Conficker survival guide

Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker's a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren't without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker's already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss -- try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check -- you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec's Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro's Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don't have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users -- whether they're worried about an infection or know for sure they're clean -- are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won't work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Temporarily disconnecting your computer from the web won't help if the malware is already on your machine -- it will simply activate once you connect again. Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out. Follow the above instructions to detect and remove the worm.

R.I.P. KING MAGAZINE

Gotta get that last issue

After six years and 50 amazing issues, sources have confirmed that KING magazine has been dethroned due to tough economic times. Their final issue will hit newsstands nationwide April 21 and will feature Joe Budden's wifey, Tahiry.

9th Wonder Making “Beautiful Lady”

You gotta luv the process peoples!!! The Big Remo joint is kinda tough

GENTRIFY ME group show

On april 3rd in Charlotte North Carolina there is a show that will open called "Gentrify Me". the show will showcase artists portrayl of gentrification in artists. For info check here:GENTRIFY ME group show

Señor Kaos, Binkis Recs, H20, + Eddie Meeks Studio Footage

This some classic material that's about to bubble. H20 on that sauce yo! Lawddd but peep the verbals about that joint right here: The Kaos effect

Señor Kaos, Binkis Recs, H20, + Eddie Meeks Studio Footage from Señor Kaos on Vimeo.

BROOKLYN FINEST (SHAHID ALI & FUSE GREEN)

Aight I know both of these cats. Shit we all know each other. This the company you gotta keep to be inspired. Peep their sites and see why

SHAHID ALI


FUSE GREEN

April 1st - April Fool's Day - All Fools Day

You always got to do the knowledge peoples


April Fool's Day, or All Fools' Day, is a holiday celebrated in many countries on April 1. The custom of playing practical jokes on friends was part of the celebrations in ancient Rome on March 25 (Hilaria) and in India on March 31 (Huli). The timing seems related to the vernal equinox and the coming of spring-a time when nature fools us with sudden changes between showers and sunshine.

The day is celebrated by the execution of hoaxes and practical jokes of varying sophistication with the goal of publicly embarrassing the gullible. Pranks are suppose to end by noon and those done afterwards are suppose to bring bad luck to the perpetrator. Some sources say that the special meaning of April 1 originates in the French change to the Gregorian calendar ordered by King Charles IX of France in 1582. Before that, New Year was celebrated from March 25 to April 1. With the change of the calendar system, New Year was "moved" to January 1. People who forgot or didn't accept the new date system were given invitations to nonexistent parties, funny gifts, etc.

In France, the victim of a joke is called an "April Fish" (poisson d'avril). In England, tricks can be played only in the morning. If a trick is played on you, you are a "noodle". In Scotland, you are called an "April gowk", which is another name for a cuckoo bird. In Portugal, April Fool's is celebrated on the Sunday and Monday before Lent. The traditional trick there is to throw flour at your friends. Humor and practical jokes are universal.

Some media organisations have either unwittingly or deliberately propagated many hoaxes. Even normally serious news media consider April Fools' Day hoaxes fair game, and spotting them has become an annual pastime.

SH Collective Presents Producer DDUB “Dead 27″ Mix Tape

peep the dopeness. Shouts to SH Collective

Producer, youth & teen advocate, motivational speaker, blogger, songwriter, musical director and CEO of DDub Productions, D-Dub is finally dropping DDub Productions presents: The Dead 27 mixtape on March 27, 2009. “The Dead 27” mixtape is a project packed with 10 tracks, all produced by this Brooklyn beatsmith. It pays homage to late hip-hop icons Notorious BIG, Tupac, Big Pun and Big L by mixing their vocals with beats influenced by greats like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain- who all died at age 27.

The Dead 27 showcases and displays D-Dub’s ability as a producer and embodies a broad range of musical styles including hard core rap, R&B, pop, and rock. D-Dub states,
’Dead 27 ’is influenced by four musical icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison. Who not only made a mark with their music but also impacted our culture with their sudden passing.
The mixtape also blends these four with four other Hip Hop heavyweights of my generation and their rhymes. Consequently, bridging the gap and recreating space and time, both past and present with my beats.
’Dead 27’ is my first mixtape of a series of many to come….so expect more infectious gritty beats showcasing talent with no bounds.”

No stranger to the Hip-Hop industry, D-Dub’s production credits include collaborating with Harlem rapper Esso on “So H!” for the 2007 ESSObama: The Champagne Campaign mixtape hosted by Cipha Sounds & Sickamore. D-Dub has also showcased his production skills on 2007’s EOW records release Solid Ground, which features current Fight Klub champion and EOW veteran Iron Solomon. This year D-Dub continues to expand his credits by working with Brooklyn’s own City Haze on “Reminder” which was also featured on 2DopeBoyz and Digiwaxx.
He has also received critical praise for his work regularly featured on King Magazine TV, as well as his efforts for the international summer smash with UK’s finest Paul Samuels on “London Summer Nights” featured on Str8NYC, SHCollective as well various other online publications. In addition, newly appointed Hot 97’s DJ Magic has collaborated with D-Dub on various projects including a melody of D-Dub’s beats and an upcoming mixtape featuring remixes scheduled for release later this year. Aside from these production credits, D-Dub is also working on the score for the Off-Broadway musical, “Teenage Chronicles”.
Download DDub Productions Presents: “The Dead 27” mixtape produced by D-Dub with the following link:“Dead 27″ Mix Tape

When you think your art thrill is gone

This a pic of my peoples I drew last night. Yo! I've been having that dread feeling when I really don't get a chance to draw like I want too. If your a artist on all levels you might overstand. That feeling when you tell yourself that "you suck!!!!" That's the real setback when your grinding, promoting and keeping up with the times with all these sites online. But I'm beast a couple joints out in april before the next art beats and lyric show. I owe myself that. like I mentioned this the first pic I've done in a minute. I felt like I was in the dark trying to find the light switch but the experience only reminds me too build the skills son!!! Build it!!!

