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Parent/Guardian Notification
Parental and Guardian Notification for Violations of the Student Code of Conduct
Niagara University may advise parents or guardians of students certain violations of the Student Code of Conduct including, but not limited to, alcohol and/or drug violations. Notification may be made when the violation involves:
- "clear and present danger" to the student, other students, persons or campus property; and/or
- an arrest and custody of the student; and/or
- medical intervention due to use of alcohol/drugs; and/or
- possible removal of the student from the university, programs or facilities (e.g. residence halls)
In general, notifications to parents and/or guardians will be made by the university in an effort to provide support for the individual student's development, academic success and physical/mental well-being. Generally, notifications will be made over the telephone and/or by mail and will include:
- the type and possible consequences of the student violation;
- campus/community resources available to the student to address the behavior/violation; and
- encouragement to parents/guardians to contact the student and assist him/her in addressing any substance issues and promote use of available resources.
In an effort to partner and provide support to parents, we may be contacting them when their student has been involved in multiple violations or when the outcome of a conduct hearing results in Disciplinary Probation. Parents and students should understand that one more violation could result in their immediate suspension from the university in which a hearing could lead to expulsion.
Generally notifications will be made, as appropriate, by the Dean of Students, or his/her designee. The Dean of Students, or designee, will coordinate the notification process, maintain appropriate records and arrange necessary follow-up.


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Commercial Wood Flooring - Engineered
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About Commercial Wood Flooring - Engineered
Our range of commercial wood flooring is entirely from our engineered section. There are many reasons for this., but most important to consider is stability. Commercial floors often need to be more stable to ensure that they can handle more the more demanding installations and to reduce the risk of a project failing.
As many commercial projects are installed in large areas, a more stable engineered floor can withstand this. Often, solid wood floors cannot. The extra stability also helps them to handle larger changes in heat and humidity. This is something that can often occurr in a commercial space.
Of course, there are many more great reasons, and we recommend reading our guide on "What is Engineered Wood Flooring" to find out a lot more.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ghayal Once Again: Sunny, the actor impresses. Sunny, the director, not so much!
Every single time Sunny Deol got angry in Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghayal, I thought he would actually tear the screen and erupt from it. His fits of fury felt so overwhelming and tangible. Twenty-six years later, he's back playing the same … Continue reading


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Recipes Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie Ireland
3 ounces butter
¼ cup olive oil
2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced carrot
¼ cup flour
¼ cup brandy
2 ½ pounds of bay scallops
2 quarts of lobster bisque
2 ½ pounds of lobster meat, chopped
1 teaspoon tarragon
6 dashes of Tabasco sauce
To taste salt
To taste pepper
Method of Preparation:
1. In a large stock pot, sweat vegetables in oil and butter.
2. Add flour and mix well.
3. Add brandy and cook off alcohol.
4. Add bay scallops and lobster bisque
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Add lobster, tarragon and Tabasco sauce.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Portion the mixture into crème brulee container using a two ounce ladle.
Ingredients for Mashed Potatoes:
6 to 8 potatoes, peeled
½ cup butter
1 cup heavy cream or milk
To taste salt
To taste pepper
Method of Preparation:
1. In a large pot, place peeled potatoes and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Let them cook until soft.
2. Drain the water and place the potatoes in a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, mash the potatoes first.
3. Add butter and heavy cream. This will make for a smoother mashed potatoes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
Ingredients for Lobster Bisque:
1 pound raw lobster tail
1/3 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
¼ clove of garlic, crushed
4 cups fish stock
4 whole black peppercorns
2 ½ cups water
1/3 cup flour
1 ¾ cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons cognac
1 pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon chervil
1 teaspoon tarragon
Method of Preparation:
1. Melt half of the butter in a large pan, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and shallots and cook for a few minutes.
2. Add the lobster, fish stock, peppercorns and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the lobster from the stock, cool and take the meat from the shells and set aside.
4. Crush the shells and return to the pan.
5. Continue simmering for 40 minutes. Strain the stock through a sieve lined with cheesecloth.
6. In a blender, blend the lobster flesh with a little of the strained stock until smooth.
7. Mix the four and remaining butter to make a paste.
8. Add the pureed lobster mixture, tomato puree, cognac, cream and nutmeg. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. Blend well.
10. Add the tarragon and chervil and the remaining stock and cook, stirring continuously over high heat until the soup thickens.
11. Reduce and simmer gently for 5 minutes.


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Jonah Hill was pissy with a Rolling Stone journalist recently. Click here for a refresher. He was widely snarked on for his behaviour. Jonah has now snarked back at the snark, telling Salon that:
You can dis me all you want on a blog, or write whatever you want in this magazine and I'll just be like, 'Whatever, man. Scorsese thinks I'm awesome.' [Laughs.] He hired me and didn't fire me, so I can kind of not care now. It really did give me personal assurance that I'm doing the right thing and that I'm talented in certain ways because he's so important to me.
Well that was pretty clear. Your opinion doesn't matter to Jonah Hill. Jonah Hill only exists for the Martin Scorseses of the world. And, I guess, if Scorsese hired him, it must mean he belongs in that world. The world of "serious actors", which Jonah so desperately wants to be. Is?
Jonah Hill, are you Justin Timberlake? Because the thing is, you already WERE. An actor. And I wonder if his insistence on differentiating the category of actor is actually a disservice to actors.
As for the Scorsese validation -- it's kinda like how my Gwyneth operates: you can hate on her all you want, but she's still hanging out with RDJ and she'll always be Spielberg's goddaughter. The difference is that G doesn't have to say it out loud. We KNOW.
Jonah Hill had to remind us, by jamming it into our faces, that Martin Scorsese likes him. That's...not really how it's done, you know?
Here's a Jonah Hill story I've told before but I love to repeat. A few years ago, Duana and I ate dinner at Dan Tana's with some friends. While we were waiting for our table, Jonah Hill walked in with 3 others. It was just after Superbad. He was told there were no tables available, that he'd have to wait. "I'm Jonah Hill" was how he handled that.


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One of my favorite parts of the Classroom Slice of Life Challenge is reading the reflections my students inevitably post on the final day. There are unprompted and it seems like one student starts by posting their thoughts and others are inspired to do the same.
I know how important the Slice of Life Challenge is but my students don't always see the value. When I first introduce the challenge in February there are always groans, moans, and threats of tears. "I can't write a post every day! I don't have time! I'm a terrible writer! No one wants to read what I write!" are just some of the responses thrown my way. But we talk about idea clouds (our version of heart maps) and making time for writing. I tell them that they get better at sports and music by practicing to writing is not different.
And then we begin. All of my students are challenged to complete 31 blog posts but they are only required to complete 10 entries (a big change from the every-other-week posts required during the rest of the year. (I do offer extra credit to students who complete more than 25 posts, though). The posts start out slow. There are lots of posts about "slicer's block" and about the difficulty of blogging on a regular basis. But then they settle into a rhythm. Soon the blogrolls are full of posts about the intricacies of high school life, favorite meals, memories, and the power of procrastination. And because each student is required to leave 40 comments on their peers' blogs over the course of the month they build community.
Tonight the reflections started. I get teary-eyed reading them because they get it. They really get it. Every student takes away a different lesson, but they all take away something. Some students have honed their time management skills. Some students have learned how to let go and just write, leaving their perfectionist tendencies behind. Some students have built an audience on public blogs, learning how to write for an audience other than me. And the lessons go on and on.
Some of the lessons my students are reflecting on…..
Over the past 31 days, I have written 31 blogs, about 21,000 words, and at least 94,500 letters on Edublogs. I would give myself a pat on the back, because I contend that this was more than I have written in all of 8th grade.
Throughout this entire month — with all its highs and lows — I was able to get an unprecedented glimpse inside the fascinating (and occasionally, surprising) thoughts of my classmates, learn about new and interesting topics, and, most importantly, improve my writing.
Most importantly, SOL enabled me to explore my thoughts about the world and my experiences in a single verse. Through quiet introspection, I was able to look at details in my life with a sharper eye.
This has been great, really. Thank you, Mrs. Gross.
So, it has been quite a journey! If you asked me yesterday, I would have probably said that Slice of Life is the biggest waste of time ever. Yet, looking back now, I think I might miss posting daily. I do not know why, but Slice of Life has almost served as a daily break. No matter how much work we had, I knew that I had to make Slice of Life a priority. It served as a relaxing, daily break from the rigor of the past month.
Yet on the other side, I learned how to appreciate my everyday life. I learned that every day, something exciting or uncommon does happen. The tough part is finding this and writing it all down.
This is the beauty of blogging, especially blogging everyday. It documents your life. And everything you want to remember when you are old. It doesn't have to be all wonderful and perfect. Life is bittersweet. And that is what makes it so unforgettable. So starting in April, it is once again dependent on our brains to remember the moments in life.
Thank you, students, for your willingness to try the crazy experiments I come up with, for your devotion to your school work. Thank you for reflecting on your experiences and sharing those reflections. Thank you for opening up your life to me and your classmates, letting us get a glimpse of what your daily life is like.
If you have not tried Slice of Life with your students I hope you do next year. It's one of the best parts of my year!
Filed under: #sol15, Slice of life, slice of life challenge | Tagged: #sol15, slice of life, slice of life challenge | 1 Comment »


