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User-friendly PKI: not yetPosted: 12 November 2010 Filed under: security | Tags: gpg, pgp, pki, privacy, security 2 Comments
Public-key infrastructure is great. When it works, you can be quite sure that you are communicating with whom you want to communicate, and you can even communicate securely if you wish. Alice and Clare can send each other mail, and Bob won't be able to sneak in there and read it.
It's supremely easy for Alice to create a private key, and publish her public key to a keyserver. "That's it?" she thinks, with a leap of her heart. "Wow! It's so easy!"
Let's fast-forward a bit.
For a while, Alice and Clare have fun sending encrypted messages back and forth. They find a plug-in to send encrypted mail through their GMail accounts (FireGPG), and that's useful for a while, although oops, the developer discontinues GMail support. But they can still use other clients, and they do so.
Things are hunky-dory for a while.
Then one day Alice upgrades her computer, and she forgets to migrate her private key over to the new box. She doesn't have her passphrase at hand, of course, because she had her e-mail client save it for her; she had it on a sticky note so she only had to look it up once in a while.
"Oh, well," thinks Alice. "I'll just create a new public key."
Oops. Is this user-friendly?
Now Alice has a PGP key sitting out there on a keyserver. She can't use it because she doesn't have the equivalent private key. She can't revoke it because she didn't think it was that important to create a revocation certificate at the time and save it. Someone told her to do that once. "Don't save it in the cloud, but on a disk that would never lose its data and could never be compromised. Then lock it away in a safe in your basement. You did make sure your basement was a Faraday cage, didn't you?"
PKI is such a useful, powerful tool. But… it's still very easy to screw up and cause lasting damage, though. I guess it's like a "Hole Hawg," an apt comparison to other powerful technologies, as noted by Neal Stephenson.
There IS an option for Alice. She can create a new key, with a user ID like: "only use this key. That other one is bad," and then get all her friends to sign the new key. There are other techniques, but that's pretty much as close as she's going to get.
Questions like this in security-related topics interest me: If it's easier to use, will more people use it? And if it's more widely used, will that increase its relevance?


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Combustible Woods
The light-filled, newly finished kitchen in James Woods' Beverly Hills home is aglow with warm woods and hand-embossed copper. The six-burner cooktop stove rests in the granite center island. The contents of the refrigerator and the cupboards are immaculately arranged. The kitchen has clean lines, yet it looks as if it was also designed to be messed up. Cooked in. Dined in. It is huge and homey.
James Woods grabs cans out of the cupboards and pulls the eggs and butter out of the fridge. Like he does most days, he concocts a meal that would make even uber-homemaker Martha Stewart green with envy, all the while carrying on a rapid-fire monologue about the sorry state of affairs between men and women at the close of the millennium. Concentrating on slicing the onions for the home fries, he takes a moment to fire up a Montecristo No. 2. Nattily dressed in a pair of olive corduroy pants with a perfectly pressed Ralph Lauren shirt (yes, he even does his own ironing)--James Woods seems like the answer to every woman's dream. Why isn't this man married?
Then, as he discusses the contents of the morning's Los Angeles Times editorial page, he opens a can of whole potatoes for the home fries. Culinary Secrets of James Woods, Lesson One: Don't be afraid to use canned food. As he scrambles the eggs, he wonders whether onions and cheese would be a welcome addition. He sets the table with some wonderful old dishes, talks about playing golf through back pain during the previous week's Pebble Beach Open, and squeezes fresh orange juice, all while watching over six pots on the stove, each one at a critical point. And, of course, talking seven million miles a minute.
Everything about the brunch is perfection--right down to the crisply cooked bacon, gently wrapped in paper towels to soak up the excess grease. Culinary Secrets of James Woods, Lesson Two: Pay attention to details. Which brings us to the most important Culinary Secret of James Woods: Stay in control. Complete control. And yet make everything look easy. Effortless.
Perched on a bar stool amid the pots and the plates of food, Woods muses over the "bad boy" perception that just about everyone seems to have about him. "I don't get why people don't understand this about me. I'm like the nicest guy on earth. I wasn't that bad to begin with. I was just a little insecure. I was scary in movies, I wasn't scary in real life. I was kind of a minor, minor, minor league little troublemaker. I wasn't a big one like most of them.
"One of the reasons people think I'm tough is, when you're insecure, you kind of compensate by being a little hysterical. I'd kind of have little mini fits every once in a while. Little 'poo-poo head in the schoolyard' fits. Now I realize that nobody's interested. It doesn't work. It doesn't help me at all. So I decided to kind of shut up and be an adult. To be a little bit less of an asshole and a little bit more of a man. And given this moment right now, I'm glad I finally did something with it. I'm glad I stopped the bullshit that I wasted my time with for the past 20 years. And for the first time in my life, I think I'm really, really happy. I guess I'm finally sort of accepting things I can't control anymore."
A Zen philosopher once said that you can never step into the same river twice. Well, the same holds true with the Woods. Yet he is always engaging. Consistently enigmatic. Exasperating. Often brashly charismatic. He is a man who possesses the appealing combination of being seriously smart and dangerously funny. He is a gentleman of the highest order, tempered by just enough of the rogue to keep you constantly off balance. He is opinionated, strong willed and unafraid to stand behind what he says, or what he has done.
Sure, he has made mistakes, many of them publicly, and has paid a higher price than most--usually in the media. But he has learned from all of them. The product of a loving family, he yearns for the companionship of an as yet unnamed soul mate. And, at 50, his biological clock is ticking. Loudly.
What distinguishes James Woods in an overcrowded con-stellation of movie stars is a consummate talent: a rare set of gifts and skills combined with passion, a creative fearlessness and a determination to achieve his vision. This alchemizes into an unstoppable artistic force that must always be reckoned with, offscreen as well as on.
"Actors of Jimmy's intensity and brilliance produce in the public mind an image that spills over into real life," says Frank Pierson, director of Woods in HBO's Citizen Cohn. "People tend to watch them closely, hoping to see when they might slip over the edge and do something really bad. So if they see him coming first, they can cross over to the other side of the street. Truly, Woods walks upon life's stage with the same white heat with which he acts. And nobody who knows him can call him unopinionated."
Woods' opinions carry over to such everyday considerations as cigar storage. He is unashamed to admit that, in spite of the elegant Dunhill humidor that graces a shelf in his library, he stores most of his prize cigars in a Tupperware container with a natural sponge and some distilled water. With his trademark grin and a devilish gleam in his eye, he says, "Aficionado, my ass. I just love to smoke cigars." As he takes the lid off the box and proffers a Hoyo de Monterrey, he adds, "The humidor is such a pain in the ass. I take them out and roll them every once in a while, and if they sound right and they smell right and they're not flaking, they are fine."
After he washes the dishes and finishes cleaning the kitchen, Woods continues the conversation in the library. The design and construction of his home, a seven-year undertaking, is nearing its final phase. With a distinct Frank Lloyd Wright feel, the home was built on the former site of violinist Jasha Heifitz's house. Woods even went so far as to have Heifitz's Wright-designed practice studio disassembled and reconstructed as a donation to the Colburn School of Music in San Diego. An iron gazebo, following the same architectural lines as the original studio, now stands in its former location.
"We spent four months sitting on this property on ladders, imagining what the sun would do at different times of day so that we could design the house," says Woods. "It's sort of like the Grand Canyon in the sense that there is never a moment when it ever looks the same as any other moment. The light is always different. It was a matter of envisioning the house and then building it piece by piece. I just wanted to see if I could create something that was beautiful and something that reflected my needs. I love to read, I always wanted a library--now I have one. I think it's a beautiful little library. I wanted a bright kitchen where people could enjoy themselves. I love gardens where I could sit and think. I said that I wanted it wide open and yetI wanted to have little cloisters, hidden areas, pockets of comfort that you find sort of out of nowhere where you can just disappear for a while and be by yourself. It was kind of an odd challenge. And finally I said, I want it to look like it was the newest house on the block--if it were 1936. I was going for a degree of difficulty here."
As he builds a fire in the fire-place and lights his cigar, Woods thinks for a moment about what caused him to take stock of his life and make the much-needed changes. In his case, the motivation for change was a lot of pain. "You always think that you're going to avoid a midlife crisis. But it just sneaks up and gets you no matter what. I had mine with a lot of help from my second ex-wife. She was really kind of a ship passing in the night; she just turned out to be the Exxon Valdez. It was kind of a lesson about how horribly another human being can treat you. You never really expect it. In my heart, I'm really kind of an optimist about human nature. But there is always a wonderful lesson out there with three sixes tattooed on its forehead that will teach you otherwise. "And I'm kind of glad that it did. It was kind of a purging experience because I've trusted the kindness inside of me rather than running from it like I used to in the old days."
Born on April 18, 1947, the eldest son of a military hero and a preschool teacher, Woods and his brother, Michael, grew up in Illinois, Virginia, Guam and Rhode Island. His father died when Woods was 12 and his mother, Martha, raised her sons as a single parent, while running a private school. "My parents loved each other," Woods recalls. "I was raised in a house of total love and respect. My dad worked very hard and my mother was incredibly devoted to him. I can unequivocally, without any peradventure of doubt, tell you that I was raised with the kind of love that we only dream of," Woods says. "My mother and my father loved me and my brother like we love the air we breathe--out of necessity. It was a necessity for them to love us in some deep inner genetic calling in their hearts and minds and souls. I have that as a standard."
