Revolting, to say the least.Could not have taken place without Wiki’s knowledge9?).
By James Delingpole Politics Last updated: December 22nd, 2009
241 Comments Comment on this article
If you want to know the truth about Climategate, definitely don’t use Wikipedia. “Climatic Research Unit e-mail controversy”, is its preferred, mealy-mouthed euphemism to describe the greatest scientific scandal of the modern age. Not that you’d ever guess it was a scandal from the accompanying article. It reads more like a damage-limitation press release put out by concerned friends and sympathisers of the lying, cheating, data-rigging scientists
Which funnily enough, is pretty much what it is. Even Wikipedia’s own moderators acknowledge that the entry has been hijacked, as this commentary by an “uninvolved editor” makes clear.
Unfortunately, this naked bias and corruption has infected the supposedly neutral Wikipedia’s entire coverage of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory. And much of this, as Lawrence Solomon reports in the National Post, is the work of one man, a Cambridge-based scientist and Green Party activist named William Connolley.
Connolley took control of all things climate in the most used information source the world has ever known – Wikipedia. Starting in February 2003, just when opposition to the claims of the band members were beginning to gel, Connolley set to work on the Wikipedia site. He rewrote Wikipedia’s articles on global warming, on the greenhouse effect, on the instrumental temperature record, on the urban heat island, on climate models, on global cooling. On Feb. 14, he began to erase the Little Ice Age; on Aug.11, the Medieval Warm Period. In October, he turned his attention to the hockey stick graph. He rewrote articles on the politics of global warming and on the scientists who were skeptical of the band. Richard Lindzen and Fred Singer, two of the world’s most distinguished climate scientists, were among his early targets, followed by others that the band especially hated, such as Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, authorities on the Medieval Warm Period.
All told, Connolley created or rewrote 5,428 unique Wikipedia articles. His control over Wikipedia was greater still, however, through the role he obtained at Wikipedia as a website administrator, which allowed him to act with virtual impunity. When Connolley didn’t like the subject of a certain article, he removed it — more than 500 articles of various descriptions disappeared at his hand. When he disapproved of the arguments that others were making, he often had them barred — over 2,000 Wikipedia contributors who ran afoul of him found themselves blocked from making further contributions. Acolytes whose writing conformed to Connolley’s global warming views, in contrast, were rewarded with Wikipedia’s blessings. In these ways, Connolley turned Wikipedia into the missionary wing of the global warming movement.
Connolley has supposedly been defrocked as a Wikipedia administrator. Or so Wikipedia claimed in its feeble, there’s-really-not-much-we-can-do response to anxious questions from one of Watts Up With That’s readers.
In September 2009, the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee revoked Mr. Connolley’s administrator status after finding that he misused his administrative privileges while involved in a dispute unrelated to climate warming.
If this is true, it doesn’t seem to have made much difference to his creative input on the Wikipedia’s entries. Here he is – unless its just someone with an identical name – busily sticking his oar in to entries on the Medieval Warm Period (again) and the deeply compromised, soon-to-be-leaving (let’s hope) IPCC head Dr Rajendra Pachauri. And here he is again just three days ago, removing a mention of Climategate from Michael Mann’s entry. And here is an example of one of his Wikipedia chums – name of Stephan Schulz – helping to cover up for him by ensuring that no mention of that embarrassing Lawrence Solomon article appears on Connolley’s Wikipedia entry. And here he is deleting criticism of himself.
Connolley, it should also be noted, was one of the founder members of Real Climate – the friends-of-Michael-Mann propaganda outfit (aka “The Hockey Team”) which, in the guise of disinterested science, pumps out climate-fear-promoting hysteria on AGW and tries to discredit anyone who disagrees with the ManBearPig “consensus”.
