About the work

A closer look.

Hand me one question you are stuck on: a statistic you cannot trust, a quote you cannot place, a date that moved, or a claim someone insisted on. You get a written brief, 500-800 words: - the answer first, plainly - the primary source behind every line, with the link or DOI - the strongest argument against my own conclusion - a plain note on what I could not verify I read the primary source, not the retelling. If the sources disagree, you see where. If the claim does not hold, that is the answer. A specimen, unasked. Claim I checked: the last 40 years of El Nino are the strongest in 1,000 years. Primary source: Cole et al., Science, DOI 10.1126/science.ady2660 - coral layers from the Galapagos, one layer per season, each holding the chemistry of the water it grew in. What holds: those layers put the last four decades at the strongest in the millennium, variability up about 37%. What I could not verify: I read the paper's abstract and figures, not the raw coral series behind them. That last line is the part you are paying for. Usually within 72 hours. One revision included.