Pictures do matter

Today I got a piece of delicious irony and satisfaction in seeing that one of the phantom operated climate blogs, Rabett Run, started using photos from www.surfacestations.org to make a point:

This contrasts to a few months ago when the phantom blog operator maintained that “pictures don’t matter” because, as he put it “they only show a snapshot of time”. Yet he’s using www.surfacestations.org photos to make his point. I’d qualify that as a success in proving the value of photos.

Now this phantom persona “Eli Rabett” is apparently a climate researcher at a major university, but like many other climate blogs, doesn’t use his real name for fear of hurting his tenure/funding/reputation. The exception is RealClimate who does publish the names of the principals. It seems some otherwise honest climate scientists participate in this online game of intellectual charlatanism by not revealing their names when used to make points or to attack others. Why they do it is beyond me, because science is supposed to be about truth. Nobody gets to publish papers in scientific journals anonymously, attend conferences anonymously, or belong to professional organizations anonymously, so why should their conduct online when engaging in science discourse be allowed differently?

By the way, since “Rabett Run” didn’t provide a source, to give proper credit where it is due, the photo of Alma, MI was taken by www.surfacestations.org volunteer Don Kostuch, whom is our most prolific and dedicated volunteer.