text:
Aleksandr Matrosov looks at the internal architecture of Win32/Flamer's mssecmgr.ocx module.
From the very beginning of our analysis of Win32/Flamer it was clear that this was an extremely sophisticated piece of malware which we had never seen before. It implements extremely elaborate programming logic and has an intricate internal structure. At the heart of Flame's modularity lies a carefully designed architecture allowing all its components interoperability without causing any incompatibilities. In this blog post we will concentrate mainly on the internal architecture of the mssecmgr.ocx module (Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet: in-depth code analysis of mssecmgr.ocx). In the course of our research we analysed several different versions of mssecmgr.ocx and found specific architectural similarities that allow us to reconstruct Flame's framework.
Flame framework
Flame's main module consists of objects that each implement specific functionality: gathering information on the compromised system; infecting other computers; communicating with C&C, and so on. These objects are split into certain groups according to functionality and are managed correspondingly. The objects belonging to specific classes are inserted into a vector – that's a C++ STL (Standard Template Library) type, not an infection vector as shown on the diagram below:
Figure 1 Flame Framework diagram
Here is the list of different types of objects implemented in mssecmgr.ocx:
- Command Executers these objects expose an interface that allows the malware to dispatch commands received from C&C servers;
- Tasks objects of this type represent tasks executed in separate threads that constitute the backbone of the main module;
- Consumers objects which are triggered by specific events (creation of new modules, insertion of removable media and so on.);
- Delayed Tasks these objects represent tasks which are executed periodically with a scheduled delay.
The set of objects described above constitute the Flame framework. The approach looks very similar to a Command object-oriented design pattern. It is worth mentioning that Stuxnet and Duqu made heavy use of lists (another C++ STL type) to manage objects. Flame, however, relies on vectors.
During our Flame analysis we found out that different versions of the malware's main modules implement different framework objects in all vectors, as reflected in the two tables below.
Table 1 Command Executers Objects in different version of mssecmg.ocx
Table 2 Tasks objects in different version of mssecmg.ocx
From the tables above it is evident that the malware has evolved over time and its functionality has been significantly extended. Some components that may have been implemented previously as separate modules are incorporated into the main module by later versions.
Flame tasks
Task objects implement the general functionality of the framework. There are two tasks (among others) that exist in every version of Flame main module,:
- IDLER task
- CommandExecuter task.
The purpose of the IDLER task is to handle delayed tasks. It runs periodically through the delayed tasks vector and executes its elements as shown in figure 1.
The CommandExecuter task is responsible for retrieving and executing commands from the malware's configuration information using objects from the corresponding vector:
Figure 2 Command Executer Routine
Flame consumers
Consumers constitute another set of objects implemented in the Flame framework. These objects are inserted into the corresponding vector during initialization and are triggered when a specific event happens. Thus, Flame designers employ an event driven model that allows Flame to achieve certain goals. Since the malware is intended for gathering information from the infected system this architecture is very efficient. Consumers such as the following are implemented:
- process consumers these are notified when an application is run;
- volume consumers these are notified when a new volume appears in the system;
- removable media consumers react to removable media events;
- mobile devices consumers react to mobile device events;
- consumers for Bluetooth adapter etc.
When an event takes place on the system a specific trigger is created which fires the corresponding consumer, which in turn takes an appropriate action: infects media, copies files from removable media, activates a Bluetooth adapter, and so on.
Executing commands
Command executers are responsible for handling commands received from C&C servers. These are objects that implement a specific interface described below:
The CommandExecuter task is responsible for handling commands received from C&C server. The commands are stored in a special repository within the Flame configuration information under the key CMD_QUEUE:
Figure 3 Executing commands
The commands are formatted as compressed binary data. While decoding the commands Flame decompresses the data and splits the commands into blocks. Each block is handled by a specific command executer object identified by its own ID number. The screenshot in the figure below presents the interface of a command executer object:
Figure 4 Interface of command executer object
Once the command executer is identified the CmdExecuter_Dispatch method is called to handle command information. Different command dispatchers are able to accomplish different actions. For instance the DbQuery command dispatcher is used to execute SQL queries to the SQL Lite database maintained by the malware.
Finding commands
Commands may also be stored in files in specific directories for which the malware scans. There is a special task object CommandFileFinder whose purpose is to look for files in specific directories and load the contents of these files into the command data repository stored in configuration information. This helps the malware send commands to the machines that don't have a direct connection with C&C servers.
SQL Lite database & Lua
As already pointed out Flame uses a SQL Lite relational database to store all the information (sKyWIper (a.k.a. Flame a.k.a. Flamer)) it gathers on the infected system as well as supplemental data which facilitate Flame's propagation within a targeted system. In the figure below you can see the database schemas reconstructed in the course of research with a brief description:
Figure 5 Flame database schema
Figure 6 Flame database schema
Another interesting feature of the Flamer malware is the use of the LUA scripting engine to perform certain supplemental operations. The following table summarizes information about different scripts extracted from Flame configuration information.
Special thanks to our colleague Maxim Grigoryev.
Eugene Rodionov, Malware Researcher
Aleksandr Matrosov, Security Intelligence Team Lead


text: Use technically advanced Stäubli solutions to coordinate your entire textile process with everything from a single source. From weaving preparation, frame and Jacquard weaving, to carpet and technical weaving, Stäubli offers innovative machinery systems and solutions for high quality textile production. Take advantage of Stäubli know-how and direct your high-grade textile production with passion.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Recent Topics
|Sorry, you do not have permission to view member information. You may probably perform this action after you login. If you are not a member, please click here for membership details. If you are already logged in then the administrator of the board does not allow this action. Should you have any questions, please contact email@example.com .
|Recent Topics
|Back to top of page
Powered by Copyright © 2007-2011 by Jim Hale and Data 1 Systems. Page design copyright © 2008-2013 Martin Wynne. Photo gallery copyright © 2009 David Williams.


text:
A cable company in the UK had a bit of a snafu with a super strict censoring system in its TV guide over the weekend. They were asterisking Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Dickens, the soccer team Arsenal, the movie Hancock and any other name or title that had a penis or butt related word in it.
What the heck Brits! I thought you guys knew how to have fun! When did you guys get your panties in a bloody bunch (that's gross). Oh. What? It was only a mistake. Phew! So fret not folks, Virgin Media, the cable censorer in question, wasn't trying to ban cock based names or anything (cause that would be robbing one of life's simplest joys) but had accidentally implemented an overzealous profanity checker. Here's Virgin Media's official statement, as relayed by The Register:
"Over the weekend a temporarily over-zealous profanity checker took offence at certain programme titles. The altered titles have been swiftly analysed and we're fixing any remaining glitches"
Supposedly Virgin Media poked fun at itself by censoring an*lysed in the statement too. [The Media Blog via The Register UK]


text:
An Amazon Instant Video app launched for Xbox 360 today. It gives Prime subscribers access to streaming content, and can be downloaded in the Xbox Dashboard.
You must also be an Xbox Gold member to tap into the selection of more than 17,000 TV shows and films. The selection isn't all that great, but it's getting better, especially with the addition of Paramount movies last week. The latest move is another effort on Amazon's part to topple Netflix as the go-to streaming service. [Amazon]


text:
'A man walks into a bar and says: Take my wife–-please. So you do. You take her out into the rain and you fall in love with her and she leaves you and you're desolate. You're on your back in your undershirt, a broken man on an ugly bedspread, staring at the water stains on the ceiling. And you can hear the man in the apartment above you taking off his shoes. You hear the first boot hit the floor and you're looking up, you're waiting because you thought it would follow, you thought there would be some logic, perhaps, something to pull it all together but here we are in the weeds again, here we are in the bowels of the thing: your world doesn't make sense. And then the second boot falls. And then a third, a fourth, a fifth.
A man walks into a bar and says: Take my wife–-please. But you take him instead. You take him home, and you make him a cheese sandwich, and you try to get his shoes off, but he kicks you and he keeps kicking you. You swallow a bottle of sleeping pills but they don't work. Boots continue to fall to the floor in the apartment above you. You go to work the next day pretending nothing happened. Your co-workers ask if everything's okay and you tell them you're just tired. And you're trying to smile. And they're trying to smile. A man walks into a bar, you this time, and says: Make it a double. A man walks into a bar, you this time, and says: Walk a mile in my shoes. A man walks into a convenience store, still you, saying: I only wanted something simple, something generic… But the clerk tells you to buy something or get out. A man takes his sadness down to the river and throws it in the river but then he's still left with the river. A man takes his sadness and throws it away but then he's still left with his hands....'
— via if seeing is believing


