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China has bought almost half the world’s food reserves in the last 12 months. This will cause worldwide inflation, we well as famine in some countries. This report provides us with clear information on what we should prepare for in the 21st century.

Prices will rise globally, including in the U.S. and Europe; a significant portion of lower-income states will be doomed to famine. The fact that the U.S. and Europe are gravely concerned about inflation for the first time is an indication that this process has already started.

Be it the news or the dwindling number of creatures hitting your windscreens, it will not have evaded you that the insect world in bad shape.

In the last three decades, the global biomass of flying insects has shrunk by 75%. Among the trend’s most notables victims is the world’s most important pollinator, the honeybee. In the United States, 48% of honeybee colonies died in 2023 alone, making it the second deadliest year on record. This significant loss is due in part to colony collapse disorder (CCD), the sudden disappearance of bees. In contrast, European countries report lower but still worrisome rates of colony losses, ranging from 6% to 32%.

She was right. Marijuana, the dried and processed product of Cannabis sativa plants, is the flowery part, as opposed to tobacco or tea leaves. When people say they enjoy smoking "bud," it's meant literally. Despite how obvious this may seem, it's always struck me as quietly awe-inspiring.

While humans clearly love these flowers, so do insects, especially bees, albeit for different reasons. And just like medical marijuana has been shown to improve human health by effectively treating epilepsy, chronic pain, chemotherapy nausea and more, insects can benefit from cannabis as well.

Ecological alterations of the microbiota (dysbiosis), occasionally with clinically intestinal complications, ranging from mild to severe, were described from the early stages in the use of antibiotics (Haenel 1961). The most important was the selection of harmful resistant organisms. Classical examples are enterococcal bacteremia during therapy with third-generation cephalosporins, or more recently the potentially lethal pseudomembranous colitis resulting from the selection of Clostridium difficile (Smits et al. 2016) frequently associated with the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, particularly those influencing the predominant anaerobic populations.

Alterations of the microbiota are generally restored by surviving minorities and by the organisms of the surrounding human environment. In hospital, nursing homes, or in conditions of limited sanitation in low-income countries, particularly involving water environments (Baquero et al. 2008), restoration might involve the acquisition of antibiotic-resistant populations, substituting (without the need of antibiotic exposure) the old susceptible ones (Schwartz et al. 2020). The final effect is that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are increasingly integrated as “normal members of the microbiota,” and the long-term consequences of such replacements and the creation of a novel microbiota architecture remain unknown. This might be harmful, influencing inflammatory bowel diseases, allergies, asthma, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurobehavioral disorders, and eventually involving alterations in host immunity (Zhang and Chen 2019). Note that resistant populations (by either intrinsic or acquired antibiotic resistance) are poorly affected (resilient) by new antibiotic exposure, facilitating long-term colonization and host adaptation. The invasion of food animals by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the increasing possibilities of human-animal microbiome coalescence (merging) might contribute to the evolution towards abnormal microbiomes with unpredictable consequences (Baquero et al. 2019).

But due to decades of stigma and the plant's restricted legal status, there's still a lot we don't know about cannabis, especially its unique chemistry. A growing body of research suggests cannabinoids could make potent medications such as antibiotics, which is good news considering pathogens like bacteria, viruses and fungi are quickly evolving resistance to most of our defenses.

A recent analysis in The Lancet estimates that around 1.27 million people died from antibiotic resistant infections in 2019, with the authors concluding that these stubborn infections are "a health problem whose magnitude is at least as large as major diseases such as HIV and malaria and potentially much larger." Climate change and the COVID pandemic seem to be making antibiotic resistance worse, with many experts anticipating this problem accelerating rather than slowing.

