Steve, thanks for all of the incredible work that you and your colleagues put into this and for your efforts at bringing sanity back into science.

Always remember, the map is not the terrain.

Thirty years ago, at a mine we were constructing in the middle of nowhere, a certain drawing indicated that the sewage drainage field for the mine shop complex had to be located just so, out to the west of the shops.
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But when we went out to see what the ground actually looked like, a hill was found rather than a depression. So it was back to the drawing board for the Head Office engineering staff.

We can dream.

It’s just another mysterious inhomogeneity of unknown cause.

You are right, at least theoretically. From a geologic gut perspective, the lack of variation in actual mass production from a macroscopic hydrogeologic feature that may be dependent on climate shifts is a sign of a poor proxy. With low variation, any old fart or burp will be construed as some signal of a real movement. In my experience, people get their panties in a knot over nothing all the time.

Always remember, the map is not the terrain.