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Mercury News found that Apple’s going to kill its downtown Palo Alto store and build a crazy one one block over. Essentially, it’s the California equivalent of a transparent NY cube, which means it has trees inside.

The architectural firm responsible for the skylights that will feed the trees inside is the same one that built that transparent cube in New York, and plans to make the store 10,700 square feet and basically make the thing sort of inside out. The point? To “[minimize] the transition from outside to inside and [draw] customers in.” [Mercury News via Macrumors]

Cleaner fish have a pretty good little business going. These select species of small underwater inhabitants set up “cleaning stations” where they eat parasites and dead tissue off larger fish. Sure, it might not be a gourmet meal, but in exchange for the service the large fish don’t eat the cleaners.

In some cases a pair of fish work in tandem, and a new study has found that males will punish their female partners if the females go overboard and eat more of the client than they should. While the research shows that fish, like people, can be aggrieved on behalf of a third party, don’t be too impressed with the males’ altruism—they get plenty out of the deal.

For a study in Science, researchers looked at the fish Labroides dimidiatus, whose females usually play by the rules of the cleaning business. But the females can sometimes be too greedy and “bite the flesh of the fish they are cleaning in a bid to get to the mucus, which is more tasty than the parasites on the surface,” researcher Redouan Bshary found. The male fishes, which are bigger in size, would then step in to chase the females away [AFP].

To simulate and examine this aquatic arrangement in the lab, Bshary’s team set out a plate that took the place of the “client” fish. It featured the options of fish flakes and prawns for the cleaner fish to eat—the flakes as a stand-in for the parasites the fish are supposed to eat, and the prawns acting as the more desirable mucus. However, the researchers took away the plate if any of the fish ate a prawn (as if the client were to swim away). They saw that the male cleaner fish — even in this unfamiliar lab setting — would punish, or chase away, the female fish if the females ate a prawn [LiveScience].

Why so serious, male fish? On the one hand, it’s just good business. If the females eat the client fish’s mucus, researchers say, it scurries off, and the cleaner fish team loses a customer. But there’s more to it than that: The males are really just cutthroat capitalists, looking out for themselves at their partners’ expense. “The male’s dinner leaves if the female cheats,” explained lead scientist Nichola Raihani from the The Zoological Society of London. “By punishing cheating females, the males are not really sticking up for the clients but are making sure that they get a decent meal” [BBC News].

Altruistic or not, it’s hard to fault the males for keeping up appearances. A Nature study back in 2006 suggested that client fish are choosy shoppers, spying on cleaner fish to see who runs the best service. With all the cheating going on, they’d be fools not to. Not only do cleaners cheat their clients and go for the mucus, but there are also impostor cleaners—fish that mimic the appearance of cleaners to capitalize on that whole “not getting eaten” thing.

Related Content:
80beats: DNA Scanner Proves That NYC Sushi Contains Endangered Bluefin Tuna
Discoblog: Was This Fish the Inspiration for Alien?
DISCOVER: The Most Important Fish in the Sea

Image: Richard Smith

Samsung showed off some LTE-equipped cameras, MIDs, and photo frames which will beam your media around over Verizon’s 4G network. This could mean having images show up on your photoframe as you shoot them, and allow for plenty of humiliation.

I mean, having things transferred almost instantly like that is bound to lead to some shots you don’t want seen being displayed. Either way, this is yet another way 4G will make our lives easier by cutting out the oh-so-difficult process of using data cables and card readers. [Engadget]

Iguanas are not native to Florida but there is a thriving population of pets – and their descendants – released into the wild by irresponsible owners.

Some have suggested that now would be an opportune moment to cull the invasive South American species, which many view as a pest.

But Mr Magill warned: “I knew of a gentleman who was collecting them all in the street and throwing them in the back of his station wagon.

“All of a sudden as he’s driving along these things are coming along, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck.”

Meanwhile off the Florida coast, hundreds of manatees have gathered in the warmer waters outside a power plant in Tampa Bay to keep out the chill.
Ron Magill of Miami Metrozoo has a warning for those who find the iguanas.

“I knew of a gentleman who was collecting them off the street and throwing them in the back of his station wagon, and all of a sudden these things are coming alive, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck,” Magill said.

