text:
Although Microsoft has characterized itself as happy with Vista adoption so far—and Bill Gates said last week at WinHEC that Microsoft had shipped 40 million copies—the release of the new operating system has not resulted in a significant bump in PC sales. That's the conclusion of a new study from research firm In-Stat, which has tracked sales since Vista's release and is forecasting PC sales through 2011.
In-Stat's conclusions are not surprising, especially given the way in which consumers typically migrate to a new operating system. Those of us who are itching to get our hands on the latest release from Microsoft or Apple are a small minority of the PC-using population. Most people will stick with whatever came with their computer, only upgrading to a new OS with the purchase of a new PC.
So far, getting Vista hasn't been enough of a reason to buy a new PC for most people. In the months running up to Vista's January release, some consumers put off PC purchases in order to get a shiny new Vista installation instead of Windows XP and a coupon for a free Vista upgrade. However, that has proven to be a short-term phenomenon, according to In-Stat. "System sales that had been muted waiting for systems pre-loaded with Vista rather than XP are expected to work through sales channels in the next two quarters," said In-Stat analyst Ian Lao. "However, these sales represent an offset from last year rather than actual new demand creation."
Slow going in the enterprise
Enterprises are also taking a cautious approach with Vista. Readers who work in enterprise IT departments tell us that they are sticking with Windows XP for the time being, even with new hardware. Last fall, a survey revealed that 20 percent of businesses had no plans to upgrade to Vista, while another 30 percent said they were over a year away from a switch. There are a couple of issues factoring into the adoption equation.
Many companies will wait until Service Pack 1 is released before upgrading, just as some did with Windows XP. Although Microsoft has yet to offer an official release date for SP1, an e-mail sent in January hinted at a late-2007 appearance. More recently, Intel CEO Paul Otellini inadvertently revealed an October 2007 release, which would be around the same time that Windows Server 2008 will be released to manufacturing.
Even the release of SP1 will not be enough to spur some companies into upgrading. Instead they will allow their hardware refresh cycles to drive Vista adoption, choosing to let the transition to new desktops and laptops spur the move to Vista at the same time.
Microsoft is hoping that Vista adoption moves at twice the rate of XP adoption during Vista's first year, and another market research firm thinks that's feasible. But in order for Vista to do better in its first year than Windows XP, there would have to be a significant bump in new PC hardware sales, and that doesn't appear to be in the cards. Right now, the hardware segment that will be the first to reap the benefits of Vista are the memory companies, who In-Stat believes will see a 20 percent annual increase in sales from Vista's release.


