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Network Working Group S. Bellovin Internet-Draft Columbia University Intended status: Best Current August 3, 2008 Practice Expires: February 4, 2009 Guidelines for Specifying the Use of IPsec Version 2 draft-bellovin-useipsec-10.txt Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on February 4, 2009. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). Abstract The Security Considerations sections of many Internet Drafts say, in effect, "just use IPsec". While this is sometimes correct, more often it will leave users without real, interoperable security mechanisms. This memo offers some guidance on when IPsec Version 2 should and should not be specified. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 1. Introduction The Security Considerations sections of many Internet Drafts say, in effect, "just use IPsec". While the use of IPsec is sometimes the correct security solution, more information is needed to provide interoperable security solutions. In some cases, IPsec is unavailable in the likely endpoints. If IPsec is unavailable to -- and hence unusable by -- a majority of the user in a particular protocol environment, then the specification of IPsec is tantamount to saying "turn off security" within this community. Further, when IPsec is available, the implementation may not provide the proper granularity of protection. Finally, if IPsec is available and appropriate, the document mandating the use of IPsec needs to specify just how it is to be used. The goal of this document is to provide guidance to protocol designers on the specification of IPsec when it is the appropriate security mechanism. The protocol specification is expected to provide realistic, interoperable security. Therefore guidance on the configuration of the various IPsec databases, such as the Security Policy Database (SPD), is often required. This document describes how to specify the use of IPsec Version 2 [RFC2401], including ESPv2 [RFC2406], AHv2 [RFC2402], and IKEv1 [RFC2409]. A separate document will describe the IPsec Version3 suite [RFC4301] [RFC4302] [RFC4303] [RFC4306]. For further guidance on security considerations (including discussion of IPsec), see [RFC3552]. NOTE: Many of the arguments below relate to the capabilities of current implementations of IPsec. These may change over time; this advice based on the knowledge available to the IETF at publication time. 2. WARNING The design of security protocols is a subtle and difficult art. The cautions here about specifying the use of IPsec should NOT be taken to mean that that you should invent your own new security protocol for each new application. If IPsec is a bad choice, using another standardized, well-understood security protocol will almost always give the best results for both implementation and deployment. Security protocols are very hard to design; rolling out a new one will require extensive theoretical and practical work to confirm its security properties and will incur both delay and uncertainty. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 3. The Pieces of IPsec IPsec is composed of a number of different pieces. These can be used to provide confidentiality, integrity, and replay protection; though some of these can be configured manually, in general a key management component is used. Additionally, the decision about whether and how to use IPsec is controlled by a policy database of some sort. 3.1. AH and ESP The Authentication Header (AH) [RFC2402] and the Encapsulating Security Protocol (ESP) [RFC2406] are the over-the-wire security protocols. Both provide (optional) replay protection. ESP typically is used to provide confidentiality (encryption), integrity and authentication for traffic. ESP also can provide integrity and authentication without confidentiality, which makes it a good alternative to AH in most cases where confidentiality is not a required or desired service. Finally, ESP can be used to provide confidentiality alone, although this is not recommended [Bell96]. The difference in integrity protection offered by AH is that AH protects portions of the preceding IP header, including the source and destination address. However, if ESP is used in tunnel mode (see Section 3.2) and integrity/authentication is enabled, the IP header seen by the source and destination hosts is completely protected anyway. AH can also protect those IP options that need to be seen by intermediate routers, but must be intact and authentic when delivered to the receiving system. At this time, use (and existence) of such IP options is extremely rare. If an application requires such protection, and if the information to be protected cannot be inferred from the key management process, AH must be used. (ESP is generally regarded as easier to implement; however, virtually all IPsec packages support both.) If confidentiality is required, ESP must be used. It is possible to use AH in conjunction with ESP, but this combination is rarely required. All variants of IPsec have problems with NAT boxes -- see [RFC3715] for details -- but AH is considerably more troublesome. In environments where there is substantial likelihood that the two end- points will be separated by a NAT box -- this includes almost all services involving user-to-server traffic, as opposed to server-to- server traffic -- NAT traversal [RFC3948] should be mandated and AH should be avoided. (Note that [RFC3948] is for ESP only, and cannot be used for AH.) Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 3.2. Transport and Tunnel Mode AH and ESP can both be used in either transport mode or tunnel mode. In tunnel mode, the IPsec header is followed by an inner IP header; this is the normal usage for Virtual Private Networks (VPN), and it is generally required whenever either end of the IPsec-protected path is not the ultimate IP destination, e.g., when IPsec is implemented in a firewall, router, etc. Transport mode is preferred for point-to-point communication, though tunnel mode can be used for this purpose. 3.3. Key Management Any cryptographic system requires key management. IPsec provides for both manual and automatic key management schemes. Manual key management is easy; however, it doesn't scale very well. Also, IPsec's replay protection mechanisms are not available if manual key management is used. The need for automatic key exchange is discussed in more detail in [RFC4107]. The primary automated key exchange mechanism for IPsec is the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) [RFC2409]. A new, simpler version of IKE has been approved, but there many existing systems still use IKEv1 [RFC4306]. This document does not discuss IKEv2 and IPsecv3. A second mechanism, Kerberized Internet Negotiation of Keys (KINK) [RFC4430], has been defined. It, of course, uses Kerberos, and is suitable if and only if a Kerberos infrastructure is available. If a decision to use IKE is made, the precise mode of operation must be specified as well. IKE can be used in main mode or aggressive mode; both support digital signatures, two different ways of using public key encryption, and shared secrets for authentication. Shared secret authentication is simpler; however, it doesn't scale as well in many-to-many communication scenarios, since each endpoint must share a unique secret with every peer with which it can communicate. Note, though, that using shared secrets in IKE is far preferable to manual keying. In most real-world situations where public key modes of IKE are used, locally-issued certificates are employed. That is, the administrator of the system or network concerned will issue certificates to all authorized users. These certificates are useful only for IPsec. It is sometimes possible to use certificates [RFC3280] from an existing public key infrastructure (PKI) with IKE. In practice, this is rare. Furthermore, there not only is no global PKI covering most Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Internet endpoints, there probably never will be one. Designing a structure which assumes such a PKI is a mistake. In particular, assuming that an arbitrary node will have an "authentic" certificate, issued by a mutually trusted third party and vouching for that node's identity, is wrong. Again, such a PKI does not and probably will not exist. Public key IKE is generally a good idea, but almost always with locally-issued certificates. Note that public key schemes require a substantial amount of computation. Protocol designers should consider whether or not such computations are feasible on devices of interest to their clientele. Using certificates roughly doubles the number of large exponentiations that must be performed, compared with shared secret versions of IKE. Today, even low-powered devices can generally perform enough computation to set up a limited number of security associations; concentration points, such as firewalls or VoIP servers, may require hardware assists, especially if many peers are expected to create security associations at about the same time. Using any automated key management mechanism can be difficult when trying to protect low-level protocols. For example, even though [RFC2461] specified the use of IPsec to protect IPv6 Neighbor Discovery, it was impossible to do key management: nodes couldn't use IKE because it required IP-level communication, and that isn't possible before Neighbor Discovery associations are set up. 3.4. Applications Program Interface (API) It is, in some sense, a misnomer to speak of the API as a part of IPsec, since that piece is missing on many systems. To the extent that it does exist, it isn't standardized. The problem is simple: it is difficult or impossible to request IPsec protection, or to tell if was used for given inbound packets or connections. There are additional problems: o Applications have rarely access to such APIs. Rather, IPsec is usually configured by a system or network administrator. o Applications are unable to verify that IPsec services are being used underneath. o Applications are unaware of the specific identities and properties of the protected channel provided by IPsec. For instance, the IPsec key management mechanisms may be aware of the identity and authorization of the peer, but this information cannot be used by the application, nor linked to application-level decisions, such as access to resources reserved to the entity identified by this identity. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Router- or firewall-based IPsec implementations pose even greater problems, since there is no standardized over-the-wire protocol for communicating this information from outboard encryptors to hosts. By contrast, higher-layer security services such as TLS are able to provide the necessary control and assurance. 4. Availability of IPsec in Target Devices Although IPsec is now widely implemented, and is available for current releases of most host operating systems, it is less available for embedded systems. Few hubs, network address translators, etc., implement it, especially at the low end. It is generally inappropriate to rely on IPsec when many of the endpoints are in this category. Even for host-to-host use, IPsec availability (and experience, and ease of use) has generally been for VPNs. Hosts that support IPsec for VPN use frequently do not support it on a point-to-point basis, especially via a stable, well-defined API or user interface. Finally, few implementations support multiple layers of IPsec. If a telecommuter is using IPsec in VPN mode to access an organizational network, he or she may not be able to employ a second level of IPsec to protect an application connection to a host within the organization. (We note that such support is, in fact, mandated by Case 4 of Section 4.5 of [RFC2401]. Nevertheless, it is not widely available.) The likelihood of such deployment scenarios should be taken into account when deciding whether or not to mandate IPsec. 5. Endpoints [RFC2401] describes many different forms of endpoint identifier. These include source addresses (both IPv4 and IPv6), host names (possibly as embedded in X.500 certificates), and user IDs (again, possibly as embedded in a certificate). Not all forms of identifier are available on all implementations; in particular, user-granularity identification is not common. This is especially a concern for multi-users systems, where it may not be possible to use different certificates to distinguish between traffic from two different users. Again, we note that the ability to provide fine-grained protection, such as keying each connection separately, and with per-user credentials, was one of the original design goals of IPsec. Nevertheless, only a few platforms support it. Indeed, some implementations do not even support using port numbers when deciding Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 whether or not to apply IPsec protection. 