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The Silverback Nation come from a broad range of ages, ability levels and backgrounds. Check out their stories.
During the past fifteen months, CrossFit Silverback has given me more than I could have ever expected. I've found something that I can easily maintain forever, but more than anything, I'm happy and confident about myself for the first time ever.
I had tried nearly every other exercise program out there before joining CrossFit Silverback: marathon running, P90X, yoga, traditional gyms with personal training, cycling, kickboxing, and even boot camps. I was spending countless hours in the gym and effort on doing the things that "they" tell you that you "should" be doing and eating but with no weight loss or any dynamic changes to my body. I was obsessed with tracking every calorie I consumed as well as every calorie I burned. I was always fearful of gaining weight and I wasn't happy. I wasn't super overweight, but I certainly wasn't fit.
I joined CrossFit Silverback in January of 2012 out of frustration with everything else. I had been disappointed so many times previously that I didn't even expect it to work. But, I showed up and instantly was hooked. The community aspect at CrossFit Silverback and the support of the coaches sets it apart from all other fitness outlets. The box community cannot be underestimated as they make working out so enjoyable and everyone is so encouraging; they push me to do my best! The changes I saw were almost instant and they have been sustainable with out much effort. Even when I travel for work, I can bust out a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Burpee and Sit Up WOD! When in town, I just show up to the box three or four times a week and eat real food; no counting anything, just enjoying life!
Looking back…
I was unhealthy.
I was far from fit.
I didn't know the first thing about lifting weights nor could I lift any weights.
I had a "bum" knee from an injury.
I was sure I would "start tomorrow".
I didn't think Crossfit was for me.
I was certain that ONLY big, buff, muscular meatheads were what I would see in the gym.
BUT…I knew something needed to change. You see I walked into my parents' bathroom a little over a year ago to find the row after row of prescriptions for high blood pressure, cholesterol and the like. And I saw myself following in those same footsteps and knew… I NEED a change; a change in my lifestyle. Ok, so maybe it also started with wanting to fit into that little black dress I kept for 11 years with the hope that I'd wear it again. Whatever the motivation, I found myself walking into the Silverback nation afraid yet slightly open to what lay ahead.
I remember waiting in my car (you see…I wanted a quick getaway just in case) for the gym to open at 4:30pm to get my first glimpse at this Crossfit thing I'd heard about from a couple of friends. And I was surprised to find two ladies standing by the bay door; slightly older than me. So the big, buff meatheads story was out. I said, "it's now or never," and with that, I got out of my car and headed their way. They were quick to greet me and share their experience and enthusiasm for introducing me to Matt, GIC (Gorilla-In-Charge). I shared my previous workout history, which was not lengthy and only recently included running and training to run a marathon (which I did not run due to an injury). And I mentioned my knee injury from a skiing accident. He listened and simply shared that every movement an athlete does in the box can be modified to fit my ability and endurance level. But I had to see for myself. I observed the class for a few minutes watching those ladies row, lift weights and keep moving. And a single thought hit me…if they could do it, so could I.
I went back the next day for the following modified WOD:
5 Rounds
9 Squats
6 Knee push ups
3 Ring pulls
I finished in 10:12. For me, I was proud to be done but commented in my journal, "I feel like jello". But I went back the next day to another modified workout. I finished that one too but remember laying on the floor in my living room unable to move or get up from that position for 30 minutes. So I did what most tell you not to do. I took a day off on Day 3 to try and recover. But I admit all I could think about was NOT going back. And texted a friend and fellow Crossfitter (at another box), who encouraged me to go back. I did. For the next 365 days and counting…
In a year's time, this is what I have learned:
I'm healthier today than a year ago and continue to make better choices around what I eat. This isn't a perfect science nor would I say that I always eat the "right" foods. But I eat more of the "right" foods to strengthen my health than take a way from it. And I allow for everything in moderation.
I'm stronger today than I was yesterday and derfinitely more than a year ago. This not only includes physical strength but also strength of mind and spirit. I now understand a phrase that one of the coaches shared with me once: "sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug". There are days when I will crush a WOD because I made the best choices that day from what I ate, to how much water I drank to the amount of sleep I had. And there are still days when "I feel like jello" and get beaten by the WOD. But I ALWAYS FINISH. And that is truly what matters.
Crossfit is my lifestyle now! And I'm not going back to the way things were before Crossfit. The Silverback Nation is my second family where I'm able to be a "work in progress", and I'm missed when I'm not there and held accountable for doing the work when I walk through those bay doors. I've learned true GRIT: Gratefully, Renewed, Inspired Transformation.
But the proof is in the results: I can deadlift 245 lbs. I can swing a 53 lb Kettle bell. I am able to backsquat 185 lbs. I'm 15lbs away from sled pushing my body weight. The point…I can now lift weights and have muscles where there were none. I'm 50 lbs lighter and counting. My clothes don't fit and the ones I bought last fall that fit then…no longer fit. I did finally put on that little black dress again this Christmas but while it was an achievement, it isn't the end destination for me. My body has changed, and this is now a journey for me. To be stronger today than yesterday. My goals have changed…fitting into that little black dress was GREAT but NOW…I want to be able to do an unassisted pull-up. And I'm well on my way.
I can't begin to thank the coaches enough for their unyielding support. To know when to modify for my injury or my ability to when to push me to increase my weight, every coach has loved me through every moment of my journey. For that, I am overwhelmingly grateful. When I find myself struggling to keep moving through a WOD, it's their words and encouragement that I hear (as well as those fellow Silverbacks who I can now call friends) that has and is slowly becoming my own voice. I'm proud of what I've accomplished but more proud of where I'm going and couldn't ask for a better BOX and community of athletes to share this journey. Thank you, Matt, Garrett, Val, Dick, DJ, Zach and my dear family at Silverback Nation—I am a stronger, better version of myself because of your loving support.
For most of my life I didn't play sports, I wasn't on any teams or squads, I didn't even have a workout routine. I joined a globo-gym around 23, but I rarely went and didn't really have any focus when I was there. When my brothers suggested I try CrossFit I thought they were NUTS…there was no way I was going to be able to go from zero to the intensity of CrossFit…especially after 27 years of doing nothing! After months of saying no, I finally took a chance and started at the bottom. Without even realizing it, I got hooked and started to actually enjoy working out. 18 months in the box brought strength and confidence in myself and my abilities. My body showed changes, which is inevitable with the increase in activity, but I didn't see dramatic differences until I cleaned up my diet. I started eating paleo about 6 months ago and the inches began to melt away. I don't pay too much attention to the scale because the numbers aren't what's important, it's about looking and feeling your best…and I certainly feel pretty dang good about the progress I've made!! I do know that I've gone from a tight size 9 (pushing 11) pants down to a belted 2!! Huge thanks to all the trainers of CrossFit Silverback and the other amazing athletes of the Silverback nation!! I LOVE being a part of this community!
