotology” doesn’t show up at dictionary.com but it can be found at wikipedia where it says:

Agnotology, formerly agnatology, is a neologism for the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data. The term was coined by Robert N. Proctor,[1][2] a Stanford University professor specializing in the history of science and technology.[3] Its name derives from the Greek word ἀγνῶσις, agnōsis, “not knowing”; and -λογία, -logia.[4] More generally, the term also highlights the increasingly common condition where more knowledge of a subject leaves one more uncertain than before.

Dr. Proctor was quoted using the term to describe his research “only half jokingly,” as “agnatology” in a 2001 interview about his lapidary work with the colorful rock agate. He connected the two seemingly unrelated topics by noting the lack of geologic knowledge and study of agate since its first known description by Theophrastus in 300 BC, relative to the extensive research on other rocks and minerals such as diamonds, asbestos, granite, and coal, all of which have much higher commercial value. He said agate was a “victim of scientific disinterest,” the same “structured apathy” he called “the social construction of ignorance.”

Robert Proctor is a professor of the History of Science. I first came across him and his word in an interview in Discover magazine where he applied the term to the tobacco industry and climate change.

Stanford now has workshops on agnatology Agnotology: The Cultural Production of Ignorance where you could hear presentation like:

David Magnus, Director, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University

“Agnotology as a Strategy in the Debate over Genetically Engineered Organisms: The Precautionary Principle versus Risk Assessment”

Naomi Oreskes, Associate Professor, Department of History and Program in Science Studies at the UC, San Diego

“Deny, Deny, Deny: How to Sow Confusion over Climate Change”

Hmmmm.

Am I an agnotologist or is the person diagnosing my denial the agnotologist?

What is it with these “history of science” people?

I can find “history” at dictionary.com. It says history is “the branch of knowledge dealing with past events”.

What is the past?

From dictionary.com again, “of, having existed in, or having occurred during a time previous to the present”.

How can a “history of science” person pass judgement on something that is currently being debated?

There is currently no physical evidence linking CO2 emissions to warmer global temperatures. There is no physical evidence linking warmer temperatures to degraded conditions. These are hypotheses that are being promoted by certain individuals and organizations and hotly debated in various forums. Computer modelling is used to promote the acceptance of these hypotheses as facts.

It is my experience that those promoting these hypotheses tend to be ignorant sometimes willfully ignorant of the physical processes they think are taking place and general rely of some authority to make their argument for them.

It is also my experience that the more an individual learns about the physical processes, the more skeptical they become of the arguments put forward by those promoting these hypothesis.

If agnotology is a culturally-induced ignorance then perhaps they are applying the word incorrectly in this debate.

Further discussion in the Global Warming topic of the Discussion Forum.  Link at right.

Yikes - don’t be eating Turkeyday dinner:

I’m (as I said in the forum), just quoting through ‘C’ toxicants and toxins:

NATURALLY OCCURRING MUTAGENS and CARCINOGENS FOUND in FOODS and BEVERAGES

Acetaldehyde (apples, bread, coffee, tomatoes)—mutagen and potent rodent carcinogen

Acrylamide (bread, rolls)—rodent and human neurotoxin; rodent carcinogen

Aflatoxin (nuts)—mutagen and potent rodent carcinogen; also a human carcinogen

Allyl isothiocyanate (arugula, broccoli, mustard)—mutagen and rodent carcinogen

Aniline (carrots)—rodent carcinogen

Benzaldehyde (apples, coffee, tomatoes)—rodent carcinogen

Benzene (butter, coffee, roast beef)—rodent carcinogen

Benzo(a)pyrene (bread, coffee, pumpkin pie, rolls, tea)—mutagen and rodent carcinogen

Benzofuran (coffee)—rodent carcinogen

Benzyl acetate (jasmine tea)—rodent carcinogen

Caffeic acid (apples, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, cof-fee, grapes, lettuce, mangos, pears, potatoes)—rodent carcinogen

Catechol (coffee)—rodent carcinogen

Coumarin (cinnamon in pies)—rodent carcinogen

Come comment in the forum at here