The stories of “kamikaze iguanas” plummeting from trees were urban legends in Florida, but now have a plausible explanation. Link (with video)

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Filed under: SUV, Mercedes-Benz, Diesel

Some of us are big fans of diesel engines. Huge fans even. We love the slow-revving grunt. We love the incredibly long time it takes them to run through a tank of fuel. We love lazily cruising at 70 mph while turning over less than 2,000 rpm. There’s even more to love, but we have to admit, none of us currently own a vehicle powered by a modern diesel engine that requires AdBlue, a urea-based solution that breaks down nitrogen oxide in exhaust gases that’s required for some diesel-powered vehicle to meet strict emissions standards. If we did, we might be a little irked like Tom Mutchler over at Consumer Reports.

Mutchler recently took the publication’s diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz GL320 BluTec to a dealer because a warning light indicated that the SUV was low on AdBlue. The total bill for a refill? $316.99! The GL gulped 7.5 gallons of this costly solution, which accounted for $241.50 of the total bill. For those who don’t do math, that’s $32.20/gallon. Labor and tax accounted for the remainder, which is also shocking considering the only labor involved was twisting a cap and pouring.

It took CR about 16,566 miles to run low on AdBlue, which means they’ll be spending $1,457.80 on the stuff over 100,000 miles. Sure, that may not be a lot of money for someone who just purchased a $67,000 SUV, but Mutchler makes a good point reminding us that BMW covers that cost for its diesel-powered vehicles up to 50,000 miles.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports pays $32.20/gallon to fill up on AdBlue originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Australia has a cane toad problem. The little leapers are devastating the Aussie ecosystem (Australia has no native toads). They’re gobbling up native insects and poising any animal that attempts to prey on them. One group thought they had a humane way to stop the toads’ spread—suffocate captured toads by putting them in bags filled with carbon dioxide. But now government officials are saying “not so fast,” and have declared that kill method inhumane. From The Scientist:

The Kimberley Toad Busters (KTB) have been using carbon dioxide exposure to euthanize the toads for five years, successfully eliminating more than half a million pests. But last year, after the cane toad populations made their way into Western Australia (WA), the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) — a department of the WA government — announced that they would not support the use of CO2 until further trials had been done, leaving the KTB nearly weaponless against the rapidly spreading invasion just as the first major wet season rains are starting to fall.

So what does the DEC suggest as a humane way to kill the invasive toads? The agency requests that the Toad Busters use blunt trauma for brain destruction.

Guess it’s time for the Toad Busters to break out their whacking sticks.

Related Content:
Discoblog: Some Animals Need to be More Endangered
Discoblog: Crocs Chow Down on Invasive Toads, Instantly Regret It
Discoblog: To Fight Croc-Killing Toads, Australians Turn to “Cane Toad Golf”

Image: flickr / Sam Fraser-Smith

AP Top 25

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Alabama (60) 14-0 1500
2 Texas 13-1 1399
3 Florida 13-1 1370
4 Boise State 14-0 1366
5 Ohio State 11-2 1224
6 TCU 12-1 1163
7 Iowa 11-2 1126
8 Cincinnati 12-1 1060
9 Penn State 11-2 1016
10 Virginia Tech 10-3 953
11 Oregon 10-3 886
12 Brigham Young 11-2 806
13 Georgia Tech 11-3 768
14 Nebraska 10-4 724
15 Pittsburgh 10-3 697
16 Wisconsin 10-3 571
17 LSU 9-4 501
18 Utah 10-3 491
19 Miami (FL) 9-4 310
20 Mississippi 9-4 296
21 Texas Tech 9-4 224
22 USC 9-4 216
23 Central Michigan 12-2 166
24 Clemson 9-5 125
25 West Virginia 9-4 91

Others receiving votes: Oklahoma 90, Oregon State 89, Navy 85, Stanford 67, Oklahoma State 40, Rutgers 37, Auburn 8, Georgia 7, Florida State 6, Connecticut 5, Arizona 5, Middle Tennessee 4, Air Force 3, Arkansas 3, Villanova 2

