Yet another vanity thread.

What did I lose? Calling you a walter mitty character who references his own posts as proof of his delusions? I think not.

I don't wish to discuss anything with a self-promoter like you Richard. Your only intention for these posts, especially the part where you list the big names, is to attach yourself to those big names in search engines. It's a well-known SEO technique for companies and brands trying to big themselves up. You are a celebrity hunter of the worst kind, trying to stake out a small piece of fame that you seem to think you were denied in an earlier incarnation.

I meet people like you all the time in business. They attach themselves to projects in some manner, they are usually have no skills to bring, so the real people put them in some corner of the project where they can do no harm - quality assurance, project coordination, meetings chair, something like that. Later, at presentations to the board you will see them talking about how they guided this, organized that, drove forward the next thing. Taking the credit for things they contributed nothing to. They go through life thinking they are a mover and shaker, it's a personal tragedy.

I now understand your need to be seen to be the intellectual force of the rabble that is climate scepticism, the one who gathered together all the woolly threads and made a coherent case that won the day. Unfortunately for you, you will never be that person. Fame will escape you this time too.

Yes, Richard, you're a great guy.

What record? You are truly delusional.

Nobody cares. There is no record.

I know you think everything you do and say is of utmost importance to mankind, Richard, but most of us don't labour under those sorts of apprehensions. You think you're a 'name' and that people are watching and will look you up in future in search engines and say "yep, he was one of the greats". This fame-seeking of yours is tacky, but not unique.

The stark reality is that nobody cares about you, or me, or this blog ultimately. It's not nihilism, it's just realism. In the grand scheme of things, what we say in a dusty corner of a blog that caters to quite a marginal niche subject, a corner I might add that the host doesn't bother to visit, is irrelevant to the stream of human society.

There is no record to be set straight. There is no record.

You'd likely be surprised at who I am.

Who says I have a negative view? We chat here about climate science, our words last a day or two, then vanish into the archive. At some point, the archive might become lost or deleted, or simply so lost in the strata of internet chat that it effectively becomes non-findable.

I can see why it might seem negative to a fame seeker who thinks there is some record being kept of their activities. To the rest of sane society, casual discourse is not meant to be retained, its value is gleaned at the time of its occurrence.

You must be a real hit at parties, taking notes all the time.

See a doctor.

Gibberish.

Well, all blog posts are a waste of time in some respects, but baiting the Ego is always amusing.

Whatever this thread might be about, who cares.

"But we also need to fire our own and other people's imaginations in a way that will lead to a groundswell of popular opinion and thus policies that are of real benefit to this and future generations"

Perhaps sadly, no one seems to think this is a topic worthy of discussion. But then again, this is like a brain-storming session at a PR consultancy - how can we change people's perception of Persil, British beef, etc. I cannot fathom why anyone should think that this blog is the best forum for that activity. But it does show that Richad has a HEART, which is, I guess, the main point.

It's my birthday. So I am going to indulge myself. It's pointless and silly, it achieves absolutely nothing. But what the heck.

Richard, I've given you a hard time on BH in the past. And I've always felt very guilty about it, as I always do if I'm rude to someone.

I was completely unaware, until I stumbled on these discussion threads, that you wind up other people too. (Except Dung. I knew you and Dung had some sort of running battle going on.)

Richard, do you ever think about it? I mean, you seem to be very irritating to quite a few people here. Do you ever wonder why that is?