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The two Jabra Go 6400 and Pro 9400 Bluetooth headsets are kinda neat, combining a charging dock for convenience with a touchcreen for showmanship.
The 6400 has a standard Bluetooth range and looks exactly like a Bluetooth headset from Jabra, whereas the 9400 looks like a receptionist's headset that you can take around your house at up to a 450-foot range.
They both have dual-microphones for noise cancelation and both have the touchscreen to quickly switch between a cellphone, VoIP or landline connections. Both will be available later in the year for $200 each. [Slashgear]


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Guest Book Alternative on canvas - Guest Book Print - Wedding Rustic Sign Print - Guestbook Deer Print - Keepsake Gift - Plum Violet Orchid
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Lovalù goes into our homes to bring color, love and sweet memories. Our guest book alternative printed on canvas, with their innate elegance will bring a trail of magic in every environment: perfect in living, romantic room, welcoming entrance. A piece of furniture dedicated fairy tales that every dream of love brings with it.
Be enchanted by the story of your love story, creating a guestbook unique as you. It is simple, requiring only three steps:
1. Choose design
2. Number of guests
3. Customize the colors, the font, the background as you wish.
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This listing includes a print on canvas printed with high quality inks fade-resistant 100% ecological.
All designs can be purchased with a print on canvas, on paper or only the high-resolution files ready for printing.
This Guest Book canvas art is an alternative to the traditional guest book.
Signed by the guests, with an acronym or writing over, thoughts of affection, will be a framework that always remember your "special day".
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Tikhon Nikolaevich Khrennikov (June 10, 1913 - August 14, 2007) held a prominent and often despised place in musical history as First Secretary of the Soviet Composers' Union for over forty years. From the moment he was named to this key cultural position by Josef Stalin in 1948 until the moment he lost it with the fall of Mikhail Gorbachev's government in 1991, Khrennikov was viewed as a fierce enforcer of Soviet artistic policy and, to many, a hand puppet of Stalinism who continued ruining musicians' lives far beyond his welcome.
Khrennikov is rare in Soviet history, having maintained a leadership position after the USSR's collapse and lived long enough to rebut historians who view his career as nothing more than pandering to the demagogues that be. Tikhon (pronounced Tee-hohn) is a name that translates into "hitting the mark," rather ironic for a man who accomplished comparatively little as an artist but played a decisive role in the fate of his colleagues. Regardless of the purely artistic merits of his 42 opus numbers, it is difficult if not impossible for those who lived under Stalin to distinguish Khrennikov's music from his blistering speeches that tore down the lives of such composers as Shostakovich, Prokofieff, and Khachaturian.
Khrennikov was born to a family of horse-traders in Yelets, a manufacturing city in the Russian province of Lipetsk Oblast. Khrennikov relocated to Moscow as a teenager, first studying with Mikhail Gnessin from 1929-32 before attending the Moscow Conservatory from 1932-6, when he learned composition from Vissarion Shebalin and piano from Heinrich Neuhaus. Khrennikov showed promise early, composing his Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 1 while a student; the symphony had enough merit that it was later conducted in Philadelphia by Leopold Stokowski.
There was a period during the late 1930s and early 1940s when Khrennikov was mentioned in the same breath as Dmitri Shostakovich, Serge Prokofieff, and Nicolai Myaskovsky. He drew considerable notice through a score for the Moscow Vakhtangov Theatre's production of Much Ado About Nothing in 1936 and music for the popular film They Met in Moscow in 1941, which earned him a Stalin Prize. Khrennikov also impressed Stalin with his 1939 opera Into the Storm, loosely based on the dictator's favorite novel Loneliness by Nicolai Virta. Into the Storm, commissioned by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, was the first Soviet opera to use Lenin as an on-stage character.
Khrennikov went unharmed during Stalinist purges that transported millions to their death in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s; his family, however, was not immune to the suffering. Two of his brothers were sent to the Gulag in 1937, with Khrennikov rescuing just one from a premature demise. Still, Khrennikov maintained his esteem with Soviet government and in 1941 was named music director of the Red Army Central Theatre, a position he would hold for 25 years. Khrennikov was helped by Stalin's admiration of his film scores, songs, and music for the stage, which were optimistic in nature and easily approachable.
In 1948, a period of freer expression marked by the Second World War came to an abrupt end. Stalin's cultural director Andrei Zhdanov ordered the reproach of artists who had become "formalists" and "popular decadents" in the liberal climate. Various cultural officials were deposed and Khrennikov found himself installed as First Secretary of the Soviet Composers' Union, a position that answered to the highest realms of Soviet leadership. Khrennikov toed the party line almost immediately, calling for a return to the ideals of "Socialist Realism" and desecrating composers who had strayed from the righteous path. "Enough," he retorted "of these symphonic diaries – these pseudo-philosophic symphonies hiding behind their allegedly profound thoughts and tedious self-analysis."
Khrennikov, who claimed that his 1948 speeches were written by higher party bosses, included teacher Vissarion Shebalin in his list of condemnations. Shostakovich, whose photograph was once kept by Khrennikov on his desk, became a prime example of everything that had gone wrong with Soviet music in the 1940s. The resulting period known as Zhdanovshchina was a humiliating one for composers who had to publicly denounce their work in speeches and articles. Shostakovich, Prokofieff, Khachaturian, Myaskovsky, Shebalin, and others found their musical career in tatters, while compositions by Khrennikov and many lesser-known (and usually inferior) names enjoyed performance by the Soviet Union's major orchestras.
As First Secretary, Khrennikov was the policeman of Soviet music, judging which compositions fit Zhdanov's guidelines. Khrennikov, in direct contact with Stalin and Zhdanov (until his death in 1948), had final say on whether a composition belonged in the repertoire or not; it was only with his approval that a work could be performed, recorded, or published. In his last years, Khrennikov boasted that the Composers' Union was less oppressive than other Soviet artistic bodies, kept Soviet composers visible throughout the world, and saw no members put to death under his leadership. All of these claims, however, are under debate. Certainly, Soviet composers were heard worldwide, but out-of-favor composers such as Shostakovich and Prokofieff feared for their lives and were barred from attending performances of their music in the West. London Times columnist Bernard Levin remarked that Khrennikov's zero-death claim is "almost certainly a lie".
Even during the 1960s cultural "thaw" under Khrushchev, and well into the 1970s, Khrennikov maintained a hard-line artistic stance. Despite the Zhdanov era having come and gone, he banned compositions that seemed anything like the "formalism" of past decades. Khrennikov added to his notoriety in dealing with Alfred Schnittke, whose highly-regarded First Symphony managed just two performances in the Soviet Union. As Schnittke's international reputation grew, a jealous Khrennikov rejected nearly twenty requests by the composer to travel abroad; Schnittke's health deteriorated until his passing in 1998. Khrennikov suppressed works by a generation of new composers that included Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, and Alexander Knaifel.
Unless composers were "rehabilitated" from their past sins, they at least suffered economic hardship, as Shostakovich and Prokofieff did after 1948. Prokofieff, in fact, was on the brink of starvation before cellist Mstislav Rostropovich demanded Khrennikov's assistance. Khrennikov, meanwhile, enjoyed considerable wealth and security through his overbearing position. His 1994 autobiography That's the Way It Was claims living at the Soviet system's mercy, just as others were. Khrennikov was at least in fear of Stalin; in the controversial memoir Testimony by Solomon Volkov, Shostakovich tells of when Khrennikov soiled his pants and experienced a nervous breakdown after being stared at by the dictator. Certainly, any person near Stalin was treading dangerous ground.
Khrennikov did reach out to fellow composers such as Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a Jew whose First Symphonietta he commended at the 1948 meetings. Khrennikov, whose wife Klara Vaks was also Jewish, took a major risk in endorsing Weinberg while Stalin was in the midst of his last anti-Semitic purge. Khrennikov also helped to rebuild Shostakovich's career by recommending him for a Stalin Prize in 1950 and led an invitation for Igor Stravinsky to visit the Soviet Union in 1962. But the decision to maintain such narrow artistic views and censor works years after the death of Stalin was largely his own.
Khrennikov's compositional output was modest, writing symphonies, concerti, ballets, operas, piano works, art songs, and film scores. He was decorated regularly with such honors as the Stalin Prize, Honored Artist of the USSR, and Order of the Red Banner of Labor, while being elevated to the Supreme Soviet in 1974. His works were performed by leading Soviet musicians such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonid Kogan, Evgeny Mravinsky, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, although their willingness may have been fueled by the need to remain in good stead.
When Mikhail Gorbachev's government reached its demise in 1991, Khrennikov left behind his position as First Secretary in what had become a mausoleum of the old order. But Khrennikov stayed visible in artistic circles; he remained director of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, a tournament that made pianist Van Cliburn famous in 1958, and composed intermittently. He continued to receive awards from the Russian republics, including a President Prize from Vladimir Putin.
Through his memoirs and support from friends, Khrennikov attempted to "rehabilitate" his career in the eyes of critics who wrote him off during the Cold War as a pandering hack and are equally suspicious after his death. All that remains of Khrennikov are his compositions – which are seldom performed in the Russian republics let alone in other parts of the world – and his legacy as one of Stalin's right-hand men. Even if there are strong points in Khrennikov's music, they may forever be overshadowed by his willing participation in the repressive Soviet political machine.