Rank Team (first-place votes) Record Points Final regular season rank
1. Alabama (58) 14-0 1,450 1
2. Texas 13-1 1,360 2
3. Florida 13-1 1,323 5
4. Boise State 14-0 1,312 6
5. Ohio State 11-2 1,190 8
6. TCU 12-1 1,104 3
7. Iowa 11-2 1,087 11
8. Penn State 11-2 1,071 9
9. Cincinnati 12-1 943 4
10. Virginia Tech 10-3 940 12
11. Oregon 10-3 846 7
12. Brigham Young 11-2 814 14
13. Georgia Tech 11-3 741 10
14. Nebraska 10-4 671 19
15. Pittsburgh 10-3 667 16
16. Wisconsin 10-3 587 22
17. LSU 9-4 530 13
18. Utah 10-3 466 24
19. Miami (Fla.) 9-4 336 15
20. Southern California 9-4 217 NR
21. Mississippi 9-4 192 NR
22. West Virginia 9-4 159 17
23. Texas Tech 9-4 152 NR
24. Central Michigan 12-2 123 NR
25. Oklahoma State 9-4 92 18

Others receiving votes: Navy (10-4) 89; Oregon State (8-5) 78; Clemson (9-5) 75; Oklahoma (8-5) 67; Stanford (8-5) 49; Auburn (8-5) 17; Georgia (8-5) 13; Houston (10-4) 12; Middle Tennessee (10-3) 12; Arizona (8-5) 11; Arkansas (8-5) 10; Connecticut (8-5) 10; Florida State (7-6) 9; Air Force (8-5) 7; Rutgers (9-4) 7; Northwestern (8-5) 6; East Carolina (9-5) 4; Southern Methodist (8-5) 1.

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The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced organization and leadership changes within its Integrated Defense Systems unit that continue to reposition the company for growth in the current business environment.

The realignment is effective immediately, and the unit will begin operating under a new name: Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

In announcing the changes, Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the realignment is part of a continuing effort to successfully compete in a rapidly evolving global defense and security marketplace.

Muilenburg said that reshaping the unit positions Boeing for further growth in new and adjacent markets while continuing to serve existing defense and space customers.

“Boeing anticipated flattening defense budgets and shifting customer priorities for the past few years and has been taking aggressive steps to position the company for profitable growth in a challenging economy,” Muilenburg said.

“In the past 18 months alone, we have acquired seven companies to enhance existing capabilities, expanded Boeing’s services business, and created new divisions — like Unmanned Airborne Systems — to directly and rapidly respond to our customers’ emerging priorities.

“With these latest strategic moves, we can extend our core programs even as we enhance Boeing-wide capabilities designed to capture business in promising markets in the United States and around the world, including cyber-security, energy, intelligence, C4ISR and logistics,” Muilenburg said.

The scope of change in Boeing’s business environment is further reflected in the decision to rename Integrated Defense Systems, a name the unit has carried since 2002, when the company consolidated its military aircraft and space businesses.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a recognition that success in a highly competitive global arena will be determined by a company’s ability to offer and deliver new capabilities, products and services to meet complex customer demands.

“As Boeing sustains and grows its core global defense business through solid execution, we are also playing a broader role in markets that go beyond Boeing’s traditional strengths,” Muilenburg said.

“As we grow in these areas, it is important for us to send strong signals to our global customers that we are prepared to offer high-value Boeing solutions for all of their needs across defense, space and security domains.”

While Boeing Defense, Space & Security will retain its current operating units — Boeing Military Aircraft (BMA), Network and Space Systems (N&SS), and Global Services & Support (GS&S) — the realignment consolidates some divisions and makes a number of leadership changes.

Chief among the moves is consolidation of two divisions in N&SS: The Combat Systems division and the Command, Control & Communications (C3) Networks division will be unified as the new Network and Tactical Systems division.

