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Articles from RotoWire's fantasy archives that mention Alexei Ramirez's name.
January 15, 2015
Rounding Third: The RotoWire 200
Jeff Erickson's initial set of top 200 overall rankings for 2015 predictably has Mike Trout on top, but who follows after Trout?
September 20, 2014
Sunday Lineup Card: Beantown Building Blocks
The Red Sox starter has recaptured his 2013 form just in time for the season's close.
September 12, 2014
Saturday Lineup Card: Ramirez Ripe For The Picking
Chris Benzine discusses what value Jose Ramirez has now that he has moved to the second spot in the order.
September 5, 2014
The Daily Duel: Value Picks
RotoWire's Kevin Payne runs through his weekly value picks on FanDuel, including a pair of Baltimore Orioles - Nelson Cruz and Jonathan Schoop.
August 28, 2014
DraftKings MLB: Weekend Value Picks
RotoWire's Jerry Donabedian takes a look at the top hitter and pitcher value plays on DraftKings this weekend.
August 15, 2014
Saturday Lineup Card: The Roof is on Fier(s)
Mike Fiers may only have a temporary place in the Brewers' rotation, but he has short-term value.
August 10, 2014
Draftster MLB: Baez Mania and Weekly Picks
Javier Baez came up mashing, forcing his price in daily games to rise quickly, but his strikeout rate makes him a volatile play that might not be worth the risk.
August 4, 2014
Daily Baseball 101: The Art of Stacking
Stacking is a commonly-used strategy in daily MLB games, but some sites limit the opportunity, which has made mini-stacking popular.
July 21, 2014
DraftKings MLB: Value Plays for the Week
Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma and San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong highlight Jerry Donabedian's list of solid value plays this week.
July 18, 2014
The Daily Duel: Bringing Up Buster
Giants catcher Buster Posey scuffled in the final two weeks leading into the All-Star break, making him a nice value on FanDuel, as Kevin Payne writes.
July 12, 2014
Sunday Lineup Card: Cubs Utility Man Playing Like A Bear
June 30, 2014
In Some Depth: Likely Movers
In this week's edition of In Some Depth, Ryan Eisner looks at the players likely to be traded by the July 31 non-waiver deadline.
June 26, 2014
With Seattle on tap, Jerry Donabedian recommends users strongly consider Trevor Bauer in their DraftKings' lineups this weekend.
June 17, 2014
MLB Daily Games Strategy: How Much to Spend on Middle Infielders
It's easy to spend money on high-salaried middle infielders like Troy Tulowitzki, but savvy DFS players should look for cheaper options like Minnesota's Brian Dozier.
June 16, 2014
Daily Baseball 101: Breaking Down FanDuel Hitting 2.0
Michael Rathburn delves deeper into his research to discover the best hitters to target on FanDuel.
May 29, 2014
Bats and Balls: Revisiting Keeper Rankings
Where does Troy Tulowitzki rank now on a keeper list, and is his amazing start enough to look past his health issues?
May 26, 2014
Charging the Mound: Derek & Jeff Talk Baseball
Derek VanRiper thought that he was getting Fit Panda, but instead he's been a Sad Panda.
May 19, 2014
In Some Depth: Who's on First
Paul Goldschmidt leads a handful of first basemen who have played 100 percent of their teams' games at first base.
May 6, 2014
MLB Daily Games Strategy: Posey vs. Lefties and Other Lies in 2014 DFS
RotoWire's Renee Miller has written several NBA pieces on DFS strategy, and now she's bringing her unique statistical insight to our MLB coverage.
May 5, 2014
MLB Barometer: Rizzo de Mayo
Vlad Sedler celebrates the return of Jack Bauer and the emergence of Anthony Rizzo, and details his bidding on C.J. Cron.
April 23, 2014
Bats and Balls: Small Sample Size, Big Conclusions
As he slumps his way through April, is Chase Headley establishing a new baseline of performance?
March 28, 2014
RotoWire Roundtable: Late March Update
Aroldis Chapman has obviously fallen in our composite rankings. Who else saw major movement?
March 25, 2014
Collette Calls: AL Tout Review
Jason Collette reviews his AL Tout Wars club built around quality starting pitching including Yu Darvish ($31), James Shields ($20) and Masahiro Tanaka ($19).
March 5, 2014
RotoWire Roundtable: Early March Top 350
The RotoWire rankings crew takes their first crack at their Consolidated Top 350 MLB Rankings. Allen Craig is among those with the widest disparity in his ranking.
February 17, 2014
Collette Calls: LABR of Love
In this week's edition of Collette Calls, Jason looks at some of the surprises from the LABR mixed league draft, including the slide of Astros outfielder George Springer.
February 13, 2014
2014 White Sox Team Preview: Youth Movement
The White Sox had a dismal season all-around in 2013 to finish last in the AL Central. A series of moves and trades in the offseason made the team much younger, but likely well out of contention.
January 7, 2014
The RotoWire 200: Our First Bite of the Apple
According to our projections, Clayton Kershaw will be the third most valuable fantasy player in 2014. Are you willing to pull the trigger on him early on if you have that choice?
September 28, 2013
Sunday Lineup Card: Pick Jose On The Last Day
September 26, 2013
Friday Lineup Card: Medica Aid
September 25, 2013
Thursday Lineup Card: At a Bargain Basement Price Tag, Michael Saunders


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Hi All,
This is my first time to grow Begonias using HPS lights. I want them to begin flowering before using them outside. The package states the seeds will flower 22 weeks from sowing. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can anyone give me any advice? Thank you so much for your help! Take care,
Here is a link that might be useful: Begonia tuberhybrida Nonstop Fire
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by oilpainter 3 (My Page) on Fri, Jan 8, 10 at 20:21
I never started nonstop begonias from seed. It seems like a long drawn out process especially for one from your zone. I can see them taking that long to bloom, because they make tubers too. I do start them from saved tubers and they take long enough to bloom. You have to start them the first of February for them to bloom at planting time. |
I have 100 seeds each of nonstop appleblossom, bright rose, fire and rose petticoat and I'm fixin to start them this weekend. Some of them, anyway. Johnny's and HPS catalog both said to start them in December or January for May pack sales, so I think we're good to go on timeframe. Best of luck! Post some pics when yours germinate and I'll do the same. Where'd you get yours? |
- Posted by luv_2_gardn 5 (My Page) on Sat, Jan 9, 10 at 15:23
Hi Sleepy, I got my seeds from Parks -- or I should say I ordered them and now they are on back order... sigh. I have my growing room ready and I'm looking forward to starting something, anything :) Where did you get so many seeds? The packet I ordered only has 40 pelleted seeds in each package. Thanks for the info about Johnny's and HPS. I'll have to order their catalog. I would love to see some of your pictures, and if I ever get my seeds I will show you my pictures. Hi Oilpainter, Yes, it is long and drawn out, but so is winter :) I like starting seeds. If I like my Nonstop Fire maybe I'll try my hand at tubers next year, but I'll have to come back and get more info from you folks :) Take care, |
Well, if you have success with your seeds this year, you should be able to save the tubers they produce for next year, right? And seeds are so much cheaper than tubers, at least from what I've seen. I ordered my seed from Geo Seed; they have really great prices. $3.30 for 100 seeds of all the Nonstop colors. We'll see if they germinate well or not. So far, Geo Seeds has had better prices and higher quantity of seed than the competition on every variety I've checked. Hopefully your seeds arrive soon! |
Here is much more complete cultural info from the actual breeder of the Non-Stop Series. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Ernst Benary
- Posted by luv_2_gardn 5 (My Page) on Thu, Jan 14, 10 at 16:53
Hi Sleepy, Yes, I'm hoping I will be able to start from tubers next year, assuming I have success. I tried to find the Geo website but I couldn't. Can you post the link? Thanks for all of you help. Hi Goblugal, thanks so much forthe web site! It was extremely interesting and very informative. Take care, Luv_2_gardn |
Their site is www.geoseed.com . They don't have an online catalog or online ordering, but they will mail you a catalog pretty quickly. The only slight drawback to them is that their catalog doesn't have pictures, but it's pretty easy to look up pictures online if you need to. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Geo Seed
Oh, and I forgot, this morning I've got some teeeeeny tiny little begonia seedlings! You practically need a magnifying glass to see them. There looks to be a fair number of them too. Primarily the Fire color have sprouted first; there's a few in the Rose Petticoat container, too. Isn't it interesting what sprouts first; must have to do with slight variations in temp, moisture, etc. Or variability in the seed I guess. |
- Posted by luv_2_gardn 5 (My Page) on Wed, Jan 20, 10 at 21:03
Hi Sleepy, I'm jealous, I want to plant my seeds :) Thanks for the web site! Take care, Luv_2_gardn |
I would be a little leary of GEOseed. I placed an order that totaled $63.00, last Friday they charged my Visa Card $570.15, I still haven't gotten my order or my money back. Right now I think a catalogue without pictures would be the least of your worries. Better grab what you can on the Non Stop Begonia's most of them are out of stock from distributors and on long back order. In one particular case it is on back order until December 2012. I grow hundreds of these every year from seed in order to develop the tubers. Last year the tubers really did well, about 3 - 4 inches when I harvested them. The tubers will come true but the seed will not. Unfortunately, So Far I haven't been able to find any suppliers or distributors that have the Begonia Non Stopďż˝ Fire available. I was able to find some retail seed at Thompson Morgan. Here is a website that you can get quality Begonia seeds at reasonable prices with super fast shipping. http://cripplecreekcreations.weebly.com/ |
Have to disagree on being leery with GEO seed - have been using them for years, know the owners VERY well. They obviously made a mistake on your billing - I would have NO DOUBT it will be corrected. They are an extremely reliable company. You will NOT find any Non Stop Fire because it has been discontinued by Benary. They are no longer producing it. My company used about 5.1 million tuberous begonia seeds last year, so I kinda know what I'm talking about |
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subset: commoncrawl


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Capacity: 100 Banquet, 150 Reception
Indoor Venue for Morning or Evening Events
Venture into our Amazonia exhibit and discover the mysteries of the planet's most diverse ecosystem; the Amazon rainforest. Step into the flooded forest and spot a freshwater stingray whirl throughout the underwater tree trunks, and travel a little further to an enormous floor-to-ceiling fish tank and look into the eyes of a 300 pound Arapaima fish. Continue on to discover the field station of Dr. Brazil, where one can learn about the smaller critters that live in the Amazon. Then, prepare for a stroll through the beautiful open-air tropical rain forest located within Amazonia's dome—a place where Titi monkeys jump from branch to branch, a two-toed sloth hides behind large leaves, and white-bellied hummingbirds zip about. It is truly an astounding experience.


