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Oceanscape Network
The Oregon Coast Aquarium invites you and your students to join us as we explore nature and celebrate science through our new online educational resource – the Oceanscape Network!
Connecting Teens to Science and Nature
Visit the Oceanscape Network.
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EXPERIENCE: These features are designed to motivate young visitors to experience the coast and the great outdoors firsthand. From learning
how to surf to getting involved with conservation projects, the Network gives youth practical ideas on how to get outdoors.
EDUCATE: Designed specifically for Oregon middle and high school teachers and students, this feature offers guided projects on scientific inquiry. A sophisticated infrastructure lets teachers create online student communities, supervise the progress of their students' inquiry projects, and access classroom resources ranging from videos to lesson plans. Best of all, Oregon students who complete the online program may fulfill a requirement for high school graduation.
Teachers, Sign Up Now For FREE Oceanscape Workshops:
Our staff is reaching out across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to help them integrate this resource into classroom curriculum through FREE one-hour workshops. If the orientation is held in a WIFI-equipped location, we can sign teachers up for their free user accounts on the spot!
Click here for additional information or email us for details.
Connect with the Oceanscape Network Through Social Media:
Oceanscape Network Videos
Want to see more videos? Visit our YouTube channel.


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I know that finals are coming soon and that many students become very worried and anxious this time of the semester. So, my questions for you today are - what do you worry about and what are you afraid of?
The Word of God tells us about these situations in a very challenging way. Do you worry about money, a job, tests, papers, relationships, family, the future, war, your body, illness, fitting in, etc?
Do you worry about money, a job, tests, papers, relationships, family, the future, war, your body, illness, fitting in, etc?
Matthew 6:25-34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?-The word for worry comes from a Greek word meaning "to strangle". And "to strangle" is a good way of describing how most of us react to worry. It usually strangles our ability to live life to the full.
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Of course Jesus tells us in the passage above that we are not to worry, but when He says this, what exactly does He mean? He means that our worries shouldn't keep us from living life, from doing the right thing, and from continuing to offer our worries to Him.
Think of St. Paul. He was persecuted and killed for what he believed. He wrote to others to tell them on how to handle persecution and worry in Phil 4:4-7:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In most cases our worry is caused by a lack of faith and hope in God. We are declaring that we do not believe that God is in control or knows what is best for us. Paul tells us to handle our worries and anxieties by prayer, petition and thanksgiving. We must come to a certain point of thanking God for what worries us. What a challenge! To abandon ourselves and our wills to the providence of God is no easy task.
Paul tells us to handle our worries and anxieties by prayer, petition and thanksgiving. We must come to a certain point of thanking God for what worries us. What a challenge! To abandon ourselves and our wills to the providence of God is no easy task.
We should not be fearful or worry because God is in control! Of course this is harder in practice, but here are a few steps to help us (I don't remember where I found these...sorry).
step 1) Pray, hope and believe! James 1:2-3 says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
step 2) Reflect on the work of God. Look at the birds, the flowers and see how God takes care of them…then realize just how precious in His eyes you are.
step 3) live in the present and be patient. The future is not yours, only the present is. So, your goal is to make the present alive. How can we do that? Romans 12:12 says:
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
step 4) take comfort in God. He wants to comfort you, but you must throw yourself at His mercy. John 14:16 says:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you foreverstep 5) dump it all on God! 1 Peter 5:6-7 says
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.-Think of Christ handled His anxieties and worries. He cried, he fell carrying his cross, yet he dumped it all on his father, including his human desires of not wanting the cross…but yet he still chose to do what he was called to.
1 Cor 12:7-9 says that "My grace is sufficient for you". Do we believe that? Sometimes better than others.

subset: commoncrawl


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Lowepro Versapack 200 AW for Biking
When I first started using the Versapack 200 AW, I thought of it as more of a day hike bag. But before a ride one afternoon, I saw the Versapack in my studio and thought, "that would probably be pretty good on the bike too." So I loaded it up and took it with me for an afternoon trip. Here's how I packed it.
So now I think of the Versapack as a biking bag that's also great for hiking…
Derrick Story is the Photography Evangelist for Lowepro.
Tags: Versapack 200 AW


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Wind down your Sunday Fun-Day on Siesta Key with the local rhythm of the drum circle!
Wind down your Sunday Fun-Day on Siesta Key with the rhythm of the local drum circle!
When you're vacationing on Siesta Key don't hurry off the gorgeous beach on Sunday afternoon, stay for one of the most eclectic gatherings of people you'll ever see!
After a fun-filled day of sun bathing, swimming and building sand castles with the kids stay and relax for a while, you won't want to miss out on the local marvel that starts up one hour before sunset. The Siesta Key Drum Circle takes place every Sunday just south of the main pavilion – follow the music, you can't miss it! Catch the festival-like ambience in the beautiful setting of a Siesta Key sunset with a unique Sarasota tradition that started with just with a few local musicians and has grown into a weekly event. Widely known by all Sarasotans, the drum circle is open to the public and is free-form drum group that anyone can join. You can enjoy drummers, hula hoopers, belly dancers, fire jugglers and various other types of street performers. You will feel a true beachy vibe with the music and the little ones will love to jam out with the dancers and drummers. There's no better way to end your week, or vacation on Siesta Key than in the care free atmosphere of local musicians and performers while watching the sun set on the beautiful white sand! Bring a blanket and the family to the beach on Sunday evenings during your next visit to Sarasota! If you are thinking about vacationing on Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida. Watching the ebb and flow of several hundred residents and tourists, it's hard to imagine the humble handful that started the drum circle more than a decade ago. These days, the crowd of weekly regulars and occasional visitors has made this unofficial Sarasota spectacle one of the largest drum circles in the nation! An open invitation to all is one of the reasons for the circle's success – everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in the fun.So, for a truly unique Sarasota vacation experience, be sure to pack your tambourine or maracas and head over to the Siesta Key public beach. Held on Sunday evenings, the fun starts about an hour before sundown but plan on arriving a little early as parking fills up quickly. Whether you're planning to join the jam or just hang out with the crowd, bring your blanket and bongos and enjoy the carefree rhythms and performers of the amazing Siesta Key Drum Circle!
If you are thinking that the Sunday night drum circle on Siesta Key sounds a fun event to you….. take advantage of this fun event and stay at Tropical Beach Resorts on Siesta Key. It is only a quick 10 -15 minute walk up the beach to the Public Beach!
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Siesta Key Paddleboard Time!
My girlfriends and I really loved practicing Pilates on our boards. It definitely added some extra balance to the activity. The ambiance of being on the water along with the sunshine made the experience feel a lot more like fun than exercise.
The verdict came in quickly that we could not wait to schedule our next "paddle board girl- time". Honestly, I don't see us entering the next local paddle board race in October (http://www.sarasotasupseries.com), or spending 1,000's of dollars on high end paddle board gear. I don't think we will be finding ourselves discovered as local Paddle board celebrities, and it's also unlikely that we will be featuring our "Pilates-Paddleboard six- pack abs" in future videos. However, it is very likely that we will be putting on the sunscreen, packing a little cooler, and taking advantage of paddle boarding in beautiful Sarasota as a regular pastime. We found a new sport we love and let's be honest…. our roller blades have collected dust for a long time. We needed to find this sport.. we love it and we are actually working out and having a lot of fun!
If you are interested in renting paddleboards on Siesta Key contact Siesta Sport Rentals at www.siestasportrentals.com TIP: Point of Rocks has many beautiful rock formations and colorful fish.
If you would like to take a Pilates paddleboard class contact Studio RubyLake at www.studiorubylake.com
Guests staying at Tropical Beach Resorts can also have paddleboards dropped off right at the beach. Go ahead.. Dare to be a little adventurous… Encounter dolphins, manatees, and schools of fish while getting a full body workout while walking on water!
Tropical Beach Resorts 6717 Sara Sea Circle Siesta Key Sarasota FL 34242 Reservations (800)-235-3493 www.tropicalbeachresorts.com
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Let the Siesta Key sand help you reduce stress and strengthen your muscles through yoga and SUP!
Tropical Beach Resorts understands that our guests come to Siesta Key to feel good and to help alleviate stress. The Siesta Key sand is like no other beach around and you will be drawn to the special sand for years to come. We  strive to ensure  the ultimate vacation experience by offering premier accommodations and exceptional customer service that makes you feel like a star. To further enhance your vacation experience, we offer complimentary beach yoga every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday on Crescent Beach in Sarasota, Florida. There is nothing like the cool, clean Siesta Key sand to experience a morning of invigorating yoga!
Practicing yoga on Crescent Beach in Sarasota, Florida offers many benefits including using the sand to help support the strength of secondary muscles, reduce stress, increase balance,  and  allow the fresh air and sunlight to help restore the body.
Even if you are a beginner, but feeling slightly more adventurous, we encourage our guests to try SUP yoga through Studio Rubylake. SUP (Stand up paddle board) yoga classes cost $30.00 and can make your work out more intense because your balance will be improved to avoid falling off the board.
So whether you decide to try SUP on Siesta Key or use the crystal white sand to help relax you and strengthen your muscles, we look forward to practicing yoga with you this weekend.
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophies.â€
For reservations at Tropical Beach Resorts please call us toll-free at 1-800-235-3493
For more information on SUP yoga classes please contact Studio Rubylake at email@example.com
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Why Siesta Key is the perfect destination for your next vacation!
Trying to decide on the location for your next family vacation? Looking for the perfect spot to spend your hard-earned money and well-deserved time off?
