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Bill Maher: Earth to America
Bill Mahar does political standup for the Global Warming Comedy Special.
Nov 27, 2005 12:07 PM
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
Those are some fightin' words, but I agree for the most part.
By: dancinghomer
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
This guy is so full of crap. 9% oxygen content?? Studies I've seen claim that oxygen content today is around 21% and 250 million years ago it was down to around 16%, its lowest point in 200 million years. It's not that democrats don't make things sound "scary" enough (like Bill Maher contends), it's that they're constantly spewing out made up statistics and junk science studies to support crackpot pollution theories.
I have no doubt there are environmental issues we need to focus on, but environmentalists are crying wolf so often sensible people don't know who to believe.
I have no doubt there are environmental issues we need to focus on, but environmentalists are crying wolf so often sensible people don't know who to believe.
By: JRock
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
You're right. Republicans stick to the facts, and that crap those dumbass scientists just pulled up the other day saying that our carbon dioxide level is higher than it's ever been as far back as 650,000 years go is pure malarkey.
I mean just a couple of years ago, we had it to about half a million years, but we knew there was a cycle involved, and now they pull this crap?!!
Those bastards only drilled a couple of miles deep into the Antarctic ice! Quitters! Why not drill to all the way to the core?
Hell, the planet's only a couple thousand years old, I dunno what they're looking for anyway.
I mean just a couple of years ago, we had it to about half a million years, but we knew there was a cycle involved, and now they pull this crap?!!
Those bastards only drilled a couple of miles deep into the Antarctic ice! Quitters! Why not drill to all the way to the core?
Hell, the planet's only a couple thousand years old, I dunno what they're looking for anyway.
By: hypersloth
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
But if you drill to the core of the earth, you might disturb all those levels of Hell and Lucifer will be unleashed and a plague of locusts and stinging nettles will rain down upon us. It's all in the Bible, so it must be true. Besides, I have it on good authority from both Sean Hannity and Bill O
Reilly...heh.
Reilly...heh.
By: podwall
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
I'm a democrat on all other issues, but the vast majority of facts say that talk of environmental apocalypse is bullshit. I like environmentalism when it stops pretty places from getting made ugly. I don't like environmentalism when it becomes sensationalist politics.
If you believe this crap about how we're all going to die soon because of some global ecological crisis, you're getting tooled by a combination of the media and these organizations like Greenpeace.
This is what enviornmentalism should be: http://www.greenspirit.com/index.cfm
If you believe this crap about how we're all going to die soon because of some global ecological crisis, you're getting tooled by a combination of the media and these organizations like Greenpeace.
This is what enviornmentalism should be: http://www.greenspirit.com/index.cfm
By: WoodenTaco
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
Is the end near? If you consider a couple of hundred years near, yes.
To summarize? When you hear people telling you that everything will be fine, they are right. Everything will be fine. Until it isn't.
Let me share with you something from the test tube environment. pH testing of a solution following each drop of one mL of HCl added... 7.1, 7.1, 7.0, 6.9, 6.9, 6.8, 6.7, 6.6, 4.1. The precipitous drop takes place, as it does in nature. This is how acid rain makes freshwater lakes sterile overnight.
But if you choose to ignore science and instead prefer to look at the pretty wildlife refuges and assume that they'll be there forever, feel free.
To summarize? When you hear people telling you that everything will be fine, they are right. Everything will be fine. Until it isn't.
Let me share with you something from the test tube environment. pH testing of a solution following each drop of one mL of HCl added... 7.1, 7.1, 7.0, 6.9, 6.9, 6.8, 6.7, 6.6, 4.1. The precipitous drop takes place, as it does in nature. This is how acid rain makes freshwater lakes sterile overnight.
But if you choose to ignore science and instead prefer to look at the pretty wildlife refuges and assume that they'll be there forever, feel free.
