I would think Research and Development for Hydrogen Vehicles would include 'cutting edge' extraction of H2 from Methane.

One of the challenges Hydrogen Fuel Cells face is providing enough fuel for large scale use of their technology.  Hydrogen is actually a rarer element than one might realize. Hydrogen is about 0.55 ppmv (parts per million volume) in Earth's atmosphere. The idea that a hydrogen fuel cell could be difficult to market on a large scale is realistic.

It is for that reason I find it odd that the companies seeking a market for their hydrogen fuel cell are not also seeking to find ways to extract hydrogen from other chemical mixtures.  I could foresee the use of m-ethane as a hydrogen source leaving behind a solid form of carbon such as DIAMONDS.

That is what 'gets me' about Wall Street, they are antiquated simpletons with no vision.

HOW fUEL cELLS wORK (CLICK HERE)

PRESS RELEASE

Aug. 16, 2011, 8:30 a.m. EDT

FuelCell Energy Announces Co-Production of Renewable Hydrogen for Vehicle Fueling From a Direct FuelCell(R) Power Plant (click title to entry - thank you)

First in the World, Wastewater Treatment Fuel Cell-Powered Hydrogen Energy Station

DANBURY, Conn., Aug 16, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- FuelCell Energy, Inc. a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power plants, today announced a commissioning event for the Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plant that is providing renewable hydrogen for vehicle fueling along with ultra-clean electricity for the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) in Fountain Valley, California. The power plant efficiently converts biogas generated from the wastewater treatment process into ultra-clean electricity for use by OCSD and renewable hydrogen for an on-site vehicle fueling station operated by Air Products (NYSE:APD). Project participants include FuelCell Energy, Air Products and the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California Irvine with support from California Air Resources Board (CARB), South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Southern California Gas Company.

I have to wonder how much longer Lisa Jackson will stay at the EPA.

She is among the best EPA Secretaries the USA has ever had and there is no reason to believe disregarding her is going to keep her in that job.


It is difficult to get qualified people to take the risk of making the right decision on controversial issues.  Lisa Jackson is an 'equitable decision maker.'  


Besides knowing what she is doing, she also carefully weighs all the evidence before her.  That is dedication to purpose, which in a democracy is important.  She seeks to protect all of us and in the case of Ground Ozone the obstruction by the President for her to proceed is a hideous choice to her.  She is attempting to enforce the minimalist of standards in Ground Ozone levels, those for healthy adults.  


It has to start some where and to realize the past Bush White House actually allowed such dangerously low standards to exist is not only foolish it IS a human rights violation.  You know, I don't want to hear about the Chinese wearing masks in their cities when the USA is approaching the same standard.


Human Health is important to the people of this country and Secretary Sebilius needs to chime in on this one re-enforcing the cost to American's Health and their health care system.  This is ridiculous.


I didn't agree with Secretary Jackson about the dispersants used during the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster.


She did make decisions as best she could given the fact the Petroleum Industry had never provided research regarding the dispersants because they didn't have the research to present.  There was no long term data, there were no studies on marine life and there were not standards for underwater application.  She did what she had to do in that instance, which was to rule in favor of their use due to supporting reasons, including economic reasons at the time.  I was not alone in disagreeing with her either.  The decision was understandable however.


But, as then, I have to wonder if this administration is committed to APPROPRIATE standards for industry and buyer beware.


Environmental Regulation is not the problem, the policies of the past and present Republicans are.  The extreme the country finds itself should be no surprise to anyone and to realize what is REASONABLE to regulate is an economic hardship is all too clear as to why.

Christie needs MORE STUDIES. A million or two more or what? Dollars that is? How much is Christie spending for cronies?

Gov. Chris Christie (click title to entry -thank you) conditionally vetoed Thursday a permanent ban of a controversial natural gas drilling practice called fracking, and instead proposed the Legislature consider a one-year moratorium.

But one Senate sponsor of the bill said the Legislature may try to override his veto....


Christie should ask someone from Princeton to 'educate him' on why there is no need for any more studies.  Does he know where Princeton University is?  Yes?  No?  Maybe?  Firestone Library?  They have a great map room at the Firestone Library.



