text:
Hello gentle reader,
this year again I've decided to join the initiative called All Hallow's Read. The idea? Give someone a scary book for Halloween.
Fantasy author Neil Gaiman made a lovely (!) video to explain this Halloween tradition:
So I've chosen to join this initiative by giving away a copy of SLASHER GIRLS AND MONSTER BOYS, a YA anthology curated by April Genevieve Tucholke.
From Goodreads:
For fans of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Lois Duncan, and Daphne Du Maurier comes a powerhouse anthology featuring some of the best writers of YA thrillers and horror.
A host of the smartest young adult authors come together in this collection of scary stories and psychological thrillers curated by Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea's April Genevieve Tucholke.
Each story draws from a classic tale or two—sometimes of the horror genre, sometimes not—to inspire something new and fresh and terrifying. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From bloody horror to supernatural creatures to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for any reader looking for a thrill.
Fans of TV's The Walking Dead, True Blood, and American Horror Story will tear through tales by these talented authors: Stefan Bachmann, Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, A. G. Howard, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu, Jonathan Maberry, Danielle Paige, Carrie Ryan, Megan Shepherd, Nova Ren Suma, McCormick Templeman, April Genevieve Tucholke, Cat Winters.
Giveaway information:
The giveaway is open until Sunday 2d November 2015 at 9am (BST time).
To enter please fill in the contact form below with your name and email. If you follow my blog by email or WordPress, if you are a Twitter follower, if you like my page on Facebook, if you follow me on Pinterest or Tumblr, or if you tweet about the giveaway, this will grant you an extra entry. Mention it below.
Entrants must be at least 13 years of age.
This giveaway is open Internationally, as long as the Book Depository ships to your country.


text:
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
carpet flight
too busy today for a "nice " sketch.
so.. how about one that gets the point across?
they're flying towards our heroes!
Posted by pascal at 1:09 PM 3 comments:
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Santa's summer estate
santa does need a getaway too!
I'm not sure what it is with santa, but he is the one character , with pigs, that I've been drawing over and over....
Posted by pascal at 8:29 AM No comments:
Monday, June 26, 2006
Oogeley Boogeley
That's the name of my sketch book.
Here are the two possible covers for it .
let me know which I should pick.
Thank god, Katrina has a good eye for images and an amazing brain for text.
She helped me rewrite the intro to it, and now, i'm feeling pretty good about the whole book!
It's just about ready, just need to send it to the printer!
Posted by pascal at 9:22 AM 5 comments:
Saturday, June 24, 2006
funny old stuff
It is funny the amount of junk you can have hidden on your computer.
I was going through my folders looking for something totally unrelated, when I found a bunch of old drawings and illustrations I had done a few years ago.
Now, for anyone that hasn't been around me for more than two years, these drawings will look"CLEAN", as oposed to my natural tendency of today.
funny how things evolve, no?
and there's alos another one that was a more"architectural" one.
For a long gone project about a strange encounter of the the third kind
Posted by pascal at 1:14 PM No comments:
Friday, June 23, 2006
carpet thief
Posted by pascal at 9:22 AM 1 comment:
Thursday, June 22, 2006
hot day
I actually woke up sweating this morning.
Naya, our dog was sleeping in our room as well.
She just walked in through the open window that connects our living room and our room.
because it's hot, i don't feel like beeing too agitated!
break time.
Posted by pascal at 9:18 AM No comments:
Monday, June 19, 2006
ambush....the street of surbuban Paris....
I made it!
Today was a super rough day at work.
handling one title is already enough, two, is definitely tricky..but SEVEN?
seven games to oversee??
Thank god it's not going to last.
meanwhile.. Sam inspired me to do something with houses..so.. this sketch wasn't suposed to be like this, but, hey, inspiration comes in all shapes and forms, doesn't it?
hmm.. And now, I'm seeing that mike is challenging me?
litl bastard!
Posted by pascal at 9:42 PM 2 comments:
Friday, June 16, 2006
we lost our pilot for the day....Erin is out sick..and, quite Frankly, it's just not as fun in our little office without her.
It's funny, but since Mike started the whole Ambush thread, it seems we've all gotten closer, like brothers and sisters..which is funny , 'cause I'm french, Mike's american, and she's chinese and, my fiancee, Katrina, the girl from the chair series , is filipino.
hmmm.. what does say about us?
Posted by pascal at 3:12 PM No comments:
the bets are on
This is After Josh Ulrich from the boltcity.com forum threw our littl indians in the claws of the bears.
let's see what happens next...
Posted by pascal at 11:32 AM 2 comments:
Thursday, June 15, 2006
ambush, the street of Paris
after being chased by Indians, flying arabians Knights, and a genie, now , we're on the flight from a group pf French Gendarmes in the street of PARIS!
where next??
Posted by pascal at 9:43 AM No comments:
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
an interesting soccer game
Little Dan was playing soccer with his friends , when the ball was kicked into the nearby woods.....
Posted by pascal at 1:10 PM No comments:
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
the little car in the prairie
Posted by pascal at 9:35 AM 4 comments:
Monday, June 12, 2006
five bears holding a rope that holds a canoe that holds eleven indians
Posted by pascal at 9:31 AM No comments:
Sunday, June 11, 2006
eleven indians ina canoe
Posted by pascal at 1:42 PM No comments:
Saturday, June 10, 2006
eleven indians on a branch
following the ambush series...
here are eleven indians on a branch!
you know, someday, I think I'll start telling people that I do have a blogg
the main reason I haven't done so yet, is beacuse I want to make sure I'll be able to update it once in a while!
Posted by pascal at 10:08 AM 2 comments:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
UC Browser 10.9.0.731
UC Browser Editor's Review
Browse websites with this popular, device based browser
In many ways, many mobile users do more web surfing on their mobile device than they do on their desktop/ laptop PC. In some cases, a mobile device is all you've got, so you're going to do all of your web surfing on your mobile device. In cases such as these, you really want a browser that's going to work for you; and in many cases, that's NOT the default browser that came with your device. This is why apps like UC Browser for Android are so important. This browser for your Android mobile device can really help you get the biggest bang out of your mobile device buck.
UC Browser is a browser for your mobile device. Its, adaptable configuration helps you adjust the way you browse the internet under different network connections. This allows you to reduce data plan needs and costs; and helps to speed up page loading. The latest version achieves faster data presentation by compressing web pages on its server, and by preloading pages in the background. Android 4.3 is supported in the newest version of UC Browser.
You can personalize your browser experience with add-ons. This is something that is somewhat new in the mobile world. You don't see a lot of this, or haven't in the past, largely because of performance issues, but UC has resolved those issues. Now you can quickly and easily upload photos to Facebook with UC's Facebook Photo Uploader. This method is easier than using Facebook's built in functionality, as you can get everything done in a single step. You also get push notifications on likes and comments from your friends without actually having to run the full Facebook app.
UC Browser also lets you save web pages as a PDF. Now, rendered receipts and other important information that don't automatically have agents that email you a copy, can be saved and recalled later, as needed. Additional file handling capabilities built into the browser also let you manage zip files, directly from the browser. Now you can download supported, compressed files and unzip them so you can work with their contents more easily. This is further augmented by the app's Download Manager, which allows you to multi-task and contains support for UDisk, permanent, cloud-based storage on UCweb's servers.
App Pro's: Add-ins like Facebook Photo Uploader, Save to PDF and Unzip, Web Page Translator, free
App Con's: Apps downloading data in the background can often be a battery drain
Conclusion: I'm not a big fan of 3rd party browsers on my mobile devices. They often take up space and don't offer much of an improved or better user experience than the built in version. With UC Browser, that's not the case. The app is pretty cool.
Over and above the FB plugin and compressed file handler, the browser also offers a webpage translator. The plugin takes advantage of both Google Translate and Bing, and supports more than 70 languages, opening up more of the web to you while you're out and about. The application is free; and is better than some of the other browsers that I've encountered on a mobile device. The only thing it's missing is a desktop counterpart where synchronization between bookmarks, history and reading lists would make the experience on your device, that much better.
Even without these, it's a great app; and as it's free, it's hard to turn down.
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text:
Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas)
Delphinapterus leucas. © 2005 beluga1
Once upon a time in a frigid land of ice and snow, there lived a pleasant beluga named Bertha. Bertha was born after her mother, Bessie, held her within the confines of her womb for 15 months, in which she playfully swam with other pregnant mothers as they prepared to welcome the next generation into the sea. During this time, Bertha's father, Bartholomew, was having meetings with the other fathers in the open sea.
On the warm spring morning that Bertha was born, Bartholomew and the other fathers protected the expectant mothers that all lived in a shallow estuary off of Baffin Bay. Bertha was born a brownish-grey colour, weighing 50kg and measuring 1.5 metres in length. When she was born, Bertha came out of her mother's womb tail first, in shallow, warm waters, near the surface of the ocean. Her umbilical cord quickly snapped away from her mother and she was finally released into the waters of her new icy life. Bertha was free to swim up to the water's surface to take her first breath – with her mother's help, of course. Bessie and Bertha stayed close as Bertha nursed milk from her mother's abdomen. This close relationship continued until Bertha's first birthday, when her teeth began to form.
After Bertha's teeth became fully formed, she was free to go out hunting to catch her own food all by herself, without her family's help. Usually this hunting job was taken care of by her older brother, Benjamin, but today was Bertha's turn to learn (just in case). On one bright, adventurous morning, Bertha set out with her best friend, Betty, in search of some food for lunch.
As the two whale friends traversed the cool coastal waters of their home, they kept watch for any unsuspecting mollusks, fish, or benthic invertebrates that crossed their paths. Suddenly, Betty spotted Mark the mollusk swimming with a few of his friends. Utilizing great stealth, Bertha and her friend managed to sneak up on Mark from behind and gobble him and his friends up for a most appetizing lunch.
Satisfied by her accomplishments, Bertha set off on the journey home. However, this adventure was tainted with peril. While swimming around a bend on her way to the home estuary, Bertha encountered Kenneth, the Killer Whale. With a menacing grin, he set off at full speed toward Bertha, determined to gobble her up for HIS lunch. Ever so smooth, Bertha managed to quietly swim behind an ice floe and with her bluish white skin, camouflaged by the frigid obstacle. She arrived home safely, with many stories to account to her fellow Beluga whales.
As Bertha began to mature into a grown up Beluga, her colouring gradually turned from a bluish-brown, grey colour into the pure white of an adult Beluga. By the time she was five years old, Bertha the Beluga weighed 1 360 kg, measured 4 metres in length and was considered a sexually mature adult. Bertha was now able to search for a man with whom she could start a new generation of whale families. At the age of 28, after living a long, prosperous, and fulfilling life, Bertha passed away peacefully, with the hope that humans learn to protect their environment and respect the animals that they share it with (especially the Belugas).
After reading the story about Bertha, try answering the following questions to test what you have learned about Beluga Whales.
1) How long is a Beluga mother pregnant for?
a) 5 months
b) 9 months
c) 15 months
d) 29 months
2) What colour are baby Beluga's born?
a) Brownish-Grey
b) Bluish-Grey
c) Red
d) Magenta
3) What colour are adult Belugas?
a) Bluish-Brown
b) Grey
c) Pure white
d) Brown
4) What do Belugas like to eat?
a) Mollusks, crabs, cheese
b) Seaweed
c) Sushi, sashimi, pine nuts
d) Mollusks, fish, benthic invertebrates
5) About how much do adult female Belugas weigh?
a) 500 kg
b) 1 360 kg
c) 1 500 kg
d) 1 2400 kg
Answers: 1) c 2) b 3) c 4) d 5) b
General Description
Beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, are also known as the white whale, Belukha, Sea Canary (1). Full-grown belugas range between 3-4 metres in length and weigh between 1300-1500 kilograms (1). They have a stout, robust body with no dorsal fin, a short, broad neck, and a round head with a noticeable bump (or melon) on top of their small head (2). Their neck bones are not fused together, unlike other whales, and they can turn their heads from side to side (2). The melon allows them to crack through ice to allow access to the surface in order to breath (3). Belugas have 32-40 teeth altogether in both jaws, which they use to feed on fish, mollusks, and benthic invertebrates (1). They have small, dark eyes, located behind the corners of their mouths, and ears located behind the eyes, with no external flaps or lobes (3). They have a single blowhole, on top of their head, which is covered by a water-tight, muscular flap, that contracts to allow the beluga to breathe (1). Belugas are rather slow swimmers, swimming at 3-9 kph, but are capable of short bursts of speed of up to 22 kph (4). They can also swim backwards and forwards to avoid obstacles (1). Belugas make high-pitched chirping sounds to communicate with each other, which gave them the name, Sea Canary (4). Adults are almost pure white in colour, which allows them to avoid predators as they resemble many ice floes that dot their ocean habitat (5).
Habitat & Predators
Beluga whales live in entirely Arctic and Sub-Arctic, aquatic environments (1). Belugas live in the Arctic Ocean and its adjoining seas, including the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, the Beaufort Sea, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence (1). Belugas prefer living near the coast of continents and islands, rather than in the more open parts of oceans (3). Belugas are generally found in shallow, coastal bays, estuaries and river openings, often in water barely deep enough to cover their entire bodies (4). Belugas migrate to more southern waters during the winter months, as if the ice freezes too thickly, they will not be able to come to the surface for air (3). They move freely between salt and fresh water and swim into rivers to feed, especially when salmon is spawning (1). They live in groups of 5 – 10, called pods, but may cluster in groups of up to 100 during migration season. Beluga's predators include Killer Whales and Polar Bears, but increasing human interference with their habitat, and illegal hunting is decreasing Beluga populations (5).
Specific Adaptations to the Environment
Belugas are highly adapted to live in their icy environment. They can swim backwards and forwards in order to avoid icy and other obstacles they may encounter in the Arctic regions (1). Belugas swim slower than most other whales, about 3-9 km/h, lower their heart rate while diving, which helps conserve energy (1). They breathe through a single blowhole, which opens and closes muscularly to keep out water, which is key to living in an aquatic environment (1). They also have a long breath-hold, which entails more air to enter their lungs when they breathe, allowing them to survive underwater for extended periods of time (1). Moreover, belugas store most of their body fat in the form of blubber just below their skin (1). This layer streamlines the beluga's body, insulates vital organs and also functions as an energy reserve (3). Belugas have no dorsal fin, which reduces heat loss and avoids interference with ice and obstacles (1). In addition, their neck vertebrae are not fused together which allows them to rotate their head and neck more freely (1). Most interestingly, belugas have a melon, which is a thick skin with a thick layer of blubber underneath, which forms a bulbous shape on the top of their head (1). This allows the whales to ram through thick ice, should they need to create a breathing hole (1).
Reproductive Characteristics and Life Cycle:
Male belugas become sexually mature around 8-9 years of age and females around 4-7 years of age (1). They mate between March and May in small bays and river openings, and are born in the same area (3). A single male may impregnate several females in one breeding season with the gestation period lasting between 14 and 15 months (2). A female may give birth to a single baby every 2-3 years, with twins being a rare occurrence (4). Baby belugas are generally 1.5 metres in length and about 80 kg (1). They are born brown, become darker grey or bluish, then yellowish, and turn almost pure white around sexual maturity (1). Beluga calves can swim at birth and the mother beluga's nurse the calves until around 1 year of age, when their teeth come in (1). Mothers and claves often group together, away from the males of the group where the calves earn survival behaviors by observing and mimicking the actions of the adults in their pod (4). They reach full size around 10 years of age and have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years of age (1).
Information on the Internet
- Beluga Whales An extensive link providing scientific information, data and graphs about beluga life, research and habitat.
- Belugas This simple childrens website provides simple and concise information, most interestingly about belugas communication through echolocation.
- Beluga Whales A fairly extensive link that provides very interesting information about the threats and protection about belugas.
- Canadian Beluga Whales A Canadian Government link with information surrounding the movement, habitat, threats and behaviors about belugas living in Canada.
- Beluga Whales A fairly extensive site defining the belugas physiological structure in addition to their habitat and environmental adaptations.


