Author: Serkadis

Article Tags: BBC, Bring It On, Front Page News, Headline Story, Updated

The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, last night warned of the danger of a public backlash against the science of global warming in the face of continuing claims that experts have manipulated data.

In an exclusive interview with the Observer, Miliband spoke out for the first time about last month’s revelations that climate scientists had withheld and covered up information and the apology made by the influential UN climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which admitted it had exaggerated claims about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

The perceived failure of global talks on combating climate change in Copenhagen last month has also been blamed for undermining public support. But in the government’s first high-level recognition of the growing pressure on public opinion, Miliband declared a “battle” against the “siren voices” who denied global warming was real or caused by humans, or that there was a need to cut carbon emissions to tackle it.

“It’s right that there’s rigour applied to all the reports about climate change, but I think it would be wrong that when a mistake is made it’s somehow used to undermine the overwhelming picture that’s there,” he said.

“We know there’s a physical effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leading to higher temperatures, that’s a question of physics; we know CO2 concentrations are at their highest for 6,000 years; we know there are observed increases in temperatures; and we know there are observed effects that point to the existence of human-made climate change. That’s what the vast majority of scientists tell us.”

Mistakes and attempts to hide contradictory data had to be seen in the light of the thousands of pages of evidence in the IPCC’s four-volume report in 2007, said Miliband. The most recent accusation about the panel’s work is that its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, may have known before the Copenhagen summit that its assessment report had seriously exaggerated the rate of melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

However, Miliband was adamant that the IPCC was on the right track. “It’s worth saying that no doubt when the next report comes out it will suggest there have been areas where things have been happening more dramatically than the 2007 report implied,” he said.

The danger of climate scepticism was that it would undermine public support for unpopular decisions needed to curb carbon emissions, including the likelihood of higher energy bills for households, and issues such as the visual impact of wind turbines, said Miliband, who is also energy secretary.

Also: The big issue: Sceptics fiddle while the planet burns

Click to read more from Juliette Jowit, environment editor, The Observer

Updated below from the DAILY MAIL & BBC

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Dual Electronics’ iPod touch GPS cradle now shipping in late February originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here she is….Miss America 2010. Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron was crowned the nation’s Miss America as host Mario Lopez and a panel of judges — which included conservative Rush Limbaugh — looked on during the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Wearing a bright yellow satin gown and stunning chandelier earrings, the powerhouse singer edged out first runner-up Miss California Kristy Cavinder for the coveted crown after she wowed with a performance of Beyonce’s 2006 Dreamgirls hit, “Listen.”

Her interview question tackled the issue of childhood obesity.

“We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little,” Cameron said. “Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like.”

Cameron, a 22-year-old from Fredericksburg, Va., also won a $50,000 scholarship after the pageant that started with 53 contestants. She outlasted her opponents in swimsuit, evening gown, talent and interview competitions. Caressa, a broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, hopes to become an anchor.

Kourtney and Khloe are gearing up for another summer in South Beach: The sister are on the hunt for new “Dash Dolls” for the upcoming second season of E!’s Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami.

Although the network hasn’t officially renewed the show for a second season, a new Craigslist posting from Bunim/Murray Productions — the operation behind for The Real World and Project Runway, leaves little doubt that new mom Kourtney and her newlywed sister Khloe are Florida-bound

The ad calls for “a local Miami girl with a flair for fashion” and “outgoing, fun-loving, confident girls to help run their store.” As part of the reality show filming, the ad states “you shouldn’t be camera shy and you must feel comfortable having your life televised. “

All applicants must be 18 and over and residents of Miami.

How Kourtney and Khloe will swing this is anyone’s guess. Kourtney didn’t have a kid and Khloe didn’t have new hubby Lamar Odom when the L.A.-born socialites headed across the country to open a new Dash Boutique last summer.

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The authors evaluate promising process flowsheets for bioethanol production from different feedstocks along with current and promising technologies for bioethanol production. Case studies illustrate how process synthesis allows for the …

Robin Sloan, a former strategist and executive at Current TV, is joining Twitter to handle media partnerships. He says he’ll help “producers, reporters, developers and strategists at media orga­nizations that want to do cool, transformative things with tweets.”

He was recruited by a former colleague Chloe Sladden, who experimented with one of the earliest of uses of Twitter against a live broadcast. During the first presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, Sloan built an application that would overlay curated tweets over the bottom of the screen.

He didn’t give any specifics as to how he sees Twitter working with media organizations. Instead, he pointed to how quickly the company’s ecosystem has evolved.

He wrote on his blog:

“I feel like I’m constantly learning and re-​​learning how to use Twitter. And I think that’s because, paired with this odd constraint, you’ve got this crazy openness—this refusal to specify exactly what you’re supposed to do with the service, or how, or even why. So those determinations fall to us, and as a result, the whole thing seems to be convulsing and transforming, like, every six months.”

Sloan was auspiciously also the author of Twitter’s five billionth tweet.

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King of Mean Simon Cowell is facing a legal tango with a husky-voiced former nurse who claims Cowell humiliated her during her audition on Britain’s Got Talent this month.