Muilenburg also announced several key leadership assignments at the Boeing Defense, Space & Security level and throughout the business units that will help the company improve productivity, manage its cost structure and deliver on customer commitments:

• Rick Baily is named vice president, Engineering and Mission Assurance; prior to this, Baily was vice president/general manager of Combat Systems.
• Nan Bouchard is named vice president, Program Management; she previously served as vice president/general manager, C3 Networks.
• Dave Bowman is named BMA vice president/general manager, Global Mobility Systems and International Tankers; he previously served as vice president, Tanker Programs.
• Jean Chamberlin is named BMA vice president/general manager, U.S. Air Force Tanker Program; prior to this, she served as vice president, Global Mobility Systems.
• Steve Goo is named vice president, International Operations and Compliance; he adds international compliance to his responsibilities. He will oversee all BDS international legal entities in Australia, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
• Bill Schnettgoecke is named vice president, Operations and Supplier Management; Schnettgoecke previously served in a deputy role to this position, and succeeds John Van Gels.
• Torbjorn Sjogren is named GS&S vice president of the Boeing International Support Systems and Alsalam Aircraft Co. subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia; previously, he served as GS&S vice president, International Support Systems.
• Charles Toups is named N&SS vice president/general manager of Network and Tactical Systems; he had served as vice president, Engineering and Mission Assurance.
• John Van Gels is named vice president, Strategic Planning for Operations and Supplier Management; he previously was vice president, Operations and Supplier Management.

A number of structural changes complement these leadership moves:

• In BMA, the Weapons business becomes a division with a direct reporting relationship to BMA; it had been a subdivision of the BMA Global Strike Systems division.
• In N&SS, the Heath, Ohio, and Ogden, Utah, facilities will now report to the Missile Defense Systems division; previously, they reported to the N&SS C3 Networks division.
• GS&S operations in Australia will report to Jim O’Neill, vice president/general manager, Integrated Logistics division. Aviation Training International Ltd., a joint venture for Apache helicopter training with AgustaWestland in the United Kingdom, will report to Mark McGraw, vice president, Training Systems and Services division. Both entities previously reported to International Support Systems.

About Boeing Defense, Space and Security

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACT:Daniel Beck, 703-414-6447
External Communications
[email protected]

As his friends flocked to social networks like Facebook and MySpace, Alessandro Acquisti, an associate professor of information technology at Carnegie Mellon University, worried about the downside of all this online sharing. “The personal information is not particularly sensitive, but what happens when you combine those pieces together?” he asks. “You can come up with something that is much more sensitive than the individual pieces.”

Acquisti tested his idea in a study, reported earlier this year in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He took seemingly innocuous pieces of personal data that many people put online (birthplace and date of birth, both frequently posted on social networking sites) and combined them with information from the Death Master File, a public database from the U.S. Social Security Administration. With a little clever analysis, he found he could determine, in as few as 1,000 tries, someone’s Social Security number 8.5 percent of the time. Data thieves could easily do the same thing: They could keep hitting the log-on page of a bank account until they got one right, then go on a spending spree. With an automated program, making thousands of attempts is no trouble at all.

The problem, Acquisti found, is that the way the Death Master File numbers are created is predictable. Typically the first three digits of a Social Security number, the “area number,” are based on the zip code of the person’s birthplace; the next two, the “group number,” are assigned in a predetermined order within a particular area-number group; and the final four, the “serial number,” are assigned consecutively within each group number. When Acquisti plotted the birth information and corresponding Social Security numbers on a graph, he found that the set of possible IDs that could be assigned to a person with a given date and place of birth fell within a restricted range, making it fairly simple to sift through all of the possibilities.

Welcome to the unnerving world of data mining, the fine art (some might say black art) of extracting important or sensitive pieces from the growing cloud of information that surrounds almost all of us. Since data persist essentially forever online—just check out the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, the repository of almost everything that ever appeared on the Internet—some bit of seemingly harmless information that you post today could easily come back to haunt you years from now.

Eriez’ revolutionary Model 26C Vibratory Feeder, a rugged AC-operated unit, enables linear, exact feeding of large quantities of bulk materials. Eriez electromagnetic feeders offer a cost effective, sanitary alternative to screw feeders.

Model 26C is designed for feeding up to four tons (3.6 MT) per hour and features a totally enclosed, dust and moisture resistant patented electromagnetic drive, which extends coil life and makes cleaning easier. Plus, the simple AC controls operate the feeder with “watch–like” precision.

This innovative feeder features a Hi-Vi Magnetic Drive Circuit, powered by alternately opposing and attracting magnetic forces, which assures low maintenance. There are no sliding or rotating parts, power consumption is low and installation is easy.

