UPDATE: BBC (and now the Independent) commit the same FAIL. See below.
More “Row to the Pole” nonsense writ large:
Ummmm…no, Mr. Hough, the Telegraph’s headline and story are simply wrong. You are a victim of spin and/or a failed geography lesson.
First congratulations, to the RttP team for reaching their destination, which is not a pole of any kind, much less the actual “North Pole”. I didn’t think they would make it.
As I explained before the trip even started, there’s no “pole” achievement here, not even close. They are 738 KM short of the actual magnetic pole. The 1996 magnetic pole doesn’t exist there anymore and thus can’t be a pole of any kind.
The Telegraph article says:
The successful trip to the Pole, described as the “greatest ocean rows of all time”, was only possible because of more seasonal ice-melt in the Arctic that has opened the waters up.
No mention of the fact that they aren’t even close. The actual North pole is 790 miles away:
The FAIL is strong with this one. h/t to reader “Angry Exile”
And the BBC is in on the act of shoddy journalism too:
Kitefreak says:
BBC reporting that the Pultney rowing expedition has reached “the north pole”. Reported on Radio Scotland at 8am (main news bulletin) and on the news website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
Absolutely no mention on the radio or the website that it’s the magnetic north pole from ’96, no, they just say the folks have rowed TO THE NORTH POLE.
Pure propaganda.
UPDATE: The BBC commits the same FAIL here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9573000/9573302.stm
What a bunch of liars.
UPDATE2: The load of porkies continues…now the Independent repeats the lie.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
A tiny bit off topic, but look at the word frequency of words like “arctic” http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=arctic Polar, Frozen, I suppose you could think of a lot of them, and notice the spike in the little ice age…
Lars P says: “The row to the North Pole is as true as Global Warming.”
Our mistake is that this expedition is not the “equilibrium row to the pole”. When positive feedback plays out to its full extent, model simulations predict that in 50 years they will reach the pole and continue north from there. The models may be too conservative – so no point arguing.
I recall a couple of years ago, Jeremy Clarkson DROVE to the north pole in a ‘top gear’ stunt.
Watts up with that?
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/26/british-crew-row-north-pole
“British crew become first to row to magnetic north pole”
The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/british-team-are-the-first-to-row-to-the-north-pole-2344427.html
“British team are the first to row to the North Pole”
“The successful trip to the Pole, described as the “greatest ocean rows of all time””
… The Polynesians rowed / sailed to Hawaii 1,700 years ago, possibly from the Marquesas Islands, over 2,000 miles away! No whiskey and no GPS, no b.s.!
I sent to the Old Pulteney Whiskey the following missive:
“I am very sad to note that Old Pulteney Whiskey is reaching a broad audience in the United States (and global) through a bad geography lesson and other public relations fabrications. The Row to the Pole effort did not row to the pole, nor were they ever even close to the pole. That is; unless people in Scotland call over 700 miles (1120 Km) close.
Just how close to 12 years old is that Scotch? As close as those stupid but intrepid RttP members were to the real or magnetic North Pole?
When one willingly subscribes to a globally broadcast falsehood, it is implied that the subscribing company is willing to use similar tactics throughout their organization.
Having MacDougal blood on my mothers side, I’ve always been proud of my Scottish heritage. I am saddened by the thought of the ridicule that Scotland will receive everywhere because either the Scotch are easily misled and monetarily fleeced or because they don’t know where the North Pole is.”
Old Pulteney Whiskey contact page:
http://www.oldpulteney.com/contact.php
Mike McMillan says: “…in a journey that encountered polar bears, collisions with icebergs, and biting seals.”
“How do you collide with an iceberg if you’re rowing? Didn’t see it? You’d think they could have swerved to miss it. And doing it more than once?”
Kind of like a stampede. How many cows does it take to have a stampede?
So what constitutes an iceberg? It’s just a piece of ice floating in the water. But I’ve never actually seen the specifications for how big it has to be before this floating chunk of ice is called an iceberg. Maybe they kept running into chunks of ice that were about the size of a gallon milk carton, and they’re calling those icebergs.
And how do you get bitten by a seal? Were they trying to pet it? Get close enough for an autograph?
Isn’t North Pole, Alaska near the Tatana river?Let’s row to North Pole Alaska via Beaver Springs Slough and eat at the Santa Claus-themes Wendy’s. I wonder if they serve mooseburgers too?
If Palin or Bachmann said this was the North Pole, the progressive Left would be apoplectic with giggles. 800 miles off?
Apparently, from the article they saw “around eight polar bears”!
With such priceless accuracy, no wonder they missed the correct destination (or maybe nobody was prepared to take their mittens off to count up properly).
Maybe though, it was just the one bear playing ‘peek-a-boo’ round the pack ice every now and again: those polar bears – I ask you, what are they like?
Should’ve taken vodka, not whiskey. Seals don’t like vodka.
