MAX VENABLE began his professional baseball odyssey in 1976, when the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted the hard-hitting outfielder in the third round of the amateur draft that June. And for each of the following 17 seasons, he found himself in spring training as a player, the final two years in that run coming as a professional in Japan. He then immediately embarked on Phase 2 of his professional baseball life, which saw him work as a minor league manager or hitting coach through the 2010 season.
So when the 2011 baseball season arrived ? he had been the hitting coach at Triple-A Portland in 2008-09 and at Double-A San Antonio in 2010 ? and Venable found himself without a professional baseball employer, he had some adjusting to do.
"I missed being in pro ball," said Venable, whose coaching career had allowed him to work with his son Will ? who is now with the San Diego Padres ? at Class A Fort Wayne and Triple-A Portland. "There were some opportunities in rookie ball and stuff (last year), but I talked to my wife and it wasn't right. I mean, I'm 55 and those long bus rides "... no. I got a lot more family time and I actually really enjoyed that. It's been refreshing to be home (in San Rafael) doing the family stuff so it's been nice."
Yet when First Base Foundation founder Noah Jackson asked Venable if he might be interested in managing the Bay Area Warriors college baseball team this
summer, Venable said yes. The job, he reasoned, fit in nicely with his schedule as a private batting instructor in Marin County.
"I'm just looking to be part of baseball," Venable said. "I feel like I have a lot to offer for kids. So when Noah called to ask if I wanted to coach the Warriors, I said perfect. I wasn't able to get back into pro ball so I've been giving lessons throughout the community and when this opportunity came up, I thought, 'Great, I'll be glad to do it.'"
Clearly, both Venable and his players have benefited from that decision. Venable appears to be the same eager, energetic coach he has always been, the Warriors wrapped up the season on Wednesday, going 35-15-1 for the season and the players say they are learning a lot.
"You really tune in to what he's saying because he knows what he's talking about," said Warriors shortstop Cody Slader, who will be playing at Chico State next season after spending the past two seasons at San Diego State playing for coach Tony Gwynn. "He's been through everything, so all the hitters know that you've got to respect this guy and listen to what he says. Among all my coaches, this guy's the one you want to be playing for."
"Definitely, you listen," said former
Former SF Giant player Max Venable works with Gibson Hoch, 10, on his swing on Thursday, July 19, 2012, in Kentfield, Calif. Venable now offers batting lessons in addition to coaching the Bay Area Warriors college team. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost) Frankie Frost
San Marin standout Ryan Burke. "He's probably the highest level coach I've ever played for. And even if you hit a ball well, he might see something that you could have done better. You're going to see results if you're hitting with him. You learn a lot playing for him."
Venable said part of his coaching success comes from the fact that he knows what it is like to struggle ? "Baseball is not easy," he says emphatically ? after serving as a part-time player and pinch hitter during a 12-year major league career that began with the Giants in 1979. He added that the fact that just having had a major league baseball career also helps his cause.
"I think that's true," Venable said. "The players tend to stop and listen because they want to know, they want the right information and they want to get better. "... There's stuff I've learned throughout my baseball career that is kind of important and I can help them with that."
Warriors pitching coach Jesse Foppert, himself a former major leaguer with the Giants, is among those who feel like they are benefiting from being around Venable.
"He's great; I'm learning a lot," said Foppert, who is also the head baseball coach at Marin Catholic. "He's made the summer enjoyable, for sure. I really like hearing about what it was like when he played, what it was like when I played. There's little things that come up every day that I'm curious about, so I'm just picking his brain about everything."
Venable said there are differences working with his hitting students (some as young as 10) and his Warriors players compared to the professional athletes he has tutored through the years. But he said his game plan is essentially unchanged.
"The hitting part still remains the same," Venable said. "You know, I'm trying to teach discipline and being patient, knowing what pitch you hit and look for that pitch in a hitter's count until you get into a count where you might have to look for the ball, meaning two strikes. There's obviously a difference in skill level because (the pros) got drafted for a reason. But these kids are trying to get better. We see it every day. They're trying to go to the next level, wherever that may be. I'm trying to help them improve and go to the next level and keep playing."
Whether or not that next level ? the majors ? opens up to Venable, he said he is satisfied with where he is at with his life.
"There's no disappointment," Venable said. "Of course I wanted to get there as a player and I made it. And I always thought I'd like to get there as a coach, but it just didn't happen. The timing wasn't right. I think I have all the ingredients to be a big league hitting coach, but it just didn't work out. But I don't have any regrets. I've worked hard ever since my first day as a coach. It just didn't happen."
So does that mean Venable no longer aspires to be coaching in the majors?
"I would never pass that up, because it's in my heart," Venable said. "I love baseball. But there's a lot of baseball people out there who probably should be coaching who are not coaching. And there's not a whole lot of jobs. I'll give it one more try if I can, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. It would be nice, but I'm happy with what I'm doing."
Contact Dave Curtis via email at dcurtis@marinij.com
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Would sliding back to pre-PSA era cancel progress in prostate cancer?Public release date: 30-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Leslie Orr Leslie_Orr@urmc.rochester.edu 585-275-5774 University of Rochester Medical Center
Eliminating the PSA test to screen for prostate cancer would be taking a big step backwards and would likely result in rising numbers of men with metastatic cancer at the time of diagnosis, predicted a University of Rochester Medical Center analysis published in the journal, Cancer.
The URMC study suggests that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and early detection may prevent up to 17,000 cases of metastatic prostate cancer a year. Data shows, in fact, that if age-specific pre-PSA era incidence rates were to occur in the present day, the number of men whose cancer had already spread at diagnosis would be three times greater.
"Our findings are very important in light of the recent controversy over PSA testing," said Edward M. Messing, M.D., study co-author, chair of Urology at URMC, and president of the Society of Urologic Oncology. "Yes, there are trade-offs associated with the PSA test and many factors influence the disease outcome. And yet our data are very clear: not doing the PSA test will result in many men presenting with far more advanced prostate cancer. And almost all men with metastasis at diagnosis will die from prostate cancer."
Prostate cancer usually occurs in older men, and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the male population. In 2012 an estimated 241,740 new cases will be diagnosed and 28,000 deaths will occur. Prognosis depends on whether the cancer has spread outside the prostate gland, and the degree to which the cancer cells are abnormal.
