Category: News

For some, the world of digital photography can be a bit daunting. Megapixels, digital zooms, aspect ratios. Huh? For others, the only question is which in my stable of cameras shall I bring on my next outing? Whichever camp you fall in, Kodak’s EasyShare cameras are a great choice for their quality, ease of use and attractive price-point. Get this one for a song and have a great camera in your pocket for your next photo op. It takes fantastic pictures. Point and shoot, that’s it. 10.2 megapixels means you can crop away at your images to get the perfect shot – without reducing image quality. Kodak’s EasyShare system makes it a snap to capture your photos, upload them, share them and print them. And this package comes with a Charger kit so you’re always powered up and ready to go.

According to a limited and (admittedly) flawed NHTSA study, hybrid cars seem to hit twice as many pedestrians as non-hybrids in certain low-speed maneuvers. The reason? Hybrids are nearly silent when operating in electric-only mode.

Are hybrid cars REALLY stalking pedestrians? NHTSA says "probably"

Specifically, the study states that:

…[when] a vehicle is slowing or stopping, backing up, or entering or leaving a parking space, a statistically significant effect was found due to engine type. The HEV [hybrid electric vehicle] was two times more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash in these situations than was an ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicle…the incidence rate of bicyclist crashes involving HEVs [hyrbids] was significantly higher…

The data that this report is based on was only taken from a small number of states (13) and over the course of a relatively short time period (8 years). Therefore, the study is far from conclusive (and NHTSA has said as much).

But do we really need a study to “prove” that hybrids hit more people? Doesn’t it seem sort of self evident? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. When walking, do you rely upon your ears to alert you to vehicles outside of your peripheral vision?
2. Have you ever honked your horn when backing out of a low visibility parking space, pulling into an alley, or coming around a corner in a parking garage?
3. If you’ve driven a hybrid, have you ever accidentally “snuck up” on a pedestrian and scared them?

Chances are good that you can answer yes to 2 or 3 of these questions…here’s why.

You’re a human who uses your EARS. Hearing is one of two really important senses that people use while driving. It’s why our cars have horns. It’s why ambulances have sirens. It’s why it’s illegal in most places to drive your car while wearing headphones. It’s why there are laws against really loud stereos and exhaust systems.

While hybrid advocates are quick to point out that the study results could be explained by poor visibility, and that the study data is significantly flawed, (and they’re right), do we really care? Isn’t it obvious that hybrids don’t make noise and that as a result some pedestrians get hit?

There are three options going forward:

1. Mandate that hybrids make noise via some sort of regulation.
2. Conduct a better study.
3. Do nothing.

Option 3 is probably off the table, but just for grins let’s consider it. While hybrids were 50% more likely to hit pedestrians according to the flawed study, the total incident rate was less than 1% of all vehicle crashes. In other words, as bad as it could be, it pales in comparison to other problems. Animal strikes (cows, deer, elk, etc.) injure FAR more people than hybrids hitting people in parking lots. Maybe our energy is better spent elsewhere.

Option 2 is less likely. Most people aren’t going to critically evaluate the current study, so they’re probably never going to learn that it’s flawed and that a better study is needed. Such is politics in America.

Option 1 seems most likely. It’s very easy for NHTSA and/or Congress to instruct auto manufacturers to add a noise maker to hybrids while operating in electric mode.

What do you think – which option makes the most sense? Is there an option missing?

Read user reviews of Tundra Accessories.

First reported in Japanese newspapers (and now on Reuters and PickupTrucks.com) it looks as if Toyota is voluntarily recalling nearly 3.8 million cars and trucks in order to fix and/or replace the accelerator pedals. If this is indeed the official “fix” (Toyota has yet to announce this formally), it’s a bit disappointing.

Since many Toyota vehicles have electronic throttle controls, a software upgrade to the engine management system would cure this issue. A software upgrade that prevents a vehicle from operating at full throttle whenever the brake is depressed would almost completely eliminate the possibility that a vehicle could careen out of control because of a stuck throttle. Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz vehicles with electronic throttles already have this feature – it’s called a “brake to idle failsafe” – but Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles do not.

Toyota's gas pedal "fix" isn't the best solution for preventing run-away throttles.

New gas pedals are probably a cheaper “solution” to this problem, but they’re not the best way to solve the problem.

As you probably know, this all started when Toyota issued a voluntary floor mat recall in late September, 2009 asking owners to remove their driver’s side floor mats pending a more permanent fix. This voluntary recall was in response to a tragic accident involving an out-of-control Lexus that killed four people.

The Lexus that crashed was a loaner car provided by a California Lexus dealership. After a comprehensive investigation, NHTSA concluded that this accident was caused by an over-sized floor mat that interfered with the gas pedal. The floor mat (which was the actual cause of the problem) was not designed for the Lexus it was installed in, nor was it secured. While this accident was tragic, it was NOT a result of a design flaw. It was simply the wrong floor mat.