With so many different choices, it can be an overwhelming and sometimes exhausting experience planning your trip.
Let us introduce you to the little piece of paradise called Siesta Key located in Sarasota, Florida.  This gorgeous barrier island is perfect for relaxing and enjoying some real quality time! We would like to share some tips, ideas and suggestions that may help make your decision much easier!
Siesta Key is one of Sarasota's barrier islands. The 8-mile long island is alive with tropical atmosphere, blessed with the world's finest, whitest beaches, filled with charming hideaways, and always offering plenty to do – but it is also a place to relax, and let the warm breezes, cool water and soft sand transport you to your personal paradise!
There are two drawbridges that connect Siesta Key to the Sarasota mainland, allowing it to remain an uncomplicated natural paradise without sacrificing the amenities of contemporary life. The north bridge, Siesta Drive, is within the City of Sarasota and provides convenient access to the city, its business and arts districts, and to the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport via US Highway 41. The south bridge, Stickney Point Road, provides access to south Sarasota County and a direct route to Interstate 75.
There are two main shopping districts right on Siesta Key, each with a wide variety of shops that carry merchandise ranging from seashells, and T-shirts to the upscale clothing, to ice cream. The Village on Siesta Key is located on the northwest side of the Key about one block from the Gulf. The Siesta South Shopping area begins at the Stickney Point Bridge and goes south along Midnight Pass Road. There are free shuttle services that run til 2am on the island that will pick you up at your vacation residence and deliver you to wherever you want to visit, these services run on gratuities, and are a great way to explore the hidden coves and real estate on the island! Check out SunRide Pedicab, for example.
The beaches of Siesta Key are world-renowned. The pure quartz, pulverized to a fine white powder, has a magical quality. There is no sand quite like Siesta's anywhere and there are multiple awards to prove this point! In 2011, Siesta Beach was rated as the #1 beach in the United States by "Dr. Beach", a.k.a. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of Florida International University's highly respected Laboratory for Coastal Research. With limited parking, along Beach Road, expansive Crescent Beach has been rated as one of the "Top 10 Beaches in the Worldâ€. Smack-dab- in the center of Crescent Beach is… the "public beach†known as Siesta Beach where Dr. Steve Leatherman, a.k.a. "Dr. Beach†awarded it… The #1 Ranking… above all other beaches in the U.S…. including Hawaii! In 2004 the Travel Channel named it "The Best Sand Beach in America" because of its 99% pure quartz sand that stays cool under your feet. Siesta Key even won an award from the International Sand Contest in 1987 for having the best overall sand anywhere! That means that Siesta Key has the best sand in the WORLD! Even the Travel Channel agrees. In 2004, the Travel Channel's Best Beaches in America show featured Siesta Key as the Best Sand Beach…on the planet! Even Florida Trend Magazine has named Siesta Beach "The Best Beach†in the State of Florida!
We hope that these few tidbits have helped you in your vacation hunting! Siesta Key is the place to be right now and the sun is shining! So, pack your flip flops and casual beach attire, because on this island, it's very easy to lose yourself and track of time!
Call one of our Siesta Key destination specialists today to help you with any other questions and to choose the perfect room for your Siesta Key vacation! 800-235-3493
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Apple Waikiki - Updated Again - 11-14
Grand Opening 9-27-08
Free T-Shirt for the 1st 1,000 People.
Updated again TODAY 11-14-08 at the end of this Post - Scroll Down
I didn't need the T-Shirt, but I decided to go to Waikiki this morning to see how long the line was, to hopefully be able to make another point about the economy and that people are buying.
The Line
Sure enough, the line was several blocks long. Apple had their own security people as well as the Honolulu Police Department on hand to control the crowd, and to be sure that nobody got in without waiting in line. They had their employees at the front door cheering for people entering the store. It was like the finish line at the Honolulu Marathon.
Uh Oh!
Those people not in the line for Apple were forced to walk in a narrow section of the Royal Hawaiian Center sidewalk. One would not think that an unfinished section of the flagstone sidewalk would be there to walk over without some sort of warning cone. At least I didn't.
Poor Footing
It has been suggested that I warn of some graphic images ahead.
As I stepped into the area shown in the prior photo my ankle twisted and down I went like a ton of bricks. My Apple laptop went one way, my iPhone the other way, and I found myself lying there in pain. Most amazing of all was that no one seemed to notice or care. I looked up at the Apple security and HPD people, and they just looked the other way. People were just walking by me; one guy even stepped over me. I felt like they thought I was a drunk laying there unable to get up. I gathered my computer and iPhone, opened up the phone and took the above photo while still on the ground. After what seemed like a very long time a Japanese man came over and asked if I was alright. I asked him to help me get to my feet, and he did. He had me assure him that I was okay, and then he went on his way.
Skinned Knuckles
I looked down at my knuckles and noticed they were severly skinned by the ragged, sharp edge of the unfinished flagsone. I was able to walk, so I proceeded to get in what I thought was the line for T-Shirts. That's when the Apple security came to life and told me that the end of the line was down the block. He was doing his job; making sure nobody got out of order in the line. As I started to walk (slowly and painfully) towards the end of the line, I looked down at my hand and saw that it was now covered with blood. I went over to one of the HPD officers, showed him my hand and said, "I think I need some minor medical attention." He looked at my hand and directed me to the Royal Hawaiian Center restroom on the 2nd floor of the building. I said, "I think I would like to talk with someone in Apple, perhaps they have a closer restroom where I could wash the dirt out of this wound." He said, "Okay, wait here" and he walked into the Apple Store.
In a few minutes a man wearing shorts and lei came over and asked me what the problem was. I said, "I stumbled on that hole in the sidewalk over there (pointing to it) and I need to wash this blood from my hand." He said, "Our property line only goes out for 10 feet. That is Royal Hawaiian Center property." I told him that I didn't really care whose property it was, I just wanted to wash the dirt and blood out of my wound. He then called for Royal Hawaiian Center Security.
Royal Hawaiian Center security escorted me to the 2nd floor restroom and told me to wash my hand in the basin. As I did that I was amazed at how much blood can come from three little knuckles. I also removed my shoe and saw that my foot was beginning to swell.
More Blood
That's when I looked down at my jeans and saw the knee area was blood soaked. I rolled up my pants leg and saw that the damage exteded to both my knee and shin. The security person (David) sprayed some anti bacterial solution on my leg and my knuckles.
Elbow Too?
That's when I noticed that my left elbow took a beating as well, so he treated it too.
Mummy Wrap
David applied a tourniquet type bandage to my leg to stop the bleeding and some ice to my ankle to slow down the swelling. I commented on the amount of bandaging, and he said something like, "They call me the Mummy Maker". I must point out here that the three or more Royal Hawaiian Center secuity people were extremely helpful and kind throughout this ordeal.
Not you too?
I thought they might have been even too concerned when I saw the EMS (Emergency Medical Service) show up. They wanted me to come out of the restroom, but I refused, knowing how many tourists were most likely attracted by the ambulance and probably followed them up to the 2nd floor to gawk at someone in trouble. ERS took all of my vital signs, changed the bandage on my leg, and asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. They emphasized that it would be a free trip. I declined and they made sure that I signed a statement saying that if I decide to go later it might be at my own expense. Expenses were at the bottom of my list of priorities at this time. I just wanted to get out of there, but not until after the curious crowds followed the EMS people back down the escalator. I was disturbed that they were not willing to clean the wounds or apply any medication to them. They told me they didn't have anything to do that, and to do it myself at home. I got the feeling they were maybe irrtitated that I was not interested in an exciting ambulance ride through Waikiki. I called my dermitologist from the restroom and made an appointment to see him on Monday morning.
The Royal Hawaiian Center Security staff asked me to complete a written statement as to what happened. I obliged, and asked that a copy be faxed over to me. He said he would, but I did not get it, so I decided to document it all here while it's fresh in my mind.
My Hero
With me throughout this entire ordeal was Justin Dradi. Justin sells art in the center and knows me from his days at Wyland Galleries. He just happened to be walking by, and saw me talking with the policemen. Justin not only stuck with me, but he was thoughtful enough to take most of the above photos with my iPhone. At one point, without being asked, he handed money to one of the security people and asked him to go get me a bottle of water. When he thought all was finished he wished me well and left.
I was almost tearful when he reappeared with an Apple T-Shirt that he went back to get for me. I asked if that means they didn't get to 1,000 people yet, and he said, "No, they were all gone, but I talked to someone." I'll bet he did. Someone at one point asked me if he was a friend of mine, and I said, "He's my lawyer." I was joking, and Justin laughed, but perhaps I was taken seriously. In any case, I know that he was just there out of the goodness of his heart and I will never forget it.
Two for the Price of PAIN
On my way out of Royal Hawaiian Center I stopped in to see the new Apple Store. The manager (Steve Perry) that I had asked for help from earlier approached, and asked if my iPhone or MacBook Air had been damaged in the fall. I said, "No, just my body." He told me that he is here from Apple Corporate to open the store and that he will be leaving tomorrow. I opened up my MacBook Air, took him to my Blog and said, "Go here tomorrow and read all about it". I showed him the photos still on my iPhone, and he said. "The policeman that came in here didn't tell me you were bleeding." He then asked me if I wanted a T-Shirt. I said, "My lawyer already came in and got me one, but I'll take another one for my wife." Yep I got two.
As I type this I am grateful for the Vicodin I had left over from a past dental surgery, and am hopefull that I will be able to walk in the morning, as I cannot at the moment. I'll surely keep you posted.
