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The economic downturn has taken its toll on Americans – business owners and workers alike. Many of those who lost their jobs had to take substantial pay cuts in order to work. Overtime is a thing of the past and many who would like a second job find they are few and far between. Just because times have been challenging doesn't mean it's impossible to build wealth. In fact building wealth can actually be enjoyable, even fun.
There are opportunities out there for everyone whether it is in an emerging industry such as "micro jobs" or using a special talent you possess and enjoy turning into wealth building opportunities. Here are some ways to build wealth either in a small way to make ends meet or in a big way that could be life changing, either way any of these could be a positive move in the right direction:
Take a few micro jobs. With the economic downturn and the technology/social media upturn, a new industry has emerged that helps people with small jobs or tasks such as running errands or something more interesting such hiring a micro jobber to "ask someone for forgiveness" for you (that would certainly get their attention.) On the other hand, some jobs could actually lead into something else such as reviewing resumes for job seekers, or recording video testimonials for websites. The micro job site takes a cut of course, but you net out a profit for a few minutes of your time. When you take the micro jobs, invest the funds to build wealth. You'd also have some great stories to tell.
Resource – Micro jobs
Invent something and sell the concept. One of my favorite inventions is the pool sweep, not that I have a pool but I just think it is an amazing invention. Millions of pool owners agree since every swimming pool owner I have ever met has one of these devices that crawls along the bottom of the pool vacuuming up leaves and debis for them. A penniless engineer named Ferdinand Chauvier brought his family from the Belgian Congo to South Africa and eventually invented the first automatic pool vacuum in 1974 when he came up with the prototype for the "Kreepy Krauly" as he called it. Pool owners everywhere gladly pay for this amazing device. If you are constantly coming up with new ideas or ways to dramatically improve things, in your spare time, make a prototype or sell the concept to a company who buys ideas.
Resource - US Patent Office, United Inventors Association of America, Inventors Blog
Negotiate. When you make negotiating a game to pay less for everything you purchase, you can not only save thousands of dollars on things you are purchasing anyways but you can make money by reselling. A friend of mine loves a deal and his idea of fun is calling his cable TV company to let them know he received an offer from a competitor to see what they will offer him to stay. I observed him getting a free month and a three month premium package for his phone call. The key for him is making it a game which he uses for every single purchase he makes and he saves thousands of dollars as well as getting free services along the way. He took it to a new level with his baseball card collection and resells cards he got amazing deals on and now makes enough to make his house payment every month. You can do the same.
Start couponing. It may not seem like a $1 off coupon makes much difference in your grocery budget but the bottom line is saving money on purchases increases wealth. People who use a coupon system report saving as much as 40% on a regular basis on their groceries and household items. It takes less than an hour a week to organize and can make you $50 an hour because of the savings on the regular household items you are buying anyways. Couponers see it as a challenge to get the absolute lowest price on their groceries and many make it a fun competition by texting each other after leaving the store to compare how they did. Whether it's a small item or a big one if you can pay less, you are ahead.
Resources: Southern Savers; Best Coupon Sites for 2012
Turn your hobby into a business. You have a special interest or talent, why not use it to build wealth? I already mentioned my friend who turned his baseball card collection into a major money maker and there are tons of other examples we hear about every day for someone who takes some initiative. An employee one of our financial planners recently met with at a worksite financial planning session mentioned that he recently started an online book selling business. He loves to read and is adept at IT so he combined his interest with his talent and started selling used books on Amazon. He was already making a profit in the first three months and planned on using his profits to fund Roth IRAs for him and his wife. He also can get even more enjoyment from his love of reading since he can resell his books for a profit. The IRS is on his side too since he now has some additional write offs.
Resource: Business deductions are critical for tax savings; Reporting Self Employment Income
Reduce your tax bill and invest the difference. Educate yourself on smart tax reduction strategies such as what I just mentioned in turning your hobby into a business. Some tax strategies include harvesting losses against your gains, getting double tax breaks on medical expenses by funding an HSA with your employer, or "bunching" your expenses or even your year-end bonuses into the following year so you don' t phase out of student loan interest deductions or taking losses on rental property.
Investing $3100 in an HSA in 2012 saves $775 on your federal income tax if you are in a 25% tax bracket because the funds are pre-tax and are withdrawn tax free if used for medical expenses. By NOT getting phased out of student loan interest deduction of $2500 per year, you could save $625 on federal income taxes if you are in the 25% bracket and "harvesting losses" against investment gains could have unlimited potential. For example, a $10,000 gain on a security held a year and a day would incur a 15% capital gains tax (20% in 2013) so it would cost $1500 in taxes. If you took a loss of an equal amount in the same year, that gain becomes tax free. Becoming versed in tax strategies can save you thousands of dollars each year that can go to your wealth building instead of to the IRS and your state tax department.
Solve a problem. You can earn thousands per problem solved. For example, some students at Chicago University came up with an idea to install a "round up" button on cash registers so customers can automatically donate to charity by rounding up their transactions. These students won $10,000 to give to their favorite charity! Innovators Felipe Husser and Jeff Warren won $360,000 for Peepol.tv which created a streamlined platform for watching videos of breaking news events around the world which as you can imagine would be valuable to news organizations and even governments worldwide. There are also thousands of extremely smart problem solvers out there who are unknown and simply need a venue and a problem to solve for a fee and then invest the difference to build wealth.
Resource: Idea Connection
Throw parties and sell tickets. House concerts and small local venues have increased in popularity to promote up and coming artists and musicians using social media. If you love to entertain and bring people together, why not get paid to promote your favorite musicians at a house concert or other venue? If you already are entertaining and absolutely love it, expand your horizons and your network and make some extra income doing it. You don't have to host it in your home if you don't have the space or that doesn't appeal to you, but you could host it at a community center or some other neutral space. A friend of mine in Scottsdale Arizona used to host networking events at local resorts who wanted to show off their venues and provided the room and the food for free. She picked up the drinks and charged the attendees. It worked out well as she developed a name for herself while making a profit.
Resource: House Concerts 101
There are opportunities out there in any market environment to build wealth and if you can pair up your skills and talents with what you love to do, you can actually build wealth by having fun. Isn't that how it should be?
Liz Davidson is CEO of Financial Finesse, the leading provider of unbiased financial education for employers nationwide, delivered by on-staff Certified Financial Planner™ professionals. For additional financial tips and insights, follow Financial Finesse on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.


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It was one of the first stress tests of Joe Biden's presidential campaign: A sudden reversal of his decades-long support for restricting federal funding of abortions.
The move seemed sure to hurt the former vice president with Catholics, particularly those in the Midwest, whose support will be critical to winning the Democratic primary and the general election. But so far, Biden has faced little criticism over his shift on abortion funding relative to other aspects of his record, and polls show that he remains Catholic Democrats' overwhelming favorite in the presidential field.
Since the days of John F. Kennedy, Catholic Democrats have wrestled to reconcile their church's teachings with their party's politics. That tension has been especially acute when it comes to abortion, with some bishops threatening to deny communion to then-Sen. John Kerry over his support for abortion rights during his 2004 presidential bid. But the church has faced significant upheaval in the 15 years since then, raising questions about whether Biden's leftward step on abortion is a liability with some voters of faith — or a more minor hurdle at a time when Catholics, like the electorate nationwide, are becoming more politically polarized in the age of President Donald Trump.
Steven Krueger, president of the nonprofit Catholic Democrats, warned that "the far left wing of the party has had influence on a number of issues, particularly on the issue of abortion, that is not going to serve candidates well once they're in the general election."
"And the problem is," Krueger said in an interview, "it's very difficult to kind of tack back to the middle once you take a stand on something as black and white as whether or not you want to repeal" the restrictions on federal abortion funding that Biden abruptly came out against in June.
Biden called for ending those four-decade-old limits on government health care spending on abortion, often referred to as the Hyde Amendment, under heavy fire from his Democratic rivals. He made the move with a subtle nod to the devout Catholicism that had initially informed his pursuit of a "middle ground" on the matter.
"Just as I've never attempted to impose my views on anyone else as to when life begins, I have never attempted to impose my view on who should pay for it," Biden said as he shifted from supporter to opponent of Hyde, which bars federal funds from use on abortion services except cases of rape, incest, or risk to a woman's life.
Biden has demonstrated a deep public connection to his faith, dating to the earliest days of his political career. He regularly attends Mass, has met with both Pope Francis and his predecessor Pope Benedict, and credited Catholicism with helping him heal after his son Beau's death in 2015. Twice last week, during the third Democratic debate and while speaking at a historic black church in Birmingham, Biden cited Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard's observation that "faith sees best in the dark."
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a friend and ally of Biden's, described the candidate's faith as "deeply personal," adding: "It's sustained him through times as hard as anyone's."
