GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES MONSTER EARTHQUAKES! It's a scoop so big that nobody who published it wants to take credit:

Almost every day a news report comes out linking something to climate change – obesity, food riots or a century of wildfires. Some of the claims seem especially outlandish. Sometimes they are.

On June 18, CBS.com posted a story claiming that global seismic activity on Earth is now five times more energetic than it was just 20 years ago because of global warming. The story had no byline, but was attributed to the Associated Press. The story was identical to a June 17 Market Wire press release attributed to Tom Chalko, the scientist that made the claim of the earthquake/global warming link.

However, as of 3 p.m. on June 19, the CBS.com story was no longer available and both CBS.com and AP were blaming the other side for report.

And who is this Tom Chalko character? The Reference Frame asks the obvious question:

How difficult would it be for the AP journalists to open scholar.google.com, enter Chalko's name, and see that his most famous paper is "No second chance? Can Earth explode as a result of global warming" (2001) with 4 citations, 3 of which are self-citations and the fourth citation is a book about the importance of the reality of UFO where Chalko's paper was reprinted?

... Is it really necessary to use the term "scientist" for entertaining, likable, but complete lunatics who study human auras and their self-healing ability to restore the perfect health (except for the brain) and the unlimited potential of your mind, cure all the diseases (buy the book on the left side), give your life a purpose, and who are windsurfing addicts (haven't we seen this somewhere already)? ;-)

I guess that the "journalists" at the Associated Press will have something to explain.

... By the way, the earthquake energy hasn't increased, of course. Read the FAQ by USGS who are responsible for seismology. The total energy is dominated by earthquakes at 7.0 or higher and they haven't increased — they have actually decreased a bit in recent years. However, many small earthquakes went undetected in the past.

So the question is: Who decided to publish this rewritten press release from a crackpot, and what action is being taken?  Source