Nonetheless, NHTSA and/or Toyota have decided to make some sort of change to the design of the gas pedal. Perhaps there is evidence of a more severe problem, or perhaps Toyota feels this is the best way to resolve this issue with the public. While there’s no reason NOT to change the gas pedal design (it’s probably reduces the possibility of a stuck pedal), changing the engine computer software seems like a much better fix. After all, the notorious Lexus loaner car accident wasn’t caused by a poor gas pedal design. There were a number of factors at work:

1. The driver’s floor mats (one on top of another) were too large. It’s certainly possible a smaller pedal would have helped, but the news reported there were TWO floor mats installed, one of which was a big rubber all-weather mat designed for an SUV. Pedal size might not have mattered at all in this particular case.
2. The driver was unfamiliar with the vehicle he was driving (he didn’t know how to shut it off, nor how to put the vehicle in neutral).
3. The driver was in a state of panic.

In all likelihood, none of these problems could have been prevented by a smaller gas pedal. However, ALL of these problems could have been prevented by a software fix that prevented the engine computer from allowing simultaneous brake and throttle inputs. There aren’t any normal driving scenarios where a vehicle’s electronically-controlled throttle should stay open while the brakes are being depressed (that’s a racing-only situation).

In Toyota’s defense, this was a freak accident that could have been prevented any number of ways. If the driver had been more familiar with the car he would have known how to shift into neutral and/or kill the engine. Had the dealership been more careful about the floor mats they used, the pedal might not ever have gotten stuck in the first place. Toyota really shouldn’t have to do anything here…but the negative publicity from this incident has led Toyota to take action.

However, if Toyota is really wants to fix this problem, why not update the engine computers? Toyota is famous for quality, yet this is a half-ass fix.

What do you think – is Toyota doing too much here or not enough?

Read user reviews of Tundra Accessories.

Augmented Reality provides brands with an engaging experience that merges both the digital and the real world. This 30 second video shows how a 3D animation on the product box enabled me to understand the assembled product.

Lego’s “Digital Box” Provides Customers with an Interactive 3D Digital Experience
This weekend, I went to the local Lego store here in Silicon Valley (Hillsdale) to see a practical version of Augmented Reality. I was previously briefed by Metaio, the technology vendor that empowers the software for the Augmented Reality kiosks called, Digital Box. This store, outfitted with a kiosk with a screen and webcam gives instructions on how to show the contents of any box assembled in real time.   Not all of the boxes were equipped (I tried the Star Wars line with no available) but was able to grab this lego kit of a bus, hold it in front of the kiosk.  You can see that the contents ‘assembled’ on the screen, and came to life as a pre-set animation, as I rotated the box, the virtual animation would move with it, giving the illusion that the bus was actually moving over the box.

Breakdown: “Kiosk” Style Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality Not Ready For Primetime –Yet Promises Real World Engagement
The above matrix is just a breakdown of ‘Kiosk” style of Augmented reality, however let’s look at this space as a whole. This technology is in its infancy, the animations are still simple, don’t have a lot of interaction beyond rotation, and require moderate ability to line the product up directly with the web cam. Furthermore, there are barriers to entry as most people didn’t even know about this feature in the store till I showed them, and not every product was outfitted with the ability to display the interactions.

Despite the fact that this is an emerging technology with years ’till maturity, there are three major business opportunities:

1. Extending the web to the real world. Reusing existing digital marketing and support content (from the web) in the physical world will add mileage to marketing assets.  Consumers can access related existing content such as brochure facts, customer reviews, or web based demos that already exist wherever they are, without looking for a URL.  The camera lens will identify the product, then serve up the context information with a click of a button.
2. Greasing marketing and sales process. Creating an engaging experience with customers near point of sale reducing sales costs through sales aids or increasing interest. Animations and virtual experiences can be connected with any device from anywhere, triggering demos, how-to videos, or even 3D media that would entice a prospect to spend more time, or purchase the product.   Essentially, this means a virtual sales person or guide could assist any consumer from anywhere at anytime.
3. Ubiquitous information with mobile devices. Aside from kiosks in stores, we should eventually expect mobile devices to be equipped with the capability to instantly bring up internet information about any product in real-time.  Expect Google to develop a product that maps physical products with their online information, making them yet the middleman for internet advertising –again. Furthermore, it gets really interesting when a brand can ‘hijack’ another company’s brand by creating augmented reality experiences on the boxes of their competitors.

News reports continue to focus on the landmines that exist within health reform proposals. 

