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Chertoff, who said over the summer that he had a "gut feeling" that the country faced a heightened risk of attack, said that assessment still stands.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States faces a heightened threat of terrorist attack "for the foreseeable future" but any attack will likely be homegrown, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Wednesday.
Chertoff, who said over the summer that he had a "gut feeling" that the country faced a heightened risk of attack, said that assessment still stands.
"It's not something that's going to evaporate in a week or two. I think it's something that's going to be with us for a while," he told a small group of reporters in a phone call.
Chertoff, who is in charge of ensuring that the country does not face another attack like that of September 11, 2001, said the heightened risk was not based on any intelligence predicting a specific, imminent attack.!ADVERTISEMENT!
"I said we were beginning to enter into a period like this. And that didn't mean it was going to be a week, it meant it's for the foreseeable future," he said.
"There's probably a greater risk in terms of likelihood from a homegrown attack than from a massive international attack," he added.
Chertoff described that sort of "homegrown" attack as a single person or small group of people living in the United States who were "recruited" on the Internet and had pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
"I think the consequence of that kind of attack is likely to be less cataclysmic than the kind of attack that would be launched from outside like the London plot of 2006 against the airlines," he said, referring to a thwarted plot to bomb transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives.
(Reporting by Deborah Charles; Editing by Eric Beech)

subset: commoncrawl


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The LJTC also voted to conceptually approve five points proposed by the La Jolla Coastal Access and Parking Board.
That proposal calls for continuing the employee discounted parking-pass program, installing a smartphone-based system to track parking-space vacancies, an unsubsidized central valet parking system, funding startup of a self-sustaining Village shuttle and buying a high-tech parking monitoring system for San Diego police to enforce existing time limits.
"We're hoping the City Council and Coastal Commission can come back to us and give their opinion on what's being proposed," said coastal access and parking board chairman Dan Allen.
"All these things are very expensive and no money will be spent until we have the concept," said LJTC president Cindy Greatrex.
Zach Plopper, coastal and marine director for Wildcoast, an international nonprofit conserving coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife, told the trustees San Diego now has several MPAs in effect up and down the coast. These MPAs, he said, totally preclude or severely limit the take of fish and other marine wildlife within their boundaries.
La Jolla has two adjoining MPAs at the South La Jolla State Marine Conservation Area and South La Jolla State Reserve, which togther cover 7.51 square miles. They are two of 36 new marine protected areas adopted by the California Department of Fish and Game Commission as part of the Marine Life Protection Act. The new MPAs took effect in 2012.
"The MPAs are designed to allow fisheries to recover, as well as the general ecosystem that has been degraded," Plopper said.
He added that some MPAs "allow no taking of living or nonliving resources" within their boundaries.
Plopper handed out and discussed fishing guides that are provided by Wildcoast concerning San Diego's marine protected areas. The guides define the three types of marine protected areas in San Diego and provide details for what is, and what is not allowed in terms of fishing within the boundaries.
"We're getting word out to the public that we're enforcing these regulations and posting signage," said Plopper.
Ongoing data collection from MPAs like La Jolla's are "important to planning and managing our coastline," he said.
Anne Bessinger of San Diego-based Sullivan Solar Power told LJTC about a chance homeowners and businesses have to participate in a La Jolla solar program through April 15.
Property owners who sign up with Sullivan Solar Power will receive 20 cents per watt, up to $1,500 cash back for going solar.
"Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy available to us," said Bessinger, adding that
87 percent of solar power used nationally comes from California.
"San Diego is the No. 1 solar city in the No. 1 solar state," said Bessinger.
Even with this fact in mind, Bessinger said less than 1 percent of the state's energy comes from renewable sources like solar.
"There's lots of room to grow," said Bessinger, who pointed out converting from electrical to solar not only saves money in the long run but also is a "clean and renewable" energy source that increases property values.
"Solar homes sell faster than non-solar homes," Bessinger said.
Going solar to power one's home also saves consumers money by "locking in" electricity rates, resultingly affording protection from rate increases in the future, she pointed out.
"Electricity has been increasing yearly by an average of 6 percent," said Bessinger.
La Jolla's Solar Incentive Program is exlusive to La Jolla property owners and is limited to 100 participants, or 500,000 watts, whichever comes first.
Bessinger also offered the Town Council its own solar incentive.
"For every referral who signs a solar contract with Sullivan Solar Power that comes from the La Jolla Town Council Foundation, Sullivan will donate $500 to the Town Council for community projects in La Jolla," Bessinger said.


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The U.S. Fifth Fleet opened a significant new front in the Pacific war with the invasion of the Japanese-occupied Gilbert Islands in eastern Micronesia on 20 November 1943. Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance, commanding the fleet from the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), launched Operation Galvanic with simultaneous amphibious assaults against Makin and Tarawa, two coral atolls lying 93 miles apart, slightly north of the equator. Tarawa, gateway to the fortified bomber strip on Betio Island, was the strategic prize. With Betio in U.S. hands, the airfield would bring the Marshall Islands, 550 miles to the west, within range of heavy bombers and reconnaissance aircraft of the Seventh Air Force.
The capture of Betio and Tarawa Atoll was the mission of the Southern Attack Force, commanded by Rear Admiral Harry Hill, and its landing force, the 25,000-man 2d Marine Division, commanded by Major General Julian Smith. Both men knew they faced a well-led, well-armed force of several thousand rikusentai, Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces. They also knew they would have to breech Betio's coral reef at low tide.
The proximity of the Japanese Combined Fleet in the eastern Carolines was a primary concern. Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, ordered Spruance to "get the hell in and get the hell out" to avoid getting trapped in shallow waters by an enemy counterattack. Timing was also critical. Nimitz grimly reminded Spruance that Tarawa represented a tough but brief stepping-stone for the pending campaign against the more strategically valuable Marshall Islands, slated to begin eight weeks later. The operational tempo was so taut that Spruance could not postpone D-day in the Gilberts even a week in order to gain a more favorable tidal range.
The hurried Betio landing would thus become a storming operation—a frontal assault against a heavily defended island in broad daylight during a dangerously low tide. Success would depend on surprise, simplicity, fire-support coordination, and speed of execution—difficult objectives to attain by even the most experienced amphibious forces. Very few ship captains or troop leaders in the Southern Attack Force had any previous experience in conducting an assault from the sea against a strongly defended beach. Tarawa would provide a bloody proving ground.
Artful surprise and sheer grit enabled the initial U.S. assault waves to gain a foothold on Betio's northwest shore on D-day morning, but the advantage proved temporary. Intense Japanese fire and a freakishly persistent low tide prevented the build-up of firepower and reinforcements ashore. Casualties mounted, communications failed, and chaos ruled the beachheads. The few fragmentary radio reports to reach Hill's flagship described stark conditions ashore. "Have landed," one message reported. "Unusually heavy opposition. Casualties 70 percent. Can't hold." Another message came from the epicenter of the fighting on Red Beach Two: "We need help; situation bad." Hill and Smith sent an urgent message to their common superior, Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, the Fifth Amphibious Force commander at sea near Makin, requesting commitment of the force reserve, the 6th Marines, to Betio, adding, "Issue in doubt."1
The chilling words resonated throughout the chain of command. Desperate U.S. defenders of Wake Island, facing the Japanese landing on 23 December 1941, had signaled "Issue in doubt" in their final radio message. Alarmed, Turner authorized the return of the 6th Marines to the control of the 2d Marine Division.
There was more at stake for the Pacific Fleet in Operation Galvanic than possession of the Betio bomber strip. Defeat at Tarawa would indefinitely derail the promising new U.S. drive through the Central Pacific. Failure of the landing force to seize Betio Island would also discredit the unproven operational doctrine of forcible assault against strongly defended islands.
Tarawa in the Pacific War
The battle for Tarawa represented a crucial crossroads in the Pacific war. Twenty-three months had elapsed since Pearl Harbor; 17 since Midway. Although the Allies had seized the offensive from the Japanese in January 1943 with difficult victories at Guadalcanal in the Solomons and Buna, New Guinea, they experienced frustrating delays in generating their own offensive momentum. The Allies recaptured the Aleutians in 1943, but their subsequent amphibious campaigns bogged down in the thick jungles of New Georgia and Bougainville. The Japanese regional strongpoint at Rabaul, New Britain, continued to be an unassailable thorn in their side.
The senior officers responsible for waging war against Japan in 1943 faced serious limitations. The Allies had agreed from the beginning that the defeat of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany would constitute their primary strategic objective. Although the Combined (U.S. and British) Chiefs of Staff had postponed the long-anticipated cross-Channel assault against Fortress Europe until June 1944, preparations for Operation Overlord still demanded top priority for troops, planes, ships, and landing craft. The Pacific remained a backwater theater, whose few offensive campaigns had been limited in scope and scale.