text:
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Difference between revisions of "Types of application security metrics"
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==Metrics Overview==
==Metrics Overview==
Revision as of 12:50, 3 June 2009
Metrics Overview
It's been said that you can't improve what you can't measure. We currently don't have any good metrics for application security. Everyone understands what we want to measure -- how secure is it? But we're really not sure what low-level measurements we should be making, nor do we know how to roll them up into something meaningful for the buyer or user of software.
The difficulty of this problem is essentially the same as determining if there are any loopholes in a legal contract. Like legalese, programming languages are arbitrarily complex. A malicious developer, like a crafty lawyer, will use all their skill to obfuscate their attack.
Direct Metrics
Ideally, we could just measure the software itself. If we could count all the vulnerabilities and determine their likelihood and impact, we'd know how secure it is. Unfortunately, even the best static analysis tools can't come close to doing this. Still, there are things we can measure, and perhaps we can figure out which of these things directly correlate with increased security.
- How many lines of code?
- What languages are used?
- What libraries does this application use (and how)?
- What type of network access is required (client, server, none)?
- What security mechanisms are used?
- What configuration files are associated with the application?
- How are sensitive assets protected?
- What vulnerabilities have been identified
Indirect Metrics
If you can't measure the security of software directly, another option is to measure the people, process, and technology that are associated with creating the software in the first place?
- Is there security documentation (design, test results, vulnerabilities)?
- Is the documentation accurate and complete?
- Is there a process for reporting security flaws?
- Who developed this code (training, experience, background check)?
- What assurance activities were performed (threat modeling, analysis, code review, test, evaluation)?
- What was the outcome of those assurance activities?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
UNITED STATES v. NORDIC VILLAGE, INC.(1992)
After respondent Nordic Village, Inc., filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, one of its officers withdrew funds from the company's corporate account. He sent part of the money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), directing it to apply the funds against his individual tax liability, which it did. In a subsequent adversary proceeding, the Bankruptcy Court permitted Nordic Village's trustee to recover the transfer and entered a monetary judgment against the IRS. The District Court affirmed, as did the Court of Appeals, which rejected a jurisdictional defense that sovereign immunity barred the judgment.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and WHITE, O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, SOUTER, and THOMAS, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BLACKMUN, J., joined.
Richard H. Seamon argued the cause for the United States. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Starr, Assistant Attorney General Peterson, Deputy Solicitor General Roberts, Gary D. Gray, and John A. Dudeck, Jr.
Marvin A. Sicherman argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent. With him on the brief was Michael D. Zaverton.
Respondent Nordic Village, Inc. filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in March, 1984. About four months later, Josef Lah, an officer and shareholder of Nordic Village, drew a $26,000 check on the company's corporate account, $20,000 of which was used to obtain a cashier's check in that amount payable to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Lah delivered this check to the IRS and directed it to apply the funds against his individual tax liability, which it did.
In December, 1984, the trustee appointed for Nordic Village commenced an adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, seeking to recover, among other transfers, the $20,000 paid by Lah to the IRS. The Bankruptcy Court permitted the recovery. The unauthorized, postpetition transfer, the court determined, could be avoided under 549(a) and recovered from the IRS under 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. It entered a judgment against the IRS in the amount of $20,000, which the district court affirmed. [503 U.S. 30, 32]
A divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed. 915 F.2d 1049 (1990). It upheld the reasoning of the lower courts and rejected a jurisdictional defense (raised for the first time on appeal) that sovereign immunity barred the judgment entered against the Government. We granted certiorari. 501 U.S. 1216 (1991).
Section 106 of the Bankruptcy Code provides:
Contrary to the Government's suggestion, Hoffman does not control today's decision. It is true, to be sure, that Congress made clear in 106 that (insofar as is within Congress's power) State and Federal Sovereigns are to be treated the same for immunity purposes. See 11 U.S.C. 101(27) (1982 ed., Supp. II) ("`governmental unit' means United States [and] State"). Since, however, the Court in Hoffman was evenly divided over what that treatment was as to the States; and since the deciding vote of the concurrence, denying amenability to suit, rested upon a ground (the Eleventh Amendment) applicable only to the States, and not to the Federal Government, see FHA v. Burr, 309 U.S. 242, 244 (1940); the holding in Hoffman has no binding force here. The separate opinions dealing with the statutory question are relevant, however, and we shall in fact rely on the reasoning of the plurality.
Waivers of the Government's sovereign immunity, to be effective, must be "`"unequivocally expressed."'" Irwin v. [503 U.S. 30, 34] Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 95 (1990) (quoting United States v. Mitchell, 445 U.S. 535, 538 (1980), and United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1, 4 (1969)). Contrary to respondent's suggestion, moreover, they are not generally to be "liberally construed." We have on occasion narrowly construed exceptions to waivers of sovereign immunity where that was consistent with Congress's clear intent, as in the context of the "sweeping language" of the Federal Tort Claims Act, United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 340 U.S. 543, 547 , see, e.g., id., at 554-555, Block v. Neal, 460 U.S. 289, 298 (1983), United States v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 338 U.S. 366, 383 (1949), or as in the context of equally broad "sue and be sued" clauses, see, e.g., Franchise Tax Board of California v. United States Postal Service, 467 U.S. 512, 517 -519 (1984), FHA v. Burr, supra, 245. These cases do not, however, eradicate the traditional principle that the Government's consent to be sued "must be "construed strictly in favor of the sovereign," McMahon v. United States, 342 U.S. 25, 27 (1951), and not "enlarge[d] . . . beyond what the language requires,'" Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 685 (1983) (quoting Eastern Transp. Co. v. United States, 272 U.S. 675, 686 (1927)), a rule of construction that we have had occasion to reaffirm once already this Term, see Ardestani v. INS, 502 U.S. 129, 137 (1991).
Subsections (a) and (b) of 106 meet this "unequivocal expression" requirement with respect to monetary liability. Addressing "claim[s]," which the Code defines as "right[s] to payment," 11 U.S.C. 101(4)(A), they plainly waive sovereign immunity with regard to monetary relief in two settings: compulsory counterclaims to governmental claims, 11 U.S.C. 106(a); permissive counterclaims to governmental claims capped by a setoff limitation, 11 U.S.C. 106(b). Next to these models of clarity stands subsection (c). Though it, too, waives sovereign immunity, it fails to establish unambiguously that the waiver extends to monetary claims. It is susceptible of at least two interpretations that do not authorize monetary relief. [503 U.S. 30, 35]
Under one interpretation, 106(c) permits the bankruptcy court to issue "declaratory and injunctive" - though not monetary - relief against the Government. Hoffman, 492 U.S., at 102 . This conclusion is reached by reading the two paragraphs of subsection (c) as complementary, rather than independent: the first paragraph identifies the subject matter of disputes that courts may entertain under the subsection, and the second paragraph describes the relief that courts may grant in such disputes. That is to say, the second paragraph specifies the manner in which there shall be applied to governmental units the provisions identified by the first paragraph, i.e., a manner that permits declaratory or injunctive relief, but not an affirmative monetary recovery.
Several factors favor this construction. The distinction it establishes - between suits for monetary claims and suits for other relief - is a familiar one, and is suggested by the contrasting language used in subsections (a) and (b) ("claim[s]") and in subsection (c) ("determination[s]" of "issue[s]"), Hoffman, 492 U.S., at 102 . It also avoids eclipsing the carefully drawn limitations placed on the waivers in subsections (a) and (b). The principal provision of the Code permitting the assertion of claims against persons other than the estate itself is 542(b), which provides that "an entity that owes a debt that is property of the estate and that is matured, payable on demand, or payable on order, shall pay such debt to, or on the order of, the trustee." 11 U.S.C. 542(b). If the first paragraph of 106(c) means that, by reason of use of the trigger-word "entity," this provision applies in all respects to governmental units, then the Government may be sued on all alleged debts, despite the prior specification in subsections (a) and (b) that claims against the Government will lie only when the Government has filed a proof of claim, and even then only as a setoff unless the claim is a compulsory counterclaim. Those earlier limitations are reduced to trivial application if paragraph (c)(1) stands on its own. See id., 101-102. This construction also attaches practical consequences to paragraph [503 U.S. 30, 36] (c)(2), whereas respondent's interpretation violates the settled rule that a statute must, if possible, be construed in such fashion that every word has some operative effect. See id., at 103; United States v. Menasche, 348 U.S. 528, 538 -539 (1955). Respondent has suggested no function to be performed by paragraph (2) if paragraph (1) operates to treat the Government like any other "entity" or "creditor," regardless of the type of relief authorized by an applicable Code provision.
Under this interpretation, 106(c), though not authorizing claims for monetary relief, would nevertheless perform a significant function. It would permit a bankruptcy court to determine the amount and dischargeability of an estate's liability to the Government, such as unpaid federal taxes, see 11 U.S.C. 505(a)(1) (permitting the court to "determine the amount or legality of any tax") (emphasis added), whether or not the Government filed a proof of claim. See 492 U.S., at 102 -103. Cf. Neavear v. Schweiker, 674 F.2d 1201, 1203-1204 (CA7 1982) (holding that, under 106(c), a bankruptcy court could discharge a debt owed to the Social Security Administration). The Government had repeatedly objected, on grounds of sovereign immunity, to being bound by such determinations before 106(c) was enacted in 1978. See, e.g., McKenzie v. United States, 536 F.2d 726, 728-729 (CA7 1976); Bostwick v. United States, 521 F.2d 741, 742-744 (CA8 1975); Gwilliam v. United States, 519 F.2d 407, 410 (CA9 1975); In re Durensky, 377 F.Supp. 798, 799-800 (ND Tex. 1974), appeal dism'd, 519 F.2d 1024 (CA5 1975).
Subsection (c) is also susceptible of another construction that would not permit recovery here. If the two paragraphs of 106(c) are read as being independent, rather than the second as limiting the first, then, pursuant to the first paragraph, Code provisions using the triggering words enumerated in paragraph (c)(1) would apply fully to governmental units. But that application of those provisions would be limited by the requirements of subsections (a) and (b), in accordance [503 U.S. 30, 37] with the phrase that introduces subsection (c) ("Except as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this section"). This exception, in other words, could be read to mean that the rules established in subsections (a) and (b) for waiver of Government "claim[s]" that are "property of the estate" are exclusive, and preclude any resort to subsection (c) for that purpose. That reading would bar the present suit, since the right to recover a postpetition transfer under 550 is clearly a "claim" (defined in 101(4)(A)) and is "property of the estate" (defined in 541(a)(3)). (The dissent appears to read paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) as being independent, but provides no explanation of what the textual exception could mean under that reading.)
The foregoing are assuredly not the only readings of subsection (c), but they are plausible ones - which is enough to establish that a reading imposing monetary liability on the Government is not "unambiguous," and therefore should not be adopted. Contrary to respondent's suggestion, legislative history has no bearing on the ambiguity point. As in the Eleventh Amendment context, see Hoffman, at 104, the "unequivocal expression" of elimination of sovereign immunity that we insist upon is an expression in statutory text. If clarity does not exist there, it cannot be supplied by a committee report. Cf. Dellmuth v. Muth, 491 U.S. 223, 228 -229 (1989).
Respondent proposes several alternative grounds for affirming the judgment below, all unpersuasive. First, it claims that the necessary waiver can be found in 28 U.S.C. 1334(d), which grants the district court in which a bankruptcy case is initiated "exclusive jurisdiction of all of the property, wherever located, of the debtor as of the commencement of such case, and of property of the estate." Respondent urges us to construe this language as empowering a bankruptcy court to compel the United States or a State to return any property, including money, that passes into the [503 U.S. 30, 38] estate upon commencement of the bankruptcy proceeding. Under this theory, a sovereign's exposure to suit would not be governed by the specific language of 106, but would be concealed in the broad jurisdictional grant of 1334(d). Besides being unprecedented and running afoul of the unequivocal-expression requirement, this theory closely resembles an argument we rejected just last Term. In Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak, 501 U.S. 775, 786 (1991), the argument was made that Alaska's Eleventh Amendment immunity to suit was abrogated by 28 U.S.C. 1362, a jurisdictional grant, akin to 1334(d), that gives district courts jurisdiction over "all civil actions, brought by any Indian tribe . . . aris[ing] under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." Rejecting that contention, we observed: "The fact that Congress grants jurisdiction to hear a claim does not suffice to show Congress has abrogated all defenses to that claim. The issues are wholly distinct. " Id., at 787, n. 4.
Equally unpersuasive is respondent's related argument that a bankruptcy court's in rem jurisdiction overrides sovereign immunity. As an initial matter, the premise for that argument is missing here, since respondent did not invoke, and the bankruptcy court did not purport to exercise, in rem jurisdiction. Respondent sought to recover a sum of money, not "particular dollars," cf. Begier v. IRS, 496 U.S. 53, 62 (1990) (emphasis deleted), so there was no res to which the court's in rem jurisdiction could have attached, see Pennsylvania Turnpike Comm'n v. McGinnes, 268 F.2d 65, 66-67 (CA3), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 829 (1959). In any event, we have never applied an in rem exception to the sovereign immunity bar against monetary recovery, and have suggested no such exception exists, see United States v. Shaw, 309 U.S. 495, 502 -503 (1940). Nor does United States v. Whiting Pools, Inc., 462 U.S. 198 (1983), establish such an exception, or otherwise permit the relief requested here. That case upheld a bankruptcy court order that the IRS [503 U.S. 30, 39] turn over tangible property of the debtor it had seized before the debtor filed for bankruptcy protection. A suit for payment of funds from the Treasury is quite different from a suit for the return of tangible property in which the debtor retained ownership. The Court's opinion in Whiting Pools contains no discussion of 106(c), and nothing in it suggests that an order granting monetary recovery from the United States would be proper.
Resort to the principles of trust law is also of no help to respondent. Most of the trust decisions respondent cites are irrelevant, since they involve private entities, not the Government. The one that does involve the Government, Bull v. United States, 295 U.S. 247 (1935), concerns equitable recoupment, a doctrine that has been substantially narrowed by later cases, see United States v. Dalm, 494 U.S. 596, 608 (1990), and has no application here.
An officer of an insolvent corporation appropriated corporate funds and used them to discharge a personal tax obligation. Because the Federal Government was the ultimate recipient of the stolen property, the Court holds that the [503 U.S. 30, 40] bankruptcy trustee cannot avoid the transfer. The interest in a rigid interpretation of the doctrine of sovereign immunity outweighs the interest in equitable treatment of general creditors and shareholders of the corporate debtor. This result is neither necessary nor just.
It is not necessary because both the text and the legislative history of the Bankruptcy Code support a contrary result. It is not just because nothing more than a misguided interest in adherence to obsolete judge-made rules is at stake. I shall comment first on the laws enacted by Congress, and then on the rules that the Court itself has ordained.
The text of 106 is straightforward. Because the case does not involve either a counterclaim or an offset, subsections (a) and (b) are not applicable. Subsection (c) provides:
The legislative history unambiguously demonstrates that Congress intended the statute to be read literally. The immediate purpose of 106(c) was to enable the bankruptcy court to determine the amount and the dischargeability of the debtor's tax liabilities, but the sponsors of the amendment clearly stated that it covered "other matters as well," specifically including the avoidance of preferential transfers. 124 Cong.Rec. 32394 (1978) (statement of Rep. Edwards); id., at 33993 (statement of Sen. DeConcini). 3 The congressional purpose to waive sovereign immunity is pellucidly clear.
The Court evades this conclusion by hypothesizing "plausible" alternative constructions of the statute, 4 by refusing to consider its legislative history, 5 and by reiterating the [503 U.S. 30, 42] Court's view that waivers of sovereign immunity must be strictly construed. 6 I shall not comment on the plausible alternatives except to note that they are obviously less satisfactory - both as a matter of sound bankruptcy policy and as a principled interpretation of the English language - than a literal reading of the statute. I shall, however, add a few words about the Court's love affair with the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
Despite its ancient lineage, the doctrine of sovereign immunity is nothing but a judge-made rule that is sometimes favored 7 and sometimes disfavored. 8 Its original reliance on the notion that a divinely ordained monarch "can do no wrong" 9 is, of course, thoroughly discredited. 10 Moreover, [503 U.S. 30, 43] its persistent threat to the impartial administration of justice has been repeatedly acknowledged and recognized. 11 Thus, in FHA v. Burr, 309 U.S. 242, 245 , we remarked on "the current disfavor of the doctrine of governmental immunity from suit." 12
Time after time, Congress has taken action to ameliorate the hardship of the doctrine. A half century ago, this Court observed:
Surely the interest in requiring the Congress to draft its legislation with greater clarity or precision does not justify a refusal to make a good faith effort to ascertain the actual meaning of the message it tried to convey in a statutory provision that is already on the books. The Court's stubborn insistence on "clear statements" burdens the Congress with unnecessary reenactment of provisions that were already plain enough when read literally. 14 The cost to litigants, to [503 U.S. 30, 46] the legislature, and to the public at large, of this sort of judicial lawmaking is substantial and unfortunate. Its impact on individual citizens engaged in litigation against the sovereign is tragic.
The fact that Congress has ample power to correct the Court's unfortunate error does not justify this refusal to obey its command. I respectfully dissent.
[ Footnote 2 ] Section 550(a) provides:
[ Footnote 3 ] See also the material summarized and quoted in my dissenting opinion in Hoffman v. Connecticut Dept. of Income Maintenance, 492 U.S. 96, 111 -114 (1989). Particularly note the sponsors' comment that "` 106(c) permits a trustee or debtor in possession to assert avoiding powers under Title 11 against a governmental unit,'" id., at 112, and the comment that, as a result of 106(c), "`the government is subject to avoidance of preferential transfers,'" id., at 113.
[ Footnote 4 ] Ante, at 34-37.
[ Footnote 5 ] Ante, at 37.
[ Footnote 6 ] Ante, at 34.
[ Footnote 7 ] See, e.g, Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U.S. 310, 318 (1986) ("`The consent necessary to waive the traditional immunity must be express, and it must be strictly construed'") (quoting United States v. N.Y. Rayon Importing Co., 329 U.S. 654, 659 (1947)); Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 685 (1983) ("Waivers of immunity must be `construed strictly in favor of the sovereign,' . . . and not `enlarge[d] . . . beyond what the language requires'"); United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 590 (1941) (Because "a relinquishment of a sovereign immunity . . . must be strictly interpreted," we construe the statutory language with "conservatism").
[ Footnote 8 ] See, e.g., Bock v. Neal, 460 U.S. 289, 298 (1983) ("`The exemption of the sovereign from suit involves hardship enough where consent has been withheld. We are not to add to its rigor by refinement of construction where consent has been announced'") (quoting Anderson v. Hayes Constr. Co., 243 N.Y. 140, 147, 153 N.E. 28, 2930 (1926) (Cardozo, J.)); Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 69 (1955) (Frankfurter, J.) (Court should not be "a self-constituted guardian of the Treasury [and] import immunity back into a statute designed to limit it"); Canadian Aviator, Ltd. v. United States, 324 U.S. 215, 222 (1945) (Court should not thwart the "broad statutory language authorizing suit" against the United States with "an unduly restrictive interpretation").
[ Footnote 9 ] See 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 246.
[ Footnote 10 ] See, e.g., Nevada v. Hall, 440 U.S. 410, 415 (1979) (the fiction that the king could do no wrong "was rejected by the colonists when they declared [503 U.S. 30, 43] their independence from the Crown"); Landord v. United States, 101 U.S. 341 (1880) ("We do not understand that . . . the English maxim [that the king can do no wrong] has an existence in this country").
[ Footnote 11 ] See, e. g., Davis, Sovereign Immunity Must Go, 22 Admin.L.Rev. 383, 383-384, 389-393 (1969); Pugh, Historical Approach to the Doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, 13 La.L.Rev. 476, 476, 492 (1953), Borchard, Government Liability in Tort, 34 Yale L.J. 1, 1-2, 31, 33 (1924).
[ Footnote 12 ] Many legal scholars have been similarly critical of the doctrine. See, e.g., Comment, Sovereign Immunity - An Anathema to the "Constitutional Tort," 12 Santa Clara Law. 543, 553, and n. 60 (1972) (collecting authorities); Cramton, Nonstatutory Review of Federal Administrative Action: The Need for Statutory Reform of Sovereign Immunity, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and Parties Defendant, 68 Mich.L.Rev. 387, 418-419 (1970); Davis, supra, n. 11; Pugh, supra n. 11, at 494.
Recognizing the lack of current justification for and the inequities caused by this judicially created doctrine, several state courts have abrogated or limited the immunity of state and local governments. See Note, Rethinking Sovereign Immunity after Bivens, 57 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 597, 603, and n. 26 (1982) (collecting cases).
[ Footnote 13 ] In United States v. Whiting Pools, Inc., 462 U.S. 198, 209 (1983), the Court first held that the reorganization estate includes property of the debtor that has been seized by a creditor prior to the filing of a petition for reorganization. The Court then explained:
We see no reason why a different result should obtain when the IRS is the creditor. The Service is bound by 542(a) to the same extent as any other secured creditor. The Bankruptcy Code expressly states that the term "entity," used in 542(a), includes a governmental unit. 101(14). See Tr. of Oral Arg. 16. Moreover, Congress carefully considered the effect of the new Bankruptcy Code on tax collection, see generally S.Rep. No. 95-1106 (1978) (Report of Senate Finance Committee), and decided to provide protection to tax collectors, such as the IRS, through grants of enhanced priorities for unsecured tax claims, 507(a)(6), and by the nondischarge of tax liabilities, 523(a)(1). S.Rep. No. 95-989, pp. 14-15 (1978) U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News 1978 pp. 5787, 5800, 5801. Tax collectors also enjoy the generally applicable right under 363(e) to adequate protection for property subject to their liens. Nothing in the Bankruptcy Code or its legislative history indicates that Congress intended a special exception for the tax collector in the form of an exclusion from the estate of property seized to satisfy a tax lien. Ibid.
[ Footnote 14 ] One scholar's comment on the countermajoritarian thrust of the Court's fascination with clear statement rules is illustrative:
In Dellmuth v. Muth, [ 491 U.S. 223 (1989)] the Court held that the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) of 1975 did not abrogate state immunity. The Court reached this result even though the law imposed substantive obligations directly on the states, included the states in its jurisdictional grant, and included legislative discussion assuming that the states could be sued. After the Supreme Court changed the clear statement rule in 1985, Congress responded in 1986 with a broad textual abrogation of state immunity for statutes protecting the disabled. Yet in Dellmuth, the Court held not only that the EHA did not meet the more stringent test for abrogation, but that the 1986 statute made clear Congress' "intent" not to abrogate state immunity in lawsuits filed before [503 U.S. 30, 46] 1986. Congress overrode Dellmuth in 1990. That Congress had to pass the same statute three times to achieve its original goal is quite striking." Eskridge, Overriding Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation Decisions, 101 Yale L.J. 331, 409-410 (1991) (footnotes omitted). [503 U.S. 30, 47]


