February 4, 2023

If you can't get rid of your gas stove, use the microwave more! Use the "toaster oven, air fryer, Instant Pot... or an electric kettle or hot water heater."

I'm reading "Worried about having a gas stove? Here’s how to limit risks" in The Washington Post.

I think most people with a gas stove are saying they have it because they like it and they're just worried the government will take it away, not looking for workarounds because they can't afford to replace it voluntarily. 

But maybe you'd like to shun your own stove and maximize cooking on the various electric appliances you already have. There's a section of this article that reads like the chirpy women's magazines I read in bulk in the 1970s (because it was my job).

We're told that there are "creative ways" to use these appliances. The uncreative use of the microwaves is to heat foods — that is, "zap cold leftovers." So what's creative? Apparently it's "creative" to "bake (remember mug cakes?), steam vegetables and in some situations even toast, fry or caramelize food." This is the kind of thing I found depressing reading about in the women's magazines in the 70s. The idea that you could feel clever by frying something in the microwave.
By the way, what's a "hot water heater"? Aside from the common silly redundancy that makes a smart ass want to say, Why do you need to heat water that's already hot?, what is this appliance if it's not an electric kettle? You've named the electric kettle, so what are we talking about? An immersion heater?!

Are you suggesting running the tap until it yield hot enough water from the only thing I ever call the "water heater," that thing that gives me a nice hot bath? I thought you weren't supposed to drink that.

You've got me thinking of Glenda Jackson in the 1971 movie "Sunday Bloody Sunday":


I have remembered that coffee-making — and the audience gasping in horror — for over half a century!

75 comments:

Michael said...

I have been in houses with gas stoves for 77 years. No problem. This is not about health though our masters learned that we can be made scared shitless about our health and so why not try with harmless stoves.

Temujin said...

The whole point of my gas range is that I prefer using gas to cook with. It's a more exacting temperature control. Control. Key word. Government wants to control every little aspect of our lives to show their omnipotence. Seriously going after gas ranges/ovens now?

If I wanted to use an electric 'air' fryer, I'd be doing it already. Choices is what we used to have in America. It's 2023. Are we looking to be China circa 1966?

Just bugger off. Get a real job and out of our lives.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Hot water heater"

Chef Alton Brown - a legendary critic and hater of kitchen "uni-taskers" - called the electric kettle (hot water heater) the most useless uni-tasker ever devised. And especially useless the small they get. Specifically, regardless of the volume of water to be heated, there is almost always something you already own (like a microwave) that will heat a volume of water faster than a dedicated 'hot water heater'.

I myself don't really understand how these things still exist and why people buy them, and then I remember that crack cocaine is still a thing.

rhhardin said...

Gf reported she asked drug store for immersion heater and the young woman clerk said "We don't see that kind of thing here."

Bob Boyd said...

what's a "hot water heater"?

Usually called a hot water maker, it's an electric appliance a little larger than a toaster that mounts inside the cabinet under the kitchen sink. It's plumbed and feeds a small tap installed next to the main faucet at the back of the sink. The device makes very hot water available instantly so you can make a cup of tea or cocoa or instant ramen or whatever without waiting for a kettle to boil.

Xmas said...

Yeah. Don't drink water out of the hot water tap. It is not a good idea.

Mainly the issue is hot water tanks build up mineral deposits over time and those minerals can redissolve into hot water when it gets to its hottest temperature. So you can end up with higher concentrations of possible things like lead and arsenic than what naturally occurs in your tap water.

traditionalguy said...

Mass Delusional-insanity inside of group think (a/k/a Climate Control) has turned its evil eye on simple innocent gas stoves. Meanwhile intentional hyper inflation to wipe out the middle class and a slow WWIII go un-noticed.

When will they ever learn?

Randomizer said...

This article wasn't written for what I should stop calling "normal" people. That is, people who own their home, go to work, don't read blogs, but do keep up on local news. People of that sort actually cook meals and are aware that their mothers and grandmothers used gas stoves to cook meals for half a century.

