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Scoop! No Khan In STAR TREK 2. So Who Will Kirk & Co. Face?
I have an informant placed close to the production of JJ Abrams' Star Trek 2, and this informant got in touch with me to reveal that it looks like the storyline of the film has been decided. This person says that until the script is turned in anything could change, but right now there are two things that look to be set in stone:
1) Khan will not be the villain. You would think this would go without saying, but people keep speculating. In fact, my source says that the film won't be focused on a traditional 'villain' type at all. Which leads us to:
2) The story will focus on a classic Trek character. And when I say classic, I mean a character who appeared in season one of the original series, when Gene Roddenberry was in charge.
Some sources give you all sorts of info, but this source likes to play games. I couldn't get the exact character from them, but I got an email that reads:
It's definitely a character that will make fans of TOS excited. Think along the lines of Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta. Actually it's one of those that I named.
Repeated requests for clarification were met with only
Okay then, mysterious and uncooperative source, here's my rundown of those characters, in order from least likely to most likely:
The Horta: A silicone based life form that is killing miners on the planet Janus IV. These shambling rock monsters - who look kind of like fringed rugs - aren't evil, they're just trying to protect their eggs, which miners can't tell apart from rocks.
Odds: 100:1. A great episode, and one that really captures the spirit of Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry's original vision. But the story is too small for a movie, and I don't really see how you include the Horta in a larger story without making them just a footnote.
Harry Mudd: A space charlatan who first comes into contact with the Enterprise when they find him smuggling a ship full of beautiful women. It turns out that Mudd has been making these women beautiful with an illegal 'Venus Pill.' Mudd showed up again in the original series, this time on a planet full of beautiful android women, and he popped up in the Star Trek animated series, which is apparently canon.
Odds: 50:1. Mudd's a terrific comedic character, and as a con man he could end up involved in something bigger and movie-sized. But he seems too funny for the second film; the new Trek is still setting its tone. I think if they go to Harry Mudd it'll be in the third or fourth film.
The Talosians: In the original pilot for Star Trek, when Captain Pike was still in charge, the Enterprise visited Talos IV and discovered the local inhabitants to be a big-headed race who wanted to keep humans in a zoo and who could beam any image into their brains. The Talosians were considered so dangerous the planet was quarantined, under penaltgy of death. Talos IV returned in the only TOS two parter, The Menagerie, when Spock hijacked the Enterprise to bring a crippled and deformed Pike to Talos IV, where the Talosians would let him experience life as a whole man.
Odds: 10:1. Pike isn't deformed like he is in the original series, but he is in a wheelchair. Then again, there were no previous adventures of the Starship Enterprise, as they got mucked up on their maiden voyage in the first film. Still, the Talosians are strong characters, and having the crew dealing with Talosian-created illusions would be a great way to combine the character building of The Naked Time episode (when everyone's inner personality came to the fore) with the variety of Shore Leave (where a telepathic planet made people's thoughts come true). And there's another, darker side - what if the Federation wanted the power of the Talosians as a weapon? Yeah, it's shades of Insurrection, but it wouldn't be shitty.
Trelane: A godlike creature who ensnares the Enterprise and toys with the crew. His gimmick is that he's a couple of centuries behind on Earth culture, so his whole planet is done up in 17th century fashion. It turns out that Trelane isn't as big a guy as he pretends though - he's actually a baby god, and in the end his parents spank him and take him away.
Odds: 5:1. On his own he's not a terribly interesting character for a movie, but later tie-in books revealed that he was a part of the Q Continuum, the godlike beings introduced in The Next Generation. Bringing in Q or a Q-like being could allow Abrams and company the opportunity to play with the fact that their films take place in an alternate universe, as Q would probably have access to all realities. At any rate, bringing in Trelane or another Q character would give the same opportunities as the Talosians, since they could make any fantasy, thoughts or dreams come true for the characters. Also, you could have Justin Bieber play him.
Gary Mitchell: In the second pilot for Star Trek, Gary Mitchell is Kirk's best friend and the Enterprise's helmsman. When the ship attempts to go outside the galaxy, farther than any spacecraft has ever traveled, they hit a weird energy field. That energy field gives Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (played by Sally Kellerman in the original show!) godlike abilities. Mitchell couldn't deal with his power and began to crack, forcing Kirk to battle his best friend - who could now kill him with a thought.
Odds: 2:1. This is the character I would most like to see pop up in the movies. First of all, the original episode gives a great title for the new movie: Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before. Second, Gary Mitchell is a character who presents a deeply personal struggle for Kirk while not being a traditional bad guy. If the movie takes the character but doesn't adapt the episode closely we could see a situation where a godlike Gary Mitchell brings a state of tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire - imagine if the Klingons think Mitchell is a new Federation superweapon and come to destroy him? You'd have Kirk trapped between a Klingon invasion fleet and his omnipotent and amoral best friend.
There you have it. I trust this source, even if they're being kind of a pain in the butt about specifics. As for the idea of no Khan and a classic TOS character being the focus - hell yeah, I say. That's the kind of thing that makes me feel very excited about this sequel. Also, the idea that they're shying away from a bad guy vs good guy storyline only confirms that Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman get Star Trek.
Now we wait for the denials or no comments or confirmations…


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I got the phone call about 7:30 am. I was in my car, on my way to work.
"Hey, we need you to come to President Monson's office in an hour and film him for the Tab Choir's new Youtube Channel."
"Uh…okay." I knew why they called me. I'd been filming the Apostle's as they traveled and doing stories for LDS.org.
"What do you want me to bring?"
"I don't know. Keep it simple. You only have a few minutes with him."
I called a cameraman friend of mine and a sound man.
The phone rang again.
"You should probably have someone there to do makeup."
I called a makeup artist.
The phone rang again.
"Are you bringing lights? You should bring lights. But remember, keep it simple."
I called a lighting guy.
Again, the phone rang. "Oh, and, you'll need a teleprompter. President Monson likes to read from a teleprompter."
"Sure. Keep it simple," I said.
"That's why we called you."
"Thanks." It wasn't simple.
We met at the entrance to the Church Administration Building dressed in our Sunday best–all six of us and our gear.
The phone at the front desk rang. The security guy nodded. We proceeded through the automatic doors, down a long hallway and up the elevator to President Monson's office. I went in while the crew waited in the hallway. President Monson's secretary greeted me with a smile.
"Welcome," she said. "Come in. President Monson is expecting you."
"Thank you. It will just take us about 15 minutes to set up."
"Us?" She wasn't expecting us.
"The crew" I said. "Lights, camera, sound, you know."
"No. I don't know," she said, not smiling.
"We'll be fast," I said.
I opened the outer door and the crew clamored in. She opened President Monson's door, deep lines creasing her forehead.
President Monson was seated behind his desk, smiling.
"Come in. Come in." I went around the desk and shook his hand, while the crew set up.
"President Monson, thank you for letting us come in and film you this morning."
"Of course. What are we filming today?"
Apparently, no one had told the Prophet what this was about.
I could feel the crew pause and look at me. I kneeled down next to the Prophet's chair to explain, while they went back to work.
"The Tabernacle Choir is introducing a new youtube channel and they wanted you to introduce it."
"Wonderful," President Monson said. "What's youtube?"
President Monson's secretary was standing in the doorway. I looked up at her and she glared at me. I looked at President Monson. His eye twinkled and he chuckled, "What do you want me to say?"
I breathed a sigh of relief, "It's right here on the prompter, President."
"Okay. Let's do it."
We did it. President Monson was perfect. One take.
As we packed up our equipment, President Monson's secretary hovered in the doorway, occasionally glaring at us. As we finished packing up, President Monson stood up and walked around his desk. He shook each of our hands.
His secretary, now smiling with anticipation of our departure, watched from the doorway. As President Monson shook my hand, he said, "You know, I don't have any place I need to be right now. Why don't you sit down and let's just chat."
President Monson guided me over to a plush seat by his desk.
Chat? With the Prophet?
Out of the corner of my eye I could see his secretary shaking her head. NO. Her forehead creases were growing deeper and her face was getting red.
"Make yourself comfortable," President Monson said, and the rest of my crew sat down.
"What do you suppose an Apostle has in his desk drawer?" President Monson asked as he sat back down.
"Scriptures," one of my crew said.
"Good guess," President Monson said. "But, I keep those on top of my desk." He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a plastic container. He placed it on the desk and opened it.
"Flies," he said. "I tied 'em myself."
For the next little while, President Monson told us stories about fishing on the Provo River when he was a boy. He laughed and we laughed. It was amazing. He was just like our Grandfather. He loved us, he loved having us visit and he loved telling stories.
His secretary COUGHED. Maybe she was choking. Her face had gone from red to purple. She burst into the room with clenched fists.
"President Monson, you do have somewhere you need to be, and these men NEED TO LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.
I looked back to President Monson. He chuckled and winked. "I didn't want to go to that meeting anyway."
I have thought often about that day with President Monson. It was good to know that the Prophet was just like my Grandfather, who, I believe, also knew the Lord.
I look forward to seeing them both, again.
President Thomas S Monson: 1927 – 2018

