With the fires in Australia still burning and more than a billion animals estimated dead, people everywhere are worried at the immense loss the land Down Under is facing.
That hasn't stopped some, however, from imparting their "wisdom" regarding the origins of the fires, including their continued dismissal of climate change.
Earlier this week, three female experts in climate change were discussing on Twitter the importance of understanding the effects of climate change on a location like Australia, and how environmental changes increase the likelihood of further fires.
The three also spoke up about those who continue to argue against climate change, and instead for arson, explaining how arson alone would not have a large enough impact to create these fires.
In the midst of their discussion, the three women were, of course, visited by a self-proclaimed expert, a man who decided to mansplain why climate change isn't a suitable explanation for the fires, and the women's reaction was perfect.
Professor Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and professor, wrote:
#AustralianWildFires climate denial claims, "it's arson! it's been warmer before! fire's natural!" The truth? Human… https://t.co/MOLNvaU1ZX— Prof. Katharine Hayhoe (@Prof. Katharine Hayhoe)1578329920.0
Kate Marvel, a fellow climate scientist, agreed, chiming in:
The number of people yelling "it's arson!" at me like that somehow changes the molecular structure of carbon dioxid… https://t.co/NPW4TeRKip— Kate Marvel (@Kate Marvel)1578330212.0
Dr. Jacquelyn Gill, an Ice Age ecologist and professor at University of Maine's Climate Change Institute, also chimed in, arguing why it's particularly problematic to blame arson alone.
Dr. Gill wrote:
@DrKateMarvel I research wildfire. Fire is controlled by two things: ignition, and fuel. Climate change impacts bot… https://t.co/VekLu27buv— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@Dr. Jacquelyn Gill)1578334748.0
Up to this point, the three women were having a useful and productive conversation about climate change, one that could easily be educational to onlookers who wanted to learn a little bit more about what's going on in Australia right now.
But of course, someone needed to chime in and claim to be the greatest expert of all.
Retired TV weatherman Mike Smith, who describes himself as a "Husband, father, grandfather, scientist, entrepreneur, and author" and who made his Twitter username USWeatherExpert, came forward to explain why he felt all of these experts were, in fact, wrong.
Smith reacted to Dr. Gill's tweet, stating:
@JacquelynGill @DrKateMarvel That is just nonsense. Theoretically, one might be able to blame lightning-related fir… https://t.co/0vsFFwp1aT— Mike Smith (@Mike Smith)1578349877.0
Dr. Gill immediately fired back, pulling her legitimate expert card.
@USWeatherExpert @DrKateMarvel Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t. I’ve already ex… https://t.co/6WuzyV2qID— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@Dr. Jacquelyn Gill)1578357596.0
Smith continued to try to hold his ground, arguing for his understanding.
@JacquelynGill @DrKateMarvel I understand just fine. I recommend you spend some time in meteorology and climatology classrooms.— Mike Smith (@Mike Smith)1578358671.0
Dr. Gill pushed back again, short and sweet.
I do. As the instructor. https://t.co/8yXtrPeBza— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@Dr. Jacquelyn Gill)1578362663.0
Twitter has been living for this reply, sharing it alone and making it go viral.
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/S8trOAWYRN— Millennial Edition (@Millennial Edition)1578412719.0
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/CCA70HvpQ3— KareBearScare (@KareBearScare)1578375289.0
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/68Deey9UxX— Brian Brettschneider (@Brian Brettschneider)1578365135.0
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/erOSeH9Nag— Dakota Smith (@Dakota Smith)1578369630.0
@JacquelynGill And THAT'S how you do it, my friends. https://t.co/Ul77kiDeZS— PhD Diaries (@PhD Diaries)1578398812.0
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/bJwCbyc5rC— Derek (@Derek)1578414941.0
@JacquelynGill https://t.co/VzcTOi1YrB— Ani No More Nazis in 2020s 🇨🇦🏳️🌈 (@Ani No More Nazis in 2020s 🇨🇦🏳️🌈)1578362949.0
@JacquelynGill And dropping this off https://t.co/uZ0KdPWPIe— OceanGirl🌍🌎🌏🇺🇸🇦🇺🇬🇧🇮🇪 (@OceanGirl🌍🌎🌏🇺🇸🇦🇺🇬🇧🇮🇪)1578365553.0
It's so ridiculous that people, typically women, have to continue to argue for their understanding of a a subject and their credentials, especially when they're making an important contribution to a major conversation like this one.
