Kings Arsenal were reduced to just four players on Friday afternoon as they prepared to face Team Choc Ice.

A plaque of knee injuries and withdrawals have left captain Mark Tinklin and livewire striker/keeper Luka Tinklin trawling their contacts for at least one more player.

Arsenal fans James Payne and Deep Dasgupta are off to the Emirates to see the Chelsea game on Sunday and Paul Jenkins is out of town.

Phil Foster is going to Newcastle this weekend while Chris Trewhitt, Dave Foster and Julien Ramsey have all been ruled out with knee injuries.

In fact Dave and Julien could both be out until the New Year.

The raft of withdrawals leaves Kings Arsenal down to just four players at present: Fabricio Mazzola, James Britton, Mark and Luke.

However, Kings Arsenal are confident they’ll be up to their full quota of five players in time for the 5.40pm kick-off on Sunday.

Second place Team Choc Ice lie in wait, a team the Kings battered 11-4 at the end of last season.

Drive to NY was easy as Thanksgiving pie. Surprisingly, traffic from Indianapolis to where Brian and I finally parked the van was very light. Snow hit for minutes. Rain hit for hours. Raein hits Newark at 4 pm. Thanks to Wendy, Indiana boys spent the night in a Chevy, woke up on the streets of Hov and Biggie.

At the airport now. Charging the iPhone that this all is being written on. Pictures below are of Woolworth building, World Trade Tower One fountain, and the Brooklyn bridge.

Italians should be here very soon.

We knew how much you loved Edward’s grey pea coat in “Twilight” (it was a custom design). And we bet you already own a version Bella’s blue hooded jacket (made by BB Dakota) — but with “New Moon” comes a whole new shopping list. So, starting today, we’ll look back at the making of the movie’s wardrobe with costume designer Tish Monaghan. First up: Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart).

BEGINNING THE PROCESS
“There was already a particular look in place, so the first thing I did was find out from the studio and the director, Chris Weitz, if they were happy with the looks of the characters,” recalled costume designer Tish Monaghan. “Were there things they wanted changed? Once I got those instructions — there were only minor adjustments to be made.” Bella’s presentation from “Twilight” was kept consistent. “[The studio and Chris] liked that she was a tomboy and that she was in earth tones and was a little bit out of place. So I picked up on all of those comments, and when I did all of my purchasing for her, I stayed more or less in that world unless there was something specific that was required in the script.”

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
During a interesting (to say the least!) double “date” with Mike (Michael Welch, left) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner, right) Bella wore the “Signe Smocked top” by Joie and American Eagle jeans. But the most notable part of her outfit is her token accessories — the turquoise bracelet and moonstone ring, which, according to Tish, were the very same trinkets Kristen wore in “Twilight.”
Get the look: “Cute Options Embroidered Smocked Peasant Top” from Target ($27)

)

READ MORE…

Motorhead last night was absolutely epic. We were standing throughout the whole thing, and everyone else in the sitting area was sitting, so he said “Stand up you lazy cunts, it’s not fucking Shakespeare is it?, you two, yes, you two, you’ve been standing up for the whole thing, thank you!” So Lemmy spoke to us
The Damned opened for them, and ‘Captain Sensible’ (guitarist) was testing out the spotlight, and shone it on us, we waved and he stuck his two fingers up at us, haha.

When Motorhead played Overkill at the end, it was unbelievably good. They played it extended for about 8 minutes, strobe lights flashing, crazy lights. And the drum solo, WOW, Mikkey Dee is amazing. He soloed for about 5 minutes straight without stopping, he was AMAZING. His drum kit was huge too. I saw loads of guitars and basses behind the amps, but Lemmy only used his 1 bass, and Phil Campbell (guitarist) only used 3 guitars, a white Les Paul, a green Les Paul and a X shaped, I think it may have been a Kramer but I’m not entirely sure. Captain Sensible from the Damned seemed to be using an LTD (lower grade of ESP).

The Damned: “Having a good night?”
Audience: “YEAH”
The Damned: “Better than fucking Simon Cowell and xfactor isn’t it?”
Audience: “YEAH”
The Damned: “This song’s called ’smash it up’, and I hope Simon Cowel does take this advice”

Epic

Mix To Go Magazine Presents

DANCE AFTER DARK | The Mix Show

The theme: “At A Classic Pitch”

Dance After Dark

Mix by DJ FREEDOM

Live at 632 Studios in Brooklyn, New York City

Monday, November 23, 2009

(DOWNLOAD LINK AT BOTTOM OF SONG LIST)

SONG LIST:

(1) Razamatazz (Free*Mix) – Quincy Jones

(2) Portuguese Love (Free*Mix) – Phil Asher’s Miami Samba Vs DJ Freedom’s Tribal

(3) You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration (Quentin Harris Remix) – Teddy Pendergrass

(4) Make Sure Your Sure (Quentin Harris & Timmy Regisford Remix) – Stevie Wonder

(5) Baby I’m Scared of You (Free*Mix) – Womack & Womack

(6) Still In Love With You (Masters At Work Dub) – Melisa Morgan

(7) Forget Me Nots (DJ Freedom’s Back To Basics Mix) – Patrice Rushen

(8) Club Lonely (Original Vocal Mix) – Lil Louis

(9) Everybody Dance – Chic

(10) Encore (Freedom’s Classic Club Vocal Remix) – Cheryl Lynn

(11) In The AM (Quentin’s Remix Vs DJ Freedom’s Remix) – Mary J Blige…dedicated to cousin Ann Douglas!

