Bishop Hill Winter jolly
Dec 31, 2013 Greens The saga of the stricken Antarctic expedition continues to fascinate and intrigue. The news overnight is that all the passengers are to be evacuated by helicopter, leaving only the crew on board.
Meanwhile, Richard Tol has been noting the backgrounds of some of the researchers on board:
Ben Fisk
Ben is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine, Deakin University, researching rural and urban differences in traumatic brain injury outcomes.
James MacDiarmid
James trained as a Primary school teacher, with a Masters degree in Educational Leadership. He is currently completing his doctorate in educational sciences with a primary focus on the early years of both pre-school and primary students.
And so on. To be fair, there are some genuine climate scientists on board too, but with many of their fellow travellers clearly occupying the "free holiday" category the impression you get is of a carbon guzzling boondoggle rather than a research trip.
Reader Comments (251)
SandyS,
I think the Revkin post might have kicked the cr*p out of Chandra's "sciencey" argument.
Every now and then from the start, I have tried to put myself in the sea-boots of the ship's Master.
No doubt a competent seaman, he has got his ship into this mess, and the responsibility is his. It matters not that he must have come under pressure from the expedition's "leaders"; he was simply not permitted to ignore the evidence of his instruments, charts, radar, satellite photographs and his own lying eyes.
It is so bad I feel sorry for him. I can easily imagine he is thinking black, bitter thoughts, and casting his mind to the bottle of pepper vodka and the pistol in his cabin.
But, above all I bet that he wishes this crowd of fools right off his boat so he can think, and work with his crew.
A good New Year to all here.
Chandra says "K, I don't remember claiming that it was truly a "scientific expedition". I'm more interested in why someone is characterized as a Marxist and why it matters. Indeed the whole IPCC has been labelled such somewhere above."
Huh? If that's the case then your posts about scientists were idiotic.
Jeff Wood
On a big ship - it's easier but not impossible (as Francesco Schettino might be able to tell you) to segregate the navigation activity from the socialising. This is a small ship and I don't envy the task of the crew trying to concentrate on matters to hand with 50 or so convivial passengers (with obvious time on their hands and a free bar) bumbling around.
K, posts about scientists? Was that what they were? I have tried to point out to you knuckleheads that criticizing an expedition that never claimed to be a purely scientific enterprise for not being a purely scientific enterprise is, apart from being at about the level of banality expected here, not the most sensible criticism to level at your foes.
Sandy says being a Marxist is traditionally something people keep quiet about, but those I have met have seemed to wear it as a badge of honour. And Johanna and the Jackson seem able to divine it Ben Maddison with ease - maybe it takes one to know one.
Alright chandra, you're losing it. Time for you to take a break.
Chandra,
"Sandy says being a Marxist is traditionally something people keep quiet about, but those I have met have seemed to wear it as a badge of honour. And Johanna and the Jackson seem able to divine it Ben Maddison with ease - maybe it takes one to know one."
Excellent. So Johanna and Jackson are Marxists. Do go on. It's fascinating.
Either reformed or latent
Chandra “I have tried to point out to you knuckleheads that criticizing an expedition that never claimed to be a purely scientific enterprise for not being a purely scientific enterprise is, apart from being at about the level of banality expected here, not the most sensible criticism to level at your foes.”
You’re right, this wasn’t a purely scientific mission it was mainly one of propaganda and as such it’s an unmitigated failure. Worse, it’s an own goal. It intended to whine to the World that our thoughtless use of fossil fuels (for greedy luxuries like heating or travelling to work) was causing runaway warming in the pristine wilderness of the Antarctic. To do this they used huge amounts of energy to do a minimal amount of work and inadvertent have created a major rescue mission. They have polluted the very pristine landscape they sought to protect and have harassed the wild life. They’ve endangered lives and it also seems they have interrupted genuine science. They’ve made a mockery of the idea that the area is getting warmer.
Even Andy Revkin recognises that supporting every green idiot is the way to lose credibility. It seems you’re too stu... too stubborn to abandon ship.
The lack of self-awareness of the spoilt, entitled brats on the SS Global Warming is just staggering. They have posted a video of themselves singing a song about how wonderful their trip is, and had a slap-up New Year's Eve party.
Wonder what sort of festive season those on board the ice-breakers trying to save them, and those co-ordinating the rescue effort, had?
Disgusting.
One wonders which members of the cast are Ben's subjects.
Prof Turney's bio on the "Spirit of Mawson" website, in uncharacteristic modesty, mentions that he is "described by the UK Saturday Times as the ‘new David Livingstone’."
Seems like this Livingstone is desperately in need of a Stanley.
Mind you, PPPenguins can be surprisingly dangerous.