The article paints a picture of young adults, living a dreary life with cookie sheets covering the burners on the antiquated poison gas monster. The Washington Post validates their fondness for air fryers, Instant Pots and reheated take-out food.

Normal people do seem interested in getting their exhaust hoods vented, rather than just recirculating air. That is a positive development, as recirculating range hoods never made any sense.


Readering said...

Hot water heaters ubiquitous in SoCal Asian immigrant households with tea drinkers. I take advantage of one for instant coffee.

And that's the way I often drank instant coffee in boarding school in that time period. Lead pipes?

boatbuilder said...

I am continually astonished that: a) the design of the basic toaster oven does not appear to have changed at all over the past 75 years; b) there does not appear to be any automatic safety shut-off if the thing starts burning; c) the main control is a knob that can be easily set to "stay on" by accidently turning the knob past the tiny letters that say "OFF;" the things haven't been banned by any and all consumer safety and/or fire safety authorities. (but I have one which I use every day. Only catches on fire about once every 6 months).

rrsafety said...

I'd imagine that the kind of healthy person who still wears a mask in public is the kind of person who is afraid of their gas stove and appreciates these wonderful life-saving tips from their newspaper.

Humperdink said...

Other tips for avoiding using your deadly gas stove: If you live in Florida, fry your eggs on the hood of your car. If you live in the cold northeast, eat your eggs raw as Rocky Balboa depicted. Once you get past the slime, they're not bad.

Because of the pushback, the Commie-Pinkos are now saying they are not coming for your gas stoves. Recall the same crowd saying we are not coming for your guns and then Beto saying just that. They sure don't mask their intentions very well.

Ann Althouse said...

"Chef Alton Brown - a legendary critic and hater of kitchen "uni-taskers" - called the electric kettle (hot water heater) the most useless uni-tasker ever devised. And especially useless the small they get. "

Your parenthetical assumes "hot water heater" = "electric kettle" but the article has a list of things ending with " or an electric kettle or hot water heater."

If that last "or" means electric kettle is another way of saying "hot water heater" then it's terribly awkwardly written given the "or" that appears before "electric kettle"!

Ann Althouse said...

And no one would have trouble understanding what an electric kettle is. Why would you add 4 more words to the list and weaken it like that, with an explanation of the obvious (and an insinuation that the reader is too dumb to be let loose in any kitchen)?

Daniel12 said...

"I think most people with a gas stove are saying they have it because they like it and they're just worried the government will take it away, not looking for workarounds because they can't afford to replace it voluntarily."

Maybe because that's who your hearing from?

Most people with a gas stove have it because it was in their house or apartment when they bought or rented it. They tend to live in the Northeast and the west, where they are unlikely to be caught in the particular reactionary mind loop you just described. And they may be very concerned about air quality, especially since many kitchens don't have any real ventilation. (It was 20 years of adult living before I had a properly vented kitchen -- or purchased a stove.) So they may be interested to know how to reduce the use of their gas stove. I bought a gas two years ago, which is prohibitively expensive to replace. I now run my real, functioning vent every time I turn it on, because I am concerned about air quality.

Meanwhile, Desantis just ended sales tax on gas stoves in a state where the large majority use electric. Hooray for freedom.

Scott Patton said...

"they're just worried the government will take it away"
Gov will soften the blow by reducing the functionality and increasing the cost over time in the name of safety and efficiency. Whole new gov departments and assistant secretaries to the director, and opportunities for bribery and graft. There's no downside!

iowan2 said...

By the way, what's a "hot water heater"?

Sous Vide cooking. My son has been using it for a couple of years. It does great things with meat. Fish is good. Put the fish in a zip lock. Set the temp at 130F and walk away. Takes the meat to that temp, not quite done. Take it out a pan sear to completion. Do all marinating in the before and during the ziplock. Beef the same way. Rib eye steak, then take it out and put it on a super hot grill with a quick flip, to give it the grill taste.

https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Cooker-Immersion-Circulator/dp/B0B5WMC9Q7/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3FZSWJMUI3XT2&keywords=sous+vide+machine&qid=1675519365&sprefix=sous+vide%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&

Dan from Madison said...