(12) Horizons (Freedom’s Classic House Remix) – The Sylvers

(13) Nights Over Egypt (Freedom’s Nights Over Ibiza Remix) – The Jones Girls

(14) Super Constellation 2009 (Freedom’s Disco Pitch Remix) – Sousa & Mad

(15) Ecstasy (Freedom’s Classic Pitch Remix) – Barry White

(16) Ready 4 More – International Featuring Miss Lynsey

(17) The Night The Lights Went Out (The Black Science Orchestra Remix) – The Trammps

(18) Don’t Talk Just Dance _Free*Mix Project Featuring Jon B

(19) No One – Maxwell

(20) Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It) -Captain Rapp

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FIWPVCN4

This is unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. Ian Harris (the guy who wrote the  HARRY_READ_ME.txt?) is discussing with Tim Osborn how to tailor-make an algorithm that will make the data look like desired. How can it be interpreted any other way???

From: Ian Harris <i.harris@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: t.osborn@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Re: Hopefully fixed TMP
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 14:50:20 +0100

Hi Tim

I’ve re-run with the same database used for the previous 2006 run (tmp.0705101334.dtb). /cru/cruts/version_3_0/update_top/gridded_finals/data/data.0909041051/
tmp/cru_ts_3_00.1901.2008.tmp.dat.nc.gz Is that any better? If not please can you send the traditional multi-page country plots for me to pore over?

Cheers

Harry

On 3 Sep 2009, at 17:04, Tim Osborn wrote:

Hi Harry and Phil,

the mean level of the “updated-to-2008″ CRU TS 3.0 now looks good,  matching closely with the 1961-1990 means of the earlier CRU TS 3.0  and CRU TS 2.1. Please see the attached PDF of country mean time series, comparing last-year’s CRUTS 3.0 (black, up to 2005) with the most-recent CRU TS 3.0 (pink, up to 2008).

Latest version matches last-year’s version well for the most part, and where differences do occur I can’t say that the new version is any worse than last-year’s version (some may be better). One exception is the hot JJA in Europe in 2003. This is less extreme in the latest version. See attached PNG for a blow-up of France in JJA. I‘m sure some people will use CRU TS 3.0 to look at 2003 in Europe, so we need to be happy with the version we release. Perhaps some hot stations have been dropped as outliers (more than 3 standard deviations from the mean?)?

But I’m not sure if that is the reason, since outlier checking was  already used in last-year’s version, wasn’t it? Does the outlier checking always check +-3 SD from 61-90 mean (or  normal), or does it check +-3 SD from the local mean (30-years centred on the value) which would allow for a gradual warming in both mean and  outlier threshold?

Cheers
Tim

On Wed, September 2, 2009 6:08 pm, Ian Harris wrote:

Tim

When you have the time and/or the inclination, please can you run the new TMP output through your IDL thingummajig? /cru/cruts/version_3_0/update_top/gridded_finals/data/data.0909021348/ tmp/cru_ts_3_00.1901.2008.tmp.dat.nc.gz

Please let me know if you can’t access it. I do appreciate your help!

Cheers

Harry

Kings Arsenal crushed league leaders Cheung Ki Koks Warriors 6-2 on Sunday night.

The Kings put in a classic counter attacking display and showcased some trademark flowing football on the break.

Cheung Ki Koks Warriors started strongly, but for all their possession rarely threatened Fabricio’s goal and Kings Arsenal, wearing blue bibs, were soon ahead from the penalty spot.

Luke was set to spin away from the last defender only for a hand to shoot out and knock the ball out of his path.

With the penalty awarded Mark stepped forward and calmly knocked it into the bottom corner.

From then on it was all Kings Arsenal as Cheung Ki Koks Warriors just couldn’t get passed an imperious James Britton in defence.

By now Kings Arsenal were raining chances down on the opposition goal and were constantly denied by the post or some lacklustre finishing.

The Warriors simply could not handle Luke’s movement and unpredictability and he almost scored a sensational goal only for the cross bar to stop him celebrating after chipping a defender and the goalkeeper.

Gloucestershire duo James Payne and PJ were combining to devastating effect and the latter finally made it 2-0 from close range.

Kings Arsenal started to stretch away in the second half and James Britton fired in a powerful shot that went straight through the netting.

Luke got a deserved goal when he smashed home a Mark cross from a corner first time on the run and PJ scored his second with a classic shot across the keeper.

A second penalty, this time for a foul in the box, allowed Mark to double his tally for the evening, although this time he put the ball in the other corner.

Fabricio showed some Brazilian flair by tricking his way past some Warriors and almost picked up a goal with a long range strike.

However, once against James Payne failed to hit the back of the net and Phil was a last minute withdrawal because his car wouldn’t start.

Kings Arsenal could have even walked away with a clean sheet only for some typical defensive howlers to gift Cheung Ki Koks Warriors two goals.

The result sees Kings Arsenal climb to third place, level on points with Team Choc Ice and Cheung Ki Koks Warriors, three points back from early leaders, the still unbeaten, Rosie FC.

This weekend we face second place Team Choc Ice in a 5.40pm kick-off.

We crushed them 11-4 when we last met, in one of Kings Arsenal’s greatest ever showings.

Founding members PJ and James Payne have already declared themselves unavailable.

This piece of brilliance brought to you by Phillip.

The reason hipsters came about, actually, was because of the social sciences and humanities. Not too long ago, there lived a group of university aged urban intellectuals who couldn’t understand why they were so sullen and angry. They blamed their doting parents that provided them with a solidly middle class upbringing—you know, that tragic existence that orphans dream about as they cry themselves to sleep.

Anyway, these phi beta kappa tools were put into the humanities because they couldn’t succeed anywhere else. Not because they were stupid, but just really lazy. They took courses on Simmel where they came across terms like “blasé attitude” and Foucault with “panopticon” and “docile body” (I was going to insert a reference to the American penchant to exchange ‘O’ for an ‘A’ but didn’t). They soon realized that the world was against them, their parents a cog in the machine of the ‘man’ and that they needed to rebel. Against what no one is quite sure. If anyone knows who ‘the man’ is, could you tell the rest of us?

