Gee, let’s not talk to the other people who think maybe, just maybe, this was a bad idea gone even badder? I had to laugh when I saw this on their Facebook page. It reminds me of the days of denial put forth bv that other collection of clowns arctic explorers that were caught out faking biotelemetry readings.
Uh oh, Brits only now. Everybody else is to be excluded. I think that soon, comments to team members on their website and Facebook page might become unmanageable. Obviously, they don’t realize they are on the world wide web.
For those of you just joining us, recall that “Row to the Pole” is in name only, they aren’t actually going to reach the magnetic north pole of today, nor the geographic north pole. And, at the rate they are going, they likely won’t make the magnetic pole of 1996 either.
But hey, it’s a publicity stunt to promote this Scotch Whisky few have heard of, so don’t expect too much.
By the way, has anyone noticed that not once has the team posted any updates on the “the science” they are supposed to be doing on this stunt trip?
The whole thing is sheer poetry.
Row, row, row, your boat, fake it to the pole
Merrily merrilly merrily merrily, ice is but a dream
I cant see the video jack!
well, maybe all i needed to do was log in for I now can see it!
To be fair, most of these guys probably in it for the adventure.
And those are Little Auks not Penguins.
Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame published a book: http://www.amazon.com/Bert-Feggs-Nasty-Book-Girls/dp/041332740X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313249061&sr=1-2
One of the stories within this book details the travails of an expedition which attempts to cross the Andes by frog. It’s a send-up of the British predilection for mounting expeditions intended to accomplish something or other in the most inappropriate way possible. Row to the Pole certainly qualifies.
I just noticed on their website:
7000 Calories Per Day
450 Miles to Row
6 Crew Members
1 Pole
Kind of odd that they would say one pole when they are going to the 1996 Magnetic Pole. I count 3 Poles. True North, Current Magnetic and then there is their destination.
REPLY: Five if you count the south mag and geographic poles – Anthony
Ian H says:
August 13, 2011 at 8:18 am
To be fair, most of these guys probably in it for the adventure.
And those are Little Auks not Penguins.
Guillemots I reckon. To big for little Auks, though the Great Auk was a near as dammit as you can be to a Penguin without being one. By the way, Penguin is one of only 4 Welsh words ever to make it into general usage. The other three being “Cardiff City nil”.
Looks like we Brits are having a “National Embarrassment Week”. what wiith the riots and and warmists who will only speak to British warmists. Let’s hope nexxt week is better!
D Lee said
‘When Jeremy Clarkson and James May drove to the magnetic pole on Top Gear, they didn’t seem to run across any open water. Thin ice a couple of times, but no water.’
That programme was BRILLIANT!
Almost restored my faith in the BBC.
But not quite.
I think it was probably early summer, so fairly sure of having continuous thick ice all the way. Clarkson and May were either pretty gutsy, or very pissed, most likely the latter, but not stupid. Not very stupid, anyway.
Janice ‘I really don’t understand why these types of expeditions need to be so . . . primitive’.
Yes usually this kind of British public school show has to be man v nature, if you know what I mean. Well, you obviously don’t, but that doesn’t mean you’re dense. It’s because they’re stuck in a pre-industrial version of the world. That’s why so many posh people are greenies. Actually, most Brits much prefer Clarkson and May. I think the Beeb would love to get rid of Top Gear, but knows there’d be another riot if they did.
You guys and your empirical data, pah.
Next year we are rowing to the South Pole.
p.s. Last time I did it we used a submarine and to highlight what we British are like we had a game of cricket.
Our rowing friends are just following the marching orders of a blogger at a site that ironically has the word “science” as the first word in its url: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/06/why_is_anthropogenic_global_wa.php
“If you are a blogger and they comment on your blog, you need not be intimidated by screechy references to the “First Amendment” … just delete their blaterhing or change their links to point to the web site of the Spam Museum, a major Minnesota Attraction. Or whatever.”