Follow Up Sunday Morning 9-28
I think I can see most of the colors in the rainbow this morning.
Follow Up Tuesday 9-30-08
Still Hurting; Still Bleeding; Still Crippled, but Still Working
I want to thank those of you that have posted, called and e-mailed me with your sympathy, wishes for a speedy recovery, and requests for a follow up posting on the status of my unfortunate mishap on Saturday.
Among those that called was Jeanette Castro from Carl Warren & Company.
WHO? Carl Warren is acting as the "Apple Claims Officer." She said that her company received a copy of the incident report that was sent to them from Royal Hawaiian Center. Her concern was; yep, you got it; if I intend to file a claim against Apple or Royal Hawaiian Center.
While I appreciated the call, I had the feeling that if I had said, "Royal Hawaiian Center" that would have been the end of the call. I told her that I am undecided on this question. She then (very professionally) asked me for details of the accident, and I directed her to this Blog posting. She said that she would be sending me a letter outlining my options, and should I want to file a claim against Apple, to get in touch with Carl Warren & Company.
This call brought to light the fact that I have not heard a word from Royal Hawaiian Center, which is obviously aware of the situation, and are in fact run by people I like to think of as friends.
What I find most disturbing about this whole thing is how our society has become so "litigation fearful" that people are afraid to "get involved" to the point that they "look the other way" when someone is hurting, are hesitant to ask important questions when interviewing job candidates, and afraid to fire employees not doing their jobs.
No Fear Here!
I'm afraid that Donald Trump (Your Fired) would be in constant "deep pilikia" if it were not for television entertainment.
I decided to return to the scene of the accident in the "light of day" to see what happened. By "light of day" I mean with a clear mind. The "problem" became crystal clear, and can be seen in the photos below.
The lower sidewalk was seperated by stantions to seperate the Apple participants from the general public. This greatly narrowed the walking space unless you were in line for a free T-Shirt from Apple.
Add that to the design of the flower planter (without flowers) and it is easily seen what happened. In looking at this today I felt fortunate that I did not tumble out into the line of traffic alongside of the lower sidewalk and the planter box.
I was pleased to finally hear from Sam Shenkus of Royal Hawaiian Center today, showing concern for my welfare and asking what she can do to help me. I asked her whose decision it was to devide the sidewalk with those stantions, and she said it was made by Steve Perry of Apple.
I intend to attempt a trip to Maui today. The good part will be having an excuse to wear slippers, meaning the security experience will be more pleasant.
Stay Tuned…
Thursday 10-2-08
I survived the trip to Maui, but realize today that it was a bit too much; lots of walking. I plan to put my foot up for the rest of the day, and watch the VP debate. That should provide an adequate "pain transfer" and a lot of good humor for me.
Here's the latest… I got a call I got today from Todd Onaka at Kamehameha Schools; owner of Royal Hawaiian Center. He informed me that they are filing a claim with their insurance company regarding my accident. (I wonder how much that is for) He said that the sidewalk, while it's on city land is definitely Royal Hawaiian Center's responsibility because they got a city permit to put in the flagstone sidewalk. He said that Apple could not he held accountable for what happened. He said that they (Royal Hawaiian Center) would cover any medical or out of pocket expenses that I incur. He also stated that he thinks the center plans to plant more shrubs in the dirt area where I fell. Now that's the most constructive comment I have heard yet.
There seems to be a lot of attention being paid to legal responsibilities here by everyone other than me. I don't know of any way to compensate me for the pain and inconvienance I have gone through. It hasn't been about money; maybe I am being stupid and should listen to Reality Check's comments on this blog posting.
My goal here is letting people know what's going on in my world, that's what this Blog had been about since it started. The good that I have received from this is the realization that I have an audience out there. I have received many more telephone calls and e-mails than Blog comments from people I didn't know were paying any attention to my ramblings.
Friday, 10-3-08
One week ago tomorrow I took this tumble. I don't know if I was hurt more than I knew, or if healing just takes longer at 67 years old, but things still hurt. The most painful of all is the little finger. Isn't that the way it is sometimes?
Little Finger - Big Pain
I sent this photograph to my dermitologist this morning and asked him if he thinks I have an infection brewing in here. I don't know the answer yet, but am having dinner with him tonight. We are starting at his house with a martini, and if it's anything like the last one he made me it should kill any bacteria anywhere in my body, if not me as well.
Update 10-5-08
Little Finger - Healing At Last
My dermitologist replied that I DON'T have an infection brewing in here, invited me to his home for a martini, and we went to dinner that evening. That was Friday; here it is on Sunday. While it is still quite sore, I can see it is healing.
Healing Hands
I had to cancel my weekly massage last week; too much pain, but today we went for it. My back had built up a lot of stress from both the fall and the different muscle usage from favoring the bad ankle, which I am pleased to report seems to be healing also. I still can't get a shoe on that foot, but the swelling is going down and the pain level (1 to 10 scale) has dropped from a 15 (or higher) to about a 7.
Two Weeks Later
Well, it's still sore but healing slowly. I cannot bend the little finger, but think I will be able to when healed. I also went into Waikiki today to see what has been done with the potential ankle buster.
Mulch Filled
I see that they have filled the spot with fresh mulch, but have nor eliminited the hazzard. There is still a sharp edge on the flagstone and still a level difference from the walkway to the lower flower bed. I can think of numerous things that could be done to correct this hazzard. Maybe I am just more sensitive because I have spent the past two weeks inconvienced and suffering as a result of it. I have the feeling that they are no longer concerned since I have stated that I do not intend to file a claim odf any kind. I don't think that should be the motivation. I got a call from the shopping center's insurance company saying that he is going to send a very strong letter to Apple about this and that he feels they are at fault. Maybe they are waiting for Apple to repair it. I'm more interested in seeing some future person prevented from an accident than worrying about who's fault this one was.
5 Weeks Later - 11-2-08 - Foot still Sore and Swollen
I was asked to update this. I visited the doctor and he said that it was a severe strain with muscle tearing and that it's going to take quite a while before I am back out walking normally, let alone running.
Fingers Badly Scarred, Still Sore and Healing Very Slowly
Finger Disfiguration
The doctor said that the severe scarring has created finger disfiguration. I cannot close my little finger, and it really hurts when trying to. He gave me some medicine to apply twice a day for three weeks to thin out the scarring, with the risk of thinning the skin itself. That's the latest!
Here I am Again
This Place is Looking TOO Familiar
Seven weeks is a long time to be in pain. I am still not running or power walking on my ankle, but I am getting around okay. The big problem is the little finger. It continues to be very sore to the touch, and has a huge red scar. I returned to my doctor today to see if he thinks that plastic surgery will be required, and he suggested trying some cortisone shots first.
The shots got the bleeding going again, so I am back in "bandage mode." He said to call him in 5 days to see if the scarring and soreness has subsided any. We take our health for granted until something like this happens, and then it becomes quite apparent how sensitive something like a little finger can be. I suffer most when reaching into my jeans pocket for money. I guess some people find that painful anyway, but I usually enjoy it.
The Next Day
The corisone fluid seems to have made it even worse. I'm hoping this is one of those "looks worse before getting better" things.


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The K9 Fit Vest & Cool Pack Combo is a must have for any dog owner. This 4-in-1 vest boasts fitness, therapy, safety and sensory benefits. Use the K9 Fit Vest during your dog's daily walk or run to boost their cardio, muscle strength, endurance, flexibility and body composition. The vest can also be used for sensory integration. The specialized compression fabric and built-in weights provide your dog with a weighted compression, which feels much like a snug hug and helps reduce anxiety. The vest can be used to reduce anxiety in several situations, such as new dog or human introductions, during loud storms, during times of separation, effects of illness or aging, post-traumatic stress, and more. Another great feature of the K9 Fit Vest is the reflective material. The high-visibility material used to make this vest ensures that your dog will be visible in dim and low light situations, such as dawn and dusk. Last but not least, our vest comes with interchangeable cool packs that pull double duty. You can easily remove the weights out of the K9 Fit Vest after your dog's workout and insert the cool therapy packs to cool your dog's muscles and prevent any swelling. The cool packs can also be inserted into the vest to keep your dog cool on hot, summer days.
"As a veterinarian dealing with sports medical problems in working and performance dogs, I pay close attention to the biomechanics and gait of my patients. Many an athletic injury is due to repetitive stress or unbalanced movement. Until the DogTread K9FITvest, there hasn't been any weighted vest on the market specifically designed to take into account a dog's body shape and movement while wearing the vest; all of the ones that I have seen roll and shift within a short time setting these dogs up for back and joint injuries. The Fit Vest, with its soft, body-conforming weights, elastic, shaped material and how-to instructions will help a dog get fit without getting injured. I am excited to be able to recommend the K9FITvest to my working and performance dog clients."
Kimberly Henneman, DVM, DABT, FAAVA, CVA, CVC
Diplomat, American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation
Animal Health Op
Product Highlights:
Available Sizes:
Cleaning Instructions for the K9 Fit Vest & Cool Pack Combo:
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MojoKid writes Right on schedule, Microsoft rolled-out an onslaught of patches for its "Patch Tuesday" last week, and despite the fact that it wasn't the true "Update 2" for Windows 8.1 many of us were hoping for, updates are generally worth snatching up. Since the patch rollout, it's been discovered that four individual updates are causing random BSoD issues for its users, with KB2982791, a kernel-mode related driver, being the biggest culprit. Because of the bug's severity, Microsoft is recommending that anyone who updated go and uninstall a couple of the specific updates, or rollback using Windows Restore. You can uninstall these updates in much the same way you uninstall any app; the difference is that once you're in the "Programs and Features" section, you'll need to click on "View installed updates" on the left. While it's mostly recommended that you uninstall 2982791, you may wish to uninstall the others as well, just in case.