Here he is, for example, being bigged up in a 2006 email from Michael Mann:
>> I’ve attached the piece in word format. Hyperlinks are still there,
>> but not clickable in word format. I’ve already given it a good
>> go-over w/ Gavin, Stefan, and William Connelley (our internal “peer
>> review” process at RC), so I think its in pretty good shape. Let me
>> know if any comments…
>>
and here are some of his associates:
From: Phil Jones
To: William M Connolley ,Caspar Ammann
Subject: Figure 7.1c from the 1990 IPCC Report
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:38:40 +0000
Cc: Tom Crowley ,”Michael E. Mann” , “raymond s. bradley” , Stefan Rahmstorf , Eric Steig ,gschmidt@giss.nasa.gov, rasmus.benestad@physics.org,garidel@marine.rutgers.edu, David Archer , “Raymond P.” ,k.briffa@uea.ac.uk, t.osborn@uea.ac.uk, “Mitchell, John FB \(Chief Scientist\)” , “Jenkins, Geoff” , “Warrilow, David \(GA\)” , Tom Wigley ,mafb5@sussex.ac.uk, “Folland, Chris”
Get that? The guy who has been writing Wikipedia’s entry on Climategate (plus 5,000 others relating to “Climate Change”) is the bosom buddy of the Climategate scientists.
Nope, this isn’t a problem that is going to go away. Wikipedia may well be beyond redemption – as this useful resource site for Wiki-inaccuracies would seem to suggest. Like so many hippyish notions, Jimmy Wales’s idea of a free encyclopedia for everyone was a noble intention which has been cruelly and horribly abused by some very ugly people.
Do you want to know just how ugly? I’ve been saving the worst till last. Here it is: William Connelley’s Wikipedia photograph.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100020515/climategate-the-corruption-of-wikipedia/
Tag: bloglines
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Convert Cassettes to MP3
Cassette tapes may not have the high quality sound that you’re accustomed to with CDs and other digital formats, but analog does have its virtues.
Witness the resurgence of LPs, which have a warmer sound than digital tracks, and often reveal a different, more subtle side of the music. Since many cassettes were recorded from LPs, some of that magic has been preserved on tape. Cassettes were the format of choice for us kids who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, so there are still plenty of them floating around in attics, basements and thrift shops.
If you want to preserve music that’s on cassette, transferring them to a digital format is the way to go.Ingredients
One cassette player – any kind will do, from an old Walkman to a cassette deck
One computer with a sound card and input jack
One male-to-male 1/8-inch mini-jack cord (or an RCA-to-mini-jack cord)
One digital audio recording programSoftware
There are a variety of audio recording and editing programs you could use – some free, some not – but for the purposes of this exercise, let’s assume you’re using Audacity, one of the most popular freeware recording programs available on the web.
Audacity is an open-source audio recording and editing program that works on both Macs and PCs, and creates raw WAV files that you can edit and mix to your heart’s delight. You can also use it for burning CDs and creating podcasts or soundtracks. If you want to convert your WAV files to MP3s, you’ll need the LAME MP3 encoder, a separate plug-in that works with Audacity.
Recording StepsRegardless of which audio recording software you’re using, these steps should work pretty well (there are minor differences in menus and terminology from program to program):
Hook your tape player up to the computer using a mini-jack cord. There should be a headphone or line-out jack on the cassette deck, and a line-in input on your computer’s sound card.
Go into the Control Panel and make sure the Line In Source is checked. In Windows, the menu path is Control Panel/Multimedia/Multimedia Properties/Devices. You should also check the input panel in your audio software. In Audacity, it’s the I/O tab in the Preferences dialog box. Also make sure the output is set to go through your sound card.
Check the recording settings in your software program. If you are recording music, check the Record in Stereo box (for voice recordings, that’s not necessary). Under the Quality tab you need to set the sample rate – the higher, the better. For CD quality, use 44,100 Hz.
Now that your settings are dialed in, press play on your cassette deck, and press the record button in your software program. Audio should be coming from your PC speakers, if you have them connected. Now click the input level meter and enable Start Monitoring to see a recording meter. Adjust the volume to your liking, and then restart the recording.
When you stop the recording, go to the file menu and save the file to your hard drive. From here you can edit and convert the file to MP3.WAV to MP3
In order to turn a WAV file to MP3, you need MP3 encoder software, such as LAME. Before doing that, however, you may want to split up the tracks in your recording. In your audio editing software, there will be instructions on how to do this – basically, you look for the flatline (silence) in the sound waves between tracks and manually split it there. Select the flat areas with the mouse, and select “Cut” from the “Edit” menu to remove them.
Once you have MP3 files saved, you can use a MP3 tagger program to apply tags that will be read by whatever MP3 player you play the tracks on.