Crusading Professor Challenges Dartmouth Atlas On Claims Of Wasteful Health Care Spending
KHN staff writer Jordan Rau reports on the dissenting views of Dr. Richard Cooper. As he raced through the U.S. Capitol this fall, Dr. Richard “Buz” Cooper, a 73-year-old University of Pennsylvania medical school professor, didn’t mince words. He denounced as “malarkey” a reigning premise of the health care debate — that one-third of the nation’s $2.5 trillion in annual health spending is unnecessary — and said that the idea came from “a bunch of clowns” (Kaiser Health News).

Reaction To Cooper’s Challenge Against Dartmouth Atlas
By studying how hospitals treat Medicare patients in their last two years of life, the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care has found wide geographic differences in how medicine is practiced. The research shows patients in some areas are more likely to get operations and tests than other areas (Kaiser Health News).

Health Reform’s Hidden Land Mines
After all the controversy over the public option, people might think that everyone can sign up right away if Congress passes health reform (Politico).

House Health Bill Includes Medicaid Relief For States
Wedged in the House health-care bill is $23.5 billion that looks a lot more like new federal stimulus spending than anything to do with national health-care reform (The Washington Post).

Healthcare Bills Could Jeopardize States’ Consumer Protection Laws
Healthcare overhaul bills working their way through Congress could jeopardize laws in California and other states that require insurers to pay for treatments such as AIDS testing, second surgical opinions and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer patients (Los Angeles Times).

Where Two Contentious Issues Intersect
That question of access to care for some immigrants, and who should pay for it, could well become one of the most contentious sticking points in the coming weeks as members of Congress sit down to reconcile the health-care bill passed by the House on Saturday with the yet-to-emerge Senate version (The Washington Post).

Drug Makers Raise Prices In Face Of Health Care Reform
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years (The New York Times).

Health Bill Foes Solicit Funds For Economic Study
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama’s health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation’s economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a top Chamber official (The Washington Post).

Abortion Deal Spins A Very Tangled Web
Taxpayers currently provide deep subsidies for health insurance plans that cover abortion — a little-recognized fact responsible for much of the angst over an anti-abortion amendment attached to the House health care bill (Politico).

Catholic Bishops’ Influence On Healthcare Bill
For weeks, the Catholic Church has asked its U.S. parishioners to work toward ensuring that tough language restricting federal funding of abortion is included in healthcare overhaul legislation (Los Angeles Times).

AP Poll: Americans Divided On Health Care Bills
A new Associated Press poll shows Americans are divided about the Democratic health care bills advancing in Congress (The Associated Press/The Washington Post).

Report Details Billions Lost In Medicare Fraud
The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient’s condition, wasting taxpayer money at a rate nearly three times that of the previous year (The Washington Post).

Kaiser Health News provides highlights of the health policy headlines from the weekend, including the latest on the Senate Democrats’ health bill, a CMS analysis of the House-passed reform measure and the continued fracas over abortion provisions.

Sign up to receive this list of First Edition headlines via email. Check out all of Kaiser Health News’ email options including First Edition and Breaking News alerts on our Subscriptions page.

Late (very late) Friday, Google and groups representing publishers and authors squeaked in just under the deadline and put forth a revised Book Scanning settlement agreement, designed to address at least some of the concerns and complaints raised by people over the last one. If you want a good breakdown over the changes, check out Danny Sullivan’s analysis or James Grimmelmann’s. Not surprisingly, the Open Book Alliance is not happy, but seeing as it’s a bunch of Google competitors, they were never going to be happy in the first place (and you know that press release was probably 95% written before the actual new terms were released).

In my mind, the biggest news is the new restrictions on countries from which it will scan books. From now on, the book scanning project will only scan books that have registered copyrights in the US, UK, Australia or Canada. This was mainly to address ridiculous concerns by some in Europe that this project — to help make all books more accessible — was somehow a threat to European culture. I was in Europe on Friday (well, Saturday there) when the announcement was made, and it actually pissed off the folks I talked to about it — who felt that their politicians were doing serious harm to European books by having them excluded from such a useful resource.

Separately, a lot of the focus on this new agreement, as with the old agreement, is over how Google treats orphan works. Again, I have to admit that I think most people are making a much bigger deal of this than it warrants. The orphan works stuff really covers a very small number of works. And giving rightsholders ten years to claim their rights seems more than adequate to me. I just don’t see what the big deal is here. The real issue is that we have orphan works at all. Under the old (more sensible) copyright regime, you actually had to proactively declare your copyright interest. The only reason we have orphan works at all is that we got rid of such a system in the ongoing effort of copyright maximalists to wipe out the public domain.

