From this site:
http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-Michael_Mann_Money_011410.html
we have the story that Michael Mann got some Stimulus Package money, about 1/2 Million. Guess it’s OK to be a key player in ClimateGate, to be under invesitgation, and to have a variety of questions raised about your academic work being “dodgy”; just as long as you are a Friend of The White House or have Friends in Congress …
Quoting:
Economic Stimulus Funds Went to Climategate Scientist
Funds Should be Returned to U.S. Treasury, Says National Center for Public Policy Research
Washington, DC – In the face of rising unemployment and record-breaking deficits, policy experts at the National Center for Public Policy Research are criticizing the Obama Administration for awarding a half million dollar grant from the economic stimulus package to Penn State Professor Michael Mann, a key figure in the Climategate controversy.
“It’s outrageous that economic stimulus money is being used to support research conducted by Michael Mann at the very time he’s under investigation by Penn State and is one of the key figures in the international Climategate scandal. Penn State should immediately return these funds to the U.S. Treasury,” said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.
Professor Mann is currently under investigation by Penn State University because of activities related to a closed circle of climate scientists who appear to have been engaged in agenda-driven science. Emails and documents mysteriously released from the previously-prestigious Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom revealed discussions of manipulation and destruction of research data, as well as efforts to interfere with the peer review process to stifle opposing views. The motivation underlying these efforts appears to be a coordinated strategy to support the belief that mankind’s activities are causing global warming.
“It’s no wonder that Obama’s stimulus plan is failing to produce jobs. ”
h/t Stuart Varney at Fox Business News who just ran a story on it.
So we have stimulus plan money going to places like ACORN and Michael Mann. Looks more like a political friends stimulus plan to me.
Musings from the Chiefio 
What are the chances that the Feds are paying more than once for the same ‘product’ or ‘services’ ?
I know that some have been hung out to dry over this kind of impropriety.
Thanks for the posts.
RR
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Chief, you gotta read the latest FOI discovery regarding Hansen and GISS. The emails may shed some light on your project.
REPLY: [ Will do. -E.M.Smith ]
To what do you refer, Sir?
something since the 61MB CRU dump, or within it?
TIA
RR
ruhroh, I was referring to the new FOI discovery (NASA/GISS/Hansen) that was posted at wattsupwiththat today.
It is a set of emails that discusses the 1934/1998 hottest year in the U.S. dispute.
Take some blood pressure meds or have a stiff drink before you read them.
Or, maybe this stuff?
http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2010/jan/judicial-watch-uncovers-nasa-documents-related-global-warming-controversy
Thanks,
RR
Definitely that stuff.
I’m pondering the idea of porting clear climate’s ccc-gistemp implementation to my favorite language.
confirmation of some of your posts here:
Click to access NOAAroleinclimategate.pdf
or maybe they are reading your blog :)
oops, I knew that stuff looked too familiar, saw it at WUWT and didn’t see your name mentioned on first read
good job!
http://www.kusi.com/
going to watch this now
E.M., I just watched segment 4 on the KUSI website. Excellent, simply excellent. Your part was very clear and well-said.
REPLY: [ Thanks! It’s nice to have that feedback. I havn’t seen it yet! I’ve been too busy moderating and keeping up on activity ;-) -E.M.Smith]
E.M: I watched Coleman’s interview with you too. Congratulations, that was very well done! You managed to explain the problem in a clear and easy to understand way.
just seen your TV debut E.M, very impressive :-)
hope you now get a chance to reach a wider audience with your (& others) findings.
thanks for all your hard [ work on? ]graft & best of luck in the future.
Excellent work – moves things along a bit faster.
CRU investigation was going to take 3 years here in UK!!
Hansen has already denied anything amiss.
What’s next !!?? – see you in court ??
=============================
Looks like Roger Revelle may have a lot to answer for;
sounding off about Global Warming without figures to back it up, that just wouldn’t happen today would it Mr Mann ;-)
Hey, after reviewing your video, I’m now skeptical regarding your claims of spergianity. If they are true, you are more functional than many purportedly neurotypal folks I encounter.
OK, your deep analytical abilities and zeal still argue in favor of ‘the gift’, but the clip gave no clues of it.
I can think more clearly than many, but conveyance remains elusive.
From my perspective, your good deeds are right up there with that old guy who mitigated the accumulated fertilizer in the Augean stables.
Inspirational… Maybe now I got these new ‘progressive’ goggles, I can git back to trying to make some pix that work over the www. Still a bit of double images when I look down, but at least I can read signs again.
