OSU’s “Open Minds” My Ass.
Is it getting hot in here? Or is it global warming? If you’re asking Nicholas Drapela, it’s probably just Nicholas Drapela. This total hottie, according to RateMyProfessor, was fired from his teaching (professing?) position in the Department of Chemistry at Oregon State University. And not for the fact that “rape” is literally in the middle of his name, but because he spoke out against the University on a controversial issue.
Drapela challenged global warning, and claimed there was a conflict of interest among the University and science community to perpetuate the theory. The administration refused to give a reason for firing him but the motives were clear to those familiar with Drapela and the University’s stance. “I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the Global Warming doctrine at OSU,” he said in an email to WattsUpWithThat.com. “I gave several public talks on the topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the web. I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area. I think they finally just said, we can’t have this.” Apparently Drapela’s spicy good looks couldn’t save him from termination, and he now has to look for other work in the godforsaken city of Corvallis.
Let’s keep in mind that the validity of global warming is not at all the issue here. What is important is the ability to show a dissenting opinion without fear of persecution. Both sides to a controversial issue should be respected in higher learning centers, and at OSU (zing!). We may poke fun, but ousting a well-liked and qualified person for having a differing opinion or agenda isn’t unique to OSU, lest we forget the Hat. I recommend that OSU students follow our example and don’t let this kind of action from their administration go unchecked. It may not bring their professor back, but it would show that if a respectable staff member gets fired for questionable reasons, the administration should prepare for a shirt-wearing shitstorm of moderate proportions.
A photo of free speech for professors.
EDIT: Thank you, “The Old Man,” for the correction.
As we speak, the biggest wildfires in CO history are burning hard-earned homes and Record floods are destroying towns in Michigan. It’s not some wild Liberal fantasy, it’s a phenomenon described by the brightest minds we have. It’s not a scare tactic to tell people what the consequences are likely to be
“Professor” Drapela’s presentation on the matter doesn’t even try to address scientific explanations of climate change. It’s just a nutty conspiracy theory wrapped up in powerpoint and, frankly, not relevant to a Chemistry curriculum.
So I see y’all have run Jimmy B off the thread but the absurdity of y’all denying settled science while the arctic melts and natural disaster “firsts” happen all over the world will hopefully eventually dawn on you.
http://www.economist.com/node/21556798
“Professor” Drapela’s presentation on the matter doesn’t even try to address scientific explanations of climate change. It’s just a nutty conspiracy theory wrapped up in powerpoint and, frankly, not relevant to a Chemistry curriculum.
So I see y’all have run Jimmy B off the thread but the absurdity of y’all denying settled science while the arctic melts and natural disaster “firsts” happen all over the world will hopefully eventually dawn on you.
Just in case you need to know what’s best for the 7 billion people on Earth, JimmyB knows! Can I have his (or her) phone number? I’d like to add it to my speed dial in case I have any questions about humanity in the future….
What the climate alarmist want you to look at:
http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/histo61.png
OMG.. Its shooting up like a ROCKET!
But…
http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/histo3.png
Huh… what? what happen….
That massive warming turned into a blip…
(data taken from ice cores)
Another thing is around 1000 AD the Vikings were harvesting Birch Trees in Greenland to build their villages… And the Tower of London was being built
Here is a painting around the time of the Tower of London (take note the water level)
http://www.botticellisvision.com/images/Tower_of_London_Painting.jpg
Now here is a current picture of the Tower of London.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-33OaKp_t6KY/Tq-bQQwCKtI/AAAAAAAAA60/wpxt1HChr8I/s1600/Tower+of+London.jpg
Hmmm… So back around 1000 AD ice core data has the temperature much higher than it is today. Birch Trees were growing in Greenland, grapes were growing in UK and yet… the water levels are nearly exactly the same in the painting and in the photograph.
Jimmy doesn’t even read his own science… The IPCC says the amount of people threaten by global warming isnt 7 billion (the true sign of an irrational alarmist position)… its about 150k a year… mostly those who would be displaced by sea level rise… which isnt happening.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5067351/Rise-of-sea-levels-is-the-greatest-lie-ever-told.html
Then we come to the cost of ‘global warming’. The EU has stated they plan to spend about $250 billion a year for the next 100 years to combat global warming. 25 Trillion dollars…. and the end results of their effort… maybe… just maybe they will achieve 1 degree of cooling.
This guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg
Has claimed that we are going about global warming all wrong. He put a movie out about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_It:_The_Skeptical_Environmentalist%27s_Guide_to_Global_Warming
Its available on Netflix and Blockbuster on demand (via Dish) if you want to watch it.
He basically states doing cap & trade or carbon taxes will accomplishing nothing but corruption. Just another system to be manipulated by the rich and the politicians. That there are much smarter ways to address the issue.
There is only one reason… and one reason only people like Lomborg and Drapela are being attacked.
MONEY!
The amount of money being shoveled at the global warming community is astounding. I watched an interview with a few scientists that stated:
If you want to do a study on the mating habits of the Eastern Gray Squirrels… Chances are… you wont get any grant money.
BUT…
If you want to do a study on how Climate Change effects the mating habits of the Eastern Gray Squirrels… Then there is boatloads of grant cash just waiting to be tapped into.
If scientists can wrap their studies around climate change… they are flush with cash.
Honestly… you think OSU and the rest of the scientific community are not going to protect this cash cow.. with ANYTHING it takes?
If you do… you are not living in the real world.
How irrelevant are JimmyB’s comments? A Chemistry Instructor at OSU certainly is entitled to his opinions on climate change, global warming, etc. especially since it has nothing to do with teaching chemistry. The only question should be, is someone an effective instructor in their subject and by all accounts Professor Drapela is.
It also seems to be the climate change alarmists who will stop at nothing to shut down dissent and open debate on the facts of climate change. They go to extraordinary lengths to stop anyone who has the audacity to question questionable science.
Many champions of this theory (who hoped to profit from it) don’t really buy it.
Al Gore made speeches on a California beach stating that the beach would be gone in 10 years due to the melting polar ice. He also pushed for the purchase of carbon credits which would have may his holdings skyrocket.
Last year, he bought an expensive house on that very beach.
I guess nobody noticed.
I guess the people are visiting Mars in their spare time since Mars is going through the same temperature changes as the earth.
Sort of makes one think that the Sun might have something to do with it.
Any UNPROVEN theory is open to question including man global warming caused by man.
Students should not just drink the Kool-Aid and take everything they hear as fact. They should question everything and look at the sources of the so called doctrine being forced on them.
I don’t understand why men in their sixties get so bent out of shape when they hear “global warming”.
They will try to blame the heating of our planet on natural cycles, cosmic rays, solar intensity, ocean currents….anything and everything EXCEPT the heat trapping gasses getting spewed into our atmosphere by billions of people.
Read the garbage that Drapela has fabricated. Students deserve better than that.
JimmyB –
“The science is absolutely crystal clear.”
It would seem you don’t really understand how the scietific method works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
1.Define a question
2.Gather information and resources (observe)
3.Form an explanatory hypothesis
4.Test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data in a reproducible manner
5.Analyze the data
6.Interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis
7.Publish results
8.Retest (frequently done by other scientists)
While there is evidence supporting anthropogenic climate change, it is also known to be a natural process (see previous ice ages). Dr. Drapela’s position is that the green movement is less about science and more about religion; any “non-believers” or “deniers” need to be burned at the stake. The fact of the matter is that climate science is so infant that we can’t even predict the weather with certainty 3 days ahead of time. All climate change models that predict what the earth will look like in 50 years are all just guesses.
Good science is never settled.
“We are always hearing of people who are around seeking after the Truth. I have never seen a (permanent) specimen. I think he has never lived. But I have seen several entirely sincere people who thought they were (permanent) Seekers after the Truth. They sought diligently, persistently, carefully, cautiously, profoundly, with perfect honesty and nicely adjusted judgment- until they believed that without doubt or question they had found the Truth. That was the end of the search. The man spent the rest of his life hunting up shingles wherewith to protect his Truth from the weather.”