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The Most Gorgeous, Glamorous Makeup Looks For Party Season
To get Ashley Greene's look, swipe a navy shadow over the entire lid, smudging what's left on the brush along the lower lash line. Layer a shimmery blue on the center of the eye, and add a pearly white highlight at the inner corners. How To Pull Off Intense Eye MakeupPhoto: © Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
Kristen Stewart's version features a shimmering burgundy shadow paired with a ruby lip. Use a rose gold pencil liner along the lower lashes to add light to this look. Get The Look: Kristen Stewart's Party-Perfect Hair and MakeupPhoto: © Getty Images
L'Oréal Infallible Eyeshadow in Midnight Blue ($7.95, lorealparisusa.com); MAC Glamour Daze Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Round Midnight ($19.50, maccosmetics.com). 20 Amazing Holiday Makeup Palettes
To get Emily Blunt's sparkling yet subtle makeup, wash a shimmery, neutral gold shadow over the entire eye, blending into the inner corners. Sweep a darker bronze shadow underneath the eye and into the crease, and use a golden peachy bronzer to contour the cheeks. Get Emily Blunt's Adorable Updo In Three Simple StepsPhoto: © Getty Images
Want more definition on the eyes? Add black liquid liner and soft false lashes à la Rihanna's. A slightly darker brown above the crease gives the eye a sexy shape. The Best Mascaras For Lush LashesPhoto: © Getty Images
Lorac Starry-Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Superstar ($26, sephora.com); Lancôme Les Paillettes Aux Yeux in Putting On The Ritz ($20, lancome-usa.com); ck One Color Cream + Powder Bronzer Duo in Lightly Golden ($25, ulta.com). 20 Gifts Under $20 For Every Beauty On Your List
This season's red has a candy apple texture that make lips look luscious. To get a clean outline like Leighton Meester's, fill in lips with red pencil, apply gloss using a lip brush, and use the same pencil touch up the edges. Top 10 Bold Lip LooksPhoto: © Getty Images
Soft edges can make a red lip look romantic, like Zoe Saldana's version. Skip the pencil and apply long-wearing colored gloss directly to the lips. 10 Makeup Tricks Every Girl Should KnowPhoto: © Getty Images
Laura Mercier Lip Lacquer in Lacque Rouge ($22, bloomingdales.com); Hourglass Panoramic Long War Lip Liner in Icon ($28, sephora.com). Two Red Lips, Two Different Hair Colors
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Villa Suksan
Categories: Houses > Provinces
Address: 19/46, Jao Fah Rd., Choeng Thale, Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand See map
0 reply, 8,381 viewed
Villa Suksan is a quiet secluded development of Boutique Villas combining luxury and affordability.Each villa features a private infinity edge swimming pool. The villas are built in an elegant L-shaped or U-shaped form around the infinity pool, with earth tone exterior walls. This natural color scheme is reflected inside with natural, hard-wearing maka-wood in the bedrooms and polished cement floors.
- Open days
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Service hours
08:30 to 17:30
- Address
19/46, Jao Fah Rd., Choeng Thale, Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand
- Phone number
+66 (0) 7628 2394
- Fax number
+66 (0) 7628 2395
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BEST INDOOR SOCCER Denver 2006 - Golden Goal
Golden Goal works as an indoor soccer facility for the simple reason that it lets you play. While some indoor joints assault you with snack bars and gear shops, promotions and spam e-mails, Golden Goal merely ushers you past walls lined with outdated soccer posters, leads you onto one of the facility's two playing fields and lets the games begin. The turf is the state-of-the-art stuff you can wear cleats on, not the flesh-hungry carpet that ripped your childish skin. The referees are typically players, or ex-players, who call the bad fouls, but they generally let the game go on. And if someone's friend who wasn't on the team the week before shows up for a coed-league game, nobody says a thing. In operation for a little over a year, the facility is open to everyone from four-year-olds to forty-year-olds, seven days a week, from eight in the morning to around midnight. With plans to add basketball and volleyball leagues in the near future, Golden Goal is sure to get busier. But for now it remains a place where future Ronaldinhos and washed-up Tony Meolas alike can leave it all out on the field.


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ABIT Coverage
Our friends from ABIT have quite a big presence in the vendor area. There ABIT were showing off some of their new motherboards along with the prototype ABIT Fatality motherboard which is designed for gamers by one gamer in particular - Jonathan Fatality himself. The motherboard is missing two dual OTES coolers and is not quite finished yet so the final product might look a little different.
Like with previous events, if you can beat Fatality at Doom 3, ABIT will give you some cash. I decided against getting owned by Jonathan again after his thrashing against me at Computex back in June. It looks like it didn't take him long to master Doom 3.


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What attracted me to granite was the fact that it can be butt-jointed. All the porcelain I've seen has visible grout, something I want to avoid.
Also, I'm looking for the least maintenance. There will be sand in the home (on the beach) so marble is out. Any tips on what to choose? I'm leaning towards granite but don't want that 'commercial' look. Where can I find interesting patterns? Thanks for any info. |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by live_wire_oak (My Page) on Fri, Feb 20, 09 at 9:49
Unless you get honed granite, it will be very slippery when wet, which if you are near a beach, would be an accident waiting to happen. NO tile, granite or otherwise, can be "butt jointed". You ALWAYS MUST have space for some form of grout. It's the grout that hold the floor together in a cohesive fashion and keeps it strong. You can have a minimal grout line, yes, but it must be there. Many granites are also porous and need to be kept sealed. There are many many beautiful granites out there, but very few of them are offered in a honed tile version. You will have more options with the porcelain that are non slip and porcelain will never need sealing. I'd save the granite for the countertops and choose porcelain tile with an epoxy grout if you are really concerned about maintainence issues. That's about as zero maintainence as you can get. |
Thanks for that info live wire. What makes epoxy grout low maintenance? My concern with a grout line is that it will turn from white to black (dirty) over time. You really have me thinking against granite now because of what you said being slippery when wet. Can porcelain have minimal grout as well, giving the appearance of being butt-jointed? Also, where is that term "butt jointed" from if this cannot be done with tile? |
- Posted by bill_vincent (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Fri, Feb 20, 09 at 23:28
If you use a rectified porcelain, you can use the same kind of thin joint as with natural stone. Additionally (I just learned this, this morning at a jobsite I was called to to take a look at for other reasons), polished rectified porcelain will also be much more slip resistant than natural stone. (I found out because I was called to look into other problems at a school theater lobby that was just built this past summer, and tiled with a high polished rectified porcelain which, according to the architect's information, met the ADA code for coefficient of friction (slip resistance). Also, where is that term "butt jointed" from if this cannot be done with tile? There are certain wall tiles that are made with lugs on their sides that when butted together, will give a uniform joint throughout the wall. (Coincidentally, the same size joint-- 1/16") One other thing to say about granite. I've both had a granite front entry myself, as well as installing the one in the pic below in the home of a showroom owner I used to do alot of work for, and neither of us ever had problems with people slipping on them: Also, if you're really worried about the slippage factor and still want granite, check into flame honed. It's more of a rustic finish, but still a beautiful floor. |
After asking some homeowners, it doesn't look like slippage will be an issue with the granite. There will be plenty of opportunity to dry the shoes before walking on it. In that picture, Bill, the grout line is pretty thin. What size is it? How narrow can you go with granite, and is this different than porcelain? I'm leaning towards a predominantly white granite. Would I have to use white grout and hope it stays clean or go with a grey from the beginning? |
- Posted by bill_vincent (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Sat, Feb 21, 09 at 20:51
In that picture, Bill, the grout line is pretty thin. What size is it? The joints are 1/16". How narrow can you go with granite, and is this different than porcelain? That's about as thin as I'd go with either natural stone OR rectified porcelain. For conventional porcelain, I'd go no less than 3/16" joints. I'm leaning towards a predominantly white granite. Would I have to use white grout and hope it stays clean or go with a grey from the beginning? I'm assuming you're talking about a granite that's white with grey and black specs? (For the life of me, I can't remember the name!) If that's the case, yes. I'd use a grey grout, and maybe even not a light grey, especially being this will be a front entry. Maybe go with a medium grey grout, like a silver grey. |
These are the joints I'm looking for. Isn't this butt-jointed granite? It's the entry-way to the elevator of an apartment building - a high traffic area. |
My sister and brother-in-law did their entire house in granite tile a year ago, and it looks like the above pictures, no readily visible grout with the tiles practically butted right up against each-other. They used a neutral grout color that matched the median tone of the tiles, so no dark line or light line, just a line you really have to look for to see. The tough part (they did it themselves) was putting the reinforcement under the floor (steel I-beams under the floor and steel posts set in concrete footings in the basement to support the weight), and then putting all the concrete tile backers in evenly. They have a polished tile (very shiny, actually makes the rooms seem larger, but it might be a honed finish) and have had absolutely no issues with people slipping, and it is very striking. |
- Posted by bill_vincent (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Mon, Feb 23, 09 at 10:57
These are the joints I'm looking for. Isn't this butt-jointed granite? Those joints are pretty much the same as in my pic, but in yours they usd square edged graite, while in mine, it was chamfered. |
- Posted by Dan(email@example.com) onSun, May 22, 11 at 21:54
I am going to remodel my house but I can't choose between granite, porcelain and wood. please help me |
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The Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) provides an effective voice for a diverse, innovation-driven economy to ensure business success.
As a member-based organization, the mission of MCCC is to create opportunities for business success. Membership is an investment for your company, the organization and the business community and gives you the competitive advantage of access, information and connections. Commerce happens here.
A non-partisan independent 501(c)(6), the Chamber is separate from any national, state, local chamber or other organization. [Read MCCC and Chambers of Commerce Myth Busting ]
Guided by its Board of Directors, MCCC empowers its members to succeed by offering a broad array of business development opportunities. The MCCC GovConNet program offers government contractors a full spectrum of education, training, and networking forums to connect them to procurement & teaming opportunities and to Federal agencies.
MCCC is an effective advocate to Federal, state and local officials for a prosperous business environment and expands member knowledge of the government contracting market. Our popular Member Meetings offer members insight, input and engagement in key areas that shape businesses and the economy, notably Economic Development, GovConNet, Infrastructure & Land Use, Legislative Affairs and Small Business. Each monthly meeting provides members with access to expert guest speakers on a range of topics.
Our popular annual signature Chamber events - Public Safety Awards Luncheon, Annual Dinner, Business Awards Dinner and the GovConNet Procurement Conference - consistently attract over 800 business leaders and elected officials, providing tremendous networking and sponsorship opportunities.
Together with our partners, the Chamber hosts 3 forums four times each year to provide business with access to experts and information on topics related to Health IT, Global Trade and Green Business.
Monthly MCCC Orientations take place in the MCCC Boardroom and are designed for members and prospects to learn the benefits of membership, meet our staff and learn about Chamber advocacy, Member Meetings, programs and events.
Together, these initiatives have one thing in common: to facilitate MCCC member success.
We are proud to be a Montgomery County Green Certified Business.
As a 501(c)6 organization, donations to MCCC are not tax deductible.


