I'm impressed with how well written your post is. Nicely done. I wish I could write like that.

There seems to be a pretty strong theme of "the climate is changing because of humans" in the posts. Ok, let's look at that.

Remember the 60'/70's when the hoopla over pollution switched in to overdrive? Remember Silent Spring? Few in this forum likely do. Just saying that the whole "climate change" rant is the latest "Look what humankind is doing to the planet!!" rant. We've been there and done that. But, back then, and now, the fact remains that the person most responsible for is ... you.

Back then, people were dumping toxins in rivers and their trash on the street. And now? Same thing. Worried about CO2? What is your footprint AND please include your remote footprint ie. the industries _you_ cause to be through your consumption. We consume more than we ever have and in a more wasteful fashion than ever before ... check the contents and amount of your trash, or how much paper your workplace tosses out every month. In this neck of the woods, not a house goes up that doesn't have air conditioning, 1-in-three has a pool running its pumps 24/7 all summer, all home climate controls run 24/7 even with nobody home, and an SUV decorates the driveway of every fifth house ('cause some people have trucks). And most relevant to this forum: how many additional electronic gadgets do you have in your home sipping electricity 24/7 compared to, say, your grandparents when they were your age? Yeah, small amounts individually but total them up and multiply by all your neighbours, etc.

So, the question is not if or why the climate is changing. The question is: who gives a s**t? The answer, if drawn from the observed _actions_ (not rants), of the average person is ... nobody.

Think about it. An intelligence agency gets a 'treasure trove' of information and then tells the world that they found it ... oh, and it was hidden in a most compromising way that discredits the religious credibility of the purported religious fanatics.

Think: when the Allies during World War II broke the German codes, did they tell everyone they had? NO. They kept quiet about it and used the information against the UNSUSPECTING enemy. If they had done otherwise, the Germans would have changed their coding methods and the Allies would have been deprived of all that intelligence. Get it?

So if a US intelligence agency really had such information, they wouldn't be telling anybody ... kind of like they never told anyone that they knew exactly where Bin Laden was.

If I hadn't already done so, I would lose all faith in CNN's reporting ... or propaganda.

Having worked with Canadian government scientists for some time, the truth is that any delays in response to the press are simply because people are trying too hard to get it perfect. Most are terrified of making a mistake for fear of being pilloried by the media, and that fear is justified. If replies take too long, the 'bureaucrats' are running interference. Make an honest mistake or oversight, the 'bureaucrats' are lying/covering up. It's depressing.

Greedy greedy greedy music industry!

Taxes pay for the CBC where even the most obscure artists get free advertising at no cost to their publishers;
Taxes on recording media generate money ostensibly meant to cover royalties for the pirating that the publishers have convinced the gov't will be occuring ... yes, every unit of recording media will be used for pirating.
And the publishers get tax breaks for their role in promoting culture, blah blah blah
And the real kicker, in response to the station a**hole who stated only "bird song" is free, it ISN'T if some publisher gets the 'rights' to a recording of birds singing!

The book is "The Wave":

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/books/review/Morris-t.html?pagewanted=all

If the climate models are correct
and if the ice shelves behave according to their models
and if predators move in to the niche (presumably according to some model)
and if, importantly, the penguins themselves in no way adapt to the changing situation
then the penguins MAY be affected.

Each 'if' contributes an error that makes for a big margin over all. Why not just say, 'we really don't know what this means for the future, but we're hoping to develop a better understanding of the present' ... and nothing more.

... based on incomplete information, while insisting that the models are still valid and the situation is still dire. What is more likely is that the penguins will adapt to their environmental changes ... as they have for millenia. Remember? They didn't just arrive on the planet and occupy their niche a few years ago.

Love the science but am mightily weary of doom and gloom alarmist extrapolations to secure funding or public interest.

I wonder if, in the penguin colonies, there are alarmist penguins saying that if they continue to procreate there will be no unstained snow left for little penguins to play in.

... what would _you_ like to know?

Or if you are just worried about completely covering your ass ... can't be done. If you've done nothing illegal, move on with a clear conscience. If you have done something illegal, well sooner or later it will catch up with you. In the mean time, move on with a less than clear conscience.

Or is the truth that you've just been tasked with producing a 'Company Sys Admin Turnover Process' ? In which case, ask /. if someone has one they'd be willing to share.

Power corrupts; absolute power, corrupts absolutely. There is no surprise here, simply the time it took for the companies to be investigated.

The $4 latte will be what the user wanted/expected. If not, it can be returned and a new one made. Satisfaction guaranteed.

The app is $1, or more, for something that may not work as advertised, or at all. And no refund.

A buyer is concerned about being ripped off, regardless the price. A buyer doesn't like to give away money, no matter how small ... or else pan-handling would be an honourable and profitable profession.

Evnetually the government or big business will push something like this through. They will seize control. So, what can be done? Is there an alternative, like a homebrew, grassroots equivalent?

The planes have a degree of autonomy. When control is lost they have 'brains' and act according to a preset contingency plan. So jamming the comms isn't really a show stopper.

Spoofing? So the Iranians spoofed the ENCRYPTED GPS signal? Yeah, right. You can easily spoof the open signal but the military gear uses the high precision, encrypted GPS signal.

You could easily jam the GPS signal but then the inertial navigation system will kick in to get it home anyways. This is a standard design protocol because it is expected that the GPS signal will be lost sometimes.

These aren't Best Buy radio control helicopters. They are valued, high precision, high tech, high cost machines. They are not vulnerable to jamming or GPS. EMP or mechanical failure forcing an unexpected landing, that makes sense.

Anyways, Christian Science Monitor? WTF ?

Make a region dependent on an artificially created local microclimate ... and use your control of it to extort whatever you want from the region.

You ain't free, 'cause you ain't brave. American Woman, stay away from me!