UPDATE: 3/17/12 Thanks to everyone for all the support, kind words, and well wishes. Today I found myself taking another long nap, and I awoke feeling much better than yesterday. Stress is an insidious thing, and until it catches up with you, you don’t realize what impact it has. – Anthony
It has been an exhausting month since Fakegate hit the scene, and tonight when I came home from work, I crashed hard, taking a nap. I even missed dinner. My children tried to wake me up apparently to no avail. At the moment I feel like I have a hangover.
Behind the scenes, I’m dealing with a lot of things related to WUWT and the legal fight building with the Pacific Institute and Gleick, plus other things. Today for example I’m wrestling with starting the blog all over again on another platform because my wordpress.com free hosting keeps messing under the hood with the production code and they’d broken something yet again (some readers can’t comment any more thanks to a new security feature) just after we got the mess with adwords fixed last week. So yeah, I’m pretty toasted all in all at the moment. Then I read this comment from a reader on the DeSmog Blog headed back to obscurity thread.
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Ally E. says:
I found WUWT barely a month before Fakegate happened. Prior to finding this site, I was a head-in-the-sand kind of person. I knew the whole fry-and-die alarmism was wrong, the claims were getting very stupid, as was the panic.
Getting fed up with ever increasing nonsense scare tactics, I pushed back from news outlets. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I also felt very alone. It was Ian Plimer’s “How to get expelled from school” that opened my eyes to the growing fight back to rational thinking. I bought the book (and there were only two left on the shelf, so I know it’s popular) and read it in a day.
Encouraged, I got online and found WUWT and others. I cannot express how wonderful it felt to learn that REAL scientists out there are practicing REAL science and presenting it properly.
Point is, for those years I had my head in the sand, I didn’t know just what a tangled mess this had all become. I didn’t know what a horrible world was developing right under our noses.
I come here every day. This is my home page. I love the science, I love the way it is presented and I love reading the comments and thoughts from so many very intelligent people. But I also devour any news on the political front. I crave and seek out every snippet of good news, and believe me, this is good news.
Anthony, I want to see these dastards go down. I came in at a most exciting time and I want to watch every step of the alarmists fall from grace. Thank you for providing the whole picture, the wide picture, science, politics and all.
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Thanks, Ally. That made my week.
What they all said goes for me as well. You are the magical missing link.
Anthony,
I recognize the symptoms you describe, as I’ve been experiencing the same. You made me realize it’s ‘Time to tune it out, turn it off, and sleep deep for a bunch of nights in a row.’ Take your bride out – just because. Check out the blossoms of spring and enjoy an hours delight watching the wee hummingbirds zipping around the feeder.
The blog world will still be here and the fight for integrity in climate science can rest on other shoulders for a bit. We respect your work ethic and deeply appreciate this forum of reason you have created.
Most of us have not met you, yet we care about you, because we recognize a kindred spirit. Soooooo, please – take a break. Sleep deep. Awake refreshed. Kiss the wife and listen to the small yet ever hopeful sounds of a freshening spring season. It really is a wonderful world….
Mtk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM
My thanks as well Anthony. An to Ally, welcome to the ranks of the enlightened. What that means (as I’m sure you know) is that we don’t know everything, but at least we know that. Asking questions is a good thing. Perhaps I should say, seeking answers.
Right on, Ally! I know how you feel. I discovered WUWT a couple of years ago after a bruising encounter with the vitriolic trolls who frequent the Guardian’s enviro site and it has become my go-to page for reading fascinating, educational stuff written by intelligent, sensible people and as a bonus,. Anthony’s blog-roll gives me access to a wider world of similar stuff.
An olde timer says.
Time to take more breaks Anthony. Too much stress is a real health breaker.
I’ve enjoyed your blog for years and look forward to reading it everyday, but I think none of us readers/posters would want it at the cost of your health, …of course if you are on of those who thrive on stress well then that’s another matter.
Thanks.
Anthony, what can I say? I’m just an average joe who doesn’t pretend to be a scientist. I am like Ally in some ways. I knew deep down inside that something was wrong with the information and the way it was being presented to us by the powers-that-be in the Climate Bureaus. When you did your station site review I found a weather station that was maybe 30 ft. from a paved highway, and not even 20 ft. away from an AC vent. I knew this just wasn’t proper station siting, and I began to understand that AGW had more to do with politics and control than it had to do with climate. These people made no pretext of being fair or accurate, and could care less when someone like yourself pointed out these facts to them. Rather than address the problem, they attempted to silence their critics, and they continue to do so. This just wasn’t right. As I read more and more here, I’ve learned so much, and though I rarely comment, know that I visit this blog every day not only for the great posts but for the great comments as well.