6. Selectors and the SPD Section 4.4 of [RFC2401] describes the Security Policy Database (SPD) and "selectors" used to decide what traffic should be protected by IPsec. Choices include source and destination addresses (or address ranges), protocol numbers (i.e., 6 for TCP and 17 for UDP), and port numbers for TCP and UDP. Protocols whose protection requirements cannot be described in such terms are poorer candidates for IPsec; in particular, it becomes impossible to apply protection at any finer grain than "destination host". Thus, traffic embedded in an L2TP [RFC2661] session cannot be protected selectively by IPsec above the L2TP layer, because IPsec has no selectors defined that let it peer into the L2TP packet to find the TCP port numbers. Similarly, SCTP [RFC2960] did not exist when [RFC2401] was written; thus, protecting individual SCTP applications on the basis of port number could not be done until a new document was written [RFC3554] that defined new selectors for IPsec, and implementations appeared. Furthermore, in a world that runs to a large extent on dynamically assigned addresses and often uses dynamically assigned port numbers as well, an all-or-nothing policy for VPNs can work well; other policies, however, can be difficult to create in any usable form. The granularity of protection available may have side-effects. If certain traffic between a pair of machines is protected by IPsec, does the implementation permit other traffic to be unprotected, or protected by different policies? Alternatively, if the implementation is such that it is only capable of protecting all traffic or none, does the device have sufficient CPU capacity to encrypt everything? Note that some low-end devices may have limited secure storage capacity for keys, etc. Implementation issues are also a concern here. As before, too many vendors have not implemented the full specification; too many IPsec implementations are not capable of using port numbers in their selectors. Protection of traffic between two hosts is thus on an all or nothing basis when these non-compliant implementations are employed. 7. Broadcast and Multicast Although the designers of IPsec tried to leave room for protection of multicast traffic, a complete design wasn't finished until much later. As such, many IPsec implementations do not support multicast. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 [I-D.ietf-msec-ipsec-extensions] describes extensions to IPsec to support it. Other relevant documents include [RFC3830], [RFC3547], and [RFC4535], Because of the delay, protocol designers who use multicast should consider the availability of these extensions in target platforms of interest. 8. Specifying IPsec Despite all of the caveats given above, it may still be appropriate to use IPsec in particular situations. The range of choices make it mandatory to define precisely how IPsec is to be used. Authors of standards documents that rely on IPsec must specify the following: a. What selectors the initiator of the conversation (the client, in client-server architectures) should use? What addresses, port numbers, etc., are to be used? b. What IPsec protocol is to be used: AH or ESP? What mode is to be employed: transport mode or tunnel mode? c. What form of key management is appropriate? d. What form of identification should be used? Choices include IP address, DNS name with or without a user name, and X.500 distinguished name. e. If the application server will switch userids (i.e., is a login service of some sort) and user name identification is used, is a new security association negotiated that utilizes a user- granularity certificate? If so, when? f. What form of authentication should be used? Choices include pre- shared secrets and certificates. g. How are the participants authorized to perform the operations that they request? For instance, are all devices with a certificate from a particular source allowed to use any application with with IPsec or access any resource? (This problem can appear with any security service, of course.) h. Which of the many variants of IKE must be supported? Main mode? Aggressive mode? Note that the are two different versions of IKE, IKE and IKEv2. IKEv2 is simpler and cleaner, but is not yet widely available. You must specify which version of IKE you require. i. Is suitable IPsec support available in likely configurations of the products that would have to employ IPsec? Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 9. Example Let us now work through an example based on these guidelines. We will use Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) [RFC4271] to show how to evaluate and specify the use of IPsec for transmission security, rather than the mechanism described in [RFC2385]. Note carefully that we are not saying that IPsec is an appropriate choice here. Rather, we are demonstrating the necessary examination and specification process. Also note that the deeper security issues raised by BGP are not addressed by IPsec or any other transmission security mechanism; see [Kent00a] and [Kent00b] for more details. Selectors BGP runs between manually-configured pairs of hosts on TCP port 179. The appropriate selector would be the pair of BGP speakers, for that port only. Note that the router's "loopback address" is almost certainly the address to use. Mode Transport mode would be the proper choice if IPsec were used. The information being communicated is generally not confidential, so encryption need not be used. Either AH or ESP can be used; if ESP is used, the sender's IP address would need to be checked against the IP address asserted in the key management exchange. (This check is mandated by [RFC2401].) For the sake of interoperability, either AH or ESP would need to be specified as mandatory to implement. Key Management To permit replay detection, an automated key management system should be used, most likely IKE. Again, the RFC author should pick one. Security Policy Connections should be accepted only from the designated peer. (Note that this restriction applies only to BGP. If the router -- or any IPsec host -- runs multiple services with different security needs, each such service requires its own security policy.) Authentication Given the number of BGP-speaking routers used internally by large ISPs, it is likely that shared key mechanisms are inadequate. Consequently, certificate-based IKE must be supported. However, shared secret mode is reasonable on peering links, or (perhaps) on links between ISPs and customers. Whatever scheme is used, it must tie back to a source IP address or AS number in some fashion, since other BGP policies are expressed in these terms. If certificates are used, would they use IP addresses or AS numbers? Which? Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Availability For this scenario, availability is the crucial question. Do likely BGP speakers -- both backbone routers and access routers -- support the profile of IPsec described above? Will use of IPsec, with its attendant expensive cryptographic operations, raise the issue of new denial of service attacks? The working group and the IESG must make these determinations before deciding to use IPsec to protect BGP. 10. Security Considerations IPsec provides transmission security and simple access control only. There are many other dimensions to protocol security that are beyond the scope of this memo, including most notably availability. For example, using IPsec does little to defend against denial of service attacks; in some situations, i.e., on CPU-limited systems, it may contribute to the attacks. Within its scope, the security of any resulting protocol depends heavily on the accuracy of the analysis that resulted in a decision to use IPsec. 11. Acknowledgments Ran Atkinson, Lakshminath Dondeti, Barbara Fraser, Paul Hoffman, Russ Housley, Stephen Kent, Eric Fleischman, assorted members of the IESG, and a plethora of others have made many useful suggestions. 12. References 12.1. Normative References [I-D.ietf-msec-ipsec-extensions] Weis, B., "Multicast Extensions to the Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol", draft-ietf-msec-ipsec-extensions-06 (work in progress), July 2007. [RFC2401] Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol", RFC 2401, November 1998. [RFC2402] Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "IP Authentication Header", RFC 2402, November 1998. [RFC2406] Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)", RFC 2406, November 1998. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 10]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 [RFC2409] Harkins, D. and D. Carrel, "The Internet Key Exchange (IKE)", RFC 2409, November 1998. [RFC3280] Housley, R., Polk, W., Ford, W., and D. Solo, "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 3280, April 2002. [RFC3554] Bellovin, S., Ioannidis, J., Keromytis, A., and R. Stewart, "On the Use of Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) with IPsec", RFC 3554, July 2003. [RFC3948] Huttunen, A., Swander, B., Volpe, V., DiBurro, L., and M. Stenberg, "UDP Encapsulation of IPsec ESP Packets", RFC 3948, January 2005. [RFC4107] Bellovin, S. and R. Housley, "Guidelines for Cryptographic Key Management", BCP 107, RFC 4107, June 2005. 12.2. Informative References [Bell96] Bellovin, S., "Problem Areas for the IP Security Protocols", Proc. Sixth Usenix Security Symposium pp. 205- 214, 1996. [Kent00a] Kent, S., Lynn, C., and K. Seo, "Secure Border Gateway Protocol (Secure-BGP)", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 18:4 pp. 582-592, 2000. [Kent00b] Kent, S., Lynn, C., Mikkelson, J., and K. Seo, "Secure Border Gateway Protocol (Secure-BGP) -- Real World Performance and Deployment Issues", Proc. Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), 2000. [RFC2385] Heffernan, A., "Protection of BGP Sessions via the TCP MD5 Signature Option", RFC 2385, August 1998. [RFC2461] Narten, T., Nordmark, E., and W. Simpson, "Neighbor Discovery for IP Version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 2461, December 1998. [RFC2661] Townsley, W., Valencia, A., Rubens, A., Pall, G., Zorn, G., and B. Palter, "Layer Two Tunneling Protocol "L2TP"", RFC 2661, August 1999. [RFC2960] Stewart, R., Xie, Q., Morneault, K., Sharp, C., Schwarzbauer, H., Taylor, T., Rytina, I., Kalla, M., Zhang, L., and V. Paxson, "Stream Control Transmission Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 11]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Protocol", RFC 2960, October 2000. [RFC3547] Baugher, M., Weis, B., Hardjono, T., and H. Harney, "The Group Domain of Interpretation", RFC 3547, July 2003. [RFC3552] Rescorla, E. and B. Korver, "Guidelines for Writing RFC Text on Security Considerations", BCP 72, RFC 3552, July 2003. [RFC3715] Aboba, B. and W. Dixon, "IPsec-Network Address Translation (NAT) Compatibility Requirements", RFC 3715, March 2004. [RFC3830] Arkko, J., Carrara, E., Lindholm, F., Naslund, M., and K. Norrman, "MIKEY: Multimedia Internet KEYing", RFC 3830, August 2004. [RFC4271] Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, January 2006. [RFC4301] Kent, S. and K. Seo, "Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol", RFC 4301, December 2005. [RFC4302] Kent, S., "IP Authentication Header", RFC 4302, December 2005. [RFC4303] Kent, S., "IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)", RFC 4303, December 2005. [RFC4306] Kaufman, C., "Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) Protocol", RFC 4306, December 2005. [RFC4430] Sakane, S., Kamada, K., Thomas, M., and J. Vilhuber, "Kerberized Internet Negotiation of Keys (KINK)", RFC 4430, March 2006. [RFC4535] Harney, H., Meth, U., Colegrove, A., and G. Gross, "GSAKMP: Group Secure Association Key Management Protocol", RFC 4535, June 2006. Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 12]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Author's Address Steven M. Bellovin Columbia University 1214 Amsterdam Avenue MC 0401 New York, NY 10027 US Phone: +1 212 939 7149 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 13]
Internet-Draft IPsec Usage August 2008 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Intellectual Property The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at email@example.com. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA). Bellovin Expires February 4, 2009 [Page 14]