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PARIS (AP) – Used to be that Venus Williams was the one who was highly ranked, the one considered a title contender, the one who would dominate foes so thoroughly that matches would be tidily wrapped up in an hour.
Now 31, and figuring out from day to day how to handle an illness that saps her strength, Williams was on the wrong end of a lopsided 60-minute defeat in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.
Looking glum and lacking the verve that carried her to seven Grand Slam titles, Williams barely put up any resistance and lost 6-2, 6-3 to No. 3-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland at Roland Garros. Coming a day after her younger sister Serena was stunned in the first round by 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France, the early exit marked the first time in 43 major tournaments with both in the field that neither Williams got to the third round.
"I felt like I played," Williams said after making a hard-to-fathom 33 unforced errors, 27 more than Radwanska. "That pretty much sums it up."
This one was not exactly an out-of-nowhere upset, considering that Williams is ranked 53rd now, never has been as good on clay as on other surfaces, lost to Radwanska 6-4, 6-1 two months ago, and is learning how to be a professional athlete with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.
Still, the meek way Williams departed was striking, considering that she has been ranked No. 1, has appeared in 14 major finals to Radwanska's zero, and from 2008-10 won 10 of the 11 sets the two played against each other.
"I don't know if I ever asked myself, 'Why me?' I mean, obviously it's frustrating at times. I don't know if there's anything mental more I can do at this point, but there's a lot of stages to go through with this kind of thing," said Williams, whose fastest-in-the-game serve was broken five times Wednesday. "There's a lot of people who have it a lot worse than I do. I'm still playing a professional sport, so I have to be very positive. And I'm going to have ups and downs. I haven't gotten to the 'Why me?' yet. I hope I never get to the 'Why me?' I'm not allowed to feel sorry for myself."
It's hard to know, however, how much energy she'll have from one day to the next.
Whenever the alarm goes off, Williams starts to find out what the next 24 hours will be like.
"Every morning is different. Some mornings, I don't feel great, then it's a better day than I thought it was going to be. I can't automatically be discouraged. When I wake up, I just have to see how it goes. Sometimes I get a second wind," she explained. "It's just so hard to know."
Williams revealed her diagnosis in late August at the U.S. Open, when she withdrew before her second-round match. She skipped the Australian Open in January, before returning to the tour in March in a bid to earn a berth on the U.S Olympic team. Spots are awarded based on rankings – the top 56 get in automatically, with a maximum of four per country, so Williams should be OK.
"This tournament, for me, was all about getting to the Olympics, as I have said a couple million times," she said. "If that happens for me, and I think the chances are good, then I come out a victor. So that's why I was here."
At changeovers, Williams would slink to the sideline, then sit on her green bench with hands clasped, staring straight ahead, expressionless and motionless.
She was far more animated afterward, laughing often while discussing her condition and graciously complimenting the play of Radwanska, a 23-year-old who is coming into her own this season.
"Of course, when I saw the draw, I wasn't very happy, because Venus as a second-round opponent, it's not easy," Radwanska said. "Maybe she just had a bad day here."
While never advancing past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament, Radwanska has shown signs of being ready for a major breakthrough, with three lesser titles and a tour-high 38 victories in 2012. Of her seven losses, six were against No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka.
On an easy day for the top-seeded players, Azarenka breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-1, 6-1, while the No. 1 man, Novak Djokovic, extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 23 matches by beating Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-0, 6-4, 6-4.
"Being No. 1 is a difficult job, because everybody want to catch you, everybody want to move you from the spot," said Azarenka, pushed to three sets in the first round. "Nothing is going to come easy just because you're No. 1."
For years, Roger Federer managed to make things look easy at the top. Now No. 3, he went through a bit of a glitch and dropped a set Wednesday before earning his record-breaking 234th Grand Slam match victory, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 against 92nd-ranked Adrian Ungur of Romania.
"I have been around for so long that, even though I expect myself to win, I can still manage to do that," said Federer, on course for a semifinal showdown with Djokovic. "Whereas in the beginning, when you think you're good but you're maybe not that good yet, you get many more surprise losses."
Before rain cut play short in the evening, all 10 seeded men whose matches ended won, including No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, who acknowledged his bandaged left knee is a "constant bother."
Four seeded women lost, including No. 8 Marion Bartoli of France, the runner-up to Williams in the 2007 Wimbledon final, when the American was near the height of her powers.
Jonathan Majors Video Evidence, 'Woman Recanting' Assault Claim Will Clear Actor Of Charges, Lawyer Says
Stephen A. Smith Explains Why He Kicked Max Kellerman Off ESPN's 'First Take,' Twitter Reacts
Larsa Pippen Says She and Ex-Scottie Had Sex '4 Times a Night for 23 Years'
REPORT: Sean Lampkin, Best Known as Nipsey on "Martin," Dies at 54
'Creed III' Actor Jonathan Majors Arrested On Assault Charges
Gisele Bundchen Allegedly Dating Tom Brady's Neighbor, Jeffrey Soffer
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Eva Marcille Files For Divorce From Husband Michael Sterling After 4 Years of Marriage


