Solar storm forces Delta, United to divert flights

Solar storm: Delta Air Lines and United Airlines diverted flights over the poles to prevent loss of communications. This is the biggest solar storm in six years, says NASA.

Delta Air Lines was diverting some flights on polar routes between Detroit and Asia to avoid disruptions to aircraft communications by a strong solar radiation storm, the airline said on Tuesday.

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The storm, considered the strongest since 2005, has caused minor disruptions for U.S. airlines, and Delta said it altered routes for "a handful" of flights, and that the changes were adding about 15 minutes to travel times.

"We are undergoing a series of solar bursts in the sky that are impacting the northern side of the world," Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.

IN PICTURES: Northern lights from solar flares

"It can impact your ability to communicate," he said. "So, basically, the polar routes are being flown further south than normal."

United Airlines spokesman Mike Trevino said the carrier diverted one flight on Monday because of the storm, but none on Tuesday.

American Airlines reported no operational impact due to solar flares but that it is monitoring the atmosphere, spokesman Ed Martelle said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a press release on Monday that it had issued a watch on Sunday for "a geomagnetic storm associated with a bright flare on the sun."

NOAA said it was the strongest solar radiation storm in more than six years? - and it was forecast to hit Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said. A coronal mass ejection - a big chunk of the Sun's atmosphere - was hurled toward Earth on Sunday, driving energized solar particles at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), about five times faster than solar part

( Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Eric Walsh)

IN PICTURES: Northern lights from solar flares

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/SUHb38yw_qc/Solar-storm-forces-Delta-United-to-divert-flights

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Monster Worldwide cautious on 2012 (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Online recruitment firm Monster Worldwide Inc forecast a weak start to the year and said it will cut jobs, as it does not expect the global job market to improve drastically in the near term.

Shares of the company, which will reduce its global workforce by about 7 percent or 400 jobs, fell 15 percent on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The progress we saw in the fourth quarter was much slower than what we saw earlier in the year," Monster CEO Sal Iannuzzi told Reuters in an interview. "But the situation is not similar to 2008."

The uncertainty in Europe and the United States is making companies hold back and not commit as much as they normally would, he said.

Iannuzzi said the company, whose revenue mix is split evenly between the United States and the rest of the world, also saw some sluggishness in India and Korea. That will continue in to the first quarter, he said.

The staffing sector -- seen as a barometer of economic health -- has been hit by a slowdown in Europe and an uncertain recovery in the United States, where the unemployment rate currently stands at 8.5 percent.

WEAK FORECAST

The company, which runs the Monster.com recruiting website, expects first-quarter bookings -- an indicator of future revenue -- to drop 6 to 10 percent, and profit to be breakeven to 4 cents a share.

Analysts were estimating 9 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It also expects to record a pre-tax charge of $30 million to $40 million mostly in the first quarter due to the job cuts and consolidation of some office facilities.

The company expects the restructuring to result in annual savings of about $100 million.

New York-based Monster's fourth-quarter profit was 11 cents a share and revenue was $250 million. Analysts were expecting 12 cents a share and $258.9 million.

Monster's shares, which have lost about a third of their value in the last 12 months, were trading down 14 percent at $7.77 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a low of $7.67 earlier in the session.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel, Supriya Kurane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wr_nm/us_monsterworldwide

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Minnesota laying groundwork for gray wolf hunt (Reuters)

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) ? Minnesota officials on Thursday outlined plans to permit a hunting season for the gray wolf this year following its removal from federal endangered species protections, prompting opponents of the plan to consider a court challenge.

Minnesota is home to the largest population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states, about 2,900, and could become the first upper Midwest state to set a hunting season for the animals as they are stripped of federal protections.

Federal officials have withdrawn safeguards under the Endangered Species Act effective Friday, allowing states to decide whether or not to allow the gray wolf to be hunted.

There are about 4,000 gray wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and adjacent states losing protections. Hunting seasons have not yet been proposed in Wisconsin or Michigan.

Federal court challenges brought by the Humane Society and other groups overturned de-listing bids by the fish and wildlife service in 2007 and 2009.

The Humane Society opposed the latest de-listing, opposes the hunting season and is considering another court challenge, Howard Goldman, the Minnesota state director of the Humane Society, said Thursday in a telephone interview.

"We are looking at the legal side and the biology," Goldman said. "We don't believe the wolf has recovered nationally. It only occupies 5 percent of its historic range."

