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- Advice
- Games
- Toys
- Entertainment
- School Stuff
- Sports
Heather Braverman Q&AOct 11, 2011
Teen singer and actress Heather Braverman is set to make a big splash in the new year as one of the stars of the book turned movie Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Find out more in her Kidzworld Q&A!
Challen Cates Q&AOct 11, 2011
Actress Challen Cates plays Mrs. Knight on Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush, a hit show about hockey players turned band mates. We caught up with Challen to find out what it's like acting alongside one of the hottest boy bands on and off TV!
Naya Rivera BioOct 09, 2011
Naya Rivera plays the sassy Santana – head cheerleader and glee club member – in Glee. Find out more about this actress in her Kidzworld Bio!
Robbie Kay Q&AOct 07, 2011
British actor Robbie Kay plays the youngest member of Blackbeard's crew in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz and hitting stores on DVD and Blu-Ray later this month. Find out more in his Kidzworld Q&A!
Olivia Holt Q&AOct 07, 2011
Teen actress Olivia Holt is karate-chopping her way onto Disney XD in the live action comedy Kickin' It. Olivia plays a martial arts expert who has no problem hanging with the guys on and off the mat. Find out more in her Kidzworld Q&A!
Cozi Zuehlsdorff BioOct 05, 2011
Cozi Zuehlsdorff became famous for her role in the family-friendly drama Dolphin Tale. Find out more about this up-and-coming actress in her Kidzworld Bio.
Matthew Morrison BioOct 03, 2011
Fans of Glee love Matthew Morrison, who plays teacher Will Schuester. Find out more about this singing stud in his Kidzworld Bio.
Allie Gonino Q&ASep 26, 2011
Actress Allie Gonino stars as Laurel Mercer, the sweet but sly sister in the new ABC drama The Lying Game. In this exclusive Kidzworld Q&A, Allie tells us the truth about what it's like being on TV!
Chris Colfer BioSep 25, 2011
Chris Colfer's portrayal of Kurt on the hit show Glee has won him fans around the world. Find out what inspired his musical success in his Kidzworld Bio.
Madison Pettis Q&ASep 25, 2011
Madison Pettis has been acting and modeling since the age of 5, but it's her voice you might recognize in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, out on DVD September 27. Find out more in her KIdzworld Q&A.
Greyson Chance BioSep 21, 2011
Greyson Chance became famous for his YouTube performance of Lady Gaga's Paparazzi. Find out more about his music in his Kidzworld Bio.
Adam Hicks Q&ASep 18, 2011
Teen actor and musician Adam Hicks has been the lead in shows like Zeke and Luther and also stars as Wen the keyboard player in Disney's breakout musical hit Lemonade Mouth. Find out more in his Kidzworld Q&A!
Dianna AgronSep 17, 2011
Dianna Agron became an overnight sensation for playing Quinn Fabray on Glee. Find out more in her Kidzworld Bio!
Brendan Meyer Q&ASep 16, 2011
Teen actor Brendan Meyer is the star of Mr. Young, coming to the U.S. on Disney XD! Brendan plays Adam, a kid so brilliant that he zooms ahead of his classmates, only to return as a teacher! Find out more in his Kidzworld Q&A.
Meaghan Martin BioSep 16, 2011
Meaghan Martin is winning over America's heart with her amazing acting and singing. Learn more about the talented artist in her Kidzworld Bio!
Luke Schroder Q&ASep 14, 2011
17-year-old model and actor Luke Schroder took on the difficult task of portraying a character with Asperger's Syndrome in his new movie, A Mile in His Shoes. Find out more in Luke's exclusive Kidzworld Q&A!
Stefanie Scott BioSep 14, 2011
Disney star Stefanie Scott plays Lexi Reed on A.N.T. Farm. Find out more about this singer/actress in her Kidzworld Bio!
Erica Gluck Q&ASep 11, 2011
Twelve-year-old actress Erica Gluck is starring in the new TV movie Trinity Goodheart and pursuing her passion for music. You may already know her from her role as Brit Brat on the The Game. Find out more in her Kidzworld Q&A!
Ed Westwick BioSep 10, 2011
Who doesn't have a love/hate relationship with Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl? Find out more about actor Ed Westwick in his Kidzworld Bio!
Quiz! Celebrity Baby PhotosSep 09, 2011
You may know everything about your favorite celebs, from their favorite beverage to their entire filmographies. But do you think you could identify them by their baby photos? Take this quiz and find out!


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Disney's Big Mistake
Full disclosure: I don't watch ABC's Once Upon A Time. But I pay attention to all sorts of pop-culture news, and yesterday a story about this show caught my eye. That's because the show has cast an actress to play Ursula from The Little Mermaid, and in doing so they made a very big mistake. In case you need a reminder, this is what Ursula looks like (with Ariel shown for perspective, just in case you need it):
And this is what Merrin Dungey looks like, who has been cast as Ursula:
You can't convince me that there weren't any fat actresses out there to choose from. What they've done is take a part ready-made for a fat person (how many of those exist?!), and failed to give that part to a fat person. Surprising? No. Frustrating? Yes.
Sadly, Disney isn't the only one pulling stunts like this. Check out the original Amanda Waller, part of the DC Comics universe:
Here's what she looks like on Arrow:
You know, I used the word "mistake" in the title of this post, but a mistake to me implies that you didn't know better. Disney and DC know better. Disney knows that Ursula is a big fat woman and DC knows that Amanda Waller is, too, and they cast thin women anyway.
There's this ludicrous idea that showing fat people in media will encourage people to be (or stay) fat. I mean, clearly I'm fat because I learned it from Ursula, and now when I see a skinny version of this excellent villain, I'm going to learn the error of my ways and become forever thin, right?
Fat chance.
Thanksgiving Challenge
You know those challenges that pop up now and then on social media – ab challenge, plank challenge, push-up challenge – where you follow a monthly schedule that dares you to do more and more? The ones with pictures of how ripped and amazing your body is going to look after thirty days of hard work and dedication? Yeah, this is nothing like that.
Now, I think it's safe to say that pretty much every one of us has a complicated relationship with food. Whether we're suffering from intense guilt and shame for the "bad" things we've eaten, or we're elated at how "good" we've been and want to tell everyone about the latest food that has changed our lives forever, food and strong emotion go hand in hand. Sadly, more often than not, we fear food and what it might do to us, especially in terms of our weight.
So, here's your challenge: This Thanksgiving – and straight on through to the New Year and beyond (to forever!), if you dare – I challenge you to stop fearing food. Let go of the guilt. Don't fret about how much stuffing and green bean casserole you've eaten. Don't pile a big scoop of shame onto your plate next to the sweet potatoes and turkey.
Now, some people will think I'm encouraging you to be a glutton all day every day. I'm not. I think it's important to establish a healthy relationship with food, to educate ourselves about nutrition, and to fuel our bodies in ways that help us to function well and live long lives. But fear doesn't have to – and shouldn't – be a part of that. My go-to motto for food? "Everything in moderation, including moderation."
So then, what about the guilt, shame, and fear that other people serve up at the holidays? Making friends with food is tough enough without "well meaning" family and friends butting in. From your aunt who asks if you really need a second helping, to the Facebook friends who post articles about how to "survive" the holidays without weight gain, the obstacles to repairing your relationship with food are everywhere.
There are a number of ways to deal with these folks. You can ignore them, educate them, amuse them. Check out these comebacks from Clinton Kelly, where "she" is your hypothetical nosy Aunt Tammy:
She says: "Did you gain weight?"