It is just that I am getting the feeling Republicans don't recognize the American Braintrust 
anymore.


Studies at Harvard about second hand smoke and children restrained in car seats and now a new demand by Christie for continued studies about a crony issue.  


Like what is the deal already?
  

President Obama is wrong about Ground Ozone. He is trading long term health effects for immediate fiscal gain. That is not the America I know.

There is absolutely NO REASON to pander to Wall Street with companies having accumulated gross profits over the past three years.  


NO WAY!


...The effect of ozone (click here) on mortality was generally higher in the warm season and among persons aged 65 years or over. For an increase in the 3-day running mean concentration of ozone of 21.3 μg/m³, the percentage of increase in daily.... 


The Republicans do things better than democrats, huh?  Really?  I guess this is just one of the 'unattainable' issues.  


I don't think so.  If President Obama wants to bargain with health for a short term jog to economic stability he isn't going to do it at the expense of a child's health.  He needs to tell the Republicans and Wall Street to get out of the way of economic development that means regulation that doesn't drive up the cost of health care and doesn' t kill people.


I mean, really now!


This capitulation is a direct result of the desperation by Republicans and their obstructionist tactics regarding economic development.  It is more than obvious that Republicans are under pressure to destroy Health Care Reform and return greed to Wall Street.  The pressure they are receiving from their cronies is NOW TRICKLING down to the policies of this administration to provide economic relief for companies with huge profits during the years since the 2008 collapse.


I suppose lobbyists have promised job growth for the sake of allowing Lung Disease.  Buoy, has the President got this one "W"rong.  He needs to stand against the tide and place blame where it belongs.  Shame on him.


This is pathetic.  The 'breathable air' in the USA is now 'unattainable' for HEALTHY ADULTS?  You know there isn't another planet I can go live on and the Shuttle Program is over anyway.  


Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 160, Number 2, August 1999, 390-396

Lung Function Growth and Ambient Ozone 
A Three-Year Population Study in School Children

THOMAS FRISCHER, MICHAEL STUDNICKA, CHRISTIAN GARTNER, ERICH TAUBER, FRITZ HORAK, ANDREAS VEITER, JOHN SPENGLER, JOACHIM KÜHR,and RADVAN URBANEK

University Children's Hospital of Vienna, and Pulmologic Centre, First Internal Department, Vienna, Austria; Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; and University Children's Hospital of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Ozone constitutes (click here) one of the major outdoor pollutants in industrialized countries. For the United States it was estimated that some 70 million people live in areas where the former national ambient air-quality standard of 120 ppb is frequently exceeded (1). Given that the ozone standard has now been changed to 80 ppb, an even greater proportion of the population is considered to live in potentially harmful environmental conditions. Current evidence further suggests that even this standard might be not stringent enough to protect ozone-sensitive (2) subjects from reductions in lung function. Small reductions in volume parameters can be observed in healthy children exercising at ambient ozone as low as 80 ppb (3). Whereas it can be argued that these alterations are trivial and not associated with respiratory morbidity, an increase in hospital admissions for asthma has been observed at similar ozone exposure (1). In places like Mexico City with extremely high chronic ozone exposure epithelial upper airways damage can be observed where atrophy of the nasal mucosa is present in the vast majority of children (4). The formation of oxygen radicals represents the biochemical basis for these observations (5). Ozone reacts slowly with water to give reactive hydroxyl radicals, which are able to oxidize a wide range of biomolecules. They can diffuse freely into cells and lead to ATP depletion, sulfhydril oxidation, and DNA strand breaks. Glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration are impaired, which may lead to cell death....

If the USA is developing an economy whereby even healthy adult lungs are on the chopping block, what kind of country have we become? 


... During the 3927-day period from April 1, 1981, to December 31, 1991,click here)  there were 720,519 admissions for which the principle diagnosis was a respiratory disease. After controlling for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, soiling index, and dew point temperature, the daily high hour concentration of ozone recorded 1 day previous to the date of admission was positively associated with respiratory admissions in the April to December period but not in the winter months.... 


The options are the same as they have always been, LAWSUITS and seeking standard from State and Local authority.  Maybe the States and Local Governments actually give a damn.  

