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.
Your web site offers an invaluable service in that you frequently link to peer reviewed papers. For people working tangentially in this field it reduces a very onerous task of keeping up to date with the literature. In particular literature that actually asks questions and offers alternative theory.
If you link to a paper, I immediately send the title to our librarian that finds and provides me with a copy on short order. This is very useful as librarians circumvent pay walls and get the articles free.
My biggest problem is that I can’t find space on my desk due to the piles of papers to write on a sticky note or eat my lunch…. soup is the worst.
Excellent job Anthony, moderators, and contributing authors.
Peter Jones says: @ur momisugly March 16, 2012 at 11:02 pm
I don’t know if the book is too hot off the presses, but I went to Amazon.com and tried to see if it was available. All I got was the below message.
Your search “Ian Plimer how to get expelled from school” did not match any products.
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Peter, Try here: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/12/for-teachers-free-copy-of-plimers-book-how-to-get-expelled-from-school/
Joanne Nova has the Order Form as a PDF.
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Zzyzx says: @ur momisugly March 16, 2012 at 9:37 pm
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.
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To Zzyzx and the other “regular Joes” if you have questions ASK! Normally someone here will try and answer the question or point you to an article that will help answer your question.
Among other things WUWT provides a good platform for getting an education in science that is unavailable from government schools. I certainly hope the home schoolers are using it.
I’ll second (or however many down the ordinals we are now) that sentiment. Thank you, Anthony!
Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:
Drop by wattsupwiththat and encourage Anthony, please.
With all the great articles and discussion here and other fine blogs(CA, Joanne and Tallbloke, etc..) there should be a college credit course offered through these sites..I think the collective online college should be called “Brain Food U”..So much information and clear comments would be of far more value than your typical undergrad course. I come here everyday, do my homework and listen to the teacher(s) to expand what I know about these great topics..Thanks a whole bunch…teach.
Anthony on another note, I need a Davis remote soil temp/moisture transmitter to go with the Vantage Pro II that I got from you last year to monitor some distance info. I sent an email a few days ago. I assume you are very busy and I can wait for a week or so. Please relax, if you can’t relax..go dancing!
“wws says:
March 17, 2012 at 5:39 am
glad to know wordpress was responsible for the problems – I kept getting blocked in ways that had never happened before, but finally figured out how to get around the security issues. I thought it was just me!
why oh why does wordpress keep trying to “fix” things that aren’t broke?”
Its not a matter of fixing things that ain’t broke, its a matter of keeping up and compliant. OS/browser/security/privacy/govt/money issues on the web are moving at warp speed. WP has to do the heavy lifting to maintain functional capatibility across many technical AND ideological platforms. Its part of the reason for increase in popularity for cloud serving and platform outsourcing for content. The web as we presently know it for independent free connection for lowly individuals has a finite life. The light at the end of the tunnel for the internet is a train. Between Google and Govt, the writing is on the wall. Enjoy it now, but you will need plan B sooner than you think.
When a student graduated from “Brain Food U” he of course would be called a “Brainiac”!
The true measure of human worth can be found in the family. Work is like a virus. Family is the cure. I’m a partner in a busy demoltion business in Oregon. Next week I am dropping the work hat and taking my family to a VRBO home in a warm climate for 8 days. I expect “problems” when I return. Believe it or not, the demolition business is a bigger soap opera than Climate Science! C’est la vie. I Found WUWT during the weather station analysis days. It has since been my favorite gun in “the war”. Spend time with the cure Anthony. You can bulldoze the problems with ease when you are happy.Thanks for the terrific web site.
Anthony, being old enough to be your . . . older sister . . . I will give you some completely unsolicited advice. It will not be remiss to take a real vacation (as in you do not even read it yourself) from this site. I would recommend at least one week per quarter, which could be saved up to be a whole month per year. There are very competent people who can take over for you for one week in every twelve. You could even leave up a posting which directs people to various other sites for that week (warning those sites beforehand that they may see an increase during that time). You have excellent moderators that can also handle any of us that get out-of-line during an Open Thread Week. You may also consider having some co-editors and co-writers that you start mentoring into positions of authority, who could be trusted to follow your lead.
One of the things that I truly enjoyed when I transitioned from full-time mom to full-time out-of-the-house job, was the ability to have a vacation. A REAL turn-off-the-pager don’t-answer-the-phone vacation. I don’t need to travel, being perfectly happy to simply nap during the day when I’m tired, read some of those old free novels I’ve put in the Kindle (I’m cheap), eat only when I’m hungry, and ignore personal hygiene for several days at a time. But you need whatever your equivalent of a REAL vacation is, and you need it regularly.
Trust me, we’ll be here when you get back . . .
I have often thought about people like you Anthony and Jo Nova, how you keep going. I don’t know how you do it but I’m glad you do. Thanks for the sanity.
I am truly humbled and grateful for all of the supportive comments and well wishes here.
Thank you, most sincerely.
Daily reading for me! Thanks Anthony!
Things are shifting, in a large part thanks to WUWT. Just in Belgium in the last few days, Henri Masson has gone on the record against the IPCC models, federal congressman David Clarinval has denounced the cost burden to the people of “climate” policies, which has triggered a debate in the federal parliament, with presentations by Istvan Marko and Drieu Godefridi.