Binkis Recs @ JAX Tribute Part 4 featuring SENOR KAOS

Binkis Recs @ JAX Tribute Part 2

GET FAMILIAR: BINKIS RECS SON!!!!!

Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons creating comic art digitally

Dave Gibbons demonstrate the various steps he took to create an image of Rorschach using Manga Studio and a Wacom Cintiq. It’s more of a slideshow of the stages than anything else, but it shows what these digital tools can accomplish in the hands of someone using them to duplicate his traditional process.

Ekundayo Freestyle

I think heads don't even overstand or know the history of the heads that started trends and rocked shows in the ATL back in the days, get familiar. Ekundayo


Ekundayo - "All I know"

Music Video
Artist: Ekundayo
Song: All I Know
Directed by: Mike Moore

The Celebrity Twitter Ecosystem

This going to be the discussion of choice on Sunday morning news. TWITTER. Hope it do become like the 8 ball jacket

By JOHN METCALFE

HONESTLY, does anyone care that Martha Stewart has a blog supposedly written by her French bulldogs, Francesca and Sharkey?

Snoop Dogg might, perhaps, because Ms. Stewart recently sent him a Twitter message urging him to visit “The Daily Wag.” “Yo Snoop,” she wrote, “check out MY doggies’ new doggie blog.”

Tha Doggfather received this dubious shout-out because Ms. Stewart follows him on Twitter — “following” being Twitterspeak for signing up to get someone’s musings delivered directly to your cellphone or computer. She is also following P. Diddy, Rachel Maddow and Jimmy Fallon and, in turn, is followed by Michael Phelps, Jane Fonda and nearly 200,000 other people; they were all alerted on March 4, for instance, when she had lunch with Ludacris, whom she found “just charming” and who “loved lunch — esp. choc cake.”

That Ms. Stewart recently broke bread with the artist behind “Pimpin’ All Over the World” is just one of the many weird bits of trivia that can be gleaned about famous people on Twitter. There are at least a hundred well-known actors, singers, business magnates, politicians and writers using the service, and their chitchat — most of it authentically written by the stars themselves, according to interviews with them or their publicists — is available for anybody to see. (Not to obsess too much over Martha, but just the other day she welcomed Emeril Lagasse to Twitter, sending him a note that said, “i am still loving the etouffee you made yesterday.” O.K., yes, she did buy up most of his franchise last year, but there you go.) READ

Is Facebook Growing Up Too Fast?

Wow. Myspace wasn't mentioned at all in this article. And like that, it's gone.

By BRAD STONE

WHEN Facebook signed up its 100 millionth member last August, its employees spread out in two parks in Palo Alto, Calif., for a huge barbecue. Sometime this week, this five-year-old start-up, born in a dorm room at Harvard, expects to register its 200 millionth user.

That staggering growth rate — doubling in size in just eight months — suggests Facebook is rapidly becoming the Web’s dominant social ecosystem and an essential personal and business networking tool in much of the wired world.

Yet Facebook executives say they aren’t planning to observe their latest milestone in any significant way. It is, perhaps, a poor time to celebrate. The company that has given users new ways to connect and speak truth to power now often finds itself as the target of that formidable grass-roots firepower — most recently over controversial changes it made to users’ home pages.

As Facebook expands, it’s also struggling to match the momentum of hot new start-ups like Twitter, the micro-blogging service, while managing the expectations of young, tech-savvy early adopters, attracting mainstream moms and dads, and justifying its hype-carbonated valuation.

By any measure, Facebook’s growth is a great accomplishment. The crew of Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 24-year-old co-founder and chief executive, is signing up nearly a million new members a day, and now more than 70 percent of the service’s members live overseas, in countries like Italy, the Czech Republic and Indonesia. Facebook’s ranks in those countries swelled last year after the company offered its site in their languages.

All of this mojo puts Facebook on a par with other groundbreaking — and wildly popular — Internet services like free e-mail, Google, the online calling network Skype and e-commerce sites like eBay. But Facebook promises to change how we communicate even more fundamentally, in part by digitally mapping and linking peripatetic people across space and time, allowing them to publicly share myriad and often very personal elements of their lives. READ

FTP Feed The people weekend

Since i posted that I was going to Feed The People yesterday on twitter, heads been asking who, what, when and where, So I posted some of the info under the pics. Shout out to the heads that's been doing the program since day one



The FTP Movement deals with a plethora of issues including (but not limited to); Education, hunger, homelessness, police brutality, political prisoners, health, youth development and gang intervention. http://ftpmovement.ning.com/


FTP MOVEMENT FEEDING THE PEOPLE from Goldi gold on Vimeo.


FTP FEED THE PEOPLE: TRUE JEWELS PT 1 from Goldi gold on Vimeo.


FTP FEED THE PEOPLE:TRUE JEWELS PT2 from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

National Feed The People Weekend' on FTP MOVEMENT!