text:
What to Do When a Sexual Issue Drives You Crazy
In 2 cases out of 3, sex therapy can help
En español | Has your bedroom become a battlefield? If so, consider seeing a sex therapist to solve the problem: Research shows sex therapy to be effective in two-thirds of cases.
Unfortunately, many couples feel intimidated by the term "sex therapy." Rest assured that it does not mean having sex with, or in front of, a therapist. Instead, sex therapists practice talk psychotherapy. They also have extra training in sexual issues and frequently assign sensual "homework" to client couples. For a realistic look at the process, see the recent Meryl Streep-Tommy Lee Jones movie Hope Springs, available on DVD.
Sex therapy was born in the 1960s, when pioneering sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson showed that a combination of sex education, mutual whole-body massage and specific erotic techniques could resolve many sex problems. Some basic sex problems — premature ejaculation, for example — are independent of the relationship. But most sexual conundrums involve both the relationship and the sex.
What's the difference between sex therapy and marriage counseling? The latter often deals with issues of communication and control — how couples make decisions, how they resolve differences. Marriage counseling may not deal with sex. But when a couple consults a sex therapist, a sexual issue is usually the "presenting problem."
No relationship is forever free of sexual discord, of course: Typical disagreements center on frequency and repertoire (oral sex, anal play, sex toys). So how do you know when a bedroom standoff is profound enough to demand sex therapy? It's subjective, but if a persistent problem is driving you nuts, sex therapy can probably help.
Early sex therapists focused on teaching men ejaculatory control and women how to have orgasms. Sex therapists still treat these problems, but more often they're resolved by self-help resources. (Two examples: Becoming Orgasmic by Julia Heiman and Joseph LoPiccolo, and the ejaculatory-control article on my site, GreatSexAfter40.com.)
The issues most couples take to a sex therapist nowadays include:
Desire differences. "You're insatiable!" "You never want to!" In about two-thirds of cases, the man wants sex more often than the woman. In the other one-third, of course, it's the other way around.
Erectile issues. Few people know that erectile drugs work best in combination with sex therapy. California researchers gave 53 couples either Viagra alone or the drug plus eight sessions of sex therapy. Using the drug alone, only 38 percent expressed satisfaction; among those using the combination treatment, the figure was 66 percent.
Low libido. Possible causes include medical conditions, drug side effects, low testosterone, relationship problems or other life stresses.
Sexual aversion or virginity after age 30. People with these complaints either fear sex or feel so socially awkward that friendships never evolve into sexual relationships.
Women's pain on intercourse. Possible causes include anxiety, relationship stresses, a history of sexual trauma, or medical conditions such as post-menopausal vaginal dryness or atrophy.
What if one spouse refuses to go? Then the one who wants therapy can see the therapist alone and gather information, explore feelings, and take home new insights that might help the problem. Or he or she can try to persuade the other to join the process.
For most problems, sex therapy takes four to six months of weekly one-hour sessions. Therapist-assigned homework often involves conversations to gain experience in new communication skills, or sensual assignments to practice massage techniques or other lovemaking skills.
Depending on your location, sex therapy costs $100 to $200 an hour. Some health insurers cover it; others don't. Still others limit the number of covered sessions, after which you pay out of pocket. So check your policy.
Does a therapist's gender affect the quality of sex therapy? That's a common query. People may have personal preferences, which is fine, but the research shows that the therapist's gender is irrelevant: Men and women respond equally well to male or female therapists. What matters most is the rapport between clients and therapist, as well as the clients' commitment to the process.
To find a sex therapist in your area, visit the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists, the Society for Sex Therapy and Research, or the American Board of Sexology.
Longtime sex counselor and journalist Michael Castleman answers questions at GreatSexAfter40.com.
Also of Interest
- Sex at 50 plus: See what the survey reveals is "normal"
- 10 meds that might be causing your depression
- Get free assistance with tax return preparation
See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more


text:
Moonstruck Chocolate Company ("Sites") takes the protection and proper use of your personal information seriously. We respect your privacy, and take care to safeguard information in our possession.
The privacy practices of this statement apply to our services available under the domains and subdomains of Moonstruck Chocolate Company. By visiting this or any or our Sites you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree please do not use or access our Sites. As this policy may be modified from time-to-time, you should check this Privacy Policy frequently for any such changes. Your continued access or use of our Sites shall constitute acceptance of any modifications of the Privacy Policy. Our use of information gathered or obtained at any time is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of such use.
This Privacy Policy describes the information, as part of the normal operation of our services, we collect from you and what may happen to that information. Although this Privacy Policy may seem long, we have prepared a detailed policy because we believe you should know as much as possible about our practices so that you can make informed decisions. By accepting the Terms of Use, visiting any of our Sites, shopping on any of our Sites, completing our surveys, participating in our sweepstakes or other incentives, responding to our e-mails, or otherwise interacting with Moonstruck Chocolate Company, you are consenting to Moonstruck Chocolate Company practices, including the use and disclosure of any personally identifiable information you have shared with us, as described in this Privacy Policy. Finally, please note that this policy applies only to Moonstruck Chocolate Company family of Web Sites and not to other companies' or organizations' Web sites to which we link.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the Site, please contact us by:
Sending an e-mail to email@example.com or sending a written request to the following address:
Moonstruck Chocolate Company
Attn: Internet Dept
6600 N. Baltimore Ave
Portland, OR 97203
Our Sites are not designed or intended for use by children under 13 and comply with the provisions of the Children's On-Line Privacy Protection Act. If you are under 18, you should use our Sites only with involvement of a parent or guardian. Children under 13 may not submit any personally identifiable information to us, and if we discover that we have inadvertently gathered any such information from a child under 13, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.
The information we obtain from shoppers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at our Sites. Here are the general types of information we gather:
Information You Give Us We receive and store any information you provide to us when you complete surveys, request additional information from us, participate in a sweepstakes or other incentives, post information on our Sites, make purchases online, set up accounts, sign up to receive our newsletters or other e-mail communications, communicate by e-mail, telephone or physical mail with our customer service, or otherwise interact with us. Such information may include your name, address, e-mail address, shopping interests and preferences, transaction history, and other personal data ("Personal Information"). We collect Personal Information that is reasonably necessary to comply with your requests and with our legitimate business interests. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to participate in our surveys or incentives, purchase products, or take advantage of certain useful Site features.
Information Gathered Automatically We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use "cookies" and "clear gifs" to obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses one of our Sites, or when you are provided the opportunity to complete surveys, participate in a sweepstakes or other incentives, or open or respond to any newsletter or other e-mail you may have requested.
Briefly, "cookies" are small files that we transfer to your computer's hard drive or your Web browser memory to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide convenience and other features to you, such as recognizing you as an existing customer or previous Site visitor. "Clear gifs" are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and may be used to track the online movements of Web users or to let us know if you have opened an e-mail that we sent you.
Examples of the information we collect and analyze in this manner include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform; your behavior on our Web site and related services, including the products you view or searched for, as well as the URL you come from and go to next (whether this URL is on our site or not). The cookies and clear gifs that we use do not contain and are not tied to personally identifiable information about you.
You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although in that case you may not be able to participate in our surveys or incentives, purchase products, or take advantage of certain useful Site features.
Information about Site shoppers and other users is an important part of our business and we take steps to maintain the privacy and security of such information against unauthorized access. We generally use such information for such purposes as customizing future shopping and savings opportunities for you, improving our services, and communicating with you if you have authorized such communication.
From time to time, we make our mailing list (names and addresses only) and general shopping activity available to carefully screened companies whose products or services we believe will be of interest to you and whose privacy practices meet the Direct Marketing Association's privacy standards. We do not share email addresses for this purpose. If you do not want to receive mailings from other reputable companies and prefer that we do not share any information with these companies, please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Aggregated Research Data
We produce research reports and other information and data about online shopping. Such information and data is based upon aggregated, anonymous information about hundreds of thousands of online shoppers and does not include personally identifiable information about individuals.
From time to time, we employ other companies and individuals to perform various functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Online Financing
If you apply for credit on the Sites, your Personal Information may be shared with a credit agency(ies) and other parties as necessary for our business purposes in connection with such credit application. All credit decisions are subject to the policies set forth in the credit application.
Other Corporate Entities
We share much of our data, including personal information about you, with our subsidiaries and joint ventures that are committed to serving you throughout the world. To the extent that these entities have access to your information, they will treat it at least as protectively as they treat information they obtain from their other users. Our subsidiaries and joint ventures follow privacy practices no less protective of all users than our practices described in this document, to the extent allowed by applicable law.
Business Transactions
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy stores, subsidiaries, or business units. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise as described above). Also, in the unlikely event that Moonstruck Chocolate Company or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
Protection of Moonstruck Chocolate Company and Others
We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; assist in fraud protection or investigation; or protect the rights, property, or security of Moonstruck Chocolate Company, our users, or others. Moonstruck Chocolate Company cooperates with law enforcement inquiries, as well as other third parties to enforce laws. Therefore, in response to a verified and legitimate request by law enforcement or other government officials relating to a criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity, we can (and you authorize us to) disclose your name, city, state, telephone number, e-mail address and other information without a subpoena. Without limiting the above, in an effort to respect your privacy and comply with our obligation as a good corporate citizen , we will not otherwise disclose your personal information to law enforcement or other government officials without a subpoena, court order or substantially similar legal procedure, except when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of information is necessary to: prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss; or report suspected illegal activity.
Due to the existing regulatory and legal environment, we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personal information will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. By way of example (without limiting the foregoing), we may be required to disclose personal information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances, or third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. Therefore, although we use industry standard practices to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private.
We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input. We also use a secure server hosting location, firewall protection and controlled access to protect your data. All transmissions between our secured server and our corporate computer systems are done through private networks rather than through the Internet. We also have reasonable security measures in place to protect against loss, misuse and alteration of your information under our control. While no system is completely foolproof, we take the security of your personal information seriously, and our security measures are designed to protect that information in a responsible manner. However, you should be aware that any communication via the Internet, and security measures in connection with such communication, is not failsafe or foolproof, and there is always a possibility that data may be lost or intercepted by unauthorized parties during such transmission or after receipt. You agree that Moonstruck Chocolate Company shall have no liability whatsoever in connection with such lost or intercepted data.
From time to time, Moonstruck Chocolate Company will send newsletters and other e-mail to members and others. You can always choose not to receive e-mail from Moonstruck Chocolate Company. Each of our e-mail messages contains a link or instructions at the bottom of the e-mail for the purpose of adjusting your e-mail subscription preferences. If you do not want to receive e-mail from us, please follow the instructions in any e-mail you receive or in the "Opt-Out" section below to contact us and be removed from our e-mailing list.
Moonstruck Chocolate Company is opposed to unsolicited commercial e-mail ("spam"). If you receive any unsolicited e-mails from spammers, please be assured that Moonstruck Chocolate Company did not provide your e-mail address to such parties.
This does not mean that we can prevent spam from happening on the Internet. Unfortunately, spammers obtain e-mail addresses in a number of devious ways, including when you respond and ask to be taken off a spam e-mail list, and in some cases by just generating e-mails to millions of random e-mail addresses in the hopes of getting a few "live" ones.
If you believe that you have received unsolicited e-mail from us, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com
Your contacts with Moonstruck Chocolate Company and use of Moonstruck Chocolate Company services are subject to this Privacy Notice. Since our business changes constantly, this Privacy Policy will also change from time to time. You should also check for recent changes on our Web site or other services whenever you visit.
As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, although that might prevent us from personalizing our services for you or may prevent you from participating in a survey or sweepstakes or taking advantage of certain useful Site features.
We will retain in our files information you have requested to delete in some circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our Terms of Use. Furthermore, such prior information is never completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints, including stored "back up" systems.
OPT-OUT If you do not want to receive informational or promotional information from us via phone, e-mail or mail, or want to review, delete, change or modify any of your Personal Information, you may do so by:
Sending an e-mail to email@example.com
Sending a written request to the following address:
Moonstruck Chocolate Company
Attn: Internet Department
6600 N. Baltimore Ave
Portland, OR 97203
If you do not want Moonstruck Chocolate Company to share information we collect or receive about you, please contact us via e-mail at email@example.com. Please include your name and mailing address in the message.
Please make sure to clearly indicate your contact and data privacy preferences by product line. Also, please include the e-mail address you used when you registered with the Site and/or provided the information to help us verify your request.
You may notify us about your preferences at any time. Your request will remain in effect until you notify us otherwise. We will honor your request and not share the information we collect about you, except as permitted by law. If you are an existing customer, please understand that you may continue to receive marketing offers directly from other companies that were already in production prior to the processing of your request.
This Privacy Notice was last modified on December 1, 2014.
Moonstruck Chocolate Company ("Sites") takes the protection and proper use of your personal information seriously. We respect your privacy, and take care to safeguard information in our possession.