In 2011 the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against PSA screening in all men, prompting criticism from the medical community. The government panel reviewed scientific evidence and concluded that screening has little or no benefit, or that the harms of early detection outweigh the benefits. One major concern, for example, was that doctors are screening for, finding, and treating non-aggressive cancers that might have remained quiet, causing patients to needlessly suffer from serious treatment side effects such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction.
The U.S. Task Force recommendations against screening caused some confusion, and in response, a special panel of experts from the American Society of Clinical Oncology this month issued its own opinion. The ASCO panel decided that for men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years, general screening with the PSA test should be discouraged. For men with a longer life expectancy, though, it is recommended that physicians discuss with patients whether the PSA test is appropriate for them.
Messing's study looked back at the era prior to 1986, when no one was routinely screened for prostate cancer with a PSA test. To analyze the effect of screening on stage of disease at initial diagnosis, Messing and Emelian Scosyrev, Ph.D., assistant professor of Urology, reviewed data from 1983 to 2008 kept by the nation's largest cancer registry, Surveillance, Epidemiology and End-Results or SEER. They compared SEER data from the pre-PSA era (1983 to '85) to the current era of widespread PSA use (2006 to 2008), and adjusted for age, race, and geographic variations in the United States population.
Approximately 8,000 cases of prostate cancer with metastases at initial presentation occurred in the U.S. in 2008. Using a mathematical model to estimate the number of metastatic cases that would be expected to occur in 2008 in the absence of PSA screening, Scosyrev and Messing predicted the number would be 25,000.
The authors emphasized the study was observational and has some limitations. In particular it is impossible to know if the PSA test and early detection is solely responsible for the fewer cases of metastasis at diagnosis in 2008.
The potential lead-time of screening also should be considered when interpreting the study findings, Scosyrev said. For some people an earlier stage of cancer at diagnosis may not always translate into better survival. This may happen, for example, in cases when the cancer had already metastasized at the time of screening, but the metastasis remained undetected.
In general, however, the study concluded that massive screening and PSA awareness efforts during the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in substantial shifts toward earlier-stage disease and fewer cases of metastases at diagnosis.
In the United States over the most recent 20 years, Messing said, prostate cancer death rates have been reduced by close to 40%. This occurred without substantial changes in how men were treated (via surgery and radiation therapy). Other models published in the scientific literature have suggested that more than 50% of this reduction is due to early detection.
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The Ashley Family Foundation funded the URMC research.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Would sliding back to pre-PSA era cancel progress in prostate cancer?Public release date: 30-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Leslie Orr Leslie_Orr@urmc.rochester.edu 585-275-5774 University of Rochester Medical Center
Eliminating the PSA test to screen for prostate cancer would be taking a big step backwards and would likely result in rising numbers of men with metastatic cancer at the time of diagnosis, predicted a University of Rochester Medical Center analysis published in the journal, Cancer.
The URMC study suggests that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and early detection may prevent up to 17,000 cases of metastatic prostate cancer a year. Data shows, in fact, that if age-specific pre-PSA era incidence rates were to occur in the present day, the number of men whose cancer had already spread at diagnosis would be three times greater.
"Our findings are very important in light of the recent controversy over PSA testing," said Edward M. Messing, M.D., study co-author, chair of Urology at URMC, and president of the Society of Urologic Oncology. "Yes, there are trade-offs associated with the PSA test and many factors influence the disease outcome. And yet our data are very clear: not doing the PSA test will result in many men presenting with far more advanced prostate cancer. And almost all men with metastasis at diagnosis will die from prostate cancer."
Prostate cancer usually occurs in older men, and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the male population. In 2012 an estimated 241,740 new cases will be diagnosed and 28,000 deaths will occur. Prognosis depends on whether the cancer has spread outside the prostate gland, and the degree to which the cancer cells are abnormal.
In 2011 the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against PSA screening in all men, prompting criticism from the medical community. The government panel reviewed scientific evidence and concluded that screening has little or no benefit, or that the harms of early detection outweigh the benefits. One major concern, for example, was that doctors are screening for, finding, and treating non-aggressive cancers that might have remained quiet, causing patients to needlessly suffer from serious treatment side effects such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction.
The U.S. Task Force recommendations against screening caused some confusion, and in response, a special panel of experts from the American Society of Clinical Oncology this month issued its own opinion. The ASCO panel decided that for men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years, general screening with the PSA test should be discouraged. For men with a longer life expectancy, though, it is recommended that physicians discuss with patients whether the PSA test is appropriate for them.
Messing's study looked back at the era prior to 1986, when no one was routinely screened for prostate cancer with a PSA test. To analyze the effect of screening on stage of disease at initial diagnosis, Messing and Emelian Scosyrev, Ph.D., assistant professor of Urology, reviewed data from 1983 to 2008 kept by the nation's largest cancer registry, Surveillance, Epidemiology and End-Results or SEER. They compared SEER data from the pre-PSA era (1983 to '85) to the current era of widespread PSA use (2006 to 2008), and adjusted for age, race, and geographic variations in the United States population.
Approximately 8,000 cases of prostate cancer with metastases at initial presentation occurred in the U.S. in 2008. Using a mathematical model to estimate the number of metastatic cases that would be expected to occur in 2008 in the absence of PSA screening, Scosyrev and Messing predicted the number would be 25,000.
The authors emphasized the study was observational and has some limitations. In particular it is impossible to know if the PSA test and early detection is solely responsible for the fewer cases of metastasis at diagnosis in 2008.
The potential lead-time of screening also should be considered when interpreting the study findings, Scosyrev said. For some people an earlier stage of cancer at diagnosis may not always translate into better survival. This may happen, for example, in cases when the cancer had already metastasized at the time of screening, but the metastasis remained undetected.
In general, however, the study concluded that massive screening and PSA awareness efforts during the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in substantial shifts toward earlier-stage disease and fewer cases of metastases at diagnosis.
In the United States over the most recent 20 years, Messing said, prostate cancer death rates have been reduced by close to 40%. This occurred without substantial changes in how men were treated (via surgery and radiation therapy). Other models published in the scientific literature have suggested that more than 50% of this reduction is due to early detection.