TL aka RR aka AC
REPLY: [ I am both “borderline” and “very high functional”. I’ve also spent a few decade learning how to focus and channel it… We won’t talk about the failures… (awkward social moment, thinking about the number of times I’ve gone back 3 topic changes in a conversation because there was something that was just not fully DONE yet; everyone looking at me with that “but we’re now taking about the New thing” look… Number of nights driven for hours to work on some pointless detail that ought to be ignored but just CAN’T be ignored because that would leave a tiny hole in the pattern of understanding… )
So yeah, after being run through “giving presentations” class a few times and “how to talk to the media for board members” and … I can actually do an iterview and not screw it up… And did I mention my cat is sick? Oh look, the neighbor is home! My citrus is normally ripe and sweet right now, instead it is sour, must be fewer degree days than normal. Would you like to hear how to make a “rod” unit of measure with 2 sticks, a rock, and the night sky?… Yeah, that is “inside”. Outside has a filter on it… Sometimes I let one half of the brain “free run” while the other side handles ‘outside’ stuff. It can be amusing in here… -E.M.Smith ]
TurkeyLurkey
What exactly are you on ?
..where can I get some ?
jazznick,
I believe TurkeyLurkey is referring to Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and the fact that in E. M. Smith’s interview he does not exhibit many of the traits associated with AS.
I’m not aware that one can ‘get some’ unless it was doled out at birth.
REPLY: [ Yes. Spot on. You can see some of it in my “very long exacting” comments on WUWT. “Prolix” and socially unaware of being too prolix are signature traits. Also note, Aspergers is a ‘spectrum disorder’. That implies that there is a ‘normal’ who is just outside the edge of ‘clinical’. That is what I mean by “borderline”. I’m on that edge, and I *think* I’m on the “normal” side… most of the time… maybe… Then I’ll look at a block of 1000 lines of thermometer data and see the pattern and put up a posting with the data and folks say they want a graph and I think “but you can see it here in the block of numbers”… another Aspe trait. Also, I’ve gone to great lengths to learn how to “visibly emote” enough and appropriately. I learned to act. But I can’t do “suck up” worth a damn. I’ve been at social events with VP and up level folks at a large corporation and my boss, at the event, would walk up to them and do the schmooz suck up ego stroke thing and I could be “polite and socially acceptable” but to me the “suck up” was just such blatant manipulation that I could not imagine trying to do it and pulling it off. Couldn’t everyone see it? And the answer was no, they could not, or did but did not care.
So like it or not I’m most functional and work best with flat out honesty and direct clear, though polite, presentation. I’ve learned to do the political thing enough to be a ranking manager in public companies, but for me it is a learned art where for many others it is ‘natural’. That means I mosly use that skill to avoid screwing up; while others use it for personal advancement.
Oh, and here we have a prime example of Aspe prolix. Notice how long my “short reply” is compared to the actual comment. And I have much more I *want* to put in “to be complete”… but I will stop because my “you’ve gone to far” alert is telling me to do so. That “learned behavior” thing.
So yes, I cope very well with the “downsides”, and find ways to exploit the “upsides”… and I’m close enough to “normal” on one side or the other that it doesn’t take too much effort to push the behaviours in either direction as desired… for a while. -E.M.Smith]
… Hmmm… stimulus package…
I wonder what Mann is ‘stimulating and massaging’ with his new bankroll…
Many thanks EMS for the hours of enjoyment I’ve had since I found this site.
And many thanks for your description of the syndrome you’ve alluded to a few times. I now know that something I have lived with for 70 years is not something I had thought was unique.
Now I realise that others were not dummies when I could see obvious patterns in data but had to spend hours explaining, graphing and illustrating to get them to understand.
I was the dummy!
It also explains why I could not stomache “Company Politics”. I never did learn to compromise and learnt to keep my mouth shut with great difficulty.
Oh well, too late now.
Best regards.
REPLY: [ There is an exceptionally high level of Aspe and pre-Aspe trait among computer programmers (and other tech geeks) and it confers some advantages in various fields. As a “spectrum disorder” I think it has a pattern similar to epilepsy. There is a pre-epileptic state that can be found with a 3 cps flashing light. It does nothing to normals, sets off a seizure in epileptics, but there is a group that becomes very irritated at the light (where an EEG shows pre-epileptic brain activity) that are just on the edge of epilepsy. THE highest percentage profession in that group is Airline Pilots. The “epilepsy trait” confers some advantage of reflexes or skill that makes for great airline pilots; as long as you don’t have “too much” of it.
Similarly, too much of the trait that causes Aspergers / Autism and you have the autistic that sits in the corner, or The Rainman. Too little and you “don’t get it” looking at blocks of numbers and can’t see patterns at all well. Then there is that magic edge where you have “the gift” as it is sometimes called. You see what others can’t. You focus more than others can. You can see “the negative space” where an explanation has missing bits. And you can handle detail that others simply can not do. Yet still communicate (sometimes quite well) and still have good social skills (though, as for me, sometimes taking a bit of practice for things like ‘sucking up’…). The stereotypical “socially awkward genius” sometimes called “little professors”. (Guess what other profession has a lot of high function aspe folks…)
So I would be very very hesitant to say you “were the dummy”.