text:
Starting out as a rhythm section (bass, drums, guitar, turntable) led by singer song-writer Robertson, Bullfrog has evolved over the years refining their sound and style. The core of the band, Mark Robertson, Peter Santiago , Max Sansalone and Eric (Kid Koala) San have been working together since '94. Initially averaging over 100 shows a year in the Montreal-Toronto area they soon became a club favourite .
Appearing at the Montreal Jazz Festival in '96 along with an opening slot for Maceo Parker helped change the profile of the band. Since, they released 2 independent Ep's, Bullfrog I & II (Toys Factory/ Outside) ,recorded on Kid Koala's "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" (Ninja Tune) and toured the "Meals on Wheels of Steel" World Tour 2000.
In 2001 they released their self titled debut Lp on Ropeadope records ( WEA) touring north america with the Project Logic ( Dj Logic) and again with Robert Walter's 20th congress headlining clubs and festivals ( SXSW 2002) across North America and Europe.
robertson's self-produced "Deeper Shade of Green" Ep (2004 Outside) released with a cross canada Jazz Festival tour with amazing brazilian drummer/percussionist Guttierrez (Bahia) , and a 2005 european tour as bass player for MoneyMark .
re-appearing at Montreal Jazz festival 2008 as Robertson and fka Bullfrog releasing the "FavoritePeople" Lp, the album was then re-released in europe on (Soulbeats/Discographe) in 2009 after an appearance on french and german national television show " One Shot Not" ARTE TV where Bullfrog singer/guitarist Robertson was backed by renowned french drummer Manu Katche and the greatest bass player on earth Marcus Miller. Then a few european tours followed .
Since it's inception the band has always featured outstanding musicians : Mc Blurum 13, DjKidKoala, Joanna Peters, Massimo Sansalone, Peter Santiago, Dessy Dilauro, Don Cummings, Tony Albino, Chris Swain, Aron Doyle, Ian Babb, Dj P-Love, D-Shade, Gutierrez, Robert Kraft, Slim Williams, Felix Burger, Liam Mackenzie ….and many other great musicians
Robertson and Santiago have since been writing in the studio teamed up with producer Carl Bastien. Receiving a grant from C.A.L.Q in 2012 has help get the band back into the studio the record the now ready Lp " Robertson and the formerly known bullfrog " out this September ! Thanks for all the support … music is the best !
Bullfrog vinyl 1999
label Music by Bullfrog
recorded and produced by Bullfrog and Carl Bastien
Bullfrog I (brown ep) 1999
label Music by Bullfrog
produced by Bullfrog and Carl Bastien
Bullfrog II (red ep) 2000
label: Music by Bullfrog
produced by Bullfrog
Bullfrog LP "A Little Ropeadope Record" 2001
label Ropeadope records/Atlantic
produced by Robertson,Kid Koala and Carl Bastien
Robertson, Deeper Shade of Green, 2004
Album Bullfrog Productions / Outside Music
Robertson, favorite People, 2008
Album Bullfrog Productions / music by Bullfrog
Blue 13, Vaguely familiar Jazz Fudge 2003
Series: Café Méliès Vol.3 compilation 2005
the title Heaven (avec Bullfrog)
Jajou Productions / Select
Kid Koala, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Ninja Tune / Outside Music
Bullfrog, EP Puzzle piece II
Bullfrog Productions / Independent
Bullfrog plays on remix in collaboration with Kid Koala in the
piece Vad Forgive Me de DJ Vadim, USSR
Reconstruction, compilation of a famous
Russian DJ, remixed by various artists around
the globe (Ninja Tune)
Fresh Jazz Vibes vol. 2, compilation
including a Bullfrog title Mo'funk Records
Bullfrog, Public Sessions 1996
Bullfrog Productions / Independent
Audiovisual Licenses
2005 Sombrio – documentary by Paul Manlyplayed on CBC
2004 Just for Laughs – Unleash across Canada, theme song: Ababa, used during the festival
2003 A Heads Tail, documentary excerpts from Bullfrog show at Evolve Festival in Antagonism (Nova Scotia)
2002 Cirque du Soleil : Fire Within song : Bullfrog Theme
1999 Surf Video, production of Blue Torch, California, song: Ababa
1996 Once a Thief, series produced by John Woo,for CBC (sold world wide), songs : Cha-la-oop (2 episodes ), Whatch'Ya (1 episode)