Trailrunner7 writes The GameOver Zeus malware had a nice run for itself, making untold millions of dollars for its creators. But it was a run that ended with a multi-continent operation from law enforcement and security researchers to disassemble the infrastructure. Now researchers have identified a new variant of the Cridex malware that has adopted some of the techniques that made GOZ so successful in its day.
Researchers at IBM's X-Force research team have seen a new version of Cridex, which is also known as Bugat and Feodo, using some of the same techniques that GOZ used to such good effect. Specifically, the new strain of malware has adopted GOZ's penchant for using HTML injections, and the researchers say the technique is nearly identical to the way that GOZ handled it.
"There are two possible explanations for this. First, someone from the GOZ group could have moved to the Bugat team. This would not be the first time something like this has happened, which we've witnessed in other cases involving Zeus and Citadel; however, it is not very likely in this case since Bugat and GOZ are essentially competitors, while Zeus and Citadel are closely related. The second and more likely explanation is that the Bugat team could have analyzed and perhaps reversed the GOZ malware before copying the HTML injections that made GOZ so highly profitable for its operators," Etay Maor, a senior fraud prevention strategist at IBM, wrote in an analysis of the new malware.
An anonymous reader writes Following up on a recent experiment into the status of software engineers versus managers, Jon Evans writes that the easiest way to find out which companies don't respect their engineers is to learn which companies simply don't understand them. "Engineers are treated as less-than-equal because we are often viewed as idiot savants. We may speak the magic language of machines, the thinking goes, but we aren't business people, so we aren't qualified to make the most important decisions. ... Whereas in fact any engineer worth her salt will tell you that she makes business decisions daily–albeit on the micro not macro level–because she has to in order to get the job done. Exactly how long should this database field be? And of what datatype? How and where should it be validated? How do we handle all of the edge cases? These are in fact business decisions, and we make them, because we're at the proverbial coal face, and it would take forever to run every single one of them by the product people and sometimes they wouldn't even understand the technical factors involved. ... It might have made some sense to treat them as separate-but-slightly-inferior when technology was not at the heart of almost every business, but not any more."
Safensoft writes: Symantec recently made a loud statement that antivirus is dead and that they don't really consider it to be a source of profit. Some companies said the same afterwards; some other suggested that Symantec just wants a bit of free media attention. The press is full of data on antivirus efficiency being quite low. A notable example would be the Zeus banking Trojan, and how only 40% of its versions can be stopped by antivirus software. The arms race between malware authors and security companies is unlikely to stop.
On the other hand, experts' opinions of antivirus software have been low for a while, so it's hardly surprising. It's not a panacea. The only question that remains is: how exactly should antivirus operate in modern security solutions? Should it be one of the key parts of a protection solution, or it should be reduced to only stopping the easiest and most well-known threats?
Threats aren't the only issue — there are also performance concerns. Processors get better, and interaction with hard drives becomes faster, but at the same time antivirus solutions require more and more of that power. Real-time file scanning, constant updates and regular checks on the whole system only mean one thing – as long as antivirus is thorough, productivity while using a computer goes down severely. This situation is not going to change, ever, so we have to deal with it. But how, exactly? Is a massive migration of everything, from workstations to automatic control systems in industry, even possible? Is using whitelisting protection on Windows-based machines is the answer? Or we should all just sit and hope for Microsoft to give us a new Windows with good integrated protection? Are there any other ways to deal with it?
An anonymous reader writes "Google is toying with a complete revamp of the user account system in its browser. Google is essentially pulling the user management system from Chrome OS back into Chrome. The company's thinking is likely two-layered. First, it wants users to stay in the browser for as long as possible, and thus it wants the switching process to be part of Chrome as opposed to Windows, Mac, or Linux. Second, if it can teach users to have accounts in Chrome (as well as use incognito and guest modes), the learning curve will have been flattened for when they encounter Chrome OS."
plover sends this news about another possible exposure of customer data: Supervalu is the latest retailer to experience a data breach, announcing today that cybercriminals had accessed payment card transactions at some of its stores. The Minneapolis-based company said it had "experienced a criminal intrusion" into the portion of its computer network that processes payment card transactions for some of its stores. There was no confirmation that any cardholder data was in fact stolen and no evidence the data was misused, according to the company. The event occurred between June 22 and July 17, 2014 at 180 Supervalu stores and stand-alone liquor stores. Affected banners include Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy.
New submitter onproton writes: Citizen Lab released new research today on a targeted exploitation technique used by state actors involving "network injection appliances" installed at ISPs. These devices can target and intercept unencrypted YouTube traffic and replace it with malicious code that gives the operator control over the system or installs a surveillance backdoor. One of the researchers writes, "many otherwise well-informed people think they have to do something wrong, or stupid, or insecure to get hacked—like clicking on the wrong attachments, or browsing malicious websites...many of these commonly held beliefs are not necessarily true." This technique is largely designed for targeted attacks, so it's likely most of us will be safe for now — but just one more reminder to use https.
stoborrobots writes: The Government Accountability Office has investigated the cost blowouts associated with how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) handled the Healthcare.gov project. It has released a 60-page report entitled Healthcare.gov: Ineffective Planning and Oversight Practices Underscore the Need for Improved Contract Management, with a 5 page summary. The key takeaway messages are:
An anonymous reader writes US Department of Defense contractors will have to wait until September 24 to see what specific rules they will be required to follow when it comes to the reporting of computer breaches to the DoD. This particular requirement has been mandated by the US Congress last year, in an attempt to get clear view of the type and frequency of attacks contractors face. The US Congress will require "cleared defense contractors" — i.e. those who have been granted clearance by the DoD to access, receive, or store classified information — to effect a rapid report in the wake of a successful breach, and to include in it a description of the technique or method used in the penetration, a sample of the malicious software used (if discovered), and a summary of information created for the Department in connection with any Department program that has been potentially compromised due to such penetration.
aarondubrow (1866212) writes In a [note, paywalled] review article in this week's issue of the journal Nature (described in a National Science Foundation press release), Igor Markov of the University of Michigan/Google reviews limiting factors in the development of computing systems to help determine what is achievable, in principle and in practice, using today's and emerging technologies. "Understanding these important limits," says Markov, "will help us to bet on the right new techniques and technologies." Ars Technica does a great job of expanding on the various limitations that Markov describes, and the ways in which engineering can push back against them.
An anonymous reader writes "Google today announced it is expanding its Safe Browsing service to protect users against malware that makes unexpected changes to your computer. Google says it will show a warning in Chrome whenever an attempt is made to trick you into downloading and installing such software. In the case of malware, PUA stands for Potentially Unwanted Application, which is also sometimes called Potentially Unwanted Program or PUP. In short, the broad terms encompass any downloads that the user does not want, typically because they display popups, show ads, install toolbars in the default browser, change the homepage or the search engine, run several processes in the background that slow down the PC, and so on."
snydeq (1272828) writes "Two of Microsoft's kernel-mode driver updates — which often cause problems — are triggering a BSOD error message on some Windows systems, InfoWorld reports. 'Details at this point are sparse, but it looks like three different patches from this week's Black Tuesday crop are causing Blue Screens with a Stop 0x50 error on some systems. If you're hitting a BSOD, you can help diagnose the problem (and perhaps prod Microsoft to find a solution) by adding your voice to the Microsoft Answers Forum thread on the subject.'"
angry tapir (1463043) writes Apple has done well to insulate its iOS mobile operating system from many security issues, but a forthcoming demonstration shows it's far from perfect. Next Wednesday at the Usenix Security Symposium in San Diego, researchers with the Georgia Institute of Technology will show how iOS's Achilles' heel is exposed when devices are connected over USB to a computer or have Wi-Fi synching enabled. The beauty of their attack is that it doesn't rely on iOS software vulnerabilities, the customary way that hackers commandeer computers. It simply takes advantage of design issues in iOS, working around Apple's layered protections to accomplish a sinister goal.
An anonymous reader writes Ryan Lackey of CloudFlare and Marc Rogers of Lookout revealed a new OPSEC device at Def Con called PORTAL (Personal Onion Router to Assure Liberty). It "provides always-on Tor routing, as well as 'pluggable' transport for Tor that can hide the service's traffic signature from some deep packet inspection systems." In essence, PORTAL is a travel router that the user simply plugs into their existing device for more than basic Tor protection (counterpoint to PogoPlug Safeplug and Onion Pi). On the down side, you have to download PORTAL from Github and flash it "onto a TP-Link compatible packet router." The guys behind the device acknowledge that not many people may want to (or even know how to) do that, so they're asking everyone to standby because a solution is pending. The project's GitHub page has a README file that lists compatible models, with some caveats: "It is highly recommended to use a modified router. The modified MR11U and WR703N provide a better experience than the stock routers due to the additional RAM. The severe space constraints of the stock router make them very challenging to work with. Due to the lack of usable space, it is necessary to use an external disk to store the Tor packages. The stock router has only a single USB port, and the best option is to use a microSD in a 3G modem." (Note: Lackey is no stranger to helping people secure internet privacy.)
jfruh writes: A casual observer at the latest DEFCON conference in Las Vegas might not have noticed much change from last year — still tons of leather, piercing, and body art, still groups of men gathered in darkened ballrooms furiously typing commands. But this year there's a new focus: hacking not just for the lulz, but focusing specifically on highlighting computer security problems that have the potential to do real-world physical harm to human beings.
badger.foo (447981) writes Peter Hansteen reports that a new distributed and slow-moving password guessing effort is underway, much like the earlier reports, but this time with a twist: The users they are trying to access do not exist. Instead, they're taken from the bsdly.net spamtrap address list, where all listed email addresses are guaranteed to be invalid in their listed domains. There is a tiny chance that this is an elaborate prank or joke, but it's more likely that via excessive automation, the password gropers have finally hit Peak Stupid.
