The May update of NOAA’s monthly graph is now available, once again showing the Sun’s sunspot activity during this ramp up to solar maximum far exceeding the predictions. That graph is below, annotated by me with additional data to provide some context.
An evening pause: During last week’s failed attempts to explain the concept of doubt and skepticism in science to a global warming adherent (which begins here and also in the comments of this post), Edward Thelen provided a link to the video below of one of Richard Feynman’s lectures. I thought it entertaining enough to be an evening pause, and educational enough that more people should see it. Listen especially near the middle when he begins to talk about the uselessness of theories that are vague and poorly defined. It will strike a nerve if you have been paying attention to the climate debates during the past two decades.
An evening pause: “It doesn’t make a difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn’t make a difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong.”
An evening pause: In honor of Martin Gardner’s birthday today. To find out the connection, make sure you also watch part 2.