subset: commoncrawl


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These characteristics have given Leakey a formidable reputation among journalists and some of her colleagues. So have her pets. In her autobiography, Disclosing the Past, Leakey mentions a favorite dog who tended to chomp people whom the archaeologist didn't like, "even if I have given no outward sign." So as we talk in her home outside Nairobi, I sit on the edge of a faded sofa, smiling exuberantly at her two dalmatians, Jenny and Sam, waiting for one of them to bite me. I quickly note details--her father's paintings on the wall, the array of silver trophies from dog shows and a lampshade with cave painting figures on it--in case I have to leave suddenly. But the two dogs and soon a cat and later a puppy sleep or play, and Leakey's answers, while consistently private, seem less terse than simply thoughtful.
Leakey first came to Kenya and Tanzania in 1935 with her husband, the paleontologist Louis Leakey, and except for forays to Europe and the U.S., she has been there ever since. During those many years, she introduced modern archaeological techniques to African fieldwork, using them to unearth stone tools and fossil remains of early humans that have recast the way we view our origins. Her discoveries made the early ape Proconsul, Olduvai Gorge, the skull of Zinjanthropus and the footprints of Laetoli, if not household names, at least terms familiar to many.
Leakey was born in England, raised in large part in France and appears to have been independent, exacting and abhorrent of tradition from her very beginnings. Her father, an artist, took his daughter to see the beautiful cave paintings at such sites as Fond de Gaume and La Mouthe and to view some of the stone and bone tools being studied by French prehistorians. As she has written, these works of art predisposed Leakey toward digging, drawing and early history: "For me it was the sheer instinctive joy of collecting, or indeed one could say treasure hunting: it seemed that this whole area abounded in obje cts of beauty and great intrinsic interest that could be taken from the ground."
These leanings ultimately induced Leakey at the age of about 17 to begin working on archaeological expeditions in the U.K. She also attended lectures on archaeology, prehistory and geology at the London Museum and at University College London. Leakey says she never had the patience for formal education and never attended university; she never attended her governesses either. (At the same time, she is delighted with her many honorary degrees: "Well, I have worked for them by digging in the sun.")
A dinner party following a lecture one evening led her, in turn, to Louis Leakey. In 1934 the renowned researcher asked Mary, already recognized for her artistic talents, to do the illustrations for a book. The two were soon off to East Africa. They made an extraordinary team. "The thing about my mother is that she is very low profile and very hard working," notes Richard E. Leakey, former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, an iconoclast known for his efforts to ban ivory trading and a distinguished paleontologist. "Her commitment to detail and perfection made my father's career. He would not have been famous without her. She was much more organized and structured and much more of a technician. He was much more excitable, a magician."
What the master and the magician found in their years of brushing away the past did not come easily. From 1935 until 1959 the two worked at various sites throughout Kenya and Tanzania, searching for the elusive remains of early humans. They encountered all kinds of obstacles, including harsh conditions in the bush and sparse funding. Success too was sparse--until 1948. In that year Mary found the first perfectly preserved skull and facial bones of a hominoid, Proconsul, which was about 16 million years old. This tiny Miocene ape, found on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria, provided anthropologists with their first cranium from what was thought to be the missing link--a tree-dwelling monkey boasting a bigger brain than its contemporaries.
"For some reason, that skull caught the imagination," Leakey recalls, pausing now and then to relight her slowly savored cigar or to chastise a dalmatian for being too forward. "But what it also did, and that was very important for our point of view, it caught the imagination of the National Geographic Society, and as a result they funded us for years. That was exciting."
How Zinj fits into the family tree is not something Leakey will speculate about. "I never felt interpretation was my job. What I came to do was to dig things up and take them out as well as I could," she describes. "There is so much we do not know, and the more we do know, the more we realize that early interpretations were completely wrong. It is good mental exercise, but people get so hot and nasty about it, which I think is ridiculous."
I try to press her on another bone of contention: Did we Homo sapiens emerge in Africa, or did we spring up all over the world from different ancestors, a theory referred to as the multiregional hypothesis? Leakey starts to laugh. "You'll get no fun out of me over these things. If I were Richard, I would talk to you for hours about it, but I just don't think it is worth it." She pauses. "I really like to feel that I am on solid ground, and that is never solid ground."
"The archaeological world should be grateful that she was in charge at Olduvai," notes Rick Potts, a physical anthropologist from the Smithsonian Institution who is studying Olorgesailie, a site about an hour south of Nairobi where the Leakeys found ancient stone axes in 1942. Now, as they did then, the tools litter the white, sandy Maasai savanna. The most beautiful ones have been stolen, and one of Leakey's current joys is that the Smithsonian is restoring the site and its small museum and plans to preserve the area.
Olduvai Gorge has not fared as well. After years of residence and work there, and after the death of Louis in 1972, Mary finally retired in 1984. Since then, she has worked to finish a final volume on the Olduvai discoveries and has also written a book on the rock paintings of Tanzania. "I got too old to live in the bush," she explains. "You really need to be youngish and healthy, so it seemed stupid to keep going." Once she left, however, the site was ignored. "I go once a year to the Serengeti to see the wildebeest migrations because that means a lot to me, but I avoid Olduvai if I can because it is a ruin. It is most depressing." In outraged voice, she snaps out a litany of losses: the abandoned site, the ruined museum, the stolen artifacts, the lost catalogues. "Fortunately, there is so much underground still. It is a vast place, and there is plenty more under the surface for future generations that are better educated."
Leakey's most dramatic discovery, made in 1978, and the one that she considers most important, has also been all but destroyed since she left the field. The footprints of Laetoli, an area near Olduvai, gave the world the first positive evidence of bipedalism. Three hominids (generally identified as Australopithecus afarensis ) had walked over volcanic ash, which fossilized, preserving their tracks. The terrain was found to be about 3.6 million years old. Although there had been suggestions in the leg bones of other hominid fossils, the footprints made the age of bipedalism incontrovertible. "It was not as exciting as some of the other discoveries, because we did not know what we had," she notes. "Of course, when we realized what they were, then it was really exciting."
Today the famous footprints may only be salvaged with the intervention of the Getty Conservation Institute. "Oh, they are in a terrible state," Leakey exclaims. "When I left, I covered them over with a mound of river sand and then some plastic sheeting and then more sand and a lot of boulders on top to keep the animals off and the Maasai off." But acacia trees took root and grew down among the tracks and broke them up.
Although Leakey steers clear of controversy in her answers and her writings, she has not entirely escaped it. She and Donald Johanson, a paleontologis t at the Institute of Human Origins in Berkeley, Calif., have feuded about the relation between early humans found in Ethiopia and in Laetoli. (Johanson set up his organization as a philosophical counterweight to the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation.) And some debate erupted about how many prints there were at Laetoli. Tim White of the University of California at Berkeley claimed that there were only two and that Leakey and her crew had made the other track with a tool during excavation. Leakey's response? "It was a nonsense," she laughs, and we are on to the next subject.
A subject Leakey does not like. "'What was it like to be a woman? A mother? A wife?' I mean that is all such nonsense," she declares. Leakey--like many other female scientists of her generation, including Nobel laureates Rita Levi-Montalcini and Gertrude Belle Elion--dislikes questions about being a woman in a man's field. Her sex played no role in her work, she asserts. She just did what she wanted to do. "I was never conscious of it. I am not lying for the sake of anything. I never felt disadvantaged."
Leakey just did her work, surviving bitter professional wars in anthropolog y and political upheavals. In 1952 Louis, who had been made a member of the Kikuyu tribe during his childhood in Africa, was marked for death during the Mau Mau uprising. The four years during the height of the rebellion were terrifying for the country. The brakes on Mary's car were tampered with, and a relative of Louis's was murdered. The house that Leakey lives in today was designed during this time: a low, white square structure with a central courtyard where the dogs can run at night.
These pets are very important to Leakey--a source of companionship and safety out in the bush. She admires the traits in them that others admire in her: independence and initiative. (Any small joy that I have about emerging from her house unbitten fades sadly when I reread the section in her autobiography about her telepathic dalmatian and learn that he died years ago.)
We seem to have covered everything, and so she reviews her discoveries aloud. "But you have not mentioned the fruits," she reminds me. One of Leakey's favorite finds is an assortment of Miocene fossils: intact fruits, seeds, insects--including one entire ant nest--and a lizard with its tongue hanging out. They lay all over the sandy ground of Rusinga Island. "We only found them because we sat down to smoke a cigarette, hot and tired, and just saw all these fruits lying on the ground next to us. Before that we had been walking all over them all over the place." She stops. "You know, you only find what you are looking for, really, if the truth be known."