text: We stayed near Ober-Ammergau. We had accommodation in a pleasant hotel. When we woke up in the morning, our car was covered in snow. auntyuta Uncategorized December 12, 2022December 12, 2022 1 Minute Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading... Related Published by auntyuta Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mother and Wife of German Descent I've lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com View all posts by auntyuta Published December 12, 2022December 12, 2022

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Shipping Policy at Carolina Rustica
Our priority is to have your order ship in a safe and timely manner. Please read these details on how how we handle shipping your lighting or furniture.
Free Shipping Requirements
All lighting, ceiling fans and most home accents qualify for Free Shipping with the only restrictions being shipments to APO's, Alaska, and Hawaii, residents of these locales should call us at 800-205-7819 for a shipping quote and to place your order. The product page will have information as to how the item ships and whether or not it is indeed free shipping. Shipping costs for those items that are not Free Shipping are calculated automatically upon checkout. If you add an item in your cart that does not qualify for free shipping, along with an item that does ship free, you will only be subject to one shipping charge. We use UPS ground service unless you contract with us for a higher level of service. Standard UPS shipping procedures apply for our shipments. We do not ship COD.
*Free shipping is available on most items, though there are some restrictions based on price, service level, and/or ship to location. Items that ship for free will specifically mention it on the product page, otherwise shipping is additional. Free shipping may include curbside deliveries as well as white glove service with in-home set up. Sorry, we cannot ship free to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or internationally, residents of these locales should call us at 800-205-7819 for a shipping quote to a freight forwarder of your choice and to place your order.
Delivery Process
A. Your furniture will be scheduled for delivery as it is received complete into our distribution center. If you have ordered from several manufacturers, we will generally wait until the last piece is received in before scheduling delivery. If you cannot receive delivery when the order is complete and scheduled, we will warehouse your complete order for 30 days at no charge. After the 30 days is complete, you will be charged 2% of the total order cost per month as a warehousing fee for your furniture.
B. Please make sure we have all available phone numbers to contact you for delivery. A traffic representative may leave a message requesting a return call to discuss scheduling a delivery. If they are unable to contact you, they will attempt to deliver your furniture on the next available delivery to your area.
C. Delivery is super easy with our In-Home White Glove delivery service. The delivery team will bring your new furniture into your home and into your room of choice. They will also unpack it, set it up, and then also remove all the packaging materials for you. (Delivery is up to 2 flights of stairs. Additional arrangements are subject to charge by the delivery carrier.) Please have the space cleared for your furniture. It is your responsibility to know the size and dimensions of the furniture you have ordered. The delivery service will not be responsible for furniture that is too large to go into a room, hallway, doorway, entrance passage or stairwell. If it is difficult or impossible to place, maneuver or fit a piece of furniture by a two-man team due to conditions in your home, the consumer is responsible for providing additional placement assistance. The delivery service will not be responsible for damage to your home that results from your request of us to attempt placement in difficult conditions. Delivery personnel will require that you sign a waiver before any attempt is made in difficult situations that risk damage to your home and the furniture being delivered. If placement in the requested area is not feasible, our delivery personnel will place the furniture in an accessible area of your home. Furniture that you have ordered that is too large to fit into your home is not the responsibility of the delivery service and cannot be returned or cancelled.
D. Deliveries will be scheduled approximately 7 to 10 days in advance of the delivery date. Deliveries will be assigned a time window, but due to traffic conditions, weather, truck performance, etc., we cannot guarantee specific times for delivery. Please arrange to have a designated person available to inspect and accept delivery if you cannot be present. If no one is home when we attempt to deliver per the scheduled date and time, you will be charged a re-delivery fee. Carolina Rustica cannot be responsible if conditions beyond our control arise which prevent the delivery from being made at the scheduled time.
E. Furniture cartons will be flattened and packaging material will be placed in a box. Disposal of these items is the consumer's responsibility.
F. Delivery personnel are not responsible for the installation or connection of electronic equipment in the furniture being delivered.
G. The standard delivery vehicle is an 18-wheel tractor or 35' straight furniture delivery truck. It is the consumer's responsibility to inform us prior to delivery if the location to be delivered cannot accept a specific delivery vehicle. Deliveries that cannot be made due to vehicle size or access restriction may be subject to additional delivery fees.
Delivery Policy
Deliveries with "White Glove" service are configured for normal delivery conditions. Additional charges may be assessed by the delivery company for any unusual delivery conditions not disclosed at the time of order. Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, areas where the delivery vehicle is not able to access due to road conditions, weather conditions, narrow roads or driveways, very steep access roads or driveways; ferries, excessive toll roads or additional insured certificates required by any association affiliated with the delivery address. Other conditions may include, but are not limited to, very narrow stairways, spiral stairways, stairways with tight turns or narrow transitions, narrow doorways or openings, limited access due to wall configurations.
The delivery agent will contact you within 1 to 10 days prior to delivery to make delivery arrangements. Carolina Rustica does not guarantee any day or exact times of deliveries. Normal deliveries may be scheduled between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., 7 days per week. Additional charges may be charged by the delivery agent to accommodate specific day or time requests. All delivery times are estimates based on the current lead times provided by the manufacturer or delivery agent. Carolina Rustica will do everything possible in its power to insure that the expected time frames are met, but cannot be held responsible for delays caused by the manufacturer, supplier or delivery agent. Delays caused by adverse weather conditions, traffic delays or mechanical failures of machinery are beyond the control of Carolina Rustica. The delivery agent will make every effort to meet a scheduled appointment or attempt to notify the customer of a delay. Failure of the delivery company to meet a specific delivery time or date does not constitute grounds for compensation to the customer nor does it constitute grounds for cancellation of an order without penalty.
In-home deliveries and set-ups are configured for two-person hand carried situations. There are no provisions allowed for ropes, hoists or machinery to be used; nor removal of any fixtures, doors or windows to allow access.
It is the customer's responsibility to understand the furniture dimensions and to measure to be sure the furniture will fit in the room and through any doors, around any corners, under any low overhead areas and up any stairway or stairway landing. The customer must also have any rooms ready to accept the furniture. Delivery personnel are not authorized to move or remove any existing items from rooms due to liability issues. If additional assistance is required for other than standard delivery scenarios, the customer must assume responsibility of additional charges. Any furniture refused by a customer because it will not fit in a designated room or fit through an opening will be subject to a restocking fee not to exceed 25% plus actual freight charges incurred by Carolina Rustica.
Curbside Deliveries
Curbside delivery service is used for some items. The service is just as the name implies – the delivery will be dropped off by the truck at the end of the driveway. Any item that is delivered by this service should be checked thoroughly for any damage to the carton and if any damage is seen, should be noted on the delivery paperwork at the time of delivery. The contents of the box must be examined as quickly as possible, but no longer than 24 hours after delivery. If there is any concealed damage on the contents of the carton, this must be reported within 24 hours to the delivery company and to Carolina Rustica.
Truck Line Service Levels
If you have ordered a large furniture item, you should be prepared for a vehicle of considerable size arriving at your residence. If you think there may be a problem with shipping access, please notify us when you place your order. You, or someone acting on your behalf, must be at the shipment address to receive and sign for the delivery. Freight will always be shipped pre-paid, meaning you do not have to pay anything to the freight company. "Curbside Only" deliveries require you to bring the item into your house yourself. The driver will not go up stairs or elevators. If you ask the driver to bring your product into your home, and we are invoiced for that extra service, we will charge you the exact amount that the additional service cost us.
Shipping Restrictions and Exceptions:
We ship via UPS to Alaska and Hawaii. Shipments to these locations do not go free freight, residents of these locales should call us at 800-205-7819 for a shipping quote and to place your order. At this time, we are not able to ship to APO's due to damages. Even if you are not charged shipping at checkout, a customer service representative will call you to arrange additional payment. We only charge our actual cost. Please contact us for details at 800-205-7819.
Shipping Damages
Once in a great while, products may get damaged in transit. If your order arrives and there is visible damage to one or more of the boxes, please refuse receipt of those boxes and notify us immediately. You will not be held responsible for any damages, but signing that a box was received damage helps us immensely in the claims process. We will have the manufacturer send a replacement and we will handle the shipping issues on our end.
For local North Carolina deliveries, please call our store at 800-205-7819.
Local Shipping Charges
Our Free Shipping policies apply to local deliveries as well. If you order online and pick up from our store, shipping charges will be waived, but we will charge you NC state sales tax.


