IS: Infinite Stratos AniDB: IS: Infinite Stratos Official Website: IS: Infinite Stratos Genre: Action, Comedy, Harem, Mecha, Novel, School Life, SciFi, Seinen Description: Did anyone watch the first episode? Is it worth following?
Cyborg 009 (1968) AniDB: Cyborg 009 Official Website: Cyborg 009 Genre: Manga, SciFi, Shounen Year: 05.04.1968 till 27.09.1968 Description: Cyborg 009 (1966) (Movie) AniDB: Cyborg 009 (Movie) Official Website: Cyborg 009 (Movie) Genre: Manga, SciFi Description: I'm sure few know this anime :D I am one of those few too lol. I might check it out sometime.
AniDB: Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto Official Website: Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto (Japanese) Genre: Action, Mecha, Shounen Description:
Toaru Majutsu no Index AniDB: Toaru Majutsu no Index Official Website: Toaru Majutsu no Index (Japanese) Genre: Action, Magic, Shounen, Super Power Episodes: N/A Description: Toaru Majutsu no Index II AniDB: Toaru Majutsu no Index II Official Website: Toaru Majutsu no Index II (Japanese) Genre: Action, Magic, Sci-Fi, Super Powerl Description: Nothing special, but it's a nice one to watch.
Why hopefully? You want it to remain in the web?
Yours is pretty hot too, y'know. And there's two of them!
PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful. “Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.” Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts. “After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business.” Zuckerberg said that the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset. “I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.” Some Facebook users were furious upon hearing the shocking news. “What am I going to do without Facebook?” said Denise Bradshaw, a high school student from Indiana. “My life revolves around it. I’m on Facebook at least 10 hours a day. Now what am I going to do with all that free time?” However, parents across the country have been experiencing a long anticipated sense of relief. “I’m glad the Facebook nightmare is over,” said Jon Guttari, a single parent from Detroit. “Now my teenager’s face won’t be glued to a computer screen all day. Maybe I can even have a conversation with her.” Those in the financial circuit are criticizing Zuckerberg for walking away from a multibillion dollar franchise. Facebook is currently ranked as one of the wealthiest businesses in the world, with economists estimating its value at around 7.9 billion. But Zuckerberg remains unruffled by these accusations. He says he will stand by his decision to give Facebook the axe. “I don’t care about the money,” said Zuckerberg. “I just want my old life back.” The Facebook Corporation suggests that users remove all of their personal information from the website before March 15th. After that date, all photos, notes, links, and videos will be permanently erased. Source: http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/27321/facebook-will-end-on-march-15th/
Yeah thanks. :D
Dude you suck lol.
Intel's latest and greatest new processor seems to have some sharp edges directly aimed at copyright infringements. Without a big fuss made about it the processor has an extra hardware protection layer to make it impossible to copy streamed HD content to other media. Many anti DRM groups already vocalized against this practice as it isn't for Intel to decide how a user utilizes his legal property. Here is a snippet from Intel's own blog trying to suffocate the concerns:
Doctors who are interested in measuring life expectancy may now have a simple way to do it - researchers have discovered that walking speed can be a useful predictor of how long older adults live. Those who walked 1 meter per second (about 2.25 mph) or faster consistently lived longer than others of their age and sex who walked more slowly, the study showed. "We're able to show that a person's capacity to move strongly reflects vitality and health," said study researcher Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. However, the researchers also emphasized that the purpose of this study wasn't to get people to walk faster in hopes of living longer. "Your body chooses the walking speed that is best for you, and that is your speed, your health indicator," Studenski said. "And that's what it really is: an indicator. Going out and walking faster does not necessarily mean you will suddenly live longer. You still need to address the underlying health issues." The researchers showed they could reliably predict the 10-year survival rate of a group of