Google’s lawyers say that Viacom’s lawsuit, “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.”

Google contends that Youtube has followed the notice-and-takedown procedure of the DMCA.

In response, Viacom has cited over 150,000 examples of infringing content on Youtube, and is suing for $1 billion dollars. According to Techdirt, Viacom had $11.5 billion in revenues for 2006, so this suit is for nearly 10% of everything that they sold in 2006. Excessive?

Viacom has planned to create its own site for sharing content in much the same way Youtube operates - essentially copying the business model of Youtube.

What Viacom may be overlooking is the fact that the viewership of their content is far in excess of what it would have been if it had only been distributed via traditional channels. Viacom says that their content has been viewed over 1.5 billion times on Youtube.

Essentially what this all points to is the fact that the traditional business model of broadcast media is nearing the end, and a new business model will be necessary to take its place. When an industry has to resort to lobbying for changes to law that protect their outdated business model (DMCA) and create an un-level playing field counter to the free-market and competition, that indicates that in the current market climate, the business model needs to be adapted. This is the reality that all old media companies will have to come to terms with. You cannot stop change, nor time with an army of lawyers, as change is inevitable. Might as well adapt rather than stagnate.

There are many factors at play in this, how far you have to go? Do you constantly carry anything with you on your ride? Obviously this wouldn’t work so well for long haul trucking as it would be pretty impossible to haul construction hardware, concrete sewers, or aluminum tubing on a bicycle. But commuters, well we just mostly haul ourselves. Here is an interesting story about protecting bicyclists in NY city, the domain of the taxi cab, and traffic jams. NY is not the only city looking into this alternative mode of transportation either.

Technorati Tags: bikes, bicyclists

An interesting tactic in congressional politics is the attachment of “riders“. Since the president’s veto power is all or nothing, attaching little un-attractive projects (in the eyes of the president) to a bill prevents it from getting approved. What do heating subsidies for the poor have to do with executing a war in Iraq? Nothing. Which is really the amount that we should probably be spending on this endeavor. I can inherently see the power of a line-item veto now.

Where does the government get this extra funding? $100 billion here, $200 billion here, $212 billion here….all told it adds up to this. Wondering why the dollar is so weak? Maybe its because all of the excess cash in circulation.

Technorati Tags: riders

What are the best methods for protecting your identity?

Would you use a service like lifelock?

Have you ever been a victim of identity theft?

Please feel free to comment on your experiences with ID fraud.

Technorati Tags: ID fraud

What is Vitamin D? You have probably seen the “Fortified with vitamin D” label on milk containers, and some of you may know that Vitamin D is created when your skin comes into contact with ultraviolet radiation (i.e. sunlight), but did you know that Vitamin D plays in important role in the maintenance of organ systems?

It also assists with the following:

• Vitamin D regulates the calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood by promoting their absorption from food in the intestines, and by promoting re-absorption of calcium in the kidneys.
• It promotes bone formation and mineralization and is essential in the development of an intact and strong skeleton. However, at very high levels it will promote the resorption of bone.
• It inhibits parathyroid hormone secretion from the parathyroid gland.
• Vitamin D affects the immune system by promoting phagocytosis, anti-tumor activity, and immunomodulatory functions.
• Research indicates Vitamin D deficiency may also be linked to Tuberculosis.

According to the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) 200IU of Vitamin D is recommended for adults. Most supplements have a DV(daily value) of 400IU.

However, in an article by Bill Sardi - Bill noted that:

…Dieticians, physicians and pharmacists have been inaccurately trained to warn the public away from higher-dose vitamin D pills for unfounded fears of side effects. The National Academy of Science says 2000 IU (international units) is the safe upper limit. But to show how ridiculous this limit is, an hour of total body summer sun exposure at a southern latitude produces about 10,000 IU of natural vitamin D in the skin without side effect. Somebody has been pulling the wool over the public’s eyes on this issue for a long time.

…Prior evidence that vitamin D prevents cancer has been gleaned from population studies which indirectly show sunny areas of the U.S. have lower cancer rates.

…With low levels of vitamin D now linked with a long list of diseases, including autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sarcoidosis, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease), high blood pressure, diabetes, infectious disease (tuberculosis, influenza, common cold), and obesity, it becomes difficult to predict the actual level of remaining chronic disease in a vitamin D-sufficient population.