text:
The Reality of Strategy: The Case of London Business SchoolPosted: July 17, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Andrew Likierman, Dean (education), Laura Tyson, London Business School, Old Marylebone Town Hall, strategy process, strategy-making 18 Comments
When Laura d'Andrea Tyson was the Dean of London Business School – some years ago – she put together a committee to examine and reformulate the School's strategy. Several professors sat on that committee. When I once asked her, having a drink at her home, why none of them were Strategy professors, she looked at me for about 5 seconds baffled. Eventually, she stammered, "yes, perhaps we could consider that in the future….".
It was clear to me, from her stunned silence (and she wasn't easily lost for words), that she had never even considered the thought before.
I, in contrast, thought it wasn't such an alien idea; putting some strategy professors on the School's strategy-making committee. We had – and still have – people in our Strategy department (e.g. Costas Markides, Sumantra Ghoshal) who not only had dozens of top academic publications behind their names but who also had an eager ear amongst strategy practitioners, through their Harvard Business Review publications and hundreds of thousands of business books sold (not to mention their fairly astronomical consulting fees).
Today, our current Dean – Sir Andrew Likierman – is working with a group of people on a huge strategic growth decision for the School, namely the acquisition of a nearby building from the local government that would increase our capacity overnight with about 70 percent. Once more, strategy professors have no closer role in the process than others; their voice is as lost in the quackmire as anyone else's.
If Sir Andrew had been an executive MBA student in my elective ("Strategies for Growth") writing an essay about the situation, I would ask him for a justification of the need for growth given the characteristics of the market; I'd ask him about the various options for growth (geographic expansion, e.g. a campus abroad; related diversification, e.g. on-line space, etc.), and how an analysis of the organisation's resources and capabilities is linked to these various options, and so on. But a systematic analysis based on what we teach in our own classrooms and publish in our books and journals has, it seems, not even be considered.
And I genuinely wonder why that is? Because it is not only strategy professors and it is not only deans. Whenever the topic of the School's brand name comes up, no-one seems inclined to pay more attention to our Marketing professors (some of whom are heavyweights in the field branding) than to the layman's remarks of Economics or Strategy folk. When the School's culture and values are being assessed, Organizational Behaviour professors are conspicuously absent from the organising committee (ironically it was run by a Marketing guy); likewise for Economics and OB professors when we are discussing incentives and remuneration. So why is that?
Is it that deep down we don't actually believe what we teach? Or is it that we just don't believe what any of our colleagues in other departments teach…? And that it could be somehow relevant to practice – including our own? Why do we charge companies and students small – and not so small – fortunes to take our guidance on how to make strategy, brands, and remuneration systems only to see that when our own organisation is dealing with them it all goes out the door?
I guess I simply don't understand the psychology behind this. Wait… perhaps I should go ask my Organizational Behaviour professors down the corridor!
Since writing the piece below – perhaps not surprisingly; although it took me a bit by surprise (I didn't think anyone actually read that stuff) – Sir Andrew contacted me. One could say that he took the oral exam following his essay on the School's growth plans and passed it (with a distinction!).
In all seriousness, in hindsight, I think I was unfair to him – perhaps even presumptuous. I wrote "a systematic analysis based on what we teach in our own classrooms and publish in our books and journals has, it seems, not even be considered" and, now, I think I should not have written this. That I haven't been involved in the process much and therefore have not seen the analysis of course does not mean it was never conducted. And it is a bit unfair, from the sidelines, to throw in a comment like that when someone has put in so much careful work. I apologise!
In fact, although Sir Andrew never lost his British cool, charme and good sense of humour, I realise it must actually have been "ever so slightly annoying" for him to read that comment, especially from a colleague, and he doesn't deserve that. So: regarding the specifics of this example: forget it! ban it from your minds, memory, bookmarks and favourites (how would this Vermeulen guy know?! he wasn't even there!)!
That you should pay more attention to Marketing professors when considering your school's brandname, more attention to your OB professors when considering your incentive systems and values, more attention to Finance professors when managing your endownment and, God forbid, sometimes even to some strategy professors when considering your school's strategy, I feel, does stand – so don't throw out the baby with the bathwater just yet. But, yes, do get rid of that stinky bathwater.


text:
Spitzer Finds Possible Comet Dust Around Dead Star
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted what may be comet dust sprinkled around the white dwarf star G29-38, which died approximately 500 million years ago.
The findings suggest the dead star, which most likely consumed its inner planets, is still orbited by a ring of surviving comets and possibly outer planets. This is the first observational evidence that comets can outlive their suns.
"Astronomers have known for decades that stars are born, have an extended middle age, and then wither away or explode. Spitzer is helping us understand how planetary systems evolve in tandem with their parent stars," said David Leisawitz, NASA's Spitzer program scientist.
Astronomers believe white dwarfs are shrunken skeletons of stars that were once similar to Earth's sun. As the stars aged over billions of years, they grew brighter and eventually swelled in size to become red giants. Millions of years later, the red giants shed their outer atmospheres, leaving behind white dwarfs.
If any planets did orbit in these systems, the red giants would have engulfed at least the inner ones. Only distant outer planets and an orbiting icy outpost of comets would have survived.
"The dust seen by Spitzer around G29-38 was probably generated relatively recently when one such outlying comet may have been knocked into the inner region of the system and ripped into dust shreds by the tidal forces of the star," said astronomer William Reach of the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.
Prior to the Spitzer findings, astronomers studying G29-38 noticed an unusual and unknown source of infrared light. Spitzer, with its powerful infrared spectrometer, was able to break this light apart, revealing its molecular makeup. These data told astronomers the light was coming from the same types of dusty minerals found in comets in our solar system.
"We detected a large quantity of very small, dirty silicate grains," said astronomer Marc Kuchner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The size of these grains tells us they are probably from comets and not other planetary bodies."
In our own solar system, comets reside in the cold outer fringes in regions known as the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Only when something disturbs their orbits, such as another comet or an outer planet, do they begin periodic journeys into the sun's warmer neighborhood. However, these trips to the tropics often end in destruction. Comets slowly disintegrate as they pass close to the sun, or they crash into it. They also occasionally crash into planets, as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 did when it plunged into Jupiter.
Though the dust seen by Spitzer around the white dwarf is most likely the remains of such a torn-up comet, there may be other explanations. One possibility is that a second wave of planets formed long after the death of the star, leaving a dusty construction zone.
Kuchner presented his findings today at the 207th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington. The data were also published in the December 20, 2005, issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
Source: NASA