Old–style electromagnetic vibratory equipment operates with an inefficient attract-release system: a spring–mounted moving mass is alternately attracted by a rectified pulsating DC electromagnet and returned to its original position solely by the springs.

The Eriez® Hi–Vi system, on the other hand, incorporates a lifetime permanent magnet (part of a spring–mounted moving mass) whose poles are intermeshed with those of an electromagnet powered directly by an AC line. This results in the spring–mounted moving mass being both attracted and repelled by the AC electromagnet equally on each half of the AC cycle.

With Model 26C, customers get all the features that for years have made Eriez feeders the leaders in quality and dependability.

Eriez is recognized as world authority in advanced technology for magnetic, vibratory and inspection applications. The company’s magnetic lift and separation, metal detection, x-ray, materials feeding, screening, conveying and controlling equipment have application in the process, metalworking, packaging, recycling, mining, aggregate and textile industries. Eriez manufactures and markets these products through ten international facilities located on six continents. For more information, call toll-free (888) 300-ERIEZ (3743) within the U.S. and Canada. For online users, visit www.eriez.com or send e-mail to [email protected]. Eriez World Headquarters is located at 2200 Asbury Road, Erie, PA 16506.

Scapa 2701 is a general purpose plasticised PVC tape, 0.13mm thick, suitable for all splicing, cable bundling, colour coding applications or for primary electrical insulation up to 600 volts.

World class, inspired, market driven team, focused on optimising customer and shareholder value through responsible, agile delivery of specialist tape solutions.

As a market-led organisation, our marketing and technical teams are continuously evaluating client needs, in order to meet their evolving requirements. Our sales people are experienced in working with you to find the right solution for your product and business needs, while our technical service and customer care teams ensure your ongoing satisfaction.

As a specialist provider of bonding solutions, with an unrivalled range of adhesive tapes, films and foams, Scapa offers customers the benefit of dealing with a core supplier and manufacturer. With customer and market understanding as leading principles, Scapa is committed to a partnership approach with its customers.

Leveraging our global presence and experience in fast-moving markets, Scapa is able to meet customer requirements swiftly. Building on these strengths, Scapa is in an excellent position to deliver sustainable customer and shareholder value.

With the current economic climate causing a slow down in most industries, many businesses are looking at ways to reduce expenditure without compromising on production. To help both the bottom line and keep up with competitors a viable solution would be to repair, improve and maintain existing equipment. Spooner Industries, a world leader in forced convection technology, has developed a Technical Services Division to do just that.

Complimenting the company’s long established capabilities in the design and manufacture of industrial drying, cooling, baking and proving machinery, the new division allows new and existing customers to take full advantage of repair, services and support systems that will optimize reliability, reduce downtime, improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.

Spooner’s Sales & Marketing Director, Steve Newell said, “With the present economic downturn it makes sense to repair and maintain existing equipment. The Technical Services Division has been developed by our team of specialist engineers to ensure you achieve optimum efficiency from all your process machinery.”

Spooner has also launched a new range of energy saving and air pollution control products. The new range, being manufactured under the Spooner Anguil name, is the result of partnership formed between Spooner Industries and US based Anguil Environmental Systems for whom Spooner has become the European licensee. Anguil has over 30 years of experience providing VOC and HAP abatement technologies to companies around the world.

The Environmental Systems product range includes thermal and catalytic oxidisers, heat exchangers, energy recovery systems and pollution abatement equipment for chlorinated emissions in addition to Spooner’s well established range of forced air convection equipment.

Anguil has a strong reputation and state of the art air pollution control technologies. The partnership allows Spooner to design, engineer and manufacture oxidiser equipment in-house and offer industrial facilities in Europe a single source solution for their dryer, oven and air pollution control needs.

Based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, Spooner Industries has over 75 years experience in forced convection baking, proving, cooling and drying for a range of industries, including food, paper, non wovens, converting, pharmaceuticals and metals.

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe is one of my favorite podcasts. It’s funny, informative, goofy, but most importantly goes right to the heart of a lot of issues important to the critical thinker.