Time: March 28, 2009 to March 29, 2009
Location: Atlanta - Los Angeles - Oakland - San Diego - Orlando - Milwaukee - Wilmington - New York
Organized By: FTP Movement / Black August Organizing Committee / Guerrilla Republik

OG ABEL

Crazzzzyyyy!!! A brother is very much inspired

VIMBY - OG Abel

LOS ANGELES - Growing up, OG Abel was surrounded by art. He transferred his drawings from notepads to vectors in Photoshop and from there his clothing line was born.
OGABEL.COM

7 Rules for Eating

Some info for the people

Choose Food Over Food-Like Substances, Food Writer Michael Pollan Tells CDC

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

We Americans suffer a national eating disorder: our unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.

That's the diagnosis delivered by food author Michael Pollan in a lecture given last week to an overflow crowd of CDC scientists.

As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan -- a harsh critic of U.S. food policies -- to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency.

"The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people," Pollan said. "The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world."

In various parts of the world, Pollan noted, necessity has forced human beings to adapt to all kinds of diets.

"The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen," he said. "The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves -- the Western diet -- is the one that makes us sick."

Snowballing rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the U.S. can be traced to our unhealthy diet. So how do we change?

7 Words & 7 Rules for Eating
Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Probably the first two words are most important. "Eat food" means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat -- and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."

Here's how:

Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
"When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.

Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.

It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"

Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.
Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

7 Words & 7 Rules for Eating continued...

Is this good advice? Janet Collins, PhD, director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, is one of the CDC officials who met with Pollan.

Collins agrees with Pollan that advice from health experts has to be simplified. And she loves the suggestions he makes.

"Some of the changes in our environment are the reasons behind our obesity epidemic," Collins tells WebMD. "Pollan's advice to eat at the table with your family and not the TV is excellent. And portions: During our grandmothers' era, plates were smaller. If you took the portions that filled their plates and put them on ours, it wouldn't look like much to eat."



Eat Foods, Not Nutrients
Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, is professor of science and environmental journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Pollan says that where we've gone wrong is by focusing on the invisible nutrients in foods instead of on foods themselves. He calls this "nutritionism" -- an ideology that's lost track of the science on which it was based.

It's good for scientists to look at why carrots are good for us, and to explore the possible benefits of, say, substance X found in a carrot.

What happens next is well-meaning experts tell us we should eat more foods with substance X. But the next thing you know, the food industry is selling us a food enriched with substance X. We may not know whether substance X, when not in a carrot, is good or bad for us. And we may be so impressed with the new substance-X-filled product that we buy it and eat it -- even though it may have unhealthy ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup and salt.

Pollan identifies four myths behind this kind of thinking:

Myth #1: Food is a delivery vehicle for nutrients. What really matters isn't broccoli but its fiber and antioxidants. If we get that right, we get our diet right. Foods kind of get in the way.

Myth #2: We need experts to tell us how to eat. Nutrients are invisible and mysterious. "It is a little like religion," Pollan said. "If a powerful entity is invisible, you need a priesthood to mediate your relation with food."

Myth #3: The whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health. "You are either improving or ruining your health when you eat -- that is a very American idea," Pollan says. "But there are many other reasons to eat food: pleasure, social community, identity, and ritual. Health is not the only thing going on on our plates."

Myth #4: There are evil foods and good foods. "At any given time there is an evil nutrient we try to drive like Satan from the food supply -- first it was saturated fats, then it was trans fat," Pollan says. "Then there is the evil nutrient's doppelganger, the blessed nutrient. If we get enough of that we, will be healthy and maybe live forever. It's funny through history how the good and bad guys keep changing."

Eat Foods, Not Nutrients continued...

Pollan remembers that when fats were declared to be evil, his mother switched the family to stick margarine. His grandmother predicted that some day stick margarine would be the evil food. Today, we know that margarine was made with trans fats.

The trouble with the whole notion of "evil' and "blessed" ingredients is that they help the food industry sell us processed foods that are free of the evil thing or full of the blessed one. We buy them, not realizing they may contain many other ingredients that aren't good for us.

Collins agrees with Pollan's central theme that whole foods are vastly better for us than are processed foods. But our food system makes it hard for many Americans to get whole foods.

"If our food system made more whole foods at lower cost and made them more available, that would help with our public health," Collins says. "We need full-service groceries in urban centers, where people can get to them. Unfortunately, urban centers are getting filled with fast food stores and liquor stores. Pollan's rules are good, and it is one thing to eat by his rules, but making our environment such that people can live by the rules is not always easy."

Will the CDC be pushing for these kinds of changes? Yes, suggested Anne Haddix, chief policy officer at the CDC's Office of Strategy and Innovation, during the panel discussion following Pollan's remarks to the CDC.

"How we go forward on this will take some very different types of thinking than we have done in the past," Haddix said. "We have an opening we have not had for years. ... Of the federal agencies trying to address food issues, CDC is uniquely positioned. We have to step out as leaders. ... Now is the time to ramp up our efforts and reach out to people who make us uncomfortable and go for it."

MOS DEF - a fan of DOOM

Live from Frolab. The flyest thing in the world next to...um, yep is when a dope artist who's work you love is a fan of your ish. I can't say Doom is feeling that way But this man is willing to bet a million dollars on him against little Wayne. You gotta love it!!!