Anyway, I think this is all something of a sideshow. I still stand by my original feeling towards the settlement, which is that I’m upset anyone felt it was necessary at all. Google had a strong fair use claim that I would have liked to have seen taken all the way through the courts. And, of course, this settlement really has nothing at all to do with the main issue of the lawsuit (that fair use question) and is really a debate over a separate issue: how to take the books Google scans and trying to turn them into a “book store” rather than more of a “library.” And, in doing so, the important fair use question gets completely buried — which I find unfortunate.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Based on recently released information by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Cactus Flight 1549 Accident Reconstruction [exosphere3d.com] contains a very detailed technical description accompanied with various visualization animations of US Airways Flight 1549, or better, how it ditched in the Hudson River earlier this year. The data depicted, includes 3D navigation, radar imaging, NEXRAD weather and voice communication retrieved from different sources, which were all mapped to a single animated simulation.

The quality of these visualizations is meant to withstand the rigors of qualification for presentation either as demonstrative evidence or, if sufficient witness testimony is available, real evidence. Interestingly, “The raw data files for each radar facility are more than 1 million lines each and must be sorted and reduced into meaningful information before they can be plotted on a map.“

Most people have not realized this, but the birds were visible on radar (at least on 2 separate radar facilities), before the event occured. After integrating the raw radar data and creating motion targets representing those radar returns associated with the flock of birds, the timeline clearly depicts the intersection of Flight 1549 with birds at a time of around 15:27:10. The NTSB Wildlife Factors Report has identified the feathers in the aircraft as Branta Canadensis (Canada Goose) by means of visual, microscopic and DNA analysis.

A Day in the Life of the MBTA [toddvanderlin.com] consists of 5 posters that visualize the MBTA (Boston’s public transport system) subway usage during August 12, 2009. Specific software programs were written in openframeworks to interpret data in order to emphasize different trends within the data.

Linear charts were used to display the activity of stations on a given line to show the geographic relation of activity throughout the course of the day. Circular 24-hour clocks were made for individual lines and stations in order to see the relative activity throughout the day. Pie charts were used to visualize rush hour commutes on each line, showing the contrast of activity during morning and evening rush hours. Histograms were used to show the breakdown of daily activity in a linear fashion. The final layouts were designed in Illustrator, and visualizations were combined in order to create the 5 individual MBTA line posters and overall MBTA poster.

More detailed, but unfortunately no larger resolution nor downloadable, depictions are available at Flickr.

Thnkx Brett. See also Subway Signage, Subway Ridership Chart, Subway Sparklines, Subway Bathroom Tiling, Redesigned NYC Subway Maps, NYC Subway Smell Map, London Travel Time Map and Time-Based Subway Map.

Japan sure has a penchant for weird alarm clocks, as we blogged many times in the past. And Clockman, a new model from major Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy, isn’t really normal either. Reasons: It looks creepy, it can speak, its eyes and mouth can move and Takara Tomy says it even has a personality and “blood type” (seriously).

There are four different versions of the clock, and each of them works differently. The Clockman with blood type A, for example, is the polite type. He wakes you up by saying “It’s time to wake up. Please wake up.”, while the one with blood type 0 will try to get you going in snooze mode by shouting “Fight! Make an effort! Stand up! Fight!” (in Japanese).

The Clockman is sized at 80×83×80mm and weighs 297g. Takara Tomy says each one can speak 300 pre-installed sentences.

The Clockman will hit Japanese stores November 19. It’s available for pre-order at the Japan Trend Shop for everyone living outside Japan (price: $57).

Watch the video (in English) below to see the Clockman in action. It’s creepy.

Via IT Media [JP] and The Japan Trend Shop

When Psystar first started selling PCs with Apple OS’s installed on them, we knew there would be a lawsuit — though it took a bit more time than we expected. Originally, Psystar tried to claim that Apple was violating antitrust law, which seemed like a wasted path for exploration — and, indeed, a court rejected that claim. Then Psystar went back to more reasonable defenses… or so we thought.

The court hearing the case didn’t seem to think any of Psystar’s main lines of defense had any validity at all and granted summary judgment to Apple on all of the major points, saying that a trial wasn’t even necessary. The “fair use” claim was already weak, and the judge noted that Psystar didn’t even try to discuss any of the four factors generally used in determining fair use. The two (I thought) stronger claims were that (a) the right of first sale applied, and once Psystar purchased OSX legally, it could resell it, provided it was only installed on that one computer, and (b) that Apple went too far in its EULA terms, which demanded that OS X could only work on a Mac. Unfortunately, the judge didn’t agree to either one, though I find the judge’s reasoning perplexing and hardly convincing.

On the issue of first sale, here’s what the ruling said:

The copies at issue here were not lawfully manufactured
with the authorization of the copyright owner. As stated, Psystar made an unauthorized copy of
Mac OS X from a Mac mini that was placed onto an “imaging station” and then used a “master
copy” to make many more unauthorized copies that were installed on individual Psystar
computers. The first-sale defense does not apply to those unauthorized copies.