His mother reports that as a young boy, Woods and his best friend would open a dictionary, close their eyes and choose a word at random. The pair would then use the word all week long--in school, at home, even on the playground, most of the time to the bewilderment of friends, playmates and teachers. "I was really bright as a kid and tested well, and it was clear that I was going to get scholarships to any schools I wanted. My dad always said I could be an engineer; at that time it was the elite of society: steady job, working in science, which was then the answer to every problem we had. It was kind of a mandate. Kind of a dream he had for me."
Woods was first drawn to acting as a senior in high school in Providence, Rhode Island. "I did 'Little Foxes' at Pilgrim High. I won an acting award and I thought, 'This is a really cool thing to do.' " But the desire to please his late father propelled his collegiate career into a different direction. Woods was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship, majoring not in the physical sciences, but in political science. He also pursued acting, appearing in 36 plays at MIT, Harvard and the Theater Company of Boston, and performed in summer stock at the Provincetown Playhouse. He dropped out of MIT during his last year to move to New York and pursue acting full-time. "It was a very wrenching and painful decision for me--in my senior year at MIT, on high dean's list and full scholarships--to decide that maybe I wanted to be an artist. I think it is actually something that my father would understand. Whether I'm making 30 grand a day or union scale, I have found something that I truly love, and that is something he would have admired."
Woods loves to act--whatever the medium. Trained as a theater actor, he has made the successful transition from stage to film to television and back again. He is comfortable in all three, and understands the unique requirements of each discipline.
"I always have a rule that acting is acting and truth is truth and you just go out there and you do it," he says. "But what happens in each medium is that you have other responsibilities. The acting remains the same, but each medium dictates assuming other halves to make the acting work. When I'm working on a film, I just play the absolute purity of the moments. I don't worry about the pacing, because the pacing is going to be dictated by the director and the editor. On the stage I have to give pacing to the play. As an actor, you, in fact, become the editor of the piece, in terms of the timing. You are required to engineer the pace yourself. In television, everything is in so close, that you realize that most of what you do has to register in your thought process."
While many actors snub the notion of working on television, throughout his career Woods has found some of his biggest creative challenges on the small screen. "A cardinal rule of being a movie star, according to the agents and all the people who have wisdom, is that you should be aloof, do very little press and you shouldn't ever get on television. I don't think there is a piece of political film making in the United States that is a good as, let alone better than, Citizen Cohn. Let's assume that I am not even in the picture. I mean, just the writer of the piece, David Franzoni. I look at Promise, written by Richard Friendenberg and directed by Glenn Jordan, a wonderful director. Forgetting that I am in it, just looking at the material itself, My Name Is Bill W. would not have had the same impact if it were a feature film; it would have come and gone. But on television, 25 million people get to watch it all at the same time. So television has a power all its own and it has an allure all its own, and I think that television often deals with more meaningful subjects than many feature films do."
Yet Woods always returns to film, because of the scope of the medium. "I think Ghosts of Mississippi was a meaningful film and I think Contact [due out this summer] will be another. In film, the canvas is bigger, and you are in a big room with a lot of people watching it."
Capturing the viewer's imagination is something Woods has always been able to do. He first received notice as Barbra Streisand's guy pal in The Way We Were. Over the years, his career has taken him from the role as the amoral journalist Richard Boyle in Salvador, to the icy H.R. Haldeman in 1995's Nixon, both for director Oliver Stone. He has won an Emmy Award for portraying the schizophrenic "D.J." opposite James Garner in the ABC movie Promise, and also was honored for his role as the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in My Name Is Bill W., also with Garner. (Woods gave up his profit participation on the video sales so the movie could be donated to Alcoholics Anonymous chapters.) He has gone from leading man as Sen. Joseph McCarthy co-counsel Roy Cohn in Citizen Cohn to the scene-stealing cameo role of Lester Diamond in Martin Scorcese's Casino. In the 1996 CBS made-for-television movie The Summer of Ben Tyler, he played a man who adopted a retarded black child in the 1940s. Woods said he took the role to cleanse himself of the oppressive psychic weight of turning in a haunting performance as the unrepentant racist Byron de la Beckwith in Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi, a role that earlier this year earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, his first Oscar nomination since the 1986 film Salvador. Then there's his tour de force in The Onion Fields, and his standout performances in HBO's Indictment: The McMartin Trial, and the 1995 film The Specialist. His résumé is as varied as the man himself.
Woods is clearly on a mission. "I'm now making up for an incredible amount of lost time. You lose time when you haven't defined what you want in your life. It is easy to achieve your goals--the tough part is defining them. Now I make a point of defining them. I said to my new agents at [International Creative Management], 'No more shit. No more [Creative Artists Agency] pay-the-rent shit. I want to work on the best scripts, with the best directors. I don't care about the money. I don't care about the size of the part or the billing and all that other stuff. But I want to do material that is great. With directors and actors that are great.'
"You see, I have always wanted on my tombstone: 'He Played the Part Better than Anybody Could Have'--whatever that part may have been. I don't ever want to say that I'm the best actor in the world. But I'd like to think that when I do a part, that people can't imagine anybody else doing it after I have done it."
Pierson sums up working with Woods this way: "What is it like to direct Jimmy Woods? I wouldn't know. You don't direct him. You surf him. It's like surf-riding the biggest wave you ever saw. A moving mountain of energy and inventiveness and intelligence. And if you stay standing up, it's the biggest damn thrill of any director's lifetime."
Woods often makes surprising career choices, but there is a method to his madness. "If you star in movies, which I predominantly do, most agents would assume that you don't want to do a two-day part in a movie," he says. "But when you read a script like Casino and you know it is being directed by a genius like Martin Scorcese, you say, hey, I'll be an extra in this movie. I'll do anything. I called up Marty and said, 'Any part, anytime, anyplace, anywhere.' Because I want to work in good scripts with good directors, and this was a great script with a phenomenal director, it makes the choice really easy. We ended up making a two-scene part into a 10-scene part. Which proves my point. When you're working with great people and great material, you're going to milk it. I have learned that you can't be a champion unless you are in the championship zone. You can't win unless you're in the zone, whatever winning might mean. Right now, maybe they are not going to star me in a $100 million movie all by myself the way they would some other actor, but if I'm in that championship zone, I have got a shot."
Twice recently he has been in the zone, auditioning for and winning the roles of H.R. Haldeman in Nixon and Byron de la Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi. Unlike other actors of his level, Woods says he is proud to have auditioned. "One of the things that was a challenge for me [about Nixon] is that Oliver Stone did not want me to play the part of Haldeman. He said, 'You're not right for this part, Jimmy. This guy is very restrained, very cold, a very straight-edged, square guy. You're a mercurial artist. Impulsive. Passionate. Emotional.' And I said, 'Oliver, it's the old joke--it's called acting. I think I can do it.' "
The proof is on the screen. And with it, a valuable lesson in his own creative evolution. "I'm hoping that my inner life that is usually expressed in an outer way, if I keep it inside, will make the dry dimension of the character--the repressed dimension--more vital, because you can smell the chaos and the drive and ambition underneath the guy," he says, warming to his topic. "You can yell and scream all the way through the movie and usually everybody thinks that's great acting. The toughest part is to do all that--now lock it up and put it inside and be as cool as you can be on the screen. You have to have done all your work in the chaos department ahead of time and just have it under there and parcel it out in tiny little flashes. That's the hardest thing to do. Haldeman was one of the most difficult jobs of my entire career, and one of the ones of which I'm the most proud. And probably one of the ones that most people won't notice."
Oliver Stone, who has seen Woods on both sides of his personal transformation, says, "In the old days, I used to want to strangle Jimmy with my bare hands. But since that time Jimmy has mellowed out. And perhaps I have, too. And now I love him deeply. He has grown, actually, into a human being. And a fine one, too."
Characteristically, Woods steers away from the standard choices when he speaks about actors whose work he admires. "Robert Redford understands film acting better than anybody on the face on the earth," he declares. "You know how some carnivores get every bit of meat off of a carcass they can? Well, there's nobody who gets as much blood out of a moment as Redford. Within the range of his talent he knows how to get every single note available, and he is a genius not only at getting those notes but in making them fully accessible to his audience. He is one of the few actors that can play three or four emotions at the same time, and he is amazing; he truly understands the subtlety of film acting."
Woods once did a play reading with Holly Hunter. "Holly is such a fast, smart, wonderful actor. When we worked together, it was like a hot knife through butter. It was like clockwork. I would love to do a film with her."
He has just finished work on the film Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the book by Carl Sagan. Due for a July release, Contact stars Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, with a stellar cast of co-stars that includes Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerrit, Rob Lowe and Angela Bassett. Says Zemeckis of working with Woods: "Jimmy's consummate talents are only exceeded by his boundless energy. I can't remember when I've laughed so hard in my professional career. Working with him is truly entertaining."
Woods excitedly shares the film's story: "Jodie Foster works in an area of science devoted to contact with extraterrestrials, which is sort of the 'lost stepchild' of the astronomy movement. And she receives a transmission of prime numbers being broadcast from somewhere in outer space, which, by definition, cannot be an accident--and we're off and running. The movie, oddly enough, is about faith. And God, in a strange way. Do we believe in what our senses tell us or what we hope can be true?