The Culture Capture Champs catch Mos Def during a break in the studio while recording "The Ecstatic" . Hear how he dissects some of his favorite MF DOOM lyrics & talks a bit about his influences. New album in stores June 9th on Downtown Records

CARTOON X REVOKE X T-LOKO DO THE FAST AND FURIOUS 4 BILLBOARD ON SUNSET

Damn, The artwork for the billboard came out CRAZZZYYY!!!!!

Slaughterhouse (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Royce Da 5′9″ & Crooked I)- Move On

Dope, dope, dope. Crooked I verse was kinda shakey in the beginning but he came thru that joint tough though

Hannibal Matthews-Art, Beats & Lyrics_ Birmingham pics

Charlotte next on deck son!!!!

Hannibal Matthews-Art, Beats & Lyrics_ Birmingham pics

Mos Def - Words

Lyrics!!!!!

Video short for Mos Def's words announcing Mos' Spring '09 release of his album The Ecstatic coming soon.

Teen Brains Clear Out Childhood Thoughts

Honestly this the type of stuff I like reading. Thus the post. Good read peoples

Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com

The mysterious goings-on inside teen brains have befuddled countless parents over the years. Now some insights are being provided by recent neuroscience research.

Between ages 11 and 17, children's brain waves reduce significantly while they sleep, a new study found. Scientists think this change reflects a trimming-down process going on inside teenagers' brains during these years, where extraneous mental connections made during childhood are lost.

"When a child is born, their brain is not fully-formed, and over the first few years there's a great proliferation of connections between cells," said physiologist Ian Campbell of the University of California, Davis. "Over adolescence there is a pruning back of these connections. The brain decides which connections are important to keep, and which can be let go."

Scientists call this process synaptic pruning, and speculate that the brain decides which neural links to keep based on how frequently they are used. Connections that are rarely called upon are deemed superfluous and eliminated. Sometimes in adolescence, that pruning process goes awry and important connections are lost, which could lead to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, the researchers think.

Brain pruning

Synaptic pruning is thought to help the brain transition from childhood, when it is able to learn and make new connections easily, to adulthood, when it is a bit more settled in its structure, but can focus on a single problem for longer and carry out more complex thought processes.

For example, if a child receives a brain injury before age 10, another area of the brain can often take over the functions of the damaged region. If the same injury occurs at age 20, however, the person may lose a vital ability, because the brain has lost the flexibility to transfer that function to another area.

"The fact that there are more connections [in a child's brain] allows things to be moved around," Campbell told LiveScience.

"After adolescence, that alternate route is no longer available. You lose the ability to recover from a brain injury, or the ability to learn a language without an accent. But you gain adult cognitive powers."

Campbell and UC-Davis psychiatrist Irwin Feinberg recorded the sleep brain waves (called EEG) two times a year over five years in 59 children, beginning at either age 9 or age 12. They found that brain waves in the frequency range 1-4 Hz remained unchanged between ages 9 and 11 and then fell sharply, by about 66 percent, between ages 11 and 16.5. In the 4-8 Hz frequency range, which corresponds to a different part of the brain, brain waves started to decline earlier and fell by about 60 percent between ages 11 and 16.5 years.

Overall, these changes are consistent with synaptic pruning, because as neural connections are lost in those areas of the brain, brain waves in the corresponding frequencies decrease. Campbell and Feinberg report their findings in the March 23 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tumultuous years

Synaptic pruning is just one of many changes thought to be going on inside teenagers' brains. For example, a 2005 study found that teenagers can't multi-task as well as adults because their brains are still learning how to process multiple pieces of information at once they way adults can.

In addition to changes that affect how they think, teenagers' brains also undergo developments that affect how they feel. For example, during adolescence people begin to empathize more with others, and take into account how their actions will affect not just themselves, but people around them.

A 2006 study found that the teenage medial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with higher-level thinking, empathy, and guilt, is underused compared to adults. But as adolescents mature, they begin to use this region more when making decisions, indicating that they increasingly consider others when making choices.

IRON MAN VS BRUCE LEE

Let's getting ready to RUMMMMBBBLLLLEEEE!!!!!!!!

Iron Man vs Bruce Lee
by PatrickBoivin

How Frolab captured DOOM

This dope for real. I phux with Nito and them tough. Nito and H are the ones that gave us that info to really start JUNGLE45. We took it and ran with it. But this brother stay in the creative grind.  Peep the fly process right now: How we captured “DOOM” (on canvas)

Study: Lots of red meat increases mortality risk

You got to ease up on all that stuff for real. All these deasl at these fast food spot sounds good but your body gonna tell you other wise


By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO – The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.
Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk.
The findings appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.
Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.
For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.
People whose diets contained more white meat like chicken and fish had lower risks of death.
The researchers surveyed more than 545,000 people, ages 50 to 71 years old, on their eating habits, then followed them for 10 years. There were more than 70,000 deaths during that time.
Study subjects were recruited from AARP members, a group that's healthier than other similarly aged Americans. That means the findings may not apply to all groups, Sinha said. The study relied on people's memory of what they ate, which can be faulty.
In the analysis, the researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high body mass index.
In an accompanying editorial, Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health.
Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets.
"We've promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming," Popkin said in an interview.
Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.
"I'm not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians," Politi said. "Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character."
The National Pork Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association questioned the findings.
Dietitian Ceci Snyder said in a statement for the pork board that the study "attempts to indict all red meat consumption by looking at extremes in meat consumption, as opposed to what most Americans eat."
Lean meat as part of a balanced diet can prevent chronic disease, along with exercise and avoiding smoking, said Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the beef group.