Biden went deeper on the connection between his Catholicism and his stance on abortion during a recent campaign stop at Limestone College in South Carolina, peppering his theological aside with some Latin references.
"I'm prepared to accept for me, personally, doctrine of my church" about when life begins, Biden said, "but I'm not prepared to impose that on every other person." He reiterated his support for codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law, if elected.
Abortion is not the only issue on which Biden has split from his church's official stance. He is a longtime backer of LGBTQ rights, including same-sex marriage. And the same phrase he used to describe his new opposition to Hyde — "circumstances have changed" — could also apply to the calculus for Catholic voters heading into 2020.
According to AP VoteCast, which surveyed voters in the 2018 midterm elections, a majority of Catholics — 57% — said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while Protestants and other Christians were about evenly divided.
Yet there's significant regional variation in views on abortion. That variability is notable among Catholic voters in the Midwest, where Biden is campaigning as a potential Democratic nominee who's uniquely positioned to win back the less liberal working-class voters Trump appealed to in 2016.
In the East, West and South, Catholic voters were nearly as likely as voters in those regions overall to believe abortion should usually or always be legal. But Midwestern Catholics, whom Democrats need to perform well with to stay competitive in a general election, were significantly less likely than regional voters overall to hold those more permissive views on abortion, 47% versus 58%.
The truest test of Biden's ability to stay dominant with Catholic voters, often viewed as one of the few remaining swing demographics in a polarized electorate, isn't likely to come unless he makes it to a general election against Trump. In the event of a Biden-Trump matchup, when Catholic voters in the upper Midwest would be key, conservatives are likely to try to use the Democrat's shift on abortion against him.
The Republican National Committee lambasted Biden as overly beholden to his party's liberal base in the immediate aftermath of his shift on abortion funding, which he announced amid an outcry from the left over new state laws limiting women's ability to end pregnancies. Ralph Reed, the well-known conservative evangelical strategist working to help reelect Trump, lashed out at Biden for showing that "for him, politics trumps principle" and later predicted to reporters that Biden would pay a price with Catholic bishops for his move.
To be sure, leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops remain stalwart supporters of the restriction on federal funding of abortions, which is a fixture in the law with bipartisan backing.
"Whether you like it or not, the consensus in America is abortion is legal and available, and no one has to pay for anyone else's abortion or participate in anyone else's abortion," John Carr, a former longtime adviser to the bishops, said in a recent interview.
"When Republicans go after the first, I think they scare people," added Carr, founder of Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. "When Democrats go after the second, which is 'you're going to have to pay for or maybe participate in an abortion,' they scare off other people."
But as the bishops' broader political influence wanes somewhat, and Trump's immigration policy stokes religious progressives' interest in applying a "pro-life" ethos to other issues, abortion may not hold as much sway over Catholic voters in 2020 as it did in previous elections.
Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, lamented that her faith's ethic of protecting life is often "reduced" to the question of whether to "criminalize abortion."
"Our faith teaches us the dignity of all life. We have to look at that broader spectrum," said Campbell.
Sister Carol Keehan, who recently retired as head of the Catholic Health Association, described herself as "extraordinarily pro-life" and supportive of the Hyde Amendment, but she also contended that Biden is "pro-life" on many fronts reflected in his policy decisions, including his support for an assault weapons ban and for federal support of children's health insurance.
Both Keehan's and Campbell's groups notably broke with the bishops during Biden's time as vice president in a dispute over the Affordable Care Act's treatment of abortion funding.
As religious activists on the left urge voters of faith to look beyond single-issue voting on abortion to a more expansive definition of "pro-life," Trump himself may hold the key to Biden escaping significant peril with Catholic Democrats. A Quinnipiac University poll released in May found 55% of Catholic voters saying they would definitely not support Trump's reelection, versus 41% of Protestants and 70% of those with no religious affiliation.
"To the degree Vice President Biden may have given pause to persuadable Catholic voters" with his shift on abortion, Krueger said, "there remains a countervailing imperative for Catholics to replace our nation's 45th president."
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Super Tuesday results so far: Biden wins Virginia's Democratic presidential primary
—Twitter's testing new ways to fight misinformation. Is open-source the answer?
—Meet Trump's Giuliani-approved power broker—and Melania's new senior adviser
—Angela Merkel is on her way out. Meet her potential replacements
—How the 2020 election could influence your personal finances
Get up to speed on your morning commute with Fortune's CEO Daily newsletter.

subset: commoncrawl


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Canisius beats Mercyhurst 7-2 to take AHA title and NCAA tournament bid
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Kyle Gibbons and Ralph Cuddemi each scored twice as Canisius beat Mercyhurst 7-2 to win the Atlantic Hockey Association championship Saturday night and its first trip to the NCAA tournament.
Tony Capobianco made 34 saves for the seventh-seeded Golden Griffins (19-18-5).
Gibbons scored the first two goals of the game, the first with 41 seconds remaining in the first period.
Cuddemi had two second-period goals. They were sandwiched between one from Matthew Zay that put Mercyhurst (19-17-5) on the board.
The sixth-seeded Lakers made it 4-2 less than a minute into the third period on a goal by Nick Jones. But goals by Cody Freeman, Torrey Lindsay and Ben Parker put the game away.
The win was the eighth straight for Canisius.


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This page is a historical archive and is no longer maintained.
For current information, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/media/
Press Briefing Transcripts
Weekly 2009 H1N1 Flu Media Briefing
October 16, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
- Audio recording (MPEG)
Glen Nowak: Thank you and thank you for joining us this after our update regarding H1N1 flu. Today's update will give you an update on respect to the H1N1 illness, flu activity in the United States as well as where things stand with respect to the vaccine. Today's briefing be will be provided by Dr. Anne Schuchat. I will turn the podium to Dr. Schuchat.
Anne Schuchat: Good afternoon, everyone. Influenza is widespread in the country and illness, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase. 41 states are now identifying widespread disease from influenza, that's up from 37 last week. The other states are all seeing either regional or local activity. It's unprecedented for this time of year to have the whole country seeing such high levels of activity. The influenza-like illness that we track with our ILInet sentinel provider system is showing higher levels of illness than we saw last week. Again, these are unprecedented levels of illness. The national average is about 6.1 percent of doctor's visits, for purposes of influenza-like illness that's very high at any time particularly in October. We also track mortality around the country. Through something called the pneumonia and influenza mortality survey with 122 cities. And for the first week this fall, we're seeing that the amount of influenza and pneumonia mortality is above the epidemic threshold. All of these things may suggest it's a very busy and difficult flu season and we are seeing very high levels of activity around the country. We are also having updates on the pediatric deaths. Unfortunately those are going up as well. There are now a total of 86 children under 18 who died from this H1N1 influenza virus, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. We had 11 more influenza pediatric deaths reported in week 40, which is the week that ends October 10. Ten of those are confirmed to be due to the new strain, the 2009 H1N1 strain and the 11th is probably due to that but the typing hasn't been completed. About half of the deaths that we've seen in children since September 1st have been occurring in teens between the ages of 12 and 17. These are very sobering statistics, unfortunately, they are likely to increase.
I want to provide some updates about the influenza vaccination program. First I'm going to speak about the 2009 H1N1 vaccination effort, then I'll speak briefly about the seasonal flu vaccine program. As we've said for the past couple of weeks, we will be releasing twice a week the aggregate numbers of doses that were available for ordering by the states and that were ordered by the states. And every Friday, we will be posting to our website the state-specific information on how many doses been shipped to the states or communities. That number is on our website now and will give people the best idea of how much vaccine is available near you. We're in the very beginning of this program and the numbers will be increasing regularly. Today's number on the aggregate, total number of doses ordered and total numbers that were available for order are as of Wednesday. So as of Wednesday, 11.4 million doses of the monovalient H1N1 vaccine were available for order. As of Wednesday, 8 million of those doses had been ordered. For comparison on earlier this week I briefed you about Monday numbers, those were 9.8 million doses available for order. So things increased by 1.6 million there. And 5.8 million doses had been ordered by the states. So between Monday and Wednesday, an additional 2.2 million doses were order by the states. These numbers are going to be changing regularly and what we'll be seeing over time is progress with increased product becoming available for order, increased orders being placed an increased shipments out to the states and providers where vaccine can be given. It is very early in the program.