Perhaps I’m missing something here, because earlier reports had suggested that Psystar legally purchased each copy of OS X and then installed the legally purchased copy on the new machine (which it then included with the sold machine). But from the description above, it sounds like part of the problem is that a single “master copy” was used to make multiple installations. Of course, that raises a whole host of separate issues. If Psystar legally purchased a separate license for each one, but still used a single master copy, is that really infringing? After all, the code is identical, and it seems positively ridiculous to say that even though you bought, say, 20 licenses, you can’t just use one master copy to install 20 times. It seems like this could use additional clarification. Because, the other way one could interpret this is that there is no right of first sale if the company says a copy is unauthorized — which would have troubling implications.

On the EULA front, the court again basically just takes Apple’s position, and insists it did nothing wrong. I’m not surprised by the outcome at all, but I would have expected at least a more complete response to the First Sale doctrine rights issues. Even ignoring that a “copy” was being made — with the physical copy, it really is a matter of first sale. The company is selling something it legally purchased.

Psystar will likely appeal, though I still have little faith that will get anywhere.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Explanations on how the world came to be can be found in almost every culture and faith and vary from the traditional to the truly unusual.  From giant eggs to homicide, these tales of the world’s beginning are more than a little strange.

Norse

In the beginning there was nothing but the ice of Niflheim in the north and the fire of Muspelheim in the south.  The empty gap between them was known as Ginnungagap and was a void where the few stray bits of ice could sometimes meet with sparks of flame.

These ice fragments melted and eventually, if inexplicably, formed a hermaphrodite giant named Ymir and a cow. This was convenient, because the giant was able to survive by drinking  milk from the cow’s udders, while the cow in turn was able to survive on nothing but rime ice. The cow eventually uncovered a man as she consumed the ice, and he joined them once she had licked him free.

Through means that are biologically boggling, both the giant and the ice man fathered several children, who then took to fighting and murdering each other. Eventually Ymir the giant was slain, and his children used his body to create the universe in one of the most macabre funerals you can imagine.

His flesh they ground into dirt, and the maggots that appeared in his flesh because the dwarves that lived beneath the earth. His bones were transformed into mountains, and Odin strew his father’s brains into the sky to become clouds. Four of the dwarves were chosen to hold aloft Ymir’s skull for eternity, and so was created the heavens.

Japanese

The Japanese gods created two divine beings and assigned to them the task of creating the first land. One could wonder why gods capable of creating divine beings needed to delegate the whole land thing, but questioning gods is really never a good idea.  Izanami no Mikoto (“Exalted Female”) and Izanagi no Mikoto (“Exalted Male”) were thus created and sent down to poke about the ocean with a jeweled halberd until they stirred up what turned out to be land.

Pleased with this freshly churned up bit of sod, they moved in and eventually decided to have a family. From their unions came the eight great islands of Japan, each one birthed by Izanami in what must have been the strangest set of known pregnancies.  They also were responsible for the creation of the Kami, the natural forces or spirits.  Izanami died giving birth to the Kami of fire, whose destructive nature did terrible damage to its mother at the moment of creation. In her death throes,  Izanami continued her fertile ways, creating more Kami from her feces, vomit and urine, and one last one created by her dying tears of pain and suffering.

Babylonian

Babylonian tales begin with three gods, Apsu,  god of fresh water,  Tiamat, goddess of salt water, and Mummu,  the god of mists.  All this water was sloshing about, mingling and having a good time while Apsu and Tiamat got together and spawned two gods who grew up and spawned more gods,  all of them swimming about in a massive body of water without so much as a tropical beach to break up the monotony of endless waves.

Eventually there grew to be so many gods and goddesses bobbing abut that they got loud and unruly. Apsu went to his mate Tiamat and suggested that the only way they were ever going to get a good night’s sleep again was to slay the whole lot of them.  Naturally Tiamat got a little irate at this suggestion, told Apsu to never suggest such a thing again and went swimming to clear her head.  While she was gone, Apsu decided she’d come around eventually and got on with planning to kill off his entire family in the name of peace and quiet.

The younger gods soon learned of this plot and were terrified, but their leader Ea hatched a scheme to save all their lives. He cast a spell on his grandfather Apsu, ripped his crown from his head and murdered him.  Ea then built a palace on Apsu’s waters, hooked up with the goddess Damkina and fathered Marduk,  a four eared, four eyed giant who controlled rains and storms.

Now that the threat was over, the other gods spent no time in getting together and selling out Ea to their grandmother Tiamat, complaining that Ea had slain their dear grandfather. Angry, Tiamat mustered an army of dragons and terrible monsters to go after Ea.  Marduk offered to defend his father on the condition that if he won he, Marduk, would rule the gods instead of Ea.  

