Speaking of bullshit from credible sources, I just read The Wild Trees. Some kid, in the 1990's, loved looking at redwoods, carefully. He looked at "the world's tallest tree," as declared by National Geographic funded expeditions and articles, presidential decrees, and monied interests in California. He made a little surveyor's tool with a plastic protractor and duct tape or whatever, less than $2 worth, and went out and found taller ones.