Jordan says: “When positive feedback plays out to its full extent, model simulations predict that in 50 years they will reach the pole and continue north from there. The models may be too conservative – so no point arguing.”
These guys reached 78 degrees North. It is an achievement, but not the North Pole nor the magnetic North Pole. This is reality Jordan, I live in the real world not in a model.
Maybe it’s not really 12 year-old scotch either.
This is the subheading of the BBC article you attack. “A rowing expedition has reached the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole in a bid to highlight the effect of climate change in the region.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
It says: “Last updated at 09:11 GMT” Did they correct it? If so, it’s time to withdraw the attack.
Kitefreak says: “Absolutely no mention on the radio or the website that it’s the magnetic north pole from ’96, no, they just say the folks have rowed TO THE NORTH POLE. Pure propaganda.”
Maybe then, but now they do mention it.
Don’t expect a headline to be complete. Ever. Think about this one: “Phil Jones says there’s been no global warming since 1995.” Was that a complete and honest headline? Don’t think so…
No mention of the powerful outboard motor on the boat, which they used extensively and desperately early on when they almost got trapped in a bay by rapidly moving floes. So I guess we have to take their word that they never cheated and used it instead of their oars for the “real” progress to the Mag-Pole-That-Once-Was.
To be fair, Andrew Hough does have this in the version of the Telegraph that I have just read
“It was later pointed out by observers that the group had in fact reached the 1996 location of the pole. ”
Still not very good, though, is it ?
Wasn’t it ‘OP row to the Pole’ (however defined)
and NOT ‘OP tow to the Pole’?
Vince Causey says:
August 26, 2011 at 11:19 am
I recall a couple of years ago, Jeremy Clarkson DROVE to the north pole in a ‘top gear’ stunt.
Watts up with that?
Yes, in Toyota pickups in May 2007 (the year of the lowest ice extent of course). The same 1996 magnetic north pole, spooky!
It would have been worth reporting if they had replicated one of the “greatest ocean [small boat journeys] of all time”, and emulated Shackleton in 1916, who did it without the benefit of satnav, satellite phones, radios and aerial extraction. I would have had so much more respect for them if they had made sure their PR was truthful – UP FRONT.
For those who want to read a truly heroic tale of survival (in the Antarctic), I advise they read ‘South’ by Ernest Shackleton, who not only navigated three open boats to elephant Island, but went on, in the James Caird, to sail to South Georgia, 600 miles away. All by dead reckoning! He got all but three of his 58 team home, the majority of whom immediately enlisted for action in WWI, where three more lost their lives.
Rowed to the North Pole? Pah!!!!
Some European says:
August 26, 2011 at 12:42 pm
“This is the subheading of the BBC article you attack. “A rowing expedition has reached the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole in a bid to highlight the effect of climate change in the region.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
It says: “Last updated at 09:11 GMT” Did they correct it? If so, it’s time to withdraw the attack.”
So, as soon as the BBC corrects a mistake, everyone who noticed the mistake has to pretend there never was one? “Some European”, you are not only the most gullible person i ever read, but also the most Orwellian.
A good friend’s daughter, 21 years old and supposedly very smart, triumphantly exclaimed to me that the Row to the Pole expedition had reached the north pole, because the way was cleared by global warming. She constantly disbelieves me when I correct her inaccutrate beliefs (greater weather severity, malaria becoming more widespread, temperatures higher than ever before, etc., etc.). When I countered her on this, she actually called me a liar!
She is a polar bear lamenting, internal combustion engine driving, sunny Mexico vacationing and imported designer label wearing Goraphile. Stupid AND disrespectful.
A sailing ship got farther north. These folks should check history on ice extent.
A sailing ship got farther north.
In 1874, the Alert was converted for Arctic exploration. The original engines were removed and replaced by a set of Hawthorn compounds, she was reboilered to 60 pounds per sq. inch and the armament was superseded by a token battery of four Armstrong breach loaders. The hull was strengthened with felt covered iron, the whole being sheathed with teak above water, and Canadian elm and pitch-pine below. Thus encumbered, the Alert was hardly a racehorse. In May, 1875, under Captain George Nares, and with Commander A. H. Markham as second in command, she sailed for the Arctic in company with HMS Discovery.
The ship herself reached 82 deg. North latitude, a remarkable effort, and Markham took a sledge party to 83 deg. 20 26″ North, the highest latitude reached by man up till that time. This was a great feat of leadership and endurance as the group was stopped by an outbreak of scurvy and was lucky to get back with only one death. On their return Nares was knighted and Markham was promoted to captain.
Lars P
Excuse my little joke. It was meant to poke fun at people who accept the predictions of models. Like reaching the pole in 50 years, and continuing north from there ….
I note (surprise, surprise) that comments are not allowed on either The Telegraph or The Independent websites for this (non-)story.