Saturday, February 28, 2009

Valentino: The Last Emperor Documentary

Aight, 2 things I mess with Documentary and fashion so hopefully i can peep this March 18th, 2009 or keep it in mind when the dvd drops

A portrait of Valentino Garavani, the man behind the legendary couture label Valentino. Here, we focus on the period between Valentino's seventieth birthday and his final couture show as well as his significant contributions to the field of fashion. However, at the center is a love story: the fifty-year relationship between Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, his business partner, lover, best friend and confidante. Release Date: March 18th, 2009

Friday, February 27, 2009

Senor Kaos- Girls Rock Too RMX (Music Video)

Dope stuff!!!!

The remix is produced by Atlanta-based producer Illastrate, who was very excited to collaborate on the track in honor of Black History Month. He has worked with hip-hop artists such as Do It All (Lords of the Underground), Dynas, Tye Pheonix, Akir, Butta Verses, Binkis Recs, Basic Vocab, Ozy Reigns, Invizzibl Men and many more. The original single was produced by Johnny Euphonic.
Jeanius Media is behind the video production of Girls Rock Too Remix. The lyrics of the song highlight several influential women in history and the new video includes pictures of the women referenced in the song as well as images of some of the key females in Atlantas hip-hop community.

Http://www.thekaoseffect.com
Http://www.myspace.com/publicwizard

NEW VIDEOS

Damn. I'm reppin A town tough this friday. Plus this keep me in mind I'm connected to some dope people. Check the flyness peoples

AmDex - Change Your Style (feat. Supastition & Elevader Dan) Spotted first at the Koasefftect.com


Lumberjack- Keep away girls (Spotted first at Binkis.wordpress.com)

FREE DOWNLOAD: Dj Fudge- Full Metal Joints 3 Mixtape

Don't even think twice peoples. You will knock this in your computer until it get worn out like a maxwell tape. Big ups to Dj fudge!!!

We know its been a long time since he's released a little something for you to groove to. Well Fudge has more than made up for it with this mix. With new tracks from such artists such as D.I.T.C, Thad Reid, Little Brother, and even Atlanta's own T.R.I.P and Transistor Fist! This is definitely a mix that you'll want to get your hands on! DJ Fudge has made it easy for you. for a limited time only Fudge has placed his mix up on the net for you to get for free! Or for you purists that like to have the cover art..make sure you hit Fudge up when you see him! Get your mix while supplies last!
FREE DOWNLOAD: Dj Fudge- Full Metal Joints 3 Mixtape

New Stacy Epps "Deep" (prod. MF DOOM)

Spotted this at FROLAB. Oh, Yes!!! It's good to have a little New Stacy Epps music to help you start your weekend and produce by Mf Doom, What!!! You gotta love it

Stacy Epps "Deep" (prod. MF DOOM)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Art, Beats & Lyrics - Baltimore_2009

I usually don't even take pics at these events. But yo! We in this shell only once so lets make the best of it. HUSTLE HARD, PLAY HARDER!!! Hannibalm did his thing as usually. peep the rest of the pics. Art, Beats & Lyrics - Baltimore_2009 pics

Good Friends Are Good for You

Read that last paragraph again and again and again and keep it in mind


They might get on your nerves at times, but good friends have bigger benefits than you may realize.
By Tom Valeo
WebMD Feature Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

"You got to have friends to make that day last long," sings Bette Midler. But good friends may help your life last longer, too, according to an Australian study. Conducted by the Centre for Ageing Studies at Flinders University, the study followed nearly 1,500 older people for 10 years. It found that those who had a large network of friends outlived those with the fewest friends by 22%.

Why is this so? The authors suspect that good friends discourage unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and heavy drinking. And the companionship provided by friends may ward off depression, boost self-esteem, and provide support. Also, as people age, they may become more selective in their choice of friends, so they spend more time with people they like.

Close relationships with children and relatives, in contrast, had almost no effect on longevity. Lynne C. Giles, one of the four researchers who conducted the study, emphasized that family ties are important; they just seem to have little effect on survival.

The Health Benefits of Good Friends
Lots of research has shown the health benefits of social support.

One such study, reported in the journal Cancer, followed 61 women with advanced ovarian cancer. Those with ample social support had much lower levels of a protein linked to more aggressive types of cancer. Lower levels of the protein, known as interleukin 6, or IL-6, also boosted the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Women with weak social support had levels of IL-6 that were 70% higher in general, and two-and-a-half times higher in the area around the tumor.

In 1989, David Spiegel, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, published a landmark paper in Lancet. Itshowed that women with breast cancer who participated in a support group lived twice as long as those who didn't. They also had much less pain.

Sheldon Cohen, PhD, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, has shown that strong social support helps people cope with stress.

"Friends help you face adverse events," Cohen tells WebMD. "They provide material aid, emotional support, and information that helps you deal with the stressors. There may be broader effects as well. Friends encourage you to take better care of yourself. And people with wider social networks are higher in self-esteem, and they feel they have more control over their lives."

Other studies have shown that people with fewer friends tend to die sooner after having a heart attack than people with a strong social network. Having lots of friends may even reduce your chances of catching a cold. That's true even though you're probably exposed to more viruses if you spend a lot of time with others.

"People with social support have fewer cardiovascular problems and immune problems, and lower levels of cortisol -- a stress hormone," says Tasha R. Howe, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Humboldt State University. "Why? The evolutionary argument maintains that humans are social animals, and we have evolved to be in groups. We have always needed others for our survival. It's in our genes. Therefore, people with social connections feel more relaxed and at peace, which is related to better health."

Friends Can Be Stressful
Friends can be a source of stress, though. In fact, friends can cause more stress than others precisely because we care so much about them.

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, has found that dealing with people who arouse conflicted feelings in us can raise blood pressure more than dealing with people we don't like.

"My colleagues and I were interested in relationships that contain a mix of positivity and negativity," she says. "For example, you might love your mother very much, but still find her overbearing or critical at times."

By attaching people to portable blood pressure monitors, Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues found that blood pressure was highest when people were interacting with someone they felt ambivalent about.

What she found really surprising was that these interactions caused higher blood pressure than those with people the research subjects felt completely negative about. "We suspect that people we feel positive toward can hurt us that much more when they make a snide comment or don't come through for us because they are important to us. Friends may help us cope with stress, but they also may create stress."

So would we be better off having no friends at all?

