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Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Monday 20 April 2015

Automakers want to OUTLAW Gearheads from working on their own cars - seek copyright restrictions to stop home mechanics -

Automakers want to OUTLAW Gearheads from working on their own cars - seek copyright restrictions to stop car enthusiasts, home mechanics - 



Claiming that modern vehicles are “too complex” for home mechanics to fix, automakers are seeking copyright restrictions to prevent gearheads from working on their own cars.

The Association of Global Automakers, a lobbying firm for 12 manufacturers, is asking the U.S. Copyright Office to prevent car owners from accessing “computer programs that control the functioning of a motorized land vehicle, including personal automobiles, commercial motor vehicles, and agricultural machinery, for purposes of lawful diagnosis and repair, or aftermarket personalization, modification, or other improvement.”

“In order to modify automotive software for the purpose of ‘diagnosis and repair, or aftermarket personalization, modification, or other improvement,’ the modifier must use a substantial amount of the copyrighted software – copying the software is at issue after all, not wholly replacing it,” the AGA claimed. “Because the ‘heart,’ if not the entirety, of the copyrighted work will remain in the modified copy, the amount and substantiality of the portion copied strongly indicates that the proposed uses are not fair.”

Auto Alliance, which also represents 12 automobile manufacturers, is also asking the agency to scrap exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allow car enthusiasts to modify and tune their rides.


“Allowing vehicle owners to add and remove [electronic control] programs at whim is highly likely to take vehicles out of compliance with [federal] requirements, rendering the operation or re-sale of the vehicle legally problematic,” Auto Alliance claimed in a statement. “The decision to employ access controls to hinder unauthorized ‘tinkering’ with these vital computer programs is necessary in order to protect the safety and security of drivers and passengers and to reduce the level of non-compliance with regulatory standards.”

But people have been working on their own cars since cars were invented.

“It’s not a new thing to be able to repair and modify cars,” a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Kit Walsh, said. “It’s actually a new thing to keep people from doing it.”

Interestingly, this attack on the do-it-yourself auto hobby coincides with the current push towards self-driving cars, and who do you think will resist autonomous cars the most?

Auto hobbyists, such as hot rodders, drag racers and home tuners.

“The biggest threat to our hobby is those people in powerful situations who’s idea of a great day out in their car is to spend it riding in the back seat while someone else handles the driving ‘chore’ for them,” a hot rodder said on the subject. “These are the same people who will ban ‘old junk’ from the roads, enforce ’50 miles per gallon’ standards on new, and then older vehicles, and eventually force everyone to drive ‘standardized’ cars that will fit precisely in parking spaces, take up the minimum space on public roads, and follow all the ‘environmentally friendly’ buzz words while boring real car drivers like us to death.”

And the first step to keep people from behind the steering wheel is to keep them from opening the hood.

Read more -
http://www.infowars.com/automakers-want-to-outlaw-gearheads-from-working-on-their-own-cars/

Too many vitamins can Give you CANCER, major new study warns the millions who take them -

Too many vitamins can Give you CANCER, major new study warns the millions who take them - 




Vitamin warning: Too many can give you cancer
Taking extra vitamins “does more harm than good” and increases the risk of cancer and heart disease, a major study has revealed.

Around 18 million Brits down supplements thinking they are getting a health boost, but research has found they can have the opposite effect.

Dr Tim Byers – one of the world’s top cancer experts – examined research papers spanning 30 years.

He looked at three widely taken ­over-the-counter pills and supplements, vitamin E tablets, beta-carotene and folic acid, and warned against exceeding the recommended daily amount.

Dr Byers said: “We are not sure why this is happening but evidence shows that people who take more dietary supplements than needed tend to have a higher risk of developing cancer.

“When we first tested dietary supplements in animal models we found that the results were promising.

GettyMiddle-aged woman taking vitamin or mineral supplement capsuleWarning: Too many vitamins can give you cancer
“Eventually we were able to move on to humans. We studied thousands of patients for 10 years who were taking dietary supplements and placebos.

“We found that the supplements were actually not beneficial for their health. In fact, some people actually got more cancer while on the vitamins.”

Folic acid supplements are thought to be taken by more than 230,000 pregnant UK women each year as it can help prevent spina bifida and other birth defects affecting the brain and spine.

But one study examined by Dr Byers’ team found too much increased the chances of getting cancer by 56%.

The acid – also known as vitamin – is also taken to cut the risk of heart disease and polyps in a colon, which lead to cancer.

But the research found too much in supplement form in fact increased the number of dangerous polyps.

Two trials of beta-carotene supplements found taking more than the recommended dose increased the risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease by 20%.

Meanwhile another trial of 35,000 people between 2001 and 2014 in the States found taking too many vitamin E tablets increased the risk of developing prostate cancer by 17%.

Dr Byers, associate director for prevention and control at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, US, began his study after it emerged two decades ago that people eating more fruit and vegetables were less likely to get cancer.

He wanted to see if vitamin supplements – now an estimated £385million market in the UK – would reduce the threat of the killer disease even further.

But long term studies since the 1980s have found taking too many has the opposite effect.

One trial found the chances of lung cancer increased by 18% while another showed an rise of 28%.

Dr Byers said: “We have discovered that taking extra vitamins and minerals do more harm than good.”

He added that most people got their daily recommended doses of vitamins and minerals by eating healthy meals.

He said: “This is not to say that people need to be afraid of taking vitamins and minerals. If taken at the correct dosage multivitamins can be good for you.

"But there is no substitute for good food.”

Folic acid is naturally found in green veg such as broccoli.

Vitamin E is found in foods such as kale and almonds and is taken to boost the immune system.

And Beta-carotene – an antioxidant taken to cut the risk of heart disease and cancer – is found in carrot and mango.

The findings will be presented a US cancer summit this year.

Top UK nutritionist Dr Carina Norris insisted the problem lies with people exceeding the recommended dose.

She said: “GPs recommend folic acid to reduce the risk of birth defects and this is not some weird, wacky supplement.

“But I think there is an assumption that if a nutrient is good for you, then more is better.

"But in some cases increasing the dose can increase the risk of cancer and other diseases.”

In 2012 market research firm Mintel found 35% of the adult population took health supplements, although that had fallen from 41% in 2008.

Read more -
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/many-vitamins-can-give-you-5556383