As reported this past weekend, we had a hilarious case of Mann overboard! Since then, it has become the #1 story on WordPress worldwide. It stems from a $10 calendar from COSTCO I sent Dr. Mann, Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Dr. Peter Gleick and Dana Nuccitelli of “Skeptical Science” as Christmas gifts. As I said then, a little good humor didn’t work on the humorless.
Not content to simply stay quiet or just admit he went overboard in his claims while the world laughs at his reactions, he goes further with this latest Tweet:
A few notes for Dr. Mann:
1. I never received $88K. The project it was for was to be funded in two stages, only the first stage has been funded. The second stage never materialized, mainly because I haven’t asked for it, I’m still working on getting phase 1 finished so I can show results. Note that the money didn’t come from Heartland per se, they only found a private donor for me.
See this (in comments for the original story via Roger Knights who explained it well):
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Here’s the background on the Anthony/Heartland deal, which has been posted in one form or another widely enough that warmists ought to know about it. Watts isn’t paid for his blogging. A Heartland document describes a request he made last year for funding for a different project:
“Anthony Watts proposes to create a new Web site devoted to accessing the new temperature data from NOAA’s web site and converting them into easy-to-understand graphs that can be easily found and understood by weathermen and the general interested public. Watts has deep expertise in Web site design generally and is well-known and highly regarded by weathermen and meteorologists everywhere. The new site will be promoted heavily at WattsUpwithThat.com. Heartland has agreed to help Anthony raise $88,000 for the project in 2011. The Anonymous Donor has already pledged $44,000. We’ll seek to raise the balance.”
Watts later reported on the progress of this project. Most of the money, apparently, will go to a contract programmer and for equipment and internet fees:
“Using the funds provided with the help of Heartland’s private donor, I hired a specialist programmer familiar with NOAA systems to trap and convert the NOAA sat feed data to look like any other hourly station (like ASOS hourly stations at airports etc) so that we’d be able to start the visualization and comparison process. This is just one phase of the project before it is ready for public consumption. When finished, there will be a website free and open to the public that will allow tracking and visualization of temperatures from the CRN right alongside that of the regular surface network”
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And the fabricated documents (which Dr. Mann apparently still thinks is factual) which lead to the sort of misinformation Dr. Mann uses, are here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/02/global-warming-alarmists-resort-to-hoax.php
Some early output from the data visualization of the project are here:
and here:
Note that’s not a complete output, just two samples of many. The project is still not complete as any technical person who has done such projects knows, monkey wrenches and hurdles abound in the best made plans.
2. Dr. Mann, as a scholar of this debate, you should know by now that facts surrounding the Koch involvement with Heartland (stolen by his own admission and leaked by your buddy Dr. Peter Gleick) was $25K, and it was designated for a health care project.
See this via Megan McArdle at The Atlantic, emphasis mine:
But not a full understanding of those documents, because the memo made curious errors. Most notably, it claimed that the Koch foundation had given $200,000 in 2011, when the actual number was $25,000 ($200,000 is what Heartland’s fundraising document indicates they hoped to get in 2012)–and since that money was donated for Health Care News, Heartland’s health care newsletter, it’s hard to see why it would show up in the climate strategy document, rather than, say, a document about their health care strategy. Given other anomalies surrounding the document, it seemed to me very likely that whoever had phished the authenticated board package had been disappointed by the lack of sizeable contributions from Big Oil and the Kochs, and so had written the memo to make sure that the documents told a nice, neat story about corruption and secrecy, rather than a boring, equivocal story about an issue advocacy organization with a spot of budget trouble.
Dr. Mann, please do show how this Koch donation for health care somehow found its way to me or kindly shut your π hole.
3. As for the money from the calendar itself, it came from my personal credit/debit card as I previously demonstrated:
In essence, all WUWT readers funded it, because that debit card has a balance on it from previous calendar sales. It is used to pay COSTCO for producing and shipping the calendars, something that was obviously beyond Dr. Mann’s comprehension based on his initial reaction.
4. As Tom Nelson pointed out, similar questions could be asked of you:
Twitter / MichaelEMann: #WUWT minions out to defend …
#WUWT minions out to defend #Watts against having spent any of his 88K from #Heartland (i.e. #Koch et al) on calendar. So how did he spend?
Hey Michael: How did you spend the income from your climate hoax books?
And…
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MAC says:
December 22, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Flashy? Widely distributed? LOL.
Mann: “We know Anthony Watts received $44K/yr from Koch-funded #Heartland Institute….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WOW a one time grant for a surface station study for a mind boggling $44,000!
So how does that stack up to Mikey’s Moola?
Grants = Michael Mann brought at least $4,166,168 to Penn State
Rank and file “..atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences teachers, postsecondary” earn considerably more than the average university teacher ( @ $70.61 per hour)…. [normal] university lecturers and professors earn an average of $49.88 an hour From Salaries for all US Scientists by field – A Full Professor in Science $129,818
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5. Since turnabout is fair play, one could ask the question of Dr. Mann if any of the grant money he’s brought to Penn State went to Christmas gifts this year, or perhaps expenses for his “Flashy, widely distributed” book, or other expenses?