-Mark Twain
[…] out of your own arse. Please cite all the other sources supporting your asinine nonsense. http://ocomment.wpengine.com/2012/06…e-mass-my-ass/ http://www.kval.com/news/local/Orego…159132175.html Last edited by Grokmaster; Today at […]
AGW is not proven.
It is used as a fraudulent tool to get money to universities and other places.
It is used by people like Jimmy B to try and silence people who actually give a damn about the earth.
Dr. Scott, thank you for what you’ve said.
AGW is a myth.
“Trisha”, you probably don’t get the irony, but YOU are anonymous, and “JimmyB” is anonymous. To quote yourself: “Show your real name and quit hiding.”
And if JimmyBoy actually believes the “carbon” nonsense, he needs to get educated. There is NO testable evidence proving that CO2 causes any measurable global warming. The whole “carbon” scam is based on the billions of grant dollars handed out every year by the federal government. Schools like OSU are the big beneficiaries.
Climate alarmism certainly is not based on science, because rises in CO2 always FOLLOW rises in temperature, on all time scales from months to hundreds of millennia. There is solid empirical evidence of that clear cause-and-effect relationship found in ice cores taken from both Hemispheres. The planet is still warming – naturally – from the Little Ice Age, and warming oceans outgas CO2 the same way that a wartming Coke outgases CO2.
Half of the population is below average in intelligence, and that is where you will find all the believers in the “CO2 causes global warming” scam. It is a completely fabricated scare, intended to separate people like JimmyBoy and “Trisha” from their money. I’m amazed that there are people who still believe that debunked nonsense.
Dear Jimmy B. I’ll just start off first by saying you are my hero. You have this guy pegged correctly. I truly applaud you and your intelligence. And to the coward on here know as ANONYMOUS, show your real name and quit hiding.
“…Being trained in the hard sciences I understand exactly how crazy this greenhouse gas atmospheric experiment that we are conducting is…”
Translation: I took a couple of science courses in high school… and I read RealClimate daily!
“I don’t get grant money. My special interest is that seven billion people’s well being is at stake.”
Who said anything about grant money?
For someone who’s `trained in the hard sciences’, things like evidence, logic, reason – you know the scientific method – are completely lost on you JimmyBoy
Being trained in the hard sciences I understand exactly how crazy this greenhouse gas atmospheric experiment that we are conducting is.
I don’t get grant money. My special interest is that seven billion people’s well being is at stake.
“….a very special level of dumbassery…”
I think the definition of `dumbassery’ is someone who actually would even use that word and expect to be taken seriously.
But JimmyBoy, aren’t really desperately trying to get out of the fact that you compared the professor to a child molester?
It sounds to me like you have some special interest in this matter… do tell, are you not letting on some deeper involvement here, pretending to be some disinterested commenter to this blog?
If Nicholas Drapela had a leg to stand on he could publish it. How much more clear can I be? He won’t publish because he has NOTHING. He is full of s**t. And if he has the balls to sue me for libel then I would encourage the webmaster to forward my e-mail address to him so we can get in contact. I’ll gladly accept his subpoena.
And claiming that a physician is not an academic demonstrates a very special level of dumbassery.
Jimmy B, Nick never condoned inaction. Ever. In fact he very blatantly and openly supported environmental protection, awareness, and actions to protect the earth. And he did so in a very honest and wholesome way because he didn’t just preach, he practiced. What he did not stand for was being lied to about a very important issue that just so happens to be the basis for a great deal of money moving and business enterprises that rely on people’s FEAR to garner funding to support their agenda and fill their own pocket books. Intelligent people can make their own educated opinions without the influence of fear. Nick tried to encourage people to dig deeper and find a foundation of facts to support their opinions because we are lucky to have the right and freedom to possess those opinions and they come with the responsibility that we know why we have them. You have clearly made yours, and I have made mine, as is our right and our freedom. I respect anyone’s opinion and their right to it. We also have the right and the freedom to express those opinions without being punished. It doesn’t matter if we disagree, in fact, our disagreement is the fuel for the search for, and hopefully the discovery, of the truth! That’s why this action against Nick is a wrong. It has nothing to do with the science of climate change, which is NOT “crystal clear” by the way (in my opinion). Thirty five years ago, “expert” scientists were all convinced that we were all going to be living on a ball of ice in 25 years… and its pretty balmy outside of where I’m sitting. Science is an ever evolving climate where theories are produced, challenged, and constantly evaluated in an effort to give us all a greater understanding about the world we occupy. True science should not be political… but sadly, that’s a part of the world we live in too. None of us know the full reasons why Nick’s employment wasn’t extended, so technically we can’t pass judgement, but the facts on the table don’t lead us in a promising direction. All we can do is constantly pursue the truths to backup our opinions and be careful not to abuse nor take these freedoms for granted. (one of the things a great man taught me)
“So you think an MD is not an academic?”