The myth about m-ethane is very straight forward.

M-ethane produces higher (Not much higher) BTUs per molecule because it uses a single hydrogen explosion to ? capture ? energy and deliver 'steam power' to turbines and otherwise.


Where that is defeated in the consumerism of the product lies in the volume and  is relatively simple.


When the USA had a million people in its census and wood was used for fuel as they cleared the land for settlements, Earth hardly noticed.  But, in a country with 300 million PLUS people and growing there is a higher and higher demand for electricity.  Fossil fuels are no longer the answer.  They are antiquated forms of energy and need to be discarded as a reasonable source of power.


Let's make this real simple although grossly inaccurate.


If from the beginnings of the USA there was a consumption of one molecule of fossil fuel per year per person that would be a 'sustainable' amount no matter the source for one million people.


Now.


There are 300 million people in the USA and for the sake of argument there is still only one molecule of fossil fuels consumed.  Along with the increased consumption there is also destruction of biotic content to the country to facilitate that demand.  The country has not only increased its emissions of greenhouse gases by 300 times its past usage it has less carbon sinks.  Therefore, the amount of CO2 in the troposphere is STUCK there.  There is less and less carbon sinks available for an advancing consumerism of fossil fuels and the country is in a negative feedback loop to the levels of greenhouse gases.


Now realize that is a highly simplistic view of the world.  


Additionally, there are "Third World Countries" such as China and India moving into the modern age accommodated by Wall Street tycoons that see nothing but dollar signs and have complete disregard for the purpose of inviting them to these countries in the first place.  There has been gross mismanagement by Wall Street of diplomatic hopes for these countries and the global economy is grossly out of balance, the poverty of the 'commons' is not being resolved and is increasing and returning to First World countries and everyone is LOOKING for the CHEAP solution.  


Now realize that India simply love m-ethane .  They have used it as a fuel for generations as they assassinated wives with kitchen explosions and found women set on fire in ritual funeral pyres and otherwise.  Can you change that culture?  It isn't easy and while there are more penalties by the Indian government for that 'behavior' there is also a love for m-ethane that is soon not to go away.


China on the other hand looks at its billion plus citizens and sees a challenge.  They need and want CLEAN energy.  Their cities have been carpeted in smog, their rivers have seen the death of dolphin species and while the Panda is a beautiful symbol of hope for China their environment is in sincere danger.


The mountains of China still are dense with forests, but, due to the people that live in those areas there is dearly little wildlife since it is hunted.  I am quite confident there are extinct species we will never know about and that is true of the Chinese government.  Their people are so numerous that even in its far reaches there will be mystery about their biotic history.  Not that they don't love it.  That is not the case.


The directive for nations, regardless of their so called 'status' as First World vs Third World is to realize they have to approach development of their people not as a "World Trade Issue" that allows domination of the global money supply, but, to put their people to work with good wages so their internal economic growth increases.  


What has occurred with Wall Street 'free wheeling' it, is that the wealth of the USA was exported without any vision of sincere consumerism in places like China and India.  China and India are exploited for their cheap labor without developing a Middle Class so their profit margins are excellent.  The global market's troubles cannot be pinned on India and China as their 'democratized' leadership is extremely NEW to the idea of what a sincere 'free market' economy is all about and how THAT  is sustained.  As with any failure in capitalism it is Wall Street that is the villain.  Greed vs consumer base.  Greed always win out.  Always.  No vision, simply the bottom line.


The USA, the Chinese and the people of India really don't need them.  The people need to realize their own power in producing and sustaining consumerism.  What works for Small Local Business in the USA can and will work for China and India as well.  With increased wealth in a Chinese and Indian Middle Class the issues of the Climate Crisis will be a priority and the methods of achieving energy independence for all countries will become obvious.  


FOSSIL FUELS have to be abandoned and that should be a high priority for any leader today.

This is a no brainer. Hydrofracking or the same drilling by any other name is the "W"rong direction for the country.

Any assessment differently is completely WRONG.


The only PART of the molecule that is 'of any service' to the 'energy sector' is hydrogen.


The 'carbon' in methane when burned equates to still yet another molecule of CO2. 