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Hello Blue Fern Studios Fans!
Here's my turn to share with you three new layouts. This month, I played with the gorgeous Garden Life and Happy Accident paper collections.
For this layout, I first put a coat of clear gesso on my paper. Then, I put modeling paste through a flower stencil. I used yellow inks to do my background to make a contrast with the blue of the paper. I used a brush and makes drops of ink on my paper. I stamped my background with brown ink.
I used the BFS Imagine Ink 'Ginger' to embossed the Circle Vine chipboard. I put my frame horizontally over my picture.
I embossed my title in blue with BFS Imagine Ink 'Stormy Skies'.
I glued many flowers to embellish my layout.
Blue Fern Studios products used:
Garden Life 'Sunrise'
Circle Vine
Cute, Sweet, Sassy
Serendipity Medley
Garden Frolic
Embossing Powders
BFS Imagine Ink 'Stormy Skies'
BFS Imagine Ink 'Ginger'
"Spread Your Wings and Fly"
For my second layout, a did a big background with modeling paste, stencils, pink and orange inks and stamps.
I embossed the Spring Frame with BFS Imagine Ink 'Raspberry'. I aged it on sides with gold paste.
I put many flowers under my tile to make it stands out. I embossed it with BFS Imagine Ink 'Wheat'.
Blue Fern Studios products used:
Garden Life 'Snippets'
Spring Frame
And Fly
Memoires Collage
Embossing Powders
BFS Imagine Ink 'Wheat'
BFS Imagine Ink 'Raspberry'
For my last layout this month, I made a simple background with modeling paste, stencil, aqua ink and stamps.
I embossed the Looped Frame and the Blooming Foliage with BFS Imagine Ink 'Foam'. I aged the edge with gold paste again.
I embossed the title and the Wild Flourish Frame with BFS Imagine Ink 'Ginger'. I cut the Wild Flourish Frame chipboard in half and glued it under my picture to make only appear the flourish.
Blue Fern Studios products used:
Happy Accident 'Blessing'


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The Winners!
- Traditional: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
- Low-Fat: Whole Foods 365 Brand Macaroni and Cheese
It's not an easy job cajoling, bribing, physically forcing, or otherwise coercing an officeful of folks who eat too much as is into coming to an eight-product tasting; but some taste tests are more difficult than others. On the tough end of the spectrum are things like bottled teriyaki sauce and instant mashed potatoes. On the opposite end are the ones I like. The ones where everyone volunteers readily. Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese was one of the good kind.
I recently made a shocking discovery: The familiar blue-boxed, stovetop macaroni and cheese of my youth is not the macaroni and cheese I know at all. I'd always wondered how that extra-cheesy, extra-goopy, extra-creamy texture could come out of something made by adding orange powder to some butter and milk, and it turns out the answer is that it doesn't. That familiar texture I grew up with? The gooey pockets of cheese that squirt out of each elbow as I thread it onto the tines of a fork? 100% due to the two extra slices of American cheese and half-stick of butter my mom threw into every potful of stovetop mac and cheese. I'm sure many of you are in the same boat here.
So I was a little disappointed when I tasted my way through eight samples and found that none of them lived quite up to my childhood standards, but the manufacturers must know that extra cheese and butter are de rigeur, right?
The question still remains: Which boxed stovetop macaroni and cheese delivers the cheeziest, creamiest, tangiest, comforting-est bowl?
The Contenders
Pretty much all stovetop macaroni and cheese follows the same basic procedure: Cook pasta. Drain pasta. Add butter and milk. Add a packet of powdered cheese sauce. Stir and consume before it congeals into a rubbery mass.
We picked eight nationally available brands for our taste test, divided into two separate categories. In the traditional category, we included all brands that required the addition of four tablespoons of butter along with milk. We also included Velveeta, the only one that came with a liquid cheese packet (no additional ingredients necessary).
In the lower-fat category, all boxes called for 2 tablespoons of butter or less, with little to no milk added.
We excluded any of the ready-to-eat, single-serving, microwaveable products, such as Stouffer's and Chef Boyardee.
Traditional Contenders
- Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
- Kraft Velveeta Shells & Cheese
- America's Choice Macaroni & Cheese
- Fould's Elbo Macaroni & Cheese
Low Fat Contenders
- Back to Nature Macaroni & Cheese
- Annie's Homegrown Macaroni & Cheese
- Trader Joe's Macaroni & Cheese
- Whole Foods 365 Brand Macaroni & Cheese
The Criteria
We judged based on a few parameters. First off, we wanted pasta that tasted like real grown-up pasta. That means decently textured with a firm but not chewy or tough bite. Mushy pasta was downgraded.
Cheese sauce should taste like real cheese and butter—fake movie-theater-style butter flavor was not appreciated. While we don't expect any real funk to the cheese in these bowls (it is, after all, American-style cheese), we wanted a good balance of tanginess and salt. Too much or too little of either is not a good thing.
Finally, despite the fact that almost all the cheese sauces came from a packet, we were looking for some semblance of sauciness, some vague reminiscence of real, from-scratch cheesiness.
The Results:
Not surprisingly, our favorite was the brand that most of us were already familiar with. While some of us have gradually shifted over to the more adult-looking Annie's brand, Kraft is still the cheesiest, tastiest, and butteriest.
Interestingly enough, the brands that had more fat and milk added to them did not necessarily score better than those with less butter and milk added. While the high fat versions had an average rating of 4.6, the low-fat version came in at a respectable 4.3. True, our absolute favorite was high fat and our least favorite was low fat, but second and third place both went to low-fat versions.
Here's the detailed breakdown.
#1: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (6.7/10)
The clear winner, it has "a nice thin layer of cheese" that still manages to pack "sharp cheddar-y taste." The noodles themselves were tender and more like good pasta than others. "This must be Kraft because it rocks!"
#2: Whole Foods 365 Brand Macaroni & Cheese (5.6/10)
Judging by their track record, Whole Foods' 365 Brand products don't stand much of a chance in our taste tests—they consistently score close to the bottom of the pack—but when it comes to mac & cheese, the organic folk know what they're doing. While the sauce was not particularly flavorful ("I want more cheese!"), the elbows were "cute" and had the best texture of any pasta we tried. "This tastes normal to me. What I remember it tasting like growing up."
#3: Annie's Homegrown Macaroni & Cheese (5.2/10)
"This is what I think of when I think of boxed stovetop," said one taster. "Similar to the Kraft I knew and love, but not enough salt!" Annie's has grown to become one of the most popular brands around, and with good reason. It had some really good pasta, though a lack of cheese flavor is what kept it from taking the #1 spot. "I prefer the consistency to the thick and gummy sauce [with the others but] not cheesy enough."
Good In A Pinch
#4: America's Choice Macaroni & Cheese (4.7/10)
"Pretty flavorless" with "mushy noodles," but at least it was "inoffensive." Most tasters found it to be pretty similar to the Kraft, but not quite as flavorful, and a little less creamy. Some complained of a slightly grainy texture. It lost most of its points for a mushier pasta than the Kraft it's trying to clone.
#5: Back to Nature Macaroni & Cheese (4.6/10)
"Thickest and creamiest. Actually, sauce is too heavy. Maybe." While some thought that it tasted more cheesy, others weren't sure whether it was the actual flavor they were responding to, or the white cheese in lieu of the traditional yellow. Max, for instance, claimed to have preferred it. When given a blind taste test, however, the results were not as cut and dry.
Graininess and mushy pasta were common complaints.
#6: Kraft Velveeta Shells & Cheese(4.0/10)
The most expensive of the bunch, and a divisive one, this is the only brand that comes with a ready-made cheese sauce that you simply squeeze out of a packet. It's also the only one to feature shell-shaped pasta in lieu of elbows. Unfortunately, the pasta cooks up chewy and dense, slowly turning mushy as it cooks, rather than softening while simultaneously maintaining a slight bite as a good pasta should. Some liked the thicker, gooier texture of the cheese sauce, while others found it to be too plastic-y and gummy.
"This tastes weird, like other people's houses," said one taster, while another exclaimed, "I can't help it. I'm ashamed, but... LIKE."
Not Recommended
#7: Fould's Elbo Macaroni & Cheese (3.2/10)
"The texture is like mochi, [it] makes me feel the way my dog looks when he's eating peanut butter," said one taster of this, the pastiest, gluiest brand. It doesn't taste like the stuff you get at home, but more like the stuff you "get at day camp. The texture is too thick." Tacky sauce. Bland flavor. Not much redeeming to be said here.
#8: Trader Joe's Macaroni & Cheese (1.9/10)
Universally panned for its grainy texture and "super fake" "cheez-y" flavor. "Yuck! Weird aftertaste and very thick & sticky." There was not much redeeming about this brand. One taster likened it to "very bad American cheese," while another simply said "No."
Our Tasting Methodology: All taste tests are conducted completely blind and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample 1 first, while taster B will taste sample 6 first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria that vary from sample to sample. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.