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes with word that Samsung is hopping on the metal case and rounded corners design bandwagon. From the article: Samsung says a metal frame and curved corners give the Galaxy Alpha a "sophisticated" look. The South Korean company describes the Galaxy Alpha as representing a "new design approach". The firm has previously been criticised for the plastic feel of its handsets at a time when other firms have opted to use materials marketed as having a "premium" feel. Samsung Electronics saw a 20% year-on-year drop in its last quarter's profit. The phone features 2G of RAM, a 4.7" AMOLED display, and either an 8-core Exynos 5 or 4-core Snapdragon 801.
An anonymous reader writes New research was released on cyber-attacks via human-rights NGO World Uyghur Congress over a period of four years. Academic analysis was conducted through the lens of a human-rights NGO representing a minority living in China and in exile when most targeted attack reports are against large organizations with apparent or actual financial or IP theft unlike WUC, and reported by commercial entities rather than academics. The attacks were a combination of sophisticated social engineering via email written primarily in the Uyghur language, in some cases through compromised WUC email accounts, and with advanced malware embedded in attached documents. Suspicious emails were sent to more than 700 different email addresses, including WUC leaders as well as journalists, politicians, academics and employees of other NGOs (including Amnesty International and Save Tibet — International Campaign for Tibet). The study will be presented at USENIX on August 21, and the full paper is already available.
snydeq writes: Now that the technologies behind our servers and networks have stabilized, IT can look forward to a different kind of constant change, writes Paul Venezia. "In IT, we are actually seeing a bit of stasis. I don't mean that the IT world isn't moving at the speed of light — it is — but the technologies we use in our corporate data centers have progressed to the point where we can leave them be for the foreseeable future without worry that they will cause blocking problems in other areas of the infrastructure. What all this means for IT is not that we can finally sit back and take a break after decades of turbulence, but that we can now focus less on the foundational elements of IT and more on the refinements. ... In essence, we have finally built the transcontinental railroad, and now we can use it to completely transform our Wild West."
dcblogs writes: Mikey Dickerson, a site reliability engineer at Google, who was appointed Monday by the White House as the deputy federal CIO, will lead efforts to improve U.S. Websites. Dickerson, who worked on the Healthcare.gov rescue last year, said that one issue the government needs to fix is its culture. In describing his experience on the Healthcare.gov effort, he said the workplace was "not one that is optimized to get good work out of engineers." It was a shirt-and-tie environment, and while Dickerson said cultural issues may sound superficial, they are still real. "You don't have to think that the engineers are the creative snowflakes and rock stars that they think they are, you don't have to agree with any of that," Dickerson said in a recent conference presentation posted online. "I'm just telling you that's how they think of themselves, and if you want access to more of them, finding a way to deal with that helps a lot." Engineers want to make a difference, Dickerson said, and he has collected the names of more than 140 engineers who would be willing to take unpaid leave from their jobs to work on a meaningful project.
An anonymous reader writes: Google today announced it is implementing a new effort to thwart spammers and scammers: the open standard known as Unicode Consortium's "Highly Restricted" specification. In short, Gmail now rejects emails from domains that use what the Unicode community has identified as potentially misleading combinations of letters. The news today follows Google's announcement last week that Gmail has gained support for accented and non-Latin characters. The company is clearly okay with international domains, as long as they aren't abused to trick its users.
itwbennett writes: The first large-scale analysis of firmware has revealed poor security practices that could present opportunities for hackers probing the Internet of Things. Researchers with Eurecom, a technology-focused graduate school in France, developed a web crawler that plucked more than 30,000 firmware images from the websites of manufacturers including Siemens, Xerox, Bosch, Philips, D-Link, Samsung, LG and Belkin. In one instance, the researchers found a Linux kernel that was 10 years out of date bundled in a recently released firmware image. They also uncovered 41 digital certificates in firmware that were self-signed and contained a private RSA encryption key and 326 instances of terms that could indicate the presence of a backdoor.
Dr. Damage writes: The TSX instructions built into Intel's Haswell CPU cores haven't become widely used by everyday software just yet, but they promise to make certain types of multithreaded applications run much faster than they can today. Some of the savviest software developers are likely building TSX-enabled software right about now. Unfortunately, that work may have to come to a halt, thanks to a bug—or "errata," as Intel prefers to call them—in Haswell's TSX implementation that can cause critical software failures. To work around the problem, Intel will disable TSX via microcode in its current CPUs — and in early Broadwell processors, as well.
First time accepted submitter GreyViking (3606993) writes Over the past few years, I've witnessed a variety of my intelligent but largely non-technical nearest-and-dearest struggling to complete online job applications. The majority of these online forms are multiple screens long, and because they're invariably HTTPS, they'll time out after a finite time which isn't always made known to the user. Some sites actively disable back/forward buttons but many don't, and text that's sometime taken a lot of effort to compile, cut and paste can be lost. And did I mention text input boxes that are too small? Sometimes it seems that the biggest obstacle to getting a job can be being able to conquer the online application, and really, there has to be a better way: but what is it?
snydeq writes Modern programming bears little resemblance to the days of assembly code and toggles. Worse, or perhaps better, it markedly differs from what it meant to be a programmer just five years ago. While the technologies and tools underlying this transformation can make development work more powerful and efficient, they also make developers increasingly responsible for facets of computing beyond their traditional domain, thereby concentrating a wider range of roles and responsibilities into leaner, more overworked staff.
Nerval's Lobster writes: In Silicon Valley they think differently, and if that leads to arrogance, so be it. At least that's what Bloomberg Businessweek's Joel Stein implies in his long meditation on the area's outlook on technology, money and changing the world. Stein set out to examine the underlying notion that Silicon Valley's and San Francisco's tech entrepreneurs are feeding a backlash by being, in a word, jerks. His conclusion seems to be that they may well be jerks, but they're misunderstood jerks. He doesn't deny that there's sexism and boorishness at play in the young tech community, but he sees the industry trying to make itself better. He sees a lot of egotism at work, too, but he says if you're setting out to change the world, you're probably going to need a big ego to do it. But tell that to other people in Northern California: undoubtedly, you've read about the tempest in San Francisco recently, where urban activists are decrying the influx of highly paid tech professionals, who they argue are displacing residents suddenly unable to keep up with skyrocketing rents.
wiredmikey writes: In an open letter to Automotive CEOs, a group of security researchers has called on automobile industry executives to implement five security programs to improve car safety and build cyber-security safeguards inside the software systems powering various features in modern cars. As car automation systems become more sophisticated, they need to be locked down to prevent tampering or unauthorized access. The Five Star Automotive Cyber Safety Program outlined in the letter asked industry executives for safety by design, third-party collaboration, evidence capture, security updates, and segmentation and isolation. Vehicles are "computers on wheels," said Josh Corman, CTO of Sonatype and a co-founder of I am the Cavalry, the group who penned the letter (PDF). The group aims to bring security researchers together with representatives from non-security fields, such as home automation and consumer electronics, medical devices, transportation, and critical infrastructure, to improve security.
jfruh writes Many security experts agree that our current authentication system, in which end users are forced to remember (or, more often, write down) a dizzying array of passwords is broken. DARPA, the U.S. Defense Department research arm that developed the Internet, is trying to work past the problem by eliminating passwords altogether, replacing them with biometric and other cues, using off-the-shelf technology available today.
LuserOnFire (175383) writes with word that on Saturday SpamCop users received an email that says in part: "For over 12 years, Corporate Email Services has been partnering with SpamCop to provide webmail service with spam filtering via the SpamCop Email System for our users. Back then, spam filtering was rare. We heard story after story about how our service rescued people from unfiltered email. Nowadays, webmail service with spam filtering has become the norm in the general public. As such, the need for the webmail service with SpamCop filtered email has decreased. Due to these reasons, we have decided to retire the SpamCop Email System and its webmail service; while SpamCop will continue to focus on providing the World's best spam reporting platform and blacklist for the community. As of September 30, 2014 (Tuesday) 6pm ET, the current SpamCop Email service will be converted to email forwarding-only with spam filtered by SpamCop for all existing SpamCop Email users."
MojoKid (1002251) writes "Security researcher Gene Bransfield, with the help of his wife's grandmother's cat, decided to see how many neighborhood WiFi access points he could map and potentially compromise. With a collar loaded with a Spark chip, a Wi-Fi module, a GPS module, and a battery, Coco the cat helped Gene identify Wi-Fi networks around the neighborhood and then reported back. The goal here is obvious: Discover all of the unsecured, or at least poorly-secured, wireless access points around the neighborhood. During his journey, Coco identified dozens of Wi-Fi networks, with four of them using easily-broken WEP security, and another four that had no security at all. Gene has dubbed his collar the "WarKitteh", and it cost him less than $100 to make. He admits that such a collar isn't a security threat, but more of a goofy hack. Of course, it could be used for shadier purposes." (Here's Wired's article on the connected cat-collar.)