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It is the first day of the August release at Newton's Nook Designs. You will absolutely love today's stamp set. If you're like me and love unicorns, this set is a must-have. You also have a chance to win each stamp set during release week so check out the details I have I indicated at the end of this blog post.
For today's cards, I am showcasing the adorable Believe in Unicorns stamp set and it's coordinating dies.
I wanted to create a heavenly scene for my lovely unicorns. For the first card, I started out by using my sunburst stencil, on Neenah solar white cardstock and I adhered my colorful vellum on top. this created some dimension and lovely details to my card. I also used the clouds border die to die-cut my clouds. Here is my first card:
For my second card, I started out by using the Starfield stencil by NND with my fossilized Amber distress oxide ink. I die-cut the clouds with the clouds border die and the Rainbow using a die from my stash. I adhered the rainbow to my card front, as well as the clouds. I used my foam tape to adhere my unicorn, and stamped my sentiment using my new stamping platform tool by Tim Holtz. I finished my design by adding the 4mm sparkling clear solid confetti mix from Kat Scrappiness. here is my second card:
This Believe in Unicorns stamp set and its coordinating dies will be available for purchase on Friday, August 18th at 8:00 am CST.
Would you like to win the "Believe in Unicorns" stamp set? This set will be given away to ONE lucky winner!
Here's how to win: Comment on the NND Blog and design team blogs (see list below). The winner will be chosen at random from the collective earl posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday, August 17th at 9 pm CST to comment – winners will be announced on the NND blog post on Friday, August 18th.
Check out all of the awesome Design Team blogs below to enter the giveaway:
Newton's Nook Designs
Amanda Bodine
Holly Endress
Ellen Haxelmans
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Juliana Michaels
Naki Rager
Maria Russell (you are here)
Jennifer Timko
Tatiana Trafimovich


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CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Geological Survey plans to release results Wednesday from new groundwater tests in Wyoming where another agency linked hydraulic fracturing to contaminants found in two water wells and residents complained of chemicals polluting their well water.
The new USGS data come from samples taken in April at one of the test wells near Pavillion in central Wyoming. The other test well didn't produce enough water to yield samples deemed large enough to test.
Hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' is the petroleum industry practice of pumping water, sand and chemicals down well bores to crack open fissures and boost the flow of oil and gas.
Environmental groups have sounded the alarm about fracking for years – but with few, if any, examples of verified pollution. Petroleum industry officials say the lack of verified pollution, out of many thousands of wells fracked in the U.S. over the past few decades, proves the process is safe.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state of Wyoming, the USGS and two American Indian tribes collaborated on the latest sampling, which followed previous testing done solely by the EPA.
The EPA theorized a fracking-pollution link in a draft report released in December. The report drew heavy skepticism from petroleum industry and state officials, including Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, who characterized the finding as a flimsy one.
Wyoming officials – whom the EPA briefed on its findings more than a month ahead of the report's release – also grumbled that the EPA hadn't kept them in the loop about what the federal agency was up to during the previous testing.
'Gov. Mead felt that this process was an improvement on how the first draft report from the EPA was done. It was more transparent. The team had input throughout the process,' Mead spokesman Renny MacKay said Tuesday.
Even so, the EPA plans to post its own data separately, EPA Region 8 spokesman Rich Mylott said.
'All EPA data have gone through the agency's quality assurance process,' Mylott said by email Tuesday.
EPA spokeswoman Alisha Johnson in Washington said Wednesday she did not know what data the EPA might release or when that might happen.
Testing by the EPA this past spring included new samples from five domestic water wells in the Pavillion area. That sampling happened outside the collaborative process.
One person each from the EPA, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation near Pavillion peer-reviewed the collaborative data, according to MacKay.
A full peer review of the sampling and findings to date will occur later.
MacKay said Mead wants 'science and a good process' to guide any new findings.
'The governor's position has always been he wants this investigation to play out and whatever it finds, you move on from there,' he said.


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About Yuma
Yuma (Cocopah: Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Yuma County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the 2020 estimated population of the Yuma MSA is 203,247. According to Guinness World Records, Yuma is the "Sunniest City on Earth," promising sunshine and warm weather at least 91% of the year." Anywhere from 70,000 to over 85,000 out-of-state visitors make Yuma their winter residence.Yuma's weather also makes it an agricultural powerhouse, growing over 175 types of crops, the largest of which is lettuce. Yuma County provides 90% of all leafy vegetables in the United States.
Neighborhoods in Yuma, Arizona
Arcadia Meadows, Arroyo De Fortuna, Avenue B and C, Barkley Ranch, Brentwood Estates, Buckshot, Cibola Heights, Cielo Verde, Citrus View, Cresta Gila Estates, Desert Foothills, Desert Lakes Mobile, Desert Ridge, Donovan Estates, El Prado Estates
Things to do in Yuma, Arizona
Our Newest Profiles


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A data breach initially thought to be limited to 24,000 Utahns on public health insurance is now believed to have put nearly 800,000 Utahns at risk.
The Social Security numbers of up to 280,000 Utahns were exposed to hackers in the breach last week while less sensitive information such as names and birth dates from 500,000 others was released.
State officials announced the new, dramatically higher numbers on Monday. Late last week, they had expanded their initial estimate and said the breach affected 181,604 Utahns on public health insurance, most of them kids on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Whether it constitutes the largest release of personal health information by a Utah state agency, officials couldn't say.
But it touches one in every six Utahns, landing in the top 10 health security failures reported since late 2009 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The latest victims are people whose information was sent to the state by their health provider to verify their status as possible Medicaid recipients, said Utah Medicaid Director Michael Hales.
They may or may not be on Medicaid, but likely sought medical care sometime in the past four months, Hales said.
So far, there have been no reports of people using the information to obtain fraudulent credit cards and loans.
But due to the breach's scope and potential for harm, the FBI is now investigating.
"Computer intrusions are one of our top priorities," said Greg Bretzing, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City office. He declined to comment on the investigation or confirm the suspicions of state technology officials who traced the hacker, or hackers, to Eastern Europe.
On March 30, hackers broke into an inadequately-protected computer server at the Utah Department of Technology Services and began removing data April 1.
Technology officials detected the security breach April 2 and immediately shut it down.
In investigating, officials focused first on the Medicaid claims, because they were believed to be most at risk, said technology services director Stephen Fletcher. Then it was discovered that Medicaid eligibility inquiries also were stored on the server.
"We're confident we've found all those affected," Fletcher said. "We've gone through every piece of data on that server."
The breach is being blamed on an employee who put a server online without its proper security. State officials believe it was a mistake but have declined to name the employee, who may face discipline.
Fletcher said new processes have been put in place to make sure the breach doesn't happen again. Medical data on the state's computers aren't encrypted, he said, noting federal rules don't require it.
Utah could face federal penalties or fines. How the state is judged to have handled the breach will factor into any decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
The state is working to notify all those at risk, which will happen by mail, said Health Department spokesman Tom Hudachko. "We strongly recommend that people do not provide private information over the phone or by email."
Concerned Medicaid clients can call 1-855-238-3339 or go online http://1.usa.gov/HvHqrB to get more information on how to protect themselves and their identities. People who had their Social Security numbers exposed will receive one free year of credit monitoring services.
In addition, anyone can protect their identity and financial information by placing a freeze or fraud alert on their person credit file with the nation's credit bureaus.
"People [affected by the breach] ought to be looking at their accounts on a daily basis, their credit card and bank statements," said Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy of the Utah Attorney General's criminal division.
For information on how to do this, go here: http://idtheft.utah.gov.
Twitter @kirstendstewart
Help for hacking victims
Protect yourself • Concerned Medicaid clients can call 1-855-238-3339 or go online to get more information on how to protect their identities.
Protect your child • The Utah Attorney General's Child Identity Protection provides a secure process to enroll a child's information with the national credit reporting company TransUnion.


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I have always loved to read. I can recall sunny, summery days when my brother wanted me to come outside with him and play but I didn't want to because I had my nose in a book. Oh how mad he would get at me, complaining loudly that I had already read that book! Sometimes that was true, I would re-read a book, especially if it had made an impression on me. With my own seven children, ranging in age now from 21 down to 10, whether they were under my homeschooling tutelage or at public high school, I have read to them and encouraged them to read on their own. Visiting the library was, and often still is, a weekly family outing. Some of my children do read, some only if they have to, but I have tried to share with them the books that meant a lot to me when I always had my nose in a book. I decided to take a trip down memory lane and recall some of those books that I enjoyed in my younger days, and perhaps they will form a reading list for an enterprising parent or grandparent.
The first book I remember reading all by myself was Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I adored the pictures that the talented Miss Potter had drawn for the book. I remember stumbling over MacGregor and sieve, but eventually figuring them out. That was a proud moment for me.
A second book that I remember enjoying was The House at Pooh Corner, by A.A. Milne. The bedtime tales invented by Mr. Milne for his only child, Christopher Robin, were funny and full of interesting animal characters. I really enjoyed getting to know the different personality quirks of Owl, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Piglet, and of course, Winnie the Pooh.
The third book, and one I was guilty of re-reading was Charlotte's Web. I don't like spiders at all, I realize they do a great service to mankind, and this book helped to illustrate what a true friendship could really be like. Once, after reading E.B. White's classic, I went on an anti-pork project and didn't eat bacon or ham for a bit.
The Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I have read and re-read these also. I remember receiving the boxed set one Christmas from my Uncle and Aunt, who live in that metropolis of Chicago. I was unfamiliar with the books, but my Aunt, who loves books, had enjoyed these when she was a girl and so the choice was made to give me a set as a gift. What a wonderful gift too! I really immersed myself in the saga of the Ingalls and Wilder families, in their journeys as pioneers across the Great Plains until they ultimately settled in De Smet, South Dakota. The television show based upon the books soon hit the airwaves after I received my book set, and I was a regular watcher of the show, but it often bugged me how the tv episodes didn't exactly follow what happened in the books. I made it a point 9 summers ago that since we lived in Missouri, our family would travel from St. Louis to Mansfield, where Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband Almanzo farmed, grew apples, and where the Little House books were written. There is a very nice museum there, and one can see belongings and pictures of the Ingalls and Wilder families. One can also walk through Laura and Almanzo's home. In fact, since our 10 year old was only a baby when we went, I think it is time to re-visit!
Nancy Drew mysteries were also read voraciously by me. I think I was in 5th grade when I noticed other girls at school reading those books, an entire set had been either donated or purchased by our school's library. I tried to read them in order, but that was impossible as they were constantly being checked out so I had to read them as I could grab one! My Chicago relatives came through again with a nice set of the books for me that Christmas, too. I enjoyed Nancy's smarts, the fact that she was always so fashionably dressed, had a blue convertible, loyal friends, and always helped capture the evil doers at the end of each book, foiling their plans to steal jewels or swindle some elderly person of their money.
Other books that I delighted in were: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson, Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, both by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Little Women and Little Men and Jo's Boys, all by Louisa May Alcott, Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight, and many of Beverly Cleary's books: Ramona and Beezus and Ellen Tebbits.
Reading is such a wonderful hobby to have. Books can take one to far away places, to past times in history, to allow one to walk around in someone else's shoes and experience their life with them. As our pediatrician told my 19 year old daughter when she was 5, "Reading makes your brain smart!" So by all means, grab a book, a favorite spot to sit, and read to your children, your grandchildren, and read for your own betterment!


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Department of State bidding (at least at the entry-level) is much like naming a baby. Yes, I know this may seem like a far-fetched simile, but it is pretty darn accurate. Being an obsessive planner, I always figured if I had a kid, I would scour the baby name books and have a short list of options picked out before the freedom ending trip to the hospital (I mean, birth), but it would be shared with no one beyond Thad. It is just too easy for names to be picked apart:
-"Not Donatello! I knew a Donatello and he was an obnoxious stinkbug, living in the sewers and eating pizza all day!"
-"Medusa? Are you serious? You're tempting the follicle fates with a name like that!"
-"Pumpernickel?!" She'll be called Bread-Head by the mean kids at school!"
You see, even the most well-meaning friends and family feel the need to weigh in on the moniker of the yet-to-take-a-breath child, passing judgment (always negative, for some reason!) upon the name by which they will be known for their entire lives. So, rather than have to hear all the worst possible mutations of any selected name, I think I'll just lock the options away in the vault, only making the announcement once the name is officially inked on the birth certificate, making it the chosen name, for better or worse.
Bidding is exactly the same! Rather than perusing book after book of baby names and meanings, we downloaded a giant list of over 250 possible posts, sorting them into a shorter and shorter list of possibilities. But, just like a baby name, that short list was kept top secret, as everyone has an opinion to share (or at least an eyebrow to raise) about whatever tops the list:
-"Cuba? But internet costs $500 a month!"
-"London!?" Are you sure? I hear the morale at that post is terrible!"
-"Really? Calgary? But Canada is just America's hat and you're not really a hat-girl."
Again, you see, even the most well-meaning people are overwhelmed with the need to share what they "know" about the posts ranked high on your bid list. (The problem with what people "know," is it is often from the friend of a cousin of an officer who served at that post twenty years ago; or even better, it comes from a Personal Post Insight survey that was obviously filled out by the most bitter, jaded officer on her worst day in the country, where if a hug from a koala bear were paired with a bookstore shopping spree, the post would still earn a negative rating; or, sadly, maybe just a bored, unhappy EFM who doesn't want to be a part of his community. Any way you cut it, the "known" advice is often not the best advice.)
The LIST came out a few weeks ago, was narrowed down and submitted for an initial review by Thad's CDO (career development officer) in Washington DC. She came back with some suggestions; the list was reworked and resubmitted for final consideration a week later. (That makes it sound like the list was only revised a single time. Sooo untrue! We went over that list time after time, as dark horses like Ljubljana took the lead and initial frontrunners like London dropped into the teen spots.)
In the end, our list (okay, Thad's, but I consider it mine too, since I also have to live with the assigned results) went to DC and then we waited. One day…two days…three days…eleven days! In reality, eleven days is a pretty quick turnaround when it comes to an assignment, but it seemed more like nine months of gestation while we waited, checked the email and waited some more.
But, the bundle of joy has arrived! A bouncing baby boy? A giggly little girl? Nope! Rather, a balmy two years in KUALA LUMPUR, starting summer 2014!
And, much like with a newly named baby, I've been privy to all sorts of opinions and ideas on our new post, but they've all been positive. "Bethesda is such a cute name!" and "Oh, Reginald fits him perfectly!" are translated to "What a great place for travel!" and "You'll love the embassy there!"
With some serious secretive list-making skills being fully honed, we are ready for the next round of high level information security. No, not baby naming (don't get your hopes up on that one!), but winter R&R planning!
A few pictures from last time we were in KL, on vacation with friends.


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Here's a bit of a good news for video game fanatics: The discontinued Nintendo mini-console is coming back.
The company on Tuesday said its NES Classic Edition will start shipping again in 2018 due to strong demand.
When the company announced earlier this year it was pumping the breaks on the console, gamers were not happy. After all, it one of the most sought items during the 2016 holiday shopping season -- and also one of the most difficult to find.
Nintendo attributed the decision to stop production to "limited resources." But now it appears the company is rethinking its strategy.
The console ($60) touts 30 built-in games, including "Mario Bros." and "Donkey Kong," and a retro-inspired controller.
Related: Super Nintendo gets the miniature console treatment
The announcement of its return came just two weeks before the company will launch its second miniature-sized console: the SNES Classic Edition ($80). It features 21 built-in games like "Super Mario World" and "The Legend of Zelda." It will also include a new title, "Star Fox 2."
Pre-orders for the SNES are already sold out online at Amazon, GameStop and Target.
But Nintendo (NTDOF) promises it will be easier to get your hands on this one. The company said it will ship more units of the Super NES Classic Edition on its U.S. launch day, September 29, than all of last year with the NES Classic Edition.
"Fans have shown their unbridled enthusiasm for these Classic Edition systems, so Nintendo is working to put many more of them on store shelves," the company said in a statement.
The company isn't just banking on nostalgic consoles to drum up excitement and bring in sales. In March, Nintendo launched its latest gaming system -- the Nintendo Switch -- which works as both a TV-linked console and a handheld portable device.
In its most recent quarter, the company sold 1.97 million Switch consoles.


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Dermatofibroma: A common type of benign skin tumor that is small, slow-growing, typically firm, red-to-brown bump, seen most often on the legs. Also called a fibrous histiocytoma. It can grow up to about 1 cm (less than a half inch) in diameter. A dermatofibroma consists of a proliferation of scar-like tissue within the deeper layers of the skin (dermis).
The cause of dermatofibromas is unknown. They are usually single but sometimes may be multiple. Simple excision is curative.


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Experiential Learning at the Carlson School
Enterprise Programs
The four Carlson School Enterprise programs assemble MBA and select undergraduate students into small teams to address the real-world challenges of client businesses which expect real-world results. It's an in-depth professional and transformational experience that few business schools offer.
Brand Enterprise
The Carlson Brand Enterprise is not simply another classroom; it's a place of business. Brand Enterprise participants apply the knowledge they obtain in the classroom to a real-world problem and gain hands-on experience implementing strategic and analytical components of brand and marketing strategy consulting.
Consulting Enterprise
The Carlson Consulting Enterprise challenges students to apply lessons that span a variety of business disciplines to inform the best recommendation for a partner organization. Consulting Enterprise participants evaluate a business challenge and present a fresh strategy to clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organizations.
Funds Enterprise
The David S. Kidwell Funds Enterprise was established in 1998 and is currently the largest student-managed investment fund (SMIF) in the United States with over $50 million in assets under management, and is the first SMIF in the world to become a Signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Through participation in the Funds Enterprise, students and professional advisors are responsible for managing all aspects of the Carlson School Growth Fund LLC and Carlson School Fixed Income Fund LLC. This is not a project, it is a real business.
Ventures Enterprise
The Carlson Ventures Enterprise (CVE) is designed for exceptional students who are passionate about creating, developing, and growing new ideas. CVE students work in teams with clients that include Fortune 500 companies, mission-driven social ventures, startups, and everything in between. Typically the work includes research, validation, and implementation of new business concepts using entrepreneurial best practices and methodologies.
Business Analytics Experiential Learning Program
As part of the MS in Business Analytics Full-Time program, students partner with real-world client organizations to draw innovative conclusions and facilitate data-driven decision making to solve a real business problem. The Business Analytics Experiential Learning Program offers dynamic projects that allow students to apply analytics methodologies, techniques, and tools to a business problem.


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It's been a long time coming, but Cedar Springs residents will soon see work begin on the city's water tower on Pine Street—maybe as early as August 1. The 300,000-gallon water storage tank, which was built in 1971, will undergo a complete renovation and repainting, inside and out.
According to the city's Department of Public Works Director Roger Belknap, the whole project could take 6-8 weeks to complete, depending on weather conditions. Rain and wind greater than 15 mph will delay the work.
City water users should note that with the water tower offline, the only storage available to meet water demand is the water in the mains and service lines, until more is pumped from the city's wells. The city is asking residents to keep water use to a minimum during this time, and to forego watering lawns and garden irrigation. The city will not have the capacity to use hydrants for firefighting during this time, but several nearby fire departments will have tankers available if needed.
Residents may also see hydrants releasing water from time to time to relieve pressure in the system. Hoses will be attached to the hydrants to prevent erosion and ponding of water.
While the tank has been repainted and/or maintenanced over the years, this is the first complete renovation. The company doing the work will come out each year and inspect the tank and complete any repairs needed. In 11 years, another complete renovation will be done. The whole project, paid over a 10-year period, will cost $440,848. That is a savings of $127,386 over the traditional method where work is done only three times in a 10-year period.
City residents recently saw their first increase in their water and sewer bills since 2007. Water went from $2.65 to $3.65 per thousand gallons and sewer went from $3.01 to $4.01 per thousand gallons. According to city officials, the average family of four uses about 2,000 gallons per person, per month, and will see an increase of about $16.00 per month. This increase will help fund future water and sewer improvements and maintenance.
When the tower is back up and running, those wishing to water their lawns or fill their pools may want to consider installing a special sprinkling meter from the city that costs about $260. You will also need to have a plumber install a backflow device, and it will need to be inspected every three years. While the sprinkling meter has an upfront cost, it will save residents money in the long run because they will only pay a flat water rate with no sewer cost.


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Archive for the 'Alisa Krasnostein' Category
Kaleidoscope, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios
published in August 2014
where I got it: received review copy from the editors (Thanks Alisa and Julia!)
The tagline for Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios's new anthology Kaleidoscope is "Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy stories", but what's in this collection goes much deeper than that. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and I very much appreciated the depth of variety of the stories, everything from contemporary fantasy, to parallel universe, to futuristic schools for shapeshifters, to ancient Chinese mythology, to accidental humor, to a superhero story, and to one so ambiguous it could take place anywhere or anytime. As promised, the characters are diverse, (mostly female, some are queer, some with disabilities or disorders, many are ethnic minorities), and while some of them have already found acceptance, others have a tougher road to travel. A number of the stories deal with being an ethnic and/or racial minority, and being torn between doing whatever it takes to be accepted by your peers, and keeping to the traditions of your parents. Even as horrible things are sometimes happening and characters are in dark places, these are incredibly hopeful, optimistic stories.
I think many readers will agree that the two finest stories in the collection are "The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" by Ken Liu and "Walkdog" by Sofia Samatar. Multiple award winning Ken Liu is with good reason famous for his short fiction, and Sofia Samatar is a rising star, and in fact just won the Campbell Award. In Liu's "The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon", Yuan and Jing are struggling with saying goodbye as Jing's family prepares to move away. The two young women "fall" into the Chinese story of Zhinu and Niulang, who fell in love and were then forced to live apart (their stars are on the opposite side of the Milky Way). The story of the ancient lovers is beautiful in a way only Ken Liu can do, and if you've never read him, this is a wonderful introduction to the magic he does with words. "The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" is a story of first love, and how to accept that your first love isn't forever.
When I stop to think about it, Sofia Samatar's "Walkdog" is also a story of first love, or at least about realizing you care deeply for another human being. Yolanda is writing a paper for school, and you're going to get a smile on your face reading this, because it looks like every research paper everything 9th grader has every had to write, complete with introduction, thesis statement, discussion of research and conclusion. Samatar has left in all of Yolanda's spelling errors, unnecessary footnotes, and other errata, which just adds to the fun. So you're smiling, and maybe laughing, and you wonder why Yolanda keeps going on this tangent about her classmate Andy, when her paper is supposed to be about the urban legend creature the Walkdog, which steals kids. This is not a very long story, and Yolanda realizes what's happening as she's writing the research paper, and she's practically begging her teacher to help her, asking why someone didn't do something earlier so the horrible thing didn't have to happen. How can something that starts off so goofy turn so tragic so quickly? A testament to Samatar's prowess, "Walkdog" will be on my Hugo nominations next year.


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Strengths based development is nothing new in sports coaching and development; you don't train someone with a talent for sprinting, how to be a marathon runner. You identify what someone is good at then in the case of a sprinter you develop and coach them to get better in order to get quicker.
Yet as leaders in business, we have possibly all been managed by someone who will look at a development plan as an instrument to develop weaknesses! This flies in the face of research that shows that when you manage people who are using their strengths they will be up to 23% more productive, they are more likely to stay with the company and be true advocates for that company. If they are more productive and engaged they are less likely to be absent from work. All of these things have the potential to add to your bottom line.
If you don't believe me, simply reflect on what percentage of your strengths you use at your work then think about what you could do at work if you used more of your strengths.
Ok, you say thats great in theory, but how do you do it?
Get to know your team
1. Use a Type indicator e.g. MBTI, DISC etc. They give an indication of how people like to communicate with the world, what energises them. They aren't about skills you say, and you would be right, however, it will help you and your team enhance how you understand and communicate with each other, but also what gives them energy and energy at work is golddust!
2. Find out what their values are, not the companies. People are more and more looking at the purpose of their / their companies role over and above the 'widgets' they produce. This is especially true of Gen Y and they are if they are not already the future of your company. Help them link their values to working in your team.
3. Get everyone to do a SWOT analysis and do one for the team. Strengths, Weaknesses (what they are not good at but can do) Opportunities (strengths they haven't as yet been able to utlise in the team) Threats (things they don't like doing, arent that great at doing and developing these skills will be a waste of everybodies time)
4. Development plans – Concentrate on developing Strengths and Opportunities. Only develop anything under the other two headings if they are crucial to the role.
5. If you can allocate work according to strengths then do so in a fair way.
6. Review, reflect,give and receive feedback on a regular basis about how it is working.
It would be great to hear your thoughts on Strength based development, so feel free to comment.
Hope you have a fantastic weekend
Finally, as a tradition on my site I like to add a TED video.
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers
If you hire people just because they can do a job, they'll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they'll work for you with blood and sweat and tears." (Simon Sinek)


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Hardwood Floor Installation and Refinishing in Decatur, GA
Peach State Hardwood has served as metro Decatur's top-rated hardwood floor installation and refinishing experts Since 2000. With a plethora of commercial and residential flooring services, Peach State Hardwood is your best option for hardwood floor services at a competitive price.
At Peach State Hardwood, our team of trained professionals serve one mission: to transform what's under your feet, one plank at a time. We strive to be Decatur, GA's professional and trustworthy one-stop-shop for all your hardwood flooring needs. With Peach State Hardwood, you don't pay until the job is done and you are 100% satisfied! With our free online estimates, we guarantee you will love your new floor makeover!
The Peach State Hardwood Difference
Hardwood Flooring and Refinishing in Decatur, GA
As the locally owned hardwood flooring company, we know what you expect. With over 19 years in the hardwood flooring business, there is no problem too big for Peach State Hardwood. Our free online quotes and pay after we're finished policy will give you the peace of mind of complete satisfaction with your new and improved floor!
If you're ready to upgrade your flooring, give Peach State Hardwood a call at (404)-490-7140 or schedule a free estimate on our website today!
Your flooring needs have met their match with Peach State Hardwood!


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Protect Your Bicycle
Bicycles are among the most popular forms of transportation on campus, which makes them a popular target of thieves. Help protect your bicycle by taking these simple steps.
- Lock your bicycle—always—even if you are going somewhere for only a minute or two. If possible, lock your bicycle inside a building or a well-lighted area. Always secure your lock through the frame as well as both wheels. Do not merely lock your bicycle to itself, but lock it to something solid such as a bicycle rack or sturdy post.
- If you live off-campus, always lock your bicycle, even if you store it in your apartment building or a garage. Every year, hundreds of unlocked bikes are stolen from locked garages.
- Make sure your bicycle lock is adequate for the task. Bike thieves often check out bike racks looking for "bargains," the best bike with the cheapest looking lock. Investing a few extra dollars in a good lock can end up saving you money—and grief—down the road.
- Register your bicycle with the Metropolitan Police Department. This can be done at any police district station; your campus police department may also take bicycle registrations. If your bicycle is registered, then stolen and recovered, the police will know you are the owner and can return it to you.
- Also record the serial number of your bicycle. If your bicycle is stolen, report the theft to the police and give them the serial number. If the bicycle is stolen and recovered, it can then be returned to you.
Protect Your Residence and Valuables
If you live in a dorm room, fraternity or sorority house, or other on-campus housing, here are simple tips for protecting your residence and belongings. If you have roommates, make sure they understand and follow these same tips:
- Lock the door to your room whenever you leave, even if it is just for a few minutes. The majority of thefts from dorm rooms and apartments happen when the residents are not in, and the door is unlocked. Also, lock your door when you are showering or sleeping. If you live on the ground floor, lock your windows. If you discover that your door or window does not lock, leave a maintenance request to have it repaired and contact your resident assistant. If you live in a unit with a sliding glass door, secure it further by placing a length of wood (a dowel or broom handle) in the track on the floor to stop it from opening.
- Don't leave exterior doors or inner lobby doors propped open when they should be closed. If you find one open, close it. And never allow individuals you do not recognize and who do not have a key or pass-card to enter a building. This includes pizza delivery drivers and other service personnel in uniforms.
- Be particularly careful as you are moving in or out of your room. Have family or friends assist you with watching your valuables at both ends: your room and the vehicle holding them.
- Record the serial numbers of valuable objects you have in your room. Engrave such objects with your driver's license number.
- Do not leave cash, credit cards, or checks in unlocked desks or cabinets.
- If you have a laptop computer, lock it in a desk or cabinet when you are out of your room—and keep it in your immediate possession at all other times. The same is true for a cell phone.
- Mark clothes with a laundry pen or thread and needle in a spot other than the label.
- If you have voice mail or an answering machine, don't leave a message that indicates you are away from your residence. Simply state that you are unavailable.
- Do not allow people you do not know well to stay overnight in your room.
Protect Your Vehicle
Vehicles in parking lots always present an attractive target for thieves. Here are some steps you can take to reduce the chance that your car will be broken into or stolen:
- Lock your car whenever it is unattended—both on—and off-campus.
- Do not leave expensive property, such as laptops, CD cases, money, purses, cell phones, and portable stereos in plain view in your car. Lock them in your trunk or take them with you. Cover up conspicuous stereo equipment.
- If you have expensive stereo equipment in your car, consider investing in a car alarm. If you have a car alarm, turn it on whenever you leave your car unattended.
- Record the brand, model numbers, and serial numbers of all electronic equipment installed in your car. In the event of theft, give this information to the police. If the equipment is recovered, it can then be returned to you. Also engrave your driver's license number on this equipment.
- Engrave your Vehicle Identification Number (found on your registration or under the windshield on the driver's side) on the doors, windows, fenders, and trunk lids of your car. This helps prevent theft, because the thief will need to replace these parts before selling the car.
- If you live off-campus, try to park your car off the street, in a garage or other secure area. If this is not possible, always park in a well-lighted area.
- Use a steering wheel lock when your car is parked. While these devices are not foolproof, a thief may decide it's not worth the effort.


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This is not a breaking news alert. And I am not nitpicking.
Even in the increasingly speedy digital world, in which it seems that events and reports of those events occur simultaneously, some events in the flood of information are genuinely urgent. They deserve to be singled out as important and deserving of special attention.
But, more and more, networks issue breaking news alerts to promote some exclusive story they have broken rather than an occurrence of broad social significance.
The email above that I just received is not breaking news. It is a promotion for the news broadcast on which the new details about the Secret Service prostitution will be broadcast.
I'm sure that CBS is thrilled that their special senior correspondent John Miller has come up with more sleazy details. I'm even honest enough — not proud, but honest — to admit more than a little curiosity about what those details might be.
But while curiosity is natural, it is not a substitute for news judgement. Like most human beings, I'm curious about a lot of sleazy things. But that doesn't make them "breaking news." (Actually, I'm not sure I'd want them to be "news" anywhere but in the confines of my fully human imagination.)
CBS is the network of Bob Schieffer, one if the most trusted and wise voices in broadcast journalism, perhaps THE most trusted. Alerts like this cheapen the CBS news brand that pros like Bob have nurtured. They are not worthy of a serious news organization.
A Secret Service agent confessing revelations about a prostitution scandal is not breaking news. It may be newsworthy, given the implications of a breach in the system that supposedly protects our President.
But it is not breaking news.


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Autumnal Flavours: Pumpkin & Shrimp Bisque
Gizmo dares you to try this soup.
I've always preferred the word 'autumn' to 'fall'. It's such a beautifully romantic word and rolls off the tongue with a sense of majesty which, for me, is exactly what the changing season deserves. 'Fall,' whilst apt (what do the leaves do? Duh) is just a little too short-syllabled, a little too basic for my tastes. No matter what you want to call it, with summer long gone and the cold months setting in (especially in London which had an unseasonably late summer and has now snapped to frosty attention), this season calls for root vegetables, warmth and comfort. And so to the humble pumpkin and this soup – warmth, comfort and deliciousness, all in one bowl. Perfection.


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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico >> Mitt Romney scored an overwhelming win today in Puerto Rico's Republican presidential primary, trouncing chief rival Rick Santorum on the Caribbean island even as the two rivals looked ahead to more competitive contests this week in Illinois and Louisiana.
The victory in the U.S. territory was so convincing that Romney, the GOP front-runner, won all 20 delegates to the national convention at stake because he prevailed with more than 50 percent of the vote. That padded his comfortable lead over Santorum in the race to amass the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Nevertheless, the GOP nomination fight is unlikely to end anytime soon, with Santorum refusing to step aside even though Romney is pulling further ahead in the delegate hunt.
As the day began, Santorum claimed he was in contest for the long haul because Romney is a weak front-runner.
"This is a primary process where somebody had a huge advantage, huge money advantage, huge advantage of establishment support and he hasn't been able to close the deal and even come close to closing the deal," Santorum said. "That tells you that there's a real flaw there."
Yet, Santorum sidestepped when asked if he would fight Romney on the convention floor if he failed before August to stop the former Massachusetts governor from getting the required number of delegates.
Romney, in turn, expressed confidence that he'd prevail.
"I can't tell you exactly how the process is going to work," Romney said. "But I bet I'm going to become the nominee."
Both campaigned in Puerto Rico last week — in a campaign focused on statehood for the U.S. territory — but Romney cut short his trip so he could head to Illinois and Santorum spent today in Louisiana. Illinois, a more moderate Midwestern state, votes Tuesday and is seen as more friendly territory for Romney, while Santorum is the favorite in the more conservative Southern state of Louisiana, which votes Saturday.
After the Puerto Rico victory, Romney had 521 delegates in his camp and Santorum had 253, according to The Associated Press' tally. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trailed with 136 delegates and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 50.
(Hawaii Republicans today announced the final delegate count from the state's first GOP caucuses last week. Romney won nine delegates, while Santorum took five, and Paul gained three.)
Enrique Melendez, the Republican representative on the Puerto Rican State Electoral Commission, told the AP that Romney "won the Puerto Rican primary by a huge margin and we are granting him the 20 delegates."
At this rate, Romney is on pace to capture the nomination in June unless Santorum or Gingrich is able to win decisively in the coming contests.
Both have said they would stay in the race and perhaps force the nomination to a fight at the GOP's convention in Tampa if Romney doesn't amass enough delegates to arrive with a mandate. That would turn the convention into an intra-party brawl for the first time since 1976.
Even as Santorum declined to commit to forcing a brokered convention, his advisers were working behind the scenes on a plan to persuade convention delegates to switch candidates if the former Pennsylvania senator fails to derail Romney before that.
Romney's aides call this a fantasy scenario even as they try to prevent delegates from defecting.
Half of the states have yet to weigh in on a race with seemingly no end in sight anytime soon. That's prompted fresh speculation within the GOP over whether a contested convention is likely.
Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus insisted that party will have a nominee sooner rather than later.
"We're only at halftime," Priebus said. "I think that this process is going to play itself out. We will have a nominee, I think, fairly soon — one, two months away."
In Puerto Rico, the race was focused on the issue of statehood, and Melendez said, "This proves Gov. Romney's electability and his ability to reach out to Hispanics and minorities."
Whether that's true or not, Romney told Puerto Ricans he would support statehood while Santorum said English would have to be the official language of the island if it were to join the United States — a statement that roiled residents.
"In Puerto Rico, we get along fine with both languages," said Francisco Rodriguez, a 76-year-old architect who supported Romney and hopes Puerto Rico becomes the nation's 51st state.
Even as Puerto Rico voted, Romney and Santorum traded barbs from afar.
"Sen. Santorum has the same economic lightweight background the president has," Romney told a crowd in Moline, Ill. He went a step further in Rockford, Ill., saying, "We're not going to replace an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight."
That drew a Santorum retort: "If Mitt Romney's an economic heavyweight, we're in trouble."
Aside from a pair of TV interviews, Santorum spent the day visiting a pair of churches in Louisiana, sharing how his faith has shaped his political career and his opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. He didn't mention Romney or any of his other Republican opponents during talks at both churches.
He made clear he didn't plan to exit the race anytime soon, saying in Bossier City, La., "One of the great blessings I've had in every political campaign is people underestimate me, people underestimate what God can do."
Yet, he was curt when asked about his odds in Illinois.
"Keep working," Santorum said after services there. "That's all we can do."
Santorum spoke with CNN's "State of the Union" and ABC's "This Week." Romney appeared on "Fox News Sunday," and Priebus was interviewed on CBS' "Face the Nation."


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Home » Speakers » Betina Welter
Advatera stands for the regular exchange of experiences between digital, communication and marketing managers. Challenges you have faced in digital, web or intranet projects have almost certainly been experienced by others. The sharing of experiences can help your organization reduce its costs and sharpen its focus on essential success factors.
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Curran Moher Weis
10300 Eaton Place, Suite 520
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
(571) 328-5020
He gives you his reasoned opinion, and the background for his decision, and doesn't hide behind 'on the one hand....and on the other hand' ploys.
A Comprehensive Guide to Virginia Child Support
Spying on your Spouse in Virginia – Recording, Email Intercepting and GPS Tracking in Virginia Divorce
A Comprehensive Guide to Virginia Child Custody and Visitation
Common Holiday Visitation Schedules
How Much Will My Virginia Divorce Cost?
Custody and Visitation and COVID-19
How Can I Seal My Divorce File?
Keeping Your Child in Private School After Divorce
Mental Illness and Contested Custody in Divorce
Child Support
Spousal Support
Property Division
Custody and Visitation
Marital Fault
My experience and background reflect the hallmarks of success one must demand of a lawyer in Northern Virginia's legal landscape. As a native of this area, I have here focused my practice on providing sound and balanced representation to clients navigating the difficult legal waters of family law, including contested divorce, custody, visitation, spousal and child support, and equitable distribution. More >


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The last of the English summer was smiling down on us for a great day at the Walk of Smiles charity event. Thank you so much to everyone who attended and helped support such a worthy cause.
80% of the money raised from the 10km sponsored walk will go to Martin House Children's Hospice, while the rest will be used by Bethany's Smile to support children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses.
We bumped into local celebrity Leeds Rhino mascot Ronnie enjoying the day.
If you couldn't make it, don't worry… you can visit justgiving.com/bethanyssmile to donate. Or catch the next event at Headingley Stadium on 20th October. Click here for more details.
Bethany would like to hear from anyone interested in doing a sponsored sky dive. E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com for details.


text: (BeWellBuzz) Hydroponics is a process in which soil is not used for anchoring plants. It can be broadly categorized in two categories - one in which a growing medium is used and one in which no growing medium is used. In the conventional method, plants derive essential nutrients from the soil. This is not the case in hydroponics, in which nutrients are delivered to plants ... Continue Reading


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Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o has many of us wondering about her next major film role after "12 Years A Slave." But, the star may have her sights on a starring role in a film adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's third novel "Americanah," which snagged the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction this month.
MUST READ: This Is What Beyonce's Entire Album Sounds Like In 5 Minutes!
Adiche, whose TEDtalk "We should all be feminists" was featured in part on Beyonce's hit song "***Flawless" (which obviously means she's her favorite writer ever), was on Arise Entertainment 360 to discuss Hollywood's sudden interest in showcasing more Black actors, and mentioned that "Americanah," a story about a Nigerian woman moving back to Nigeria after spending years in America, may be coming to the big screen.
"I'm going to do the mysterious thing and say that Lupita might be making an announcement very soon," Adiche teased during the interview. "I don't know. That announcement might be about Americanah."
If this is the case, 2014 will be a pretty busy year for Nyong'o. Reports are surfacing that she may be starring in the new "Star Wars" installment and, if it was up to a few of her fans, she could be taking Halle Berry's iconic role as Storm in "X Men." Whatever decision Lupita makes for her next film role, we'll be watching!
See Adiche's full Arise interview below:
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Volume Three, Issue Eight
Exploring the Frontiers in Development
This week, USAID convened heads of state, young innovators, government officials, and international development experts for the inaugural Frontiers in Development forum on the campus of Georgetown University.
We discussed and debated ideas that have made a difference or have the potential to make a difference in development. We look forward to working with our partners to put these ideas to work in the coming months. In case you missed the live stream, you can read our Storify feed where we've chronicled the three days of online conversation. We've also posted answers to questions that came in through Crowdhall and posted some of our backstage interviews with the panelists.
Call to Action: A Promise Renewed
What do Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ben Affleck have in common? They came together this week with UNICEF and global leaders from the governments of the United States, Ethiopia, and India at Georgetown University for a Call to Action to end preventable child deaths.
Every year, 7.6 million children die before their 5th birthday. Focused on ending preventable child death through the survival of newborns, children and mothers, the Call to Action convened 700 prominent leaders from government, the private sector, faith-based organizations, and civil society to kick off a long-term effort to save children's lives. Tune in today to watch the webcast and follow the conversation on Twitter with #5thBDay and #Promise4Children.
The New USAID.gov
USAID recently launched a redesigned Web site as part of an effort to make the Agency more transparent, effective and accessible. The site has several new features, including an interactive map that features project information for an initial group of 40 countries, and an updated Development Experience Clearinghouse that provides an online repository of USAID's evaluations dating back to the 1960s. If you're browsing our site with your iPhone or iPad, you can also download two new apps from the iTunes Store. Mandy Moore was pretty excited about our new site too. Please share your feedback with us so that we can continue to improve the site.
The Next Grand Challenge: Powering Agriculture
As part of the Frontiers in Development forum, USAID and its partners launched "Powering Agriculture: A Energy Grand Challenge". This global effort is aimed at increasing food security and driving economic growth in the developing world through effective and affordable energy solutions for farmers. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter to learn more.
USAID Closes Panama Mission
This week USAID celebrated Panama's economic growth and commitment to development by closing our mission there. Some of USAID's key accomplishments in Panama include: building over 100 schools; preserving the Panama Canal watershed; establishing outreach centers for at-risk youth; providing higher education scholarships; constructing roads in the Darien region; establishing the Ministries of Housing and Agriculture; and forming local organizations.
Panama joins Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, South Korea and Poland as countries that no longer receive USAID assistance.
UNICEF Chief Discusses Child Survival
In this exclusive interview with USAID's FrontLines magazine, Anthony Lake, UNICEF's executive director since 2010, talks successes and challenges in child health around the globe. He also suggests where the development community can invest its resources to have the biggest impact, and recalls the resourcefulness of the planet's youngest citizens caught in some of the worst disasters - and how that can inspire us all.
Read the full interview.
USAID in the News
Still can't get enough USAID? Here's a lot more. We were in the news quite a bit this week. National Journal and Politico both reported on our new mobile money partnership with Citi. We spoke to the Global Pulse blog about the need to focus efforts on the five countries that have 50 percent of all preventable child deaths. USA Today reported on the newly released report about global childhood deaths in the Health Policy and Planning medical journal.
And don't Ben Affleck and Administrator Shah make a great team? We think so, read their joint op-ed in Politico on ending child mortality and more about Ben Affleck and Secretary Clinton's commitment in Foreign Policy Magazine. Finally, Administrator Shah chatted with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC about child survival.
Want More Information? Follow the Impact Blog
In addition to our weekly newsletter, USAID has an active blog that covers USAID's programs around the world.


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Patient Presentation
A 4-year-old female came to clinic for her health supervision visit. She was doing well but the parents reported that she seemed to have a cough. They said that they noticed it around birth and it had never improved. It occurred mainly around feeding times at day and night and they had not tried anything specifically to help the cough. They denied rhinorrhea, sweating, or color changes. They said that she seemed to have more spitting up than their other child and she seemed uncomfortable after feedings, so they had been placing her in an upright infant seat. A babysitter came to her house for childcare. The past medical history showed a full term infant with no prenatal or natal complications. She was growing normally at her 2 month visit and had received her immunizations. The family history was negative for congenital anomalies or asthma. The review of systems was negative including no recent illnesses.
The pertinent physical exam showed a smiling female whose weight was continuing to grow at the 50th percentile, and head circumference and length were 75%. HEENT and lung examination were negative. The patient had just fed and the clinician heard the cough and noticed that the infant was spitting up at the time. The infant also did appear to be somewhat uncomfortable with the emesis. The diagnosis of an appropriately growing female infant with a cough that was probably secondary to gastroesophageal reflux was made and the patient was started on lansoprazole. At followup the parents reported that the arching/fussiness behaviors had stopped and the coughing was reduced.
"A cough is a voluntary or involuntary explosive expiration. After a deep inspiration, the glottis is closed and the expiratory muscles contract, compressing the lung and raising intrapulmonary pressure above the atmospheric pressure. The glottis then opens, and gas is expelled at a rapid rate."
Acute coughs are commonly due to upper respiratory tract diseases in children of all ages – often because of post-nasal rhinorrhea. Chronic coughs may be more difficult to determine the cause of and may require more investigation, consultation, and/or empiric trials of medication including radiographic imaging of chest or sinuses, spirotometry, sweat chloride, methacholine challenge, bronchoscopy, gastroscopy, immunodeficiency testing, etc. Children with congenital abnormalities will often have cough but also other "noisy breathing" or "funny cries" if the abnormality affects the overall breathing apparatus. Some of the symptoms and signs which may lead to a diagnosis other than common acute upper respiratory tract disease include abnormal ausculatory findings of the lungs or heart, clubbing, chest pain, dyspnea, failure to thrive, daily wet cough, exposures to infectious disease or environmental irritants such as smoking, other congenital abnormalities, recurrent pneumonia, drug exposures, etc.
Gastroesophageal reflux is a normal physiological process where stomach contents reflux back into the esophagus which occurs multiple times per day and is cleared by gravity. Gastroesopheageal reflux disease occurs when there is an abnormality of this normal process. Go here for more information about gastroesopheal reflux disease
Learning Point
The differential diagnosis of cough includes:
- Allergic
- Asthma
- Allergic rhinitis
- Congenital
- Cleft palate
- Congenital heart disease – including vascular rings, congestive heart failure
- Laryngeal cleft
- Laryngeal – cyst, malacia, stenosis
- Pulmonary malformation – sequestered lobe
- Tracheoesophageal fistula
- Tracheobronchomalacia
- Vocal cord paralysis
- Webs
- Genetic
- Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency
- Cystic fibrosis
- Dyskinetic cilia
- Immunodeficiency syndromes
- Mounier-Kuhn syndrome
- Infections
- Bacterial
- Pertussis
- Streptococcus pneumoniae
- Staphylcoccus
- Tuberculosis
- Fungal
- Aspergillosis
- Coccidiomycosis
- Viral
- Adenovirus
- Human immunodeficiency virus
- Influenza
- Measles
- Parainfluenza
- Respiratory syncytial virus
- Rhinovirus
- Other
- Chlamydial
- Mycoplasmosis
- Disease process
- Bronchiolitis
- Bronchitis
- Croup
- Otitis Media
- Pneumonia
- Post-infectious cough
- Sinusitis
- Tonsillitis
- Upper respiratory infections
- Bacterial
- Miscellaneous
- Aspiration
- Bronchiectasis
- Drug-induced conditions
- Environmental irritants
- Foreign body aspiration
- Gastoesophageal reflux
- Post-nasal discharge
- Psychogenic or habit cough
- Swallowing dysfunction
- Tourette syndrome
- Neoplasm/Benign Tumors
- Hemangiomas
- Lymphoma
- Mediastinal tumors
- Nasal polyp
- Neurofibroma
- Papilloma
Questions for Further Discussion
1. What are the definitions of acute versus chronic cough?
2. What are indications for referral to a pulmonologist?
3. What are indications for computed tomography or bronchoscopy of the lungs?
Related Cases
- Disease:
Gastroesophageal Reflux | Cough
- Symptom/Presentation: Cough
- Specialty: Allergy / Pulmonary Diseases | Gastroenterology
- Age: Infant
To Learn More
To view pediatric review articles on this topic from the past year check PubMed.
Evidence-based medicine information on this topic can be found at SearchingPediatrics.com, the National Guideline Clearinghouse and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Information prescriptions for patients can be found at MedlinePlus for theses topic: Cough and Gastreosophageal Refux Disease
To view current news articles on this topic check Google News.
To view images related to this topic check Google Images.
Illingworth RS. Common Symptoms of Disease in Children. Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford. 1988:149-155.
Fleisher GR, Ludwig S. Synopsis of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Williams and Wilkins. Baltimore, MD. 1996:64.
Rudolph CD, et.al. Rudolph's Pediatrics. 21st edit. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. 2003:1910.
Woodhead JC. Pediatric Clerkship Guide. Mosby. St. Louis MO, 2003:196-197.
Goldsobel AB, Chipps BE. Cough in the pediatric population. J Pediatr. 2010 Mar;156(3):352-8.
Chang AB, Berkowitz RG. Cough in the pediatric population. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2010 Feb;43(1):181-98, xii.
Ramanuja S, Kelkar PS. The approach to pediatric cough. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2010 Jul;105(1):3-8.
ACGME Competencies Highlighted by Case
1. When interacting with patients and their families, the health care professional communicates effectively and demonstrates caring and respectful behaviors.
2. Essential and accurate information about the patients' is gathered.
3. Informed decisions about diagnostic and therapeutic interventions based on patient information and preferences, up-to-date scientific evidence, and clinical judgment is made.
4. Patient management plans are developed and carried out.
10. An investigatory and analytic thinking approach to the clinical situation is demonstrated.
11. Basic and clinically supportive sciences appropriate to their discipline are known and applied.
17. A therapeutic and ethically sound relationship with patients is created and sustained.
18. Using effective nonverbal, explanatory, questioning, and writing skills, the healthcare professional uses effective listening skills and elicits and provides information.
19. The health professional works effectively with others as a member or leader of a health care team or other professional group.
23. Differing types of medical practice and delivery systems including methods of controlling health care costs and allocating resources are known.
24. Cost-effective health care and resource allocation that does not compromise quality of care is practiced.
Donna M. D'Alessandro, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Children's Hospital