So, they started to create an aesthetic that represented their urban lifestyle… But how? Without much concern for income (mom and dad pay), safety (the police are there to protect) or democracy (well, duh) they couldn’t find much to rebel against. That is, until they read Marx. And by Jesus, they’ve been attacking capitalism ever since….. by buying expensive clothes that look like they came from a dumpster, drinking coffee from non-traditional coffee shops, repairing old bicycles to ride around the city, and by spending wads of cash on cigarettes and wine (as though the alcohol and tobacco industries aren’t run by quasi-gangster-cum-latté sipping yuppies). They don’t shave their face, armpits, and have hair that looks like it is the result of a rather unfortunate fork-in-socket incident. … Read More

So, what’s the problem? I mean, okay they look like idiots and the world will never wear plaid again. But, who cares, right? WRONG. Hipsters are actually the cause of global warming, urban poverty, hurricanes, gayness and, we’re not sure, but we think we can attribute racism. Do you want these disingenuous, middle-class, white assholes telling you that watching a blockbuster film supports abstract capitalism? Or telling you that shopping at most stores causes environmental degradation? No. We need to take back our streets from these idiots. Entire swaths of the urban environment have been lost: Plateau, Mile-End, and even parts of the downtown core near the Ghetto and around Concordia. If we don’t stop them, there’ll be a hipster squatting in your house… then what will you do?

You could wait until they turn 22, finish their education, get married and go work for “the man” and move out of Montréal…. but why? TAKE BACK THE NIGHT.

Not for me, but I will count the cashback anyway!  My wife is going away with my sister and cousins early next year and my sister had sorted the arrangements and was ready to book.  She needed a credit card to make the reservations.  She insisted that she did not want me to do any price checking as she wanted to book the tickets direct with Eurostar and the hotel direct with Marriott.

Fortunately both are on webclub so I logged into each site via mywebclub and let her use my credit card for the purchases.  Both were paying 2% meaning £7.70 cashback for me from Eurostar and a similar amount from the hotel which will be credited after their stay!

My cashback account now stands at £22.08 and I still have a few items where the cashback has yet to show up on the account.  Not bad for a month’s work especially as I have not changed my spending habits one bit and I have not compromised once on price!

Hello? (Hello? Hello? Hello?)

Anybody out there (out there? out there? out there?)?

Okay, it’s Thanksgiving Break and my workload, while sizable, seems manageable. So let’s bring PtP out of the coma for a while before exams. Unfortunately, my brain isn’t capable of tackling major issues like the healthcare bill or the terrorist trials in New York City (in sum: cautious pessimism and Republicans can suck it, the trial’s just for show anyway).

Instead, in honor of ending my dish washing days in one of Virginia Tech’s largest dining halls, I’m going to describe several things college students do to be general Dicks to dishwashing staff and the environment.
——

I spent a little over two months working in the dish room of West End Market. It was…tiring. I mean, there are worse jobs, in theory. But the shifts I was working combined with the general aversion I have toward being involved in the process of feeding people was definitely a downer on my workplace satisfaction.

In general, I find mass feeding operations to be vile. Virginia Tech has over 25,000 students eligible for a meal plan and the only restriction is whether you’re intelligent enough to realize that, without the 50% on-campus discount, you’re paying an obscene mark-up for the convenience of eating London Broil in between classes. But the real revulsion is a the simple result of numbers: Floods of students, thinking only about their own stomachs, lining up for collective hours to eat the same meals day after day after day. Literally tons of food are transported, processed, prepared, served, discarded, digested, and pooped out.

And to make sure that we don’t spread Norovirus or lose critical acclaim, every employee has to be the clean-shaven, sterilized customer’s bitch.

That’s like telling me I have to call the cow meandering over to graze on some cud “sir.”

Would you like me to pre-chew that gum for you, sir?

But, oh well, people have to eat.

But they don’t have to be dicks about it.

Here are the top things West End Market visitors do that pissed me off.

1. Order styrofoam “For Here”

When a register monkey asks you “for here” or “to go,” your response is meant to imply your intention with the consumption of that food. Will you eat it in the dining hall? In that case, they’ve got some lovely plates for you to eat off of. They’ve been scrubbed, powerwashed and dried for your convenience. Do you need to take the food back to your dormitory to catch Jeopardy? Well, the dining hall can provide you with a styrofoam box which, while unfortunately terrible for the environment, will keep your food warm on the journey back.

I’m pretty sure the intention wasn’t for you to simply take the styrofoam box inside the dining hall and then leave it for the dishwashers to throw away, you morons.

This is what a dishwasher has to do with the boxes: Grab them off the conveyer line, rip off the tops, dig through your leftovers to find the silverware you used and then stuff the styrofoam into the trash can, piling them several boxes high. Literally, the bulk of the trash that leaves West End Market is styrofoam. It goes off to a landfill, never to biodegrade, never to be reused, just taking up space. And for what? So you could feel like you had a bigger portion (because you don’t)? So you didn’t have to deal with the heaviness of a plate, Mr. I Can Bench 350? WHY? WHY would you order “to go” if you’re just going to sit your ass down and talk about your boring-ass day with your bros or your stupid sorority girlfriend? WHY? Do you HATE Planet Earth? Like, are you doing it on PURPOSE? There is no good reason to order styrofoam “for here.” You’re just being cruel.

But, as I mentioned, there’s a special class of For-Here Styrofoam Asshole. And that’s the guy who…

2. Sticks Silverware INSIDE Styrofoam boxes

So you’ve decided to take a crap on Mother Nature and order Styrofoam for here. But that’s not enough. You’ve decided to take part in a practice that wastes the time of any Dish person working the line. Rather than going a step further in non bio-degradable waste and dealing with the inconvenience of opening the to-go plastic fork-and-knife pack, you’re going to pick up silverware and use that to eat. And then what are you going to do with it? Are you going to place it on top of the box, for the Dish person to pick up and set aside?

No.

