QOver 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore. http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.SenateReportDr. Richard S. Courtney, Climate and Atmospheric Science Consultant, UN IPCC expert reviewer• Dr. Robert E. Davis, Climatologist, a Professor at University of Virginia, a former UN IPCC contributor and past president of the Association of American Geographers, and past-chair of the American Meteorological Society's Committee on Biometeorology and AerobiologyDr. Lee C. Gerhard, Geologist, past director and state geologist with the Kansas Geological Society and a senior scientist emeritus of the University of Kansas; UN IPCC reviewer• David Holland, Engineer and author of November 2007 study “Bias and Concealment in the IPCC Process …”• Yury Izrael, the director of Global Climate and Ecology Institute, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and UN IPCC Vice PresidentDr. Aynsley Kellow, IPCC contributing author and Professor, University of TasmaniaDr. Madhav Khandekar, Meteorologist, IPCC 2007 Expert Reviewer and scientist with Natural Resources Stewardship ProjectDr. Hans H.J. Labohm, Economist, Former Advisor to the Executive Board, Clingendael Institute and UN IPCC reviewerDr. Richard Lindzen, Meteorologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; UN IPCC 2001 lead author and reviewerDr. Patrick J. Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia; Virginia State Climatologist and UN IPCC reviewerDr. Tom V. Segalstad, Geologist/Geochemist, professor and head of the Geological Museum at the University of Oslo and formerly an expert reviewer with the UN IPCCDr. David E. Wojick, UN IPCC expert reviewer and co-founder of Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie-Mellon University

QThought I might try my luck... does anyone know of any highly distinguished China industry experts (preferably in the east coast)? Alternatively, can you suggest how to identify some? This is for a conference I'm helping with... I'm thinking of senior management/consultants/venture capitalists with extensive exposure to a key industry within China, not academic-types.

QOut-of-work job applicants told unemployed need not apply Print..Chris Isidore, senior writer, On Wednesday June 16, 2010, 4:26 am EDT The last thing someone who is unemployed needs to be told is that they shouldn't even apply for the limited number of job openings that are available. But some companies and recruiters are doing just that.Employment experts say they believe companies are increasingly interested only in applicants who already have a job."I think it is more prevalent than it used to be," said Rich Thompson, vice president of learning and performance for Adecco Group North America, the world's largest staffing firm. "I don't have hard numbers, but three out of the last four conversations I've had about openings, this requirement was brought up."Some job postings include restrictions such as "unemployed candidates will not be considered" or "must be currently employed." Those explicit limitations have occasionally been removed from listings when an employer or recruiter is questioned by the media though.That's what happened with numerous listings for grocery store managers throughout the Southeast posted by a South Carolina recruiter, Latro Consulting.After CNNMoney called seeking comments on the listings last week, the restriction against unemployed candidates being considered came down. Latro Consulting refused to comment when contacted.Sony Ericsson, a global phone manufacturer that was hiring for a new Georgia facility, also removed a similar restriction after local reporters wrote about it. According to reports, a Sony Ericsson spokesperson said that a mistake had been made.But even if companies don't spell out in a job listing that they won't consider someone who currently doesn't have a job, experts said that unemployed applicants are typically ruled out right off the bat."Most executive recruiters won't look at a candidate unless they have a job, even if they don't like to admit to it," said Lisa Chenofsky Singer, a human resources consultant from Millburn, NJ, specializing in media and publishing jobs.She said when she proposes candidates for openings, the first question she is often asked by a recruiter is if they currently have a job. If the answer is no, she's typically told the unemployed candidate won't be interviewed."They think you must have been laid off for performance issues," she said, adding that this is a "myth" in a time of high unemployment.It is not against the law for companies to exclude the unemployed when trying to fill positions, but Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project, said the practice is a bad one."Making that kind of automatic cut is senseless; you could be missing out on the best person of all," she said. "There are millions of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own. If an employer feels that the best qualified are the ones already working, they have no appreciation of the crisis we're in right now."Conti added that firms that hire unemployed job seekers could also benefit from a recently-passed tax break that essentially exempts them from paying the 6.2% of the new hire's wages in Social Security taxes for the rest of this year.Thompson said he also thinks ruling out the unemployed is a bad idea. But he said that part of the problem is that recruiters and human resource departments are being overwhelmed with applications for any job opening that is posted. So they're looking for any short-cuts to get the list of applicants to consider down to a more manageable size."It's a tough process to determine which unemployed applicants were laid off even though they brought value to their company and which ones had performance issues," he said. "I understand the notion. But there's the top x percent of unemployed candidates who are very viable and very valuable. You just have to do the work to find them."Have you had trouble even applying for a job because you are out of work? If so e-mail us here to tell us your story.