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In 2005, I entered the marriage and family program at Richmont University (then known as Psychological Studies Institute) with great anticipation of one day being able to work with hurting individuals and families. I had just exited a program at another local university where I was working towards getting a masters in finance after becoming convinced that my calling was to focus my life work on helping people versus micro managing cash flow and numbers through the field of accounting. In 2008, I graduated and was promptly hired by Focus Healthcare of Tennessee as a primary counselor, serving both the chemical dependency unit as well as the Center for Eating Disorders. Today, Focus trusts me to provide clinical oversight for the clinical staff and our patients as Program Director for both units. It is a privilege to be able to serve both counselor and patient alike. I am truly grateful for every aspect of the training given to me through Richmont and happy to give anyone who asks me a raving reference about my experience. Thank you to all of the staff, my fellow classmates and the curriculum for assisting me in becoming another Richmont contributor to the world via the counseling profession.
Diane Monteleone, MAMFT LMFT NCC
Program Director
Focus Healthcare of Tennessee


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Geohashing has been great fun so far. There are hundreds of users on the wiki, and I've gotten to wander places like this:
There's been a small change to the algorithm to deal with time zones. This change does not affect anyone in North/South America (excluding Greenland), does not affect Saturday meetup times anywhere, and does not change any currently known upcoming meeting times. The change:
For every location east of Longitude -30 (Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia), use the Dow opening from the previous day — even if a new one becomes available partway through the day.
Put differently (the same functionally for everywhere except islands in the mid-Atlantic):
Consider any Dow openings published after noon local time to have occurred on the next day.
This is necessary to deal with time zone problems. For a lot of Europe, the Wednesday Dow opening was learned near sundown Wednesday, which meant they couldn't use it to get to daytime meetups. For east Asia, they had to visit weekday locations the next day. A bunch of solutions were discussed, and I decided this was the cleanest.
The official map tool is being updated with the new behavior concurrently with this blog entry. The first coordinates that will be affected by it are Tuesday's. Again, this does not affect anyone in the Americas.
Moving on — Saturday's meetups are looking good! Today's location in Boston was fantastic. I wasn't planning to go, but it looked so interesting on Google Maps that we couldn't resist checking it out. The picture above is one of several. Saturday's meetup is in a less picturesque place than Friday or Sunday — suburban Hopewell. We'll probably gather only briefly at the actual point, then head to the nearby state forest for walking or town center for food and such.
Also, good luck to phire, who was last seen on IRC an hour ago, leaving to mountain-climb to today's coordinates in Christchurch, New Zealand. Congrats to the Denver graticules for getting organized so fast (and in a split city, at that!). And thanks to everyone for going along with this idea! The weekday trips have been great fun so far, and I look forward to getting the meetups going over the next few weekends!


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Posts Tagged 'Recipes'
In which The Gay Recluse cooks. Yesterday we went for a walk in the rain, in part because we wanted to check out what was happening uptown, and in part because none of the grocery stores around us carry the curly parsley that we needed for the lentil soup we planned to make. We've been […]
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Dissonance, Food, Gay, Health, Landscape, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, Photography, Pleasure, Science, Search, The Autumn Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | 4 Comments
Tags: Cultural Revolution, Enbalmed Bread, Health Food, Lentil Soup, Recipes, Sugar Cereals, Uncle Jimmy


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Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:4
For the last couple of weeks, I have spent most of my time unplugged. My family took a brief getaway to the beach, staying in a quiet residential neighborhood with no Wi-Fi.
Although I love many of the bloggers I follow, it was nice to take a holiday from the digital noise and to spend time reflecting on God's Word surrounded by His creation and my family. Perhaps ironically, one of the most refreshing portions of the vacation included a little bit of conviction.
On the Saturday that we began the 7-hour drive to the nearest beach, the forecast for the 3 full days we planned to stay called for rain. A lot of rain. I confess that I was somewhat dissatisfied. As I expressed my disappointment on that first rainy day, He began to remind me of my own words written just a couple of weeks prior; words that spoke of finding contentment in Christ alone.
While we were at it, He also brought my attention to places in my heart where I had harbored jealousy instead of the satisfaction and gratitude that are appropriate for a daughter of the King of kings.
Grieved at my own hypocrisy, I repented, thanking Him for His chastisement, and I began to intentionally offer Him thanks, reminding myself and my family of the abundance of His mercy and love manifested in gifts we have done nothing to deserve.
In my heart, I determined to satisfy myself with the Lord alone, yielding even a long-held desire to see a particular stretch of protected dunes sandwiched between high-rise vacation rentals and walk along the boardwalk that threads its way there from the road to the beach.
Yet now that I was truly and fully content in Him alone, He had something to show me.
On Monday morning, I rose around 7:00 to find that the rains had ceased, leaving behind only clouds. My mom and I headed to a nearby trail in the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge, leaving behind my sleepy teens and my husband who was recovering from a cold.
The weather could not have been more perfect as we walked through the shade of live oaks and around a salt marsh and a lake.
As we walked, I stopped here and there to capture some of my Father's artistry while at other times I merely savored the beauty.
To my great delight, we found that the trail we followed was intersected by another trail featuring a trek through natural sand dunes dotted by scrubby plants and low-growing vegetation.
Also along this trail was a ruin of some sort; a foundation of some small home and posts of unknown purpose that were gradually being reclaimed by the natural vegetation.
As we walked, the vegetation thinned, giving way to sea oats and the shore.
When I delighted myself in God, He took one small desire of my heart and returned it to me sevenfold. I absolutely adore natural places, and instead of settling for my small, cramped space of untouched dunes, He gave me a four-mile stretch of trail that encompassed even more than I had hoped to see.
Other gifts were more intangible: a genuine smile from my moody 12-year-old, a few moments of silliness from teenagers who are often irritated with one another.
Indeed, I am refreshed. Sin has been brought to light and addressed, my family enjoyed some time together, and God granted not only the fullness of joy that comes in His presence, but many breathtaking glimpses of His creative genius as well. Oh, how great is my God!
O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great….
…May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works… I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD. Psalms 104:24-25, 31, 33-34