Hardly. "One thing research shows is that as one's social network gets smaller, one's risk for mortality increases," Holt-Lunstad says. "And it's a strong correlation -- almost as strong as the correlation between smoking and mortality."

The Impact of Loneliness
What about loners? Are they at greater risk of dying because they prefer to be alone?

Only if they feel lonely. One study found that drug use among young people was higher among those who said they were lonely. Older lonely people tended to have higher blood pressure and poorer sleep quality. They also were more tense and anxious.

Another study found that college freshmen who had small social networks and claimed to be lonely had weaker immune responses to flu vaccinations. They also had higher levels of stress hormones in their blood.

Unfortunately, Americans have fewer friends than they used to, according to a recent study, "Social Isolation in America," published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that from 1985 to 2004, the number of Americans who feel they have someone with whom they can discuss important matters dropped by nearly one-third. The number of people who said they had no one they could discuss such matters with tripled to nearly 25%. The authors suspect that long work hours and the popularity of the Internet may contribute to the decline in close relationships.

The study also found that the percentage of people who talk about important matters only to family members increased from 57% to 80%. Those who depend solely on their spouse for these talks increased from 5% to 9%.

How Women's Friendships Are Different From Men's
In general, women are better at maintaining friendships than men. Women "tend and befriend," says Shelley E. Taylor, PhD, a psychology professor at UCLA. They respond to stress by protecting and nurturing others ("tending"), and by seeking support from others ("befriending"). This pattern regulates the seeking, giving, and receipt of social support, Taylor says. It produces health benefits by reducing psychological and biological stress.

And Margaret Gibbs, PhD, a professor of psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that men and women relate to others differently throughout life.

"We found that women seemed more geared to empathy, while male friendships are more geared to companionship and altruism," she tells WebMD. "Male friendships are more about helping each other -- mending the lawn mower, that sort of thing. Women's friendships tend to have a more emotional content -- listening to friends' stories and coming up with helpful solutions."


Doc the Artist with Marcia Jones

I love when artist stick to what they do. Even without pay, whoa. Peep out anotha DOC THE ARTIST from Brandi

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The New York Knicks Buyout Stephon Marbury contract






CITY OF INK 1 YEAR JUMP OFF: ONE YEAR AGO


If you wasn't there for the first. I guess the second time gonna be a charm. 2nd jumpoff this friday peoples. CITY OF INK

Copenhagen carrier, for all small pups

Oh boy. Can't let the dudes around my way see this. yep I said dudes. i rest my head in midtown

The Copenhagen bag comes with a canvas striped body and leather details, and it can be unzipped so your pup can stand or lay down in the carrier.

Lawmakers a-Twitter during Obama speech

I'm gonna enjoy posting this for the people who brush off some of these FREE communication resources. The game done change peoples

By Dana Milbank
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Obama spoke of economic calamity and war Tuesday night in that solemn rite of democracy, the address to the joint session of Congress. In response, lawmakers whipped out their BlackBerrys and began sending text messages like high-school kids bored in math class.

"One doesn't want to sound snarky, but it is nice not to see Cheney up there," announced Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., as Obama entered the chamber.

"I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg," broadcast Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., upon sighting the ailing Supreme Court justice. She could be seen applauding with BlackBerry in one hand.

"Capt Sully is here — awesome!" announced Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, spotting the US Airways hero pilot in the gallery.

Then there was Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour." A few minutes later, another message came through: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

And it wasn't just Twitter. "I'm broadcasting live from the middle of Independence Avenue," announced Culberson, in live streaming video on Qik.com. He jammed his 8-gigabyte camera phone into the faces of three Capitol Police and demanded that they introduce themselves. They did not look happy.

"The presidential motorcade will be coming from where?" Culberson asked. "What time are you expecting him to arrive?"

"That's classified," an officer replied.

Culberson went on: "I'll do one more broadcast and then I will tweet from the floor." READ

ANOTHER HOT CD COVER by FLUXWONDA


It's funny how a person want artwork for anything and end up still wanting what everybody else has. The mixcd cover game look was creating it's own path with it's artwork but now everything really looks the same. I enjoy doing cd covers with a person or group that's willing to let me do me. But I love seeing the concepts my man FLUX come up for people mixcd covers. That's always my motivation to step my game up with providing this service. But this his latest work. Now you can't tell me you wouldn't pick this joint up plus keep it based of the cover alone. Get your mind right peoples

Señor Kaos Interviews Supastition


Señor Kaos Interviews Supastition from Señor Kaos on Vimeo.
Señor Kaos caught up with Supastition recently in Atlanta at the video shoot for Clan Destined's "Change Your Style." It look like heads had fun on the set for real for real

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Turn Off Your Defense System

I think this can be based around friendship, business and anything else where you are in contact with people. In some cases you have to be and I'm from jerz so i know. But it feels better when you don't have to have your guard up


When you are defensive, the worst is likely to happen.

by Steven Stosny, PhD, author of How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It and Psychology Today's Anger in the Age of Entitlement blog.

Except in the case of abuse or battering, the real barrier to a satisfying intimate relationship is not the personality, selfishness, ill will, poor behavior choices, or communication skills of you or your partner. The real enemy of your relationship is the hypersensitive automatic defense system that has evolved between you.

Activated almost entirely without words, the defense system is triggered unconsciously by body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. By the time you're aware of any feelings, it's usually in an advanced stage. It's the feeling you get when your partner doesn't look at you, or sighs as you enter the room, or when he starts with that "tone." Suddenly you find yourself in a defensive posture, prepared for the worst.

Of course, when you are both defensive, the worst is likely to happen. You can just as suddenly find yourself in a battle of cold shoulders or curt exchanges or hot arguments- the missiles start flying on their own, with no one giving the order. You both feel powerless. You get irritable, impatient, resentful, or angry and want to stonewall, ignore, avoid, shut down, criticize, yell, or devalue yourself or your partner.

Disarming Your Defenses
See it as a pattern between you rather than something your partner does to you.

Make a core value decision of what is more important to you-giving in to your defense system or disarming it.

Maintain the will to disarm it, even when it feels awkward or scary to do so.

Appreciate times of hypersensitivity and the enormous power of incendiary triggers.

Be compassionate to yourself and your partner.

Be allies against it-it's bigger than either one of you but not bigger than both of you.

Be able to say, "Oh, we're triggered again; let's set it right. You're important to me; I want us to be close."