In the FutureThere are already cassette and record players that you can buy with USB outputs, which can be used to record audio directly to your computer without the need for a sound card. Next you will see cassette and record players with built-in hard drives, eliminating the middleman.
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Convert_Cassettes_to_MP3?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))#Ingredients -
Pakistan court orders ears and noses to be cut off
Any more doubts on Pakistan slipping into middle ages and civilian government has no hold on the governance?
A Pakistani court has ordered that two men have their ears and noses cut off, as punishment for doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.
The two brothers were found guilty of kidnapping 20-year-old Fazeelat Bibi, one of their cousins, in September.
The judge in Lahore also sentenced them to life in prison.
Sentence was passed on Monday under a rarely invoked Islamic law dating from the 1980s. In the past similar sentences have been revoked on appeal.
‘Eye for an eye’
Government prosecutor Ehtisham Qadir said the punishment had been awarded in accordance with the Islamic principle of “an eye for an eye”.
Sher Mohammad and Amanat abducted Fazeelat Bibi as she returned home from work at a brick kiln in the Raiwind area of Lahore, the court heard.
“They put a noose around her neck, and then cut off her ears and nose,” Mr Qadir told the BBC.
Three alleged accomplices are still being sought by police.
The crime was committed after Fazeelat Bibi’s parents refused to give her hand in marriage to Sher Mohammad, Mr Qadir said.
Islamic laws were introduced in Pakistan during the military regime of General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s.
The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says punishments prescribed under the laws have rarely been awarded, and never carried out.
Pakistani human rights activists have long campaigned for more to be done to stop attacks against women, which often include facial disfigurement.
However, they also disagree with the type of punishment handed out in Lahore, correspondents say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8425820.stm -
Experts slam House panel report on BIA
The JHC has faulted the design of BIA and held to account the people responsible ,namely, decision makers in awarding the contract ,okaying the design and not following procedures.No body has denied the mistake pointed out. I do not see any thing objectionable in this.
-NRN should not be criticized-Is he beyond criticism?He is an entrepreneur who made it big and made a power to reckon with in the international arena in IT. That does not make him a God.He can be criticized if he is wrong.May be the media has given him larger than life image. Funnily he has not made any comment, as is proper.Why do others talk crap?
-Private investors will be demotivated.-If private investors commit mistakes, should they be applauded?They must take the rap for their mistakes.Would the private industry let go of their CEO and senior managers, if they make similar mistakes in their companies?How come Hyderabad airport is not censured?Ascribing motive is non sense. The committee has been asked on specific request to go into the affairs of BIA.It has done a job.Now you fault it.At this rate you shall direct the independent agencies or what is left of them,like C&AG and CBI to arrive at conclusions dictated by politicians and industrialists.(unfortunately this is the case). What is sad is the lack of accountability by the industrialists.They do not seem to be different from politicos as for as accountability is concerned.Indications are that the report shall be shelved.
The mistake is to have tabled the report before all members have signed it.
BANGALORE: The state government has landed itself in a spot, as its Joint House Committee report on the Bengaluru International Airport has come
in for severe criticism from industry captains. They believe the report questions the very premise of the public-private partnership model on which the airport project was built.The Rs 2,500-crore BIA is the first and largest PPP project to have come up in the state. Over Rs 50,000 crore is riding on the back of several PPP projects in road and infrastructure projects. Barring this, the state government is talking of PPP projects in biotechnology, IT, textile and agro-processing, etc.
“How can the state government talk about PPP when this is how they treat their private partners? The government is sending the wrong signal to industry on the future of PPP,” said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon and chairperson of the state’s Vision Group on Biotechnology. “This report will surely create a temporary feel-bad factor in industry. As an industry body, we’ll definitely take up this matter with the government, in the right spirit,” said T Parabrahman, chairman, CII Karnataka chapter.
K R Girish, president, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said, “This report could also damage the state’s prospects for organizing the Global Investors’ Meet in June 2010. Such reports will make it difficult for the government to invite foreign investment and private equity participation for projects in the pipeline.” Harish Bijoor, domain expert, says the Hyderabad airport built with private participation gives you a feel of being in an international airport. So, there is nothing wrong with it.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Experts-slam-House-panel-report-on-BIA/articleshow/5367897.cms
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