"There are some amazingly clever things in the movie, and the canvas is so complex and so large, and Robert does it all in his head," Woods says. "He has a cutting-edge sense of this new medium of computer-generated graphics. Robert loves to do things with computers that can actually give emotions to the scene.
"My character's job is to provide national security for the United States, which is, basically, to prepare for the worst. I'm basically the guy who is the anti-touchy feely element in the piece, or the voice of reason, depending on how you look at it. This role is sort of my farewell to this stuff, in a way. I don't think I want to play any more 'hard guys in suits,' only because I have done it enough. I want to do different things."
Woods worked hard for his role in Ghosts of Mississippi. "I love doing great material. And if you want to do great material, you must devote yourself to it 24 hours a day and go out there and make it happen. I sit here every night and I read scripts. I don't let anything escape my purview. And most of the greatest experiences in my life were things that I have found. There have been times when I have honed in on something that I have really liked. When Ghosts of Mississippi started, of course the agents were working on it, but they were working on another part in the picture. It was a smaller part, but they were working on it. And I saw the role of de la Beckwith and I said, 'Wow, that part is great, but that's completely out of the picture. Unless you're Jimmy Woods and you don't take no for an answer.'
"So I started lobbying for it, and fought for it, and fought for it. And I got it. Without a doubt that's the thing that nobody ever thinks to do. It's all in the audition." He convinced Rob Reiner to allow him to audition and do a makeup test for the role. The role was one of the biggest challenges of his career, demanding that he play white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith both as a young and an old man.
"This is where it really paid off. It was fun for me. Tremendously challenging. I have a theory that Northern actors should never play Southern characters. This is one of my cardinal rules. So I thought, well, here I am breaking one of my rules. I spent literally three months, every single day, working on the accent. And I had all of the tapes of the real de la Beckwith memorized to the point where I could do all of his speeches with him by rote. It was a matter of building the character. The accent. The look. The makeup. You know, people thought I wore a fat suit for the old stuff. I didn't. It was actually all physical posture. The young makeup took an hour and a half. The old makeup took almost four hours. And I think Ghosts of Mississippi speaks for itself. I played a character, an actor's dream in terms of the challenge and in terms of the degree of difficulty, and did it with people that I enjoyed working with. I inhabited the skin of this kind of horrible man for three months. It was tremendously challenging."
Often drawn to unsympathetic characters, Woods feels that memorable villains are integral to the storytelling process. "Film is a dialectic. This is the thesis. This is the antithesis. And there is the synthesis. You guys have your great protagonists and great antagonists. It is a battle of wills. All great movies have that kind of a mano a mano thing going. I never make judgments about the character that I play. Never. I just play them. I mean, that's who he his. This guy [de la Beckwith] is so evident in the interviews. He was so evident in the press. I saw all of his subterfuge and all these kinds of levels of bullshit. And how crafty he was. You know, I'd admire the guy more if he said, 'Look, I just don't like people who are different from me and I'd shoot them any chance that I get.' If you can convince me of that, fine. At least I'd say, 'Well the guy's a lunatic, but at least he has the balls to stand up for whatever lunacy he believes in.' But on top of everything else, he was a coward and a liar! I mean, he shot a guy in the back and then he lied about it!
"I liked doing the movie because I wanted people to see this guy, to see the unbelievably naked, sort of hard edge of racism. It is so ugly when it that naked and that raw. We all fall into the politics of the piece. I'm so sick of all of this political correctness. Nobody ever deals with things as they really are. They are always going to deal with it as they think it should be--he's the villain of the piece, she's the heroine, so he's the comic relief--so automatically now they are falling into a mold of something that we've seen a million times before, so it is never very refreshing or very intriguing. I say, 'That's who the guy is. Period.' I don't make any judgments. I don't editorialize. He's a very charming, kind of nutty guy, and if you are a reasonable human being I have to believe that the effect will be chilling. He is saying these horrible things and it will be even more chilling against his kind of oddball charm."
With a career full of intense roles, Woods never seems to have any trouble putting work aside. "I am one of those guys who could do the most emotional scene and crack a joke instantly. I'm lucky. I'm just like an idiot savant. I have one enormously enjoyable, pleasurable--for me--talent, which is being able to act. I do it without any confusion or restriction or ambivalence or hesitation, and it just flows, almost as naturally as anything in my life. So I don't have a big burden about it. I'm not one of those 'method' guys. I'm tired of the Actors' Studio bullshit that has ruined movies for 40 years. All these guys running around pretending they are turnips or whatever the hell they do. You just play the character as he really is. As a loudmouth, blowhard, coward, shithead. You know, it's OK to be just who the guy is.
"One of the reasons that I'm not very good about talking about the process of acting is that so much of it requires you to be unconscious [of it] when you do it. When you're aware of what you're doing, it's never very good. If you just let go and you're in the scene, all of a sudden, it's good. I can't act; I swear to you, I feel like I can't. I dread it every time I do it. I feel like the more I do it, the less I know. Which is a good thing."
Woods has often used cigars to help create and define a character, beginning in 1984 with his role as a gangster in Once upon a Time in America. But during filming of Ghosts of Mississippi, cigars posed a slightly different challenge. "I'm torn between being an actor and a cigar lover," Woods says. "In Ghosts, de la Beckwith smoked these long thin cigars, which I hate. I like a thicker cigar with more draw. I had to smoke these chicken-shit cigars during the entire shoot. And they got these cheaper cigars, and the prop guy didn't know anything about keeping them fresh. You'd crack them and they'd be dry and flaky. It was like getting a titanium rod wrapped in some horrible leaf. It wasn't even like a cigar; it was like smoking a cane or something. But this particular cigar was a great prop, because de la Beckwith is one of those nasty old guys who chews on some crappy old cigar; yet it just lent a certain kind of aesthetic weight to the character."
In June, Woods brings to life the role of Hades, Lord of the Underworld, in Hercules, Disney's animated retelling of the tale. The cigar smoking Hades character bears a striking physical resemblance to Woods--although Woods' hair is rarely on fire. And though he has yet to master Hades' trick of lighting his cigar with flaming fingertips, knowing Woods, he is probably working on it.
Woods created the character over the course of several years with famed Disney animator Nik Ranieri. It was a true creative collaboration. "Hades is the Lord of the Underworld and he sounds like a cross between a slick used car salesman and a Hollywood agent--a really slick shmuck," Woods says. "And what's funny about it is he's down there in Hell with five million dead stiffs, and there's not much to do. It's kind of boring. So we gave him great stuff to do, like eating worms and smoking a cigar." And what cigar does the Lord of the Underworld smoke? Without missing a beat, Woods says, "He'd probably smoke Montecristo No. 2s, because if I had my way, if I were the head of my own dominion, that's all I'd ever smoke. They are the perfect cigar."
Joining an elite cadre of Disney villains such as Cruella De Vil and Captain Hook, Woods eagerly anticipates the impact of this role. "I was in Roy Disney's office the other day and I thought, 'My God, you may be creating what will be for this generation of children, a character that will have the impact on them the way the Wicked Witch in Snow White had an impact on you!' It's fabulous to think that children are quite possibly going to relate to this character for the rest of their lives."
The work that he did to bring this character to the screen led to a new set of hurdles for him. "We gradually created this sort of strange, bizarre, slick, very funny, fast-talking villain. And it was an experience to create a character with my voice. It was difficult because I'm not a really 'voicey' person. I always think of my acting as more emotional and intellectual. I'm just not one of those actors that can do a million things with my voice. For some reason I kind of pulled it off, and it was an incredible challenge to do it."
Woods is a relative newcomer to the joys of a fine cigar and is not afraid to admit that his first smoking experience was somewhat lost on him. "I really started about four years ago. I had quit smoking cigarettes, which I found to be tedious. It was just like a job. And I found it was easy and pleasurable to smoke a cigar. I have a rule: if it is something a normal person wouldn't whine about, but just a feminist would, then, you know, it's all right. Cigar smoking is the kind of thing a feminist would whine about: [doing his best whiny feminist impression] 'Sure, you don't inhale them, but people can smell them four miles away.' And that's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. Anything to piss off a feminist, he said with a smile. Or a chuckle at any rate." It takes a few minutes for Woods to stop laughing.
He straightens up in his chair, and takes a look at the cigar in his hand. "I think the reason it is happening is that all of us boomers are growing up. We don't eat fatty foods. We all try to be healthy. In this day and age of safe sex and non-fattening foods, you just have to have a little tiny something in you life where you feel just a little bit naughty, or wicked, or indulgent, or spoiled. I know how liberals whine about cigar smoking, and it's like, fine, I'm going to have to listen to feminists on television all the time, too. There are just some horrors in life that you cannot avoid. Getting hit by the onslaught of the price of feminism is certainly worse for you than smoking a cigar."
Woods truly enjoys the cigar experience, seeing cigars as a safe haven from the modern intrusions that are part of a busy life. "Like Freud said, if you don't smoke cigars, you miss out on one of the great experiences of life. I love to sit down in my library at night with the fire on and read. I light a cigar and I ruminate, which is something very few people do anymore. It is a lost form. It's like being a traveler or an adventurer rather than a tourist. Cigars are like little vacations where I take stock. They are a respite from the events of life and give you time to marinate the details and decisions of your life.