people based on how fast they walked along a 4-meter track. The walking speed for those with the average life expectancy was about 0.8 meters per second (about 1.8 mph) for most age groups of both sexes. Walking speed was a more accurate predictor of life expectancy than age or sex, the study showed. The numbers were especially accurate for those older than 75. This suggests that for older people, walking speed could be a sort of "vital sign," like blood pressure and heart rate, the researchers said. "When you think about it, a sick person would not have that certain spring in their steps. Therefore, it should not be surprising that walking speed can provide a simple glimpse into aging and health status," Studenski said. The findings were based on analysis of nine previous studies that examined the walking speed, sex, age, body mass index, medical history and survival rate of almost 34,500 people. The way we walk and how quickly we can walk depends on our energy, movement control and coordination, which, in turn, requires the proper functioning of multiple body systems, including the cardiovascular, nervous and musculoskeletal systems, Studenski told MyHealthNewsDaily. Because of this, researchers have associated walking speed with health in the past. "But in the past, we simply knew that walking faster was better," said Dr. Matteo Cesari, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new findings, but was not involved in the study. "This study provides us the numerical basis to estimate survival for each walking speed measured on an older person," Cesari said. "When we measure, for example, blood pressure, we need a cut-off point to understand whether it is normal or not. Similarly, we now have a cut-off point to understand whether the overall health of a person is normal for his/her age by simply testing their walking speed," Cesari told MyHealthNewsDaily. Studenski said this finding will have many practical applications. It is a quick and inexpensive way for seniors to gauge their own health. Similarly, doctors can monitor and remedy their patients' quality of life based on this. Walking speed, and in turn, mobility, will be a useful way to measure whether someone is still maintaining a healthy, active and independent lifestyle. The study will be published tomorrow (Jan. 5) in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Pass it on: Older adults who walk faster than 1 meter per second may live longer than those who walk more slowly. XDDD
RAINIER, Ore. – Rainier police chief Ralph Painter responded to a call about an attempted car theft at 10:47 a.m. Less than an hour later he was dead from a gunshot wound — this town's first officer to die in the line of duty. What happened inside the stereo-installation business where Painter was killed Wednesday morning remains shrouded behind the investigation into Painter's death, but police disclosed some details and said that an area man was in custody in a Portland hospital, injured by a police bullet. Painter went to a strip mall to look into a report of an attempted car theft, where he found a man inside the business garage. Police said he struggled with the suspect, identified as Daniel A. Butts, 21, who allegedly fatally shot the chief. Police from nearby Oregon and Washington agencies, some armed with assault rifles, descended on the strip mall one block from the banks of the Columbia River. "They started yelling at him to drop the weapon, which we hadn't seen because he was on the far side of the vehicle," said the Rev. Jeff McCracken of the Rainier Assembly of God. The bullets flew, although Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson refused to say whether the suspect was armed, or whether he had shot Painter with his own gun or Painter's service weapon. "A round came through the window that I was looking through, about six inches above my head where I'd just been standing," McCracken said. "There's gunfire going off from the police officers, as well, so we just got out of there as quickly as we could." Authorities said Butts, of nearby Kalama, Wash., was hit but expected to recover. The killing of the popular police chief stunned the town of 1,800 along the Columbia River, while family members of the suspect expressed regret at his death and surprise over Butts' alleged actions. Sharon Adena, 29, Butts' half-sister, told the Oregonian she was raised in Rainier and knew the Painter family. "I grew up across the street from the Painters. Ralph Painter's son was a good friend of mine," she told the newspaper. "I know Ralph Painter