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The Tigerwoods index (TWI)

Climategate goes uber-viral, Gore flees leaving evil henchmen to defend crumbling citadel ~ James Delingpole
Climategate is now huge. Way, way bigger than the Mainstream Media (MSM) is admitting it is – as Richard North demonstrates in this fascinating analysis. Using what he calls a Tiger Woods Index (TWI), he compares the amount of interest being shown by internet users (as shown by the number of general web pages on Google) and compares it with the number of news reports recorded. The ratio indicates what people are really interested in, as opposed to what the MSM thinks they ought to be interested in.

North explains:

Tiger Woods delivered 22,500,000 web and 46,025 news pages, giving ratio of 489. That is the “Tiger Woods Index” (TWI) against which I chose to measure a raft of other issues.

Here are the rankings:


1. Climategate: 28,400,000 – 2,930 = 9693
2. Afghanistan: 143,000,000 – 154,145 = 928
3. Obama: 202,000,000 – 252,583 = 800
4. Tiger Woods: 22,500,000 – 46,025 = 489
5. Gordon Brown: 12,300,000 – 37,021 = 332
6. Climate change: 22,200,000 – 68,419 = 324
7. Sally Bercow: 25,000 – 86 = 290
8. David Cameron: 545,000 – 4837 = 113
9. Meredith Kercher: 261,000 – 3,471 = 75
10. Chilcot Inquiry: 125,000 – 4,350 = 29


In other words, people are far more interested in ClimateGate than Tiger Woods by a factor of 20 times. Twenty times, yet what are we hearing about in the print media?

Meanwhile, what does my local paper have on the whole issue? An article on Wellington being like Venice, underwater, by 2100, if we don't do something. Maybe building sea walls would be a good idea? But no, I don't think that's what is meant. Paying money to people like Al Gore is probably more like it.

Then on the front page of the World section, we have the man himself, Al-baby, saying we are not doing enough.

"We are gambling with the future of human civilisation in accepting odds that by any definition make our present course reckless ... But it's still the most likely path to success."


And whatabout ClimateGate, Al?
The naysayers are in a sunset phase with a spectacular climax just before they subside from view," he said. This is a race between commonsense and unreality."


The title of the whole spread is Going green: Countdown to Copenhagen, with a cute little insert titled: Climate experts warn: adapt or die. Ummm, we all die, eventually.

So, how to make your home and your city more eco-friendly ... they've left out the bit that tells us how to go back to the stone age, because that's what needed if what the climate experts tell us is true.

Bah! It's all just so ridiculous. Meanwhile, have a look at this: The Battle for the Internet has begun.

Comments

  1. What's all this about Tiger crashing into a tree and a fire hydrant? Obviously couldn't decide between a wood and an iron.

    Tiger's fall from grace is a very sad affair.

    Nearly as bad as ClimateGate.

    I li9nk the point made on one of the links - when the Government can no longer control the narrative, expect it to react.

    The blogosphere is upsetting the control of the narrative. If more people turn to it for news, then the MSM can't get away with running lightweight articles and ingnoring major stories.

    What will be the outcome of that? The more I watch from the sidelines, the more it seems that the political party has less influence on the machinery of government than we would think.

    I'm in Australia this week and watching the Tony Abbott saga unfold has been interesting.

    The media's reaction to Abbott is to promote other issues into the forefront, to swamp the discussion on the lack of justification for rushing an ETS scheme through the Senate, in advance of Copenhagen. Any rational person would expect it prudent to wait until after Copenhagen to discuss next steps. Which shows how zealous and illogical the ClimateGate crowd are over this matter.

    And Rudd is doing his best to suggest Abbott has a nuclear reactor in his budgie smugglers, and the papers are running articles on Abbott's stand on abortion. It's very funny.

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  2. And meanwhile, in the realworld:
    http://www.google.com/trends?q=climategate%2C+tiger+woods&ctab=0&geo=all&date=mtd&sort=1

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  3. Haha!

    I think the point works either way. In the "real world", the MSM spend more time promoting Tiger Woods and his personal life than discuss the issues raised out of ClimageGate.

    It only proves the "real world" is full of lunatics or a well conditioned populace to follow and not think.

    They are indeed controlling the narrative.

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  4. I am sure Tiger Woods would be pleased with this news! Although I would suggest he has enough problems on his plate even with out the media on his back.

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  5. It only proves the "real world" is full of lunatics or a well conditioned populace to follow and not think.


    No it doesn't Zen. It proves that those of us in the 'real world' have that which is enough. Our children are relatively happy and we can afford to have a glass of wine with our dinner.

    Politics simply does not affect most of the populace to the degree you think it does. And I'm happy about that.

    I hope you are not getting into that negativity that most in the blogosphere swim about in.

    Life is good - and it goes on.

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  6. And Ruth is going to change her name to Pollyanna any day now....

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  7. Ruth, I expressed myself poorly. My comment about insanity was really the bemusement that Britney Spears and Tiger Woods generate so much traffic around the private lives (not that they have private lives) versus, say WWIII breaking out and 20 million dead in a far away country...

    No it doesn't Zen. It proves that those of us in the 'real world' have that which is enough. Our children are relatively happy and we can afford to have a glass of wine with our dinner.

    Fair point. Does that mean all the Al Gorites worrying that the end is truly nigh unless we tax carbon do not also live in the real world?

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