The disparity of funding between Dr. Mann’s endeavors and my project for CRN data visualization is laughable, yet Dr. Mann is worried about $15.84 spent on producing and shipping a calendar gift to him, something people regularly give away, just as I did. His fixation on this seems almost like a line from The Caine Mutiny.
6. Dr. Mann and others who continually insist that climate skeptics such as myself are recipients of huge “big oil/big coal” funds as Dr. Mann is often fond of saying:
“There has been, for years now, a very well-organized and frankly well-funded effort to confuse the public about climate change.”
He (and others that think this) should really take a moment to read this essay: Notes From Skull Island – why climate skeptics aren’t ‘well funded and well organized’
Within his multi-million dollar funded cocoon of academia, it must be impossible for Dr. Mann to understand that many climate skeptics are motivated by individual patriotism and concern for their country and the future of science, rather than the almighty dollar. In my conversations at AGU with Steve McIntyre, we both compared notes about how much better off we’d be financially if we didn’t have this climate issue diverting us. Steve has finally moved on to spending more time with his mining consulting business, and I’m likely to spend more time on my own business in 2013. We both have to work for a living, we don’t have tenure that allows us to take sabbaticals.
I sympathize with Dr. Mann’s plight, since by his reaction he obviously doesn’t understand COSTCO, likely never having shopped there. We all find it humorous. But, alas, Dr. Mann spins entertaining tales from his ignorance, much like the fabled (and false) claim that a U.S. president didn’t know what a grocery scanner was. It makes for a good story for people who want to believe you, but in the end, just like Dr. Mann’s hockey stick graph, when you examine the details, things aren’t as they seem.
7. In any event, now that Dr. Mann is on factual notice (since we know by his actions he monitors WUWT), any further emanations from him on this subject should now be factually based, otherwise they’ll just be purposely mendacious.
8. Right now, given the reactions, I think Dr. Mann and others in his climate clique are suffering from a “rat-hole problem”. Please note that is not a derogatory term. The meaning of “rat-hole problem” will become clear in the next posting (on Christmas day) and I think we should find a way to help him and others.
9. As before, I wish Dr. Mann, and the other recipients of the Josh/WUWT 2013 Calendar a very merry Christmas, and best wishes for the coming new year. I hope he’ll take a moment of respite from the “climate wars” to enjoy this most joyous of holidays.
(Posting and moderation will be light/nonexistent for a while, comments may go unpublished for an extended period of time during this holiday. )
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Your explanation is well and good as far as it goes, Anthony, but the central question still remains:
WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIS STRAWBERRIES?
What I want to know out of M. M. is:
How much compensation has Michael Mann received for his involvement with Global Warming – Global Climate Change?
Who(m) did the compensation come from?
Got to feel a little sorry for Mann. He’d absolutely love Anthony to be funded in some massive way by “big oil”, as that is a mainstay argument of his.
But, it is not happening, so he keeps bleating about $88K (even though he knows it was $44K) and only further undermines his own argument.
Hi Andi,
If I like and respect someone, it does not mean I have to agree with them. Does it?
>>>”I’ll have to defend Dr. Mann here by saying that my impression is that he is not stupid,”
That’s an incredibly magnanimous observation given his behavior, but you’re probably right. What IS true of Dr. Mann is that he is a mediocre scientist who has delusions of grandeur. There are few pieces of research that truly define a field. Newton, Maxwell, Einstein and others were brilliant men who made contributions that redefined our understanding of the physical world, but even they had their theories verified through years of experiment and observation. In his case, Mann expects to see that phase skipped entirely and have us heap adulation upon him now.
I’d have less disdain for him if there was a hint of humility. A less self-absorbed person might point to his own work and warn everyone that it indicates that we are facing catastrophe, but in the same breath admit that observations were lacking and that he would do whatever necessary to dispel doubts. He would then proceed to release all data and methodology, along with relevant correspondence, and invite others to confirm his findings, That Mann would be a sympathetic figure and when his errors were pointed out, he might actually express some relief that the problem could be less bad than he once thought.
Instead we have a scientist who demands that all kowtow to his magnificence, and ignore the errors, omissions and overstatements. Has he, in fact, ever admitted that there was any problem with any part of his work? He obviously believes that he is destined to be a legendary figure, but the truth is that he’s an overage scientist who was canny enough to enter a field just when it was becoming politicized, and he’s ridden the wave. That alone proves he’s not stupid, but it doesn’t make him a great scientist. Like many others, when he is good he’s not original, and when he’s original he’s not good. Sadly for him, his name will become a punchline in 10 years, and his fame will be of a kind that he would never wish for.
Sounds to me like Dr. Mann has not yet realized that there is no pony at the bottom of the hole he’s been digging.
JohnH says: “Sadly for him, his name will become a punchline in 10 years,”
That was true over a decade ago.
I’ve long called Senator McCain ‘Captain Queeg’, but perhaps it’s time for that to pass to the good Dr. Mann. It does seem rather fitting. Strawberries indeed.