didn't deserve that. Everyone in this family knows that." She said her family was absolutely surprised at what had occurred, saying it was completely out of character for her brother, who lives with his father in Kalama. She said Butts has a high IQ and was a "normal kid in a small town." Butts' father, Mikel Butts, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview he saw his son Wednesday morning. He said neither the hospital nor law enforcement would tell him much. "I've been led to believe that he's probably going to live," the elder Butts said. He said Painter did not deserve to die. "I'm sorry for his family." The suspect's mother, Della Bartley of Rainier, told KATU: "I realize he shot a police officer, and bless the police officer's soul, but also bless my son." Several people in town watched the violent drama unfold. Traci Brumbles was in her liquor store about 50 yards from the stereo business and noticed the unmarked cruiser of the friendly police chief parked outside. Just before 11 a.m., she saw two police cars speed to the store front and watched officers emerge, first crouching behind their open car doors, then slowly advancing. Car after car zipped past her, and a police SUV blocked one entrance to the stereo business, Rainier Sound Authority. There were maybe 30 officers, some with assault rifles. Dusty Rockwood, who works on tires at the Exhaust Shop and Tire Center next door, was startled when a customer and a Sound Authority employee sprinted into his garage. "There's someone with a gun in the store and the cops are here," Rockwood said they told him. A minute passed. They heard someone shout "drop the gun." Seconds later, they heard gunfire. Brumbles saw the muzzles on their gun barrels light up. "Oh my God, they're shooting!" she shouted to her husband. "They're shooting a lot!" The suspect was hauled out. Brumbles couldn't make out much about him. Minutes later, a helicopter landed in a wide field about 20 yards from the store and flew Painter to a Longview, Wash., hospital. Painter was a veteran of the five-man Rainier Police Department who had risen to chief five years ago. He was a family man who loved to camp, said Larry Gates, 67, a friend who owns Rainier Appliance. He had one young child and several adult children, Gates said. "He was one of those policemen that's got a lot of compassion," Gates said. "Everybody liked Ralph. He was always there to help somebody in need. If a family needed help, he was there. If somebody from the church needed help, he was there to help." Gates said Rainier has very little crime and he's never felt unsafe. "We can always replace the chief of police here in town, but we'll never replace Ralph," Gates said. "He's one of a kind."
Perhaps thanks to CES, perhaps thanks to the handful of high profile announcements Apple has made over the years, January has become virtually synonymous with gadgets and new technology. It's also the start of the new year and a time that tech publications like Mashable look forward to the year ahead to figure out what of note is on the horizon. What gadgets will be coming in 2011 that will change the way we work and play? Of course, once CES 2011 wraps up this weekend, we may want to add a few more items to this list, but for now, here are the top eight gadgets Mashable editors thing should be on your radar for the coming year. 1. Qi Wireless Power Who wouldn’t want to simply place a smartphone onto a magic mat and charge it up, no wires required? Sure, wireless chargers have been around for a while, but as of October 2010, there’s now a standard, backed by 69 companies and set to find its way into many (if not most) new mobile devices in the coming year. Soon your smartphone, camera or MP3 player won’t need a special sleeve to charge wirelessly -- it’ll all be built in. Conspicuously missing from the list of companies on board with the wireless charging initiative, though? Apple. - Charlie White, Senior Editor 2. Nintendo 3DS Nintendo’s the biggest name in gaming for a reason, and it'll prove its might once again with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, the next generation of handheld gaming device. Able to create 3D graphics without the glasses, gamers will find many reasons to get this device when it ships in 2011. - Ben Parr, Co-Editor 3. Motorola-Built, Android-Powered Tablets With the blockbuster success of the Droid, it's clear that Motorola's got a good grasp of what the Android-buying community is looking for in hardware. It'll be one of the first consumer-ready devices running