I say thank you, get some well-deserved rest, and slow down a little bit. I know the line holding back the hordes is thin, but more and more people are joining daily, and perhaps the tide is finally turning. You deserve a lot of credit in holding the line, Anthony. As with every successful revolution, the tiny few like yourself are the ones who make the difference, and pay the larger price. But you also get the pleasure of knowing that you made the sacrifice, you had the courage, and you stood when the tide was running against you. But you never quit. That’s something pretty great in itself. Thank you again, sir, you are an American hero, and you stand in good company among the very best.
Anthony, the Australian Ministry of Propaganda had Michael Mann on an interview two nights ago. It was grippingly brilliant! In 20 minutes and in a moderately paced tone Mann the Magnificent covered every falsification, justification and distortion as fact. He even explained away the MWP and rinstated the Hockey Stick. There have been ‘no less than NINE investigations into the bhaviour of the Hockey Team and its methodologies – and every one of them ha exonerated the team. The tipping point is 2050, but probably sooner
MM rolled out every cliché and in some cases present contradictory arguments. For instance the Hockey Stick shows no MWP, Yes, the Medieval period was warm before the Little Ice Age – but not as warm as now and not as warm as it is going to be when the Great Barrier Reef dies and our coasts are inundated and … and … and …
Breathtaking stuff, all accepted at face value by the interviewer with hardly a murmur. Yes, the drought in Oz was exactly what the climate models predicted 20-years ago – as well as the floods, melting icecaps, colder winters and … and … and … whatever
Yes, the deniers were part of a massively fossil fuel funded attack campaign (McIntyre and McKitrick both say on their blogs that they receive no ‘Big Oil’ funding and Bob Carter gets $1,550/month from Heartland, Monckton takes nothing, Lindzen is a government employee and … and … and … How can poor government scientists like mann & Co compete? I was sympathetic
I did not that MM received over US$10M alone for a study into vector-borne diseases spread by climate change {despite not being an epidemiologist} a $M’s more as revealed in Climategate emails. Heartland spends $3.7M in total on Climate related issues.
MM compared the attackers of the Climate Cultists to those who defended Big Tobacco – now read “Oil”. Sick
If this is the state of the civilised world it is disgustingly unhealthy as it appears no fact, no data, nothing real, no common sense, not looking out the window, NOTHING can stop this juggernaut.
The Big Lie has succeeded once more. Stalin and Goebbels must be smiling
That bastion of greenfoolery, the UK is about to have its credit rating downgraded, Greece will re-default, Spain will now wreck the EU as they can see that the model of Greece is successful.
On a related matter, how do i submit an article for publication on your website? Here is one i wrote published by Viv Forbes Carbonsense website. Rather long, but try to get through it. http://carbon-sense.com/2010/08/23/oil-spills
[Reply: See the “Submit Story” link at the top of the site. ~dbs, mod.]
Anthony,
I too feel your exhaustion. But as with Alley, this is a haven for regeneration. I hate to admit how close I work to the front lines of Earth Science, but I can tell you the return to the real scientific method is not a lost cause, nor far off.
Retool, rest and return the happy warrior.
Cheers, AJStrata
Where’s the Tip Jar???
I’m feeling very generous today.
I can donate now before Julia Gillard’s Australian carbon dioxide tax comes in and bleeds us all dry.
[Note: The Donate button is along the right sidebar. ~dbs, mod.]
Anthony, thank you for all you’ve done. Your contribution towards making the world a better place (or keeping it from becoming a worse place) has been hugely positive and I hope you can keep up the energy for as long as possible.
The beauty of WUWT and Steve Goddard’s Real Science blog is that people get to see real discussions of different points of view, examination of items that do not pass the smell test, and just plain thoughts on different topics.
A little appreciated, HUGE benefit of such sites are that they help people develop “knowledge filters” regarding science. More fondly called BS filters, they are not easily developed without a lot of exposure to the concepts as well as the relationships, laws, facts, and context. It’s more valuable than anything I know of.
