Josh the Aspie’s Blog

A myth that I have heard making the rounds lately is that if you find “Natural Flavoring” on a product, that this product is actually a brand name of an artificial one. After looking into it I’ve found that this is most likely a case of information decay.

The long and short of it, is that “Natural Flavor” or “Natural Flavors” represents flavors that the USDA considers to be natural - which may not be all that natural after all.

(more…)

Recently a scandal has arisen out of the fact that some pharmacists refuse to carry, or sell the “morning after” pill. One such example is a group of 3 pharmacists who worked for an Eckerd’s in Denton, Texas. A young woman who was raped came to the pharmacy seeking a morning after pill. The three pharmacists working there that night refused to fill the prescription. Due to Eckerd’s policies on the matter, the three were fired.

In my opinion, this is exactly how this should work. The owner of an establishment chooses what products are and are not available for sale, and chooses whether their employees may, or will, refuse to sell particular products or not. If the employees refuse to follow these procedures, the employer then enacts disciplinary action such as docking pay, written warnings, or termination. This represents the basic freedoms to contract, associate, and do business that are underpinnings of our free market.
(more…)

I’ve recently seen a fair amount of posts on blogs and forums talking about the constitution and what it does and does not support. One of the most common is “Separation of Church and State”

While I personally agree that I don’t want my church running my government any more than I want my government running my church, I take exception to this particular way of referring to that protection of the First Amendment, and the interpretations that have grown out of it. I also object to several other interpretations of the Constitution that have been made over time.

(more…)

Last time, I explained what HDCP is, and how it works.

This time I’ll be writing about problems with HDCP, and why they haven’t caused HDCP to be scrubbed.

(more…)

I’ve previously defined what DRM is, but why does big business want DRM at all?

Big media makes its money off of media content when the consumer buys its products.

(more…)

HDCP

1. Officially: High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection
2. A form of DRM invented by Digital Content protection LLC, a subsidiary of Intel.
3. Technology used to block people from displaying “HDCP” protected digital content on media described as being insecure. The technology will either completely block, or blur the content, unless all devices in the chain are equipped with HDCP technology. It is purportedly designed as a form of “copy protection” but has wound up becoming a form of “access prevention.”

(more…)

DCMA is another abbreviation that I’ve used, and received blank looks about. I’ll be giving what it officially stands for, as well as my definition.

DCMA

1. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
2. The Defrauding Misappropriation Copyright Act of 1998
3. A law passed by congress in 1998, which restricts and inhibits the creation of new ideas and technology by causing copyright law to cover derivative works as well as the original work. The law also criminalizing the unauthorized accessing or copying of materials who’s use or ability to copy has been restricted through any technological means.

(more…)

A lot of people I’ve talked to recently are unaware of what DRM is, so I’ll try to fill you all in with what it stands for officially, my definition of the term, and do a basic discussion of the reasons for it’s existence, and the problems with it.

DRM

1. Digital Rights Management
2. A term used to describe any form of technology which is designed to restrict the use, access, or alteration of any form of data or content. This technology is desired primarily by those who create content, and wish to control how that content is used even after they sell a copy of said content. For example, a system of DVD or CD encryption designed to prevent people from ripping their DVD or CD, and then listening to the music they bought on an MP3 player, or watch it on their computer.

(more…)

Recently, there has been a large amount of media coverage about an immigration bill that was before the house and senate. Many in the main stream media (such as television) have praised the bill, while many in the blogosphere, and in talk radio have blasted the bill. The bill had both Bipartisan support and opposition.

With all of the problems surrounding immigration, and the views on it, it’s no wonder that there is so much talk about it recently.
(more…)

One of the major objections I’ve heard against drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge is that it would not produce a lot of oil. I’m not sure what people consider a lot, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Arctic Refuge survey (page 18), states that the mean average projected amount of oil is 13.8 bbo (Billion Barrels of Oil).

According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) the united states used approximately 7.5 BBO in Crude Oil and Petroleum Products in 2006.

That’s approximately 1.8 years of fueling America just on it’s own.

(more…)