###
The Ashley Family Foundation funded the URMC research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The agony and ecstasy of watching your kid compete
Gymnast Aly Raisman's parents were quite a sight as they squirmed and grimaced through her uneven bars routine. While there?s no bigger stage than the Olympics, any parent who has rooted for their kid in a sport can relate to the anxiety of watching a child compete.
The net has grow to be the biggest medium of communication; and has presented plenty of organization possibilities. On the web dwelling based organization owners are inclined to limit themselves to on-line promoting procedures. Nonetheless, there is a huge possible to promote your property based enterprise by means of some price powerful offline advertising and marketing strategies. So what are essentially the most successful offline advertising and marketing approaches for the house based organization?
1. Word of mouth within your circle of influence Word of mouth is one of the ideal cost-free advertising channels. We all have individuals we interact with on a daily basis, and these are potential shoppers. Make a list of each of the people today you realize or interact with and how are you able to ideal tell them about your internet company. Be passionate about your web business and constantly be ready to tell a person about it when an opportunity to do so presents itself!
2. Mail-out newsletters and flyers Mail-out newsletter or flyers might be effective if you target it to a certain ?group?. You may create 1 to distribute to local day care centers just as an instance ? and in your newsletter or flyer, highlight the rewards of a web-based company for the targeted group, for example earning revenue at home for remain at home moms or dads. Posting your home based business URL on bulletin boards can also be successful.
three. Use and give away totally free branded ?stuff You may promote your company by getting your URL on all of your stationery, all written communication and other items you?ll be able to give away free of charge. If you would like to acquire a lot of people to understand about your property based company, you?ll need to come up with some inventive strategies of advertising your URL. You?ll be able to be restricted only by your imagination. Have your company cards together with your property based business URL. Give them out to individuals you meet, leave them about where you could, such as in your nearby coffee shop.
four. Newspapers and magazines Nearby newspapers are excellent for marketing your on-line business. Most neighborhood papers have home enterprise opportunities? section, so you run a typical classified advert. Moreover, get in touch with your nearby newspaper or business-oriented magazine and let the small business editor know you might have a new organization and web site and what you offer you. Neighborhood newspapers are frequently considering featuring neighborhood organization people today and their accomplishments. This is no cost advertising and really should often be applied. You?ll be able to also speak to your nearby magazine and present to write a monthly or weekly guest column for them, and include things like your author bio and dwelling based business URL.
5. Joint ventures with offline small business You may get into a joint venture partnership with an offline business enterprise which sells a complementary product or service to your residence based business enterprise. For those who can determine a partner that ideal fit your business, this is an important offline advertising and marketing method that could enable you to succeed inside your residence based enterprise by enabling you to reach possible shoppers which you could not reach ahead of. As an instance, for those who have a site promoting fitness/health items or tips, you could prepare a leaflet and make a handle an offline nearby fitness/health shop exactly where they giveaway your leaflet to their shoppers with each and every obtain.
The offline advertising and marketing approaches outlined above can allow you to develop your house based enterprise. I?ve used these methods alot and they operate well. So what are you currently waiting for? Get available and promote your company offline!!
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Auto insurance rates are prohibitive these days. Many families genuinely struggle to spend the vehicle insurance bill each month. And vehicle insurance rates vary all the time. So if car insurance coverage cost is an concern for you, what can you do about it?
The auto insurance coverage industry is a massive business. It is also a highly competitive one particular, and auto insurance coverage rates vary over time as car insurance coverage companies compete for business. Vehicle insurance coverage rates are often extremely fluid.
It is entirely attainable to lower the cost of your auto insurance coverage rates by altering your behaviour, and you can do this by getting a much better understanding of how the rates are assessed.
Auto insurance rates are based on an assessment of threat. Whilst insurance coverage companies vary their rates to compete with other insurance organizations, they also vary their rates based on their assessment of the threat posed by a specific driver driving a distinct automobile. They do this since there is no point in acquiring business with low vehicle insurance coverage rates and then insuring high danger drivers at these rates. This is a recipe for losing funds.
So, if you lower your risk, you lower your car insurance coverage. How do you
lower your threat? Well theres a quantity of techniques that your personal driving and auto behaviour can impact your automobile insurance coverage rates.
Have an appear at the automobile you drive. Is it suitable for your current requirements? If not then would it be worthwhile to take into account a change?
Different vehicles attract distinct auto insurance coverage rates. Sports vehicles, high powered automobiles and cars at greater threat of theft attract higher rates. How lengthy have you had your auto and would it be wise to believe about an additional a single that would be more affordable to insure and much more beneficial to you?
Are you a safe driver? Do you stick to the speed limit? Are you at risk of other driving offences? Several men and women do not think about some of the consequences of speeding tickets and driving offences till immediately after they have noticed their subsequent car insurance bill.
Your threat profile is a direct result of your driving record. A clean driving record and you will be rewarded by less expensive rates. A poor driving record and you will be penalised, typically for fairly an even though.
Are you prepared to attend driver instruction courses? Several auto insurance coverage firms offer particular discounts for drivers who have attended a course. Why? Lower threat.
Are you prepared to drive much less? Could you car pool or use public transport to get to perform? Vehicle insurance coverage companies appear at the quantity of driving their clients do when assessing their vehicle insurance rates. Why? Lower threat. Much less miles driven equals much less danger. And youll save on other automobile expenses also.
So if auto insurance coverage fees are an problem for you and your family members there are factors you can do. These are just a couple of of those items, there are numerous far more. Automobile insurance rates are not set in stone.
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DOWNEY ? In order to comply with earthquake-related building guidelines, the Downey Regional Medical Center plans to knock down its old conference center and build a new one in its place, according to the agenda for Wednesday?s Planning Commission.
The approximately 3,700-square-foot building at 11500 Brookshire Ave. would replace a round structure of the same size that currently serves as the hospital?s conference room, according to a report on the project. The new building would meet modern building codes, according to the report.
The city owns a big chunk of the hospital campus, including the land for the proposed conference center.
The city in February put up its stake in the property as collateral to help the hospital get loans to emerge from bankruptcy. The hospital in March officially emerged from s bankruptcy in March and was almost breaking this year even after years of losses, according to bank officials.
Click here for a story in February about the city?s efforts to help the hospital overcome its financial troubles.