I began my transition to a healthy life style back in September 2012 by finally joining CrossFit Silverback awesome gym (community). In October 2012 did my first The Whole30 | Whole9 after attending the gym's Nutrition class, was so inspired and determined. In the beginning it was tough competing with 30+ years of not optimal eating habits and trying several failed diets, but I survived the 30 days and felt the difference in my body right away. Way more energy, better mood, better skin, no body or joint aches, no headaches, no sluggishness, no crazy cravings or emotional eating… Have been eating Paleo ever since then and it gets easier every day, even if I indulge every once in a while with some of my favorites (anything chocolate)!! I am ever so eager about continuing to educate myself about eating healthy and staying active… Reading "It Starts with Food" has been an eye opener.
Today I am 25lbs lighter, finally developing lean muscles (starting to show some guns baby!!), feeling better than ever, and a firm believer that this works!! And it's not just me, My Family made the transition too, which makes it way easier and fun, more rewarding too!! The Icing on the Cake… We are even inspiring other people to change their lives too… family, friends, co-workers…!! What an amazing feeling!!
Don't plan to look back… God willing I will be that badass old lady at The Box doing burpees, handstand push-ups, and everything in between! Plus coaching… Yep it will happen, and it'll be My Box too!! Call me Coach V!
As I was looking through my lame book of notes of WODs, I noticed I am approaching my 6 month of CrossFit! Which then began a reflection… I am 32 years old. Started running competitively at age 8. It was then I fell in love with hurdles and high jump, obviously my ups! Continued running through high school, qualifing for the international track tour (Jr Olympics, on the U.S. track team in '97) Ran in Sweden, placed 3rd in the 100m hurdles, and pr'd in the high jump at 5'6. Best experience of my life!! I thrive on competition, and want to be good!! Fast forward (promise I have a point) I get scholarship offers and head to Sam Houston State University to be a heptathalete! That goes nowhere, almost a year, didn't like the coach, he was very negative and not who recruited me. Anywho, my point, almost 13 years later I am back where I was lifting and stronger. My drive to be better is back. When I leave and reflect on a WOD, I think I could have done better, maybe lifted stronger! Thank You for having such a strong CrossFit box, they aren't all like this! So here's to another 6 months and goals to be achieved!!! I am a Silverback supporter all the way!!!
I was introduced to Crossfit by a friend; and was instantly hooked. I knew from the first day that this was not going to be easy but I was willing to give it 100%. Within 4 months, I've lost 49 lbs. I went from 270 lbs. to 221 lbs. Needless to say I had to buy a whole new wardrobe. I went from a 43 inch waist to a 34. Recently, I purchased my first suit since the weight loss. I couldn't believe it! I went from 52Long to a 44Long. I haven't been able to fit in a 44Long suit since my high school prom. I'm stronger, slimmer than I have ever been before. My wife and two boys love the new me.
I wouldn't have achieve these results if it wasn't for the knowledge, instructions and tough love that the trainers (Matt & Dick) provided. Also to my fellow athletes in the 6am class, that would motivate me to push myself physically and mentally to the next level. Thank you for literally picking me up off the ground after the WOD (workout of the day). CrossFit has changed the way I look at fitness and life. I enjoy the structure of the sport and that every day is something new. There is no room for boredom.
For the longest time I struggled with my weight. All I would ever do for exercise was run and I hated running. I never got anywhere with it. June 23,2012 I lost my Aunt who was like a mom to me . She was only 47. She left behind a 19 yr old and 25 yr old and three little grand babies. I couldn't let this be me I found Crossfit Silverback in September but didn't end up going till October 17. I walked out drenched in sweat and sore. Matt recommended Ibuprofen since I would be sore tomorrow. What worse then I already was. I went back and worked through the pain. Best choice ever. At Matts nutrition class he introduced me to Paleo and since then I haven't looked back here are the numbers
Weight: 205 to 166
Deadlift: 95 to 200 1RM
Pant size: 16/18 to a 12
Shirt size: XL to a M
Push ups: 0 to 13 unbroken
Burpees 1 min: 9 to 18
Overall I feel Crossfit Silverback saved my life. I'm not only losing weight but I'm healthy and fit. Ill be around longer for my five children. Ill be able to run and play with my grandkids and ill be able to make my family's quality of life better. Thank you Matt, Garrett, Zack, DJ, Dick and Val, for making me a better me. I'm still not the "weight" I want to be but it's just a number and im happier now when I look in the mirror. I'm stronger then I have ever been and I know that with Crossfit Silverback Ill soon reach my goal.
I just wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me over the last year. I walked into CFSB a little more than 80lbs over weight and couldnt do a single pullup if my life depended on it. Over the last year here is what happened:
Waist – went from 38-40in down to 32in waist
Shirts – went from XXL down to a large
Pull-ups – >1 now I can do 28 unassisted
Dead Lift – 395lbs to 480lbs (500lbs here we come)
Weight – 282lbs as of this morning I wieght 197lbs = 85LBS lost!!!
I could go on and on about the results that I have seen over the past year. My energy alone is through the roof I dont want to go sit on the couch and eat cookie dough anymore haha. I watch what I eat now and make the right decisions on nutrition (most of the time) all thanks to you. You have truely changed my life and I cannot thank you enough. Not only have you built a great box but everybody is like family. Thanks again for everything you have done and we will see you soon.
I had gone some 40+ years without knowing anything about Crossfit. I had a membership at a "globo gym" for a while I'd do my 45 minutes on the treadmill/elliptical, do a few sit-ups etc. and go home and was surprised that the weight wasn't coming off. I went to the first Saturday work out at Crossfit Silverback. I thought I would try it for a couple of weeks and see how it fit.
The first week was trying. I was learning new terminology and my body was learning new moves. I was so de-conditioned that all I did the first weeks were air squats, push ups against a bench, and ring rows in place of pull ups. Week by week I kept coming and little by little I improved. The bench push ups turned into push up against boxes, and one day Coach Matt said "Try a couple of girl push ups from the floor". I was amazed when I did it!!! I don't think I did girl push ups even when I was in elementary school. I am starting to do real pull ups (with a red band) and someday with no bands at all.
At the "globo" gym, I could look down and see the people working in the free weight area and it seemed like a different universe, now not only do I know what they are, I am really doing them! Another red letter day was when I deadlifted 200 lbs!
When I began, I did not weigh 200 lbs, but was so close to it I could touch it. Since starting CFSB, I have lost 20 lbs, but more important my body is getting toned and clothes that were sitting in the back of my closet are now getting a second life. I feel more energized and I sleep like a rock now.
I have experienced three things at this "box" that I did not get at my "globo" gym. First is that Matt knows who I am and what my assets and limitations are; and he motivates me to excel and improve. Second is a community of fellow athletes that encourage me during disappointments and celebrate my successes. I really don't consider them 'fellow athletes' at all; they are my friends and extended family. The third thing is to be an example to my children. When they come to the "box" while I workout, they see that being healthy is important and this is what mama does. This I did not get – or see – at my old gym.
I am still a work in progress but aren't we all? What I have learned about myself is that I can push myself past what I think I can do. Never get comfortable with routine – Routine is the enemy! Thank you Matt and everyone for helping me discover this new person. Now, WHO'S THE MAMA!!