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Hey all. After searching around on the internet for a bit, and realizing I really want a N. Spectabilis, I finally settled upon one on sale from "Black Jungle." It just came in today. Oh boy. There is no description for how the quality of Sarracenia Northwest dwarfs Black Jungle. Granted, Sarracenia Northwest doesn't even offer a N. Spectabilis. Anyways, the plant came merely wrapped in newspaper. The leaves were pretty dirty, and there were even spider webs between some of them. About an inch of paper easter grass was around the base of the plant, most likely to simulate some sort of long fiber moss, and it was planted in mulch/bark of some sort. One the easter grass was removed, the roots were pretty much bare.
There was one very smashed pitcher on it, which I promptly removed. I guess only time can tell now. Maybe once something exciting starts to develop I will post some pictures, but until then, save yourself the stress and don't buy from Black Jungle, or Equilibrio Carnivorous Plants for that matter. Hopefully the little guy will make a great bounce back with some light and water. |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by hunterkiller03 9 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 3, 07 at 1:18
Well, I couldn't let this one go without defending Black Jungle. I considered Black Jungle a respectable seller of carnivorous plants. Although I haven't bought any more from them for over a year now, but I plan to do so next year. The plants that I have purchased from them are vft, N. truncata (which was a victim of vandals), N. ampullaria, N. rafflesiana, N. alata, and several Sarracenia hybrid pitchers. When I first bought neps from them, usually they have all the pitchers cut already and they sell them with its roots in a ball of soil composed of coconut fibers, bark, and perlite, the reason you thought the soil looked like mulch. There are growers that use coconut fibers to grwo their neps in and Black Jungle is one of them. They use paper easter grass wrapped around the ball to keep it from crumbling and to protect the roots for shipping, to me that seems a pretty good idea. They do recover faster when they have their roots undisturbed and they don't use paper easter grass to simulate sphagnum moss. They do wrap the plant with newspaper for protection. I never expect the leaves to be clean due to that soil does get tossed around inside wrapped plant. About smashed pitchers, well… that always happens during shipment and I have bought from Cook's Flytraps, California Carnivorous, and Lee's Botanical Gardens. I always expect to receive a plant with its leaves damaged to some degree. Rarely is it that I get a plant with its leaves intact, then they go into shock and the leaves still die later. So in my opinion. Black Jungle is a decent seller of carnivorous plants and I do advice people to try them. Now for Equilibrio Carnivorous Plants, I only purchased from them 3 vft and haven't bought anymore form them. But the vft I got came in pretty good shape with all their traps undamaged and open, which is rare like I said. But I have heard some complaints that they are slow to deliver and that's it from them. Cheers |
I think it's just the luck of the draw. That's the bad thing about ordering online, you never see the plant before you buy it. I haven't heard of any specifically BAD sources out there. But there are some sites like Sarracenia NW which are very highly regarded almost always. |
- Posted by daveyjones (My Page) on Sat, Nov 3, 07 at 19:54
I wasn't really saying the Black Jungle was the worst ever. I think its just that Sarracenia NW does such an AMAZING job compared to the other people I've purchased from. My plants from equilibrio were in decent shape, it just took them over a month to ship some VFTs. |
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Director Walt Becker (Van Wilder, Wild Hogs) comes to BOOM! in a big way with his sci-fi/fantasy tale of knights in a post-apocalyptic future! Darius and the descendants of the Eight go head-to-head with the Duke's forces and the Sinclarian priests! Scripted by Michael Alan Nelson, the fan-favorite writer of Fall of Cthulhu and Second Wave. Cover by top Warhammer talent Karl Richardson!
Preview: Last Reign: Kings of War #3
Tue, February 10th, 2009 at 9:25am PST
- Story by
- Walt Becker, Michael Alan Nelson
- Art by
- Ed Estevez
- Cover by
- Karl Richardson
- Publisher
- Boom! Studios
- Cover Price:
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- Wed, February 11th, 2009
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Whitehouse Near The Ocean Vacation Rentals(9)
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Recent Whitehouse Reviews
Awesome stay at Point-of-View Villa!!!!
What an awesome week we had in sunny, wonderful Jamaica, and Point-of-View Villa did not disappoint!! It is truly a 'point-of-breath-taking-views'. My husband and a group of his closest friends celebrated his milestone birthday and staying at the villa made our total experience a fantastic one. Thank you Tom (owner) for all your great suggestions regarding staying at the villa and for being so available, patient and highly responsive to our many emails before arriving in JA. Your staff is incredible...friendly, gracious, trustworthy, and so caring. We hit it off with them all: Omar - a highly skilled, safe, dependable, knowledgeable and in every way professional driver, who patiently drove us to all places we visited, and took the time to wait; Roll - your house-manager and chef: what a wonderful cook - we enjoyed ALL his various dishes and his friendly personality; and Chuka who kept our rooms and the villa very clean. We cannot express all our "thank you's" enough. The gated community of private villas was a fantastic find off the beaten path. Some of our surprises were walking daily in the hills and finding Elaine's Mountainview Chatteau at the top of the hill for additional breathtaking views and great food and drinks. Sandals Whitehouse, just a few minutes away was also a good birthday dinner celebration venue...it made our evening unique and even more special. Thanks to Omar for driving us to do grocery shopping, the banks, Reggae SumFest, Bluefields beach, Negril, MOBAY, Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios, and Whitehouse village. Thanks to Roll also for the additional (daily) grocery shopping he did for us. We wish you all the very best and plan on visiting again soon.
Paradise Vacation
La Vista was the perfect getaway for me and my family. I visited there with my husband, my two teenage kids and two of their friends. Everyone of us had a fabulous time and had a Spring Break unlike any other! The house included staff that cooked great local cuisine. One night we purchased fresh seafood from the local fisherman and it was prepared for us to perfection! The house is located on a very quiet, gated community. There is also a small beach within walking distance. The sunsets, which you can enjoy from the dining area and patio, are simply breathtaking! YS Falls is about a 30 minute drive and Negril is about an hour drive. I highly recommend this very clean, neat vacation house to anyone who wishes to experience Jamaica from a local point of view!!
Fabulous Vacation - Exactly As Advertised - Better than Expected
This was our first time vacationing in a rental home with staff and we wouldn't hesitate to do it again.We were 4 families totalling 8 adults and 6 children and the villa was large enough for each family to have their own private bedroom and ensuite.It was so lovely to be able to put the younger children to bed and then enjoy relaxing by the pool and have some adult time knowing they were only down the hall, a luxury we would not have had at an all inclusive.The staff pulled 2 long tables out on the deck so that we could all sit together for our meals and even managed to come up with a high chair for the baby.The villa was beautiful and relaxing with breathtaking views and sunsets.There was more than 1 disagreement over who got to lay in the hammock! Jenny, Carl & Peter were fantastic.Carl was always there to help with anything we needed and Peter's cooking was second to none-he's missed his calling with landscaping.We asked him to cook local cuisine and we thoroughly enjoyed brown stew chicken and pork, shrimp, spiny lobster, beans & peas and a personal favourite calaloo.He also has a real talent for decadent blender drinks.We had expressed a desire to see the country and get to know the people so Jenny took us to the fish market and Peter took us up into the hills to the local open air market when residence do their weekly shopping.Jenny arranged for her daughter to come braid our girls hair so we got to know her a bit.Marcia arranged a car & driver for the week that would transport all 14 of us. This was wonderful as we would have needed 3 taxi's to go anywhere.Mikey (our driver) was waiting when we arrived and made us feel safe and helped us to navigate the tourist traps.He also waited at the airport on our departure day until we were all checked in and safely on our way.He was literally at our beck and call all week-even when we just needed a red stripe run to town. As other guests have noted, it is quite a ways up on a hill (hence the spectacular view) and just not worth the walk for us.We spent a day at 7 mile beach in Negril and another in Montego bay and called that our beach days.The Olympics were on that week so we will likely be known as the Canadians who came with laptop and projector and watched the hockey games on the wall of the villa while sitting in the pool.I think we may have converted Carl to a hockey fan.Thank you to our hosts for being so welcoming and accommodating and allowing us to be a part of their family for the week!