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Similar species: No information at this time.
Flowering: June to November
Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. Waste ground.
Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native
Etymology: Chenopodium comes from the Greek words chen, meaning goose, and podion, meaning "little foot," referring to the leaf shape of some species. Murale means "growing on walls."
Author: The Morton Arboretum


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Key Verses
1 Chronicles 29:11b-13, NIV
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
Today we see David – publicly ordaining Solomon as king of Israel. And as the entire assembly is gathered for this grand affair, David prays. In this prayer, we see his heart, and amazingly, it is a humble heart… After 40 years of experiencing strength on the battlefield, influence over other nations, the power to judge his own people, and the sovereignty to govern as he wills – he still defers to his Creator…
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (1 Chronicles 29:14, NIV).
How many current world leaders would be able to genuinely pray David's words? Power seduces and can dull the mind to the truth of God's absolute sovereignty over the earth. Despite David's dance with greatness, in the end, he still recognized that God was the True King of Israel, and he, David, was just a steward of God's resources and power.
In Acts, we read of tribunes, governors, and kings – each with their own limited power delegated through Caesar. With each subsequent chapter, we are introduced to a different inept ruling authority. Injustice is on center-stage as Paul is imprisoned for years without a fair judgment.
I wonder if these men had the same view of the world that David did? Did they understand that they were just stewards of God's resources and power? Unfortunately, they all seem like foolish men drunk on their pomp and circumstance! (but maybe that's just me…)
David, albeit flawed, was the precursor to Christ. If any man had the right to "pomp and circumstance" it was Jesus! But He traded the grandeur of heaven for a stable… and absolute, universal power for a criminal's death.
Apart from the grace of Christ, we are nothing. How do you think Paul was able to endure the years of unjust imprisonment? Only through the comfort of Christ! Our dignity comes from being made in the image of God and being redeemed by the blood of His Son. Our hope is found In Christ… alone!!


text: This hit our website this morning and I thought I'd forward it along since so many have been wondering about our next release. The list of new features is down near the bottom of the press release. It's not mentioned in the press release, but this next release also includes all the Red Hat errata (minus rpm4), including a kernel based off of Red Hat's 2.2.19 errata kernel. Scyld Computing Corporation Releases Latest Professional Version of Next Generation Beowulf Clustering ANNAPOLIS, MD (July 18, 2001) - Scyld Computing Corporation today released the Scyld Beowulf Professional Edition, the latest version of its next generation cluster operating system software. Professional Scyld Beowulf greatly simplifies cluster setup, integration and administration, while providing seamless scalability. Coupled with documentation and support from the original Beowulf development team, Professional Scyld Beowulf provides the first true clustering solution that can be installed and run directly out of the box. Beowulf cluster systems connect a series of computers together, using a modified version of Linux, to form a parallel processing supercomputer. The Scyld Beowulf Operating System improves upon traditional Beowulf clusters as all operations performed on the linked cluster nodes are initiated and administered through a single master node. Its Single System Image (SSI) design makes the cluster act and feel like a single computer. This drastically simplifies maintenance and eliminates common pitfalls of clustering such as version skew and runaway jobs. Scyld Beowulf only needs to be installed on one master node and will run clusters of hundreds of compute nodes. Professional Scyld Beowulf is a complete software system. No other software is required to create the cluster. For industries such as energy, biotechnology and finance, there is growing commercial demand for High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters. Companies are looking for more cost-effective ways to analyze enormous amounts of data. One example of this demand is in the petroleum industry, where 3-D seismic modeling is used to locate oil fields. Because large amounts of data must be processed to create an image of a complex geology, seismic modeling is a very compute-intensive process. Such imaging turns raw, unprocessed data into a coherent image that accurately depicts the situation below the earth's surface, saving millions in reduced exploration and drilling costs and improved production. Scyld Beowulf has distinct price advantages over traditional Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) or vector supercomputers. Using commodity servers and hardware components, a Scyld Beowulf based system can provide the same amount of computing power at 10%-50% of the cost. Continued savings are realized by the reduced costs of supporting a broad-based operating system as compared to the expensive maintenance contracts required for proprietary operating systems of traditional SMP or vector supercomputers. Companies can save even more by leveraging their existing hardware and installing Scyld Beowulf, allowing them to set up a cluster system for a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. In addition, Scyld Beowulf's simplified master node installation and administration eliminates the administrative costs and potential risks inherent in other HPC clusters that require nodes to be administered separately. Donald Becker, Scyld's founder and Chief Technology Officer, and other Scyld developers were the original architects of Beowulf computing while working at NASA as research scientists. That same team has improved and adapted the technology for the commercial market, using the same exacting standards for software engineering, development, quality control, test methodologies and support that NASA uses to ensure successful missions. The result is Professional Scyld Beowulf. "Our mission at Scyld is to create software that will bring cost effective, easily managed, high-performance computing to the commercial marketplace", said Becker. "The new features in this release add significantly to our existing standard upon which high performance cluster applications have been developed. This new release will further stimulate deployment of turn-key commercial applications". Scyld has formed and is in the process of forming partnerships and alliances with many clustering industry leaders including, Compaq, Arrow/Wyle, API, Penguin Computing, GIGABYTE Server Group, PSSC Labs, Aspen Systems, Atipa Technologies, RLX Technologies, CFI, Racksaver, eLinux, Cendio Systems, Western Scientific, VA Linux, and Myricom. amongst others. Scyld works closely with its partner's hardware systems to certify seamless operation of hardware platforms such as Compaq's Proliant DL380 and DL360 servers, Compaq's DS10 series AlphaServers, API's CS20 and UP2000+, Penguin Computing's servers, RLX Technologies' System 324 Blade technology, and Intel's ServerBoards. In addition, Scyld has partners and alliances with traditional parallel application and tool providers such as, MPI Software Technology Inc., Veridian PBS-Pro, Wolfram Mathematica, NAG, Absoft, Lahey, Backbone Networks, NAMD, CHARMM, and TurboGenomics. Scyld has a formal channel program to authorize and train value added resellers to provide off-the-shelf, fully integrated and supported turnkey cluster systems. New enhancements on the latest Professional Version include, full Alpha support including simplified installation tools, full Myrinet and Gigabit Ethernet support, the Scyld Beowulf Batch Queue system (BBQ), automatic node addition, web based administration and job monitoring, advanced hardware health and status monitoring, Parallel Virtual File System (PVFS), NFSv3, and ROMIO file systems, updated MPIch library, and much more. For detailed pricing and more information visit the Scyld website at www.scyld.com. Professional Scyld Beowulf comes bundled with one year of support from the original development team and full documentation. The professional documentation set includes: Installation, System Administration, Users Guide, and Programmers Reference information. In addition, Scyld offers Beowulf clustering certification training from the original Scyld Beowulf developers. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/attachments/20010718/49ef83fc/attachment.sig>


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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Responding to reports of political turmoil and growing instability, officials from the U.S. State Department issued an advisory on Tuesday for all Americans traveling to the year 1861. "Events are developing quickly in 1861 and the potential for widespread violence is high, so we recommend that all citizens planning to visit that year exercise abundant caution and make proper arrangements," said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, strongly advising against any non-essential travel to 1861 and the broader time period of the early 1860s in general. "We understand that despite the risks, some will still want to take advantage of the numerous sights and attractions of 1861. However, for those who do choose to go, please be aware that the State Department cannot guarantee your safety in that point in time." Psaki urged those intent on traveling to 1861 to be vigilant of their surroundings and, as always, avoid the undue creation of time paradoxes.
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Supreme Court: 'We Wear Gold Crowns Now'


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Console Repairs & more around Dudley
We're are based around 7 miles drive from Dudley, So if your console or laptop needs a repair why not get in touch with us then you can drop it into us to look at and repair for you. We offer a while you want Console Repairs service aswell
We repair all types of computer and anything related to them, from Laptops to Nintendo DS's, Xbox 360 to PS3′s and from network woes to virus removal. We offer call outs, remote support or a drop-in service, whichever is more convenient to you.
We also offer collect & return service for our customer based around Dudley for game console repairs & laptops repairs Please Contact Us about this
Console Repairs made on all Brands!
No matter who manufactured your device, or what issues your device is having, we will undertake any repair on any brand. During your service you'll be kept updated on the diagnosis and when repair has started and service has been completed.
We may need to ask permission to replace certain parts in your device, offer additional fault repairs, advise on possible data loss or aquire additional information which we will also notify you by service update so you remain in control at all times.
Our technicians are all time served with the knowledge and skills needed to almost anything with as little fuss as possible and we're constantly updating our service range so if something isn't listed here then please ask and we'll see if we can help you with your repair
Games Console Repairs
- Playstation 3 repairs – YLOD, not playing games,Freezing
- Xbox 360 repairs – RROD,Open tray,Freezing, E74 on screen
- Wii repair – not taking disks, not playing games, no display
- Wii U repair – not playing games, no power, no display
- Nintendo DS repairs – cracked screen, touch screen not working, not charging, no power
- PSP repairs – cracked screen, not playing games , not charging, no power
Computer repairs
- Laptop repairs – cracked screens, power jack fault, formats,windows reinstall
- Desktop repairs – formats,windows reinstall,no power,upgrades
- Custom Built systems – built for your need