Dog collars for barking are useful to assist you prepare your canine to regulate excessive barking. All canines bark. It is only a means of conversation. And all barking is not poor. The undesirable part is abnormal barking and barking in the wrong time, like in the evening. But a dog barking collar is best employed in combination with other sorts of instruction.
Ahead of you receive a puppy barking collar, devote a while observing your dog to try to grasp why all of the barking. It could be an easy matter to halt the barking with no the cost and difficulties of your collar. And remember that generally the pet collar will only stop the barking even though it really is on the puppy. Canines are smart. Go ahead and take collar off and the barking commences again.
In the event you decide on to get a pet bark collar, you are able to choose from a few types.
The citronella collar is chosen by numerous. It works by spraying citronella oil close to the dog?s nose if the barking starts. The pungent oil stops most canines from barking without having harming the pet. Some pet dogs maintain barking, but not many.
An additional handle collar is surely an ultrasonic collar. These units emit ultrasonic sounds when barking begins. It is annoying to canines although not to people. This works with most pet dogs but not all.
The ultimate class of canine coaching collars will be the digital shock collar. Barking sets off an electrical jolt that only stops when the barking stops. Most pet dogs swiftly learn to quit barking, but typically only works whilst the collar is on. Puppies understand quickly that no shock occurs if the collar is off. Also, a lot of canines grow to be fearful and ridiculous when subjected to shocks. Does one blame them? A lot of individuals see these as cruel. Considering that the citronella collars seem to operate as well or much better, citronella collars really are a better option.
This article was prepared for you by StephanieMonroe, one of our 'Authors'. Visit this authors profile page and learn more about them & the articles they write.
Researchers discover biological mechanism for growing massive animal weapons, ornaments
Friday, July 27, 2012
In the animal kingdom, huge weapons such as elk antlers or ornaments like peacock feathers are sexy. Their extreme size attracts potential mates and warns away lesser rivals.
Now researchers led by scientists at the University of Montana and Washington State University have discovered a developmental mechanism they think may be responsible for the excessive growth of threatening horns or come-hither tail feathers. Published in the July 26 online edition of Science, the research reveals a mechanism to explain both the size of these traits, and the incredible variation among males of the same species ? why some beetles, for instance, grow massive horns while their fellows grow nothing but nubbins.
"Our research explains how these enormous traits get to be so enormous," said Doug Emlen, a professor and evolutionary biologist in UM's Division of Biological Sciences. "People have known for 100 years that the best males produce the biggest structures, but nobody has really understood how. Our work looks under the hood to explain why so many sexually selected structures get so massive."
The researchers discovered when they disturbed the insulin-signaling pathway in Japanese rhinoceros beetles ? big insects that can grow horns two-thirds the length of their bodies ? the horns were far less likely to grow. In fact, horn growth was stunted eight times as much as growth of the wings, or the rest of the body. They interpret this to mean that the exaggerated structures ? the horns ? are more sensitive to signaling through this physiological pathway than are other traits.
"If you have a lot of food, you have a lot of insulin," said Laura Corley Lavine, a Washington State University entomologist and co-principle investigator with Emlen. "You respond to that by making a really giant, exaggerated horn. Then the female can tell she wants to mate with you because you are truthfully advertising your condition."
The researchers injected a cocktail of double-stranded RNA into the beetle larvae to shut down the desired insulin pathway gene. Within 72 hours normal insulin signaling had resumed, but by then horn growth was stunted. Genitalia grew normally despite the shutdown, and the wings and bodies were slightly affected. The horns, however, experienced major changes.
The experiment confirmed what the researchers thought the insulin pathway was doing to the beetles. "We're the first ones to make the link by explicitly tying the insulin pathway to the evolution of these kinds of male weapons," Lavine said. "The discovery of the actual mechanism might now open new avenues of study for how exaggerated traits evolved, their genetic basis and the evolution of animal signals."
"There is a hormone signal secreted by the brain that circulates through the whole animal," Emlen said. "It communicates to the different cells and tissues and essentially tells them how much to grow." Hormone levels reflect the physiological condition of each animal, with high circulating levels in well-fed, dominant individuals and lower levels in poorly fed or less-fit individuals. When tissues are sensitive to these signals, as most tissues are, their final sizes scale with the overall quality and size of the animal. Because of this mechanism, big beetles have larger eyes, legs and wings than smaller beetles.
Emlen said the horns are exquisitely sensitive to these insulin signals ? more sensitive than other structures. Developing horns in big, fit, well-fed males are drenched with the hormone, spurring exaggerated horn growth. On the flip side, a small, less-fit male receive less of the horn-boosting hormone, stunting growth of its weapon.
Emlen said this process explains how horns can range from massive to nonexistent among male beetles of the same species and why the size of such exaggerated, showy traits accurately reflects the overall quality of the males who wield them. He said the results likely are applicable to other species beyond rhinoceros beetles, since additional studies have tied this same physiological pathway to growth of red deer antlers and crab pincer claws.
"Horns and antlers matter," Emlen said. "Animals pay attention to them when they size each other up for battle. And females pay attention to horns or are attracted to males with really big tails. Why? Because only the best of the best can have really big horns or tails."
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Washington State University: http://www.wsu.edu
Thanks to Washington State University for this article.
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In-utero exposure to magnetic fields associated with increased risk of obesity in childhood
Friday, July 27, 2012
In-utero exposure to relatively high magnetic field levels was associated with a 69 percent increased risk of being obese or overweight during childhood compared to lower in-utero magnetic field levels, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that appears in the current online version of Nature's Scientific Reports.
Researchers conducted the prospective cohort study, in which participating women in Kaiser Permanente's Northern California region carried a meter measuring magnetic field levels during pregnancy and 733 of their children were followed up to 13 years, to collect clinically recorded information on growth patterns. On average, 33 weight measurements per child were collected.
Researchers noted a dose response relationship with increasing in-utero magnetic field levels being associated with further increased risk of obesity or being overweight. The observed association and supporting evidence provide the first epidemiologic findings that link increasing exposure to environmental magnetic fields, especially in-utero exposure, over the last few decades with the rapid rise in childhood obesity during the corresponding decades, according to the authors.