You have to admire the initiative of the little known Whisky brewers. While the goal of the rowing team is not practical and is an obvious shameless attempt to promote global warming, a good advertising company can promote the sale of the Whisky from the stunt. Free enterprise is great but there is always a risk in being associated with a failure.
It may be good advice not to communicate with skeptics, after all would Billy the Kid go into a gunfight with no bullets?
I love middle school’ers with their oft used “whatever” and “speak to the hand” retort as they take their ball and go home in the midst of unasked for and unappreciated advice from the wise to the unwise. However, it is less than charming when adults use it. Their catty refusal to address sceptical comments displays the childish nature of AGW.
Gareth Phillips says:
“By the way, Penguin is one of only 4 Welsh words ever to make it into general usage. The other three being “Cardiff City nil”.”
What??? When did Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch fall out of common usage? Why, I’ve even got the t-shirt.
Olen says:
August 13, 2011 at 9:56 am
You have to admire the initiative of the little known Whisky brewers. While the goal of the rowing team is not practical and is an obvious shameless attempt to promote global warming, a good advertising company can promote the sale of the Whisky from the stunt. Free enterprise is great but there is always a risk in being associated with a failure.
Good Lord Sir, you do not brew Whisky, it is distilled in the arms of fine men and true!
Why not get off the internet (the porn and forums for angry, impotent folk will be there when you get back) or switch the TV off and go and have an adventure yourselves? Set up a Facebook page to tell us all about it, then we can tell you what a [snip]
http://www.rowtothepole.com/the-expedition/the-route/
They seem to have taken some pragmatic liberties with the actual route thus far. I can only see more pragmatism ahead, as the planned direct, serene progress through open water becomes more like an Arctic version of a Greek island-hopping holiday across Table, Cornwall and Amund Ringnes islands. Eventually, staring across forlornly to Ellef Ringnes island with sore backs, they decide there’s only so far you can drag a boat and instead reach for the flares…
By Jove I think he’s got it!
kadaka (KD Knoebel) @August 12, 2011 at 9:15 pm: “hoards of Krauts”. Hordes of Krauts, if you please. The hoards of the Krauts are now needed to bail out the rest of Europe.
Jack Savage says:
August 13, 2011 at 5:51 am
Whoa, not far from being snapped like a twig. Definitely time for the brown safety trousers there…
well, I got banned from their facebook page after questioning their use of an outboard motor! bahahaha
So they are now waiting to cross the Belcher channel to Cornwall Island. Discovered by Edward Belcher in 1852 on the British navy ship Assistance, They are hardly doing something that hasn’t been done before…a long time before.
LexingtonGreen says:
August 13, 2011 at 8:34 am
“I just noticed on their website:
7000 Calories Per Day
450 Miles to Row
6 Crew Members
1 Pole
Kind of odd that they would say one pole when they are going to the 1996 Magnetic Pole. I count 3 Poles. True North, Current Magnetic and then there is their destination.”
No, no, no. They meant that they had only one pole to row with. Its like tying one Arm behind your Back. They wouldn’t try to deceive anyone into thinking they were trying to “Row To The Pole”.
omnologos says:
August 13, 2011 at 6:48 am
David, UK – given your reaction to AleaJactaEst, I do not think you’re from the UK.
Wow. Now THIS is a contender for the most astronomically stupid comment I have ever seen on WUWT. Is there some kind of competition going on?
Speaking about Welsh names – I prefer the name of the town Llandudno – it resembles that of our Czech towns Kopidlno or Smecno, although the language roots are entirely different. Maybe that’s the reason the name of Fresno in California sounded to me like a home, sweet home.
BTW, Smecno was even under the transcription Smetschna among the GHCN stations once upon the time…
Ulrich Elkmann says:
August 13, 2011 at 11:07 am
……The hoards of the Krauts are now needed to bail out the rest of Europe.
——————————————————————————————————
Quite right! They are needed to bail out the rest of Europe, but could you please explain why they are doing so? Since the demise of the GDR, Germany has not been noted for embarking on futile exercises.