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Housekeeping for Cataclysm
I'm not the neatest person in the world. It's true, I'll admit it. You'll just have to take my word for it. I consider myself mostly in the category of "messy." When I clean things, they will be spotless (this is a legacy of my mother's neat freak tendencies) but sometimes it's…finding the things underneath other things in order to clean them that is my issue.
There've been plenty of great posts about getting your finances, guild bank, and gear list in order for the launch of Cataclysm. What about your real-life environment and your food list? Most WoW players like to have some time to focus on the game to the exclusion of all else, at least initially. No, you don't need a catheter at your desk – but if you take care of your environment beforehand, you can focus on the game in comfort and (relative) cleanliness! Here's my plan.
The White Glove Test
- Set a time-frame. Last week I made sure the main floor of the house was spotless. This week I'm setting my sights on the upstairs – office and bedrooms, which are really the hardest parts. I am going to declutter these over the weekend before Monday and get them pretty clean.
- Clean a little beyond your usual standards. If you're pretty sure you'll be occupied with Cataclysm for awhile, clean a bit more than you usually do. It doesn't have to be spotless (unless your Mom is my Mom and let's be honest, what are the odds of that?) but the cleaner it is, the less you'll have to worry about for the next week or so.
- Keep your goals reasonable. If your apartment or house looks like ground zero right now – it's probably not going to be spotless in a week. Don't sweat it. But put some time into it if you want – you'd be surprised what a difference even an hour of decluttering and cleaning can do!
- Think how awesome this will be when you're leveling and you've got everything to hand – No, "Aggh where is my authenticator?" or scribbling on the backs of receipts and things to jot down a note (not that I've done that…)
If, like me, you'd like to not weigh twenty pounds more by January, it behooves you to think about this. That's why this list is going to focus on ideas for healthy meals and snacks to prepare. It's both Cataclysm AND the holiday season. If you plan or at least think about this in advance, you'll be thankful you did later.
You aren't going to want to cook. No, really, you aren't. You may still want to stop and cook, or you may not, or you may order pizza. Make it so that you don't have to – pre-cook and freeze some meals! I've used this trick to help with exam times when I was still in school, or other busy life periods (not pregnancy, but I did help fill a friend's freezer for when she was pregnant). Things that freeze well include:
- Hearty meals like chili, spaghetti sauce, and stew (only if the stew doesn't contain potatoes, as their texture is drastically altered by freezing)
- Homemade soups
- Pasta dishes, most rice dishes, most meat dishes
- Things that don't freeze well include: potatoes, eggs, anything that includes milk – they will tend to separate – Not very tasty.
- If you're not big into cooking, you could still secure some frozen meals from the grocery store. It's more expensive to do it that way but definitely a viable option. I've had some "pasta dishes in a bag" that were reasonably low-fat and basically just get tossed into a frying pan and heated. They tasted fine! Also frozen fish and instant rice packages with frozen vegetables makes an easy and fast meal – it's actually my meal of choice for raid nights when I don't have much time. I tell Voss, "Well, there's always Emergency Fish."
In-between actual meals, you are still going to want to snack on things. I plan on having many easy things on hand – and when I say "easy things" I'm not talking bags of chips. Here are some of my snack ideas (I use these for raiding, too, but you bet they'll apply to Cataclysm). I'll be stocking my fridge and pantry with these!
- Cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, snap peas, mushrooms, cucumber, sliced sweet peppers, broccoli florets
- Low-sugar cereals
- Small containers of yogurt
- Cheese sticks or individually wrapped low-fat cheeses, with or without crackers
- Small cans of flavoured tuna (preferably not packed in oil), these are awesome on crackers!
- Low-fat pepperoni sticks, lunch meat
- Apples, many apples – I usually eat one with a bit of peanut butter on it, they are also good sliced with cheese and eaten on toast
- Nuts, nut mixes – I like roasted soy nuts and also these nuts I've been eating recently– Almonds with a bit of cayenne? Note, nuts are higher in fat, but it's unsaturated ("good" fat) so long as you don't overdo it
- If you must have sweets, consider baking your own cookies or other treat. Homemade is usually much better for you than store bought.
- Pitas/tortillas
- Low-fat herbed cream cheese spread, hummus
- The two items above are great with vegetables – you can toss some veg into a pita with hummus and you have a snack, or spread cream cheese on a tortilla, cover with lettuce and add low-fat meat and you have a wrap!
- Low-sodium canned soups and other easy-to-prepare meals
- Bread for sandwiches – you can even freeze a loaf or too if you'd like.
- Canned beans – tomato based, I don't like the really sweet kinds. I eat them on toast.
- Baked tortillas and salsa make for another easy snack.
Of course this depends on your tastes and things you like to eat generally – you'll notice I didn't put "three bags of chips" on my list, or any pop/soda. I might have a few fruit juices, but generally I drink water and milk and that's it. Even if you like to have these other drinks consider that you're probably playing more than you usually do – things that are just "sometimes" might become more like "all the time" right after Cataclysm hits. Not loading your body with sugar and caffeine will help you play longer because you won't crash after they wear off! You probably won't feel like you've gone on a bender, either.
All Good Things
Although I fully intend to play the heck out of Cataclysm when it hits (see: food and house preparation plans) I also know that it's important to have a break from it. Rest your eyes, take your dog for a walk and peel yourself away from the screen for a minute. It'll be there when you get back, I promise. In a few years it will be old news and we'll be hoping for the next expansion, so why not savour it a bit? Moreover, if it starts to feel like a job and you aren't having fun – turn it off. I know some folks have big plans to get server firsts, fair enough – planning these things will help and not hinder you! But once you've achieved a milestone, make sure to get some sleep. You'll have fun and be rested for any holiday celebrations you've got planned later in the month.
Do you have any ideas for snacks or things I didn't mention? How are you preparing yourself for Cataclysm?


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Ellington, Duke
Ellington, Duke (Edward Kennedy Ellington), 1899–1974, American jazz musician and composer, b. Washington, D.C. Ellington made his first professional appearance as a jazz pianist in 1916. By 1918 he had formed a band, and after appearances in nightclubs in Harlem he became one of the most famous figures in American jazz. Ellington's orchestra played compositions and arrangements, some by hime alone, many by or in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn, and others written by Ellington and other members of his band (but often not credited to them). He achieved a fine unity of style, based in blues, but elegant and tonal, and made many innovations in the jazz idiom. Many instrumental virtuosos worked closely with Ellington for long periods of time. Among his best-known short works are
Mood Indigo, Solitude, and Sophisticated Lady. He also wrote jazz works of complex orchestration and ambitious scope for concert presentation, notably Creole Rhapsody (1932), Black, Brown and Beige (1943), Liberian Suite (1947), Harlem (1951), and Night Creatures (1955), and composed religious music, including three sacred concerts (1965, 1968, and 1973). Ellington made many tours of Europe, appeared in numerous jazz festivals and several films, and made hundreds of recordings. In 1969 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
See his memoir, Music Is My Mistress (1973); M. Tucker, ed., The Duke Ellington Reader (1993); M. Ellington (his son) and S. Dance, Duke Ellington in Person (1978); biographies by B. Ulanov (1946, repr. 1976), J. L. Collier (1989), M. Tucker (1991), J. E. Hass (1993), A. H. Lawrence (2001), and T. Teachout (2013); S. Dance, The World of Duke Ellington (1970); H. G. Cohen, Duke Ellington's America (2010).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Music: Popular and Jazz: Biographies


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The image you see above is purportedly traces of the ruins of the Lost City of Atlantis, found on Google Earth. Let's weigh the evidence for and against, and see what we can conclude.
Conclusion 1: This Is Atlantis, Dammit!
The enigmatic lines were found under the sea off the north-western coast of Africa. This location is awfully close to one of the spots Plato, Legendary Smart Dude, had pinpointed as a possible resting place of Atlantis. In addition, the site is about the same size as Plato described. And if we accept Google's explanation, why is this the first such grid we've seen, in this very suspicious location?
Conclusion 2: It's Not Atlantis, Dammit!
Google claims that the lines are remnants of the sonar traces left by boats as they surveyed the area. Plus, Plato described Atlantis as being designed as a series of concentric circles, not a grid. Sub-argument: Plato's description of Atlantis was fictional, and the entire internet is really bored.
I think the arguments speak for themselves. ATLANTIS IS OBVIOUSLY REAL! [CNET, Google]


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Tomorrow I will introduce the wine that goes with everything. But if you are hosting a Sampler sample party, this can be a guide for a variety of varietals.
Coconut – tricky, but a velvety Malbec would be sufficient
Chocolate whip – Gewertztraminer, Sparkling Moscato, Banyuls
Pecan & English Walnut Chew – Pinot Noir, Reisling
Molasses Chew – Gewertztraminer
Fruit Nut Caramel – Pinot Noir
Maple Fudge – Reisling
Toffee – Malbec
Cherry Cordial – Sparkling Moscato
Nuts – Merlot, Noir and tomorrow's pick
Check back tomorrow for the wine that pairs with all of the above!!