Today was the finish of my 13 weeks of "trying" cross-fit and the numbers don't lie. Here they are:
60 – days of working out (minus two days / week rest and a few days missed due to weather or travel)
22 lbs – lost
34 – waist size of my pants moving towards 32
04:30 – a very familiar time in the morning
24 – vertical box jump
36 – days before my 52nd b-day
I am feeling leaner, stronger (body and mind), and more confident. Cross-fit knows no age or boundaries. No longer "trying" Cross-fit, living it.
I want to thank:
- my son, Zach for introducing me to Cross-fit.
- Matt for stopping me in mid-sentence that Saturday as I stated I wanted to go to the gym to get in shape … and working with me to re-ignite the fire inside. Keep yelling at me.
- to the Silverback community for being supportive and a great community
See you all at 05:00
Left: size 24/26
Right: size 18
I started slowly changing my lifestyle December 26, 2012. I didn't want it to be a "New Year's Resolution" because I was never able to be true to any previous resolution but I wanted to make a lifestyle change.
I was truly miserable and I avoided cameras completely. When a friend tagged me on Facebook in the picture on the left…I cried. The shirt I'm wearing isn't one of those cropped shirts, it was just so small it wouldn't stay down. I had gained so much weight that I could barely wear any of my clothes.
So I started making changes. Between the end of December to July, I lost about 38lbs by cleaning up my diet and doing mostly cardio.
I was talking to a friend of mine about my workout routine and he told me to try crossfit. I watched YouTube videos of Crossfit workouts, looked down at my body and thought I'd probably die if I even attempted anything like that. I even pulled into the Silverback parking lot one day and looked into the box to see people swinging kettle bells and doing burpees. The whole time I watched them I was amazed but at the same time all I could think was that I couldn't do any of this. I was never involved in sports or anything physical prior to my lifestyle change back in December. But my friend kept telling me I should try it so onAugust 5th I walked into the box and met Coach Matt. I was so nervous I was sick!
It only took a few days for me to fall into a love/hate relationship with Crossfit. The hate part is strictly for bear crawls and burpees. In three months, I have dropped 4 sizes and I've gained quite a bit on confidence. What amazes me the most is that my body can do things now that were impossible three months ago! I'm still the slowest turtle out there running, I still want to die when I'm bear crawling, but I'm better today than I was yesterday.
Mike's story speaks for itself. I would only add what a great job he does as a "quiet leader" you might want to slow down or give up, but you look over and see his effort and dedication and it makes you keep going. GREAT JOB MIKE!
"As someone who teaches and coaches young people for a living my struggle was not with knowing how to be healthy it was about actually doing it. I have always loved sports. Growing up I went from sport to sport based on what season it was. In college and for a few years after I had found rugby as my athletic outlet. But over time I found myself becoming less and less active.
In June of 2013 while on vacation I stepped on the scale and it read 293 lbs, that was unacceptable. Something was going to change. I knew that I needed to find someway to get active that was going to get monotonous and end in me giving it up after a few weeks. So I sent a message to co-worker and Crossfit Guru Sonya Cranford which simply said "Crossfit, convince me." She told me to give the free into class a try.
What I found Crossfit was not going to be easy, but it is the right kind of hard. The workouts are constantly varied which keeps it interesting and challenging. In 4+ months of eating right (just as important) and working with the great trainers and fellow athletes at Crossfit Silverback I have lost around 60 lbs, my pant size is down and my energy level is up."
If this post helps even one person, it will have been worth it.
I am sharing this because I was told I needed to. 3 years ago, my doctor urged me to do something about my health. These photos were taken July, 3 years ago. I started my adventure in August after this trip to Colombia. In these past 3 years, I have learned so much about nutrition and healthy habits. It isn't just about what you eat or how. It is about the whole person. This includes mental, emotional, physical, and diet. In my world, the word DIET is an acronym: Did I Eat Today? (Thanks to Dr. Pomroy). I found that when you eat healthy, you need to eat more (healthy food). I didn't have a dessert until our anniversary this August and that was just three bites and I was satiated. The key is eliminating all the processed junk we put into our bodies. I had to give up sugar, bread, coffee, pasta and many of the foods I absolutely loved. But I found others to replace them. I am so aware of what I put into my body these days and tell my students: "If you can't read it, don't eat it."
I see something now that I have always chosen to ignore: how unhealthy our society is. It reminds me of the population in the movie Wall E (pictures included) where they are all slaves to their lifestyle. It isn't until the end (second pic) where they awaken and realize what they have allowed to happen. I feel that my weight gain was, by society in general, enabled by excuses: "Well you have 6 kids, what do you expect?"or "You look good, don't worry." or "At least you eat healthy." What is "healthy eating"? I found essentially, that it is unprocessed whole foods (organic if possible).
I had injured my knees over time, had surgery on one, and could not go up and down stairs for years. Many things that most people take for granted, I could not do. I walked cautiously always looking down.
I am now able to do all those things and so much more. I have lost 90lbs since that August three years ago. I also go to CrossFit Silverback and love, love it (thank you Sonya Nair Cranford)! I can now jump rope, lunge, deadlift 90lbs, split jerk 40lbs, run, row, squat, and so much more. I never in a million years thought I could do any of that. This gym is unlike any other. They are a community. We all help each other, encourage each other and I can truly say that there have been times I didn't think I could finish; but with the encouragement of everyone there, I always have.
I have included my before pics and my after pic which was taken on the first day of school. I didn't do this before because I was embarrassed that I had allowed myself to become the person I had. Being overweight caused me to be insecure with myself and not enjoy life for fear of someone laughing at me. I would not go to the gym until I had lost weight because I didn't want to be judged. I am past all that and I still have many strides to make, but I have tackled the hardest part: getting started. By changing my bad habits and learning what is truly good for me, I have achieved so much. Thanks to the Grace of God for the strength He has given me to keep going and all my family and friends, I am a happier, content, satiated, less-stressed person
Another one to put on our wesbite….and her success so far is only 3 months into crossfit with us…she joined in early June.
I was supposed to visit the doctor on Monday, and for the first time in YEARS I was excited to get weighed and have my blood pressure taken. Over the last three years both of these have creeped up slowly, and I didn't notice because I thought I felt pretty good (I actually felt like a big greasy wad of human when i look back hah) Well, my appointment fell through, so I can't cite official numbers (I don't own a scale…in fact I boycott them), but I wanted to share my other victories from the past few months.
1. I am wayyyy more comfortable in my body. My body is sooooooo much happier, my clothes are too big (goodbye pajama jeans!), and I've stopped avoiding mirrors and dressing to hide "problem areas"
2. My body is moving! Everything is easier now…and I mean EVERYTHING. Running, lifting Edwin, hour long dance parties where I throw my legs over Edwin, my insane habit of moving furniture by myself, waking up and going to sleep, carrying the vacuum upstairs on my back. I owe this 100% to Crossfit Silverback. That is a magical place where you can push yourself to accomplish so much more than you even imagine. Ya'll, I've had trainers, gym memberships, done p90x, I've done it all. Nothing compares to the results, the feeling of pride and the community you feel while there.
3. I'm proud of myself. I'm proud for hearing my doctor say "you're gaining two pounds a year for 6 years" and for once not blowing him off. I'm mostly proud that I'm finally treating my body as the incredibly, amazing thing that it is.