Even though cannabis is illegal under federal law, recent years have seen a drastic increase in cannabis-related patent and trademark applications. 44 U.S. law provides avenues for patenting cannabis through plant patents and utility patents. 45Unlike with trademarks, [*374] obtaining a patent does not require an applicant to show that the product is lawfully used in interstate commerce. 46Patent protection is useful for various inventions, such as new strains of a cannabis plant or methods of creating cannabis extracts. 47 Because trademark protection requires a showing of lawful use in commerce, it offers its own set of caveats. 48

The trademark requirement for lawful use in commerce is rooted in the origin of federal trademark protection. 49From the earliest [*375] known times, trademarks have been used to designate ownership of property or to identify a manufacturer of specific goods, but the first federal statute dealing with trademarks in the U.S. was struck down by the Supreme Court for exceeding the powers granted to Congress by the Copyright Clause. 50In 1946, Congress responded by passing a trademark act ("Lanham Act") which was grounded in its broad power to regulate interstate commerce and continues to govern federal trademarks today. 51The Lanham Act defines "commerce" as all imports and exports that are subject to Congress's power under the Commerce Clause. 52As such, federal trademark protection is only available to marks used in commerce which Congress has the authority to regulate. 53This protection provides brand owners with valuable benefits beyond common law and state-registered trademark rights, including the preservation of national expansion and presumption of trademark ownership and validity. 54

A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device, or other designation, or a combination of such designations, that is distinctive of a person's goods or services and that is used in a manner that identifies those goods or services and distinguishes them from the goods or services of others. 162A service mark is a trademark that is used in connection with services. 163

Trademark law is governed by the Lanham Act, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1051. It states that a "trademark includes any work, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof: (1) used by a person, or (2) which a person has a bona fide intention to use in commerce and applies to register on the principal register established by this chapter, to identify and distinguish his or her goods from those manufactures or sold by others and to indicate a source of the goods, even if that source is unknown." 164 Thus, under the Lanham Act, a trademark must be: (1) used in commerce; (2) registered with the USPTO to gain federal protection; and (3) must be distinctive. 165The Lanham Act also states that the purpose of trademarks are to serve as source identifier and allow people to protect their marks, whether the mark is already in use or is intended to be used in a market. 166Thus, trademarks are used to distinguish products from goods manufactured or sold by others and to indicate their source, which can also indicate quality. 167Additionally, trademark protection can extend to slogans as long as it immediately conjures up an association with the [*182] trademark owner and the affiliated product. 168 For example, the slogan "just do it" immediately conjures up an association with Nike and sports or sports products, which has allowed Nike to obtain trademark protection for its slogan. 169

This is simply a fact that LeBron James will never be considered the greatest of all time (GOAT). When you look at who is widely considered the GOAT, the choice is Michael Jordan. You already know the obvious accolades: six titles, six Finals MVP's, five regular-season MVP's, highest scoring average in postseason and regular season play, etc. Jordan never lost a Finals. LBJ is already 0-2. There are several other reasons why LeBron will never be considered the GOAT though. First of all, yes he's only 26 years old. He will probably win multiple championships—maybe even rack up a couple more MVP's along the way—and will obviously continue putting up the consistent 26-7-7 numbers he's been consistently putting up the past seven years. It still won't matter though because the Heat will always be Wade's team. This series showed that, and this series cemented that fact. The Heat will continue being the team to beat in the East for at least the next three seasons the Big Three are together. But when the Finals come around, the Heat's go-to guy in the fourth quarter and close games will continue to be Dwyane Wade. Compare this to the L.A. Lakers of the early 2000's. When you hear Lakers fans defending Kobe's role on those teams, you always hear Kobe Bryant was the player who lifted the Lakers to victory against those tough Western Conference opponents before the NBA Finals. When the time came for the Lakers to win those NBA championships in the NBA Finals though, it was Shaq who shined brightest and won all three Finals MVP's. Nobody cares that Kobe played well before the NBA Finals—they only look at the Finals MVP trophies. Shaq won all three, and Kobe doesn't get any credit for three of his five championships when it comes to his legacy. The same rule applies for the Wade/LeBron duo we see today. LeBron could win the next three championships, but he'll never be the true closer. Like Kobe Bryant in his first three championships, LeBron will never get the same credit for his championships like MJ got for all six of his. As long as the Big Three are together, LeBron will always be the Scottie Pippen to Dwyane Wade's Michael Jordan. Aside from that, LeBron just doesn't have the mental drive to be the best of all time. Could this mentality/image of LBJ crumbling under pressure change? Of course—look at what Dirk just did. But how many players have been able to do that? It's easier said than done. This goes beyond the game of basketball. It's a psychological issue. You either have a killer instinct or you don't; and you can't just flip it on and off like a switch. You either have the drive to be great or you don't. LBJ has as much talent, if not more, than anyone who has ever played the game of basketball. The problem lies in his mental makeup. He's more concerned with being a marketeer—the world's first billionaire athlete—rather than being the GOAT.

