Finally, Will still fails to acknowledge that there are NO market mechanisms at work regarding the climate, unlike the famous bet that Julian Simon won against Ehrich regarding commodity prices. That’s actually the key institutional setting - lack of private/community property right = tragedy of the commons.

Thanks for this analysis, Tom. I think you have it about right, although a point I would add is that the sloppiness of the Daily Tech post should have been obvious to anyone in the journalism business.

A point you didn’t address (and I’d like to hear your opinion) was Alexander’s mention of only one of Will’s slips. In particular, note that Will’s assertion that experts raised the alarm about *global* sea ice levels isn’t even supported by Asher’s post (and of course no such expert exists since they all know the global figure is meaningless). Adding to that his failure to identify the “global cooling” error, I think Alexander ducked big-time.

Since the latter record of warming and cooling occurred in recent years, the data suggest that man-made influences may be at work, but not CO2. CO2 is a well mixed gas, while industrialization since the fall of communism is not.

IF you are going to criticize George Will for lack of “fact-checking,” shouldn’t the facts criticized be up to date instead of past historical trends?

Errors like this are what allows you to trace stories.

It’s a distinction that underlines a very big difference — factoid checkers are not the same as fact checkers.

However, you do need to emphasize that Will is not employed by the Washington Post. He is employed by the Washington Post writers group. I know it not completely clear at first glance, but there is a firewall. It is a separate entity and the reporters and editors at the Post consider it a separate organization.