I’ve done a lot of interviews with them, and sometimes they call me at the last minute when there’s some breaking astronomy news. So a couple of weeks ago I wasn’t too surprised when Steve Novella sent me a note asking if I could record with them that evening for their annual year-end wrapup episode.

What did surprise me is why they wanted me on: the SGU listeners had voted for me as Skeptic of the Year!

Well, wow! I was really floored when they told me this during the interview. It was totally unexpected, and quite an honor. I made some jokes about it in the interview, but now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I want to reiterate how honored I am. It was a great year for skepticism and skeptics themselves, with Simon Singh publicly defending himself from craven chiropractors who tried to sue him into silence, Amy Wallace writing about antivaxxers in Wired magazine, the Australian Skeptics heroically taking on (and being attacked by) the awful antivax guru Meryl Dorey, Randi publicly fighting his cancer with medical science, and so many more.

In that company, I stand paradoxically humbled and proud. My sincere thanks to everyone who cast their vote my way on the SGU forums.

I always really like the SGU year-end wrapup; it’s fun to listen in on the rogues reminiscing on the past year. This one in particular is a great episode. Here’s a direct link to the MP3 of the show, and if you don’t already subscribe to SGU, then go do it now!

Kuo Design has rounded up an impressive collection of magazine covers bearing Jobs’s face. Watch him as he loses hair; puts on weight, loses weight; has a brief flirtation with a bow tie, moustache, Sheryl Crow. Poor guy.

Is that…is that a bow tie Jobs is wearing there?

The Full House parody.

Jobs went through a heavy Kraftwerk era.

Promo from Jobs’s Japanese gangsta movie.

Jobs was a secret New Wave fan, Gates, well…he was going through a rough time.

Geppetto’s creation.

I like this, his long hair looks silky-smooth.

Buy this iPod…or I will shoot lasers from my eyes.

Did they photoshop Jobs’s head on Ive’s body?

Jobs is given the Warhol treatment.

After a hard day at work, Jobs likes nothing better than to have Gates give him a rub-down.

“How he plans to save the music biz”…with Sheryl Crow?

Steve throws a curveball.

That mustache is definitely a risk.

Harry Slatkin from Slatkin & Co has a great tip for getting your home ready for a new season. He suggests keeping your house smelling wintery until the end of January or the first few weeks of February. That means keeping those nice Christmasy pine and cinnamon candles and other scented products out after you take down the tree. (As a major fan of Christmas, I love the idea of keeping at least a bit of it around for awhile.)

As you move into February, you should begin to pack away your wintery scents and replacing them with traditional springy smells. I love the smell of spring flowers – scented hyacinths, old fashioned daffodils, cherry blossoms and all the others. I prefer to use forced bulbs to bring some of these scents into my home, but, if you have a black thumb or want to add scent to rooms that aren’t , having candles, sprays and other scented products is a great option.

I force bulbs by planting pots and leaving them on the porch for a few months over the winter to chill and then bringing them inside. You can also force bulbs in water. If you have really harsh winters or your area is too warm for bulbs to chill, you can buy a kit with pre-chilled bulbs it it around this time of year. Another option is to simply buy a bouquet from your florist every few days, but it can get a bit expensive.

Do you think about the scents in your home when you are redecorating for a new season?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Bring Spring to Your Home With Floral Scents

by Tom Laskawy

It’s not just mountaintop removal mining that’s making activists of scientists. Now a group of 40 climate scientists backed by the Union of Concerned Scientists has written a letter demanding a meeting with American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman to discuss his group’s continued endorsement of climate denial and refusal to acknowledge the reality of anthropogenic climate change. For its part, the AFB shows no sign of backing down. According to ag journalist Chris Clayton, the AFB’s annual meeting which starts this weekend will feature the group’s climate denial prominently (sub req’d):

Farm Bureau
has been opposed to climate legislation in Congress that would work to
reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through cap-and-trade, which would cap
emissions and establish a trading program for emission allowances and
offsets. Farm Bureau’s campaign is “Don’t CAP Our Future,” which is
being highlighted at the AFBF convention.