QHow the GOP Wired Ohio's 2004 Vote Count for Bush to Win(also posted here:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... )By Steven Rosenfeld . Posted September 18, 2008.An election whistleblower who is a Republican, a nationally known data security and computer architecture expert, and an Ohio resident has filed a sworn affidavit in federal court that describes how Republican Party consultants in 2004 built an electronic vote counting network in Ohio that could have stolen votes to re-elect the president.The whistleblower, Stephen Spoonamore, who has run or held senior technology positions in six technology companies, and whose clients have included MasterCard, American Express, NBC-GE, and federal agencies including the State Department and the Navy, said Mike Connell, a longtime Republican Party computer networking contractor, "agrees that the electronic voting systems in the US are not secure" and told Spoonamore in 2007 "that he (Connell) is afraid some of the more ruthless partisans of the GOP may have exploited systems he in part worked on for this purpose.""Mr. Connell builds front end applications, user interfaces and web sites," Spoonamore said in his September 17, 2008 affidavit. "Knowing his team and their skills I find it unlikely they would be the vote thieves directly. I believe however he knows who is doing that work, and has likely turned a blind eye to this activity. Mr. Connell is a devout Catholic. He has admitted to me that in his zeal to 'save the unborn' he may have helped others who have compromised elections. He was clearly uncomfortable when I asked directly about Ohio 2004."The affidavit, which goes onto describe how a statewide computer network and vote-counting system in part built by Connell's firms in 2004 could have been used to steal votes to re-elect George W. Bush in 2004's final battleground state. It was filed in a federal voting rights suit brought in 2006 that in part sought to preserve ballots from the 2004 presidential election.more at:http://www.alternet.org/democracy/99337Does the GOP have this kind of man power this time?

QNews.Scotsman.comOne year on and investigators still have no answers to Boeing 777 incident« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryBy Murdo MacLeodACCIDENT investigators are still probing a previous incident involving a Boeing 777 at Heathrow, which took place almost a year before Thursday's crash-landing.A team from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is probing a fire in the electrical system of a United Airlines Boeing 777 which stopped the plane taking off last February.The wreckage of flight BA038 is expected to be removed from the southern runway at Heathrow Airport this morning.The British Airways Boeing 777 crash-landed after its engines failed on Thursday afternoon – with all 136 passengers and 16 crew escaping from the flight from Beijing.Senior first officer John Coward, under the command of Captain Peter Burkill, averted disaster by landing the craft just within Heathrow's boundary fence following the malfunction.In last year's incident, the flight-deck instrument displays flickered, and the crew heard an "abnormal noise" and smelled electrical burning. Smoke was seen to be coming out of the aircraft. When investigators checked the plane, they found evidence of heat damage and fire in the electrical system of the aircraft. In an interim report published in April, the investigators said that they needed to continue their probe in order to study how the fire spread. Their probe is ongoing.Iain Findlay, an aviation consultant, said: "This could be significant, although it's very early to say one way or the other. The fact is that the Boeing 777 has a very good safety record."A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that airlines would not ground all their 777s unless it became clear that the fault which caused the crash-landing on Thursday might be present in other planes.An Air France source said that their experts were studying the information coming from the Heathrow probe, but that it was too early to say whether their 777s would be grounded. Air France operates more than 40 of the aircraft.Crash investigators are due to move the 209ft, 142,900kg plane today and continue their research into the incident from the eastern BA hangars at Heathrow Airport.The AAIB's preliminary report into Thursday's incident – which left 18 of the 136 passengers needing treatment, including one with a broken leg – is due out in 30 days.The body said its investigation was now focused on "more detailed analysis of the flight-recorder information, collecting further recorded information from various system modules and examining the range of aircraft systems that could influence engine operation".The decision to move the plane followed a day of normal services at Heathrow, with the British Airports Authority reporting a "modest" 38 cancellations.