text:
WATCH: 'Hero' N.Y. bus driver saves student from being hit by car
A New York school bus driver is being called a hero after she saved a student from being hit by a car.
The incident, which was caught on surveillance video, happened April 26 on State Route 12, according to the Norwich City School District.
The bus, driven by Samantha Call, had stopped to let a student exit. The red lights were flashing and a stop arm had been extended, but that didn't prevent an impatient motorist from zipping around the bus.
Call had just opened the door when the car flew past. Spotting the vehicle, she quickly grabbed the student's jacket to keep him inside the bus, likely preventing him from being injured or even killed.
"This is exactly why you should NEVER pass a school bus when the stop arm is out and the red lights are flashing," the school district said on its Facebook page.
The Facebook post referred to Call, who has driven school buses for Norwich for six years, as an "angel" and a "hero."
"Samantha did an outstanding job," Norwich City School District transportation supervisor William Loomis said. "All of our drivers undergo continuous training so they're prepared to handle situations like this. We hope this video helps everyone to realize the dangers of passing a stopped school bus."


text:
This beautiful shoot never made it to the publishers due to a technical hitch, so here it is only 2 years later!
I was recently honored to photograph newborn Remy and his lovely family.
we had planned a maternity shoot; which ended up being the day of birth!
i met this gorgeous bundle when he was two weeks! ahhhh sweetness.
he slept for the entire first 1 and a half hours! then peeped open for a few family photographs.
May you have a good and happy life on earth xx
new babies never fail to leave me in awe of the powerful mystery and strength and surrender possible in a woman's being, and the magic that man and woman can co-create.


text:
Adobe's Flash Player software is on 99 percent of Internet-connected desktops, offering up multimedia and video capabilities on a multitude of popular Web sites such as YouTube. But the Adobe Flash platform has been beset by a rash of security problems that give intruders potential access to computers running the software.
Issues have included one recent vulnerability described as "frighteningly bad" by a security expert. Technologists, however, disagree on the severity of Flash's weaknesses. Some say Flash is merely a victim of its own success, attracting attention from those with bad intentions but being no worse off than other software platforms when it comes to its inherent security. An alternate opinion is that Adobe simply lacks tight security practices in its internal development procedure and so has become a preferred vector for cyberthieves.
[ Keep up on good security practices with Roger A. Grimes' Security Adviser blog and with our Security Central newsletter, both only at InfoWorld. | Learn why Web application security is a growing problem for enterprises. ]
A review of Flash-focused security incidents of late raises eyebrows:
- Just last week, Adobe issued a critical patch for both Flash and AIR; the fixed flaws included what Adobe called "a vulnerability in the parsing of JPEG data that could potentially lead to code execution."
- Foreground Security in November detailed what one company official has described as a "frighteningly bad" security flaw in which an attacker can put a malicious Flash object on a Web site via user-generated content capabilities. Malicious scripts can then be executed.
- Adobe in July confirmed a Flash zero-day bug in its Flash and Reader software had a critical vulnerability on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris operating systems that could cause a crash and enable an intruder to take control of a system. Product updates were issued to resolve the problem.
- Adobe also in July issued a patch for 12 vulnerabilities in Flash Player, 10 of which could lead to hijacked systems or hackers executing malware.
- Adobe in February released a bulletin about a potential vulnerability in Flash Player that could allow an attacker to take control of an affected system. The company issued a patch and advised users to upgrade their Flash Player software.
- In October 2008, Adobe warned of a Flash vulnerability that would let hackers use "clickjacking" attacks to secretly turn on a computer's microphone and Web camera. That vulnerability was later fixed through an update.
Is Adobe immature when it comes to security?
Adobe, says Foreground CIO Mike Murray, suffers from immaturity in its software development processes: "Adobe is just big enough that its issues [are starting] to impact the whole Internet."
"They haven't yet developed the security discipline around their software," although that is changing, he says. He contends that Adobe is only now coming to grips with the fact that its software's popularity means it needs to be more security-conscious in development practices, noting that Microsoft had to come to the same realization several years back, which resulted in its Security Development Lifecycle processes.
As an example of Adobe's security naivete, Foreground reported a nuanced issue in which hackers could exploit the Flash and ActionScript same-origin policy for domains, which limits code execution to the domain from which it originated. Through Flash, attackers could disguise malicious code, upload the code to a site, and enable it to steal a password or cause other problems, Murray says.
"[Adobe] could fix it if they changed the same-domain origin policy to be more restrictive, but many sites rely on the laxness of that policy," Murray says. Thus, a fix could cause incompatibilities on Web sites.
Adobe says its security practices are up to snuff
Adobe rejects the notion that its internal security practices for software development are immature. "That's flat-out wrong," says Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy. The company's security practices are among the "most mature of any [software developer]," he says.
Adobe's current approach to security, its Secure Product Lifecycle (SPLC) plan, has been in place since Adobe's merger with Macromedia in 2005. "[SPLC] defines how we integrate software security into the way that we build software," Arkin says.
Through SPLC, Adobe starts out a release by examining specifications in design for any potential security problems. Threat modeling and automated and manual code reviews are performed along with security testing, Arkin says. "In Flash Player, every code change and every new feature is evaluated for its security impact to the product," he says.
"Adobe is vigilant in doing everything that we can to prevent any new vulnerabilities from being introduced and also [in] reacting swiftly to any vulnerabilities that are identified after we ship a product," Arkin says. "A lot of our practices are similar to what Microsoft does."
Adobe's software is targeted by bad actors because it is deployed on so many PCs, Arkin says. The company, he notes, has had regularly scheduled security updates for Flash Player this year. And he says there have been no calamities associated with the security of Flash or Adobe's Acrobat or Reader technologies.
Arkin downplays Foreground's issue with the same-origin policy: "There's nothing new. It's not news. The same-origin policy is a standard model for Web security," Arkin says. Allowing uploading of content to a site presents inherent risks, he notes: "If you allow somebody to upload code to your Web site, then it's not your Web site anymore."
That's why Web developers need to make sure they have been careful in reducing risks when it comes to how their apps handle the uploading of "active content," such as user-generated content, to a Web site. They should perform careful input validation to restrict the types of files that can be uploaded, Arkin says: "If anything is submitted outside the boundaries of what you're expecting, you would reject it."
Thomas Kristensen, CTO at security firm Secunia, agrees that the same-name origin issue is not a security flaw by a natural vulnerability. "It is by design, and it is expected for Flash to behave in this way," he says, and to avoid the vulnerability means the Web site developers need to take the security responsibility, such as by allowing content to be uploaded only to a different domain than the primary one.
Web developers should make sure domain policies are being handled correctly and that their inputs and outputs are being dealt with properly if sensitive information is involved, says Brian Huntley, a Flash developer at Web development and services company WebEnertia.
Flash's popularity makes it a favorite target
"I don't know if anything we typically do in Flash is terribly worrisome because we're generally not handling sensitive information with the Flash side of things, but if we were to, there's definitely some vulnerability issues that are concerning," Huntley says.
But "I don't know if [Flash] is less secure" than any other software platform, Huntley says. Gartner analyst Ray Valdes concurs: "Flash has been around for many years. It's on 800 million PCs, it's on 98 percent of Internet-connected devices. Given all those numbers, I think its track record is actually very good in regard to security."
Flash has the same issues as other software in regard to security, says Secunia's Kristensen. "The problem with Flash, as well as for a lot of other software, is that there [are] some programming errors in it that can be exploited by the bad guys to conduct malicious actions on end-users' PCs," Kristensen says. These errors are what led to many of the Flash vulnerabilities seen this year, he notes.
Flash's travails are the "nature of the beast," says Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee, which works closely with Adobe. Anything getting a lot of play through a browser -- such as the Flash plug-in -- attracts the attention of those with bad intentions. "The code is really being strongly looked at by the underground," Marcus says.
More frequent patching would lessen users' risks
One way users and businesses can lessen the risks of falling victim to vulnerabilities in Flash is to update the software quickly once updates are released. Secunia's Kristensen notes that many users wait weeks or months after a patch appears before applying it -- leaving them unnecessarily vulnerable. By contrast, users and businesses typically apply Microsoft patches within a few days of their release. He suggests that businesses manage and patch Adobe software as they do Microsoft apps: "I see absolutely no excuse why you shouldn't patch the day after the patch is released."
"Adobe, much to its credit, is doing the right thing by going forward with a monthly patching schedule," says WebEnertia's Huntley. To adopt those patches quickly, WebEnertia installs code to check for the latest Flash versioning.
"I wouldn't be overly concerned about running Flash in a corporate network," says Secunia's Kristensen -- assuming Adobe's security patches are quickly implemented and site developers appropriately deal with risks such as same-name origin through proper domain policies.
This article, "Adobe Flash's security woes: How to protect yourself," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in security and application development at InfoWorld.com.


text:
Family Secrets Lurking 2.0
Serendipity Surrounds the Secret
Robert and May Stephenson Minor were reported to travel extensively, and I have always presumed it was due to wanderlust and adventure. The Donald Minor Postcard Collection (1906-1910) contained examples of photo cards from Niagara Falls, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Charleston, West Virginia and Markleton, Pennsylvania; postmark ink lent support to the family recollections. The notes from these same cards offer a different explanation, however, particularly when read after the 1941 exchange between Robert and son Donald.
In a card postmarked from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on 24 March 1910, Robert writes:
Arived here all right – feeling fairly well to day can't tell you just where to write yet or less you write to the saint Charles hotel. I would be there. On my pill every day. R. M.
Robert writes again on 5 April 1910:
Donald are you well and enjoying yourself. Is rover all right. I would like to have you over here to be with me for company. we might go a hunting with rover. I am not feeling very good I have the headaches prety bad to day. What are the folks doing. Could you wright to me. From Papa
Donald was just shy of his eighth birthday when his forty year old father sent this card, inviting the boy and his dog, Rover, to come hunting. Robert's headaches must have been a debilitating, chronic fact of life which even a young child would have known about. I am not sensing adventure in the travels of 1910; Robert, it seems, suffered from migraines that took him on a search for relief, not a journey of adventure. The card's postmark reveals the clue about where he sought relief that spring of 1910 – Markleton, Pennsylvania. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains, this town was home to a grand health resort.
Robert Minor traveled a lot in 1910; Donald's postcards indicate that Robert was in Pittsburgh in February and March; Markleton in April; Buffalo in May and June; Pittsburgh in September; and Markleton in October – with Donald.
This card was sent to Donald by his uncle John P. Minor, Robert's eldest brother.
Donald how are you geting a long ar you having a nise time dont you get lost in the mountans from Uncle John P Minor
Don't get lost in the mountains, like the secret of Robert's condition.
I wonder how long Robert suffered from headaches. Was Robert hospitalized in 1941 for the same chronic condition? When did his headaches start? What events precipitated his incapacitating condition? And how did these absences affect little Donald?
The secret lurking in my work room is become sharper, easier to imagine and envision.


text:
Whoa. Grab some tea, because Aunt Viv is serving some serious shade tonight.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Janet Hubert just came out swingin' at former co-star Will Smith and his ladylove Jada Pinkett-Smith, who recently released a video voicing her desire to boycott the Oscars for the lack of diversity in their nominees.
Hubert released a 4-minute video on YouTube calling Jada out, and goodness, the sass cannot be denied.
"First of all, Miss Thing," she began (oh yeah, we're not kidding), "does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?" OH SNAP.
She continued, "The second thing, girlfriend, there's a lot of s--t going on in the world that you all don't seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you're talking about some [expletive] actors and Oscars. It just ain't that deep."
Hubert went on to say, "And here's the other thing, for you to ask other actors, and other black actresses and actors, too, to jeopardize their career and their standing in a town that you know damn well you don't do that. And here's the other thing—they don't care. They don't care! And I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living, made their living and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win."
There is obvious bad blood between the former sitcom star and Will Smith (cue the awkward Aunt Viv switcheroo that we were supposed to just let go unnoticed), and she made sure to comment on that, too.
"Well karma must be a bitch, cause now here you are. Here you are, you've had a few flops and you know there are those out there who really deserved a nod," she said.
"At the Oscars...people of color are always welcomed to give out awards...even entertain," Jada wrote on Twitter. "But we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Should people of color refrain from participating all together? People can only treat us in the way in which we allow. With much respect in the midst of deep disappointment."
The lack of diversity in this year's Oscar nominations was noticed from the get-go, and instantly resurfaced the popular hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
With the controversy (clearly) on everyone's minds and the topic of numerous conversations, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs released the following statement tonight:
"I'd like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year's nominees," she said. "While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes.
"The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond," Boone Isaacs said in what amounted to a rare and unusual move on the part of the Academy.
"As many of you know," she continued, "we have implemented changes to diversify our membership in the last four years. But the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more, and better and more quickly."
"This isn't unprecedented for the Academy," Isaacs added. "In the '60s and '70s, it was about recruiting younger members to stay vital and relevant. In 2016, the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. We recognize the very real concerns of our community, and I so appreciate all of you who have reached out to me in our effort to move forward together."


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Here's a clever promotion from Toronto salon and spa Ritual.
The "Bye Bye Bush" promotion offers 20% off Brazilian waxes tomorrow only. It's a way Canadians can get in on the fun and bid riddance to unwanted bushes (Bushes?) of all types.
The Huffington Post reported Friday on a similar promotion in NYC. Townhouse Spa and Beauty Bar in Manhattan is offering 40 per cent off bikini or Brazilian waxes. "This may be the first good thing that Bush has done for women in 8 years," The Huffington Post writes.


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text:
Because no one can be certain about one's own ability to participate in the future, I have a couple of ideas in the works that I'd like to post to the future just in case I (for some reason) don't get around to it before then.
First amongst these is this, an idea Chris Hackman and I developed while young astrophysics majors at the Univerisity of Wyoming in early 2000:
The Antithetic Force
In my view the so-called Hubble Constant is in dire need of a reevaluation in the context of Dark Energy. I believe the two phenomena are actually the same, and further, that they together represent the evidence of Gravity's "missing pole" – that is, the push to balance gravity's pull. (In other words, "antigravity.")
I call this force "Antithy," which as I propose it is a fundamental property of matter – a repulsive force that increases in strength proportionally with distance (i.e., the father away two objects are from one-another, the more strongly they repel). This is in direct conceptual opposition to Gravity, which is a fundamental property of matter – an attractive force that decreases in strength proportionally with distance (i.e., the closer together two objects are from one-another, the more strongly they attract).
At first blush, this proposition seems impossible, as soon all objects would be accelerated from one-another beyond the speed of light and the universe quickly undergoes infinite expansion. However, this conclusion is made without considering the very important spacetime curvature implications of General Relativity. When looking at the cosmological implications of an Antithetic force from a higher-dimensional context, one quickly realizes that such a force produces an initially-expanding but self-closing universe. The closure quickly solves Antithy's own problem, for once closed, the Antithetic Force works in all directions, supplying a sort of repulsive pressure across the universe to counteract initial expansion and shepherd all of the matter in the universe into equilibrium positions with respect to all other matter (like a web of repulsive magnets on the surface of a sphere).
With this in mind, on small cosmological scales, Gravity dominates. On large cosmological scales, Antithy dominates. Thus, Gravity/Antithy is not the weakest but the strongest fundamental force.
I strongly suspect that Antithy is why a consistent value for the Hubble Constant proves perpetually elusive, and Antithy supplies an additional force to explain the nature of "galactic bubbling" in cosmological structure as well as explain the presence of a force attributable to pervasive "dark matter."
There you go. I'm trying as hard as I can to get this proposition into a publication for critical review, but tempus fugit.
Consider this post a backup for posterity.
Ben McGee
August 9, 2012; 03:00pm


text:
The Nerdy White Rapper Who Launched Two Internet Sensations in 24 Hours
Melanin-deficient battle rapper Mac Lethal's pancake-focused cover of Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now"—which he recorded while making pancakes—has garnered nearly half a million views since being uploaded to YouTube about 24 hours ago. Why? Because as you'll see above, it's amazing. But also: because it hit the top of Reddit's front page shortly after appearing online Wednesday morning, immediately taking its place in the Viral Video Hall of Fame and giving its creator some of the Internet's best temporary bragging rights.
If you checked Reddit within the last few hours, you would've seen the top of the front page occupied by a submission that read, "Bennett seems like an outstanding individual..." and linked to a Tumblr called Texts From Bennett. The Tumblr displays iPhone screenshots of text message conversations between the site's creator and Bennett, his 17-year-old cousin who "thinks he's a Crip, works at Amoco, has a girlfriend named Mercedes, and is one of the most unintentionally funny and brilliant souls on the planet." And yes, a quick perusal of the site—or a click on the image to the left—will confirm Bennett's unintentional brillance.
At this point you're probably wondering what the hell Mac Lethal's pancake rap video has to do with the Texts From Bennett Tumblr, besides the fact they both "went viral" on the same day.
Allow Reddit user Metalstar00 to explain:
The rapper who was on this video from earlier today on Reddit, Mac Lethal, is Bennett's cousin. He's the one texting him.
That's right: pancake rapper Mac Lethal is the cousin of prolific texter Bennett—yes, that cousin, and yes, for real—the green to Bennet's grey and the recipient of so many stupidly brilliant texts from Bennett that he created a website just to showcase them.
What a family.
Update: The Smoking Gun is reporting that Bennett may not actually exist.


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text:
We had a great visit to Holyroodhouse Palace and the Ruins of Holyrood Abbey. The castle is the Queen's official residence in Scotland but she only spends about a week each year at Holyrood. The rest of her time in Scotland is spend at her favorite, Balmoral Castle. Would love to visit Balmoral but unfortunately it's closed this time of year.
Holyroodhouse Palace is located at the bottom of the Royal Mile and is next to the very modern Scottish Parliament Building. There has been a royal presence at Holyroodhouse since 1126 which is when the Abbey was built by King David I of Scotland. The Royal apartments are filled with many beautiful paintings, tapestries, period furniture and other works of art.
I had heard the story about Mary Queen of Scots jealous 2nd husband killing her Italian male secretary at the Palace so it was weird to see the very spot he was murdered . He was stabbed over 50 times ( how "Psycho" of her husband). Mary was held with a pistol pointed at her while she witnessed the entire event. Always some kind of drama with the monarchy.
Photography is not allowed in the palace but I was able to take a few photos around the palace and at the Abbey. It was grey with snow flurries on and off all day. Hoping for a little sunshine tomorrow for our drive to the Highlands.


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Despite the abysmal news coming out of Spain, the Barcelona startup scene is powering on. The Barcelona Startup Fair: Recruitment & Beer is showing local and international talent, that there are great things happening in the Barcelona tech scene; an scene with an unparalleled lifestyle compared to any other major tech cluster in Europe.
A group of 25 companies including Robot Media have come together to hold a joint recruitment event this June 12 at the Antiga Fabrica of local beer maker Estrella Damm. Between all the companies there are around 80 new jobs in internet based companies which need to be filled, primarily in technical and design roles.
The Barcelona Startup Fair: Recruitment and Beer will give access to 350 developers and designers. The organizers are working on a great mix between local talent, people from technical and creative schools, plus internationals who want to execute their great work in Barcelona.
To attend register here and don't forget to come along to the after party, for a few more drinks and talking startups. www.revivelanoche.com will organize the after party.
See you there!


text:
Wolff will focus on wages, jobs, taxes, and debts – and on interest rates, prices, and profits. We aim to explain why certain economic changes are happening and other changes get postponed or blocked and we will explore alternative ways to organize enterprises, markets, and government policies. Economic Update is a weekly show for people who want to understand and change not only their own financial situation but also the larger economy we all depend on.
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text:
Haiti Group Demands U.N. Pay for Cholera Outbreak
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A human rights group said Tuesday it has filed claims with the United Nations seeking damages on behalf of more than 5,000 Haitian cholera victims and their families.
The claims filed by the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti argue that the U.N. and its peacekeeping force are liable for hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to adequately screen peacekeeping soldiers.
They cite a range of studies that indicate the infected soldiers caused the outbreak when untreated waste from a U.N. base was dumped into a tributary of Haiti's most important river.
"The sickness, death and ongoing harm from cholera suffered by Haiti's citizens are a product of the U.N.'s multiple failures," the complaint reads. "These failures constitute negligence, gross negligence, recklessness, and deliberate indifference for the lives of Haitians."
Cholera has sickened nearly 500,000 people and killed more than 6,500 others since it surfaced in Haiti in October 2010, according to the Haitian Health Ministry. Evidence suggests that the disease was inadvertently brought to Haiti by a U.N. battalion from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. A local contractor failed to properly sanitize the waste of a U.N. base, and the bacteria leaked into a tributary of one of Haiti's biggest rivers, according to a study by a U.N. appointed panel.
The disease spread throughout Haiti because of poor sanitation, and the country now has the highest cholera infection rate in the world.
There had been no documented cases of the disease prior to its arrival, and medical workers say the disease is likely to become endemic.
Cholera is caused by a bacteria found in contaminated water or food, and can kill people within hours through dehydration. It is easily treatable if caught in time.
The Institute filed the petition on Thursday with the Office of the Secretary General in New York and with the claims unit for the mission in Port-au-Prince, said Brian Concannon, an attorney who is director of the Institute.
Concannon said he hoped the U.N. mission would set up a tribunal to evaluate the claims. He also said he hoped the U.N. force would create a lifesaving program that would provide sanitation, potable water and medical treatment. He also said he wants a public apology.
"We're obviously hoping that the U.N. will step up and do the right thing," he said by telephone.
If that doesn't happen, the group plans to file the claims in a Haitian court, he said.
The petitioners include families who saw breadwinners die from cholera, and the Institute said some families spent their life savings and went into debt to pay for funerals.
The Institute is also seeking a minimum of $100,000 for each bereaved family and $50,000 for each cholera survivor.
U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg said she was aware that a group was planning to file the complaint, but couldn't confirm that a claim presented to her was the same one officially received by the United Nations.
"In any case, the petition, when it is received, should be transferred to the legal office and headquarters," Van Den Wildenberg said.
Moving forward on the case could be tricky.
The U.N. has immunity from national courts but "one would hope that the Secretary General would address this with great moral seriousness," Ruth Wedgwood, a professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, said after reading the petition. "It's a lot of money but if the facts as alleged as true it's a serious harm."
The U.N. force, known by its French acronym Minustah, arrived in 2004 following the ouster of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The mission's mandate was renewed last month for another year, though troop numbers are being reduced from almost 13,000 to 11,500.
The renewal coincided with anti-U.N. protests in Haiti. Demonstrators accused the world body of doing more harm than good, citing the cholera outbreak and an unrelated abuse scandal involving Uruguayan sailors.
The peacekeeping mission has helped keep order in the country and ensured two peaceful transfers of power but some Haitians view the force as an affront to national sovereignty.


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2 June 2015: Royal Academy of Arts Dinner
2 December 2014: Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace
*As always, only those specifically covered here or at the other blog are listed.
Photo: via Getty Images
The Buckingham Palace ballroom is now set up as it would be for a State Banquet, for the summer opening to the public pic.twitter.com/3M3Wgx7XP0
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) July 24, 2015
Video:@HarryPotterFilm's Sir @WithJohnHurt receives British Knighthood, talks cancer treatment http://t.co/h0Z0mLygu9 pic.twitter.com/FN73z2ewtE
— SnitchSeeker.com (@SnitchSeeker) July 17, 2015
For more: EDP article, British Monarchy Flickr.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive for Princess Charlotte's christening http://t.co/gJsRTJIdmx pic.twitter.com/yy31YQdTXK
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 5, 2015
Not seen in this snap (but seen elsewhere), The Queen was wearing the Cambridge Pearl Pendant Brooch.
Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visit @UniStrathclyde's £89m research centre http://t.co/4rFJHdaa7F pic.twitter.com/zFAqpCbhQ7
— Scotsman (@TheScotsman) July 3, 2015
That's definitely a stray bit of Muppet fluff on her hat, but I still love that cornflower blue with the darker sapphire and pearl of Empress Marie Feodorovna's brooch. Delicious.
|Observing a moment of silence for the Tunisia victims. Click here for video.
HM received a warm welcome from The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, and from the Veterans' guests and families pic.twitter.com/iDRo8sjRO1
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) July 2, 2015
The Queen meets Veterans and Guests of The Scottish Veterans Garden City Association to mark their Centenary pic.twitter.com/1ZvriUfPFc
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) July 2, 2015
I like this color on HM, it's good for brooch highlighting (which, obvs, is the only priority). This is a good hat too, so I'm giving this appearance an A+ all around.
The Queen visits Salvesen Gardens housing complex for disabled veterans in Edinburgh. Pictures: Andrew Milligan/PA pic.twitter.com/TqAWdUTrd5
— Press Association (@PA) July 2, 2015
Some more highlights from today's #GardenParty at the Palace of Holyroodhouse #QueeninScotland pic.twitter.com/kiRCwHht7J
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) July 1, 2015
Looks like the Kent Amethyst, and I do like the lilac outfit against the lush green and stone background here.
HM holds audiences with @NicolaSturgeon and @TriciaMarwickPO, Presiding Officer of @ScotParl #QueeninScotland pic.twitter.com/lGuQTZPVtW
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) July 1, 2015


text:
I am sitting staring at a computer screen. So far so banal, except that this screen features a red dot that, by some technological magic, tracks the movement of my eyes: I can place it where I want on the screen just by looking. The bottom of the screen portrays a keyboard, although I could, if I chose, select other screens made up of various vocabulary, grammar and expression-based menus, which, for experienced users, would doubtless speed things up.
Because this is painstaking. I look at a letter, and the red dot sits on it. I continue staring, and the dot blinks, twice. The letter then pops up at the top of the screen. I move on to the next letter (or, more often, the backspace).
It gets easier: there's predictive text, like on a mobile phone, so I stare at the word I want, which gets added to my sentence. Eventually, the phrase is complete. I stare at it and it blinks. "What an amazing machine," says a cool, synthesised voice. "Rather let down by its user."
This is eye-gaze technology, at the leading edge of a fast-evolving and – for those who need it – vital field known as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), plus the closely related assistive technology (AT). Without it, we would have been denied access to the remarkable mind of Professor Stephen Hawking (not to mention his starring role at the Paralympics opening ceremony). Nor would the locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson have been able to express so memorably – using eye-gaze – his despair at being refused the right to an assisted suicide. Hawking, with characteristic elegance, summarises its value: "Even more important than the freedom of speech is the freedom to speak."
Most of us know nothing about it. Worse, says Anna Reeves of the ACE Centre, a national charity that provides independent AAC assessments, advice and training, "a lot of people who need it have real trouble getting it. The funding's a mess. It falls between education and health, and most local authorities don't have specific budgets for it."
Yet AAC can be life-changing. Alan Martin, who developed cerebral palsy as an infant, was 31 before friends clubbed together to buy his first communication aid. "Before that," he explains in one of several pre-recorded messages he can activate on his current machine, "I relied on facial expressions and gestures. It was very frustrating."
Jovial and instantly engaging, Martin now runs his own company, Mouse on the Move, providing inclusive dance workshops for people with disabilities. To talk, and teach, he uses a wheelchair-mounted portable computer. He has reasonable control of his right arm, so uses a finger to press symbols on the screen that open up successive folders of images, words and frequently used phrases. He can also send emails and – an exciting new addition – text messages through a mobile phone connected to his computer. The whole system, Reeves says, cost around £8,000, and is in the middle of a spectrum of more than 100 different kinds of communication aids. ("Rubbish," says Martin succinctly, when asked what he thought of his first device.)
At one end are simple picture books and communication boards from which users select letters, words, phrases, pictures or symbols to communicate their message. Simple electronic devices contain digitised speech messages pre-recorded by a family member or carer and activated by a big button. More sophisticated boards hold up to 32 symbols and attached messages.
But helpful as these devices are, they are limited to pre-set messages. Computer-generated speech lets users say what they want to say. A portable machine called the Lightwriter has existed since the 1970s, allowing people who can type to display messages on a screen and also speak synthetically. More recently, says Reeves, "we've seen some great apps being developed for iPads and the like. If they work for you, they're brilliant. Especially for kids, because they're cool."
One, Proloquo2Go, even features a couple of authentic British children's voices, as well as "sad" and "happy" versions of the same voice; until recently synthesised speech robbed users of accent, emotion and intonation. Alan, who was born on Merseyside and is a huge Liverpool fan, would love to be able to speak scouse.
At the top end are the systems used by Martin, Nicklinson and Hawking: fully functioning computers, controlled in any number of ingenious ways. Hawking now uses a muscle in his cheek; another system moves the mouse through minuscule lip movement. These systems are capable of emailing, texting and even opening doors, turning on lights and operating the telly.
There are, Reeves says, perhaps 260,000 people in Britain using AAC equipment, about 10% of them using this kind of hi-tech aid. Their conditions range from serious physical and learning disabilities through sensory impairment to autism, motor neurone disease, stroke and, commonly, cerebral palsy. "There are also many who are undiagnosed, who simply present to us with an inability to communicate," she says. "It's far more common than people think."
Formed this summer by the merger of two separate charities to develop what would be, astonishingly, Britain's first national AAC/AT service, the ACE Centre holds open information days, carries out in-depth needs assessments on individuals, and advises and trains children and adults with AAC needs as well as teachers and carers.
But it doesn't have the money to provide actual aids for any longer than a short test period. Reeves wants to see a proper, secure, nationwide provision model that would ensure everyone in the country who needs communication aids gets them, preferably on long-term loan. "At the moment," she says, "we feel a bit like ladies in a sweet shop. We say: 'Look, this is all the lovely stuff available. Now fund it.' Which is wrong: communication is not a privilege, it's a fundamental right."
For futher information visit: ace-centre.org.uk, communicationmatters.org.uk


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Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that my posts have been less frequent in the past year. In lieu of my usual holiday "snailmail" letter, here's an update.
Late 2014 turned out to be difficult. Janice and I traveled to Pennsylvania and New York City to visit an ailing uncle of hers and our college friend Steve A.L., respectively. Both of them died, so we drove back down to their funerals.
Mike H., the manager of the Compleat Strategist in Boston, also died, joining Robert A.S. and other role-playing friends whom we lost in the past few years.
After the usual holiday travel to see our families in Upstate New York and Virginia, Janice and I got sick in early January 2015, followed by a very snowy winter in the U.S. Northeast.
I then changed jobs in March 2015 (Janice had changed technical writer positions in September 2014). This has been the main thing keeping me from blogging.
After about six years as an editor managing a TT site about Windows enterprise desktops, I began working at EH/RBR as a writer covering robots. My former colleagues gave me a very nice going-away party, and a few have stayed in touch, joining former co-workers from BNA and IDG/CW.
Robotics has been an interesting beat, as I've learned a lot by trying to keep up with the business news around this rapidly developing technology. I've also had the good fortune to travel to events in Milan, Italy; San Jose, Calif., and soon, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
In the coming months, I may also get to travel to Canada, Denmark, and Lithuania for work. While I don't particularly enjoy spending time in airports or cramped airplane seats, any chance to see the world, meet new people, and eat new food is a good one!
I got to tag along with Janice to Limerick, Ireland, and we really liked exploring the Cliffs of Moher, various castles, and the beautiful countryside. Janice and I have also returned to regular arts fairs such as the Lowell Folk Festival and the Christmas Revels.
In the meantime, Janice and I have kept busy, hosting college pal David I.S. & Sandra K. for last New Year's and the wedding reception of mutual friends Thomas K.Y. & Kai-Yin H.
We also hosted her family for Easter and her 50th birthday, grad school chum Erik B.L. and his family, and St. Louis-based gamer Byron V.O., who may be visiting again later this month.
In late August, we met my family in Ogunquit, Maine, to celebrate my mother's 85th birthday, my father's 80th birthday, and Janice's and my 20th wedding anniversary. So many milestones!
I also attended genre entertainment conventions including Anime Boston, the Tampa Bay Area Renaissance Festival, the Watch City Steampunk Festival, the Boston Comic Con, and the Rhode Island Comic Con. All of them had the usual cosplayers, fun panels and autograph sessions with celebrities, and tempting artist and vendor booths.
We recently spent Christmas at my brother and his family's new house in Northern Virginia, and we met some friends in Westchester, N.Y., on the way home. Some of us have started planning reunion gatherings to celebrate the 30 years since we graduated from high school and began college.
Three nights a week, I've continued my role-playing games and historical weapons classes. My D20/FATE "Vanished Lands" fantasy campaign has given way to two adventuring parties using Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (D&D5e).
Fellow Game Master Jason E.R.'s "Star Wars: Dark Times" scenario (using Savage Worlds) just ended its latest chapter, and we're about to start Bruce K.'s D&D5e "Kings and Pawns" space opera miniseries. The latest "episodes" of my D20/FATE "Star Trek: Restoration" game also went well.
Speaking of ongoing series, I've been enjoying the latest wave of fantasy, horror, superhero, and science fiction shows on television (more on that to come). I saw fewer movies in theaters in 2015 than in previous years, but I've gotten pickier, and time has been limited.
I've also been reading several SF magazines and Web sites, assorted pulp comic books, and various novels (mainly with the "Escapists" book club). So much to do, so little time!
I'll try to post more specific reviews in the coming year, and I wish all of you a healthy, peaceful, and Happy New Year!


text:
Inspired by the luxe loco moco dreamed up by Animal, the Gastronomer and I decided to do a taste comparison that I'm officially dubbing "Loco for Loco Moco: No Joke-O." For part one, we would sample the original version: rice, hamburger/spam and eggs over easy, covered in gravy.
Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts in our busy and fabulous lives, we had to do our base tastings at separate places. A cursory search for loco moco in Los Angeles, had brought up a two-year-old Chowhound thread where the consensus was that Bruddah's serves up the best in LA.
Bruddah's is found in an unassuming location on Gardena Blvd., which had a very Main Street style feel that seems to have seen better days. Normally that would be quite a drive from the Valley, but I was on my way to San Diego so it was kind of on the way.
I snapped this pic when the lunch rush was slowing down, but earlier the place was filled with locals.
I ordered the loco moco with spam ($6.95) instead of hamburger, which was a dollar more. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating to be confronted with this big brown blob. I wondered what I'd gotten myself into.
I seemed to have had a better introductory experience to loco moco than the Gastronomer, though. We compared notes the next day and I believe her exact words were: "Did you vom?"
On the contrary, I consumed nearly all of my heaping Hawaiian heart attack on a plate. It was the fried Spam that took it to a supremely salty level that I liked. (Tasted much better than the Spam I remembered eating from our elementary school earthquake kits. SoCal kids, you know what I'm talking about.) The gooey egg yolk and mushy overall texture made it great comfort food.
Bruddah's Hawaiian Foods
1033 W. Gardena Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90247
P.S. Wikipedia tells a charming, questionably authentic origin story of the dish, that it was created by some local boys at the Lincoln Grill in Hilo, Hawaii.
"One of the boys, George Okimoto was nicknamed 'Crazy' because of the wild way he played football. Crazy in Spanish is loco so the boys named the dish loco moco just on a whim. Moco had no special meaning except it rhymed with loco, however unknown to them it happens to be Spanish for 'mucus'."
Um, ew?


text:
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text:
Unemployment Stories, Vol. Four: Pride and Pain
America is in an unemployment crisis. Every week, we're bringing you true firsthand stories from unemployed Americans. Today: pain, fear, hope, and desperation. This is what's happening out there.
My identity had been my job
For the second time in a year, I am unemployed. This time, it's still fresh; just under a week ago, I was told that due to a "new strategic direction" my title was no longer needed at a small nonprofit. Not my skills writing, managing programs, analyzing data, providing web content - my title. An arbitrarily assigned thing for which there was no actual job description, except the one I'd written for review a month or two prior that was still wasting away in the recipient's email.
We'd been having some funding issues, and something had to be done, but I thought I had a couple months left. I'd been offering to do whatever I could for anything I knew had incoming grants to complete, and working long hours/weekends/skipping lunch. I still think that maybe I should've seen it coming: multiple things I was working on were either halted indefinitely pending receipt of funding that was ten months late, or had been cut altogether. In retrospect, maybe I should've interpreted this as a shift in priorities, but even at the strategic planning meetings I participated in, I still thought I had plenty to offer as we built a membership, private donor-base, and new programs. As I tearfully collected what things I could, I was told how fantastic my work had been, how much the Board of Directors struggled with the decision, and how it "might not be permanent."
At the very end of June, 2011, I'd lost a job I held for four years. I'd been having some disagreements with a coworker about design and marketing strategy, and new ownership (then my friends) sided with her. I was admittedly difficult to work with in the most stressful times, but I'd been sincerely trying to improve that perception - and I was very good at my job. In the end, the people who mattered didn't see any change, even if others had.
However shocking it was to be fired in June, it was so many times worse last week. In 2011, I was leaving a $23,000 a year job with a pretty good resume. Money would be tight, but after a day of crying, I was immediately applying for anything that might hire me. I had excellent interviews for jobs in New York and DC that I didn't end up getting (how insanely difficult it is to get someone to believe you will absolutely move across the country to work at a national arts organization), and I was feeling more valuable as a potential employee than I'd felt in a while.
This time, it's totally different. Once I felt stable at the nonprofit, I moved to a nicer house, bought a cat, and was pretty confident in my ability to pay off student loans. My salary had almost doubled, and I had complete benefits - and felt good about the work I was doing and the experience I was gaining towards my career hopes. I was considering going back to school for a second Master's degree, this time in public administration, so I had an actual credential that wasn't related to music performance. On Thursday, the only thing I could think about was how petrified I was to go through it all again, alone. I had to request wages in lieu of notice - which I received -knowing that we'd never implemented any policies that required even that support.
No one I know has been unemployed, and I'm not sure anyone who hasn't really understands its effects. In spite of my relative resilience the first time around (three months of unemployment), it had taken me nearly a year to stop feeling insecure about my credentials, my skill-set, or my capability. My identity had been my job, and my friends from work had all disintegrated. I've always been an extremely independent person, and I felt worthless, powerless. I felt needy. I probably submitted a couple hundred resumes and individual cover letters, and heard back from only half a dozen in that three month period.
Today, it's worse. I know I'm experiencing depression, and I feel guilty for it - and I hide it. Mostly, I have been able to seem positive when I see friends (minimally). I talk about the jobs I'm applying for that seem like great fits (they really do), but I've only been able to submit a few inquiries, compared to the dozens each day last year. I have cried every day, and I have yelled at the one person I thought I could actually talk to about precisely what I'm feeling. I wonder if I'll be able to be as invested in a job again, having twice had such unexpected termination. A friend on Facebook - in response to a post about how hard it is to maintain positivity - told me, "You haven't hit rock bottom yet!" Encouraging.
The thing is, no one wants to hear about how tough it is. It's awkward. Uncomfortable. In spite of the fact that unemployment is so common, no one really wants to know how it feels. How humiliating it is to be offered a job that pays half your prior (low) salary. How hard it is to fill the empty days, because you're not able to just sleep them all away. How you worry about posting anything that isn't a chipper job search update, because employers have learned how to check Facebook. How you're not sure if you're actually qualified for this or that job, because even if you are, you're just not sure about anything anymore. And if they do listen, they aren't useful - even writing this is more therapeutic than the platitudes that are offered.
'I'm sorry, I won't stop trying'
I became unemployed June 28, 2011. I am 27 years old and my wife and I have a 4 year old son whom we adore. My wife works but does not make nearly enough to support us.
I was in the tech sales industry and mad quite a bit of money before having to take a leave of absence and working less due to a health problem I found out I would be dealing with for the rest of my life. I was definitely included in the layoffs due to my health. They pretty much said so. To make things worse, I was not able to leave that day. They notified me that I would be laid off but had to work there for the next two weeks. Immediately I thought, well fuck that, i am out of here, until they said I would not be given my measly severance if I chose to do so. Unfortunately, I really needed that money. It was only 1 week's pay for each year you had been there so that meant 3 weeks salary for me after 3 years of service. I was in sales so most of my income was from bonus anyway, the 3 weeks pay was really not much at all considering. I still needed it.
These were the most awkward two weeks of my life I think...they did trainings, had large meetings about the restructuring, etc. When this would happen some one would come up to me and the 6 others and say "you can just answer the phones". I felt as though i was being put on display. We did not have offices, it was completely open. My other co-workers still hung together while I became the guy with that contagious laid off disease no one wanted to use the bathroom after.
I finally got to leave the place and I went to file for unemployment. A surprisingly easy process. At first I felt guilty but then I remembered I had held a full time job since I was 16 (now 27) so I convinced my self that I had sort of earned the benefit of having a little help while I looked for more work.
There was no work. All the jobs i tried to get I was either overqualified for or didn't have any experience. The overqualified part was funny to me at first. I just kept thinking about how I really needed the job and they wouldn't hire me for fear that i would move on as soon as something better came along. They were right but that basically meant I needed to find the perfect job, one that I precisely qualified for which would be very hard.
Then I lost my insurance. I have 8 medications and at least 1 doctors visit per month with MRI and CT scans every 3 months. Cobra was wayyyyy too expensive, i did not qualify for medicaid and I had a pre-exisitng condition. Basically a prescription discount plan was as good as I could do for the time being.
Another obstacle I would run into is when a prospective employer would find out that i was laid off mostly because of absences which would lead to my leave of absence and me trying to explain my medical condition. The interview pretty much stops there. As a result I have had to start looking into disability.
I would really like to avoid going on disability. I want to contribute to society. In school when people ask my son what their dad does I want him to have an answer. That part alone has made me cry at night.
I have worked at some of the top corporations in the world. Now I write and rewrite my resume while watching PTI and Around the Horn. I garden a lot which relieves stress and saves money and it produces surprising amounts of fruits and vegetables. I am depressed.
Every day that passes is one that convinces me disability is the way to go. I have a very painful disease that requires lots of medication, vomiting, seizures, etc. The problem is I have never not held a job a I feel as though that would be giving in. I still search for work everyday, as hard as I can.
Lastly, it is very, very hard on me emotionally. I feel like a complete failure. I am a 27 year old "man" that is struggling to support his family. Nothing is more demeaning than not knowing if your son will have everything he needs a year from now. When he was born I used to check on him in the middle of the night, kiss him on the forehead and say "i promise I will always make sure you have everything you need and some things you want." now I go check on him in the middle of the night, kiss him on the forehead as one of my tears drops on his face and I say "i'm sorry, I won't stop trying"
The magazine editor
At the age of 30, I gave up a career in the New York performance community to pursue my lifelong dream of working for a magazine. My frugal nature and a cheap railroad flat on the Lower East Side allowed me to accept a $5-an-hour editorial assistant position for a group of niche publications. Within the year, I was a managing editor and within the decade, I was creative director for the entire operation.
In 2006, the publisher approached me about moving the business down south. Since the company was healthy and the magazines were my babies at this point, I agreed. Because a mortgage was equivalent to what I paid to rent in this new city, I soon bought a 2-bedroom bungalow with a big back yard. Nothing fancy, just something I knew I could afford even after I retired.
Unfortunately, the business had slid into heavy decline by 2010. TV and the Internet had sucked down most of our milkshake and the market was glutted with magazines of the nature we published. Many printed for pennies on the dollar outside the U.S., with bigger, glossier results. I agreed to a pay cut and as other employees were fired, I took on their jobs…anything to keep us printing.
This spring, the publisher flew in from Boca and the remaining staff and myself were fired on the spot. Almost half of my life and the near-entirety of my identity were piled into a banker's box and shoved into the back of my car within an hour's time. My final interaction with the publisher was to hand him a copy of my severance agreement. He tossed it onto one of the empty desks with a shrug. "I can't afford this."
My husband and I have been living on our savings and my unemployment, which is about a quarter of what I used to make. We have no health insurance and are spending $1900 a month for the pills and medical care that are necessary to his survival. To add insult to deep, deep injury, the house was recently devalued by $30,000, leaving us wa-a-ay upside down on the mortgage. And do I even need to say that there are zero career opportunities in a small Southern city for a 50-year old heavily tattooed woman with a liberal arts degree?
Being unemployed after so many years is a profoundly humbling experience. I often think about the people in their 30's and 40's who came to me for jobs and how I dismissed them without any real consideration, always opting for a younger person who was malleable and could live on the poor wages we offered. One woman in particular, who was completely qualified for the position in question, who came from the same place that I did philosophically and who clearly needed the job, I completely rejected because of her age and the air of desperation about her. I ended up hiring a college student who quit after a few weeks to follow his boyfriend to Austin. I wish I could say I think of that woman every time I go on a job interview, but I've had none in the four months since I've been unemployed.
I never made a huge salary, so the savings will be gone before the year's end, as will my unemployment benefits. My husband and I are talking about divorcing and sending him to live with a relative so that hopefully he can qualify for Medicaid, because without it, he won't survive. Somewhat selfishly, I worry about what will become of our three dogs. They are the children we never had and give us so much joy. It may seem slight to some, given the enormity of what's ahead, but I hate to think of our pack being torn apart.
There are positive elements to this predicament. My relationship with my husband is better than it has been in years because I can focus on us instead of my job. I read for fun and not for work, I garden (for fun and to save a buck!) and I write for myself. Thoughtful actions have replaced gut reactions and I have realized, to paraphrase Joseph Campbell, that it's the quest for the inner life that enables me to float down the stream like a human being instead of just some robot in the hands of an institution. I'm thankful for the daily spiritual growth I experience and terrified that soon it's all I will have to hold on to.
And, oh yeah, if anyone needs a versatile, thoughtful, workhorse of a copywriter/editor, please contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com.
We are lost
It was 2008, I could see the writing on the wall, at least when it came to Dubai collapsing. I had no idea the rest of the global economy was about to collapse as well. I was an international marketing consultant working with multinationals in the MENA region. It was an incredible position, great money, lots of travel, living between Abu Dhabi, Dubai & NYC.
I was let go in January of 2009. It was no surprise. I knew it was coming. Eventually the entire consulting firm went up in smoke and lost everything as did a lot of our clients.
I applied for Grad School and attempted to get my own clients… I got both… but the clients then became a nightmare.. the domino effect had begun… they stopped paying…I then couldn't pay for grad school because they stopped paying their bills.. it was a dirty nasty cycle of hell…. this was mid-2009 when my financial apocalypse nightmare became my full time misery.
I've applied for jobs from the moment I lost my job, I have AMAZING connections - top leaders, politicians, you name it… I still CANNOT get a job to save my life. All I want to do is work - I couldn't be more depressed… I beat myself up daily… I'm angry at myself that I can't seem to make things work… Why can't I take care of myself? Why do I have no money, no savings, nothing? Fortunately, I have family and friends that help me out… I have to put on a smiling face when I'm out or on social media when all I want to do is lay in bed all day and cry.
Just when I think something… and opportunity… a job… anything is going to happen… it doesn't… I have friends of mine tell me to get ANY job… retail, restaurant, anything just to keep my sanity…
A lot of my friends are in the same boat and often worse… and I don't think people want to be honest about it… we're all suffering silently because of the stigma… and there is one… trust me. We're all pretending and dying inside…
I spoke to a girlfriend of mine tonight. She's a single mother. 3 kids. I don't know how she does it? She admitted to me tonight she doesn't see what she has to look forward to… she has nothing to get up for in the morning… we agreed we wake up every morning and wish we weren't here… wish our lives were over… what kind of future do we have to look forward to if we're just barely surviving everyday with no prospects in sight?
Most days… I think about ending my life. I don't see how things are going to get better… and what kind of person am I that I can't take care of myself? If I get sick, I'm f+cked. I have no health insurance.
We are lost… and I'm not quite sure if any of us our going to find our way home? What hope do we have for a future? Kids? I can't even think about that… I'm at the point where my biggest decision is whether I should cancel my contract with AT&T for my mobile and just use my Skype number. That's my dilemma for the day and that's about all I can handle.
The underemployed college grad
My personal unemployment story isn't the worst imaginable, but it certainly feels soul-sucking enough from my end. I've actually been working steadily for a little over a year now, getting about 20 hours a week at a frozen yogurt shop. I'm two years out of college (graduated with honors, naturally) and I feel thankful that I can serve yogurt to teenagers. Before I got this job, I was unemployed for about 6 months after quitting my canvassing job. Quitting that job almost led to the Department of Human Services to deny me any food stamp benefits. Keep in mind, it was a canvassing job that I quit. I was once asked by a man holding a gun if I was a lesbian (for the record, I have what I consider, a rather full, lovely beard). Again, canvassing. My job search led to interviews for, among other jobs, a dishwashing position (a job I didn't get, and I have a feeling that the guy who did had at least a Masters degree), door-to-door office supply sales (I at least got a free sandwich when I shadowed someone for a day), a barista position (I have three years of barista experience, and I've only gotten one interview for a barista job because the lady who saw my resume liked the font) and some pizza place that seemed to think it was an amusement park. In addition, I've also been evicted from two houses without ever missing a single payment. Thanks craigslist! Both my girlfriend and I have worked as temps at various, large, evil companies (and some significantly less evil, and even some downright rad places), where longtime employees who got their jobs just after graduating high school often ask us why we aren't working a better job, since we are plenty qualified. On the plus side, because un/underemployment isn't always 100% shitty, I have had time to read about 60 books in the last two years. So if anyone wants to talk about the works of Gogol during an interview, that job is so fucking mine.
'I am going to use this time off to become a happier person'
I worked in a call center for Verizon Wireless from 2005 through June of 2012. Over my seven years I had various jobs including "the phones", managing employee accounts, processing equipment orders and answering customer emails. None of them were great jobs but I got an annual raise and a discount on my cell phone bill.
In March Brian Stacey, a Vice President came from back east and told us the center was shutting down in June. Over 500 people had the option to relocate or take a severance package. My job was being moved to Salt Lake City. I had an underwater mortgage, a 2-year-old daughter, pregnant wife and no intention to move to Utah.
He broke the news in waves, telling about one hundred people at a time. I was in the last group. I had already watched many of my colleagues return to their desks then leave for the day. Some of them were crying. They were told not to tell anyone but by the time my group was called in everyone knew.
My first reaction was relief. I had a fear that I was going to spend the next twenty years of my life, processing customers' equipment orders or troubleshooting wireless data connections. I sat next to a lot of people who had spent the last 20 years of their lives explaining roaming charges and selling the benefits of the "most reliable network". None of them seem too happy.
I took the severance package and have been out of work two weeks now. My second daughter was born a week ago. I am so grateful to have been able to spend these last two weeks with my family.
I don't know what I am going to do for work. I am excited to do something different but also scared about not being able to find a job or getting stuck working in another call center. I am going to use this time off to become a happier person. The closing of our center was hard on a lot of people.
Unemployment stories Volumes One, Two, and Three.
[Thanks to everyone who wrote in. All stories are being read. You can send your own unemployment story here.]


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Draft lawsuit details ex-superintendent's misdeeds
Accused of misspending thousands
CHATHAM — A lawsuit the Ball-Chatham School District's attorneys drafted but never filed alleges the district's former superintendent received an $11,000 moving reimbursement for items that were never moved and had undisclosed relationships with district contractors, among other misdeeds.
Bob Gillum retired from the district at the end of the 2011-12 school year. The district last year announced that it was investigating him for "insufficient documentation" related to travel and reimbursement expenditures during his five-year tenure.
An audit report released in November said Gillum misspent or failed to provide proper documentation for nearly $30,000 in expenses he charged to district credit cards or for which the district reimbursed him.
The district agreed to release that report following a lawsuit from the group Better Chatham Schools. The group more recently received the draft lawsuit as part of its ongoing litigation with the district.
Following the audit, the school board voted 5-2 in June to approve a settlement with Gillum, who was named the 2011 Illinois Superintendent of the Year and whose salary grew from $188,741.76 his first year to $269,388.63 his final year.
Gillum agreed to pay the district $16,100 and gave up district-paid health insurance he and his wife would have received until he turned 65 in 2022. The insurance was estimated to cost the district $1,000 a month.
Reached by phone Thursday night, Gillum declined to comment.
Former School Board President Jim Neuses could not be reached for comment.
District officials said at the time the audit was released that there are now more safeguards in place to ensure that district money isn't misspent.
School Superintendent Carrie Hruby said in November that she couldn't comment directly on the allegations in the audit because of a nondisparagement clause in the settlement agreement.
"Anytime there's an issue in the district, we always go back and revisit our policy and procedures," said Hruby, who was assistant superintendent under Gillum. "It's really about putting in multiple layers of oversight in any situation."
The draft lawsuit alleges Gillum served in advisory roles for St. Louis-based Ittner Architects, which the district hired to design Glenwood Elementary School, and Framingham, Mass.-based Ameresco, which was hired in 2010 to perform lighting and electrical upgrades.
Unbeknownst to the school board, Ittner paid Gillum for his services while it was serving as the "architect of record" for the district, according to the draft lawsuit. He used district phones and computers to do work on behalf of the companies on district time, the lawsuit alleges.
The draft lawsuit also contends Gillum received reimbursement from the district for airfare to a Florida golf trip with Gilbane Inc., which was district's construction manager on the Glenwood Elementary project, even though it wasn't related to district business.
Gillum also charged $998 to his district credit card for "one or more celebratory dinners" after he was named superintendent of the year, one of several instances of misusing the credit card, according to the draft lawsuit.
Contact Dan Petrella: email@example.com, 788-1532, twitter.com/petrellareports, facebook.com/danpetrella.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Jim Neuses as the Ball-Chatham School Board president. Rick Petermeyer was elected to succeed Neuses as president at the board's April 28 meeting.


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Doctors can use a patient's abdominal CT scans to also check for signs of the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis, according to a new study. The researchers, who published their findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, compared patients' CT scans to their dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which is traditionally used to diagnose osteoporosis. "What we found is that there is pretty good correlation," said the study's lead author Dr. Perry Pickhardt, professor of radiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. The idea, say the researchers, is doctors can use patients' CT scans that are ordered for another reason — such as looking for tumors — to also check for signs of osteoporosis. That may spare the patients from additional testing and additional costs. In an editorial accompanying the study, however, experts wrote that using CT scans to gauge bone density could lead to some people being incorrectly diagnosed, particularly if people at low risk are tested. In this study, the average age was about 59 years old — six years younger than the age at which the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed panel, recommends all women begin being screened for osteoporosis. The disease affects over 12 million Americans over 50. The panel also suggests younger women at an increased risk for bone fractures should be screened, but there's no recommendation for men of any age. Despite DXA scans being safe and cost effective, Pickhardt and his colleagues say the test is underused. CT scans, however, are considered overused — with more than 80 million performed in the U.S. during 2011. 'Incidentaloporosis?' For the new study, the researchers analyzed test results from 1,867 patients, who had both types of scans performed within six months of each other over a 10-year period, to see if their CT scans showed osteoporosis as well as the DXAs. Overall, about 23 percent of the people were diagnosed with osteoporosis, about 45 percent were diagnosed with some bone-weakening and about 32 percent were healthy based on their DXAs. The researchers then found that their ability to accurately diagnose those same patients with osteoporosis from a CT scan depended on what threshold for bone density they used. Dr. Sumit Majumdar, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study, said a lower threshold for bone density would catch most cases of osteoporosis and limit "incidentaloporosis" — incorrect osteoporosis diagnoses "discovered" while doctors were looking for something else. At the lower threshold, the researchers found 9 percent of those diagnosed with osteoporosis were misdiagnosed. Pickhardt said the screenings would have to target the right groups of people to prevent overdiagnosis. "Obviously it's something we need to worry about, but if you apply it to a population that's suitable for diagnosis you wouldn't run that risk," he said. CT v. DXA Majumdar, a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta in Canada, said CT scans are better tests, but stomach scans don't include the hip – like a DXA would. A DXA can cost a couple hundred dollars, while a CT scan can cost about $500. Both involve radiation. Dr. Beatrice Hull, from the Center for Osteoporosis and Bone Health at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, told Reuters Health that she'd want her patients to have a DXA scan even with a diagnosis from a CT scan. "I don't think at this point this one test is going to prevent further testing. I think it will identify patients who are at a higher risk and need more testing," said Hull, who wasn't involved with the new research.
Stomach scans may help detect osteoporosis, study
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