Invisible to English speakers, but big events nonetheless.
Anthony: thank you for all you do. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and do take the time you need to recharge. Like it or not, you’re a global force in the search for truth, and a lot of folks look to you for leadership. For proof of that you need not search beyond this thread with its very rich embroidery of comments. As always, they add a great deal to whatever you say: not necessarily more science (although I learn a great deal from other commenters as well as from you and your guest posters) but unfailingly good humor and new perspective.
I think I discovered you before Climategate 1.0 and, as with many others, this is now my go-to site. Every day, rain or shine. And the cross-links to other sites –of all persuasions, but particularly folks like Steve McIntyre, Bishop Hill, Judith Curry, Jo Nova– are a great resource as well. There is no place like it. Thanks again.
Hang in there, Anthony.
Kirk
For the past 7 years I have averaged 75 billable hours a week in front of a computer. My survival (burnout avoidance) techniques include strict attention to food, drink, exercise, sleep, regular breaks and a touch of enjoyment:
Food: I avoid sugar and go heavy on veggies like the NFL training camps (seriously).
Drink: I avoid alcohol and soda and go heavy on mineral water (half an ounce a day for every pound you weigh).
Exercise: Use 10-lb weights along with calisthenics 10 minutes twice a day.
Sleep: 5-6 hours a night augmented with a 30-minute nap most days around 3:00 pm (more nap time makes me drowsy the rest of the day yet resting with eyes closed and brain “out of gear” is 90% as good as sleep).
Regular breaks: I detach completely from work one day a week–this is Sunday for me and lets me come back with a clearer perception and greater resolve.
Enjoyment: WUWT is my form of recreation, providing a stimulating break from the grind.
Of course, you have a family to attend to and I’m a single “empty-nester”. But a single day off will not prevent burnout–you are in this for the long haul, Anthony–maybe until you pass on (preferably when you’re 95 and not sooner), so you need to pace yourself with discipline and recognition of your mortality. Computer work slowly kills and you must optimize your contribution to the world by taking care of yourself. Please find a burnout avoidance regimen that works for you and stick with it.
So, we learn that real world superheros can get burned out just like us regular human beings. Relax, recharge and relish in the fact that you are changing the world.
Anthony also mostly a lurker, but I have been reading and learning from your blog for probably some 4 to 5 years now. I also recommend it to all my family and friends and even my business colleagues (Aerospace and Defense contractor) as the very best of the science blogs. You and the rest of the science guys here have taught us much and we are very grateful. You guys are a gift.
Just to add my sayings to the long, long list of accolades. This morning I opened the Houston Chronicle to t he editorial page. Still on the AGW bandwagon. WUWT is a welcome relief. Thanks, Anthony, for a bit of fresh air in this interglacial warming period.
Anthony’ if you dont already have one put up a birdfeeder, This morning I walked out on my deck with a gandful of birdseen, Within a minute there were birds sitting on my knarled fingers pecking at the seed, I do this nearly everyday, It renews me,
Anthony I’ve got a very tough job managing data centers around the world. I am lucky if my phone does not ring every hour around the clock.
Your blog is the place I turn for a few minutes of reflection during my days and nights.
The emphasis here on data and analysis and debate is refreshing. And I’ve found several tools to use in my daily work.
My day is definitely brighter for WUWT.
The one thing I have learned from work is that victories in a revolutionary time are rarely clean cut. Yet see from a few years later, what was done looks almost impossible.
To paraphrase someone else, WUWT has stepped across history and said “NO!” and thus changed history.
Thank you Anthony and Willis and Svensmark and Archibald. And everyone else.
Take care of yourself Anthony, get rested and please come back; you are doing a lot of good.
I have changed my e-mail address for commenting to avoid the latest WordPress bug.
hi,
I came to you after climategate. I never quit. I read you in bed before sleeping. Every night on my phone. I feel close to you, don’t givre up.
A Guy from Paris, France.
It was the site Groklaw for the fight against attacks on software/Linux (victory!), it is the site Daily Paul for the fight against attacks on liberty (victory!), and the site WUWT for the fight against attacks on science, (victory!). Thank you! Ideas matter. Pamela Jones, Michael Nystrom, and Anthony Watts; asking the questions and not accepting untenable answers. I really like that. I claim victory for my mind, but the battle is never ending.
Dear Anthony,
this is the first time I ever comment. Despite this, I visit your fantastic blog at least 4 times a day, and I eagerly await for new posts.
I have been a skeptic for a long time, even before the infamous Scientific America editorial “science defends itself against the skeptical environmentalist”. I have a PhD in materials engineering and quite a lot of experience in using computer models, which I learnt to thoroughly distrust.
Your efforts are truly stupendous. I have wondered many times before how you manage to run such a superb blog, a business and a family, so I am not surprised if I you feel a bit run down. Please rest and get better. We need you. You are our beacon of hope!!
I just made a small donation. Please use it in whichever way to see fit…but I would buy a nice bottle of wine! 🙂
Wish you all the best,
Luca