ClimateGate

My father, an avowed right-wing muck racker, (I think he thoroughly enjoys being contrary and conservative) sent me several links regarding Climategate last week. I dug into it and found a bunch of polarized crap; so I passed it off as just another case of right wing ranting. This, however, appeared today in the NYTimes Freakonomics column. I've included a short except here:

Many blogs covering the topic are just as bombastic. The most prominent blogs in the arena, however, tend to be less so. That said, emotions still run high — particularly in the comments sections. If you feel like wading into the conversation, you might wish to sample Dot Earth, Watts Up With That, andRealClimate, which presents "climate science from climate scientists." The discussions at RealClimate are intense, for at least two reasons: they are more about the science itself than the conversations at other blogs; and several of its contributors are the very scientists whose e-mails were among the C.R.U. leak, including Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State and one of the scientists responsible for the now-famous"hockey stick" graph, which has been widely used as evidence of a dangerous global-warming trend.

I find it interesting that many people have completely uninformed opinions. In this case, many people believe there is no such thing as global warming and others who believe it is perfectly reasonable to pass draconian command and control laws to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In some circles, if you say that you believe in global warming, it is almost as flaky as saying that you believe in god. You have to quickly qualify your statement to make it seem more reasonable and thought-out that simple blind conformity.

But, back to my original topic, I'll just say that I am surprised ClimateGate made it to the popular media... And with a big splash too - currently 114 length comments on Dubner's blog!