The American Idol judge was informed this week that a former contestant by the name of Emma Czikai has logged a complaint against him with Britain’s labor board, claiming the music mogul and acid-tongued critic violated the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 when he called her a bad singer on national television. Emma’s even considering filing a lawsuit against Cowell, Britain’s Daily Mail claims.

Czikai was confident that she would get through the first round on the popular talent show. “I do have the ability to move people. People have cried when they have heard me sing,” she told BGT cameras just moments before she met Simon and fellow judges Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the self-professed “opera singer” butchered her rendition of Josh Groban’s “You Raised Me Up.”

Czikai suffers from cervical spone neuritis, which can affect hearing. The former medical professional believes that the show failed to take her illness into account before slamming her performance — although it isn’t known if any of the judges were made aware of it.

“This story is the truth behind the joke. They made one big joke out of me. They put it on the YouTube and sold it in 30 countries. The whole world is saying: ‘This stupid woman’s a laugh,’” Emma spat to The Mail this week.

A Britain’s Got Talent spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the matter and it’s currently being considered by our lawyers.”

This may come as a surprise to you (although probably not, you smart devil), but it turns out that plenty of people are dissatisfied with their current e-reader options — according to a recent study conducted at the University of Georgia. The study was conducted over a six-month period where participants read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a Kindle, then provided feedback. The results were, well — not entirely shocking. Younger adults found the Kindle to be lacking because it had no touchscreen or other applications (though to be fair, neither does the print version of the paper), while older adults seemed more satisfied, but also reported missing the crossword puzzles and comics of a real, live newspaper. Pretty much everyone agreed that the screen was nice and comfortable to read on, but almost no one was a fan of the price. All in all, there’s not terribly much here that we think is overly telling — besides (of course) the fact that paper rules.

Study finds people want more from their Kindles, less from their newspapers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Things that make you go “LOL…” Would you let your child take fashion advice from Noah Cyrus? The younger sister of teen starlet Miley Cyrus, Noah Cyrus, has teamed up with best pal and actress Emily Grace Reaves to launch a new collection of children’s clothing.

The Ooh! La La! Couture line will feature “versatile styles that can be worn with sweet ballerina slippers, funky sneakers or paired with lace stockings and boots for more of a rock and roll look.”

Like her big sister, controversy is no stranger to young Noah. Last October, parents Billy Ray and Tish were chided for allowing the 9-year-old to attend a red carpet charity event dressed like a bloodsucking prostitot. More recently, Noah has starred in a pair of questionable YouTube videos. One in which she slaps her ass to the rhythmic stylings of Akon’s “Smack That,” and another which stars the girl lip-synching to singer Kesha’s racy new single “Tik Tok.”

The song, which includes lines like, “I’m talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk/ Boys tryin’ to touch my junk, junk,” has been deemed a little inappropriate to be mimicked by a fourth grader.

Noah’s new line is set for debut this Valentine’s Day.

AReview: SANA: A rebel leader from northern Yemen says he is ready to agree to a cease-fire with the government. In an audio recording posted on Yemeni Web sites Saturday, Shi”ite leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said he would accept a series of conditions set out by the government late last year. The government offered the rebels a permanent cease-fire in September as long as they agreed to withdraw from the region, end attacks, and stop interfering in local government. Shi”ites from the Zaidi sect have been fighting government troops in northern Yemen since 2004, accusing the government of denying them civil, economic and religious rights. Also Saturday, Yemeni authorities arrested a suspected al-Qaida militant. Officials said he was preparing to carry out a suicide bombing in the eastern Hadramaut region. The interior ministry said Saleh Abd al-Habib Saleh al-Shaush was wearing an explosive belt when he was detained. His exact target is still unknown, but the ministry says it was to be a major economic facility. Yemen has recently attracted international focus after al-Qaida militants there claimed responsibility for a failed bombing attempt on a U.S.-bound passenger jet on Christmas Day (December 25). The incident led Yemeni authorities to increase operations against al-Qaida.

Melissa Joan Hart is heading back to the small screen — and she’s bringing Joey Lawrence along for the ride!

The beloved star of Sabrina The Teenage Witch is now a married mom of two, but she’ll soon be juggling motherhood with another full-time job. ABC Family has ordered 10 episodes of Melissa & Joey — a new comedy that will feature MJH opposite Blossom alum and fellow former Dancing With The Stars contestant Joey Lawrence — the network said Friday.

According to ABC Family, Melissa will be playing a freee-spirited woman who has to take care of her niece and nephew after her sister goes to prison and her brother-in-law abandons the family. Joey plays family manny, Joey.

“We love Melissa and Joey,” Paul Lee, President of ABC Family, said in a statement. “Melissa has a long history on the network, and she and Joey recently starred in the network’s original movie, ‘My Fake Fiance,” which broke records for the network last year. They have fantastic chemistry and are just so relatable to our viewers. We knew we wanted to get them together again, and developed this comedy specifically with them in mind.”

Melissa & Joey will premiere later this year.

Homebrew coder Lino has recently released a new version of fb4nds, a Facebook client application for the Nintendo DS. The latest update now allows you to send messages and read feed notifications.
 
 
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