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So long, SouthwyckWritten by Shannon Szyperski | | firstname.lastname@example.com
When I read that Southwyck was being torn down, it initially registered as the finalization of just another local commercial casualty. However, it didn't take long for memories of the once-thriving mall to surface and make me realize that I'm really going to miss the place.
When I was a child, Southwyck meant a great deal to me and my family. My grandma was a regular there for many years. She didn't spend much money on merchandise, but she instead became somewhat of a living fixture – a part of the mall itself. Many of her days were spent riding the TARTA bus from her little apartment to her second home at Southwyck to spend a long day of coffee drinking and chain smoking in the corner coffee shop.
It was always a thrill when I would have the opportunity to tag along with her on the big bus and take part in her daily meanderings. The TARTA bus ride was a treat in itself. How exciting it was to be the one to drop the dimes into the coin slot and hear that familiar clinking sound as each one landed. How fascinating it was to see the hustle and bustle of downtown on the days we would detour our trip just for the fun of it. How lucky I was to be taken along for the ride.
No matter where else we decided to wander to in Toledo, Southwyck always remained our number one destination. I can still remember the feeling of running up and down the carpeted steps, tossing a coin in the fountain, taking a spin on the carousel and sucking down an Orange Julius. And then there was Olde Towne. If I could transport myself to a place that no longer physically exists, it would perhaps be there. As an adult I likely would see it as just another part of the mall, but as a child the tunnel-like entrance and vintage theming were enough to convince me that we had discovered a hidden piece of kid heaven from yesteryear.
It is amazing to realize the little things that children must observe in their every day and tuck away as memories. I can remember seemingly obscure details from my days exploring the halls of Southwyck, things I would never consider my own children taking note of during excursions to our own current stomping grounds.
There was something almost magical about the carousel of pay phones that took center stage near the entrance. Extra special were the days that we had occasion to use one or that we found a quarter someone else had forgotten. Such subtleties of my Southwyck days still fill the seldom-visited corners of my mind: the golden lions guarding Lion Store, the pudding cups with whipped cream and a cherry on top at the Forum Cafeteria, a wooden donation box on the counter of Frisch's Big Boy marked "Little Sisters of the Poor." Individually such things seem insignificant now, but the memories of them combine to give that period in my life importance.
Those days spent with my grandma on the TARTA bus and at Southwyck Mall were important. They not only left me with fond memories but also offered me a few life lessons along the way. We didn't just sit on a bus or in a coffee shop wasting the day away. We watched people, talked to people and talked to one another. No one was ever too good, too bad or too different to strike up a conversation with. Nothing was ever too dull to chat about. My grandma was spending the day taking care of me and I was spending it taking care of her.
When my Grandma Purdy died in 1988, part of me wanted to somehow memorialize her at Southwyck. I thought that we could just hang a little sign somewhere within its walls to let the world know that that was the corner of the world where she had left her essence. It's odd to think that such a sign would now be gone too.
At first it feels impossible that someone or something of enduring significance could ever be physically gone forever, but that is the reality we are forced to accept over and over throughout life. I am quite certain that there was something that preceded Southwyck that someone else just hated to see go in order to build an over sized place to shop. There will be something after Southwyck and another something after that.
Each generation needs to take the good times and life lessons away from its own places of significance. We also need to accept when the rest of the world is ready to take us in a new direction.
Shannon Szyperski and her husband Michael are raising two children in Sylvania. E-mail her at email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Having grown from a small operation in India to an international rug powerhouse, Surya has earned the right to be selective. That's why it partnered with Papilio: This Belgium-based, red dot design award-winning company experiments tirelessly with material, pattern, texture, and color before turning its designs over to the most skilled textile technicians around the globe. The Niki Rug features hundreds of small squares made from cotton chenille and cowhide. Sewn on a cotton base, they create a terracotta tile effect.
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A smartphone security firm claims to have found 26 legitimate Android apps that had been laced with malware.
The once-legitimate applications were modified to include what researchers from security firm Lookout called a "stripped down version" of DreamDroid, which it dubbed DreamDroid Light.
The malware is activated by an incoming call, according to Lookout's spokesperson, Tim Wyatt, which meant that users would not have to launch the application to trigger its behaviour.
Lookout has estimated the applications have been installed on 30,000 to 120,000 devices.
Like its predecessor, the tainted application sends identifiers (IMEI/IMSI) to the malware's distributors, however DreamDroid Light would require user-interaction to steer its way through an update.
Google has removed the program while it investigates the claim, according to Forbes security blogger, Andy Greenberg.
Lookout discovered the malware after a developer had alerted it to a modified version of one of his apps, which was being distributed on Google's Android Market.
"Our security team confirmed that there was malicious code grafted into these apps and identified markers associating this code with previously analysed DreamDroid samples," wrote Wyatt.
A list of the affected apps, which ranged from "hot girls" to systems monitoring tools, can be found on Lookout's website.
One of the apps, Hot Girls 1, had the capacity to create a "mobile botnet", according to F-Secure chief researcher, Mikko Hypponen.
In that instance, receiving a text message will activate malicious components of the app.
"The added code will connect to a server and send details about the infected handset to the malware authors. So we're talking about a mobile botnet," he said.
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Giselli Monteiro on the Cover of Harper's Bazaar
March 30, 2011 11:06 am by Editors
Brazilian actress Giselli Monteiro wears a diaphanous Louis Vuitton dress for the cover of Harper's Bazaar this month. Inside, Monteiro talks about how she didn't have to struggle to break into Bollywood. Apparently, Monteiro, who dubbed her own lines for Love Aaj Kal (she had approximately two dialogues in the whole film), doesn't speak Hindi and didn't really speak English. But she has stumbled into roles based on her eerily Indian-ish looks. Either way, Ms. Monteiro, all of 22, looks fab in the cover shoot, but is overloaded with LV merchandise in the inside pages (we counted at least 13 mentions in the product credits).


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Tags singer/songwriter, bluegrass, folk, alt country
Artists Yarn, Mandolin Orange, Two High String Band
May 24, 2012
Ten tracks including music by Yarn, Mandolin Orange, and Two High String Band.
Fall Folk by mandolinchad
Fall mix, mostly acoustic folk, mostly mellow, Doug Paisley, Tim O'Brien, Mandolin Orange.
folk, americana, mostly acoustic
Amellowcana by mandolinchad
Mellow Americana Folk Country Bluegrass Mix.
americana, country & folk, bluegrass, alternative country
S.E.A. mix by mandolinchad
some songs to listen to while working at the island shop.
alternative rock, folk, bluegrass, rap, rock
Poor Boy, Poor Me by mandolinchad
singer/songwriter, bluegrass, folk, alt country


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mask works greatRead All Reviews
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The mask fogs up my goggles way to easy.Read All Reviews


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Max Weber by John Patrick Diggins
Max Weber: Politics and the Spirit of Tragedy
by John Patrick Diggins
Basic Books. 334 pp. $28.00
John Patrick Diggins is a congenital dissenter. In his youth in San Francisco during the 1950's, he was scolded by a juvenile-court judge for drinking and playing pool, and for a "lack of respect for authority." As an adult, he recalls in the preface to his 1992 book, The Rise and Fall of the American Left, he was labeled a "troublemaker" for showing up uninvited at a conference of radical historians.