It's like BRANDI


When you do good with people if often comes right back at you. Sometimes. hahaha. But anyway. Brandi has been been geeting some buzz for her Doc the artist work and the fly peoples at GREEDMONTPARK (what's good peoples) got her to drop some jewels about what she's doing. Which is dope. But read that joint right here:BEHIND THE CAMERA: BRANDI PETTIJOHN

Mos Def & DJ Honda - ''Travellin man''

Man, it feels good to travel for real. That's why this was always my favorite track on Dj honda mixcd. It's part of the hustle. It's funny being on this art beats and lyrics joint because art is kinda helping my do that, With everything I've been through in life, art has been that little big thing that have been giving me what I put in by the power of a thousand. You gotta love that shit

COME SELAHBRATE LIFE!!


Monday, February 23, 2009

ENOUGH IZ ENOUGH FLYER CONCEPT


I was talking to my dude MR SOUL about the Enough Iz Enough artshow which will be this friday at the city of ink. The subject matter, police brutality. This show right here will show the artist skills but it will also showcase that we as artist, think, absorb and reflect all experience in everyday life. A simple drawing might be more powerful than the most complex artwork. Thus the importance of subject concept which becomes the foundation of many artwork it self. The ghost in a shell.
The flyer artwork which I drew then design ever so dope by Mr. Soul is based around the old school image of the
THUG target that the cops practice on in the shooting range. My idea was to draw the THUG image but place it in a cop uniform. I could of easily threw a black person on the target but I wanted the image to be a reflection of their action and how many people of color see them in their community.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

"Madea Goes to Jail" locks up No. 1 at box office

You gotta to respect dude hustle because he had them promos all over the play. I guess having your own studio and crazy fan base and of course with that cream

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry, whose comedies are a big hit with black women, scored the biggest opening of his career on Sunday as "Madea Goes to Jail" sold $41.1 million worth of tickets at the weekend box office in North America.

The film -- based on the actor-director-producer's most successful play -- arrested his usual fan base but also saw a huge boost among Hispanics and younger moviegoers, said its distributor Lionsgate. Perry remains a cult item among whites.

Perry, 39, dons drag to play Madea, a tough-talking, pistol-packing granny who is featured in many of his films and plays. His previous best opening was for his second film, "Madea's Family Reunion," which started with $30 million in 2006. Four of Perry's seven films have made their debut at No. 1.

Additionally, "Madea Goes to Jail" ranks as the best opening for any Lionsgate release -- surpassing the $33.6 million debut for "Saw III" -- and as the fifth-biggest bow for any film in February, said the Lions Gate Entertainment Corp unit.

Women accounted for 71 percent of the audience and blacks 72 percent -- typical for Perry releases. But the percentage of patrons aged under 25 doubled to 35 percent from the turnout last September for his previous film "The Family That Preys." The Hispanic contribution jumped to 13 percent from 5 percent, while the white audience was steady at 6 percent.

"TAKEN" STILL THRILLS

There was little change in the upper box office rankings amid a dearth of new releases and little public support for the films competing at the Academy Awards later on Sunday.

The Liam Neeson kidnap thriller "Taken," a former chart-topper, rebounded one place to No. 2 with $11.4 million in its fourth weekend. The total for the 20th Century Fox release rose to $95.1 million.

Focus Features' stop-motion cartoon "Coraline" jumped two to No. 3 with $11 million in its third week, taking its total to $53.4 million. The Warner Bros. romantic comedy "He's Just Not That Into You," the box office leader two weeks ago, fell two spots to No. 4 with $8.5 million while pushing its total to $70.1 million.

Oscar front-runner "Slumdog Millionaire" jumped four places to No. 5, matching its previous high, after earning $8.1 million. The Mumbai-set drama has won most of the key awards in the lead-up to the Oscars, where it has 10 nominations in nine categories. To date, the Fox Searchlight release has earned $98 million, and has spent nine of its 15 weeks in the top 10.

Its rivals for best picture either ran out of steam, like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" ($124 million), or never really got out of the starting blocks, like "Milk" ($28.2 million), "The Reader" ($23.2 million) and "Frost/Nixon" ($17.4 million).

Last weekend's champion, a remake of "Friday the 13th," tumbled to No. 6 with $7.8 million. The 10-day total for the Warner Bros. horror stands at $55 million.

The top 10 contained one other new release, the college comedy "Fired Up," which failed to ignite much interest. The low-budget Screen Gems release was No. 9 with $6 million.

Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are units of News Corp. Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal. Warner Bros is a unit of Time Warner Inc and Screen Gems is a unit of Sony Corp.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

ART BEATS & LYRICS IN BMORE FEB 20TH 09

Man, heads took the long bus ride to Bmore from the ATL and Repped tough. Charlotte Art Beats & lyrics always held the crown for the best show but I think the crown was taken this past friday night. Whoa!!!!

MORE PEOPLES PICS


A Walk thru the ART BEATS & LYRICS event in Bmore from Goldi gold on Vimeo.


Art beats & lyrics Bmore Teen experience from Goldi gold on Vimeo.


Alien attacks Art Beats & lyrics in BMORE from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

How I Went From Prep School to Prison


by John Forté
February 17, 2009 | 6:25am


Being accepted into Exeter allowed me to escape my violent, crack-ridden neighborhood in Brooklyn. And yet, I somehow ended up in prison like so many other young black men.
I never dreamt about being in prison during my incarceration. Every once in a while, I dreamt that one or more of my friends (from inside) and I were hanging out at one of the places I missed and remembered—New York City, the Exeter campus, the recording studio. But to my recollection, I never had a dream that took place in prison. The most frequent destination in the dream state was the house in which I spent my adolescence, on Legion Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Brownsville, with the help of the times (i.e. the proliferation of crack cocaine in every major city in the US during the mid-1980s), acquired an Enter-at-Your-Own-Risk reputation. The so-called luxuries that were afforded to drug dealers (cars, jewelry, and clothes) came with a price—the seemingly inexorable final destinations of prison and/or violent death.
I would lay awake in bed, numb to the gunfire just outside my window, counting the shots like sheep.
Notwithstanding the statistics (one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are currently incarcerated within the criminal-justice system), the promise and proximity of drug dealing is oftentimes too influential to be overcome by logic and intuition.
For as long as I could remember, being from the city was associated with an innate swagger, a defense mechanism built on skepticism and bravado. Keep your guard up! Don’t be nobody’s fool! That kind of thinking. The durability of youth in the 1980s in Brownsville and other similar places was replaced with a mentality that was as empowering as it was impossible to
READ

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

PRE Art Beats & lyrics artwork for Bmore show DONE!!!!!