New submitter shervinemami writes (starting with a pretty big disclaimer: "I'm an Engineer at NVIDIA.") The latest CompuBench GPU benchmarks show NVIDIA's Tegra K1 running whole OpenCL algorithms around 5x faster than any other mobile device, and individual instructions around 20x faster! This huge jump is because mobile companies have been saying they support OpenCL on mobile devices since early 2013, but what they don't mention is that they only have software API support, not hardware-accelerated OpenCL running faster on their GPUs than CPUs. Now that NVIDIA's Tegra-K1 chip has started shipping in devices and thus is available for full benchmarking, it is clearly the only mobile chip that actually gives you proper hardware-accelerated OpenCL (and CUDA of course!). The K1 is also what's in Google's Project Tango 3-D mapping tablet.
mikejuk (1801200) writes "Microsoft Researcher Andrew Begel, together with academic and industry colleagues have been trying to detect when developers are struggling as they work, in order to prevent bugs before they are introduced into code. A paper presented at the 36th International Conference on Software Engineering, reports on a study conducted with 15 professional programmers to see how well an eye-tracker, an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor, and an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor could be used to predict whether developers would find a task difficult. Difficult tasks are potential bug generators and finding a task difficult is the programming equivalent of going to sleep at the wheel. Going beyond this initial investigation researchers now need to decide how to support developers who are finding their work difficult. What isn't known yet is how developers will react if their actions are approaching bug-potential levels and an intervention is deemed necessary. Presumably the nature of the intervention also has to be worked out. So next time you sit down at your coding station consider that in the future they may be wanting to wire you up just to make sure you aren't a source of bugs. And what could possibly be the intervention?"
Def Con shows no mercy. As gleefully reported by sites several Blackberry-centric sites, researcher Justin Case yesterday demonstrated that he could root the much-heralded Blackphone in less than five minutes. From n4bb.com's linked report: "However, one of the vulnerabilities has already been patched and the other only exploitable with direct user consent. Nevertheless, this only further proves you cannot add layers of security on top of an underlying platform with security vulnerabilities." Case reacts via Twitter to the crowing: "Hey BlackBerry idiots, stop miss quoting me on your blogs. Your phone is only "secure" because it has few users and little value as a target."
John McAfee made a surprise appearance at Def Con to talk about privacy: he's for it. Trouble is, he says, lots of companies feel otherwise, and he took the stage to single out "don't be evil" Google: "Google, or at least certain people within Google, I will not mention names because I am not a rude gentleman, would like us to believe that if we have nothing to hide, we should not mind if everybody knows everything that we do," he said from the podium. "I have to take serious issue with that." The BBC has video. McAfee also announced his new complaints website, The Brown List. (Good usernames are still available, and your complaint can be about anything, not just privacy violations by humongous corporations.)
According to data gathered by Akamai, an analysis from Broadview Networks comes to the conclusion that the top five U.S. states for broadband speed are Virginia (at the top of the list, with an average transfer speed of 13.78 Mbps), Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington, with Washington, D.C. slightly edging out the similarly-named state; Alaska comes in dead last. These are average speeds, though, and big states have more variation to account for, including connections in the hinterlands. You could still have a fast connection in Chattanooga, or be stuck on dial-up in the Texas panhandle.
An anonymous reader writes Facebook today revealed details about Autoscale, a system for power-efficient load balancing that has been rolled out to production clusters in its data centers. The company says it has "demonstrated significant energy savings." For those who don't know, load balancing refers to distributing workloads across multiple computing resources, in this case servers. The goal is to optimize resource use, which can mean different things depending on the task at hand.
An anonymous reader writes Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users recently found that Skype no longer works on their system: despite upgrading to the latest version they still can't sign in. We got in touch with the Microsoft-owned company and after two days, we got confirmation that a solution was in the works. "We have a Skype version for Mac OS X 10.5 users which will soon be available for download," a Skype spokesperson told TNW. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Windows Phone 7. In a support page titled "Is Skype for Windows Phone 7 being discontinued?," the Microsoft-owned company answers the question with a "yes" and elaborates that it is "permanently retiring all Skype apps for Windows Phone 7." Again, this isn't just old versions going away, or support being removed, but the apps themselves have disappeared.
Nicola Hahn (1482985) writes Kim Zetter of Wired Magazine has recently covered Dan Greer's keynote speech at Black Hat USA. In his lengthy address Greer, representing the CIA's venture funding arm, suggested that one way that the United States government could improve cyber security would be to use its unparalleled budget to buy up all the underground's zero-day vulnerabilities.
While this would no doubt make zero-day vendors like VUPEN and middlemen like the Grugq very wealthy, is this strategy really a good idea? Can the public really trust the NSA to do the right thing with all those zero-day exploits? Furthermore, recall the financial meltdown of 2008 where the public paid the bill for Wall Street's greed. If the government pays for information on all these unpatched bugs would society simply be socializing the cost of hi-tech's sloppy engineering? Whose interests does this "corner-the-market" approach actually serve?
Bismillah (993337) writes Yahoo is working on an easy to use PGP interface for webmail, the company's chief information security officer Alex Stamos said at Black Hat 2014. This could lead to some interesting standoffs with governments and law enforcement wanting to read people's messages. From the article: "'We are working to design a key server architecture that allows for automatic discovery of public keys within Yahoo.com and other participating mail providers and to integrate encryption into the normal mail flow,' Stamos said."
jfruh writes Not everyone has a job like Homer Simpson, who's been replaced at various times by a brick tied to a lever and a chicken named Queenie. But many IT workers have come up against mind-numbing, repetitive tasks that probably could be automated. So: what do you do about it? Well, the answer depends on how much power you have in an organization and how much your bosses respect your opinion.
An anonymous reader writes After January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates. For example, customers using Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10 on Windows 7 SP1 should migrate to Internet Explorer 11 to continue receiving security updates and technical support. From the blog post: "Microsoft recommends enabling automatic updates to ensure an up-to-date computing experience—including the latest version of Internet Explorer—and most consumers use automatic updates today. Commercial customers are encouraged to test and accept updates quickly, especially security updates. Regular updates provide significant benefits, such as decreased security risk and increased reliability, and Windows Update can automatically install updates for Internet Explorer and Windows."
wiredmikey writes In a move to bolster the security of its massive global server network, Facebook announced on Thursday it was acquiring PrivateCore, a Palo Alto, California-based cybersecurity startup. PrivateCore describes that its vCage software transparently secures data in use with full memory encryption for any application, any data, anywhere on standard x86 servers. "I'm really excited that Facebook has entered into an agreement to acquire PrivateCore," Facebook security chief Joe Sullivan wrote in a post to his own Facebook page. "I believe that PrivateCore's technology and expertise will help support Facebook's mission to help make the world more open and connected, in a secure and trusted way," Sullivan said. "Over time, we plan to deploy PrivateCore's technology directly into the Facebook server stack."
OpenSignal, by means of mobile apps for iOS and Android, has been amassing data on Wi-Fi and cell-network signal strength. They released yesterday a few of their findings on the speed of Wi-Fi available at U.S. chain hotels (download speeds, specifically). Though it shouldn't be surprising that (as their data shows) more expensive hotels generally have faster speeds, I know it hasn't always matched my own experience. (Hotel chains also vary, even within brands, in whether the in-room Wi-Fi is free, cheap, or exorbitant.) If the in-room connection is flaky or expensive, though, from the same report it seems you'll do better by popping into a Google-networked Starbucks location than one fed by AT&T, and McDonalds beats Panera Bread by quite a bit.
As TechCrunch reports, Google will begin using website encryption, or HTTPS, as a ranking signal – a move which should prompt website developers who have dragged their heels on increased security measures, or who debated whether their website was "important" enough to require encryption, to make a change. Initially, HTTPS will only be a lightweight signal, affecting fewer than 1% of global queries, says Google. ... Over time, however, encryption's effect on search ranking [may] strengthen, as the company places more importance on website security. ... While HTTPS and site encryption have been a best practice in the security community for years, the revelation that the NSA has been tapping the cables, so to speak, to mine user information directly has prompted many technology companies to consider increasing their own security measures, too. Yahoo, for example, also announced in November its plans to encrypt its data center traffic.
msm1267 (2804139) writes "Researcher David Litchfield is back at it again, dissecting Oracle software looking for critical bugs. At the Black Hat 2014 conference, Litchfield delivered research on a new data redaction service the company added in Oracle 12c. The service is designed to allow administrators to mask sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or health information, during certain operations. But when Litchfield took a close look he found a slew of trivially exploitable vulnerabilities that bypass the data redaction service and trick the system into returning data that should be masked."
itwbennett writes Some security researchers on Wednesday said it's still unclear just how serious Hold Security's discovery of a massive database of stolen credentials really is. "The only way we can know if this is a big deal is if we know what the information is and where it came from," said Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor at Sophos. "But I can't answer that because the people who disclosed this decided they want to make money off of this. There's no way for others to verify." Wisniewski was referring to an offer by Hold Security to notify website operators if they were affected, but only if they sign up for its breach notification service, which starts at $120 per year.
sciencehabit writes You can credit your existence to tiny wormlike creatures that lived 500 million years ago, a new study suggests. By tunneling through the sea floor, scientists say, these creatures kept oxygen concentrations at just the right level to allow animals and other complex life to evolve. The finding may help answer an enduring mystery of Earth's past. The idea is that as they dug and wiggled, these early multicellular creatures—some were likely worms as long as 40 cm—exposed new layers of seafloor sediment to the ocean's water. Each new batch of sediment that settles onto the sea floor contains bacteria; as those bacteria were exposed to the oxygen in the water, they began storing a chemical called phosphate in their cells. So as the creatures churned up more sediment layers, more phosphate built up in ocean sediments and less was found in seawater. Because algae and other photosynthetic ocean life require phosphate to grow, removing phosphate from seawater reduced their growth. Less photosynthesis, in turn, meant less oxygen released into the ocean. In this way, the system formed a negative feedback loop that automatically slowed the rise in oxygen levels as the levels increased.
lurker412 writes Yesterday, and without previous warning, all Mac users running Leopard or earlier versions of OS-X have been locked out of Skype. Those customers are given instructions to update, but following them does not solve the problem. The Skype Community Forum is currently swamped with complaints. A company representative active on the forum said "Unfortunately we don't currently have a build that OS X Leopard (10.5) users could use" but did not answer the question whether they intend to provide one or not.