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Alright, since many of you may be confused at this point of time, let's tackle this one by one. Camel and ostrich racing? You bet! Come on down and "step back in time" to scenic Virginia City (only a 45 min. drive up the hill from Reno) where you'll see camels and ostriches alike race down the track for the weekend. If you're lucky, you'll see them buck off a rider or two (I know I did). If you haven't heard of the good ol' V-C (Virginia City), I suggest you check it out - especially if you're partial to old mining towns, ghosts, and cowboys (it was also where Mark Twain officially began his writing career). What I really like about Virginia City is that, although it's a "tourist" kind of town, it doesn't give off that feel at all. They've kept all their buildings intact as they were back in the day, the locals dress up in Victorian and western wear for fun, and they hold bizarre events like the International Camel Races.
As most locals will tell you, the camel races began in true Virginia City spirit - as a hoax. In the Comstoke Lode days, camels were introduced to the area as pack animals to carry supplies but, of course, as the steam railroad grew in popularity - taking off much of the proverbial load - the somewhat smelly and not too agreeable animals were released into the hills...never to be seen again (so they say). Until in 1959, a local editor wrote a fictitious account of a camel race held in none other than Virginia City. The next year, he followed up with this prank for an announcement in the paper for the event. In true Virginia City spirit, the locals answered the challenge - borrowing a camel from the San Francisco Zoo. And, as they say, the rest is history.
Fast forward to the camel races in 2011 where the spectator crowd grows just as much as the antics do. Of course, this time around, prize-winning alpacas were also roaming around - cute as a button and soft as...well, alpaca.
|Feeding the locals...
So if you're in our neck of the sagebrush come September - be sure to stop in Virginia City for a ramblin' good time.
|May the Wind Currents Be With You...
Of course, your weekend doesn't stop there. We still have Darth Vadar and panda balloons to discuss! During your stay in Reno, Nevada (after visiting Jimmy Beans Wool, of course!), be sure to check out the "Great Reno Balloon Race", too! This particular race, although also extending the three days of the weekend, happens in the air and is just as much fun. Wake up early to see "Dawn Patrol" where five balloons rise in the wee hours of the morning to light up the sky. It's truly a beautiful sight and I wish I had pictures to share but...alas, I was tired and too busy drinking my thermos of coffee. However, I did snap shots of the main event - literally hundreds of hot air balloons taking flight. And yes, it really is a race! There are targets set up on the ground where participants will throw their 'markers' to track their course and at stake is a whoopin' $10,000.
Now, I know I mentioned cheetahs...and yes, we really do have a cheetah in Nevada and it is not at a zoo (or a casino). The Animal Ark is a wildlife sanctuary that harbors injured animals (or those no longer fit to remain in the wild) in a natural setting. So they have a few different types of animals ranging from wolves and bears (oh my!) to foxes and owls...and, of course, cheetahs! The Animal Ark believes that because cheetahs were built for speed so in order for them to be happy and healthy cheetahs, they must run at top speed regularly. So they built a track where the cheetah's favorite toy is run along a wire - at 70 mph...and they chase it! The people who run the "Ark" do this once a week with their cheetahs but only invite the public every other month. So we finally went and of course it was awesome. It's amazing to see a grown cheetah act like a kitten - trying to pounce on its favorite toy and after, purr like one too!
So - I'm not entirely sure what this post was supposed to be about. Maybe to give readers out there some sort of idea of where we're located and what we actually do around here. Alright, maybe we don't do this every week but it's fun checking out the 'local' areas of interest....right? :) What about your hometown? Any annual events that we should be on the look-out for?
Anyways, I hope everyone out there is having fun, staying safe, and enjoying the seasons change...day by day. Happy knitting!


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The art of a people is a true mirror of their minds. -Jawaharlal Nehru
Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.
-Andre Gide
I thought since I was talking about creativity & making vision boards that I should add some additional tips and tricks to get you moving in a NEW direction. There is a lot to be said about the creativity of the soul…
Here are some suggestions taken from an article 21 Ways to Be More Creative
by Christine Kane and some other good stuff by me!!
1 – Stop watching television
Or better yet, get rid of the damn thing. Any time I teach writing or creativity, this is one of the biggies. TV is a mind-killer. It numbs you. It fills you with emotionally-charged images and over-simplified solutions. It dulls you. Turn it off. Even if this idea scares you, turn it off.
2 – Take a 20-minute walk everyday
It's easy to become driven about exercise. You go to the Y. You go running. You think that a 20-minute walk isn't productive or worth much. Take a 20-minute walk and allow the world to just be. Watch things. Stop and smell things. Notice birds. Let the world unfold and show itself to you.
3 – Write with pen & paper (or pencil and paper)
Keep a journal. Do morning pages. Write in long-hand. Typing on a keypad into a computer doesn't always open up that tactile sense-loving part of us that loves to create.
4 – Write songs to your pets
5 – Dance around the House
Put on old disco (Earth, Wind, and Fire, baby!), or new Madonna, or swing. Put it on loud. Dance
around your house while you make dinner. Or start the day shakin' your groove thang.
6 – Walk in the rain
I haven't owned an umbrella in about 10 years. I love the rain. I love walking in it. I wrote the song Everything Green after I hiked in the mountains in the pouring rain. I was journaling about how alive everything was, and I wrote "It was all just rain and mud and wild and green." That's how I got my CD title. Walking in the rain can be a happy thing. (Use an umbrella if you want. Rain on umbrellas makes a good sound.)
7 – Make a collage
Magazines. Some Yes Paste. A scrapbook page and lots of crayons and paints and stickers. (And thou.) This isn't a vision board. It doesn't have a purpose. It's just for fun and beauty and making something. I love collaging. I'm not great at it. But I've gotten better and better at laying out the page and learning what colors and shapes I love. I always feel more alive when I do one.
8 – Make a list of things you love
My song Loving Hands (on my first CD) was born out of a journal exercise I did where I just wrote a long list of all the things I love. That song remains one of my most requested songs. I had so much fun thinking of things that delight me in the world. Finding feathers, finding pennies, the sound of big flags flapping in the wind, the smell of my cat's fur when she's been out in the snow (she smells like a big box of wool mittens). I remember reading it to a friend of mine who just sat there smiling and nodding his head. Even though this was years ago, I still remember how much fun I had making that list.
9 – Write 10 postcards
Go pick out some really cool postcards, and then go to a cafe somewhere, and order your Genmaicha Tea (Okay, get yourself a Latte if you want) and write postcards to friends and family.
10 – Get up early and watch the sun rise
11 – Listen to music you've never listened to before.
After I saw the movie Tortilla Soup, I downloaded a bunch of Latin music from iTunes. One of my favorite nights in my memory this year was a hot rainy night thick with humidity. My husband and I opened up all the windows and doors. We pressure cooked (I love our pressure cooker) some black beans, shared a froo-froo mixed drink and made a fantastic dinner while all of my new Latin and Tejano music was cranked up. It was one of those really happy nights, partly because I loved discovering new music.
12 – Eat with your hands
Be a kid again. Make a meal and put the silverware back into the drawers. Eat with your hands. Have some friends over for a silverwareless dinner.
13 – Be quiet
Light a few candles after dark and just sit. Don't meditate if you don't want to. Just sit quietly and listen. Watch the candles. Allow for more silence in your life.
We are a noisy people. I hear people say they can't stand silence. But it is in silence where we can hear the voice of our creativity. Maybe not at first. But it will come.
Drive with no music on. Make dinner in silence. Pay attention to your hands as you slice the veggies. Just be quiet.
14 – Take a nap
15 – Take photos. Real photos. Not digital photos.
My favorite camera is a Pentax K1000. It's completely manual, and it's how I learned to take pictures. I'm not very good. When I first moved to Asheville, I used to walk around town on Sundays (the whole town was closed up then) and take pictures of all the buildings. These photos are now a treasure to me because nothing is the same anymore. (Every building has been bought, remodeled and now is filled with stores that sell trickly fountains, Buddahs, and things that smell grassy.)
Take pictures of anything. And have fun in the old method of actually getting your film developed and the excitement of flipping through photos you haven't seen yet.
16 – Make an event out of watching the full moon come up
One of the things I love about my husband is that he's always looking for the perfect place to watch the full moon come up. He'll make an event out of it. We pile in the car and go to this one field or to a bench on the college campus and sit and watch the moon rise.
17 – Read poetry aloud
Poetry is meant to be read aloud. The words and phrases will tilt your brain and open doors like you never thought they would. My favorites: Mary Oliver, e.e. cummings, Rumi, Pablo Neruda, Sharon Olds, Barbara Brooks, and Alicia Suskin Ostriker. There are lots of collections of poetry if you don't want to pick just one.
18 – Go see a play or live music or live anything
Get out of the house and experience creativity. Avoid mega-blockbuster-Hollywood movies whose trailers begin with the deep gravelly voice saying, "IN A WORLD_" (And then bombs go off and Mel Gibson appears)
Live performance is an exchange. As an audience member you get to participate. I know this because I perform. Every night is different. Everything is about the audience. You receive so much more energy from live shows. Go see the symphony, even the small local symphony. See a play. See some improv. There is so much life on a stage, so many improvisational moments, so much about authenticity. You can't help but take it in.
19 – Visit a gallery
See another artist's creation. The downtown of any city is bound to have some great galleries. You don't have to buy anything. Just experience the artistry of someone gifted in glass blowing or pottery or woodwork.
20 – Write a letter
When was the last time you wrote a letter? I just got a long letter from one of the women who participated in my last retreat. It was funny. And it was fun to read. And I kept thinking, "Damn. It's been too long since I've experienced this." Every time I write a letter, I feel clearer and happier. Not only is it more fun to make something for someone else, it's also just a way to get out of yourself.
21 – Stop watching television
This is an important one. It bears repeating. There are so many better things you can do than watch American Idol