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T-Mobile US Inc said it added a record number of customers in the first quarter, blowing past its competitors as the company's aggressive discounts lured in subscribers
T-Mobile shares jumped 7.3 percent as the company that has billed itself as the "uncarrier" signed up 2.4 million new customers in the first quarter, topping estimates of 932,000. That was more than its top three rivals combined, a first for the No. 4 mobile carrier in the United States based on total subscribers.
No. 3 carrier Sprint Corp is currently meeting with banks to work out funding for a bid for T-Mobile, a source familiar with the situation said, as the mobile carrier works to ease regulatory concerns that the deal would hurt competition.
U.S. authorities rejected a 2011 merger between AT&T and T-Mobile on grounds that the market needs at least four major players to be competitive
"Certainly it is turning out that the fact that the FCC had the foresight to enable us to continue to compete and not combine with other duopolists has been a good thing," said Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile.
"Consolidation if done right and if it allows T-Mobile a super charged ability to be a disruptive competitor, improving the wireless industry for consumers, we would be interested," he said.
The company will rely on free cash flow and debt to finance the upcoming spectrum auctions and does not plan on diluting shares, he said.
T-Mobile, two-thirds owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, started to turn the corner last year after losing customers for four years, through aggressive marketing and heavy advertising for its wireless plans that have enabled it to grab market share.
The company launched a series of promotions this year, including eliminating contracts and introducing a billing plan for equipment that allows customers to pay for devices in installments. Analysts said the installment plans could pose a liability for the company if the economy turns sour as some customers may not be able to complete payments.
"The 'uncarrier' strategy is working from a subscriber perspective and the market is responding to that," said Michael McCormack, an analyst at Jefferies.
Still, the mobile service provider lost $151 million, or 19 cents per share, in the quarter, compared with a profit of $107 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 47 percent to $6.88 billion, compared with $4.68 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 19 cents per share on revenue of $6.92 billion.
It said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or cash flow, fell 12.2 percent from the previous quarter to $1.1 billion due to additional costs from the sudden rise in subscribers.
But the company's chief financial officer said T-Mobile is attracting higher quality customers that are migrating from other carriers and have a better credit profile.
"The significant improvement towards prime customers helps inoculate us for any downturns that could happen in the future," Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said.
In the quarter T-Mobile added 1.3 million postpaid customers — those who pay monthly bills — and 465,000 prepaid customers, who pay for calls in advance. (Reuters)


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Today's News: Our Take - Masters of Sex's Allison Janney: Margaret Has No Clue
Allison Janney's alcoholic character Bonnie on Mom may have relapsed, but the actress feels that her character Margaret on Showtime's Masters of Sex is far more vulnerable.
"I think that Bonnie's a little tougher. She's got a little thicker skin than Margaret does," Janney tells TVGuide.com. "I definitely think Margaret is ... young, not young age-wise, but young and naive in her emotional life. A woman in the '50s, there's so much that's undiscovered in Margaret. She's not reached her full potential for anything, because she's been kept down by the mores of the time and her husband, the lack of honesty there and what's going on. I feel she's just a woman who has had blinders on and doesn't know the world."
PHOTOS: TV's unsexiest sex scenes
On Masters of Sex (Sundays, 10/9c), Margaret Scully has come a long way from the first time we saw her as the dewy-eyed provost's wife, but she still has a lot to learn when it comes to sexuality and, more specifically, her husband's sexuality. When last we saw Margaret, she was still reeling from her husband Barton Scully's (Beau Bridges) confession that he hired a pimp to procure prostitutes for him, a revelation that explained why Barton no longer desired her sexually. This, coupled with the demise of her own brief affair, led Margaret to conclude that they should divorce. "This marriage of ours is broken, and unless you want me to break along with it, you have to let me go," she told her husband.
Unfortunately, Barton's confession was a lie to cover up an even bigger lie: He's gay and has been seeing a male prostitute regularly. It's not a truth that Margaret can even conceive of, much less suspect. "I don't think Margaret has a clue that that is even in the realm of possibility," Janney says. "I think that is the last thing that she thinks. She thinks it's something to do with her, that there must be something wrong with her. He's not attracted to her. What an awful thing for her to think and live in, that her husband -- he says he loves her and she believes him, but he doesn't want to touch her. My heart breaks for her."
25 totally unnecessary spin-offs
It's clear to see why she was easy prey for the good-looking lothrio Dr. Austin Langham (Teddy Sears), who introduced Margaret to her first pleasurable sexual experience. Despite Langham's loose morals -- he's also married and works for the provost -- and dumping Margaret just before their trip out of town, she's grateful to him. "For her to have her first orgasm and be with this young guy, it just smacked her awake," Janney says. "And I think it wakes her up in a good way, in a way that she's going to start demanding more and she's not going to settle for less. I think it's a very important thing that's happened for her, and whatever pain she has to go through because of it, it's going to make her a stronger and better woman and feel so much more self-confidence. It's great that it happened."
Do you think Margaret will finally learn the truth about her husband? How would she react?
Masters of Sex airs Sundays at 10/9c on Showtime. Mom airs Mondays at 9:30/8:30c on CBS.
(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS, Showtime's parent company.)
Additional reporting by Liz Raftery
View original Masters of Sex's Allison Janney: Margaret Has No Clue at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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If you work in an office, chances are you have seen a frantic IT guy or gal running around trying to put out virtual fires, and you've wondered what all the fuss was about. In addition to the numerous, legitimate, technical glitches that can come up when operating a data center, there are also lots of mind-numbing issues that IT admins run into when it comes to supporting users. GFI was curious to find out how stressed IT admins are and what causes all that tension, so we surveyed hundreds of IT admins in the U.S. and the UK. The topline results were very interesting, but it was when we dug deeper that we learned just how strange the daily user support situations really are.
Here are the top five categories for the most ridiculous things users do, as well as some odds and ends you have to read to believe . . .
1. We Need More Power!!
An overwhelming amount of IT administrators said they have received complaints or support calls from users who did not know that a computer does not work without power. In one case, the user's frustration caused them to destroy their machine, not realizing it simply needed to be plugged in. One respondent even told us that a user did not understand that they had plugged a power strip "into itself" and couldn't figure out why their computer wasn't powering up.
2. My Computer Looked Thirsty
One admin put it best with a tongue-in-cheek response that read,
"[Users] drink and eat in front of the computer and they feed the keyboard with water."
Spills are bound to happen, but IT admins cringe when liquids find their way directly into the keyboard, in most cases ruining the machine. Coffee, water and soda were the most often cited offending liquids. In fact, there were several instances of users turning their CD/DVD tray into a coffee cup holder! One respondent pointed out that not all spills happen in the office either.
One user "brought in a damaged work laptop, swore that her kids never go near it, and then we found spilled soda in the keyboard and the kids' homework on the hard drive."
3. We Don't Need No Stinking Passwords
One of the biggest problems IT admins see when it comes to security is that users frequently subvert the purpose of passwords by not securing them. Aside from the traditional bad habits of sticking passwords to monitors with Post-It notes, using "password" as a password, and talking about a password publicly, there was even one case of a user posting their user name and password on a social network to "see how many people would steal it."
4. This PC Will Self-Destruct in 5 Seconds
There were also quite a few IT admins who said their users have KNOWINGLY downloaded malware, through a number of different methods. Similar to the social network password poster mentioned earlier, one user clicked on a link in an email that they knew was a virus "just to see what would happen." Another clicked on the same pop-up ad frequently, installing a virus that had already been removed multiple times from their machine, even after being warned by IT to stop doing it. Yet another user continually responded to phishing emails with their personal credentials while one person even tried to download and install a forbidden software application and completely erased the hard drive.
5. Just Making Some Room Here . . .
Many of our respondents said that their users had deleted important files or data to make room on their hard drive, which in most cases already had plenty of space remaining. In some cases, the deleted files were actually drivers that the computer needed in order to run.
Perhaps one of the more comical things that IT admins see is "creative" use of the mouse. Users have been known to use their mouse like a remote control – pointing it at the screen and clicking it. There was also a reported case of a user putting their mouse directly on the screen and rolling it around on the surface to maneuver the cursor.
Also, while largely an ineffective method, IT admins have witnessed users talking directly to their computers when they have an issue.
One user spoke "to a PC because the sign under the screen said 'If you have problems with your computer speak to IT'."
On the darker side, users have been known to take out their frustrations on their machines and colleagues as well. From throwing a machine on the ground because it "didn't work right," to shaking a computer "like an Etch A Sketch," to throwing a piece of equipment "at someone" because it didn't function properly – IT admins have seen it all. One IT admin even reported that a user threatened him with a hammer when faced with a frustrating computer issue. Talk about stress!
One final piece of feedback from the IT administrators we surveyed . . . Contrary to popular belief, they are not super human. Expecting them to work 24×7 or turn around major changes with unrealistic deadlines is not always feasible. So keep in mind some of the problem areas above if you want to stay on your gatekeeper of technology's good side. And failing that, if nothing else they'd probably be thankful enough if you could simply avoid "watering" your machine.
Are you an IT admin with a unique user faux pas story? Or a user who wants to clear your conscience about causing some stress for your IT department? Let's have some fun. Leave a comment below.
Do any of these findings surprise you?
Here's our infographic visualizing the survey's US data:
Like our surveys and infographics? Subscribe to our RSS feed or email feed (on the right hand side) now, and be the first to get them!