Molecule for molecule when methane is burned it converts completely into carbon dioxide and a hydrogen EXPLOSION. 


It's the hydrogen 'the energy sector' is looking for.  It is dangerous, sincerely uncontainable in a real way and not the METHANE JOCKS want to make more billions by producing a 'Duel Fuel' vehicle whereby it would carry regular gasoline along side cylinders of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas).


I  DO  NOT  WANT  THESE  VEHICLES  ANYWHERE  NEAR  ME ON THE ROAD !


The entire idea that methane is THE BETTER fossil fuel is way out of line and it is about millionaires and billionaires and not the public, their transportation needs or any form of energy.


The issues with Earth's Climate Crisis comes from the consumerism that demands more use of electronic devices, more electricity, more travel, more automobiles and the population of the planet is skyrocketing.  Earth has a 'Carrying Capacity' and we have already exceeded it.


With each person born today they will face greater problems with obtaining healthy food, sufficient and not even abundant water supplies and basic human needs, yet alone recreation and leisure.  Although Leisure will be in abundance for the poverty the global community will face when production of products becomes so tight by the mechanisms of capitalism there is no way to make a living, there won't be healthy outlets for leisure time.  That leads to disasterous environmental damage as we know for a fact poverty does ALWAYS result in degradation of the climate, the soils and any water supply.  The best example of that is Ethiopia where drought captured the nation and drove it into famine.  So don't just judge my point of view as extremist, it isn't.  It is based in understanding FROM HISTORY how the planet works and what sustains it.


Methane is the "W"rong direction for the country and I don't care who says otherwise.  It is not extremism that brings that ASSESSMENT, but, practical knowledge that when methane is substituted for other fossil fuels it results in the same hostile climate by-produces that will escalate in the troposphere as populations grow without remitting changes in a benevolent climate.  


Suggesting that Methane is the answer to Global Warming is like saying arsenic is the answer for cancer.


...The $223,000 study (click title to entry - thank you) of the effects of “hydrofracking” on the economy and the quality of life was conducted by Ecology and Environment Inc., a global environmental and engineering services company based in Lancaster, N.Y....


The language throughout their website is about pandering and not good policies.  It is the Bushitis that has taken productive dialogue away from the Energy Sector and substituted it with 'the language of arbitration.'  It's a con.  Just that simple.  A slight of hand.  There is nothing sound about the findings that methane is workable in any form to the climate of Earth.  IT ISN'T.  It never has been.  There is a reason why dead dinosaurs are only good for museum displays.


E&E has outlived its usefulness.  It is NOT 'modern day' or 'cutting edge' at all.

The GOP are really stuck with their lies, poor darlings.

"... The American people (click title to entry - thank you) are still rightfully asking the question: 'Where are the jobs?"' Boehner said as he spoke at a ribbon cutting Friday in his home town of West Chester, a Cincinnati suburb. "Republicans are continuing to listen to the American people and are focusing our efforts on removing barriers to job growth."...


Let the headlines speak for themselves.

Shutdown of transportation programs possible (click here)

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bills necessary to avoid shutdowns of federal transportation and aviation programs are high on Congress' to-do list when it returns to work next week.

President Barack Obama says as many as 1 million jobs are at risk without action.

Both the White House and House Republicans signaled Wednesday that they want to avoid such a scenario, but that doesn't mean it will be easy.

Federal highway programs, and the fuel taxes that pay for them, will expire Sept. 30 unless Congress passes short-term extension legislation. It would be the eighth such stopgap effort in the past two years. Funds for hundreds of construction projects across the country would be held up without passage.

Similarly, authority for the Federal Aviation Administration expires Sept. 16. The agency has been operating under a series of 21 short-term extensions since 2007. A standoff between the House and Senate partially shut down the FAA for two weeks this summer. Nearly 4,000 employees were furloughed, more than 200 stop-work orders were issued for airport construction and other projects, and tens of thousands of workers in construction-related industries were laid off.

Layoffs in the ailing construction industry would be many times greater than that if highway programs expire, transportation experts said....

How many 'stop gap' measures have the Republicans passed in the House so far since January, I've lost count.


The Republicans are always 'signalling' they want to cooperate and avoid government shut downs, but, they just can't seem to get there.