No, you’ve decided that you hate the people working in dish. So you’re going to leave the silverware inside the box, forcing the person on the line to dig through your meat-sauce and mushroom-gravy remains to find the pieces of metal that can’t be discarded. And it’s not just a select few idiots who do this. ALMOST EVERYONE WHO GETS STYROFOAM “FOR HERE” PUTS THEIR SILVERWARE IN THE BOX. It’s like 85 percent. It’s like you all had an ASSHOLE convention and decided that this was the optimal way to fuck with the environment AND the person throwing away your leftovers.

Oh, and then there’s always the considerate douchebag who sticks his fork and knife into the styrofoam box as if they formed Excalibur in the fucking stone. There. Now you know that there’s silverware in there and you don’t have to rummage through saliva. You know what? THAT’S NOT HELPFUL. The silverware just gets stuck in the conveyer belt, making it difficult to extract. It’s also not fun to have to pull that crap out of there. What? Do you think styrofoam is smooth like butter? You’re STILL AN ASSHOLE, King Arthur.

3. Waste Food

I get it. It’s not your money. Mommy and Daddy paid for your meal plan and they’ll probably also pay for your additional Flex dollars, after you splurge on $30 of DX food while suffering from the drunken munchies.

Does it really justify throwing away almost all your food?

There are two huge culprits at West End Market for food waste. One is the Bread Bowl Soups. They’re significantly more expensive than just soup-in-a-bowl. That’s because it’s a huge freaking loaf of gourmet bread filled with soup. But, apparently, you think you’re paying for some special, magic ingredient that makes the soup twice as expensive and has nothing to do with the bread, because you fucking LEAVE THE WHOLE LOAF, stained with chilli sauce and vegetable broth. WHAT. THE. FUCK?

The second even worse offender is the goddamn salad. I have scraped away more lettuce bits and cherry tomatoes than money wasted by the federal government. THAT’S A LOT OF FREAKING SALAD. Seriously, they’re practically untouched! It looks like the ONLY thing that’s been done to the salad is that it’s been doused in honey mustard or ranch dressing. What, is this like an art project for you? Are you just spreading the dressing around because you’re bored?

I know EXACTLY what’s going on there. Some stupid Tri-Delt is “on a diet” and orders the Grilled Chicken Salad. She proceeds to gobble the chicken, smothered in calorie-rich dressing. She sniffs around at the vegetables and maybe eats a leaf or two. She decides she’s not hungry. So she proceeds to THROW AWAY THE SALAD and then goes and splurges on ice cream or fried chicken fingers with fries (of which she will also throw half away). Then she’ll wonder while she’s bouncing on her treadmill why that small pouch of fat just won’t go away and she’ll consider simply puking it away. Meanwhile, I’m on the other side of that conveyer belt horrified at the fifty gardens I’m tossing just because some BITCH is obsessing over what meal will make her look good in her SLUT UNIFORM for this weekend’s party.

ARRRRRRRGH!

4. Bring in outside food and put it on the conveyer belt

You know what West End doesn’t serve? Cinnabon. You know what else it doesn’t serve? Chick Fil-A. At least those two are on campus. But you know what else it doesn’t serve? CHINESE TAKE-OUT. WENDY’S. PAPA JOHN’S. D.P. DOUGH. NONE of these are served in the restaurant and yet ALL of these find their way onto the West End conveyer belt. WHY? You just HAD to meet your friends in the dining hall? You couldn’t have stuffed your face alone for fifteen minutes and caught up with them later? What, do you have some spiritual connection related to food that prevents you from not being a huge dick and giving me additional trash to dispose of?

Listen, I understand that there are no trash cans in West End. But there are trash cans OUTSIDE West End. Why not just take a few additional steps and throw it away there? It’s the principle of the thing. I was hired by public tax dollars to dispose of food that was paid for by Virginia Tech. I wasn’t hired to be some other company’s dumpster-man. So why don’t you take your Thank You Thank You Thank You bag and stuff it somewhere-freaking-else, because I’m already up to my EYEBALLS in styrofoam and food waste and I don’t have to deal with your half-eaten Lo Mein on top of that.

Those are the top offenses that will stick with me forever. It’s simple math, I suppose. The larger the operation, the bigger propensity for a customer base to act Troll-ish. But, please, if you’re a Tech student and you’re reading this, consider your actions. Not only are you being criminally negligent to the environment, but you’re also PISSING off other students, peers, human beings. Let me break it down for you.

1. Don’t order “To-Go” when you intend to eat in the dining hall.
2. If you’re going to insist, then put your damn silverware FLAT and ON TOP of the box when you put it on the conveyer box.
3. Eat your damn food. It’s in the box anyway, take it back to your room, offer it to a hobo, do SOMETHING besides giving it to me to throw away.
4. Toss your outside food OUTSIDE

And if you’re that wonderful person who manages to put a styrofoam box with silverware deep inside a complete salad next to a Cinnabon box, then you are a bad person. And not like a, “Oh, Paul, he’s kind of an asshole, but he’s still fun and cool” bad person, but you’re worse than freakin’ Saddam Hussein. You are seriously psychotic and should be put away. Who taught you to behave that way? What Satanist manual tells you to just wave your genitals in the face of everything decent and reasonable?

I quit being a dishwasher. And 50% of the reason is people who don’t even bother pretending to be decent.

Let the Thanksgiving blogging continue!

hi

hi philip

The city of cities…

OK, let me start off by stating once more how much I love Toronto. There’s something about this city that just clicks with me. I’m always stunned when (some) Montrealers’ state how much they dislike it. Sure, it’s very “new-york-like” but since when is that a bad thing ?

Anyway, the ride there was great fun. No old lady collapsed in my arms this time around. We went really nasty (what we call “level 4 junk”) on the rest stop and decided to see what KFC tastes like. Surprisingly not so bad ! However, we also had a taco from the annexed Taco Bell. and that’s literally the worse piece of junk I ever ate ! (Taco Bell, you got demoted to “Level 5 junk” ). But I digress…

The Rancho Relaxo is a peculiar place. We got there early and watched Ghostbusters with the bartender and sound guy. It’s that kind of a place. Soon enough, the room started filling up and the openers started their set. Ours was on the short side but we had the most fun on stage. The audience was very receptive, which is always a good thing. There was an extra mic on stage this time, and Nad had some fun screaming into it when he felt like unloading some energy…

Again, Ontarians (ontarionites?) are really something. Such naturally nice people; it makes you rethink your own evil nature. Many of my friends and coworkers were there, and I was very touched by their presence. If you’re reading this, thanks again for coming ! While we’re at it, here’s a shootout for the best team of all time: Mongrel Media ! (of course now you HAVE to visit http://www.mongrelmedia.com).

