Remember this prolific e-mailer? Well, among today’s many submissions is a story once again promoting his Bigfoot carbon imprint, of which he boasts like no other: “Nobel Laureate Michael Schlesinger visits Alaska.” That, plus the link, is the entire e-mail: a claim that he is a Nobel laureate gracing Alaska.

Now, clearly, the publication is the one making the claim that Dr. Schlesinger happily promotes. I have a question for all those alarmists who participated in the IPCC process and who now insist that they, too, are Nobel Laureates — including all those anthropology TAs and the like:

Where, precisely, do you find evidence of having this award bestowed upon you? My math is fuzzy, but I see it awarded half-and-half — one half to a Mr. Gore and the other to an organization based in Geneva. May I admire your “medal, personal diploma and a cash award”? Ooh, how did you spend the prize money? Where did you frame the certificate of achievement?

The point has been made by many before me that the IPCC carries with it a great deal of the pursuit of reflected and indirect glory. It is worth noting given the promiscuity of this particular claim: When people fudge about the little things, be very wary of their claims about the big stuff.