I love my under counter water heater. Instant boiling water. I'm a tea drinker and it saves that kettling time.

We got one when we first had children 20 some years ago - indispensable for cleaning up messes, bottles, what have you - and will always have one from here on out.

Ann Althouse said...

@Bob Boyd

Thanks for answering my question. I have noticed those things. It's like the water dispenser function on the coffee-maker at work, for those who want to do tea or instant cocoa, right?

Okay, I guess some people build that into their kitchen. Doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Bob Boyd said...

'Instant hot water dispenser' is the proper term for these devices.

Big Mike said...

I think nearly all people with a gas stove are saying they have it because cannot bear the thought of cooking with electric stoves and they're terrified that the government will take it away

@Althouse, FIFY

And that goes double or triple for states where electric power is not 100% reliable — California, and more recently Texas and Tennessee.

Bob Boyd said...

Okay, I guess some people build that into their kitchen. Doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Ah ha! Your inner conservative is peaking out.

Seriously though, why not? The device is plumbed to the cold-water line so you avoid the problems Xmas mentioned above at 7:53.

Humperdink said...

I think the next step from our overlords will be to require emissions limits and controls on the gas stoves, which in turn will make them cost prohibitive. The libs are very creative when it comes to controlling the masses.

Josephbleau said...

This is like the miracle water saving toilets that make me flush twice after plunging, (am I too productive?) whatever the enviros give you won’t work as well. Ban and replace would be an environmental disaster. How many trucks would be driving all over town delivering new stoves, how many more people would be run over and die. How much iron would need to be smelted to make the new stoves? True insanity. These people think new stoves come from the store. There must be 100 million stoves in the US, 70% ? Gas.

iowan2 said...

https://www.amazon.com/InSinkErator-H-HOT100-Instant-Dispenser-Stainless/dp/B00ZC5QRCI/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=FTCX238DWXX0&keywords=undersink+heater&qid=1675521074&

We got one for Christmas, put in myself, we had a 120v outlet under the sink already. Screw it to the wall, and run the plastic lines. Stacked a valve on top of the cold water line shutoff for the supply. Hot chocolate, tea, bouillon. Now just top off the cold brew coffee from the hot water tap.
Before we had a tea kettle on the range top all morning.

Mr Wibble said...

I have an electric kettle for work. I can keep it next to my desk, and it doesn't require me to microwave my ceramic mug like trying to microwave water would do.

JAORE said...

"Why would you add 4 more words to the list and weaken it like that, with an explanation of the obvious..."

There's lots of that going around lately. The ever expanding concerns over mis-gendering seems especially fertile. See: person with ovaries.

Larry J said...

Back in 2011, a series of tornados hit Alabama, killing a lot of people. Some areas, including where I now live, were without electricity for a week or more. My mother had a gas water heater, so she and her neighbors could still take hot showers. A neighbor had a gas stove, so the neighbors got together and did their cooking at her house. Putting all of your energy needs into a single source, as these busy bodies are trying to mandate, is foolish.

Andrew said...

I've never had a gas stove, so don't really know how to compare it to electric.

But what bothers me is the blend of micromanaging and bullying coming from the feds. What business is it of theirs? Who do they think they are? They're a bunch of junior-highers on the playground, dominating the smaller kids. Don't they have better things to do? Like guarding the border? Or filling up some potholes on an Interstate?

wendybar said...

And when they turn the electricity off to conserve power...what are you going to do?? Eat from a can?? They want control. If everything is electric, they can stop you from doing whatever they want to stop you from doing.

Old and slow said...

Who the hell is that cooks up these non-issues for people to worry about? I can assure you that no one was worrying about using their gas stove until very recently when they were told to by so many trusted sources. My first instinct is to say "Nah, this silliness will never catch on. What do they take us for?" The last time I had that reaction to something was just a few years ago. That time the goofy made-up non issue was transgenderism. Yeah right, like THAT will catch on! These insidious fuckers seem to win every time, and not because they are on the right side of history as they would have us believe. They win because they are implacable and persistent.

dbp said...