text:
NEW ORLEANS — Lil Wayne thinks the late Aaliyah's music is better than a lot of music out today — and he's confident that Drake's plan to produce unreleased Aaliyah songs will be an "awesome collaboration."
Drake — a huge Aaliyah fan — has announced that he is working on a posthumous album of Aaliyah music, and he's already released the song "Enough Said" featuring himself and the singer, who was killed in a plane crash in 2001.
Some who were close to Aaliyah have not expressed support for the album. Missy Elliott and Timbaland, who produced most of Aaliyah's music, are not involved, and DMX, who co-starred with Aaliyah in the movie "Romeo Must Die" and recorded a song with her, has been critical of the project.
Lil Wayne said he hasn't heard any negative feedback, and added when he first heard that his Young Money protégé was a part of the project, his first thought was: "Good move."
"Everybody knows what Aaliyah did and done for music and culture, period, and it's always good to do that, for not only for people like that, just for her fans — you know what I mean?" he said in a recent interview. "Drake's a very thoughtful person. Everyone knows that. It's an awesome collaboration."
Lil Wayne said Aaliyah's music has also stood the test of time.
"Her music is still awesome. It's still better than a lot of music out right now," he said.
As far as his own music, Lil Wayne, who's last official album was last year's "Tha Carter IV," said it's harder and harder to come up with new things to say: the 30-year-old has been rapping since he was a teen.
"I've said everything in every situation in every way, so it's almost interesting to go into the studio and find new things to talk about and new ways to talk about them and hear it back and say, 'Wow, you figured it out again,"' he said.


text:
I'm on vacation! That is, I'm in St. Augustine, Florida, with my mom, sister, and son (and two aunts who arrive today), and my brother and his fam this weekend. So far I have inhaled most of the Atlantic Ocean, neglected to pack sufficient contact lenses, been terrified by animatronic instructors, and answered far too many work emails! But still: vacation!
On vacation I tend to think that I will have TONS and TONS of time to do project-y stuff, forgetting that the whole point of vacation is to NOT do stuff. So far I have only done a couple baby projects, like finally transferring my iTunes library from an external drive to my new laptop, and tidying up my Pinterest boards a wee bit, and minor-league things like that. I'm also reading this fascinating book about the Mitfords.
Another thing I always do on vacation is think of new and exciting projects for when I get BACK, which so far include:
— making another 9929 and covering it in TINY MULTICOLORED BUTTONS (<– I will never do this, I actually dislike sewing on buttons, but it would make an amazing dress).
— deciding on a MAXIMUM NUMBER of patterns I can own, and culling the rest ruthlessly (any suggestions as to what's a good number?). And, oh, by the way, I have purchased three patterns online since being on vacation …
— hiring someone on TaskRabbit to take pictures of everything I've sewn but don't have pictures of yet, since this taking the darn pictures is something I always put off doing. I will justify this by calling it an "insurance record" for when my house ultimately burns down from me leaving the iron on.
— doing a tutorial video (probably with my son's help, he's very good at making videos) of each step involved in making a shirtdress. I know there are tons of things I do when I sew that aren't in the pattern instructions … and probably more helpful things I could be doing, if only I knew about them (which the comments on the video would help with).
— figuring out how to make the Vintage Pattern Wiki have better category search, so you can search for "1960s" AND "Peter Pan collar" together.
I am now taking bets for when these projects actually happen. Anyone want to put their money on 2017?


text:
Study: American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth – 0Bamao is continuing to succeed in his goal to destroy privately held wealth.
Violating the Norquist No-Tax Pledge: It Could Hurt GOP Contenders in 2014 – Of course it will. Haven't people learned anything from Bush 41's screw-up in breaking his no new tax promise? That idiotic move cost him his second term in the White House.
Buffett's Billions Can't Buy Him Exemption From His Tax-Averse Past – Before he became the media darling of the Left for advocating Marxism, he was just as "unpatriotic" as the rest of us who believe we should be able to keep more of what we earn.


text:
So everything is moving pretty quickly. All the sudden things snuck up on me and I realized that it's almost time to move! Because it's my life and all, nothing has gone according to plan and some pretty sharp curveballs were sent out way the past couple of weeks. But I'm ready to do whatever it takes to make this move work. Including…going on vacation next week! Hopefully we'll do some more packing this weekend (we're actually doing a pretty good job so far) and then I'm off to my family home in Newport. I'll get some relaxing time to myself, see some family, and pay tribute to my Uncle Phil who will finally the East Coast remembrance he deserves.
My exercise routine has been all over the place recently. Seeing that we live in a swamp, the weather has been tortuous (hot and humid to the 100th degree). Because of the stress in my life, I've been itching to run a lot. But even my nighttime runs outside at 9pm are still dreadfully hot (we're talking in the 90's). I'm getting ridiculously bored in the gym, to the point where I'm alternating between the bike and elliptical in the same hour because I can't stand being on either (I do enjoy the bike but with my frame – well there's not a whole lot of cushioning and after 30 min my butt gets real sore). But I'm trying to remind myself that in a few weeks I will no longer have a full gym, downstairs. I'll have to take a bus to get to a gym. So I might as well make good use of it now.
On one of my recent night runs I decided to stop off at a middle school I pass and see if there was a track. I don't know why I haven't done this sooner. There is in fact a track, a nice one too, and man, my feet were so happy to be off that hard concrete and on a rubber track. So the next night I got the "brilliant" idea to stop off there once more, run a mile, and then go barefoot. Which was pretty interesting. My feet turned black. And my toenail finally came off. But I really enjoyed myself. I'm only doing half a mile at time. I don't want to push myself too much. But it's interesting how much my form transforms. Mid-strike is perfect. Knees are better. Stride is shorter and much easier to contain. But most of all it was fun. And it makes me look forward to trying many more new things, fun things like exploring a new city on foot.
Below is a video Pete took of me running barefoot on the treadmill in our gym. I'm actually on the balls of my foot more than I usually am, but I think that's because there's a slight incline on the TM. Pete tried to coach me. I tried to resist his coaching, even though he *usually* knows what he's talking about. So don't mind the convo.


text:
The Weekly Bleat: Virginia Artists
I love farm animals. So, you won't be surprised to learn that I also appreciate artwork that features these sweet creatures. Over the years, I've collected a number of beautiful, whimsical, and funky pieces from local artists. These lovely works of art never fail to bring cheer and a smile every time I see them. I hope they'll make you smile, too. Enjoy! 🙂
"I'm A Blue Goat," acrylic on canvas
by Ginger Danz
"Top Hat," acrylic on canvas
by Ruth Lefko
"Sheep in a Pasture," fiber art
by Patricia Powers, M.D.
"Green Hill Farm Hens," oil on canvas
by Donna Tuten
Untitled, mixed media
by Susan Bradbury
Untitled, acrylic on canvas
by Marsha Heatwole
Categories: Animals, Art, Reflections on Farm Life, The Weekly Bleat


text:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away (erm, 2004) I made what's ended up being one of my favorite sweaters.
It was the third Ribby for me, but what was unusual was the yarn it was made from. First of all, it came from an indie yarn painter I'd met at my first fiber fest. Secondly, it was the first time I'd asked someone to handpaint something just for a project I was dying to make…
Over the three years I've been wearing this sweater (3 yrs! a good reason to knit yer own…) the hemp/wool yarn has gotten even softer and more comfortable. The only glitch was one that eternally plagues me: the sleeves. I like my sleeves to be the correct length and these were a tad short from the very beginning, but I was in denial.
There's been lots of projects over the years where this Denial Factor creeps in; sometimes it's better to just move along. Other times, even years later, it can be fixed!
The Catalyst: our little building of three families decided to have our windows washed this month. The requirements by our WindowMan was to take out screens (yikes! I'm on the high second floor!) and move furniture away from the windows. He was unable to place ladders outside so was going to perch on the sills and do the deed.
To accomplish this, I had to wade through my office and start moving things and it led to first, mass hysteria on my part when I realized what a mess it was; and second, it was the Muse's Fickle Finger of FATE wagging in my face telling me to streamline and TRY and get it together…
In moving all the stuff around, I found a small ball of Hemp/Wool from long ago. The Muse smiled as I split the ball (I measure the yarn out in *yards* using the length of my arm to my chin


text:
You've seen their snare building courses, well now Tiki Drums have gone and added a kit building course.
This four-day course will take you throw building an entire kit, with tons of options on offer to ensure you end up with exactly the set-up you're after.
For instance, you could opt for bubinga, rosewood, maple, walnut or zebrano shells, with all manner of thickness and hardware choices to be made.
You'll do all of this under the watchful eye of Tiki's expert drum builder Preston Prince, so you're in safe hands.
The course costs £1,495 per place and is held at Tiki's base in Hove.