IMHO, a more accurate description is that you “had the gift” and they were normals, and did not.
BTW, it is never “too late” to gain insight and the value that comes from it. Simply knowing that “it isn’t by choice” lets me know better how to use it. Simply knowing means I can look up the “symptoms” and know where I ought to polish the skills a bit via homework that other folks do not need to do (and where I will have advantages). And simply knowing lets me say to myself “So you are a bit prolix, trim it some”, but when folks really need a full and complete answer, let it run; unleash “the gift”; and also “Don’t try to be ‘that guy’ at the party; you won’t be. But be yourself and find the one person in 5 or 10 who is really right for you to talk with. And never worry about not being ‘that guy’.” Oh, and if you join Mensa you will find a large number of “folks like me” who are happy to talk about the really interesting things and in some depth ;-)
So enjoy who you are and use “the gift” where appropriate, and when neurotypicals don’t get your jokes or can’t handle a ‘correct and full’ answer; or indulge in ‘office politics’ that are, to you, obvious and stupid: do not despair. They just don’t have ‘the gift’ and you will need to ‘cut them some slack’ is all… -E.M.Smith ]
Earle Williams
jazznick,
I believe TurkeyLurkey is referring to Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and the fact that in E. M. Smith’s interview he does not exhibit many of the traits associated with AS.
==================================
Well that’s all to the good isn’t it !
Sorry to intrude on the consultation Doc.
Chiefio, congrats on the “Other Side.” Great work.
Loved Hansen’s “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” response.
I’m loving Mann getting all this attention. I posted it of course, along with the kangaroo inquisition new from Penn State. This is just getting better and better.
If you need a break, check yesterday’s post. Not climate related, NSFW either, but there are a few scientific curiosities.
Oh, and Happy New Year too.
REPLY: [ Thanks, I needed that! Never has so little done so much for so many. -E.M.Smith ]
jazznick
TurkeyLurkey
What exactly are you on ?
..where can I get some ?
I’ve given this a fair amount of thought. (Yes, if something catches my interest I can’t make it go away even if it is a kind of a silly thing to be thinking about ;-)
The closest an N.T. can come would probably be if you took a Double Grande Mocha (i.e. 4 shots of espresso) and put it with 4 shots of whiskey. Then drink two of them.
Wide awake mind functioning very fast, but with a bit of reduction of inhibitions and some social “awkwardness”… with a combination of ability to focus intently on something beyond what it diserves AND a sporadic tendency to be distracted by the “new shiny thing” that pops into the room.
I think there are some other drugs that also induce a bit of obsessive focus on details and long concentration time with sharpness, but I don’t remember what they are right now. They could be subsituted for the caffiene.
Irish Coffee on steroids?
E.M.Smith,
I am not affected with Asperger’s, as far as I know, but do have similar tales to tell of social awkwardness, easily seeing or “knowing” the answer, and similar things. I use an anonymous handle, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
Having a rather high IQ is not always a blessing, so I don’t let people know what the number is. Let’s just say that it is closer to 200 than to 100. I also had to learn patience with others, how to answer questions in formal presentations, how to be sociable, how to chit-chat, how to mix and mingle, and I hung around sales guys for a few years, watching how they handled themselves.
Each of my children (sons) are smarter than me, but I worked with them since they were very young on their social skills, and they all now have very attractive (and smart!) ladies as their long-term companions. Also each has many other good friends, always a good thing!
(Aside: I learned the hard way that it is not a good idea in a formal presentation during the QnA session, to answer with “That’s a dumb question. Why weren’t you paying attention?”) ;-)
Getting a girl was not easy, either. An attractive girl once asked me what I do, so I told her. She left, not really wanting to know any more than “I’m an engineer,” not the entire project list I was working on, why each was important, and the really cool part of each one. One learns.
I did some work for a while in AI, artificial intelligence, and that was extremely fun, challenging, and rewarding. Non-linear multi-variable optimization was (and still is) very rewarding work. N-dimensional stuff.
Congratulations to you on a really good showing on the tv segment. Also, for all the excellent work on the thermometers issue. It is truly fascinating to watch all this play out.
Gene
Greetings and many thanks for a well-written blog. I appreciate what you wrote.
A very well designed blog. I appreciated your comments re Ben Stein’s documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Here again we see the behemoth machine that is mainstream science quashing all mention of ID in any form whatever. Whether one agrees with the theory or not – the behavior of the establishment toward any who mention it is repulsive. And it clearly destroys the method of science.
I will be back to follow other posts and to keep tabs on the surface temperature issues you have done so excellent a job on. Thank you Chief for your convictions and courage. You are a good man.