"I think most people with a gas stove are saying they have it because they like it and they're just worried the government will take it away, not looking for workarounds because they can't afford to replace it voluntarily."

Absolutely true, but there are plenty of 'Parsons" out there: I know many.

"Parsons is not only Winston's neighbor but also works with him in the Ministry of Truth. Parsons is fattish but active. He is stupid, and incredibly enthusiastic about all political and community activities."

Ann Althouse said...

"I love my under counter water heater. Instant boiling water. I'm a tea drinker and it saves that kettling time."

But it's not all the way at the boiling point. Anyone who learned tea making with the idea bring the pot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot would not tolerate the discrepancy between 212 and 190 (or 200).

The Drill SGT said...

"Dan from Madison said...
I love my under counter water heater. Instant boiling water. I'm a tea drinker and it saves that kettling time."

it pairs well with my instant big water heater which is clearly not instant, but makes sense for low volume usage in a vacation home.

Haven't heard killing gas stoves as racist, but eliminating them has a huge disparate impact on Asians. Every try to heat a wok on an electric burner?

the horror

n.n said...

There is a code for proper ventilation. Enjoy your stove, your fireplace, your district's gas-fired reliable power plant.

rehajm said...

But it's not all the way at the boiling point. Anyone who learned tea making with the idea bring the pot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot would not tolerate the discrepancy between 212 and 190 (or 200).

I’m not sure what all this means but if it means water should be 212F to make a proper cuppa it is bad thinking…

rehajm said...

Wait until the left discovers most US homes in northern climates are heated with a furnace that runs on fossil fuels…

Aggie said...

A simple experiment in real time reveals that an electric kettle heats an equivalent volume of water to a rolling boil a lot faster than the gas stove next to it, does. I almost always do it this way when I'm cooking. It saves quite a bit of time.

The Stove Nazis rolled out a 'national asthma epidemic' story the first time they tried this on, a few weeks ago. Now it's the DOE proposing they regulate the amount of gas a stove consumes. Why? What for? If they're worried about greenhouse gases, why not just run some farms out of business, like the Dutch are doing (the Dutch are after gas stoves, too). My gut tells me that the response to the first bullsh*t story made them re-think and come up with slightly better rationale, but they are still not sure of their arguments and are trying them on like swimsuits, looking for a perfect fit. It will continue until there is a convincing 'no' argument presented, and that will probably have to be without using words.

Joe Smith said...

We have an instant hot-water faucet next to our normal faucet.

We use it for tea and oatmeal.

It's very handy and I will never have a home without it.

We will also never not have a gas stove.

Pry it from my cold, dead hands...

Sofa King said...

The hysteria about it just seems completely blown out of proportion do these people never use a knife in their kitchen? If they never accidentally started a kitchen fire on the range top from burning their food? Both of these things are far more dangerous and far more likely than suffering some kind of nebulous ill effect from tiny amounts of combustion products left over from burning a gas stove. I sure hope none of these people ever burn a candle inside of their precious home!

Joe Smith said...

'Anyone who learned tea making with the idea bring the pot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot would not tolerate the discrepancy between 212 and 190 (or 200).'

Those are the same people that insist on decanting mediocre wine for two hours before drinking.

Or who would be appalled at drinking any whisky (note the missing 'e') that is less than 15 years old.

They are often nice, but always snobs : )

typingtalker said...

The greatest reduction in natural gas usage in my kitchen has come from the electric oven (can you even buy a residential gas oven?) and the microwave oven -- the world's best hot-water-maker, leftover-heater, popcorn-popper and vegetable cooker.

The electric oven would be cleaner still if all of our electric power came from nuclear powered generators -- an argument for another day.

Michael K said...

Web just bought a gas stove after getting tired of the old electric one. We did not have gas in the kitchen, so had to run a 3/4 inch gas line from the meter to the kitchen which cost more than the stove. The gas Nazis will have to take it by force.