***

Well, here we go. Our first tour ends here.
We could not be more happy.

Oh, and freshly baked chocolate chip muffins at Tim Hortons are bliss !

– Phil.

[For the love of god - dont make the material available!]

From: Phil Jones To: mann@xxxxxxxxx.xxx Subject: CLIMATIC CHANGE needs your advice – YOUR EYES ONLY !!!!! Date: Fri Jan 16 13:25:59 2004

Mike,

This is for YOURS EYES ONLY. Delete after reading – please ! I’m trying to redress the balance. One reply from Pfister said you should make all available !! Pot calling the kettle black – Christian doesn’t make his methods available. I replied to the wrong Christian message so you don’t get to see what he said. Probably best. Told Steve separately and to get more advice from a few others as well as Kluwer and legal.

PLEASE DELETE – just for you, not even Ray and Malcolm

Cheers

Phil

Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:37:29 +0000
To: Christian Azar , christian.pfister@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
From: Phil Jones
Subject: Re: AW: CLIMATIC CHANGE needs your advice
Cc: “‘David G. VICTOR’” , ‘Katarina Kivel’ ,
N.W.Arnell@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, frtca@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, d.camuffo@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, scohen@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, pmfearn@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, jfoley@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, pgleick@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, harvey@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, ahs@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, Thomas.R.Karl@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, rwk@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, rik.leemans@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, diana.liverman@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, mccarl@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, lindam@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, rmoss@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, ogilvie@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, barrie.pittock@xxxxxxxxx.xxx,
pollard@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, nj.rosenberg@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, crosenzweig@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, j.salinger@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, santer1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, h.j.schellnhuber@xxxxxxxxx.xxx,
F.I.Woodward@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, gyohe@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, leonid@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, shs@xxxxxxxxx.xxx

Dear Steve et al,

I’ve been away this week until today. Although the responses so far all make valid points, I will add my thoughts. I should say I have been more involved in all the exchanges between Mike and MM so I’m probably biased in Mike’s favour. I will try and be impartial, though, but I did write a paper with Mike (which came out in GRL in Aug 2003) and we currently have a long paper tentatively accepted by Reviews of Geophysics. With the latter all 4 reviewers think the paper is fine, but the sections referring to MM and papers by Soon and Baliunas are not and our language is strong. We need to work on this.

Back to the question in hand:

1. The papers that MM refer came out in Nature in 1998 and to a lesser extent in GRL in 1999. These reviewers did not request the data (all the proxy series) and the code. So, acceding to the request for this to do the review is setting a VERY dangerous precedent. Mike has made all the data series and this is all anyone should need. Making model code available is something else.

2. The code is basically irrelevant in this whole issue. In the GRL paper (in 2003 Mann and Jones), we simply average all the series we use together. The result is pretty much the same as MBH in 1998, Nature and MBH in 1999 in GRL.

3. As many of you know I calculate gridded and global/hemispheric temperature time series each month. Groups at NCDC and NASA/GISS do this as well. We don’t exchange codes - we do occasionally though for the data. The code here is trivial as it is in the paleo work. MBH get spatial patterns but the bottom line (the 1000 year series of global temps) is almost the same if you simply average. The patterns give more, though, when it comes to trying to understand what has caused the changes – eg by comparison with models. MM are only interested in the NH/Global 1000-year time series – in fact only in the MBH work from 1400.

4. What has always intrigued me in this whole debate, is why the skeptics (for want of a better term) always pick on Mike. There are several other series that I’ve produced, Keith Briffa has and Tom Crowley. Jan Esper’s work has produced a slightly different series but we don’t get bombarded by MM. Mike’s paper wasn’t the first. It was in Nature and is well-used by IPCC. I suspect the skeptics wish to concentrate their effort onto one person as they did with Ben Santer after the second IPCC report.

5. Mike may respond too strongly to MM, but don’t we all decide not to work with or co-operate with people we do not get on with or do not like their views. Mike will say that MM are disingenuous, but I’m not sure how many of you realise how vicious the attack on him has been. I will give you an example. When MM came out, we had several press calls (I don’t normally get press calls about my papers unless I really work at it – I very rarely do). This was about a paper in E&E, which when we eventually got it several days later was appalling. I found out later that the authors were in contact with the reviewers up to a week before the article appeared. So there is peer review and peer review !! Here the peer review was done by like-minded colleagues. Anyway, I’m straying from the point. Tim Osborn, Keith Briffa and I felt we should put something on our web site about the paper and directs people to Mike’s site and also to E&E and the MM’s site. MM have hounded us about this for the last four months. In the MM article, they have a diagram which says ‘corrected version’ when comparing with MBH. We have seen people refer to this paper (MM) as an alternative reconstruction – yet when we said this is our paragraph MM claim they are not putting forward a new reconstruction but criticizing MBH 1998 !! We have decided to remove the sentence on our web page just to stop these emails. But if a corrected version isn’t a new or alternative reconstruction I don’t know what is. So, in conclusion, I would side with Mike in this regard. In trying to be scrupulously fair, Steve, you’ve opened up a whole can of worms. If you do decide to put the Mann response into CC then I suspect you will need an editorial. MM will want to respond also. I know you’ve had open and frank exchanges in CC before, but your email clearly shows that you think this is in a different league. MM and E&E didn’t give Mann the chance to respond when they put their paper in, but this is a too simplistic. It needs to be pointed out in an editorial though – I’m not offering by the way.