Just for -- I wanted to provide an update about where we're going to be going in the future. It's very difficult to predict exactly how many doses we'll have in the weeks ahead, but we do want to let people know that some of the manufacturers have let us know that the production of vaccine is likely to be a bit delayed in terms of the number of doses they were expecting to have out in future weeks. We wish that we had more vaccine and there is more vaccine coming out every day but it doesn't look like we're going to be able to make those estimates that we had projected for the end of this month. The production estimates are going to be lower by the end of this month but there will be more vaccine coming out regularly. So we do still expect to have a large number of doses that we've been talking about so that eventually anyone who wants be to be vaccinated will be able to be vaccinated but the next couple of weeks will continue to be a slow start. Forecasting flu vaccine production is difficult. As we have been saying over the months past, we can't with precision estimate exactly how much we'll have at any time. There are many steps involved with producing vaccine and then with testing and releasing vaccine and so unfortunately won't have as much by the end of this month as we had hoped to. We hope that by the end of this month and early next month we'll be able to have widespread availability of vaccine and it will be much more visible to people in the community. But the delays that the manufacturers have let us know will have an impact, a substantial impact for the states in their planning efforts. They are directing vaccine to providers and school located clinics and pharmacies and so forth and this delay is going to shift some of their planning, so you may be seeing some rescheduling of some clinics and again we're just going to all have to bear with the situation. We wish we had better ways to produce vaccines perfectly predictably but this is how influenza vaccine production often goes. All the numbers we're giving you are just a snapshot in time and things will be increasing again every day and every week and again, we do think by the end of October and early November there will be widespread availability and it will be much easier for people to find out where to get vaccinated.
I want to briefly turn to seasonal flu vaccine, we've been hearing in people's frustrations about that there's been lots of interest in being vaccinated with the seasonal flu vaccine and it was available earlier than ever this year. So far, 82 million doses of influenza vaccine have been distributed. That's 5 million more doses than were distributed last week when I reported these numbers to you and we expect a total of 114 million doses over the weeks and months ahead. The season production is estimated to be about 114 million. So we're at 71 percent of all the doses that are going to be produced that have already been distributed. Most of the seasonal flu effort is a private sector entity. The public sector only buys about 10 percent of the vaccine. So I'm report reporting to you where we are with that but it's not something we're directing or in the middle of just something we care deeply about and want to facilitate the uptake of. I want people who are trying hard to find seasonal flu vaccine to know there's time, we know this is frustrating. Keep looking. More vaccine is coming out every week. We know there's time to get your seasonal flu shot or flu spray. We don't usually see the seasonal flu disease increase until September to May so there is more time with that of course, virtually everything that's circulating now is the 2009 H1N1 influenza strain and that's why we're so keen to get vaccine out as quickly as we can with that.
Just to wrap up, this is a challenging time, its hard city these increases in illness and particularly the severe illness that we're seeing in young people and pregnant women, people we asthma and chronic diseases. On something that is challenging for all of us and I know in your communities it's challenging as well. We are seeing more and more vaccine become available, we wish it were more than it is. But at least we have some and we've started vaccinating both in school settings, hospitals for health care workers and local health departments and in some other venues through provider's offices, and there will be more and more coming online regularly. We are working very closely as a public health system with the private sector, state, local and federal health department efforts working together with the private provider community and manufacturers to really try to deliver for the American are public and so the next couple of weeks, we'll continue to be a bit challenging, but there is more vaccine coming. Reminder that there's a lot of information on flu.gov. Particularly want to remind people who are worried, who have children with asthma, diabetes or are pregnant about warning signs to look for. About how to make sure that you seek care promptly, lots of good information on flu.gov that you can access. So let me turn now to the questions and I guess I can start with one from the room and then we'll move to the phones.
Joanne Silberner: Hi Dr. Schuchat, this is Joanne Silberner from National Public Radio. Can you tell us the reason for the slowdown in the H1N1 vaccine manufacturing and can you give us some numbers. What were you expecting by the end of October an now what are you expecting to see?
Anne Schuchat: Yeah. You know, vaccine production for influenza is pretty complex. And the complex process this year is taking a bit longer than we would hope. The companies are making unprecedented amounts of vaccine and the yield of the antigen has been lower than had been hoped for. They need to do potency testing and purity testing and that takes time and of course there's lot release testing that the manufacturers do and that the FDA does. We are not cutting any corners in the safety of the production of this vaccine or the testing and oversight of the vaccine and it's very important to us that this process be done carefully and safely. And so those are the major factors. We had hoped and I think our last estimate about expected vaccine that we made several weeks ago was that by the end of the month we might be around 40 million doses. What I can say is that it's really hard to predict exactly how many we'll have by that point. So I need to caveat the estimate of the decrease in availability. We think at most it might be about a 10--about a 10 to 12 million doses less than that by the end of the month. You know, that's still quite a bit of vaccine to have out there. I need to say that those numbers could change every day. So that's what we know as of today. And we're committed to share with you what we know. These numbers are such that it will have impact for the states and when they can offer the large-scale vaccination plans. I want to let the folks on the line know that Dr. Jesse Goodman from the FDA is also listening into the call. As questions come up, I will occasionally let him amplify on the answer. So let's go to a question from the phones.
Operator: Our first question today is Miriam Falco with CNN Medical News.
Miriam Falco: Thank you. I've got two quick questions. One is if you go to the flu.gov vaccine locater, there's not a lot of information there yet which is frustrating for folks because we're getting a lot of questions, we're looking for it, we can't find it and we know of course you have been telling us it would start becoming available until this week but people want to get it now. So what can you tell folks about that? Then also, there's been some report out there that some of these very serious illnesses are coming with blood clots and lesions. What do you know about that?
Anne Schuchat: Okay. The first question was about flu.gov and vaccine locater function. You know, the state health departments are updating their website or their call center information regularly. This delay in availability of vaccine will have an impact on the ability to announce locations to find vaccine. So I know this is frustrating for people and we're heartened that so many are trying to find the vaccine and are seeking that, which is good. Unfortunately, we only have information when the clinics are plan and when they can be publicly announced. So we'll just need to let people know to keep looking at that site. Again, dates are working hard on being able to announce availability and what they're doing right now with the doses that they've gotten is begin to give them out. A lot of different approaches. Some of the states have set up some appointments through their local health departments. Others are vaccinating health care workers in the larger hospitals in the state. We've heard of some good school located venues that have begun to be offered in certain areas, so there's a lot of variability. And public access to more vaccines just may take time. So I'm sorry it's a difficult time looking for vaccine. It should be easier over time. But the next week or two, limited announcements there. Could you repeat your second question?
Miriam Falco: Is that something you're seeing with severe illness, blood clots or lesions?
Anne Schuchat: The severe illness is just really being looked at. I don't have updated information. You know, there's some nice reports that came out last week, I believe, about critical care patients in Australia and Canada, you know, describing the pretty dramatic course that patients can have with this illness but I don't have information about the blood clot situation. Next question from the phone.
Operator: Our next question is from Betsy McKay from the Wall Street Journal.
Betsy McKay: Hi, there Dr. Schuchat, thanks. I had a couple of questions about the concerns about vaccine. I mean polls show that a lot of people are actually not intending to at least not right now get this vaccine. Is he I'm wondering how concerned you are about that. And how many people do you think you need or need to get shots to slow the spread of the flu or create enough herd immunity to have that happen? And secondly, I also wondered if you could tell us how much of the H1N1 supply vaccine supply will be thimerosal-free?
Anne Schuchat: Our primary goal with vaccination is to be sure that there is access and availability for everyone who wants to be vaccinated to be vaccinated. And this is a voluntary program; we want people to be able to make informed choices about being vaccinated. As a doctor and a public health expert and someone who's been hearing a lot about the very severe illnesses, I take this virus very seriously. Based on everything that I know, vaccine is the best protection against this virus. I feel very comfortable with the safety profile that we are seeing. My commitment is for people to get good information to make those kinds of decisions themselves. So in terms of the question of herd immunity, I would say that the most important feature that the vaccine has is providing direct protection to the person who is vaccinated. That's really a key benefit of the vaccine. Vaccine can also reduce the spread of influenza from a person who's vaccinated to someone else. So that's one of the reasons we're so keen to have health care workers vaccinate and to have parents or other care takers who are taking care of babies under 6 months of age. So that very local household protection, we think vaccine can offer. In terms of what proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated for us to see a dampening of the trend in disease, it's very difficult to say.
A lot of infectious disease modelers will speculate different percentage, but I think our commitment that the primary goal of the vaccination is for direct protection and that people who want to reduce their own risk or working in an environment like a health care setting want to reduce the risk of those very close around them should really seek vaccination. The second question was about thimerosal-free vaccine. We have put in orders for quite a bit of thimerosal-free vaccine. There are two formulations these generally were come in. All of the nasal spray or mist form of vaccine being produced is a thimerosal-free. Then we've also order prefilled single syringes that will not contain thimerosal in them. I want to remind people that the institute of medicine and other authorities have looked very closely at thimerosal and whether it has long-term health effects, whether it's linked to autism or other neurological problems, there's no scientific basis for those concerns. But we know people have concerns even if the science doesn't support that. So we've procured vaccine that's thimerosal-free. I don't have with me the actual numbers but i know that we wanted to make sure that very young children and pregnant women whom we understand are very keen to avoid thimerosal would have access to thimerosal-free vaccine so that was part of the strategy of procurement. Next question from the phone.