Video: Common x Kanye West x Erykah Badu Live @ SXSW

Lawd badu is THICK!!!!

10.Deep: Spring 2009 Look Book

I phux with 10 deep. Check out their look book and video for the up and coming season. You might see some familiar heads in the pic

Delivery 1 Lookbook, titled "Nineteen Ninety-Now!"


10DEEP Spring '09 "Nineteen Ninety Now" from 10 Deep on Vimeo.

Tru Skool Tuesdays - Hip Hop Jam Session with BROADY CHAMPS

I don't know who else is on the bill at the Apache this tuesday but I know I'm coming to see the Champs at this. Broady Champs son. Hopefully I don't get beat in the head at the job that night to catch these dudes

Doors @ 10:00pm
$7 Before 11:00pm
$10 After
18+

Young Chris, Wale, Bun B, Senor Kaos - Searching For An Outlet

Senor Kaos ain't never send me a wack track through the email. Download this joint and keep it on repeat son!!!!!

Download:Young Chris, Wale, Bun B, Senor Kaos - Searching For An Outlet

ill@DELphsouL makes it happen

Expect to see 20 more fly joints done with other people in this style. dude is Dooppe!!! www.myspace.com/illadelphson

Blacks Have High Heart Failure Risk

I honestly think it's a whole lot more to this story. Some of it dealing with how we eat and having nothing but fast food establishment in our area. Stress and a whole lot of major issues that we can point fingers at but also prove we at fault ourselves with the problems

Study Reveals Racial Gap for Risk of Heart Failure in the Prime of Life
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

One in 100 African-Americans will suffer heart failure in the prime of his or her life, a startling new study shows.

That's 20 times white Americans' risk of heart failure before age 50.

"Blacks in their 30s and 40s develop heart failure at rates seen in whites in their 50s and 60s," study leader Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, tells WebMD.

Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues followed 5,115 young people -- about half of them African-American, about half of them female -- who underwent regular medical exams over the first 20 years of the ongoing study. Twenty-seven study participants had heart failure at an average age of 39. All but one of them were African-American.

Study participants were 18 to 30 years old -- most in their early 20s -- when the study began in 1985-1986 in Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Minneapolis; and Oakland, Calif.

"It has been known for some time that blacks have more heart failure and may be slightly younger when they develop heart failure, but ours is the first study to document how high these rates are at younger ages," Bibbins-Domingo says.

Interestingly, in terms of heart disease risk, whites and African-Americans looked pretty much the same at the start of the study. When participants were in their early 20s, there was little difference in blood pressure or average body weight.

"So why were only blacks developing heart failure in our study? One possibility is blacks have higher rates of increases in blood pressure and BMI in their 20s. Although at the beginning they were similar to whites, over time the two groups began to look different, with more hypertension and obesity among blacks," Bibbins-Domingo says.

A telling statistic: Three-fourths of the African-American study participants who suffered heart failure had uncontrolled high blood pressure by age 40.

Heart Disease Screening, Treatment Lax
Don't blame the patient, warns Eric D. Peterson, MD, MPH, director of cardiovascular research at Duke University.

In an editorial accompanying the Bibbins-Domingo report, Peterson notes that African-American patients are less likely than whites to be screened for, get treatment for, or reach treatment goals for high blood pressure, high cholesterol/blood fats, and obesity.

"We have come to accept that there are care differences between African-American and white populations, but does it really matter? This study shows 20-fold higher rates of heart failure that could potentially have been avoidable. It is just striking," Peterson tells WebMD.

What makes the finding tragic, Peterson says, is that we have effective treatments for high blood pressure.

"It is not a question of needing new treatments, it is a question of getting these treatments to patients," he says. "If we did that, we could avoid many of these cases."

More Heart Disease Prevention Needed
Heart failure is only one deadly outcome of high blood pressure. There would be 7,670 fewer heart disease and stroke deaths each year if African-Americans' blood pressure was controlled as well as that of white Americans, according to a recent study by University of Rochester researcher Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH.

"Huge numbers of African-Americans who develop heart failure are untreated, and even among those who are treated, blood pressure is not controlled," Fiscella tells WebMD. "That is a huge opportunity for beginning to make a dent in this extraordinarily high risk of heart failure."

Compounding the racial differences in blood pressure control is young age. Young people simply don't worry about their blood pressure. That can be a fatal mistake.

"If you think about heart failure as your engine wearing out, think of the damaging effect of high blood pressure over 20 years of your life," Peterson says. "These are young people who were considered to be well, yet they had this ticking time bomb of disease that would kill them."

Bibbins-Domingo, Peterson, and Fiscella all agree that the main take-home message from the study is the need for heart disease prevention.

"This is really about focusing on prevention: the lifestyle issues around moderating weight and decreasing salt intake," Bibbins-Domingo says. "Prevention is the key when talking about a very high-risk group."

And Fiscella says there's another message here as well.

"This shows the progress we have made in reducing health care disparities has been pretty dismal to date," he says.

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

If your into anything dealing with the public you have to consume yourself in marketing books. It really help you see things from the perspective of the consumer. I stay reading them joints whenever I can find a real one to peep out. I'm gonna be reading this all week during my travels to work. I think I dropped $20 bucks for this. I suggest you do the same


From Publishers Weekly
Short on pages but long on repetition, this newest book by Godin (Purple Cow) argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong. The book's helpful nuggets are buried beneath esoteric case studies and multiple reiterations: we can be leaders if we want, tribes are the way of the future and change is good. On that last note, the advice found in this book should be used with caution. Change isn't made by asking permission, Godin says. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later. That may be true, but in this economy and in certain corporations, it may also be a good way to lose a job. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Disney Store is Gold

These cat's won't stop. I love a branding of any product so the power moves these cats making is a major plus for me to see and get ideas from as a broke artist. hahaha.