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Fortinet Threat Landscape Report Reveals Attacks Per Firm Increased by 82%
Swarm Cyberattacks Target the Internet of Things (IoT) with Growing Intensity
Phil Quade, chief information security officer, Fortinet
"The volume, sophistication, and variety of cyber threats continue to accelerate with the digital transformation of our global economy. Cybercriminals have become emboldened in their attack methods as they undergo a similar transformation, and their tools are now in the hands of many. The stark reality is that traditional security strategies and architectures simply are no longer sufficient for a digital-dependent organization. There is incredible urgency to counter today's attacks with a security transformation that mirrors digital transformation efforts. Yesterday's solutions, working individually are not adequate. Point products and static defenses must give way to integrated and automated solutions that operate at speed and scale."
News Summary:
Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced the findings of its latest Global Threat Landscape Report. The research reveals that attacks per firm increased over the previous quarter. In addition, automated and sophisticated swarm attacks are accelerating making it increasingly difficult for organizations to protect users, applications, and devices. For a detailed view of the findings and some important takeaways for CISOs read the blog. Highlights of the report follow:
Swarm Cyberattacks Increase in Volume, Variety, and Velocity
The sophistication of attacks targeting organizations is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Digital transformation isn't just reshaping business, cybercriminals are leveraging the expanding attack surface it creates for new disruptive opportunities to attack. They are implementing newer swarm-like capabilities while simultaneously targeting multiple vulnerabilities, devices, and access points. The combination of rapid threat development combined with the increased propagation of new variants is increasingly difficult for many organizations to combat.
- Unprecedented Volume: An average of 274 exploit detections per firm were detected, which is a significant increase of 82% over the previous quarter. The number of malware families also increased by 25% and unique variants grew by 19%. The data not only indicates growth in volume, but also an evolution of the malware as well. In addition, encrypted traffic using HTTPS and SSL grew as a percentage of total network traffic to a high of nearly 60% on average. While encryption can certainly help protect data in motion as it moves between core, cloud, and endpoint environments, it also represents a real challenge for traditional security solutions.
- IoT Attack Intensity: Three of the top twenty attacks identified targeted IoT devices and exploit activity quadrupled against devices like WiFi cameras. None of these detections were associated with a known or named CVE, which is one of the troubling aspects of vulnerable IoT devices. In addition, unlike previous attacks, which focused on exploiting a single vulnerability, new IoT botnets such as Reaper and Hajime can target multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously. This multi-vector approach is much harder to combat. Reaper's flexible framework means that, rather than the static, pre-programmed attacks of previous IoT exploits, Reaper's code is easily updated to swarm faster by running new and more malicious attacks as they become available. Demonstrating its swarm abilities, exploit volume associated with Reaper exhibited a jump from 50K to 2.7 million over a few days before dropping back to normal.
- Ransomware Still Prevalent: Several strains of ransomware topped the list of malware variants. Locky was the most widespread malware variant and GlobeImposter followed as the second. A new strain of Locky emerged, tricking recipients with spam before requesting a ransom. In addition, there was a shift on the darknet from only accepting Bitcoin for payment to other forms of digital currency such as Monero.
- Cryptocurrency Mining on the Rise: Cryptomining malware increased, which seems to be intertwined with the changing price of Bitcoin. Cybercriminals recognize the growth in digital currencies and are using a trick called cryptojacking to mine cryptocurrencies on computers using CPU resources in the background without a user knowing. Cryptojacking involves loading a script into a web browser, nothing is installed or stored on the computer.
- Sophisticated Industrial Malware: An uptick in exploit activity against industrial control systems (ICS) and safety instrumental systems (SIS) suggests these under-the-radar attacks might be climbing higher on attackers' radar. An example is an attack codenamed Triton. It is sophisticated in nature and has the ability to cover its tracks by overwriting the malware itself with garbage data to thwart forensic analysis. Because these platforms affect vital critical infrastructures, they are enticing for threat actors. Successful attacks can cause significant damage with far-reaching impact.
- Attack Variety: Steganography is an attack that embeds malicious code in images. It's an attack vector that has not had much visibility over the past several years, but it appears to be on the resurgence. The Sundown exploit kit uses steganography to steal information, and while it has been around for some time, it was reported by more organizations than any other exploit kit. It was found dropping multiple ransomware variants.
Fighting Swarm Attacks Requires Integrated Security
The threat data in this quarter's report reinforces many of the predictions unveiled by the Fortinet FortiGuard Labs global research team for 2018, which predicted the rise of self-learning hivenets and swarmbots on the horizon. Over the next couple of years, the attack surface will continue to expand while visibility and control over today's infrastructures diminish. To address the problems of speed and scale by adversaries, organizations need to adopt strategies based on automation and integration. Security should operate at digital speeds by automating responses as well as applying intelligence and self-learning so that networks can make effective and autonomous decisions.
Report Methodology
The Fortinet Global Threat Landscape Report is a quarterly view that represents the collective intelligence of FortiGuard Labs drawn from Fortinet's vast array of sensors during Q4 2017. Research data covers global, regional, industry sector, and organizational perspectives. It focuses on three central and complementary aspects of that landscape, namely application exploits, malicious software, and botnets. It also examines important zero-day vulnerabilities and infrastructure trends to add context about the trajectory of cyberattacks affecting organizations over time. To complement the report, Fortinet publishes a free, subscription-based Threat Intelligence Brief that reviews the top malware, virus, and web-based threats discovered every week, along with links to that week's most valuable Fortinet research.
Additional Resources
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Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations around the world. Fortinet empowers its customers with intelligent, seamless protection across the expanding attack surface and the power to take on ever-increasing performance requirements of the borderless network - today and into the future. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric architecture can deliver security features without compromise to address the most critical security challenges, whether in networked, application, cloud or mobile environments. Fortinet ranks #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 330,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.
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NEW YORK — More New Yorkers awoke Saturday to power being restored for the first time since Superstorm Sandy pummeled the region, but patience was wearing thin among those who have been without power for most of the week.
A widespread lack of gasoline added to the frustrations, from storm-scarred New Jersey, where rationing went into effect in the north, to parts of Connecticut.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Defense Department will set up emergency mobile gas stations at five locations around the New York City metropolitan area to distribute free fuel with a limit of 10 gallons per person. Cars and emergency service vehicles will be able to fill up directly from the 5,000-gallon trucks.
"Fuel is on the way," Cuomo said. "Do not panic. I know there is anxiety about fuel."
At an Exxon station in Wall, N.J., Kathryn Davidson was unaware of the start of rationing but beat the noon deadline despite a 45-minute wait in line. Otherwise, her even-numbered license plate would have forced her to wait a day.
"How are people supposed to know?" said Davidson, 53, who said it reminded her of the 1970s, when a similar plan was in place.
"There were fistfights and everything. It got nasty," she said. "Everyone seems pretty pleasant as of right now."
In Washington, President Barack Obama visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an update on superstorm recovery efforts and said "there's nothing more important than us getting this right."
"Obviously we've now seen that after the initial search and rescue, the recovery process is difficult and it's painful," Obama said. "But I'm confident that we will continue to make progress as long as state and local and federal officials stay focused."
Obama cited the need to restore power; pump out water, particularly from electric substations; ensure that basic needs are addressed; remove debris; and get federal resources in place to help transportation systems come back on line.
Power has been restored to about 60 percent of the New York metropolitan area, with about 900,000 still without electricity, including about 550,000 on Long Island, Cuomo said.
About 80 percent of New York City's subway service has been restored, he added.
The storm forced cancellation of Sunday's New York City Marathon. Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed himself Friday and yielded to mounting criticism about running the race, which starts on hard-hit Staten Island and wends through all five of the city's boroughs.
Bloomberg, who as late as Friday afternoon insisted the world's largest marathon should go on as scheduled, changed course shortly afterward amid intensifying opposition from the city comptroller, the Manhattan borough president and sanitation workers unhappy they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race instead. The mayor said he would not want "a cloud to hang over the race or its participants."
Bloomberg, in his first comments since canceling the marathon, said he fought to keep it going but the controversy was becoming "so divisive" and too much of a distraction.
"I still think that we had the resources to do both, and that we want people to be able to take a break and that sort of thing. … It's a big part of our economy," Bloomberg told WCBS-TV on Saturday during a visit to the borough of Queens. As he spoke, he was met by catcalls from residents angry about the city's response to the storm.
Many runners understood the decision to call off the marathon. The overall death toll from the superstorm was 105, including 41 in New York City. The widespread power outages made many New Yorkers recoil at the idea of police protecting a foot race and evicting storm victims from hotels to make way for runners.
Still, the cancellation forced runners to deal with what to do with no race.
More than half of the 40,000 athletes were from out of town. Their entry fees were paid. Their airline tickets were purchased. Their friends and family had hotel rooms. And all week the race was a go, even after Sandy came ashore Monday.
"I understand why it cannot be held under the current circumstances," Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 men's champion and 2004 Olympic silver medalist, said in a statement. "Any inconveniences the cancellation causes me or the thousands of runners who trained and traveled for this race pales in comparison to the challenges faced by people in NYC and its vicinity."
ING, the financial company that is the title sponsor of the marathon, said it supported the decision to cancel. The firm's charitable giving arm has made a $500,000 contribution to help with relief and recovery efforts and is matching employee donations. Sponsor Poland Spring said it would donate the bottled water earmarked for the marathon to relief agencies, more than 200,000 bottles.
"When you have a significant amount of people voicing real pain and unhappiness over its running, you have to hear that. You have to take that into consideration," said Howard Wolfson, deputy mayor for government affairs and communications.
"Something that is such a celebration of the best of New York can't become divisive," he said. "That is not good for the city now as we try to complete our recovery effort, and it is not good for the marathon in the long run."
Each day has brought signs of recovery.
Aida Padilla, 75, was thrilled that the power at her large housing authority complex in New York City's Chelsea section had returned late Friday.
"Thank God," said Padilla, 75. "I screamed and I put the lights on. Everybody was screaming. It was better than New Year's."
Asked about whether she had heat, she replied, "hot and cold water and heat! Thank God, Jesus!"
But on Staten Island, there was grumbling that the borough was a lower priority to get its services restored.
"You know it's true," said Tony Carmelengo, who lives in the St. George section of Staten Island and still does not have electricity.
Added his neighbor, Anthony Como: "It's economics. Manhattan gets everything, let's face it."
The governor said the New York area had a strong sense of community, "but until you have your lights on you're not happy."
"We're not going to stop until we have every house and every home restored. … This was truly a crisis, but it requires patience," Cuomo said.
NYU Langone Medical Center, one of two New York hospitals that had to evacuate patients at the height of the storm, said it would reopen Monday, although some doctors would see patients at alternate sites.
Seven backup generators at the hospital failed Monday night, forcing the evacuation of 300 patients.
At Bellevue Hospital Center, some 700 patients had to be evacuated after the power failed. An official there said the hospital could be out of commission at least two more weeks.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would make public a list of when New Jersey utility companies intend to restore power to each community. Even if they end up working faster or slower, he said, residents will have a sense of when power will be restored so they can plan their lives a bit better.
Commuter rail operator NJ Transit said it would have more service restored in time for the workweek to start Monday, most of Atlantic City's casinos reopened, and many school districts decided to hold classes on Thursday and Friday — days previously reserved for the New Jersey Education Association's annual conference, which has been canceled.
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The defendants have more than enough information. So says the government's 17 page objection to a bill of particulars filed by defendants in the case of United States v. Khouli et al.
Earlier this month co-defendants Joseph A. Lewis II and Salem Alshdaifat submitted a bill of particulars requesting detailed discovery from the prosecution. The two were indicted last year in a New York federal district court in for their alleged roles in trafficking antiquities. They want information from the prosecution about which ports were used to import the antiquities, what documents were provided to Customs, and which representations on Customs forms were false. Mousa "Morris" Khouli, another co-defendant and an antiquities dealer, pleaded guilty to charges on April 18.
Assistant United States Attorney Karin Orenstein on Aprl 27 filed an objection to the bill of particulars, arguing "The defendants' demands for particulars seek granular detail of the government's proof, and the government has already provided more than the law requires. The Indictment and the discovery, which includes a verified civil complaint and multiple search warrants, provide the defendants with all the information they need to understand the specific acts of which they are accused."
Attached to AUSA Orenstein's objection is a sheet outlining the information that has been provided to the defense. It lists such items as bank records; search warrant affidavits concerning homes, emails, and businesses; postal records; UPS records; photographs of antiquities; Paypal records; travel records; customs documents; insurance documents; and Go Daddy accounts.
CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com


