SAN FRANCISCO — In the battle over next generation DVDs, pornography could prove to be the XXX factor that helps determine a winner. Thirty years ago, VHS toppled Betamax in part because of the adult film industry, and now some see blue movies playing a key role again as backers of HD-DVD and Blu-ray maneuver to make their formats the standard. The stakes are high. As prices of high-definition televisions and DVD players fall, backers of the rival - and incompatible - formats are looking to tap a home and rental DVD market approaching $25 billion. Yet so far, neither next-generation format has been able to land a knock-out blow. James McQuivey, a principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester, said in the VHS-versus-Betamax war, porn provided a significant boost for the winning format. He also noted the adult entertainment industry has often paved the way with new uses of technology - such as streaming video on the Internet - and said porn could help tip the scales in the current DVD format battle. ‘If the porn industry wanted to break the logjam of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it could,’ McQuivey said. ‘If they said […]
The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare, inherited disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts. Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other ‘fight or flight’ stress hormones. No one blames the whole feud on this, but doctors say it could help explain some of the clan’s notorious behavior. ‘This condition can certainly make anybody short-tempered, and if they are prone because of their personality, it can add fuel to the fire,’ said Dr. Revi Mathew, a Vanderbilt University endocrinologist treating one of the family members. The Hatfields and McCoys have a storied and deadly history dating to Civil War times. Their generations of fighting over land, timber rights and even a pig are the subject of dozens of books, songs and countless jokes. Unfortunately for Appalachia, the feud is one of its greatest sources of fame. Several genetic experts have known about the disease plaguing some of the McCoys for decades, but kept it secret. The Associated Press learned of it […]
It is part of our mission here at OBJECTIVE: Creation Education to bring understanding of Creation Science to the masses who are unable to learn about true science in the Secular controlled media and education systems. In this article, I will introduce to you a new advancement in Creation Science terminology that you will be seeing used more often in the future. Creation Scientists often talk about kinds when referring both to the original creations of the Lord and those that were preserved from the Flood on Noah’s Ark. Evolutionists attack this discussion by claiming that kinds is an undefined and loose term. To an extent, the Evolutionists have a point; the word kind, while understood perfectly by Creation Scientists when used in its Scriptural sense, can lead to confusion among the general audience due to its loose usage in non-technical speech. This confusion is what the Evolutionist unfairly takes advantage of when trying to disparage Creation Systematics, or the classifying of created organisms. Realizing this, Creation Scientists — led in 1990 by Kurt P. Wise and Walter ReMine — have developed a new terminological system whose goal is to aid both researchers in their research and the general […]
Winter sea ice in the Arctic has failed to reform fully for the third year in a row. Scientists said yesterday that the area of ocean covered by Arctic ice at the end of the winter months was lower only in March 2006. Researchers fear that the floating sea ice is now on a downward spiral of shrinkage that cannot recover fully even during winter because of warmer temperatures. Walt Meier of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado, which released the satellite data yesterday, said: ‘We’re seeing near-record lows and higher-than-normal temperatures. We expect the downward trend to continue in future years.’ The maximum area of the northern hemisphere covered by sea ice in March 2007 was 5.7 million square miles, compared to the 5.6 million square miles recorded in March 2006. The long-term average for March sea ice, as determined by Nasa measurements from 1979 to 2000, is 6.1 million square miles, according to the centre. Sea ice in the Arctic oscillates naturally during the seasons, with the area of ocean covered by ice shrinking to its peak minimum extent during September and expanding to its annual maximum during […]
NEW YORK — Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq’s new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. While Iraqi lawmakers struggle to pass an agreement on exactly who will award the contracts and how the revenue will be shared, experts say a draft version that passed the cabinet earlier this year will likely uphold agreements previously signed by those countries under Saddam Hussein’s government. ‘The Chinese could announce something within the next few months’ if all goes well with the oil law, said James Placke, a senior associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates who specializes in the Middle East. Behind high oil and gas prices The Asian firms are at an advantage for several reasons. First, less constrained by Western sanctions during the Hussein regime, they’ve been operating in Iraq and know the country’s oilfields, said Falah Aljibury, an energy analyst who has advised several Iraqi oil ministers as well as other OPEC nations. Aljibury said the first contracts likely awarded will […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