Operator: Our next question is from Brian Hartman of ABC News.
Brian Hartman: Yeah, hello. Getting back to the flu.gov. We're hearing a lot of folks out there are confused; providers and people from the public are confused. I wonder if you think you're doing a good enough job setting appropriate expectation in the public. People are being steered to flu.gov but the first thing that jumps out is get your H1N1 shots immediately and you click through these state health department sites and many of them still say they don't have the vaccine available. It just seems clear a lot of people in the public don't have appropriate expectations and I wonder whether you think you've been doing a good enough job and what you can do to help correct those expectations.
Anne Schuchat: Thanks so much for that question about Flu.gov and messaging. I think these are important points. What I'd like people to know is that more vaccine is becoming available regularly. But we aren't expecting widespread availability until the end of the month or the beginning of November. So it will be pretty challenging to find vaccine in many areas over the next couple of weeks. I do think that it's important that we set expectations realistically, we know there's more doses coming out every day and many people have been vaccinated each day, but we know that it's not enough given the demand that we have and so I think that we -- I appreciate your feedback about the way that we're conveying how to find out about vaccine. Could I get the next question from the phone, please?
Operator: Our next question is from Laura Neergaard from the Associated Press.
Lauran Neergaard: Hi. Can we go into more detail about the actual death rate? I particularly wanted to explore the teenage reports that you've been getting since September which is a little different than we've been expecting given the higher rates that we've seen so far in the really young deaths.
Anne Schuchat: Yes. Pediatric deaths are reportable to us. Those that are believed to be from influenza are reportable to us. Since august 30th, there have been 43 reports of pediatric deaths from influenza. 38 of those are -- I think 38 of those are known to be the H1N1 and the others are believed to be, but the typing hasn't been fully completed. What I can say is that three of those deaths occurred in children under 2. Five of the deaths were in children 2 to 4. 16 of the deaths were in children 5 to 11 years of age and 19 of the deaths were in teenagers 12 to 17 years of a these are very sobering statistics. 43 deaths essentially in one month is a lot. We hope that the continuing deaths in children will be as few as possible but this is a very brisk number, usually in a whole season that lasts from going to September all the way to may, you would only have about 40 or 50 deaths so in just one month's time we've had that many. What I can say is it's very important for parents to know the warning signs in their children. We think even viral medicines can be very important in people who have influenza-like illness and have either underlying conditions like asthma, diabetes or are pregnant or other chronic conditions like cancer and aids suppression. In very young children under 2, fever and respiratory systems need to be taken seriously. In all children, there are a couple of warning signs that parents are can look for. Child that's difficult to wake. A child that's not taking feeding well, a child that is having trouble breathing, is turning blue or grayish, an important warning sign for parents is if your child is ill and getting better, then starts to get worse, that's a warning sign. That can be a sign that a second bacterial pneumonia is coming in on the heels of influenza and that's something you need to take seriously and get in touch with your health care provider but influenza can weaken our bodies and a bacterial pneumonia invading on top of lungs can be very, very rapid in its course. But any viral medicines for influenza in particular circumstances can be very helpful and bacterial treatment of suspected bacterial pneumonia is also important. So these -- every death we take seriously but as a society the deaths in the young are very, very hard to take. And many of the children, of course, do have chronic underlying conditions that are very severe, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy but some have been totally healthy and that hits home for people. Next question from the phone, please.
Operator: Our next question is from Craig Schneider from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Craig Schneider: Hi. We are hearing that some of the community clinics here are saying that the mist should be focused on 2 to 4-year-olds but that anybody can come in and get the mist, but we're also hearing that a lot of people who are just coming in are being turned away. And I think this adds to the confusion. Are you hearing reports about this and how do you think this should be going?
Anne Schuchat: The mist form of the H1N1 vaccine and the mist form of seasonal flu vaccine are indicated for people who are between the ages of 2 and 49. And who are not pregnant and don't have chronic health conditions or asthma, for instance. So there's a restricted set of people that can get the flu mist form of the vaccine or the nasal spray form of the H1N1 vaccine. The health departments are directing vaccine, these small amounts of vaccine they're getting in the first couple of weeks to populations among the priority groups designated by the advisory committee for immunization practices. Some of those groups include children and young adults between the ages of 6 months and 24 years of age. They include health care workers. Those populations who are not pregnant and don't have underlying diseases would be eligible, at least the 2-year-olds up through 24 would be eligible for the flu mist. But each health department really trying to take a practical focused effort to get the vaccine dose this have out in the most effective way and we're going see variety of approaches n some states the first doses went to the 2 to 4-year-olds as you've been mentioning. In others, there were school located clinics, in others, there were health care workers offering the flu spray. Variation is to be expected and it's probably a good thing. We think that the state and large city health departments know their communities and populations and are making the very best use of the vaccine that can be made. But we know that more doses are becoming available and right now, we actually have more doses of the injectable vaccine out than of the flu spray. So that was a nice addition to the availability this week so I think for people who are turned away that keep paying attention to this and more vaccine is coming and we are committed to make sure that everyone who wants was to be vaccinated can be vaccinated. Another question from the room.
Joanne Silberner: Two questions actually. When will the clinical trial data on pregnant women be out? And for Dr. Goodman on adjuvants a lot of people who are concerned about at safety of the vaccine are talking about adjuvants. Can he clear that up with H1N1 vaccine?
Anne Schuchat: The date of the result of pregnancy trials in the future relatively distant and I don't have it but we'll try to get it. I'm pretty sure the NIH website has information about their trial. We do think that vaccinating pregnant women with the injectable storm a very good idea. The trials are being done to provide additional information on dose and so forth but I think that if I were pregnant I would not wait for the results of those trials, if there was injectable vaccine available to me. The risk in pregnancy has been just very striking and of course the prompt treatment of symptoms in pregnancy is very important with the antiviral medicines. Let me briefly say something about adjuvants and Dr. Goodman can expand; we're not using them in the voluntary H1N1 vaccination program in the U.S. Other countries have made a decision, some of the other countries are and some aren't. But we purchased some adjuvants to have on the shelves in emergency in case the virus change and we needed a different track against the strain. So none of the vaccine being shipped out has adjuvants and we're not expecting to use it this season. Dr. Goodman, do you want to expand on that at all?
Jesse Goodman: No, just to reaffirm that the FDA licensed influenza vaccines against this H1N1 virus do not contain adjuvants, I did want to add to Ann's comment about the pregnant women as a risk group that of course they are recommended by CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices to receive seasonal vaccine as well and there is a long, very excellent safety track record with pregnant women receiving seasonal vaccines that are made identically to these current licensed vaccines.
Anne Schuchat: Thank you. We have time for just a couple more questions. Next question, please.
Operator: our next question is from Heather Tesoriero from CBS News.
Heather Tesoriero: Hi, Dr. Schuchat. Question regarding miscommunications at ICUs, we're hearing that admissions at ICU units are up. I'm wondering if you can comment on that trend and if you have any data.
Anne Schuchat: I don't have data to supplement that observation. And health, it's nice to hear your voice, having finally met you. The intensive care unit admissions would be expected to be up now that we are seeing these increased levels of hospitalizations and of course the increase in deaths. We know from our emerging infection program network sites that between 15 percent and 20 percent of people that are being hospitalized for the H1N1 influenza virus are inquiring going to the intensive care unit. Now this is a an unusual time to have a lot of influenza and so I would expect that in intensive care units are being more influenza patients this time of year than they would usually see. We aren't aware to my knowledge anyway of intensive care units that are not able to manage the increase that they are experiencing. That's one of the things that we are looking out for and that the hospitals have been planning around and it's going to be an important thing to be ready for if the trends that we're seeing continue or act set rate. So I think we have time for just two more questions from the phone.
Operator: our next question is from David Lekowitz from Fox News.
David Lekowitz: Good afternoon, Dr. Schuchat, I appreciate you taking the call. Betsy mentioned the polls and then there was subsequent discussion about perception and messaging is about 56 percent of the people who say they won't get it because they think it's too risky. Do you think CDC is doing an effective job of getting the message out that this vaccine is safe? Because more than 50 percent of the population seems to feel it is not.
Anne Schuchat: It's important for people to know that the H1N1 influenza vaccine is being made exactly the same way that the seasonal flu vaccines are made. 100 million people get those every year and we believe there's a very strong safety record for them including many, many pregnant women who get those vaccines every year and many, many children who get those vaccines every year. We have increased our safety monitoring efforts here to be aware and ready and able to investigate any problems or rumors that emerge so that we, although we're all expecting a very safe vaccine, we're not taking that for granted. No shortcuts are being taken at all in the way this vaccine is being produced. And that's very important for people to know. So I think that we just need to keep repeating what we know about the safety and let people make good decisions based on access to good information. The last question from the phone.