By: spam_vigilante
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
So he "read" that the earth had 19% oxygen in its atmosphere, then goes on to say how much it "matters" that it is now down to 9%. There's a couple of problems with this:
1. Where did he read it? Was it a reputable source? Reputable enough to make a sreious commentary on it?
2. You can "read" here on Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air ) that there is actually 20% oxygen. I totally understand if you don't value it as a source, but at least it a cited source! Google "percentage of oxygen in the air" NOVA on PBS puts it at 21%.
But hey...Bill doesn't have to be specific since he can always use the "entertainment" card if he is called on his bullshit "facts". People like him are ironically the reason why people have a problem with the abundance of "facts" concerning global warming.
1. Where did he read it? Was it a reputable source? Reputable enough to make a sreious commentary on it?
2. You can "read" here on Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air ) that there is actually 20% oxygen. I totally understand if you don't value it as a source, but at least it a cited source! Google "percentage of oxygen in the air" NOVA on PBS puts it at 21%.
But hey...Bill doesn't have to be specific since he can always use the "entertainment" card if he is called on his bullshit "facts". People like him are ironically the reason why people have a problem with the abundance of "facts" concerning global warming.
By: Xombee
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
Keep sticking your head in the sand. Your offspring will surely thank you for it. They didn't need oxygen anyway, right?
By: spam_vigilante
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
The point is, genius, that someone saying that they "read" there is only 9% oxygen in our atmosphere does not make it so. Here's the scenario: He says that it USED to be 19%...the glory days of oxygen content in our atmosphere. Other sources...that you can actually visit yourself...say that it is 20% to 21%. So if 19% was great in Bill Mahers eyes, does that mean we have no actual problem if other sources say it is actually higher than what he claims it used to be?
Just frigging say that pollution is bad and leave it at that. It does no good for a scientific non-entity to throw out a jumble of meaningless, and in some cases outright incorrect, numbers. Know your limits.
Just frigging say that pollution is bad and leave it at that. It does no good for a scientific non-entity to throw out a jumble of meaningless, and in some cases outright incorrect, numbers. Know your limits.
By: Xombee
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
Why thank you for the compliment. However, I don't consider myself to be one.
What's the big deal with your obsession with accuracy. Maher is a comic, not a statistician. Just because you're getting totally anal over a number doesn't mean that the rest of the world shares your position. Dig?
What's the big deal with your obsession with accuracy. Maher is a comic, not a statistician. Just because you're getting totally anal over a number doesn't mean that the rest of the world shares your position. Dig?
By: spam_vigilante
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
I'm not obsessed with accuracy. Figures are given to attempt to lend credibility to a statement. 9% is nowhere near 20%. 9% would be a level of alarm. 20% is not. Let's say you have a child. Let's say that your child has an ACTUAL temperature of 97 degrees, yet someone TELLS you that it is 107 degrees. Would you be obsessed with accuracy if you felt that those 10 degrees of error were a bit much?
And if Maher is a comic and not a statistician, why use statistics? Is that hard to "dig" for you? Obviously so.
And if Maher is a comic and not a statistician, why use statistics? Is that hard to "dig" for you? Obviously so.
By: Xombee
Re: Bill Maher: Earth to America
I'm befuddled that some mouths with an agenda can still override a worldful of research, purely by spouting rhetoric about the inaccuracies of the reports, despite the glaring evidence...
Here's an example of the weapon used against science.
Let's suppose that 42.7% of all statistics are made up right there on the spot. I'll accept that, because it fits my agenda.
Let's also consider that smoking-related illnesses cause (pulling a number out of my ass) 17% of all deaths worldwide.
That means 83% of all the people that die, do so from not smoking.
So there, fuck a bunch of facts!
Here's an example of the weapon used against science.
Let's suppose that 42.7% of all statistics are made up right there on the spot. I'll accept that, because it fits my agenda.
Let's also consider that smoking-related illnesses cause (pulling a number out of my ass) 17% of all deaths worldwide.
That means 83% of all the people that die, do so from not smoking.
So there, fuck a bunch of facts!
By: hypersloth
