Just in case you feel inclined to trust Monckton : Stoat

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Just in case you feel inclined to trust Monckton

Category: not fun at all
Posted on: September 13, 2007 6:11 AM, by William M. Connolley

I don't suppose you are, but this rather indicates his casual attitude towards the truth: "I was selling the house anyway and they asked me if I would be willing to tell people I was selling the house because I was afraid somebody might solve the puzzle too fast. I said 'yes'. They said, 'Don't you mind being made to look an absolute prat', and I said, 'No - I'm quite used to that'. History is full of stories that aren't actually true. We sold shed-loads of extra puzzles and I made an handsome profit - and I sold the house as well."

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Comments

On this subject you might enjoy today's Dilbert.

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20070913.html

[I always enjoy Dilbert. I think the last bit should read "...fraud. We need to call marketing."

My 10-year-old reads the Dilbert books. Heaven knows what its doing to his mind. I only hope he realises its all true and not a joke -W]

[BTW, your URL doesn't work -W]

Posted by: Tim Worstall | September 13, 2007 7:03 AM

I feel inclined to email Monckton and ask him what the heck he thinks he is doing and whether he sleeps well at night, but I doubt he'd care. The phrase 'moral depravity' is one I am studiously trying to avoid.

Posted by: fergus | September 13, 2007 9:29 AM

Isn't i quite ironic that you yourself have a price on the 500.000th comment?

btw. I don't own a car and go by bike instead, go on biking vacation, and therefore have a CO2 footprint about 1/5th of my surroundings.

Furthermore I work with global communications and marketing.

The argumentation not to believe Monckton because of this, is simply wrong. I hope for my CO2-footprint you can do better that!

[Why is it ironic? I think you're missing the point: which is that M not only lies, but is happy to admit to it as apparently a matter of small consequence. Do you find that at all distasteful?

Of course, that doesn't mean his other arguments are wrong. Its just more reason to take nothing from him on trust. Most of the things that he has said that I've checked up on have turned out to be wrong (stoat passim).

Bicycles: I applaud you, and wish more would do the same. We'd all be happier (he said, listening to the mighty roar of the M11 through the open window destroying the birdsong of the countryside). But do be aware of this :-) -W]
-W]

Posted by: MX | September 13, 2007 10:07 AM

MX- Monckton is to be mocked because of his huge pomposity and tendency to hyperbole. He even called the Royal Society a left leaning political pressure group.
(source: http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf
)

Moncktons haverings are detailed in posts such as these:

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/05/moncktons_ripping_yarns.php

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/05/chinese_navy_sails_again.php

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/02/monckton_on_the_spm.php

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/11/cuckoo-science/

Posted by: guthrie | September 13, 2007 1:58 PM

Believe me we are pulling the same direction.
The thing is that you cant argue that "because Monckton is stupid he cant be telling the truth". That is weakening your own position. You have to be honest and never throw dirt. The others will always know what you know.

[I said we shouldn't *trust* Monckton, thats different (you could argue that you shouldnt trust anyone, but people do tend to assume good faith). I also said that when I'd checked up on him, he had been wrong -W]

Posted by: m | September 13, 2007 4:10 PM

"BTW, your URL doesn't work -W"

I know. Changing sites but not doing so very efficiently. Only been a month now, think how much worse it could have been if government was doing it.

;-) for those who need it.

Posted by: Tim Worstall | September 13, 2007 5:55 PM

I don't understand what you dislike about his comment. I find it cool - it shows his aristocratic honesty. These features are the reasons why people like him are still a higher class than people like you.

Posted by: Luboš Motl | September 14, 2007 5:26 AM

Aristocratic honesty and class? Lubos longing for the good old days of serfdom.

Posted by: SteveF | September 14, 2007 6:32 AM

Hahahaha!
Lubos, obviously you have no conception of what the British ruling classes have been getting up to over the centuries.
In the same spirit of honesty, let say that I find you to be amusingly entertaining due to your diligent adherence to the principles of crankery. However I urge you to give up the joke, since to carry it on too long will lead to brain damage.

Posted by: guthrie | September 14, 2007 10:22 AM

All of you just reveal that you are [lubos is a silly person]. The enlightened British ruling class is pretty much the main group of people who gave rise to what we call the modern civilization. It is no coincidence that William Thomson, a leader of 19th century physics, was Lord Kelvin.

Posted by: Luboš Motl | September 15, 2007 3:15 AM

THose'll be the same ruling classes who presided over the Irish potato famine, a cholera epidemic in London which killed the entire population of the city (in terms of numbers- the worst deaths were actually amongst the immigrants who kept arriving in the city), refused to put in public water supplies until effectively forced to do so, presided over the Corn laws, which from anyones point of view were bad for the country. Then there was the blocking of a move towards modern democracy and universal suffrage.

Also Lubos, you make a fool of yourself by referencing Kelvin. He was the grandson of a Belfast farmer, whose son had gone to university and become a Dr in mathematics. This hardly makes him a member of the ruling class, in fact the only thing which got him co-opted into it was his industrial success.

For someone who is supposed to be capable of intensive rational thought, you certainly seem to avoid it, what with your accusations of communism that you fling around.

Posted by: guthrie | September 15, 2007 6:51 AM

The enlightened British ruling class is pretty much the main group of people who gave rise to what we call the modern civilization.

Nah. You're thinking of the classless Scots.

Posted by: pough | September 24, 2007 4:14 PM

From someone who has spent some time working on Eternity and a little on Eternity II, I am not terribly offended that he might have spun his house sale like that, but do think he can be quite obnoxious in general in his response to public discussions of his puzzles. His first recourse when people publish any information about his puzzle seems to always a Cease & Desist (whether it be warranted or not), displaying general contempt for those who would be most enthusiastic about his creations.

Posted by: markp | September 24, 2007 8:55 PM

Pough- in no way can you class the Scots as classless. In general you can say that they were more community minded than England in the medieval period, and this was maintained all the way through to the enlightenment, but took a bashing from the industrial evolution. This was also partly a response to living in a small country in which it was a bit harder to make a living, forcing people from all stations to live closer together. However this should not be mistaken for any sort of classlessness, given the behaviour of the nobles and their tendency to kill people who misbehaved. They had the power of pit and gallows after all.

Posted by: guthrie | September 25, 2007 5:10 AM

@guthrie - I'm of Scottish descent and I have no class.

Posted by: pough | September 25, 2007 5:30 PM

But you cannot generalise from yourself, here and now, back into the past. (Which is what a lot of people seem to want to do)

Posted by: guthrie | September 26, 2007 4:27 AM

I wasn't doing that. I was making a small joke. [boris]Was not good joke, but was joke.[/quote]

My actual point (which I didn't think really needed to be made because it was directed at Joke Jr.) was that Scotland has had a pretty big effect on this modern world of ours and one of the reasons it has been able to do this is it got a head start on educating its lower classes and allowing all (or most) classes to rub shoulders together at its universities.

Posted by: pough | September 26, 2007 9:41 AM

OK, thats closer to it. I'm afraid I have had run ins from everyone from besotted americans to Siol nan gaelhad people regarding how much you can twist Scottish history to suit your purpose.

Posted by: guthrie | September 26, 2007 11:11 AM

More fun with Monckton.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2007/10/03/did-lord-monckton-fabricate-a-claim-on-his-wikipedia-page/

Posted by: Munin | October 3, 2007 8:22 AM

Some guy selling a product made up a story to generate publicity for his product? That's like, so, totally, uh, ordinary.

Posted by: Moopheus | October 3, 2007 4:54 PM