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This is actually one of our dreaded tasks as we make an attempt to synthesize everything that we have done so far during the month. It's tedious work, yes, but ultimately gratifying to see how far we have come, I think.
First of all, we missed celebrating our 2nd Blogiversary this July! We have been so busy we have totally forgotten about it! Dear oh dear. Well, Happy 2nd Birthday, Gathering Books! And more to come!
Book Hunting Expeditions
We have just recently introduced our own feature here which we do every Sunday, called Book Hunting Expeditions (BHE) where we blog about bookstores we visited and the recent treasures we have unearthed over the past weeks or so. Since I have been traveling during the past month, I managed to cover three cities here (New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas) and some of my loot from our own library here in Singapore.
- BHE (7): Book Hunting in New York – Featuring the Strand and Book Off in New York, New York!
- BHE (8): Goosebumps Hunting and Green Apple in San Francisco
- BHE (9): Book Hunting in Vegas? Impossible? Think Again – First of 2 Parts
- BHE (10): Book Hunting in Vegas – Second of Two Parts
- BHE (11): Library Loot
Photo Journal
We love our Photo Journal section and so we have joined several memes that would lead us to like-minded individuals.
Frizztext hosts a weekly A-Z Photo Challenge every Tuesday which we join religiously since we enjoy being a part of this warm, welcoming, and incredibly talented community. Here are a few of our posts so far:
- Photo Journal/Photo Challenge: A is for Aerial, Awash, Ablaze
- Photo Journal/ Photo Challenge: B is for Boston!
- Photo Journal / Photo Challenge: C is for Cirque de Soleil
- Photo Journal/ Photo Challenge: D is for Downtown Vegas
- Se7en Super Shots
Other Weekly Photo Challenges
There are also other weekly challenges that we join such as the one hosted by The Daily WordPress and Ailsa from Where's My Backpack? Occasionally, we post our own Photo Journal special as well. Here are a few of those posts:
- A Fourth of July Ellis Island Photo Journal Special
- Photo Journal/ Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement – The 3 Doors Down Concert in Vegas
- Photo Journal/Travel Theme: Night
- Photo Journal/ Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreaming
- Photo Journal/ Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside
- Photo Journal/ Weekly Photo Challenge: Purple
Conferences, Gatherings, Arts Corner and Other Miscellany
Since our website is also a celebration of artistry and talent across different domains, we also share a few announcement posts, miscellany, and a few random thoughts that we find particularly noteworthy. Here are a few of those that we have shared during the month.
Children's Literature Association Conference in Boston: The Philippine Team
Paintings by Francis Tanseco in London
Cynthia Alexander in Finland: Narrative Inquiry in Music Education Conference – A Quest for Funds
Launch of Bimonthly Theme: Dusty Bookshelves and Library Loot
GatheringReaders: A Book Club in Singapore!
GatheringReaders 1st Session: BookTalk!
A New York Public Library Special
Bimonthly Themes and Kidlitosphere Meme
We were at the tail end of Festival of Asian Literature and the Immigrant Experience theme until the middle of July, as such we did have a few reviews connected to that theme. We have also just recently launched our new theme Dusty Bookshelves and Library Loot which would run until the middle of September. Here are the reviews we have done so far:
Child Labor: Iqbal Masih's Courage
Allegory and Artwork in John Marsden and Shaun Tan's "The Rabbits"
The Foreigner in Armin Greder's "The Island"
Artie Bennett and Mike Moran's POOPENDOUS! (The Inside Scoop on Every Type and Use of Poop!)
Nonfiction Monday: Music for Alice by Allen Say
Nonfiction Monday: Tomas and the Library Lady
Nonfiction Monday: Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson
Poetry Friday: No Longer There
Poetry Friday: This is my house by Richard Macwilliam
Poetry Friday: A Homecoming of Sorts
Poetry Friday: In The Library by Charles Simic
Reading Challenge Update
365 Reading Challenge. We continue with our tradition of documenting the books we have read for the year and making sure that collectively, the three of us should be able to read 365 books this 2012. Here are the books we have read for January/February, March/April, May/June of this year. So far, here are the numbers:
- January – 30
- February – 33
- March – 46
- April – 34
- May – 13
- June – 13
- July
- Myra – 17 books
- Iphigene – 5 books
- Total for July: 22 books
- Grand Total: 191
We need to read 174 more books til end of December to complete our own personal challenge. Here's our running update for the other reading challenges we have participated in for the year:
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 26 out of targeted 12 – completed
- Picture Book Challenge: 74 of 120
AWB Reading Challenge: 69 of 35 – completed
- Caldecott Challenge: 12 of 24
- Newbery Medal Challenge: 2 of 12 – {no progress}
- Reading the World Challenge: 5 of 7
Persons-of-Color Reading Challenge: 28 of 25 – completed
- Novels in Verse Reading Challenge: 6 of 10
Immigrant Stories Challenge: 15 of 6 — completed