Perhaps there is not yet a cure for cancer, but there is definitely something interesting going on. Hopefully we can turn to Science to obtain more research on this extremely versatile vitamin.

Vitamin D - more reading:

Tests suggest many UAE residents suffer from Vitamin D deficiency
By Gulf News
Sixty five per cent of females and sixty per cent of males in the UAE suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, lab tests at the Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) have revealed…. Read full article… Discuss this news story below…

Do nutritional supplements help with mental health? Part 1 …
By experimental chimp
Over the last ten years, there’s been a growing amount of work linking vitamin D to schizophrenia. It looks like your mother not getting enough vitamin D while she was pregnant could increase your risk of developing schizophrenia. …

Prostate Cancer and Vitamin D……
By Luckydog
By inducing a specific gene to increase expression of a key enzyme, vitamin D protects healthy prostate cells from the damage and injuries that can lead to cancer, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers report. …

Vitamin D Deficiency: Information for Cancer Patients
By eileen
Cancer patients need to communicate with their physician about the test for vitamin D deficiency, symptoms of vitamin D deficiency and how to maintain the proper vitamin D level. The Bone and Cancer Foundation, …

Vitamin D need is linked with a wide mountain chain of diseases …
Vitamin D demand is very common and linked to a wide chain of diseases. A simple blood small indefinite quantity test can today step your Vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D need is linked with a wide range of mountains of …
Vitamin D demand is very common and linked to a wide chain of mountains of diseases. A simple blood small indefinite quantity test can today step your Vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D Proven to Lower the Risk of Breast Cancer (Marketwire …
By admin
The link between vitamin D and tumor growth and formation has long been established but, until recently, there was no conclusive evidence that the vitamin inhibits the growth of breast cancer. However, a recent review of cancer data has …

Vitamin D Inadequacy among …
ProHealth’s ImmuneSupport.com - Santa Barbara,CA,USAObjective: Vitamin D inadequacy is associated with medication refractory musculoskeletal pain and neuromuscular dysfunction. This vitamin deficiency could …

want to look beautiful by eating..try this
By arasur
VITAMIN C Vitamin C helps with healing wounds and other damage to the skin. There is some evidence to suggest it may rejuvenate the skin. Vitamin C will also help the immune system fight off illnesses. VITAMIN D …

Technorati Tags: cancer, Vitamin D

Really? He doesn’t? Lets look at a couple of the following quotes courtesy of Space and Motion.com Perhaps some analysis of his quotes will bring a frame of reference on which to make judgement.

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)

It’s not that Einstein does not believe in God, its that he does not believe in the anthropomorphized version of God that the world’s three main religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) espouse. Einstein is not religious, he is spiritual. He feels that organized religion treats humanity as childlike, needing a father figure; needing a being to which they can relate, someone like themselves.

I see a pattern, but my imagination cannot picture the maker of that pattern. I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one? (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p. 208)

I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know his thoughts. The rest are details. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p.202)

Try to comprehend all possibility, all potential, everything that is in one moment, and then is not. One cannot. That is why we are human.

In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support for such views. (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, p. 214)

As the Guardian article points out below, once again, they are attempting to put words into his mouth:

In the letter, he states: “The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

This is not an affirmation of atheism, rather it is striking out against the concept of a reduction to human stature that organized religion has created for the idea of God. You cannot limit that which is limitless. To limit is to control. Einstein does not believe in organized religion but that does not mean he does not believe in Spirituality. Those are two distinct differences.

Technorati Tags: Einstein, religion, atheism, Spirituality

Why should this come as any shock? Our Government is no better with their spending habits. We have been deficit spending since the late 80s. Why should individuals be any different? The slight difference is that individuals don’t own printing presses (and if they do, they don’t own them legally).

People get used to a particular standard of living. With rising gas prices(which are related to a falling dollar internationally)and inflation, the gaps in consumer spending are widening, and people are using credit as a bridge to maintain their standard of living.

But for how long? Once credit card companies realize that all of this incurred debt will most likely never be paid back, the availability of easy credit - will disappear. At that point, living within your means will be the only viable option and we’d better hope there will be no emergencies.