Yeah, this is all well and good, but I’m tempted to create my own “Open Thread” guest post, complete with rope splicing image, and tell everyone you’re taking the weekend off. Not that you’ll take the hint, or anything like that….
Oh, and keep up the good work – except this weekend!
Something was happening here and you did know what it was –
Didn’t you, Mr. Watts?
Yup. Keep it up Anthony – we’re all rootin’ for you.
it’s monthly (more or less) visit-to-the-tip-jar time…
And here I thought the most exciting time was Climategate, which burst out a week or so after I started regularly reading blogs on the subject. I’ve checked my list of sites twice-daily since then and all I can say is that it has taken/is taking more time than I originally thought it would for the whole thing to collapse. There is a good paper by Krestin Green(?) on the similarities between this and other scams. The prediction was that it would be a gradual process and that the damaging policies, taxes etc would take far longer to be removed.
What will come out of this I’m sure will be rise of the new generation of mainstream media, the blogs of today. The current MSM appears to be losing credibility by the day and people are resorting to the few, independent, knowledgeble blogs whose owners have the integrity not seen in the MSM for many years.
Hit the Tip Jar folks. People like Anthony need to be encouraged, and supported, to continue.
Just think (and Ally is right)–the CAGW meme has displayed so much of their inner rot recently, Anthony is dog tired putting it up for all to see.
So each of us should do a bit more–let’s all make a commitment to recommend this site to one new person every week. After a year, I’m betting readership would double. (Most of the people I’ve mentioned this site to had never heard of it before, so the opportunities for an ever-increasing audience are simply staggering.)
Let’s all commit.
And keep up the good work, Anthony–which dictates you take some time off to recuperate. Same goes for those wonderful mods you’ve got–and sorry if their workload increases, but “them’s the breaks”.
Dear Anthony,
Thank you for letting us know how you are feeling. Please note we are here to support you .I have been following this site since almost the beginning and have found it wonderful. Ally, like you , I felt as though I was looking for TRUTH and there was too much spin around all the AGW stuff, and when some so called film star (cant remember who) professed his belief in AGW and the ‘Science is settled’ I started to worry ‘cos he wern’t that bright. I learned at school that, within science , very little is settled and that we should question everything. I began searching for information as to what was going on. All I found was deceit and the more I dug the more the dirt seemed to come to the surface. having discovered WUWT things started to make more sense. Openness is the hallmark of truth and by saying something is ‘settled’ is like shutting down the conversation / arguement.
Good luck to you ally and carry on Anthony … WE DO APPRECIATE YOU.
D.
Honored to have the company of bright folks in here, and being able to eviscerate some of the mad science gleaned from the Crypt. Ally, you’re right, this is an especially exciting time to be following the [non]issue of climate change. Anthony, pleased to hear that you got recharged by the tonic, and please accept all of our gratitude for having the gumption to continue.
Anthony
All I can say Anthony keep up the good work, I am only a technical whom is good at fixing what is broke, unfortunately that applies only to objects, not people, let us remember as simple saying.
“God give me the strength to change the things I can. The courage to accept the things that I cannot. And the wisdom to know the difference”
I expect you and I both struggle with the last two parts of that saying, remember I and a lot of people are in you corner, so please continue with you good work.
Sincerely
Mark Anthony Luhman
What she said…except 2 years previous!
Chin up old boy!
For my first (and probably last) post:
I’ve come to this site daily for about 2 years and I find it fascinating. I’d bet you’d be surprised how many “regular Joes” like me really appreciate this place.
Zzyzx says:
March 16, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Let’s hear it for the regular Joes!
Another fake prediction comes to an early halt.
“Trees not invading as fast as earlier predicted”
http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/1211trees_not_invading_as_fast_as_earlier
Don’t they just hate it when someone actually follows up?
Anthony,
Why don’t you host the site yourself and kiss wordpress good-bye. It is about content and yours is top notch. It will be like the old days,,, you will have better control and the web tools are much easier to use.
You really don’t need somebody else’s hard drive…. they should be kissing your a$$ for the traffic.
Evey body (Ally too) knows about WUWT and nobody cares that wordpress is the host platform.
Have a geek write you a script. It is the internet and you own the domain name.
yes to all i to read the blog it s one of my daily hits please take my thanks mate