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There have been repeated claims that this past year's hurricane activity was another sign of human-induced climate change. Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?
Severe flooding has abated in many areas throughout the State, but the authorities are still on high alert to monitor the potential effects of rainfall and tides in the coming days, according to the emergency body coordinating the situation.
Chairman of the National Emergency Response Coordination Committee (NERCC), Sean Hogan, said today that about 1,500 people had been forced to leave between 500 and 600 homes due to flooding.
The exact figure was difficult to establish, however, as some people had 'self-evacuated' and were not being dealt with through the local authorities' systems.
Up to 6,000 personnel dealing with the flooding emergency at its peak last week, Mr Hogan said at a media briefing in Dublin this evening.
Chairman of the National Emergency Response Coordination Committee (NERCC), Sean Hogan, said today that about 1,500 people had been forced to leave between 500 and 600 homes due to flooding.
The exact figure was difficult to establish, however, as some people had 'self-evacuated' and were not being dealt with through the local authorities' systems.
Up to 6,000 personnel dealing with the flooding emergency at its peak last week, Mr Hogan said at a media briefing in Dublin this evening.
Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based. It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.
The UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals - stored on paper and magnetic tape - were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
The UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals - stored on paper and magnetic tape - were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
The inconvenient release of private email conversations among climate change scientists has been a boon for climate change skeptics. What emerges from the leaked emails is a depiction of a group of scientists who practice "intellectual protectionism" -- meaning they know they're right and they'll do anything to protect their beliefs, even if it means hiding or manipulating data.
Sound familiar? Scientists in the pharmaceutical industry have been practicing this for decades. If you think the ClimateGate emails are revealing, just imagine what kind of similar emails are flying around between Big Pharma scientists who routinely manipulate study data and commit scientific fraud in the name of medicine. Time and time again, we see revelations of manipulated clinical trials where data was intentionally distorted in order to make a dangerous, useless drug appear to be safe and effective.
What ClimateGate scientists and Big Pharma scientists have in common is that they have both abandoned the core principles of good science in their quest to be right. Rather than asking questions of nature and humbly listening to the answers provided by the data, these scientists have staked out a position and decided to defend that position at all costs -- even if it requires hiding or distorting data!
That approach is entirely unscientific, of course. In my mind, it now puts much of the recent global warming science in the same category as Big Pharma's research: Pure quackery.
Sound familiar? Scientists in the pharmaceutical industry have been practicing this for decades. If you think the ClimateGate emails are revealing, just imagine what kind of similar emails are flying around between Big Pharma scientists who routinely manipulate study data and commit scientific fraud in the name of medicine. Time and time again, we see revelations of manipulated clinical trials where data was intentionally distorted in order to make a dangerous, useless drug appear to be safe and effective.
What ClimateGate scientists and Big Pharma scientists have in common is that they have both abandoned the core principles of good science in their quest to be right. Rather than asking questions of nature and humbly listening to the answers provided by the data, these scientists have staked out a position and decided to defend that position at all costs -- even if it requires hiding or distorting data!
That approach is entirely unscientific, of course. In my mind, it now puts much of the recent global warming science in the same category as Big Pharma's research: Pure quackery.
© FNA
The Seismological center of Sistan-Balouchestan province affiliated to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the quake at 06:55 hours local time (0325 GMT).
The epicenter of the quake was located in an area 59.9 degrees in longitude and 26.7 degrees in latitude.
There are yet no reports on the number of possible casualties or damage to properties by the quake.
Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.
A moderate earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia on Sunday in the Molucca Sea, seismologists said.
The USGS said a 5.3-magnitude quake struck at 9.29pm (8.29pm Singapore time, 1229 GMT Sunday), at a depth of 63 kilometres and was centred 150 kilometres west southwest of Ternate, Moluccas.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
The USGS said a 5.3-magnitude quake struck at 9.29pm (8.29pm Singapore time, 1229 GMT Sunday), at a depth of 63 kilometres and was centred 150 kilometres west southwest of Ternate, Moluccas.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
Sixteen small earthquakes hit in the area of Sun Valley and Wild Creek Golf Course in Sparks on Thursday and Friday, but they caused no damage, and residents had a hard time even feeling them.
The Nevada Seismological Laboratory noted the unusual earthquake sequence in a statement on Friday. The two largest had magnitudes of 2.3 and 2.2.
Darrell Little felt one of them on Friday in Spanish Springs.
"It was quite a small one, and the dog sleeping next to me even didn't wake up," Little said. "It definitely was an earthquake. It felt like the house got shoved a little bit. I could hear the creaking of the walls as the house moved just ever so slightly."
He felt a couple of the large ones from the swarm that hit the Mogul area in 2008, but this was not like that.
The Nevada Seismological Laboratory noted the unusual earthquake sequence in a statement on Friday. The two largest had magnitudes of 2.3 and 2.2.
Darrell Little felt one of them on Friday in Spanish Springs.
"It was quite a small one, and the dog sleeping next to me even didn't wake up," Little said. "It definitely was an earthquake. It felt like the house got shoved a little bit. I could hear the creaking of the walls as the house moved just ever so slightly."
He felt a couple of the large ones from the swarm that hit the Mogul area in 2008, but this was not like that.
© Niko J. Kallianiotis for The New York TimesNOT INTERESTED Lisa Wujnovich and her husband, Mark Dunau, refuse to sign a lease to allow natural gas drilling on their 50 farmland acres in Hancock, N.Y.
But the Laceys hope that, if all goes well, a natural gas wellhead will soon occupy this bucolic landscape.
Like many landowners in Broome County, which includes the town of Chenango, the Laceys could potentially earn millions of dollars from the natural gas under their feet. They live above the Marcellus Shale, a subterranean layer of rock stretching from New York to Tennessee that is believed to be one of the biggest natural gas fields in the world.
An earthquake of 5.6 magnitude shook western Venezuela early on Friday, panicking residents and damaging some buildings, officials said.
There was no loss of life or damage reported to any oil installations in the OPEC member South American country.
Local seismological center Funvisis said the earthquake struck at 3:45 a.m. (0815 GMT) and its epicenter was in the locality of Churuguara in Lara state.
"There were no injuries or loss of life reported, just some structural damage," Funvisis official Theyler Vasquez said.
Authorities said frightened residents ran into the streets, and some walls of buildings were cracked.
There was no loss of life or damage reported to any oil installations in the OPEC member South American country.
Local seismological center Funvisis said the earthquake struck at 3:45 a.m. (0815 GMT) and its epicenter was in the locality of Churuguara in Lara state.
"There were no injuries or loss of life reported, just some structural damage," Funvisis official Theyler Vasquez said.
Authorities said frightened residents ran into the streets, and some walls of buildings were cracked.
The Saudi authorities have warned pilgrims to take care in the rain
None of the casualties had been among the millions attending the Hajj pilgrimage, said a spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry.
Heavy rainstorms on Wednesday had hampered the start of the annual Muslim event in the city of Mecca.