Maybe he is miffed because what he really wanted for Christmas was a hockey stick….
I am pleased to be a “Minion”. I have never in my life achieved Minionhood.
With luck, I may get promoted to “Henchman”
Perhaps we could buy a lump of coal and send it to him for Christmas?
Or if two people did it, if two people bought him a lump of coal, they’d call them both Deniers….
But if Three People did it, if three people a day marched in, bought a lump of coal, and mailed it to Mr. Mann, in harmony, they’d call it a movement….
Hmmm…. Wonder if the University regulations prevent disposing of a lump of coal as it is ‘toxic waste’…. It would be a hoot if they had to call a hazmat team for every gift of a lump of coal…
At one time sacks of coal were sold in the local hardware store. But that was 20 years ago. At this point I don’t think you can get coal… but it’s the thought that counts 😉 (Maybe a Kingsford briquette would do…)
😉 of course…
You’re in good company. There are many more minions in an Olympic-sized swimming pool than Mann’s best friends in a Manhattan.
Merry Christmas Anthony and Mods
Dr Mann’s use of words is also in error regarding the tweet of WUWT minions. The first dictionary I looked at was “minion: a servile follower or subordinate of a person in power.”
Anthony, or Anthony representing WUWT, a person in power, has only once given me an order of any type. That was a request to hold talking until he adjusted a hearing aid.
Did that make me a minion? I think not.
Do I see Anthony exerting powers over his readers? I think not.
No. No minions here, Michael.
If you are still missing the minion point, go back to Climategate and read what your mate Keith Briffa was ordering poor Russian dendros to do, like all the hard yakka for some money that might turn up via a possibly illegal, tax-avoidance brown paper bag, and to try to make their results fit the meme of global warming. People told to act like minions are quite capable of retaliation like Climategate … if there was a Russian connection in the paper trail.
p.s. Since I started bogging, I have received no money or consideration whatsoever from any person or body in return. I’m fascinated by the repeated lie that commentators are in the pay of Big Oil. It’s so worng, as you have been told so many times.
Really, Anthony, you should lay off Mikey for awhile. He’s not that bright (or at least not nearly as bright as he thinks he is), and his ego, while tiny, is so comically hyper-inflated that it bursts at slightest prick and then he has to pump it back up all over again, which must be exhausting.
Where is your Christian charity during this, the holiday season?
Merry Christmas to all!
E M Smith,
Perhaps coal should be a New Years day gift, in the tradition of First Footing in Scotland when the first person entering a house on New Years Day brought gifts for luck? According to tradition, one of these gifts should be a piece of coal or peat. Such a gift is supposed to ensure that there will be a steady source of warmth in the house throughout the year. No death trains when living is difficult.
Sandy
Mike Mann must have thought: beware Greeks bringing gifts. Nobody ever sents him a prezzie so there must be an alterior motive, obviously. But then again, I’m not Freud so what do I know?
Michael Mann is fighting a trench war and is randomly throwing accusations. Must be hard for him to get overwhelmed by the dirt he has dug up himself and in the mean time also get all the accusations back in his trench as they get reflected by walls of evidence that he is a completely delusional.
Merry Christmas, Anthony, and have a good time with your family!
Heartland’s yearly income compared to Warmist propoganda bodies.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/01/follow-the-money-why-heartland-is-a-big-threat/
Minion Envy. I will be burning a few carbon loaded tree rings in the fireplace today and trying not to think of the Penn State Professor of Comedology.
Well, Mann always did have a problem with inflating numbers…
Mr Mann, we as the public don’t give a rat’s arse about private money — none of our business (unless you’re a shareholder in said organization). We’re only concerned about our public taxpayer money. Where does your money come from?
Even this simple, basic concept seems to elude you & many others.
Sparks says:
December 24, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Hi Andi,
If I like and respect someone, it does not mean I have to agree with them. Does it?
No but it does expose our life values. It is usually very difficult to respect someone whos values are completely different from your own.
Mann’s value are there for all to see and now so are yours. !!!!!
I know you feel a need to respond to Mikey but he’s just trolling. There’s no reason to dignify his posts. You will never convince him or his Twit followers, anyway. Maybe next time, just publish a report that demolishes what he has said without mentioning or quoting him at all.
Please keep the Mann in the public eye, he does such fine work for a critical look at the climate lunacy. Merry Christmas All
It seems to me that Anthony (as a public figure) has a case for libel.
Mann’s tweets and posts are demonstrably false, delivered with malice and are intended to cause Anthony harm. They are hardly in the realm of opinion or fair comment.
According to Wikipedia, the case of NYT v. Sullivan allows that a libel suit can be won if the plaintiff can demonstrate the publisher had “knowledge that the information was false” or that the information was published “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not”.
Mann knows that these things are not true and is seeking to sully Anthony’s reputation by false associations. Just sayin’
Sparks says:
December 24, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I Actually like Michael Mann, and I respect his opinion and all his hard work. get back to the debate, is global warming catastrophic?
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I would sincerely like to know why you like him and respect his opinion.
Merry Xmas to Anthony Watts and his hard working mods and contributors. What a great site this is.