Admiral Ernest King, representing the U.S. Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), argued for greater offensive pressure against the Japanese by means of a second front through the Central Pacific. An outspoken advocate of sea power, King believed that the Central Pacific represented the royal road to Tokyo and the U.S. Navy should take the lead in such a maritime strategy. Yet King also insisted that the new front could be undertaken without drawing down European-theater assets by using the troops and shipping already available in the Pacific. At the Trident Conference in Washington in May, the Combined Chiefs accepted the U.S. "Strategic Plan for the Defeat of Japan," which included King's proposed Central Pacific drive.2
The new strategy elicited different reactions from the two U.S. theater commanders in the Pacific. Admiral Nimitz, whose realm included enormous oceanic areas dotted with widely scattered small islands, welcomed the concept of his Pacific Fleet attacking west in parallel to General Douglas MacArthur's route through New Guinea and the Philippines. General MacArthur, whose South-West Pacific Area featured narrow seas and large islands, strongly opposed what he perceived to be a wasteful duplication of effort. He argued for a single, concentrated drive to the Philippines under his sole command, fully supported by nearby land-based air and, as needed, by Nimitz's Pacific Fleet. King, however, backed Nimitz, prompting MacArthur's strident warning that the Central Pacific's lack of advance fleet bases and airfields would result in catastrophic defeat-a "reverse Midway."3
Proponents of the Central Pacific drive used the verb "whipsaw" to describe the effect of alternating offensives against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific and the Central Pacific. In time, with MacArthur steadily advancing up the long coast of New Guinea toward the Philippines and Nimitz attacking through the Marshalls, Marianas, and Palaus, the whipsaw effect would prove its value. The alternating sequence of the U.S. landings at Bougainville, Tarawa, Cape Gloucester, and Kwajalein—within a period of exactly three months—proved the wisdom of this strategy.
Edwin Bearss' retelling of events in
the Naval Institute's Americans at War Series
The Initial Target
Nimitz and Spruance believed that the Marshall Islands were too far away and too unknown to be the first objective of the Central Pacific campaign. Commanders of the 1942-43 landings at Guadalcanal, North Africa, and the Aleutians each had reported the critical need for advance aerial photography of the beaches and inland objectives. Taking advance aerial photos of remote objectives seemed a common-sense preliminary measure, but here, too, the vast Pacific posed vexing problems.
In 1943, existing aerial cameras were still too bulky to fit in carrier-based fighters. In fact, only a bomber the size of the four-engine B-24 Liberator had the capacity and range to collect aerial photographs in the Central Pacific. Seventh Air Force Liberators based in the Ellice Islands could reach the Gilberts, but not the Marshalls. Betio's bomber strip thus became the imperative objective. On 20 July the Joint Chiefs agreed to Nimitz's recommendation that the Gilberts supplant the Marshalls for the opening campaign.
The Joint Chiefs had other pressing concerns about the Central Pacific. Only a few islands in the vast region seemed suitable for airfields or fleet anchorages, and the Japanese, anticipating that any Allied advance would target such objectives, were busily fortifying them. In addition, the coral reefs surrounding most of these strategic islands further complicated amphibious campaign planning. There would be no "cake-walk" landings like those at Kiska or the Russells that had occurred earlier in the year.
Learning from early intelligence reports that the Japanese were fortifying Tarawa Atoll, the Joint Planning Staff advised the Joint Chiefs to undertake the Gilberts campaign with "battle-tested shock troops with amphibious training."4 Three U.S. divisions in the Pacific met these qualifications in late 1943: the 7th Army Division, veterans of the Aleutians and already earmarked for the Marshalls; and the 1st and 2d Marine Divisions, veterans of Guadalcanal, both currently under General MacArthur's command. With MacArthur preparing for a major amphibious assault of his own against New Britain barely a month after D-day at Tarawa, the JCS compromised, leaving the 1st Marine Division with MacArthur and transferring the 2d Marine Division to Nimitz for the Gilberts assault.
In preparation for the Gilberts, Nimitz chose Spruance to command the newly constituted Fifth Fleet and two countervailing firebrands, Admiral Kelly Turner and Marine Major General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith to command the Fifth Amphibious Force and the expeditionary troops of the V Amphibious Corps, respectively.
Lean and Fat Years in the Pacific
The United States fought two wars in the Pacific, a consequence of the strategic priority accorded to the defeat of Germany combined with America's material unpreparedness to wage a two-ocean war in 1941. The first half of the Pacific war featured bare-boned resources, limited offensives, and hit-and-run raids, all conducted under the threat of the Japanese Combined Fleet. The second phase, beginning in late November 1943, finally reflected America's attainment of full wartime production, a tardy but awesome industrial transformation. One herald of this infusion of resources occurred with the arrival of the first Essex-class fleet carriers at Pearl Harbor.
Aircraft carriers were invaluable in the Pacific war. While vulnerable to land-based air attacks from nearby enemy airfields in the constricted waters of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, the carriers proved ideal for the vast expanses of the Pacific. Nimitz fought the first two years with no more than four carriers—sometimes as few as two—but in the war's second phase, the Pacific Fleet would include more than 100 flattops, many of them the highly capable Essex carriers.
Rear Admiral Charles Pownall would deploy six of these ships as the cutting edge of his Task Force 50 at Tarawa. Escorted by new high-speed battleships and logistic support ships, Pownall's carrier task forces could challenge the Japanese Combined Fleet for command of the seas. More than any other naval factor, the newly created Task Force 50 (soon to become Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58) would make possible Spruance's stirring victories in the Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas.
A Residual Weak Link
Even though U.S. armed forces had adopted the concept of amphibious assault from the sea in the 1930s, Tarawa represented the first critical test of the doctrine against a heavily fortified island. The complex mix of sea-air-land and logistics components inherent in amphibious warfare required four supporting developments in order to become an operational capability: doctrine, organization, material, and training.
The new doctrine, promising but still unproven, was in place. The Navy and Marines also had made significant progress in organizing forces to support the amphibious mission, beginning with the historically thorny issue of unity of command. At Tarawa, Admiral Hill would command all forces until the third evening, when General Julian Smith could assume on-shore command of the 2d Marine Division.
Hill's force was configured for island assault, including task groups of older battleships and small escort carriers that would shell and bomb Betio Island, as well as boat groups and control craft to direct the ship-to-shore assault. In addition to three regimental landing teams, General Smith's division included specialized amphibious units, such as shore fire control teams, combat engineers, an amphibian tractor battalion, a cargo-handling shore party, and a battalion of naval construction troops (Seabees). In retrospect, the task organization for the Southern Attack Force lacked only one significant component: an underwater demolition team, which was not yet available in the Central Pacific.
With all of the progress, material shortfalls nevertheless continued to plague amphibious effectiveness. The Navy-Marine team lacked a suitable amphibious-force command ship in November 1943. The battleship USS Maryland (BB-46), a repaired survivor of Pearl Harbor, would prove unsuitable as a flagship for a division-level amphibious assault of Tarawa. Each thunderous salvo of her 16-inch guns would disable scores of landing-force radio circuits. On D-day, a frustrated Colonel David Shoup, commanding the assault forces ashore, would be forced to resort to the same means of communicating with his division commander as the Athenians used in the Peloponnesian Wars—sending messengers through the surf and out to the fleet. The lack of waterproof radios in the landing craft further compounded the critical communication failures between Marine commanders, both ashore and afloat. Nor could Shoup communicate with the carrier-based fighters strafing overhead.
Faulty communications in an operation so acutely dependent on timing, coordination, and swift adaptability contributed significantly to the "Issue in doubt" report on D-day at Tarawa. Yet there were even more critical material shortfalls in the ship-to-shore assault. The Pacific Fleet still lacked sufficient numbers of specialized amphibious ships and reef-crossing landing craft.
The Joint Chiefs and most senior Navy and Marine commanders involved in planning the Pacific war knew six months in advance that Betio Island's fringing reef and erratic tides would present a formidable barrier to Higgins boats, the most common U.S. landing craft; they required a minimum clearance of four feet of water to traverse a reef. Seeking a practical solution with assets at hand, the Marines proposed to convert their logistic support vehicles—tracked landing vehicles variously known as LVTs, amphibian tractors, or Alligators—into assault vehicles, using their tracks to clamber over reefs, their low centers of gravity to survive high surf, and their sizeable cargo bays to transport 15 to 20 combat-loaded troops to the beach. During April and May 1943, the I Marine Amphibious Corps tested the ability of LVT-1 Alligators to sustain a 10-foot plunging surf and negotiate a coral reef near New Caledonia. The vehicles took a beating but proved their survivability.
It was reassuring to know that the LVTs had sufficient traction and buoyancy to undertake a long ship-to-shore assault over a reef, but the 2d Marine Division only had 75 serviceable Alligators after the Guadalcanal campaign. Julian Smith learned that 100 new LVT-2 Water Buffaloes were sitting on a pier in San Diego and sent an urgent request through the Pacific chain of command that the assault vehicles be shipped to the 2d Marine Division for Tarawa. He was promised half of them, and the critical question became whether or not they would arrive in the Gilberts in time for D-day.
For all its sudden abundance of new carriers and battleships, the Fifth Fleet was still critically short of two new specialized amphibious ships: the tank landing ship (LST), and the revolutionary dock landing ship (LSD).5
LSTs were flat-bottomed, shallow-draft, rough-riding vessels with large bow doors for unloading tanks or LVTs directly onto a beach or atop a reef. LSDs could ballast down at sea, virtually "squatting" in order to flood their well decks in the stern, thereby floating a number of landing boats preloaded with medium tanks and dispatching them toward the beach via a lowered stern gate. The U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Ashland (LSD-1) in early August 1943. Her eventual appearance at Tarawa, laden with 14 M4A2 Sherman tanks, would constitute one of the battle's turning points.
Before the LSD revolutionized the delivery of Sherman tanks, the Marines and Navy had to lift each 34-ton vehicle by a swinging crane from a transport onto a small boat while it was bobbing alongside. The process was so dangerous and time-consuming that the 3d Marine Division, lacking an LSD at Bougainville, chose to leave their valuable Shermans behind rather than expose the naval task force to Japanese air attacks due to inordinate unloading time at anchor near the beachhead.
Critical material delays adversely affected amphibious training and proved nearly fatal to the actual assault. The Southern Attack Force and the 2d Marine Division would pay a price for having neither the opportunity nor the time to fully train their men. Regrettably, the first time the Southern Attack Force would attempt to coordinate the whole mix of naval gunfire, carrier-based air support, and the command and control of an unduly complex 6-hour, ship-to-shore movement would take place under heavy fire on D-day, 20 November 1943.
The Japanese in the Gilberts
Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, Imperial Japanese Navy, took command of the 3d Base Defense Force in the Gilberts on 20 July, exactly four months before the U.S. landings at Tarawa and Makin. A farmer's son from Hyogo Prefecture, Shibasaki was a 28-year naval veteran, including a year as chief staff officer of the Shanghai Special Landing Force. He knew amphibious operations and defensive fortifications. From his headquarters on Betio, Shibasaki commanded garrisons within Tarawa, Makin, and Apamama atolls, in addition to Ocean and Nauru islands, west of the Gilberts. The 49-year-old commander realized that Betio, with its bomber strip, represented the likeliest objective of any U.S. offensive in the Central Pacific.
In August 1942, U.S. Marine Raiders had launched a two-day, dagger-thrust raid on Butaritari Island in Makin Atoll that alerted Imperial Japanese Headquarters to the vulnerability of their outposts in the Gilberts. Immediately, the Japanese began a 15-month concentrated effort to transform Betio into a formidable citadel. The low-lying island—less than 300 acres of sand, coral, and palm trees—was hardly the natural fortress that Peleliu and Iwo Jima would later present. Nevertheless, Japanese construction troops first built the airfield and then surrounded it with 500 bunkers, pillboxes, and gun emplacements. Shibasaki's armament ranged from 13-mm heavy machine guns to 8-inch coast defense guns. Many large-caliber antiaircraft weapons would serve effectively as rapid-firing antiboat guns. A coconut-log seawall, slotted for machine-gun positions, guarded the shoreline. Mines and underwater obstacles protected most of the beaches.
In 1955, historians Philip A. Crowl and Edmund G. Love, veterans of World War II and members of the U.S. Army's historical staff, described Tarawa as "the most heavily defended atoll that would ever be invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific. With the possible exception of Iwo Jima, its beaches were better protected against a landing force than any encountered in any theater of war throughout World War II."6
Shibasaki recognized the strengths of Betio's defenses. Seeking to bolster the morale of his 5,000 rikusentai and armed construction troops, he claimed that "a million Americans could not take Betio in a hundred years." Shibasaki's personal perspective was more realistic. All he had to do was resist an American attack for three days, enough time for the Japanese Combined Fleet to arrive from Truk—1,300 miles away—to sweep the seas clean of the invasion force.
The legendary Japanese naval warrior Isoroku Yamamoto was dead, shot down over the northern Solomons by U.S. P-38 pilots seven months before the battle for Tarawa Atoll. His replacement as commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet was 58-year-old Admiral Mineichi Koga—taciturn, competent, and a 37-year veteran. While Koga lacked Yamamoto's strategic vision, he commanded the Pacific war's most formidable fleet, flying his flag from the enormous battleship Musashi in Truk Harbor. In an eerie coincidence, his stern face appeared on the cover of Time magazine two weeks before Tarawa.7
With recent reports of large American task forces departing New Zealand and Hawaii for unknown destinations, Koga, the former chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's intelligence division, could not dispel Tokyo's misguided belief that the landing of two U.S. divisions at Bougainville on 1 November represented the last enemy offensive of the year.
The Element of Surprise
To avoid detection by the Japanese for as long as possible, Admiral Spruance and the U.S. Fifth Fleet used strict operational security, dispersion, and radio silence to sortie from many different ports and to converge on the Gilbert Islands.8 By the time Japanese reconnaissance aircraft discovered Admiral Pownall's vanguard carriers on 18 November, the Fifth Fleet had already penetrated the Gilberts, attaining strategic surprise. With a sinking heart, Koga knew that this unexpected invasion had come at the worst possible time for his Combined Fleet.
Just two weeks earlier, Imperial Japanese Headquarters had shortsightedly fragmented Koga's fleet by ordering a cruiser task force and most of his veteran flight crews to Rabaul to counterattack the Bougainville beachhead in what would become a disaster for the Japanese. Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey struck first, surprising the Japanese forces concentrated at Rabaul with a pair of pre-emptive air strikes that damaged eight warships, and—more significantly—downed 121 of Koga's 173 aircraft.
The loss of so many veteran pilots crippled Koga's ability to engage an American fleet in the long-sought decisive naval battle that could reverse the tides of war. Now he would not risk his carriers by steaming into battle with green replacement aviators or deploy his battleships without the protection of the carriers. Halsey's little-known, high-risk carrier raids heralded the first critical turning point in the ensuing battle for Tarawa.
1. 2d Marine Division D-3 Journal for 20 November 1943, D-Day at Betio. Records now held in National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD.
2. Grace P. Hayes, The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II: The War Against Japan (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982), p. 409.
3. Hayes, Joint Chiefs, pp. 422—23.
4. Joint Planning Staff 205, "Operations Against the Marshall Islands," 10 June 1943, p. 2.
5. Amphibious landing ships and assault craft in WW II bore a confusing similarity of acronyms. LVTs (landing vehicle, tracked) and LCVPs (landing craft, vehicle, personnel—also called Higgins boats) were the primary ship-to-shore craft, while LSTs (landing ship tank) and LSDs (landing ship dock) were the specialized ships that launched the craft.
6. Philip A. Crowl and Edmund G. Love, Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, a volume in the series United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1955), p. 74.
7. Time magazine, 8 November 1943.
8. Strategic surprise made possible the successful U.S. landings at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Bougainville, Tarawa, and Saipan in the Pacific War. Tactical surprise facilitated the rapid, low-cost seizure of Tinian in 1944.


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"Working with Fujitsu has been a pleasure. The team understands our needs, our business and our technology and has been instrumental in establishing Tickethour in the UK market"
David McClellan, CEO, Tickethour UK
The Customer
Tickethour was established in 2005 by three senior figures from the Athens 2004 Olympic Organising Committee. It was their responsibility to sell the 5.5 million tickets for the Games. Having made a success of that task, they wanted to use the experience they had gained in a new venture: Tickethour. Since then, the company has rapidly grown to become the largest ticketing company in Greece and has gone on to open operations in Cyprus and the Middle East. Tickethour's revenues in 2010 were USD3.5m.
The next stage in the company's evolution was to target the Western European market and the United Kingdom was the perfect first step to take. However, the most immediate challenge was deciding how best to set up a local IT infrastructure to host the ticketing application.
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Emergency Hypertensive Acute Heart Failure Study PRONTO Demonstrates Clevidipine Superior to Standard of Care
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 5, 2012) - The Medicines Company (
The primary objective and the main secondary objective of the PRONTO clinical trial were met. Patients randomized to early treatment with Cleviprex® (clevidipine) Injectable Emulsion demonstrated more rapid and greater blood pressure reductions (p-value < 0.001). Patients reported that shortness of breath, their most distressing symptom, resolved more rapidly than with the current standard of care (SOC) (overall p-value 0.037). Safety measures were similar for both randomized treatments.
These findings were presented by W. Frank Peacock IV, MD, FACEP, Emergency Medicine Research Director at Baylor College of Medicine and Principal Investigator for PRONTO on behalf of a group of leading international acute heart failure investigators and discussed during the "Clevidipine Improves Dyspnea in Emergency Department Acute Heart Failure: A Randomized, Open Label Study" presentation (abstract 15606), presented today at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
PRONTO Purpose and Potential Implications
Dr. Peacock discussed why he is particularly excited about the data: "PRONTO was the first major heart failure trial in the last decade that displayed a significant improvement in dyspnea vs. SOC." Dr. Peacock added, "Dyspnea is the number one reason heart failure patients go to the hospital and stay there. An agent that can relieve dyspnea may have the potential to decrease associated length of stay and hospital costs as well as improve the quality of life for patients. The faster we can improve their breathing, the sooner they can go home." Of the more than 1 million patients admitted to hospitals for heart failure each year, the mean length of stay is nearly 5 days. The costs associated with these patients' hospitalizations is estimated at approximately $40 billion annually in the US.1
Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, Professor of Medicine, Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center Director, UCLA Division of Cardiology Co-Chief and PRONTO Steering Committee member, noted potentially important clinical implications in the PRONTO data: "According to the findings, clevidipine treated dyspnea better than established standard of care therapies. This challenges previously held paradigms that calcium channel antagonists should be avoided in patients with acute heart failure. Further trials are needed to corroborate these findings, but clevidipine may provide an attractive treatment option to reduce blood pressure and improve breathing for acute heart failure patients who are hypertensive."
PRONTO Study Methods, Results and Limitations
A randomized open-label, multi-center trial, PRONTO (A Safety and Efficacy Study of Blood Pressure Control in Acute Heart Failure -- A Pilot Study), enrolled 104 emergency department hypertensive acute heart failure patients who exhibited pulmonary congestion. After setting a 30-minute target systolic blood pressure (SBP) range, patients were randomly treated with clevidipine or SOC (predominantly nitroglycerin and nicardipine), each administered per approved labeling.
In this trial, clevidipine met the composite primary endpoint of median time and percent of patients to reach target SBP range and a 15% blood pressure reduction in the first 30 minutes of therapy. Approximately twice as many clevidipine-treated patients achieved this endpoint than SOC-treated patients (70.5 vs. 36.6%). The median time to achieve this endpoint for clevidipine-treated patients was 15 minutes. The median time for SOC treated patients could not be estimated because fewer than 50% of patients achieved the primary endpoint (p=0.0006). The SOC-treated patients that achieved this endpoint did so in a median of 18 minutes.
In addition, clevidipine met the main secondary endpoint: dyspnea reduction (improved breathing). Within 45 minutes, the dyspnea visual analogue scale (VAS) for shortness of breath decreased more from baseline with clevidipine (median -3.6 cm) than with SOC (-2.1 cm), p=0.012. This effect was maintained to 3 hours with overall effect (p=0.037).
The percentage of patients with at least one study drug related treatment-emergent adverse event was similar in the clevidipine (9.8%) and SOC (13.2%) groups. The most common of these events was headache.
Limitations of the trial included its relatively small sample size, powered for the primary but not for all secondary endpoints, and the open label design, which makes subjective dyspnea assessments challenging. The standard of care (SOC) treatment comparator -- while representative of real care -- may have provided an inconsistent control group, although subset analysis did not suggest such confounding.
About Cleviprex® (clevidipine) Injectable Emulsion
Cleviprex (clevidipine) is an intravenous dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker indicated for the reduction of blood pressure when oral therapy is not feasible or not desirable. In June 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the current formulation, which triples the maximum allowable infusion time per vial, commonly referred to in hospitals as "hang time," to 12 hours compared to the original 4-hour hang time vial approved by the FDA in 2008.
Important Safety Information About Cleviprex (clevidipine)
Cleviprex (clevidipine) is contraindicated in patients with allergies to soybeans, soy products, eggs or egg products; defective lipid metabolism seen in conditions such as pathologic hyperlipemia, lipoid nephrosis or acute pancreatitis if it is accompanied by hyperlipidemia; and severe aortic stenosis.
Cleviprex is intended for intravenous use. Use aseptic technique and discard any unused product within 12 hours of stopper puncture.
Hypotension and reflex tachycardia are potential consequences of rapid upward titration of Cleviprex. If either occurs, decrease the dose of Cleviprex. There is limited experience with short-duration therapy with beta-blockers as a treatment for Cleviprex-induced tachycardia. Beta-blocker use for this purpose is not recommended.
Cleviprex contains approximately 0.2 g of lipid per mL (2.0 kcal). Lipid intake restrictions may be necessary for patients with significant disorders of lipid metabolism.
Dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers can produce negative inotropic effects and exacerbate heart failure. Monitor heart failure patients carefully.
Cleviprex is not a beta-blocker, does not reduce heart rate and gives no protection against the effects of abrupt beta-blocker withdrawal. Beta-blockers should be withdrawn only after a gradual reduction in dose.
Patients who receive prolonged Cleviprex infusions and are not transitioned to other antihypertensive therapies should be monitored for the possibility of rebound hypertension for at least 8 hours after the infusion is stopped.
There is no information to guide use of Cleviprex in treating hypertension associated with pheochromocytoma.
Most common adverse reactions are ( > 2%) headache, nausea, and vomiting.
About The Medicines Company
The Medicines Company (
Statements contained in this press release about The Medicines Company that are not purely historical, and all other statements that are not purely historical, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates" and "expects" and similar expressions, including the Company's preliminary revenue results, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause or contribute to such differences include the extent of the commercial success of Angiomax, the Company's ability to develop its global operations and penetrate foreign markets, whether the Company's products will advance in the clinical trials process on a timely basis or at all, whether the Company will make regulatory submissions for product candidates on a timely basis, whether its regulatory submissions will receive approvals from regulatory agencies on a timely basis or at all, whether physicians, patients and other key decision makers will accept clinical trial results, risks associated with the establishment of international operations, and such other factors as are set forth in the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, the risk factors detailed in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 9, 2012, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
1. Roger VL, Go AS, Lloyd-Jones DM, et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics - 2012 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2012;125(1):e2-e220.


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Phenylephrine is a nasal decongestant that provides relief from nasal discomfort caused by colds, allergies, and hay fever.
It belongs to a class of drugs called vasopressors, and it works by reducing swelling of the blood vessels in the nose.
Phenylephrine relieves symptoms but doesn't treat the cause of the symptoms or speed recovery.
It's the active ingredient in dozens of generic products, including children's cough medications and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs.
Some of the most commonly used medications that contain phenylephrine include Neo-Synephrine, Sudafed PE, Vicks Sinex Nasal Spray, and Suphedrine PE.
In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert about certain unapproved prescription cough, cold, and allergy products containing phenylephrine in combination with other drugs.
These products are not currently approved by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, and quality.
The FDA asked drug companies to stop shipping many of these products for sale in the United States due to concerns about improper use in young children, potentially risky combinations of phenylephrine, and reports of overuse through "time-release" products.
You should not use medicines that contain phenylephrine if you have used a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) in the past 14 days because of a potentially dangerous drug interaction.
You should also ask a doctor if phenylephrine is safe to use if you have the following conditions:
If you become pregnant while using phenylephrine, let your doctor know immediately.
If your symptoms do not get better within 7 days of starting phenylephrine, or if you develop a fever, discontinue phenylephrine and call your doctor.
Nonprescription cough and cold combination products, including those that contain phenylephrine, can cause serious side effects or death in young children.
Do not give these products to children younger than 4 years of age and use caution and follow the package directions carefully in children 4 to 11 years of age.
Read the package label carefully to be sure that it's the right product for a child of that age. Do not give phenylephrine products that are made for adults to children.
Artificially sweetened liquid medicine may contain phenylalanine. Check the medication label if you have phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited disorder that causes a build-up of the amino acid phenylalanine.
This drug may make you dizzy or lightheaded. Do not drive, use machinery, or perform any activity that requires alertness until you can perform such activities safely.
Stop using phenylephrine and get immediate help if you experience the following symptoms:
Older adults may be more sensitive to the side effects of this drug, especially fast/irregular heartbeat, dizziness, difficulty urinating, trouble sleeping, or confusion.
Other medications could have a serious effect on how phenylephrine works in your body.
This is especially important if you are taking any kind of monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). Most MAOIs should not be taken for two weeks before treatment with this medication.
Ask your doctor when to start or stop taking both phenylephrine and an MAOI.
You should also tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any medicines for high blood pressure or other decongestants before taking phenylephrine.
Medicines containing phenylephrine can also worsen the side effects of medicines you take for migraine headaches.
Ask a doctor or pharmacist if it is safe for you to take phenylephrine if you have:
Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, continue your normal diet while using any medications containing phenylephrine.
Phenylephrine is available alone and in combination with other medications as a tablet, liquid, or dissolving strip taken by mouth.
It's usually taken every four hours as needed and is also available in extended release forms that are usually taken one or two times a day.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice on which product is best for your symptoms.
Follow the directions on your prescription label or the package label. Take phenylephrine exactly as directed.
Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor or directed on the label.
You should also check nonprescription cough and cold product labels carefully before using two or more products at the same time.
These products may contain the same active ingredients and taking them together could cause an overdose.
It is important for you to keep a written list of all of the prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements.
Bring this list with you each time you visit a doctor, a pharmacist, or if you are admitted to a hospital.
In case of an overdose, call a poison control center at 1-800-222-1222, or your local emergency services at 911.
Medicines containing phenylephrine are usually taken as needed.
If your doctor has told you to take phenylephrine regularly, take the missed dose as soon as you remember it.
However, if it's almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule.
Never "double up" to make up for a missed dose.
By Shari Buford | Medically Reviewed by Mona Khanna, MD
Latest Update: 2014-10-01
Copyright © 2014 Everyday Health Media, LLC


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Leading the Northshore and the state, St. Tammany Health System earns high marks with 97 percent of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients receiving percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within 90 minutes of arrival or less. PCI opens blocked blood vessels and restores blood flow to the heart. The earlier PCI is performed, the more effective it is.
St. Tammany Health System leads the way in cardiac care in the region, with the latest cath and peripheral labs, state-of-the-art operating suites, certified cardiac rehab, Coumadin clinic and active staff relationships with the region's leading cardiology and cardiovascular specialists.
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 people dying annually of heart disease. More than 5 million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. SCPC's goal is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.
With the increase in chest pain centers came the need to establish standards designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. SCPC's accreditation process ensures that centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
The Accredited Chest Pain Center at St. Tammany Health System has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and undergoing an onsite review by a team of SPCP's accreditation review specialists. Key areas in which an Accredited Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include the following:
To further improve emergency care for patients throughout the region, St. Tammany Health System held its most recent drill in July in collaboration with Northshore EMS, Acadian Ambulance and Riverside Medical Center in Franklinton to evaluate the process and guidelines of what happens when a patient is experiencing a heart attack.
The goal of these drills it to constantly improve the patient's outcome by working together to reduce response and treatment time to elevate the quality and delivery of care.
"This is a huge coordination of resources between healthcare facilities and EMS, and it is an extension of our commitment to improve cardiac care throughout the Washington and St. Tammany parishes," said Michelle Hickman RN, department of head of nursing and Chest Pain Center Coordinator for St. Tammany Health System. "The drill may be part of our reaccreditation process as a Chest Pain Center, but it also ensures our team and healthcare partners remain at the top of our game."
The ST elevation myocardial infraction, or STEMI, drill started about 8:30 a.m. with a mock patient - Crystal Lyons, director of clinical operations at Riverside Medical Center – calling 911 from a local business in Franklinton complaining of general heart attack symptoms.
Northshore EMS picked her up and took her to Riverside, where she was quickly assessed and treated for chest pain by Dr. Frank Volker. Once the ECG showed the patient was experiencing a STEMI, physicians ordered Lyons transferred to STHS's cath lab for immediate percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A rig from Acadian Ambulance Service was onsite to transport the mock STEMI patient to Covington.
Upon arrival at STHS, Dr. Bruce Ennis responded to the Lyons' need for coronary intervention. The Emergency Room and cath lab staff quickly transferred the patient to the cath lab, where the patient underwent the necessary steps to restore blood flow via an angiogram.
Observers from both facilities were present at Riverside and STHS. The observers documented each step of the drill, and participants reviewed notes together in a debriefing session in an effort to collect information to further improve the process.


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Back To School Basics – Jen's Must Have Gear
Pens, pencils, notebooks, folders and a combination lock are likely on the school supply list, but there are some things that may not be on the list that you probably don't want to forget. Here are five things your child may need for the upcoming school year.
Lunch Sack – Land's End Classmate Small Haul Deluxe
If your kid doesn't like school lunch or has special dietary needs and you have to pack their lunch every day, this is the bag to have. It's compact but can carry sandwiches, snack crackers, fruit, veggies, a pudding cup and milk bottle no problem. It comes in six colors and retails for $14.50.
Rain Boots – L.L. Bean's Puddle Stompers
Fall weather can sometimes be unpredictable and what better way to send your child off to school than with warm, dry feet? These puddle stompers have non-skid soles, tough rubber shaft, pull on handles and a jersey fabric interior. They're comfy and durable and come in a variety of styles and colors as well. They retail for $35.
Gym Shoes – Saucony Brooks Defyance/Cohesion GT
The Brooks Defyance are for boys and Cohesion GT are for girls. Testers ran them ragged and tried to get them dirty and both models proved stain resistant, flexible, comfortable and easy to clean. Defyance retails for $60. Cohesion GT retails for $40.
Backpack – Land's End Wheeled Classmate Sturdy Haul
This one proved to be a deal on wheels. You can save your child's back and shoulders from the agony of carrying text books around all day by jamming this thing full of all of their stuff. There's a removable organizer pouch for easy access to homework assignments and it was easy to maneuver. It comes in a variety of colors and retails for $59. (For more backpack reviews, click HERE.)
Laptop – Dell Inspiron 14R N4110
With a quick boot up time and easy file transfer feature it will be easy for them to open it up and start taking notes right away. They can also create folders for each class and keep track of assignments and deadlines. It has a 14 inch screen and comfortable keyboard so typing isn't a pain. Kids will love the customizable covers. It retails for $500.


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Local church leaders are not to ask married couples about their sexual practices and when members bring questions like this up we are to tell them that if it's something they feel the need to bring up in an interview then perhaps the practice should be discontinued.
I told her that in my experience whenever these questions come up it is almost always the husband who is at fault. Why a priesthood holder would require such atrocities of a beautiful innocent sister like this is beyond my comprehension. If she were my wife I wouldn't even think to make such a request. In fact I have never even approached Sister Paternoster with regards to intimacy unless invited and in the spirit of producing offspring unto the Lord. Self control ought to be the guiding force amongst the brethren of the church.
I felt the issue would be better addressed as a couple so I asked the husband to come and join his sweet tender wife in my office.
I assured the couple that many men have fallen into the temptation of asking their wives to participate in acts that are degrading in nature. On this blog due to the sacred nature of the temple I cannot go into details but I did clarify with the couple that this is precisely why we make sacred oaths to not engage in impure and unholy practices.
I took out from my desk a folder that the previous stake president had left behind on the subject that I have often benefited from in counseling with members. I had Brother McCulloch read this quote from our loving Apostle Boyd K. Packer:
"What if the person asking you to engage in something defiling is your husband, whom you love? A married couple may be tempted to introduce things into their relationship which are unworthy. Do not, as the scriptures warn, 'change the natural use into that which is against nature' (Romans 1:26). If you do, the tempter will drive a wedge between you."
Brother McCulloch went completely red in the face as the Lord was teaching him through the reading of this quote. I hope that not wanting to drive a wedge between him and his wife will be enough to deter him from such base desires going forward. Divorce is so rampant these days and President Packer has given a very important clue here as to how to have a more fulfilling marriage.
We then read this quote which comes from a First Presidency letter with regards to interviewing. It was addressed to all leaders from Bishops up and is crystal clear in stating:
"The First Presidency has interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure, or unholy practice."
The McCulloch's asked to see the letter. I consider it every member's right to know the position of our prophets, seers and revelators on this very important topic so I handed it to them and would be happy to post it here if requested.
We continued with a quote from a good friend of mine Elder Spencer J. Condie who said: "Unfortunately, some married couples fail to realize that sexual experiences were never intended by the Lord to be a mere plaything or merely to satisfy passions and lusts. When couples….participate in unholy practices, what should be a spiritually bonding element in their marriage may actually become a disruptive force."
Here again we are learning from our leaders that a key to a successful marriage is staying away from unholy sexual practices.
I explained to the couple that sexual relations in marriage are not unrestrained. We must remember that life was not designed just for sex. Even marriage does not make proper certain extremes in sexual indulgence. The Lord's loving condemnation of sin included secret sexual sins in marriage when he revealed this to the pure hearted prophet Joseph Smith: "And those who are not pure…. shall be destroyed" (D&C 132:52)"
President Spencer W. Kimball said "If it is unnatural, you just don't do it. That is all, and all the family life should be kept clean and worthy and on a very high plane. There are some people who have said that behind the bedroom doors anything goes. That is not true and the Lord would not condone it."
President Howard W. Hunter said "Tenderness and respect—never selfishness—must be the guiding principles in the intimate relationship between husband and wife. Any indecent or uncontrolled behavior in the intimate relationship between husband and wife is condemned by the Lord. Pornography and unwholesome fantasies erode one's character and strike at the foundation of a happy marriage."
I hope the message is clear to all readers. A happy marriage is based on controlled and disciplined intimate behavior, free from all unwholesome fantasies. Please don't do anything that would allow Satan to ruin the foundation of your marriages.
I ended the interview with this quote from the aforementioned letter from the First Presidency which states that "Married persons should understand that if in their marital relations they are guilty of unnatural, impure, or unholy practices, they should not enter the temple unless and until they repent and discontinue any such practices." Based on this instruction I asked the couple to report back in one month on their progress, after which I will be happy to sign their recommends.
Brothers and Sisters aren't you thankful to the Lord that the apostles and prophets never waver on sin? No matter how strong the winds of public opinion may blow, the Church remains steadfast and immovable in protecting marriages and families against the wiles of the tempter.
President Paternoster


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Volume 34 Issue 8: (Oct/Nov 2011)
Turning Back Time
Courtney Howard
Issue: Volume 34 Issue 8: (Oct/Nov 2011)
Turning Back Time
Terra Nova,
the much-anticipated new television series airing Monday nights on Fox, is a unique combination of science fiction and drama, which melds not only futuristic and prehistoric elements, but also live action, computer graphics, and visual effects.
The show takes place in the year 2149, with people on Earth facing probable extinction, until scientists devise a working time machine capable of transporting inhabitants back in time roughly 85 million years. The series closely follows the five-member Shannon family as they, along with myriad others, start life anew in the plush, prehistoric terrain of the new colony called
Terra Nova
Fox officials and a long list of executive producers behind
Terra Nova
—including Steven Spielberg, and showrunners Brannon Braga and Rene Echevaria—effectively built up signifi cant suspense and excitement in anticipation of
Terra Nova
's September premiere. A
Super Bowl
TV commercial, full trailer, and sneak preview at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con event—each sample released in succession over the span of six months, between January and July—fueled interest and provided audiences everywhere all-too-brief glimpses of what would culminate in
Terra Nov
a 's two hour premiere and subsequent first season.
"This thing is going to be huge," predicted Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly in October 2010. "It's going to take an enormous production commitment."
The production is, by all accounts, ambitious. It was filmed in Australia on more than 250 sets. Fox, abandoning the typical wait-and-see approach, ordered not a pilot, but the fi rst series of 13 episodes—taking
Terra Nova
through the end of the year. Each episode reportedly enjoys an average budget of $4 million, requires roughly eight days of filming, and spends six weeks (twice the average stint) in postproduction.
True to its name, the show breaks into new territory, particularly in the area of visual effects. While typical VFX-heavy shows might feature 10 shots of "the big CG creature,"
Terra Nova
features between 20 and 70 shots with CG creatures per episode.
Getting Started
In the fall of 2010, Kevin Blank, VFX supervisor on
Terra Nova
(who has worked on groundbreaking pilots including
Lost, FlashForward, Fringe
, and
Hawaii Five-O
, as well as the movies
Mission: Impossible III
), and John Parenteau, general manager of Pixomondo Los Angeles, assembled a team of artists to begin developing creatures for the new series.
Renowned creature designer Neville Page (Cloverfield) worked with lead creature modeler/designer Dan Katcher and animation director (and original Pixar member) Colin Brady at Pixomondo to develop how the creatures would look and move. Jason Zimmerman took the reins as Pixomondo VFX supervisor, while Pixomondo CG supervisor Eric Hance rounded out the team.
As Pixomondo artists were advancing
Terra Nova
's creature designs, the company's founder and CEO, Thilo Kuther, collaborated with industry veteran Mark Miller to open a new Pixomondo studio in Burbank, California, catering to the CG and VFX needs of this high-end television series. Under Miller's guidance as GM, they built a new pipeline process designed to accommodate the ambitious show—a television/feature-film hybrid—and in the process, expanded the company's global network to 11 studios in six countries.
Hybrid Pipeline
A team of approximately 50 Pixomondo artists—including the animation, CG, modeling, and compositing teams—worked on the two hour
Terra Nova
premiere. As with all VFX projects, time and money were key factors in determining the tool set for
Terra Nova,
along with finding the right artists.
"We had this grand, beautiful creature project coming in and knew that we had to find the right artists and not worry about software," says Zimmerman. "We asked them what they needed in order to do the job, and then found a way to work it into the pipeline. We use the term 'software agnostic' around here quite a bit."
The pipeline included Autodesk's Maya for animation; NewTek's LightWave 3D for rendering; pixologic's ZBrush for modeling, texturing and painting; Planetside Software's Terragen for scene generation; and a combination of The Foundry's Nuke and Adobe's After Effects for compositing. In addition to these off-the-shelf tools, the crew at Pixomondo generated a great deal of custom scripts. Scripter Jennifer Hachigian overcame cache issues by writing a series of Python scripts that worked with LightWave's text-based project file structure, in essence bridging Maya and LightWave for lighting tasks. The Pythonbased render-pass system and a number of right-click actions further automated technical work wherever possible, from updating XML files to swapping out geometry.
"Our mixed pipeline would not be possible without LightWave's native support of Autodesk file formats and linear color space workflow," Hachigian notes.
Devising Dinosaurs
Artists built the dinosaurs—some based on science and history, and some imagined and fictitious—in ZBrush under the direction of Dan Katcher. They then used Maya to animate and rig the creatures. In LightWave, the team did the final renders, shader work, and worked out the subsurface scattering to see the "blood and guts" under the creatures' skin.
"We used the subsurface scatter materials inside LightWave's Node Editor to do the complex light penetrations," says Hance. "We also used HDRIs that Kevin Blank shot on set to match the live plates. We knew that if the dinosaur's skin looked like plastic, we'd be in trouble."
CG lighting lead Ed Ruiz performed much of Pixomondo's shader work for the creatures. Because TV timelines are so short, it was important for Pixomondo to find tools that saved the artists time. "It was a huge headache to transfer a lighting kit or set HDRIs from one scene to another in some other pieces of software," Hance says. With LightWave's Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR), the team was able to quickly turn around adjustments to the lighting and shading work.
Pixomondo set up a hybrid pipeline to handle the ambitious effects in the TV series, including a
variety of dinosaurs, luscious landscapes, and sci-fi/prehistoric backdrops.
Fur for Television
In the second half of the
Terra Nova
premiere, the fictional species of dinosaur called Acceraptors,
or "Slashers," arrive on the scene. Gorgeous yet formidable creatures, Slashers bring the added CG complexity of fur. Creating fur is a huge undertaking and not something frequently seen on episodic television.
Terra Nova
episodes routinely have 20 to 30 shots that include fur-covered creatures.
"We knew we would need additional buffers for the fur," Hance recalls. "It's a high-end pipeline; people don't just take the rendered image and make it a little brighter or a little bit darker. You need to be able to give the compositors what will buffer, such as specularity, diffuse, raw, depth, and all those things. They need high levels of control to nail it to the plate." Using FiberFX within LightWave, CG fur lead Sean Jackson had the Slashers well covered.
"Fibers respect light, just as the parent geometry does, and can even use that geometry's innate texture and weight mapping to control color, dispersal, length…you name it," explains Jackson. "The rendered fur can respect gravity and dynamics with the scene, and can even be styled and combed directly within the scene itself on the fly."
Unique Undertaking
Zimmerman counts virtually everything about this project as being unique. "One of the challenges of this show was walking in and setting things up," he says. "It's always interesting when you're on the frontier and setting up the pipeline for the first time; but, to be doing that hand-in-hand with the biggest TV pilot ever made…it was a fantastic opportunity."
Pixomondo achieved the results audiences see on screen by constructing a pipeline that was truly a hybrid of TV and feature-film approaches. "We knew that a typical TV pipeline likely would not be able to support the kind of quality aspirations that the studio had. Because we were building a new studio pipeline from scratch, we were able to cater a very specific need," says Zimmerman.
In addition to handling all VFX for
Terra Nova
, Pixomondo's Burbank studio pipeline is working on
Hawaii Five-O
and the upcoming series
, among other projects. They have also created shots for
Fringe, Chuck, Outsourced
, and
"Pretty much everything about this project has been extremely ambitious," Blank acknowledges.
"These creatures upped the ante quite a bit for anything on television. A number of people on our team are award-nominated and Academy/Emmy/VES Award-winning artists. They're great people who happen to be fantastic artists. As for
Terra Nova
, it really is one of those shows that you could only just dream about a year ago."
Courtney E. Howard is a contributing editor for Computer Graphics World. She can be reached at email@example.com.
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text: Extended Freearm The BERNINA 7 Series includes a meticulously engineered extended freearm with ten inches / 254 mm of space to right of the needle—plenty of room for big sewing projects. Large designs can also be embroidered on the oversized embroidery area. When needed, the BERNINA 780 can also be upgraded with a diverse selection of accessories.


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VIDEO DOWNLOAD - Jimmy Golden Shoot Interview
Known as a wrestler's wrestler, Jimmy Golden graciously sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview that looked back with a historical perspective of his lengthy career. Coming from family with deep roots in the pro wrestling business, Jimmy has worked in just about every single wrestling promotion you can name from coast to coast. Florida. Alabama. Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Memphis. Georgia. Mid Atlantic. World Class. And of course the one he is most recognized from, his run in World Championship Wrestling as Bunkhouse Buck.
Jimmy talked about growing up in a wrestling family, including memories of working for his father's territory in Alabama and working with his cousin Rod Fuller, more famously known as Col. Rob Parker, all across the country. Golden described what it took for him to break into wrestling and all his early trips to Florida to work under Eddie Graham. Jimmy gave great stories on all the guys who came through the Alabama territory, including Arn Anderson and Hulk Hogan.
Being involved in all the major territories gave Jimmy a chance to work alongside all the colorful characters in the wrestling business. Golden talks about working in Australia for the one and only Jim Barnett, Memphis for Jerry Jarrett, Smokey Mountain for Jim Cornette, and of course World Class for Fritz Von Erich. Every big name you can think of is brought up, including: Dusty Rhodes, Joe LeDuc, Dirty Dick Slater, Austin Idol, the Stud Stable, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Mick Foley, Jerry Lawler, the Rock N Roll Express, the Von Erichs, and so many more. Wait till you hear Jimmy�s opinion of a very green Undertaker that he first saw back in Memphis!
Jimmy talked extensively about his time in WCW and detailed exactly who came up with the Bunkhouse Buck gimmick as well as going over all his major angles and feuds of the era. Golden explains what he thinks of Eric Bischoff as a boss and how Hulk Hogan had changed from the time he first saw him in Alabama. Wrestling historians are going to get a kick out of this interview, and Golden actually does the entire shoot in his Bunkhouse Buck attire! A one of a kind DVD for a one of a kind wrestler!
You come from a long line of wrestlers in your family, can you talk about that
Did you and your cousins talk about getting into wrestling as kids
How early were you exposed to the business
How close were you with grandfather growing up
Can you talk about what it was like to be a promoter during that time period
How big was Roy on kayfabe
Do you have any early road stories you can share
Your dad was also a promoter and booker, correct
How young were you when you started going to shows
What do you remember about going into the locker room as a kid
Were there any overly racist angles at the time considering the time period in history
When did you start training
Who helped your more? Your dad or grandfather
Were they overly hard on you
A lot of wrestlers stayed with your father, who were some of the guys you got closest with
Did your father's house turn into a big party scene with all of the boys
Talk about the influence of Frank Martinez
Memories of your first match
Can you talk about P
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Alright, I confess: I'm a Calvinist. Do you still like me? Will you still invite me over for you Super Bowl party? Will you still be my Facebook friend? Can we still do piano duets (I don't play the piano, but if I did I would want to play duets)? I sure hope so.
But what exactly does it mean to be a Calvinist? There is a lot of confusion and misinformation and downright misrepresentation when it comes to Calvinism. Depending on who you talk to, a Calvinist is someone who:
1) Believes God hates everyone (see Westboro Baptist Church).
2) Believes God has chosen people to be saved, and no matter what a person does, nothing can change that choice.
3) Is grumpy, sour, and always making sure everyone else is obeying the rules.
4) Doesn't believe in evangelism because God has already chosen people to be saved.
Over the next several posts I want to address several common myths regarding Calvinism, and explain how I, a Calvinist, respond to those myths.
The first, and probably most prevalent myth regarding Calvinism, has to do with free will and choices. The argument goes something like this: If God has predestined people to be saved then people don't have a free will, and our choices for or against God are not real choices.
I get this argument, I really do. In some ways, it's the logical extension of the doctrine of predestination. If God does the choosing, that must mean we don't do any real choosing. Am I right? After all, who can resist the will of the Almighty God?
Slight problem though: the Bible makes it crystal clear that God predestines people for salvation AND that every person is responsible to choose Jesus Christ. This is a paradox for which the Bible make no apologies, and a paradox which every true Calvinist gladly embraces.
Ephesians 1:4-6 says:
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
I don't know how much clearer you can get when it comes to the doctrine of election. If I am a Christian it is because God predestined me, before the ages began, to be adopted as a son. He did not predestine me because of anything good or bad I would do. He predestined me according to the purpose of his will. This fills me with gratefulness.
These kinds of words run throughout the entirety of Scripture. Romans 8:29-30 says:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
This passage forms an unbreakable chain. Before the foundation of the world God, foreknew those whom he would be predestine for salvation. Those whom he predestines are always called, those whom he calls are always justified, and those whom he justifies are always ultimately glorified. This is completely God's doing. He gets all the credit and all the glory. From beginning to end, God does the saving. Scripture couldn't be more clear on this subject.
But Scripture also makes it clear that every man and woman is responsible before God to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In Luke 5:31-32 Jesus said to the Pharisees:
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
In Acts 2, after preaching to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, Peter called his listeners to repentance:
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
True Calvinism embraces the unconditional election of God. The Bible makes no apologies for the fact that God elects specific men and women to be saved apart from any conditions within them. God is God, and he is free to do whatever he pleases. The clay cannot say to the Potter, "Why have you made me this way?"
True Calvinism also embraces the real need for repentance. This is not some sort of tricky word game God is playing. Every man and woman is commanded to turn from their sins and choose God. The choices we make for God or against God are real choices, and we will really be held accountable for those choices.
How do God's sovereign, electing purposes, and man's free will work together? I'm not sure. The Bible doesn't spell it out in detail. It gives us some hints as to how they work together, but it doesn't ever clearly answer the question. As a Calvinist, I fully embrace God's sovereign perogative to choose whomever he pleases. I also fully embrace every person's responsibility to repent. I find the following quotes from Charles Spurgeon helpful in this matter:
I believe that God will save his own elect. And I also believe that if I do not preach the gospel, the blood of men will be laid at my door.
I am quite certain that God has an elect people, for he tells me so in his word. And I am equally certain that everyone who comes to Christ shall be saved, for that also is his own declaration in the Scriptures. When people ask me how I reconcile these two truths, I usually say that there is no need to reconcile them, for they have never yet quarreled with one another.
The true Calvinist believes that election and free salvation do not quarrel with one another.


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EC Action Programme Customs 2013 (2008-2013)03 December 2009
by Ina Dimireva -- last modified 04 December 2009
The European Community action programme Customs 2013 (2008-2013) aims to support the development of a pan-European electronic customs environment which ensures that customs activities match the needs of the EU internal market, guarantees the protection of the financial interests of the EC and increases safety and security.
Decision No 624/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 May 2007 establishing an action programme for customs in the Community (Customs 2013).
The aim of the Customs 2013 programme is to help customs administrations in participating countries to facilitate legitimate trade and to simplify and speed up customs procedures. The programme started on 1 January 2008 and end on 31 December 2013.
The main objectives of the Customs 2013 programme are:
- supporting the development of a pan-European electronic customs environment which ensures that customs activities match the needs of the internal market, guarantees the protection of the EC's financial interests and increases safety and security;
- contributing to the creation of a modernised customs code;
- increasing cooperation between customs administrations so that they carry out their tasks as effectively as if they were a single administration;
- increasing international customs cooperation between EU customs administrations and third countries customs authorities in the field of supply chain security; preparing for enlargement, including the sharing of experience and knowledge with the customs administrations of the countries concerned;
- developing cooperation and exchange of information and best practices with the customs administrations of third countries, in particular candidate countries, potential candidate countries and partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy;
- standardising and simplifying customs systems and controls to reduce the administrative burden and the cost of compliance for economic operators;
- identifying, developing and applying best working practices.
Customs 2013 will include activities in the field of communications systems and exchange of information, comparative analyses, seminars and workshops, project groups and steering groups, working visits, training activities and monitoring activities.
Participation in the Programme
The countries participating in the Customs 2013 programme are the EU Member States. The programme is also open to candidate countries benefiting from a pre-accession strategy, potential candidate countries (after the conclusion of framework agreements concerning their participation in Community programmes) and certain partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (provided that a sufficient level of proximity has been attained and in compliance with relevant framework agreements).
Budgetary implications
The Customs 2013 programme will run for a period of six years, in accordance with the Financial Perspectives 2007-13. The amount to be borne by the Community budget is EUR 328.8 million.
Customs 2013 continues the activities carried out in the framework of the previous customs programmes, in particular Customs 2007, and supports the increasingly important development of e-customs.
Decision No 624/2007/EC - 4.7.2007 - OJ L 154 of 14.6.2007
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 20 July 2005, 'Common actions for growth and employment: The Community Lisbon Programme' [COM(2005) 330 final - Not published in the Official Journal].
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 6 April 2005, 'Community programmes "Customs 2013" and "Fiscalis 2013"' [COM(2005) 111 final - Not published in the Official Journal].
Pending its proposal for the future Customs 2013 (2007-2013) programme, the Commission proposes extending the Customs 2007 programme. The Commission believes that the Customs programme contributes to the aim of sustainable economic growth. One of the objectives of the 2013 programme is to ensure the smooth flow of external trade, while applying effective controls on goods. As in previous programmes, activities are intended to contribute to the smooth functioning of the internal market and preparing and ensuring the common implementation of Community customs legislation. In addition, the new programme must respond to new challenges and changes currently taking place, for example with respect to safety (management of external borders and control of the whole international supply chain), the creation of an electronic customs environment and the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.
Decision No 253/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2003 adopting an action programme for customs in the Community (Customs 2007).
The Customs 2007 programme (2003-2007) is intended to support and complement operations undertaken by the Member States to safeguard the functioning of the internal market in the customs field. This Decision came into effect on 1 January 2008.


text:
- monthly subscription or
- cancelable any time
"Tell the chef, the beer is on me."
"— 100 zwrotów, które musisz znać pisząc po angielsku | Unleashed English
1. To begin with – na początek – To begin with, you have to remember that…
2. First of all/ firstly/ secondly – przede wszystkim/ po pierwsze/ po drugie – Firstly, it's not true that…
3. As for – co do – As for functions, there are all of them.
4. As regards – co się tyczy – As regards the introduced options, they are very useful.
5. Then – poza tym, następnie – I agree and then there is another aspect.
6. Besides – zresztą, oprócz tego – It's too long and besides I don't like the author's style.
7. What is more – co więcej – His attitude is wrong and what's more, he seems to be a layman.
8. Further – co więcej – Further, the author has to reconsider his claims.
9. Furthermore – ponadto – Furthermore, I neglect such a view.
10. Moreover – ponadto – The idea is not reasonable and moreover it's unreal.
11. Thus – tak więc – Thus, the whole project cannot be implemented.
12. Thereby – tym samym – He broke all the rules and thereby, he was expelled.
13. Therefore – dlatego (też) – Profits, therefore, were down last time.
14. Because – ponieważ – I argue with you because you are completely wrong.
15. Since – ponieważ – I decided to write it since I was asked to do so.
16. As – gdyż –As you always come too late, I decided not to wait for you.
17. Accordingly – z tego powodu, w związku z tym – He won the election and accordingly he bacame a chairman.
18. In consequence – w konsekwencji – He did it and in consequence he was on time.
19. Hence – stąd, w związku z tym, dlatego też – He had credentials and hence they employed him.
Wyrażanie opinii:
20. I would say that – powiedziałbym, że – I would say that such a view is unacceptable.
21. It seems to me that – wydaje mi się, że – It seems to me that his arguments are difficult to prove.
22. In my opinion – moim zdaniem – In my opinion, it is not worth its price.
23. I am of the opinion that – jestem zdania, że – I am of the opinion that it is impossible.
24. I am of the view that – uważam, że – I am of the view that it is very probable.
25. As for – co do, jeśli chodzi o – As for me, I would have done it.
26. To my mind – według mnie – To my mind, it is nonsense.
27. As far as I know – Z tego, co wiem – As far as I know it works in a different way.
28. As far as I am concerned – jeśli o mnie chodzi – As far as I am concerned they can do what they want.
29. According to (sb) – według (kogoś innego niż ja) – According to the author…
30. I reckon (that) – uważam, że – I reckon these allegations are unjustified.
31. I opine (that) – uważam, że – I opine that such a statement is ridiculous.
32. I hold the view that – reprezentuję pogląd/zdanie, że –I hold the view that it cannot be correct.
33. From sb's standpoint – z czyjegoś punktu widzenia – Try to think of it from my standpoint.
34. I think (that) – uważam, że – I think the authors exaggerate.
35. I have every reason to believe that – mam wszelkie powody, by sądzić, że –I have every reason to believe that it could not happen for real.
36. Judging from/by – sądząc po – Judging from the facts it is possible.
37. I suppose (that) – sądzę, że – I suppose he did not consider the elementary rules.
38. I guess (that) – zgaduję, że – I guess he wrote it himself.
39. I claim (that) – twierdzę/utrzymuję, że – He claims he followed the instructions.
40. I assert that – twierdzę/zapewniam, że – I assert that the thesis is to be substantiated.
41. I maintain (that) – upieram się/obstaję przy tym, że – He maintained his innocence.
42. I consider sb (to be) – uważam kogoś za – I consider the author (to be) a great novelist.
43. I believe (that) – sądzić, uważać, przypuszczać – I believe (that) this conclusion is legitimate.
44. I am convinced that - jestem przekonany, że – I am convinced that it may happen.
Zgadzanie się:
45. I agree – zgadzam się – I agree with you.
46. I accept – akceptuję – I accept these arguments.
47. Be correct – zgadzać się, być prawidłowym – Your thinking is correct.
48. Tally with – zgadzać się z – It tallies with my calculations.
49. Be positive – być przekonanym – He is positive that they did it.
50. Confirm – potwierdzać – I confirm his arguments.
51. Approve of – aprobować – I approve of his conclusions.
52. Support – popierać – I support the solution he suggested.
53. I am in sympathy with sb – popieram kogoś – I am in sympathy with the author.
54. I sympathise with – sympatyzuję z – I sympathise with his opinion.
Niezgadzanie się:
55. I disagree – nie zgadzam się – I disagree with you.
56. I protest against – protestuję przeciwko – I protest against such behaviour.
57. Reject – odrzucać, nie akceptować – I reject this ideology.
58. I negate – neguję – I negate such thinking.
59. Disapprove of – nie pochwalać, potępiać – I disapprove of such thinking.
60. Oppose – sprzeciwiać się – I had to openly oppose him because he was completely wrong.
61. Object – sprzeciwiać się – I object to be called in such a way.
62. I differ with sb – nie zgadzam się z kimś – I differ with him on this issue.
Precyzowanie danej myśli:
63. What I mean is that – chcę powiedzieć, że – What I mean is that it is not going to be easy.
64. I mean (to say) – to znaczy – His approach is inappropriate, I mean (to say) it lacks theoretical basis.
65. What I am getting at is (that) – chodzi mi o to, że – What I am getting at is (that) you are not being realistic.
66. The point is (that) – chodzi o to, że – The point is (that) I just cannot agree.
67. In other words – inaczej mówiąc- In other word, the software is full of bugs.
68. That is to say – to znaczy, czyli – Sociolinguistics, that is to say the study of a language in a society is often underestimated.
69. Make oneself clear – wyrażać się jasno – I will make myself clear.
70. I will put it this way – ujmę to w ten sposób – I will put it this way, If you want to succeed you have to concentrate on your goals.
Wyrażanie różnic:
71. Actually – faktycznie, w rzeczywistości – It is a well known fact, actually.
72. In fact – faktycznie, de facto – In fact, I am completely against your suggestion.
73. In a way – w pewnym sensie – I know your thinking is not correct, but in a way, I can understand such reasoning.
74. To a certain extent – do pewnego stopnia – I agree with the author to a certain extent, but…
75. Anyway – w każdym razie, tak czy inaczej – anyway, I think that…
76. As a rule – z reguły – As a rule, he is never wrong.
77. On the one hand – z jednej strony – On the one hand, it is what I need.
78. On the other hand – z drugiej strony – On the other hand, it is too complicated.
79. Still – jednak – The novel is hard to read; still, it is interesting.
80. Yet – jednak, mimo to – She is not a mathematician and yet her skills are amusing.
81. However – jednak(że) – I usually drink coffee. Today, however, I am having a cup of tea.
82. On the contrary – przeciwnie – He is not tall, on the contrary, he is really short.
83. In spite of – (po)mimo – In spite of evidence, they did not believe him.
84. Nevertheless – pomimo to, niemniej jednak – Nevertheless, it is still valued by scholars.
85. Nonetheless - pomimo to, niemniej jednak – Nonetheless, it is important to him.
86. Notwithstanding – jednakże, mimo wszystko, mimo to – He is a decent man, notwithstanding I do not like him.
87. In contrast to/with – w odróznieniu od – In contrast to his father he is very famous.
88. But – (a) mimo to, (a) jednak – The story is strange but true.
89. But then (again) – ale z drugiej strony, ale przecież – But then such methods are practical.
90. Finally – wreszcie, w końcu – Finally, I would like to concentrate on the main issue.
91. In short – krótko mówiąć – In short, it was outrageous.
92. All things considered – w sumie – All things considered, he is a happy man.
93. To sum up – podsumowując – To sum up, there are advantages and disadvantages.
94. To recap – podsumowując – To recap, it can be accepted.
95. To conclude – na zakończenie – To conclude, the translator domesticated the story.
96. In conclusion – kończąc – I would like to say in conclusion, that I admire them.
97. As a conclusion – kończąc – As a conclusion we may quote the poet…
98. Generally speaking – ogólnie rzecz biorąc – Generally speaking, it is not a problem.
99. On the whole – ogólnie rzecz biorąc – On the whole, it is a quite good idea.
100. Lastly – wreszcie, w końcu – …and lastly it is the most popular programme.
"Tell the chef, the beer is on me."
"Basically the price of a night on the town!"
"I'd love to help kickstart continued development! And 0 EUR/month really does make fiscal sense too...


text:
On Tuesday, the FBI announced that it had arrested ten people connected to a botnet that had spread through Facebook. Spread by a virus targeting Facebook users, the botnet caused over $850 million in losses to financial institutions, infected over 11 million computers, and stole credit card and bank account data. The botnet itself was shut down in October, according to an FBI statement.
This is the second major outbreak of botnets based on the Butterfly (aka Mariposa) bot tool. The first incarnation, discovered in December 2008 and shut down a year later, infected over 12 million PCs worldwide and was spread primarily through file-sharing and instant messaging attacks. It also harvested financial information from over 800,000 victims.
In the latest incarnation of Butterfly, the botnet spread itself using variants of Yahos, a virus that spreads itself by sending links via social networks and instant messaging. Victims clicked on the link, launching Yahos' attack. The malware, which in some variants disguised itself as an NVIDIA video driver, then downloaded and installed the botnet controls and browser exploits that captured users' credit card and bank account information. The spread of viruses like Yahos prompted Facebook to partner with McAfee in 2010 to provide tools to users to clean infected systems.
Facebook's internal security team assisted the FBI's investigation, helping to identify the botnet at the center of the fraud, as well as identifying who was spreading the malware and which accounts had been infected by it. The FBI received further assistance from law enforcement officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, New Zealand, Peru and the United Kingdom, as well as local law enforcement in the US, in obtaining search and arrest warrants and conducting interviews.