Drum pleasssse!!!! This is the finish artwork for the art beats & lyrics. 6ft by 8ft of dopeness. Check out some of the step by step on the flicker link and peep the video of the finish joint

FLICKR PICS


PRE ART BEATS AND LYRICS ARTWORK DONE SON!!!!!! from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

Feb Ammo Magazine 2009

Check it out and subscribe peoples

Feb Ammo Magazine 2009

Scheme Magazine interview with Goldi Gold

It's always a honor to get any kind of interview from somebody. Read and enjoy. Shouts to Ain Drew for the write up and connect

Scheme Magazine interview with Goldi Gold

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Kanye West On Details March ‘09 Cover

Detail magazine is damn near the only magazine I really get on the regular now a days. So I'm not going goo goo gaga because kanye on the cover, but I know it's going to be very intresting read with all the other articles

Here comes the latest cover that Kanye West made - this time he appears on the cover of Details magazine for March 2009. Details interviews the artist about his new fashion venture, his life, his childhood, of course his music and a lot more.

Natural Cold and Flu Remedies


Americans are turning to cold and flu supplements in greater numbers.
By R. Morgan Griffin

WebMD Feature Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

This year, people in the U.S. will suffer up to 50 million cases of flu and about a billion colds. But while the misery of cold and flu season might be inevitable, one thing is changing: where we look for relief.
Research indicates that many of us are turning away from the over-the-counter medicines we grew up with and toward natural cold and flu remedies, like vitamin C, zinc, echinacea and others.

Last year we spent over $1.5 billion on supplements to boost immunity and help ward off colds and the flu.

The market for these supplements appears to be growing more than twice as fast as the market for over-the-counter cold and flu drugs.

Experts aren't surprised. "From a conventional medical standpoint, there's just not much that's effective for cold and flu," says David C. Leopold, MD, director of integrative medical education at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego. "People are trying to find something else that will work."

The incentive may be particularly strong now, given recent FDA reports about the ineffectiveness -- and even risks -- of over-the-counter cold and flu treatments in children.

But do alternative treatments offer the relief that pharmaceutical companies can't? There's growing evidence to suggest that some might -- at least to a modest degree. WebMD turned to the experts to get the details.

Natural Cold and Flu Remedies: How Good Is the Evidence?
First things first: cold and flu viruses are not the same thing. While colds are a drag, flu is much worse.

The symptoms of flu are more severe; they include fever and body aches along with congestion.

Flu can be dangerous, too; flu kills over 30,000 people a year.

But because there's some overlap in symptoms, treatments are often lumped together.

How well do natural cold and flu remedies work? Paul M. Coates, PhD, director of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the

National Institutes of Health, says that possible benefits appear to be small. But that's a good thing, in a way.

"If a supplement has a big, positive effect, then we worry about an equally powerful negative effect," Coates tells WebMD. Experts agree that popular natural cold and flu remedies seem to be safe for the average person. That's important when dealing with unproven treatments. So long as there's little risk in trying a supplement, the evidence of a benefit doesn't need to be quite so strong.

Which Natural Cold and Flu Remedies Should You Consider?
To help guide you, here's a rundown of the most notable cold and flu supplements according to the experts. Note that some have been studied with colds, while others with flu.
Vitamin C for Colds
While vitamin C has been long used as a treatment for the common cold, you might be surprised at how conflicted the evidence is. While it seems to boost some aspects of the immune system, studies do not show that vitamin C -- at least in doses of 1 gram per day -- helps prevent colds in most people.

As a treatment, the evidence is somewhat better. Some studies show that vitamin C can reduce the duration of a cold by as much as 24 to 36 hours. However, other studies show that even very high doses -- 3 grams a day -- have no effect.
Keep in mind that the high doses of vitamin C sometimes recommended for cold and flu can upset the stomach. Leopold is particularly wary of using high doses of vitamin C in children.
Echinacea for Colds

Once again, the evidence is mixed. While some studies do not show that echinacea works as a treatment, others show it can reduce the length and severity of colds by 10% to 30%.
Despite the confusion, many experts are fairly sure that echinacea can help treat colds. Leopold points out that some of the conflicting study results may stem from researchers testing different species of echinacea. So far, the best evidence supports taking echinacea purpurea.
Can echinacea also help prevent you from catching cold or flu viruses? Most studies say no.

Echinacea does have some mild risks. If you have allergies to ragweed or certain flowers, don't take echinacea before talking to your doctor. It may also not be safe for people with certain diseases that affect immunity, such as autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, Leopold says.
Zinc for Colds

Zinc lozenges have become a popular treatment for the common cold.
Laboratory studies show that zinc can fight the cold virus in a test tube. But it's not clear that zinc has the same affect on cold viruses in the human body. As a treatment, some studies show that lozenges with 9 to 24 milligrams of zinc can shorten the duration of a cold and ease symptoms. However, you need to start as soon as symptoms appear and take them every two to three hours (except when you're sleeping.) Other studies show no benefit.
Can zinc also help prevent colds or the flu? So far, there isn't good evidence to support zinc lozenges for cold and flu prevention.

Elderberry for the Flu
There's some promising evidence that elderberry might help treat the flu, Leopold says. Elderberry appears to boost the production of some immune cells, and may also help block a virus's ability to spread. One study shows that taking 4 tablespoons a day for three days of a specific formulation of elderberry extract -- Sambucol -- appears to shorten the symptoms of flu by 56%. It also seems to reduce some flu symptoms, like fever. However, the study was small and the full implications aren't clear.

Garlic for Colds and Immunity
Like a number of other supplements, garlic seems to stimulate the immune system. Garlic may also help fight viruses. Also, there is some preliminary evidence that garlic may lower the risk of catching a cold.
However, more research needs to be done. Note: Garlic may be dangerous in people taking blood thinners.

Ginseng for Cold and Flu
While commonly used as a mild stimulant, ginseng may also boost the immune system and help prevent or treat cold and flu. One species, panax ginseng, may also increase the protection offered by the flu vaccine.

