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“In 2007… Physical sales of CDs and DVDs fell 13 percent to $15.9 billion. Sales of downloaded songs and mobile-phone ringtones rose 34 percent to $2.9 billion.“

“piracy is killing the record industry”

“physical and digital piracy cost the U.S. music industry alone $5.3 billion“

Many scientists have specified various reasons for global warming effects on the environment and for human life. It is not easy to point one reason for global warming effects, but recently you might have saw many change in global climate. Global warming effects have various consequences such as glacier volume decreasing, rise in sea levels, shrinkage of Arctic and altered fashion of doing agriculture have been named as direct effects on global warming. Secondary global warming effects are extreme weather events, increase in tropical diseases, changes in the timing of seasonal patterns in ecosystems, and drastic economic impact.

Before many times back, many scientist and researchers were hopping that a positive effect of global warming would be increased agricultural yields(outputs), because of the role of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis which might behave in positive manner, but now it resulting in destructions of several crops. In the area of Iceland, due the rising temperatures which have made possible the widespread sowing of barley easily in an effective manner, which was not possible twenty years from now. The net result is expected to be that 33% less maize—the country's staple crop—will be grown. The reduction in rainfall has turned millions of land into deserts.

Insurance industry has been affected very badly with the risk of insurance; the number of major natural disasters has been increased to 300% since 1960s, and insured losses increased fifteenfold in real terms. According to Choi and Fisher (2003) each 1% increase in annual precipitation could enlarge catastrophe loss by as much as 2.8%.

1. Polar ice caps meltingThe ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.First, it will raise sea levels. There is 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen. But sea levels will rise.Second, melting ice caps will screw up the global ecosystem. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt into the ocean, they make it less salty, or desalinize the ocean. The desalinization of the gulf current will screw up, to put it simply, the current. It will cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe. Luckily, that will slow some of the other effects of global warming in that area. But with the stream shutdown, the whole Atlantic ecosystem could be warped.Third, all the animals in the Arctic will be in danger because of a changing habitat.Fourth, global warming will accelerate with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight. Some of that sunlight is reflected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps are melted, only the dark-colored ocean will be there. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

Green house gases stay can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. Here are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming.

As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes

global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia.

The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally.

Worldwide sales of music CDs, records and cassettes fell for the third year in a row

rising Internet piracy in the United States,

7 percent drop in global music sales

Looks like a pillar of iTunes content might be on the brink of collapse -- Universal Music, the world's largest music business, has officially opted not to renew its contract with Apple for vending music on the iTunes Music Store. We don't know specifically what caused Universal to turn away -- perhaps it's the weight of the rising anti-DRM movement among consumers, or perhaps it's because of Stevie J.'s brash negotiating tactics, continual refusal to hand over iPod cash, or oceanic persistence in keeping tracks locked in at $0.99. Whatever the reason, we can't say we're all that surprised; Universal's been a pain in Apple's ass for years now. So what's the end result? Well, Universal music will still be sold through iTunes at will, so that means consumers can keep buying tracks for the time being, but Apple runs the risk of losing Universal's content on very short notice if the companies don't make happy with one another and put pen to paper once more.

rising revenue from songs and albums bought on the Internet failed to offset the consumer flight from CDs.

CD sales was down 13 percent last year compared with 2005

The introduction of Western cultural values, which had flooded Japan by the late nineteenth century, led to a dichotomy between traditional values and attempts to duplicate and assimilate a variety of clashing new ideas

Japanese aesthetics provide a key to understanding artistic works perceivably different from those coming from Western traditions.

Within the East Asian artistic tradition, China has been the acknowledged teacher and Japan the devoted student.

According to global warming theory, if an enhanced greenhouse effect (from increased levels of CO2 or indeed any other greenhouse gas) is responsible for warming the earth, then the rate of temperature rise should be greatest in that part of the earth’s atmosphere known as the troposphere, specifically in the tropics. And yet the observations, from weather balloons and satellites have consistently shown that not to be the case. I urge readers to look at the Christy et al papers below. The latest one was recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (2007). This may seem like a rather technical issue, but it strikes at the very heart of the theory of man made global warming.

The stakes in Athens are fierce. The difference between an Olympic gold or silver medal could be a one hundredth of a second on the track or in the pool; an inch on the pole vault or shot put.

The athletes who make the Olympic cut are blessed with the right combination of physical and psychological traits, including an intense competitive drive and an unrelenting determination to be the best. This is the stuff of champions.

Steroids are not just for elite athletes--they can be used by anyone who wants to change his or her body image. The Centers for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance report shows more than a million youth taking steroids, and the numbers have been rising every year.

A third of reef-building corals worldwide are threatened with extinction due to climate change and water pollution, according to the first global assessment on the marine creature by 39 scientists.

Destructive fishing and the degradation

"When corals die off, so do the other plants and animals that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter, and this can lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems," he added.

During the Jomon Period (13000 BC to 300 BC), the inhabitants of the Japanese islands were gatherers, fishers and hunters. Jomon is the name of the era's pottery.

During the Yayoi Period (300 BC to 300 AD), the rice culture was imported into Japan around 100 BC.

By the beginning of the Kofun Period (300 - 538), a center of power had developed in the fertile Kinai plain, and by about 400 AD the country was united as Yamato Japan with its political center in and around the province of Yamato (about today's Nara prefecture).

A Crisis In Swimming - A lot has been said and written about drugs in sport. With each passing year, there are more and more of athletes caught taking banned drugs/chemicals that enhance sport performance. In the recent Tour de France cycling race, almost half of the urine samples yielded traces of banned substances. An underlying inference is that anyone who tests positive for drugs is a cheat.

A lot has been said and written about drugs in sport. With each passing year, there are more and more of athletes caught taking banned drugs/chemicals that enhance sport performance. In the recent Tour de France cycling race, almost half of the urine samples yielded traces of banned substances. An underlying inference is that anyone who tests positive for drugs is a cheat.

hletes using steroids or hormones to add muscle are playing an even more dangerous game with their health, Wojtys says. And concerns are growing. One alarming study reported that adolescent use of steroids is on the rise, according to The National Institute on Drug Abuse

end of the spectrum are the reds and oranges. These gradually shade into yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The colors have different wavelengths, frequencies, and energies. Violet has the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum. That means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, and lowest frequency and energy. LIGHT IN THE AIR Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits. Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected, or bounced off, in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors. Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule radiates (releases, or gives off) the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the co

d after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's.) WHY IS THE SKY BLUE? The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by t

As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.