Signaling.


Hm.


I think they need a train conductor.


Take for instance "It's Miller Time," "Father of the Year," "No Prop," "Man without a district," what's his name...  While his children may be proud of him now (It's scary to believe he actually has parental rights, actually.) we are not.  As a Congressman that has allowed any social program to benefit his children while a Dead Beat Dad he should pay every dime back TO THE GOVERNMENT.

September 2, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Illinois Republican Congressman Joe Walsh (click here) says when President Obama addresses Congress and the nation about jobs next week, he won't be there to listen.

Friday night, members of both the Republican and Democratic parties weighed in on Walsh's decision.
Illinois Republican leaders are whispering their outrage over Congressman Joe Walsh's latest act of protest. The first-term, northwest suburban tea party favorite says he'll take a pass on the presidential address on Capitol Hill next week.
The speech next Thursday night will count as Obama's fifth address to a joint session of Congress. He will set forth the administration's plan to create jobs and reduce the nation's 9 percent unemployment rate....









Were his children ever on Food Stamps?  Seriously.  It is not unusual for Dead Beat Dads to rely on social programs for their children rather than the care and love of a parent.  Single Moms have it tough and they are resourceful when they have to be.  This Congress is more about character, ability and competency.  The House can't or won't get anything done.  Then Speaker Boner resorts to his rhetoric because he has nothing else to offer.  It is unfortunate the nation hasn't learned from previous mistakes.  

The Republicans in the House and Senate are treating President Obama as if this was a bar room brawl.

Since President Obama has been elected, the very palpable reality for the Republicans was that this guy knows what he is doing and we have to make him a one term President in any way we can.


...While most of those fights (click title to entry - thank you)  stemmed from deep policy divides, the relentless acrimony between President Obama and Congressional Republicans also seems strikingly personal, almost petty....


The Republicans threw decorum, legislative procedure, decision making and the best interest of the public into a political cesspool and the country is hurting for it.  I have no doubt President Obama has a thick skin and simply takes this in stride as he has on many occasions in his life.  Little do I believe there is a minority individual that hasn't been confronted by racism of one form or another in their lifetimes, especially if they are successful.  But, being thick skinned and allowing compromise to dominate in Washington for the 'sake of the country' is wearing very thin.  


The longer the Republicans struggle with producing 'real policy' that matters the more they resort to disrespect of the President on every venue; from yelling defaming remarks during the State of the Union address to now refusing to show the ENTIRE NATION how concerned the federal government is about the jobs situation and coming together to have the President address the nation with all the legislators in the chamber.


Anyone can try to 'blame this away' on politics, but, it goes far beyond that.  This is the first time in history that a Speaker to the House has refused to hold a Joint Session of Congress on the day and time the President requested.  


I believe the President gives a great deal of thought to 'the morale of the country' and not politics.  He wanted to end the lack of faith by the citizens of their government after the hideous show of weakness by the House during the Nation's Debt Ceiling Debacle.  But, now that isn't going to happen, is it?  


Instead of showing a resolved and vigorous 'collective' of government in DC to bring about a sense of 'strength' and resolve to end the unemployment rate, we are AGAIN faced with a House and Republican Party insisting on dividing the nation, causing controversy, obstructing revenue generation at all costs to maintain their ideologies over and above what is best for the nation.

Minority House Leader Pelosi, as Speaker, may have made statements about Former President Bush that were political and intended to insult to push legislation along, but, never and I mean never was she as disrespectful and premeditatedly disrespectful as this House and the Republicans in the Senate.  The insistence by House and Senate members to calculate their next move to defame President Obama is more than obvious.


This is more than simple politics, no matter how vicious politics have been in the past.  This is an attack against 'the conscience' of a nation to teach everyone a lesson after the 2008 elections.   


It is grossly inappropriate and while the Republicans like to say they don't dislike the President but only his policies that sure doesn't seem the case.

There are many uses for consumer generated solar energy.

Consumers with Solar Panels need to demand their local and state governments adopt regulations for public utilities that pay them for power generation.

Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) (click title to entry - thank you) became available in Great Britain on 1st April 2010. And isn’t available in Northern Ireland - although this is under review.