"I accomplish more smoking a cigar, because I sit and I think," he adds. "I like to take little journeys in my mind about everything. I think it's kind of a male thing, it is something that we traditionally used to do. Nowadays, you can sit in Antarctica with your PowerBook and move the Hubbell Telescope on the Internet. I'm not so sure that is such a great thing. I mean, life did get kind of tougher and noisier, and needlessly so. I defy any human being to tell me that his life has improved with the advent of fax machines, computers, e-mail and beepers.
"My nightmare in life, my absolute fundamental, overwhelming, egregious nightmare, is Bill Gates' vision of the future, where there will be a video camera on every corner and every conversation will be recorded. Man, I'd rather put a pitchfork in my eyes than live in a world like that."
Instead of the pitchfork, Woods usually puts three espresso beans in a little Sambuca, fires up a Punch Punch and curls up in front of the fireplace by himself. Or, when he goes to the Cayman Islands with his family, he and his brother, Michael, sit on the beach at twilight, smoking cigars, with their mother, Martha, watching the tips of their cigars glowing in the darkness from her hotel balcony. It is with those shared moments that the Woods family reunites.
Whenever the two brothers pair up, trouble usually follows. Good trouble. "Coming through customs," Woods recalls, "my golf bag had the strangest lines to it, and the customs guy looked at me and said, 'So, Mr. Woods, you're coming from a Caribbean island with a golf bag with these big square corners sticking through the fabric and I know you're a cigar smoker. Should I just tell you, sir, that I am your biggest fan. And do you know how much it means that I am not going to ask you any questions about what is in your golf bag?' Let me tell you--it was the best fan letter that I ever had."
Woods' best friend, businessman Scott Sandler, feels that the actor's decision to turn to cigars has been a positive step. "Smoking cigars, playing golf with the guys and doing things other than being involved in the sort of crazy relationships he used to be involved with, saved his life to some degree," Sandler says. "And sure, he has his ups and downs. But we spend numerous nights planning, strategizing and scheming how we're going to obtain our beloved Monte No. 2s or our Cohibas. But the greatest moments are having your best friend with you and smoking a cigar. Somehow smoking a cigar is soothing for him. He gets level. Calm."
Michael Woods, who introduced his brother to the high art of combining golf and cigars, uses his cigar to balance out his swing. Much to Michael's chagrin, Jimmy is forever putting his lit cigar on the green while he takes a whack at the ball. Michael recently gave his brother a Tee-Gar in hopes that he can break him of that habit.
Although Jimmy Woods just finished playing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he is fairly modest about his golf game. "I'm a pretty good duffer. Between the gambling and the handicap system and a great cigar, it's the best five hours of your life. I'm not a great golfer, I'm an avid golfer--there's a big difference. But there's room for me in the game. I'll smoke a double corona or a Churchill when I golf. I don't bring my Montes out in the morning, because it's a great evening cigar. Golf is a good game for me because it requires a degree of allowing it to happen. You line up your shot and you take a good swing at it. And sometimes that kinda means letting go a little bit. It's the same with acting."
One of Woods' little-known passions is photography. Thestunning photograph on the cover of Bette Davis' autobiography, This and That, was taken by him. Woods is an intuitive photographer who enjoys going behind the lens almost as much as he enjoys being in front of it. According to his friends and subjects, his portraits are riveting. His sense of light, angle and visual choices creates a sense of intimacy.
"I've never formally studied with anybody," Woods says, "but I've always loved great photography. I like to shoot people. I always like to get into faces when there is something happening. It comes from the same motive as acting--which is wanting to understand how people think and what they do. It feels exactly the same. You are observing human nature. I'm doing one by recreating it on film and another by capturing it on film. I just love studying human behavior.
"I like Henri Cartier-Bresson, because his stuff is of the moment; he is the soul of photography. I love Eugene Smith's commitment to what he did; to me, he was the heart of photography. He sort of did photography the way I like to act, which is, you don't take any prisoners. You go for everything. Ansel Adams and Mina Wright were more of the brain of photography. "
As he approaches the end of his Montecristo No. 2, the conversation turns to women. Woods is uncharacteristically quiet, reflective, almost philosophical when he says, "I'd really love to get married again. This is a softer, kinder, gentler version of my 'old public persona.' But, in fact, I would just love to get married. The biggest challenge in life is to find someone in your contemporary world who can resonate both traditional values and that love for you," he says. "I think there are a lot of really good women out there. I really do. But I think that women have really been pounded by this feminist stuff. I think the mean-spiritedness of the feminist movement has been very destructive to women's naturally kind instincts and I think it has hurt all of us. I think we are finally starting to realize, 'Hey, we've got to get over it and find a way back to each other.'
"What nobody gets is that it's great that we're different. Women tend to whine a little and guys tend to not want to talk about anything. Women could reasonably argue that the reason they whine is because 'you guys won't talk to us about anything important.' Like relationships. My fervent hope is that if I ever get married again and have children, that the marriage will stay together no matter what. I have that as a standard, and I think that is one of the reasons that it has been so difficult for me to find a wife."
The struggle to balance love and work, creativity and commitment, Hollywood success and hearth and home, is apparent. "My goal right now is to have a family. The thing I want more than anything else is a wife and children. Work for me has been an ongoing dialectic. Work is important for me--a basic, inbred part of me that I, in the best sense, take for granted. To work and to love. I need work; it's just a given, and I'm as excited about it every day as I was in the beginning. And as for love," he wryly offers, "let me give some advice to women--if you want a teddy bear, go to FAO Schwartz. If you want a man, come over here, OK?"
In a new house that does indeed look like it has always been there, in a cozy library surrounded by his books, his awards and the American flag that was draped over his father's coffin, James Woods shares his view of mid-life. "When you're 30, you want to make a lot of money. When you're 40, you hope you're not going to die. When you're 50, you start to realize: How do I make peace with all of this? For the first time in my life, I'm starting to think about how many films I have left in me. And I think, I'm turning 50. How old do you think I will be when I'm teaching my kid to play golf? What will it be like when all of those inevitable things that we dread happen to our loved ones and to us?"
It isn't surprising that James Woods gets every last, savory puff out of his cigar. When he is finished with it, there is almost nothing left. He places the butt in the ashtray. "Sure, I tend to be a bit of a worrier and a little obsessive, and my biggest fear is that I will fuss and worry myself to death." Clearly, that's where cigars come into the picture. "When you smoke a cigar, time stops. And you can sort out your thoughts. Contemplate. You can just kind of hold it and puff it and just drift down the stream of your thoughts for an hour or so. Thank God for cigars. At least there is one place where I can be quiet for a moment and actually be alone with my thoughts." He gazes into the fire as if the answer to one of life's great questions is encoded in the flames. And the mischief dances in his eyes. That knowing grin that borders on a smirk reappears. And right now, finally, James Woods looks ready to have it all. Because he just won't settle for anything less.
Alysse Minkoff is a freelance writer living in Malibu, California.


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Homeland Security's Napolitano invokes 9/11 to push for CISPA 2.0
In an attempt to scare the public with a looming cyber attack on US infrastructure, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is once again pushing Congress to pass legislation allowing the government to have greater control over the Internet.
Napolitano issued the warnings Thursday, claiming that inaction could result in a "cyber 9/11" attack that could knock out water, electricity and gas, causing destruction similar to that left behind by Hurricane Sandy.Napolitano said that in order to prevent such an attack, Congress must pass legislation that gives the US government greater access to the Internet and cybersecurity information from the private sector. Such a bill, known as CISPA or Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, was already introduced last year, but failed to pass in Congress due to concerns expressed by businesses and privacy advocates."We shouldn't wait until there is a 9/11 in the cyber world. There are things we can and should be doing right now that, if not prevent, would mitigate the extent of the damage," Napolitano said in a speech at the Wilson Center, a Washington, DC think tank.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has also been a strong advocate for increased governmental grip on the web and in October warned that the US is facing a possible "cyber-Pearl Harbor" by foreign hackers."A cyber attack perpetuated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack of 9/11," he said during a speech. "Such a destructive cyber terrorist attack could paralyze the nation."Last September, Napolitano reiterated disappointment with Congress for failing to pass the cybersecurity legislation in August."Attacks are coming all the time," she said in a speech at the Social Good Summit. "They are coming from different sources, they take different forms. But they are increasing in seriousness and sophistication."Despite Homeland Security's constant warnings that hackers could shut down critical US infrastructure, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was shot down by the Senate in August, even though the Obama administration had pushed for the bill in numerous hearings and briefings.Privacy advocates had expressed concern that the US government would be able to read Americans' personal e-mails, online chat conversations, and other personal information that only private companies and servers might have access to. The head of the National Security Agency promised it wouldn't abuse its power, but critics have remained skeptical.A coalition of Democrats this year pledged to make this legislation a priority."Given all that relies on a safe and secure Internet, it is vital that we do what's necessary to protect ourselves from hackers, cyber thieves, and terrorists," said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.The White House is also working on an executive order that would encourage companies to meet government cybersecurity standards.


