UPDATED: NEW TIMELINE FILES POSTED 2/29 3PM PST
There have been a number of different people working on timelines recently. Reader A. Scott has contributed a complete and highly detailed timeline of the Gleick Keystonian Caper aka Fakegate. It is presented here in entirety, both as a PDF file for easy viewing and emailing, and also as an Excel file for use as public resource tool. There’s also a timeline put together by Copner over at Lucia’s in this thread with his timeline document here. I present them both here for readers to evaluate and use. Note: since this is a complex document, reader input on any typos is welcome. – Anthony
Guest post by A. Scott
NOTES ON THE IMPETUS, EVENT, AND TIMELINE:
Dr. Peter Gleick has been mad at Heartland for years, but tweaked more so of late – fed up with Heartland, and with you (WUWT) and other “deniers”. He was appointed head of AGU’s Ethics board – something he has pontificated about, while never understanding his role, that he is one of more polarizing figures himself – and now feels he has “power” to push his agenda.
The NCSE opportunity comes about – they are starting a heavy “Climate Change” education push, and intend to go after classroom AGW advocacy. Gleick sees chance to kill a lot of birds with one stone to push AGW agenda, get support to teach it in schools, and to hurt you, WUWT, “deniers” in general AND his long running enemy – Heartland.
Setting aside Mosher and the “crowd-sourced peer to peer review” that identified him as a suspect, Gleick could not have received the Heartland package until after 1/16/12 when the Board Meeting documents were first prepared.
And in reality he could not have received before 1/29/12 – as the Board Directly was prepared 1/25/12 and the Meeting Minutes were prepared 1/29/12. Since they were all included in the package – he cannot have received the “pre-texted” document package before 1/30/12.
And as the Strategy document included information directly from the Board Meeting documents – the earliest it could have been created was 1/16/12. Considering Mosher’s fingering him based on style, punctuation etc., it seems highly likely the Strategy document was prepared by Gleick after his receipt of the Heartland documents.
Penn State ran a multi-part “Climate Ethics” series from Jan 5 thru Feb 10, 2012.
NCSE released their “Defending Climate Science in Classroom” campaign early January – with rollout 1/13/12 thru 1/20/12 with Gleick announced as high profile participant, and also featured prominently in their rollout.
At the same time – Jan 13 thru 27 – Gleick was trading emails with Heartlands Joe Bast communications director Jim Lakely, who had offered Gleick chance to debate James Taylor – to continue their feud in person at Heartland function. Gleick brought up Heartlands non-public donor list again 1/16 – a day before Heartlands Board meeting. On 1/27/12 Gleick finally turned Heartland down.
Gleick also has email exchange with Tamsin Edwards, because he dislikes her blog name questioning the “models”, which draws in Barry Woods, who has also had run ins with Gleick in past. Gleicks twitter comments, and emails, prompt David Appell, generally a warming advocate, to in early February, criticizing Gleick for essentially lying – telling him to “just tell the truth.”.
Barry Woods ends up in an extension of the email exchange between Gleick and Tamsin – posting the exchange online – and noting that Gleick complains about polarization, but fails to see that he is a big part of that issue.
Its easy to see the Gleick was becoming increasingly combative and agitated. In his 1/26/12 email to Woods he said he had:
“…ran out of patience with any chance of rational discussion with WUWT, Bishop Hill, or the regular tweeters and bloggers of that group. It became clear it was an unproductive time sink with a group whose minds were closed to fact, and whose primary tool was ad hominem attack. The systematic and coordinated and dishonest attack on me after my negative review of LaFramboise’s book was only one example that made it clear that rational debate was not possible and dissenting views not tolerated.
Within a few days of this exchange we know he pre-texted Heartland and received the documents, and the rest is history.
It is very interesting that DeSmog, Think Progress, Forbes and Huffington all come up involved with or commenting on Gleick during all this as well – especially regarding the NCSE “Defending Climate in Classroom” program.
Then there is the proof that DeSmog could not have only had the documents for an hour as they told Politico.
The timeline shows (and Mosher said he had other support confirming) that the documents were received about 9:15am PST. One of Littlemore’s documents has a Modified date at 9:59AM PST, meaning he had to have received before then, and then saved it. DeSmog posted the stories at 1:13 (Demelle) and 1:14pm EST (Littlemore) – which means they had documents at least 4 hours. It seems HIGHLY unlikely they both, along with Think Progress, all could have written the detailed stories that appeared if they only had docs for an hour … much more to investigate there I think.
METADATA
Here is basic metadata I compiled from various files. I compared the docs Littlemore uploaded, as they appear to be same as what is at ThinkProgress and Greg Laden.