Who will bail out over-extended consumers? Do they even deserve a bailout? What about responsible credit users?

Technorati Tags: Consumers, debt, credit

The Big Bang

Scientists have long theorized that the initial event that created our universe was a massively Big Bang where all potential Energy that existed in the universe was changed into a combination of Energy and Mass.

The Large Hadron Collider is an attempt to recreate the very first Big Bang, when time began. It has been in development since the initial budget of 2.6 Billion Swiss Francs was approved in 1995. Due to cost overruns in the initial planning the final big ticket cost of this technology will be 5 to 10 billion US dollars. Is it worth it?

Wouldn’t it be incredible if the GUT (Grand Unified Theory) were realized within our lifetimes? Maybe 5 to 10 billion US Dollars are worth having a clearer understanding of what happened at the beginning of time.

Scientists are looking for the Higgs Boson particle also known as the God particle. The technical definition is listed below:

The Higgs boson particle is one quantum component of the theoretical Higgs Field. In empty space, the Higgs field has a mathematical value that is always greater than zero. This is also known as a “non-zero vacuum expectation value”, and illustrates the concept that there is no such thing as a completely “empty” vacuum. The existence of this non-zero vacuum expectation plays a fundamental role: it gives mass to every elementary particle, including the Higgs boson itself. In particular, the acquisition of a non-zero vacuum expectation value spontaneously breaks electroweak gauge symmetry, which scientists often refer to as the Higgs mechanism. This is the simplest mechanism capable of giving mass to the gauge bosonsgauge theories. In essence, this field is analogous to a pool of molasses, that “sticks” to the otherwise massless fundamental particles which travel through the field converting into different particles with mass and form the basis of the atom.

This in essence is what gives particles - mass - a basic building block of material reality. The particle is theorized, but as of yet, no one has been able to find one. Take 5 to 10 billion US dollars and perhaps maybe you too can find the God particle once you build a super collider under a mountain range on the border of two European nations.

Danger ahead?

This is all theoretical physics at this point, but if you are feeling uneasy Walter L. Wagner has put together the LHCDefense.org to make sure that CERN doesn’t accidentally destroy the Earth with mini black holes among other things. David Morrison at ask an astrobiologist doesn’t believe there is anything to worry about even regarding the relativistic heavy-ion collider or RHIC back in 1999:

“..Nature has been conducting the same kind of reactions for billions of years by colliding heavy-ion cosmic rays with the Moon. This study concluded that creation of a black hole is “effectively ruled out by the persistence of the Moon.”

Perhaps no one will be opening a rift in the space-time continuum to the planet of Xen anytime soon, but it is still an interestingly possible impossibility.

–Ghostmachine

Podcast for Large Hadron Collider

Technorati Tags: Large Hadron Collider, Higgs boson particle, Walter L. Wagner

It seems that the primary source of funding in this endeavor is none other than the Pentagon itself. There is no doubt that there is a definate use for invisible shielding or a cloaking device to create actual (and not just radar) stealth vehicles for use in instruments of war.

The technology that allows for invisibility is known as metamaterials. A metamaterial (or meta material) is a material which gains its properties from its structure rather than directly from its composition. To distinguish metamaterials from other composite materials, the metamaterial label is usually used for a material which has unusual properties.

The property that allows for invisibility in a particular spectrum of light is the negative refractive index. In layman’s terms, this allows a ray of light to be refracted around, for instance, a cylidrical object in such a way that the light bypasses the object entirely thus rendering it invisibile in that particular spectrum of visible light.

This brings to light (absolutely no pun intended) an interesting situation if this were to be engineered to work for all visibile light. Whoever is enclosed by the object, would be in complete darkness due to the fact that all light is bent around the object. How would one see anything? You would still have to have some aspect of the cylinder allowing light to pass through, therefore the object would not be totally invisible, but would have some minute measure of visibility.

If invisibility becomes a possible impossiblity - what type of social ramifications would there be? As Plato wrote in the Republic about the ring of Gyges:

“No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take what he liked out of the market, or go into houses and lie with any one at his pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be like a god among men.”

For a man or Government to have this type of power is a dangerous situation indeed.