Coates singles out a specific blend of North American ginseng sold as Cold fX. Preliminary results suggest that Cold fX, when taken for several months during flu season, seems to lower the risk of contracting either cold or flu. As a treatment, it also seems to reduce the duration and the severity of the symptoms. "The jury's still out, but the evidence is promising," says Coates.

Andrographis for Colds and Immunity
"Andrographis is called 'Indian echinacea,'" says Evangeline Lausier, MD, assistant clinical professor at Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, N.C. "It seems to stimulate the immune system." Studies of andrographis show that it appears to improve cold symptoms significantly, at least when started within three days of the onset. There's also some early evidence that it may reduce the chances of catching a cold, at least when taken for several months beforehand. Most studies have used a specific product called Kan Jang, which combines andrographis with eleutherococcus senticosus.

Combination Supplements for Colds and Flu
Many alternative medicines packaged for cold and flu are combinations of some of the herbs and vitamins listed above -- typically echinacea, zinc, high doses of vitamin C, and other ingredients. While there's no particular reason to think that combination cold and flu products are more dangerous, they're much less likely to have been studied than the individual ingredients that they contain. You might be better off choosing the specific supplements in the dosages you want.
These aren't the only supplements sold as natural cold and flu remedies. Others include astragalus, goldenseal, kiwi, and boneset. However, so far, there's not enough evidence to say whether they help with cold or flu.

Natural Cold and Flu Remedies: What Are the Risks?
Experts say that natural cold and flu remedies seem fairly safe -- at least when taken in normal doses by healthy adults. The fact that you'd probably only use them for a few days when you're sick adds to their safety.
"The risks of potentially toxic effects from herbs are almost always related to long-term use," says Paul R. Thomas, EdD, RD, scientific consultant for the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health.
There are some exceptions. Talk to your doctor before taking any herb, supplement or vitamin if:

You are pregnant.

You have a medical condition.

You take medicines or other supplements, which may interact to cause problems.

Make sure you purchase brands of supplements that bear a USP or NF seal on the label. The USP and NF seals indicate the supplements have undergone quality-control testing.
Also, don't rely on supplements when you truly need medical care.

"I think the biggest risk is when the symptoms don't subside, but people just keep trying to treat themselves with supplements instead of seeing a doctor," Leopold tells WebMD. Self-treatment is especially risky when it comes to the flu. Influenza can be dangerous, especially to those who are very young, older, or sick.

Natural Cold and Flu Remedies in Children
Are natural cold and flu remedies safe for kids? It's a question many parents are asking, particularly in light of the risks of cold and cough medicines for children.

Leopold believes that using supplements in children can be a reasonable option -- provided you always check with a pediatrician first. Keep in mind that most alternative supplements have never been studied in children specifically. So we can't be certain that a treatment that is effective and safe in adults will work the same way in kids.
Always err on the side of caution. "When a child is really sick, you don't want to waste time messing with herbal stuff," says Lausier. "You need to get them to a pediatrician."

Cold and Flu: Other Natural Treatments
Natural remedies for colds and flu go well beyond herbs and supplements. Good lifestyle and hygiene habits are proven to reduce your risk of getting sick.
Eat healthy foods. Get regular exercise. Learn to manage stress. Those are among the best natural ways to prevent colds and flu, says Leopold.

Cover your mouth when you cough. Make sure to cough into your sleeve instead of your hand, Lausier says. You'll reduce the odds of passing your germs onto someone else.

Wash your hands. Washing with soap -- or rubbing your hands with an alcohol-based gel -- remains one of the best ways of protecting yourself from cold and flu germs.

Don't Forget to Get the Flu Vaccine
Nowadays, an annual flu vaccine is recommended for most children and adults. It's highly effective and, contrary to what you may have heard, the flu vaccine cannot give you the flu. It can save you and your family a lot of misery.

Do We Need a New Internet?

Man, I went through a couple of weeks without the net and almost went bonkers. But it's more from a business point of view but we condition to this thing called the internet so I don't know

By JOHN MARKOFF

Two decades ago a 23-year-old Cornell University graduate student brought the Internet to its knees with a simple software program that skipped from computer to computer at blinding speed, thoroughly clogging the then-tiny network in the space of a few hours.

The program was intended to be a digital “Kilroy Was Here.” Just a bit of cybernetic fungus that would unobtrusively wander the net. However, a programming error turned it into a harbinger heralding the arrival of a darker cyberspace, more of a mirror for all of the chaos and conflict of the physical world than a utopian refuge from it.

Since then things have gotten much, much worse.

Bad enough that there is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and privacy have become so maddeningly elusive that the only way to fix the problem is to start over.

What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a “gated community” where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety. Today that is already the case for many corporate and government Internet users. As a new and more secure network becomes widely adopted, the current Internet might end up as the bad neighborhood of cyberspace. You would enter at your own risk and keep an eye over your shoulder while you were there.

“Unless we’re willing to rethink today’s Internet,” says Nick McKeown, a Stanford engineer involved in building a new Internet, “we’re just waiting for a series of public catastrophes.”

That was driven home late last year, when a malicious software program thought to have been unleashed by a criminal gang in Eastern Europe suddenly appeared after easily sidestepping the world’s best cyberdefenses. Known as Conficker, it quickly infected more than 12 million computers, ravaging everything from the computer system at a surgical ward in England to the computer networks of the French military. READ

This weeks Doc by BRANDI is Fahamu Pecou (is the Shit)


This weeks Doc is on Fahamu Pecou (is the Shit). Brandi is" docing the artist, meaning she's showing love to fellow artist while showcasing her documentary photos as well check the rest out HERE

Classic Example Freestyle 1 ft. 4ize, Senor Kaos & Punchline

Flux and I was talking about posse cuts and the lost art of that joint. Every one of these cats brought that heat on on this track mixed by Dj Rasta Root for the Hip Hop classic example radio show on sirus xm

Classic Example Freestyle 1 ft. 4ize, Senor Kaos & Punchline
Hosted by Jay Force Mixed By Dj Rasta Root

Monday, February 16, 2009

Facebook’s Users Ask Who Owns Information

Just read this in the New York Times. We all are owned in some shape or form

By BRIAN STELTER

Reacting to an online swell of suspicion about changes to Facebook’s terms of service, the company’s chief executive moved to reassure users on Monday that the users, not the Web site, “own and control their information.”

The online exchanges reflected the uneasy and evolving balance between sharing information and retaining control over that information on the Internet. The subject arose when a consumer advocate’s blog shined an unflattering light onto the pages of legal language that many users accept without reading when they use a Web site.

