# I Pit the Entire BBQ Pit Community **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161 "2010-08-31T17:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/101 "2010-09-02T02:09:25Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > I AM a tax attorney, which means I’m not involved in “professional tax preparation.”. But I’m being pedantic, and I know what you mean. How are you involved in the AGW field or in grant-making or whatever? I’m not saying you aren’t, I’m just curious. > > I’m a research scientist, although not in a climate-related field. I have direct experience with how proposals work, how federal grant money is disbursed, how peer review works and general how research is done. I promise you you really don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to federal funding. Private funding, maybe, **but I think most of that is heading toward the anti-AGW side.** Waitaminute. I thought you said upthread that people that fund research don’t know what the researchers will find before they fund. So how could private money be funneled toward the anti-AGW side? Honest question, no gotcha intended. Also, as I’ve stated, I think that the nature of climate research is different from other fields in how it relies so heavily on models as opposed to actually performing experiments or finding hard data. What field are you in? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/102 "2010-09-02T02:10:56Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > > [@xtisme](#): > > > > I’m neither a research scientist NOR a tax attorney, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn a week or so ago so… > > > > …um, what was the question again? > > > > -XT > > We were wondering where Rand gets his crazy pills. No, we were actually wondering whether you would express any embarrassment at your inability to distinguish a fact from an opinion. [Shakes magic 8-ball] All signs point to “No.” [/blah] ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/103 "2010-09-02T02:28:32Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > We were wondering where Rand gets his crazy pills. > > No, we were actually wondering whether you would express any embarrassment at your inability to distinguish a fact from an opinion. [Shakes magic 8-ball] All signs point to “No.” [/blah] I actually know the difference. Talking to you is like talking to a schizophrenic. You’re just completely divorced from reality. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/104 "2010-09-02T02:32:22Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > You really are so fucking deluded you don’t realize that you’re doing it, aren’t you? This is interesting. You’re the fucking Black Knight and your arm’s off. > > Or, and this is crazy, so bear with me: I simply have a different opinion than you. > > But the stark difference between you and me is that I know the difference between a fact and an opinion. Okay, so let’s go with this: you know the difference between a fact and an opinion. That is a fact. You think AGW is an opinion, and not a fact. That is also a fact. So then, why do you argue so belligerently about the subject, given that it’s all just a matter of opinion? Essentially, there are two types of discussions: one is where two sides argue using a set of facts to try to resolve an issue, sort of like a court of law. And one where two sides argue based on opinion, think religion. You have made yourself a religious nut case trying to bring God (your opinion) into a scientific discussion (facts about global warming). So that’s fine. Have your opinion. Then shove it up your ass. What more is there to include in the discussion other than “it’s my opinion that elves are responsible for climate change.” Or, you could man up and realize that your opinions are based on lies as opposed to facts. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/105 "2010-09-02T02:58:37Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > No, we were actually wondering whether you would express any embarrassment at your inability to distinguish a fact from an opinion. [Shakes magic 8-ball] All signs point to “No.” [/blah] > > I actually know the difference. Talking to you is like talking to a schizophrenic. You’re just completely divorced from reality. You keep saying that as if saying so makes it true. It don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/106 "2010-09-02T03:02:27Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > I actually know the difference. Talking to you is like talking to a schizophrenic. You’re just completely divorced from reality. > > You keep saying that as if saying so makes it true. It don’t. If you owned an island where you made people’s dreams come true, you’d be Retardo Montalbán. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/107 "2010-09-02T03:09:15Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > You keep saying that as if saying so makes it true. It don’t. > > If you owned an island where you made people’s dreams come true, you’d be Retardo Montalbán. Ah, middle school. Thanks for taking me back. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/108 "2010-09-02T03:12:02Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > If you owned an island where you made people’s dreams come true, you’d be Retardo Montalbán. > > Ah, middle school. Thanks for taking me back. I bet those were the best five years of your life. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/109 "2010-09-02T03:26:05Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Waitaminute. I thought you said upthread that people that fund research don’t know what the researchers will find before they fund. So how could private money be funneled toward the anti-AGW side? Honest question, no gotcha intended. Upthread I was speaking about how federal funding works, which is where nearly all academic scientists get their funding. In my last post, however, I did throw an addendum that private industry funded research could operate more like you originally suggested, as they have no obligation to have open calls for proposals which are subject to peer review, but could instead recruit people to produce the results they want. I don’t actually have any experience with private research funding, though, so that is pure supposition. > [@](#): > > Also, as I’ve stated, I think that the nature of climate research is different from other fields in how it relies so heavily on models as opposed to actually performing experiments or finding hard data. What field are you in? I do computer modeling and simulation. I face the exact same issues the climate modelers face in terms of both the approximations and assumptions that are built into a model a priori as well as numerical errors that can arise from limited computer resources (e.g. coarse-grained simulation grids). So you’re right about the difference between modeling and experiment, but no one who works in the modeling field simply accepts whatever comes out of the computer as the truth – verification against experimental data is an integral part of the process. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/110 "2010-09-02T03:29:51Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > Ah, middle school. Thanks for taking me back. > > I bet those were the best five years of your life. 😃 More like the best five years of your mom’s life (to stick with the middle school humor). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/111 "2010-09-02T03:35:09Z")
Now somebody say he knows what the other guy is, but what is\* he\*? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/112 "2010-09-02T03:35:28Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > I bet those were the best five years of your life. 😃 > > More like the best five years of your mom’s life (to stick with the middle school humor). She still misses you. Every once in awhile she’ll carve a life size pic of your wang into a piece of scrimshaw. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/113 "2010-09-02T05:44:40Z")
She practices the ancient Japanese art of miniature sculpting, nut-sakky? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/114 "2010-09-02T07:01:54Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Yep, I certainly did get lucky. But I’m not doughy in the least. I’m probably a world-class bodybuilder by SDMB standards. By SDMB standards, that still leaves you pretty doughy. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/115 "2010-09-02T13:05:44Z")
And so, the “Hey, everyone! Let’s all ignore Rand Rover!” thread has turned into yet another episode of the Ongoing Great Rand Rover Dog and Pony Show. Well done, everyone. Kudos. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/116 "2010-09-02T13:34:31Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > [@Lobohan](#): > > > > If you owned an island where you made people’s dreams come true, you’d be Retardo Montalbán. > > Ah, middle school. Thanks for taking me back. Oh come on. Don’t act like you didn’t laugh. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/117 "2010-09-02T14:30:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > She practices the ancient Japanese art of miniature sculpting, nut-sakky? It takes a very steady hand and infinite patience to work with goldfish teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/118 "2010-09-02T15:47:10Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > And so, the “Hey, everyone! Let’s all ignore Rand Rover!” thread has turned into yet another episode of the Ongoing Great Rand Rover Dog and Pony Show. Well done, everyone. Kudos. That’s because DNFTT doesn’t work, and never will. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/119 "2010-09-02T16:04:39Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > And so, the “Hey, everyone! Let’s all ignore Rand Rover!” thread has turned into yet another episode of the Ongoing Great Rand Rover Dog and Pony Show. Well done, everyone. Kudos. If reading about RR is that great a hardship, maybe reading a thread dedicated to him is unwise? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161/120 "2010-09-02T16:06:24Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > \ > > So you’re right about the difference between modeling and experiment, but no one who works in the modeling field simply accepts whatever comes out of the computer as the truth – verification against experimental data is an integral part of the process. I thought you data modellers just kept at it until the output graph looks like a pterodactyl. 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-entire-bbq-pit-community/552161.md?page=7)