Operator: Our last question is from Lisa Schnirring from CIDRAP News.
Lisa Schnirring: Hi, Dr. Schuchat, thanks for taking our questions. I just was wondering if you have a percentage breakdown on how much is injectable and how much is flu mist right now? Off the ball park figure would be great. Thanks.
Anne Schuchat: A little bit more than half of all the vaccine that's out right now is injectable. So thanks, everybody, for dialing in and we'll probably do another one of these on Tuesday. Thanks.
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Tony Oncidi
Anthony J. Oncidi heads the Labor & Employment Law Group in the Los Angeles office.
Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including litigation and preventive counseling, wage and hour matters, including class actions, wrongful termination, employee discipline, Title VII and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, executive employment contract disputes, sexual harassment training and investigations, workplace violence, drug testing and privacy issues, Sarbanes-Oxley claims and employee raiding and trade secret protection. A substantial portion of Tony's practice involves the defense of employers in large class actions, employment discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination litigation in state and federal court as well as arbitration proceedings, including FINRA matters.


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Animal parks are making children cruel, group says
Animal parks are making children cruel, group says
FREAK SHOW:Footage from a number of leisure farms shows animals being forced to perform tricks, which sends out the wrong message, campaigners have said
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Sun, Sep 16, 2012
The Life Conservationist Association (LCA) yesterday urged people to stop giving children inappropriate ideas about how to treat animals by taking them to animal shows or exhibitions that in fact practice cruelty against animals, during a press conference organized by the group in Taipei.
The association showed footage and photographs of animals being forced to perform stunts in order to entertain people at recreational farms, including making miniature pigs jump into ponds and race through loops of fire, forcing monkeys to walk upside-down along a narrow plank and fishing for toads in a pond and then handling them and taking photographs.
"Many animals are being hurt or even sacrificed for the amusement of human beings," said LCA secretary-general Shih Chuan-fa (釋傳法), adding that in order to understand the situation in Taiwan, the association filmed the animals at several leisure farms nationwide where they had uncovered widespread animal abuse while being called environmental or life education.
The association urged the public to avoid the "touching, riding, feeding and fishing" of animals as well as urging the farms to avoid forcing animals into "inhumane displays and forced performances" given that this can cause harm to the animals while also providing bad examples for children on how to treat animals.
"There is a gap between the recognition of animal protection and the actual practice of protecting them," said Kurtis Pei (裴家騏), a professor at National Pingtung University's Institute of Wildlife Preservation.
While many people say that animal cruelty is wrong, they often find it hard to resist the urge to touch or applaud animals on display, he added.
"Most of the animals are in a state of fear when they are being handled by humans, because in their natural environment they are only touched by other animals when they are captured," Pei said, adding that people often mistakenly believe that patting or caressing an animal is a way to show love and friendliness, but the truth is that the death rate at zoos and leisure farms remain high.
Direct contact with animals may also cause disease to pass between animals and humans, such as the case of an orangutan kept at a leisure farm which was recently diagnosed as having tuberculosis after it was sent to the Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals for a health test, Pei said.
Lai Wei-jen (賴威任), office director of the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation, said that confining whales and dolphins in small pools, such as those seen at sea parks, often causes a decline in their echolocation abilities while also increasing the possibility of disease .
Liu Shiang-yao (劉湘瑤), an associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University's Graduate Institute of Science Education, said footage which showed adults forcing a scared boy to pat a baby crocodile with its mouth taped up while complimenting the "brave" boy was obviously a distorted way to teach children about respect for living beings and wildlife conservation.
"What are we teaching the children by tying up a baby animal that we fear and then claiming victory by taming or torturing it?" she asked.


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UK Free TV: Freeview Map
If you live in the UK and are considering getting the Freeview satellite TV service then you should check out this excellent Freeview Reception map.
To find out how good the Freeview reception is at your address just enter a postcode, national grid reference or a latitude and longitude. A Google Map of your location will then be displayed showing the television transmitters that you receive television from.
It is also possible to view the returned results by direction, received signal strength, by frequency, service name or transmitter name.
The yellow areas on the map show where the transmitter provides the best signal, the green area is where there is overlap and where the selected transmitter is not the strongest signal.
Via: Mapperz


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CHICAGO — Fashion designer Maria Pinto — famous for dressing first lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey — is back with a new, more affordable collection that she plans to launch with the help of an online funding campaign three years after a poor economy forced her close her Chicago boutique.
Pinto is trying to raise $250,000 within 45 days for her M2057 line on the Kickstarter crowd-funding website this weekend. According to Kickstarter rules, Pinto won't get any funding if she doesn't reach the $250,000 mark within 45 days.
"It's just the way of the future," Pinto said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think there's something here to embrace, the fashion meeting technology."
The capsule collection debuted just days before New York Fashion Week began Thursday. It includes seven dresses, two jackets, a shrug, a wrap and two scarves made from Italian jersey and is priced between $75 and $250. Pinto's pieces once retailed at more than $900.
When the 45 days are over, Pinto will move the collection to her own website, but prices for dresses and jackets will go up to $275, she said.
Pinto won fame as the Chicago fashion designer who dressed Obama during the 2008 campaign. The first lady chose a purple Pinto sheath on the night her husband secured the Democratic nomination and a periwinkle dress by Pinto on the cover of Newsweek.
Two years later, Pinto closed her Chicago boutique, citing the economic recession. Since then, she has taken time off and worked as creative director at the Mark Shale store in Chicago. Pinto hasn't had a collection since spring 2010.
Pinto isn't the only designer to take advantage of crowd-sourced financing, but she is one of the bigger names from the fashion world. According to Kickstarter, about 4,000 fashion projects have launched on the website since it started in 2009. Of those, about 1,100 — or 28 percent — have received $16.7 million in funding. However, fashion projects make up just 3.6 percent of the website's total projects, which include creative fields such as film, photography and music.
The challenge, Pinto said, will be drawing her customers to Kickstarter because they don't frequent the website.
"That's kind of a little bit of an unknown," Pinto said. "What I like about it is I'm building a community. I can reach my hand out and touch my consumer."
Pinto also will offer non-clothing items on Kickstarter: $25 signed note cards, $75 for a print of one of her limited-edition paintings, $5,000 to spend an afternoon with her in her studio or $10,000 to host a party with Pinto for 50 friends at the Chicago restaurant Sepia. Kickstarter backers will be listed on Pinto's website and receive special access to design previews of her future collections.
Pinto is in a position where she has to reinvent — and, in ways, reintroduce — herself to customers because she has been out of the spotlight, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group.
"They've discovered other brands and other products and are spending in a different way," Cohen said. "That's why redefining who she is and who her target audience is is critical."
Pinto attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and launched her own label in 1991 after a stint working with the late draping master Geoffrey Beene. She closed her business in 2002 for health and business reasons but reopened in 2004. Her clothing has been available at department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and other boutiques.
Retailers have expressed interest in her new collection, Pinto said, but she wants to see what happens first with Kickstarter.
It's business, but for Pinto, it's fashion, too.
"Ever since I closed, I needed a break, but I also realized that designing is a lifeline," she said. "If I don't design, I don't breathe."


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Most bands put up a rational facade to hide their inner weirdness and commercialize themselves, but Beats Antique says, "to hell with that, we want you to party in animal heads on stage with us." I got the chance to ask Beats Antique members David Satori, Sidecar Tommy, and Zoe Jakes a few questions before shooting the final show of their tour in San Francisco. Getting to speak with the surprisingly rational voices behind this group of world-electronic influenced story-tellers has made me see a very distinct method to their madness: to create an intensely visceral musical and visual experience that invites you to expand your mind and say yes to the journey.
NOTE: For a fully immersive experience stream their new album A Thousand Faces here:
LMB: You guys are doing this tour in support of your new album A Thousand Facesthat you just released last month. You guys have a really loyal fan base. On this tour, how has the crowd reaction been to the new stuff?
David Satori: We've been having really positive reactions to our new show and the album. We're always really grateful to our fans to allow us to experiment. To give us permission to do whatever we want. We don't feel trapped that we have to deliver the same kind of thing. We feel like we get to change it up a lot and we're grateful they want to come on the ride with us.
LMB: When you were creating this album, was there a central guiding theme bringing you toward a final product?
DS: Yea we wanted to tell a story. We wanted to make an album and a show at the same time. Previous to this, our show has been a collection of songs from different albums and different things, and always something that's a lot of fun. With this one we wanted to make it so it was a visceral process. We wanted to tell a story, and do something with more intention behind it. Because of Jeffrey Campbell's "Hero With A Thousand Faces" we were kinda guided through making the concept album and the show.
LMB: As musicians you get to wear so many different faces in Beats Antique. As well as being inspired by Jeffrey Campbell's book, is the name of the album a play on how Beats Antique gets to wear these different faces?