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(CNN) – President Barack Obama, hoping to pitch his signature health care law to younger Americans, will get some help from a cadre of Hollywood stars who have volunteered to help promote Obamacare's insurance exchanges that open on October 1.
At a meeting at the White House Monday, a group that included singer Jennifer Hudson and actors Kal Penn and Amy Poehler heard Obama extol the benefits his health care law offers young people, whose participation in the exchanges is seen as essential for their long-term viability.
"The President stopped by the meeting to engage artists who expressed an interest in helping to educate the public about the benefits of the health law," a White House official said. "The reach of these national stars spreads beyond the beltway to fans of their television shows, movies, and music – and the power of these artists to speak through social media is especially critical."
The meeting, which was led by Obama's senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, also included representatives for Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, YouTube Comedy, Funny or Die and the organizations that put on the annual Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.
"President Obama underscored that the efforts of these artists will be especially helpful since young uninsured Americans (ages 18-35) are key enrollment targets for the new marketplaces," the official said.
Persuading young Americans to enroll on Obamacare's exchanges is considered a key challenge for the law's backers – without enough healthy people enrolled, premium costs for those who do participate will rise.
The White House has said that 2.7 million young and healthy adults must enroll on the exchanges in order for premium costs to remain low for older Americans who take advantage of the new system.
The group of celebrities at the White House Monday will join a larger effort designed to sell Obamacare to uninsured Americans. In June, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the NFL and a "variety of sports affiliates" had been "very actively and enthusiastically engaged" with the administration over the idea of helping to promote the Affordable Care Act, though the NFL later said they had no plans to work with the Obama administration on the effort.
Three years after becoming law, the Affordable Care Act still faces opposition from Republicans, who last week made an attempt at postponing parts of the law in Congress. The Democrat-led Senate was not expected to take up the measures.
Classic. Let's have a bunch of 1%ers tell us how great this law is that will have zero effect on them because they are 1%ers.
Matthew, I believe you meant to write "the voluntary actions taken by both a man and a woman," right?
Meeting with the little people, as usual I see.
@tom l,
And conservative 1%er celebrity personalities say Obamacare is bad, even though they, too, will never need it. Your point?
Here's MY point: Amy looks nice in that photo.
Hey when it comes down to it the young pay for the elderly. Do they even know they voted to give hundreds of dollars away each month? Not in their best interest to say the least.
This a show desperation on Obama`s part. By doing this he`s basically saying this a crap law so I need celebs to help me fool dumb americans. Please don`t be dummy vote the democraps out of office.
tom l. either you stop using your pet phrase 'ad hominem attack' or you look up it's definition.
You're coming across as a paranoid simpleton.
Now THAT is an 'ad hominem attack'.
What a great idea. Honorable people who younger people will listen to. We all gain when communities are healthy.
why must you advertise something thats suppose to be so good ??? i guess because most people dont want govt run healthcare
i dont want anything this sorry president has to offer
I wonder how many of those celebrities are going to sign up for it.
Noblesse oblige! People who can afford to be self-insured chumming the collectivist waters for the below-the-line. Thanks for the list, CNN! Now I know who to boycott! Starting with that very special episode of Parks & Rec.
I really don't get the republican opposition...other than to just hate anything and everything the President does. This is supposed to be the party of personal responsibility. Young people always think they are immortal, and even if they can afford it they dont get insurance...so they end up showing up in the emergency room which means everyone else helps pay for it. THAT'S socialism, not Obamacare. The mandate was a Republican idea don't forget...until the President embraced it as part of his plan, then suddenly they all hated it. Also, they're the part of hating government waste...yet they do dozens of symbolic votes to repeal the law. These symbolic votes cost money, millions of dollars in fact. Silly
The ME ME ME generation doesn't even know what they've done to themselves. Ha ha ha
Personally, I'm not influenced by what a celebrity thinks or does but I am glad they're out there bringing home the importance of healthcare to those who would not otherwise care.
I'm sure these actors are experts in the field of medicine or economics... At least they can play one on TV...
It's a good strategy........if you want to communicate with the younger generation, you need to do it through celebrities they look up to. They sure won't listen to a politician telling them anything. And yeah.......Amy looks pretty hot in the pic.
And Hurray for that judge who blocked the law of pro-life zealots who oppose not just all abortions but also all forms of contraception. Their motivation is less than pure. Liberated womanhood is their worst nightmare. I hope those of them who are male will be women in their next incarnations.
OMG! American's healthcare is now in the hands of Hollywood AND the IRS??? What kind of a president is this? I know the answer.....
these celebrities volunteered to help promote the affordable health care act.
Great idea. Although that won't fix the ignorance and lies of the few. Oh well... lol We will be healthier regardless.
Cool. Celebrities always know whats best for this country. Thats why they are celebrities, right? This Obamacare thing is gonna work out great!
jobs, Jobs, JOBS!!! ... are my highest priority.
Time to bring out every republican with no knowledge, but all to say. They can put a stop to something good, if no one else can.


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Augmenting a Roman Fort
The following video shows something that I have been working on as a prototype for a larger landscape AR project.
As you can see, by using the Qualcomm AR SDK and Unity3D it is possible to augment some quite complex virtual objects and information onto the model Roman fort. I really like this application, as all I have done is take a book that you can buy at any heritage site (in the UK at least) and simply changed the baseboard design so that the extra content can be experienced. Obviously there was quite a lot of coding behind the scenes in the app and 3D modelling, but from a user point of view the AR content is very easy to see – simply print out the new baseboard, stick it on and load up the app.
For me that is one of the beautiful things about AR, you still have the real world, you still have the real fort that you have made and can play with it whether or not you have an iPad or Android tablet or what-have-you. All the AR does is augment that experience and allow you to play around with virtual soldiers or peasants or horses instead of using static model ones. It also opens up all sorts of possibilities for adding explanations of building types, a view into the day-to-day activities in a fort, or even for telling stories and acting out historical scenarios.
The relative ease of the deployment of the system (now that I have the code for the app figured out!) means this type of approach could be rolled out in all sorts of different situations. Some of my favourite things in museums, for instance, are the old-school dioramas and scale-models. The skill and craftsmanship of the original model will remain, but it could be augmented by the use of the app – and made to come alive.
The same is true of modern day prototyping models or architectural models. As humans we are used to looking at models of things, and want to be able to touch them and move them around. Manipulating them on a computer screen just doesn't somehow seem quite right. But the ability to combine the virtual data, with the manipulation and movement of the real-life model gives us a unique and enhanced viewpoint, and can also allow us to visualise new buildings or exisiting buildings in new ways.
A particularly important consideration when creating AR content is to ensure that it looks as believable or 'real' as possible. The human eye is very good at noticing things that seem out of the ordinary or "don't feel quite right". One of the main ways to help with creating a believable AR experience is to ensure the real-world occludes the virtual objects. That is the virtual content can be seen to move behind the real-world objects (such as the soldiers walking through the model gateway). Also it should be possible to interact with the real-world objects and have that affect the virtual content (such as touching one of the buildings and making the labels appear). This will become particularly important as I move into rolling the system out into a landscape instead of just a scale-model. As I augment the real world with virtual objects, those objects have to interact with the real-world as if they are part of it – otherwise too many Breaks in Presence will occur and the value of the AR content is diminished. An accurate 3D model of the real-world is quite a bit harder to create than that of a paper fort, but if I can pull it off, the results promise to be quite a bit more impressive…