The original files were uploaded by DeMelle in the first DeSmog Blog story – DeMelle’s files are the original “clean” versions … and appear to be “as received” posted unchanged.
Littlemore re-uploaded his own copy of the files to DeSmog’s servers and because they already existed with same filenames, a duplicate file was created – hence the (2), (3) etc appended to file names.
I don’t think there is any useful inference gained from review of Littlemore’s docs other than that it gives valuable insight into WHEN DeSmog got the documents.
Likewise, as they appear to be grabbed from Littlemore (note the file names match – they have the appended numbers) I don’t believe the Laden or ThinkProgress versions offer any real benefit – except, again, by looking at any modify dates in their files we can see when they received them as well.
The bottom line … ONE of the Littlemore files has a Modified Date of 9:59AM PST. Using all the evidence available (the DeSmog post times, tweets, Facebook posts etc) it appears DeSmog’s server or publishing platform is set to MST and in reality it is pretty certain they posted the stories at 1:13 and 1:14pm PST respectively for DeMelle’s and Littlemore’s versions.
If the “Insider email was sent at 12:13pm as claimed by Keith Kloor via David Appell’s blog, it cannot (as we now know to be true) have come direct from Heartland in the Central time zone – that would be 10:13am PST.
From all this we can confirm that DeSmog’s statements to Politico – that they had the documents for just an hour before posting the story – is completely false. In fact I believe we can see evidence at a clumsy attempt to fabricate evidence to support that Politico claim.
Since Littlemore’s save (Modified) date was 9:59am and they posted the story at a little after 1pm PST – we know the Politico claim must be false. We also can deduce, from the fact that ThinkProgress first posted the story at 3:10pm EST/12:10pm PST (or more likely, based on other evidence actually at 2:10pm EST/11:10am PST), the Insider email cannot have come from the PST time zone as 12:13PST would be 3:13 EST – AFTER the post time of the ThinkProgress story.
So where was the Insider email sent from?
In order for the known timing to work; the 9:59am PST “save” date from Littlemore at DeSmog, and the 3:10pm EST (or most likely 2:10pm EST) posting time for the ThinkProgress story … assuming the 12:13pm date offered by Kloor via Appell is accurate – the Insider email had to have been sent from the Eastern Standard time zone … 12:13pm EST is two hours prior to ThinkProgress’ earliest possible publication date, and would be 9:13am PST – which comports with the 9:59am PST “save” time by Littlemore.
The question is – who sent it – as Peter Gleick is based on the West Coast?
To find the answer you have to follow a little bird ….
Amused – you need to be careful to separate the DeSmog files – the DeMelle versions uploaded with the first story at 1:13pm PST and the Littlemore versions he re-uploaded with the 2nd story.
The Demelle versions are the same files as on ThinkProgress and the file modified dates are unchanged from the created dates. The Littlemore files (also again, at Laden’s) are the ones with the changed modified dates – to 2/14.
We can be thankful the Keystone cop team at DeSmog did do the two uploads – that Littlemore DID blunder and change the files …. if he hadn’t we would not know they had the files on or before 9:59am PST on 2/14.
Which shows conclusively that DeSmog wasn’t truthful with Politico when they said they had the files for only an hour before posing them.
I think its likely that DeSmog INTENTIONALLY re-saved the 2nd version of the files – they were all saved at 12:36-12:38pm PST with one at 12:55pm PST – they posted the stories at 1:13 and 1:14pm PST. This would show the Politico statement was true.
I think it was an deliberate, planned attempt at a deception to try and provide support for their alleged timeline.
They wanted the world to believe the Insider email was sent, he could say look at these files, we uploaded them when we got them.