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3810 Richfield RdMinneapolis, MN 55410 Phone: 612 230-6400Fax: 612 230-6500Hours
William Berry Park is located between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun in the Linden Hills neighborhood. Known for its wooded, hilly landscape, the parks natural beauty has been preserved since it was acquired in 1889. Originally named Interlachen Park meaning between the lakes the park was renamed in honor of the park systems first Superintendent, William Morse Berry in 1916.
Recreational amenities at William Berry Park include an archery range, walking and cycling paths, and picnic amenities. The custom playground features nature-themed equipment, designed for children ages 25, and school-aged kids, ages 512. Equipment includes slides, climbers and swings, and a water play feature.
The William Berry Parkway, which passes through the park, is part of the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, connecting Lake Harriet Parkway to Lake Calhoun Parkway. Nearby recreation destinations include the tennis courts and picnic grounds of Beard's Plaisance, and Linden Hills Park, which features sports courts and fields, and a Recreation Center offering youth programs and other activities.
Historical Profile: More information about this and other parks is included in Parks, Lakes, Trails and So Much More, a richly detailed account of the histories of Minneapolis renowned recreational system.
Parks & Lakes
Recreation Centers
Park Trails
Grand Rounds
Golf Courses
Park Permits
Adult Sports
Youth Sports
Youth Programs
Activity Search
About MPRB
Park Projects
Site Map
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55411 612-230-6400 (Mon-Fri 8:00-4:30) | Contact Us


text: Latest Post: Started By: Rank: Category Patriot Coal filing for bankruptcyPatriot has 10 mining complexes in West Virginia, according to a recent filing with financial regulators. Nine are in southern West Virginia, namely Boone, Clay, Lincoln, Logan and Kanawha counties. The other is in Monongalia County in the northern part of the state. Member CommentsNo comments posted for this topic. Post a Comment |


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Skip the cost of delivery of your Mercedes 220D Thermostat parts order when you spend in excess of fifty dollars. We can ship your Mercedes 220D Thermostat parts order out as soon as possible via UPS. Even the biggest car buffs love our Mercedes 220D Thermostat parts selection. AutohausAZ is dedicated to helping the do-it-yourselfer. Our Mercedes 220D Thermostat parts experience is what sets us apart from the rest of the Mercedes 220D Thermostat parts sites on the net. Feel secure knowing our website uses up to 256 bit encryption. General questions? Email us at email@example.com
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Upcoming Events
Santa Fe Artists Market
Sat, Apr 4, 2015 thru Sat, Dec 26, 2015
weekly 8 AM - 1 PM
Location: Santa Fe Railyard
WHEN: April through December 2015
Saturdays, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at the RAILYARD next to the Farmer's Market. Enjoy fine art and crafts from local, juried artists. Find pottery, jewelry, paintings, photography, sculpture, furniture, textiles and moreǃ $1.00 underground parking next to REI. 505-310-1555 visit our website
Sat, Apr 4, 2015 thru Sat, Dec 26, 2015
weekly 8 AM - 1 PM
Location: Santa Fe Railyard
WHEN: April through December 2015
Saturdays, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at the RAILYARD next to the Farmer's Market. Enjoy fine art and crafts from local, juried artists. Find pottery, jewelry, paintings, photography, sculpture, furniture, textiles and moreǃ $1.00 underground parking next to REI. 505-310-1555 visit our website
Santa Fe Railyard
Guadalupe between Montezuma and Cerrillos Rd.
The Railyard is Santa Fe's new place to meet -to see friends and neighbors, shop for unique products, have a great meal, view thought-provoking art, experience live performances, or just relax and play. From the nationally renowned Farmers Market and contemporary art galleries, local Arts & Crafts Fairs, music and movies in the award-winning 10 acre Park, walkathons and community celebrations to excursion train rides and commuter rail service, there's something for everyone at The Railyard!
Nearby Businesses, Attractions, Events and Services
345 W. Manhattan, Santa Fe, NM 87501
KOWBOYZ is Santa Fe's beloved GO TO western wear store downtown in the Railyard for tourists and locals alike. 5,000 pair of new and vintage cowboy boots to choose from for men, women and children, as well as hats, shirts ($15), belts, buckles, skirts and western curios.
530 S. Guadalupe Street
, Santa Fe, NM 87501
All roads lead to JUNCTION, the perfect place to meet friends for good food and a great time–day or night! Great food, awesome cocktails and all your favorite sports come together at JUNCTION, your local favorite sports bar and restaurant!
JUNCTION's family friendly atmosphere and classic –yet creative– American Cuisine is sure to please. Our bold cocktails, local brews, eclectic wine list, and friendly staff await your visit.
Sporting events look great on our eleven HD flat screen TV's including an 83? screen in the center of the bar. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA, World Cup, NCAA and more -- we carry all the professional and college sports packages so you can catch your team in action. JUNCTION has two pool tables, Buzztime Trivia, free wi-fi and daily food and beverage specials.
Stop by JUNCTION, your local favorite!
Amenities: Cocktail Lounge, Entertainment, Outdoor Dining, Pets, Pool, Restaurant.
Amenities: Cocktail Lounge, Entertainment, Outdoor Dining, Pets, Pool, Restaurant.
Casa Nova Gallery
530 S. Guadalupe, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Traditional tribal and contemporary art from around the world.
William Siegal Gallery
540 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
The William Siegal Gallery offers museum quality antiquities and contemporary art.
For over thirty years owner Bill Siegal has been assembling the world's largest collection of fine ancient and antique Andean textiles dating from 750 BC up to the 19th Century.
Additionally, the gallery exhibits ceremonial objects and artifacts from Meso and South American Cultures, as well as objects from China's Han and Tang Dynasties and Southeast Asia. Distinguished African and Indonesian textiles are also prominently featured.
In May of 2007, William Siegal Gallery opened its new 5,000 square foot exhibition space, in which antiquities are now hung side by side with the works of outstanding contemporary artists. This proximity between the "old" and the "new" conveys a sublime and timeless trans-cultural aesthetic of modernism.
William Siegal Gallery is located in Santa Fe's newly revitalized Railyard District, which is rapidly becoming the central locus of Santa Fe's contemporary art scene.
photo by Robert Reck c2007
Tomasita's Restaurant
500 South Guadalupe, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Tomasita's has been a Santa Fe favorite since 1974, serving traditional Northern New Mexican cuisine. Tomasita's features red and green chile grown in the hatch valley, traditional recipes, and a full bar. The key to our success is simple recipes, quality ingredients, and fast and friendly service. Tomasita's has been featured in numerous articles and television shows. Everybody from movie stars to construction workers feel welcome in this red brick building that once served as the station for the "Chile Line," which ran from Antonito, Colorado to Santa Fe.
Zane Bennett Contemporary Art
435 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Located on Guadalupe Street in the Historic Railyard District of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art resides in one of the most unique architectural spaces in the City Different. The exterior preserves the historic flavor of the neighborhood while the cutting edge interior rivals the traditions of the best contemporary galleries in the country. The sky lighted two-story central atrium, glass staircase and catwalk, along with numerous gallery spaces provide the experience of viewing contemporary art at its best.
Here you will find unexpected art programs and exhibitions which are engaging and visually stimulating. The nearly 10,000 square foot space allows for ongoing offerings of important and well-established contemporary artists, internationally-known mid-career, emerging and regional artists as well as blue chip artists. You will find accessible exhibits of paintings, prints, drawings, substantial sculpture and photography. The gallery is in close proximity to SITE Santa Fe and near other Railyard galleries and restaurants. Zane Bennett Contemporary Art offers gallery clients the convenience of a climate-controlled interior as well as a dedicated twenty-space parking lot.
AVA / A Virtual Artspace
316 Read St., Santa Fe, NM 87501
The studio/gallery of collaborating artists, Buchen/Goodwin, presents the virtual object as photography, video, and sculpture. The work represents a new approach to both sculpture and photography. Instruction is available in developing a virtual model for producing physical objects or graphics.
Wordharvest Writers Workshops
Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Wordharvest Writers workshops offers intensive one-day writing workshops with faculty who are published authors. The programs, held at La Tienda (Eldorado) focus on all aspects of writing. The summer 2012 series includes writing and publishing fiction, non-fiction, memoir and travel writing. The workshops include hands-on writing, and welcome beginners as well as seasoned writers. Most faculty come from the Santa Fe area. We offer a summer series and usually a spring series. In addition, Wordharvest presents the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference, scheduled Nov. 8-10, 2012 at the Hotel Santa Fe. The event includes two writing contests. The Hillerman Prize, originated in 2006, honors a first mystery set in the Southwest, and is co-sponsored by St. Martin's Press. The Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Contest is co-sponsored by New Mexico Magazine.
WORDHARVEST was established in 2001 by two energetic Santa Fe women, Anne Hillerman and Jean Schaumberg. A native Santa Fean, Jean Schaumberg has a life- long interest in books. Her career includes work as an acquisition and reference librarian, a bookstore owner and manager, and a writers' conference coordinator, and work in development for a Santa Fe nonprofit. WORDHARVEST springs from her continued interest in the written word and the desire to promote it by assisting budding authors.
Anne Hillerman is a journalist, author, writing coach, freelance writer and avid reader. After a 25-year career in newspapers, including work as an editorial page editor, Anne and Jean launched WORDHARVEST in 2001. Anne is the author of several published books including Gardens of Santa Fe, Tony Hillerman's Landscape, Santa Fe Flavors, The Insiders' Guide to Santa Fe and Children's Guide to Santa Fe.
Flying Star Cafe
500 Market Street Ste 110, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Fine cuisine in a friendly scene. Locally-owned neighborhood cafe featuring made-from-scratch food. Open early and stay open late for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. Free Wi-Fi, diverse magazines, locally-roasted coffee, beer and wine, bakery on-site.
Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
As Santa Fe's only Native American owned hotel we take pride in maintaining the traditions of the past while providing the modern comforts of the present. Located in historic downtown Santa Fe and in the heart of the new Guadalupe Railyard District we offer museums, galleries, shops, and restaurants just outside our doors. Amenities: Cocktail Lounge, Entertainment, Fitness, Hot Tub or Sauna, Meeting Facilities, Outdoor Dining, Pets, Pool, Restaurant, Spa.
Amaya at Hotel Santa Fe, The Hacienda & Spa
Half Pound All Natural Ground Bison, Topped with Fire Roasted NM Green Chile and Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Served w/ Tempura Fried Onions
Amaya at Hotel Santa Fe
Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Enjoy the Picuris Pueblo Dancers every Friday evening at 5:30 pm. Amaya, at
Hotel Santa Fe The Hacienda and Spa, mixes classic technique, contemporary
flair, and fresh seasonal ingredients from the cold rivers of Alaska to the
Great Plains. Chef Walter Dominguez selects superb ingredients and weaves
them together in a style that is both ancient and contemporary. Amaya
highlights local pueblo and Northern New Mexican influences, as well as
regional foods from around the U.S. The casual, inviting atmosphere keeps
the focus on fine food and conversation. In winter, relax by our roaring
fire, or in the summer, dine surrounded by our beautiful outdoor gardens
with a water fountain, traditional teepee, hummingbird feeders, birdhouse,
and amazing mountain views.
The Hacienda and Spa at Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Experience the ultimate in luxury accommodations and personalized service. While an integral part of Hotel Santa Fe, and designed in the same Pueblo-style architecture, The Hacienda nevertheless retains its own identity. Secluded within our four acres The Hacienda at Hotel Santa Fe is an exclusive retreat with 35 special rooms and suites filled with Native American Art and warm gem-like tones that reflect the southwest. While staying at The Hacienda you will experience the personal service of our professionally trained butlers. He or she will fulfill even your most exacting needs or request. From the mundane to the seemingly impossible no task is too difficult.
Amenities: Cocktail Lounge, Entertainment, Fireplaces, Fitness, Hot Tub or Sauna, Meeting Facilities, Outdoor Dining, Pets, Pool, Restaurant, Spa.
Amenities: Cocktail Lounge, Entertainment, Fireplaces, Fitness, Hot Tub or Sauna, Meeting Facilities, Outdoor Dining, Pets, Pool, Restaurant, Spa.
daniella clothing.jewelry.accessories
500 Market Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Contemporary clothing designers that can't be found elsewhere in Santa Fe including James Perse, JBrand and Alice + Olivia along with jewelry from Me&Ro and bags from Rebecca Minkoff, daniella is the destination for the fashionista in you!
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
554 South Guadalupe St., Santa Fe, NM 87501
Contemporary American and European art
David Richard Gallery
544 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
David Richard Gallery is located in the Santa Fe Railyard Arts District and specializes in post-war abstract art including Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, geometric, hard-edged, Op, Pop, Minimalism and conceptualism in a variety of media. Featuring both historic and contemporary artwork, the gallery represents many established artists who were part of important art historical movements and tendencies that occurred during the 1950s through the 1980s on both the east and west coasts. The gallery also represents artist estates, emerging artists and offers secondary market works.
Andiamo! A Neighborhood Trattoria
322 Garfield St., Santa Fe, NM 87501
Dining at Andiamo is
a simple experience.
We prepare the finest, local and seasonal ingredients a la minute with the utmost care and respect. Our menu is inspired by Italian cuisine, but as food is born of the region, we try to stay true to our relationships with local growers. For that reason, we've continuously nurtured a strong connection between the Santa Fe Farmers Market and our kitchen -- melding indigenous foods whenever possible, with key Italian imports. We crave these earthy, effortless flavors long after the meal has ended.
Eating sustains more than the body. Dining at Andiamo inspires conversation and evokes memories. That's why we see Andiamo as a collective experience for people who love food. Our staff is genuinely happy to work with our customers. At the end of the day, we want our guests to feel better for having eaten here.
Home to Andiamo since 1995, our historic building offers indoor and seasonal patio dining. For some it's an everyday place, for others it marks special occasions. For everyone who comes, it's a gathering place that nourishes the body and soul.
The Reel Life
Sanbusco Market Center
In The Historic Railyard District
Right Next Door To Borders Books
Toll-free at 1-877-733-5543
500 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501
Visiting anglers from around the world visit The Reel Life for its fine fly shop and guide service. Owned and operated by life-long Santa Feans, The Reel Life offers the finest in gear, instruction, local fishing information, fly tying, gear rentals, and service.
Guided fly fishing with The Reel Life is a very popular activity. Our staff of professional guides can put you on our best private waters and public waters. Each of our guides are experienced instructors so fly fishers of all abilities are welcome. Please join us for a memorable experience catching trout and other species in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Sanbusco Market Center
510 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Chapare Santa Fe offers fun & fine 100% alpaca wool fingerless gloves, gloves, hats & scarves plus luxurious & cotton clothing, jewelry, sweaters, panama hats, alpaca teddy bears. A must see boutique style shop in the historic Sanbusco Market in the railyard district.


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The Ste-Anne farmers market started in 2001. In the summer this market features 30+ vendors with vegetables, goat cheese, honey, meat, maple products, ready-to-eat food (tacos and ethiopian dishes), handmade crafts, and much more. Many of the products are certified organic. (www.marchesainteanne.ca)
We've been participating in the Ste-Anne market since the summer of 2005. We are always there, rain or shine, and we offer an impressive selection of vegetables and other products from early spring through mid December.
In the spring we have transplants and seeds and crops from our unheated greenhouse. From late spring through fall we have loads of veggies, herbs and beautiful flowers. In the fall and early winter we have crops from the greenhouse, storage crops and cold-hardy field crops.
Summer Market (Saturdays from 9 am - 2 pm)
- As of May 10th 2014
- located on rue Lalonde (corner of St-Pierre and Ste-Anne), Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC
Winter Market (Saturdays from 10 am - 1 pm)
- 2014: until May 3rd
- located at St-Georges Church (23 rue Perrault, corner of Maple and St-Georges), Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC


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and a lot more!
Product Updates
« April 2013 | Main | June 2013 »
Posted by Space Rogue on 31 May 2013 at 15:32 in SpiderLabs Radio | Permalink | Comments (0)
Several models in the Linksys E-Series WiFi routers running their respective current firmwares are prone to remote OS command injection vulnerabilities. In this article, we'll take a look at two of these vulnerabilities that exist due to improper validation of system command parameters passed via the stock Linksys web administration interface.
Continue reading "Under The Hood: Linksys Remote Command Injection Vulnerabilities" »
Posted by Jason Leyrer on 31 May 2013 at 10:53 in Advisories, Security Research, Wireless | Permalink | Comments (1)
Sometimes we see ModSecurity users asking about performance in the mail-list. During this post I will talk about some important topics to improve ModSecurity performance.
1 – HTTP Caching and Acceleration
In a common web environment static contents (ie. Images) are a substantial part of http traffic. Usually users don't want to execute ModSecurity rules against this kind of content. So the first recommendation is setup in front of ModSecurity a HTTP Cache and Acceleration solution.
We have interesting open sources solutions and one of them is Varnish. You can setup it in front of your ModSecurity and configure it to cache the static traffic. Once it is done, Varnish will start serving this kind of contents and ModSecurity will only see what is really necessary.
Another possible solution is setup rules to detect file extensions you want to inspect and ignore the others:
SecRuleEngine On
SecAction "id:'1', phase:1, t:none, setvar:'tx.inspect_extensions=.html/ .php/', nolog, pass"
SecRule REQUEST_BASENAME "\.(.*)$" "chain,capture,allow,setvar:tx.exts=.%(tx.1}/,phase:1, t:none, t:urlDecodeUni, t:lowercase,id:2,logdata:'%{TX.0}'"
SecRule TX:EXTS "!@within %{tx.inspect_extensions}"
However this is not the best solution because even you will skip all other rules, ModSecurity will spend time buffering, forwarding and executing a few rules against this kind of data.
2 – Rule Selection
Rule selection is another important topic to talk about if you are using the OWASP Core Rule Set.
We have many categories of rules inside CRS, you should review them and decide if all categories and rules are important for you.
We recommend load all rules, however sometimes it is not possible for performance point of view. So you should do a risk analysis and load what is primordial.
3 – Rule Execution Mode
The rules from OWASP Core Rule Set Project can be executed in two different modes:
Self-Contained Mode - Rules inherit the "deny" disruptive action. The first rule that matches will block.
Collaborative Detection Mode - This is a "delayed blocking" mode of operation where each matching rule will inherit the "pass" action and will only contribute to anomaly scores.
From the performance point of view the Self-Contained Mode is the best solution since it should execute lesser rules than the Collaborative Mode, reducing the overhead caused by rule engine and logging engine. However from the False Positive point of view, Collaborative Mode should emit lesser False Positives.
That being said you should try the default mode first (Self-Contained) and decide if it is enough for you. If doesn't, I would recommend work with ModSecurity rule exceptions features first before decide to move to Collaborative Detection Mode.
It is important to mention that you should see results from performance point of view only if SecRuleEngine On.
4 – Rule Pre-Filtering
If you are planning to write your own rules, specially using @rx operator with nontrivial regex to inspect large amount of data like response bodies, you should consider use @pm operator as a pre-filter rule:
SecRule RESPONSE_BODY "@pm some_leak_patterns" "phase:4,chain,id:12345,deny"SecRule RESPONSE_BODY "@rx your_nontrivial_regex_some_leak_patterns"
The @pm operator uses a fast multi-pattern match algorithm called Aho-Corasick and can be used to avoid execution of your regex against all inbound and outbound buffers.
Another pre-filter ideas are:
With this idea in mind you can build a small set of rules that will run before the CRS and will immediately reject transactions to avoid them being inspected against all CRS rules.
5 – Buffering
ModSecurity works buffering inbound and outbound data to be later inspected by rules. The main bottleneck related to this topic is buffering response bodies for two reasons: it will consume a lot of RAM and usually rules placed in response body phase are expensive.
That being said you can consider disabling response body inspection setting SecResponseBodyAccess Off and conditionally enable it using ctl:responseBodyAccessOn during some specific situation for a certain types SecResponseBodyMimeTypes..
For example:
SecResponseBodyMimeType text/plain text/html text/xml
SecResponseBodyAccess Off
SecRule REQUEST_BODY|ARGS "@pm union select" "phase:2,chain,id:1234,ctl:responseBodyAccess=On"
SecRule REQUEST_BODY|ARGS "@rx your_nontrivial_regex_union_select"
SecRule RESPONSE_BODY "@pm some_leak_patterns" "phase:4,chain,id:12345,deny"
SecRule RESPONSE_BODY "@rx your_nontrivial_regex_some_leak_patterns"
6 – Logging
The Logging Engine could be a performance killer if you don't keep attention on:
Execute – constantly - a tuning process in your rules to avoid too much false positives. Keep in mind that disk i/o is expensive and you don't want to spend resource logging false positives.
Do not use serial logging mode. It uses locks to protect the file and will kill the performance. Use concurrent mode instead.
Review the audit log parts you are logging. Some parts like K and E can increase the overhead caused by the logging engine, because it usually needs to write big amount of data to disk.
Do not enable debug log in production.
A Just-In-Time compiler support was inserted into pcre library (>=8.20). Just-in-time compiling is a optimization that can greatly speed up pattern matching operations. It is of most benefit when the same pattern is going to be matched many times.
Release 8.20 21-Oct-2011 ------------------------
The main change in this release is the inclusion of Zoltan Herczeg's just-in-time compiler support, which can be accessed by building PCRE with --enable-jit. Large performance benefits can be had in many situations. 8.20 also fixes an unfortunate bug that was introduced in 8.13 as well as tidying up a number of infelicities and differences from Perl.
ModSecurity 2.7.x series can execute a regex using PCRE-JIT. This is a very good feature from performance point of view. To enable it you must compile ModSecurity using the follow configure option:
./configure –enable-pcre-jit
Make sure your PCRE library was compiled with JIT support (using the option described in the above pcre release notes). Also ModSecurity and Apache must use the same library version. You can check it looking into error log.
As an example we sent a large input to be processed by request body rules and measured the spent time:
JIT Disabled Phase 2 rules = 422749 usecs
JIT Enabled Phase 2 rules = 115777 usecs
Looking this example pcre-jit can make rules 75% faster in average.
8 – Caching Lua VM
This is for people that need to execute multiple Lua scripts in the same transaction. Normally ModSecurity will create and destroy a VM for each lua script running in the same transaction. You can change this behavior recompiling ModSecurity with the option:
./configure –enable-lua-cache
Once recompiled it, ModSecurity will keep in memory the Lua VM during the whole transaction, reducing the overhead caused by create/destroy VM operations.
As an example let's measure the performance of three scripts executing in the same transaction:
Cache disabled
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script1.lua