JK Brown said...

If you are concerned about your gas stove top, then you should really be concerned about cooking indoors. Whatever the heat source, the frying, sautéing, boiling, etc., puts more volatiles in your indoor air than comes from the combustion. But if you have a gas stove installed to code, you would have an externally discharging kitchen vent. If you have a super modern very tight house, they you should have an ERV or HRV to vent air and also allow make up air in the envelope. (Energy/Heat Recovery Ventilation)

If you have real concerns, then you should go back to the separate building kitchens of old plantations and estates.

Dr. Ken Berry, MD, looked at the "study" they used to spark this government action and it is not even close to science. It is just marketing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxBzFSxiVUk

JK Brown said...

rehajm said...
Wait until the left discovers most US homes in northern climates are heated with a furnace that runs on fossil fuels…

Wait till they realize many, especially in the NYC area, have steam heat which can explode (though far less likely than the 1 a week back in 1900.

But NYC has realized and is shifting it's public housing from steam heat to individualized heat pumps. Wait until it's cold or hot and that electric consumption starts. Thousands of window heat pump working hard. In buildings built with lots of drafts for fresh air in winter after the 1918 pandemic. The steam systems were sized to heat the buildings on the coldest day of the year with high winds and the windows open in the decade after the pandemic.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Must be written by a chatbot.

Ampersand said...

The environmental benefits of eliminating gas stoves are minimal.
In the real world, there is zero probability that China and India will not burn their enormous supplies of coal and similar high carbon emission fuels. AGW is real, though its timeline is being telescoped for political reasons. The rational approach is to respond to climate change as humans have done for tens of thousands of years: muddle through, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Sadly, few successful political movements have been organized around slogans that included the word muddle as part of a policy prescription.

Humperdink said...

We remodeled our kitchen ten years ago. New appliances across the board. New double gas oven/ stove, dishwasher, microwave and double door refrigerator. All top of the line Maytags. All junk. Since the remodeling, we have had to replace everything except the gas stove which required repair. My spouse, smarter than the average bear, insisting on white in color. Everything matches when replaced. Owing to the recent lefty push, I am now perusing Craigslist for a replacement gas stove as a back up. Used appliances are dirt cheap.

John henry said...

So they want us to cook with electricity generated by coal, natural gas or oil? At an overall efficiency of about 20-30% by the time it heats your food.

Burning the gas directly probably has an efficiency of 70-80%.

So these people don't care about the children and the damaged lives they will have, if any, due to global climate whatsit?

Fuck 'em.

John Henry

JK Brown said...

As for creative ways to cook, I've been playing with using the residual heat on my glass top resistance burner stove. Heat something up and then let it extract the heat in the cook top to keep its temp up longer. It does save energy, but I'm doing it for fun and as a throwback before thermostatically controlled ovens and stove tops where you had a hot surface and different temp zones across it and/or let the fire die down.

Also, using steam, or really tiny amounts of water to bring food in a pan up to near 200 where certain processes happen then letting that little bit out so I can brown at the higher temperature. Trying to think of an easy way to generate steam then have a want to introduce it to a pan as needed. Right now, just using tiny splashes evaporating off the pan.

Caroline said...

I second what James said above. If you live in a hurricane or storm prone area, gas stoves, water heaters are in your dna. When your power goes off, which happens a few times a year, I can still cook, take a shower, plus I have a gas fireplace. This gives me great comfort.

Jaq said...

I have a Brim 1,000 watt inductive hot water maker. I like it, it's quick, the spout is designed to pour the water very accurately, and you can set the temperature to your exact specification. It's great for making a pour over coffee, 203 degrees, or tea, 185, or even if you need to top off the boiling water when boiling potatoes on the gas range, you can quickly add already boiling water to the pot. I also like my air fryer, I like my crock pot, even my sous vide device. I suppose if I wanted to spend time monitoring my cooking over the stove, I could do without these conveniences very well, but they are convenient, that's indisputable. I like cooking beans from dry, spicing it myself, even though "I could just open a can, so it makes no sense," some might opine.