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The blockchain is the underlying technology that enables the bitcoin cryptocurrency to exist. A foundational component of this technology is its complex cryptosystem. The blockchain cryptosystem relies on public key algorithms based on Elliptic Curve and message digest functions like SHA-256 and RIPEMD-160. When you create a bitcoin wallet, under the hood you are creating an Elliptic Curve key pair based on Secp256k1 curves. The key pair has a private key and a public key. The private key is the one you keep secret and allows you to sign transactions. For example, when you send bitcoins to someone, you are signing this transaction with your private key and then you announce it to the network. The miners will pick up your transaction and verify that the transaction signature is valid and broadcast to the network until enough miners have validated the transaction and thus achieving consensus. The checks and balances of the Blockchain ledger are updated and when consensus is achieved, your transaction is written in "digital stone".
On the other hand, the public key is the one used to create your bitcoin wallet address. The public key allows you to receive bitcoins. However, your bitcoin wallet address is not your raw Elliptic Curve public key There are additional steps performed in order to create an address. First, a digital representation of your public key is computed using SHA-256 followed by RIPEMD-160. Second, a byte with network id is prepended to this string. Third, a checksum of this string is computed by performing SHA-256 twice. From these results the first 4 bytes are appended to the string produced in second step. This string is encoded in Base58 and this is your bitcoin wallet address. The picture below illustrates this steps in a non-automated way.
There are many forms to store your bitcoins as well as to create wallets. One of the early methods to create bitcoin wallets was known as brain wallets. Unfortunately, this user-friendly method allowed you to enter a password or passphrase which was then hashed using an algorithm such as SHA-256 and used as seed to generate your private key. Due to its popularity and easy usage, many Brain wallets were used in the last few years with weak passwords or passphrases, transforming the Blockchain wallet address hashes in password or passphrases representation of your private key. This weak way of generating your private key allowed attackers to steal your bitcoins just by doing password cracking against the hashes stored in the Blockchain.
Although, this attack has been known for years, it only got widely known recently due to the work made by Ryan Castellucci. Ryan's released on 7th August 2015 at DEFCON 23 the results of his work cracking brain wallets in conjunction with a tool called BrainFlayer : A proof-of-concept cracker for cryptocurrency brain wallets and other low entropy key algorithms. You can view Ryan's talk here. Two months after Ryans' initial release of BrainFlayer, he released a faster version. This was the result of the work done by Nicolas Courtois, Guangyang Song from
International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), University College London, and Ryan's to optimize the speed of computing secp256k1 bitcoin elliptic curve. This has been detailed in the paper Speed Optimizations in Bitcoin Key Recovery Attacks. Furthermore, this year at the Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference, Marie Vasek presented another article The Bitcoin Brain Dain: A Short Paper on the Use and Abuse of Bitcoin Brain Wallets. This paper published the results of evaluating 300 billion passwords against Blockchain hashes and their findings about 884 brain wallets that had funds at a given time, suggesting they might have been drained by active attackers.
So, how do you perform such attack?
The attempt to recover a password just by knowing its encrypted representation can be made mainly using three techniques. Dictionary attacks, which is the fastest method and consists of comparing the dictionary word with the password hash. Another method is the brute force attack, which is the most powerful one but the time it takes to recover the password might render the attack unfeasible. This is of course dependable on the complexity of the password and the chosen algorithm. Finally, there is the hybrid technique which consists of combining words in a dictionary with word mangling rules.
With that being said let's go over the steps needed to perform this attack against the Blockchain hash160 hashes using a dictionary. This is done in 6 steps:
- Bootstrap the Blockchain.
- Parse the Blockchain by running Blockparser and get allBalances.
- Extract hash160 strings.
- Create a Bloomfilter.
- Run BrainFlayer with your favorite dictionary.
- Use Addressgen to generate key pair.
First step is to bootstrap the blockchain. To perform this, we need to download, install and run the bitcoin software on a system connected to the Internet. The system then becomes a node and part of the peer-to-peer blockchain network. The first task performed by the node is to download the entire database of records i.e., the public transaction ledger and verify it using the transaction engine. In other words, the node downloads the entire blockchain and verifies the validity of all blocks by performing a series of checks This needs a lot of bandwidth and computing power. As I write this the Blockchain size is 90.633 Gb and contains 438556 blocks. The data contains every transaction that has been made in the blockchain since the genesis block was created on the 3rd of January 2009 at 18:15:05 GMT. To download the entire Blockchain, took me more than 72 hours . The image below illustrates the steps needed to perform the download, installation and running the bitcoin software.
Then, the picture below illustrates the steps needed to perform the configuration and running the bitcoin software. You can view the progress by executing the getblockchaininfo command and check the number of blocks that have been already downloaded.
After downloading the entire Blockchain we move into the second step. Parse the Blockchain. The tool to perform this heavy lifting exercise is called Blockparser and is a powerful utility, open source, written in C++ that was created by Znort987. The tool doesn't seem to be maintained anymore but is still able to perform its work. When blockparser performs the parsing, it creates and keeps the index in RAM which means with the current size of the blockchain you need enough RAM to be able to parse it in reasonable amount of time. The tool can perform various task but for this exercise we are interested in the allBalances command. To perform the parsing, I used a system with 64 GB ram and the process was smooth. I tried it on a system with 32Gb and stopped it due to the heavy swapping that was happening. The allBalances produced a 30Gb text file. The image below exemplifies these steps.
Third step is to extract the hash160 addresses from the allBalances. We are interested in the hash160 because this field contains the representation of the Bitcoin public key. Below you can see the output of allBalances.
Forth step, we create a bloom filter with the tool hex2blf which is part of the brainflayer toolkit. We also need to create a binary file containing all the hashes sorted in order to be used with the bloom filter. This will reduce the false positives.
Fifth step, we launch brainflayer using our favorite dictionary against the bloom filter file we generated in the previous step. If there is a match you will see the password or passphrase and the corresponding hash. In the output of cracked password you could see C or U in the second column. This is to indicate if the key is Compressed or Uncompressed. In the below image you can see these steps.
Sixth step and last step is to create the Elyptic Curve key pair using the known password or passphrase. This can be done using the tool Addressgen created by sarchar. Addressgen is a utility written in Python 3 to generate private keys and their corresponding addresses using secp256k1. This utility will allow you to generate the ECDSA key pair which can be used to take over the wallet.
Financial gain is a significant incentive to have people performing all kinds of activities in order to attempt to steal your coins. If you are interested in attacks against the Blockchain I would suggest looking at the different papers created by the professor Dr. Nicolas Courtois and available on his website. On a different note, there are other researchers that are brute forcing the entire bitcoin private key keyspace in order to find private keys for addresses that have funds. There is one project that has the code name Large Bitcoin Collider which is a distributed effort with a pool where people can contribute computing power. The thread on Bitcointalk forum is quite interesting and the author has the following aim for this project: "allow the Bitcoin community to actually have a better shot at risk assessment of this threat vector. Right now, the math says the danger is negligible. Should there at some point be evidence or indication of the contrary, then it's still better to have a project like this for analysis/experimentation of this concrete attack vector". The author also writes that the project is a derivative of brainflayer and supervanitygen. Moreover, brainflayer can also perform brute force attack, sequentially against the entire private key space. This would be unfeasible to perform in a reasonable time frame but better to view the talk "Stealoing Bitcoin with Math – HOPE XI" given by Fillippo Valsorda and Ryan's where among other things they show how quick brain wallets get drained, attacks against newer Brainwallet implementations and other attacks against Eliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA).
Mastering Bitcoin – Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies by Andreas M. Antonopoulos