The pages, called terms of service, generally outline appropriate conduct and grant a license to companies to store users’ data. Unknown to many users, the terms frequently give broad power to Web site operators.

This month, when Facebook updated its terms, it deleted a provision that said users could remove their content at any time, at which time the license would expire. Further, it added new language that said Facebook would retain users’ content and licenses after an account was terminated.

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, said in a blog post on Monday that the philosophy “that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant.” Despite the complaints, he did not indicate the language would be revised.

The changes in the terms of service had gone mostly unnoticed until Sunday, when the blog Consumerist cited them and interpreted them to mean that “anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later.”

Given the widespread popularity of Facebook — by some measurements the most popular social network with 175 million active users worldwide — that claim attracted attention immediately.

The blog post by Consumerist, part of the advocacy group Consumers Union, received more than 300,000 views. Users created Facebook groups to oppose the changes. To some of the thousands who commented online, the changes meant: “Facebook owns you.”

Facebook moved swiftly to say it was not claiming to own the material that users upload. It said the terms had been updated to better reflect user behavior — for instance, to acknowledge that when a user deletes an account, any comments the user had posted on a page remain visible.

“We certainly did not — and did not intend — to create any new right or interest for Facebook in users’ data by issuing the new terms,” said Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman.

Greg Lastowka, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Law who is writing a book on Internet law, said Facebook’s language was not unusual. “Most Web sites today offer terms of service that are designed to protect and further the interests of the company writing the terms, and most people simply agree to terms without reading them.”

For Facebook, the ability to store users’ data and use their names and images for commercial purposes is important as it seeks to make more money from the virtual interactions of friends.

But balancing the desire for sharing with the need for control remains a challenge for Facebook as it turns five years old this month. “We’re at an interesting point in the development of the open online world where these issues are being worked out,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote.

Amid the evolution, at least a few members are showing their uneasiness about the stance that Facebook is taking.

Some members, including Sasha Frere-Jones, the pop critic and staff writer for The New Yorker, said they had deleted their accounts to show their opposition to the new terms.

“Zuckerberg’s response to the protest is just the modern version of ‘Ignore the fine print, ma’am, just sign here,’ ” Mr. Frere-Jones wrote in an e-mail message. “Why would anyone trust a company with his or her personal information, especially when that company’s explicit legal language claims eternal rights to exploit that information, and there is good reason to expect that they will?”


Facebook’s Users Ask Who Owns Information

Video: John Forte + Talib Kweli "Homecoming"

Okay, JOHN FORTE still got it

"Homecoming" John Forte + Talib Kweli from The ICU on Vimeo.

Nike Air Force 1 “Black History Month 2009″

Wow! dope kicks and you get a schooling about it at the same time. Say word!!!

“This limited edition sneaker features a predominately black leather upper with red and green accents on the inner lining, tongue and heel. The latter area also features the centennial logo of the African American culture surrounded by 44 stars. Obviously, this sneaker contains the same colorway of the African-American flag. More red and green is seen in the form of contrast stitching seen throughout the upper. To finish it off, this sneaker is complimented with a icy, clear sole. Supposedly, this feature represents the marble courtroom floors of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the African American culture won many civil rights battles. This release is all the more interesting seeing that 2009 marks the 100th year anniversary of the NAACP’s existence.” Via Nicekicks/The305.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Pre Art Beats & lyrics artwork for Bmore show

This is anotha collabo between flux and I for the Art beats & lyric show in Bmore next friday. We've been putting in late hours to knock this artwork out. I'm swinging over there this morning for anotha session which should be the final day of production. I took pics and a video of the joint. The wall is 6ft by 6ft so it ain't no joke for real, for real but stay tune for the finish product. Soon come





PRE ART BEATS AND LYRICS ARTWORK FOR BMORE SHOW from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

EWOK

Dude is crazy with the paint can. The color game is a beast!!!!

CHICAGO - EWOK's mom would always have to hide her pens and pencils cause he'd be drawing on any and every paper material available. Check out his video as he talks about how he was introduced to graffiti, getting back to oil painting, and the crew and artists that have inspired him. www.knowngallery.com

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Goldi gold Interview with Viva Fidel on International Revolution Radio


photo BRANDI

Yep, I did a interview with a positive hustler's hustler. This interview was done while I was moving in my new pad. The world ain't the same no more. But appreciate my dude Fidel for the interview for real. for real

Viva Fidel interview with Goldi gold

Friday, February 13, 2009

VIDEO: BLACK STAR PERFORM AT HOUSE OF BLUES (LA)

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTT!!!! WE NEED A ALBUM NOW!!

Black Star @ the House of Blues 2/09 from gregthedude on Vimeo.

10 Surprising Health Benefits of Love



Lower Blood Pressure, Fewer Colds, Better Stress Management Are Just the Beginning
By Sherry Rauh
artwork. AMEN

WebMD Feature Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

“I need somebody to love,” sang the Beatles, and they got it right. Love and health are intertwined in surprising ways. Humans are wired for connection, and when we cultivate good relationships, the rewards are immense. But we’re not necessarily talking about spine-tingling romance.

“There’s no evidence that the intense, passionate stage of a new romance is beneficial to health,” says Harry Reis, PhD, co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. "People who fall in love say it feels wonderful and agonizing at the same time.” All those ups and downs can be a source of stress.

It takes a calmer, more stable form of love to yield clear health benefits. “There is very nice evidence that people who participate in satisfying, long-term relationships fare better on a whole variety of health measures,” Reis tells WebMD.

Most of the research in this area centers on marriage, but Reis believes many of the perks extend to other close relationships -- for example, with a partner, parent, or friend. The key is to “feel connected to other people, feel respected and valued by other people, and feel a sense of belonging,” he says. Here are 10 research-backed ways that love and health are linked:

1. Fewer Doctor’s Visits
The Health and Human Services Department reviewed a bounty of studies on marriage and health. One of the report’s most striking findings is that married people have fewer doctor’s visits and shorter average hospital stays.

“Nobody quite knows why loving relationships are good for health,” Reis says. “The best logic for this is that human beings have been crafted by evolution to live in closely knit social groups. When that is not happening, the biological systems ... get overwhelmed.”

