Restrictions on admissible changes of scale are often overlooked in science education. Ironically, this topic receives far more attention in philosophy, psychology, and sociology texts than in the natural sciences. In fact, it was the Harvard psychologist S.~S.~Stevens who introduced the now-classic taxonomy of measurement scales, classifying variables according to the transformations permitted under a change of scale. The paper below presents a brief summary of Stevens’ taxonomy and illustrates each category with examples drawn from physics. Download the PDF.
Tag Archives: Global Warming
Harmonic Analysis of Global Temperature
The Dictatorship of (Thermodynamic) Relativism
A parable to illustrate that the same set of data can be compatible with both alleged global warming and cooling simultaneously, ergo, proving that both sides in this nonsensical debate are correct.
“Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and the sea obey eternal laws.” – King Cnut.
In the recently highly anticipated encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis alludes to a conjectured ecological crisis involving global warming.
Pope Francis is not the only pontiff to have addressed the controversial subject of global warming. Legend has it that, for a brief period during the Dark Ages, the Roman Catholic Church was led by a certain Pope Calefacio. His predecessor, the now-emeritus Pope Gelatio, had retired on grounds of poor health.
Calefacio, a chemist by training, was a firm believer in the theory of bovoprogenic global warming—a kind of hell on earth produced by the flatulent emissions of livestock. His conviction was reinforced on the very day of his inauguration, when a spell of climatic instability descended. Some theologians attributed the turmoil to diabolical influence.
Throughout Gelatio’s reign the temperature had remained a steady (16°T). Yet during a period of particularly inclement weather, Calefacio recorded readings of (36°T) and (0°T). Ignoring the cautions of statisticians, he averaged the two values to obtain (18°T) and promptly declared a warming of (2°T).
Risking charges of climate-denial heresy, Gelatio objected that the scale (degrees T) was based on unreliable tree-ring proxies. He proposed instead the excellent ice beer brewed by his own monastic order as a superior thermometric substance, with temperatures measured in the corresponding scale (degrees G). Proxy measurements showed the two scales were related by a square-root function—a transformation that, at least, preserved the thermodynamic ordering.
Under this new scale, the old average of (16°T) became (4°G), while the two recent readings converted to (6^°G) and (0°G), yielding a new mean of only (3°G. Gelatio therefore concluded that the data actually indicated a cooling of 1°G.
In this way the wise Gelatio had inadvertently rediscovered a fundamental truth: the arithmetic mean of a random variable is not preserved under nonlinear transformations.
No records survive of how this theological-thermodynamic schism was resolved, nor whether denialism was ever declared heretical. Indeed, serious scholars now regard the entire episode as a myth, noting the implausibly large chronological gap between the two popes and their earliest mention in texts. Nevertheless, theories of bovoprogenic warming remain in vogue today—notwithstanding the Russian philosopher Soloviev’s warning that the Antichrist would appear as an ecologist, ecumenist, and pacifist.
Like its planetary counterpart, this fable shows how the same pair of measurements can be interpreted as either warming or cooling if a non linear change of temperature scale is used.
by Philip Pennance
References
- Philip Pennance, Concerning the Measurability of a Global Mean Surface Temperature, Revised March 30, 2026.
- Philip Pennance, Physical Applications of the Stevens’ Classification of Random Variables, March 2006 – Revised April 3, 2026
The Logical Case against Climate Panic
A climate scientist once informed me that “Climatologists do not use the logic of Pure Mathematics.” Indeed he was correct. A recent essay by Viscount Monckton of Brenchley explains how, in his words, “the profiteers who market Thermageddon offend against the principles of formal logic.” According to Monckton,
Logic is the heartbeat of all true learning – the soul of the Classics, the Sciences and Religion. Once everyone studied the Classics, to know that in logic there is a difference between true and false; the Sciences, to discern where it lies; and Religion, to appreciate why it matters. Today, few study all three empires of the mind. Fewer study the ordered beauty of the logic at their heart.
A Nobel Prize For Inanity
Last week, the prison population in England and Wales exceeded capacity. Rather than addressing the main causes of this increase, namely, the abandonment of traditional values and the collapse of the two parent family, the principal concern of the government seems to be that imprisoning more people will increase anthropogenic global warming. Citing “research” showing that carbon emissions within former Home Office bodies , including the prison service, have risen from 28,237 tonnes in 2005-06 to the insignificantly greater amount of 28,925 tonnes in 2006-07, Maria Eagle, Junior Justice Minister, has announced that an increase in the prison population together with changes in “regime facilities”, such as the provision of in-cell showers, have boosted CO2 emissions.
If there existed a Nobel prize for inanity, the scientists behind this ludicrous “research” would surely be in close competition with those at York University who recently calculated the carbon footprint of the average UK Christmas dinner or those who blame livestock for bovoprogenic warming. The Minister’s comments, which lack any common sense, disqualify her from office and illustrate the primitive level to which British education and science have fallen.
Meanwhile, Professor John White, an education adviser to the British government has stated that traditional disciplines such as Math, Geography and History should no longer be taught because they are “middle class creations”. Rather, they should be replaced by topics such as global warming and personal skills, taught via a regimen of “theme or project-based learning”. Professor White’s error is hardly original. The constructivist educational philosophy he espouses is already well entrenched in Britain, and has been since the period of school “comprehensivisation” following the second world war. Generations have already been idiotized —the blind (including Professor White) leading the blind into a rapidly approaching moral and intellectual dark age.
Addendum
The Bishops of London and Liverpool, Dr Richard Chartres and James Jones, are launching the Carbon Fast at Trafalgar Square. They hope to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint for 40 days.
— The UK is now an insane asylum.
By Philip Pennance
On the carbon footprint of cranberry sauce
According to Project leader professor Adisa Azapagic:
“Food production and processing are responsible for three quarters of the total carbon footprint, with the largest proportion – 60% – being related to the life cycle of the turkey.
“All stages in the supply chain have been considered, including raising the turkey, growing the vegetables, food storage, consumer shopping, cooking the meal at home and waste management.
“This includes the emissions of carbon dioxide due to energy consumption along the turkey supply chain and the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide generated due to the agricultural activities to raise the turkey.”
The cranberry sauce alone, normally imported from North America, contributes half the carbon footprint related to transport.
–Filed under: Idiocy
Climate – Selected Posts
Consensus: “The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for consensus?
― Margaret Thatcher
