Author Archives: gymnosperm

Piltdown Mann and his Hockey Stick

Posted on August 16, 2015 by gymnosperm

The estimable Michael Mann has continued to defend his infamous “Hockey Stick” with bluster and litigation, even as his data has become increasingly indefensible. Credit Alan Caruba. When the likes of Wallace Broecker make observations like, “I don’t trust people like … Continue reading →

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The Holocaust (I mean) Pause Never Happened

Posted on August 5, 2015 by gymnosperm

Ironic that the Carbon cult who would accuse skeptical scientists of believing the moon landing was faked are now furiously adjusting the data to “disappear” the Pause. Actually, the very word “pause” presumes that warming will resume. Time scales become … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Global Warming Denial, the "Pause" | Tagged | Leave a comment

Carbon Starved Planet

Posted on July 20, 2015 by gymnosperm

We owe the title of this book to Ferdinand Engelbeen, who wrote the words in one of many blog discussions some years ago. Ferdinand’s words resonated instantly as a title for the book we had been working on for several … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Fourth of July and the Gophernator

Posted on July 5, 2015 by gymnosperm

The fourth of July is a bad day for gophers where we live. While the rest of the United States is busy creating gunpowder explosions in the atmosphere, we celebrate with fuel/air explosions underground. These are not as visually attractive as pyrotechnics … Continue reading →

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The other 90 (or 95) Percent

Posted on June 16, 2015 by gymnosperm

We think of ourselves as finely tuned orchestras of cells. We have brain cells to make us smart, liver cells to buffer our indulgences, and immune cells to fight off invaders. These cells are US. They have our uniquely human DNA. … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Climate, Microbial Dark Matter | Leave a comment

How Big is the Carbon Cycle?

Posted on June 14, 2015 by gymnosperm

Just google it and you will finds dozens of Carbon cycle illustrations. Most are cartoons, but half a dozen good ones can be filtered out. Mostly they agree in round numbers. The following by the IPCC is clearly the best: … Continue reading →

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Dark Energy, Plasma, and the Whedefugawe Effect

Posted on May 30, 2015 by gymnosperm

Early in the twentieth century, even as emergent nationalism made the world pregnant with a half century of mechanized war, the greatest advances in physics since Isaac Newton were taking place. Relativity and quantum redefined the universe as a dance … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Physics, Plasma | Tagged | Leave a comment

Doubling the Carbon Cycle

Posted on May 7, 2015 by gymnosperm

In the last post we had set out to model geological isotope excursions and found that our conception of the current Carbon cycle is so messed up that any venture into deep time hopeless. Specifically, when d13C values are integrated … Continue reading →

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Cycling the Isotopes

Posted on April 26, 2015 by gymnosperm

We have long been interested in Carbon isotope “excursions” and took a notion to integrate isotope ratios into a simple box model of the Carbon cycle with an eye to replicating these excursions. The initial result was surprising and it became … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle, Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim, Climate | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Plankton and The Nebulae

Posted on April 18, 2015 by gymnosperm

Deep space from the Hubble by NOAA Plankton.

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