Not unexpectedly, it is the adult Diggins who has been on display in recent decades, and the objects of his rebellion are no longer the censorious attitudes of the 5 O's but the "progressive" blindnesses of our own self-absorbed age. The Diggins who teaches American history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and is the author of books on pragmatism, American political thought since the Founding, and American society in the 1940's and 50's, is an old-fashioned liberal ironist, convinced that it is humanity's inescapable calling to struggle valiantly for die achievement of goods that can never be achieved—or which, if achieved, tend to turn sour or even into their polar opposites.
Diggins's intellectual heroes include the likes of Reinhold Niebuhr, Herman Melville, Abraham Lincoln, die authors of The Federalist, and the New England Puritans—figures who faced up to the unresolvable tensions in die human condition, and die inherent limitations of human nature. His list tends not to include Progressives, pragmatists, and other illuminati from Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson to John Dewey, with their boundless and (to Diggins) pernicious faith in die triumph of reason and die perfectibility of man.
Nor does Diggins's maverick streak end there. While much of die scholarly world has happily embraced poststructuralism, multiculturalism, and identity politics, he has rebelled against political correctness and vigorously defended traditional methods and subjects. He has also maintained an astonishing level of scholarly productivity, at the rate of a major book every two or three years over the past decade. With the present work, he bursts the bounds of the American subject matter that has been his bailiwick in the past and ventures boldly into foreign territory to tackle the life and thought of Max Weber (1864-1920), one of the indisputable "fathers" of modern sociology and a preeminent figure in the intellectual life of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Weber's interests as a sociologist were incredibly varied, ranging from rural agricultural labor to the social psychology of bureaucracy to Chinese religion to German politics. His justly famous lectures, "Science as a Vocation" and "Politics as a Vocation," remain as fresh today as when they were delivered at Heidelberg late in his career. But Dig-gins believes that Weber is relatively underappreciated by Americans, who have generally gotten their Weber second-hand and shown very little interest in the man himself.
This claim is overstated—certainly there is no lack of homage paid to Weberian ideas in today's academic world, and there is evidence at every turn of his enduring influence. It is with his name that we associate our awareness of the power and importance of religious ideas as agents of social formation and historical change; of the ambivalent effects of instrumental rationality, which leads to "the disenchantment of the world" in all its hollowness and fruitlessness; of the alternation between the dangers of "charisma" and the dehumanizing drudgery of "routine" in social and political life; of the irreconcilable tension between conscience and responsibility in political life; and of the ascetic commitment to truth that separates scholarship from politics.
Yet Diggins is right to assert that Americans generally do not know Weber himself, and the absence of biographical context does render his writings strangely detached and remote, as if they were impersonal dicta that had dropped from the sky. And so it is not surprising after all that an American historian who elsewhere has stressed the significance of Calvinism in the moral and economic formation of American society should eventually have been drawn to the German author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
A dark, brooding figure, whose relentlessly probing sensibility drove him to uncover the mechanisms of power and domination that lie beneath what Edmund Burke called "the decent drapery of life," Weber, just like the Puritan saints of whom he wrote so eloquently, was a haunted man; his sober and sanguine external pose, unfailingly conveyed in photographic portraits, concealed the passions and ambitions that seethed beneath. As he emerges from Diggins's narrative, Weber was a man who craved the unvarnished and disillusioning truth with the ravenous appetite and intensity of a religious seeker—yet the truths he found never brought him any satisfaction or consolation, only deeper anxiety.
Diggins reminds us that at a pivotal moment in 1897, just after his brilliant, fast-track academic success had taken him triumphantly into a professorship at the University of Heidelberg, Weber was cut down by a profound mental collapse that lasted for nearly seven years. Like William James and John Stuart Mill before him, Weber had to endure an extended season in hell before moving on to his greatest achievements. Although the specific causes of his depression are obscure, it clearly left lasting effects, chastening and tempering his youthful outlook and tingeing it with the somber hues of tragedy.
Diggins clearly views Weber as a hero—another rebel and dissenter, a flouter of academic categories. But he does not neglect his subject's all-too-human foibles and indecisions, even down to his inability on his deathbed to choose between his wife Marianne and his lover Else Jaffé (an episode which to my Calvinistic mind Diggins treats much too sympathetically). But the main purpose of this book is not just to introduce Americans to the complexity of Weber's inner life but to promote an encounter that will widen and deepen our own national self-understanding.
This "Americanist" spin is evident from the book's very beginning, which offers a somewhat asymmetrical comparison between the journeys to America of Max Weber in 1904 and Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831. An even more implausible juxtaposition—between Lincoln's Lyceum Address (1838) and Weber's Inaugural Address at the University of Freiburg (1895)—marks the book's conclusion. Lincoln's Address was the work of an obscure young country lawyer, not yet thirty years old, only recently arrived in the provincial capital of Springfield, Illinois, from the even more provincial New Salem. Weber's was the work of a mature and renowned scholar taking up a chair in political economy at a world-famous university. What could they have in common?
But by the time Diggins has finished, one sees that both men addressed themselves to very similar issues: the burdens of political responsibility and political education; the difficulties entailed in the perpetuation of healthy political institutions, and in cultivating the citizenship such institutions require; the tragic dimensions attendant upon the exercise of power; the importance of affect in political life; and the tendency of revolutionary charisma (respectively, the "Spirit of 76" and the "political greatness" of Bismarck) to ossify into administrative routine.
So if it is a bit of a stretch to compare a self-educated American frontier politician with an immensely well-educated, urbane German scholar, it is a stretch worth making—and not only for Lincoln's sake. An exclusively German or European context for Weber, Diggins argues, "diminishes the profound universality of his own concerns and categories of analysis," and cuts Americans off from certain insights into themselves that they might otherwise grasp. In particular, Diggins believes that a proper appreciation of Weber can help loosen the death grip of our country's all-smothering "progressive" intellectual tradition, and help to remind us that we have another past to draw on, exemplified notably by the Calvinistic strain.
But there are also some inevitable problems arising out of this "Americanist" agenda. In order to create a common ground of comparison, Diggins has to fudge some matters and overstate others. In the first category is his too-neat treatment of Tocqueville as a Weberian opposite-number, which distorts the Frenchman's work by tasking him with a belief in "American exceptionalism" he patently did not possess (else, why would he have come to America in order to witness the European future?). A more serious error is to attribute to Tocqueville a concern only with the excesses of individualism. Diggins contrasts this with Weber's observation that atomized individuals tend to turn to an enlarged government to demand its services; but this is precisely one of Tocqueville's own cardinal contentions—i.e., that social democracy and individualism beget centralization.
Diggins also sometimes overstates his case. It simply is not true that in 1904, when Weber visited the United States, "the Protestant work ethic had all but gone to ashes"; it is not even true today. Nor was it true that American social scientists saw Protestantism as nothing more than superstition or "false consciousness." On the latter point, in fact, it is useful to contrast the highly secularized tenor of German social science in Weber's day with the evangelical, almost missionary, tone of American social scientists like Albion Small, who regarded their discipline as the continuation of liberal Protestantism by other means. By the same token, it is also wrong to make "Protestantism" synonymous with "Calvinism," for American Protestantism is simply too diverse for that. Indeed, a certain brand of Protestantism, and a very American brand at that, undergirds the very same "progressive" pieties Diggins deplores.
But these are small complaints, insignificant next to the magnitude of Diggins's achievement. For many readers, this book will probably be too dense, idiosyncratic, and difficult. But for those who make the effort, the reward will be to be drawn back to Weber himself; if it accomplishes that end, Max Weber will have performed a valuable service, and perhaps even provided a source of salutary troublemaking.


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Mining Publication: Methane Emission from U.S. Coal Mines, A Survey
Original creation date: January 1972
This survey was conducted to determine the magnitude of the methane emission and control problem in U.S. bituminous coal mines. The resultant data indicate that the emission rate for any given coalbed depends primarily on the coal production rate and on mine depth, as well as on the nature of the coalbed and the surrounding strata. An excellent correlation was found between (1) the methane emission rate and (2) the product of coal production rate and mine depth for the mines in the Pittsburgh, Pocahontas Nos. 3 and 4, and the Illinois Nos. 5 and 6 coalbeds. The highest total emission rates found in U.S. bituminous coal mines were as follows, in million cubic feet per day: Monongalia County, West Virginia, 39; Marion County, West Virginia, 30.4; McDowell County, West Virginia, 13.1; Washington County, Pennsylvania, 11.9; Greene County, Pennsylvania, 11.4; Buchanan County, Virginia, 21.6; Jefferson County, Alabama, 10.3; and Franklin County, Illinois, 6.6.
Information CircularJanuary - 1972
NIOSHTIC2 Number: 10000593
Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 8558, 1972 Jan; :1-58
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Beat the Traffic API
Beat the Traffic by Triangle Software is web and mobile application that provides live traffic information on road maps in over 130 metropolitan areas. Beat the Traffic uses real-time data from multiple sources, including the US Department of Transportation. The Beat the Traffic API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality and data of Beat the Traffic with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include accessing and retrieving speed data, route information, and images from traffic cameras for integration into other applications. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should sign up here: http://www.trianglesoftware.com/?page_id=95
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Beat the Traffic Paves a Social Road for Transportation
Beat the Traffic Paves a Social Road for Transportation
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In Photoshop Elements 9: Scanning and Restoring Photos, professional photo restorer Janine Smith shows how to bring new life to old photos. The course begins with a look at the types of photos that may require restoration, including slides, negatives, prints, and newspaper photos, and options for scanning them. She discusses the types of scanners that are available, from flatbed to film, and the best settings to use for originals. The course then delves into Photoshop Elements tools and techniques to help restore clarity to faded photos and fix problems such as dust, scratches, and tears. Exercise files are included with the course.
When a photo fades, all the tones in the photo have lightened, so it stands to reason that if you darken the tones, the fading will lessen. Layer blend modes are a sort of one step process to darken a faded photo without using sliders and histograms. The layer blend modes are destructive in a sense, meaning they change the layer you're working on, so you need to make a duplicate layer of your original by using keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J or Command+J or right-click on the thumbnail and choose Duplicate layer. Let's rename this Blend mode, and click OK.
layer blend modes, found in the dropdown box, above the layers, are divided into six unmarked mode categories, Normal, Darken, Lighten, Light, Invert and Color. For darkening the contrast in a faded photo, the Darken mode category containing Darken, Multiply, Color Burn and Linear Burn will be your top options. Nine times out of ten, you'll probably end up using the Multiply Blend mode, but don't get stuck in that rut, it's always a good idea to scroll through the entire layer Blend mode list.
It doesn't take much time and it's good to see the effect the Blend modes have on different photos. Let's run through them right now just to see what happens, start with Darken. On a PC use your Downward Arrow key to scroll through the Blend modes. Next, we have Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn and Darker Color. Naturally, we'll probably go with Multiply. If you need to darken or lighten the photo a little more, duplicate the layer containing the Blend mode and adjust the Opacity.
You duplicate again by hitting Ctrl+J or Command+J and then you can go to your Opacity and lower it until you find a place you like. layer blend modes are just one more tool you can use on faded photos. All photos are different and what works on one, may not work on another. The more ways you know to tackle your photo challenges, the better your chances of success.
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The purpose of this blog is to share ideas that will help you in your day-to-day life. My focus is personal finance, and almost all PF topics are covered in one way or another. Whereas you may not find in-depth statistical analysis of the performance of ETFs vs. Mutual Funds, you will find many tips to help you save money, reduce debt, make more money, and spend wisely. I also like to get readers to consider shifting how they think about their jobs, how they spend, how they save for retirement, and much more. As a matter of fact, getting readers to THINK is a major focus of my website.
Another topic I write a lot about is healthy living, and many posts revolve around eating right, improving overall quality of life, and creating healthy habits. I want to help as many people as I can save enough money to live comfortably in retirement, and also feel great along the way.
Finally, I also write posts that just discuss every day experiences that you may or may not have any interest in at all. In essence, no topic is off limits!


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August 2, 2015
More people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. But the overall level stayed low enough to suggest the job market is strengthening.
The Labor Department says weekly applications increased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000, the highest level since January.
The four-week average, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations, edged up to 355,000, its first increase in eight weeks. Still, that's only slightly above the previous week's figure of 354,750, the lowest in nearly four years.
Applications have fallen 14 percent since October. When applications fall below 375,000, that generally signals hiring is strong enough to reduce the unemployment rate. The steady decline has coincided with three months of big hiring gains.
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Northern sophomore mourned, was on 'comeback trail' at school
Grief counseling teams were in place Wednesday at Northern Vance High School after a 16-year-old sophomore was shot to death the night before in a Henderson neighborhood.
Deonte Judkins was described by varsity football head coach Eric Watkins as well-liked student by others, and a big guy on a comeback trail in the sport of football. The coach said Judkins had received a good report card last week and was expected to rejoin the football team during workouts in January.
"We talked a lot. He was a wonderful person, just one of those great kids," Watkins said. "He was friendly with everybody, and everybody liked him."
Watkins said he was left stunned Tuesday when he heard the news.
"He was such a young person to lose his life like that," Watkins said. "It is always tragic for that to happen. It is a sad situation."
Judkins was a member of the football team at the beginning of the season but was not with the team at season's end. Watkins said the defensive tackle was applying himself to weight training disciplines and other signs of good character.
"He was doing great with grades," Watkins said. "He was doing real well, and he was looking forward to off-season football in January."
Jeremy Crawford, an assistant principal at Northern, said the school was pressing forward with a school day Wednesday that was slowed by the realization that the student body had lost one of their own.
"There is very limited movement," Crawford said of the student body. "We are trying to go class to class to talk with them right now."
Superintendent Ronald Gregory was at the school Wednesday. Terri Hedrick, the public information officer for the school system, declined to comment on behalf of the school system.
