This is the graph image I linked to in the comment:
Now, there are only about 1,000 "sciency"-sounding, cherry-picked points in that video which have little or nothing to do with climate change, and certainly don't add up to the nonsensical conclusions that Ben Davidson, narrator and owner of the YouTube channel, draws. For instance, at this point in the video, he claims CO2 is NOT the main driver of the observed modern warming, and, instead, our planet's diminishing magnetosphere combined with high solar activity are the real climate change culprits, since, according to him, we had less protection from the Sun's radiation at the same time we witnessed temperatures rising after the Industrial Revolution. While it's true the magnetosphere has been and is weakening slightly, here's the problem with teaming it up with the Sun to make some new global warming dynamic supervillain duo: the magnetosphere prevents charged particles from reaching the Earth, not visible light and infrared energy—that is, the electromagnetic radiation which has interacted with greenhouse gases to cause the greenhouse effect historically and modern climate change more recently. In other words, a weakened magnetosphere may cause more intense auroras at the poles, or endanger satellites and electronics, but it won't let in more sunlight, brighten the daytime hours, and create a spike in the sunglasses industry. Is anyone anywhere complaining of global brightening? When the magnetosphere strengthens again, which it will, will days grow darker? NO!
Almost all of the Suspicious0bservers' videos are like this. A classic case of "Jaezuz, there's so much wrong here, where do I even begin?" So I thought I'd pick just one mistake, rather than frighten Ben into blocking a comment with a barrage of counterpoints (besides, my personal ethics are against flooding...yes, even when the target is a flood of misinformation), but it seems like Ben is a little too skittish to let even one strong challenge fly on his channel. Click on the link to the video above, toggle the comments filter to "Newest first", and I'm pretty sure you'll see my comment hasn't been approved yet.
I even went so far as to tweet at him yesterday to no avail:
Will Ben @TheRealS0s approve this comment/challenge to the claims in his YouTube video? http://t.co/tnABSqhfb7 pic.twitter.com/7qvmLSajrp
— Planet Evans (@ExoplanetEvans) October 4, 2015So how about it, Ben? Gonna allow some criticism and debate on your channel? Or are you going to block and hide from it?
3 comments:
Ben is a complete fraud. A product of a third-tier liberal arts school and a fourth-tier law school (which pretty much explains why being a professional con artist is the only way he can make a living these days) who spends 75% of his time reproducing the same science explanation you can see on the NASA.gov website, and 25% of his time indulging in crackpot pseudoscience (electric universe, chemtrails, sun-caused earthquakes, etc).
My favorite thing is his new scientific (HA!) paper that apparently shows a correlation between sun cycles and large (M 8.0+) earthquakes. Yup, using data from the past 30 odd years he makes a link that his followers are sure will win him the Nobel prize one day! Except that there is no link. See there's only about one M 8.0+ earthquake per year, so if he used only 30 years of data he's working off of a really small sample size; one much too small from which he can draw a statistically significant correlation. And the funny thing is, his correlation isn't all that strong! The paper simply notes that there looks like a relationship and that it should be explored further. And why didn't he look at earthquakes of smaller magnitudes where the data set would be much larger? My hunch is that he did, and found that there was no discernible correlation whatsoever.
The entire S0 community is a waste of space.
Anonymous,
I actually read that solar magnetism/M8+ earthquake paper, and it made me laugh. Davidson has discovered the Holy Grail of seismology! He can now predict when major earthquakes will hit, even though however many real geologists for however many decades have been unable to do so!
It's in the latest edition of a journal with little or no peer review..."New Concepts in Global Tectonics": http://www.ncgt.org/newsletter.php
Ben's "groundbreaking" theory here seems to hinge on (without a sensible explanation, mind) earthquakes being influenced by the solar magnetosphere which is orders of magnitude weaker at the Earth's surface and crust than the Earth's own magnetosphere. And stronger geomagnetism has already been shown to have no link to earthquake frequency: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/grl.50211/full
That paper also distances markers of solar magnetism, solar wind and sunspots, from earthquakes as well. Not that Ben would lose sleep over anything that discredits his strange idea.
Interestingly enough, Ben's "study" might not be able to claim the crown for the wackiest one in that journal issue: "Dow Jones industrial average peaks, seasonality and lunar phase."
Lotta pseudoscience swimming around at there trying to bamboozle people, which can make you laugh or cry, depending upon how you look at it.
What I know about solar science is able to be printed on a pin, but what I've noticed from studying SO websites and video posts, is an alarming drift towards the Jones-town Wako cultist narrative, and now even to hinting of a town in the desert where all the followers of this pseudoscience can invest in and build. Where those who "Really see the truth" may live in security and safety from the coming apocalyptic nonsense he spouts, and with Him as their messier. This to me is a dangerous evolution of an old and proven path to a tragic end.In a time where even the mildest words against the mainstream are Cauterized from public view by the over zealous hand of liberal censorship, how does this alarmist, and dangerous narrative slip past those who profess to be the guardians of the minds of many? This whole concept being preached is a prime example of the setup before the con. Get enough people interested, the vulnerable and gullible, then ask for investment. Snake oil sales at best.
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