"Pregnancy is a critical developmental stage that is among the most vulnerable periods to environmental exposures," said De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, a perinatal epidemiologist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., and the lead author of the study. "These findings indicate that electromagnetic fields, from microwave ovens to countless wireless devices, may be contributing to childhood obesity risk. This finding could have implications for possibly reducing childhood obesity and better understanding the obesity epidemic. Like any scientific discoveries, the results need to be replicated by other studies."
After controlling for a child's age at each weight measurement, child gender, maternal age at delivery, pre-pregnancy BMI, race, education level, smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding, researchers reported a 50 percent increase of participants being obese or overweight for medium in?utero levels (1.5-2.5 mG), and an 84 percent increased risk for high in-utero levels (>2.5mG). An mG, or milligauss, represents a unit of magnetic field level or strength as measured using a gaussmeter.
This study follows previous work from Dr. Li (and others) that showed electromagnetic fields may impact pregnancy outcomes and childhood diseases including asthma. Higher EMF levels have also been associated with diabetes in humans, being overweight and high glucose levels in animals, and ADHD in mice offspring, explained Dr. Li.
In the current study, among those children with longer follow-up time (to the end of the study), the observed association was stronger (2.35 times the risk of childhood obesity/overweight for in-utero MF level > 1.5 mG vs. ? 1.5 mG). Similarly, if the study only considered those who were persistently obese/overweight through childhood during the follow-up, the association was also much stronger (almost 5 fold increased risk of obesity/overweight for in-utero MF level > 1.5 mG vs.
"EMF exposure during pregnancy could impact the fetal development, including endocrine and metabolic systems, predisposing offspring to higher risk of obesity," Dr. Li said. He added that environmental impacts tend to be amplified during fetal development both in terms of affecting multiple organ systems and having long-lasting changes to physiology, such as to the endocrine systems and hormone receptors.
Researchers examined maternal factors, prenatal factors, childhood factors, outcome measures, and other factors that could be confounders. Among 18 factors examined, only family income and childhood habits of eating fruits and vegetables varied among the three maternal MF exposure groups. However, there was not consistent pattern of MF exposure with family income: women with either low or high family income had lower MF exposure level than women with medium family income. Children eating more fruits and vegetables tended to have a mother who had higher MF exposure during pregnancy. There was no difference among the three MF exposure groups in the average number of weight measurements per child. The proportion of children who remained in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California integrated care delivery system at the end of the study (11 years and older) was almost identical in all three groups. None of the 18 factors examined could explain the observed association.
"Expectant mothers should take this new research into account, but they should not panic," said Ruth Shaber, MD, medical director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery at the Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute. "We still have a lot more to learn about the impact of the environment on pregnancy and young children."
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Kaiser Permanente: http://www.kp.org/newscenter
Thanks to Kaiser Permanente for this article.
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I met Elizabeth about five years ago at a mostly gay party. She was a graduate nursing student, who looked every inch the straight girl. It took hours along with alcohol for her to confess that she was involved with a woman for the first time in her life.
Over the next years, Elizabeth and I walked regularly around Green Lake in Seattle, parsing her lesbian adolescence. That adolescence is complete, but we still walk the lake. Last night she told me about her cousin who?s now coming out, and filling Elizabeth in on every wobbly step.
The rookie lesbian has become the coach.
Elizabeth couldn?t have imagined herself being able to advise anyone on dykedom during our early strolls. At that time her new experiences were thrilling, confusing, terrifying, exasperating and liberating. All before lunch.
Having been only with men, Elizabeth found herself going through a second adolescence 15 years after her first. So we had a lot of ground to cover, ranging from the evolving reactions of her family to her yearning for her girlfriend in California to the hot guest lecturer in class.
We peered backwards at the hints sprinkled throughout Elizabeth?s life that she might be gay; the hints now looked like neon billboards. We dealt with her coming out to roommates and nursing professors and strangers. Her naivet? flared when she had trouble believing that lesbians with partners and kids could behave as wolfishly as any guy ? and she scared herself when she realized she enjoyed the attention from one big bad wolf.
Although she developed crushes as easily as she flossed her teeth, she never acted on them. Her heart lay with Ann in San Diego. One sure way to get a rise out of Elizabeth was to mention that first lesbian relationships rarely last.
?I know!? she?d bark. ?I wish people would stop telling me that!?
Maintaining a long-distance relationship is difficult at any time, let alone when you?re in your lesbian adolescence and anyone with a Sapphic sensibility looks lip-smackin? good. It?s a testament to Elizabeth and Ann that they both avoided distractions and honed in on what was most important to them, namely each other.
I must note that Elizabeth found a vicarious way of getting her ya-yas out:? setting me up. When she would begin our walk by announcing, ?I found your wife today!? I knew I was headed for another misadventure in lesbian dating.? Back then she hadn?t grasped that pairing two lesbians on the basis that they?re both breathing does not a sizzling Sapphic romance make.
Now Elizabeth?s cousin Claire, at age 40, is being bombarded by emotions and discoveries, which she shares with Elizabeth via the phone. The other evening Elizabeth delayed a dinner meeting so Claire, who?s just gotten involved, could read a note from her new love aloud ? six times.
Elizabeth pulled from her shelves books she?d bought in her early days, and sent a sort of lesbian care package to Claire. The stories of first lesbian loves particularly resonate with this family member who?s gleefully gathering material for her own story.
Elizabeth is elated that her cousin is so happy. But now that Elizabeth is the coach and not the rookie, she says to me, ?I can?t believe how much crap you listened to!?
She didn?t want me to include those words here, fearing they could hurt Claire. But I bet that soon enough Claire will get it, and say of her own lesbian adolescence, ?I was a mess. And it was wonderful.?
When she reaches that point, Claire will be in coaching shape. Then she too might gay it forward.
?There are more connections between San Diego and Seattle than one thinks. Email Leslie Robinson at lesarobinson@gmail.com, and indulge in her blog at generalgayety.com.
?Cut through the clutter and confusion, and meet with a variety of lenders to explore options to finance and grow your business. ?If you need to add equipment, supplies, payroll or insurance, this is the perfect opportunity to build effective relationships with lenders while learning about the borrowing process, programs and resources available for small businesses.