"I can not provide you with any other information about him, especially without the consent of the family," Hedrick said.
Michael Applewhite, principal at Northern, said his focus was on student needs.
"I am not going to talk about the student," Applewhite said. "We have only been dealing with students. I have been with students all day."
School leaders said the county had mobilized counselors to Northern Vance from across the county as part of the response team.
Hedrick said a "critical response team" was on location Wednesday for counseling purposes, a preplanned response to situations involving students and unexpected death.
"We have school counselors from across the county, as many as could be spared," Hedrick said. "I know they will be there again tomorrow."
Hedrick said there were no changes to extra-curricular school activities or other scheduled routines.
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Available with axial or radial lead wires. The fusible thermal element is a eutectic alloy. When the temperature reaches the melting point of the fusible eutectic alloy, the alloy melts and liquifies. This breaks or "cuts-off" the electrial current through the thermal fuse
Designed for high current applications. The thermal sensitive pellet in the SEFFUSE brand TCO liquefies when the temperature rises to the melting point of the thermal element. This, in turn, allows a spring action to permanently break the electrical circuit.


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Learn more about FERPA and the gaps in the law that have resulted in information privacy breaches around the country and a robust market in children's personal information.
Read the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Alert to parents warning of the risk of children's identity theft and urging parents to safeguard their children's school records and directory information.
Watch Opt-Out 2014: Protect Children
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SHARE THE OPT-OUT MESSAGE! Learn how you can get special OPT-OUT hats, bags, umbrellas, smash lights and key chains to share with other parents concerned about protecting student privacy.
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At the Sovereign Wealth Management conference - hosted by Central Banking Publications in London on Thursday - calls for greater transparency by sovereign wealth funds were matched by demands from the funds themselves for fair regulatory treatment.According to recent Morgan Stanley estimates, assets under management at sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are approximately $2.9 trillion. Although small compared with the combined size of the global bond and equity markets (around $131 trillion), the activities of SWFs have come under scrutiny in recent years. And with the funds anticipated to grow to between $10 trillion and $15 trillion by 2015, this focus is likely to intensify.
Opinions expressed at the event highlighted the concerns some western institutions have regarding SWF investment decisions. Fears are driven, to some extent, by potential security issues caused by foreign public ownership of strategic assets as well as the effects on financial stability SWF investment might have.
Herve Ferhani, deputy director, monetary and capital markets department, at the International Monetary Fund, acknowledged SWFs can bring clear benefits to recipient countries, citing recent capital injections into global investment banks, which helped the sector mitigate market stresses.
Nevertheless, Ferhani added SWFs can also "impact stability and have the potential to cause market disturbances." To allay market fears, Ferhani called for greater transparency and use of best practices by SWFs.
Robert Kaproth, director of international monetary policy at the US Department of the Treasury, remarked: "SWFs have attained systemic importance, and it is only proper that we think through the implications of that. Governments have to be vigilant on legitimate issues surrounding cross-border investments."
Kaproth continued by saying the US has long benefited from commercially driven foreign investment, but argued SWFs need to be more open about their activities.
Shahmar Movsumov, executive director at the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, responded by accepting the importance of transparency, clearly defined objectives and good governance. However, somewhat pointedly, he commented "governments in recipient countries also have a part to play in having clearly defined and enforced regulations. Inefficient protectionism is also evidence of national strategic interests".
Thomas Ekeli, investment director at the Norwegian ministry of finance, concurred with that view. "Politically driven decisions are often made by recipient countries, not the funds themselves," he said. "If funds are able to manage reserves properly, this can give a massive boost to their own and the recipient's economy."
According to Knut Kjaer, former chief executive at Norges Bank Investment Management, SWFs should respond to calls for improved transparency because it is in their best interests, not to placate foreign governments.
"Recipient countries should not discriminate on capital because of its source: SWFs should be welcomed as liquidity providers" he commented. "The big issue is how to get sovereign agencies to manage money in a professional way so they can maximise returns and efficiency."
To achieve this, "funds need to set out clear objectives and governance practices, empower people within their organisation, and separate political and investment goals," Kjaer concluded.
See also: Sovereign Wealth Saviours
More on Sovereign Wealth
State-sponsored money and the new market order
Sovereign wealth of nations
European insurers exposure to problem sovereigns 'manageable'
European insurers exposure to problem sovereigns 'manageable'
Irish woes may spread to other PIIGS
European Union action on Ireland's bank debts points to fears over contagion spreading across peripheral Europe.
Opinion: Preparing for failure
Preparing for failure
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UTAS Home › Faculty of Health › Human Life Sciences › › Lupus sufferers urged to join research program
Article courtesy The Examiner: http://www.examiner.com.au/story/224787/lupus-sufferers-urged-to-join-research-program/
LAUNCESTON lupus sufferer Colleen McCormack says she is concerned that young people with the autoimmune disease become isolated from friends.
"It is awful for young people - their friends don't understand when they say, I'm too tired, I can't do anything," Mrs McCormack said.
"They end up isolated from their friends."
Yet Mrs McCormack knows that more than 30,000 Australians struggle with the disabling and life-altering impact of lupus.
More people have lupus than AIDS, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis combined, according to the Lupus Association of Tasmania.
That's why Mrs McCormack was one of the first to volunteer to join a joint University of Tasmania- Launceston General Hospital research program.
This week she urged other people to volunteer as participants in the latest study in the $48,000 three-year research program to try to find out why lupus sufferers are more likely to develop blood clots than other people in the community.
University of Tasmania haematology lecturer Murray Adams and LGH clinician Al Khalafallah have worked together on the lupus research.
To make the latest study substantive they need 100 people to take part - half lupus sufferers and about half who are not as the control group.
"At the moment we have 70 people involved from across the state - we are looking for another 30," Dr Adams said.
People with lupus can have a range of clinical problems ranging from skin rashes, renal disorders and infections to blood clots.
Professor Khalafallah said that Tasmania had more lupus patients than other parts of Australia and it was important to develop ways to detect if they were prone to blood clots which could be deadly.
Those interested in becoming involved as a volunteer patients in the lupus research should contact Dr Adams by phoning 6324 5483.
Lupus is an acute and lifelong autoimmune disease that leaves the immune system unbalanced, causing inflammation and tissue damage to almost every body organ system.
Lupus can affect the skin, joints, blood and blood vessels, heart, lungs, kidneys and brain.
It can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms are similar to other illnesses.
More than half the people with lupus suffer four or more years and visit three or more doctors before obtaining a correct diagnosis.
The health effects of lupus range from mild to life-threatening and swing from periods of increased activity called flares to remission.
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21 August, 2012
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If you are seeking a world-class educational experience within a vibrant, Christ-centered learning community, Cedarville is the place for you. Step up to the challenge of our arts, sciences, professional and graduate programs, and achieve more than you ever imagined. Be challenged and transformed by professors who are experts in their fields and invest their lives at Cedarville to mentor and guide students like you.
The best way to experience Cedarville is to visit campus. Be our guest!
March 25, 2013
What do parents of Cedarville University students have to say about Cedarville? What is their experience as parents? What is the experience of their student? In today's post, hear from those who currently have students attending Cedarville University!