At the convention, Farm Bureau has scheduled a
seminar titled “Global Warming: A Red Hot Lie?” which will be given by
an attorney from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

And who is this attorney? According to UCS he is none other than:

[C]limate change denier Christopher Horner, who will be the only
scheduled speaker addressing climate at the annual American Farm Bureau
meeting later this week in Seattle. Horner is an attorney with the
Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-funded, anti-regulation
think tank that has received millions of dollars over the last decade
from the auto and oil companies, most notably ExxonMobil, to try to
block federal action on climate change.

Sigh. The climate scientists on the other hand beg to differ. From their letter (PDF):

Climate change is already changing our world. According to the National Climatic Data Center (NOAA), the ten hottest years on record (since comprehensive temperature records began in 1880) have all occurred since 1990. Even though this year has been relatively cool in some parts of the United States, 2009 is on track to be the 6th warmest year on record in terms of global average temperature, and this decade will be the warmest on record.

While it is true that Earth experiences natural warming and cooling cycles, scientists have accounted for these cycles in their analyses and in their models of the physics, chemistry, and biology affecting the Earth’s climate system. The evidence clearly shows that the primary cause of the observed warming in recent decades is a result of increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which come from human activity.

Given this vast scientific consensus on climate change, we are disappointed that the American Farm Bureau has taken the inaccurate and marginalized stance that “there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment on the exact impact or extent of carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming or how they will affect future climate changes.”

Your organization’s position does not reflect the consensus opinion of the science community or the scientific literature. Your stance represents the position taken by a relatively small number of climate change deniers, whose opinions and misrepresentations of the scientific data are typically not published in peer-reviewed scientific literature, but are instead shared in arenas that are not subject to rigorous scientific review.

The need to take climate change action is more urgent than ever. The latest science indicates that many climate impacts are happening faster than previously projected. Fortunately, we can still avoid the worst consequences if we take action soon. With that in mind, we hope to meet with you in the next few weeks to discuss this important matter.

What say, Bob? Are you man enough to meet with climate experts who actually know what they’re talking about?

Related Links:

Seeking sustainability, finding skeptics at the American Farm Bureau meeting

What does climate consensus look like?

Pesticides loom large in animal die-offs

If you tire of your own personal Top 40 songs, you can use the iFM to plug in and tune in to the Radio’s Top 40. The iFM actually wakes up the embedded Apple radio control software on your iPod. A free download on the Apple store of Griffin’s application and you are good to go. It has the ability to compose preset favorite stations and tag your favorite songs so you can purchase them. Available soon for $40 on Griffin’s site.

We’ve been hard at work crafting a real-time lineup for paidContent:2010 and we’re pleased to announce the latest additions, led by a Q&A with Hilary Schneider, Yahoo’s EVP for North America. Schneider’s responsibilities include advertising sales, partnerships and programming as well as the company’s global mobile business. Schneider, the former CEO of Knight Ridder Digital, was integral in launching the Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Newspaper Consortium, partnerships with publishers to expand Yahoo’s local reach and their online revenues—one of the subjects she’ll discuss when we meet on February 19 at TheTimesCenter in New York.

Our new panelists bring a mix of experience and perspectives from cable, mobile gaming, search and large-scale online publishing: Bruce Campbell, President, Digital Media and Corporate Development, Discovery Communications;; Josh Cohen, senior business product manager, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News; Shawn Colo, co-founder of Demand Media; Bart Decrem, co-founder and CEO, Tapulous; KC Estenson, General Manager, CNN.com; Marty Moe, SVP-AOL (NYSE: AOL) Media. (The full list of speakers confirmed so far.)

Our areas of focus will include:

»  The truth about the subscription business: Digital subscriptions are all the rage now, but the idea is far from new—and far from a sure thing. How do companies evolve the idea that worked for newspapers and magazines for so long?

»  The rise of content super-distributors: Are content-generating machines like Demand Media, Associated Content, Mahalo and About.com – driven largely by SEO and Google – the future for a big subsector of the content industry?

»  The age of the big-media JV: What lessons can be learned from past failures, and what happens when companies that haven’t been able to crack the code on their own, band together for scale, reach and sales power?

»  Parsing the mobile/e-reader boom: Is the hybrid model (premium+ads) the answer, or are there more promising models still in the works?

Register today for the special early bird rate of $885