text:
PARIS—Yesterday, Clare Waight Keller presented her second collection for Chloé. Like her spring debut, fall's clothes are inspired by the laid back, bohemian style spotted at music festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella paired with the more sophisticated Parisian look that Keller's adopted for herself since moving to the French capital from London.
"I think the idea of these sort of parkas and big outerwear, this relaxed way of dressing is so relevant," Keller said post-show, sitting in an abandoned front row seat in skinny grey sweats and a white tee with a slim black blazer and stark white oxfords. "I think it's something about the attitude of that—which is what British style is about—mixed with this very polished French style. The tension between the two is very strong."
More From ELLE
Of course, given its presentation—on a runway in Paris in the Tuileries—the whole thing was a bit fancier than an actual festival, lacking both mud and Wellingtons. But when asked, Keller knew exactly what she'd be packing for her next festival, "The big navy blue sheepskin is almost like a sleeping bag. You feel absolutely beautiful in it, but at the same time it has this really sort of floppy spirit to it so you don't feel very posh and dressed up and city." As for what else she'd pack, "Fun things to do with friends!"


text:
(Note: Monday marked the anniversary of Sojourner Truth's death. Accounts say her funeral was the largest Battle Creek — where she spent the last years of her life — had ever seen, but few know about the free-market principles that drove this woman in her fight for equality before, during and after the Civil War. A version of this commentary was originally published as a Viewpoint on Feb. 1, 1999.)
Born a slave in Ulster County, New York, Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) actually grew up with the name Isabella. In her youth, she had several masters, one of whom beat her and scarred her for life. In 1826, when her master John Dumont reneged on a promise to free her, Isabella ran away and began working for the Van Wagenens, a nearby Quaker family. When the angry Dumont found her, the Van Wagenens paid him $20 and secured her freedom.
In 1827, after New York abolished slavery, Dumont sold Isabella's son Peter to a family in Alabama. When Isabella protested this sale, two white lawyers in New York gave her free legal help and liberated Peter through the courts.
Isabella became fascinated by the notion that black and white could work together to fulfill the goals of the Declaration of Independence — the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. In her middle age, Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth and worked with whites and blacks all over the country to abolish slavery. She moved to Battle Creek in 1857 and soon became active there helping blacks escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad. She never learned to read or write, but a white friend helped her tell her life story in "Narrative of Sojourner Truth," which sold widely to readers throughout the North.
In her speeches, Sojourner Truth captivated audiences by revealing how cruel slavery could be. A convert to Christianity, she taught a message of freedom for blacks mingled with forgiveness — not hatred or violence — toward whites. Frederick Douglass, the famous ex-slave, praised her as "honest, industrious, and amiable" as well as "remarkable" for her "independence and courageous self-assertion." Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," called Sojourner a "shrewd" woman with more "personal presence" than anyone she had ever known. During the Civil War, Sojourner even had a cordial meeting with President Abraham Lincoln: She called him a "Daniel in the lions' den" fighting to secure liberty and justice for all citizens.
When the Civil War ended, and slavery with it, Sojourner Truth moved to Washington, D.C., for three years to join the Freedmen's Bureau, which was created to help blacks adjust to and protect their new freedoms. She protested segregation — especially old laws that kept blacks from riding streetcars — and was influential in changing those laws to integrate the streetcars in the nation's capital before moving back to Battle Creek.
Sojourner insisted that blacks use their freedom in responsible ways. She stressed the need for blacks to be industrious and prove their value to society. In a speech at a temporary relief camp, she told blacks to "Get off the government and take care of [your]selves." She was especially critical of those blacks who one week would take charity boxes of clothes, sent by Northern whites to Washington, and then the next week would return to "grab" more. Such behavior, she insisted, made blacks "worse off . . . than in slavery."
The opportunities that freedom brings, not special privileges or government handouts, were what she wanted for blacks after the Civil War.
The life of Sojourner Truth— from slave to author to acclaimed public speaker to defender of liberty with responsibility — was truly a sojourn to find the truth. And in the process she joined with whites and other blacks to make America a freer country for all citizens.
Dr. Burton. W. Folsom is a history professor at Hillsdale College and senior fellow in economic education at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. Through our research and education programs, we challenge government overreach and advocate for a free-market approach to public policy that frees people to realize their potential and dreams.
Please consider contributing to our work to advance a freer and more prosperous state.


text:
The President Needs to Hear Millions of Second Opinions on His Economic Plans
Read our editorial on the big picture.
The president is getting what he asked for, but perhaps not what he had in mind. During the campaign, Barack Obama beckoned Americans to put aside their cynicism about politics and re-engage as active citizens. They are now doing so with red-hot anger. They are outraged by events and forcing their way into congressional affairs and behind closed doors where policy wonks discuss issues with cerebral civility. The president is now trapped between these two realms -- the governing elites who decide things and the people who are governed. Which side is he on? If he does not choose wisely, the anger could devour his presidency.
The immediate impetus is the latest outrage from the financial sector. AIG, the failed insurance giant on government life support, proceeded to hand out $165 million in employee bonuses. Because Washington has pumped $170 billion into this zombie corporation, people quickly grasped that AIG was redistributing their tax money. On March 13, the White House sent out Larry Summers, the president's economic adviser, to explain things. Government has no choice, Summers said, because this is a government of laws and we must honor contracts. On Monday, the president scrapped that line, hoping to dodge the outrage.
Something fundamental has been altered in American politics. Encouraged by Obama's message of hope, agitated by darkening economic prospects, many people have thrown off sullen passivity and are trying to reclaim their role as citizens. This disturbs the routines of Washington but has great potential for restoring a functioning democracy. Timely intervention by the people could save the country from some truly bad ideas now circulating in Washington and on Wall Street. Ideas that could lead to the creation of a corporate state, legitimized by government and financed by everyone else. Once people understand the concept, expect a lot more outrage.
Public anger is likely to be a recurring episode, because the president has budgeted another $750 billion to rescue the financial system from its troubles. If Congress gives him the money, people will be watching where it goes. Obama is vulnerable to the blowback. In his address to Congress last month, he promised, "This is not about helping banks, it's about helping people." The first half of his statement is demonstrably not true, as people see for themselves and as bankers parade their arrogant excess. The second half is merely wishful.
"Populist anger" is a condescending label pundits use to suggest an irrational, unruly temperament. But what's really going on is deeper and potentially more forceful. It will not be contained with good rhetoric or symbolic gestures.
Populism was the highly creative, self-made movement formed by desperate farmers in the late 19th century. It is disparaged in elite circles, but it generated vital ideas that ultimately reshaped government and democracy. We are not there yet, not even close. But the impulse for small-d democracy could be very healthy -- if the political system learns to listen and respond.
At the center of this story is Obama, who inherited the Democratic Party's awkward straddle between monied interests and working people. I voted for him joyfully and sympathize. His message to the nation last week reflected his dilemma. "I don't want to quell anger. People are right to be angry. I'm angry," he told reporters on Wednesday. Then he pivoted: "What I want us to do is channel our anger in a constructive way."
What's changed the president's situation? During the past nine months, gigantic financial bailouts amid collapsing economic life made visible the crippling divide between governing elites and citizens at large. People everywhere learned a blunt lesson about power, who has it and who doesn't. They watched Washington rush to rescue the very financial interests that caused the catastrophe. They learned that government has plenty of money to spend when the right people want it. "Where's my bailout," became the rueful punch line at lunch counters and construction sites nationwide. Then to deepen the insult, people watched as establishment forces re-launched their campaign for "entitlement reform" -- a euphemism for whacking Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid.
Of course, popular alienation has been around a long time. But the stakes for the country are now far more grave. My new book -- "Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country" -- asserts that we're at the end of the long and mostly triumphant era that started with victory in World War II. We are going to change as a country, for better or worse, like it or not.
If people and the president do not stand up for just solutions, politics as usual will prevail. Congressional leaders are once again rushing to enact hasty "reforms" that might get the financial monkey off their back, but will permanently damage our democracy. Elite opinion wants to empower the Federal Reserve to act as the "super-cop" protecting the financial system against systemic risk in the future. This idea is another instance of rewarding failure. The Fed was blind to the systemic risk accumulating during the past two decades and it failed utterly to head off the excesses -- the explosion of debt and Wall Street's fraudulent valuations. The central bank, in fact, with its erratic monetary policy, was a central source of what destabilized the economy.
Why would politicians make this cloistered and unaccountable institution more powerful, when the Fed has been derelict in its historical obligation to protect the "safety and soundness" of the system? Reforms ought to head the opposite way -- forcing the Fed into daylight and the same regular order required of government agencies.
A few weeks ago, a freshman congressman, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), became an Internet celebrity with the video of him grilling the Federal Reserve vice chairman at a House hearing. The Fed is in the process of handing out almost $3 trillion. Can you tell us which firms and banks are getting money? Grayson asked. Donald Kohn said that would be inappropriate. It might discourage some banks from taking the public's money. More outrage ensued and last week, after a good pounding from citizens, the Fed folded and named some names.
A new regulatory regime that puts the secretive central bank in charge of everything would sanctify the policy of "too big to fail" that Fed officials have long followed but never honestly acknowledged. It would also revive the Wall Street club, albeit smaller than before, with which the Fed has been so cozy. If the largest bank holding companies are given privileged proximity to the source of government protection, then everyone in finance and commerce will want to become a bank holding company, too. We are already seeing this happening as former investment houses like Goldman Sachs and non-bank financial firms decide to join the system. Why not General Electric and Microsoft? Where does this end? What does it mean for smaller enterprises that lack the scale and influence?
Whatever the intentions, this "reform" would effectively legitimize the existence of a corporate state. This concentrated power would be neither socialism nor capitalism, but a grotesque hybrid that combines the worst qualities of both systems. Government and politics would become even more responsive to big money, but also able to tamper intimately with private enterprise, picking winners and losers based on political loyalties, not on performance. Capitalism with its inherent tendency toward monopoly would have the means to monopolize democracy.
Barack Obama can resist all this, if he chooses, but he seems conflicted. Obama's approach so far is devoted to restoring Wall Street's famous names, and his economic advisers tell him this is the "responsible" imperative, no matter that it might offend the unwashed public. Obama evidently agrees. He does not seem to grasp that the tone-deaf technocrats are leading him into a dead-end.
The president needs to hear a second opinion -- millions of them.
People are angry, but they want this president to succeed. Mobilized citizens can help him to prevail. If he goes with the other side, they will bring him down.
AlterNet is making this material available in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


