Al Gore’s op-ed in Saturday’s New York Times laments the recent events that have led to renewed attacks on the global warming theory, even while acknowledging some “mistakes” made by proponents of climate change science:

It is true that the climate panel published a flawed overestimate of the melting rate of debris-covered glaciers in the Himalayas, and used information about the Netherlands provided to it by the government, which was later found to be partly inaccurate. In addition, e-mail messages stolen from the University of East Anglia in Britain showed that scientists besieged by an onslaught of hostile, make-work demands from climate skeptics may not have adequately followed the requirements of the British freedom of information law.

But the scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes.

Mistakes? Mistakes?! It’s fraud, Al. Fraud. And it cheapens the climate change issue. Because, for all we know, global warming might be happening. But the efforts to rhetorically strong-arm the idea into acceptance at any cost, even by manipulating the data, drive folks away and prevent us from having an honest debate on the issue.

Basketball season is over for all local high school teams, as Oneida fell at Tellico Plains last night, 56-49, in the opening round of the Region 2-A Tournament.

The Bears will face Oliver Springs in the region semifinals. The Bobcats defeated Midway 44-37 last night.

Also last night, Harriman defeated Sunbright, 52-37.

The tournament shifts to Wartburg Central High School Tuesday for semifinal action.

I’ve had March 7-10 circled for a while now as when spring would make its presence felt in East Tennessee, and have mentioned those dates on a couple of posts in recent days. The latest GFS computer model data seems to agree. The model output statistics (MOS) from today’s midday run of the GFS paints a high of 56 in Oneida next Saturday, and even warmer on Sunday of next week. The raw model data isn’t quite as warm, but does indicate temperatures in the 50s each day.

We’ve seen a few 50-degree days this month and last, of course, but it never lasted. The difference this time around is the warmth should be here to stay. We may see high temps in the 40s a couple of days the following week, but our days with highs in the 30s should be pretty well done, and days with highs in the 50s should be the norm rather than the exception beginning next Saturday.

(Source)

A cursory glance at the Kentucky message boards indicates that the News Sentinel’s headline writer is spot on. The officials hosed Kentucky? Seriously!? They had more than twice as many free throws as Tennessee before they intentionally fouled at the end. (The total was 27-13 before the two intentional fouls against Prince, after which the total was 27-17.)

Scott’s Lady Highlanders concluded their season last night with a 58-36 loss at Pigeon Forge in the opening round of the Region 2-AA Tournament. It was a nice season for Scott High, as Jackson Sharp is definitely building that program back towards where it was in the 1990s. This year marked their first trip to the region in a decade.

Tonight, Oneida’s boys travel to Tellico Plains as the No. 3 team from District 4, to face the No. 2 team from District 3 in the first round of the Region 2-A boys’ tournament.

Other girls’ scores from last night that affect local teams: District 3 No. 1 Austin-East defeated District 4 No. 4 Stone Memorial 54-48, District 4 No. 2 Alcoa defeated District 3 No. 3 Fulton 61-47, District 4 No. 1 CAK rolled by District 3 No. 4 Gibbs 51-39. In Region 2-A, Frank Snow and his Oakdale Lady Eagles, the No. 4 team from District 4, upset District 3 champion Tellico Plains 65-64, District 4 No. 2 Wartburg rolled to a 56-37 win over District 3 No. 3 Rockwood, District 4 No. 1 Oliver Springs defeated District 3 No. 4 Midway 52-36, and District 4 No. 3 Coalfield defeated District 3 No. 2 Harriman 61-48. So two teams from District 4 will be in the sub-state. Remember, this is the same district an Oneida team with no seniors competed well in all season despite not making it out of the first round of the district tournament.

Other scores of interest included Jackson County defeating Trousdale County 73-48 and Clarkrange defeating Gordonsville 63-45. Those two teams are on a collision course for a region championship showdown, which would be their fourth meeting this season. One of those two teams will win the state championship.

Wes Rucker: “The top 2 teams in the nation have 3 combined losses. 2/3 came in the Tommy Bowl.”

Unless this team can pull it together for a March run, they’ll end this season as a disappointment overall, but Bruce Pearl proves again today that he is a master at coaching teams to victory when they’re out-manned and out-talented. And is it an overstatement to say that he is a much better coach than John Calipari? Calipari is only .500 against Pearl, and every one of the games played so far has seen Calipari enjoy a notable talent advantage. The Vols were 20 points better than Kentucky today. In fact, they were up 19 before the officials took over the game midway through the second half. By the time the whistles stopped blowing, the lead was seven and Tennessee had lost all its momentum.

This is what we used to call “good preachin’.” Some will be inspired by it; others will be offended. The doctrine of election and sovereign grace is a touchy one among protestant denominations. But, either way, he presents his case well. Don Fortner is a pastor in Danville, Ky., who semi-regularly delivers sermons at Lantana Grace in Crossville.

…the only thing separating us from the rest of the animal kingdom? We got condoms.

When we say goodbye to February this weekend, the month will end colder (relative to normal) than the month of January.

How’s that? January had the bitterly cold temperatures to start the month; the longest stretch of sub-freezing temperatures since the World War II era. But we had some nice weather later in the month that will probably go down as our warmest temperatures of the entire winter season. February, by comparison, has been consistently cold. We haven’t had much bitterly cold weather in February; aside from a temperature of 5° on Feb. 1 and 6° on Feb. 2, our coldest temperature all month was 14°. But the cold weather has been long-lasting. That goes without saying; it’s why we’re all jonesin’ for spring…there has been no reprieve. We hit 60° only once in February (62° on Monday). And, remarkably, we hit 50 only twice (Sunday and Monday). In an average February, we hit 50° a total of 14 times!

So, while January was actually colder than February at face-value, February actually turned out to be more impressive, since the higher sun angle typically means warmer temperatures in February.

Here are the numbers: With two days to go, our average temperature in February has been 29.1°. In a typical year, the average temperature in February is 37.0°. By comparison, the average temperature in January was 28.7°. The typical average in January is 33.5°.

Along the same lines: Consider that stretch of temps below freezing back in early January, the longest stretch of sub-freezing weather since World War II. It was a sign of what an epic winter season this is. But here’s a statistic that is even more telling:

The Memphis office of the National Weather Service has compiled the record number of consecutive days without hitting 70° in that city. Memphis has currently been 103 days without hitting 70° (Nov. 15 was the last time temps reached 70° in Memphis). That’s good enough for ninth all-time in Memphis, dating back to 1875 when records-keeping began. Tomorrow will make 104 days, and that will tie for eighth all-time, with a stretch of 104 days in 1936.

What’s even more impressive is that of all the stretches of sub-70° days in the Top 10, none of them occurred more recently than that stretch of days in 1936. The record is 140 days back in 1915. Second is 133 days in 1931. Third is 122 days in 1877. Fourth is 121 days in 1912. Fifth is 114 days in 1885 and 1886. Seventh is 111 days in 1908.

So after tomorrow, Memphis will have officially gone longer without reaching 70° than any stretch since 1931, which is quite remarkable.

And all this follows one of the coolest summers we’ve had in years. So the question that arises next is what will the summer of 2010 bring us? More below-average temperatures?

In other news, the University of Tennessee is awarding Al Gore an honorary doctorate degree. (Sorry; I couldn’t resist.)

State Sen. Jim Kyle has dropped out of the race, which virtually assures McWherter of the Democratic nomination. AC Kleinheider sounds off on Kyle’s forfeit:

So now what for a while threatened to be an exciting nomination fight is now back to what it started as: a boring contest for a sacrificial lamb.

The only side benefit to this is that Kim McMillan may now finally get the attention she deserves as a serious candidate.

McMillan was the first one in the race, announcing before the year 2008 had even finished, but her candidacy has never caught fire. Now she represents the only hope to stop the coronation of a boring, conservative legacy case.

Conventional wisdom says that a Republican is going to win the gubernatorial race this fall. Whether it’s Bill Haslam or Zach Wamp or Ron Ramsey, the candidate who emerges victorious in August will find the November general election a mere formality. So says conventional wisdom.

But I will add this about Mike McWherter: Don’t count him out just yet. Before this morning, I hadn’t had much exposure to McWherter, apart from reading the materials distributed by his campaign and reading the Nashville blog scene. As I arrived at the Oneida Municipal Services Building this morning, I overheard a local Democrat say that he felt McWherter has a decent chance of winning. I figured he must be talking about the primary, because everyone knows that the GOP nominee will be the heir apparent to the Governor’s Mansion. Right? But after listening to McWherter speak, I know where the guy was coming from when he says he has a chance. McWherter has a strategy that, in my opinion, will resonate with voters. All candidates talk about creating jobs, but few have a clear plan. To put it bluntly, I was impressed with McWherter.

My thinking is that when McWherter gets the opportunity to begin taking his message to the people, he may win over a few voters who have no plans of casting ballots for him. And if McMillan’s candidacy is indeed going nowhere fast, and McWherter isn’t forced to go through a bruising primary battle, he can go forward with that message while the Republicans are busy trying to out-spend and out-last one another.

Whether that can translate to success in November is another story. Clearly, the Democrats face the biggest uphill battle in Tennessee that they’ve faced in some time. But this thing just might get interesting.