Baffled and annoyed by all the scientific arguments to and fro about Climate Change?

Want some help?

Try Iowahawk‘s fine DIY guide to producing impressive climate statistics – and to presenting data in all sorts of different ways …

As previously noted, it all boils down to showing why the Medieval Warming Period is (not) relevant to what we are seeing now.

Update:  Tireless reader Norman Fraser continues to accuse me of being ‘in denial’ about various climate change issues.

Problem is, if you agree that you are in denial does that mean that you aren’t?

It’s all so confusing.

Just like the Epimenides Paradox. You know, the one where a Cretan says that "All Cretans are liars":

Several interpretations and analyses are available, if the statement is considered false. It might be contended that the truth-value "false" can be consistently assigned to the simple proposition that "All Cretans are liars," so that this statement by itself, when deemed false, is not, strictly speaking, paradoxical.

Thus, if there ever existed a Cretan who even once spoke the truth, the categorical statement "All Cretans are (always) liars," would be false, and Epimenides might be simply regarded as having made a false statement himself.

An interesting asymmetry is possible under one interpretation: the statement’s truth clearly implies its falsehood, but, unless the statement is interpreted to refer specifically to itself (rather than referring categorically to all statements by Cretans), the statement could be contingently false without implying its own truth.

Naturally, any truly logical idea of a paradox with the statement falls flat if one understands that while "all Cretans" may be "liars," such a statement in realistic terms does not necessarily mean that all Cretans lie all the time or that they lie only.

Even if it is said that "Cretans are always liars," this does not produce a paradox if one understands the various meanings of the term always – as in "John always says No!" does not mean that "No" is all – or the only thing – John ever says.

See?