Wolves were hunted to the edge of extinction nationwide, but populations have recovered to the point of conflict between ranchers, farmers and hunters who see them as a threat to livestock and big-game animals such as deer.

A separate population of about 1,200 wolves in Montana and Idaho were removed from the endangered species list last year under an unprecedented act of Congress.

There were fewer than 750 gray wolves in Minnesota in the 1950s. The population had grown to about 2,900 by the late 1990s, a level that has not changed significantly since, according to state natural resources department estimates.

Minnesota state officials plan to allow 400 gray wolves to be killed in a hunting season in late November and believe the population could sustain a higher quota. They discussed the plans with state lawmakers in committee hearings on Thursday.

(Reporting By David Bailey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/us_nm/us_minnesota_wolves_hunting

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Oil industry sees China winning, West losing from Iran sanctions (Reuters)

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? As the European Union prepares to ban Iranian oil and the United States turns the screw on payments, oil executives and policymakers say China and Russia stand to gain the most and Western oil firms and consumers may emerge the biggest losers.

Iran will continue to sell much the same volume of oil - 2.6 million barrels per day or around 3 percent of world supply - but almost all of it will flow to China, they reason. And being pretty much Iran's only remaining customer, Beijing will be able to negotiate a much reduced price.

The EU will ban Iranian oil from July. The United States plans sanctions on Iran's central bank and possibly its shipping firm. European headquartered oil firms such as France's Total and Royal Dutch Shell have already abandoned Iranian oil purchases or are in the process of doing so.

Japan and South Korea have signaled they may reduce purchases of Iranian oil to comply with U.S. sanctions designed to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

That leaves a growing number of buyers competing for alternative supplies. Inevitably attention has turned to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter and the only country that can quickly increase oil output and help the West avoid a price spike that would deal a severe economic blow.

The IMF said this week that crude oil prices could rise 20 to 30 percent if Iran were to retaliate by halting its oil exports altogether. Oil industry executives meeting in Davos said energy markets can afford to lose half of Iran's 2.6 million barrels per day. That would be roughly equivalent to supplies lost during Libya's civil war in 2011. They are confident Saudi Arabia will fill the gap.

"What we say is that oil is fungible. Iranian oil will still find its way into the market, to Asian markets, China and possibly at a lower price," a top Saudi source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

"But if let's say 50 percent of Iranian oil is lost, we have spare capacity, we have the capacity to replace it as Libya has shown," he added.

The chief of Saudi state oil monopoly Saudi Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, moved from one bilateral meeting to the next during the World Economic Forum this week. Over the past month or so the kingdom has received requests for additional oil from the European Union, Japan and South Korea. The European Union and Turkey buy almost a third of Iranian oil exports with the rest going to China, Japan, South Korea, India and South Africa.

"As a regular conversation we talked about increased supplies. Saudi Aramco is always positive," Jun Arai, the head of Japan's Showa Shell, told Reuters.

Russia too stands to gain from Western sanctions on Iran. The world's biggest oil producer is well positioned to raise its market share in Europe, despite misgivings among some Europeans about relying too heavily on Russia for oil and gas. Payment disputes between Russia and neighboring Ukraine have in the past threatened transit gas supplies to Europe.

"I'm sure Moscow is watching the situation with big interest," said Jos? Sergio Gabrielli, chief executive of Brazil's Petrobras. Arkady Dvorkovich, the Kremlin's top economic aide, concurred that Russia stood to benefit from sanctions that were guaranteed to keep oil prices at least at current levels around $100 a barrel by his reckoning.

Showa Shell buys 100,000 barrels per day from Iran under a deal that expires in March and like other firms would be exposed to U.S. sanctions if not given a waiver under the latest ban on dealing with Iran's central bank. "We are waiting for guidance from the government," said Arai.

For Total the guidance has been clearer. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been one of the main advocates of tough sanctions. "We have already stopped (buying from Iran)," said Total's chief Christopher de Margerie. The firm was previously lifting 80,000-100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Iran.

Peter Voser, chief executive at Royal Dutch Shell, said his company might take some time before suspending purchases, which market sources estimate at 100,000 barrels per day.

"We are a European company and therefore we are affected by the sanctions and we will obviously oblige and implement the sanctions. I need to study all the details in order to see how it goes forward," he said.

Apart from Total and Shell, Europe's biggest buyers of Iranian oil are Italian, Spanish and Greek companies.