Littlemore’s copies of documents posted have all been re-saved since creation date:
Littlemore Strategy DOC:
PDF-1.5
x:xmptk=”Adobe XMP Core 5.2-c001 63.139439, 2010/09/27-13:37:26
pdf:Producer>EPSON Scan
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:36:20-08:00 (2/14 – 12:36 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00
xmpMM:DocumentID>uuid:0d826409-6a19-411c-ae09-b5f400186c52
xmpMM:InstanceID>uuid:e5477a6f-aa33-4521-b161-1ae07ed0a258
DeSmog Strategy DOC:
PDF-1.4
x:xmptk=”Adobe XMP Core 5.2-c001 63.139439, 2010/09/27-13:37:26
pdf:Producer>EPSON Scan
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00 (2/13 – 12:41 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00
xmpMM:DocumentID>uuid:0d826409-6a19-411c-ae09-b5f400186c52
xmpMM:InstanceID>uuid:692440ef-d85e-4cec-afef-742d339ece7b
ThinkProgress Startegy DOC:
PDF-1.4
x:xmptk=”Adobe XMP Core 5.2-c001 63.139439, 2010/09/27-13:37:26
pdf:Producer>EPSON Scan
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00 (2/13 – 12:41 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00
xmpMM:DocumentID>uuid:0d826409-6a19-411c-ae09-b5f400186c52
xmpMM:InstanceID>uuid:692440ef-d85e-4cec-afef-742d339ece7b
All of the Littlemore DOCS compared:
Fundraising:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T09:59:58-08:00 (2/14 – 09:59:58 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-16T10:02:55-06:00
Agenda:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:36:02-08:00 (2/14 – 12:36:02 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-16T10:46:43-06:00
Littlemore Strategy DOC:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:36:20-08:00 (2/14 – 12:36:20 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-02-13T12:41:52-08:00
Board Directory:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:36:51-08:00 (2/14 – 12:36:51 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-25T15:04:36-06:00
Budget:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:37:56-08:00 (2/14 – 12:37:56 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-16T10:00:38-06:00
BINDER:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:38:39-08:00 (2/14 – 12:38:39 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-16T11:06:01-06:00
Board Meeting Package:
xmp:ModifyDate>2012-02-14T12:55:23-08:00 (2/14 – 12:55:23 PST)
xmp:CreateDate>2012-01-16T10:48:58-06:00
=============================================================
Here are the documents illustrating the timeline:
(Note, as can happen with any complex document, just after publishing here, a small error was discovered in these files, where Heartland/Bast is referenced for email exchanges, it should be Heartland/Lakely) This error doesn’t affect the timeline itself. Mr. Scott is offline at the moment – so I’ll wait for him to provide an update. – Anthony)
FAKEGATE_TIMELINE_ASCOTT_rev2-24-12
FAKEGATE_TIMELINE_ASCOTT_rev2-24-12
(XLS) Requires Excel or Open Office or Excel Viewer (free here)
UPDATED FILES POSTED ON 2/29
FAKEGATE_TIMELINE_ASCOTT_rev2-28-12
(PDF) View in your browser
FAKEGATE_TIMELINE_ASCOTT_rev2-28-12
(XLS) Requires Excel or Open Office or Excel Viewer (free here)
(XLS) Requires Excel or Open Office or Excel Viewer (free here)
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Tom B:
Your hashing of the files makes sense, although the naming – file and file(1) could be the cause. HOWEVER, MS Office doesn’t ‘delete’ anythin when you edit a file, it rather ‘comments it out.’ This way you can revert. It does this even after a save if you know how to look at the file. When dealing with large documents with lots of formating, it has occassionally done this to me scraping work because it failed a save and did a ‘revert’ on load.
Hashes cannot be affected by changes in the filename. The hash is generated solely from the file content. It is independent of filesystem, storage media, filename or path. It is a reliable means for identifying duplicative files regardless of any of the above. That’s why it’s referred to as “a digital fingerprint”.
Having the hash change on an Office document is not unusual since it is altering the file whether you want it to or not (i.e.; the last accessed application level metadata). That is not true, however, with the PDFs. So something, however minor, was changed in these documents.
Moreover, there is only one MS Word document in this collection (the “Minutes of January 17 meeting.doc”) and that is present only in the Desmog collection. None of the other three include this file. Track changes was not enabled, so revision history is lost, though we know this is “version 3” of the document and was created by “jbast” on Sunday, January 29, 2012 9:59:00 AM.
TomB – “The Laden/Littlemore versions match each other and the Desmog/TP versions match each other. But they do not match between the sets.”
That is correct. Littlemore’s story was posted one minute later than Demelles original story at DeSmog. Regardless, he saved and re-uploaded all the documents, in doing so giving them a new “Modified” date of 2/14/12. There is no logical reason for him to have done so.
There is however a VER GOOD other reason to do so.
By doing these he/they accomplished an important goal – the “Modified” time on the Littlemore version of the files shows between 12:36pm and 12:55pm – they published the story at 1:14pm … all PST.
This makes the statement they gave to Politico – that they only had the documents a short time – that they published them within an hour of receipt. They wanted people to believe they received the “Insider” email at 12:13pm PST, and having these files re-saved at 12:36 to 12:55 supports this, and the Politico story claim.
Paraphrased, this is the timeline they want people to believe:
‘We got the files at 12:13pm from the Insider. We can prove that because when we saved and uploaded them starting at 12:36 and ending at 12:55. We published the story at 1:14pm. See – aren’t we smart – it all fits!’
BZZZZZZZTTTT!!!
Nope. Not.