Another theory is that people in good relationships take better care of themselves. A spouse may keep you honest in your oral hygiene. A best friend could motivate you to eat more whole grains. Over time, these good habits translate to fewer illnesses.

2. Less Depression & Substance Abuse
According to the Health and Human Services report, getting married and staying married reduces depression in both men and women. This finding is not surprising, Reis says, because social isolation is clearly linked to higher rates of depression. What’s interesting is that marriage also contributes to a decline in heavy drinking and drug abuse, especially among young adults.

3. Lower Blood Pressure
A happy marriage is good for your blood pressure. That’s the conclusion of a study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Researchers found happily married people had the best blood pressure, followed by singles. Unhappily married participants fared the worst.

Reis says this study illustrates a vital aspect of the way marriage affects health. “It’s marital quality and not the fact of marriage that makes a difference,” he tells WebMD. This supports the idea that other positive relationships can have similar benefits. In fact, singles with a strong social network also did well in the blood pressure study, though not as well as happily married people.

4. Less Anxiety
When it comes to anxiety, a loving, stable relationship is superior to new romance. Researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook used functional MRI (fMRI) scans to look at the brains of people in love. They compared passionate new couples with strongly connected long-term couples. Both groups showed activation in a part of the brain associated with intense love.

“It’s the dopamine-reward area, the same area that responds to cocaine or winning a lot of money,” says Arthur Aron, PhD, one of the study’s authors. But there were striking differences between the two groups in other parts of the brain. In long-term relationships, “you also have activation in the areas associated with bonding ... and less activation in the area that produces anxiety.” The study was presented at the 2008 conference of the Society for Neuroscience.

5. Natural Pain Control

The fMRI study reveals another big perk for long-term couples -- more activation in the part of the brain that keeps pain under control. A CDC report complements this finding. In a study of more than 127,000 adults, married people were less likely to complain of headaches and back pain.

A small study published in Psychological Science adds to the intrigue. Researchers subjected 16 married women to the threat of an electric shock. When the women were holding their husband’s hand, they showed less response in the brain areas associated with stress. The happier the marriage, the greater the effect.

6. Better Stress Management
If love helps people cope with pain, what about other types of stress? Aron says there is evidence of a link between social support and stress management. “If you’re facing a stressor and you’ve got the support of someone who loves you, you can cope better,” he tells WebMD. If you lose your job, for example, it helps emotionally and financially if a partner is there to support you.

7. Fewer Colds
We’ve seen that loving relationships can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression -- a fact that may give the immune system a boost. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people who exhibit positive emotions are less likely to get sick after exposure to cold or flu viruses. The study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, compared people who were happy and calm with those who appeared anxious, hostile, or depressed.

8. Faster Healing
The power of a positive relationship may make flesh wounds heal faster. Researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center gave married couples blister wounds. The wounds healed nearly twice as fast in spouses who interacted warmly compared with those who demonstrated a lot of hostility toward each other. The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

9. Longer Life
A growing body of research indicates that married people live longer. One of the largest studies examines the effect of marriage on mortality during an eight-year period in the 1990s. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, researchers found that people who had never been married were 58% more likely to die than married people.

Aron tells WebMD marriage contributes to longer life mostly through “mutual practical support, financial benefits, and children who provide support.”

But Reis sees an emotional explanation. Marriage protects against death by warding off feelings of isolation. “Loneliness is associated with all-cause mortality -- dying for any reason,” he says. In other words, married people live longer because they feel loved and connected.

10. Happier Life
It may seem obvious that one of love’s greatest benefits is joy. But research is just beginning to reveal how strong this link can be. A study in the Journal of Family Psychology shows happiness depends more on the quality of family relationships than on the level of income. And so we have scientific evidence that, at least in some ways, the power of love trumps the power of money.

Nurture Your Relationships
To foster a loving relationship that yields concrete benefits, Aron offers four tips:

If you are depressed or anxious, get treatment.
Brush up on communication skills and learn to handle conflict.
Do things that are challenging and exciting with your loved one on a regular basis.
Celebrate each other's successes.
This last point is crucial, Aron tells WebMD. Although partners often provide support during a crisis, this support is even more beneficial during good times. As the proverb goes, Shared sorrow is half sorrow; shared joy is double joy.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Doc the Artist Stills of Blackbeard

Brandi is the shiznick. Get familiar

Soo...I learned a good lesson this week...sometimes you get lessons that sting a little and I did...don't shit where you sleep. In this case I didnt really shit ... it was like a fart...and for that I have to forgive myself. What am I talking about...wouldn't you like to know... muaaa ha ha ha!

Anyway, this past week I got this text from Blackbeard saying that he was rehearsing...first let me back this story up a bit. I finally realized the format of how I wanted to display my documentary photography...which is doc the artist as it appears on youtube. It will eventually change a little but I needed to get it started so I'm happy for now...anyway. I've been asking the people I know...and I know a lot of artists if they wanted to be doc'd.

I've "known" Blackbeard for a couple of years now and I've been wanting to photograph him forever...he's interesting and lets face it he's easy on the eyes and has a dope head of locks...a photographers dream. So I've been on this let me photograph you shit for a while with him - finally I'm doing doc the artist...so its a perfect opportunity. So he texts me last week and lets me know that he is rehearsing...GREAT I'M THERE. READ

(FREE DOWNLOAD) J.PERIOD & Q-TIP THE ABSTRACT BEST VOLUME 1


J.PERIOD & Q-TIP THE ABSTRACT BEST VOLUME 1

Friday The 13th movie

nuff said.

D-Nice Presents True Hip-Hop Stories: Joe Ski Love - The Pee Wee Dance

Word money!!! Know your hip hop history

Cure for the Common Cold? Not Yet, but Possible



Curing the common cold, one of medicine’s most elusive goals, may now be in the realm of the possible.

Researchers said Thursday that they had decoded the genomes of the 99 strains of common cold virus and developed a catalog of its vulnerabilities.

“We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles’ heel, and that a very effective treatment for the common cold is at hand,” said Stephen B. Liggett, an asthma expert at the University of Maryland and co-author of the finding.

Besides alleviating the achy, sniffly misery familiar to everyone, a true cold-fighting drug could be a godsend for the 20 million people who suffer from asthma and the millions of others with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The common cold virus, a rhinovirus, is thought to set off half of all asthma attacks.