The battle raged and Tiamat’s army fell before Marduk, leaving the two gods to face each other. Eventually Marduk was victorious, and he cleaved his great grandmother’s water laden body in half with his club.  Half he put in the sky to make the heavens, and half   he carved into land, which he lay over her husband Apsu’s fresh waters, which bubbled through her corpse as springs and wells.

Those gods who had supported Tiamat were assigned labours in the newly created world, working the fields and land.  Soon though, they rebelled, and Marduk decided the solution was to slaughter Tiamat’s general Kingu.  Marduk mixed the general’s blood with clay and spittle collected from the other gods, and created humans from this disgusting muck. Humans were then made to do all the tasks the gods did not wish to do anymore, and were expected to pray to their creators in thanks for the lives they had been given.

Bakuba

From central Africa, the Bakuba have their own account of the beginning of the world.

Originally the Earth was nothing but water and darkness, ruled over by the only living thing, a giant named Mbombo.  Time passed in this dark dank kingdom of one, and very little happened until one day Mbombo felt a terrible pain in his stomach.  The cause of this indigestion was revealed when he vomited up the sun, moon and the stars.   

Having regurgitated this brilliant source of heat and light, the giant watched as the sun evaporated the water of his kingdom away, creating clouds and eventually revealing dry hills and land that emerged from beneath the water.  Indigestion struck again, and this time Mbombo vomited up a colourful collection of life.  The first man and woman emerged from his bile, as did animals, trees, medicine and other wondrous things.  The first woman went to the east, and her son Woto became the first king of the Bakuba.

Chinese – Pangu

According to one Chinese myth the world started off as nothing but formless chaos, like a high school student’s locker right around the end of the school year. Somehow this chaos coalesced, forming a cosmic egg containing the opposing principles of Yin and Yang.  It took 18,000 years, but eventually the two principles worked out their differences and became perfectly balanced. At that moment, a primitive giant covered in hair, sporting horns and a stylish fur wardrobe hatched from the egg. His name was Pangu.

Having just been born, Pangu didn’t spend any time doing the usual childhood things, but instead set about creating the world.   He cleaved Yin from Yang with his giant ax.  Yin became the Earth, and Yang the sky.  To ensure the two principles never got together again, he stood between them and pushed up the sky. For 18,000 years he pushed; each day Pangu grew 10 feet bigger, the sky 10 feet taller, and the Earth 10 feet wider.  This task took a terrible toll on Pangu, and when it was finally done Pangu died.  In and act that made him into the world’s first organ donor,  Pangu’s body was then transformed into the world as we know it. His voice was transformed into thunder, his right eye the moon and his left eye the sun.  His breath became the wind and his body became the mountains.  Rivers were formed of his blood, muscles became farmland, bones became minerals and the bone marrow became sparkling diamonds.  His facial hair became the stars, his fur the flora of the world, and the fleas on his fur became the animals.

More news from the BMO Capital Markets Forums. It looks like Activision’s got something up their sleeves for Call of Duty online players. More fees to…

A date’s been set for Konami’s Silent Hill 2 videogame movie sequel. A target date at least. Meeting the deadline is obviously going to be dependent o…

(NaturalNews) Here’s what we know with some degree of certainty about the H1N1 virus in Ukraine right now: nearly 300 people have died from the viral strain, and over 65,000 people have been hospitalized (the actual numbers are increasing by the hour). The virus appears to be either a highly aggressive mutation of the globally-circulating H1N1 strain, or a combination of three different influenza strains now circulating in Ukraine. Some observers suspect this new “super flu” might be labeled viral hemorrhagic pneumonia (meaning it destroys lung tissue until your lungs bleed so much that you drown in your own fluid), but that has not been confirmed by any official sources we’re aware of.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has issued emergency quarantine orders for nine of the country’s regions and ordered the deployment of mobile military hospitals. He announced that the nation had been simultaneously hit with two different seasonal flu strains plus H1N1 — and then hinted that all three might have recombined into the deadly new Ukrainian super flu.

In his own words, as reported by Daily Mail, “Unlike similar epidemics in other countries, three causes of serious viral infections came together simultaneously in Ukraine: two seasonal flus and the Californian flu. Virologists conclude that this combination of infections may produce an even more aggressive new virus as a result of mutation.”

On November 6, Ukraine’s Deputy Health Minister Zinovy Mytnyk announced that over 600,000 citizens had already caught the new flu. British scientists are now conducting tests on the new viral strain to find out why it appears to be so deadly (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1227984/British-scientists-testing-Ukrainian-super-flu-killed-189-people.html).