Muted celebrations:-
Passengers on Russian ship trapped in Antarctic not allowed to go overborad for New Year dinner
Tis time to get these people out!
Happy New Year to all, especially those in peril.
[Snip. Manners]
Classy stuff Chandra/someone/whatever. It's pretty certain you've got no interest in credibility, so why not just be an idiot?
Stay classy, Chandra! :)
Revkin's post has serious implications - if three (four) icebreakers are called in at once despite their valuable cargo and despite the continuous proclamations that there's plenty to eat on board Turney's Folly, it means that the passengers and crew are on borrowed time, constantly within hours of dying if things go wrong (eg the ship has it).
I'd start practising walking on sea ice if I were them. It's only 6 miles, two or three days away.
Do they have enough tents?
omnologos, the passengers include Chris Turney's wife and children, and people who are at least middle-aged, unfit and with no training whatsoever about survival in those conditions.
Let's all hope that this vanity project does not lead to tragedy.
It fascinates me how those with no experience can express concern about the ability of the time served to survive.
Chandra, I have watched many people on this site welcome you and proffer advice. They have worked hard to give you insight, not to tell you but merely suggest you avail yourself of the logic that prevails. Simple, nothing more, nothing less.
Inevitably you will come to realise that you and you alone are responsible for everything you do and everything that happens to you. Everything!
PS Beware the red under your own bed!
omnologos, the ice is clearly unpredictable and the passengers are hardly seasoned ice travellers. Ice can part, raft, be too thin to support weight or just drift away. Would you trust that lot to the walk?
Copter rescue posponed due to wind and rain.
It turns out that Katabasis has found that the author of the Guardians latest "We are all going to fry with 4c" nonsense is one Professor Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales. And as if by sheer coincidence, our intrepid team is being led by one Professor Chris Turner - one of Sherwood’s pals in the Climate Change Research Centre at...the University of New South Wales.
Fancy that!
http://www.ccrc.unsw.edu.au/staff/academic.html
Top work there, Katabasis.
Oh, and you stay classy there, Chandra. Stay classy.
Snap SNTF. I must have really got under his/her skin, which is a reward in itself.
Jan 1, 2014 at 1:01 AM johanna
Style, class, ma'am, have a good year!
Green Sand, yeah I've been "welcomed" as "troll" by many. I'm not trollish by nature, but like you say, you reap what you sow.
Aw, thanks, Green Sand. I am not worthy. And the same to you.
johanna, for what it's worth, the BBC interview yesterday with some apparently drug-fuelled idiot who could only bang on about what a great party they were having, with a conga line covering three decks and all, didn't make me feel entirely sympathetic either.
Looking at the tortuous path that the Xue Long is carving here - http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:144.4792/centery:-66.72189/zoom:8/mmsi:41286300 - I'd guess that if the crew of this vessel knew they were going through their frostbitten antarctic hell to serve the needs of a bunch of arrogant hedonists who wouldn't know humility if it hit them with a sharpened entrenching tool, they'd be in a hurry to be somewhere a long way away.
OK Chandra/someone - maybe 'troll' is overgenerous. Duplicitous and offensive sockpuppeteer with psychological projection issues, I'll grant you. Motivated dishonesty and all.
Jan 1, 2014 at 1:45 AM Chandra
"Green Sand, yeah I've been "welcomed" as "troll" by many."
"I'm not trollish by nature, but like you say, you reap what you sow."
Que? Might I therefore suggest prioritising listening above broadcasting?
[Snip. Raise the tone please.]
@ johanna
Morning ma'am
"seems to have infuriated him/her"
Ben? I know the years have left their toll, but as a mere homo sapiens I am confused?
Sorry, GS, don't understand the question.
Hey, Channy ol' chum. I got cats. They help the cockroaches work out on the keyboard.
==========
Jo Nova reports that the newspaper Australian has a dront-page diatribe against the entire CAGW and carbon tax scam by a very senior Government advisor - plus a supporting editorial. (The originals at The Australian are paywalled). Looks like the gloves are off down there in OZ. Great start to 2014.
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/12/skeptical-view-makes-australian-front-page-climate-madness-dishonesty-fraud-deception-lies-and-exploition-says-maurice-newman/
The Ship of Fools fiasco gives fresh focus to it all. Expect no mercy from the Abbott government. I can imagine the line..."The previous Labor government presided over authorisation of this folly which has made OZ look ridiculous and has damaged our real research efforts in the Antarctic". The knives will be being sharpened. There will not be a happy homecoming, proper feelings of relief for the eventual rescue of the "researchers" will be tempered by wide annoyance at the basic stupidity and waste of the whole boondoggle.