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Elena Boeck at The Newberry, Cartography & Peter the Great
From The Newberry:
Elena Boeck, An Icon for Peter the Great: Linking Imperial Cartography and Sacred Topography
The Newberry Library, Chicago, 9 March 2012
Seminar in Art History, Early Modern European Maps as Art
This paper investigates intersections between piety, imperial expansion, and military cartography in an icon presented to Peter I in 1698. It explores a rare convergence of Christian and imperial narratives. The icon was produced in Ukraine, which long served as a bridge between the west and the world of the Russian court, and offered to Peter I by a Ukrainian monastery as a diplomatic gift to commemorate his first triumph, the capture of the Ottoman town of Azov. The iconography of this nearly two-meter-tall image includes an unusual birds-eye view of the siege of Azov.
This innovative image actively participated in the invention of a new, Europeanized, imperial visual tradition in Russia. Furthermore, its seamless and insistent interweaving of imperial symbols, territorial expansion, and religious legitimization came from a contested territory that was in the process of being integrated into empire. Exploring a Ukrainian donor's motivations for creating such an object, and taking seriously his aspirations for imperial patronage, enables us to understand aspects of empire often obscured in modern national narratives.
Elena N. Boeck is Assistant Professor at DePaul University.
Friday, 9 March 2012, 2:00 pm. A reception will follow the seminar.
Cosponsored by the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography.
This program is free and open to the public, but registration in advance is required. Register online here. The paper will be electronically precirculated to registrants.


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This is the first entry in a series featuring Detective Inspector Peter Shaw and his Detective Sergeant Bob Valentine in Norfolk, England. It's a police procedural with a "locked-room" element to the main plot: A line of cars is stranded in a snowstorm on a desolate coastal road. When help arrives, the driver of the first vehicle in the convoy is discovered dead at his steering wheel, murdered seemingly under the noses of the other drivers stranded behind him. With no footprints in the snow, Shaw and his team are stumped as to means and opportunity. As to motive, however, the police begin to uncover some very convoluted relationships between the other drivers–supposedly all strangers to each other–in the convoy. Complicating matters are two other murders in the immediate vicinity, one corpse floating to shore on a toy raft and another found buried in the sand. Could all these deaths be related? You'd be surprised!
The plot was satisfyingly byzantine, and the atmosphere deliciously chilling and bleak. But what piqued my interest was the back story of DI Shaw and his relationship with Valentine. Valentine is an older man who fell from grace and was demoted as a result of implied corruption in the fall-out of a failed investigation years before. His partner had been DI Shaw's father, since deceased. Shaw Jr. wants to know the truth about this unsolved case, which involved a murdered child, and his father's true role in the investigation. Valentine would like his name cleared and his position back, but suffers from resentment of serving under the younger man. A mutual lack of trust complicates matters even further, but over the course of the story each man begins to develop a grudging respect for the other's detective abilities. One can tell that this back story will continue to develop in future series entries, which will keep me reading.
Check the WRL catalog for Death Wore White


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Homeschooling is a Labor of Love, and the Old Schoolhouse™ Magazine is celebrating your hard work as a parent by putting their one-year print subscriptions on sale! For a very limited time, you can subscribe or renew for $7.95! (US only)
You can buy a gift sub for friends too! To gift a subscription:
1. Go to the one-year subscription page (US only)
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
3. Enter the name, address, email, and phone information for each recipient
4. click "Add this to my cart".
5. The information will display in your cart and simply proceed to check out.
There are only 2000 of these available, and they are going quickly! Your subscription begins with their Fall Issue.
If you live in an international location, you can subscribe to their digital edition for only $7.95! It's the same great content as their print magazine, except it is instant and interactive!


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Saving on Your Electricity Bill
Energy Manager gives you a detailed view of your electricity usage that can help you get a better understanding of the way you are using electricity in your home. Energy Manager allows you to set a savings goal, put together a list of actions that you would like to take to reach your goal and shows you the progress toward your goal each time you log in.
Using Energy Manager
Yes, you can download your data. Just log in to My Account and select the option "Download My Data" available on the lower right hand side of the screen. Download My Data provides data that includes notations about estimated or missing data. If no interval data is available in Download My Data then you will see a note that the data is missing. Energy Manager fills in any missing data with total usage averaged over missing intervals, and in that way Download My Data and Energy Manager may have slightly different totals. Estimated or missing intervals do not impact your bill. Total usage for billing is calculated based on the difference between the meter reading at the beginning of the bill cycle and a meter reading at the end of the bill cycle.
Yes, you may choose to bypass the Home Profile during set up. Energy Manager makes some basic assumptions about your home in order to provide a comparison to the average home. More accurate data will be available when you complete your Home Profile. You can set up your home profile at any time through My Account.
Yes, you can adjust your goal as often as you'd like. After the original setup process your goal can be changed when logged into My Account.
We process Energy Manager enrollments every day, even on weekends. When you log in to My Account you will see a message that indicates how long until Energy Manager is available. Data is usually available by 8:00 p.m. the day after you enroll your account in Energy Manager.
Yes, your energy information is communicated over a private, secure connection. While you can compare your energy usage with the average usage of similar households and exchange comments with fellow Energy Manager users, your private information and that of other Energy Manager users cannot be accessed.
You will not be able to see if the power is out at your home. You can sign up for Outage Alerts at My Account and receive outage alerts via text, email or phone - or all three - if the power goes out. Alerts are free and secure, and you'll even receive an alert when your power is back on.
Reading Your Energy Manager Information
Energy Manager uses characteristics about your home, such as home size, heating source and location to compare your electricity usage to similar homes. The average home is the median home in your group.
Data is uploaded each evening for the previous day's usage and usually is not more than two days behind. Occasionally some hourly interval data takes longer to appear in Energy Manager. If you are experiencing any problems with your data, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com
Energy Manager multiplies usage by our electricity delivery costs and the Standard Offer price for supply. If you have selected a competitive electricity provider, your supply costs may be different than what is displayed in Energy Manager. Costs displayed in Energy Manager do not include taxes or additional fees that may appear on monthly bills.
There are several causes of a variation between your bill and the costs displayed in Energy Manager. Costs displayed in Energy Manager may not include taxes or additional fees that may appear on monthly bills. Also, Energy Manager multiplies usage by our electricity delivery costs and the Standard Offer price for supply. If you have selected a Competitive Electricity Provider other than the Standard Offer, your supply costs may be different than what is displayed in Energy Manager.
Energy Manager uses the hourly meter readings from your smart meter to calculate usage by subtracting one hourly meter reading from the next hourly meter reading. If any of the hourly meter reads are missing, Energy Manager averages the electricity usage from the meter readings it does have over the missing intervals. Please note that Energy Manager may display estimated usage for the outage time period. These estimates do not impact your billed amount. You are billed through our billing system, not estimated usage in Energy Manager. To confirm your usage, use the Download My Data feature.
Multiple Meters and/or Accounts
Yes, you will be able to see data from each of your meters.
Yes, you will be able to access all of the accounts on your CMP profile.


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Court hears 'sensitive jobs' fight
Ten judges heard arguments Friday in a fight over who decides whether employees are fit to hold jobs that the federal government has desginated as "sensitive."
The long-running legal battle that played out before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit could have wide ramifications across the federal government for hundreds of thousands of employees whose positions are considered "sensitive" even thought they don't require access to classified information.
Some judges clearly appeared to favor the employees in the cases before the court and other judges leaned towards the government, but enough of the jurists in the court's rare full bench sitting kept quiet enough to make it difficult to confidently predict an outcome.
Justice Department lawyer Abby Wright argued that determinations that employees aren't fit to hold a sensitive job should be treated just like decisions denying a person access to classified information—matters the courts and civil service review panels have generally avoided or given only the most cursory examination.
Whistleblower groups and advocates have argued that the administration's stance could open whistleblowing employees to retaliation by being declared unfit for their "sensitive" jobs. Wright repeatedly declined to take a position on what whistleblower rights would apply to sensitive employees, but she suggested concerns about that issue were overblown since suitability determinations are made by another part of the agency bureaucracy.
"If you're a supervisor who wants to get rid of of an employee, it's not a very good way to go about it," she said. She said about 200,000 of 800,000 civilian Defense Department employees are in the "non-critical, sensitive" category. An unknown number are in similar designations at other agencies.
Judge Kimberly Moore noted that while an executive order indicates that the "sensitive" designation should apply to jobs that involve national securtiy concerns, Defense Department procedures appear to allow it in other circumstances such as jobs that involve "fiduciary" or "contracting" duties. The employees whose cases are before the court were working as a DoD accountant and as a manager in a military base commissary.
On Thursday, a day before the argument, the Obama Administration re-released regulations to govern how jobs are designated as "sensitive" and seem to require a connection to national security. However, those rules are still just proposed and are entering a comment stage.
"Heretofore you seem to have overdesignated as sensitive. What do we do with that?" Moore asked.
"We do not believe that the determination of who holds a sensitive job [and who holds] a security clearance are at all the same," said Andy Grajales, a lawyer for the American Federation of Government Employees. "Classified information is different. It's special and is treated differently."
Judge Evan Wallach, who issued an earlier three-judge panel's 2-1 opinion backing the government, clearly disagreed. He said the government might have good reasons to deny a person with ties to Afghanistan or Chechnya a job as, say, a border guard or customs officer.