Honeycomb, Google's tablet-optimized Android fork; and we're betting it'll be competitively priced, too. - Jolie O'Dell, Social Media & Tech Reporter 4. Smart Shopping Carts In the down economy, the focus of many marketers has shifted from customer acquisition to customer retention, so loyalty programs have come to the fore. While smartphones are one vehicle for perpetrating such programs, 70% of consumers still don’t have one, and even by the end of 2011, market penetration is not projected to top 50%. Smart shopping carts can flash discounts and suggest purchases based on a customer’s history. While some shoppers might find it creepy, many will find it’s like GPS -- you won’t be able to remember what life was like before them. - Todd Wasserman, Business & Marketing Editor 5. PalmPad If any OS was built for tablet use, it’s webOS, and if any company can build a legitimate and affordable competitor to the Apple iPad, it’s HP and Palm. No Android or Windows 7 tablet has demonstrated the capability to match the iPad feature-for-feature. That tall order will fall on the PalmPad. - Ben Parr, Co-Editor 6. Notion Ink Adam India’s iPad challenger, Notion Ink’s Adam, is said to be the first device in the world to integrate two breakthrough power saving components -- nVidia's Tegra 2 chip and a Pixel Qi screen. Together, they are expected to help it achieve twice the battery life and performance of the iPad. - Meghan Peters, Community Assistant 7. NFC-Enabled Phones Samsung’s Nexus S, the first NFC-enabled Android phone, is already on sale; Nokia has announced that all of its smartphones, starting in 2011, will support NFC; and Apple recently hired a NFC expert. Jeff Miles, the director of mobile transactions worldwide at NXP Semiconductors, which co-invented NFC with Sony in 2002, says he expects more than 70 million NFC-capable handsets to be manufactured in 2011. - Sarah Kessler, Features Writer 8. PlayStation Phone While still unannounced, enough pictures and videos have leaked to confirm this thing is real. The Android-based phone will test the limits of gaming on mobile devices. We haven’t seen this much excitement for a phone since the iPhone 4. The PlayStation Phone could very well be the most popular Android phone of 2011.
OMAHA – Classes were canceled on Thursday at Millard South High where a suspended student shot and mortally wounded assistant principal Vicki Kaspar before fleeing and killing himself Wednesday. Robert Butler Jr., a 17-year-old senior who transferred to the Omaha school this fall from Lincoln (Nebraska) Southwest High School, was suspended earlier on Wednesday by Kaspar for driving a car across a Millard South athletic field. Butler, the son of an Omaha police detective, returned to the school with a handgun during the noon hour and shot Kaspar at her desk. He also shot and wounded principal Curtis Case, 44. Kaspar died Wednesday night at Creighton University Medical Center. She would have been 59 Thursday. Her son, Ron, teaches science at the school. It is believed to be the worst school shooting in Nebraska history. The incident is only the second in a Nebraska school in modern times. In 1995, a seventh-grader in Chadron shot and wounded a teacher. It also was a haunting reminder of a shooting spree by a teenage boy that left eight victims dead at a Von Maur department store in Omaha in December 2007. The shooting led to a lockdown of all 35 schools in the Millard school district, affecting about 22,000 students. Millard South is the eighth-largest high school in Nebraska, with 1,503 students. Wednesday was the first day of classes after the Christmas holiday. The district had 24 crisis counselors available Thursday at Millard South for staff, students and parents. The counselors also will be available Friday when classes resume.
CLEVELAND – A 30-year-old Ohio man pleaded guilty on Thursday to murdering three people, whose dismembered bodies were stuffed in a hollow tree, according to the Knox County prosecutor's office. Matthew Hoffman pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in the deaths of Tina Herrmann, her young son Kody Maynard, family friend Stephanie Sprang, and to the rape and kidnapping of Herrmann's 13-year-old daughter. The bodies of those murdered were found inside a hollow tree in November, and the girl was found by a SWAT team in the basement of Hoffman's Mount Vernon home, according to local media reports. The victims' family had asked Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher not to seek the death penalty. Mount Vernon is northeast of Columbus.
