{"id":7249,"date":"2014-01-29T17:18:52","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T22:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2021-06-10T08:54:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T13:54:05","slug":"some-mean-temperature-you-got-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/01\/29\/some-mean-temperature-you-got-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Some mean temperatures…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not that readers of this blog need to be reminded of this, but some of our friends might (if you have friends like Donald Trump)…<\/p>\n

\"1533819_10152492896785898_1967026371_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Generalizing about global climate change from a cold snap is like predicting who will win the world series based on a single ball or strike in pre-season. The two things are about the same thing — temperature, baseball — but there’s little real connection between them beyond that.<\/p>\n

This Washington Post article<\/a> from the last U.S. “polar vortex” is helpful in putting things into perspective.<\/p>\n

There is this theory<\/a> about how the polar vortex is directly connected to global warming. But it’s a new theory that still needs testing, verification, debate, and all those other things that scientists do before they’re supposed to say anything.<\/p>\n

What I would like to do is add a global mean temperature<\/a> monitor on this web page — something that tells you the absolute average temperature on this planet’s surface (averaged out from as many monitoring sites around the world as statisticians insist on) at any given time — and then add a comparative measure of the average global temperature for that day since we began keeping those records<\/a>. Anyone know if that is possible?<\/p>\n

It would be a pretty useless figure, for experiential purposes (since that temperature doesn’t necessarily exist anywhere on the planet). But useful rhetorically<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not that readers of this blog need to be reminded of this, but some of our friends might (if you have friends like Donald Trump)… Generalizing about global climate change from a cold snap is like predicting who will win the world series based on a single ball or strike in pre-season. The two things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[520594,196],"tags":[58956,58955,5710,38196],"class_list":["post-7249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-politics","category-ecoculture","tag-climate-denialism","tag-donald-trump","tag-global-warming","tag-weather"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-1SV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10961,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/07\/30\/the-new-media-regime\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":0},"title":"The new media regime","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Here\u2019s a back-of-the-envelope hypothesis on the \"new media regime\" and some open questions that follow from it. Two groups are faring best these days under the current (new) media regime.* The first is surveillance capitalists, who have developed ways to monetize and harvest new data technologies directly for the accumulation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/matrix-code.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/matrix-code.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/matrix-code.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14203,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2025\/08\/19\/the-axis-of-oil\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":1},"title":"The axis of oil","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There are three main hypotheses explaining Donald Trump's eagerness to please Vladimir Putin. The first is \"conspiratorial\": that Putin has something over Trump, related perhaps to the Steele dossier, Trump's real estate shenanigans, the KGB's long-term efforts to cultivate Trump as a \"Russian asset,\" or maybe even the Epstein files\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11222,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/11\/09\/truth-media-trust-and-the-election\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":2},"title":"Truth, media trust, and the election","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"November 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This article is cross-posted from the media ecologies blog e2mc. While last week\u2019s election has resulted in the announcement of a new president and vice-president, with leaders of many countries around the world recognizing those results (and with global markets rallying their apparent support), the current Trump administration has not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-09-at-12.33.49-PM.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10889,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/07\/01\/diagnosing-trump-like-derangement-syndrome\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":3},"title":"Diagnosing Trump-like derangement syndrome","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Covid-19 situation in the United States, which has become the epicenter of new infections because of its flawed and chaotic response to the pandemic, is seen by some around the world as an emergency case of its own, requiring some sort of defensive response by countries that could become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/2560.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/2560.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/2560.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/2560.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/07\/2560.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13767,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/10\/15\/the-hurricane-conspiracy-complex\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":4},"title":"The hurricane conspiracy complex","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The big question around these back-to-back hurricanes in the southeast U.S. is not why they are happening (that\u2019s easy enough to answer), but why so many people find it easier to believe they were artificially generated by the U.S. government, the \u201cdeep state,\u201d FEMA, industry, or some euphemistic \u201cthey\u201d (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12329,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/01\/18\/the-feeling-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":7249,"position":5},"title":"The feeling of the world","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a working thesis on the present global moment: 1. For many people around the world, life has always been precarious. But for a certain class -- the global middle class (and up) -- the world had felt more or less secure and comfortable, as long as one knew how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/01\/c_gorey-nobrdr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7249"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7497,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249\/revisions\/7497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}