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Philip C. Kendall, Ph.D., ABPP, Ana B. Goya Arce, M.A. Unversidad de DePaul (DePaul University), & Jennifer L. Podell, Ph.D., Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic (CAADC), Temple University, and Elizabeth A. Gosch, Ph.D., ABPP, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
This is a translation into Spanish of the existing Coping Cat Parent Companion. 2nd edition
The Parent Companion is a resource for parents or caregivers of youth participating in the Coping Cat Program for anxiety. The Coping Cat Program employs a cognitive-behavioral approach to helping children identify and manage their anxiety. The Parent Companion informs parents or caregivers about the experiences their child will have as he/she completes the program. Directed to parents or caregivers, the Parent Companion provides information about the nature of anxiety, about its treatment, and about the ways that parents may be involved in their child's treatment. Specifically, this resource includes information about identifying somatic responses to anxiety, changing anxious thinking, using relaxation, engaging in problem solving, and approaching rather than avoiding anxiety provoking situations. (26 pages)
© 2017
W. Michael Nelson III, Ph.D., ABPP,, Xavier University & A. J. Finch, Jr., Ph. D., ABPP, The Citadel & Julia Gallegos-Guajardo, Ph. D., Centro Mexicano de Inteligencia Emocional y Social
Arte por: Emily P. Sander, M.A. and Hannah Lubman, B.A.
This is a translation into Spanish of the existing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Aggressive Children: Therapist Manual, 2nd Edition
This manual is designed as an accompanying guide for the therapist using the "Keeping Your Cool" workbooks. (72 pages)
© 2015
Philip C. Kendall, Ph.D., ABPP, Kristina A. Hedtke, Ph.D.,
Temple University, Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic
Empirically-supported CBT to reduce anxious distress in youth. This newest edition is a revision of the original Coping Cat Workbook by Philip Kendall that has been in use since 1992. Sixteen therapy sessions promote coping skills for dealing with anxiety. The program can be adapted for use with individual youth or with groups. Appendices include "situation cards" with three levels of difficulty, a "feelings barometer", as well as other cut-outs and a certificate of achievement. (81 pages)
Appropriate for a variety of anxiety disorders in youth ages 7-13
(For adolescents, use the C.A.T. Project Workbook & Therapist Manual)
W. Michael Nelson III PhD., ABPP, Xavier University, A.J. Finch, Jr., PhD., ABPP, The Citadel, & Julia Gallegos-Guajardo, Ph. D., Centro Mexicano de Inteligencia Emocional y Social
This revised edition of the workbook provides five empirically-supported anger management strategies that can be employed by both boys and girls, ages 10-17, to help them cope with a variety of anger-arousing situations. Whereas the original Keeping Your Cool Workbook relied heavily on sports-related situations, this new edition has a wider range of appeal, with new attention to gender and diversity issues. The workbook addresses not only the anger issues experienced by boys, but also the social aggression that characterizes the anger experienced by girls at that age. Attention is also paid to specific anger-arousing situations that are experienced by minorities.
ISBN: 978-1-888805-53-6 (181 pages)


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You have to give Paul W.S. Anderson credit for this much: he's an equal-opportunity ogler. Having spent the entirety of the Resident Evil franchise flaunting his wife Milla Jovovich as if she were a heavily armed bauble, he now invites us to gawk at Game of Thrones' Kit Harington through a similarly lascivious lens. Playing Milo, an enslaved, leather-clad gladiator (you can already hear the clatter of slash fiction being written), Harington makes his first appearance waltzing into a Roman Empire arena, glistening as if he were a piece of sugar-coated man candy.
Consider it a bone thrown to any women watching and food for thought for members of the flick's target audience who have perhaps abandoned their New Year's resolution to hit the gym. It's also a reminder that Anderson is a purely populist filmmaker, primarily concerned with creating spectacle and more than willing to lapse into ridiculousness if it earns a gasp from the paying customer. Fortunately for those anteing up for Pompeii, a certain infamous volcano eruption circa 79 AD proves wholly conducive to Anderson's over-the-top 3-D visuals. But be warned: Mount Vesuvius comes to a surprisingly slow boil, an issue perhaps attributed to having too many cooks in the writing room.
As one might expect, a screenplay that features contributions from both Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes and Batman Forever's scribes occasionally struggles with coherence. The film's early sections hinge on Anderson's characteristically well-executed mortal combat, with Milo strutting his brutal stuff and bonding with fellow imprisoned warrior Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) through a largely indecipherable gladiator code. When not spilling blood, he catches the fancy of Pompeiian noblewoman Cassia (Emily Browning). She's spurning the lecherous advances of Roman senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland), who just happens to be the man who murdered Milo's family.
Surely swordplay, star-crossed romance and revenge should be adequate to bide the time until Vesuvius blows its top. However, another unwieldy subplot is grafted on, featuring Cassia's parents (Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss) convincing Corvus to "invest" in Pompeii by using the first-century equivalent of a real estate developer's models. Ludicrous even by Anderson's permissive standards, it also draws undue attention to both the director's indifference to dialogue and the cast's insistence on playing this patchwork material unnecessarily straight. Only Sutherland boldly takes an affected, amplified approach, occasionally recalling Oliver Reed's "did it for the drinking money" turns in the likes of Gor.
While Jovovich has developed into a commanding screen presence thanks to her husband's showcases, Harington is a little more than a serviceable action hero, confirming that well-honed glowering and a chiseled physique don't directly translate into a formidable bearing. Fortunately for the film he headlines, he's not expected to be most impressive thing on display here. And just as Pompeii is threatening to become as deathly boring as watching lava harden, Anderson finally has the decency to usher in a natural disaster.
The faint praise that has found its way to Anderson over the years has routinely centered on set pieces that demonstrate a superior understanding of spatial relationships, resulting in some welcome visual coherence. While he's accustomed to operating in more confined spaces, the director acquits himself well with Pompeii's larger scale. Rather than completely disregarding the laws of physics as Roland Emmerich does in disaster porn like 2012, Anderson instead depicts a civilization's ruin as if it were a Rube Goldberg device, cleverly ensuring that every act of devastation triggers another instance of mayhem. For all of his deficiencies as a filmmaker, it must be said that he's put real thought into his senseless destruction. And that's become something of a lost low art. ♦


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Save Your Spot!
June 14, 2006 at 3:33 pm Janie Hermann
I hope you saved the date because registration is now being accepted for the 4C's roadshow with Michael and Jenny.
Princeton Public Library has teamed up with CJRLC to bring you an amazing deal — a 4.5 hour workshop that includes lunch all for a mere $20! Registration is limited to 50, so register early to save your spot.
Essential Details:
PDF of flyer (includes registration form)
Directions to Princeton Public Library
Questions? contact me: jhermann at princetonlibrary dot org
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Uncategorized.


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Planes at the Seward Airfield.
View along the Seward Highway
Exit Glacier as seen from the road to the glacier trailhead.
One of the streams along the trail next to Exit Glacier.
Along the road to the trailhead and up to the toe of the glacier, signs like these show where the glacier used to reach to, in this case, in 1926 the glacier came all the way down to here.
Lupine flowers along the trail.
Lupine flowers and stream.
A good way up along the trail along the glacier.
Cresting onto the Harding Icefield plateau.
An impressive stack of crevasses.
Out of the plants and onto the rocks.
Being so far north, the sun takes its sweet time to set over the Harding Icefield.
Pretty sweet ridge.
Hardy plants making it work in the alpine zone.
A long red streak behind the far mountain ridges.
This is the extent of the sunset for tonight.
More sunrise with a hint of shelter.
New light on the crevasses.
The braided river way down in the valley catches and reflects the golden glow of the sunrise.
Great reds mixed with the green. Looming clouds right on the peaks across the valley.
The toe of the glacier.
A close look at the toe of the glacier.
Looking up the glacier. I really wanted to go exploring in that little cave!