I could go on and on ….
Cheers
Phil
At 10:36 15/01/2004 +0100, Christian Azar wrote:

Dear all,

I agree with most of what has been said so far. Reproducibility is the key word. If the Mann el al material (to be) posted on the website is sufficient to ensure reproducibility, then there is no compelling need to force them to hand it out. If not, then the source code is warranted. Also, even if there is no compelling need to make the source code public, doing it anyway would clearly be beneficial for the entire debate.

Yours,

Christian

——————————————————————–

Christian Azar
Professor
Department of physical resource theory
Chalmers University of Technology
G�teborg University
412 96 G�teborg
Sweden
ph: ++46 31 772 31 32
[1]www.frt.fy.chalmers.se
[2]www.miljo.chalmers.se/cei

Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090
School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784
University of East Anglia
Norwich Email p.jones@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
NR4 7TJ
UK
—————————————————————————-
Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090
School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784
University of East Anglia
Norwich Email p.jones@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
NR4 7TJ
UK
—————————————————————————-
References
1. http://www.frt.fy.chalmers.se/
2. http://www.miljo.chalmers.se/cei

This is too big. It has started hitting msm. If things don’t explode within the next 48 hours then I’ll eat my hat. Another email found :

From: Phil Jones To: Shaopeng Huang ,hpollack@xxxxxxxxx.xxx Subject: Nature paper and beyond Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 13:04:24 +0000 Cc: mann@xxxxxxxxx.xxx,tom@xxxxxxxxx.xxx,k.briffa@xxxxxxxxx.xxx, t.osborn@xxxxxxxxx.xxx

Dear Shaopeng and Henry,

First, congratulations on the Nature paper. Can you send me some reprints when you get them ?

I was at a meeting this week with Tom Crowley and we were discussing ways to reconcile the high-freq proxies with your borehole data. Here are a couple of our thoughts. Involving Mike Mann and others here in CRU, as they all have an input.

1. I’ve shown that the borehole data in Europe agree well with the long instrumental data in both the UK and Europe. The biggest differences/problems seem to come with the North American borehole data, which show the 16/17/18th data much cooler than the European/Asian/African data in the 16/17th century. I’m still reminded by the potential effects of land-use changes, principally in the eastern US, which could be making your North American series too cool. I realise you’ve taken great care with the selection, but this is a nagging doubt and will be picked up by the few skeptics trying to divide us all about the course of change over the last millennium. Is it possible to subdivide the North American borehole data into regions where we can be confident of no land-use changes (possibly and thinking aloud say Canada and the western US and Alaska) ? The aim of this (possibly joint work) is to try and reconcile the low- and high-freq proxies. Tom Crowley has a series for the NH where he’s combined about 20 series (a few of which are in Mike’s and the series we’ve produced here but he has over half the series from less-well resolved proxies – shallow marine and lake sediments) and he gets something very similar to Mike and CRU.

2. As all our (Mike, Tom and CRU) all show that the first few centuries of the millennium were cooler than the 20th century, we will come in for some flak from the skeptics saying we’re wrong because everyone knows it was warmer in the Medieval period. We can show why we believe we are correct with independent data from glacial advances and even slower responding proxies, however, what are the chances of putting together a group of a very few borhole series that are deep enough to get the last 1000 years. Basically trying to head off criticisms of the IPCC chapter, but good science in that we will be rewriting people’s perceived wisdom about the course of temperature change over the past millennium. It is important as studies of the millennium will help to show that the levels of natural variability from models are reasonable. Tom has run his EBM with current best estimates of past forcing (Be-10 as a proxy for solar output and Alan Robock’s ice core volcanic index) and this produces a series similar to all series of the last 1000 years.

The above is just ideas of how we, as a group, could/should try and reduce criticisms etc over the next year or so. Nothing is sacred. Your North American borehole series could be correct as it is annual and most of the high-freq proxy series respond mainly to summer variations. Is yours really annual when there is a marked seasonal snow cover season ?

Cheers Phil

16-12 on the year but I feel good about this week though. This weeked isn’t as appetizing as the recent weeks have been but nevertheless; it’s still a good one. It’s rivalry week around the league with some old friends reacquainting themselves with one another. Rivalry games is what football is made out of and teams get to flex their muscle this week. Rivalry games are usually close so viewers should be treated to some competitive games. But of course, anything can happen but when it comes to what I think… here goes nothing.

Washington Redskins (3-6) vs. Dallas Cowboys (6-3)

Normally I don’t highlight games featuring a below .500 team but the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry is a game where you wipe the records off the plate. The Redskins have struggled all season but showed some signs of life last week in their 27-17 win over the Denver Broncos. Dallas was hot before last Sunday’s 17-7 loss at Green Bay but both teams will be refocused when they resume their long time rivalry this week.

Washington will enter the game with Ladell Betts starting over the injured Clinton Portis at running back. Betts led the team with 114 rushing yards last week and added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. He gives the Redskins some fresh legs and returns the spunk the Washington running game. Betts’ performance will be critical against Dallas because Washington still hasn’t found a consistent passing attack. If Betts gets going, maligned quarterback Jason Campbell won’t be forced to carry the load which is a recipe for disaster for the Redskins.

Establishing Betts will be hard to do against the Cowboys however. Dallas hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher all season and will undoubtedly stack the line and dare Campbell to beat them. The Dallas defense has been playing extremely well over the last few weeks and will pose a major problem for Washington with their speed and quickness. Washington already doesn’t pass protect well and that’s exciting news for guys like DeMarcus Ware and Bradie James.

