Weather > General Weather Discussion
Deciding the Weather Machine
xairbusdriver:
Currently on Nova. Don?t expect all the answers! ;)
elagache:
Dear X-Air and WeatherCat users with fingers that have a mind of their own.
--- Quote from: xairbusdriver on April 19, 2018, 01:07:33 AM ---Currently on Nova. Don?t expect all the answers! ;)
--- End quote ---
Sorry to report but the program episode is: "Decoding the Weather Machine." Our TiVo has already recorded it and we'll get to it when we have a chance. Agreed I'm not very optimistic on this sort of episode from NOVA. I still remember enough from my getting my bachelors in Physics from U.C. Berkeley to understand how difficult understanding the atmosphere actually is. Sadly a lot of rancor we are experiencing over the status of climate really boils down a failure to understand the limitations of science to comprehend a chaotic system like our atmosphere. The experts are desperate not to admit it, but they simply cannot make the predictions we really want to have in hand - anymore than they can predict earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
Cheers, Edouard
xairbusdriver:
Apparently, you recorded a different program! Mine was defiantly "Deciding"... I meen "Decording"... oh well, if we wait long enough the spelling will change, just like the weather... I can only blame my haste and an over-zealous spel chequer. That's my story and I'm stickin t0 it! [blush]
The much more interesting program was the one following the two hour Nova; "Bill Nye the Science Guy". There is an interesting side of his life many of us never knew.
elagache:
Dear X-Air and WeatherCat users who occasional give-in to da' boob tube, . .
--- Quote from: xairbusdriver on April 20, 2018, 01:13:29 AM ---Apparently, you recorded a different program! Mine was defiantly "Deciding"... I meen "Decording"... oh well, if we wait long enough the spelling will change, just like the weather... I can only blame my haste and an over-zealous spel chequer. That's my story and I'm stickin t0 it! [blush]
--- End quote ---
[wink] . . . . Oh sure! Another one of those cases of: "To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer!" . . . . lol(1)
Well, I'll have you know that I have definitive proof that NOVA could not decode the Weather Machine! We only got a partial recording! It seems at about an 1 hour and 45 minutes our local PBS station got out of sync with either Comcast or our TiVo and the end was nothing but gibberish! I'll try to record it again tonight.
--- Quote from: xairbusdriver on April 20, 2018, 01:13:29 AM ---The much more interesting program was the one following the two hour Nova; "Bill Nye the Science Guy". There is an interesting side of his life many of us never knew.
--- End quote ---
Okay, I'll check into that! [tup]
Cheers, Edouard [cheers1]
elagache:
Dear WeatherCat PBS documentary fans,
It took me 4 tries, but I finally got a working recording of this NOVA documentary. It is a 2 hour show and we only got through about 45 minutes of it, but so far, I was surprisingly pleased with how they handled the topic. For starters, one of their main narrators is a TV meteorologist from the Midwest. He is in a conservative bible-belt part of the country and such people are going to be skeptical about such science by nature. Rather than attacking such people, the program explained their point of view with respect and dignity. The scientists were also on their best behavior instead of being patronizing and talking down to the public.
The program started by explaining the history of the science behind greenhouse gases. That was interesting in its own right and also made it clear human's came to understand the problem. Human's didn't: "get a warning from God and ignored it." Some of the physics could have been handled better. They make a claim that we can identify the carbon which is the result of human activity. This could have easily explained by making a reference to Carbon-14 radiation dating. There was another reference to the temperature of seawater resulting in differences in the ratio of Oxygen 16 to Oxygen 18. Sorry, I took a course in nuclear physics at U.C. Berkeley, there is no obvious mechanism why the Oxygen nucleus should be effected by water temperature. An explanation was really needed there.
Still, the producers of NOVA did a really good job in trying to defuse the climate change battle and respect both sides. We've still got over an hour and I'm concerned about what will proposed as remedies. The science of Economics should be included in that analysis and might not be. However, so far so good! [tup]
Cheers, Edouard [cheers1]
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