CITY OF INK IN INKED MAGAZINE

Run and cop this issue with THE CITY OF INK in that joint and Read what MIYA has to say about being the issue right here:INKED Magazine page 100-101....it's our turn!

AB+L IN BIRMINGHAM WAS CRAZY!!! PT2

Like I said the joint was Packed. Brandi took some dope pics from the event. And here they go. brandisthephotographer


AB+L IN BIRMINGHAM 36 SECONDS OF ENERGY from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

AB+L IN BIRMINGHAM WAS CRAZY!!!

Just got in the crib from the show last night. Sold mad shirts. Got my drink on and I'm about to go to bed at 6:10 in the morn son!!! More of this show soon come

Video: The Roots Present The Jam ft. Talib Kweli & John Forte

Everybody nice but of course but I phux with John Forte tough

Black Thought, Talib Kweli, & John Forte Jr. from Okayplayer on Vimeo.

JAX LIVES TRIBUTE

Man, last night changed it all!! I really had a ball. That's for my old school heads. But it's fly when heads support on all levels for real for real. People came to the show and all the performers did they thing to the fullest. The documentary was CRAZY. People need to see that for real because the love that poured out of that screen touched everybody that was watching. I got some pics and the Warm up from binkis recs son!!!
JAX TRIBUTE SUPPORTERS


Pre EVERYBODY LOVE CHRIS/JAX LIVES WARM UP: BINKIS RECS from Goldi gold on Vimeo.

Food Mistakes That Can Get in the Way of Healthy Eating

This proves you learn something everyday. I'm right there along with you

Are you making these common nutrition blunders?
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
WebMD Expert Column

We all want to eat a healthy diet that helps us feel good and helps prevent chronic diseases. Yet many of us are making food mistakes that can keep us from getting the biggest nutritional bang from our food buck.

Here are some common diet mistakes that even food-savvy consumers make:

Healthy Eating Mistake No. 1: Buying Fresh Produce for the Entire Week
Once fruits and vegetables are harvested, they start losing some of their vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. So keeping them in the crisper all week long can mean robbing yourself of nutrition.

Instead, buy fresh produce every few days and supplement it with frozen fruits and vegetables. Frozen produce is harvested at its peak and flash-frozen immediately, which protects the nutrients from breaking down for up to a year in the freezer. Look for frozen produce with no sauces or syrups added.

Healthy Eating Mistake No. 2: Buying Too Much Processed Food
Processed foods tend to have more sodium and saturated fat, and less fiber and nutrients. Instead, start with fresh, whole foods as much as possible. When you do choose convenience products, look for those that contain whole grains (like whole-wheat bread and hot dog buns, whole-grain tortillas, and whole-grain blend pasta), have no trans fat, and are low in saturated fat (like bottled marinara made with olive oil, light salad dressing made with canola or olive oil, and some broth- or tomato-based soups.)

Healthy Eating Mistake No. 3: Eating Out or Ordering Takeout More Often Than Not
"According to our research, the average American adult purchases a meal or snack from a restaurant 5.8 times per week," says Annika Stensson, director of media relations for the National Restaurant Association.

Indeed, 46.4% of the American food dollar is spent within the restaurant industry. And much of that goes for takeout: Roughly 58% of restaurant traffic in 2001 was specifically for takeout and delivery, according to National Restaurant Association statistics.

One reason to eat more meals is to help prevent obesity. In a recent Agricultural Research Service study of men and women ages 31-50, those who got more of their total calories from conventional fast-food restaurants were likely to have a higher body mass index (BMI).

Of course, cooking at home more often isn't always easy. Here are several strategies that can help keep you from frequenting the drive-through:

Start with a well-stocked pantry and refrigerator. Some of my favorite ingredients to have handy for whipping up quick dinners are whole-grain pasta, bottled marinara and pesto sauces, whole-grain tortillas, shredded reduced-fat cheese, and canned refried beans.
Get that slow cooker out of hiding and start collecting some slow cooker recipes you want to try. Invest a few minutes in the morning to assemble the ingredients, set the slow cooker on LOW, and leave for work. When you arrive home that evening, dinner is ready to be served.
Try some fun and easy dinner options like soup and sandwich night, breakfast for dinner night, pasta night, salad night, baked potato bar night, or homemade pizza night (using whole wheat Boboli crust, whole wheat bagels, or tortillas for the crust).

Healthy Eating Mistake No. 4: Not Taking Advantage of Food Synergy
Do you peel your apples or tomatoes? Do you eat your veggie-rich green salad with fat-free dressing? Do you like to peel and chop your garlic right before adding it into your stir-fry or sauce? If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you are decreasing the availability to your body of important nutrients found in these foods.

That's because there are all sorts of relationships between the various components within certain foods and between certain foods, a concept called "food synergy." For example, certain phytochemicals in apple peel account for most of apples' healthy antioxidant activity, so peeling apples isn't the healthiest way to go.

