The articles by Lewandowsky and Cook at the Conversation mentioned above are both illustrated with photos of men with their heads in the sand, which reminded me of another Lew article a couple of years ago at the Conversation illustrated in a similar fashion.

I remember it, not for anything Lew said, but for a memorable exchange I had at the end of the thread with Barry Woods and Foxgoose. It went like this:

Barry Woods: Perhaps if the Professor Lewandowsky could correct a substantial error in LOG12 [the “Moon Hoax” paper] then the criticism of Professor Lewandowsky and his co authors by ‘sceptics’ might not have been so great […] The LOG12 methodology states that the survey was posted at the SkepticalScience website, when in fact the survey was not posted at the Skeptical Science website.

Foxgoose: It is indeed strange that Professor Lewandowsky and his supporters here are apparently unwilling to make any response to clear evidence of academic fraud. Maybe “The Conversation” should be renamed “The Sermon For Today……Followed by The Deafening Silence”.

In addition to the proven fraudulent claim, outlined by Barry Woods & Geoff Chambers above, that the first Lewandowsky et al paper questionnaire was published on a blog where it never appeared – there were a number of individuals libeled in his second “Recursive Fury” paper. I was one such individual when a blog comment made in a completely different context was twisted to provide an example of supposed “conspiracy ideation”. After complaints to the publisher and Professor Lewandowsky’s previous university the libel was removed from the paper.
The evidence of widespread misconduct by Lewandowsky and his collaborators is now well established and documented. The fact that he ignores this evidence and refuses to either defend his conduct or apologise for it make the choice of photograph in the heading of this piece rather poignant.

Geoff Chambers: Thanks for pointing out the photo. I’d taken it for a picture of a Bedouin having furled up his tent and gone for a quick dip in the Med.
Actually, it looks a lot like the view from the window here where I sit. It could even be a photo of me doing my early morning yoga on a sticky patch of the dunes, except I wouldn’t be so naff as to tuck my jeans into my trainers.
To tell the truth, our patch of the Mediterranean doesn’t have grass, because the local council sends a bulldozer out to shift the sand around, piling it up in the autumn to protect us from winter storms. I just hope they remember to pile it 3mm higher every year, otherwise we might be part of the 50 million climate refugees that are threatening to invade your shores.

Geoff Chambers (again): Looking again at the photo, the person doesn’t look as if they’ve adopted that pose voluntarily. I think they’ve been dropped in it from a great height by some external forcing. And the legs have a stiff unbending look about them, suggesting a character to match. Stephan is a big gliding fan, I remember. Good Gaia, you don’t think….?

Foxgoose: Well – that would be a terrible blow to the emerging science of climate psychology, wouldn’t it? On balance though, I think he might just be experiencing some orientation confusion following his recent arrival from the antipodes.

To the Conversation’s credit, our comments stayed up, though the photo, for some mysterious reason, has disappeared. It can still be seen at the foot of the Cook article mentioned above.