When “Weather” Websites Go Bad

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My youngest son was planning our July canoe trip and we wanted to get a "reliable" long range forecast. So, with complete trust, I searched for my favourite weather report by typing in "Environment Canada long range weather forecast". To avoid the Google fiasco, I had just started using DuckDuckGo as my search engine, and up popped a site titled, "Weather in Canada Observer" with the explanatory subtitle: "The long range weather forecast issued by Environment Canada is vital to the economy."

Now, whenever you see an opening like that on a site supposedly belonging to Environment Canada (EC), one of two things have happened – either the Harper government has completely subjugated the EC staff, or it's a wannabe site using EC links to disguise the real agenda. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on the site. I was immediately drawn to his sidebar titled: "Climate Change?" which blares a banner headline: "Causes Of Global Warming
A Raging Debate! There is strong disagreement on the real causes of global warming!"  Having been immersed in synthesizing climate change data for the last 35 years, all my warning flags went up. 

Turns out, this in NOT an Environment Canada (EC) website although it makes enough references to EC, cleverly stating in bold print that the "official version" of the weather forecast is produced by EC. This is a private site, run by moderator Claude Jollet, an entrepeneur who claims to be a former planning advisor to major industrial and commercial clients, specializing in weather related operational planning issues. He currently promotes web-based publishing. severe-weather-weather-250420_1024_768 He claims to hold a B.Sc. specializing in business process analysis and automation. On his LinkedIn page, he also claims to have received his education from the Environment Canada School of Meteorology from 1966-1974 (there is no Environment Canada School of Meteorology) when he was actually working for the Ministry of Transport. So just how good is the weather science on this site?

There is no doubt that Mr. Jollet has a passion for weather, affectionately referring to himself as "the weather guy", and is obviously having a lot of fun in his retirement posting his blogs. However, his claims that he worked with Environment Canada for somewhere between 15 or 17 or 31 years (depending on which part of his site you research) – are simply not true. Mr. Jollet  did, to his credit, take meteorlogical courses while working with the Ministry of Transport back in the '60's and '70's, and did take two courses through Environment Canada in the '80's, but, alas, Mr. Jollet is neither a meteorologist nor a climate change scientist. The science does not pass the sniff test of the 3 P's – practicing, published, and peer-reviewed.

Mr. Jollet and I have since exchanged emails and he was courteous enough to publish my short rebuttal about climate change deniers, accompanied, of course, by his lengthy editorial essay defending his right to publish his opinion. Garbage in, garbage out as the saying goes.

Claude certainly does not appear to get his information from NASA, NOAA, the MET Centres in Hadley and Bern, nor the IPCC where over 95% of practicing, published, peer-reviewed scientists actually agree on the real causes of climate change – an acceleration of natural climate change processes caused by th e net effect of human activities. Rrather "the Observer" seems to get its science details from sources like the much discredited magazine New Scientist, a non-peer reviewed journal of science related ideas and opinions. You are what you eat; ten mililon flies can't be wrong.

Select your websites with care; I'm back to the real Environment Canada site, hoping they can succeed in their struggle to remain strong and free…

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Agency; NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; MET Centres in Hadley and Bern – accredited meteorlogical centres in Europe; IPCC – UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Canada’s Official Colours

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I was challenged by an enraged local tory over my last post mocking the Conservative paint job on "Canada's Economic Action Plane";  he declared that there was nothing wrong with "Tory Blue" being added to "Liberal red and white" colours.

canadas_colours_full_colour_flyer-ree821b99adb84351848274884d94d61c_vgvyf_8byvr_512

Well, au contraire mon ami! It is very wrong simply because the official colours of Canada are only red and white, no blue of any kind – not royal, azure, ocean, or tory. The official colours of red and white were proclaimed by King George V in 1921, red from the French and white from the British in a cultural reference to the crusader's crosses of those European founding countries.

So, if the PM's plane is painted with the official colours of red and white, then it is Canadian; if it is painted with the official colours of the Conservative Party, then it is a flying election bus for Stephen Harper, and someone in the PMO should cut another slush fund cheque to pay back the taxpayers.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon 

Canada’s Economic Action Plane

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Yes, Canada, it is true – we now have a flying billboard for the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party. airbusThe logo resembles the logo of the Royal Canadian Air Force, but not quite. The blue is the "true blue" of the Conservative Party of Canada, not Air Force blue. Close, but no cigar for the 60% of Canadians who did not vote for this CRAP (now claiming on their website to be "Canada's Founding Party"). Observe the evolution:

 

RCAFFirst we have the honourable – the logo, all royal blue circling a  fully etched maple leaf, of the Royal Canadian Air Force for which my father flew in World War II. The "Royal" was lost for a while during the Canadian Armed Forces amalgamation, but was reinstated in 2011, along with a simplified maple leaf. 

 

Then, we have the partisan – the colours iogo 1 and symbols (the "C" that never ends, the simplified maple leaf) of the Conservative Party of Canada, a symbol that was supposed to represent accountability and transparency, now more closely associated with micromanaging scandals and remaking Canada in the image of an oil corporation.

 

Finally, we have the freshly painted Airbus 20130607-131837-gadvertisement for the Conservative's Economic Action Plan; if you look closely, you'll notice the logo is NOT the RCAF's original but is the Conservative modification.  Behold the Canadian PM's freshly painted plane, all battle ready for our military to borrow for use in the world's most dangerous regions. Nice target for any opposition.

 

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

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In 2007, Sidney Lumet directed an intense movie drama titled Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, taken from the ancient Irish toast: "May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong, and may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead."

Ford brothersIn a nutshell, it is the story of two brothers caught in a web of deceit, betrayal, drugs, and crime that spirals into catastrophe while they pretend that it's business as usual. In the end, their family is torn apart and justice is meted out, not by the long arm of the law, but by the common man. It reminds me of another story of two brothers caught up in a similar web woven from pathological lies and total denial. They keep telling us that everything is fine and it's business as usual. We keep seeing a train wreck tumbling in slow-motion towards the edge of the cliff.

The movie ended tragically, and I expect the reality show will too.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon