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A hand blender (also called "immersion blender") is an easy timesaver. It lets you purée thick soups right in the pot, without transferring them into a countertop blender. As an added bonus, you'll save time on clean up, too. Most hand blenders have removable blending wands that can be easily cleaned in the sink or the dishwasher.
To help you find the best hand blenders, the Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute (GHRI) evaluated them.
Among our findings: Most can completely purée a large batch of soup quickly and have other nice features too, including blending jars, food-processor attachments, and whisks.
What We Looked for in Hand Blenders
GHRI evaluated the blenders for:
- Ability to purée a thick vegetable soup
- Time required to purée a thick vegetable soup
- Ability to make a thick smoothie
- Ease of holding and using the hand blender
- Ease with which the hand blender could be cleaned
- Weight of the hand blender
- Ability to remove blending wand for easy cleaning
- Thoroughness of the owners' manual
- Helpfulness and responsiveness of the manufacturer's customer service
- Overall appearance of quality
How The Good Housekeeping Research Institute Tested Hand Blenders
- We puréed identical batches of soup for 60 seconds with every hand blender. If it wasn't fully puréed, we increased the blending time by 30 seconds and checked again for unblended pieces of vegetables, stopping after two minutes regardless of whether or not the soup was ready. We poured every batch of soup through a scientific sieve and measured any vegetables that went unblended.
- We made a smoothie using each hand blender, consulting the owners' manual for each model to see whether it could handle ice or frozen fruit. We tasted each smoothie for thickness and consistency before pouring it through a sieve to measure for unblended pieces of ice or fruit.
- For models that came with whisk attachments, we whipped heavy cream, measuring the change in volume as well as the stability of the whipped cream, to see whether it would wilt or melt over time.
- For models that included food-processor attachments, we chopped an identical quantity of onion in each jar, then poured the pieces through a sieve and measured any amount that wasn't uniformly chopped.
- We inspected every hand blender for the overall appearance of quality, looking for things like stainless steel exteriors, easy-to-use digital controls, and a crevice-free design.
- We assessed each blender for ergonomics and the placement of controls to see whether or not it was easy to use for extended periods.
- We weighed each hand blender to see how easy or hard it was to hold.
- We assessed how easy each model was to clean, favoring those that had removable blending wands that could be cleaned in the dishwasher.
- We read through every owners' manual to see whether or not it was thorough and provided clear instructions.
- We called each customer service department with a hypothetical problem and assessed their responsiveness as well as their ability to resolve our problem.
Immersion Blender Buying Guide
- When shopping for a hand blender, you can ignore wattage. In our tests, wattage was not an indicator of quality or performance.
- Consider whether or not you need a hand blender with lots of attachments. If you already have appliances that can whisk and chop, you can save money by buying a model without a whisk or food processor.
- If you plan on making smoothies with your hand blender, look for a model that can chop ice and frozen fruit.
- Remember that most hand blenders are not meant to be used directly over heat. Remove a pot of soup from the stove before you begin to blend.
- Whenever possible, let a hot batch of soup cool before blending. That way if it splatters, you're less likely to be burned.
- Whenever possible, try to purée ingredients in a tall, narrow container to minimize splatter.
Find out the results of the test


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New York City straphangers may be accustomed to panhandlers on the subway -- and probably ignore most of them -- but one woman recently managed to get riders' attention when she begged for something unusual: a date.
Public school teacher and comedian Jana Schmieding told Cosmopolitan that she came up with the idea last year while working on a comedy sketch.
Then she and a friend decided to see what it would actually be like to panhandle for dates.
U.S. & World
In a video posted to YouTube last week, Schmieding hops on a few different subway lines and makes her announcement with the familiar opening lines: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."
But she continues, "I'm not homeless or out of work. I'm not asking for money tonight. I am on this train searching for the man of my dreams."
Riders perk up, appearing puzzled or amused.
"I am single, and unfortunately it's gotten to the point where I need to rely on the help of strangers," Schmieding says. "I am not asking for change today. In fact, if someone were to take me out, I'd prefer to split the bill."
The subway riders laugh and begin offering advice, sympathetic words of comfort and even a few business cards of friends and roommates (and in one case, a Twitter handle).
"I didn't meet anyone till I was 32," one woman says.
"You still have time," another offers.
"I'm getting divorced, you can have my husband," yet another deadpans.
Schmieding told Cosmopolitan that she was encouraged by the kindness of subway riders, normally so stoic and unmoved.
"Every single panhandle I took on had a group of people that would cheer and engage with me," she said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Breast Cancer Newly Diagnosed Orientation Class – Virtual Only
Jun 9 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm| Free
Event Navigation
Renown Institute for Cancer offers one hour classes weekly to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and their families. Classes are facilitated by an oncology nurse navigator, social worker, physical therapist and surgical nurses.
In this class you will:
- Meet your navigator and learn about cancer support services available to you
- Hear about pre-surgery instructions and your pre-admit appointment
- Receive education in prehabilitation and lymphedema prevention
- Have your questions answered about treatment, including chemotherapy, biotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and clinical trials
- Tour the Institute for Cancer
Video enabled attendance available. Patients can access remotely and join from any video-enabled device (smart phone, iPad, laptop, or webcam/desktop). Upon registering, you will receive instructions on how to virtually connect.
To attend, register below.


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The Astros named their minor league pitchers and players of the month for June:
Class AAA Oklahoma City: RHP Jason Stoffel (1-0, 1.72 ERA for the month) and IF Jonathan Villar (.309).
Class AA Corpus Christi: RHP David Martinez (2-2, 2.35) and IF Jonathan Meyer (.280).
Class A Lancaster: LHP Luis Cruz (3-1, 1.97) and Catcher M.P. Cokinos (.392).
Class A Quad Cities: LHP Colton Cain (1-0, 2.31) and IF Carlos Correa (.370).
Rookie Dominican Summer League: RHP Elieser Hernandez (0.69) and OF Hector Roa (.279).
The awards are chosen every month by the field staff of each team.
Photo: Mike Theiler / Associated Press


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The World of Towing in Hawaii
Tow This: It's a necessary part of city life, but it's also one of the most hated. A look into the rough-and-tumble world of towing.
(page 1 of 4)
It's one of life's worst little moments: returning to your parking spot and finding only an empty space.
The towing business might be a necessary one—without it, our roads and parking lots would be clogged with ne'er-do-wells and broken-down heaps—but it's also one of the most hated industries around, and no wonder. What other private entity can, without notice, seize a piece of your personal property worth tens of thousands of dollars, haul it miles away and then hold it for ransom? It's a galling experience in the best of circumstances, but there are always shady tow operations that find a way to pile insult onto injury.
We decided to take a closer look at how the towing industry works, and what you need to know in the event that you get towed.
As you might expect, towing incidents tend to spark a lot of complaints. Both the Hawaii state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) and the Better Business Bureau regularly receive reports of overcharging, damaged vehicles, rude behavior on the part of tow-truck operators and unwarranted tows.
The resolution rate of towing companies tends to be low, as well: The Better Business Bureau says that in the past year, 14 percent of the complaints on which it followed up were satisfactorily resolved by the companies involved.
In some instances, the complaints even end up in the court system. In 2009, the DCCA successfully sued two local tow companies on a list of charges including mileage padding, illegal overtime charges, failure to provide proper receipts and accepting only cash payments.
It's important to note that these kinds of complaints aren't universal. Peruse the Better Business Bureau's listings for local tow companies, and it becomes clear that there are many above-board towers out there, with zero registered complaints and A ratings from the BBB. It's a select few companies that rack up the offenses.
The latest legal kerfuffle over towing involves the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor parking lot. A group of local attorneys is pursuing a class-action lawsuit against Diamond Parking, Gino's Powerlift Towing and the state of Hawaii, among others, alleging that more than 1,400 people whose vehicles had been towed from the lot didn't receive the due process to which they were entitled, including the opportunity to contest the validity of the tows.
The problem started in 2008, attorney Richard Gronna says, when Diamond Parking took over the management of the harbor parking lot. The lot has long been tight on parking, thanks to the demand created by nearby popular surf spot Rockpiles, as well as the Yacht Club and the hundreds of boats docked at the harbor, but under Diamond Parking, the number of tows jumped dramatically—from two or three a day to more than a dozen.
"These towing companies came in and started wielding these draconian policies. In our review of the cases, it was evident that they were abusing the system and taking advantage of people," Gronna says." They weren't providing any opportunity for a hearing after you got towed, to contest whether it was proper or not."
Nathan Contreras, a project manager with Swinerton Builders and frequent visitor to the boat harbor, isn't a party to the suit, but says he's been nailed repeatedly by overly aggressive towers at the harbor parking lot. "I've gotten towed from there four or five times in the past few years. The Gino's guys live down there. I see three or four tow trucks in that tiny area constantly."
The most recent incident, he says, was in January, during Pro Bowl weekend, when he visited a friend who has a boat at the harbor. Contreras says he dropped $10 into the parking dropbox, which, at the lot's rate of a dollar an hour, should have covered him through midnight. Just a couple of hours later, though, he saw his Toyota FJ Cruiser being hooked up by a Gino's driver. "I ran out there and he immediately started arguing with me. I said, Hey, I kinda feel like I'm getting screwed here. You need to put my car down, and we need to talk about this." The tow-truck driver refused and would have driven off, but Contreras and a friend stood in front of the truck to block it until the police arrived. In the end, Contreras says, he was forced to pay the driver $20 in cash to get his car back.
"I'm at the point now where I would rather take a cab down there than risk my car. I can go anywhere else in Waikiki and not worry, but as soon as I get into the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, forget about it."
As we went to press, the class-action lawsuit was still awaiting certification, but it's already had an impact: the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has begun offering hearings to vehicle owners who have been towed. Chris Dias, one of the lawyers pursuing the lawsuit, says, "We've attended a couple of them, but it remains to be seen whether they satisfy the constitutional requirement. It has to have both form and substance; it can't just be a rubber stamp."
Diamond Parking and Gino's Powerlift Towing could not be reached for comment.


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View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
Chicago police say already this year, they have seized more than 680 guns citywide. Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said that large number illustrates the need for tougher gun penalties.
"There are parts of this city, on the south and west side, where we're fighting with the gangs to get the guns off the street and stop the violence," McCarthy said.
With a national focus on Chicago and what many view as an alarming murder rate, McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have repeatedly insisted that for the most part, the city is actually very safe, with isolated but very violent pockets.
An analysis of crime statistics would seem to bear that out. While Chicago's 20th Ward on the south side had an astounding 34 homicides in the last year, and the 24th Ward on the west side had another 30, there are two wards in the city, the 40th and 43rd, where there were no murders at all.
Indeed, another 15 wards had three murders or fewer in the last year.
But at the same time, seven wards saw more than 19 homicides. The 16th ward, on Chicago's south side, had 28.
In every case, the most violent communities are also the city's poorest.
"It terrorizes people," said Ald. Willie Cochran, whose 20th ward tops the murder list.
Cochran is a former police officer, who has backed the Superintendent's crime reduction strategy. But he says it is hard for residents of his community to take comfort in crime statistics which show other parts of the city are safe, when they live in constant fear.
"I want my community to be safe now," he said.
McCarthy noted that already this year, his officers have made over two and a half times the number of gun arrests than their counterparts in New York City, a metropolis three times the size of Chicago. McCarthy blames what he views as lax gun laws in Chicago, where he says violations of gun ordinances draw only a six-month maximum sentence.
"Everybody says Chicago has tough gun laws," McCarthy said. "Patently false."
Earlier Monday, a group of high school students skipped school to stage a march to the spot where King College Prep High School student Hadiya Pendleton was gunned down last week.
"Every single day, people are shot out here, and it's us kids," said student Chelsea James. "We're supposed to bury our mothers. Not our mothers burying us."
Choking back tears, fellow student Jordan Willis pleaded with Mayor Emanuel to pour more resources into the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.
"We're trying to help our future," she said. "If all the future's dying, then there's nothing left."


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Lesson Plan
Playlist for Holden: Character Analysis With Music and Lyrics
|7 – 12
|Lesson Plan Type
|Estimated Time
|Two 45-minute sessions
|Lesson Author
Normal, Oklahoma
Compiling a playlist for a friend or a special occasion is a familiar activity for most students. This minilesson invites students to think of a literary character as a peer, creating an authentic connection between literature and life. While the lesson uses The Catcher in the Rye as an example, the activities could be centered on the primary character of any novel. Students choose a perspective on the character (from options suggested by the teacher) and work in small groups to identify scenes in the novel that reflect their view. They then select songs appropriate for the character and write a rationale for each song chosen, including supporting evidence from the text. When students present their completed playlists in class, their classmates inevitably make observations that increase everyone's insights into the character and the novel.
- Playlist for Holden Assignment: This handout outlines the assignment: selecting a playlist, writing a personal letter, and writing a one-paragraph rationale for each song included on the playlist
Pescatore, C. (2007). Current events as empowering literacy: For English and social studies teachers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(4), 326-339.
- Asking students to critically analyze popular music in light of character and themes from a novel requires sophisticated skills, including the ability to understand literary figures in the context of contemporary life.
- Viewing literature through contemporary culture and current events can help reframe the literary experience for students.
Williams, B.T. (2007). Action heroes and literate sidekicks: Literacy and identity in popular culture. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(8), 680-685.
- Probing the identity of a literary character in terms of popular songs and popular culture may help students understand their own motivation and identity.
- Music and identity are closely intertwined among many adolescents.


text: Pets are sometimes presented with fluid in the space between their lungs and the chest wall due to some underlying condition. Ultrasound guidance is used to draw the fluid out with a syringe. This sterile procedure can often make the pet more comfortable while our veterinarians are evaluating the cause of the fluid. The fluid obtained via this procedure will be laboratory-tested as part of the process of discovering the underlying cause for the condition and arriving at a diagnosis and treatment protocol.


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Hawthorn have defended their decision to draft Dayle Garlett despite the troubled West Australian youngster walking away from the club last night.
And the Hawks say that they are proud to have given a player such as Garlett the chance to have tested himself in the AFL environment.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan said that he hoped Garlett returned to play football at some level.
"We're proud we gave him an opportunity. If he can get that hunger back and play in Perth, we'd be happy for him," Fagan said.
"We believed a player with his talent was worth an opportunity."
Fagan said that the club had been hopeful Garlett would be reinvigorated upon returning from Perth where he had ventured to obtain his driver's licence and help relieve the homesickness that had been plaguing the prodigious forward during his time in Melbourne.
"We knew he was missing Perth, so we took his licence as an opportunity for him to get back home."
"He probably thought it was good for him to come over to Melbourne but he found it hard."
Fagan also made it clear that it was predominantly desire rather than discipline which was hindering Garlett from making it in the AFL.
"He had a couple of instances where he was late for training and not in the condition we would have liked - that wasn't a regular occurrence."
Reporters were told that Hawks captain Luke Hodge, who Garlett had briefly been living with in Melbourne, was frustrated by what had transpired.
"Hodgey is disappointed, he's built a relationship with him," Fagan said.
"There's no doubt we're disappointed, we thought he could really help us. But we're more disappointed for Dayle."
Fagan said that it Garlett though ultimatley had to take responsibility.
"He's got to look at the decisions he makes and the consequences. We would love nothing more to see him pursue footy when he's ready."
11:00PM Tuesday Hawthorn's decision to punt on the talented but troubled Dayle Garlett is over, with the youngster telling the club on Tuesday he was not up to the demands of AFL life and was walking away from football.
Garlett has quit the club and Hawthorn will delist the 20-year-old this week. The Hawks will not be able to promote another player from the rookie list as a replacement for him on the senior list.
Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan and recruiting manager Graham Wright flew to Perth this week to meet Garlett, who had returned home to get his driver's licence and to help ease the homesickness that he had been battling.
The lifestyle and friends in Perth convinced Garlett, who was conflicted over his future, that he no longer wanted to return to Melbourne and the rigours of AFL life.
Garlett had almost quit the club last month when he told Fagan and coach Alastair Clarkson he was struggling with the pressures on him to perform, the routines of training and the demands and restrictions on his lifestyle.
The stress had become overwhelming and he was having difficulties sleeping and eating.
Garlett had not been picked for pre-season matches because he had not reached the level needed and had been sanctioned by the playing group for his use of social media.
He texted a group of friends that he was contemplating walking away from his dream because AFL life was harder and not what he expected.
He asked his friends for advice on what to do next, saying: ''I love AFL, I really do, it's been my dream for so long ... but for me I tried it yeah and I'm training, but I'm thinking about coming back home, I don't think it is my thing. I'm thinking about quitting football, I honestly don't know what to do.''
Hawthorn tried to buy some time with Garlett by giving him a break from playing and allowing him to train without the pressure to perform. But nearly a month later and after returning home his mind was made up.
''He has not been enjoying himself and in the end has decided it is not for him, and we respect that,'' Fagan said.
''I think when Dayle first came over it was all quite exciting because he was finally living his dream after 12 months of disappointment and hard work, but when he got into the routines and the hard work of training it gradually wore him down.''
The option of retaining Garlett on the club's list but placing him on the long-term injury list so the club could promote a rookie in his place was not open to Hawthorn as he did not have an injury or illness and it would have prohibited Garlett from playing football at any level in Perth.
Garlett is a talented young footballer but his troubled background meant that despite being eligible for the draft 12 months ago, and despite many club recruiters considering that on talent alone he was among the better players in the draft, no club selected him.
Twelve months later he had significantly turned his life around playing football in the WAFL to the point that Hawthorn selected him with its second-round pick (No.38) in last year's draft.
- With Daniel Cherny
Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.


text: Search for Hawaii VA benefits information. A VA benefits search provides information on housing benefits, medical benefits for veterans, veteran pensions, veteran disability benefits, veterans and Social Security, spousal benefits, family benefits, VA medical benefits, VA housing assistance, VA education benefits, G.I. Bill, veteran employment assistance, veteran counseling services, applying for VA benefits, qualifying for VA benefits, receiving VA benefits, and veteran benefits requirements.


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Ferret necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 70 diseños de 17 diseñadores freelance.
I am currently living in Australia, but have a world wide following. I love ferrets because they are fun, cheeky and outgoing - just like myself.
I am trying to develop my business further and branch out into merchandise as well so the logo has to be simple but have heaps of personality. Something that all crazy ferret owners can identify with.
This is a chilled out project where you can let your creativity flow.
All ferret owners, all over the world, young and old. Outgoing, have a good sense of humour, slighlty crazy (in a good way), love their animals, like to form communities on the internet.
Cartoons are welcome, needs to be simple but show lots of personality as I plan to start a merchendise range and would like to use the logo for that and business cards as well, but primarily on my website. Check out my website to get a bit of a feel of what Im looking for and to see what a ferret looks like (if you dont know).
Would like:
- A ferret
- Readable text - Ferret-World.com
- fun
- exciting
- identifiable - stands out in a crowd
- Make sure I can fit it and can be well visible on the banner of my website
- Fairly simple (but am open to suggestions)
- Be super creative, have fun and work your magic
Not like:
- Shadows
- Too busy
- too small or too big
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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|Object information
Give wizards and witches transport by riding on them.
- "As every school-age wizard knows, the fact that we fly on broomsticks is probably our worst-kept secret. No Muggle illustration of a witch is complete without a broom and however ludicrous these drawings are (for none of the broomsticks depicted by Muggles would stay up in the air for a moment), they remind us that we were careless for far too many centuries to be surprised that broomsticks and magic are inextricably linked in the Muggle mind."
- —Kennilworthy Whisp, from Quidditch Through the Ages[src]
Broomsticks, better known as Brooms, are one of the means employed by wizards and witches to transport themselves between locations. The earliest recorded use of the broomstick was in 962, in a German illustrated manuscript. Only wizards and witches appear to use broomsticks in the Wizarding world. House-elves, for example, use Apparition. Broomsticks appear to have a bit of personality of their own, as they are able to respond to the simplest of commands, such as "up!".
Early daysEdit
Since no spell devised by wizards enable them to fly[1] (with the exception of Lord Voldemort in 1997, and Severus Snape a year later[2]), they had to come up with some other way to fly. Animagi who transformed into winged creatures enjoyed the sensation, but they were rare[1].
Long before the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy came into force, wizards were savvy enough to realise that Muggle neighbours would seek to exploit their abilities. Therefore, if they were to keep a method of flight in their homes, it would have to be unobtrusive and easy to hide. The broomstick was ideal - portable, cheap, and it required no explanation. However, the first broomsticks were uncomfortable.
The first broomsEdit
Records show that witches and wizards in Europe were using brooms as early as A.D. 963. A German manuscript of this period shows three warlocks dismounting from their brooms with looks of exquisite discomfort on their faces.The first brooms bewitched were neither comfortable nor aerodynamic (they had rough twigs at the end and had unvarnished handles), and in 1107 Scottish wizard Guthrie Lochrin wrote of the "splinter-filled buttocks and bulging piles" after a short ride from Montrose to Arbroath. The charms on the broom were also basic; they would move at one speed, and only go up, down, and stop. Wizard families generally constructed their own brooms, so there was a variation in speed and comfort depending on the skill of the builder. By the twelfth century, wizards began to barter services, and a skilled broommaker could trade his services for, say, the potions of a neighbour[1].
The racing broom and mass productionEdit
Until the nineteenth century, broomsticks were of varying quality, although the invention of the Cushioning Charm in 1820 by Elliot Smethwyck greatly enhanced the quality and comfort of the rides. However, they were still handmade by single wizards, and they were generally incapable of achieving high speeds and were difficult to control at high altitudes. They were also designed with styling and craftsmanship in mind, and not performance. Brooms such as the Oakshaft 79, the Moontrimmer, and the Silver Arrow all made an impact on the broom market, but were still made by single wizards and witches.
In 1926, the brothers Bob, Bill and Barnaby Ollerton formed the Cleansweep Broom Company, and the racing broom was born. Their first model, the Cleansweep One, was produced in large quantities and was an instant hit. Three years later, in 1929, Randolph Keitch and Basil Horton formed the Comet Trading Company and released the Comet 140 with a new Braking Charm. For several years, the Cleansweep-Comet rivalry dominated the field, until the creation of the Nimbus Racing Broom Company in 1967. The Nimbus brooms combined reliability and easy handling, and became a favourite for Quidditch teams across Europe[1].
Universal Brooms Ltd was a broomstick manufacturing company which was very popular in the past, but shut down some time back due to heavy losses.
Present-day broomsEdit
At present, nearly every wizarding household in Britain owns at least one broomstick[1]. Dedicated riders keep their brooms in top condition with a Broomstick Servicing Kit. Large groups of wizards and witches may travel by broomstick without being seen by Muggles through the use of a dose of the Disillusionment Charm. An earth-bound Muggle might then only see a slight shimmer in the night sky as broomstick riders pass overhead, which might be put down to blurred vision, sleepiness or a trick of the light[3].
Broomstick manufacturing companiesEdit
- Cleansweep Broom Company
- Comet Trading Company
- Ellerby and Spudmore
- Flyte and Barker
- Nimbus Racing Broom Company
- Universal Brooms Ltd
Broomstick modelsEdit
- Bluebottle
- Cleansweep One
- Cleansweep Two
- Cleansweep Three
- Cleansweep Five
- Cleansweep Six
- Cleansweep Seven
- Cleansweep Eleven
- Comet 140
- Comet 180
- Comet 260
- Comet 290
- Firebolt (last one released)
- Flying Staffs
- Moontrimmer
- Nimbus 1000
- Nimbus 1001
- Nimbus 1500
- Nimbus 1700
- Nimbus 2000
- Nimbus 2001
- Oakshaft 79
- Shooting Star (first one released)
- Silver Arrow
- Swiftstick
- Tinderblast
- Twigger 90
Broom gamesEdit
- Aingingein, played on broomsticks, using a ball called a Dom and a series of flaming hoops.
- Annual broom race held in Sweden.
- Creaothceann, played in Scotland, banned in 1762.
- Quidditch
- Quodpot, played in the United States of America.
- Shuntbumps, survives only as a children's game.
- Stichstock, played in Germany and died out in the 14th century.
- Swivenhodge
Behind the scenesEdit
- From the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban and onwards, the broomsticks were seen with a crossbar to hold the legs. These only appeared on the Nimbus 2000 and the Nimbus 2001 in the film versions of Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. The crossbars on the broomsticks aren't mentioned in the novels.
- In Philosopher's Stone, it is required for one to shout, "Up!" before mounting your broom so that it can take off. While in the first video game, Harry continues to shout "Up!" to get his broom, in all other games, books and films though, Quidditch players simply mount their brooms and fly away. It is possible, though, that saying "Up!" is an incantation to summon the broom, and that it is uttered nonverbally in the later books, films, and games.
- At least one broomstick appears in every movie.
- In Deathly Hallows: Part 1 most of the Order members use brooms to take Harry Potter to safety.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
- Quidditch Through the Ages
- Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
- LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
- LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World
- Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- LEGO Creator: Harry Potter
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Motorbike Escape
- Harry Potter Trading Card Game
- Harry Potter LEGO Sets
Notes and referencesEdit
|Officials: Quidditch referee
|Player positions: Beater • Chaser • Keeper • Seeker
|Playing equipment: Beater's bat • Bludger • Broomstick • Golden Snitch • Quaffle


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Instructions: Place the desired amount of diffuser oil into a glass container and insert reeds. After half hour, take out reeds and put the dry end into the oil. Flip reeds from time to time. Refill as necessary. The amount of reeds determines how strong the scent throw is also. The more reeds you use the stronger the scent throw is. Replace reeds when changing the fragrance.


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1. Delivery via drones isn't very realistic, some experts say
While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claims the online retailer will eventually deliver package via drone through a service called Amazon Prime Air – some folks don't seem convinced.
Writers from The Guardian and Quartz both state the technology just isn't there to be able to deliver packages by the small flying contraptions. What if the kid next door shoots it down? What kind of regulations would need to be in place? Those are some questions that need to be answered before packages take flight.
Read more: These people say your packages won't be delivered by drones(Digital First Media)
2. For about $150, you too can have nice handwriting
If you're worried your handwriting is getting worse from lack of use, there's an app and smartpen for that. The Livescribe 3 is a pen that captures, digitizes and saves whatever you write to a corresponding iOS app (Android is coming soon).
Read more: Livescribe 3 smartpen replaces archaic art of handwriting(Slate)
3. You don't have to worry about carrying a cord with this vacuum
When cleaning the house, the frustration of toting the vacuum cord while you navigate around furniture is the worst. But with the Gtech AirRam, you don't have to. This vacuum created by a U.K.-based inventor runs off a lithium-ion battery that can be recharged.
The vacuum runs for 40 minutes before needing a boost and also features a dirt compartment right at the head of the vacuum, so the dirt doesn't travel as far. The starting price is $299.
Read more: For $299, you can own the Tesla of vacuums(Slate)
4. These socks track your physical activity for you
Smartpens. Smartwatches. Smart TVs. Now, smart socks.
The Sensoria smart sock tracks your physical activity — like how many calories you've burned while exercising – then sends the information to corresponding smartphone application.
But sorry, you can't buy these from the store just yet, they are still in prototype mode.
Read more: 'Smart' socks may be the future of wearable technology (Slate)
5. Scouring for Cyber Monday deals? Here's where to start
If you're still feeling the buzz from Black Friday adrenaline, or you wanted to miss the rush of the stores completely, Cyber Monday is the day for you.
Here are a few sites that can help you find the best deals today:
- The Best Cyber Monday Deals Of 2013(The Huffington Post)
- Cyber Monday Deals (PC Mag)
- Engadget's Cyber Monday 2013 roundup (Engadget)
- Cyber Monday 2013: The best deals (so far)(CNET)


text: Video Editing apps Archive Top 30 Best Video Editing Software Author: Seth Fiegerman | Apr242016 Categories: Apps, Windows 30 Comments In this series article we share Top 30 Best Video Editing Software. no matter you have professional camera and how skilled you are at using it, you can create a perfectly timed movie with smooth transitions, professional effects and background music. SEE ALSO : Best Photo Editing Apps For Continue Reading


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ROME – The Venice Film Festival has announced its full roster for the main jury which will comprise actresses Samantha Morton and Laetitia Casta, helmers Matteo Garrone, Ari Folman and Pablo Trapero, and performance artist Marina Abramovich.The other members of this year's Venice jury which, as previously announced, is headed by Michael Mann, are prominent Hong Kong producer and director Peter Ho-Sun Chan and French/Swiss director Ursula Meier. The fest's new artistic director, Alberto Barbera, has increased the number of jurors from seven to nine. Venice's 69th edition will run August 29-September 8.
Venice Fest jury announced
Officials announce roster for main jury


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Monday, September 20th, 2010
Video Conferencing with the HTML5 Device Element
Did you know that work is being done to enable videoconferencing from HTML5 applications? Ian Hickson has been doing work on the element in a separate draft to make this possible. The element will be used to allow the user to give permission to a page to use a device, such as a video camera. Read the rest…
Posted by Brad Neuberg at 6:00 am
7 Comments


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I've been designing logos and corporate styles since 1999. During this time I have helped dozens of companies find their corporate visual identity.
I live in St Petersburg, Russia and work with companies from Europe, USA, China and all over the globe.
My works regularly appear among the winners in various international contests and get published in prestigious design magazines.
I really love what I do, and it shows in my work. I have a passion for finding precise visual expressions of my clients' businesses.
HelloMe and my work
My name is Yury Akulin. I design logos and brand identities. A cool head, warm heart, and over a decade of experience help me achieve the toughest goals.
Here you can see my works, find out what happens at the design stage and place an order for designing a logo or the entire corporate style of your company.
Here you can see my works, find out what happens at the design stage and place an order for designing a logo or the entire corporate style of your company.
Tatiana Milovanova, Fishmarket
Recent PostsNews, thoughts and reviews
The Chinese WayA rather strange Chinese book about branding titled "Big Brand" happened to include a few of my works dated eight or nine years back. Without comments or any references to the author,...
Golden Flea Prize WinnerEnd of the year brought some good news: the logo designed for Sertifi web service became a runner-up at Russian "Zolotaya Bloha" (Golden Flea) ,trademarks contest and exhibition. Moreover,...
The Crab has crawled up into the top 20!Good news: out of 36,000 logos sent to the team of LogoLounge, LogoLounge – a collection of the world's best logotypes – the panel of judges selected top 20. Among the highest...


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Our presence in South America is now very firmly on the map with Elves Costa and his team at Conquistar who take an exclusive license for the whole of Brazil. Conquistar are partnered with training and development company Integracao in San Paulo, and can now offer the very best in human development and teambuilding services.
Continuing a theme of exotic locations, we've also established a partnership in Curacao, taking Catalyst Teambuilding into the Caribbean! Human capital specialists D&I have taken advantage of our new bronze membership scheme that allows reputable teambuilding outfits in smaller economies to offer a select range of Catalyst teambuilding products. We welcome Daniel Corsen and the team at D&I.
Moving slightly north, but still pretty tropical, we have also expanded our operations in the USA. "Ideasparker" Sharon Fisher at Play With A Purpose did not want to be left off the Catalyst bandwagon. A creative specialist in her own right, Sharon identified an number of unique Catalyst Teambuilding programmes that will add value to the existing Play With A Purpose portfolio.
All three companies joined just in time to network, share ideas and build relationship with other likeminded teambuilding professionals during our biennial 'GO GLOBAL' conference in December (more on this in our next bulletin.)


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Raw food pros, cons
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Heat and eat or pop in your mouth, straight from the source? The debate over the health benefits of eating raw foods is heating up.
For some foodies, nutrition, the way nature intended it, unprocessed, unpasteurized, uncooked and not genetically engineered, is the only way to go.
Raw food advocate, Dara Prentice, said, "It's the most beautiful food that also has superior taste. Not just superior nutrition, but superior taste."
Raw food proponents say eating a diet composed of 75 to 100 percent of raw foods alleviates the risk of cardiovascular disease. That's because some say most cooked foods are chemically altered during the process. Many also think heating food above 104 degrees can destroy enzymes in food.
Registered dietician, Nadine Pazder, isn't biting.
"In reality, because your stomach is so acidic and enzymes are essentially a protein compound, once those enzymes get to your stomach you're not going to get the benefits if there is any anyway, because it's going to get digested in these acids," Pazder said.
Pazder says cooking foods cuts the risk of illness from dangerous bacteria like salmonella and E. Coli.
"Raw foods can be potentially dangerous for people who are immunocompromised. It can be dangerous for the elderly; it can be dangerous for pregnant women or very young children," Pazder explained.
Raw food advocates say fewer calories are consumed eating this way, which could help curb America's obesity epidemic and is one of the biggest national health issues today. For both sides, it's food for thought.
Experts say those who are considering a raw foods diet should consider the risks from eating raw or undercooked meat, fish, milk or eggs. Women who are pregnant should consult their doctors.
Additional Information:
Eating a diet made up of completely vegetarian or vegan foods has been linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and lower body mass index. While it has been proven that eating fruits and vegetables is great for your health, there has been a discussion on whether or not it is better to follow a raw diet, or to cook your food. (Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864)
UNCOOKED FOODS: Many nutritionists are saying that cooked foods have been chemically altered once heat is applied. When food reaches a temperature of 104 degrees many believe it can kill enzymes in your food. Enzymes are proteins in our food that help us digest our food. Eating a diet of mostly raw foods usually means fewer calories because of eating mainly fruits and vegetables. Calories are often cut down by almost half, which often means weight loss. With America having an obesity problem, a raw diet could help curb this epidemic. Raw foods are believed to allow you to get the original nutrients in the food which has added benefits to the body, and often boosts the immune system. However, the American Dietetic Association says not to implement raw food plans with children or infants because these types of restrictive diets are linked with growth problems. (Sources: http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/raw-food-diet and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18028575)
COOKED FOODS: Cooking food allows people to have more of a variety of food groups to eat from; this includes major proteins like meat, fish, eggs, and more. Living on a raw diet means not eating meat because of the risk of bacteria like salmonella. Cooking foods also reduces the risk of other bacteria such as E Coli which has been found on a variety of different foods in the past, and can be life threatening. Cooking foods kills these bacteria and makes it much safer for people to eat, especially elderly, children, and pregnant woman, who bacteria are much more dangerous for. Dieticians also say that enzymes are killed no matter what because once the food is digested the acids kill them anyways, so some disagree with the raw food diet helping the body receive those enzymes better. (Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16177198)
Copyright 2014 by Ivanhoe Broadcast News and News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Club Kit
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What: Tickets go on sale for the ninth annual Boulder International Film Festival, scheduled for Feb. 14-17
When: 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28.
Cost: $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors older than 65. All-access passes are available for $375 through Thursday and $450 Friday or after.
How to get tickets: bouldertheater.com (starting at 10 a.m.), Albums on the Hill (noon) and Boulder Theater box office or phone line (303-786-7030), both open 3-7 p.m.
Festival info: biff1.com
This year's Boulder International Film Festival will feature a dash of Kerouac, a pinch of 1960s music and a lot more.
Tickets for the ninth annual festival, which runs Feb. 14-17 at the Boulder Theater and other downtown venues, go on sale Monday.
"This is going to be fantastic. It gets bigger and better every year. Just when think the films can't be better than last year, they are," said Kathy Beeck, who created the festival with her sister Robin in 2004.
This year's festival will feature the presentation of the Pinnacle Award to two-time Oscar winner and Golden Globe nominee Peter Fonda ("Easy Rider," "The Laramie Project") on closing night. Past recipients of BIFF awards include director Oliver Stone and actors William H. Macy and Martin Sheen.
As always, there will be workshops and screenings of short films, including a Youth Pavilion and CU Student Pavilion, where young filmmakers can show their stuff.
There also is a decided musical bent to this year's festival, with films about Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Johnny Cash's manager and a choir forced to perform for the Nazis, among others. And, for the first time, there will be a singer-songwriter spotlight with live performances at the Lazy Dog Saloon from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, and Sunday, Feb. 17.
"We just want to introduce some local talent and match them with filmmakers who might want to use their music," Beeck says.
Among this year's film highlights:
"Muscle Shoals." This new documentary by Colorado filmmaker Greg "Freddy" Camalier explores how black and white musicians came together at the eponymous Alabama studio in the turbulent 1960s. The film, which features such artists as Bono, Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, will be shown at the festival's Opening Night Red Carpet Gala.
"On the Road." Based on the Jack Kerouac novel of the same name, this feature follows three young friends as they range across the nation and encounter hobos, poets, jazz musicians and more. The ensemble cast includes Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen.
"The Summit." Straight from Sundance, this film by director Nick Ryan documents the brutal day in August 2008 when 11 mountain climbers were killed on K2, considered one of the most challenging peaks in the world. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Ryan.
"War Witch." This 2013 Academy Award nominee tells the harrowing tale of a teenage girl abducted and forced to fight in an African civil war. The film, ripped straight from today's headlines, is both disturbing and lyrical.
"Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey." The real-life rock rags-to-riches story of Arnel Pineda, who made his way from YouTube to becoming the new singer for Journey.


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Blueberry Recipes
Two delicous and easy-to-make desserts with blueberries as the centerpiece.
Mini Blueberry Tarts
½ (17.3-ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
2½ pints fresh blueberries (4½ cups)
½ cup sugar
2½ teaspoons grated lemon rind
5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, fresh mint sprigs
Roll out pastry into a 15- x 10-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface; cut into 24 squares. Fit squares into miniature muffin pans, extending corners slightly above cup rims.
Bake pastry at 425° for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and gently press handle of a wooden spoon into center of each pastry, forming tart shells. Remove from pan.
Combine blueberries and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring gently. Spoon blueberry mixture into center of each tart shell. Garnish, if desired. Makes 6 servings.
Macaroon Sandwiches with Blueberry Filling
1 cup slivered almonds
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
Blueberry jam
Place almonds in food processor; process 1 minute. Add sugar, and process 15 seconds. Add egg whites and almond extract; process until smooth.
Drop batter by half tablespoonfuls onto large cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes or until golden. Let cookies cool completely on cookie sheets. Spread half the cookies on one side with blueberry jam. Top with remaining cookie halves.


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All Things Tarot: Musings of a Tarot Crone
The blog will provide commentary on all things Tarot, including new decks, art, reviews, updates, upchucks, and what it is like to live life using the Tarot as a companion, a counselor, and a muse.
How Do You Know...
We touched on how doubt affects a reading in the previous entry, and I want to go a bit deeper into this, because it really can make or break both the reading, and the reader / client relationship. People who do not experience Tarot readings or other forms of divination as part of their usual walk of life may not understand how it is that readers know what they know.
One of the common ways that readings get jeopardized is when the client questions the reader's capability. I've been reading long enough that it doesn't bother me now, but I remember as a newbie this was a real hot button for me. I think it was because, at that time, I questioned myself.
A good reader will be experienced. It's possible to go online and enter int a chat room and get a free reading, but how do you know who is doing the reading? It could be a kid with a book, or a con man, or someone who gets their kicks out of confusing the vulnerable.... It's impossible to tell unless 1) the reader is personally known or 2) the reader has been vetted by the host of the chat. Even then, nothing comes with a guarantee. As the saying goes, "Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances."
This isn't to knock inexperienced readers. Everyone has to start somewhere. Look to the analogy of a hair stylist again. A stylist serious about her work will practice on mannequins first, then on volunteers, then she -- or he -- can start charging for her services, and then she can work her way up to being the senior stylist, and if she is really lucky, she will end up being famous for what she does, because of her skill in doing it. A reader is the same. It's okay to volunteer to be read, but the caveat is still the same. Be sure you know who is reading you. Trust is everything.
At the end of the day, nothing is carved in stone. Maybe you had a free reading from an anonymous psychic in a chat room and they told you something that made you feel worried or uneasy. Take it with a grain of salt. If it is something that you can fix yourself, then work to improve so that this psychic's prediction does not come to pass. If it is something where you feel out of your depth, seek professional advice, either from an experienced reader whom you trust, or the relevant professional bodies. Remember, you are the one who is ultimately in control of your own destiny.
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My newest book, Sams Teach Yourself Java in 24 Hours, Fifth Edition, recently hit bookstores. The book is a for-absolute-beginners guide to programming Java, and this section from chapter one's Q&A section shows how much license I get from the publisher to have fun with the series:
Q. Do you only answer questions about Java?
A. Not at all. Ask me anything.
Q. Okay, why is Prince mad at the Foo Fighters?
A. Prince is unhappy that the Foo Fighters performed a cover of his song "Darling Nikki" and released it as a B-side single in Australia. He told Entertainment Weekly they should write their own tunes and wouldn't let the band release it in the United States. This became a pretty meaningless distinction as the song became a radio hit around the globe and was played regularly during their concerts.
When Prince performed at Super Bowl XLI a few years later, he covered the Foo Fighters' "Best of You," an artistic decision that surprised the Foo Fighters as much as everybody else.
"It was pretty amazing to have a guy like Prince covering one of our songs," Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins told MTV, "and actually doing it better than we did."
Although playing someone else's music is an odd way to exercise a grudge, this was a better option for the 5-foot-2 Prince than challenging the band to a fight.
Every chapter ends with one reader question that has bupkiss to do with Java. I used to be the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Ed Brice, an answer man who fielded random questions, so old habits die hard.
My book has been fully updated for Java 6 and has new chapters on JAX-WS and game programming. I have 20 copies I'd like to give to people who want to learn Java, and there's still time for me to mail them before Christmas.
If you know someone who wants to learn Java, or you can make a convincing case for why Santa owes you this book after the year 2009 you just endured, please leave a comment here on Workbench or in a Twitter post to rcade. Make sure I have some means of contacting you, so I can get the address of the person getting the book.
I'm planning on mailing these out on Wednesday morning in the pre-Christmas scrum at the post office. I will mail the books directly to the people receiving them and can put your name and address as the sender and wrap them if necessary. No one needs to know I was involved.
Please note that I'm expecting the people who get this free book to teach themselves Java in a single contiguous 24-hour period. For too long, Sams has coddled readers who devote one hour a day to a subject and learn it at their leisure.


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LeBron James was not with the Miami Heat for their final regular-season shootaround on Wednesday morning. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the league's reigning MVP was tending to a personal matter.
James was not expected to play Wednesday against the Orlando Magic. He has spent part of the past couple weeks dealing with a right hamstring strain.
The Heat have home-court advantage for as long as they remain in this season's NBA playoffs. Miami will host Milwaukee in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series this weekend, with the schedule to be announced late Wednesday or early Thursday.
James is averaging 26.8 points this season, fourth-best in the NBA.
Spoelstra did not announce a lineup for the regular-season finale, indicating many players would be game-time decisions.


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Ever since the horrific congressional baseball shooting that almost took the life of Congressman Steve Scalise and former Hill staffer Matt Mika -- and came moments before Congressman Ron DeSantis arrived at the field -- members of Congress have been keenly aware that serving in public office has put a target on their backs.
So why on earth would Congressman Brian Mast turn into one of the rabble rousers inciting crazies to make targets of the public officials on the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board?
That's exactly what he's done.
As the governor's advisor on his $2.5 billion water initiative, Mast makes a point of accusing board members -- the ones he wants out -- of "serving special interests" and making important decisions in secret. He uses broad accusations of criminality, without ever listing what these members' "crimes" are.
Last week he issued two statements commenting on the appointment of two new board members, Chauncey Goss and Ron Bergeron. In each statement he included a line saying the current board has operated for far too long "without any transparency and prioritized special interests above the people of Florida." The repetition is conspicuous and intentional.
If you repeat a lie enough times, it will become fact. Especially if it comes out of a congressman's mouth.
A congressman's words carry considerable weight, don't you agree, particularly to citizens who want to hear that message, who are looking for someone to blame for things in their lives they have no power over. They believe him. And sometimes they act on their anger.
I mention this now because of Melanie Peterson's Facebook video.
Melanie Peterson: I can stay silent no more
Peterson is just one former or current South Florida Water Management District board member who has received threatening or downright terrifying communications from people who hate the SFWMD Governing Board. In fact, every board member -- the ones like Peterson who already resigned and the ones who dug in their heels -- have fielded hate messages or death threats or both.
But Peterson decided to fight back. After a "creepy-voiced" anonymous caller with a Wallingford, Connecticut number told her he hopes she drowns in the polluted, algae-choked water she made, she used YouTube to publicize his phone number.
The caller is Michael Wendroff, 60, who may be a snowbird. One of his other addresses is in Florida, listed as North Venice Beach. By the time I tried to reach him, he wasn't picking up and never returned my call. But Peterson said, "Apparently my mother called this man, he has apologized and regrets making the call.
Sure he regrets it now.
"I am also hearing that employees of the District have been targeted ... My prayers are with them and their families," she said.
Peterson doesn't equivocate on the video. "I blame Congressman Brian Mast for his rhetoric, for his bullying and for perpetuating this kind of behavior, because this is not how civilized people discuss problems or find solutions ..." She calls Wendroff "yet another psychopath enlisted by the Brian Mast army to harass and bully people ..."
Gov DeSantis ultimately will come to regret the jihad against board members, she says. They are unpaid public appointees chosen by the governor, but the board itself is a creature of the Legislature.
Board member Jim Moran from Boynton Beach, showed me a stack of emails -- hate mail all -- some with the same nasty line: "I would like to see you keel-hauled from one end of Lake Okeechobee to the other! Awe...too bad that's illegal ... but so is what you and your cronies have done."
"I've been called lowlife, scum, a money grubber and a bribe taker," Moran told me. "None of this ever happened in my eight years on the board until Mast came on the scene. This whole issue with demanding our resignations isn't a result of anything we did wrong but a result of us not kowtowing to an egomaniac bully loudmouth ..."
Moran was one of three members whose term on the board was up in March. Though the three had only one meeting remaining, the governor demanded their immediate resignations anyway.
What's going on here is as plain as the nose on your face. The Everglades Trust/Foundation whispers to Mast and Mast has the governor's ear. So far the governor hasn't denounced Mast's tactics. Earlier on, when board members wouldn't resign and the governor found out he could only suspend them for cause, close allies suggested asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate them.
Said Moran, a lawyer, "That's outrageous and illegal."
If Governing Board members have been "putting special interests ahead of the people of Florida for years," then Congressman Mast should be transparent himself -- open up, stop the blanket accusations and show citizens proof board members are criminals. And have been, as he's said, "for years."
I asked for proof. This is the proof Brad Stewart, Mast's spokesman, gave me: "Most recently, hiding a vote on a lease extension with Florida Crystals until 9 p.m. the night before the vote, then ignoring a plea from the governor-elect to delay the vote, then criticizing citizens who wanted to engage in the process as the "peanut gallery" -- as if somehow demeaning citizens who care about the environment justifies anti-environmental, pro-industry actions."
Really. That's the proof of criminality the Mast team offers. A single incident over an issue embedded in Statute.
As Katrina Elsken, editor of the Okeechobee News, comments, "The "surprise" lease deal was no surprise to those who have been following SFWMD for decades. Lease renewals are usually done with no discussion as "consent agenda" items. And this lease actually made it possible to speed up the EAA work. They are out there on the site working on it right now, clearing 500 acres where they will stockpile rocks, doing geotechnical borings, etc., all thanks to the lease agreement."
My point in telling you this story is, board members have every right to be frightened.
In a 2015 decision that weighed the protection of free speech against protecting people from online abuse, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of people being scary nutjobs on the Internet. I remember the case well. Apparently, even explicitly violent posts aren't a crime, they're "therapeutic lyrics" and therefore free speech -- unless you can prove the nutjob's comments were meant to be taken seriously. And you can't really do that until after he's put a bullet in your head.
So, being a horrifyingly vulgar trashcan of a person isn't a crime. But it certainly can scare the pants off you. And when you've got a stack of hate-filled emails and social media posts inspired by a U.S. congressman, as every one of these Governing Board members do, you have to ask yourself, what are my odds that one of these writers is unhinged enough to upgrade to violence?
The bottom line here is, Mast should have known better. He knows all about threatening phone calls.
Stewart, his spokesman, having seen Peterson's video, gave me this statement on Saturday:
"While Congressman Mast and others have disagreed with many of the public policy decisions Ms. Peterson made while she was serving on the board, Congressman Mast absolutely doesn't condone threats against public officials or private citizens, especially considering that Congressman Mast's own children have been threatened by a liberal activist in Martin County."
The story, "Grand jury indicts man on charges he threatened to kidnap, kill Rep. Brian Mast's children," was in Treasure Coast Newspapers (TCPalm) on Aug. 17, 2018 after the threatener was indicted by a federal grand jury. FBI agents had arrested Laurence Key 68, in Stuart two months earlier.
According to the newspaper report, Key said on the phone to an intern at Mast's Washington office, "I'm going to find the congressman's kids and kill them. If you are going to separate kids at the border, I'm going to kill his kids. Don't try to find me because you won't."
Oh, yes, and look what's happened in Congress since the ballfield shooting:
In 2016, there were 902 threatening incidents and communications against members of Congress. By 2017, the reports had more than doubled to about 2,000, according to the House Sergeant at Arms office.
In response, the House Administration Committee allocated $25,000 to each member in 2017 and again in 2018 to beef up their personal and office security, prompting members to hire bodyguards for events and equip offices with panic buttons and shatter-resistant glass.
Congress is looking out for Mast's protection, as it should in this world of crazies.
But so should Mast and the governor look out for the District's departing board members. Which they can do by stop demonizing them and stop trashing their service to the State of Florida.
Frankly, I think they owe every board member a public apology, but I won't hold my breath.
Reach Nancy Smith at email@example.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith


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Germany's JE Design, those wicked Leingarteners, have finally put a bow on their tuned Audi 4.2-liter V8. And they've done it in context of the Q7 SUV, which they've bulked up with a body kit, 22-inch wheels and suspension kit. A supercharger provides the boost to 500 horsepower (from 350) and 443 lb-ft of torque, along with a water-fed intercooler, sport exhaust up to the header and computer tweaks. The result is zero to 62 mph in 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 169 mph. If there's a footballer or oil scion on your list, consider this one first. [via World Car Fans]
Press Release:
It has been nearly a year since JE Design released the Audi Q7 Widebody featuring a power boost for the 3.0 V6 TDI engine from 171 kW/233 bhp and 500 Nm to 210 kW/285 bhp and 550 Nm. Now the Volkswagen, Audi and Seat tuning specialists have boosted the 4.2-litre V8.
The regular Audi Q7 4.2-litre packs 350 bhp/440 Nm with a top speed of 151mph(243km/h), and a 0-62mph of 7.4. With the help of JE Design, this power is boosted to no less than 500 supercharged horses and 600Nm of torque, top speed rises to an impressive 169mph(271km/h) with 0-62mph achievable in just 5.6 seconds.
The supercharger conversion includes a water-cooled intercooler, an exhaust system from the manifold, special forged pistons and modified engine management. JE DESIGN also takes care to ensure that the Q7 still complies with the emissions regulations.
Featuring the Powerful wide body styling kit, the Audi Q7 Widebody is rounded off with an electonically lowered suspension and JE Design rims.
* Powerful wide body styling kit
* Performance upgrade to 368 kW / 500 bhp und 600 Nm
* 22-inch wheels and electronically lowered suspension
True to the motto of "everything or nothing", the car styling specialist from Leingarten,Germany, customizes the Q7 to create an impressive car. In addition to the muscular wide body kit, which makes this Audi look even more powerful, JE DESIGN is also offering a performance enhancement, new rims and an electronically lowered suspension.
Brute supercharger power!
2.3 tons of unladen weight are not that easy to gloss over. With that much weight, every scrap of power and every Newton meter of torque counts. The basic specifications of the 4.2-litre Audi Q7 do indeed make quite an impressive read. After all, 257 kW / 350 bhp, 440 Nm at 3500 rpm, a top speed of 151 mph and 7.4 seconds for the sprint from 0 - 62 mph are not exactly chicken feed. But JE DESIGN turns the Q7 into real high-flyer, with no less than 500 supercharged horses (368 kW) rearing and bucking under the hood. 600 Nm of torque, available at 3,850 rpm, propel this heavyweight from a standstill to 62 mph in just 5.6 seconds. And it does not stop till it reaches an impressive 169 mph. The supercharger conversion includes a water-cooled intercooler, an exhaust system from the manifold, special forged pistons and modified engine management. JE DESIGN also takes care to ensure that the Q7 still complies with the emissions regulations. The conversion also includes TÜV certification.
Muscular styling kit
JE DESIGN lends the Audi Q7 greater width and an awesome-looking stance. The styling kit includes headlamp lens caps, which lend the car a more aggressive look. Fitting the impressive front spoiler helps to reduce lift. It can also lend the Q7 greater prestige when overtaking. Also, it is possible to equip this Audi SUV with a set of JE DESIGN twin headlamps, which look far better than the original headlamp design. JE DESIGN enhances the appearance of the rear end by equipping the Q7 with a new tailgate skirt attachment, which incorporates diamond-shaped openings on the right and left. In each of these openings belongs a JE DESIGN dual tailpipe from made permanently shiny, corrosion-resistant stainless steel.
The upper part of the rear end is also spectacular, which JE DESIGN adorns with a wing spoiler tail fin including a C-pillar trim. A feature that is sure to get heads turning. The same also applies to the JE DESIGN fender flare kit "WIDE BODY", for which matching door panels are also available. In front of the rear fenders, air inlets lend the car a sportier look, without appearing "plump". JE DESIGN is offering the muscular look as a complete body-styling kit which is cheaper than buying all single parts piece by piece.
Which rim?
Also when it comes to rims, JE DESIGN does not miss a thing. First off, the tuning specialist offers its complete set of wheels JE DESIGN "361" in the dimension 10 x 22 ET 20 (front) and ET 10 (rear) fitted with size 295 / 30 R 22 Y tires. The rims are also sold separately and are specially adapted to the wide body kit. Secondly, JE DESIGN offers a complete set of wheels AZEV "R-Wheel" in the dimension 10 x 22 ET 50 with size 295 / 30 R 22 Y tires. These rims are also sold separately . For rims with a wheel offset of 50, JE DESIGN recommends using its aluminum track extensions, which add an extra 60 mm width on the front axle and as much as 80 mm on the rear axle.
The fine figure of the JE DESIGN Q7 is rounded off by an electronically lowered suspension, which the car customizer from Leingarten offers for cars with air suspension and which finally helps the JE DESIGN Q7 to morph into a true racing SUV.


text:
Michael Jackson Weekend at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Performance by Angie Stone, meet the curator talks, film screenings and more will pay tribute to two-time Inductee Jackson
CLEVELAND (June 3, 2010) – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will honor the life, music and legacy of two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Michael Jackson beginning on Friday, June 25-Sunday, June 27. In addition to the Rock Hall's collection of Michael Jackson artifacts on display, fans will enjoy live music, highlights from Michael
Jackson and the Jackson 5's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, dance demonstrations and more. This weekend will culminate with the annual Rock and Soul festival on Sunday, June 27, featuring a live performance by singer Angie Stone and other artists in tribute to Jackson. The Rock and Soul festival is presented by Ohio Natural Gas and sponsored by KeyBank and Kia Motors. The Rock Hall will host a canned food collection in coordination with the Cleveland Foodbank.
Please note that the schedule below is a preliminary schedule, more details will be posted at rockhall.com/event/michael-jackson-weekend in the coming weeks.
Friday, June 25
· Special Screenings
10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Rare induction ceremony footage of the Jackson 5's induction in 1997 and Michael Jackson's induction as a solo artist in 2001 in the Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall's Theater 3
· Meet the Curator Gallery Talk
11 a.m. and 1 p.m. – In the Legends of Rock Michael Jackson exhibit in Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall
Saturday, June 26
· Special Screenings
10 a.m. – 9 p.m. – Rare induction ceremony footage of the Jackson 5's induction in 1997 and Michael Jackson's induction as a solo artist in 2001 in the Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall's Theater 3
· Dance Demonstrations
10 a.m.: Interactive DJ set playing on Michael Jackson music with dance demonstrations, contests and prize giveaways on the Main Stage.
· Meet the Curator Gallery Talk
11 a.m. – In the Legends of Rock Michael Jackson exhibit in Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall
· Michael Jackson dance party presented by WZAK
6 – 9 p.m. – Guest DJ from WZAK will play Michael Jackson classics on the Rock Hall's Outdoor Plaza (in case of inclement weather, the party will be moved into the Main Lobby). Food and beverages will be available for purchase at this event.
Sunday, June 27
· Special Screenings
10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Rare induction ceremony footage of the Jackson 5's induction in 1997 and Michael Jackson's induction as a solo artist in 2001 in the Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall's Theater 3
· Rock and Soul Festival
Noon – 4 p.m. – The Rock Hall's annual Rock and Soul festival will pay tribute to Michael Jackson with a special live performance from singer Angie Stone and local talent to be announced. For information on a chance to audition for a chance to perform at the festival, visit rockhall.com/get-involved/interact/promotions/promotions. This FREE event is on the Museum's main stage; however Museum admission is necessary to tour the exhibits.
***The first 2,000 ticketed visitors on June 26 and June 27 will receive a special Michael Jackson Weekend commemorative souvenir. Other giveaways throughout the weekend include an XM OnyX Satellite Radio with Vehicle Kit and Home Kit, plus a Free 3-Month Subscription to "XM Everything Plus The Best of SIRIUS" so you can listen to SIRIUS|XM at home or in your car.
Stay all weekend and save — Two-day passes and full-year Membership available
Rock Hall Membership includes free admission all year long and start at $50 for an individual. Join at the Admission desk or in advance at rockhall.com/membership.
Save big by making your travel plans NOW to attend the Rock Hall's Michael Jackson Weekend! Purchase a two-day pass for Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th for just $25—a savings of $8! (Regular two-day passes are $33) Tickets are ONLY valid Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th 2010. Visit ticketmaster.com/promo/wur498 to order online or call 800-745-3000 and mention code MOONWALK. Not valid for special events. Subject to availability. Offer may be revoked or changed at any time. Cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts. Offer not valid at Rock Hall Box Office. Offer expires Monday, June 14th 2010.
About Angie Stone
For three decades, vocalist Angie Stone has been surprising audiences, critics, peers and the music industry itself. Born and raised in the Southern gospel tradition – while at the same time absorbing the gritty and impassioned anthems generated by soul icons of the 1960s – Stone has since mapped a life-long journey that encompasses rap, neo-soul, hip-hop, R&B, jazz and more. Along the way, attempts to pin her down according to this category or that movement have been challenging if not impossible. With each new recording, with each next step in her career, she has consistently hit the world with something it didn't see coming.
Her fifth studio album, Unexpected (second for legendary soul music label Stax), a suggestion of surprises waiting within the album's twelve tracks, comes with a double meaning. Without question, it's a diverse mix of styles and colors, almost always upbeat and forward thinking. The spiritual connection while recording Unexpected was nothing new for Stone, whose earliest exposure to the power of music was via her late father's gospel quartet in her native South Carolina. Along with the sounds of the church, Stone gravitated to the music of Aretha Franklin, Ann Peebles, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and other prominent soul and R&B figures of the 1960s and early '70s.
Her 2007 Stax debut, The Art of Love & War, was her first album to top the Billboard R&B/hip-hop chart. But despite that prior success, she pressed forward in her ongoing search for new avenues to explore and new worlds to conquer. Unexpected represents a giant step forward for Stone, a stretch beyond whatever limits – real or perceived – she might have been facing when the project began. From the get-go, the quick and funky title track warns the listener to "Prepare yourself for just about anything."
About the Michael Jackson Exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has an exhibition dedicated to Michael Jackson in the Legends of Rock exhibit in the Ahmet M. Ertegün Main Exhibit Hall. All artifacts are collection of Michael Jackson unless otherwise noted and include the following collection pieces:
Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5 Outfit, 1971
Design by Bill Whitten
collection of universal music group
Michael Jackson Grammy Award, 1984
Michael Jackson won eight Grammys for Thriller at the 1984 ceremony. He set the record for most Grammys for a single album, a record that has been matched only once, by Santana's 1999 album, Supernatural.
Michael Jackson Jacket, 1984
Design by Bill Whitten
Michael Jackson wore this jacket to the 1984 Grammy ceremony.
Michael Jackson Mask, 1992
Design by Rick Baker
Michael Jackson wore this mask during performances of "Thriller" on the Dangerous world tour, 1992-1993, and the HIStory world tour, 1996-1997.
Michael Jackson Jacket, 1983
Design by Deborah Nadoolman
Michael Jackson wore this jacket in the video for "Thriller." Directed by John Landis, the 14-minute video first aired on MTV on December 2, 1983, and set higher standards for music-video production with its intricate storyline and extensive use of makeup and costumes.
Michael Jackson Glove, 1992
Original design by Michael Jackson and Bill Whitten
Created by Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins
Michael Jackson wore this glove during performances of "Billie Jean" on his Dangerous tour.
Michael Jackson Outfit, 1992
Design by Michael Jackson, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush
Michael Jackson wore this outfit during performances of "Billie Jean" on his Dangerous tour, 1992 – 1993.
Michael Jackson Outfit, 1987
Michael Jackson wore this outfit in his video for "Bad," directed by Martin Scorsese. The song reached Number One.
About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.
The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays (and Saturdays through Labor Day), the Museum is open until 9 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for adults, $18 for adult residents of Greater Cleveland, $17 for seniors (65+), $13 for youth (9-12), children under 8 and Museum Members are always free, for information or to join the membership program call 216. 515.8425. For general inquiries, please call 216.781.ROCK(7625) or visit www.rockhall.com. The Museum is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.


text:
"Come here, cheap dresses!" Yiga Yokana yells to potential customers from his stall at Kampala's Owino market, one of Africa's largest outdoor shopping hubs.
The Christmas and New Year period have been a busy time for Mr. Yokana, who normally earns around 1 million Ugandan shillings ($372 dollars) a month selling used clothing imported from the United States and Europe – known locally as mivumba.
"The people were buying so [many] clothes over the festive season," he says in Luganda, a local language.
Besides dresses, the bargains Yokana is hawking today include a pale blue and white flower-patterned blouse from the British brand Double Two.
His price? $0.75. A green tag from an Oxfam charity shop – Britain's equivalent of a secondhand store – with £3.99 ($6.43) written on it is still attached.
Uganda, along with nations across Africa, rely on this used apparel – exported in bulk from Western thrift store surpluses – as a major source for local clothing markets. In fact, about a third of the clothing donated to charity worldwide eventually makes its way to sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Guardian newspaper.
But with textile recycling mushrooming into a billion dollar industry, many local clothing manufacturers complain they are unable to compete with the flood of cheap Western hand-me-downs. And secondhand hawkers themselves face another rising challenge – Chinese imports.
A transcontinental journey
The blouse Yokana was selling in Kampala likely began its journey to East Africa at Wastesaver, Oxfam Great Britain's clothing plant. There, 80 tons of donated clothes are sorted weekly into about a hundred different grades depending on garment type, condition, style, and material. The goal, Oxfam officials say, is to "maximize revenue" for the charity while minimizing landfill.
Many items that cannot be sold domestically are sent to overseas wholesalers.
According to the US International Trade Commission (ITC), about 1,589 tons of used clothing worth $1.3 million was shipped from the US to Uganda between January and October 2012.
Houston-based American Textile Recycling Service (ATRS) is one of the suppliers for these bulk exports of used clothing. ATRS purchases donations gathered by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and other organizations through neighborhood recycling bins.
"Secondhand clothing buyers in East Africa have a strong appetite for American fashion brands, particularly denim and active wear," says Debra Stevenson-Peganyee, the chief marketing officer for ATRS.
Local industry struggles to keep up
Ugandan fashion designer Stella Atal says she loves trawling for inspiration in the stalls at Owino and the dusty roadside metal containers where these secondhand clothes are also sold.
"The styles are really unique," says Ms. Atal, who makes skirts and dresses using old ties in her studio in Kamwokya, Kampala. "Anything latest you find downtown."
Although Atal's designs, which retail for upwards of $70 each, don't compete directly with the secondhand clothing markets, she says she couldn't make clothes on such a large scale even if she wanted to.
"We cannot afford industrial machines because the electricity [cost] is so high," she says.
And she is not the only local clothing maker who struggles with the idea of expansion.
Grace Kirabo manages the Textile Development Agency (TEXDA) in Kampala, which weaves clothes using handlooms. Their biggest challenge is simply getting cotton, she says, as the yarn produced by Ugandan factories isn't suitable.
"The only alternative is to import it from Kenya," says Ms. Kirabo. "This importation of yarn makes the TEXDA products expensive for the average Ugandan."
The rise of a new competitor
But secondhand clothes are not the Ugandan textile industry's only obstacle. In fact, Atal says she'd rather the government deal with Chinese clothing imports before used clothes from the West, and Kirabo calls the Chinese her "biggest competitor and copycat."
Ms. Stevenson-Peganyee, of ATRS, who has visited East Africa, says that secondhand sellers there tell her that their trade may also be threatened by low-quality imports from China, which often sell for less than the West's used clothing. "Stall vendors tell us the Chinese products are cheaper but locals know they don't last," she says.
Twelve African countries are among 31 worldwide that have banned imports of secondhand clothing, the Guardian reports.
Uganda is not one of them, although the country's 2009 National Textiles Policy proposes phasing out secondhand clothes by 2015. But last week Joshua Mutambi, a senior official with the Department of Industry and Technology, acknowledged that the government realized for this plan to work it must try "to encourage investment" in the local sector first.
"It's not easy for a country like ours to ban secondhand clothes," without first developing local production that can meet the needs of those who can only afford the secondhand import price-point, he concedes.


text:
This site is the archived OWASP Foundation Wiki and is no longer accepting Account Requests.
To view the new OWASP Foundation website, please visit https://owasp.org
Category:OWASP OpenSign Server Project
|Project Name
|OWASP OpenSign Server Project (Online code signing and integrity verification service for open source community)
|Short Project Description
|The purpose of this project would be to build and host a feature-rich server and suite of client utilities with adequate secure hardware to ensure the integrity of code modules. - The service will allow all .NET and Java code modules to be uploaded to the service to be signed by a community code signing key. Each community (such as OWASP) will have a key and corresponding Software Publishing Certificate (SPC) which can optionally be embedded in the code module itself. Generally, however, the service is intended for developers and the wider community of concerned users that want to ensure that their downloaded portable executable is exactly what it purports to be. The root key will be stored in an HSM and will sign an SPC from a locally generated key-pair of which the public key will be sent to the service. Key pair generation can be made and submitted using standard .NET delay signing and jar signing tools distributed with the SDKs, however, the project remit will ensure that a client-side graphical tool for each environment is available to generate the keys pairs needed to sign code with and allow submission to the code signing service for signing and generation of SPC by the server's proprietary CA. Anonymity will not be allowed so the project will include a database of users which will be the basis of directory for SPCs. There will be a web and web services interface using an online login and WS-Security respectively which will allow the code to be uploaded on demand and signed by a code signing key with the option to embed the certificate or not.
|Key Project Information
|Project Leader
Phil Potisk
Richard Conway
|Project Contributors
(if any)
|Mailing list
Subscribe here
Use here
Project Type
OWASP SoC 08
|Release Status
|Main Links
|Related Projects
OpenSign Project - code.google.com
(if any, add link here)
- 1 User Documentation
- 2 Releases
- 2.1 OpenSign Server
- 2.2 OpenSign Client
- 3 Roadmap
User Documentation
This section describes the installation and usage of the server and client binaries, which can be downloaded above. As all applications are written in pure Java the following instructions are not bound to a specific platform.
- Java runtime 1.6
- Optional: MySql DB
On default nothing besides the unpacking of the binary-packages has to be done for installing server and client application. If one wants to enable specific settings it is recommended to follow the instructions of the readme.txt files, which are located in the root of each directory after unpacking. Note that the server will run in memory on default, which is only good for testing as the data is lost by shutting down the server. However, this behaviour can easily be changed by the use of a MySql DB (please refer to: readme.txt).
Server Usage
Open a console and brows into folder OpenSignServer-1.0. Following command will start the server application:
java -jar jar\OpenSignServer-1.0.jar
The web-based user interface is accessible at: http://localhost:8080/
Following links are accessible:
Home: Initial page
Certificate Authoriy: This link allows, on the one hand, unauthenticated users to brows the X.509 hierarchy, starting from the root node down to the leaves, and on the other hand authenticated users to issue certification requests. Once issued certificates are easily accessible and may be downloaded in PEM or binary format.
Registration: Form for registration of new users with the OpenSign server. New users have to enter some personal details and have to select an issuer (super-node), within the X.509 hierarchy, which needs to approve the registration request before the user will be able to use this service.
MySettings: This link is only accessible if a user is authenticated. Every user may maintain his profile her. Furthermore, if a user is dedicated as issuer, a list of all sub-nodes is shown. As the issuer is responsible for maintaining the sub-nodes, it is his choice to decide whether to approve a particular user to use the certification service or not. Once a user is approved, the issuer may also decide if he can act as an issuer himself or not.
Login: User Login
Client Usage
Open a console and brows into folder OSSJClient-1.0. To start the client enter following command:
java -jar OSSJClient-[version].jar [command]
Executing the client application without the command-parameter, will print a list of all possible commands to the console. All commands take mandatory and optional parameter, which are also depicted by calling a command without any parameter.
The possible commands are:
This command takes a certificate file and verifies it. Additionally, the application downloads and verifies the certificate chain. A detailed transcript is printed to the console.
This command retrieves a certificate from a OpenSign resource (e.g. root/owasp/user1) and either prints it to the console or stores it in a file. Furthermore, the format of the certificate may be chosen (PEM or binary).
This command processes a certificate sign request. The request is sent to the server, which takes the login credentials and checks if the user is approved to have a OpenSign certificate and if so a certificate is generated and sent to the user in return.
Steps for setting up the X.509 Hierarchy
1. Update the root-account
By starting the server the first time the root account is created and a private key plus corresponding certificate are generated. This account serves as admin-account for the server and as root-node of the X.509 Hierarchy. It is necessary to reset the password, which can by done by loging in using the username: "root" and the password "123" and by navigating to "MySettings".
2. Creating an own issuer-account
As it is recommended not to use the root-account for all the issuing procedures it is necessary to set up an account which is a sub-node from the root-account. This account is further on used to maintain a set of end-users. In the first step the person, responsible for the issuer-account, has to register. In the second step, the owner of the root-account will need to log in and approve this request and grant this user issuer privileges. Once these settings are stored, the OpenSign server will generate a certificate for the issuer, which is publicly available on the issuers profile.
Registering the issuer-account:
Enabling the issuer-account by the root user:
3. End user registration
Users may register and select the previously generated issuer-account ("owasp") as their desired issuer. However, before they can use their account the issuer has to approve them first.
4. Certificate issuance
It is possible to obtain a certificate by issuing a certificate sign request by use of the web-interface or by use of the client application. The form online can be found at: localhost:8080/csr. The processing of a certificate sign request with the client application is described above (command: csr).
Code Signing and Verification
This section describes the steps required for code-signing and verification supported by the OpenSign infrastructure.
1. Local generation of the private code-signing key. The key should be stored in a password-protected keystore.
2. Generation of a certificate sign request (CSR)
3. Processing the CSR by making use of the web-interface or the client application. Either way a certificate is returned on success. Furthermore, a copy of the certificate is stored within the server-infrastructure.
4.Signing the code module by making use of the previously generated key.
1. Downloading the certificate by browsing the OpenSign X.509 hierarchy online or by use of the client application, which is the recommended option.
2. Importing the certificate as a trusted certificate in the local key-store.
3. Verifying the signed code module by use of the public key embedded in the downloaded certificate.
OpenSign Server
Version 1.0 (26st of October 08)
- This version is working with the Java client version 1.0
- An "About" button has been added
Version 0.5 (14th of October 08)
- Users must now be enabled to use the certification service by the the issuer above in order to build up chains of trust
- The settins page for issuers got extended for maintaining the subordinate entities
- Several server pages got enhanced in terms of functionality and design
Version 0.4 (28th of August 08)
- Certificate chains are now set up properly. This includes the right values in the certificate as well as appropriate key-handling of the key store. Dummy code got removed broadly.
- This version supports the use of OSSJClient version 0.9 for commands "getcert", "verifycert" and "csr"
Version 0.3 (21st of July 08)
- Easy extendable persistence layer, which is set up using Hibernate – Annotations.
- Possibility to run server in memory, whereas data is lost when the server process is terminated, or to run the server on top of a MYSQL database.
- Logging mechanism got enhanced which involves means to pipe the log information from OpenSign server as well as from Jetty and Hibernate to a log file.
- Same functionality as version 0.2 from a user point of view.
Version 0.2 (14th of July 08)
- Demo-wise set up of an X.509 hierarchy intending to provide code siging certificates. This involves one root issuer, an unlimited number of sub-issuers and end-users.
- End-users may issue a certificate sign request and obtain the certificate in return.
- Demo accounts of to end-users ("user1", "user2") and two issuers ("root", "user3") each with password "123".
- Possibility for registering new end-users and issuers.
- Session handling - login, logout of users
- Storage of issuer key-pair's and all certificates in server side key store.
- Public access of all certificates in the system, with support of binary and PEM format. Eg.: Certificate from root issuer may be retrieved
- - in binary format (default): http://localhost:8080/root?property=cert
- - or PEM formatted: http://localhost:8080/root?property=cert&responseFormat=PEM
- User/resource profile, which is accessible at the resource path without further parameters, eg.: http://localhost:8080/root/user1
Version 0.1 (1st of July 08)
- Access of root certificate via HTTP-GET http://localhost:8080/ca
- Certificate issuing by sending a Certificate Signing Request (PEM-formatted PKCS#10 structure) via HTTP-POST to http://localhost:8080/ca/csr
OpenSign Client
Version 1.0 (26st of October 08)
- This version has been modified to work with the server version 1.0
Version 0.9 (28th of August 08)
- Commands supported: "getcert", "verifycert" and "csr"
OpenSign Server
The goal of the Opensign Server (OSS) is to serve as trusted third party in order to prove the integrity and authenticity of binaries. To meet this goal following roadmap will be implemented:
Version 0.1
This version is a proof of concept implementation, which shows that processing a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and issuing a X.509 certificate is working in an efficient way. Furthermore the generation and distributing of the root certificate is also supported.
Version 0.2
The server is enhanced by the possibility to support certificate issuing for multiple users. In this case users must be authenticated before generating a certificate.
Version 0.3
User management is done through the persistence layer, where Hibernate is the technology of choice. It is now possible to dynamically add users through the web-interface.
Version 0.4
The role of the Review is introduced. Users must be associated with a Reviewer before being able to generate a certificate.
Version 0.5
The web-interface is enriched with dynamically generated sites which allows the maintenance of the system depending of the user role.
Version 1.0
Well tested and documented PKI for code signing which is running online at: www.???.com. This is the goal for Summer of Code 2008!
Version 2.0
The second version of the OSS allows the server side code signing. Code modules are uploaded, virus scanned and signed by a corresponding key. No client side key management is required. Furthermore, this service has a downloading area where anybody can download the signed modules.
OpenSign Client
Java Client
Version 1.0
Command line application, extending Java keytools functionality to make use of the OpenSign infrastructure to sign and verify Jar archives.
=Future development=
This category currently contains no pages or media.


text:
Private Schools in Florida are regulated by the Florida
Department of Education. There are currently
1,668 Private Schools located in Florida, with a total enrollment of 396,790 students,
according to the Private School Universe Survey conducted by the U.S.
Department of Education.
affiliate program
Under Florida Statute 1002.42, Private Schools in Florida must register with the Florida Department of Education, complete an annual survey each year, and keep attendance records. Every owner of a Private School in Florida must submit fingerprints to the appropriate law enforcement agency for a criminal background check.
If a Private School in Florida is no longer operating, it is required to transfer all attendance records to the school district where it is located.
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