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Published: August 2013
World events and popular culture contribute to the shaping of each generation of students, making their collective identity unique. How well do you know the undergraduate students you'll be teaching this year? Do you know how many of them are new to Nebraska or the U.S.? Every year another few thousand students begin their studies at UNL, and how many you see depends on the classes you teach. Understanding the demographic makeup of your classroom will help you decide how to set expectations for your students and how to approach your material. The accompanying figures are created from the latest data (Fall 2012) published on UNL's Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) website.
About one-quarter of the graduate students at UNL are international, but only 6% of undergraduates are international.
The average freshman that begins this Fall semester will have been born in 1995. They were two years old when Princess Diana died. In 2000, when your students were 5, they saw India's population hit 1 billion. Popular TV shows your students grew up with included American Idol and Hannah Montana, and they listened to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. Your students weren't alive when the Berlin Wall came down, and 9/11 happened when they were in the first or second grade.
As members of the "Millennial" generation, your students are interested in learning by doing. They have grown up with instant answers through technology, which means that they expect emails to be answered quickly. While they may be "digital natives" who interface with technology seamlessly, your students have most likely not mastered difficult and multi-part searches through Google or the library website.


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Bike Adventure Film to Promote Road Sharing
It's hard to keep up with all the people launching fantastic bicycle projects out there, but every so often we like to highlight them when we can. This time around it's a bicycle awareness video by a guy named Pearson Constantino, and he's hoping that his crowdfunding campaign can help him launch. Their campaign ends on Thursday so there's only a couple more days if you want to help fund them.
Here's the information as explained by Julia Wrona.
The Long Bike Back
by Julia Wrona
From the time I met Pearson Constantino in 1999 I heard about the bike tours that he and his brother Pete did as kids and the 'epic' trip they planned to take across America. But after Pearson was hit and severely injured by an SUV, this long dreamed trip across the country finally solidified. Pearson said he wanted to bike across the US to encourage safer roads and more bicycle travel and this motivated me to document his story of recovery and perseverance.
As I followed his rehab and his ride across the US, I became committed to working for safe passing laws, improved bicycle infrastructure, and creating empathy for cyclists. And for the past few years, I've edited The Long Bike Back with that in mind. The editing is now complete and we're working on a summer release. For 90 minutes audiences (including drivers) will be able to experience the freedom, joy, and exhilaration of cycling as well as the vulnerability on the roads; there is no better way to create empathy and understanding than to allow someone to experience another's perspective.
In order to release The Long Bike Back we need some help with the cost of the final technical processes (color correction and sound mixing) which is why we've launched a crowdfunding campaign: http://igg.me/at/lbb (There are also perks for contributing, like a DVD, soundtrack, photo book, and more)
Here's the film's trailer, which illustrates Pearson's spirit, the mission, and some of the amazing miles of cycling he and Pete covered.
[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M4Eni8GfGk&feature=youtu.be']
A note from Pearson Constantino:
It's been almost seven years since a stranger changed my life. Cycling across America was the mission for my recovery, to reignite my spirit and give me something to focus on.
While gearing up for the trip, the growing number of car-bike collisions, fatalities and hit-and-runs really broke my heart and infuriated me. So, my goal shifted from just being able to ride my bike to wanting to shine a big light on the epidemic of car-on-bike crashes.
My bike trip took on an extra layer, it wasn't just about cycling across the United States it was about spreading a message: two and four wheeled vehicles can coexist. Drivers and cyclists need to work together so that both can use the roadways safely.
I made speeches and presentations, visited schools and bike clubs, and made many friends. Once the trip was underway, things changed again. We stayed on message, but as my body began to feel the strain of the difficult and, at times, absurd pace that I poorly planned, I struggled to stay on schedule.
I fell off the bike seven times, over-filled my tires causing 20 flats, broke my rear derailleur, crashed into my brother destroying his brakes, got clipped by a minivan, suffered brutal food poisoning twice, sprained my wrist, and was faced with difficult choices. But it was an incredible tour, one that I am looking forward to sharing with audiences.


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Jobs with Justice
It's an icy morning here in Western Mass – roads are slick, and cars are sliding all over the place, spinning out, careening into each other, and – in some cases – unable to make it uphill. Which bears a striking similarity to the trainwreck that was last night's Oscar broadcast. Jaz fills Bill in on what he missed.
We also talk to Jon Weissman of Western Mass Jobs with Justice about why unions matter, even if you're not in one.
Download the show! | Open Player in New Window
Monday 28 February 2011
2011-02-28 » Jaz Tupelo


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The Character Table as Change of Basis
Now that we've seen that the character table is square, we know that irreducible characters form an orthonormal basis of the space of class functions. And we also know another orthonormal basis of this space, indexed by the conjugacy classes :
A line in the character table corresponds to an irreducible character , and its entries tell us how to write it in terms of the basis :
That is, it's a change of basis matrix from one to the other. In fact, we can modify it slightly to exploit the orthonormality as well.
When dealing with lines in the character table, we found that we can write our inner product as
So let's modify the table to replace the entry with . Then we have
where we make use of our orthonormality relations. That is, if we use the regular dot product on the rows of the modified character table (considered as tuples of complex numbers) we find that they're orthonormal. But this means that the modified table is a unitary matrix, and thus its columns are orthonormal as well. We conclude that
where now the sum is over a set indexing the irreducible characters. We rewrite these relations as
We can use these relations to help fill out character tables. For instance, let's consider the character table of , starting from the first two rows:
where we know that the third row must exist for the character table to be square. Now our new orthogonality relations tell us on the first column that
Since , it is a dimension, and must be positive. That is, . On the second column we see that
and so we must have . Finally on the third column we see that
so .
To tell the difference, we can use the new orthogonality relations on the first and third or second and third columns, or the old ones on the first and third or second and third rows. Any of them will tell us that , and we've completed the character table without worrying about constructing any representations at all.
We should take note here that the conjugacy classes index one orthonormal basis of the space of class functions, and the irreducible representations index another. Since all bases of any given vector space have the same cardinality, the set of conjugacy classes and the set of irreducible representations have the same number of elements. However, there is no reason to believe that there is any particular correspondence between the elements of the two sets. And in general there isn't any, but we will see that in the case of symmetric groups there is a way of making just such a correspondence.


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ITI International Team for Implantology
The International Team for Implantology (ITI) unites professionals around the world from every field of implant dentistry and related tissue regeneration. As an academic association, it promotes networking and exchange among its more than 16,000 members. The ITI has built a reputation for scientific rigor combined with concern for patient welfare. The organization supports the development of well-documented treatment guidelines backed by extensive clinical testing and long-term results. It funds research as well as Scholarships, organizes congresses and continuing education events, runs more than 600 Study Clubs worldwide and publishes reference books such as the ITI Treatment Guide series. For more information, click here.
Education & Research Funding at the ITI
The principle of evidence-based science is at the heart of the treatment methods and approaches championed by the ITI. The ITI is active in many areas of education that range from the production of publications such as the ITI Treatment Guide series, through its National Congresses and World Symposia, to its ITI Education Weeks, ITI Scholarships and ITI Study Clubs. The ITI Online Academy is the latest in this line of educational tools and channels.
Since 1988, the ITI has supported well over 350 research projects submitted by both ITI-affiliated and non-affiliated scientists. Overall it has invested more than CHF 41 million in research, and the ITI is consistently one of the largest non-governmental international funding organizations in implant dentistry worldwide. Currently, the ITI provides CHF 2.2 million in research funding every year. The ITI also presents the prestigious André Schroeder Research Prize for new scientific findings on an annual basis.
A Brief History of the ITI
Since it was established in 1980, the ITI has taken a pioneering role in the development and promotion of the field of implant dentistry. Founded by Professor André Schroeder and Fritz Straumann together with a small multidisciplinary team of scientists, the ITI initially focused on the development of implants, along with education and research.
Over time, the organization's focus shifted towards education and the need to ensure a higher standard of quality among the now larger group of practitioners. At the same time, the ITI took a strategic decision to open up its small circle of Fellows, and in 2003 invited professionals involved in implant dentistry to become Members of the ITI.
In the intervening years the organization has grown substantially and has expanded its offering. Today, the ITI is the largest international organization in implant dentistry and one of the leading global providers of education in the field. Through its 27 national and regional Sections, the ITI has a truly global presence.