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GLAAD has been working closely with the family of 6-year-old Coy Mathis and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) in asking Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, CO to allow Coy to once again use the girls' restroom at her school. Coy, who is in first grade, used the correct restroom for the previous year. But in mid-December, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 told her parents, Kathryn and Jeremy, that Coy would be prevented from using the girls' bathrooms after winter break. The District said Coy could only use the boys' bathroom, a staff bathroom that is used only by adults, or the nurse's bathroom, which is otherwise used by sick children.
TLDEF today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of the Mathis family. The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, passed in 2007, prohibits discrimination against transgender students in public schools. Kathryn and Jeremy have removed Coy from school and are home schooling her until a resolution is found that will allow Coy to use the same facilities as other girls.
"It's sad that the Mathis family had to file a civil rights complaint in order for their daughter to be treated equally," said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick. "Especially since the state of Colorado has already spoken in support of children like Coy. The students clearly aren't the only people at this school who need more education."
"We want Coy to have the same educational opportunities as every other Colorado student ," said Kathryn Mathis, in a statement released by TLDEF. "Her school should not be singling her out for mistreatment just because she is transgender."
"By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy's school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment," said Michael Silverman, TLDEF's executive director. "Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."
GLAAD has been working with the media to tell the Mathis family's story, to raise awareness about this discrimination, in the hopes that the school district will do the right thing and rescind their ban on Coy using the correct restroom. Their story will also serve to educate other people about the lives of transgender children, and that education can prevent discrimination like this from happening in other schools. Coy and her family spoke about their experience on Katie this week, alongside several expert and two other inspiring families with trans kids, in an episode entirely focused on transgender young people. The Mathis family has appeared in dozens of other stories already, and is scheduled to be on CNN later this week.


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Unrestricted free agents in NHL lockout limbo
Two and a half months after becoming an unrestricted free agent, Kenndal McArdle is still waiting for the phone to ring.
And with the NHL now in a lockout, it's unlikely he'll be getting contract offers any time soon.
"It is something that can be frustrating because the unrestricted free agent market is a lot smaller this summer because of the lockout," said McArdle, a 25-year-old Toronto native who grew up in Burnaby, B.C.
"There's more worrying and more uncertainty in your life. For a lot of us, hockey is our livelihood and the uncertainty increases the amount of stress in your life, so it's been a long summer, to say the least."
McArdle is among a large group of unsigned players — young and old alike — waiting for the next collective bargaining agreement to determine where they will play their next season.
The unrestricted free agent list ranges from early-to-mid-career professionals like Fabien Brunnstrom and Angelo Esposito to aging stars Jason Arnott, Daymond Langkow, Brian Rolston and Brendan Morrison. Theoretically, McArdle and his contemporaries have time on their side and should be able to rebound from the lockout's impact on their careers — but the older players do not.
McArdle, a former WHL star, was drafted 20th overall by the Florida Panthers in 2005. He won a Memorial Cup with the Vancouver Giants in 2007 and a gold medal with Canada's world junior team the same year, but is now trying to stick in the NHL as a so-called depth player.
The winger spent 2011-12 with the Winnipeg Jets organization, suiting up for nine NHL games and splitting the rest of the season with AHL clubs in St. John's, N.L., and Portland, Maine. Once considered a can't-miss kid, he is concerned that the lockout will enable a new group of prospects to make their marks in the minors, and threaten his job security.
"It gives the young guys or the guys that are coming up another year to mature, another year to get ready, especially with the guys who will continue to play in the American Hockey League," said McArdle, who may consider playing in Europe or signing a minor-league contract.
"It gives them a chance to continue their development within the organization. It can help them to propel themselves up to the next level.
"At the same time, it can be a disadvantage to the young guy who is looking to make the jump this year. Hockey being the way that it is, another year in the minors may have a negative effect on that player's mental state and/or injuries per se."
'Everybody is waiting to see'
According to agent J.P. Barry, the usual September flurry of free-agent signings came to "a grinding halt" because teams are waiting to see how the new CBA's salary-cap numbers will affect their ability to sign players.
"The current [unrestricted free agents] are in limbo because the first wave was signed and now everybody is waiting to see what the cap number will be," said Barry. "Until they know what the cap number is going to be based on the negotiations, that [uncertainty] could affect the market for those free agents."
McArdle's agent Kevin Epp predicts there will be a "big rush" of signings once a new collective agreement is reached. He noted teams like the Edmonton Oilers, who re-signed Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle to long-term deals this summer, have been able to sign franchise players because they had salary-cap room to work with — regardless of the outcome of the labour talks.
But other clubs that are closer to the old cap have been forced to delay signings until the new financial framework is set. Consequently, many players and their agents are in wait-and-see mode.
"It's funny when you talk to [players] because they only know what we tell them — and we don't know a lot if nobody is doing anything," Epp said. "We have to be patient."
Once a new deal is done, he predicted, teams could hold off on signing older players and test younger and cheaper players first. If a young player does not perform as expected, then clubs could look to sign a veteran.
Many older free agents, like Morrison, a former NHL ironman who split last season between Calgary and Chicago, have also battled injuries in recent seasons. That fact raises the question of whether teams have delayed signing veterans because of their health.
But Morrison's agent, Kurt Overhardt, said the new salary cap will be the determining factor in a free agent's future. Overhardt believes Morrison, who is active in CBA negotiations even though he does not have a contract, will eventually get a new deal.
"It's not uncommon for guys not to be signed," said Overhardt. "There's a lot of cash still in the pipeline.
"People are just waiting to see what the number's going to be based on what the new system is. Injury has nothing to do with it."
'More than comfortable being patient'
Agent Wade Arnott, who represents his brother Jason, 37, said veterans understood teams were not going to sign players as usual following the first wave of signings in early July. Echoing the sentiments of other agents interviewed, Wade Arnott expects older free agents, including his brother, to get deals once the new CBA is completed.
"In his case, we had interest from a few teams in early July," said Wade Arnott. "One, in fact, made a proposal.
"He wasn't ready to commit right away to that situation, so he was more than comfortable being patient through the off-season. As it stands now, there are a good handful of teams, probably four or five teams, that are interested in Jason and I think they are waiting to see what the new CBA brings in some respects.
"In a few of those cases, they're also waiting on a couple of other signings."
Arnott said another lost season would be "not a positive thing" for aging players' careers, but a short lockout should not be a "major issue."
He said the lockout deadline produced a flurry of contract extensions for players whose contracts expire after the 2012-13 season. But several pending free agents also face career uncertainty. They include Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, Mason Raymond and Manny Malhotra of the Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask and forward Nathan Horton, Minnesota Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom and well-travelled Winnipeg Jets centre Kyle Wellwood.
Barry recalled that older players had trouble extending their careers after the last lockout. He pointed to comments from retired star Bill Guerin, who was active with the union but expressed regret publicly about his lost season. It cost him $9 million US in unpaid salary and resulted in him taking a buyout from the Dallas Stars after he underachieved in the following campaign.
But agent Overhardt said no player should use a lockout as an excuse for a shortened career. Ultimately, players of any age have to make sure they stay in top condition in order to keep their jobs.
"These guys have an obligation to stay in great shape," he said. "They have an obligation to keep their body fat low.
"They have an obligation to keep healthy. If they don't do that, they won't play.
"Whether there's a work stoppage or not, it's something that they have to do."


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When the Asus Eee PC first hit the market, enthusiasts expressed frustration with a small yellow sticker on the bottom of the device which informed owners that their warranties would be void if they opened the bottom panel, which provides access to the laptop's memory slot. It appeared as though Asus was attempting to prevent Eee owners from upgrading the memory in the product.
After receiving many complaints from consumers, some of whom pointed out that a warranty policy of that nature is unlawful in certain countries, Asus has issued a formal statement affirming that Eee owners can break the seal and that it won't void their warranties. Asus has also decided to change several policies and rewrite portions of the warranty itself so that it is clear to Eee owners that unauthorized servicing isn't prohibited. Asus will also start using a different sticker, which will simply inform Eee owners that Asus is not responsible for damage caused by hardware modifications.
"ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty," Asus said in a statement. "Although ASUS recommends that customers use ASUS-approved service facilities and components, ASUS is committed to honoring the terms of its Limited Warranty and making sure that its customers are free to make appropriate hardware and software modifications and upgrades, regardless of whether the service is performed by an approved facility, a non-approved service provider, or by the customers themselves."
Asus has been extremely quick to respond to concerns expressed by Eee consumers and the open source software community. When Asus was criticized for failing to comply with the GPL and obscuring changes made to specific kernel modules, the company quickly resolved the issue by releasing the relevant source code.