Letters, Faxes, E-mails

To the Editor:
Here’s to all the Kool-Aid drinkers in our area. Which year is the hottest on record? Depending where one looks, there are three different answers: 2006, 1998 or 1934. Until last fall, the answer was supposed to be 2006, but it might have been 1998. Now, citing corrections of faulty data, NASA says it was actually 1934. The National Climactic Data Center disagrees; it still says 1998.
Here’s what we know: The National Climatic Data Center reported in mid-January that 2006 was the hottest year on record. Then, in May, it revised the numbers, concluding that 1998, in fact, was the hottest on record. NASA’s old numbers echoed that last contention. But last fall, it emerged that NASA had quietly restated its numbers, without fanfare or so much as a press release, after a blogger pointed out faulty methodology. Now, per NASA: 1934 is hottest, followed by 1998, 1921, 2006 and 1931.
My, my, my. Another scientific boondoggle down the drain. Where is the mainstream media on this one?
Rickey Dale Crain
Shawnee