You say: "Yes, but I lost my will to live. If I'm not back from the bathroom in, like, 20 minutes, I'm probably not coming back. Tell Dad I loved him the most."
She says: "Someone's putting on the pounds!"
You say: "Have you seen this family? I was literally dealt the worse genetic hand possible. What the hell? Now I just carry around my own butter."
Remember: What and how much you eat is your business. Feel free to let people know that.
Repairing your relationship with food probably isn't going to be easy or quick. It's taken you years to learn to be afraid of food, to feel guilt and shame about what you choose to put in your mouth. Unlearning those habits and behaviors might take just as long. So, be patient with yourself. Be kind (even – and especially – when others aren't).
Start by eating what you want on Thanksgiving Day without questioning or fretting about every forkful. Don't engage in conversations about how bad everyone feels after they're done eating, and the things they're going to have to do to make up for their gluttony. I know it's going to be a challenge, but I have faith that you can do it. This can be a positive change for the rest of your life. I'd like to see the plank challenge do that!
The Spin Cycle
Have you heard about the hot water Old Navy's gotten themselves into in regards to their plus-size clothing pricing practices? It all started when a savvy shopper noticed that Old Navy charges more for plus-sized items than for straight-sized – for women. Men's clothing costs the same no matter the size. Here's an excerpt from the petition:
For example: Old Navy's Rockstar Super Skinny Jeans cost $27 in a size 6. The same jeans in a size 26 cost $40. Alternatively, the men's Slim-Fit Jean costs $25–no matter the size.
As of the writing of this post, the petition has over 87,000 signatures (and yes, one of them is mine). Pretty hard for Old Navy to ignore that many voices, right? Well, the company responded, and as you can imagine, they had some lovely spin:
"Old Navy is proud to offer styles and apparel designed specifically for our plus-size female customer, which includes curve-enhancing and curve-flattering elements such as four-way stretch materials and contoured waistbands, which most men's garments do not include," Gap spokesperson Debbie Felix told The Huffington Post in an email Tuesday.
Sure, okay. I need special curve-enhancing and -flattering materials in my pants, and men don't. Whatever. You know what really gets my blood boiling about this? That not only are my pants pricier than a man's because of all my special pant needs, but apparently my pants have $13 worth of extra material than a skinny woman's pants. Thirteen dollars! And don't even start with the "bigger sizes cost more to produce" argument, because wouldn't that mean a size 12 (still a straight size, mind you!) should cost, oh, I don't know, maybe $13 more than a size 0? Straight-sized women would never stand for that! No, companies upcharge for plus-size clothing because they can.
Okay, so let's take a look at some of the arguments folks are offering in defense of Old Navy's pricing practices. (Check out the comments section of any article about this controversy, and you'll find loads of people who are experts in women's fashion, health, and the economy!) As you can imagine, people are sympathetic and understanding about fat people's clothing needs. Just kidding!
Fat Women Shouldn't Wear Skinny Jeans Anyway
This is probably my favorite. Nothing to do with the actual issues at hand, just fat-shaming at its "Don't make me look at your disgusting body, fatso!" ugliest. Thanks, concerned commenter, but I'll make my own fashion decisions, regardless of your opinion.
Stop Shopping There If You Don't Like It
Written by a person who has endless options for buying clothes. Guess what, skinny person? I don't have endless options. I have very few choices in brick and mortar stores (and there are plenty of fat people who are completely sized out of mall stores). There are more options for me online, but very few are economically priced like Old Navy clothes. I have limited choices, so completely eliminating one isn't as easy a decision for me as it would be for you. This is what's known as thin privilege. Please check yours at the door.
They Make Less Money On Plus-Sizes
I see this argument a lot, especially in regards to why stores – like Old Navy and Target – have stopped carrying plus sizes in their brick and mortar stores. Just last year, I had a clerk at L.L. Bean tell me that they stopped carrying plus sizes because "no one was buying them." How does that work, exactly, when we live in a nation that is constantly reminded of how fat we're all getting? If the average American woman is a size 14, why is it that so few stores sell products meant for half the population? Where are fat women buying their clothes? Are we are just running around naked and I haven't noticed? I refuse to believe that plus-size clothing is not profitable. So the garbage response that stores can't make good money on duds for fat women is just more spin.
What can you do? Sign the petition. Speak up. Write to clothing stores and tell them what you want. Wave your dollars in their faces. If we make enough noise, we can make change. And if it really comes down to the fact that fat dollars are less worthy to companies than thin dollars, then I guess we'll just have to start our own clothing company. Should we call it Big Fit Deal?
When Retouched Is Too Touched
I have a problem: While I'm all about body confidence and body love and rooting for every woman's right to love her body no matter how far it strays from the media's idea of perfection, I'm having a hard time swallowing even some of the plus size model's images.
I'm a graphic designer by night, so I'm quite familiar with Photoshop and the wonders it can bring. Fix the shadows, nix a pimple, add some text… create unnaturally smooth, supple skin? Not so much the latter. I've been known to retouch some photos of others by reducing wrinkles and whitening teeth, but an image I've recently come across and the comments underneath it sort of irked me, because it's a typical modeling for media/advertising, and while it's showing diversity in the media, it's by the media's standards I feel.
The image is of the lovely Tess Munster. She is a beautiful, full-figured woman with tattoos and piercings, and I really love her style and image. But she too, I believe, is being retouched for advertising's sake. My heart ached that many of the comments read "I wish I had as much confidence as you." See the photo spread here.
I feel like commenting myself and saying something along the lines of, "If you too had a makeup artist, hairstylist, professional photographer, and professional photo editor on hand, you can feel as sexy as you want." Don't get me wrong, even without the assumed retouching, she's beautiful. But I'm sorry, no one's skin is this soft looking. No bumps, no wrinkles, nothing but "perfection." The fact is, this is just how the media is. I wish some of the other women who mentioned they wished they had her confidence would see that it's not looking flawless that gives you confidence, it's being comfortable in your own skin and living life to its fullest.
For reference sake, above is a photo of Tess from her website. STILL a beauty, just more natural and identifiable. Tell me, am I asking too much for the media to just say NO to Photoshopping and image retouching? Should I just be grateful that the media is starting to include some non-standard women?
This Turkey Can't Trot
Surprise! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I'm still here, and I still have just as much to say as I ever have – maybe even more. So, why haven't I been blogging my little heart out? First, I needed a mental health break. Thinking about this stuff all the time is exhausting. But mostly, I needed to give my hand a break. I have a pretty good case of carpal tunnel in my right wrist, and it's made doing computer work outside of my actual get-paid-to-do-it job pretty much out of the question. Thankfully, I'm having surgery in a couple of weeks to take care of the problem – and then I plan to be back, blogging with a vengeance!
Which leads me to the point of this post: I hate not being able to do things. It's amazing how much I take for granted my ability to physically accomplish what I need – and want – to accomplish. Sprain your ankle or break your arm, and you suddenly realize how lucky you have been to have full use of that ankle or arm. Carpal tunnel has made it painful to do things like hold a steering wheel, blow dry my hair, use a fork, and lift weights in the gym. Guess which one irritates me the most? I mean, sure, I like to drive places and have my hair look nice and feed myself, but not being able to keep up with my regular workout routine seems like the cruelest blow.