Sidecar Tommy: It's more about the audience being the hero because to us that's our inspiration. That's what makes it possible for us to do this work. The A Thousand Faces title can be interpreted as: that's our fans. The faces: those are the people watching the show.
DS: But I do agree that it's interpretive, and in the group we do get to wear a lot of hats to play in the different genres that we do play in. It's about that and the audience. It's about us and the people who come on the journey with us.
LMB: Your guys' music is such a clash of eastern and western sounds. I know you guys have such a big influence in world music and cultures like David in afrobeat and Zoe with bellydancing, but how did the dubstep, glitch, electronic element come in?
ST: I think that has to do with just the current state of the music people are listening to right now, and also our influences from our community coming from the Bay Area. Also, it's really just fun to play with different inspirations and palettes of sound.
Zoe Jakes: Also, when we first came together, we were hired to make an electronic middle-eastern album. So, electronic has really been synonymous with our sound from the beginning.
ST: I think for the most part it's kind of like all the lines have been blurred and all the genre stuff has meshed. Sometimes we come in and say lets do something like this or like that, but in reality it shapes itself. By the end of the time we're done writing the song, its totally different from what we started with.
LMB: Do you guys talk about yourselves as a World influenced electronic group or vice versa?
DS: I'd say it's both. Not one more than the other really. I do see myself as more of an acoustic musician than an Electronic musician. I didn't grow up DJing; I grew up playing in bands. That's where our roots are.
LMB: Album to album then, do you ever think that 'this needs to have a heavier Electronic feel' or 'maybe a more melodic feel?'
ST: This album has really been a totally new experience. In that has pushed us out of our box and forced us to explore new territory with something a little more dynamic. Yeah sometimes we do feel like 'Oh we've been so heavy so lately lets do something more chill' or the other way around, but this album has definitely challenged us to be very dynamic.
LMB: From this album being very diverse, did you guys come at it any differently than before from a production stand point?
ST: Yeah, we did do a lot of live sound sourcing. As far as a lot of the electronics goes, we set up a whole Dub station with all of our toys and nick-nacks and stuff. Drum machines, samplers, keyboards, and stuff and we would jam along to the sketches we were making and that helped create the sonic palette. We definitely went really far in the live element, and brought in guest musicians and special collaborators. We brought in Les Claypool on bass. We brought in Alam Khan. You know, a lot of different elements.
LMB: Speaking of Les Claypool, you guys got to work with him on the track "Beezlebub" that he lent his bass playing and vocals for. What was it like working with such a legendary musician like him?
ST: Yea it was an honor. I've listened to him ever since I started listening to bands. I remember being like 12 years old and being really into Primus. He was a really huge influence and I remember just never hearing anything like that before. It blew my mind. So to be able to send him a message and have him collaborate with him was great. We didn't even go into the studio together. I mean that was all through e-mail, so that was definitely a 21st century collaboration right there.
LMB: One track I really wanted to ask you about that was one of my favorites on the album, was "Doors of Destiny." It has such a funny element of spoken word in being part carnival game show, bad jokes and all, and part filthy dubstep track. Where did you guys get inspired to do a track like that?
ST: Me and Zoe where in a band called The Yard Dogs Road Show, and Micah & Leighton, the speakers on that track, were sort of the carny barkers of that band, so we really wanted to tip the hat to those guys and that whole project as part of our history. It's fun when you can have a bunch of friends come down to the studio and just talk about a bunch of ridiculous stuff and make it into a song. The fun part for us was incorporating that Dubstep part, which was really fun and in kind of a tongue and cheek way. That like the prize you get. You deal with this album, and that's what you get. We also wanted to tip the hat to all the Dubstep tunes you know, give 'em what they want. And in the live show it gives us a really fun opportunity to interact with the crowd.
Zoe Jakes: It gets crazy, [laughs] woohoooo.


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Press Releases
Fortinet Complements Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure with High-Performance SDN Security
Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT) – the global leader in high-performance cybersecurity solutions, today announced the integration of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall solution into the Cisco® Application Policy Infrastructure Controller™ (APIC). APIC is the controller for Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), the industry's most comprehensive SDN architecture, which dramatically reduces TCO, automates IT tasks and accelerates data center application deployments. The new FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI is designed with the security needs of software-defined data centers in mind, enabling physical and virtual networks to deploy policy-driven application services across Layer 4 - 7 fabrics. This integration further extends the Fortinet Software-Defined Network Security (SDNS) Framework, a first of its kind offering designed to provide advanced threat protection through the integration of security into modern, agile data center environments. Fortinet's leading high-performance cybersecurity solutions integrated with Cisco's Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) can help joint Cisco and Fortinet customers to significantly reduce data center operating costs without compromising on security or performance.
Agile Data Center Security Services
The promise of the modern data center lies in the business agility that it can facilitate. Traditionally, networking and layer 4 - 7 application services have required manual configuration and constant management to keep pace with changes in the data center. Today, organizations can more nimbly provide rapid, cloud-like services to users, customers and partners. They are also able to consolidate infrastructure components and services so that they are automated, driven by business policies and centrally managed for performance.
The new FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI delivers application-centric security automation to modern data centers. The solution provides automated and pre-defined policy-based security provisioning for next-generation firewall services, enabling transparent security services insertion anywhere in the network fabric with single-pane-of-glass network management for full visibility on security policy enforcement.
"ACI delivers unique benefits to customers through policy-based automation, greater scalability through a distributed enforcement system, and greater network visibility through the integration of physical and virtual environments," said Ish Limkakeng, vice president, product management at Cisco. "The FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI delivers security protection for enterprise applications and workloads, while enabling automation for greater business efficiencies and cost savings."
FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI
The open framework of Cisco ACI enables ecosystem partners such as Fortinet to seamlessly interoperate with the Cisco ACI fabric. The Fortinet SDNS framework provides the visionary path for security integration in a SDN or Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment and allows for a seamless experience with Cisco's Layer 2 and Layer 3 network fabric. The FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI requires two components from Fortinet, the FortiGate device package to Cisco APIC; and FortiGate physical and virtual appliances. The connector allows customers to choose pre-defined application firewall policies and automate security orchestration for FortiGate appliances across Layer 4 - 7 fabrics.
"With the shift to agile, software-defined data centers comes increased security concerns for many organizations," said John Maddison, vice president of product and solutions at Fortinet. "The data center is the heart of the network where application workloads are modified, added, changed, or deleted through manual security provisioning-processes prone to human error. FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI eliminates these cumbersome processes and automates security policies so they can be centrally orchestrated with better traffic visibility and scalability based on application workloads."
With this new offering, IT administrators can easily define the application security rules for different workloads in the Cisco APIC and configure the policies within FortiGate appliances. When a security policy is triggered during the application deployment lifecycle, Cisco's APIC redirects the application traffic through Fortinet FortiGate appliances for advanced firewall inspection including IP reputation, web filtering, anti-virus, DNS filtering, SSH inspection, IPS, and DDoS without manual intervention.
- Better visibility and security correlated with overlay and underlay networks
- Lower TCO from reduced OpEx
- Accelerated application and Layer 4 - 7 network security deployment
- Increased efficiency in service provisioning and network security segmentation
Supporting Quotes
"As a long-term joint customer, we see the commitment Fortinet and Cisco share in delivering applications while ensuring IT flexibility. The solution provides the capabilities to configure policies that simplify and automate next-generation firewall services efficiently throughout our infrastructure." – Erik Sohlman, senior manager infrastructure, Axians
The FortiGate Connector for Cisco ACI will be available in Q4 2015.
For more information, please visit: Products
About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) protects the most valuable assets of some of the largest enterprise, service provider and government organizations across the globe. The company's fast, secure and global cyber security solutions provide broad, high-performance protection against dynamic security threats while simplifying the IT infrastructure. They are strengthened by the industry's highest level of threat research, intelligence and analytics. Unlike pure-play network security providers, Fortinet can solve organizations' most important security challenges, whether in networked, application or mobile environments - be it virtualized/cloud or physical. More than 210,000 customers worldwide, including some of the largest and most complex organizations, trust Fortinet to protect their brands. Learn more at http://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog or FortiGuard Labs.
Copyright © 2015 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet's trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiManager, FortiMail, FortiClient, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiReporter, FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, FortiVoIP, FortiBIOS, FortiLog, FortiResponse, FortiCarrier, FortiScan, FortiAP, FortiDB, FortiVoice and FortiWeb. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments. This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve uncertainties and assumptions, such as statements regarding product releases. Changes of circumstances, product release delays, or other risks as stated in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, located at www.sec.gov, may cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this press release. If the uncertainties materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Fortinet assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, and expressly disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.