text:
Rebecca Black's 'Friday' Briefly Removed from YouTube
First, Rebecca Black's "Friday" video cost $2.99 to "rent" on YouTube. Then the video was set to "private." Did the pressure finally get to Rebecca Black? Is this part of Ark Music Factory's jihad against her?
Speaking of Rebecca Black, did she ruin the Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" for everyone else, too? The staircase, bubbles, and day-naming lyrics all seem so stupid now. [YouTube, Buzzfeed]
Update: It's back! No word on what caused brief rift in the Friday-verse.


text:
There are various things you should understand when implementing a youngster and in case you have a collaboration together with the adoption firm. Below are a few of those for anticipation.
Initially, tend not to deceive the company or broker you will be assisted with guaranteeing you a no-hold out adoption, surely you might be becoming conned. Adoption approach always devotes some time, instead of easier for implement a child while the arrival mothers and fathers are good. This result in the adoption could have a crucial accident with a kid's lifestyle. You will be taking on a youngster, not really an animal you could take a property in a very similar daytime. So that you must be distrustful with regards to a no-wait around period which offered.
Next issues, normally individual adoption companies are financed secretly and managed for revenue, distinct from a public adoption agency, it is actually rational that they may request fees upfront. But it is not plausible or even endurable for that point if they require a beforehand payment excessive. Just for this situation, you can see another adoption agency.
Next, take care of your firm tend not to want to inform you about details in the youngster. Due to the fact adoption firm should to informing all they understand the kid, like the backdrops and their birth parents. In the event the exclusive adoption company is not really eager to reveal information and facts in any way concerning their procedures and about your prospective adoptive kid, it can be feasible that they are concealing unreal specifics plus they are an unlawful business in costume.
Fourth, you must do verify any account accessible to you concerning the account of your respective adoptive youngster. Sometimes of wrongful adoption, an adoption organization will purposely deceive you with regards to specific qualities of your adoptive child's persona or problems that may not make him perfect anymore within your view. Even if you still get the adoption youngster eventually, maybe he or she is not used in your certification and this may be an emotionally charged failure for the two of you.
Producing cohesiveness by using an individual adoption company can be extremely risky, even they guarantee more level of privacy and expediency than open public adoption companies. So take care with every move you select, the core of interest not merely on following a youngster for that specific reasons but also for appropriate implies.
Inspired by: ezinearticles


text:
This may not make your steak taste any better, but it provides a more enjoyable time while grilling. This vintage-looking grill has an audio input in the backside and a couple of speakers in the front. Plug in your MP3 player and begin rocking out while grilling. This grill is a bit expensive ($450), but it could be the perfect accessory for all of those upcoming outdoor events that are usually accompanied by a grill.
MP3 BBQ Grill makes your ears crave beef [Gearfuse]


text:
Unsafe functions
From HaskellWiki
There are a number of unsafe functions in the libraries.
unsafePerformIO :: IO a -> a
unsafeInterleaveIO :: IO a -> IO a
unsafeInterleaveST :: ST s a -> ST s a
unsafeIOToST :: IO a -> ST s a
unsafeIOToSTM :: IO a -> STM a
unsafeFreeze, unsafeThaw
unsafeCoerce# :: a -> b
seq :: a -> b -> b
Unsafe functions can break type safety (unsafeCoerce#, unsafePerformIO),
interfere with lazy IO (unsafeInterleaveIO), or break paramatericity (seq).
There use (except in the case of
seq) would require some
kind of assurance on the part of the programmer that what they're doing
is safe.
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.


text:
Does Your Food Look Too Edible?
If you've ever thought "this tomato is delicious, but I wish I could make it tackier by painting it gold," then you're in luck. Esslack is an edible spray paint that comes in both silver and gold and can be applied to just about any food.
If that's not enough for you, you can also enjoy said items with these chopsticks that flake edible gold onto whatever you're about to eat. Classy!


text:
Tracking and visualizing social media streams in real-time and across multiple social networks can be a challenge. Three months ago we set out to address this challenge, in partnership with our friends at IdeaNotion and Microsoft.
Today we're pleased to release as Open Source the Social Cloud project.
Social Cloud allows users to monitor various social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram and FourSquare, aggregate and process that data (e.g. generate word clouds) and expose real-time streams to web & mobile clients.
The entire solution consists of the following:
- NodeJS "emitters" on Linux VMs running concurrently to monitor social media streams
- NodeJS "server" exposing streaming data to front end visualization systems
- An admin web dashboard built in NodeJS & Bootstrap
- Native iPhone, Android and Windows Phone admin clients built using Xamarin
- Email, SMS, push notification & in-app alerts using SendGrid, Twillio & Pusher
- HTML5/Canvas visualization engine powered by IdeaCloud
Here is an architectural overview of the system that was built using Windows Azure
On the outside, seems like a pretty easy concept, but internally there are a lot of components to make this an efficient scalable system. Here is a list and description of all of the features used for the system.
Azure Virtual Machines
Windows Azure has the ability to run Virtual Machines or VMs in the cloud. The ability to spin up a VM in a few minutes is great from a development standpoint because we can spin up test boxes with minimal effort and minimal network infrastructure.
Social Cloud leverages this feature and we utilize Linux VMs to run our NodeJS processes. We went with a Linux VM because of WebSockets support and we needed a little more control than what Azure Websites provided. Also, the development team felt more comfortable with Linux VM instead of Windows and allowed us to easily start multiple NodeJS instances to monitor social media streams.
As you can see from the diagram, there are multiple NodeJS instances running each monitoring their own social network. In the case of Twitter, we were able to use their streaming API for realtime results while the others are using a polling techninque. Once we receive the data, we store it in a mongoDB instance and pass a message off to Azure Service Bus for downstream processing.
Windows Azure Service Bus
Social Cloud uses the Windows Azure Service Bus to detach the process of gathering the various social messages from the processing of said messages to ensure that we can receive the messages as quickly as possible. One of the different processes that subscribe to the Azure Service Bus topics are the Word Emitter that listens for text based messages and splits them into the words, processes them, then places new messages back onto the Bus. Another subscription listener is the Socket.IO process that passes incoming messages from the bus to each of the listening Socket.IO clients. This separation also provides the benefit of being able to withstand one component failing, as the messages are queued until the process is brought back online.
Windows Azure Websites
Social Cloud leverages Windows Azure Websites to run the administration dashboard which is written using NodeJS. This site also provided APIs to be accessed by iPhone, Android and Windows Phone apps. We leveraged the Git deploy feature available and the integration with BitBucket for automated deployments.
Windows Azure Mobile Services
Windows Azure Mobile services are one of the new features that is still currently in preview mode but we still did manage to use some of the features available for the Social Cloud solution.
Some of the features used are
- Data – this feature allows you to easily store data within your system from clients accessing the system. Specifically we used it to store device information when implementing push notifications. It also allows you to easily set permissions to read/write the data and also write custom scripts to run when an insert, update, delete or read operation is performed on the data
- APIs – APIs is a relatively new feature and essentially allows developers to implement some custom REST APIs required for the system. It also easily allows developers to add support for permissions to any operation performed.
- Push – this feature allows developers to create native push notifications to Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Android and iOS clients. This is great as you can quickly get this infrastructure setup in minutes.
- Identity – authenticating users is usually required in mobile apps. Social Cloud required it as we only allowed authorized users to access the data. Using the Identity feature we were able to quickly add authentication to things such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft Account.
Essentially, Azure Mobile Services allowed us to quickly implement features such as authentication on mobile clients, and let us build out the features of Social Cloud and not worry about plumbing required for things such as authentication.
Windows Azure Store
For Social Cloud, we leveraged various third party components to add features and functionality to the system. The store allowed us to quickly find and purchase the third party services relatively quickly to be integrated into the Social Cloud system. The following third party components were used in the system
- MongoLab – store all the streaming data coming in
- Twillio – send text notifications
- SendGrid – send email notifications
- Pusher – send notifications to clients connected on the web dashboard
- New Relic – monitor the health of the system
Social Cloud is a pretty extensive system requiring many different custom components and third party components to produce the required functionality. Using Windows Azure and the different features available such as Azure Mobile Services, Virtual Machines and Service Bus allowed us to build a robust system quickly and easily.
Over the next few days we'll be posting some technical blog posts on the system but as of now all the source code is available on GitHub. Be sure to monitor this blog or follow me or the RedBit team on Twitter to get notified when the code is released.