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The King now has a Queen.
Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill, 29, married model Lily Aldridge, 25, on Thursday in California, his rep confirms to PEOPLE.
"It was a perfect day," says Followill.
The couple exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony with just family in attendance at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, Calif., at 5:30 p.m..
The bride wore a custom made strapless Vera Wang gown with layers of chantilly and corded lace appliqué and raw edge swirling chiffon detail at the back. The groom wore a Gucci suit.
The couple, engaged since last fall, plan to have a larger party at a later date following their small, intimate ceremony, the groom's bandmate and brother Jared recently told PEOPLE.
Aldridge has already been welcomed into the Followill family with open arms. Says Jared: "We love her!"
Kings of Leon hits the road again in late May in support of their latest album, Come Around Sundown.


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Did I mention that I really love my work? This week work took me to Frome — a beautiful small town in a part of Somerset which I have never visited. I was there to see Jen . . .
. . . and also got to hang out with Jim (the inimitable Veuf Tricot) and Scooter. The latter is a very smart feline — far too smart to injure his dignity posing for photographs.
Jen and I worked (and plotted) really hard, and then then took an afternoon off to potter around town. I'm really glad we did, as Frome is a place that seems to demand pottering.
Everywhere you look, there are inviting windows to peer into. . .
And things to look at . . .
(This needle-felted Seagull mask was one of an incredible collection in a shop called OWL. )
On Catherine Hill, there are several fabulous vintage stores, selling niche and carefully curated garments and objects. I love this selection of cloches . . .
. . . and am concerned that this dress and its very particular green is going to haunt me.
Catherine Hill also boasts a lovely haberdashery shop called Millie Moon
I have a mild addiction to ribbons and trims . . .
. . . which was certainly fed there.
And best of all, Catherine Hill has its own lovely yarn shop – Marmalade Yarns
In this extremely pretty and well-situated shop, Catriona and Maxine sell a superb selection of British yarns from mainstream producers like Rowan to some of the best independents like Skein Queen, Fyberspates, and Shilasdair. Marmalade Yarns is also a stockist of (ahem) ME. I don't think it will ever stop being exciting to visit a place that sells my book and patterns.
(Jen and Catriona outside Marmalade Yarns. Yes, Catriona is wearing an o w l sweater!)
Thankyou, Jen, for a fun and productive couple of days, and for a great introduction to Frome!


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Beatrix and Peter
Something about this time of year always makes me ponder rabbits. So, who better to feature than the creator of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866 and died on December 22, 1943. Young Beatrix spent many hours sketching her beloved animals. She and her younger brother Bertram explored the countryside in England, as well as Scotland. Although she studied at the National Art Training School between 1878 and 1883, her delightful style of animal antics was primarily self-taught. Her talent for drawing grew and she later made up animal stories to go with her illustrations. Thanks to her father's interest in photography, there are many pictures chronicling her life.
Her first works were printed as greeting cards. In 1902, Frederick Warne & Co. published her enchanting The Tale of Peter Rabbit. This began her career where she wrote and illustrated more than two dozen books for children, including The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and other classics. In 1913, Potter married local lawyer William Heelis (after a much earlier romance with Norman Warne, who died weeks after his proposal). Her book-work slowed down now that she spent more time on farming and conservation than she did on writing, due not only to a growing interest in her land, but to her failing eyesight, as well. She was also a prosperous breeder of sheep, shown at right with her dog Kep.
Two wonderful events are happening this year to honor 150 years since the birth of Beatrix Potter. The Royal Mint has put Peter Rabbit on a 50p silver coin. He will be the first character from children's literature ever to appear on a UK coin. Stay tuned, three more of Potter's animal friends will also be on coins!
My second surprise is a long-lost story of Beatrix Potter's will be published for the first time this year. The manuscript will need a bit of editing and unfortunately only one illustration was found, but talented Quentin Blake has stepped in to bring The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots to life. Look for it in your favorite bookstore next September. Meanwhile, enjoy this beautiful spring, be on the watch for bunnies, and Happy Easter to all who celebrate!
- Posted in: Art ♦ Children's Books ♦ History
- Tagged: Beatrix Potter, children's books, Easter, Peter Rabbit
52 Comments
What a wonderful story to tell! Of course, we all grew up with Beatrix Potter. Her stories are timeless!
Love her books! So glad my grandson has copies of her stories!
That's great news about the coin!
A perfect post for Easter!
This is such a lovely post Marcia and perfect for Easter! I knew about the coin (and can't wait to own one) but missed the news about the long-lost book, how exciting. I'm not sure about Quentin Blake. I like his style, but I'm not sure it will complement Beatrix Potter – I guess time will tell.
Coincidentally, I've just read The shepherd's life by James Rebanks. It is a beautifully written book, and Beatrix Potter is mentioned more than once. It was recommended to me by an employee of Waterstones. I wasn't sure I would enjoy it but I can honestly say I didn't want it to end and will be reading it again very soon.
Happy Easter. xx
Her bunny illustrations are really the classics, aren't they. Soft yet adventurous-looking. 🙂 Hope you had a happy Easter celebration with your family, Marcia.
Marcia! Your Web site is beautiful and I LOVE this post about Beatrix Potter. She is one of my favorite writers — I've read quite a lot about her and you showed me things I hadn't seen and told me things I didn't know. Thank you.
What a delightful post on one of my favorite illustrators and authors! I love Beatrix Potter's Books and enjoyed the film "Miss Potter" very much! Peter Rabbit and his timeless antics are so much fun to read. Potter's illustrations are just beautiful! How very exciting that a new book will be published after so many years after her death. I enjoyed looking at all the great photos of Beatrix and her family! Your post is so well done! Perfect for spring! 🙂
Another beautiful post!! I never knew how interesting Beatrix Potter was. I only knew Peter Rabbit!!
Marcia, your posts are so informative. I would love, love to obtain a 50p coin with Peter Rabbit on it. Do I have to travel to the UK to get it? Maybe my traveling daughter can find one on her trips to Scotland.


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Welcome to W-2 News, the electronic newsletter for employers who submit W-2s to Social Security.
Prior Issues
Issue 2013-01
November 26, 2013
SUBJECT: W-2News: Important Filing Alert and Reminders
Due to the recent government shutdown, the dates for Tax Year 2013 wage reporting and processing will be delayed as follows:
- SSA's Electronic Wage Reporting applications will close on 12/20/13 and reopen on 12/23/13;
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