QApparently, there are many experts having some very serious doubts about the integrity of the main temperature databases.‘United States & Global Data Integrity Issues’By Joseph D’Aleo, CCM, AMS FellowJan. 27, 2009“Issues with the United States and especially the global data bases make them inadequate to use for trend analysis and thus any important policy decisions based on climate change. These issues include inadequate adjustments for urban data, bad instrument siting, use of instruments with proven biases that are not adjusted for, major global station dropout, an increase in missing monthly data and questionable adjustment practices.”http://icecap.us/images/uploads/US_AND_GLOBAL_TEMP_ISSUES.pdfAbout the author: "Joseph (Joe) D'Aleo, is a retired meteorologist who is a well known climate change skeptic. He contributes to publications such as Tech Central Station, where he is described as "the first Director of Meteorology at the cable TV Weather Channel. He has over 30 years experience in professional meteorology. Mr. D’Aleo was Chief Meteorologist at WSI Corporation and Senior Editor and “Dr. Dewpoint” for WSI’s popular Intellicast.com web site. He is a former college professor of Meteorology at Lyndon State College. He has authored and presented papers and a published a book focused on advanced applications enabled by new technologies and how research into ENSO and other atmospheric and oceanic phenomena has made possible skillful seasonal forecasts. Mr. D’Aleo also has authored many articles and made numerous presentations on the roles cycles in the sun and oceans have played in climate change. Mr. D’Aleo is a Certified Consultant Meteorologist and was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He has served as member and then chairman of the American Meteorological Society' Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, and has co-chaired national conferences for both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Mr. D’Aleo was recently elected a Councilor for the AMS. Joseph D’Aleo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin BS, MS and was in the doctoral program at NYU." [1] D'Aleo's fundamental premise is that although there is a global warming trend there is not a strong causal relationship between that trend and carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. Instead D'Aleo contends that the global warming trend correlates more closely with other phenomena such as solar activity and ocean current oscillations. On October 20, 2006 D'Aleo registered the domain name for ICECAP, a website challenging human-induced global warming." - SourcewatchAndrewQ.... I suggest you go to the link and read it in its entirety.... regarding your apparent disdain for 'IceCap' (and probably any other source that tries to bring you out of your Moonie trance), IF you had viewed the entire link, you would know that it was established by the researcher who presented the referenced finding. Shame on you for trying to be a Sniper'.

QThe following is a summary excerpt of what was said by the top executive of the company that did so much harm to pets and pet owners. My question is "do you agree that the President "as the most senior executive" should resign now?" (a very short response will suffice!)Here is the excerpt--"Paul Henderson, president of Menu Foods, told reporters that the company has no idea how the rat poison got into its products, and he offered an apology to pet owners.He said the company is relieved that the "root of the issue" has been discovered."This important discovery caps an unprecedented search by top experts," he said. "Dedicated and knowledgeable researchers at universities, independent laboratories, and our own veterinary consultants worked tirelessly to defend and protect our cats and dogs." (Source --cbc news)

Q. . . financial industry salesmen and executives deserve huge payments for failure? In fact, could the use of these consultants be a major part of the problem? It seems that the goals they're attracting performers for are the very ones that have destroyed our financial service providers. Do we need to CHANGE what it means to be a successful banker?The new rules would set a $500,000 cap on cash compensation for the most senior executives, curtail severance pay when top executives left a company, restrict cashing in on stock incentives until government assistance was repaid and prod corporate boards to closely scrutinize luxury perquisites like private jets and country club memberships. Your thoughts?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05pay.html"The plan’s effectiveness in curbing executive pay may not be known for years, however. Past administrations have also been critical of excessive pay, but corporate executives have found ingenious ways around limits, often hiring consultants to create new forms of compensation."Is there some reason to believe that the people who have created this mess are 'talented' in any way that benefits anyone but themselves? As for 'ex post facto'--maybe it's time to redesign the SEC and change all the rules. We're all in trouble here. Any thoughts?thomas--What 'talent' and what exactly IS 'productive' about the mess these people have created? Talent that is only self-serving we don't need. A regulatory environment that encourages individuals who can create wealth for more than just themselves, we do need. It seems that we've created a financial services system that rewards thugs only. How do we change that?

QI just asked a question to republicans to help define what Death Panel means. The most intelligent answer i received was this one."Death panel" is the glorified name for the panel of experts that determines which procedures will not be covered by government health care, usually because those procedures are too expensive relative to the probability of their successThe Republicans caused quite an uproar about this. But what confuses me the most in the new Paul Ryan Budget, there is a 15k a year limit on medicare for seniors. So what happens once they go beyond the 15k and have another 5 months left in the year? I can imagine that would be a scary thought for someone who is ill and retired. I mean seriously are they just SOL if they can't afford to continue treatment? What happens to that person? If his family can't afford it? And they talk about being afraid of Death Panels, Private Insurance companies already have consultants who dictate over clients. People get dropped all the time whom are suffering life threatening issues by Private Insurance Companies. So if the private sector can do it, why can't the public sector? And what happens to seniors who use up their 15k in medical ?