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Jerome Arizona is a famous former ghost town and now is an artist tourist place but back in the 1970's was a lot funkier. This post includes lots of shot inside the museum
Hooligans Pub, Prescott, AZ
Hooligans Pub in Prescott, Arizona
A Tomato Grows in the Inner City
Victoria Manalo Draves Park is located at Folsom and Columbia alley near 6th and Folsom in San Francisco. It has a small garden next to the basketball courts
San Francisco invests in homeless drunks circa 1950
Article from Newcastle Morning Herald, Australia, Saturday, December 29, 1950 courtesy of the Australian National Archives
scanned OCR text followed by PDF scan Continue reading »
Algadones Dunes Wilderness
Near the Mexico border in California
Crackheads of the Day #132
The Peruvian Parade continues in Mid Market, San Francisco
tagging trash cans in Mid Market
Friday afternoon, April 23, 2016, Stevenson Alley behind Zendesk. These are Zendesks trash bins
Crackheads of the Day #131
Stevenson Alley behind 1035 Market Street, home to the California Academy of Bartending
Shot glasses in front, glass pipes in the back
Crackheads of the Day #130
It's the return of the Stevenson alley stripper. First sighted here in 2007 nearly 9 years ago
Subsequent appearances happened in March 18 2011, March 9, 2011 and April 4, 2011
This is from April 1, 2016 in Mid Market tech company Zendesks back door, just hours after employees went home on Friday night
Crackheads of the Day #129
During a recent rain storm. Can't light the damn thing, keep trying!
a few highlights from October 2015- March 2016


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I have a confession: I have never used Tofu in my cooking before. It was never appealing to me, nor did I know how to cook it. What changed my mind? I went to a friend's house and she prepared a delicious vegetables and tofu stir fry recipe. At first, I was skeptical to taste it but I did not want to disappoint my friend. I gave it a try and let me tell you: I was missing out. The stir fry was so good that I asked for another serving! Even my picky teen loved it. He asked me to prepare a similar meal. You know when my picky child asks for a meal, I make it. As simple as that. Give the kids what they ask for (within limits of course).
A few days later, I made this delicious and easy tofu stir fry with one of my favourite sauces: Blue Dragon Sweet And Sour Stir Fry Sauces. What I love about these meals: they are easy to prepare, quick and all the family members enjoy them. What I loved about using tofu is that it is a nice replacement to meat, cost effective and very quick to cook. With the meat prices going through the roof, I am trying to find other protein alternatives that don't put my food budget into the red.
Sweet and Sour Tofu Stir Fry
- 1 tsp of vegetable oil
- 1 TBSP of minced garlic
- 1 TBSP of minced ginger
- 1 tofu package: extra firm. Dice it into small cubes.
- 1/2 cup of Blue Dragon Sweet and Sour Stir Fry sauce
- 1 package of frozen vegetables. I went with oriental style (a mix of broccoli, carrots, celery, etc) You can use fresh vegetables but at this time of the year, they are so expensive. To give you an idea: 1 cauliflower costs almost $9. Frozen vegetables have almost the same nutritional values and they are handy (no chopping, prepping).
- 2 green onions chopped.
Make it
- Heat a pan
- Add vegetable oil, ginger and garlic. Let them cook for one minute until they soften. Make sure to stir regularly.
- Add Tofu, 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of Blue Dragon Sauce
- Cook few minutes and set aside.
- In the same pan, add vegetables and onions, the remaining Blue Dragon Stir Fry sauce and cook for few minutes or until vegetables soften.
- Add the tofu mixture. Cook for 1 minute while mixing well.
- Transfer into a nice dish and enjoy. You can serve it with your favorite noodles, rice or quinoa.
Isn't this an easy and delicious dish? Give it a try and I am sure all your family will love it. If you're looking for more delicious vegan recipes, check out my vegan mashed cauliflower made with Blue Dragon Sesame Oil!
Want to stretch your budget by avoiding red meat, but not quite ready to make the leap all the way to vegetarian? Other great alternatives include Grilled Avocado with Shrimp and Juicy Grilled Chicken Breast Recipe with Hoisin Sauce.
Head over to the Blue Dragon Canada website to learn more about all their delicious sauces. Connect with Blue Dragon Canada on Facebook and Twitter to check out more great ideas!
Enter for a chance to win Blue Dragon's 2 NEW Squeezy's (Sriracha Chili Sauce and Sweet Chili Sauce), 2 stir-fry sauces and a cutting board! Open to Canada only, ends 2/12/2016
I am part of The Cultured Kitchen Ambassador program in partnership with Patak's Canada and Blue Dragon Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Have you ever made a tofu stir fry before? What are your favorite meatless recipes? Tell me in the comments!


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Fisher-Price promises its Laugh & Learn Apptivity mobile software will teach babies letters, numbers, shapes and colors.
And when a consumer group challenged those claims and complained to the federal government, the toy industry's trade association decided it was going to fight back with science proving the benefits of the multibillion-dollar educational software market.
Except that it came to realize an awkward fact: There was no science proving the benefits of such apps.
The market for mobile technology for children has boomed, with some analysts estimating there are at least 48,000 developers churning out a wide range of apps for smartphones and tablets to help babies say words, sing nursery rhymes to them and teach children foreign languages.
But as adults shell out for the convenience and the promise of toddlers growing up tech-savvy, concern is rising over the long-term impact of parking children in front of screens. And despite advertising claims, there are no major studies that show whether the technology is helpful or harmful.
"The real point here is that we have laws in the country saying if you make claims about a product, you need to be able to substantiate them," said Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). "The fact that they haven't produced evidence is important."
Linn's nonprofit group brought the complaint against Fisher-Price and another app developer to the Federal Trade Commission last week. In 2007, based on a CCFC complaint, the agency forced the makers of the Baby Einstein videos to drop several educational and developmental claims. Last year, the FTC slapped a $185 million fine on the makers of the "Your Baby Can Read" set of videos, flashcards and books for false advertising.
In response to the most recent CCFC complaint, one software developer, Open Solutions, changed the way it had been marketing its Baby First Puzzle Farm and other apps aimed at children 2 and younger. On Monday, the firm removed advertising language that had claimed its games are a "new and innovative form of baby education," according to the CCFC.
Open Solutions did not respond to requests for comment. Fisher-Price declined to be interviewed for this article. In an e-mailed statement, the company said that research goes into all of its toys.
"Grounded in 80 years of research and childhood development observations, we have appropriately extended these well researched play patterns into the digital space," said Kathleen Alfano, the senior director of child research at Fisher-Price.
With the prospect of the federal government clamping down on a flourishing corner of the Internet economy, the Toy Industry Association is planning to mount a defense of the business.
But some industry officials concede that the evidence backing the claims of educational apps is thin.
"Traditionally our members have worked with physical products, so apps are really new," said Stacy Leister, a spokesman for the Toy Industry Association.
Within hours of the CCFC's complaint, the association's staff decided to fight the organization's challenge. But the group, which has focused more on safety issues, did not have its own research and did not know what studies have been done on the matter, Leister said. Several other analysts say there is no definitive study on the benefits of educational apps aimed at children.
The industry group this week hired a child psychologist based in the Netherlands to aggregate any studies on the topic and compile them into a report. Companies may have their own research, Leister said, but those studies have not been shared publicly.
On Apple's iTunes store, Fisher-Price notes it sells a stuffed toy monkey to be used with its Laugh & Learn app. "Place your Apple device in the Monkey and press his paws to interact with the content on screen," the instructions read. When a child taps on a letter, the monkey dances and sings the numbers aloud.
At the center of the FTC complaint is Fisher-Price's claim that the app "teaches letters A-Z, numbers & counting 1-10, shapes, colors and action/re-action."
"I'm always telling companies not to promise outcomes but rather to talk about what inputs they can provide," said David Kleeman, a toy industry consultant and senior fellow at the Fred Rogers Center, which is focused on media and children.
"Once you say an app can make your kid smarter or read sooner, you are doing two bad things," Kleeman said. "You are making promises you can't keep, because you can't control the environment of the child, and you are preying on parents' guilt."
Analysts are divided over the long-term impacts of the explosion in mobile technology. Some child development experts have issued warnings, recommending that parents reduce screen time, especially for toddlers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against TV viewing for children under 2.
But others say mobile technology is different from TV because it is more interactive and, at times, requires thinking and problem solving.
The recommendation from the pediatrics association does not account for mobile devices, noted Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Washington whose research was cited in the CCFC's complaint against Baby Einstein, which is now controlled by Walt Disney Co.
Christakis said the jury is still out on mobile apps.
"Science has not kept up with the pace of technology, and the iPad may be more than just a screen like a TV or DVD screen," he said. "It is interactive and has a lot of differences, but the truth is there is no evidence that it is beneficial. It's just too early to say."
Follow The Post's new tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect.