Tony Romo and the Dallas offense will try to bounce back from last week’s one touchdown performance and Washington could be the perfect opponent. In their last three games, Washington has allowed scores of 40, 75, 30, 58, 67 and 57 yards. For big-play specialists like Felix Jones and Miles Austin, a rebound could definitely be in the cards. Dallas is a team known for two things: big plays and pressuring the passer. In the last few weeks, Washington has been known for several things but mostly: allowing big plays and failing to protect the passer. Washington will be up for the game but with so many gaps in their play the last few weeks, Dallas will bounce back and chop down the Skins. Cowboys 27-17

Atlanta Falcons (5-4) vs. New York Giants (5-4)

The Giants’ backs are against the wall. They’ve lost four straight and Minnesota and New Orleans continue to pile up victories, making winning the NFC East or at least finishing strong a must if they want to get into the playoffs. Their bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. They had a week off to clear their heads and refocus on how they want to attack their remaining seven games.

They could start with the run game. New York has gotten away from their bread and butter this year and has let QB Eli Manning air it out. With Manning nursing a foot injury and a group of inconsistent wideouts, getting back to the ground would probably be best for all parties involved. The collapse of the once feared Giant defense has been the most troubling throughout their skid but they’ll get an Atlanta team coming to town that’s been struggling offensively as of late.

While the Falcons have been running the ball with some serious authority in the last few weeks, QB Matt Ryan has slumped considerably. Ryan has thrown three touchdowns and six interceptions in his last three games as Atlanta has dropped to 1-3 in its last four. While his running mate Michael Turner has been on a tear recently, he’ll miss Sunday’s game with a sprained ankle, putting even more pressure on the sophomore signal caller.

Atlanta will need to attack New York’s secondary if they want to win. New York has allowed eleven touchdown passes over the course of their four game losing streak. Without Turner though, Atlanta loses the threat of play-action and the Giants will be allowed to tee off on Ryan. Atlanta isn’t the strongest defense but they aren’t the worse. Against New York however, the Falcons will have to be prepared to stop the run because the Giants will be sure to reinforce the run coming off four consecutive losses and a bye. This is a game New York has to win and a team in desperation mode coming off a bye week shouldn’t be picked against. Giants 34-16

Indianapolis Colts (9-0) vs. Baltimore Ravens (5-4)

Bill Belichik personally let the Colts off the hook last week by going for it on fourth-and-2 within his own 30. New England was inches away from handing Indy their first loss of the season but Baltimore will try to be the first opponent to break the Colts’ 18-game regular season winning streak. Peyton Manning is having another MVP-type season and is carrying an offense with no running game. The Colts’ defense has been losing bodies but packaged together a nice game plan late in the game to overtake the Patriots last week.

Baltimore is entering a rough patch in their schedule. Over the next three weeks the Ravens will see Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Green Bay. Beating Indy would be a huge confidence booster for a team that’s somewhat unsure of themselves at this point. Baltimore’s 5-4 record has several around the league questioning if Baltimore is a serious contender this year but upending Manning would restore a lot of confidence.

The Ravens will have to turn the heat up on Manning to get him out of his comfort zone but that’s easier said than done. Baltimore loss premier pass rusher Terrell Suggs last Monday to an errant block from Cleveland QB Brady Quinn. With Haloti Ngata nursing an ankle injury and his status questionable, the Ravens could be without two key members from their front seven.

Baltimore’s best chance to win may come down to a shootout between Manning and sophomore QB Joe Flacco. The Ravens’ offense has been struggling recently, averaging 11.5 points per game in the last two weeks. The Colts’ secondary is depleted however, and behind the backing of a raucous crowd that despises everything associated with Indianapolis, the Baltimore offense could undergo a revival. But even if they do get into a shootout, Manning has the moxie and weapons to win that battle. Regardless of how depleted Indianapolis’ secondary is, Manning is going to keep them in the game and just like he’s shown all season, if you keep him around enough, he’ll get you in the end. Colts 28-24

San Diego Charges (6-3) vs. Denver Broncos (6-3)

San Diego has to be going into this game ready to punch Denver square in the mouth. The Broncos handed San Diego an embarrassing Monday night loss a few weeks ago when Eddie Royal returned two kicks in a 34-23 win that left the Chargers reeling at 2-3. San Diego has won four straight since then while the Broncos have lost three straight.

With both teams 6-3 the division is on the line. Denver’s QB Kyle Orton sustained an ankle injury last week against the Redskins and his status is up in the air for this week’s game. If Orton is unable to play, it would be a huge blow for Denver. His backup, Chris Simms, has proven that he’s no more than an adequate player in the league and he’ll struggle to match Chargers’ QB Philip Rivers throw for throw.

This game will be on the Broncos defense to win and if the last three weeks has been any indication, they’ll struggle to contain San Diego’s high-profile passing attack. Teams have averaged 28.3 points per game against Denver’s vaunted defense over the last few weeks and San Diego scores four touchdowns in a game on a bad day. Regardless if Orton plays or not, Denver’s offense is going to be hampered with either a healthy Simms or a hobbled Orton. The Broncos will have to hold San Diego below 20 points if they expect to win.

The winners of four straight, San Diego is on the up and up. Motivation from an earlier loss will be extra motivation for the Chargers, knowing the game is on the line. San Diego is catching the Broncos at the perfect time with Orton’s status questionable and their defense second guessing what they’re doing. Trying to contain the Chargers’ offense is close to impossible right now, especially with LaDainian Tomlinson starting to come on. Rivers and a running game is the recipe for the victory and San Diego will be ready to take advantage of now suspect Bronco team. Chargers 28-16

“Great Expectations”

November 18th, 2009

In terms of the great comedy battle of 2009, which continues to rage amongst shows both new and old, Modern Family is at a distinct disadvantage: with Parks and Recreation delivering some legitimately great comedy and Community doing a really compelling and confident meta-storyline, the simplicity of this show is a disadvantage in terms of being flashy. There comes a point where the hype surrounding the show creates greater expectations than the storylines themselves can live up to in terms of their premise, requiring viewers to appreciate the strong execution where originality isn’t overtly present.