Lua: Script completed in 742 usec, returning: 1.
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script2.lua
Lua: Script completed in 517 usec, returning: 1.
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script3.lua
Lua: Script completed in 489 usec, returning: 1.
Total: 1748usecs
Cache enabled
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script1.lua
Lua: Script completed in 592 usec, returning: 1.
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script2.lua
Lua: Script completed in 130 usec, returning: 1.
Lua: Executing script: /etc/apache2/modsecurity/script3.lua
Lua: Script completed in 101 usec, returning: 1.
Total: 823usecs
We can see an overhead reduction of ~50% caused by VM create/destroy operations.
9 – Detecting expensive rules.
If there are more performance issues you can try the follow steps to find expensive rules and then have a chance to make it better.
As an example let's suppose we are trying to detect expensive rules running on phase 2 (request body). If you are using the latest ModSecurity version (>= 2.7.4) you have all those features to work.
Create a rule to detect if phase 2 is the problem. We will assume 1000 microseconds too much
SecRule PERF_PHASE2 "@qt 1000" "id:1234,phase:3"
If you have a trigger it is indicating you have expensive rules. So let's try to detect them adding the follow rules
# All rules that spent more than 50usecs will be present in audit log part H
SecRulePerfTime 50
# PERF_RULES is a collection that will contain all rules that spent more than SecRulePerfTime vallue to run.
SecRule PERF_RULES "@qt 50" "id:1,phase:3"
So if you have expensive rules we will see alerts:
[Tue Apr 23 17:50:26 2013] [error] [client 192.168.0.103] ModSecurity: Warning. Operator GT matched 50 at PERF_RULES:960032. [file "/etc/apache2/modsecurity/owasp-modsecurity-crs-2.2.6/base_rules/modsecurity_crs_99_perl.conf"] [line "2"] [id "1"] [hostname "192.168.0.104"] [uri "/acao.php"] [unique_id "UXcCIsCoAGUAACvOLqcAAAAD"]
[Tue Apr 23 17:50:26 2013] [error] [client 192.168.0.103] ModSecurity: Warning. Operator GT matched 50 at PERF_RULES:958022. [file "/etc/apache2/modsecurity/owasp-modsecurity-crs-2.2.6/base_rules/modsecurity_crs_99_perl.conf"] [line "2"] [id "1"] [hostname "192.168.0.104"] [uri "/acao.php"] [unique_id "UXcCIsCoAGUAACvOLqcAAAAD"]
[Tue Apr 23 17:50:26 2013] [error] [client 192.168.0.103] ModSecurity: Warning. Operator GT matched 50 at PERF_RULES:973323. [file "/etc/apache2/modsecurity/owasp-modsecurity-crs-2.2.6/base_rules/modsecurity_crs_99_perl.conf"] [line "2"] [id "1"] [hostname "192.168.0.104"] [uri "/acao.php"] [unique_id "UXcCIsCoAGUAACvOLqcAAAAD"]
As we can see rules 960032, 958022 and 973323 are spending more than 50usecs to execute., but how much time exactly ? You will get this information into audit log part H:
Rules-Performance-Info: "960032=622", "958022=731", "973323=109".
Please check the Reference Manual to see all PERF_ variables.
10 – Persistent Storage
ModSecurity's persistent storage mechanism is disk based. That being said it is not fast as if we could share data in memory. So we recommend, if possible, setup and define your data directory in a RAMDISK. Persistent storage files in ModSecurity can be bigger than necessary because old entries will only overwritten when they are expired. By default the expiration time is 3600 seconds, It is usually too much, you probably want data for a few minutes, so you can reduce the default timeout using SecCollectionTimeout directives.
Posted by Breno Silva on 31 May 2013 at 09:48 in ModSecurity | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted by Space Rogue on 24 May 2013 at 15:05 in SpiderLabs Radio | Permalink | Comments (0)
It has been almost exactly a month since my last post regarding the new project I am working on, so I figure it is time for an update. First off, I was excited and encouraged with the responses I received via Twitter after my initial posting. One response in particular mentioned the related work that @silviocesare is doing with the SimSeer project as well as a book he co-authored "Software Similarity and Classification". Both appear to be excellent resources and I plan to check them both out in more detail as time allows.
It seems as if the stars were in alignment because just after I announced the project, a little birdy (@spookerlabs) let me know that a free Machine Learning course from Stanford University was being presented through Coursera. Did I mention that it is free? I signed up for it and we are about four weeks through the 10-week course. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with how the course is laid out and presented. We wasted no time jumping right into the math, but that shouldn't really be of any surprise to anyone. The course mainly applies Linear Algebra, but an understanding of at least first year Calculus is a definite bonus. For example, here is a slide from the first week of the class covering the application of a Linear Regression Model and the Gradient Descent Algorithm, which would be used to help predict something like house pricing based on known square footage:Posted by Ryan Merritt on 20 May 2013 at 11:16 in Big Data, Malware, Security Research | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted by Space Rogue on 17 May 2013 at 16:14 in SpiderLabs Radio | Permalink | Comments (0)
Last I spoke with you, I went into the details of a family of Point of Sale (POS) malware, named 'Alina'. At the time, I chose to talk about version 4.0, mainly because I felt it gave a good representation of the entire family itself. In the course of my research, I've been able to acquire 12 distinct versions. As you may recall from the last blog post, Alina is versioned in the User-Agent field for all HTTP-based communication. For example, the User-Agent last time around was "Alina v4.0". Knowing this, I plan on talking about the evolution of this malware today, going from version 0.1 up to 5.5. Just for reference, I have the following versions at this time:
0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.0, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5
I'm going to break up this post into a few different sections, and talk about how the malware family has evolved over time with respect to various categories. As I started writing this, it became apparent that it wouldn't fit into one blog post. As such, I've split it up into different parts. For this blog post I'm going to focus on the creation timeline, exfiltration, and C&C.
Posted by Josh Grunzweig on 17 May 2013 at 13:01 in Malware | Permalink | Comments (0)
The latest update to the TrustKeeper Scan Engine is now available. It adds coverage for more than two dozen vulnerabilities, including several recent Ruby on Rails vulnerabilities. It also greatly expands our vulnerability coverage for Moodle CMS, with 20 new vulnerability tests. Additionally, with official support from Microsoft for Windows XP ending in less than a year, we have added an informational notice for detected Windows XP systems, reminding customers that support (and security fixes) will be ending soon.
Continue reading "TrustKeeper Scan Engine Update - May 15, 2013" »
Posted by woodbusy on 15 May 2013 at 16:30 in TrustKeeper Scan Engine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Over the many years I've spent training various local, state, federal and law enforcement organizations on forensics methodologies, one story always sticks out in my mind as I prepare for courses. As I get organized for the upcoming Computer Forensics & Incident Response for Investigators course on July 27th – 30that BlackHat USA in Las Vegas or hear about another breach in the news, I'm reminded of the following story once again.
A certain engineer retired from his job of 37 years at a very productive factory of a very well-known company. Prior to his departure, he trained three young college graduates with engineering degrees on the ins-and-outs of the factory. Because the retiring engineer did not have a college degree his replacements quickly discounted his admonitions as the ramblings of an "old man".
Posted by Chris Pogue on 15 May 2013 at 08:05 in Conferences, DFIR, Incident Response, Training | Permalink | Comments (0)
In our Global Security Report, we highlighted a zero day vulnerability in the Windows Common Controls affecting Microsoft Office (CVE-2012-0158). This was reportedly being used for targeted attacked against NGOs and human rights activist.
Over the past week, the Cutwail botnet has been sending out spam containing malicious documents of the aforementioned vulnerability, CVE-2012-0158. The use of a loaded RTF attachment is a departure from normal for Cutwail, usually it distributes executable attachments or links to exploit kits.
The spam claims to be from Citibank or Bank of America. The spam may use the "Merchant Statement" as a subject line and has an accompanying .DOC file attached.
Continue reading "Analysis of Malicious Document Files Spammed by Cutwail" »
Posted by Rodel Mendrez on 15 May 2013 at 08:04 in Global Security Report, Malware, Phishing, Spam | Permalink | Comments (0)


