ClimateGate source code more damning than emails

Check out this link to an article that shows that the ClimateGate computer source code (e.g. the program that processes the data) has more issues than the emails do.

Part of the summary:

For those who can’t follow what is being stated here is that data after 1960 will be “artificially adjusted” to “hide the decline”. In other words they were hardcoding in the program ways to manipulate the data to hide the decline in temperatures.

But then the scientific (???) journal, Nature finds nothing out of the ordinary in previous papers relying on the data.  At least we know Nature is on the global warming without scientific inquiry bandwagon.

…capitalism or socialism is we are going to have both…

But the other part of human nature is communitarianism. There’s a natural tendency of human beings, in addition to wanting to do things for themselves, they feel a great responsibility in wanting to be part of a community. So I think the debate for the new generation is instead of capitalism or socialism is we are going to have both and which proportion of each should we have in order to make this all work. Its a much more sensible debate. Howard Dean, DNC, 4/5/2009, Paris, France

Howard Dean needs to learn the difference between doing something voluntarily and being forced to do something.   Socialism is forced, communitarianism is not.  Communitarianism is “small self-governing communities” not mammoth government from Washington.  It is time Howard Dean learns the facts before he speaks.

Eco-hypocrisy, celebrities and Copenhagen

Check out this article entitled “Taking the Private Jet to Copenhagen“.

Sheryl Crow, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, Truie Styler (wife of Sting), Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Barack Obama (flying a St. Louis chef flown 850 miles to make pizza at the White House), Al Gore  are not only eco-crusaders, but all are eco-hypocrits with things like multiple houses, fleets of private jets, and fleets of cars.

Read the article for the details.

Smith Barney, Intuit Payroll, and Amex update

Smith Barney sent a welcome message to Harold Bxxxxx, welcoming Harold B to Smith Barney online and another for account number ###-##099 being enrolled in E-Delivery with the last 3 SSN ending in 040.  Smith Barney, like others, links to their privacy policy, and does a wonderful job following it.  They do give an 800 number (800-221-3636) to call, but no link or email address to notify them.

Next we have Intuit QB Basic Payroll sending order # SBL36468501 for 243.89 to me for Grant Kxxxxx in Boca Raton, Florida with no reply address and no way to notify them that they are sending information to someone else.

An update on the American Express “Settlement and Payment Advice Report for SE No: 9740108691.”  American Express is still sending them.  While asking to be notified by email, but messages to their notification email address still bounce.

How about companies adopt a standard link at the end of their emails to notify them to review the address?

For most Americans, the world beyond the US’s borders is nothing more than an irritating nuisance

For most Americans, the world beyond the US’s borders is nothing more than an irritating nuisance. Hence arguments based on appeals about drowning Bangladeshis, starving Africans and flooded islands in Indonesia have little effect. … Many Americans clearly also believe that real climate change is just something dreamt up by the entertainment industry.  – Der Spiegel.  (See article).

You have to wonder about the author of the article with such short-sighted and ignorant comments.  We might say something like the following: “The people that brought us two world wars now want to control the rest of the world through climate change agreements instead of by force, but controlling us is what they want.”

Then again, we wouldn’t want to step down to anywhere near the level of Der Spiegel, but the authors comments are still some of the most ignorant we’ve heard from Germany in a while.  Der Spiegel might want to encourage to give freedom a try instead of pushing a socialist agenda. Freedom does not sit well with much of Europe.  Seeing a country that still is much freer than all of Europe can’t sit well when looking in the mirror.  Freedom in a country that saved them from complete totalitarianism twice in the last century can’t sit well when they have slowly given away their freedoms to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.  Slavery for a good cause is still slavery.  Being manipulated into believing in man-made global warming may be comforting in that you can be “for” a “good cause,” but it is still being manipulated.

Best Buy sends credit card info!

Following in the footsteps of others, Best Buy and HSBC Bank send private information without a method of notifying them of their mistake.  They obviously do not bother to verify email addresses.   So, Tom H***** is getting information from Best Buy about his account ending in 8954 sent to us.

The kicker is that Best Buy and HSBC included the statement that  “We maintain strict security standards and procedures to prevent unauthorized access to information about you.”  I guess that is, unless of course HSBC and Best Buy send it to the wrong email address they do not bother to verify them.

After speaking with a supervisor, they intended to “try to find the account number” and delete it, but apparently there is no method for them to look up an account number by email address, name or last four digits.

Individual Rights and Today's Issue