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THE ALTRUISTS | Boston Actors Theatre presents the Nicky Silver play whose young radicals, we're told, "won't say NO to a protest! They'll march for gay rights and children's rights and Women Against Drunk Drivers." But then things get complicated for their leader, Ronald, when his soap-opera-actress sister shoots her sleeping boyfriend — an act that tears him away from his boyfriend. Joey C. Pelletier directs. | Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St, Boston | 866.811.4111 | March 26–April 4 | Curtain 8 pm Fri-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $15; $10 students
LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL | Jacqui Parker stars as Billie Holiday in this Lyric Stage Company of Boston production of Lanie Robertson's Off Broadway hit, singing "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone," "Crazy He Calls Me," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "When a Woman Loves a Man," "Them There Eyes," "God Bless the Child," among other Holiday hits, and reflecting on her life and career. Lyric artistic director Spiro Veloudos is at the helm. | Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St, Boston | 617.585.5678 | March 26–April 24 | Curtain 2 pm [March 31, April 21] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25-$54
THE LAST DAYS OF MICKEY & JANE | Merrimack Repertory Theatre commissioned this brand new work from prolific Massachusetts native Richard Dresser (Below the Belt, Rounding Third) that has Whitey Bulger written all over it. "Mickey, a witty, paranoid fugitive ex-mobster from Southie who is on the lam with his no-longer young, Charleston-native girlfriend, Jean, is forced into an early retirement in Europe. With his Boston Red Sox cap never out of reach, he is out of place and away from the one thing he truly loves: his work. While he searches for a way to get back into business and Jean longs for a 'normal' life back in Boston, the dysfunctional couple runs into one hilarious situation after another, learning shocking secrets about each other along the way." With Jack Wetherall as Mickey and Rae C. Wright as Jean; MRT artistic director Charles Towers is at the helm. | Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 978.654.4MRT | March 18–April 11 | Curtain 2 pm [March 24] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 pm [no March 20] + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm [no evening April 11] Sun | $26-$56
NOT PLAYING WITH A FULL DECK | Uh, we'll be the judge of that when Lily Tomlin returns to Boston for two performance of this one-woman show. | Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St, Boston | ticketmaster.com | March 27 | Curtain 7 + 9 :45 pm Sat | $54-$77
OPUS | New Repertory Theatre presents the New England premiere of violinist-turned-playwright Michael Hollinger's 2007 drama, in which "the celebrated and world-renowned Lazara String Quartet is struggling to prepare for its highest-profile performance when its gifted but volatile violist mysteriously disappears." "Sex, drugs, and chamber music!" is how Charles Isherwood began his New York Times review. With Shelley Bolman, Benjamin Evett, Michael Kaye, Becky Webber, and Bates Wilder; Jim Petosa directs. | New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown | 617.923.8487 | March 28–April 17 | Curtain 7:30 pm Mon [March 29] + Wed [April 14] | 2 pm [April 1] + 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3:30 [no April 3] + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm [no evening April 4] Sun | $35-$54; $27-$49 seniors; half-price student reservations.
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Now that 38 Studios is a thing of the past, Corey King and John Groh, both New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) students, say there's not a company in the state they could utilize their …
Now that 38 Studios is a thing of the past, Corey King and John Groh, both New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) students, say there's not a company in the state they could utilize their degrees upon graduation. But that's not stopping the pair from doing what they love, and putting their game development and simulation programming training to use.
King, 22, and Groh, 20, are in the process of completing a new game for mobile devices, like smart phones, called "Parkourasaur."
The pair met in 2010 when they first started at NEIT. Joining forces with four of their classmates, they started a company called Uranium Squid and began developing video games. In March, Groh came up with the idea for "Parkourasaur" while working a long shift at his former security job. When King caught wind of the idea, he decided to help Groh create the game. They've been working on the game since the summer, devoting countless hours to programming, testing and designing the look and feel of the game.
The game combines free-running and overcoming obstacles, a practice known as "parkour," with jumping and rolling to collect objects for points. The player controls a dinosaur in the middle of what Groh calls the "Dinosaur Apocalypse." The goal is to quickly collect three dinosaur eggs lost in the meteor shower and subsequent volcanic eruptions while avoiding dangerous obstacles.
"We're trying to make games that people of pretty much any age can get into and enjoy," said Groh, who explained that they want to create something simple enough for kids but also challenging for adults.
The game will be available on the Android and iOS markets, for both Android devices and iPhones.
"Right now we are focusing on the mobile market because that's what's really taking off," said Groh.
"Fruit Ninja," "Sky Burger" and "Angry Birds" are just some of the mobile games that have achieved major success in recent years. Groh and King said everyone likens their game to Angry Birds, a wildly popular iPhone game in which the player launches a bird via slingshot into a green pig. The game was created by a Finnish company, Rovio Entertainment, that is now valued at roughly $8 billion. So is "Parkourasaur" the next "Angry Birds?"
"That's the plan," said King.
Both King and Groh will complete their bachelor degrees in game development and simulation programming at around this time next year. The degree, they said, will set them up for entry-level jobs in the game development field but also give them the skill set to create full games on their own.
King and Groh said they knew from early on that they wanted to get into this field.
"I've been playing games since I could move my thumbs," said Groh.
It was during the completion of their associate degrees last year that they worked with the other members of Uranium Squid to create "Heroes of War," an online, multi-player combat game – it took them 20 weeks.
But this venture is different for them, both because it's just the two of them working on it and because it will be a licensed downloadable game. Now they're looking to get community support to help fund the game's development and completion.
"We're trying to publicly crowd-source funding," said Groh.
In a press release, Groh said they're "not looking for million dollar handouts from the state," a clear crack at 38 Studios' $75 million EDC loan.
"Game development and Rhode Island are not huge friends," said Groh.
But together with King, Groh is hoping to change that relationship.
"We're hoping to really get something new and original out there and sort of put Rhode Island back on the map in a much better light than it is right now for our industry," he said.
For Groh and King, developing a successful game isn't just about making money; it would also give them a chance to open a studio and employ other game developers like themselves. The pair both agreed that there are no game development studios in Rhode Island that they could apply to after college.
"You're most likely going to have to travel if you want to get into a bigger company," said King.
"It's pretty unfortunate though, every game developer goes to either Boston or San Francisco. There's really nothing in our state," said Groh, who said Curt Shilling had promised him a job at 38 Studios when he completed school.
"It is a little disappointing because it was sort of my plan after school. But that also kick-started our whole project here."
Now the pair is attempting to raise $7,000 through a website called "Kickstarter." Groh called the $7,000 a "bare minimum" that will "just cover everything."
As of press time yesterday, they had 48 backers that had pledged $1,859. The Kickstarter will close on Monday, Oct. 8, which gives the pair just under a week to raise $5,141.
"Pressure's on," said Groh.
Without the $7,000, Groh said publishing the game would be difficult. The money raised will go toward hardware for testing and development, software and licensing. The Android market will charge King and Groh a one-time licensing fee of $25, but Apple will charge them a yearly fee of $99.
Without the $7,000, Groh said the worst-case scenario is they won't be able to publish their game; best-case scenario, the release will be delayed. Groh said if it comes down to paying for the game out-of-pocket, it could take a long time for "Parkourasaur" to become publicly available.
Those who donate to the Kickstarter won't have to pay unless the $7,000 goal is met by the Oct. 8 deadline.
If their goal is met, the pair plans to release the game on Nov. 26, just in time for the holidays.
"It would be a perfect Christmas present," said King.
The pair currently spends at least 10 hours a day working on the game. Last week they were finishing finals, but this week they said they'll spend 20 hours a day on their endeavor.
"In a week we definitely put in more than full-time," said Groh.
And they're hoping their investment pays off big time.
The game will be offered for free on the Android and iOS markets, but users will have the option to buy accessories and outfits for their dinosaur for small amounts, like 50 cents a piece.
"It will be a very cheap, micro-transaction," said Groh.
Still, users won't have to pay anything to play up to 40 levels in "Parkourasaur," and those who download the game on the first day it comes out will even get a squid that sits atop the dinosaur's head.
"You'll be able to completely play the entire game without spending a cent," said Groh.
"But to have the coolest gear, you have to spend some moolah," said King.
So what are they hoping for as a return on a $7,000 game? According to estimates, Angry Birds cost roughly $100,000 to develop. King and Groh aren't exactly sure what to expect monetarily, but they hope it sets them up nicely to continue creating video games.
"If this title is a big success, we should be able to buy an office and set up a studio here," said Groh. "We're definitely hoping to make it pretty big with this."
The amount of money they take in is solely dependent on how many users are willing to buy a hat or shirt for their dinosaur.
"What if a million people download it and a million people buy the 50-cent items?" said King. It's the "what if" that they're banking on.
For now, there's still a lot of work to be done on "Parkourasaur," but once it's complete, King and Groh plan to get in some R and R.
"We'll probably sleep for the first time in months," said Groh.
