There Was No Global Warming "Pause", And Ocean Temps Are Literally Going Off The NOAA Charts

[tclambert]

13. A lot of people don't know that, though. Math innumeracy makes them easy targets

for hucksters. I remember learning lots of nefarious tricks in statistics class, and then more when I worked in the computer field. One guy used to put a red line across his CPU utilization graphs at an arbitrary point. Executives thought points above that line meant trouble and would agree to upgrades.

Normal people may believe trend analysis of fluctuating data is just picking two dots on the graph and drawing a line between them. Not everybody understands running averages. I suspect the deniers who cherry pick the data understand all that and take advantage of innumeracy for propaganda purposes.

I suggested cherry picking 1999 partly as a joking way of using their cherry picking tactic against them and making it look silly. It's easier than trying to explain running averages to people who don't get math. In that way, I confess I was being a little bit of scam artist. Somehow I feel unrepentant. But if I do evil for a good cause, that averages out to neutral, right?