(apologies to Dorothy Mackellar)

Nobody’s perfect, and mistakes will happen. But it’s not just photos that should be viewed with more scepticism. Some of the stories that get repeated on WUWT also need a more critical eye.

Two of the most egregious over the past year have been the Monckton-APS claim and the story about influential Japanese scientists supposedly questioning climate change.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/07/page/3/

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/02/25/japans-society-of-energy-and-resources-disses-the-ipcc-says-recent-climate-change-is-driven-by-natural-cycles-not-human-industrial-activity/

If true, both of these stories would have been explosive. The fact that neither had been featured in the mainstream media should have given pause for thought, since any competent mainstream editor would have immediately spotted the news value of these items. The fact that WUWT apparently sleepwalked into these controversies points to a flaw in its editorial process.

Speculating, I think the problem sprang from two attitudes: 1) Climate sceptics believed the mainstream media is biased and willing to suppress important facts; 2) Climate sceptics were unwilling to subject climate scepticism to critical scrutiny.

Arguably, the cold shoulder that Christopher Monckton experienced in Washington recently was a result of the APS debacle, so getting it right is to your own advantage.

Red-necked Wallaby sees white and has blue thoughts about Al Gore.

Red-necked Wallaby: free, Snow: free, Making fun of global warming: priceless.

On the contrary, I’m heartily enjoying the wonderful display of ignorance and arrogance in the above. Makes me realise quite how you won the “science” blog of the year and also how willing your readership is to have the wool pulled over their eyes and how hard they try to keep it there.

If you can “mis-speak” on such a trivial matter as the year & season of this photo, what hope is there for when you “mis-speak” anywhere else in your blog?

REPLY: Indeed, what hope for you is there if you expect perfection in everything you see? Mistakes are made, you learn from them and move on. What I’ve learned here is that I won’t trust another’s word again on photo provenance and that you dislike me and the readers here for making a simple mistake, which comes off as petty. Show me a scientist, a journalist, an engineer, or even a doctor who has never made a mistake, and you might have a point. What is important is how you deal with the mistake. A note on the science blog award. It is voted by readers. If this blog is so bad, and so full of ignorance I doubt that I would have beaten RC and all of the others that have that air of perfection you seek. WUWT is admittedly imperfect, as am I, as are the readers. However, we all must be doing something right because readership and traffic continue to grow, while competitors and also-ran-ters stay static or drop. Your dislike is noted as it was the first time. Thank you. – Anthony

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/images/polarbear/schliebe_13.jpg

It actually does appear to be a wallaby. Wallabies are generally smaller than Kangaroos. I could be wrong but I would put my money on a wallaby.

CAPTION: Here comes the ice cream van!

I like Americans, but I’m a Canuck who spent a year in N.Z. and Australia in 71-72, and wondered what the smirks were about when I came home till was told I had an accent. Couldn’t pass for an Aussie now though. Ta-ta.

Why is it that Greenies seem to have no sense of Humor?

Sorry. Thought it was a kangaroo.