(Further news from Down Under is that Andy Flowers and young Cookie were recommended for inclusion in the OZ section of the New Years Honours List - for service to OZ cricket. Too late for this List, but after Sydney they may well make the Birthday List in June)
Their plight in the Antarctic is similar to the 4-man rowboat of the Mainstream First Last expedition which endeavored to row the NW passage in the Arctic during the 2013 summer. They wanted to prove the extent of AGW in the Arctic but their mission ended in failure due to the blocking ice.
Instead of clear water, the crew noted the following;
'At many Eastern places of NWP locals have not seen this type ice conditions. Residents of Resolute say 20 years have not seen anything like. Its, ice, ice and more ice. Larsen, Peel, Bellot, Regent and Barrow Strait are all choked.'
Source http://mainstreamlastfirst.com/and-the-trip-comes-to-an-end/
Chandra -
This may come as a complete surprise [snip. Manners] but it also needs something else. Money. Are Australian taxpayers funding a large part this expedition? Are Australian taxpayers funding the rescue attempts by the Aurora Australis? Are genuine Antarctic scientists at Casey pissed off that the ship of fools have set back their re-supply and research? You don't come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I'll start you off with an easier one that has the same answer -
Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?
Jan 1, 2014 at 2:57 AM | Unregistered Commenter John Anderson
That's a great start to the New Year down under. (I won't mention the cricket...)
Ian G
"...expedition which endeavoured to row the NW passage ........ wanted to prove the extent of AGW in the Arctic but their mission ended in failure due to blocking ice"
So now the members of that expedition no longer believe in AGW do they? Or perhaps they have a teeny weeny doubt about it.
Oh no it doesn't work like that.
Jan 1, 2014 at 3:07 AM | Unregistered Commenter Ian G
Indeed. Warm-mongers thwarted at both poles by record -setting summer ice extent.
Now. I may be just a simple denier but even I can see a pattern here.
From the actual blurb of Ben Maddison's book (expertly paraphrased by omnologos above):
Sailers [sic], sealers, whalers, cooks, mechanics, engineers, stokers and radio operators were all necessary in bringing the upperclass 'hero explorers' to the continent and supporting their expeditions. Likewise, resources obtained from local populations in southern Africa, Australasia, the Pacific and South America were vital to their success.
Yup, that about sums it up...
Dec 31, 2013 at 12:44 PM | Ruth Dixon
==================================================================================
Nothing's changed then...
Jeremy, you forgot to mention AutoTrader, or should that be Icebreaker Trader ;)
Dec 31, 2013 at 1:26 PM | Breath of Fresh Air
=================================================================
They sold Auto Trader last year. They are now reliant on public funding and tax avoidance by being registered in the Cayman Islands. And yes, that is the same Guardian that campaigns so nobly against tax avoidance. And it's the same Guardian whose senior writers (Toynbee, Williams et al) constantly campaign against the evils of private education whilst educating their kids privately. A truly loathsome publication.
Ben Maddison seems to be a regular visitor to Antarctica, current rip involves A group of more than 25 scientists will be on board and spend 10 days doing scientific work near Commonwealth Bay, but Dr Maddison will work on educating the other 25 guests, the paying tourists, about what happened in Antarctica more than 100 years ago and also that forgotten role of the working class crews.
Dec 31, 2013 at 5:50 PM | SandyS
=================================================================================
Ahah. I guess that the ship they are on is crewed by Russian noblemen, yes?
Ben? I know the years have left their toll, but as a mere homo sapiens I am confused?
Jan 1, 2014 at 2:21 AM | Registered CommenterGreen Sand
I think she was talking about chunda not Ben wossisname.
Delingpole has an article in the Daily Mail this morning.
Oh... I see there was a bit of party here last night.
Chandra's going to sleep well.
A new twist to the story (as ever, apologies if someone's already mentioned this) - Anthony Watts and Weather Bell help out the Akademik Shokalskiy with some weather forecasting:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/31/wuwt-and-weatherbell-help-kusi-tv-with-a-weather-forecasting-request-from-ice-trapped-ship-in-antarctica-akademik-shokalskiy/
They sold Auto Trader last year.
Jan 1, 2014 at 8:35 AM | Unregistered CommenterJeremy Poynton
Didn't know, nothing like selling the family silver, once the cash runs out they are doomed !!!!
Good article by Delingpole.
Somebody seems to have told him to calm down a bit which will make his stuff even better.
Mike Jackson:
I fear Dellers may be starting to sit on the fence. From his piece in the D Mail today:
[My bold]
Re: AutoTrader
Autotrader is owned by Trader Media Group Limited (TMG).
Guardian Media Group (GMG) owns 50.6% of TMG so technically the Guardian still owns Autotrader.
The latest accounts of TMG show that it has £110m in cash, £147m in assets, £93m in liabilities and an overall net worth of £-1,133m.