Also, it's a good idea to let your minced or chopped garlic rest for 15 minutes before proceeding with cooking, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. This helps ensure that the enzymatic reaction that begins when garlic is chopped releases as much of the antioxidant allyl sulfur as possible -- and thus maximizes the cancer-fighting benefits.

If you're dressing a salad or making a homemade marinara sauce, make sure you include some healthy fats, like avocado or olive oil. Eating a little "good fat" along with your vegetables helps your body absorb healthy phytochemicals, like lycopene from tomatoes and lutein from dark green vegetables. So enjoy your salad with some avocado or a light dressing made with canola or olive oil. And add a drizzle of olive oil when you are whipping up a batch of spaghetti sauce.

And when it comes to tomatoes, for maximum nutrient value, don’t peel them, and eat them cooked and processed.

Healthy Eating Mistake No. 5: Avoiding High-Fat Plant Foods
The three foods that come to mind are avocados, nuts, and olives, which are relatively high in calories and fat but low in saturated fat. These foods contribute smart fats to our diet, and they come with fiber and phytochemicals, too.

Moderation is the key here. So enjoy a quarter of an avocado on sandwiches and in salads, or a handful of nuts as a snack or added to your salad, cereal, or pasta. Use a light drizzle of olive oil in cooking. And add olives to salads, sandwiches, and casseroles, or eat them as a snack.

Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, is the "Recipe Doctor" for the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic and the author of numerous books on nutrition and health. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.

Nattral Magazine! Issue 13

Do the knowledge peoples!!!

Nattral Magazine! Issue 13-Season 2 Available Now! Subscribe Today! www.NATTRAL.com

Video: Tabi Bonney "Rich Kids"

This dude got his own steez. I phux with it though because that's what it's about

rich kids from tabi Bonney on Vimeo.

Video: Kidz In The Hall "I Got It Made '09"

Okay. I'm kinda digging the 09 version because if you look past the song and look at the visuals their catering to the younger heads like the retro kids and the hipsters but compared to the original it really can't hang. With this joint, they made the original sound harder. But I give these cats a b+ for effort because of the vibe of the song
Kidz In the Hall - "I Got It Made (09)" Reebok Classic Remixes

In celebration of their new Classic Remix shoe collection, Reebok is partnering with today's top emerging hip-hop artists to reinterpret original, influential songs from the 80's. First up is Kidz In The Hall with their '09 version of Special Ed's "I Got It Made." Watch the Justin Francis directed video above. Next up in this series will be Kid Sister, followed by B.o.B.


Special Ed - I Got It Made

Fab Stairs

These stairs are just too gangsta!!!!! I love seeing stuff like this


See more at Trendir.

UNDR-CRWN Presents: The Mos Def Collection

That's how you do it. Get with a company that know what their doing then run it from there

UNDR-CRWN got together with one of hip hop’s biggest artists and these days actor and television host, Mos Def, to create a capsule collection. Designed by Dustin Canalin for UNDR-CRWN, the collection mainly consists of t-shirts, as well as a few cut-and-sew pieces. There will be another delivery of the collection, that we can hopefully present you very soon.

Not Your Father's Marketing Campaign

The game done change son. Keep up with it.

In a tough economy, with businesses and consumers cutting back on spending, even the best advertising may not be enough to sway shoppers. Right now, PR is an indispensable part of a campaign thanks to its influence over consumers' buying decisions. When asked to rank the factors that sway them to buy a product or service, many Americans cite reading about it or seeing a recommendation. And though PR tactics that earn news coverage are still standard practice, these new PR tactics can help you gain credibility and grab the attention of customers.

It all starts with a press release. But it's what you do with your release these days that counts. Here are four ways to use PR as a conduit to sales.

Target influential media.
Press releases help gain coverage in media that reach designated target audiences. Today, with the emergence of specialized websites and blogs--and to an extent social media--it's possible to distribute your release almost entirely online. You can target specific webmasters and online editors, use online distribution services that send your release to thousands of newsrooms or individually e-mail your release to editors of traditional media. Online product reviews can be particularly influential. And since the majority of Americans begin the purchasing process online, gaining online coverage will build your credibility and influence prospects' decisions at a point in the shopping process when they can go directly to your website.
Use your release to sell.

Does your company have product or service news that may not be big enough to make the press but will grab the attention of customers? If you're like most business owners, you can turn a simple press release into an effective online sales tool by sending it directly to the customers in your in-house database. Paste your entire release into the body of an e-mail rather than send it as an attachment, which might not get opened. Include links directly to the related pages on your company website for customers who want to click through. This type of customer communication is often a welcome break from the typical sales solicitation, and it compels readers to check out what's new and interesting about your latest development.
Create online content.

With online shoppers looking for increasingly deeper content before buying, it's important to add a news section to your website. Link to or display media coverage you've received and create a page to include all your company's press releases listed by date. Because consumers show a growing interest in purchasing from businesses that support causes they believe in, include press releases that detail your company's charitable giving as well as cause-related policies and programs. The more potential customers are made aware of the positive news that's linked to your company name or brand, the more likely they will be to buy from you vs. your competitors.
Optimize for search engines.

Think of your published press releases as trails of breadcrumbs that lead customers to related pages on your website. The more distribution you get for your releases from postings on your own site and on other sites throughout the web, the more likely search engine spiders will find your press release. Optimize each press release carefully to include your most important search terms. If your business serves a local area rather than a national audience, include search terms that incorporate the name of your city or town so you'll get the right traffic to your site.

