On the Shore of Lake Huron Near Mackinac Island
...||| NOT TRUE |||...
The images are real, but they were taken in Antarctica by astrophysicist Tony Travouillon with TMT/Caltech, who published a series of amazing photos on his website.
Thanks to Jez, who asked if these were not in fact pictures of Antarctica
Michigan is having her coldest winter in decades
Water expands when it freezes, and at Macinaw City the water in Lake Huron below the surface ice was supercooled. It expanded to break through the surface ice and created this formidable wave. This phenomenon occurs regularly in Antarctica, but in Michigan?
Yes, there could be no greater proof than this
that GLOBAL WARMING poses the biggest threat
to the continued survival of human existence.
WE APOLOGIZE FOR PASSING ON AN EMAIL HOAX. IT SEEMED ENTIRELY PLAUSIBLE, HOWEVER, GIVEN THAT NIAGARA FALLS HAS "FROZEN SOLID" IN THE PAST.
WE APOLOGIZE FOR PASSING ON AN EMAIL HOAX. IT SEEMED ENTIRELY PLAUSIBLE, HOWEVER, GIVEN THAT NIAGARA FALLS HAS "FROZEN SOLID" IN THE PAST.
[NOTE: Niagara Falls has effectively “frozen solid” several times. Namely in 1848, 1902, 1911, 1936, 2007, 2011, 2012 according to mixed sources found on Google.]
Snopes and the other verification services seem eager to quibble about the exact dates of the photographs circulated, and are quick to say the falls have never really frozen SOLID –– meaning that the Niagara River has never stopped flowing entirely, and that there has ALWAYS been motion in the falls, even though it be reduced to a tiny trickle –– behind a FIFTY-FOOT THICK facade of solid ice. If the promoters of Myths and Urban Legends slant their material to serve an “agenda,” so do the “verification services” all of whom seem firmly seated on the left of every disputed item with political implications.
We despise out-and-out lies, but we also hold distortions of the truth and slanted, nit-picking, agenda-driven reportage in equally low esteem. - FT
Are you sure those photographs aren't actually from the Antarctic?
ReplyDeleteHello, Jez. I'm glad you asked. Thank you. It seemed a logical possibility to me given the temperatures reported in the North Central Region of the United States this winter, so I published it. As you see, I also thanked you publicly, and published a prominent correction with additional notes. I will try to be more careful in future. - FT
ReplyDeleteAccording to CBS News on February 25:
ReplyDeleteIn mid-February, the Great Lakes were nearly 90 percent covered in ice.
Significant melting has now occurred. See THIS.
You're welcome, and I agree it was plausible -- I didn't know for sure that the photos weren't what they were claimed to be.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I'd count snopes' report of the frozen Niagara as slanted journalism, just seems thorough to me. Remember the point of snopes is to analyze of the original article, in particular checking each of its claims in turn. Any general discussion of the topic addressed by the original article is secondary.
If you only turn to snopes to verify or debunk right-wing hoaxes, then that's what all you'll see it debunk. I think it debunks hoaxes from all sides. As an exercise, try checking your (least) favourite left-wing hoax and see if snopes treats it fairly.
I found this, for example:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/bushbook.asp
a trivial story for sure, but that's down to my search terms. Try it yourself with something you care about. :)
Meanwhile, in the skies over England: "The Norfolk lights! Skies over East Anglia turn red and green by stunning display of the Aurora Borealis." Beautiful display, courtesy of Mother Nature!
ReplyDeleteYou have a good there, Jez. I do realize that having definite convictions of any kind can make one at least partially paranoid.
ReplyDeleteStill, the tendency to use purely technical flaws to refute an argument -- like branding an entire item "UNTRUE," because the event or phenomenon described took place in 1912 instead of 1911 is -- to my way of thinking at least -- just another one of the many faces of dishonesty.
I certainly don't want to substitute fantasy for facts, but - and I think you must know this -- it's quite possible to use "facts" to support a particular point of view in ways neither truthful nor sincere.
A handy, admittedly shallow example is the habitual use of the most unflattering photos an editor can find to represent a candidate or other public personality of which the editor disapproves.
It was done all the time with Richard Nixon just as its direct opposite was done with the Kennedys. The media detested Nixon and were in love with the Kennedys. Their bias was shameless, intense and flamboyant.
HOWEVER, smart people do learn to "read between the lines" and sooner or later "Murder will out," as Chaucer put it.
It's all right. Just Human Nature, BUT we should be educated to be wary of ALL journalism that appears one-sided. In that case it's no longer journalism, but merely propaganda.
You can add 2013 and 2014 to the years when Niagara Falls froze, even now as we speak....
ReplyDeleteNiagara Falls 2014
Hello, Waylon,
ReplyDeleteTank you for that contribution, But are you absolutely SURE those pictures taken after January 1 of this year?
By the standards set by the Mikkelsons you would be declared guilty of sending a false or "partially true" report, if even NE of those shots could be proven to have been taken at an earlier time.
"The Mikkelsons" in case you didn't know i are the couple who run SNOPES (pronounced SNOOPS!). They are based in Canada. Do you know anything about them?
"Facts" may be stubborn things, but the impression given by a recital of "pure facts" depends a great deal on the way those bits of information are stated.
How else could we tell whether an editorial -- or an entire publication for that matter -- has a Marxian-Progressive-Liberal orientation or a conservative one?
Facts are, indeed, fact, but the TRTH lies in the WAY those facts are INTERPRETED.
FT, the reason I looked for the pictures is that I saw a local news story yesterday saying that the falls were frozen. I had seen others pictures earlier in the year but didn't bother to check. And I haven't been down there since before mid December, so it's not a first hand report.
ReplyDeleteI do know about Snopes. Don't know anything about the folks that run it though. Leftists like 80% of the world, I guess.
Definitely leftists, Waylon, though like most of them they probably don't like ti admit it..
ReplyDeleteI wasn't being critical of YOU, by the way. I hope you realize that? I am simply being more sensitive to the extreme punctiliousness of the left wen it comes to their ceaseless efforts to denigrate, debunk, demean and discredit the right.
"We" must be very sure of our ground, because a full court press is waiting to pounce and raise Cain if leftists can find a missing dot on an "in" an uncrossed "t," a misused term, or a misspelled name -- ANYTHING they can grab to make "us" look ignorant, foolish or possibly dishonest.
Leftists are not merely DEFENSIVE they are PREDATORY.