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A Trip to Privé's Malibu Salon
Clockwise from top left: Malibu's Lumber Yard; outside Privé's newest salon, located there; the Lumber Yard by night; inside the salon, which has an incredible view of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Simone and Chelby Dufourg, who opened Privé's Malibu salon.
The salon's design concept would make any environmentalist proud. The floors are reclaimed bamboo, and the workstations are made of a sustainable washed oak. Looking from the salon across the Lumber Yard's courtyard, you see views of the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. Even the reading material is green. Instead of stacks and stacks of last month's magazines, you'll find iPads loaded with look books created by the team of the season's coolest cuts.
Privé's newest products include an Extended Texture Clay and an all-natural Volumizing Froth, which works like a mousse.
Chelby and Simone have created a salon with a great sense of community and a fantastic vibe, making it easy to lose track of time. The doors are always open. Walk-ins are welcome, and parents from Chelby and Simone's children's school get a discount. Malibu residents Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber, part owners of the recently opened Habana Café downstairs, have expressed interest in popping up for a trim with their kids. Yes, it's true what they say—life is good in Malibu.
Privé Salon is located at 3939 Cross Creek Road (second floor) in Malibu, California.


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RISMedia's Power Broker Forum at the NAR REALTOR Party Convention & Trade Expo (formerly NAR Midyear)
May 15, 2014
The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
3:30 – 5:00 pm
Marriott Ballroom Salon 1
Power Broker Strategies for Increasing Productivity and Profit
RISMedia's Power Broker Forum at the NAR REALTOR Party Convention & Trade Expo (formerly NAR Midyear) will assemble of panel of leading brokers to discuss strategies for enhancing productivity and profitability by better identifying the wants and needs of today's agents and consumers. From recruiting and training to deploying the right technology, the Power Broker Forum will reveal how today's top brokers are enhancing the agent and customer experience in today's new real estate environment.
John Featherston, President & CEO, RISMedia
John Featherston is president and chief executive officer of RISMedia, Inc. Since 1980, RISMedia, the leader in real estate information, has been servicing more than 250,000 of the residential real estate industry's most productive and successful agents, brokers and related service professionals. RISMedia has been providing the industry with news, trends and business development strategies through its flagship publication, Real Estate magazine; its leading website, RISMedia.com; and its renowned networking and educational events. RISMedia's private Power Broker events, including the CEO Exchange – held each September in New York City – and the Power Broker Forum, Reception and Dinner – held each year in conjunction with the REALTORS® Conference & Expo – are two of the most sought-after events for brokerage owners and other industry executives. RISMedia's extensive library of customizable, licensed content, along with its other business-building services, has established the company as one of the strongest industry allies for residential real estate professionals.
Gary Scott, President, Long & Foster Real Estate
Gary Scott is president of Long & Foster Brokerage, Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., part of The Long & Foster Companies, which also includes: Prosperity Mortgage Company; Walker Jackson Mortgage Corporation; Long & Foster Insurance Agency, Inc.; and Long & Foster Settlement Services. Scott entered the real estate business in 1986 in Delaware with B. Gary Scott REALTORS®. He currently oversees Long & Foster's more than 11,000 sales associates in seven Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia.
Scott MacDonald, President, RE/MAX Gateway
As president of RE/MAX Gateway, Scott MacDonald has built a solid reputation for creating a company that focuses its attention on its agents. The company's philosophy is based on creating an environment that fosters the sharing of ideas so that everyone succeeds. Since opening RE/MAX Gateway in 2001, MacDonald has expanded the operation to four successful offices in Northern Virginia with 123 agents. MacDonald is also active in developing programs to help agents outside of his company succeed. He and his partners developed the Home Pricing Wizard and Broker Success Kit, which are receiving great success in the market.
Todd Hetherington, CEO, NM Management/CENTURY 21 New Millennium
Todd A. Hetherington is CEO of NM Management, Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based company whose core services organizations provide a complete range of real estate sales and service support to clients in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. NM Management includes CENTURY 21® New Millennium, 1st County Mortgage Services, Bay County Title and Escrow, and Proactive Property Management. Having completed active duty military service in 1990, Hetherington started a residential real estate company focused on providing relocation support to families at the various military installations in the National Capitol area. He joined the CENTURY 21 franchise in 1994, and in 1998, he merged with other local CENTURY 21 brokers forming CENTURY 21 New Millennium.
Ron Croushore, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty
CEO and Owner of Pittsburgh's Prudential Preferred Realty, Ron Croushore is a lifetime native of the Pittsburgh area, with more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry. Since 1991, Croushore has pioneered the most advanced tools in the industry to create solutions for his customers' home selling and buying needs in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to his experience in property development and home building, Croushore has held offices in West Penn Multi-List and the Realtors Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh. Additionally, he has received national recognition for being ranked in the top 20 of all Prudential Real Estate companies.
Ken Baris, President of Jordan Baris Realtors
Ken Baris, president of Jordan Baris Realtors® in New Jersey, is among the real estate industry's most prolific and dynamic leaders. He is the proud recipient of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® 2012 Presidents Award for Service and 2010 Transaction of the Year for outstanding client experience. Baris is also past president of the NY Metro Group of LeadingRE, a member of the CRB Board of Directors, Zillow Broker Advisory Board, Mobile Real Estate ID Board, and board and Executive Committee member of eLumindata Inc. Frequently in the media and a popular speaker, Baris is often featured in national publications and conventions. An innovator, Baris created Top Presenter, winner of the NAR Software of the Year when launched and is heralded for his creative approach and his easy and humorous style. Baris is particularly proud of and greatly enjoys working on a daily basis with his father, Jordan Baris, who founded their company in 1952 and remains highly engaged and excited with its growth.


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Douay-Rheims (RHE) | New International Version (NIV) |
1 Who a hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? | 1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? |
2 And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: | 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. |
3 Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. | 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. |
4 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. | 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. |
5 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. | 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. |
6 All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. | 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. |
7 He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. | 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. |
8 He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him. | 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. |
9 And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth. | 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. |
10 And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a longlived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand. | 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. |
11 Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. | 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. |
12 Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors. | 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. |
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain. (Douay Rheims Catholic Bible Translation Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |


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A few months ago, we beat up a couple of Portfolio writers on the subject of municipal bond insurance until it got so easy we started to feel bad for them. Their contention was that bond insurance was a scam perpetrated by a conspiracy of investment bankers, ratings agencies and insurance companies. We argued that bond insurance persisted because of genuine market demand for lower risk investments.
At the heart of the Portfolio position, however, was a genuinely important insight: municipal bond default rates were so low that insuring the bonds seems irrational. Do you really need to purchase insurance for a class of bonds that have a 0.5% historical default rate?
An article by one of favorite New York Times writers, John Tierney, points out that irrationally insuring against small risks is not confined to muni bonds. "We buy insurance not just for peace of mind or to protect ourselves financially, but because we share the ancient Greeks' instinct for appeasing the gods," he writes.
Bond Insurers
Ambac Financial Group, the so-called monoline bond insurer which has operating under the shadow of a credit-rating downgrade that would likely wipe-out its business, announced plans to sell $1.5 billion of common stock and equity units to bolster its capital. The market promptly threw up all over the trading floor.
It's a safe bet that Ambac has the offering fully subscribed at this point. If they didn't have commitments from buyers they wouldn't have given us the $1.5 billion figure. But the announcement fell short of the hopes and rumors that had become ubiquitous on Wall Street in the last two weeks. Reports had lead many to believe that Ambac would be receiving an immediate capital infusions from a consortium of banks. Instead we got a prospectus for a public offering. The market was looking for between $2 billion and $3 billion. It got one and half billion. It looks like the private equity money walked away from the deal, leaving Ambac short of market expectations.
The ratings agencies seem to be split. Moody's Investor Services said it believes that if the offerings are successful they would be able to affirm the company's top-notch AAA rating. Fitch immediately announced that Amac would unlikely to recover its AAA rating with this move—they're keep Ambac at AA and on negative credit watch. Standard & Poor's, which affirmed Ambac's ratings last week, hasn't said anything.
Shares of Ambac promptly dropped as much as 20 percent but have started to recover a bit.
The prospectus for the equity units is here. And the common stock prospectus is here.
Update: Barry Ritholtz wonders if there might not be some kind of market manipulation behind the rumors that saw Ambac's shares run-up earlier today.
WSJ Marketbeat announced "Ambac Bailout Imminent! Maybe! Possibly!"
Then we learn that the deal was dead, and that Ambac needs to raise $1.5 billion dollars. Thus, all of those rumors and CNBC appear to have been patently false.
But here's the question that keeps coming up: Who are the people leaking this information? And, is this legal? Now, we have learned that all of these attempts at manipulating the market were based on rumors that proved to be false.
We get called contrarian often enough that we're nearly resigned to the label. From our perspective, of course, we're not contrarians at all. We're so deficient when it comes to having a decent respect for the opinions of mankind that we aren't even aware of the prevalence or rarity of the positions we take. If we seem contrarian, we suspect it's just because so many others are wrong so often.
The debate over municipal bond ratings is a good example of this. Over at Portfolio—published out of an august tower located in Times Square—they are convinced that Moody's, Fitch and the like assign ratings that are too low to municipal bonds. This supposedly forces our towns, cities and states to pay higher interest rates or purchase bond insurance to achieve higher ratings. Jesse Eisinger, who holds the esteemed title of Senior Writer at Portfolio, estimates that this costs municipalities around $5 billion a year.
Posted in:
Bond Insurers
Is Muni Bond Insurance A Racket?
The Portfolio Gang Responds!
By John Carney
Although it looks like MBIA is now out of the woods, rival bond insurer Ambac's fate is still murky. Reports indicate that the ratings agencies are now considering the rescue plan worked out by banks and state insurance regulators. The plan may be revealed as early as this week, and will probably involve splitting Ambac in two to segregate the municipal bond insurance business from the less healthy business of insuring riskier credit products.
Last week Holman Jenkins pointed out that segregation is unfair to customers who bought insurance on CDOs because it would "retroactively award municipal clients privileged status at the expense of other clients with equal claim on the insurers." Bill Ackman, who has been shorting the bond insurers for years, raised a similar point. Indeed, Jenkins expects that the policy holders left with guarantees from the suddenly even more precarious side of the business will launch lawsuits to prevent the break-up.
There's also a much stranger objection to the segregation plan, one stemming from an objection to the very existence of municipal bond insurance. We first heard about it in Portfolio, of all places. In the latest issue Jesse Eisinger argues that municipal bond insurance is a scam, and it's victims are municipal governments. This will no doubt come as a surprise to state regulators and treasuries who have been on knife's edge fearing that the collapse of the bond insurers would make raising money costlier or, in some cases, perhaps impossible. If the governments are the victims here, why exactly are they working to keep the victimization going?
Posted in:
Bond Insurers
How To Think About Municipal Bond Ratings
And Why The Critics Of Muni Bond Insurance Are Wrong
By John Carney
The bond insurers have all rocketed today on the expectation that a bailout from the banks will be announced any time now. But this has hardly tempered the words of their critics. Everyone from Bill Ackman to Warren Buffett has criticized bond insurers for guaranteeing complex derivatives whose underlying risk they seem not to have understood. Even the core business of the insurers—guaranteeing municipal bonds—has come under fire.
In this month's Portfolio, writer Jesse Eisinger argues that bond insurance is a racket, basically a tax-payer rip-off carried out by the collusion of bond insurers, Wall Street firms and credit rating agencies. It s a pretty extraordinary claim, for which Eisinger offers no real evidence other than the allegations of a Attorney General who hopes to be the next Eliot Spitzer and a claim that the ratings agencies consistently assign municipal bonds ratings that are too low.
Posted in:
Bond Insurers
Bond Insurer Split: Worst Possible Outcome For Wall Street
By Joe WeisenthalWhen he first approached Wall Street to explore plans to rescue bond insurers, New York state's top insurance regulator Eric Dinallo warned top bankers that they had helped create the mess and that they were facing serious losses if something weren't done. After weeks of negotiations with an assortment of senior Wall Street bankers failed to produce a consensus on a bailout, it now seems as if Dinallo might push ahead with a plan that could trigger another round of record breaking losses for Wall Street firms.
Dinallo has proposed splitting the companies municipal insurance businesses from the businesses guaranteeing collateralized debt instruments that have suffered under the subprime meltdown. Credit ratings on more than $580 billion of asset-backed securities may be cut, according to Bloomberg. There are estimates that that could trigger write-downs of up to $35 billion. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are often cited as having the largest exposure to the risk of an insurer downgrade.
"This is one of the worst possible outcomes for the market," Gregory Peters, head of credit strategy at Morgan Stanley in New York, tells Bloomberg. And by "the market" he means Wall Street.
FGIC has already asked regulators for permission. MBIA has ousted its chief and replaced him with former chief executive Joseph Brown. He's indicated that he will also seek to split the muni business from the CDO business.
Bond Insurer Split Threatens $580 Billion of Notes [Bloomberg]
How bad must things be up in Armonk?
It's usually a sure sign of deep trouble when a company blames short-sellers or runs crying to lawmakers for protection. MBIA has announced plans to do both. It's asking lawmakers to investigate or curtail "the unscrupulous and dangerous market manipulation activities of short sellers," according to a written copy of testimony it plans to give to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services that Reuters obtained.
What really has MBIA's knickers in a twist is that scheduled appearance of Bill Ackman before the committee.
"MBIA notes that Mr. William Ackman is appearing on the hearing on February 14th as an 'industry expert.' Mr. Ackman is in fact not involved in the industry in any capacity except as that of a short-seller, and, accordingly, MBIA questions the characterization of Mr. Ackman's expertise," the testimony says.
Scandalous. Everyone knows that short sellers cannot be experts. Only corporate management count as experts. Just ask Enron. That damned Jim Chanos guy got up in their face, and he wasn't even in the energy trading business. They really showed him.
MBIA to urge curtailing short sellers [Reuters]
He's Warren Buffett, and he's here to help.
This morning Buffett revealed on CNBC's Squawk Box that he's extended an offer to tottering bond insurers to provide re-insurance of on up to $800 billion in municipal bonds. The offer does not, of course, cover the more complicated derivative instruments that have been the source of so much profit and trouble for the bond insurers.
Speaking on the phone with CNBC's Ancient Billionaire Correspondent Becky Quick, the Oracle of Omaha, said Berkshire Hathaway a week ago made the reinsurance offer to bond insurers Ambac, MBIA and FGIC. One firm has already rejected his offer to insure the safest part of their business. We're guessing that's MBIA, which is newly flush with Warburg Pincus cash. The other two haven't returned his calls are still considering the offer. The offer is ticking: he gave them 30 days to respond.
Buffett's plan would likely insure ensure that the covered municipal bonds would not be affected by a downgrade in the ratings of MBIA, Ambac or FGIC. According to Buffett, the trouble with the bond insurers is producing strange price discrepancies, with some uninsured bonds trading above insured bonds. "Essentially, they've already lost their triple A. They're trading as if they had lost it," Buffett said. "In the market the triple A has gone away a long time ago."
Shares of these insurance companies will initially spike on the news, although by satisfying some of the concerns of government insurance regulators it could wind up contributing to the demise of a industry-wide bailout plan. In short, this "bailout" could spell the end of the insurers if the CDO situation gets bad enough. Buffett noted that the CDO exposure for these companies would not be covered, adding that "we can't figure it out" when asked about the extent of that exposure. He described the "natural course" of the CDO insurance as "disastrous."
Perhaps still smarting from DealBreaker's "Will Warren Buffett Go To Hell?" feature, the Oracle stressed that he would "not be presenting this deal to Saint Peter" when he shows at the pearly gates. "We're doing this to make money," Buffett said. "I did not dream this up in one of my pro-bono moments."
We thought we should let you know about this development since the odds are your attention was riveted on Fox Business. While Becks was talking to Buffett, FBN's "Money for Breakfast" co-anchor Peter Barnes wasinterviewing an M&M in a Split-Screen from Candyland. Candyland! Who wants a gumdrop!


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Learn how you can save a life. Become an altruistic organ donor.
Plus, how do people qualify to donate? Our donor guide explains the process.
Visit the New England Organ Bank
Initiated in 1997, the Kidney Transplant Center at Rhode Island Hospital, a major teaching hospital of Brown University Medical School, has rapidly become recognized as one of the most advanced in New England, with a success rate and a standard of patient care second to none.
We have assembled one of the most skilled and experienced teams of transplant surgeons, nephrologists, and related specialists in the nation. Equally important, we have created a uniquely personalized and caring environment for patients undergoing transplantation. Our transplant team emphasizes close consultation and cooperation with referring nephrologists and primary care physicians of transplant patient candidates as they progress from the initial evaluation, transplant work-up, surgical transplantation and every step of postoperative care and management.
In addition, the Rhode Island Hospital transplant team has moved quickly to the forefront of clinical research in newer, more effective immunosuppressive agents and reduced immunosuppression protocols - research that improves transplant success, reduces the likelihood of rejection and enhances quality of life.


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Overview - John 15 | |
1 | The union of Christ and his members shown under the parable of a vine. |
18 | The hatred of the world. |
26 | The office of the Holy Ghost. |
John 15:5 (King James Version)
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.


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Video Of The Day, Birds Of A "Fether"
It is hardly a head scratcher why the video, Birds of a Fether by Erin Fetherston, was nominated for best video of 2009 by the Fashion 2.0 Social Media Awards. The side streets of NYC provide the perfect canvas for Fetherston's collection in this dreamy back and white short. The story is simple and charming and made us want to follow this pied piper of fashion too. To see other videos nominated this year click here.
Not an ideeli member? Join today so you can save up to 80% on your favorite fashion brands!