I don't like microwaving the water for my tea or coffee. I have no rational reason for this, but it's true. Maybe it's because the cup is hard to handle because it gets so hot when heating the water.

Daniel12 said...

"Wait until the left discovers most US homes in northern climates are heated with a furnace that runs on fossil fuels…"

Why do people assume no one knows what they just found out?

Nicholas said...

In the period since gas stoves appeared in houses, life expectancy has soared. Trying to pretend they represent a threat to health is completely absurd, but I suppose if you can instil such fear as to make people wear surgical masks when driving alone in their cars, anything is possible.

Michael K said...

Blogger JK Brown said...

If you are concerned about your gas stove top, then you should really be concerned about cooking indoors. Whatever the heat source, the frying, sautéing, boiling, etc., puts more volatiles in your indoor air than comes from the combustion.


About 20 years ago, the NY Times ran an article on a Shanghai suburb called "Orange County." The design of the streets and houses looked exactly like the Orange County, CA area, especially the newer suburbs in the south county. The houses looked exactly like the American houses with one exception. The kitchens were all in a separate structure out side the house. Chinese cooking was too smoky and polluting.

Big Mike said...

AGW is real, though its timeline is being telescoped for political reasons.

No it’s not real. Early this morning Mount Weather set a new record for coldest wind chill ever recorded in the Lower 48 — negative 109 degrees F. Yes, I know the argument — abnormally cold temperatures are “just weather” but unseasonably warm temperatures are a sure sign that AGW is real. Yup. That’s “science” in the 21st century — only accept data points that support your hypothesis and carefully ignore the ones that refute it.

But the old record was negative 103, so the old record wasn’t just broken — it was shattered.

Michael said...

Ever been in a restaurant kitchen? Ever seen there an electric stove? Me either and I have been in hundreds.

Michael said...

Ever heard the expression now you’re cooking with gas?

Leora said...

I use the undercounter hot water heater to clean my cast iron pans without soap and to start water to boil on the stove. It came with the house and I wouldn't install one. My husband makes instant coffee with it but I use the Keurig pod coffee maker.

Kirk Parker said...

Temujin,

The problem with "bugger off" is that there's no guarantee of permanency. The bugger might at any time decide to bugger back.

For my money FOAD sounds like a better long-term solution.

stlcdr said...

Is WaPo gaslighting us about gas stoves?

Mason G said...

The Amish are opposed to driving cars so they don't. They don't insist, using the power of government, on forcing everyone not to.

If, in your belief system, gas stoves are a problem the solution is to not have one, not to force everybody to not have one.

In other words, mind your own fucking business. JFC, progressives are garbage people and they insist on reproving it over and over again.

Jim at said...

So now you leftists are politicizing what I use to cook my food.

GFY.

MadTownGuy said...

Saith the Los Angeles Times:

Home Improvement : Instant Hot Water Dispenser Vs. Microwave

"QUESTION: We’re getting ready to remodel our kitchen and are thinking about installing an instant hot water dispenser for making coffee and tea. They’re very convenient, but how do they compare in cost and energy use to heating water in a microwave oven?

ANSWER: It depends on how you use it. If you make four or more cups (8 oz. size) a day, the instant hot water dispenser is probably the more efficient choice. Keep in mind it can also be used for soups, cereals, gelatins, gravies, peeling tomatoes and blanching vegetables. If you make fewer cups, then the microwave oven is more efficient. The difference in efficiency has to do with how they work.
"

n.n said...

Must be written by a chatbot.

ChatDNS

n.n said...

ChatDNC

Ampersand said...