That WOULD have worked perfectly. They could say – ‘hey look, there is an unchanged clean version in DeMelles first posting at 1:13pm, but we musta saved them or sumpthin’ when we uploaded for Littlemore’s story – you can clearly see they say 12:36 to 12:55pm – we ain’t misrememberin’ – honest.’
Except for one pesky fact. While all the other Heartland documents were modified between 12:36 and 12:55pm PST – Littlemore’s version of the “Fundraising” document was saved …. at 9:59 AM PST.
Let me repeat that – Littlemores copy of “Fundraising” document was saved at 9:59AM PST.
The original Heartland document (as uploaded with Demelle’s DeSmog story and at ThinkProgress) was created and last modified 1/16/12 at 10:02 AM CST.
Someone forget to keep track of ALL the documents they were trying to carefully manipulate to manufacture evidence to support their claimed timeline.
When at first you practice to deceive, what a dangerous web you weave.
A Keystonian (as in Cops, not pipeline) blunder … and one that unravels all their carefully planned work at faking (this is Fakegate right?) a timeline.
That one document – saved at 9:59 AM PST – shows that DeSmogBlog had the files hours earlier than they claimed. It proves the claim DeSmog made to Politico – that they only had the files for an hour before publishing – was not only false – it was KNOWINGLY FALSE.
I believe Greg Laden’s files are immaterial – his story was much later that night and he simply copied Littlemores.
ThinkProgress actually published their story an hour earlier – 3:10 EST/12:10 PST – than DeSmog’s Demelle story 4:13 EST/1:14 PST – (although they later tried, using Think Progress Facebook post announcing the story, and their commenting system – which is Facebook as well). TP’s files are un-modified as are Demelle’s at DeSmog.
Either DeSmog and Think Progress were working together and received all the files much earlier, or both TP and Demelle received copies of the Insider email with the files attached.
This would require the Insider email to have been sent at 12:13 EST/9:13 AM PST. IF, as DeSmog tried to show it appears with the file modifying and “1 hour” claim to Politico, the Insider email was sent at 12:13 PST – that would have been 3:13pm EST – 3 miniutes AFTER Think Progress published the story.
Dave Appel also has a clean set of files at his site – un-modified – same as Demelle’s DeSmog, and the TP files. Unknown when, or how, he got them – however, keep in mind Appel was who Keith Kloor passed along the Insider email “detail” info – it is the ONLY know source for the 12:13 time (which does NOT include any timezone info).
Kloor says someone sent him the email info – but not a copy of the email itself (which would have header info) – which, for some reason he then passed on to Appel to blog about …
PHIL – was simply a TYPO – this is the correct timeline:
Perhaps Anthony or one of the mods can update the story text to correct.
I would note – Anthony has posted new and updated version of the Excel file and the PDF – with significantly more information.
Make sure you check the GleickTimeline tab in the Excel sheet – it contains all relevant tweets by Gleick since January – and some related tweets from others. I matched my data with Copner’s great list from Lucia’s in that tab. I captured the link to each tweet, including those in Copner’s list, so you can go and look at it directly.
I included a few key Gleick “events” in that list from the main timeline as well – mostly the Heartland emails on debate and Gleick’s phishing – for reference. At some point will incorporate all the tweets etc from that tab to the timeline ….
There are some very interesting comments in the tweets ….
A. Scott says:
February 29, 2012 at 7:31 am
Hmmmm …. now they seem to be working – that is weird – others worked, showed older tweets … yet all of them stopped at 2/22.
Mod’s feel free to delete above posts
=====================
FBI or legal eagles copying files / accounts?
Now, if only the planet were a nice flat disk with a constant sun angle … I know! We’ll make a model and pretend! That’ll work!
I believe the Leo Hickman and Gleick tweets around 1/22 re: Gleick having a fax machine to be very interesting … as well the names of some of the others tweeting with Hick,am around that time as well
At Lucia’s “Amused” has found CCITT encoding in one of the files – meaning the file was scanned and saved at fax resolution. The only document in the group that displays at that low resolution is the Strategy document.
Hickman was also one of the very first to tweet about the stories first appearing – within less than 15 minutes. And within minutes after that had a long string of tweets lined up regarding the contents.
And a recent tweet from him points to this vapid excuse-making:
@Leopold Danze Hickman:
Gleick’s actions kick off intriguing ethics debate: “The morality of unmasking Heartland” …
http://theconversation.edu.au/the-morality-of-unmasking-heartland-5494
Another interesting question – who is @carbon meme … they tweeted within minutes of the original Think Progress story, which was first posted at 3:10pm EST … and within minutes of DeSmog’s posting of their story at 1:13pm PST
In fact they tweeted the link to the DeSmog story 9 minutes before DeSmog tweeted them about the story.