But Mike Smith, a retired Kansas TV weatherman who writes a glowing bio for himself and shares links to his own blog as scientific proof of and shills his self published books, apparently spends his free time trolling Twitter looking for women with advanced degrees to condescend to.
But these three experts handled the situation wonderfully, and they've had fantastic support.
Much later in the Twitter thread, Dr. Gill asked that everyone do what they can to help support those trying to put out the fires, evacuate people, and save animals. There is a GoFundMe page for their Fire Relief Fund, if you would also like to donate.
Tired of climate change deniers? This shirt is available here.
Typically, I would write an intro about my own experiences with the weird kids at school, but I WAS the weird kid in school. Not in a bad way, more like a “I had a John Waters phase” when I was 16 and everyone knew it. So like, cool-weird. At least I hope so.
Schools aren’t always so lucky to have the cool kinds of weird kids though. The spectrum of weird extends even further than that, and can sometimes end up very disasterous.
U/Imaginary_East5786 asked: What was the weirdest thing the weird kid did at school?
Let’s start with the grossest of the gross. Because why not.
Was it worth it?
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He heard that you'd automatically get suspended if you peed your pants at school. He wanted to find out if it was true, peed his pants, got suspended.
> Observation: 'I've heard that by peeing your pants you will be suspended'
> Hypothesis: If I pee my pants I will be suspended
> Experiment: I peed my pants and I got suspended
> Conclusion: If I pee my pants I get suspended
Uhhh what was the intention here?
He got mad that he didn't understand how to play a game at lunchtime so he started hitting and punching the nearest person to him, who happened to be me. When I shoved him away and asked him what the hell was he doing, he whipped his unit.out, charged at me and when I shoved him away from me again he started crying and ran away with his member still sticking out.
Next ones up are the lowkey (or even highkey) disturbing stories. These weird kids can get a little scary.
Boom theret.
At my middle school, someone decided to get a little attention with a good old fashioned bomb threat. Except they thought that a bomb threat meant literally writing "bomb threat" somewhere. Worse yet, they misspelled the f*ck out of it, and wrote "boom theret."
So we had to go on a brief, very awkward lockdown while the police checked the perimeter for booms.
I hope there was no overlap in the columns.
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She wrote a list of all the girls and boys she wanted to kiss and murder and then casually passed it out on the playground.
2 separate lists or just the 1?
Same list 2 columns lol.
Holy crap.
Had the weird kid in high school ask the teacher to use the bathroom. She said no and this dude legit stabbed his hand with a pencil. Went all the way through then asked if he could now...sh*t was wild.
This was Pearl High School in Mississippi. This was the school Luke Woodham shot and killed his girlfriend and her friend at the school. This kid stabbed himself with the pencil about 2 months after that happened. This was late 1997.
Most of the time, however, the weird kids are pretty d*mn funny.
Ok, but this takes a lot of skill.
Had a kid nicknamed "cheeseburger" in the grade ahead of me in high school. He got his nickname because when it was time for his class to go to lunch, he snuck into the roof and crawled his way into the cafeteria, dropped down and proceeded to steal all the cheeseburger put out for lunch. Unfortunately they caught him in the act and sent him to the principal's office.
A year later he was caught stealing a teacher's computer, and in the process of being arrested he bit the officers hand, getting him sent to juvi never to be heard of again.
Every school had the cat girl.
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The weird kid at my highschool tied a string around his pencil case and pulled out around the halls pretending it was a dog. He still lives in my hometown. I think unemployed.
Oh also weird girl in middle school acted like a cat. She would meow and hiss at people, lick the water fountain and rub her body on the teacher's legs. In 8th grade. I have no idea where she ended up.
Mood.
Weird kid in elementary was a self proclaimed alien. Once, while waiting for the bus, she told me "On my planet we eat people like you" and proceeded to bite me. We later became friends in high school and she used to give me massages during lunch break in the quad. Just realized now she was likely tenderizing me.
I was exactly this kind of weird.
He didn't say much, but if asked, he would go to the front of the class and perform Tip-Toe Through the Tulips with all of the emotion and volume of Tiny Tim, holding nothing back.
The last I heard, he became an energy trader, made a ton of money and married well.
I can definitely relate to that last one. In middle school, my English teacher would let me go to the front of the class and perform monologues or songs from Broadway musicals. Weird, but that’s what happens when schools cut funding for the arts and the theatre kids have no outlet.
As long as you’re not hurting anyone, I say let your freak flag fly, man