It's just like how frustrated I am that my knee and ankle injuries have sidelined me from marathoning. I have a lot of athletic friends, and to see them posting their race bibs and finish times is so aggravating. I want to be queuing up with them! I want to be at that start line, bouncing on the balls of my feet from all the nervous energy! But my body won't cooperate anymore. On Thanksgiving morning, hundreds of people are going to participate in a Turkey Trot. Not this turkey. The longing I feel to do something like that makes me drool almost as much as my mom's homemade stuffing.
As much as I hate to admit it, a huge reason that having physical limitations upsets me is because of my size. I don't want to be seen doing less, because then I'll look like a lazy fatty who isn't trying – trying to not be so fat, trying to look better, trying to be better. Even though I have long given up the idea of being thin, of permanently losing weight through dieting or exercise, I still feel compelled to push myself to do more. It's basically my version of the "good fatty." If I'm working out to the max of my abilities, then I'm a good fatty and you shouldn't look down on me. I'm trying, see! I'm doing all I can!
Of course, the truth is, I am doing all I can – right now. I can't lift weights because it hurts a lot and my hand goes numb. I can't walk or run a race because my knee throbs and my foot protests in pain. So swimming and doing Aqua Fit three times a week, working on my flexibility? Those things are good. Those things are good enough. Aren't they?
As much as society, the media, and the diet industry want me to feel certain things about my body (because every time I have a negative thought, they see dollar signs), I'm often my own worst enemy. I'm disappointed, discouraged, and even disgusted by what my body can and can't do, what it does and doesn't look like. Body acceptance is a journey.
Right now, I wish my journey was taking me to the start line of a Turkey Trot, but it's not. To all of you who are healthy enough to queue up and cross that finish line, I salute you. With my left hand.
Advertising Issues and Me
I was eating dinner the other night and flipping through my latest Ulta advert, and the inserted fragrance ads were sitting out next to the book after I was finished. I was still eating dinner and happened to glance down at them, and had a passing thought. Amazingly, I don't recall having this thought in the past, and if I did I just never thought to blog about it. But I thought it fitting for a BFD post!
Why are none of these women what I see everyday? The females (and males, for that matter) are the typical "model," Photoshopped to the max, smooth skin, sultry/serious looks on their faces… and usually doing things that, to me, have no correlation with fragrance.
I have an AA in Graphic Design and it's a passion of mine, so when I flip through a magazine I'm often scrutinizing the adverts and wondering what made them go in "that" direction. I don't think I've ever understood fragrance advertising. Again, all people doing things that never have any realistic correlation with wearing perfume. I then thought, What if they just put an average looking person on there, would their ad sales flop or soar? What if ALL companies started using a non-Photoshopped image of someone just using the product? Surely that would be better than what we are force fed through the media
I'd love to hear any thoughts others have to bring on this. It just confuses me. Why is there such a clear-cut definition and look about the word "model" with advertising campaigns? When I decided to Google "Plus size perfume model," I found a post about The Militant Baker and her faux ad campaigns, although I had yet to see these. They are fabulous. Yes to it all! Here is even one of a fake perfume here:
I'd totally buy that perfume just because I identify with the image. Back to my OSFM? (One Size fits Most?) rant: I can't comprehend why so many retailers and designers are missing such a huge opportunity for profit growth if they offered more sizes and different advertising?!
It's 2014, folks, and very near 2015. Movies can be made entirely on the computer, a desktop printer can print a 3D object, robots are being used to clear up hazardous waste, and there are just so many leaps and bounds being made in technology.
There are not flying cars yet, but you know what is still kicking around? The phrase "One Size Fits Most". *Cue angry music* Formally known as "One Size Fits All," OSFM, in my opinion, is as outdated as last year's ham. Dried up. Old. Stinky. THROW IT AWAY! Why can't we just do away with that size "option"?
I'll be honest, I don't see a lot of OSFM clothing, but the one time a year I'm bombarded with it is October… at the Halloween store (I'm looking at you Spirit Halloween)… where I'm DYING, BEGGING to give them my money for a size 2X/3X, plus size, fat, whatever you want to call it, costume! But no, I get OSFM.
"You're joking right?" is what I mutter to myself when I make the yearly trip to the Halloween store and see so many cute items that could potentially be mine. In reality, I've either already purchased my costume from an online retailer (shout out to Torrid), or I've had to make my own costume months earlier because I know for a fact that dang store will not have anything in my size.
We've seen this GIF before, but seriously? What the heck? You can't make those tights in a larger size? I know there are larger costumes out there. Can't you expand your product line? What is the purchasing manager thinking?! In all fairness, Spirit does offer plus sizes online, but I don't want that! I want brick and mortar. I want to feel that fabric in my hot little hands, and I want to try it on. I don't want to have to pay for return shipping and going to the post office or paying the return fees. I just want what I want and I want it now. Equality for all sizes in brick and mortar shops. I can PRINT a freaking piggy bank in my home office, but I can't go to Target and buy a fashionable top or costume? Something is wrong here.This costume would have been fun, but alas, I'm much happier with the one I made myself. Plus, as I'm aging and have a toddler, all that boobage isn't home/work appropriate.
Have you been subject to any OSFM discrimination, or am I just angry cat for no reason?
See my original post here.
Today In F Words: Fat and Fandoms
Confession: I'm a card-carrying member of several fandoms. Okay, so there aren't actually cards to carry (that I know of), but I'm proud to be one of those possibly crazy people who loves something pop-culture related so much that we actually have names for ourselves. Are you a Superwholockian, a Whedonite, an Arrowhead, a Gleek, a Fannibal, a Cortexifan, a Trekkie, an X-Phile? (Feel free to guess which of these I am.)
While those are television examples, there are also fandoms for books, movies… even professional wrestling. Being part of a fandom can be a wonderful experience. Communicating, commiserating, and collaborating with like-minded people all over the world is, to quote someone you may or may not know, fantastic. Being part of something makes us feel good.
Now, let's say you're an out and proud member of your fandom, and want to wear your love on your
proverbial literal sleeve. You're in luck! There are a host of sites that make t-shirts that cater to fans. Here's the thing, though: Don't bother ordering one if you're fat.
From Qwertee to ThinkGeek, pop-culture t-shirt manufacturers seem to have that same problem that so many other clothing makers have: They don't want my money. I'm not sure why. I mean, there are theories out there that certain brands won't make clothes for fat people because fat people don't fit their "target demographic," which I guess they think is a polite way of saying they only want to be associated with thin (read: attractive) people. If fat people are out wandering around in Lululemon or Abercrombie & Fitch—or, god forbid, designer brands—then… bad things happen like they get more money and more exposure. Oh, the horror, I guess? I haven't quite worked this out yet, forgive me.
And now we have the custom-made-for-a-cause t-shirt trend. Celebrities like Stephen Amell and some of the cast of MTV's Teen Wolf are jumping on the bandwagon, offering up limited-quantity, limited-time, custom shirts that support a cause, like cancer or cystic fibrosis. Nothing wrong with raising money for those causes—or even for an up-and-coming artist who sells their designs this way. The problem is that they're using represent.com to sell these shirts. And the manufacturer behind represent.com? That would be American Apparel.