At 1243pm, Big Mike disputes my offhanded assertion that AGW is real. When I wrote "AGW is real", it was my personal shorthand for "I'm not a climate scientist, but my reading has lead me to believe that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas levels are increasing, that human activity has played a significant role in such increases, and that higher greenhouse gas levels will result in gradual increases in average world temperatures, which will eventually lead to various climatic changes. Other people disagree with these conclusions, but as much as I wish to agree with them, I haven't been persuaded." On this general topic, I recommend reading "False Alarm" by Bjorn Lomborg (2020). Many other people know more than I do about AGW, yet I somehow feel comfortable disagreeing with people more knowledgeable than me. Relatedly, half of the people who know football better than I do are probably wrong in their predictions of who will win the Super Bowl.

Kirk Parker said...

"The difference in efficiency has to do with how they work"

There's no limit to the number of *amazing* facts you can learn by reading the newspaper.

Known Unknown said...

All of this based on one pretty dubious study.

Anonymous said...

It's not enough that they want us to eat bugs. They want us to eat raw bugs. At what point do we finally understand that the people who want to take all these thongs away from us mean very much to do us harm. Are we really supposed to believe it when they tell us gad tones are dangerous, these same people that inflicted masks and closed schools on unsusceptible children and left elderly to die alone, after, of course, it was they who inflicted death on the elderly in the first place.

Big Mike said...

@Ampersand, in case you wander back to this thread. Like you I am not a climate scientist. Unlike you — probably — I have expertise in mathematical modeling, and even co-authored the original standard procedures manual for my corporation’s computer systems modeling efforts. And when I see that the models on which the alarmists’ hair-on-fire predictions were neither created following best practices, nor do their predictions match reality until the data is “adjusted” to fit, then I view the AGW believers with a level of contempt that I doubt such believers have enough working brain cells to appreciate.

The following criteria are totally useless in assessing the validity of a mathematical model:

1) The complexity of the model. Indeed, if you had any experience with numerical analysis you’d know that complex models are all too likely to blow up from accumulated round off errors.

2) Equally useless are the credentials of the model builders. No one can be expert in everything.

3) “Consensus,” which I put in scare quotes because of the evidence that much of the alleged consensus is coerced.

Nope, none of that matters. There is only one thing that does matter: how well do the predictions made by the model match the real world. In the case of climate models, when you observe that the collected data is “adjusted” to match the predictions and not the model adjusted to match the observed data, then the model builders are behaving unethically, improperly, and unscientifically.

Indeed, the word “believe” is what’s wrong with the whole field of climate science. You can believe in Jesus Christ or in Allah or Thor and Wodin for all I care. That’s a matter for religion. But disbelieving in gravity won’t help you if you fall off the top of a tall building, nor will belief in AGW junk science mean that the sea levels will rise when they haven’t and they don’t.

Ralph L said...

The kerfuffle prompted me to buy a more-than-half-off display & discontinued gas cooktop last weekend. I installed it myself with the existing flex pipe after some internal cabinet surgery, but yesterday I noticed the faintest whiff of rotten eggs inside the cabinet. Further tightening occurred this evening, but I bought a new $40! pipe just in case I can still smell it tomorrow. Most of the ones at Lowes and Home Despot didn't have completely good functionality despite the $1k+ prices. I've noticed that about kitchen design since we first re-did one in the 80s.

One of the better ideas in my entirely Ralph-designed kitchen is the counter at the cooktop extends several inches in front of the cabinet (two wide, deep drawers for pots & pans, which I've since seen in magazines but not in 1998), so most spills go directly to the floor instead down the front of the wood.

Dan from Madison said...

"I love my under counter water heater. Instant boiling water. I'm a tea drinker and it saves that kettling time."

But it's not all the way at the boiling point. Anyone who learned tea making with the idea bring the pot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot would not tolerate the discrepancy between 212 and 190 (or 200).

As another commenter said, I don't quite understand this either. Hot water is hot water. I put a tea bag in it and I get tea. You can't really drink it at or near boiling anyways.

Old and slow said...

When installing gas appliances, it is worth remembering that it is easy to over-tighten gas fittings and this can cause leaks. Use a bit of "pipe dope" on the threads and only moderately tighten the fittings. They won't leak.

Ralph L said...

I was already doped up (some joints weren't 20 year ago, though). The tightening seems to have fixed the le...

KABOOM!