"There are a number of [employees] at our borders, for example, that don't have security clearance," Wallach said. But if they tell their friends how searches are done, it could "have a severe impact on the United States."
Grajales replied that concern didn't merit the court concluding that the executive branch could expand security requirements however it saw fit. "If there's a balancing here, Congress...it's in a better position to make that call," he argued.
Merit Systems Protection Board counsel Jeffrey Gauger noted that "Congress is well aware" of the Defense Department's" national security mission" but has made clear that many of its civilian employees should have full civil service protections.
Judge Timothy Dyk, the dissenter in the three-judge panel ruling, noted repeatedly that Congress gave DoD's intelligence components a carve out from civil service protections in 1996. He said that strongly indicated that Congress expected the rest of DoD's civilian employees to have such protections.
The ruling from the Federal Circuit is unlikely to be the last word on the issue. In addition to the possibility of Supreme Court review, whoever loses could go to Congress for relief. So, in many ways, it's a battle over what the default rule is going to be and who gets the benefit of Congress's general tendency towards inertia.


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Bird Dog Training Information
Guideline to the Laws Governing Establishment and Operation of a Licensed Bird Dog Training Area
Licensing Procedure
- Complete and sign application and mail to Bird Dog Training Area, SCDNR, P.O. Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202.
- Area is then inspected by SCDNR Law Enforcement Officer and applicant receives notice of approval/disapproval.
- Applicant forwards payment of $50.00 (made payable to SCDNR) for annual license fee after July 1 each year.
Acreage Requirement
The bird dog training area may not exceed fifty (50) acres for each licensee.
Bird dog trainers shall maintain a clearly defined boundary on which signs must be posted every 150 feet or less designating the area as follows: "Private Bird Dog Training." Only licensed trainers and not more than two (2) assistants to be named on the license may train bird dogs during the closed season on the training area.
Trainers shall maintain records showing the number of birds purchased or raised, released for bird dog training and harvested as part of the training program. Other records shall be maintained as required by the Department and shall be open to inspection by an authorized agent of the Department or its designee at any time. Data reporting number of birds released and harvested must be furnished to the Department in an annual report before issuance of next year's license.
Bird Banding and Recovery
All birds released on training areas must be banded. Recall pens may be used if the trainer is issued a permit for the pens. Unbanded quail taken in recall pens must be released immediately.
The training season is a consecutive twelve (12) month period beginning July 1 and ending the following June 30.
Hunting License
Trainers and assistants must all have current, appropriate hunting licenses.
Violations and Fines
The violation of any bird dog training statute is a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of not more than two hundred ($200.00) dollars or imprisonment of not more than thirty (30) days. A trainer or assistant found guilty of violating one or more of the bird dog training statutes must have his training privileges suspended for two (2) years from the date of conviction.
License Restriction
No person, trainer or assistant may be listed on more than one bird dog training license.


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Contrary to the idea, there are many choices where you can hold home. The magnitude and kind of house investment, a single would like to have is basically dependent upon the level of personalized engagement through the life time from the expenditure, as well as the reason behind the investment. Owning property for your purpose of renting to the next parties might require large individual contributions as opposed to buying a holiday break home. For the typical man or woman in South Africa, residence investment indicates acquiring actual shelter with regard to their households. Some traders may be interested in the home because of its capital progress component as well as its capability to generate eye-catching yields and earnings with time. For some individuals, it may be to focus on nonmonetary aims, for example having the ability to manage a perceptible tool. Therefore before one particular determines to invest in a home one should clearly outline the reasons behind the investment. Moreover, from an investment point of view concerns of acquisition income tax and managing issues are of crucial relevance. This determination should be deemed carefully as switching from one sort of management to another may be very pricey. The property conveyancing procedure is really a prolonged method which would unlike to encounter much more frequent than required. In this particular e-zine, we discuss one of the most notable methods investors can take a house in South Africa
Freehold Possession:
This is certainly probably the most common method of ownership in South Africa. It indicates the owner retains the primary label on the property. Possession could be signed up within the deeds office within the brand from the proprietor. Freehold residences could be properties of both organizations and folks likewise. The benefit of this particular acquisition would be that the proprietor has optimum power over his/her investment and could get rid of the house because they desire. Ownership within this type does mean your property may be used as a safety to acquire financial loans and funds.
Leasehold, also known as leasing house does not give management for the tenant, however through the entire duration of the rent or leasing arrangement, the lessee (individual that compensates hire for the residence) will like virtually the same benefit as in the matter of freehold previously mentioned. It allows them to use and take the home right through the deal. The tenant pays off more than a month-to-month arranged hire to the property owner (Lessor) which entitles them in which to stay on your property. There are numerous kinds of rent contracts which include short-run rentals, long-lasting leases, or even leases structured using the solution to get the property. Usually, the Property owner will possess a significant appropriate called a "tacit hypothec" contained in the leasing arrangement, which entitles him for taking ownership of movable goods in the leased properties should the renter or lessee struggle to pay out their rent payments timelessly. Rental agreements are excellent choices to take into account for those who may well not be eligible for mortgage connections as well as people who usually do not want to negotiate permanently in a specific house. Money paid for out is money misplaced, as a result, this might not be a lasting lucrative expenditure car.
Sectional Name
Beneath Sectional Headline, there are numerous users having different parts of the house. A good example will be people who own townhomes and clusters all constructed about the same part of the land, even if in a variety of segments. Every single manager has unique possession of their own portion in addition to discussed management in the communal home including the pool area, clubhouse, and staircases. Sectional Headline in South Africa is licensed with the Sectional Titles Operates No 95 of 1986. The Take action requires that an Entire body Corporate and business be created to regulate the fascination of the different proprietors. Our Bodies Corporate and business acquire levies, pays off charges and taxes, insurance policy, and routine maintenance costs.
This means the group together of folks to swimming pool area financial situation so that you can put money into the house. Syndication offers the modest trader the opportunity to select a specific home that may otherwise not have access to been feasible considering the dimensions of the total capital outlay.
House Businesses:
House firms act like these however more formalized such as a business specifically established for the purpose of buying a home. Beneath this kind of ownership, a firm is founded in terms of the Company Work 61 of 1973. They are large institutions and folks who kind these organizations and make use of them as intermediary vehicles to get residence. To the investor, a property organization provides the main advantage of it being an independent legitimate enterprise that has distinct culpability by reviewing the shareholders. Home businesses are usually sizeable entities that are mostly listed on the Stock Swap.
Talk about obstructing Firms
A talk about block organization is just like this, nevertheless, it is governed by the Reveal block Control Respond 59 of 1980. They have specifically formed firms with shareholders each and every possessing a share in the business. Income is taxed in the hands of each individual shareholder, therefore so that it is a handy vehicle for investors who want to put money into the residence, permitting every to get their personal tax information. Owning a be part of the house entitles to work with and take up the talk about of house they personal. The rights are stipulated in the memorandum and articles of your talk about block companies. A version of this kind of acquisition would be a Fractional Name, normally related to having a small part of a vacation property. This form of management is also ruled from the Share prevent Respond alongside the Sectional Label Take action. The main difference is the fact that Fractional Label has an administration organization starting an outlined roster for that planned intervals of usage all year round, even though usage is informally reviewed with shareholders of the discussed block company.
Unlike the aforementioned talked about types of ownership, owning a timeshare is a lot like Fractional possession, nevertheless, it only entitles the dog owner to usage to get a full week or more of your particular system. This is certainly utilized primarily to vacation overnight accommodation. Timeshare in South Africa is controlled from the Timesharing Contract Work, Work 75 of 1983. Beware of dropping to the "Timeshare capture". Possessing a timeshare will not mean holding property, it merely entitles the holder to utilization legal rights for any certain few days/s during the year. In addition Timeshare in South Africa lacks a strong reputation and therefore revenue agencies will usually use competitive promoting tactics to fasten people into acquiring timeshares. This can be particularly apparent along the Durban coast beaches and holiday resorts for example Sun Metropolis. Timeshare is often related to holiday accommodation institutions that are of lower top quality. Swapping several weeks across resorts is likewise typically hard because it is subjected to accessibility with the specific vacation resort. It will also be quite challenging to eliminate the bought timeshare depending upon the months during the year purchased, for now, levies will still have to be maintained.
Outlined House Purchases
There are numerous methods anybody can invest in residence indirectly and never have to physically hold the residence. This can include Property Device Trusts, Property Financial loan Trusts, Purchase Trusts, and Collective Investment Strategies. Listed house ventures are on the Johannesburg Stock Change and exchanged just like equity shares. Because this matter is voluminous, it will probably be reviewed furthermore in future notifications. It is actually nevertheless important to note that one can invest in house shares listed on the stock swap thus taking advantage of trading actions.
In the previously mentioned it really is as a result essential that the property trader will pay careful focus on the particular home possession that they would like to use before investing in a home. This has to be considered thoroughly since shifting from a home expense motor vehicle to another can be pricey. It is crucial to perform all the essential expense investigations, with pinpoint the macroeconomy, home sector efficiency, and also distinct house funds, trusts, or organizations one wants to get. Holding an exclusive freehold label to home is just not really the only form of purchase. As shown below there are various property expenditure varieties that could be regarded as which could also creating large results in. The trick to building a healthy home stock portfolio nonetheless is out there in firstly ensuring ownership in your major house is guaranteed and you will have the necessary Label deeds to exhibit. After that, the enjoying discipline is diverse and feeling hungry for brand new investors to sign up.