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Publisher : AmazonCrossing
Release : 2018
File Size : 39,5 Mb
Language : En, Es, Fr and De
When Never Comes Book PDF/Epub Download
An Amazon Charts most-read and most-sold book. Author Barbara Davis deftly explores an emotionally charged landscape of pain, loss, and despair--and the risk one woman will take in the hope of loving again. As a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow--until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen's wasn't the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again. Desperate for answers, she's shattered to learn that Stephen and his mistress had a child--a little girl named Iris, who now lives in poverty with her ailing great-grandmother. The thought of Iris abandoned to the foster care system--as Christy-Lynn once was--is unbearable. But she's spent her whole life running--determined never to be hurt again. Will she finally stand still long enough to open herself up to forgiveness and love?


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By David Crane defrev at gmail.com DefenseReview has been following the development and fielding of remote weapon stations (RWS) a.k.a. remote-controlled weapon stations a.k.a. umanned weapon stations for awhile now, including the Recon Optical, Inc. (ROI) Raven R-400 Alpha CROWS RWS, and we're big fans of the Dillon Aero M134D and M134D-T Gatling Guns/Miniguns (7.62x51mm NATO (7.62mm NATO)/.308 Win.). So, …Read More »
Tag Archives: recon optical crows
Recon Optical CROWS Remote-Controlled Weapon Stations for Enhanced Lethality
by David Crane defrev at gmail.com All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with a 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera (Model #: DSC-P150). While DefenseReview was at AUSA Winter Symposium 2007, we got a chance to view …Read More »


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December 9th, 2010
Aaron Sorkin aims, fires at 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'
Hopefully, Sarah Palin wasn't fishing for compliments when she went caribou hunting on a recent episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska."
In a blog on the Huffington Post yesterday, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin called the former governor of Alaska "deranged" and told TLC, which airs Palin's reality show, that it should be ashamed of itself.
Though Palin had already said of the hunting episode, "Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation," that didn't stop Sorkin.
"Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt," he wrote. "But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals."
More importantly, he told Palin, "I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals."
"The Social Network" writer, who referred to Palin as a "phony pioneer girl," also accused her of killing caribou for political gain.
"You knew there'd be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully," he wrote. "What a uniter you'd be - bringing the right together with the far right."
In response, TLC told CNN that they have "no comment" to Sorkin's post.
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This is no trick, and whether it's a treat remains to be seen: IBM and Red Hat executives announced Monday that IBM is acquiring the open source software and cloud services company in a $34 billion cash deal.
Red Hat will remain a standalone business unit within IBM, and an IBM spokesperson said that IBM "will remain committed to Red Hat's open source ethos, its developer community and its open source community relationships." Red Hat will maintain its current leadership team and remain in its current headquarters and facilities. The culture will remain as well—though it's possible IBM and Red Hat may cross-pollinate a bit more than they have in the past.
In a webcast, IBM Senior Vice President of Hybrid Cloud Arvind Krishna and Red Hat Executive Vice President and President of Products and Technologies Paul Cormier echoed the spokesperson's statement, stating that all of Red Hat's existing partnerships with other cloud providers and all of Red Hat's open source development projects—including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the OpenShift implementation of Kubernetes-based containers, and the OpenStack cloud computing platform—would continue as before. Likewise, Krishna said that IBM would continue its partnerships with other Linux distributions.
Considering Red Hat's position as the leading Linux distribution provider in the business world, as well as the top operating system provider for cloud computing, that's probably a very good idea. IBM has long been a partner with Red Hat, even porting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to its mainframe platforms. RHEL, Krishna said, is the top operating system on IBM's z System mainframes, and that has been driven largely by customer demand to run the services supported by RHEL in a mainframe environment. And over the past 16 years, Red Hat's culture has shifted from being a commodity Linux distribution toward something more like IBM's corporate culture.
"We're not an open source company," said Cormier. "We're an enterprise software company with an open source development model. Red Hat's secret sauce is we've put those two things together. And we've both done that—IBM has a huge history of enterprise-grade software and open source development. The reason why [Red Hat] moved product and engineering to the Boston area is because we wanted engineers who had worked on enterprise products."
For IBM, the acquisition is about growing IBM's business in the cloud—private, public, and hybrid—based on the position of the company as the open source and open standards player versus the "proprietary" models of Microsoft, Amazon, and other major cloud players. For Red Hat, the deal is about scaling up the company's reach. "We can scale at greater speed," said Cormier, "not just from a Kubernetes perspective, but even with the RHEL base. We can only reach a certain number of customers right now."
Because IBM is counting on open source to cement the company's credibility as a cloud player, it's doubtful that the fallout of the acquisition will follow the path of, say, the Oracle acquisition of Sun. IBM has a good track record with open source—the Eclipse development platform and other contributions to Java, for example, as well as IBM's royalty-free patent contributions to the Open Invention Network to support development of the Linux platform. So this may be a good thing. Right?
Of course, the SCO-IBM lawsuit is still going, so that's a thing. IBM has a countersuit against SCO (suing over IBM using Unix stuff in AIX) that claims SCO (then Caldera) "copied and distributed hundreds of thousands of lines of IBM code, which IBM contributed to Linux under the GPL, after SCO lost permission to do so by repudiating and breaching the GPL. "


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Mom 5 Short Sleeve V-Neck T-Shirt
Product Description
This unisex tee has a classic v-neck cut and fits like a well-loved favorite.
• Made of 100% combed and ringspun cotton
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Unisex fit
• Side seams
• Coverstitched v-neck and hemmed sleeves
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
Size guide
XS S M L XL 2XL Body Length (inches) 26 ¾ 27 ¾ 28 ¾ 29 ¾ 30 ¾ 31 ¾ Body Length Tolerance (tolerance) 1 1 1 1 1 1 Body Width (inches) 16 ½ 18 20 22 24 26 Body Width Tolerance (tolerance) 1 1 1 1 1 1
Shipping & Delivery
Our goal is to offer you the best shipping options, no matter where you live. Every day, we deliver to hundreds of customers across the world, ensuring that we provide the very highest levels of responsiveness to you at all times.
The time frame for order delivery is divided into two parts:
Processing time: Order verification, tailoring, quality check and packaging. All orders are sent to the manufacturer for dispatch within 48 hours after the order is placed. The manufacturer process the orders, which takes an additional 2–7 days.
Shipping time: This refers to the time it takes for items to be shipped from our warehouse to the destination. US orders are shipped via USPS/DHL. After processing and leaving the warehouse, items usually take between 3 to 5 business days to arrive at their destination but can take longer from time to time.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at email@example.com with any questions or concerns!


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Tend Skin
Tend Skin is the ultimate skin saving solution for both men and women. Tend Skin Solution helps to reduce many of the unsightly side effects of shaving. Problems like razor burn or bumps and ingrown hairs are relieved in as little as 24 hours leaving healthy skin that is soft and smooth. You also get these same great benefits when used post-waxing or after laser hair removal to reduce redness and next day bumps. Use it on any area of the body that needs post-shaving care.
Tend Skin Air Shave Gel is non-lathering and perfect for both men and women to get an extra close shave. Because it's a gel and not cream, it provides an excellent razor glide so you will be less likely to cut or scrape your skin. If you shave, then you need Tend Skin!


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Well 2008 is finally ending and what better (read: horrible) way to wind down the year than with an update about our friends from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?
The Department of Family and Protective Services in Texas reports that 12 girls between the ages 12 to 15 were sexually abused "with the knowledge of their parents" and spiritually "married" to older men within the Mormon breakaway group. Of the girls, 7 of them had one or more children:
The report, an unusual step taken to help satisfy expected questions from the state Legislature when it convenes in January, summarized individual investigations and the history of the case. The findings, though shared with law enforcement, are separate from the ongoing criminal cases.
The individual investigations, which covered 146 families, concluded that 91 families had children who were abused or neglected. Crimmins said that conclusion confirmed what investigators initially suspected — that girls were being forced into underage marriages and other children were exposed to that harm.
The case "is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life," the agency said in its report. "It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls — it has never been about religion."
Authorities say that an additional 262 children were listed as neglected because their parents failed to remove their children from a situation where the child would be exposed to sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said that the the department has made "many allegations that it's never been able to back up" and that the department "needs to learn how to say we're sorry instead of trying to justify their actions."
So far a dozen FLDS men, including the sect's prophet—Warren Jeffs— face charges of sexual abuse and bigamy based on evidence gathered from the ranch. The agency has also identified 124 "perpetrators" who were either parents who arranged illegal child marriages or men who married a young child.
Abuse, Neglect At Polygamist Ranch [MSNBC]
Earlier: Authorities Take 400 More Kids From Polygamist Sect In Texas
Polygamist Sect Raided On Charges Of Abuse Of Girls


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It's weird that "vising" isn't really a word, right? I'm up to my chest in revisions. Yes, I already revised, based on shit I saw. And then my beta readers got back to me and they both said very similar things and when they didn't say similar things, they said different things about the same things.
It's funny. The part I thought needed the most work seems to need the most straight-forward work. Add a couple of things and… ta da.
I'm not sure how the next parts are going to go. I'm kind of stressed about it.
Plus, holy shit, did I tell you guys what I'm doing next week? No? Well, I'm completely unprepared. So, I'm a little wanting to throw up about that. We can talk more about it when I'm feeling better about it.
Next week.