text:
High Court To Hear Religious Freedom Challenge To Contraceptive Mandate
The health law returns to the Supreme Court next week when justices consider a challenge by two companies seeking relief from the contraceptive coverage requirement.
USA Today: Religious Challenge To Health Care Law Hits High Court
President Obama's health care law gets a return engagement at the Supreme Court next week in a case full of hot-button issues: religious freedom, corporate rights, federal regulation, abortion and contraception. Put another way, it's a case about God, money, power, sex — and Obamacare (Wolf, 3/19).
Bloomberg: God Meets Profit In Obama Contraceptive Rule Court Case
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.'s 600 U.S. craft shops close each Sunday, posting a notice that employees are spending the day with their families and at worship. It's a visible sign that the company is as focused on honoring God as it is on making money. That dual mission is at the core of an ideological showdown over President Barack Obama's health-care law, set for argument before the U.S. Supreme Court next week. Hobby Lobby, a family-owned business that says it looks to the Bible for guidance, is seeking a religious exemption from the requirement that employers cover birth control as part of worker-insurance plans (Stohr, 3/20).
Kaiser Health News: Justices To Weigh Contraceptive Mandate Against Religious Freedom Claims
The Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court partially upheld in 2012 when it issued one of the most important decisions in decades, has spawned more litigation -- topped by two consolidated cases that could become the justices' biggest ruling on religious liberty in years (Taylor Jr., 3/20).
A new poll explores public opinion on the question -
NBC News: Poll: Majority Opposes Employers Opting Out Of Contraception Mandate
Ahead of next week's oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, a majority of Americans oppose allowing employers to opt out from the health-care law's contraception requirement, according to the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Fifty-three percent say employers should not be exempt from the requirement that their health plans offer birth control and other contraceptives even if they have religious objections, while 41 percent say they should be exempt. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case -- Sebelius vs. Hobby Lobby Stores -- to decide if for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby can refuse to offer mandated contraception coverage to its employees due to the owner's religious beliefs (Murray, 3/19).
Meanwhile, Republicans say the administration overstepped its authority on another health law provision -
The Wall Street Journal: Republicans Challenge Administration's Authority
Republicans are pointing to statements by a top Treasury Department official as evidence that the Obama administration overstepped its authority in delaying the health-care law's requirement that employers offer coverage or pay a penalty. Mark Mazur, assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, said in a January interview with staff from the GOP-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he wasn't aware of any examination of the legal basis for the administration's authority to delay the employer mandate (Radnofsky, 3/19).


text:
Rookie gets win as Boston beats Yankees
Red Sox 4, Yankees 3
Anthony Ranaudo pitched six solid innings in his major league debut and Dustin Pedroia drove in two runs as the Boston Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
Ranaudo (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits, including a solo homer Carlos Beltran hit into the New York bullpen in the fourth. Ranaudo walked four and struck out two, and he scattered the few mistakes he made well enough for Boston to hang on after taking a 2-0 lead in the third.
Derek Jeter led off the eighth with a shot over the Green Monster to pull the Yankees within 4-3, but they failed to drive Mark Teixeira for the tying run after his ground-rule double with one out.
Koji Uehara pitched the ninth for his 22nd save.
The Red Sox, mired deep in last place in the AL East after losing eight of nine, have won three straight over the Yankees.


text:
Team Gallery is pleased to announce our third solo presentation with Berlin based artist Jakob Kolding. The exhibition, entitled Blocks, will run from the 5th of May through the 11th of June 2011. Team Gallery is located at 83 Grand, cross streets Wooster and Greene, on the ground floor. Our second space, at 47 Wooster Street, will concurrently house a solo show by David Ratcliff.
For this installation, Kolding will present a retrospective grouping of his commercial grade posters, arranged on the floor of the gallery in stacks. The exhibition's title, Blocks, alludes to their sculptural presence, as well as to the phrase "building blocks," and to the organization of urban space into "blocks." The posters will be free for the taking, causing a gradual decrease in each stack throughout the course of the show. By the close of the exhibition, the gallery will potentially be empty, underlining the ephemeral nature of public signage, as well as the mounting of exhibitions in general.
Since he began showing his work in the late nineties, Kolding has presented posters in his exhibitions and, frequently, in the public spaces surrounding those venues. The posters in this exhibition range from earlier text based works to more recent Dada and Surrealist inspired compositions. Kolding has long recognized that the poster's civic desire to communicate, advertise, or announce, is essential to the experience of navigating public space. With its main goal of dispersing information, it becomes an effective method for the artist to exercise and disseminate his own concerns.
In the rear gallery, Kolding will present a large vitrine containing several intimately scaled dioramas made from black and white printed images, which have been mounted to wood and cut to shape. This arrangement of freestanding facades signals a migration from two-dimensional collage into three-dimensions, and yields a collection of distinct vignettes, which also function as a single sculpture. Upon closer inspection, the individual scenes become theatrical microcosms in which Kolding's themes are acted out.
Kolding utilizes strategies of mixing and sampling to lead the viewer through an introspective yet culturally expansive network of reference. With shifting modes of presentation and the structural logic of collage, he considers the social ramifications of rigidly planned urban spaces and modernist architecture, which became prominent in Europe in the 60s and 70s. While questioning the illusion of utopia presented therein, Kolding intertwines sub-cultural references spanning from graffiti, electronic music, and skateboarding, to soccer, Alice in Wonderland, and Star Wars. At the same time, he investigates the legacies of agitprop, Surrealism, Dada, psychology, and sociology.
Kolding's work exhibits a unique co-existence of positive and negative sentiments towards the planning, execution, and outcome of ideologically designed urban space. Having grown up in such an environment in a suburb of Copenhagen, his perspective is one that does not dismiss, embrace, or offer an alternative. Instead, he composes an evocative and historically lush tour of both aesthetic and politically-engaged platforms. There is a constant focus on the navigation between the interior space of the mind and the exterior spaces of the built world. Often suffusing imagery of modernist buildings by the likes of Walter Gropius with an iconography stemming from personal experience, he arrives at an introspective aggregate that also deals with more widely accessible issues of social control and gentrification.
Kolding has exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. These include The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; The Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany; Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome, Italy; Overgaden-Institut for Samtidskunst, Copenhagen, Denmark; Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA; The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California; and The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. He is included in numerous public collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Team is open from Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm. For further information and/or images, please call 212 279 9219.


text:
Sorry! This item Is out of stock. ( Strider - Classic Kids Balance Bike )
The 12 Classic model is a return to our roots, a super simple design featuring the core elements that make Strider the #1 brand in the world, yet also less expensive without some options like custom grips and saddles offered their other models.
- Standard 22.2mm steel handlebar and soft urethane grips with protective ends. Machined aluminum binder clamp allows height adjustment from 46-56cm (18-22"). 5mm wrench included.
- Strider-exclusive, ultralight one-piece wheels sport a raised-letter, five-spoke design with 10 bearing support gussets for maximum strength at the lightest weight possible.
- Top-quality sealed cartridge bearings roll smooth and never need adjustment.
- EVA polymer (industrial foam) tires are super light and durable yet offer a smooth ride. Best of all, they never need air and will never go flat.
- The durable, all-weather mini-saddle is designed specifically for beginning riders and their tiny hips. Smaller, narrower, and lighter than a typical saddle, this seat allows for proper riding position and posture. ** riders over 3 years old may need XL saddle and long seat post sold separately.
- Machined aluminum binder clamp allows saddle height adjustment from 28-41cm (11-16") for the perfect fit for your child. 5mm wrench included.
- Unique, frame-integrated footrests are properly positioned directly below the saddle for natural bike balance. This position also fosters the advanced ability to stand while gliding as well as pumping and jumping the bike.
- Strider-exclusive rear brake mount allows the addition of a foot-operated brake once the kids are proficiently gliding with feet on the footrests. Brake kit sold separately.