CHEAP OIL

China has so far refrained from buying more Iranian crude but the perception in the industry and among diplomats is that the world's No.2 oil consumer will find it hard to resist buying unsold Iranian oil at a knockdown price.

"I think (the Iranian) oil will go somewhere else ... Iran may give a discount to make it easier and quicker but nothing will change," said De Margerie.

Robert Hormats, U.S. under secretary for economy, energy and agriculture, could not say with certainty that sanctions would reduce Iran's oil exports but he predicted more pain for the Iranian economy.

"You cannot predict what they (Iran) will do and how much they will discount their oil. But it will certainly cause more and more discomfort to the Iranian economy," he said, adding that China too had an interest in a 'constructive outcome'.

"No one has an interest in Iran continuing its non-peaceful nuclear program," he said. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes - electricity generation and medical equipment.

To maximize the impact of the sanctions, the U.S. will apply waivers very "selectively" and "responsibly," Hormats said. In addition, the U.S. administration is talking to Congress about extending sanctions to Iran's shipping fleet although the discussion is at an early stage, he added.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Janet McBride)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_davos_iran_oil

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What is open source? [Android A to Z]

open source

What is open source? Open-source software is software that makes the source code freely available, for anyone to see and use. There are different open-source licenses that have different use conditions, from the GPL (GNU General Public License) -- which allows "free distribution under the condition that further developments and applications are put under the same license" -- to more liberal licenses like the Apache License, which doesn't require modifications to be open and have the source code available.  Android uses both of these licenses, and we'll have a look at them in turn.

The Linux kernel that is used in the OS is covered under the GPL.  This means that any changes made to the source code must be made available when a binary (geek-speak for a compiled, executable piece of software) is released to the public.  This means manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the rest must release the kernel source-code for any devices they sell at the same time they begin selling them.  For the most part, hardware manufacturers are pretty good about doing so, but they often miss the time frame and release the source code a little later than we would like.  These are the code releases you see us mention -- the kernel and other open-source "bits" that are covered under the GPL.

The Android OS source code is released mostly under the Apache License.  Anybody is allowed to download the source code and change it however they like, but they are not required to make their changes available in source code form to the public.  This is why we can't change and recompile things like HTC Sense or MotoBlur -- the changes to the base Android source code aren't available to us.  While many folks (myself included) don't like this situation very much, it does make sense from a business standpoint.  If manufacturers had to share all of their secrets, there wouldn't be as much monetary incentive to innovate, so the source was offered with a far more liberal license.  It certainly worked, as we see devices from many major players in the electronics world.

Previously on Android A to Z: What is NFC?; Find more in the Android Dictionary

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/wBwcHYL7XT4/story01.htm

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95% Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

"They fatten up the pig, now we gonna roast it."After a prison riot, Captain Nascimiento, now a high ranking security officer in Rio de Janeiro, is swept into a bloody political dispute that involves government officials and paramilitary groups. REVIEWElite Squad 2 works because it grows from the first one. The first movie introduced BOPE to the world and had to spend time explaining its methods, philosophy, code of honour and recruitment process. The sequel doesn't suffer from the burden of exposition, and instead of rehashing the plot of the first - the bane of most sequels - it lets the characters' personalities lead the story.Brazilian cinema has been very good since City of God exploded in the world like a hand grenade. Because of it Brazilian cinema has become synonymous with crime movies, even if that's a gross generalization. A subgenre of crime movies defined by graphic violence, social criticism and inventive camera work has prospered in its wake: My Name Ain't Johnny, The Man Who Copied, City of Men, Bus 174, and the Elite Squad movies. At the heart of this Renaissance is the movie's screenwriter, Br?ulio Mantovani. For better or for worse all these movies take inspiration from the style he established in City of God. Directors and actors come and go, but everyone still copies the dark humour, the political irreverence, the non-linear narratives, and the clever voice-over that earned Mantovani an Oscar nomination almost a decade ago.Editor Daniel Rezende, who also worked in City of God, puts the movie together with the force of a tornado. Complementing director of photography Lula Carvalho's documentary-like style, the fast editing and the dizzying camera work go as far as cinema outside of 3D can go in immersing the viewer in the middle of the action.

November 26, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elite_squad_the_enemy_within/

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79-cent Doughnut Theft Means $200 Fine For Criminal Justice Student Zack O'Dell

AP:

By Associated Press

POWELL, Wyo. ?- A 19-year-old college student accused of swiping a doughnut in Wyoming is going to be paying a pretty penny for that pastry.