Today's online press release remains a great tool for spurring media interviews and articles. But its influence goes so much further, and when used effectively, it can influence consumers to trust in your product.


URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingcolumnistkimtgordon/article198624.html

SEAN FALYON til' INFINITY

Oh, he really do grinds

Video: Documentary on Big Daddy Kane

Anthony Marshall made this short 17 minute doc about one of our living legends, Brooklyn's finest, BDK. Watch as Kane returns to his Brooklyn hood and gives us some great behind-the-scenes insights.

5-Step Detox to Revitalize You

I gotta do this soon. Sometimes when we putting in work on these project we neglect our health or what we put in our body while we in the zone. Gotta make up to the body. Balance baby!!!

By Dr. Maoshing Ni

At the arrival of spring it is a natural instinct to cast off the winter blues and feel renewed. It is also a great time to eliminate the toxins that have been burdening your system, leaving you sluggish and fatigued. Make a clean sweep with the 5-step detox listed below!

Why you need to spring clean your body
Your body is naturally equipped with a self-cleaning process. But too much sugar, caffeine, processed foods, stress, and too little exercise can slow the body's natural detox function to a slow pace. And then your body can't clean itself when it is put up against the increasing number of harmful and toxic substances in the environment. Toxins come in many forms: pesticides in produce, formaldehyde in carpets and cosmetics, PCBs from plastic containers, dioxins from bleached paper products, and more.

Your body will process and eliminate some of the hordes of chemicals that enter, but overflow gets stored in the liver, lungs, kidneys, fat cells, intestines, blood stream, and skin—which can result in chronic illnesses down the road. When you undergo a detox, you get these toxins out of your system.

How do you know if you need a detox?
You know you're suffering from toxic overload if you are experiencing fatigue, memory decline, difficulty focusing, allergies and infections, irritability, anxiety and depression, difficulty with weight gain and weight loss, muscle and joint pain or weakness, skin rashes and outbreaks, recurrent yeast and fungal infections, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, and indigestion.

Most people report vast improvement in their symptoms after a detox. At first, you may feel a little fuzzy because of the toxins being released. However, when you stick with it, you will begin to feel more alert, energized, and full of vitality.

At-Home Detox
Start small! Begin with a one-day program and gradually increase to one week or more. Here are 5 steps to a daily detox that will gently cleanse your body:

1. Start the Detox Day Right
• First thing in the morning, drink one lemon squeezed in 12 ounces of warm filtered water. Lemon activates your liver to release toxins and helps to cleanse and move the roughage that stays behind in your intestines.

• Take acidophilus or a probiotic supplement. Acidophilus is one of the many "good" bacteria and yeasts known as the probiotics. Probiotics balance our intestinal functions, helping to break down food and control the "bad" bacteria that is also in your system—all of which optimizes the detoxification process. Always take probiotics on an empty stomach.

2. Your Detox Meals
These meals are designed to jump-start your body into becoming healthier.
• Breakfast: Eat oat bran cereal, brown rice, or any other whole grain cereal as long as it is unbleached and does not contain any added sugar or chemicals. Pair with unflavored soy milk.

• Lunch or Dinner: Eat any combination of beans, brown rice, oat bran, vegetables, and organic chicken, turkey, or soy-products. When you eat, notice how your food affects you. You should feel satisfied and energized. If you feel tired and sluggish, try eating smaller meals so that you don't overwhelm your digestion and interfere with the detoxification process.

3. Eat Green to Spring into Health
The green pigment in plants, chlorophyll, is structurally similar to the hemoglobin in the human body—the iron-containing element in blood. It increases red blood cell production and improves oxygenation, detoxification, and circulation. Be sure to eat several servings of fresh green vegetables every day during your detox. Try this super-cleansing broth and juice as a quick way to up your veggie intake.

Detox Broth: Add as many of these ingredients as you can into a large pot of filtered water: collards, Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, cabbage, dandelion, Brussels sprouts, daikon radish, watercress, seaweed, shitake mushrooms, cilantro, garlic, leeks, fresh fennel, anise, fresh ginger, and turmeric. Boil until all ingredients are soft. You can make in a large batch and refrigerate for up to three days.

Detox Juice: Juice the following together: Aloe vera juice (which can be found in most health food stores), apples, asparagus, beets (including greens), cabbage, carrot and carrot greens, celery, cucumbers, and parsley. You can also purchase vegetable juice from the store, but be sure that it has no added salt or chemicals.

4. Supplement Your Detox
• Take a daily supplement of 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil, walnut oil, or deep-sea fish oil.

• Green Tea is a strong antioxidant, and a great beverage choice for your detox. Be sure to drink decaffeinated green tea.

• Dandelion and Milk Thistle both protect and restore the liver. According to Chinese medicine, the liver is most active in the detoxification process during spring.

• Ginger is a bowel and kidney cleanser. Make yourself tea from fresh ginger root during your detox.

A popular herbal formula among my patients is Internal Cleanse, a special combination of natural herbs to detoxify, calm nerves, clear the mind, promote emotional balance, and ease digestion. For more information, click here.

5. Take an Invigorating Herbal Soak
Soak for 20 minutes in a revitalizing herbal bath. Help draw out toxins by infusing your bath water with eucalyptus, wintergreen, peppermint, fennel, cinnamon, and epsom salts.

Spring may be the best time to cleanse your body, but you don't have to wait until spring to start. Detoxification and cleansing is a healthy maintenance program for all seasons.

May you stay healthy, live long, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao