Bishop Hill Is it or ain't it Rashit?
May 19, 2012 There is an interesting exchange in the comments to Steve McIntyre's recent post on the updated Yamal data he has recently received from Rashit Hantemirov, the Russian climatologist who originally sampled the Yamal trees.
The new data, which now extends right up to 2005, does not have a hockey stick shape - yet another extraordinary turn in this most extraordinary story.
In the comments, there is what purports to be a comment from Hantemirov himself:
Steve, I’m horrified by your slipshod work. You did not define what you compare, what dataset used in each case, how data were processed, and what was the reason for that, what limitation there are, what kind of additional information you need to know. Why didn’t you ask me for all the details? You even aren’t ashamed of using information from stolen letters.
Do carelessness, grubbiness, dishonourableness are the
necessary concomitants of your job?With disrespect…
Readers were rather taken aback by this comment and there appears to be some doubt over its authenticity - Anthony Watts noted that it was posted from a proxy server. Nevertheless Steve M seems convinced that it is genuine.
The question is, what on Earth has brought this rush of blood to Hantermirov's head (if indeed it is him). Has he been got at?
Reader Comments (64)
"Rashit"
"Gesundheit"
Andrew
Definitely not from a Russian. American language speaker, spoofing. Maybe even Gleick?!?
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate, with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
I saw the letter on Climate Audit but it is gone now so far as I can see.
If I have not misled myself then Steve McI seems no longer to be convinced that the letter was genuine.
My worthless opinion is that it is either (a) a spoof – not genuine, or (b) written after, or taken down as dictation during an alarmed or abusive telephone call.
Ron (May 20, 2012 at 4:00 AM)
Anthony Watts once found a weather station “lost” from the GISS data by guessing that the English-born Gavin Schmidt spelt “Harbor” “harbour”.Just saying.
May 20, 2012 at 7:47 AM Ecclesiastical Uncle
"I saw the letter on Climate Audit but it is gone now so far as I can see.
If I have not misled myself then Steve McI seems no longer to be convinced that the letter was genuine."
You may have misled yourself. It's still there when I look at it.
On a lighter note, the great Tom Lehrer did his own version of Russian-English in "The Great Lobachevsky", here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL4vWJbwmqM
Enjoy!
I hasten to add that I am in no way reflecting on Dr Hantemirov, or any other Russian scientist, in posting this. Lehrer is referring to Cold War era science, and his comments and songs over the years illustrated that he did not consider Western scientists to be as pure as the driven snow either.
Just think the comment is from the Russian scientist, for now. We cannot prove that it is not, yet, right?
I saw Richard Drake these parts.
To me, what has happened just reflects how 'the establishment' - i.e., a group of professionals/insiders whose identity and expertise are inter-linked - deals with anonymous outsiders.
Steve McIntyre has a scientific reputation. He has expertise. But he is not part of the establishment. He is not a member of climatology associations (I might be wrong on this point), he is not faculty at any university or college, and he does not teach any students.
In other words, he possesses expertise, but has no identity. We know his name. But that is not his identity. That doesn't count.
Say, Steve McIntyre was faculty at a well-known university campus. Rashit Hantemirov would not have been able to easily pull the trick he did (assuming it was he who did it). He would be going up against, not only Steve, but his department, his circle of collaborators and associates. Some of them would have links back to Hantemirov. His hand would be restrained.
Not only that, McIntyre himself wouldn't be practicing the open, naked discussion and vivisection of science and data that we've come to appreciate. His hand would be restrained too.
Because McIntyre is an independent free-agent, folks like Hantemirov can do what he did to him - fob him off with an absurd moral recrimination, out of the blue. Damaging his reputation does no harm to Hantemirov, the professional scientist.
The fulcrum of the debate about anonymity lies here, not in the names of the individuals involved.
Shub,
Well said.
The academically sanctioned scientists have a serious intellectual restraint due to being embedded into the archaic structure of academia.
I applaud the scientists who exist in a more independent open environment like McIntyre.
John
it very well illustrates how the university has transformed into bulwarks of petty interests and little kingdom keepers.
high pressure hose, churn it all away , reduce costs.
A reasoned approach to higher education is called for, the present sausage machines are dysfunctional and too costly for what they bring.
All the kowtowing aside: no value, only waste. that's the hard facts.
same with windmills.
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate, with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Martin A.
Re the letter.
Mea culpa – wrong thread.
Thank you.
I agree that words like slipshod are never uttered by any non-native speaker, and by very few native ones (after 14 years in this country, I still had to look for its exact translation).
Even Google Translate has trouble with it (if you translate it in Russian and back, you get "sleazy" rather than "slipshod").
In CG2, "slipshod" is only used once, in a 2003 message from Mark Eakin to Mann.
Curiosities from Google:
"concomitants" malta: 224,000 results
"concomitants" usa: 216,000 results
"concomitants" "united kingdom": 85,500 results
"concomitants" italy: 138,000 results
In case the title of this post was a song reference, it should be, "Is you is, or is you ain't my Rashit," as in (from Wikipedia):
"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a 1944 Louis Jordan song, released as the B-side of single with "G.I. Jive". "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached #1 on the US folk/country charts.
lucia @ The Blackboard. Quiz in the morning.
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