?Explore your options: ? Small business loans, lines of credit and leasing ? Cash management services, factoring, bill pay, wealth management ? Merchant services, gift cards and loyalty programs ? Managing payables and payroll
?Registration:
Reserve your spot: The event is free for small businesses, start-ups, and guests! 13 lenders to participate.
Date, Time & Location:
September 6, 2012 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Small Business Development Center at University of South Florida (Channelside location)
1101 Channelside Dr., Ste. 210 Tampa, FL 33602
?Participating lenders:
Wells Fargo
GulfCoast Business Finance, Inc.
PNC Bank
Chase
Baycities Bank
Platinum Bank
Regions Bank
Bank of America
Mutual of Omaha
TD Bank
TEDCO
U.S. Small Business Administration
SunTrust Banks, Inc.
?Sponsor:
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Rex Ryan loves Santonio Holmes, he just wants him to stay in his lane.
The Jets coach said Thursday he appreciated Holmes? input, but would prefer he limited it to catching passes.
Holmes said recently that he didn?t think two-quarterback systems (such as the Jets are planning with Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow) can work in the NFL.
But Ryan offered a rebuke with his rebuttal, in an interview with ESPN?s Sal Paolantonio (via ESPNNewYork.com?s Rich Cimini).
?Well, I understand what Holmes is saying, you know Tone?s talking about a guy . . . [the starting quarterback] has to get a feel and all that kind of stuff,? Ryan said. ?But I brought Santonio in here to be a receiver, not to be the offensive coordinator. And that?s the way it is.
?I love Santonio, but if I wanted to hire him as our offensive coordinator, we would?ve.?
The man he chose for that job, Tony Sparano, defended Holmes? right to his free speech, but obviously disagrees, since it?s what he?s implementing.
?First of all, every player is entitled to their own opinion,? Sparano told Paolantonio. ?Every person is entitled to their own opinion. I been around long enough to know that there?s a lot of definitions of two-quarterback systems, and what some of these things mean, and what they don?t mean.?
Even though Holmes? message may have lacked nuance, there?s a kernel of truth in what he says. Sanchez might lack the ability to gain a certain rhythm if Tebow?s coming in to run around. But the bigger problem the incumbent has is handling the pressure of keeping Tebow on the sidelines.
It?s nothing more than good theater at the moment, and the Jets have just the cast of characters to keep things fresh.
Businesses Online | Internet and Businesses Online | * Written by vijay vinson | Wednesday, 25 July 2012 05:05 | Word Count: 611
It cannot be argued that the lifeblood of Malaysia e-commerce is sales. A business which has a poor sales performance would be able to survive only for a limited time but not long enough to give a good return on his investment. It is just important to know more about e-commerce in Malaysia.
Its survival is even more short-lived when it faces many challenges of its competitors however many can use the e-commerce software to help boost their sales performance.
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That is why a person with a good sense of business acumen would, at first, try to ponder on many ways as to how he would have to have a very encouraging sales performance before even establishing a business. For instance, you can consider having e-commerce software. There are, of course, a lot of ways to have a good sales performance for a business. The big ones have to resort to a more sophisticated concept of product advertising through the print and broadcast media. The product advertisements are aired every now and then on television so that viewers may be given a chance of the product awareness. These advertisements are even made frequent during prime time when programs and shows on television are top-rated that viewers are more glued to their television sets. You can only do these with the use of e-commerce software. Indeed, having knowledge with Malaysia e-commerce can definitely help you.
Because of the frequency of the advertisements, the viewers are made fully aware of the products being advertised. Once they go out of their homes to shop, the product awareness of what they have seen and heard on televisions about the advertised goods become the top shopping list. This is because of the role of e-commerce in Malaysia. This is also true for advertisement course through newspapers and magazines. The readers who may have come across to read products advertisement on pages of the print media will prefer to buy goods they have come to know as they have read the advertisement. With Malaysia e-commerce along with the e-commerce software used can help you have a successful business.
However, these kinds of advertisements on products for sale done through the print and broadcast media are so expensive. These could be very costly to smalltime businesses especially those who have just started to venture to do business. No matter how effective these kinds of advertisements would be, they will not engage the services of such media outlets for advertisements, not now when they are just starting with their business enterprises. The cost of advertisements for their products on televisions, newspapers and magazines is as good as prohibitive and they may not be able to afford it. Aside from marketing strategies, businessmen should also know about Malaysia e-commerce and the different e-commerce software products.
Having said it, there are a lot of ways to boost one?s sales performance. Nowadays, the use of e-commerce in Malaysia is already both used by big and smalltime businesses. These are indeed aimed at improving their sales without having the need to spend a lot. The creation of a website in the internet is such a pittance compared to what they will have to spend for an advertisement fees on other information outlets. It will not cost them that much. So, if I were you, would you not try to boost your sales when you have a website? It pays to do so.
Do you want to know more about e-commerce in Malaysia or anything about e-commerce software then you can just go to this website the Malaysia e-commerce for more information and details. You can find the details that you need in this website.
????? - In terms of matters from the heart, nothing can be better when compared to a love tarot reading. Consulting the Tarot during troubled times can help you get clarity about what are you doing inside your relationship. Coming to terms with all the possibility your relationship might not be exercising could be a painful process.
Love reading shows a variety of features, traits, and attributes like; compatibility, soul mates, love matches, love forecast and future love affairs. Love readings also show days gone by love relationships, affairs, successes and failures. Through these love readings you can become aware of previously unknown strengths and weaknesses. We can also choose online with free streaming tarot reading.
????? -Fake love readers tend to ask you lots of questions before offering you ambiguous answers. It does not help nor convince you. You merely wind up wasting your money, time and effort when controling a half-baked love reader to provide you with love readings.
Even if you get a online tarot card reading there is a 'free will' to alter anything that the truth is in a reading. When the tarot card reading reveals a relationship just isn't realistic, there are tons of weaknesses and is also almost certainly to fail, still you have the opportunity to turn this around.
You will find the chance to change whatever you find in a reading if you're strong willed and determined. There is something which can be pre determined within your destiny and you also will have to hand it over to fate to uncover the outcome in time.
