"If the scientist's are correct, and global warming does melt enough ice to cause the oceans to rise, the subsequent devastation and displacement of people will be catastrophic.

"Just as the tobacco industry would bring out 'experts' who claimed there was no link between smoking and lung cancer, expect companies who have a stake in CO2 emissions to also bring in experts who will claim that the link between global warming and pollution is still in debate."

"Look at the problems we are having in New Orleans where about 100,000 people have been displaced. Imagine a world where 100 million people are displaced because the land they were living on is now underwater. Even if the oceans only rise a few inches, coastlines around the world will change dramatically as currents and tides begin working the shoreline in different ways. A rise of 2-3 feet would have an extreme impact on shorelines. I don't even want to think about a rise of 10-20 feet. Climate change will effect our ability to grow food. So not only could we have millions of displaced people, we may be unable to feed them.

"I believe we can and will solve this problem. But things are going to get much worse before they get better. It's not that people don't want to care, it's that we are all busy with our own lives and problems that we want someone else to deal with this.

"In the meantime, do what you can. Make your next car a Hybrid. Use energy efficient lights, caulk those leaky windows. Plant a tree. Every little bit helps."

Andrew Bond [andrew@abpubs.demon.co.uk] whose monthly "Industrial Automation Insider" is well worth reading, provides some insightful comments on the Control top-50 list:

"The CONTROL Top 50 tells an interesting story if you dig a little deeper into the figures.

"Based on their US revenues the top 10 reads Emerson Process Management, Rockwell, ABB, Siemens, Invensys, Schneider, GE, Ametek and ThermoElectron. Incidentally, basing this year's rankings on total automation rather than just process automation revenues seems to have had little effect on the overall pecking order, suggesting perhaps that the problem before was that some vendors with both process and discrete interests had been less than scrupulous in distinguishing between them.

"However, the picture is rather different if we look at worldwide automation revenues and, even more so, revenues generated outside North America. Thus the worldwide market leader is, as might be expected, Siemens with revenues in 2005 of $8.8B. Second is ABB, third Emerson, and then Schneider, Rockwell, Honeywell, Omron, Invensys, Yokogawa and GE.

"The European domination becomes even more marked when North America revenues are excluded. Siemens' ROW (Rest of the World) revenues are more than 50% greater than its nearest rival and only one North American vendor, Emerson, makes it into the top seven."

Ron Davis [ron.davis@sunapsys.com] again brings up a point that I support strongly - abolish two-party politics:

"Think about the impact of abolishing our current two party political system.

"What if each candidate had to stand on their own platform and not be burdened with polarizing political labels, left and right? Think about how this would reduce the influence of extremists from both ends of the political spectrum. Think about how this would encourage new ideas that do not fit today's political left-versus-right thinking.

"More moderate centrist candidates would not be pushed out of the system during the primaries for not being 'extreme' enough to pass the parties muster. Politicians could vote without worrying about the repercussions of voting outside the party line."