The mainstream media is blaming Ukraine’s poor health care system for the relatively high rates of hospitalization and death (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/europe/14flu.html?_r=2), but they refuse to mention (yet again) the vitamin D deficiency found across this population living at high latitude in the winter, where sunlight is relatively scarce.

Here’s a useful blog for staying up to date on the Ukrainian plague:
http://ukraineplague.blogspot.com/

What we don’t know
Now here’s what we don’t know about the Ukraine outbreak:

What is the actual genetic composition of this mutated strain?

Scientists have not released any meaningful news about the genetic sequence of the Ukraine strain. For the moment, the WHO is somewhat quiet on the matter. The last WHO update was from November 3 (and the situation has become considerably worse since). (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_11_03/en/index.html).

Was this viral strain released as a bioweapon?

There are numerous reports circulating widely across the ‘net that cite aerial spraying across Kiev in the days before the new “super flu” outbreak. People are speculating that this was a bioweapon attack intentionally unleashed upon the Ukrainian population. So far, NaturalNews can find no credible information supporting this theory, but it remains a possibility to be researched further.

Does Baxter Pharmaceuticals have anything to do with the outbreak?

You may recall that earlier this year, Baxter shipped live avian flu viral material to labs in 18 countries, including one in the Ukraine. (http://www.naturalnews.com/025760.html) There is suspicion that Baxter could be tied to a planned outbreak of a weaponized virus as a population control bioweapon of some sort, but NaturalNews has not been unable to find any credible information sources supporting this theory. Lacking any better leads on this subject, as far as we can tell right now this remains an unproven conspiracy theory. (If anyone has more credible info on this, please send it our way for review.)

It is plausible that Baxter had something to do with this, but we just don’t have any convincing evidence to back it up at this point.

H1N1 vaccines likely offer little protect against the Ukraine super flu
People receiving H1N1 vaccine shots right now need to know that currently-available H1N1 vaccine shots may offer no protection whatsoever against the “Ukraine Strain.” That’s because once the virus mutates, changing it genetic structure, it can instantly render all existing vaccines obsolete.

Depending on the degree of genetic changes, there is a possibility that some level of immunity may be conferred to people who already have H1N1 antibodies, but here’s the dirty little secret the vaccine industry doesn’t want you to know: People who built their own natural immunity to H1N1 through exposure rather than vaccines have a much greater likelihood of exhibiting natural immunity to genetic variations of H1N1. In other words, people who overcame H1N1 exposure on their own, without being vaccinated, have a far stronger defense against H1N1 variations that might appear.

This is yet another reason why flu vaccines are so dangerous: The deny your immune system the important opportunity to exercise its own adaptive defenses and build stronger protections against future infections.

One possible scenario that could unfold with all this is that the Ukraine strain might spread around the world, wiping out those who got vaccinated against H1N1 because their immune systems suffer from a suppressed ability to naturally generate antibodies to a new strain. Meanwhile, drug companies will try to scramble and create a whole new batch of “super flu” vaccines, but they’re always too little, too late. Theoretically, millions of people could die around the world while waiting in line for yet another vaccine shot.

All they really need is vitamin D3, some herbal anti-virals, a healthy diet and plenty of rest, but no one is telling them that.

Even the Ukraine super flu is no match for a healthy immune system. Remember: Out of 65,000+ hospitalizations, fewer than 300 people have died so far. That’s still a very low mortality rate, even if the spread of the viral infection seems aggressive.

WHO cranking up anti-viral drug push
Meanwhile, the WHO is upping its push for anti-viral drugs, saying that drugs like Tamiflu should now be used earlier on swine flu victims (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6p5Dtqau5AUbPvikpzic2aDIk6w).

They still won’t recommend anti-viral herbs, foods, supplements or natural remedies, of course. The WHO remains a faithful pusher of Big Pharma’s profit agenda, even while denying the People of the world the truth about how they can save their own lives with anti-viral natural remedies. To both the WHO and CDC, the swine flu pandemic has always been about pushing a pharmaceutical agenda at the expense of public health.

Had the public been informed about vitamin D and natural anti-virals like Lomatium, many lives could have already been saved. Instead, the drug pushers at the CDC and WHO have tens of millions of people standing in line waiting for vaccines instead of consuming natural supplements and remedies that could help protect them from influenza.

The profit agenda forces us to wonder: With the current H1N1 strain fizzling out — and yet billions of dollars worth of vaccines still needing to be sold — could the Ukraine strain have been engineered to scare up more demand and more sales of vaccines and anti-virals?

That’s a question that all thinking people need to be asking right now. But we also need to be careful in assessing what’s true here. Reading the postings about this on the ‘net, I’ve noticed way too many people leaping to assumptions about what’s happening in the Ukraine without any real evidence to back that up. The reports about Joseph Moshe, in particular, appear to be a complete hoax.