LOS ANGELES – U.S. customs officials said on Wednesday they had found a beetle considered one of the world's most dangerous agricultural pests in a shipment of rice arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. Agricultural specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection found an adult khapra beetle, eight larvae and a shed skin in a shipment of Indian rice from Saudi Arabia last week, spokesman Jaime Ruiz said. The khapra beetle, which is native to India and not currently established in the United States, is considered one of the most destructive pests of grain products and seeds. "It is endemic to several countries and the reason it is very dangerous is that its life cycle is very long and it goes into all kinds of food grains," Naveeda Mirza, agriculture program manager for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Reuters. "It has several dormant stages. It can go dormant for a long time and then become active again. Its very very hard to get rid of and that's why its very dangerous," Mirza said. "It is one of the top 10 most dangerous pests not established here." The khapra beetle can also survive for long periods of time without food and is resistant to insecticides and fumigants. The rice was found in a box of food and personal effects being sent from one person to another, Mirza said. The shipment was immediately quarantined and safeguarded and then destroyed under U.S. Customs and Border Patrol supervision, Mirza said. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture website, in 1953 an extensive infestation of khapra beetle was found in California, prompting a massive eradication effort. Last March, Customs and border Protection officials in Detroit found a khapra beetle in a shipment of tile from China
SARASOTA, Fla. – Adam Martin doesn't fit in here. No one else in this nursing home wears Air Jordans. No one else has stacks of music videos by 2Pac and Jay-Z. No one else is just 26. It's no longer unusual to find a nursing home resident who is decades younger than his neighbor: About one in seven people now living in such facilities in the U.S. is under 65. But the growing phenomenon presents a host of challenges for nursing homes, while patients like Martin face staggering isolation. "It's just a depressing place to live," Martin says. "I'm stuck here. You don't have no privacy at all. People die around you all the time. It starts to really get depressing because all you're seeing is negative, negative, negative." The number of under-65 nursing home residents has risen about 22 percent in the past eight years to about 203,000, according to an analysis of statistics from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That number has climbed as mental health facilities close and medical advances keep people alive after they've suffered traumatic injuries. Still, the overall percentage of nursing home residents 30 and younger is less than 1 percent. Martin was left a quadriplegic when he was accidentally shot in the neck last year by his stepbrother. He spent weeks hospitalized before being released to a different nursing home and eventually ended up in his current residence, the Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center. There are other residents who are well short of retirement age, but he is the youngest. The yellow calendar on the wall of Martin's small end-of-the-hall room advertises activities such as arts and crafts. In the small common room down the hall, a worker draws a bingo ball and intones, "I-16. I-one-six." As Martin maneuvers his motorized wheelchair through the hallway, most of those he passes have white hair and wrinkled skin. "It's lonely here," Martin says, as a single tear drips from his right eye. Martin exchanges muted hellos with older residents as he travels down the hall to smoke outside. His entire daily routine, from showering to eating to enjoying a cigarette, is dictated by the schedules of those on whom he relies for help. He usually wakes up late, then waits for an aide to shower him, dress him and return him to his wheelchair. He watches TV, goes to therapy five days a week and waits most days for his friend to bring him meals. He mostly keeps to himself, engaging in infrequent and superficial conversations with his elders. Martin's parents are unable to care for him at home. His father is a truck driver who is constantly on the road, and his stepmother is sick with lupus. Medicaid pays his bills; it could take a lawsuit for him to get care outside a nursing home. Advocates who help young patients find alternatives to nursing homes say people are often surprised to learn there are so many in the facilities. About 15 percent of nursing home residents are under 65. "When I tell people I try to get kids out of nursing homes, they have no idea," says Katie Chandler, a social worker for the nonprofit Georgia Advocacy Office. Federal law requires states to provide alternatives to institutional care when possible, though its implementation varies from place to place. Navigating the system can require a knowledgeable advocate and, sometimes, litigation. Not all younger nursing home residents are there for good. Some nursing homes are seeing an