Using a skill theory lens, course-taking breadth can be viewed as contextual support for the development of complex cognitive reasoning skills. This is primarily because: (a) there’s evidence for broad learning experiences improving cognition and (b) students who are exposed to new and different learning experiences are positioned to apply the transformation rules which lead to micro and/or macro skill development. We succinctly elaborate on these two points directly below. Broad learning supports reasoning. Broad learning is posited in work independent from skill theory as contributing to adult cognitive development (Leanos, Coons, Rebok, Ozer, & Wu, 2019; Lovd ¨ ´en, Garzon, ´ & Lindenberger, 2020; Wu, Rebok, & Lin, 2016; Wu, 2019; Chan & Carlson, 2017; Sheffler et al., 2022). In higher education classrooms specifically, a diversity of experiences relates positively to the development of cognitive skills (Loes, Pascarella, & Umbach, 2012). The experience of curricular rigor—which is elicited when conceptual demands are placed on students, requiring the need to reconcile and synthesize disparate information—has also been linked with gains in critical thinking skills after the first and fourth year of college (Culver et al., 2019; 2021). And liberal arts colleges, known for their curricular breadth and organized instruction, have been shown to improve critical thinking skills in large-scale empirical studies (Braun, 2019; Pascarella, Wang, Trolian, & Blaich, 2013; Wang & Xu, 2021). Students are positioned to apply transformation rules. Aside from increasing the likelihood that reasoning skills will be elicited in explicit assignments and tasks (Janssen et al., 2019), curricular breadth increases exposure to different subject matter, peers with dissimilar personalities and worldviews, and instructors with different professional backgrounds and pedagogical practices (Orona, 2021a; Vedel, 2016; Virtanen & Tynjal ¨ a, ¨ 2018; Vu, 2017; Xu & Ran, 2022; Thonney & Montgomery, 2019; Tolppanen, Kang, & Riuttanen, 2022). Thus, it’s hypothesized from skill theory that students with greater course breadth are positioned to apply the transformation rules for developing reasoning capacities since students must utilize existing skill levels and knowledge to navigate novel phenomena and concepts (and people). For example, a student well-versed in reconciling opposing interpretations of historical import (e.g., why the United States withdrew from Vietnam) has a preliminary set of skills to apply when reconciling opposing interpretations of human behavior in psychology. However, since the facts, features, and epistemic criteria differ vastly, it spurs a combination (e.g., compounding) of existing skills and a generalization to a new area (e.g., substitution), leading to increasingly complexity of the skill and thus control over more sources of variation. King and Kitchener (1994, p. 35) summarize how this occurs: “…an individual may not be challenged to try to make sense of discrepancies between the competing views of different authorities because he or she has not previously been asked to compare or contrast such views. When the juxtaposition does occur, as may happen in an educational setting, it stimulates the person to work out a coordination of skills. As the skills are coordinated across levels, they are transformed into new skills. Without challenges that span different types of skills, a person’s existing skill level will probably not change or develop into higher-order skills.”.

This raises a central question: What is the relationship between modern-day vocational or career and technical coursework and high-school graduates’ success in college or in the workforce? Is vocational education an off ramp to college foisted upon lackluster students, or a different and less costly path toward adult success? We examined high-school and college transcripts and labor-market outcomes for about 4,000 adults to find out.

Our study, making use of a nationally representative sample of early-career Americans, shows that students tend to enroll in vocational classes based on whether such options are available to them, suggesting that the commonly held belief that marginal students are funneled into such classes is untrue. Further, we find that not all vocational classes are equal: students earn about 2 percent more annually for each advanced or upper-level vocational class they take, but enjoy no wage premium for having completed lower-level or introductory vocational study. In terms of college enrollment, while lower-level vocational courses may deter marginal students from college, they have no impact on net graduation rates; advanced courses at worst do no harm.

