PaulG.

"The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind"?!?!

Any time a cabal of scientists (using dubious science at best) can manipulate public opinion and political decisions that affect billions of people that cost trillions of dollars it does indeed damage science and technology and the health and welfare of mankind.

Regarding the environment: have you ever seen a wind farm? Would you want to see wind farms in Rocky Mountain National Park? Would you want one in your back yard? Do you know how costly they are?

Do you drive a "green" car? Do you know how much more pollution is generated in manufacturing the batteries alone for a "green" car?

What about bio-diesel. Last I heard it costs more energy to manufacture bio fuels than we get. How can that be good for the environment?

Nobody in Washington is talking about nuclear energy. France gets better than 90% of their energy from nuclear. Modern nuclear plants are the most environmentally friendly (and certainly the most efficient) power facilities in world.

But no. Current administrations here and abroad are going to force us into a new Stone Age. We'll be "green" all right. (scoff)

Copenhagen climate summit: global warming 'caused by sun's radiation'.

The SUN causes global warming, uh, er, I mean "climate change".

Climategate: Biggest. Scandal. Ever.

Here it comes ... wait for it ... here ya' go.

I started a new job yesterday that I think is going to be great, and I just got my CLA results...I PASSED!!! Life is good!

(I don't actually believe in "evil", but that's for another day).

How old are you?

The bait has been smelt and rejected.

Ben

"Meat is murder".

Or is it "murder is meat"?

My understanding is that all of these documents were not released so much as leaked - either by hackers or a whistleblower - and found on some Russian FTP site. I think CRU very much intended to keep this stuff under wraps.

You are correct. But I don't think anyone knows for sure if the database was hacked or leaked by a whistlblower. By my understanding the CRU has fought every (European equivalent of the) Freedom of Information Act request for data. It was also revealed last week that CRU deleted much of the old, raw data that was stored on older formats, i.e. paper, etc. All they have of the older data are "value added" data. (Jon Stewart opined: "Value added data? What is that? Numbers fortified with art?" but I digress)

Recently NASA was threatened with a FOIA lawsuit for their climate data. I don't know who is funding CRU, but NASA is US taxpayer funded. I think it's part of the scam that you have to file a lawsuit to get climate data from NASA. The American taxpayer owns that data and should have as much access to it as they wish. NASA refusing to disclose climate data is like NASA refusing to post images from the Hubble.

(Incidentally, this is my main issue with the left in general. They seem to espouse legislation to insulate people from having anything "bad" happen to them. They seem to believe that through the proper legislation they can create an idyllic society where everyone is happy all the time. This is, I believe, a huge philosophical fallacy.)

Indeed.

"Make love not war, flower power, free love, "free" health care, "green" jobs, "green" cars, "green" energy, no Wal Mart, no guns, tune in, freak out ... and we are going to need your checkbook."

Because they aren't evil. It says so right here in a wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_be_evil

so it must be true.

Define: "evil".

But I consider that on a completely different level from someone writing "unprofessional" code. It would be a bit hypocritical of me to do otherwise.

We all have written "unprofessional" code and comments. But I would like to think most of us would take the extra step and bring our professionalism up a notch or two if we were working on a project of such importance. The CRU is either collectively arrogant or extremely naive to think their work would never be scrutinized by the general public.

Point is: the CRU code *isn't* commercial software. That doesn't excuse it from good standards, but let's not try to suggest it's common practise to apply the standards of on industry segment to another.

(slowly shaking my head)

Let's not lower this discussion to talking about "standards".

This is about ethics.

Science is the search for knowledge. Science is not the "truth" corrupt entities with an agenda want us to believe by manipulating data and facts for monetary and political gain.

Purports to improve your browsing performance. I'm going to set my router at home to point to it tonight and see if things improve.

http://googlecode.bl...ns-new-dns.html

Google Public DNS IP addresses

The Google Public DNS IP addresses are as follows:

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

Interesting article in PC World.

And no, I'm not trying to start another argument.

Just don't forget that you'll need Old Glory Robot Insurance

BBC is on board. It reveals the most shocking revelation yet IMO. But why am I not shocked?

As programmers we should all start taking this scandal personally.

A plethora of climategate stories.

Al Gore taking cover.

Why can't we investigate both?

I think all of these are signs that the current system needs some work.

I guess I have been extremely blessed. The only beef I have had with health coverage are the huge deductables. Fortunately my current plan has no deductable so I don't even have that to complain about at the moment. And the few times I've needed care I got it and got it quickly.

