STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Over the past two days, Internet traffic has declined in Sweden by more than 40% following an online copyright violation law that’s now in effect. The law makes it easier to prosecute individual file sharers who swap copyrighted material using P2P clients. Jon Karlung, CEO of the Swedish ISP Banhof, said ‘Half the Internet is gone. If this pattern keeps up, it means the extensive broadband network we’ve built will lose its significance.’ Hardly true though, as those who use the web legitimately will have even faster ping times and throughput. Still, it does point to the reality of just how much illegal traffic is out there on the web. Netnod Internet Exchange, a company monitoring Internet traffic, reported that daily online usage had dropped in excess of 40% since the law took effect this past Wednesday. Sweden is one of Europe’s most Internet-enabled countries, with a huge high-speed infrastructure built into its society. On average, the Swedish broadband user currently enjoys speeds in excess of 8 Mbps (1 Megabyte per second), though services are offered at various places in excess of 50 Mbps (6.25 Megabytes per second) as well. Sweden is […]
The Iowa Supreme Court decision today that legalized same-sex marriage prompted swift reaction — outrage and joy with no stops in between — from voices of faith. Iowa’s four Roman Catholic bishops released a joint statement of strong disagreement, saying the ruling … rejects the wisdom of thousands of years of human history. It implements a novel understanding of marriage, which will grievously harm families and children. The bishops call the decision an ‘unwarranted social engineering’ and an attack on ‘the good that marriage offers to society.’ And they call for everyone in Iowa to push for a constitutional amendment on marriage. Baptist Press, published by the Southern Baptist Convention, reports conservative evangelicals deplore the ruling. Jimmy Barrentine, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Iowa, says: As a Christian, it is our joyful duty to love all people and to mistreat not, but we are not guided by personal opinion in matters such as this. I am opposed to this decision. We are instructed by Scripture, which forthrightly condemns homosexual behavior. Iowaprayerx-blog200 Conservative evangelicals see the advancement of same sex marriage in the courts […]
Being overweight is bad for your health, but does it matter where that excess weight resides? And what if one of the most important ways to predict your risk of a heart attack or stroke was the tape measure lying in the sewing box or at the bottom of a kitchen drawer? This edition of HealthWatch looks at the evidence that waistline size is a new and revealing cardiovascular risk factor. Understanding risk factors Getting a handle on your chances of developing heart disease or a stroke at an early age depends on an understanding of cardiovascular risk factors. Focusing on the modifiable ones, such as diet, exercise and refraining from smoking, are an essential part of improving your risk profile. As well, people generally know that it’s important to keep high cholesterol and high blood pressure in check. But unless you have a blood pressure monitor at home, these factors require regular and careful evaluation by a physician, a person who is in short supply in Montreal and across Canada. Even those with access to family doctors frequently procrastinate and fail to seek essential care for silent conditions that increase their risk of cardiovascular disease. […]
A laboratory robot called Adam has been hailed as the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators. Adam formed a hypothesis on the genetics of bakers’ yeast and carried out experiments to test its predictions, without intervention from its makers at Aberystwyth University. The result was a series of ‘simple but useful discoveries, confirmed by human scientists, about the gene coding for yeast enzymes. The research is published in the journal Science. Professor Ross King, the chief creator of Adam, said robots would not supplant human researchers but make their work more productive and interesting. ‘Ultimately we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories, he said. Adam is the result of a five-year collaboration between computer scientists and biologists at Aberystwyth and Cambridge universities. The researchers endowed Adam with a huge database of yeast biology, automated hardware to carry out experiments, supplies of yeast cells and lab chemicals, and powerful artificial intelligence software. Although they did not intervene directly in Adam’s experiments, they did stand by to fix technical glitches, add chemicals and remove waste. The team has […]
TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that. The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today. ‘China is well positioned to lead in this, said David Tulauskas, director of China government policy at General Motors. To some extent, China is making a virtue of a liability. It is behind the United States, Japan and other countries when it comes to making gas-powered vehicles, but by skipping the current technology, China hopes to get a jump on the next. Japan is the market leader in hybrids today, which run on both electricity and gasoline, with cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. The United States has been a laggard in alternative vehicles. G.M.’s plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt is scheduled to go on sale next year, and will be assembled in Michigan using […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