Even so, it might be difficult to kindle the interest of pharmaceutical companies. While the new findings are “an interesting piece of science,” said Dr. Glenn Tillotson, an expert on antiviral drugs at Viropharma in Exton, Pa., he noted that the typical cost of developing a new drug was now $700 million, “with interminable fights with financiers and regulators.”

Because colds are mostly a minor nuisance, drug developers say, people would not be likely to pay for expensive drugs. And it would be hard to get the Food and Drug Administration to approve a drug with any serious downside for so mild a disease.

Carl Seiden, president of Seiden Pharmaceutical Strategies and a longtime industry analyst and consultant, said industry might be loath to wade in because Relenza and Tamiflu — two drugs that ameliorated flu but did not cure it — were huge commercial disappointments.

The industry has also learned in recent years that turning a genetic discovery into a marketable drug is far harder than once thought.

Still, if the discovery could lead to an effective drug to treat the common cold, “that’s a big deal,” Mr. Seiden said.

Industry hurdles aside, perhaps the biggest reason the common cold has long defied treatment is that the rhinovirus has so many strains and presents a moving target for any drug or vaccine.

This scientific link in this chain of problems may now have been broken by a research team headed by Dr. Liggett and Dr. Ann C. Palmenberg, a cold virologist at the University of Wisconsin.

The researchers, who conducted the genetic decoding with the aid of Dr. Claire Fraser-Liggett at the University of Maryland, published their insights into the rhinovirus on Thursday in the online edition of Science.

Dr. Fernando Martinez, an asthma expert at the University of Arizona, said the new rhinovirus family tree should make it possible for the first time to identify which particular branch of the tree held the viruses most provocative to asthma patients.

If antiviral agents could be developed against this group of viruses, Dr. Martinez said, “it would be an extraordinary advance.”

Another asthma expert, Dr. E. Kathryn Miller at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, said the new finding was “a groundbreaking study of major significance.” READ

Spending Time With Poster Boy

Poster Boy is a New York City based street artist. By using a razor, Poster Boy slices up advertisements in the subway system to create completely original works of art. Due to the illegal nature of his work, Poster Boy remains anonymous.

More turning to Web to watch TV, movies


By Zach Pontz

(CNN) -- When Corey Wynsma's wife got laid off a few months ago from her graphic design job, the couple did an inventory of their household budget.

Cable TV seemed like an obvious luxury. So the couple, who live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, canceled their cable service and found another way to keep up with their favorite shows: on the Internet.

"We were already consuming a good portion of content online, and a quick survey of media sites allowed us to determine if those shows we were most interested in watching could be found online," Corey Wynsma said. "In almost each case, the answer was yes."

Rick Wampler, a technician for Cirque du Soleil in Orlando, Florida, came to the same realization when he dropped his cable subscription three months ago. Cost was a major factor, and Wampler wanted more control over the services he was paying for, he said.

As more Americans get used to watching video on their computers, more Web sites are popping up to offer free movies and TV shows. Consumers are taking advantage of this to eliminate cable or satellite TV and integrate their home entertainment with the Web. And online video viewership is skyrocketing. How to watch TV on the Internet »

Internet users in the United States watched a record 14.3 billion online videos in December, an increase of 13 percent over the previous month, according to comScore, an Internet marketing research firm. Popular site YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for almost half the incremental gain in videos viewed.

Internet TV services such as Hulu, Joost and Veoh also are feeding off a new generation of tech-savvy users in search of cheap access to video content. Add to the mix players such as Netflix -- whose Roku set-top box offers more than 12,000 streaming videos and who is teaming with LG Electronics to embed new TVs with the service -- and there's enough online TV options to justify a subscription-free lifestyle.

Web TV content remains limited, however. Although Joost and Hulu might show your favorite ABC reality series or reruns of "The Simpsons," the sites won't be streaming NFL playoff games or new episodes of hit shows such as "Entourage."

For people used to a large TV with surround sound, watching movies on an 11-inch computer screen could be an unsatisfying viewing experience. And technical problems persist.

Wampler, the Cirque du Soleil technician, had trouble keeping up with the presidential election results on his computer in November.

"It was difficult to watch the presidential votes come in" because the live streams on several news sites were jerky and intermittent, he said. "Since I am on a cable modem service, my download speed is dependent on how many other people are also on the Internet at the same time."

Ronald Lewis, a Denver, Colorado-based technology adviser, believes that most Americans aren't prepared to watch TV on their computers.

"Broadband adoption is still ongoing in America, which means there are many people without access to the pipes, which will drive these [Internet TV] services," he said.

"Many consumers aren't interested in consuming long-form video services on their PCs. They expect a TV-like experience. Except for the tech-savvy and resourceful among us, it's not widely accessible."

The brutal economy may motivate some consumers, like the Wynsmas, to switch to Web-based TV, but it won't necessarily hurt the cable or satellite TV business, which has historically been recession-proof.

"Consumers continue to find their TV sets a reliable and comforting companion in difficult times," said Robert Mercer, a spokesman for DirecTV. Mercer said the satellite TV service showed strong customer growth and low disconnects through the third quarter of last year, and he expected that trend to continue through early 2009 despite the economic climate.

"The cable companies have invested billions of dollars to expand the footprint and reach of their services, and it will require a similar investment by the [Internet Protocol Television] players to catch up," said Lewis, the technology consultant.

"The IPTV players are in a great position to wage an all-out war for eyeballs over the next six to 10 years," he added. "The future of TV is definitely IP, but it will take some time to get there." iReport.com: Are you watching more TV online?

Data show that increasing numbers of people relying on the Internet for at least some of their TV viewing. Users watched more than 24 million videos on Hulu in December, a record for the fledgling company. And Joost users viewed 818,000 hours of video in January, up 25 percent from the previous month, a spokesman said.

A recent survey of 3,000 prime-time TV watchers by Integrated Media Measurements Inc., an audience tracker, found that 20 percent watched some TV online.

Don't think cable companies haven't taken notice. Comcast launched Fancast, its online TV player, last year to show such hit shows as "CSI: Miami" and "30 Rock."

"We embrace the online world as much as the offline world," said Mary Nell Westbrook, senior director of consumer communications for Comcast.

But one thing is certain: The landscape is shifting. And Internet TV services believe that time is on their side.

"The Internet as a TV provider is in its infancy," said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost. "We believe that [in the future,] the majority of TV will be viewed over the Internet. It's mostly cost, but it's also convenience. People want to be able to travel and move about while watching TV."