The first major problem identified by the work group as relating to topic selection is the decline in participation in the National Debate Tournament (NDT) policy debate. As Boman notes: There is a growing dissatisfaction with academic debate that utilizes a policy proposition. Programs which are oriented toward debating the national policy debate proposition, so-called “NDT” programs, are diminishing in scope and size.4 This decline in policy debate is tied, many in the work group believe, to excessively broad topics. The most obvious characteristic of some recent policy debate topics is extreme breath. A resolution calling for regulation of land use literally and figuratively covers a lot of ground. Naitonal debate topics have not always been so broad. Before the late 1960s the topic often specified a particular policy change.5 The move from narrow to broad topics has had, according to some, the effect of limiting the number of students who participate in policy debate. First, the breadth of the topics has all but destroyed novice debate. Paul Gaske argues that because the stock issues of policy debate are clearly defined, it is superior to value debate as a means of introducing students to the debate process.6 Despite this advantage of policy debate, Gaske belives that NDT debate is not the best vehicle for teaching beginners. The problem is that broad policy topics terrify novice debaters, especially those who lack high school debate experience. They are unable to cope with the breadth of the topic and experience “negophobia,”7 the fear of debating negative. As a consequence, the educational advantages associated with teaching novices through policy debate are lost: “Yet all of these benefits fly out the window as rookies in their formative stage quickly experience humiliation at being caugh without evidence or substantive awareness of the issues that confront them at a tournament.”8 The ultimate result is that fewer novices participate in NDT, thus lessening the educational value of the activity and limiting the number of debaters or eventually participate in more advanced divisions of policy debate. In addition to noting the effect on novices, participants argued that broad topics also discourage experienced debaters from continued participation in policy debate. Here, the claim is that it takes so much times and effort to be competitive on a broad topic that students who are concerned with doing more than just debate are forced out of the activity.9 Gaske notes, that “broad topics discourage participation because of insufficient time to do requisite research.”10 The final effect may be that entire programs either cease functioning or shift to value debate as a way to avoid unreasonable research burdens. Boman supports this point: “It is this expanding necessity of evidence, and thereby research, which has created a competitive imbalance between institutions that participate in academic debate.”11 In this view, it is the competitive imbalance resulting from the use of broad topics that has led some small schools to cancel their programs.

This appeal concerns the anti-trafficking provisions of the DMCA, which Congress enacted in 1998 to strengthen copyright protection in the digital age. Fearful that the ease with which pirates could copy and distribute a copyrightable work in digital form was overwhelming the capacity of conventional copyright enforcement to find and enjoin unlawfully copied material, Congress sought to combat copyright piracy in its earlier stages, before the work was even copied. The DMCA therefore backed with legal sanctions the efforts of copyright owners to protect their works from piracy behind digital walls such as encryption codes or password protections.

Copyrights confer upon authors and creators of original content the exclusive entitlement to utilise, replicate, or duplicate their intellectual creations. This legal protection extends to various forms of artistic expression, including literary works such as books and compositions by musical artists. Importantly, a copyright not only grants the original creators the authority to control the reproduction and dissemination of their work but also establishes the provision for these creators to authorise others through licensing agreements to utilise their creative output. Through this mechanism, copyright law aims to strike a balance between safeguarding the rights of content creators and fostering a regulated framework for the legitimate use and dissemination of creative works.

