Kenneth Chang

Mainzer said they fit observations to 4 parameters: diameter, albedo, 3-micron albedo and beaming. I don’t know what beaming is.

... and then calibrated using known size (diameter) measurements, so that the rest goes into what you call 'fudge factor'.

So why is this paper "Preliminary Albedos and Diameters”? http://bit.ly/1VmpCVA  Both diameters & albedos are calculated, yes?

IR brightness is measured. All other properties are estimated. Important parameter estimates are calibrated.

Right, diameter is not measured. It is calculated from thermal models to replicate IR brightness in the 4 bands, yes?

Nothing wrong with 'better' or 'worse' thermal model as long as size is measured verifiably better. Myhrvold don't do that.

Nathan is claiming that the model is “good” because they came up with all these arbitrary rules for the calibration.

Also, since you mentioned 'arbitrary rules for the calibration', any specifics on that? Any specific rule that seemed wrong or /1