How to Lie with Statistics

Does anybody know if this is real or a hoax?!

Hadley CRU hacker releases emails revealing Global Warming Fraud.

Update:

I'm thinking it's real...

Job Breakdown Sheet - How to Compress Hundreds of Digital Photos in Under 1 minute

JBS Example for today is "How to Compress 'a lot' of Digital Photos in under 60 seconds"...but first, what problem does this solve?

1) During a lean assessment, there are hundreds of photos taken, maybe even almost a thousand. Since most digital cameras do not have very low resolution settings nowadays, the file space consumed can be enormous. This makes for download and viewing times that actually discourage people from reviewing the photos at a later date. I want them to act on what they see, not have an excuse to ignore it.

2) Using the files in presentations presents a similar problem. The multiplier effect can push a ppt file over the 20MB mark or more. This not only causes ridiculously long download times, but makes it almost impossible to easily email a presentation without the extra work of compressing the photos in the file. Compression can be done to a ppt presentation, but I would prefer to compress ALL of the photos in one shot and not risk forgetting to compress the final product at the end, jamming up hard drives and inboxes. (So sue me, I'm batching o.k.?)

The technique I use actually compresses hundreds of photos in under 60 seconds. It also will compress most photos by 50-90% depending on the initial resolution. With some practice, you will be able to do this in about 20 seconds for about 100 photos.

Word of caution...I think it is still necessary to use the four step method for training even though you may be tempted to let this JBS stand alone. There are little things you can explain that go beyond this simple task of compression once the training is over and a one-on-one interaction is the best way to do that. With that said, here is the link to my Job Breakdown Sheet: "How to Compress a Truckload of Digital Photos in under 60 seconds."

Root Cause Analysis Not Journalists' Core Competency

Following is a quote from a leading trade show update, providing readers with the mood/state of industry felt by the attendees:

"Better productivity, lean manufacturing, and cost-effective staffing are holding back job creation continuing to put a pall on the industry in general."

Normally, this wouldn't bother me...but this is the kind of nonsense that gets reported frequently in the news and gets under my skin...

First of all, a "pall" can either be used a noun or a verb. In the context above, the definition of a pall is: "dark covering", or, a dark veil, dark cloud, a shroud or blanket.

So, let me get this straight...better productivity results in a looming dark cloud over industry in general?

Lean manufacturing is the cause of the dark veil put over the job market?

Cost effective staffing is the reason for the shroud keeping back the recovery?

In other words, industry and industry alone is to blame for the slow recovery. This is the conclusion that is drawn from a journalist who is surrounded by thousands of people at a leading manufacturing trade show? There aren't any other underlying factors people are willing to discuss, except to stay on the surface and blame (usually ill implemented) lean manufacturing techniques?

I hope that "cost effective staffing" is the reason behind the lack of editing this garbage and not malevolence. Or do people in industry and journalism really blame lean manufacturing, productivity gains and core staffing as the culprit?

If so, than we have got a bigger problem on our hands...like not understanding basic economics.