text:
CiloGear W/NW Dyneema 60 WorkSack
Field Test review of the CiloGear W/NW Dyneema 60 WorkSack "heirloom pack, something you can hand down to your grandkids." Is it really that lightweight and durable?
CiloGear W/NW Dyneema 60 WorkSack | $775 + Airbeam Frame $60 | cilogear.com ★★★★
When I heard of a pack so tough that the maker called it an "heirloom pack, something you can hand down to your grandkids," I was intrigued. Then, when I learned that the pack weighed 40 ounces with a lid, hip belt and "frame," I was hooked and had to take it to the mountains.
The pack is a CiloGear W/NW 60L WorkSack (woven Dyneema outer, non-woven Dyneema inner) and the frame is light as air … well almost. The Airbeam frame sheet is a multi-chambered air mattress that weighs 3.5 ounces.
CiloGear states the woven Dyneema has the best abrasion resistance in the world, at least the world of packs. It is as tough as 11-ounce vinyl at a fraction of the weight. The non-woven Dyneema is 4.5 times harder to tear than 1000 D Cordura at 1/5 the weight. So, the pack is supposed to give maximum strength at minimum weight. I decided not only to use it, but to let some of my friends, notoriously hard on gear, abuse it.
This past summer, fall and winter we took it for 103 days in the mountains, both climbing on Sierra granite, ski mountaineering and ice climbing in the Sierra's and Rockies, climbing on the sand paper like sandstone near Moab, and bouldering in Joshua Tree. Just for fun we even dragged it up and down the abrasive Joshua Tree monzonite. The pack held up magnificently, not a tear on it in contrast to two other packs we similarly tortured.
The Klymit Air Beam Frame intrigued me. Could something weighing less than four ounces be supportive and hold up to the rigors of alpine life? We did blind tests with the air frame. I let my buddies climb 5.7 sport climbs with a 30-pound load at Big Rock near Riverside, California. Sometimes they climbed with theCilo's rigid frame and sometimes with the Air Beam frame.
No one noticed any difference in load transfer to the hips, but each climber said that the air frame allowed more freedom of movement. I also loaned the air frame and pack to ski mountaineers (40-pound packs) and they also said that the air frame allowed more twisting and bending, while still giving support.
How durable was the Air Beam? It never punctured after 103 abusive days and nights. Occasionally though it softened slightly. Five or six pumps with the connected hand pump kept it rigid for a few weeks at a time.
Are there drawbacks to the Air Beam Frame? Well, I my opinion, it would make for a dicey bivy pad. Also, for expedition loads where the pack weighs one-third of your body weight (or more), a rigid, heavier frame does offer more support.
The woven/non-woven Dyneema can do for packs what goose down does for sleeping bags. It is lighter, and more durable than the alternatives. It is also more expensive. The air beam frame gives good support and excellent freedom of movement within "reasonable" pack loads. If feather-like weight, heirloom durability and freedom of movement in a pack is paramount to you, this pack and air frame are a combo you won't want to miss.
—Larry Amkraut
* Pack 24 oz.
* Lid 5 oz.
* Hip Belt 6 oz.
* Air Beam Frame 3.5 oz. (Standard frame/bivy pad 20 oz.).
* Air Beam Frame also fits into the Cilo 75L and 45L packs.


text:
The dev team for HacDC's awesome, incubated Project Byzantium (PB) has ported their "ad-hoc mesh networking for the zombie apocalypse" platform to the Raspberry Pi. As the 1st milestone of their recent ISC grant award, they've started a parallel repository for ByzPi, their PB port for ARM, currently for Raspbian:
We opted to use Raspbian because it seems to be the more popular of the two [commonly installed Raspberry Pi Linux distributions]. Also, the packaging process for Debian was better understood than that for Arch Linux by the Project Byzantium team. We're in a rapid development cycle so we wanted to hit the ground running and accomplish as much as possible in the available time before the first milestone.
Congratulations to The Doctor, Ben the Pyrate, and haxwithaxe!


text:
Group Dreams of Guessing the Future
Minneapolis – George Kubik spends his time imagining possible futures teeming with nanotechnology, advanced robotics and alternative power sources.
The University of Minnesota professor is a member of the Minnesota Futurists -- a group of enthusiasts following local trends in economic, technological and political developments to project societal changes the future might bring.
This year the group is starting a new program aimed at getting more college students interested in futurism, The Minnesota Daily reports.
David Keenan, the society's president, said the group hopes to expand its ranks by using its university connections to reach out to students. Like Kubik, a few of the members also teach within varying departments at the school
Futurists visualize "possible, probable and preferable" futures and are sometimes employed by the federal government in national defense and environmental protection, Kubik said.
Their methods include analyzing trends, taking surveys of experts and running simulations. Based on the current findings, the group is projecting leaps in robotic technologies, new fuel sources and computing.
"We cannot make predictions. Instead, we make forecasts to discuss possible futures and how to prepare for them," Kubik said.
Studying the future requires "a great deal of expertise in many fields" to better understand present trends and make plausible forecasts, he said.
"What might the Minnesota workforce look like in 25 years?" Kubik asked, adding the university will have to consider implications of preparing students for work in a changing economy.
Minnesota Futurists was founded more than 40 years ago by Earl Joseph, who died in 2007. Joseph, a university graduate and an instructor, taught futurism courses and discussed the digital revolution and medical advances long before they were realities.
Now, the university is one of only three schools nationwide offering futurism courses.
The school used to offer a futurist doctorate degree, but it was cut when the Department of Educational Policy and Administration was established in 1986.
But courses discussing future societies are still available to graduate students. About 120 students enroll per semester, with a University Honors Program section in the works, said Arthur Harkins, a professor at the University's Department of Organization, Policy and Development.
Harkins said he thinks more students should be exposed to future studies before they get to college so they know it's out there.
"Students we encounter have never thought about the future that much," he said.
Harkins' foray into futurism started with an interest in science fiction in elementary school and eventually turned into a job with the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency lunar base project. In the military, he gained a stronger interest in technology and science trends.
He said he prefers a future where wars are reduced to a smaller scale minimizing civilian casualties, the global economy is drastically improved and the environment is cleaner. He would also like to see extended life expectancies, though he said that could be taxing on global resources.
Kubik said new innovations rapidly changing societies and cultures are giving futurists a lot to consider.
David Levinson, a civil engineering professor, teaches evolution of transportation for the University's Department of Civil Engineering.
Levinson heads the Nexus Research Group at the University, which studies the impact of technological developments on city transportation and infrastructure.
Levinson said he sees a future with fully automated cars that remove human error from driving. Traffic fatalities have been declining as technology improves, he said, and the future will bring about safer commutes.
He said he also sees "green cars" as luxury goods rather than a practical solution to reducing pollution and lowering energy costs.
Levinson, who blogs prolifically about futurism, said mankind should leave for the stars by 2301 and "try to avoid destroying the Earth (or) solar system before then."
Personal space travel is another frequent topic of speculation. Virgin Galactic started offering $200,000 space flights recently to anyone willing to pay for a trip aboard one of its star cruisers.
However, Levinson said personal space travel, while possible, is unfeasible due to cost, and he predicts it will become a niche market for the wealthy.
"(The) future is becoming almost impossible to predict, and harder by the day to forecast," Harkins said. He wants to see more imagination brought to the study of trends at the university.
"There are an infinite set of possible futures," Kubik said, adding it's important to choose the best ones.
Click here to read more stories about America's Future.


text:
CHICAGO — It"s even too cold for Chicago"s resident polar bear.
The city"s Lincoln Park Zoo says its polar bear, Anana, was kept inside Monday because of the record-low temperatures.
Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar says that while the below-zero weather might be comparable to what polar bears experience in the wild, Anana doesn"t have a thick layer of fat that bears typically get from eating things such as seals and whale carcasses.
That extra insulation would make it uncomfortable to live in Chicago during the rest of the year, so Anana gets a different diet.
While she stayed inside, Anana lounged in her comparatively balmy indoor climate that"s kept at 40 to 50 degrees.
Anana usually has access to both an indoor and outdoor area. She"ll be allowed to venture outside today.


text:
Watch, Pin, and Win!
Are you chic? Glam? Flirty? Classic? Reveal your style in our interactive fashion film with Revlon, get the latest on our new summer must-haves like Revlon Lash Potion™ Volume and Length Mascara, and enter to win coveted ELLE-selected gifts! Create a Pinterest board based on your style personality for the chance to win the season's "it" accessory, designer sunglasses. It's all happening on Revlon's Facebook Page #RevlonPersonalStyle.


text:
NEFE ® Collaborates with the Fund to Provide Online Financial Education for Native Students
March 8, 2011
A series of four handbooks titled "Developing Your Vision While Attending College" has been co-developed by the American Indian College Fund and the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®).
The four handbooks take students step-by-step through the process of deciding to go to college and, once enrolled, teach them about financial aid and money management. For Native American students, the series uniquely promotes success in college by featuring stories of personal struggle and shows how educational and cultural success is intertwined. The handbooks are available on the Fund's web site and can also be downloaded into PDF format.
"American Indians are at a disadvantage financially when planning for college due to high levels of poverty and unemployment on Indian reservations, making it even more important that Native peoples plan their resources carefully," said Richard B. Williams, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund. "We are thrilled to have the support of the National Endowment for Financial Education, with whom we collaborated to develop these important tools that can help Natives successfully navigate the road to getting into college from a financial standpoint. Wise financial planning is integral to getting into and staying in college to ensure students' academic and career success."
"Planning and preparation can lead to community success in achieving goals. This holds true in terms of an individual's finances too," says Brent Neiser, CFP®, senior director at the National Endowment for Financial Education. "Having knowledge of the fundamental concepts of money management, paired with tribal values and higher education are tremendously beneficial in both community and individual settings."
About the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®)
NEFE is an independent nonprofit organization committed to educating Americans about personal finance and empowering them to make positive and sound decisions to reach financial goals. For more information, visit www.nefe.org.
National Endowment for Financial Education
Contact: Paul Golden, National Endowment for Financial Education
Phone: 303-224-3514
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com