increase in patients who come to recover there instead of in a hospital, because it is cheaper for their insurance company. Like Martin, many younger residents have suffered a traumatic injury. Others have neuromuscular diseases such as multiple sclerosis, or have suffered a stroke. Brent Kaderli, 26, of Baytown, Texas, became a quadriplegic after a car accident in 2006. He hopes rehabilitation will help him gain enough strength to move into an assisted living facility and eventually, to an apartment with his girlfriend. He shares his nursing home room with an older man who suffers from dementia. It is not ideal, but because his parents' home is not modified to accommodate his wheelchair, he thinks it's the only option right now. "Just knowing that one day I will be better, I'm still hoping and praying for that. In the meantime, I think about my family and my friends, what I used to be able to do, and I stay sad a lot," he says. "This is probably the best that I could have at this point." The same generational tensions that exist outside nursing homes are inside them as well, and are sometimes exacerbated by the often close confines. Older residents complain about loud music and visitors, younger residents complain about living with someone with dementia or being served creamed spinach. Many nursing homes try to house younger residents together, though in many cases their small numbers make that difficult. For young people who find themselves newly disabled, the psychological and social needs are often even more challenging than their physical demands. That presents a challenge for nursing homes that are used to serving people near the ends of their lives. At Bayshore Health Center in Duluth, Minn., 34 of the 160 residents are younger people, all living in private rooms in their own wing. The staff has found that subtle changes can improve their lives. Instead of bingo night, there are poker games and outings to nightclubs. For someone who stays up late watching a movie, breakfast can be served at 10 a.m., rather than 7 a.m. Pizza is offered in place of lasagna; Mountain Dew and Coke are poured instead of coffee and tea. Still, many younger residents sink into depression because of their physical limitations, their loneliness and their nursing home surroundings. "For them it's a life sentence. When you're 40 years old you know you're never getting out. This is the way your life will be forever and ever. Amen," says Diane Persson, a gerontologist who has written about the boom in younger nursing home residents. Martin fears that may be true for him. He used to look forward to joining the Army and earning a college degree in science or engineering. Now he simply looks forward to visits from his friend Paul Tuttle, who on this day brings him nachos he feeds him along with sips of water. "If I'm not here, he's got no one his age to talk to about football or anything," Tuttle says, wiping Martin's face. Propped in his wheelchair, Martin says: "It makes you feel old. If that's all you're around, that's what you become."
WASHINGTON – Health officials have warned 25 Mississippi convenience stores to stop illegally selling cigarettes to minors, exercising for the first time new federal powers over sales to people under age 18. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it sent the stores warning letters for failing to check picture identification and selling cigarettes to minors after inspections in November uncovered the illegal sales. The agency, which began regulating tobacco products under a 2009 law, told the stores to prevent future sales to minors or face possible penalties that could include fines, a ban on selling tobacco products and product seizures. The FDA's move is the latest sign that federal regulators are actively using new powers given to them under the law. It also puts retailers nationwide on notice to expect tougher scrutiny. "If inspectors identify violations, the FDA will take swift actions to protect young people," Lawrence Deyton, head of the FDA's new tobacco center, said in a statement. Mississippi is one of 15 states using state inspectors to conduct such FDA investigations. This year, the FDA plans to expand the partnership to all 50 states. Cigarette sales to minors have long been illegal. Still, more than a quarter of children and teenagers have tried or used cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and other similar products, according to government statistics. The FDA announcement regarding the convenience stores came two days after the agency said cigarette makers must provide regulators with detailed information about the ingredients and design of products they have introduced or changed since early 2007 or face possible penalties. Under the 2009 law, which won bipartisan support in Congress, FDA gained wide power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products, allowing it to regulate manufacturing and ingredients as well as sales and marketing. The FDA sent the warning letters, dated December 29 and made public on Friday, mostly to stores at gas stations as well as other convenience stores and delis. The letters were posted on the FDA's website at http://link.reuters.com/qus35r.
