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.
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Snotrocket says:
August 26, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Agree, Captain Bligh also of course.
Bligh reached Timor after a 47-day voyage, 3,618 nautical miles (6,701 kms) the only casualty being the crewman killed on Tofua. (Wiki but I think it’s accurate). All this in open boats, an astounding achievement.
As I have said many times before, the BBC will never reform and curb its propaganda until we divert 50% of its ‘government’ grant into Channel 4. Not that I love Channel 4, but at least their documentaries are more cutting edge than anything the Biased Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) would contemplate.
Why Channel 4? Well, I don’t know if you all know, but Channel 4 (a commercial station) is actually 100% owned by the UK government.
.
@Lord Beaverbrook says: August 26, 2011 at 8:03 am
I’ll have to remember the “/misquote” tag – haven’t seen it before, & I like it!
>>Snotty
>>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.
Come, come, now Snotty, that’s history – the BBC wouldn’t know anything about that. And even if they did they would cover it up – we cannot have Brits looking heroic and as though they were conquering the world, you know. Tut, tut….. Oh, not unless Shackleton’s crew could be shown as multicultural. Where did their cat come from?
.
I’m gonna row to the Moon, to advertize moonshine.
Trip to old location of magnetic pole made possible by climate change?
How is the location of the magnetic pole in any way influenced by climate change?
I keep picturing these journalists as Basil on the British TV show “Fawlty Towers” having one of those hilarious ‘telephone conversations’ where you only see his side of it…. and some invisible person on the other side trying to get him to understand they only got to where the pole was in 1996, and yes, the pole actually moves, and no, no one picks it up and moves it… yes, it changes location every year, and so on… and poor Basil utterly unable to understand the concept as it goes so against the grain of general education, but he finally gets it, then tries to comprehend that it’s now actually over 700 km towards Siberia, which of course generates outbursts about not bringing the Russians into the story…then tries to figure out how to explain this to readers, along with the fact that they towed the boat part of the way (“what, Jesus came and pulled it across the water for them?? No, THEY pulled it across ICE? I thought this was ROW to the pole!”)…. with him finally giving up, throwing his hands up, and saying he’ll just report that they rowed to the pole in this miraculous achievement, because no one will know the difference anyhow and slamming the phone down in anger.
It sounds like Orwellian speak on a road trip.
In 1973 avant guard musician and artist Laurie Anderson hitchhiked to within 200 miles of the north pole. “I had decided to hitchhike so one day I just walked out to Houston Street, weighted down with seventy pounds of gear, and stuck out my thumb. “Going north?” I asked the driver, as I struggled into his station wagon.” http://www.elijahwald.com/hitchquotes.html
http://www.csuchico.edu/~jalexander/Sound_Vision/Reading/LAnderson.pdf
They’re already planning next years expedition……..
..Rowing to the South Pole!
Oakgeo,
“She is a polar bear lamenting, internal combustion engine driving, sunny Mexico vacationing and imported designer label wearing Goraphile. Stupid AND disrespectful.”
Good thing you posted under a pseudonym then 🙂
How is dragging a boat over the ice ‘rowing’?
“British Explorers Row Almost Half Way To The North Pole” just doesn’t have that ring, does it? Maybe Ol’ Putney should only pay them half.
“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.”
Actually, it was only possible because of a failing and frantic ideology, a company willing to profit from it via the PR and promotional value, and convenient idiots willing to risk their lives and others’ for a buck, and for fame. Next up will no doubt be skateboarding up Kilimanjaro, “showing” how all the glaciers are melting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole_(disambiguation)
Any of those could be called the north pole… I can’t be bothered to check if their accomplishment happened to be one of those.
Where ever they wound up, the point of this stunt is clear – propaganda. Not to worry, if these people have a need for those stunts it means they’re not really sure about robustness of their science.
I can’t believe I’m even going to mention this…. I just can’t resist, because at the time these began down in Texas, they were the most outrageous radio bits and then ads, so much so that you couldn’t help but remember the product, and laugh…
Just where would they row to in order to showcase fine Hiney Wines? Talk about successfully branding a little Hiney product. “You too can share a little Hiney with a friend!” “If you have to travel, be sure to take your Hiney with you!” “Who wouldn’t want to share some Hiney with a friend?” “Grab a little Hiney anytime” (even worse, they’d sometimes mix in “cornhusker’s lotion” or things of that nature with the ample Hiney bits).
Borrowing from wine spectator: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Unfiltered-Elway-Adds-Wine-Spray-Champion-to-List-of-Accomplishments_4261 (there is even a photo of the Red Hiney label there).
Apparently they even did a video spot (crude innuendo alert!!), with Big Red Hiney and Thor Hiney relaxing on the wrap around porch:
“Greatest Ocean Rows of All Time”
Piltdown man, or real? http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-human-precursors-sea-team.html
Human precursors went to sea, team says
August 17, 2011 By Helen Chappell
Early manlike creatures may have been smarter than we think. Recent archaeological finds from the Mediterranean show that human ancestors traveled the high seas.
A team of researchers that included an North Carolina State University geologist found evidence that our ancestors were crossing open water at least 130,000 years ago. That’s more than 100,000 years earlier than scientists had previously thought.
Their evidence is based on stone tools from the island of Crete. Because Crete has been an island for eons, any prehistoric people who left tools behind would have had to cross open water to get there.
The tools the team found are so old that they predate the human species, said Thomas Strasser, an archaeologist from Providence College who led the team. Instead of being made by our species, Homo sapiens, the tools were made by our ancestors, Homo erectus. (cont’d)
Rational D;
Well-conceived and shared! I could see and hear the episode as I read … from incomprehension to incredulity to irritated impatience. In slow stumbling steps.
@snotrocket: hear hear.
@various contributors: there’s no ‘e’ in whisky. No e, no ice. Just sayin.’
They saw “maybe 8 polar bears”? And they’re still alive? Aren’t polar bears getting ready for their winter hybernation about now and don’t humans look like large seals to them?
Welcome to 1984. Climate Change BS is not the worse of it. Have you seen the BBC “reports” on the war crimes in Libya?
DirkH says:
August 26, 2011 at 1:03 pm
To me, ‘Some European’ sounds awfully like ‘Bystander’ (whom Anthony banned IIRC).
Perhaps an IP address check is in order.
Google Web for “incredible row to north pole” shows about 1,230 results. Those reports will never be corrected. The liars have won again. Warmists will quote this lie to me for years and not bother to check the real story for themselves.
Why doesn’t somebody publish a map of their whole journey from the beginning complete with the true North and magnetic poles on it? I can’t post inline pictures here unfortunately.
Have a headline “British explorers row a third of the way to the North Pole in world first voyage but find too much ice in summer to continue”
Are they sure they were even rowing in the right direction? Seems not.
The Telegraph? Who cares, they’re loosing readers by the numbers. One could probably plot the spreading of self indulged incompetency amongst the journalists to the ever lower numbers of readers quiet nicely. :p
I am a bit perplexed by your “mouse navigation” heading for the True North Pole- given as 016 deg.
The heading for the True North Pole from anywhere is 360 or 000 deg.