“Great Expectations” is a solid episode of the show, featuring a number of fun loving gags and a couple of big guest stars, but nothing stands out as particularly stunning as compared to some of the other comedies. In this instance, I think there was enough nuance to each individual story to continue to prove how strong the writers understand these characters, but it nonetheless follows similar patterns to what we’ve seen in the past. I think it’s one of their stronger episodes due to a nice role reversal, but it’s not reaching as high as some of the other comedies are right now.

For me, this episode is about the little things more than it is about the guest stars. While Elizabeth Banks (playing Cameron and Mitchell’s barhopping friend Sal) and Edward Norton (playing the bass player/backup vocalist from Spandau Ballet) are both very funny and integrated well into the episode, the storylines they’re involved in really have very little to do with them. I thought the Cameron/Mitchell story was perhaps the episode’s least interesting, if only because it was so predictable: we’re shown that they’re having trouble getting out with Lily around, they make a night out of it with a friend, and discover that their friend is jealous of Lily and devolves into a petulant child. There’s nothing wrong with the storyline, and Banks sells the child-like reaction perfectly, but the storyline had absolutely no twists or turns or nuances to it – just a couple of fun moments (Mitchell refusing to allow her to hold her, Mitchell’s “I’m going in!” Re: new boobs), and strong performances all around.

I thought the other two storylines were simply more interesting conceptually. Jay’s Night, featuring Sloppy Jays and western movies, was the sort of storyline that was charming because of how great Ed O’Neill is and more importantly how you get small little running gags like Gloria’s tone deaf singing or Luke taking everything that Jay says as a sign that he’s going to die soon. Combine with the running battle between Jay and Haley, which nicely ties into what we know of Claire’s own childhood, and the conclusion with Dylan wanting to stick around for Jay’s Night, and the storyline just had a nice flow to it. It was never overly dramatic or overly broad (Jay squirting Manny like a dog was perhaps a BIT broad), staying within a simple comic mode and delivering on its promise.

And I thought the Claire/Phil storyline was the episode’s strongest, if not comically, then certainly in terms of the characters. Phil is still a bit too much like Michael Scott (the scene listing off the things he wants could have very easily been put into Steve Carell’s mouth without much in terms of change), but as with Michael it’s always good when he gets to be the smart one. He, unlike his wife, is capable of being romantic, so the anniversary becomes about Claire’s struggles rather than Phil’s. It’s a nice change of pace, as Julie Bowen is likeable even when she’s incapable of being romantic and Ty Burrell was great in interacting with (his good friend) Edward Norton as they struggle over whether the charade (which was a pretty ingenious comic device) could be continued. Like I say, the big laughs weren’t there, but the emotional payoff was solid and it kept Phil out of his usual tomfoolery role.

Nothing complex, but a funny and enjoyable episode – no need to place it relative to anything else to enjoy that.

Cultural Observations

• Alex gets all of the best one-liners amongst the grandchildren, and here she both played into Haley’s vanity and created Luke’s trauma over her grandfather’s death. Hoping for another episode for her soon.
• I was thinking of how Edward Norton was going to do “funny” in this show’s style, and it’s clear now that I should have thought of “accent” right away. Always funny!
• Spandau Ballet, of course, is an actual band, although I didn’t entirely realize this until I heard him humming the melody of “True” and I realized I recognized it (but would never have known the band name). I did enjoy the joke the show got out of this, as the reason Izzy Lafontaine refused to continue the performance was that the song was called “True” and the story was false.
• Wait, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark was also a real band? Oh, The 80s.

“We will not trust spiritual power until we have experienced a God who operates in the same way, a God who is willing to wait, allow, forgive, trust and love unconditionally. It is largely a waste of time to tell people to love generously when the God they have been presented with is a taskmaster, loves quite conditionally, is easily offended, very needy and threatens people with eternal torture if they don’t “believe” in him.” ~Richard Rohr

So I stumbled upon that reading last year some time and I am now beginning to accept that I talk and act and think the way I do because I am trying to undo the God I was initially presented with. I continually try to help both students and people grasp just how much God loves them… but I have realized that in doing so, I am truly trying to help myself which is proving to be a much harder task.

But when I read that quote above, as I often do, I sooooo want to experience that God. That God has shaped me as a teacher. That God has formed my theology. That God is who I read about in the Bible. But that God has not invaded my heart. I still attempt to please and earn the love of my taskmaster who loves me quite conditionally. I walk the fine line every day, all day long, trying not to slip up and offend him. I allow others the opportunity to experience freedom in God but have such a hard time with it myself. Meanwhile, I know that God is with us. I know that the kingdom of God is something I can simply step into… even now.

And I am praying that I will. And I guess this is what it means to work out my salvation. It is a process by which I become a complete, whole person. A life long experience of coming to terms with the fact that God does love me, accept me, forgive me, wait on me.  Learning that God is patient and loves unconditionally. And that God in no way resembles what I or we think. God is always more. Salvation is my encounter of that God… daily, weekly, yearly. And as I encounter, I want more, I transform… I am literally saved from myself and my warped view of God.

I’m on a roll!  Lunchtime shop for a computer game that I want to buy for a friend as a birthday gift!  Went onto kelkoo.co.uk to price compare and found the game was cheapest at thehut.com

It is a good idea to do this as the same game ranged from under £18 to over £35 depending on which site you used to purchase it from.  Fortunately thehut.com are on mywebclub and the purchase earned another 27p(!) of cashback, but it all helps!

My 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago and I had not got my present from Mrs B yet.  Settled on a new top of the range Sat Nav as my current TomTom is old and they are not issuing map updates for it anymore (we are often shown on screen driving through fields where new roads have obviously been built).  Went for the 950 LIVE with UK, European, US and Canadian Maps (we often take roadtrip holidays in the States).  The cheapest place I could find the unit was not offering cashback.  I checked the second cheapest, Halfords,  and found that they are offering 10% off all Sat Navs costing over £125!  This brought the price down to about £25 cheaper than anywhere else and I earned cashback on top!

The cashback (£8.10!) is already on my mywebclub account.  My total statement now adds up to £11.26 and I know there are a couple of purchases that are still to be added in!