LONDON – U.S. officials have issued a subpoena to demand details about WikiLeaks' Twitter account, the group announced Saturday, adding that it suspected other American Internet companies were also being ordered to hand over information about its activities. In a statement, WikiLeaks said U.S. investigators had gone to the San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. to demand the private messages, contact information and other personal details of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other supporters, including the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of handing classified information to the site and a high-profile Icelandic parliamentarian. WikiLeaks blasted the court order, saying it amounted to harassment. "If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out," Assange said in the statement. A copy of the court order, dated Dec. 14 and posted to Salon.com, said the information sought was "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation" and ordered Twitter not to disclose its existence to Assange or any of the others targeted. The order was unsealed "thanks to legal action by Twitter," WikiLeaks said. Twitter has declined comment on the claim, saying only that its policy is to notify its users, where possible, of government requests for information. Others named in the order include Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private suspected of being the source of some of WikiLeaks' material, as well as Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic lawmaker and one-time WikiLeaks collaborator known for her role in pioneering Iceland's media initiative — which aims to make the North Atlantic island nation a haven for free speech. The U.S. is also seeking details about Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and U.S. programmer Jacob Appelbaum, both of whom have previously worked with WikiLeaks. Assange has promised to fight the order, as has Jonsdottir, who said in a Twitter message that she had "no intention to hand my information over willingly." Appelbaum, whose Twitter feed suggested he was traveling in Iceland, said he was apprehensive about returning to the U.S. "Time to try to enjoy the last of my vacation, I suppose," he tweeted. Gonggrijp expressed annoyance that court officials had misspelled his last name — and praised Twitter for notifying him and others that the U.S. had subpoenaed his details. "It appears that Twitter, as a matter of policy, does the right thing in wanting to inform their users when one of these comes in," Gonggrijp said. "Heaven knows how many places have received similar subpoenas and just quietly submitted all they had on me." WikiLeaks also voiced its suspicion that other organizations, such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., had also been served with court orders, and urged them to "unseal any subpoenas they have received." Google and Facebook's London offices did not immediately return calls seeking comment. U.S. officials have been deeply angry with WikiLeaks for months, for first releasing tens of thousands of U.S. classified military documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then more recently posting thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. U.S. officials say posting the military documents put informers' lives at risk, and posting diplomatic cables made other countries reluctant to deal with American officials. Although its relations with the U.S. government have been ugly, WikiLeaks and its tech-savvy staff rely have relied heavily on American Internet and finance companies to raise funds, disseminate material and get their message out. WikiLeaks' Facebook page, for example, counts 1.5 million fans and its Twitter following is upward of 600,000 followers. Until recently, the group raised donations via PayPal Inc., MasterCard Inc., and Visa Inc., and hosted material on Amazon.com's servers. But the group's use of American companies has come under increasing pressure as it continues to reveal U.S. secrets. U.S. officials have been examining possible charges against WikiLeaks and its staff following the series of spectacular leaks, which have embarrassed officials and tarnished Washington's image. WikiLeaks denies U.S. charges that its postings could put lives at risk, saying that Washington merely is acting out of embarrassment over the revelations contained in the cables.
An airport in Tampa, Florida, has had to temporarily close its runways to keep up with Earth's magnetic north pole, which is drifting toward Russia at a rate of 40 miles per year. Fox News reports that the international airport was forced to adjust the signs on its busiest runway Thursday because pilots depend on the magnetic fields to navigate. The runway will be closed until Jan. 13, and will re-open with new taxiway signs that indicate its new location on aviation charts, the Tampa Bay Tribune reports. Paul Takemoto, a spokesman for the FAA, says the Earth's magnetic fields are constantly in flux -- but rarely so much so that runway signage needs to be changed. "You want to be absolutely precise in your compass heading," he told Fox. "To make sure the precision is there that we need, you have to make these changes." "The Earth's poles are changing constantly, and when they change more than three degrees, that can affect runway numbering," FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen told Fox News. It's unclear whether any other airports will have to adjust their runways. Earth's magnetic field, which still flummoxes those who study it, "is thought to be generated deep inside the planet," LiveScience writer Jeanna Bryner explains. "An inner core of solid iron is surrounded by an outer core of molten iron. They rotate at different rates, and the interaction between the regions creates what scientists call a 'hydromagnetic dynamo.' It's something like an electric motor, and it generates a magnetic field akin to a giant bar magnet." Sometimes, the poles completely flip -- and presumably when that happens, many bigger changes are afoot than modest tweaks to airport signs. The last time the planet experienced a polarity flip was 780,000 years ago.