While it’s possible this was an engineered bioweapon of some sort, it’s not enough to just assume that’s true and then declare it to be so. More evidence is needed before NaturalNews would back a theory like that.

We’ll keep you posted on what we find. New documents tend to come our way after we post the first story on a subject like this, often leading to a follow-up story that benefits from more information.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_11_03/en/index.html
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11120902/Ukraine_239.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1227984/British-scientists-testing-Ukrainian-super-flu-killed-189-people.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/europe/14flu.html?_r=2

(NaturalNews) A bill that would grant the FDA expanded authority to inspect farms has come under fire from ranchers and farmers concerned about increased government interference in their operations.

In response to a recent series of food-borne illness outbreaks, a bill has been approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would allocate more money and authority to the FDA to fulfill its current food safety duties. Although technically the bill would not expand the FDA’s authority to foods currently supervised by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) , meat, poultry and some egg products , many farmers and their advocates are concerned that the language of the bill is too vague to ensure against this.

“Live animals are not ‘food’ until the point of processing, which is why this bill needs to clarify that the FDA does not have regulatory authority on our farms, ranches and feedlots,” said Sam Ives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

Even though the USDA has been involved in several recent recalls of beef products, its inspection procedures are usually considered stricter than the FDA’s, and the agency’s inspection program is also better funded. This has spared the USDA the criticism the FDA has faced after recent recalls of peanut butter, hot peppers and spinach.

FDA Senior Adviser on Food Safety Mike Taylor said that the agency already inspects some farms as part of its duties to supervise egg, vegetable and animal feed production. He noted that the FDA and the USDA have also cooperated in the past, such as on the issue of mad cow disease, and promised that the law will not change any agency’s jurisdiction. Not everyone was reassured, however.

“We are a little skeptical of FDA,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, Chair of the House Agricultural Committee. “We are very concerned about them getting involved in grain farms, livestock farms.”

Sources for this story include: online.wsj.com.

(NaturalNews) Approximately 24 million people living in the United States have diabetes, but many of them don’t know it. The reason they don’t know it is because the symptoms of diabetes aren’t unusual. For example, if they’re feeling tired, it could easily be due to just not getting enough sleep. Using the facilities frequently? That could easily be due to drinking too much coffee to offset the sleepiness. So, this being Diabetes Awareness Month and all, it’s time to become aware of the warning signs…before it’s too late.

In reality, these symptoms are the body’s internal warning system, alerting the body that there’s a problem. But because these warnings so often go unheeded, diabetes develops and lives change permanently.

There’s no known cure for diabetes. Once it develops, there’s no turning back; you will be forever burdened with constantly having to check your blood sugar levels, constantly having to watch your diet, and constantly having to walk that fine line of not allowing blood sugar levels to rise or fall too much.

Avoiding such a fate is accomplished by recognizing the warning signs early on. The symptoms vary depending on the type of diabetes. For example, with type I diabetes, symptoms include fatigue, unexplained weight loss, extreme thirst, and frequent urination. With type II diabetes, the kind that affects an estimated 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes, the aforementioned symptoms are accompanied by blurred vision, tingling or numbness in the extremities, not being able to detect sweet tasting foods, and bruising easily.

Should you experience any combination of these symptoms, consult a doctor. The earlier, the better. If the doctor says you’re at risk for diabetes, take it seriously. Make the lifestyle changes that can prevent diabetes from ever actually developing. This can be accomplished by exercising regularly and eating right. But this prescription is a very generic course of treatment.

More specific preventative measures include supplementing with alpha-lipoic acid (helps control blood sugar levels), garlic (enhances and improves blood circulation) and vitamin B complex (enhances glucose metabolism). For herbs, look no further than the berry. Huckleberries promote insulin production; juniper berries lower blood glucose levels, and cedar berries are great for the pancreas, the organ that produces and regulates insulin.

Because of the complications that result from it, diabetes is among the leading causes of death in the United States. It is the sixth leading cause, and the leading cause of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 74.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Live up to its title by becoming more aware of how diabetes presents itself, so you can protect you and your family from a lifetime of pin-pricking and cholesterol-checking (among many, many other daily annoyances).

Sources:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091111/HEALTH/911110324/-1/SITEMAP
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/symptoms/
Balch, Phyllis A. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. 4th ed. New York: Avery, 2006

About the author
Frank Mangano is an American author, health advocate, researcher and entrepreneur in the field of alternative health. He is perhaps best known for his book “The Blood Pressure Miracle”, which hit best seller status on Amazon within days of its release. Additionally, he has published numerous reports and a considerable amount of articles pertaining to natural health.
Mangano is the publisher of Natural Health On The Web, which offers readers free and valuable information on alternative remedies. Visit http://www.naturalhealthontheweb.com to learn more.