One aspect of the doctrine of foreign equivalents generally requires considering the meaning of a mark in a non-English language to the speakers of that language. As we stated in Palm Bay, "[u]nder the doctrine of foreign equivalents, foreign words from common languages are translated into English...." Palm Bay Imps., Inc. v. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Maison Fondee en 1772, 396 F.3d 1369, 1377 (Fed.Cir.2005); In re N. Paper Mills, 20 C.C.P.A. 1109, 64 F.2d 998, 998-99 (CCPA 1933). The doctrine has been summarized in a leading trademark treatise in the context of determining whether a mark is descriptive (or geographically descriptive) under subsections (e)(1) and (e)(2) of the statutory section governing registration: Under the "doctrine of foreign equivalents," foreign words are translated into English.... However, the "doctrine of foreign equivalents" is not an absolute rule, for it does not mean that words from dead or obscure languages are to be literally translated into English for descriptive purposes. 2 J. Thomas McCarthy, McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 11:34 (4th ed.2009) (hereinafter "McCarthy") (footnotes omitted). The parties do not dispute this general requirement of translation under the doctrine of foreign equivalents. Nor do we. We also note that there is a threshold limitation on the application of the doctrine of foreign equivalents, as discussed in Palm Bay, 396 F.3d at 1377. In Palm Bay, we noted that the doctrine of foreign equivalents applies only in those situations where the ordinary American consumer would stop and translate the mark into English: Although words from modern languages are generally translated into English, the doctrine of foreign equivalents is not 1352*1352 an absolute rule and should be viewed merely as a guideline. The doctrine should be applied only when it is likely that the ordinary American purchaser would stop and translate the word into its English equivalent. Id. (emphases added, citations, quotation marks, and alteration omitted). The "ordinary American purchaser" is not limited to only those consumers unfamiliar with non-English languages; rather, the term includes all American purchasers, including those proficient in a non-English language who would ordinarily be expected to translate words into English.

A trademark constitutes a distinctive sign with the capability to differentiate the goods or services of a specific enterprise from those offered by other entities. The safeguarding of trademarks is facilitated through IP rights, providing legal protection to prevent unauthorised use or imitation by competitors. At the national or regional level, the procurement of trademark protection necessitates the submission of a registration application to the pertinent national or regional trademark office, accompanied by the payment of requisite fees. On the global scale, two viable approaches are available: one may choose to individually submit a trademark application to the trademark office of each specific country where protection is desired, or alternatively, engage in the international registration system.

Alternatively, Samsung contends that a patent is actually more closely analogous to a franchise than a license. Whereas a license is a promise by the government not to interfere, see Toulabi v. United States, 875 F.2d 122, 125-26 (7th Cir.1989), a franchise is a right that belongs to the government when conferred upon a citizen and that inheres in the sovereign power, see Borre v. United States, 940 F.2d 215, 220 (7th Cir.1991). The Seventh Circuit has held that fraud in procuring a franchise is subject to the mail fraud statute. See Borre, 940 F.2d at 220. According to Samsung, a patent, like a franchise, enables its owner to exclude others, including the government.

It is crucial to underscore that the ambit of patent rights is circumscribed by territorial considerations, meaning that the exclusive privileges are confined to the geographic boundaries of the country or region where the patent has undergone formal filing and approval, adhering to the legal norms of that specific jurisdiction. This protective jurisdictional framework is not perpetual; rather, it is conferred for a finite period, typically spanning 20 years from the date of submitting the patent application.

A patent represents a proprietary entitlement granted to an inventor, typically sanctioned by a government agency, such as the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This legal document bestows upon the inventor exclusive rights to the particular invention, encompassing designs, processes, improvements, or tangible inventions like machines.

The term "in" means "[w]ithin the limits, bounds, or area of." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 885 (5th ed. 2018). Physical spaces have limits or bounds, but so do concepts like jurisdiction.

For her part, Hepp contends the right to publicity is an intellectual property right. See Hepp Br. 11. And she argues that she "has dedicated considerable time, effort and money into building her brand." Hepp Br. 17. Her amicus adds that state courts have long recognized individuals have property interests in their personas. They cite a 1907 case involving the legendary Thomas Edison. SAG Br. 19. There, the New Jersey court confirmed Edison could enjoin the use of his picture as an endorsement for a product he did not sell. See Edison v. Edison Polyform Mfg. Co., 73 N.J. Eq. 136, 67 A. 392, 394 (1907). The court reasoned there was no distinction between the intellectual property protections afforded a person's name and trademark-like protections for likenesses used on a label.