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Top 10 celeb moments to look for at the Oscars
Yes, we're betting Cate Blanchett will go home with the best-actress Oscar for Blue Jasmine. And we're thinking Jennifer Lawrence just might wear Dior on the red carpet, since she's the brand's
most famous face.
But that doesn't mean other surprises aren't in store. A few things to look for Sunday night:
1. Will Lupita Nyong'o continue her sartorial winning streak? She has been this year's
most jaw-dropping fashion star. Who can forget the majestic red Ralph Lauren frock she wore to the Globes? We can't wait to see what the 12 Years a Slave nominee dons on Hollywood's flashiest night.
Lupita Nyong'o, rising star of the red carpet
2. Can Pharrell Williams top himself? The biggest breakout of the Grammys was the supersized Vivienne Westwood chapeau
worn by the musician. Given that he's performing the Despicable Me 2 ditty Happy at the Oscars, we're looking forward to seeing his latest hat trick.
3. Will Jared Leto sport his perfect man bun? The supporting-actor front-runner has managed to look both edgy and polished throughout this awards season. He's the favorite to win for Dallas Buyers Club, and his updos have been show-stealers.
4. Who will be photobombed by Jennifer Lawrence? Never one to play it safe, last year's best-actress winner and this year's supporting-actress nominee
epically photobombed Taylor Swiftat the Globes. Just imagine what she can do at the Oscars.
5. Will nominee Bradley Cooper step out with his girlfriend, Suki Waterhouse? The American Hustle star and
his British lady lovehave been going public of late, so look for her at the Oscars.
A decade of Oscar style statements
Red carpet secrets: Sticky bras and waist cinchers
6. Will Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt bring some serious Oscar glam? The two superstars are presenting Sunday night, and we're expecting the power couple to add some
much-needed pizzazzto the carpet. (Let's not forget
the showAngie's leg put on at the Oscars in 2012!)
7. Will Johnny Knoxville's Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa nab a golden guy? Yes, 'tis true — the comedy's makeup artist Stephen Prouty is up for best makeup and hairstyling. And having
the Jackass crewwind up with an Oscar would be all kinds of amazing.
8. Will Charlize Theron and Sean Penn make their official debut as a couple? The
two Oscar winnershave been getting hot and heavy. Both are incredibly private, but we're hoping they'll partner up in public come Sunday night.
9. Will Jessica Biel, who's presenting, and Justin Timberlake arrive together? The Internet was abuzz when the singer's wife
didn't accompany him to the American Music Awards, prompting her to tweet that she was just watching from home.
10. Will Matthew McConaughey treat us to one last "All right, all right all right," to wrap up the awards season? This is, of course, dependent upon the Dallas Buyers Club star clinching the best-actor win, as he did at the Golden Globes. (Bonus: If he makes another head-scratchingly bizarre speech, à la his SAG Awards podium appearance.)
Contributing: Haley Blum and Alison Maxwell


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'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.' Acts 1:8
you can visit the official webesite at www.wyd2008.org or might as well check out one of the promotional video. to note, the biggest ever WYD happened here in Manila in 1995. this year's theme song is "Receive the Power" as sung by Guy Sebastian and Paulini.
i'm sure this will be another big event for the youth to reflect and be reminded of receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.this week, byaheng noypi will feature my trip short way North of Manila.


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Kennel Cough (Infectious Tracheobronchitis) in Dogs
'Kennel Cough' is the term that was commonly applied to the most prevalent upper respiratory problem in dogs in the United States. Recently, the condition has become known as tracheobronchitis, canine infectious tracheobronchitis, Bordetellosis, or Bordetella. It is highly contagious in dogs. The disease is found worldwide and will infect a very high percentage of dogs in their lifetime.
Infectious agents involved
There are many different agents that can cause of tracheobronchitis. The most common are parainfluenza virus, Bordetella bronchiseptica, and mycoplasma. Canine adenovirus type 2, reovirus, and canine herpes virus are thought to possibly contribute to the disease, as well. Although any one of these organisms can cause symptoms of the disease, the majority of cases are the result of more than one organism.
The most common viral agent is parainfluenza virus. This common virus will cause mild symptoms lasting less than 6 days unless there is involvement of other bacteria, as is usually the case. Most 5-way vaccines and 'kennel cough' vaccines offer some protection against this virus.
Bordetella bronchiseptica is the most common bacteria isolated from dogs with tracheobronchitis. Clinical signs of infections occur 2-14 days after exposure, and if uncomplicated with other agents, symptoms will last around 10 days. However, after the infection has been resolved, the affected animal will continue to shed the bacteria for 6 to 14 weeks and can spread the disease to other susceptible animals during that time. Bordetella is one of the agents protected against through the use of intranasal 'kennel cough' vaccines. Parainfluenza and Bordetella most commonly appear together in infectious tracheobronchitis, creating a disease that normally lasts from 14-20 days.
The most common symptom is a dry hacking cough sometimes followed by retching. Many owners describe the cough as having a 'honking sound.' A watery nasal discharge may also be present. With mild cases, dogs continue to eat and be alert and active. Many times, there is a recent history of boarding or coming in contact with other dogs. In more severe cases, the symptoms may progress and include lethargy, fever, inappetence, pneumonia, and in very severe cases, even death. The majority of severe cases occur in immunocompromised animals, or young unvaccinated puppies.
Diagnosis is usually based on the symptoms and a history of recent exposure to other dogs. Bacterial cultures, viral isolation, and blood work can be performed to verify individual agents of the disease, but due to the characteristic nature of the symptoms, these tests are not routinely performed.
There are two treatment options depending on the severity of the disease. In the most common mild (uncomplicated) form of the disease, antibiotics may or may not be used. Treating the mild case does not shorten the length in which the animal will be a potential spreader of the disease. In addition, bronchodilators like aminophylline or cough suppressants may also be used in treatment of mild cases.
In more severe (complicated) cases where the animal is not eating, running a fever, or showing signs of pneumonia, antibiotics are often used. The most common ones are doxycycline or trimethoprim-sulfa. However, many other choices are also available. Steroids or cough suppressants are not usually recommended because of the risk of immunosuppression with steroids and the need to continue to clear extra fluid or mucous in pneumonia patients. Bronchodilators and even aerosol therapy can be used. In moderate or severe cases, veterinary care should be instituted, as the resultant pneumonia could become life threatening if not treated properly and promptly.
Because pressure on the throat and trachea can make coughing worse, it is recommended that dogs with a cough should wear a head collar or harness instead of a regular neck collar.
Vaccination and prevention
The best prevention is to not expose your dog to other dogs, especially young puppies. If this cannot be avoided, then proper vaccination is the next best option. Chances are that if your dog is regularly vaccinated with a standard 5-way or 7-way vaccine, he is already being protected against several of the agents causing tracheobronchitis, mainly parainfluenza and adenovirus. However, these vaccines alone rarely provide protection against contracting the disease, although they will help reduce the severity of the disease if the animal becomes infected.
There is an injectable Bordatella vaccine, and one that is given intranasally (squirted into the nostrils). Neither vaccine will totally prevent infection with Bordatella. For the injectable vaccine, 2 doses must be given 3-4 weeks apart, and protection does not occur until 1-2 weeks after the second injection.
Do not give an intranasal vaccine as an injection, as an abscess may occur.
More commonly, for best protection, an intranasal vaccine containing both parainfluenza and Bordetella is used. Intranasal vaccines create localized immunity that greatly reduces the incidence of clinical signs and illness. The vaccine may be used in puppies as young as 3 weeks of age, only one dose is necessary to provide protection, and protection occurs as early as 3-4 days following vaccination. There are several precautions and warnings that need to be observed pertaining to this vaccine. Some dogs will develop mild signs similar to tracheobronchitis when given this vaccine. Very often, the symptoms will last for several days and the dog will recover without treatment. Dogs that are vaccinated can also shed the virus and cause other dogs to become mildly infected and show mild signs. This shedding usually lasts less than 72 hours. In addition, it takes up to 4 days after vaccination for dogs to develop protection. When you combine these facts, you will see why it is strongly recommend that a dog not be given intranasal vaccine within 72 hours of coming into contact with other susceptible dogs. Do not give the vaccine the day before a dog show, boarding, etc. Try to give at least four days before contact with other dogs and preferably 7 days. This way you will protect your dog from becoming infected by other dogs, and protect those dogs from becoming infected by yours.
In kennels where tracheobronchitis is a problem, strict hygiene with thorough cleaning and disinfection of cages and food and water containers is essential. In addition, kennels that are indoors should have good ventilation with an air turnover rate of at least 12 times an hour. Agents causing tracheobronchitis can be transmitted on hands and clothing as well as through the air, so infected animals must be isolated and handlers should wear gloves and use proper handwashing to help prevent spread. Vaccination of all animals, especially puppies is indicated in problem kennels. After initial vaccination as puppies, a yearly booster is recommended. However, some dogs that are at very high risk are vaccinated every six months.