Now, there are a host of problematic things about American Apparel. But what I want to talk about today is the fact that AA really only wants you to wear their stuff if you're small. Check out their sizes for women and for men. I love how men get up to 3XL, but women only get 2XL (and, at a 16-18, that's hardly double extra large). What that means is that if I want to support causes that use represent.com, I have to buy a men's shirt. Which means the sleeves are going to come down past my elbows and the chest is going to be enormous. I hate men's t-shirts. I have a drawer full of them that I never wear. I really dislike you, American Apparel, and your sizest crap that prevents me from flying my pop-culture geek flag proudly and comfortably.
And here's a related thought: It's pretty commonly known that the average American woman is a size 14. (Read this for an interesting look at clothing sizes.) In a sensible world, doesn't that mean clothing manufacturers should make a size 14 their medium (meaning "about halfway between two extremes of size or another quality; average")? But no, most shops make 14 an XL. That doesn't make sense, but honestly, at the end of the day, I don't care what the number is on the shirt. I don't care if it says XL or 4XL or Fat Fatty McFatterson. I just want it to fit well and look good.
Seems to me that TV shows, movies, bands, and, yeah, professional wrestlers all want more fans. After all, more fans equals more money. So, are the decision-makers behind these brands all body snobs like American Apparel? Do they think money from fat pockets is tainted? Or are they all thin themselves, so they never even think about fat people? Or do we just not fit their "target demographic"? Seems to me, their target demographic should be anyone with money. Full stop.
I'll wrap things up with an image that I've used before, and, sadly, will likely use many more times.
Are you a member of a fandom? How do you show your fandom pride? Share in the comments!
To Start and To Finish
You might think that the most important part of doing a marathon is getting to the finish line. And while that action is what earns you a medal and bragging rights, the act of getting to the start line can be just as – or even more – momentous.
A week ago Sunday I got to the start line of my twelfth half marathon. And while the three-and-a-half hours that followed were incredibly difficult, what I went through to lace up my sneakers and pin on my bib that morning was some of the most challenging weeks of my marathoning career.
Years ago, with only two races under my belt, I fell and banged up my knee. I've been injured practically every race since. As you can imagine, my pace has slowed considerably. I have pushed myself longer and harder than I should have. Finally – several years too late, I'm sure some of my doctors would argue – I've finally decided to hang up my (moisture-wicking) hat and retire. Forever? Probably not. But it will be years before I get to a start or a finish line again.
Some people have asked why I push myself so hard. Why not just walk slower, enjoy the training and racing, and cross the finish line feeling good? Why do I only feel good about racing if I'm going fast enough, if my finish time is something I can be proud of? Why am I only proud of a certain pace? Why can't I be content with just finishing, no matter how long it takes? After all, didn't I say that I loved Ragen Chastain's quote about a marathon being a distance, not a time?
Yeah, but. I can't seem to let go of the half marathoner I was. Never mind that I was younger and uninjured. I can't let go of the idea that 13-minute miles are within my grasp. Never mind that I was thinner, too. A big part of why I have kept marathoning even when my body was practically begging me to stop is because I wanted to prove myself as a fat athlete (a fathlete!) by being really fast. So I have ignored and pushed through so much pain in order to prove that, even though I'm fat, I'm fast and strong… and good enough. No one is putting that pressure on me (although I'm sure there are plenty of trolls who would love to help witht that), except me. We are all our own worst critics in so many ways, and this is one of my ways.
My hope is that two or five or ten years from now, I'll be happy to just finish. I'll be able to enjoy each mile as it passes. I won't stress about pace or chip time. If I can't ever let go of being the marathoner I once was… well, I have twelve medals and seven years of memories. I have countless friends I've met from racing and from Gilda's Gang. And I have contact info for some really amazing physical therapists, if you need one! (More about that soon.)
Sometimes, getting to the finish line is the hard part. Sometimes, getting to the start line is the hard part. And sometimes, knowing when to walk away is the hardest part of all. Thanks, friends, for ringing your cowbells for me all these years. I couldn't have done it without you.
Rocco's View
If you follow celebrity new and gossip, or read any online news site, you may have heard that Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell have lost some weight. In fact, you may have heard little else about them this week. Their show, The View, introduced two new hosts, garnered their best season premiere ratings in eight years, and covered a number of topics including federal politics, the death of American journalist James Foley, and the issue of sports and violence. Plus, of course, they talked with a slew of celebrity guests. But, if you've seen any headlines about The View this week, they were most likely centered around weight loss.
On the season premiere, Rosie O'Donnell was re-introduced to viewers after leaving the show in 2007. Did they focus on the fact that she's gotten married since then? Nope. Did she get the biggest applause when she mentioned her son? Of course not. Her biggest news, at least according to the press, audience applause and her co-hosts, was her 50-something pound weight loss.
The already thin and lovely Nicolle Wallace spent her two minutes running down her biggest accomplishments, as well, though those included political work, novel writing, and her family. No mention of diet, exercise or weight management. The same went for Rosie Perez.
Then the cameras turned to the one returning host, Whoopi Goldberg. Her news? Weight loss. Her reward? More applause, followed by compliments on her clothes and her body from the other hosts.
Because, let's face it, it's not what a woman does that matters, it's how she looks doing it—especially if she's not appropriately thin.
Whoopi told ABC News that she saw Sherri Shepherd, former View host, and was struck by the fact that she was "skinny," so she asked her what she did to make it happen. The super easy, quick fix answer to all of her and YOUR problems? Rocco DiSpirito's The Pound a Day Diet…of which Sherri Shepherd and now Whoopi are spokeswomen.
I was curious about The Pound a Day Diet. Curious in the way one is curious when driving by an accident. I know I shouldn't look. I know it's not going to be good, but I have to glance over to see what awful mess has everyone's attention.
First, in case you're not familiar with the name, Rocco DiSpirito is a celebrity chef. Second, he's written a book, and he wants you to buy it. Third, he's lost weight, which leads him and everyone in the press to believe he has a right to tell you what you're doing wrong.
The Pound a Day Diet offers quick, easy results, which is great, because there is nothing we like better than instant gratification with no work. And we all know how sustaining quick weight loss is. DiSpirito explains that he will turn our bodies into "fat burning machines," and teach us how to lose five pounds every five days.
Now, I could talk about how you're expected to eat no more than 850 calories a day, and how completely and horribly unhealthy that is, not to mention unsustainable. I could also talk about how most of those calories are consumed via protein shakes, and how depriving ourselves of all carbs can be extremely damaging to our bodies. But, you're here, reading Big Fit Deal, so you already know that.
Instead, let's talk about how completely insulting and off-base the assumptions are that this diet is built around.
First, you are instructed to drink half your body weight in water, a day. So, apparently, the first couple of pounds are going to be peed out, and we'll feel like the diet is working. Great, but that assumes that no fat person drinks water. After all, if you're fat, you must spend your day guzzling down sugary drinks, right? Well, I already drink about double his recommended water intake and no sugary drinks, so that kind of blows that assumption out the window.
Second, DiSpirito has explained the "science" behind his diet, and yes, I'm using the term "science" very loosely, here. 3500 calories equals a pound of fat. So, according to DiSpirito, if we eat 850 calories a day, we create a deficit of 3500 calories and lose a pound a day. This means that he assumes that if you are fat you must consume at least 4350 calories a day. Otherwise, you would be thin, right? But what about those of us who just naturally don't consume even half of that in a day? Or, someone like me, who burns around 900 calories in a two hour workout at the gym, but somehow still isn't skinny? For this diet to "work" we'd all have to, as he assumes, be stuffing ourselves with extremely high caloric and unhealthy food, and all the thin people of the world must be cooking healthy, whole foods at home, at all times. Do some overweight people eat unhealthy food? Sure, but so do some thin people, just like some overweight people eat very healthy meals.
Rocco DiSpirito suggests that all we have to do is put down the sugary drinks, stop eating fast, processed food, and start cooking healthy, tiny meals for ourselves, and we will all magically and miraculously be cured of our overweight epidemic. (The website actually uses the word "miraculous".) In an article on U.S. News & World Report, DiSpirito stated that the country is struggling economically because of diminished productivity brought on by an overweight workforce, and our society is suffering from it. He states, "There are very few things we're personally empowered to change with our everyday choices, and the one thing we can change is how our personal health affects our economy."
So there you have it. Your "choice" to be fat is affecting our economy, and you should be ashamed of yourself…After all, Rocco DiSpirito knows exactly what you're putting in your body, what you're doing with your body, and how your body works, right? If we follow his logic, all fat people eat too much of the wrong thing, which means all thin people must be eating all the right things, and those who haven't lost weight yet simply haven't wanted to. And don't we all owe it to our economy and our society to be thin?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
This is the 3rd time to Nassau for us. You have all kinds of vendors trying to get your attention. The straw market and local shops are very nice. Be sure to negotiate with the vendors in the straw market. Never pay their first price.
Bay street is filled with jewellery, make up, perfume and curio stores. If you are an educated jewellery buyer, there are plenty of bargains if you are prepared to haggle with the managers. I haven't been harassed and I have been here for ten days. I have also wandered the side streets and harbour area and felt quite safe. There...
You can find some very good deals on quality merchandise if you pay attention knockoffs everywhere. But cheap booze and smokes if that's your thing. Good price on a Cuban cigars.
No trip to Nassau is complete if you don't go downtown. All the famous designers, the ultimate watch collection duty free, Coin of the Realm, The Leather Shoppe, The Linen Shop, great restaurants, Graycliff cigars and chocolates, Waitley Rum, and much more. Get into the spirit and don't be a pushy visitor!
There are a lot of cool stuff and handmade goods, but there are A LOT of people trying to get you the taxi and scooters which is little bothersome.
We just got our hair braided in Nassau and boy was it a hit. I love the hair braiding. If I go anywhere involving heat and humidity and water excursions, I get my hair done right off because it's just so much more manageable. Each time before it's cost about $35-40 and I have a bob just past chin length....
This is also my overall rating of Bahamas. If you are ready to spend fortune on nothing special, go for it. If not, avoid Bahamas trip, especially with cruise. I really don't know why cruises stop here; nothing to see, just a another place they throw stuff at you yelling 'buy', some of the 'exotic' restaurants have a New Orleans...
Yea it's not the greatest but its a popular tourist spot with an almost authentic feel. You can feel like a local but be comfortable with other tourists around. There's a beach within walking distances, authentic and american places to eat and party and shop. It's just fine, if you dont want what they're selling just keep going. Enjoy, eat,...
Nassau is in our opinion - after visiting four times on cruises - a dirty, nasty tourist trap that really isn't worth visiting at all
As you get off of the ship you have to run a gauntlet of hawkers for everything from trips to bike hire and then a string of people offering rubbish for sale with false stories...
It is a good place to walk along, go shopping and of course get into Bahamian culture. It is security everywhere... and you feel safe to go around till 7pm more less.
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Adorable Ragdoll mix kittens
2 litters just arrived and will be ready right before Christmas.
Seal and flame point, possibly Torti Seal.
Females - $150
Males - $100
Litter born 11/5 - Mother Torti Seal Ragdoll / Father Flame Ragdoll mix
Littler born 11/10 - Mother Chocolate Seal Siamese Mix / Father ...
Nov 12 -
Ragdoll - Bubbles - Small - Adult - Female - Cat
Ragdoll - Bubbles - Small - Adult - Female - Cat
Bubbles is a one owner 9 year old beauty whose human companion recently passed away. Sadly, Bubbles thinks she's just been temporarily displaced. She doesn't realize her whole world has just been turned upside down. The ever ...
Oct 23 -
Ragdoll - Astrid - Medium - Adult - Female - Cat
Ragdoll - Astrid - Medium - Adult - Female - Cat
Astrid is a beautiful tortie, four years old who has a wonderful sleekness to her long fur, a trait that requires little grooming from her caregiver. This kitty is gentle and easy going, likes to talk and follows her foster ...
Oct 10 -
Seal Point Ragdoll Male Kitten
Beautiful 4 month old male Ragdoll mix kitten. Born 5/25/14. Flashy biface boy with gorgeous blue eyes and the sweetest ragdoll disposition. Soft, fluffy and cuddly. Not full-blood, but very close (reflected in the price). Cream and white with dark ears, mask and tail. ...
Sep 28 -
Male Ragdoll Kitten--Traditional Blue Point
Lovely traditional blue point ragdoll baby boy, born 8-8-14. This fluffy fur-ball with intense blue eyes, floppy and sweet, is ready for his forever home. Not full-blood, but very close. Call or text Carrie at 817-771-8891
Please visit: http://iwantaragdoll.com/availablekittens.htm for adoption information. Kittens ready at 12-15 weeks of age. Includes neuter and spay.
Key words: Ragdoll Kittens Kitten Cat Cats Siamese Persian for sale not free longhair purebred tica cfa
Nov 21 -
Austin :
College Station
If you are interested in adopting, please contact me.
Nov 14 -
Houston :
Great guy, sweet loving and playful needs new home. He's just under a year old. Would be willing to trade for another non spraying sweet male.
This ad was posted with the eBay Classifieds mobile app.
Nov 3 -
Oklahoma City :
Oklahoma City
Domestic Medium Hair - Chantal - Medium - Young - Female - Cat
Chantal's crystal blue eyes, white blaze inside her face mask, and softly colored palette indicate that she has some bicolor Ragdoll blood coursing through her veins. (Google "bicolor Ragdoll images" to see ...
Oct 27 -
Houston :
"Cinnsational" Is a 6 month old rare cinnamon point Ragdoll. He is very sweet. Please visit website for adoption information.
Oct 22 -
Austin :
College Station
We have the beautiful ragdoll kittens, along with the mink ragdolls and very rare blue eyed white ragdolls see our website for kittens available www.rustsragdolls.com 785-770-7471.
Oct 22 -
Tulsa :
I have one male and one female Adorable Ragdoll mix kittens (not full blood but very close). They were born on 8-31-14. Please email any questions!
Oct 9 -
Houston :
These kittens are the cross between two purebred breeds of cats - 25% American Shorthair and 75% Ragdoll. They tend to have the sweetness of the ragdoll and the energy of ASH. Kittens are short haired and unusual colors. Price includes spay/neuter and vaccinations - ...
Oct 6 -
Austin :
Wonderful sweet ragdoll kittens available. Traditional blue eyed kittens as well as solid and rare colours. Kittens bred with health and personality and primary goals. Price includes spay/neuter and vaccinations (including rabies) Please call (after 10 am) or email for ...
Ragdoll - Samuel - Large - Senior - Male - Cat
You can fill out an adoption application online on our official website. Please contact Carol [email removed] for more information about this pet. UPDATE 2: As if Samuel didn't have enough going on in his life, he was just ...
Oct 6 -
Austin :
Please visit: http://iwantaragdoll.com/availablekittens.htm
for adoption information.
Kittens ready at 12-15 weeks of age. Includes neuter and spay.
Key words: Ragdoll Kittens Kitten Cat Cats Siamese Persian for sale not free longhair purebred tica cfa
Oct 6 -
Austin :
College Station
Oliver is a 3.5 month old Seal point Ragdoll. visit:
for adoption information.
Key words: kitten kittens cat cats Persian Himalayan Siamese for sale not free Bengal sphynx
Ragdoll kittens Ready at 12 weeks.
Please visit: http://iwantaragdoll.com/availablekittens.htm
for adoption information.
Experimental litter . These kittens are 25% American Shorthair and 75% Ragdoll. They tend to be sweet like the Ragdoll but more rambunctious and playful like the American Shorthair. Unusual colours. Kittens will have short hair. Price includes spay/neuter and fully ...
Oct 5 -
Austin :
Domestic Medium Hair - Zsazsa - Medium - Adult - Female - Cat
You can fill out an adoption application online on our official website. 'Hi! My name is Zsa Zsa! I'm looking to adopt a fabulous forever friend. I'm incredibly cute, laid back and get along with other kitties. ...
Oct 4 -
Houston :
Will have ol.y a few babies from now till Christmas they will be from $300. call for info on what kitten is ready an pics New litter comming soon
Oct 2 -
Shreveport :
Ragdoll - Audie Murphy - Medium - Young - Male - Cat
Audie Murphy is a special needs kitty. He has food allergies and when he was a tiny feral baby, part of his rear leg was chewed off by a dog and left to die. Wilbarger Humane Society received Audie when he was about 8 ...
Sep 28 -
Wichita Falls :
Bombay - Dollee - Medium - Young - Female - Cat
LMN adoption fees are normally $70 for kittens and $95 for spayed/neutered cats with Rabies shot (some price variance applies). All kittens/cats have been checked by a VET, tested for FELV-FIV, dewormed, given flea treatment ...
Aug 18 -
Houston :
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text:
"It is a strange market at the moment and frankly I am surprised that the rise we've seen earlier in the week from the Ukraine-Russia dispute is still there. People still feel a bit shaky about what happened in Russia and Ukraine, and with Sharon ill and some uncertainty in Israel."
Related quotes
"The state can be inept, irrational and pursue strange interests, but those interests were always seen as in the national interest. What I could not foresee was that state interests could evolve into corporate and private interests to such an extent."
"We've never seen this size of a housing bubble before, so in a sense we're in kind of a strange place right now."
"For some strange reason the cup competition does not bring the same pressure that the league does at this moment in time, so therefore the players relax a little bit, play a bit more off the cuff and don't over-think."
"It feels strange because it's been so long since we've seen Auburn. They are coming off of a strong win against Baylor last weekend so neither team will have the luxury of two weeks to prepare for this competition."
"I would not say it is greatest moment. I would say it is the most gratifying, ... It's been strange. I am used to everyone telling me how great I am and how wonderful things are. This year has been the complete opposite. It's validating and gratifying at the same time."


text:
Even though I have found new module owners for some of the code I own, I still end up doing 8-12 review/feedback cycles per week. Reviews are only as good as the time you spend on them: I approach reviews in a fairly systematic way.
When I load a patch for review, I don't read it top-to-bottom. I also try to avoid reading the bug report: a code change should be able to explain itself either directly in the code or in the code commit message which is part of the patch. If bugzilla comments are required to understand a patch, those comments should probably be part of the commit message itself. Instead, I try to understand the patch by unwrapping it from the big picture into the small details:
If there is an external specification that this change should conform to, I will read it or the appropriate sections of it. In the following steps of the review, I try to relate the changes to the specification.
If there is in-tree documentation for a feature, it should be kept up to date by patches. Some changes, such as Firefox data collection, must be documented. I encourage anyone writing Mozilla-specific features and APIs to document them primarily with in-tree docs, and not on developer.mozilla.org. In-tree docs are much more likely to remain correct and be updated over time.
APIs define the interaction between units of Mozilla code. A well-designed API that strikes the right balance between simplicity and power is a key component of software engineering.
In Mozilla code, APIs can come in many forms: IDL, IPDL, .webidl, C++ headers, XBL bindings, and JS can all contain APIs. Sometimes even C++ files can contain an API; for example Mozilla has an mostly-unfortunate pattern of using the global observer service as an API surface between disconnected code.
In the first pass I try to avoid reviewing the implementation of an API. I'm focused on the API itself and its associated doccomments. The design of the system and the interaction between systems should be clear from the API docs. Error handling should be clear. If it's not perfectly obvious, the threading, asynchronous behavior, or other state-machine aspects of an API should be carefully documented.
During this phase, it is often necessary to read the surrounding code to understand the system. None of our existing tools are very good at this, so I often have several MXR tabs open while reading a patch. Hopefully future review-board integration will make this better!
In my experience, the design review is the hardest phase of a review, the part which requires the most experience and creativity, and provides the most value.
I try to review the tests before I review the implementation.
The code review is the least interesting part of the review. At this point I'm going through the patch line by line.
If there is a specification, I'll briefly re-read it to make sure that it was covered by the code I just finished reading.
Currently, I primarily do reviews in the bugzilla "edit" interface, with the "edit attachment as comment" option. Splinter is confusing and useless to me, and review-board doesn't seem to be ready for prime-time.
For long or complex reviews, I will sometimes copy and quote the patch in emacs and paste or attach it to bugzilla when I'm finished.
In some cases I will cut off a review after one of the earlier phases: if I have questions about the general approach, the design, or the API surface, I will often try to clarify those questions before proceeding with the rest of the review.
There's an interesting thread in mozilla.dev.planning about whether it is discouraging to new contributors to mark "review-" on a patch, and whether there are less-painful ways of indicating that a patch needs work without making them feel discouraged. My current practice is to mark r- in all cases where a patch needs to be revised, but to thank contributors for their effort so that they are still appreciated and to be as specific as possible about required changes while avoiding any words that could be perceived as an insult.
If I haven't worked with a coder (paid or volunteer) in the past, I will typically always ask them to submit an updated patch with any changes for re-review. This allows me to make sure that the changes were completed properly and didn't introduce any new problems. After I gain some experience, I will often trust people to make necessary changes and simply mark "r+ with review comments fixed".]]>
Please read the job description before applying for a job! I put a lot of effort into writing a job description, and I try very hard to describe both the job responsibilities and the necessary and desirable skills. Your cover letter should show some evidence that you've thought about applying for this particular job.
Periodically, I see articles advising job-seekers to ditch the cover letter. This is terrible advice. I read cover letters carefully. In fact, the cover letter sometimes gives me a better sense for your skill level and ability to do the job than your resumé.
Every job I've ever posted has required good communication skills, and your cover letter is the first evidence of your communication skills. It doesn't need to be more than a paragraph or two; I'd love to know why you think that this job is a good fit, and some evidence that you read the job description. Spelling and grammar are important.
The last time I posted a job position, I screened more than 800 resumés, did almost 100 phone screens, and did five interviews before I found the right person. It took six months. It's better for Mozilla if I'm too picky and reject a qualified candidate than if I'm not picky enough and accept a bad candidate. Please don't take rejection as a comment on your personal worth. I'm going to reject many people during this process.
Joel Spolsky is right: I'm primarily looking for somebody who is smart and gets things done. When I'm scanning through resumés, I'm looking for evidence that you've gotten things done in the past. If you're just coming out of school, internship and open-source project experience helps. If you've been working, I want to see some description of the things you've gotten done. Be specific: "Led multiple projects to completion" is meaningless. You can expect phone-screen questions about your prior projects. Be prepared to talk about what worked, what didn't, and how you solved problems.