But sleep is still a long way away. Groh and King are hopeful they'll be able to release their game this year, and are sure that, despite their young age, they'll be able to sufficiently handle what could turn them into overnight successes.
"When you've got the idea, you've got the motivation, you've got the skill set, why not just do it, right?" said Groh.
"You can never be too young to start your dreams," added King.
To play a demo version of "Parkourasaur" or to donate to their Kickstarter (deadline of Oct. 8), visit www.UraniumSquid.com.
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The announcement of the BMW-Toyota partnership has been as perplexing as it is exciting. Nothing solid has come of the deal yet, but it's supplied the world with scores of crazy rumors. But a new report in Nikkei Asia Review may be the most solid one yet. It also heralds the return of the Toyota Supra.
The Nikkei reported today that Toyota and BMW are working on a new sports car platform. We knew that, but it's the details that matter: this platform will underpin the next BMW Z4 and a revival of the Toyota Supra. The two cars could go on sale as early as 2017.
Unlike the deal with Subaru and Toyota that resulted in the FR-S/GT86/BRZ, these two cars will have different bodies, the newspaper says. (No word on what they'll look like — perhaps they'll take cues from the Toyota FT-1 concept above.) The Supra's "strong fan base" sparked the reason for the new one, it says.
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The Supra name could come back. That's a huge deal. Frankly, Toyota is stupid not to bring it back. There's a ton of equity in that name, especially among people who grew up in the 1990s and lusted after them back then. It means a lot to buyers from that generation, myself included.
Unfortunately, the report goes into no further detail about what the new cars will be like. Still, the fact that the Supra and Z4 will be joined at the hip — if that is correct, of course — should allow us to dismiss a lot of rumors about mid-engined cars, expensive halo cars, cheap sports cars, or a Toyobaru replacement.
The current Z4 starts at about $50,000 and has both four- and inline six-cylinder power and, of course, rear-wheel drive. All of that sounds pretty appropriate for a new Supra to me. Let's hope it holds true.


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Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, written by a court gentlewoman in 10th century Japan, is thoroughly enjoyable. It's the kind of book best read in small bits and pieces, kind of like a diary, although it isn't one, exactly. In fact, although I didn't choose to do this, you could take a hint from the book's title and read a little bit of it as you hit the pillow every night. The introduction to my edition explains that the meaning of the book's title is uncertain, but that we can possibly imagine Sei Shonagon:
taking away her pile of paper to keep by her pillow and write, in the form of private jottings and as if purely for her own entertainment, a work that would redound to the credit of Teishi's court — a work conveying the brilliant wit, exquisite taste and sheer 'delightfulness' for which that court had become known and which Sei Shonagon was felt to epitomize.
The book is made up of small sections, some of them as short as one line and the longest ones reaching to 10 or 15 pages. Many of the entries are lists; Sei Shonagon will list, for example, "Things that make you feel nostalgic," or "Occasions that induce half-heartedness" (including "Preparations for something still far in the future") or "Things people despise" (including "People who have a reputation for being exceptionally good-natured"). She will also list interesting place names or the names of flowers that sound good in poetry or names that are significant for one reason or another.
Other sections tell stories, many of them having to do with love intrigues and flirtation and cultured conversation. There are many stories about men visiting their lovers at night and women waiting for the note that is sure to come after such a visit. Sei Shonagon also writes about visits the court members make to one another and about court ceremonies and religious festivals.
An element of almost all these stories is poetry, which plays a surprisingly important role in Japanese court culture. Again and again, Sei Shonagon tells stories about receiving letters with poetic allusions to which she must respond with a clever reference of her own, or stories about challenges to produce a poem on the spot, a challenge she must live up to, as she has a reputation for her quick wit. There was a body of poetry that everyone — or at least everyone who hoped to succeed at court — had memorized, and which formed the basis of a whole system of communication. You were expected to write poetry as well. To write a bad poem was a deeply embarrassing thing, as was the failure to write one at all when one was expected of you. To write a clever or beautiful poem could greatly increase your reputation and earn you respect.
The Pillow Book is fascinating for the glimpse it provides into a culture radically different from our own, and it's also a pleasure to read for the sake of Sei Shonagon's personality, which shines through every page. She is an astute observer of the world and the people around her, and she never spares judgment, telling her stories and writing up her lists with a forthright, honest, and often funny voice. One of the most famous passages from the book (it's excerpted in my Art of the Personal Essay anthology) is a list of "Infuriating things," and here's a taste of it:
A guest who arrives when you have something urgent to do and stays talking for ages. If it's someone you don't have much respect for, you can simply send them away and tell them to come back later, but if it's a person with whom you feel you must stand on ceremony, it's an infuriating situation….
A very ordinary person, who beams inanely as she prattles on and on….
It's also quite disgusting to witness men getting noisy and boisterous in their cups, groping round inside their mouth with a finger or wiping their whiskers if they have them, and forcing the saké cup on others. "Go on, have another!" they'll cry, and they wriggle and squirm and wag their heads, and pull down the corners of their mouths in a grimace, and generally perform just like a child singing "Going to See the Governor." I've seen even truly great men behave in this way, and I must say I find it most offputting.
I also really hate the way some people go about envying others, bemoaning their own lot in life, demanding to be let in on every trivial little thing, being venomous about someone who won't tell them what they want to know, and passing on their own dramatized version of some snippet of rumour they've heard, while making out that they knew it all along.
A baby who cries when you're trying to hear something. A flock of crows clamouring raucously, all flying around chaotically with noisily flapping wings. A dog that discovers a clandestine lover as he comes creeping in, and barks.
A man you've had to conceal in some unsatisfactory hiding place, who then begins to snore. Or, a man comes in on a secret visit wearing a particularly tall lacquered cap, and of course as he scuttles in hastily he manages to knock it against something with a loud bump ….
And I could go on … it occurs to me that this book would make an excellent source of memes. Perhaps we should start an "infuriating things" meme? Or how about "splendid things" or "things later regretted" or "times when someone's presence produces foolish excitement" or "endearingly lovely things"?
Sei Shonagon is someone who becomes a companion as you read her thoughts and stories; I'm sorry to have finished this book and will miss her.


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Greetings Friends and Family!
As a member of the support system surrounding a Friends University student, you play an integral role in the greater Friends community, and we are pleased to inform and involve you as a partner in the education of your student.
Here you will find a variety of information intended to help you become a better resource for your student. We appreciate your continued support and interest and thank you for helping us carry out the mission of student success at Friends University.


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Louise Mirrer
President and CEO, New-York Historical Society
Louise Mirrer joined the New-York Historical Society as President and CEO in June 2004. Under her guidance, the institution has reinvigorated its commitment to greater public understanding of history and its relevance today, as well as to the support and encouragement of historical scholarship, and the education of young people. Mirrer holds a double Ph.D. from Stanford, a graduate Diploma from Cambridge, and a BA magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.
Under Mirrer's direction, the New-York Historical Society has launched groundbreaking exhibitions such as Slavery in New York, Nueva York, Chinese American: Inclusion/Exclusion, and The Vietnam War 1945-1975. As president and CEO she oversaw a $100 million capital campaign, completed in 2011, and the inauguration, in 2017, of the first-ever Center for Women's History within the walls of an American museum. She has also initiated special projects on Citizenship and the Presidency, and has overseen the expansion of the institution's visitorship to nearly 500,000 annually.
Mirrer's research focuses on historical narrative and she has authored four books and numerous articles. Her most recent book is Women, Muslims, and Jews in the Texts of Reconquest Castile, published by the University of Michigan Press. Mirrer has been a professor at Fordham University, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she continues to hold a faculty appointment. As Vice Provost for Arts, Sciences and Engineering at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, she oversaw key initiatives in liberal arts education. As Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the City University of New York, she designed the CUNY Honors College, introduced American history as a graduation requirement for all 200,000 undergraduate students, and established a major hiring initiative to increase the number of American history faculty throughout the CUNY system.
Dr. Mirrer was inducted into the Crain's New York Business Hall of Fame in 2018, and became a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2017. In recent years, she has been honored with the Officer's Cross in the Order of Civil Merit, Spanish Crown, 2017; Beacon Award, The Trustees' Council of Penn Women, 2017; Medal of Merit, Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, 2016; Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, Marymount College, 2016; Chinatown Partnership Historic Trailblazer Award, 2013; Woman of Distinction Medal, League of Women Voters, 2007; Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge University, 2007; Dean's Medal, CUNY Honors College, 2005; Education and Student Advocacy Award, Hostos Community College, 2005; President's Medal, CUNY Graduate Center, 2004; Leadership Award, Asian-American Research Institution, 2003; New York Post's "50 Most Influential Women in New York," 2003; Citation of Honor, Queens Borough President's Office, 2001; Women Making History Award, Queensborough Community College, 2001; and the YWCA "Women Achievers" Award, 2000.