Human health risk
Until recently, infectious tracheobronchitis was considered to not be a human health risk. Recently however, research indicates that Bordetella bronchiseptica may cause disease in some humans, primarily those with compromised immune systems. In normal, healthy adults there does not appear to be a risk, but young children and immunocompromised individuals should take precautions against coming into contact with animals that have symptoms of tracheobronchitis or animals that have been recently vaccinated with an intranasal Bordetella vaccine.
'Kennel Cough,' now more commonly referred to as 'infectious tracheobronchitis' is a widespread disease caused by several different viruses and bacteria. It is usually a self-limiting disease and most animals do not require treatment. Intranasal vaccines are effective, but due to some possible side effects are recommended for animals that are at higher risk. Infectious tracheobronchitis is a disease of dogs and wild canids, it does not appear to be a risk to healthy humans.


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MIT Professor John Ochsendorf has been named as the 23rd director of the American Academy in Rome (AAR). Ochsendorf, a professor with dual appointments in the departments of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering, will serve a three-year term beginning July 1, after which he will return to MIT.
Ochsendorf is the Class of 1942 Professor of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. A structural engineer with multidisciplinary research interests including the history of construction, masonry mechanics, and sustainable design, Ochsendorf conducts research on the structural safety of historic monuments and the design of more sustainable infrastructure.
In 2008 Ochsendorf was named a MacArthur Fellow for his pioneering work using comparative cultural and historical studies to explore pre-industrial engineering traditions. Beyond his teaching and research, he has been an active presence on the MIT campus, living as a head of house with his family in the Warehouse, a graduate residential community, and serving as the faculty chair of MIT's 2016 Campus Centennial Celebration.
"We are very proud that John will serve in this important role for scholarship and creative work," said Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, and J. Meejin Yoon, professor and head of the Department of Architecture, in a joint announcement to the school. "His unique ability to bring together engineering and the humanities, archeology and architecture, and building technology and history, will serve the American Academy in Rome well, just as it has MIT."
"John's work in civil and environmental engineering has strengthened our connections with the Department of Architecture, and resulted in a new vision for education and research opportunities. We are excited that this vision will have the potential for even broader impact in the world as he begins the appointment in Rome," said Markus Buehler, the McAfee Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Many members of the MIT community have been awarded the AAR's highly regarded fellowships for a year of scholarly research, creative experimentation, and exchange. Ochsendorf was the recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship in Historic Preservation, awarded by the AAR in 2007-2008, for a project on the study of masonry vaulting. The last MIT faculty member to serve as director of the organization was professor Henry Millon from 1974 to 1977.
"The academy is one of the most vibrant scholarly and creative communities anywhere in the world. I am extremely grateful for my time there as a fellow, and I am looking forward to giving back to the academy," said Ochsendorf. "This is an exciting time for AAR, and I am humbled to be entrusted with the stewardship of the next chapter in its distinguished history."
Founded in 1894, the AAR is a leading international center for independent study and advanced research in the arts and humanities. The organization annually offers the Rome Prize Fellowship and Italian Fellowships to a select group of artists and scholars; the winners, selected by independent juries through a national competition process, are invited to Rome the following year to pursue their work in an atmosphere conducive to intellectual and artistic experimentation and interdisciplinary exchange.
"The breadth of John's experience makes him an ideal choice," said Mark Robbins, president of the American Academy in Rome. "His rigorous intellect and administrative abilities will further the support of our Fellows, engaging them fully in the AAR community, the city of Rome, and throughout the Mediterranean basin. He will also be a great partner for the staff and board in reinforcing awareness of AAR's global impact."


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The hearing will focus on S. 941, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act" sponsored by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Congressmen Steve King (R-IA) and Zack Space (D-OH) have introduced a companion bill — H.R. 2296 — in the U.S. House and it has 240 cosponsors. The bills would roll back unnecessary restrictions, correct errors, and codify longstanding congressional policies in the firearms arena. These bipartisan bills are a vital step to modernize and improve BATFE operations.
Of highest importance, S. 941 and H.R. 2296 totally rewrite the system of administrative penalties for licensed dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms. Currently, for most violations, BATFE can only give a federal firearms license (FFL) holder a warning, or revoke his license.
S. 941 and H.R. 2296 would allow fines or license suspensions for less serious violations, while still allowing license revocation for the kind of serious violations that would block an investigation or put guns in the hands of criminals. This will help prevent the all-too-common situations where BATFE has revoked licenses for insignificant technical violations—such as improper use of abbreviations or filing records in the wrong order.
Among its other provisions, S. 941 and H.R. 2296 would:
· Clarify the standard for "willful" violations—allowing penalties for intentional, purposeful violations of the law, but not for simple paperwork mistakes.
· Improve the process for imposing penalties, notably by allowing FFLs to appeal BATFE penalties to a neutral administrative law judge, rather than to an employee of BATFE itself.
· Allow a licensee a period of time to liquidate inventory when he goes out of business. During this period, all firearms sold would be subject to a background check by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
· Allow a grace period for people taking over an existing firearms business to correct problems in the business's records—so if a person inherited a family gun store (for example), the new owner couldn't be punished for the previous owner's recordkeeping violations.
· Reform the procedures for consideration of federal firearms license applications. Under S. 941, denial of an application would require notification to the applicant, complete with reasons for the denial. Additionally, an applicant would be allowed to provide supplemental information and to have a hearing on the application.
· Require BATFE to establish clear investigative guidelines.
· Clarify the licensing requirement for gunsmiths, distinguishing between repair and other gunsmith work and manufacture of a firearm. This would stop BATFE from arguing that minor gunsmithing or refinishing activities require a manufacturers' license.
· Eliminate a provision of the Youth Handgun Safety Act that requires those under 18 to have written permission to use a handgun for lawful purposes (such as competitive shooting or safety training)—even when the parent or guardian is present.
· Permanently ban creation of a centralized electronic index of out of business dealers' records—a threat to gun owners' privacy that Congress has barred through appropriations riders for more than a decade.
· Allow importation and transfer of new machineguns by firearm and ammunition manufacturers for use in developing or testing firearms and ammunition, and training customers. In particular, ammunition manufacturers fulfilling government contracts need to ensure that their ammunition works reliably. S. 941 and H.R. 2296 would also provide for the transfer and possession of new machineguns by professional film and theatrical organizations.
· Repeal the Brady Act's "interim" waiting period provisions, which expired in 1998.
· Give BATFE sole responsibility for receiving reports of multiple handgun sales. (Currently, dealers also have to report multiple sales to state or local agencies, a requirement that has shown little or no law enforcement value.) State and local agencies could receive these reports upon request to BATFE, but would have to comply strictly with current requirements to destroy these records after 20 days, unless the person buying the guns turns out to be prohibited from receiving firearms.
· Restore a policy that allowed importation of barrels, frames and receivers for non-importable firearms, when they can be used as repair or replacement parts.
S. 941 represents the first time such BATFE reform legislation has been introduced in the Senate. However, the House passed similar legislation (H.R. 5092) in the 109th Congress by a 277-131 vote. A majority of the House--224 congressmen--cosponsored H.R. 4900 in the 110th Congress.
A fact sheet on S. 941/H.R. 2296 can be found here.
As of this writing, S. 941 has 36 cosponsors, and H.R. 2296 has 240 cosponsors.
Please be sure to contact your U.S. Senators and Representative, and ask them to cosponsor and support S. 941 and H.R. 2296! You can call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121, and your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121.


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Aimee Mann
Lost In Space
Aimee Mann
Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
During the '80s, Aimee Mann led the post-new wave pop group 'Til Tuesday. After releasing three albums with the group, she broke up the band and embarked on a solo career. Her first solo album, Whatever, was a more introspective, folk-tinged effort than 'Til Tuesday's albums, and received uniformly positive reviews upon its release in the summer of 1993. However, the album was only a small hit, spending only seven weeks on the American charts, where it peaked at 127. Nevertheless, Whatever rejuvenated her career -- after its release, critics were praising her songwriting, as were peers like Elvis Costello, Difford & Tilbrook, and Andy Partridge.
Early in 1995, Mann had a modest hit with "That's Just What You Are," a song included on the soundtrack to the television series Melrose Place. Following the success of the single, Mann was set to release her second solo album in the spring of 1995, but her record label, Imago, filed for bankruptcy before its release. She signed a contract with Reprise Records after Imago went under, but Imago prevented her from releasing any records. For most of 1995, Mann battled Imago in an attempt to free herself from the label, eventually winning her independence at the end of the year. After her dispute with Imago was settled, she signed with DGC Records. Mann's second album, I'm with Stupid, was released in England in the late fall of 1995 and in January of 1996 in America. Again, it was greeted with positive reviews yet weak sales.
Mann's career got a kick-start in early 2000, however, when she released her soundtrack for the critically acclaimed film Magnolia; the song "Save Me" was later nominated for an Academy Award. Originally available only at live dates, the solo Bachelor No. 2 received national release in the spring. In the summer of 2002, Mann returned to the forefront with the self-released Lost in Space. Late 2004 saw the release of Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, a CD/DVD package recorded during her summer tour. It was followed in 2006 by the critically acclaimed Forgotten Arm, a concept album built around the return from Vietnam of a drug-addicted boxer. Mann released a collection of Christmas songs called One More Drifter in the Snow in 2006. @#%&! Smilers followed in 2008.
Content provided by All Music Guide. (C) 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.