The Northwest Trail reports that Zach O'Dell has agreed to pay a $200 fine, $10 in court costs ? and 79 cents to cover the cost of the doughnut.

O'Dell was accused of eating the treat in Blair's Market in Powell on Nov. 28 and leaving without paying for it. He was charged with shoplifting.

Attorney Sandra Kitchen says she has deferred the prosecution, and the charge will be dismissed in six months if O'Dell stays out of trouble.

The Trail reports that O'Dell declined to comment.

The Northwest College student has been studying criminal justice.

Related on HuffPost:

Read the whole story: AP

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/wyoming-19-year-old-fined-for-doughnut-theft_n_1233024.html

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Meet the $2,400 Porsche smartphone (Yahoo! News)

The ultra-expensive BlackBerry is sold only in the UK and Middle East

Looking for a way to prove that you have more money than you know what to do with? Look no further than the?BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981, a $2,400 smartphone that helps the world identify you as "that guy who just spent $2,400 on a cell phone."

The specs of the?BlackBerry itself aren't nearly as impressive as you'd expect for a phone that costs about what the average U.S. worker earns in a month. What you get for your money is a 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 touch screen (for those keeping score, smaller and lower resolution than the?iPhone 4S), a?5-megapixel camera and 720p HD video recording (the iPhone 4S offers 8-megapixels and 1080p), and 768MB of RAM. In other words, the ridiculously expensive?smartphone looks obsolete when put next to a phone that came out three months ago.

The phone is hardly the most expensive we've seen ? a Danish retailer released a?$60,000 cell phone last year, and Tag Heuer offers a?$6,700 leather Android smartphone.?And what do you really get for your money? The Porsche name, an admittedly cool design, and higher-quality construction.

Our advice? Your money would be better spent buying 12 iPhone 4S's and throwing 11 of them in the trash.

BlackBerry via?Engadget

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120125/tc_yblog_technews/meet-the-2400-porsche-smartphone

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Watch a very lucky snowmobiler get buried by ??? and then rescued from ??? an avalanche (Yahoo! News)

There are a lot of fun things you can?do in the snow, whether it's just a little flurry or an?unexpected blizzard. Things can go south in a hurry, though, when an avalanche occurs. That's what?happened to John Swanson when he and his friends went out for an afternoon of snowmobiling in Stampede Pass on Mount Washington, about 18 miles south of Seattle.

One of his friends was shooting video from his helmet-mounted camera, and first caught Swanson taking a tumble off his snowmobile near the top of a hillside clearing. As Swanson made his way down to the bottom, a small avalanche caught him unaware and quickly buried him. Luckily, since his friends were watching, they knew exactly where to dig to get him out, and he escaped the ordeal without injury.

With avalanche danger currently extremely high in the Northwest, this is one example of how all outdoor enthusiasts need to be on their guard as they enjoy the winter weather. While this incident ended without tragedy, it's always best to be prepared.

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Mission Possible: Graphene


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Bora ZivkovicBora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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--> Bora ZivkovicBorn in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Bora was always interested in animals and nature. His studies in veterinary medicine were interrupted by the 1990s war in the Balkans, when he arrived in the USA. He went to graduate school at North Carolina State University where he studied how bird brains measure time of day (circadian rhythms) and time of year (photoperiodism). He started ‘A Blog Around The Clock’ in 2004. He teaches introductory biology to non-traditional students at North Carolina Wesleyan College, organizes the annual ScienceOnline conference, and edits Open Laboratory – the annual anthology of the best writing on science blogs. - http://coturnix.org - boraz Contact Bora Zivkovic via email.
Follow Bora Zivkovic on Twitter as @boraz. Or visit their website.-->

Video of the Week #27 January 25th, 2012

From: Winners of the Cyberscreen Science Film Festival at Science Online 2012 by Carin Bondar and Joanne Manaster at PsiVid

Source: Derek Muller & Chris Stewart on techNyouvids and Veritasium on YouTube.

Derek Mueller of Sydney Australia won this year?s Cyberscreen Science film festival with his physics film ?Mission Possible: Graphene?. The festival took place during the Science Online 2012 conference last weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite the dense subject matter of the film (pun intended), Derek kept it entertaining with fantastic storytelling and fun characters. We will be doing a full feature on Derek?s work in the near future on PsiVid, stay tuned!

Bora ZivkovicAbout the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5b73f6f83bd4aa9bb7ab9015dfe13af0

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