Under this scheme energy suppliers have to (compulsory for big six suppliers) make regular payments to householders and communities who generate their own electricity from renewable or low carbon sources such as solar electicity panels (PV) or wind turbines.   

Repayment of Consumer Debt flattens the Australian economy.

..."An abrupt slowdown in the Australian economy, renewed recession fears in the United States and a spreading sovereign debt crisis in Europe will soften the global growth outlook," said the institute's principal economist, Shamubeel Eaqub.


He is forecasting gross domestic product to be "pretty flat" this year, growing just 1.4 per cent, before picking up to 2.6 per cent next year and again in 2013....

The twins.

August 31, 2011
0330.15z
UNISYS Water Vapor Goes East Satellite

The difference in the two images is the position of the sun in relation to direct sunlight.


There is a questionable organization of a storm offshore of eastern North America in the Atlantic.  It is definately a vortex with water vapor content, but, will it become another named storm?

September 3, 2011
1330.13z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click title to entry for 12 hour loop - thank you)


I know this is going to sound somewhat ludicrous, but, Irene's rain actually placed more water vapor in a hot troposphere which is now fueling these three tropospheric turbulence.  Irene laid the ground work for more to come.


Will TD13 have a follow up from the disturbance over Panama?  Maybe.


TD 13 will probably enter the USA Gulf Coast and move slightly north-west-west.  But, it might simply linger over the Gulf Coast until it is rained out, except, if the wind velocity picks up.  Inland at 60 mph could move it further inland and then toward the east. That might be wishful thinking because that much rain in one location will create very dire circumstances. 


I am a little surprised there isn't an evacuation order for this region right now.


It is a sad reality when on remembers the devastation following Katrina.  The hurricane names are interestingly close in the alphabet.  The "K" storm was just named in the Atlantic and this TD13, if named will begin with "L."  The effects of TD13 will be similar if not worse than Katrina VOID the wind and storm surge damage.  

Tropical Depression 13. This will probably help out with the smog problem from burning wetlands.

September 3, 2011
1340.17z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Southeast Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

It is easier to see in a 3 hour comparison.

September 3, 2011
1040z 
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Southeast Satellite


The Tropical Depression is building quickly.  Predicted 20 inches of rain.  If the storm continues to build it might have a significant title surge to add to that.

September 3, 2011
0140.19z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Southeast Satellite


Only 12 hours ago it was a very disorganized tropical depression.




From NOLA:

Tropical Depression 13 forces Gulf coast to brace for rain, flooding (click here)

Published: Friday, September 02, 2011, 8:55 AM    

Updated: Friday, September 02, 2011, 9:06 AM

...Tropical storm warnings were issued from Mississippi to Texas including New Orleans. The National Hurricane Center said the system will dump 10 to 15 inches of rain over southern areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through Sunday and as much as 20 inches in some spots.

In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley didn't declare an emergency but ordered state emergency management and other agencies to be ready to respond if needed.

Morning skies were overcast with spotty rain on the Alabama coast Friday, but workers were still putting boats in the water for the Labor Day weekend at Sportsman Marina in Orange Beach, Ala….

PLEASE CLOSE THE BEACHES.  This storm is far too to leave it to chance.


Thank you.

Tropical Depression  13 caused Pensacola Beach lifeguards to show up for duty two hours early Thursday to prepare for dangerous surf conditions stirred up by the tropical disturbance that's moving farther into the northwestern Gulf. Red-flag conditions mean swimmers are not allowed in the Gulf, but surfers are allowed as long as their surf boards are attached to them with a leash.

Where are the jobs, Speaker Boner?

After all you have as much power as the President.  Boner's words, not mine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers stopped adding jobs in August, an alarming setback for an economy that has struggled to grow and might be at risk of another recession.

The government also reported that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent. It was the weakest jobs report since September 2010.

Stocks tumbled on the news. The Dow Jones industrial average  sank 245 points soon after trading began.

A strike by 45,000 Verizon workers lowered the job totals. Those workers are now back on the job.

The weakness in employment was underscored by revisions to the jobs data for June and July. Collectively, those figures were lowered to show 58,000 fewer jobs added. The downward revisions were all in government jobs....