It may seem obvious, but assholes need not apply. I will reject a technically-qualified candidate for even a whiff of assholery. I use reference checks to try and guard against assholes.
At Mozilla we get a lot of applicants who are passionate, either about the open web in general or about Firefox. Passion is great, perhaps even necessary, but it's not sufficient.
In phone screens and interview panels, I try very hard to base my questions on the things that you already know. If your resumé says that you are a master of C++, you should expect that there is at least one person on the interview panel who will grill you on C++ in excruciating detail. If you say that you know statistics, you had better be able to answer detailed questions about statistics.
Don't overstate your skills. If you have written a couple scripts in Python, you are familiar with Python, not proficient. More than once I've rejected people because they claimed to be a master of C++ debugging but didn't know how a vtable is structured in memory. Knowing vtable layout isn't usually a job prerequisite, but if you are a master of C++ debugging you'd better know how that works in detail.
If you claim to be a master of both Python and JavaScript, expect me to ask you detailed questions about how Python and JS closures and methods work, how they are different in JS and python, how JS this-binding is different from Python bound methods, and other details of the language. I will be impressed if you can discuss these questions intelligently, and reject your application if you can't.
I value people who can learn new code quickly. You're going to need to be comfortable learning new systems, libraries, and languages. My team in particular often touches large swaths of the Mozilla codebase; you will be expected to be able to read and understand new code quickly. You can expect an interview session entirely dedicated to reading and explaining a piece of code that you've never seen before. Perhaps it will be reviewing a patch, or trying to find a bug in a piece of code. I'll try to find a problem in a language that you are already comfortable with, so see above about keeping your resumé honest!
Every good programmer has a toolbox. I don't care whether you use vim or emacs or Visual Studio or Eclipse or XCode, but I do care that you have an editor and use it productively. I also care that you are proficient using a debugger (or two, or three) and hopefully a profiler (or two, or three). If you can't tell me why you love your editor or your debugger, it's likely that you won't be a successful software engineer.
You need to be proficient in a scripting language. I expect you to be able to use at least one scripting language to process text data, read CSV files, write JSON, and that kind of thing. Mozilla has gravitated toward Python for scripting, and you'll probably be expected to learn Python if you don't know it already.
Also, can you type? I'm constantly surprised by applicants who are unable to type quickly and accurately. A significant portion of your job is going to be writing code, and not having mastered the act of typing is probably not a good sign.
When I conduct a phone-screen, it is usually over Skype video. Please make sure that you have a decent headset and that I will be able to hear you. During a phone screen, I try to include at least one coding question which is typically conducted via etherpad. You should be at a computer with access to the web in order to do this successfully.
By the way, did I mention I'm hiring?]]>
The purpose of copyright is "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts". The law gives a person the right to profit from their creation for a while, after which everyone gets to profit from it freely. In general, this works for books, music, and other creative works. The current term of copyright is far too long, but at least once the term is up, the whole world gets to read and love Shakespeare or Walter de la Mare equally.
The same is not true of software. In order to be useful, software has to run. Imagine the great commercial software of the past decade: Excel, Photoshop, Pagemaker. Even after copyright expires on Microsoft Excel 95 (in 2090!), nobody will be able to run it! Hardware that can run Windows 95 will not be available, and our only hope of running the software is to emulate the machines and operating systems of a century ago. There will be no opportunity to fix or improve the software.
What should we reasonably require from commercial software producers in exchange for giving them copyright protection?
The code.
In order to get any copyright protection at all, publishers should be required to make the source code available. This can either happen immediately at release, or by putting the code into escrow until copyright expires. This needs to include everything required to build the program and make it run, but since the same copyright rules would apply to operating systems and compilers, it ought to all just work.
The copyright term for software also needs to be rethought. The goal when setting a copyright term should be to balance the competing desires of giving a software author time to make money by selling software, with the natural rights of people to share ideas and use and modify their own tools.
With a term of 14 years, the following software would be leaving copyright protection around now:
A short copyright term is an incentive to software developers to constantly improve their software, and make the new versions of their software more valuable than older versions which are entering the public domain. It also opens the possibility for other companies to support old software even after the original author has decided that it isn't worthwhile.
The European Union is currently holding a public consultation to review their copyright laws, and I've encouraged Mozilla to propose source availability and a shorter copyright term for software in our official contribution/proposal to that process. Maybe eventually the U.S. Congress could be persuaded to make such significant changes to copyright law, although recent history and powerful money and lobbyists make that difficult to imagine.
Commercial copyrighted software has done great things, and there will continue to be an important place in the world for it. Instead of treating the four freedoms as ethical absolutes and treating non-Free software as a "social problem", let's use copyright law to, after a period of time, make all software Free Software.]]>
On other systems, I'd say to use mach debug, but that currently doesn't do useful things on Windows. But it's still pretty simple. You have two options:
Both Visual Studio and Visual C++ Express have a command-line option for launching the IDE ready for debugging.
devenv.exe -debugexe obj-ff-debug/dist/bin/firefox.exe -profile /c/builds/test-profile -no-remote
The -debugexe flag informs the IDE to load your Firefox build with the command lines you specify. Firefox will launch with the "Go" command (F5).
For Visual C++ express edition, run WDExpress.exe instead of devenv.exe.
windbg is a the Windows command-line debugger. As with any command-line debugger it has an arcane debugging syntax, but it is very powerful.
Launching Firefox with windbg doesn't require any flags at all:
windbg.exe obj-ff-debug/dist/bin/firefox.exe -profile /c/builds/test-profile -no-remote
You can also debug Firefox release builds on Windows! Mozilla runs a symbol server that allows you to automatically download the debugging symbols for recent prerelease builds (I think we keep 30 days of nightly/aurora symbols) and all release builds. See the Mozilla Developer Network article for detailed instructions.
Debugging official builds can be a bit confusing due to inlining, reordering, and other compiler optimizations. I often find myself looking at the disassembly view of a function rather than the source view in order to understand what exactly is going on. Also note that if you are planning on debugging a release build, you probably want to disable automatic crash reporting by setting MOZ_CRASHREPORTER_DISABLE=1 in your environment.]]>
The chain of trust in Persona has several attack points:
When the user submits a login "assertion", the website (Relying Party or RP) fetches the public key of the email provider (Identity Provider or IdP) using HTTPS. For instance, when I log in as email@example.com, the site I'm logging into will fetch https://smedbergs.us/.well-known/browserid. This relies on the public key and CA infrastructure of the internet. Attacking this part of the chain is hard because it's the network connection between two servers. This doesn't appear to be a significant risk factor to me except for perhaps some state actors.
Attacking the email provider's web server, on the other hand, becomes a very high value proposition. If an attacker can replace the .well-known/browserid file on a major email provider (gmail, yahoo, etc) they have the ability to impersonate every user of that service. This puts a huge responsibility on email providers to monitor and secure their HTTPS site, which may not typically be part of their email system at all. It is likely that this kind of intrusion will cause signin problems across multiple users and will be detected, but there is no guarantee that individual users will be aware of the compromise of their accounts.
Persona email providers can silently impersonate any of their users just by the nature of the protocol. This opens the door to silent identity attacks by anyone who can access the private key of the identity/email provider. This can either be subverting the signing server, or by using legal means such as subpoenas or national security letters. In these cases, the account compromise is almost completely undetectable by either the user or the RP.
One common defense of Persona is that email providers already have access to users account via password-reset emails. This is partly true, but it ignores an essential property of these emails: when a password is reset, a user will be aware of the attack then next time they try to login. Being unable to login will likely trigger a cautious user to review the details of their account or ask for an audit. Attacks against the IdP, on the other hand, are silent and are not as likely to trigger alarm bells.
Persona is a great system for the multitude of lower-value accounts people keep on the internet. Persona is the perfect solution for the Mozilla Status Board. I wish the UI were better and built into the browser: the current UI that requires JS, shim libraries, and popup windows; it is not a great experience. But the tradeoff for not having to store and handle passwords on the server is worth that small amount of pain.
For any site with high-value data, Persona is not a good choice. On bugzilla.mozilla.org, we disabled password reset emails for users with access to security bugs. This decision indicates that persona should also be considered an unacceptable security risk for these users. Persona as a protocol doesn't have the right security properties.
It would be very interesting to combine Persona with some other authentication system such as client certificates or a two-factor system. This would allow most users to use the simple login system, while providing extra security properties when users start to access high-value resources.
In the meantime, Mozilla should be careful how it promotes and uses Persona; it's not a universal solution and we should be careful not to bill it as one.]]>
When you're at a session, give the speaker your attention. If you are like me and get distracted easily by all the people, take notes using a real pen and paper. Practice active listening: don't argue with the speaker in your head, or start phrasing the perfect rebuttal. If a speaker or topic is not interesting to you, leave and find a different session.
At meals, sit with at least some people you don't know. Introduce yourself! Talk to people about themselves, about the project, about their personal history. If you are a shy person, ask somebody you already know to make introductions. If you are a connector who knows lots of people, one of your primary jobs at the summit should be making introductions.
In the evenings and downtime, spend time working through the things you heard. If a presentation gave you a new technique, spend time thinking about how you could use it, and what the potential downsides are. If you learned new information, go back through your old assumptions and priorities and question whether they are still correct. If you have questions, track down the speaker and ask them in person. Questions that come the next day are one of the most valuable forms of feedback for a speaker (note: try to avoid presentations on the last day of a conference).
Talk when you have something valuable to ask or say. If you are the expert on a topic, it is your duty to lead a conversation even if you are naturally a shy person. If you aren't the expert, use discretion so you don't disrupt a conversation.
If you disagree with somebody, say so! Usually it's better to disagree in a private conversation, not in a public Q&A session. If you don't know the history of a decision, ask! Be willing to change your mind, but also be willing to stay in disagreement. You can build trust and respect even in disagreement.
If somebody disagrees with you, try to avoid being defensive (it's hard!). Keep sharing context and asking questions. If you're not sure whether the people you're talking to know the history of a decision, ask them! Don't be afraid to repeat information over and over again if the people you're talking to haven't heard it before.
Don't read your email. Unfortunately you'll probably have to scan your email for summit-related announcements, but in general your email can wait.
I've been at two summits, a mozcamp, and numerous all-hands and workweeks. They are exhausting and draining events for introverted individuals such as myself. But they are also motivating, inspiring, and in general awesome. Put on a positive attitude and make the most of every part of the event.
More great summit tips from Laura Forrest.]]>
As part of this feature, we have started to measure how users interact with the click-to-play UI. Nightly users aren't typical, so this data probably doesn't mean much yet, but it's nice to see it in action:
|# of Plugins
|Notification Count
|5 or more
|User Action
|Notification Count
|Click on in-content plugin UI
|Click on location bar icon
I'm surprised that so many users are clicking on the location bar icon. That may just be inquisitive users checking what each button does, but I'll be monitoring this as it goes up the trains to the more representative beta population. If this stays very high, then we may have a problem with distracting users with unnecessary UI.
|User Action
|Notification Count
|Allow Now
|Allow Always
I'm a little surprised at the distribution of "Allow Now" and "Allow Always". When designing this UI, we expected that most users would want the "Allow Always" option, and we wanted to highlight that. But again, Nightly users are atypical and may not be a good sample. I'll be watching this data also in beta.
I'm a wary of drawing any significant conclusions from early data, but I'm happy that we appear to be collecting the correct data and with the new telemetry dashboard it's not hard to get at simple measurements such as this. Kudos to Taras, Mark Reid, and Chris Lonnen for getting that runing and the small daily improvements that make all our lives better.]]>
There were roughly 1000 crashes due to bug 829954 between 10-April and 15-April 2013. Click on individual crash plots to see memory details and a link to the crash report.
Direct link to SVG file. Link to raw data.
After graphing these crashes, it seems clear that there are two distinct issues:
I was surprised to learn that not all of these crashes were caused by the VM leak.
The short-term solution for this issue remains the same: the Mozilla graphics engine should stop using the infallible/aborting allocator for graphics buffers. All large allocations (network and graphics buffers) should use the fallible allocator and take extra effort to be OOM-safe.
Long-term, we need Firefox to be aware of the OS memory situation and continue to work on memory-shrinking behavior when the system starts paging or running out of memory. This includes obvious behaviors like throwing away the in-memory network and graphics caches, but it may also require drastic measures such as throwing away the contents of inactive tabs and reloading them later.
With this post, I am starting to use a different charting technique. Previously, I was using the Flot JS library to generate graphs. Flot makes pretty graphs (although it doesn't support labeling Axes without a plugin!). It also features a wide range of plugins which add missing features. But often, it doesn't do exactly what I want and I've had to dig deep into its guts to get things to look good. It is also cumbersome to include dynamically generated JS graphs in a blog post, and the prior graphs have been screenshots.
This time around, I generated the graph as an SVG image using the svgwrite python library. This allows me to put the full SVG graph directly into the blog, and it also allows me to dynamic features such as rollovers directly in these blog posts. Currently I'm setting up the axes and labels manually in python, but I expect that this will turn into a library pretty quickly. I experimented with svgplotlib but the installation requirements were too complex for my needs.
I'm not sure whether or not the embedded SVG will make it through feed aggregators./readers or not. Leave comments if you see weird results.]]>


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Inside Long Island's new tea shops
At three new tea shops in Huntington, Northport and Garden City, customers can relax and enjoy the most popular beverage in the world, brewed the way it should be.
The best holiday events for kids on Long Island 12 fun things to do this week on LI Christmas traditions that are so Long Island 14 places to see Santa on LI Can 4 new Super Shoppers dethrone champ? 18 Black Friday deals and freebies Walmart's 'Chosen by Kids' top toy list of 2014 LI's top 12 traditional diners Why bracelets are big in men's fashion LI's 18 best Mediterranean, Middle Eastern eateries The Toy Insider 'Hot 20' list of 2014 Great sandwiches on LI: 15 picks


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Flora Bernard
Flora Bernard is a Salt Lake City climate activist. She is a recent alumnus of the University of Utah, with a B.A. in political science. She is proud to be on the advisory board of Peaceful Uprising, a Utah-based climate action group, and volunteers with other local environmental and social justice organizations. Flora is a musician, fictionist and spoken word artist, and volunteers for KRCL, Salt Lake's progressive community radio station. She intends to pursue her graduate studies in literary non-fiction and environmental journalism. In her spare time, Flora is an insatiable reader, a music enthusiast and a loyal fan of public radio.
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