New submitter Rigodi (1000552) writes "The New York Times reported on August 5th that a massive collection of stolen email passwords and website accounts have been accumulated by an alleged Russian "crime ring". Over 1.2 billion accounts were compromised ... the attack scheme is essentially the old and well known SQL injection tactic using a botnet. The Information has been made public to coincide with the Blackhat conference to cause a debate about the classic security account and password system weaknesses, urging the industry to find new ways to perform authentication. What do Black Hat security conference participants have to say about that in Vegas?
An anonymous reader writes with the news that Hackaday published an article on the poor security of the add-on modules that Tektronix sells as expensive add-ons to unlock features in certain of its oscilloscopes. The reader writes: "It has come to attention of Tek's legal eagles and they now want the article to be taken down. Perhaps they can ask Google to forget that page?"


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You would think that a cure for cancer had been announced this morning, what with all the attention that new search engine Cuil has garnered. You might even think it was the "Google-killer" that "Out-Googled Google" but you'd be wrong once again. The teeth-grindingly poor name aside (it's the tool that's pronounced like "cool", fool) as just about everyone who's tried it will tell you, it just doesn't work that well. At least not as well as Google. If you're going to shoot at the king, you had better not miss.
So what's all the hubbub, Bub? It doesn't hurt that a team of ex-Google folks including former ranking expert Anna Patterson are behind Cuil. There's also the fashionable black homepage – you know, for Goths. Still I can't help but think that all the initial excitement over Cuil (enough to crash the site this morning) is about the desire to see someone, anyone, mount a real challenge to Google's search engine dominance. There were plenty of folks aside from Flickr founder Stewart Butterfield who wish that Microsoft had been successful in their bid for Yahoo, if only for the sake of balance.
Google climbed over the bodies of HotBot and AltaVista and clawed their way to the primo spot by being more innovative and focused than anyone else in search. As the competition fades or gets co-opted (talkin' bout you, Yahoo) Google's innovations run the risk of becoming more centered on increasing their revenue flow rather than the user experience. Therefore when a possible giant-killer comes along, everyone wants to take a try behind the wheel.
Sadly, as has been reported throughout the webisphere, Cuil comes up woefully short as even a simple comparative vanity search proved to me. The three column layout is hard to follow and comprehend quickly, nor does switching to two column mode help much. The big selling point of the Cuil crew was that they had indexed many more pages than Google has. As our esteemed Dr. Naveel pointed out to me, this means little if the indexed pages aren't relevant. As I've been reminded all too often, size isn't everything.
Most troubling were the weird irrelevant pictures which showed up next to relevant results and weird irrelevant results which showed up next to… nothing. The ever-insightful Saul Hansell who does the Bits blog for The New York Times suggests today that like Patterson's former company, the final (and perhaps original) outcome for Cuil will be to be acquired. Ironically what Hansell correctly tags as their biggest innovation- more indexing on the cheap using fewer computers- may be their fatal Achilles heel.
Reprise Media Account Director Chase Wells pointed me to a CNET posting that pretty effectively picks apart Cuil's fewer computer strategy as the cause of many user's oddball search results. The incredibly bad news is that the more people use the system, the more likely the results are to be off kilter. On the other hand this leads Cuil to be, at least today, a sort of Google dissatisfaction meter. If you search for "piranha" and get entries on the fish or even the Joe Dante movie Google's doing a-OK, if you get back results on piñatas there's some migration going on and if you end up with results on the guy who played Mr. Belding on "Saved by The Bell" it might be time to sell your Google stock.
What Cuil's shortcomings have done is to highlight where the search industry is already going thanks in part to Google: It's not about rank anymore, it's about relevance. At first blush Cuil's magazine-style layout seems to be the ultimate validation of this – letting the eye roam from one side of the page to the other and the user to determine from a pool of results that seem relatively rank-free. However, allowing irrelevant information to float around sans ranking hierarchy is a far cry from actual relevance-based results.
Google still does relevance better than anyone. Ranking may be becoming increasingly more subjective depending on the user and the query but having a hierarchical-based results page helps the user get what they need fast. At the end of the day relevance trumps all, whether you have information you'd like to be found by searchers, you are the one doing the searching, or you're the engine where it all happens.


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Quotes & Info
|OFIX > SEC Filings for OFIX > Form 8-K on 9-Dec-2013
|All Recent SEC Filings
Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Regulation FD Disclosure, F
On December 3, 2013, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Orthofix International N.V. (the "Company") increased the size of the Board from eight to nine directors and appointed Anthony F. Martin, PhD to the Board. The Board has determined that Dr. Martin is an independent director under the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market. There are no transactions involving Dr. Martin requiring disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. Dr. Martin will receive the Company's standard fee of $60,000 per year for non-employee director service, and has been granted options to acquire 30,000 shares of common stock pursuant to the Company's 2012 Long-Term Incentive Plan (vesting in 1/4th increments on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversary of his appointment pursuant to the Company's previously filed form of non-employee director non-qualified stock option agreement). Dr. Martin has been appointed as a member of the nominating and governance committee of the Board and the compliance committee of the Board (which is a newly formed committee of the Board comprised of independent directors Maria Sainz, Guy J. Jordan, PhD and Dr. Martin).
On December 3, 2013, the Company issued a press release regarding certain of the matters described in Item 5.02. That press release is furnished herewith as Exhibit 99.1.
The information included in this Current Report on Form 8-K under this Item 7.01
(including Exhibit 99.1) shall not be deemed "filed" for the purposes of
Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing made by the Company under the Exchange Act or Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing.
(d) Exhibits
99.1 Press Release, dated December 3, 2013.


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Allah in the Koran gives Palestine to the Jews,but it is Conditional
Example 1
Chapter 5:20-26
"And when Moses said to his people, "O my people, remember God's blessing upon you, when He appointed among you Prophets, and appointed you kings, and gave you such as He had not given to any being.
O my people, enter the Holy Land (Note:Palestine) which God has prescribed for you, and turn not back in your traces, to turn about losers."
The Jews don't want to enter the Land at all
"They said, "Moses, there are people in it very arrogant; we will not enter it until they depart from it; if they depart from it then we will enter."
Said two men of those that feared God whom God had blessed, "Enter against them the gate! When you enter it, you will be victors. Put you all your trust in God, if you are believers."They said, "Moses, we will never enter it so long as they are in it. Go forth, you and your Lord, and do battle; we will be sitting here.""
The Jews are punished by Allah for Forty Years
"He (Note:Moses) said, "O my Lord, I rule no one except myself and my brother. So divide between us and the people of the ungodly."
He (Note:Allah)said, "Then it will be forbidden them for forty years, while they are wandering in the earth; so grieve not for the people of the ungodly.""
Example 2
Chapter 17:101-104
"And We gave Moses nine signs, clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel when he came to them, and Pharaoh said to him, "Moses, I think you are bewitched.
He said, "Indeed you know that none sent these down, except the Lord of the heavens and earth, as clear proofs; and, Pharaoh, I think you are accursed."
He desired to startle them from the land; and We drowned him and those with him, all together.And We said to the Children of Israel after him, "Dwell in the land (Note:in Palestine) and when the promise of the world to come comes to pass, We will bring you a rabble.""
Example 3
Chapter 7:137
"And We bequeathed on the people that were abased all the east and the west of the land (Note:it seems to be a reference to the 2 banks/sides of the Jordan river) We had blessed.
And perfectly was fulfilled the most fair word of your Lord on the Children of Israel (Note:the promise of the land of Palestine), for that they endured patiently; and We destroyed utterly the works of Pharaoh and his people, and what they had been building."
Example 4
Chapter 28:3-6
"We will recite to you something of the tiding of Moses and Pharaoh truthfully, for a people who believe.Now Pharaoh had exalted himself in the land and had divided its inhabitants into sects, abasing one party of them, slaughtering their sons, and sparing their women; for he was of the workers of corruption.
Yet We desired to be gracious to those that were abased in the land:
1.And to make them leaders, and to make them the inheritors (Note: the inheritors of Palestine)
2.And to establish them in the land (Note:in Palestine), and to show Pharaoh and Haman, and their hosts, what they were dreading from them."
But in the Koran that Gift of the Land seems to be Conditional
That is to say the gift was not permanent but depended on their behaviour.
Example 1
Chapter 5:18
"Say the Jews and Christians, "We are the sons of God, and His beloved ones."Say: "Why then does He chastise you for your sins? No; you are mortals, of His creating; He forgives who He will, and He chastises whom He will." For to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, and all that is between them; to Him is the homecoming."
Example 2
Chapter 17:2-7
"And We gave Moses the Book, and made it a guidance to the Children of Israel: "Take not to yourselves any guardian apart from Me."
The seed of those We bore with Noah; he was a thankful servant."
A reference to the First Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 586 BC
The Koran says it is predicted in the Bible.The first temple was built by Solomon in 957 BC and destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.Nebuchadnezzar is famous for building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,30 stories tall,in honor of his wife.It was one of the 7 wonders of Antiquity.
"And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book(Note:the Bible): "You will do corruption in the earth twice, and you will ascend exceeding high."
So, when the promise of the first (Note:reference to the first prediction) of these came to pass, We sent against you servants of Ours, men of great might, and they went through the habitations, and it was a promise performed."
A reference to the Second Destruction of the Temple in 70 AD
It happened in 70 AD and was done by the Romans
"Then We gave back to you the turn to prevail over them, and We succoured you with wealth and children, and We made you a greater host."If you do good, it is your own souls you do good to, and if you do evil it is to them likewise."
Then, when the promise of the second (Note:reference to the second prediction) came to pass, We sent against you Our servants to discountenance you, and to enter the Temple (Note:the Temple of Jerusalem), as they entered it the first time, and to destroy utterly that which they ascended to."
To verify the Koranic citations go to quranbrowser.com, which has:
1.Six translations by Muslims.
2.Four translations by non-Muslims.
3.The text in Arabic,with Latin letters.
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Category: News


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My Comments
Whats good y'all?? Mine is.... www.twitter.com/IamMsKrystle
April 1st 1985 (April Fools!!!) 24
Well, I dont know Trey Songz personally, but I like that he is him. He seems very down to earth, silly, and he is him no matter what. He is very outspoken he is gonna give it to u like it is and either you hate it or love it. Then it goes into what all the rest of the women and girls like his about him his music, his voice, his smile etc. I can go on, but I am just gonna stop right here.
Dear Trey,
If ur reading and you got the chance follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/IamMsKrystle Thanks and much love MUAH!!
I dont know him Personally, but he seem so down to earth and cool. I dont have to try so hard, he is silly.. Just Trey. He aint cocky like most artists he seems very humble and he loves his fans and that goes along with him having a sexy devilish smile, His body, and that voice... man!!!


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The internal display measures 1.8 inches and supports 65,000 colors. Though it could be larger and the graphics could be sharper, it's perfectly suited for this caliber of phone. You can change the backlighting time only. The icon-based menu interface is straightforward and intuitive; we had no issues finding the features we needed.
The navigation array is quite spacious with a tactile four-way toggle and central OK button. The other controls--which consist of two soft keys, a clear control, and the Talk and End/power buttons--are flush but we didn't have any issues with misdials. We would prefer a dedicated speakerphone key, however.
The keypad buttons are a mixed bag. They're flush with the surface of the phone, and we couldn't help but notice they felt a tad flimsy. We could dial and text quickly, but we're concerned about their long-term durability. The central row of keys is recessed, but the backlighting is dim and the numbers are too faint.
The M328 has a 500-contact phone book with room in each entry for four phone numbers, an e-mail address, and notes. You can save callers to groups and pair them with one of 11 polyphonic ringtones. As mentioned previously, the phone does not support photo caller ID, but that's a minor point on a phone without a camera.
Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, Web-based e-mail, a voice recorder, an alarm clock, a scheduler, a calculator, and a stopwatch. The M328 offers a respectable 4.8MB of internal shared memory.
You can personalize the M328 with a variety of banners and wallpaper. More options, and additional ringtones, are available from MetroPCS via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. You also can record your own ringtones and save them to callers. The M328 doesn't offer any games, but MetroPCS offers an assortment of applications for download.
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; 1xRTT) Huawei M328 in San Francisco using MetroPCS service. Call quality was quite decent on the whole. We enjoyed a strong signal in urban areas with little static or interference. Voices sounded natural, though the volume was a tad low. We had to strain a bit to hear in noisy environments. On the other hand, while the speakerphone was quite loud, the audio was distorted at the highest levels. On their end, callers said we sounded fine. A few reported that the phone picks up background noise, but that was the extent of complaints.
The M328 has a rated battery life of 3.5 hours talk time and 8 days standby time. Our tests showed a longer talk time of 6 hours and 35 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the M328 has a digital SAR of 1.38 watts per kilogram.


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Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel, Tbilisi
Reviews - Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel
Read 31 additional reviews of Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel at TripAdvisor.
Want to see more hotels? View all hotels in Tbilisi
Top Local Tips for Tbilisi
The I am glad I saw Tbilisi and would recommend that anyone in that part of the world see it as well. But the guidebooks describe it as the prettiest capital city in the Caucasus. Same books also recommend the old city for its charm and speak of the friendliness of the people. OK, I happened to be there at the beginning of a war and the people may not have been at their best, but the city is a wreak! The old town looks like it is ready to fall down. It is not charming and there is little to do. Even the hotel concierge said to spend only two hours seeing it (I would recommend at least a day to a day and a half). I looked at pictures of old town on the web and they were either touched up or in remote corners of the city. What we saw (and we followed the recommended route in Lonely Planets guide) was a crumbling old city with lots of poverty. From a photographic standpoint, however, the crumbling nature of the place makes for some interesting shots.
Hangar Bar Head to the very friendly US ex-Pat Rebecca's Hangar Bar for a brilliant night. It's the only Irish bar in at least a 1000 mile radius! Its cosy, not daunting, and there's live music on occasion, and the lady herself may even belt out a tune. Rugby teams from accross the globe come here to drink when on tour - need I say more?!Also, make sure you sample the local delicasy - Catchipoury (not sure how its spelt, but that's it phonetically) warm bread with filling of choice - yum!
- (hotels)
Other names for Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel
- tbilisi sheraton
- sheraton tbilisi
- Address: 20 Telavi ulitsa - Tbilisi - 380019 - Georgia
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Oh, those Egyptians and ancient tribes of the Middle East – they truly did hold a secret to a beautiful skin. And with that, a way to feel and look younger.
One of the most renowned cosmetic and food ingredients – Argan Oil – comes to our technological world from Morocco. All Argan sold today is produced by Women's Cooperative of that country.
Why do you need Argan Oil in your life?
Check out these properties of Argan Oil
- Loaded with Vitamin E (tocopherol) – huge antioxidant that protects against oxidative activities by free radicals
- Rich in Unsaturated Fatty Acids (as much as 80% of oil) – heals many skin ailments
- Improves skin metabolism
- Reduces Inflammation
- Promotes excellent moisture retention shield
Men and women equally benefit from products with a high level of Argan Oil.
Today, we are excited to offer 2 of you a chance to win a package of ZINN organic, eco-friendly skincare products.
Why ZINN?
The entire ZINN skincare line is based on pure, organic Argan Oil. Additionally, they use shea butter and pure essential oils to add even more health benefits.
ZINN – Is What Argan Oil Sounds Like.
Each winner will receive this package is valued at $115:
- ZINN Moroccan Pure Argan Oil
- ZINN Velvet Facial Cleansing Milk
- ZINN Revitalizing Anti-Aging Cream
- ZINN Smooth Body Milk
This is a flash giveaway. This contest will only run through Sunday, June 17 at 11: 59 PM Eastern Time. US winners only. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: None of hosting bloggers received any compensation for hosting this giveaway. This giveaway is sponsored by ZINN company. The company is responsible for sending out all prizes to the winners. The winners will be selected by Random.org and notified by the email they left in Rafflecopter. Prizes must be claimed within 24 hours upon notification email. If not responded on time, another eligible winner will be chosen. This giveaway is not sponsored or associated with Facebook or Twitter, and this disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
About Chrystal Johnson
Chrystal, publisher of Happy Mothering, is a mother of two sweet girls who believes in living a simple, natural lifestyle. A former marketing manager, Chrystal spends her time researching green and eco-friendly alternatives to improve her family's life. She enjoys sharing those discoveries with anyone who's willing to listen.


text: POPSUGAR Celebrity Jennifer Lopez Photos of Jlo by Celebrity 1/20/10 0 Reactions 0 Shares Print 0 0 0 0 0 Previous Photo 1 of 11 View on One Page ADVERTISEMENT ( more slides) Next 1 Photos of Jlo Previous Photo 1 of 11 View on One Page ADVERTISEMENT ( more slides) Next 0 0 0 0 0 Read More Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lopez Photo Proof That Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez Never (Ever!) Age 9 hours ago Kate Upton's Outfit Proves She's People Magazine's Sexiest Woman of the Year 1 hour ago Celebrity Candids You Don't Want to Miss This Week 12 hours ago 20 Times the Back of the Star's Dress Was Better Than the Front 2 days ago Jennifer Lopez on Dating Younger Guys: "It's No Big Deal" 2 days ago The Very Best Celebrity Engagement Rings 4 days ago Get Ready For a New Star-Studded Event 2 weeks ago Get the scoop with our daily newsletter Enjoy the latest news on the celebs you love. Young Hollywood Movies A Listers TV Sign up with Link Love Taylor Swift talks Spotify drama — Us Weekly Madonna clears the air about her leaked album — The Huffington Post Find out who won Survivor: San Juan del Sur — ET Is Kendall Jenner dating Chris Brown? — OK! Lindsay Lohan narrowly avoids a nip slip — People Which foreign actor is your soul mate? — BuzzFeed How the Interview pull will affect the box office — Hollywood Reporter Christina Aguilera is still a Disney girl at heart — TooFab Is the final Hobbit film any good? — Rotten Tomatoes French Montana messes up — Wonderwall The best Colbert Report guests — HitFix Latest Celebrity & News