“Mann 2008 a Victim of Sudden Oak Death?” Anthony Watts is eager to join the new round of uninformed nit-picking over tree ring chronologies. He posts some comments from Canadian sourpuss Steve McIntyre on the subject, quote-mining various news reports. Otherwise, his contribution is a Star Trek and Peanuts graphic and a link to a whack-a-mole copy of the Dr. Mann “spoof” video.
Dr. Mike Baillie of Queen’s University in Belfast has stated that the oak tree ring data he is being forced to release is not useful for temperature proxies, but the infamous Dr. Mann uses some oak ring data in his hated “hockey stick” temperature reconstruction. This clearly proves that the “hockey stick” is a lie! Or something. If you ignore all the other data.
Wait, do Anthony or McIntyre have any idea why Dr. Mann included this data in his reconstruction? Um, no. Doesn’t seem to stop them from complaining though, does it?
Wott's Up With That? 
No we have absolutely no idea why Mann included oak data in his reconstruction. Care to tell us why?
Baillie says the oak data is seriously flawed as a temperature proxy. Why did Mann use the oak data in his paper then? Inquiring minds want to know. Do you know?
[I’d also be interested in knowing why Mann included the oak tree rings, but ignorance of the reason for their use doesn’t mean there isn’t a good published reason. His methodology was presumably reviewed by relevant experts. Note that Baillie is only talking about Irish oak tree ring data being a poor temperature proxy. In different regions environmental factors may not cause oak tree ring data to be poor proxies. – Ben]
Well, watts up with this? You debunk people by calling the degrading things – without a single shred of facts. On the other hand you have to ignore most other data to believe in the hockey stick. You could for example show us how the vikings survived with their farming methods on Greenland for 350 years when hockey stick says it was way colder back then than it is now? The amount of data you have to ignore is humongous. But you haven’t got anything but insults to contribute, have you?
[Um, the “hockey stick” has been validated many times using both similar and unconnected data. If you’re looking for people who “ignore the data”, I suggest you look in the mirror. Pointing vigorously at regional climate events is just a distraction. – Ben]