Yes, a physician is not an academic. You’re getting it now – even more so an academic not a child molester or drunk driver.
If you have any evidence that the person in question here has made any “hysterical assertions”, please present them.
And, of course, an academic can make any presentation he/she wants to “that the science is a sham and that his peers are corrupt”, so long as he follows the rules of scholarship. What’s that called again. Oh yeah: academic freedom, the bulwark of scholarship in the Occident.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that this is “better pull out more than speculation and some easily shot down hypothesis…”
“I’m opposed to nuts that go off on conspiracy rants with nothing to back it up. That’s grounds for firing and I don’t care what the subject is.”
Since you’ve presented nothing about this person’s work, I’m just going to assume that you’re pulling everything you say here out of your ass.
“He could get reinstated and become one of the most revered scientists in the world if he could back up his bogus claims.”
Again: evidence please.
I’ll say it again, it’s a good thing people can saw what they want to – going off on rants, and just saying anything that can be easily refuted – or JimmyBoy you’d be left in silence.
So you think an MD is not an academic?
If someone wants to make hysterical assertions that the science is a sham and that his peers are corrupt he better pull out more than speculation and some easily shot down hypothesis.
I’m not opposed to someone being a true skeptic, I’m opposed to nuts that go off on conspiracy rants with nothing to back it up. That’s grounds for firing and I don’t care what the subject is.
He could get reinstated and become one of the most revered scientists in the world if he could back up his bogus claims.
Well, JimmyB, fortunately for you, everyone *is* entitled to their opinion, because here you are justifying er… nuttery.
Just to be clarify what should be entirely clear to anyone with an IQ in excess of 32:
An academic is not a doctor, sexual deviant, or drunk driver.
So long as a chemics professor – or any other academic – proposes a theory with adequate evidentiary standards, then yes, he or she is entitled to his opinion, whether or not that opinion finds that “global warming isn’t happening, or that it’s a liberal hoax, or that it’s happening but it isn’t human caused, or that it’s happening and it’s human caused but it won’t be that bad…”
I’m saying this as someone who is reserving judgement as to whether the person was fired for being a global-warming sceptic, or any other reason – or even if he was fired at all.
Despite the “everyone is entitled to their opinion” mantra that gets frequently tossed around to justify nuttery, it simply does not work that way.
A quack doctor is not entitled to the opinion that “bleeding” is the cure for infectious disease, because it puts his patients at risk.
A sexual deviant is not entitled to the opinion that it’s okay to molest children, because it puts children at risk.
A drunk is not entitled to the opinion that they are okay to drive, because it puts the public at risk.
And a Chemistry Instructor at OSU is not entitled to his opinion that global warming isn’t happening, or that it’s a liberal hoax, or that it’s happening but it isn’t human caused, or that it’s happening and it’s human caused but it won’t be that bad, or whatever excuse he can come up with for inaction because it puts the planet and its 7 billion inhabitants at risk.
The science is absolutely crystal clear. If he’s a good scientist he can publish a paper demonstrating his findings. But he won’t. I’ve read the debunked statements he’s made, seen his cherry picked data, and watch him make numerous contradictions.
The guy is a quack. OSU should be glad that he is gone.
“OSU’s ‘Minds Move The Mass,’ My Ass”
Are you referring to the latin phrase “Mens Agitat Molem?” Because thats the UO’s official motto, not OSUs
Their motto, “Open Minds, Open Doors,” may prove a little ironic for Prof. Drapela, seeing as he has been shown the door.