If we had a strong and healthy economy with less regulation a lot of these issues would resolve themselves through competition between insurance companies.

The government absolutely cannot fix these problems by taking control of the health care system.

My Father is retired US post office. The ineficiencies drove my Father crazy so he retired at the frist oppertunity. AS I understand it that 0.42 cents sponsored by tax dollars.

Back about 1980 the US PO was offering a service where mailing could be sent electronically and printed at the local office (it ran on a PDP 11/44 and used RM03 RM02 disk drives). From what I hear from buddies still in the buisness the hardware has been upgraded and is still available. It lets them send out up to date info.

Ben

The reason postage keeps going up is that the PO needs to keep buying more of those little signs that say: "Next Window Please"

Can anyone recommend a 6-axis robotic arm with about a 1m reach and a payload of about 15kg? The lighter the better.

Thanks,

Gary

Let me Google that for you.

OK, so here's a comment and an example of system that works and, at worst, works far better than any of the US systems. I live in British Columbia, Canada and, because I'm a "Landed Immigrant", have complete access tot he health care system. I just got my free vaccine for H1N1 yesterday -- the whole process took maybe 15 mins. No matter what you may believe -- because of what you've been told by US media, the Canadian health care system works.

Maybe Canada's system works well for you where you live. Call me skeptical. I've heard numerous stories from people in Canada who have a lot of complaints, mostly due to having to wait for specilized care. Besides, if the Canadian system works that well we should be hearing a lot of folks in Washington talking about modeling it. That's not the case.

After the NRA thread, I'm almost afraid of my email client taking action against me, but I'll post anyway, just because this also illustrates the issue discussed in both threads, basically, of lying to further your goal.

While it's fun to make fun of Al Gore, he did not claim he invented the Internet. He's a politician, and politicians are at least smart enough to know not to say things like that (unless the politicians are actually scientists who invented something). He said he had a part in the creation of the Internet and he was actually backed by some of the people who did, who verified that he helped push and fund the relevant projects.

"During my service in the United State Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." -Al Gore, 4/9/1999

If George W. Bush had said the exact same thing the media and the moonbats would have gone nuts and howled in collective glee. Editorials would have gone on for months. Al Gore said this, and whether or not he was taken out of context doesn't matter. He said it. Al Gore was very instrumental in legislation that helped build the Internet infrastucture. Even taken out of context the quote is actually partially true. It just sounded silly and self-serving. That's why I use the quote and make fun of Al Gore for saying it.

Oh, gosh darn. You must think I'm a sucker. OK. I'll bite.

Don't feel guilty because you have good health care insurance. You work for a living. And from what I gather you are a typical engineer who has worked most or all of your adult life, paying your half of health care premiums for all these years. Now, after a long and very productive career you find yourself pushing 50 and having health "issues".

Don't sweat it. Don't worry about it. And again, for God's sake don't feel guilty about it. You have already PAID FOR your RIGHT to health care.

If you think a socialist government health care system can do better I pose a question: name one program. ONE. ONE program the government - ANY GOVERNMENT - has taken over and made better or more cost-effective or fair. One program. Any country. Any time in history. Just one.

I don't think you can. And if you think the US government can (for the first time is history) do better I'll freely give you this: If our government comes up with health care reform I will support it 100%, NO QUESTIONS ASKED on ONE condition: that any health care system they come up with MUST provide the same level of health care coverage for the welfare mother with children in inner-city Detroit as it does for 0bama and the rest of the elite in Washington.

Fair enough?

PS: Looking forward to many, many years of banter with you here, Bob. I just hope someday you and I can argue about something that relates to LabVIEW.

@jgcode

re: sequence structures

I've always been under the impression stacked sequence structures are considered bad style but flat sequence structures are okay, even when using multiple frames. Did I miss the announcement?

I didn't get the memo, either. Yes. Stacked sequence structures are bad. Very bad. I'm not sure about the flat sequences. I use a flat sequence structure all the time to enforce data flow, but it's always just a single frame.

If it's true that there's been no mention of Climategate in any of the major news outlets, I do find it concerning.

It took the Internet in the person of Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report to break the Monica Lewinski story. Then the remaining media followed up on it. We all know how big that story became. I really don't know why the dominant media sometimes refuses to investigate a story. It could be that the dominant media has been so pro-global warming, uh, er, I mean "climate change" they might be somewhat reluctant to really report more about this story because it makes the media look stupid and lazy. Seriously, how many reporters went up to the program manager and said: "Hey chief. This article reads like it's about global warming but it says "climate change". What's up with that? What the heck is "climate change?!" "