An affection psychic reading might help many to eliminate the dilemmas that surround their love lives. Apart from love readings and predictions in addition they offer guidance and advise. Tarot readers can provide emotional support and also at times hope by showing how the road ahead can be more emotionally fulfilling. Although for matters to change for your better in someone's love lives, it is crucial to bring about some important changes. Sadly, often, people are hesitant about this, preferring instead to keep devote circumstances that aren't ideal at the same time frame desiring a much better and more fulfilling future.
????? -Everyone wants to understand that happen to be their soul mate. Thus its advised that folks should follow caution in choosing anyone because it will mean selecting a partner for life. As a result love tarot reading very important to one's life.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's results fell short of Wall Street's expectations as the European economy sagged and consumers held off on buying its flagship iPhone ahead of a new version expected in the fall, hitting its stock price.
Shares of the world's most valuable technology company shed more than 5 percent of their value after Apple - which beats Wall Street expectations with near regularity - reported its second quarterly miss on results in less than a year.
The stock slid to $570.81 in late trade after closing at $600.92 on the Nasdaq.
The disappointing numbers highlight how the Apple brand is becoming less resistant to the economic and product cycles that have plagued rivals.
Apple, which Tim Cook has led since last August, divided the blame for the shortfall between muted consumer purchases in Western European countries and the pullback in demand as consumers wait for a new iPhone model that many expect will be launched in September or October.
From April to June, Apple shipped 26 million iPhones, well below the 28 million to 29 million that Wall Street analysts had predicted, even taking into account a pause in buying ahead of the iPhone 5. It was a far cry from the 35.1 million that moved in the March quarter.
Sales of the iPad, the tablet that accounts for well over half the world's market, came in at 17 million in the fiscal third quarter, above expectations.
Apple, notorious for its conservative forecasts, estimated earnings for the September quarter of $7.65 a share on revenue of $34 billion, well below the average estimate of $10.23 a share on revenue of $38.03 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"It's a big miss. The guidance for next quarter was very low. I'll be very interested to know if it was a product transition or the economic" turbulence," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer for Wedgewood Partners.
"What is key is the mixture between iPhone and iPad. The iPhone has higher margins. iPhone sales were lower than expected - meaningfully lower - and that translates into a big hit on the bottom line."
The Silicon Valley giant has a lot riding on its next iPhone, the product that yields more than half its revenue and helps shore up overall margins.
Apple has seen Samsung Electronics - now the world's largest seller of smartphones - and other handset manufacturers using Google Inc's Android software chip away at its market share.
"It really is the iPhone company. The iPad is not strong enough to beat numbers," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis. "The iPhone 5 is already the most hyped device and for it to exceed expectations is going to be really hard."
MISSING TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS
Executives acknowledged buyers were refraining from purchases because of "rumors and speculation" around the iPhone 5, which sources have said will come with a thinner and larger screen. They laid part of the blame on sputtering demand from European economies like Germany and France, while dismissing the impact of a Chinese slowdown.
Revenue in the Asia Pacific region - which includes China but not Japan - shrank 22 percent from the previous quarter, far outstripping the 3 percent to 6 percent fall in revenue in the Americas and Europe.
"The economy in Europe is not doing well. We think this impacted our results," CFO Peter Oppenheimer said.
The expected roll out of a new Phone will likely pose a stiff challenge to rivals.
This was a reason why few investors were not expecting a blowout third-quarter as they remembered how chatter over a new iPhone last year caused Apple to miss quarterly expectations for the first time in years. The economic slowdown in Europe and China also made many investors nervous.
"We expected a lot of consumers will probably delay their upgrade and their purchases until the iPhone 5 comes out," Channing Smith, co-manager of Capital Advisors Growth Fund, said. "We saw a similar trend occur last year with the iPhone 4S."
Apple's fiscal third-quarter revenue rose to $35 billion, much lower than the average analyst estimate of $37.22 billion. It reported net income of $8.8 billion or $9.32 a share, compared to $7.3 billion or $7.79 a share a year earlier.
That lagged the $10.37 Wall Street had forecast.
Gross margin for the quarter was 42.8 percent, also lower than the expected 43.68 percent. Apple's hoard of cash and other securities now amounted to $117.2 billion.
"Apple is in that rarest of all positions where the Street will punish them for anything less than an excess of success," CCS Insight analyst John Jackson said. "If there's a positive spin on the iPhone story, it is one of latent demand."
(This story corrects timeframe to April-June, not March-June In sixth paragraph)
(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernard Orr)
FILE-- A June 25, 2012 file photo shows Specialist Christopher Trotta working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are mostly higher on Wall Street in early trading, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 after Boeing, Caterpillar and other U.S. companies turn in better financial results. (AP Photo/Richard Drew/file)
FILE-- A June 25, 2012 file photo shows Specialist Christopher Trotta working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are mostly higher on Wall Street in early trading, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 after Boeing, Caterpillar and other U.S. companies turn in better financial results. (AP Photo/Richard Drew/file)
LONDON (AP) ? European stocks recovered Thursday as hopes for central bank action to ease the financial crisis tempered worries that the economic downturn is hurting corporate earnings.
Markets have been rattled over the past few days by fears that Spain, the fourth-largest economy among the 17 states that use the euro, could need a bailout along the lines of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Markets recovered somewhat on Thursday on reports that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told a conference of investors in London the bank could intervene in markets to bring down the government borrowing rates.
After trading lower, Germany's DAX was up 0.1 percent at 6,410.25 while France's CAC 40 was 1 percent higher at 3,112.45. Britain's FTSE rose 0.5 percent to 5,523.28. The euro rallied to trade 0.5 percent higher at $1.2214.
Wall Street was expected to open higher, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 futures up 0.4 percent.
Borrowing rates for Spain and Italy fell following the ECB President's remarks. The yield on Italy's 10-year bond dropped to 6.35 percent. Madrid's main interest rate, however, remains unsustainably high at 7.21 percent.
Marc Ostwald, an analyst at Monument Securities, welcomed Draghi's comments that high borrowing rates could hurt the bank's efforts to control inflation. Market-watchers took that as a signal that the ECB could be more willing to intervene in markets to lower those borrowing rates ? which the bank has in recent months said is not part of its mandate.
"They hint at a possible attempt to circumvent the restrictions on outright government bond purchases," said Ostwald.
Market sentiment had also been given a boost already on Wednesday, when ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny suggested that Europe's bailout fund could be given a banking license. That would give it the ability to borrow money from the ECB. Such a move would be of particular significant for Spain and Italy as the current bailout fund does not have enough money to rescue them both.
Draghi's comments helped offset mostly gloomy news from corporate earnings. Major companies like engineering group Siemens and carmaker Volkswagen warned that the economic slowdown in Europe would hurt profits in coming quarters. That hurt stocks in the industrial and automotive sectors.
Siemens shares were down almost 4 percent while Volkswagen fell 2.3 percent. Telecommunications maker Alcatel-Lucent suffered an 8.6 percent drop. Oil company Shell, which reported lower profits, saw its shares fall 3.1 percent.
Consumer goods maker Unilever was a bright spot, gaining 4.7 percent after reporting a strong rise in profits. But its improvement in business was due to growth outside of Europe, where sales in fact fell.
Earlier in Asia, indexes mostly rose, though gains were kept in check by more evidence of the toll that Europe's prolonged debt crisis is taking on the region. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, said economic growth slowed to a two-year low in the second quarter as weakness in Europe crimped demand from South Korea's biggest market China.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average climbed 0.9 percent to 8,443.10 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1 percent to 18,892.79. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.7 percent to 1,782.47. Australia's benchmark rose 0.6 percent to 4,147.70 while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.4 percent to 2,126.
In energy trading, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 12 cents at $88.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 47 cents on Wednesday in New York to end at $88.97.
Copyright is dying ? that is obvious to everyone. What isn?t obvious to everyone, especially in the music industry, is what a glorious and just outcome this is.
International copyright only came into being in 1891 ? very recent considering the long history of music and the arts. And it was publishers ??not?artists ? who convinced governments to foist the system on us. Prior to that, during monarchical times ?copyright? was permission granted to writers by the king to print what was politically correct. It was government that introduced the entire concept of ?idea ownership? ? the basis of copyrights and patents ? precisely so it could crush the ideas it didn?t like. Copyright has rotten origins.
So Why is it Evil?
We must first understand what property is, since copyright is based on the notion that ideas are property.
Property begins with one?s ownership of one?s body, and extends to all the resources one acquires through
Trade (i.e. buying and selling)
Manual labor (i.e. creation)
Homesteading (aka ?squatting? on a resource no one had yet claimed)
This can mean simply the clothes on your back, or a small ranch house in the suburbs on a quarter acre or, like Bill Gates, a 40% share in a $70 billion company. They?re all property.
The one thing all physical property has in common is?scarcity. Dirt, houses, livestock animals, software companies ? they?re all made up of physical matter that is in limited supply. How limited is relative ? obviously a pound of dirt is much less scarce than a huge software company. That?s why their market prices are so different. But there?s a reason that, for example, air and light are free: they are not scarce at all and require no human?labor to produce.
Scarcity is not some esoteric concept ? it?s at the core of most economic theories. Economists and law philosophers write about it and its role in prices, competition, entrepreneurship and a host of other areas. Scarcity is a basic reality of existence in human society.
Ideas as ?Property?
Now consider ideas and artistic works. A CD recording of a performance is obviously a scarce physical commodity ? it takes resource and labor to record and manufacture. But that?s not why CDs used to cost $20+ back in the 1990s. They cost that much because of the copyrighted sounds ? that is,?ideas?? imprinted on the discs. This is also why most CDs these days cost around $10 ? because copyright is in the latter stages of decay, due to competition from other media. The cost of a CD is falling back toward the actual cost (plus markup) of the scarce, plastic piece of physical?property that it is.
But the law still says that the CD?contents?? the ideas imprinted on it ? are copyrighted. This essentially means that the CD is not wholly your property, like a pound of dirt, or a painting, or a company is if you own these things. Copyright puts the CD owner in a bizarre circumstance where the original publisher retains some ownership of?your?CD even after you?ve paid your $10-20 for it.
But the musical ideas on the CD are not scarce. If I share the ideas with my friends by playing them the CD, the original owner hasn?t lost his own copy of them. I haven?t ?stolen? anything from him. Like air and water molecules, the sound waves that make up a musical performance are in such great supply that no one is made poorer if they are replicated ad infinitum.
Therefore, musical ideas in their raw form of pure sound ? fail the test of true property. They therefore cannot be ?owned?, and sharing them or even re-selling copies of them in different media cannot be considered theft or fraud. It may still be illegal to do so, but that only makes copyright one of the thousands of?illegitimate?sausage laws?that clog the statutes and unjustly limit our liberty. And as we?ve seen in the last 15 years, the only way to sustain copyright enforcement in an era of disruptive technology is to erect a large and?oppressive government apparatus.
This is why the institution of copyright is evil ? it thwarts true law (property and ownership), and requires jackboot tactics to enforce.
So What?s a Musician To Do?
So if modern copyright is only 121 years old, how on earth did Bach, Beethoven & Brahms survive and thrive without it?
It?s easy to understand ? just look around you now.
The music industry today is going back to the future ? like Beethoven, artists are now surviving by hustling the old fashioned way: boot-strapping public performances and touring. Or, like Bach, they?re subsidizing their song-writing passion by taking side-jobs at the local church or school. Of course, they?re also getting creative and using today?s amazing technology to implement the business models like?Connect-With-Fans+Reason-To-Buy.
Can musicians sit back and collect royalties and a share of the huge monopoly profits of yesteryear? Nope. But, those were the days of the golden handcuffs and the chosen few. The only artists who whine and complain now about those ?good old? days are either
Old artists who came up in the old days and are wistful of the time when they only had to record an album every three years to earn 5 times what they earn now, or
Young artists who are too lazy to boot-strap things themselves and wish success was handed to them
But as Seth Godin has proved, these days you have to?choose yourself?to make your own success.
I encourage musicians to read up more on this topic ? all you need to do is google ?against copyright? and similar terms to begin the journey to a more common-sense philosophy on this subject that is so close to musicians? hearts and wallets.
Ben Sommer is a composer and performer making edgy, political prog-rock. His music has been described as an original blend of Frank Zappa, Iron Maiden, XTC & Public Image Limited - with the bitter lyrical worldview of Warren Zevon and Donald Fagen.
Hear his music here, and read his other writings on his blog.
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Public release date: 30-Jul-2012
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