Is your student ready to finalize the decision to attend Cedarville? Submit the $250 reservation deposit online today!
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March 5, 2013
Join us for a first-ever All-Access visit and orientation event planned especially for future Cedarville students and their parents on Friday, March 15, 2013. Register by March 7 to reserve your place at this special visit event. While you and your student are on campus, we'll give you "all-access" to Cedarville services and information:
You are also invited to a special focus group session to review the brand new Cedarville University website. A very small number of individuals have gotten a sneak peak at the website, but we want YOUR feedback. The focus group will take place in the evening after the All-Access Orientation events. A Pizza dinner will be provided for those who participate. There are a limited number of slots open for this focus group. Please email email@example.com to reserve your place and to receive more information.
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November 15, 2012
If you are like most families, you are looking for as much financial aid as possible. In addition to aid provided by colleges and universities and government sources, there are many other private scholarship options available. Although time consuming, these scholarships can offer big rewards for those who make the effort.
Today's post provided by Mr. Kim Jenerette, Executive Director of Financial Aid, gives five hints for accessing private scholarships.
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October 29, 2012
College application fees can add up! Thirty dollars here; fifty dollars there. Why pay them if you don't have to?
Most universities offer application fee waivers for students who apply by a specific deadline, typically in the fall. For example, Cedarville University waives its application fee for all students who apply online by November 1. Submitting college applications early and taking advantage of fee waivers is a great way to start saving now on college-related expenses.
By the way, the response to Cedarville's fee waiver has been remarkable! Applications for Fall 2013 are already at record levels. Please encourage your student - if he/she hasn't done so already - to apply online by Thursday and save the application fee.
Questions? Your student's admissions counselor is available to help! Our team looks forward to meeting you and answering your questions.
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Lisa Opie in Miami. (January 17, 2014)
Photos: Splash News
I am so fricken Hungry right now
So, my story is I thought she was drowning, and in all the excitement got confused and stared by applying chest compressions to her ass.
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"I knew John Bishop from SCCA days and his marketing man was Dick Gilmartin. Dick called me and asked if I would join the new race org. called IMSA. My # 6 licence was the first issued after the Bishop family took the first 5. In 1972 the Baby Grand BFG series started and I was a Toyota dealer and took my wifes Celica and had Ray Heppenstall (Howmet turbine fame) build me a race car. Our first outing was at Daytona where I was on the pole won one sprint race then lost to Amos Johnson's Gremlin. The first IMSA enduro was run at Mid Ohio in 1972 and it was a 6 hour Baby Grand race which I won giving Toyota its first Pro win worldwide. That is it for now. Next car was a 1976 Gremlin then an all new 1978 Toyoya Corolla.
After a few years off to go back to SCCA in FF open wheel racing, I headed back to the now called Radial Challenge Series. Toyota wanted nothing to do with racing so I bought George Alderman's Gremlin which had dominated the series in 1975. Right after my purchase IMSA put a restrictor on the carburetor taking away about 20HP. That was a great year as I finished 4th in the championship that had America's top drivers competing, including. Gene Felton, Nick Craw, Amos Johnson among others. At a race in Ontario Calif. on the starting grid were 11 past SCCA National Champs, unbelievable. The racing that year was WILD. Hemmings story on early RS series. Paul Newman, Rolf Stommelen and me driving for Dick Barbour at Watkins Glen 1979. 1976 Gene Felton and I racing at Daytona and Mid Ohio"


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For Steve – Boing Boing
by Dean Putney
This was an incredibly difficult article for me to write, but I feel much better having written it. Steve Jobs was a huge influence on me, and although I never said one word to him, I have felt his presence throughout my life. This is a very personal and emotional article.


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The Two-Way
12:27 pm
Wed March 6, 2013
VIDEO: Mount Etna Lights Up The Night Sky
By Mark Memmott
The activity at Sicily's Mount Etna, as we've said, can be seen from space.
But it's video from a much closer perspective that's getting attention today. Check how the night sky glowed Tuesday and Wednesday as the volcano spewed.
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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859 O'Farrell St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
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Wed. March 6, 2013WHY? | San Francisco, CA |Presented By Great American Music Hall
Venue Information
Great American Music Hall (MAP)859 OFarrell StSan Francisco, CAUS 94109
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Also Appearing:Astronautalis,
Dream Tiger
Event Information:415-885-0750
At this time Great American Music Hall does not have any tickets available for purchase for this event. Note: This does not mean this event is sold out. Contact the venue to purchase tickets.
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Nipping at the ragged heels of their eagerly devoured Sod in the Seed EP, WHY? at last unleash their fifth long-player, a meticulous work of morbid fascination and offbeat romanticism dubbed Mumps, etc. Though there is a mysterious sickness (perhaps of the mind) that lurks about these thirteen songs, one might also imagine the title as describing the musically swole state of these three Midwestern men as they bring their sound into glisteningly buff focus. Yoni Wolf, brother Josiah and Doug McDiarmid are in the pocket, the unbreakable rock core at the center of a spinning ball of sonic kaleidoscopie. And all the things we love about them are still true: the grinning sun-warped choruses, that jangly Western lope, those confessionals cut with wry wit and crude details, set dancing down the odd knots of complex poetic daisy chains. It's just that... well, all of it sounds better than ever this time around.
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What a sweetheart! I wish I had such beautiful eyelashes!!!
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I couldn't have said it better! Thank YOU!!
Working in the beauty industry can be challenging. It almost seems that some want to make a work situation so miserable that new people will quit. Success breeds success. Those who are truly successful will take the time to mentor and realize that it not only benefits the new person but benefits them as well.


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"My rejection at the Salon brought an end to
my hesitation [to settle in Paris] since after this failure I can no longer
claim to cope... alas, that fatal rejection has virtually taken the bread out
of my mouth." - Claude Monet
It is hard to imagine today
that Monet faced tremendous resistance to his work during the early years of
his working life. Of course, he was expressing an entirely new form of
oil painting, so he might have expected "blowback" from the French art
establishment until Impressionism was ultimately accepted. At that time in
France, becoming accepted by the formal art establishment at the annual Salon
exhibitions meant the difference between professional success and failure,
eating or starving.
During the first two decades
of his career, Monet had no consistent outlet for his oil paintings.
Fortunately for all of us, Monet eventually gained a strong ally in the Paris
dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. Durand-Ruel supported him by purchasing paintings
outright while trying to attract buyers for his revolutionary work from the
newly affluent bourgeoisie. This long road to acceptance took many years to
travel, but still Monet persisted, never wavering from his commitment to his
art in the face of slow or no sales. The official art culture was not welcoming
to what he was devoting his life to doing. That message is an all-too-common
experience for many artists working today.
We understand that a certain
amount of discouragement is inevitable in the process of artistic maturation.
In some ways it serves a good purpose, for if we are committed to this life, we
will continue to work at it, improving all the time. Competition can be viewed
the same way. Playing tennis with a better player makes us play harder. The
problem for artists is that the very sensitivity that fuels our creativity can
cause us to take these disappointments very hard. Rejections can begin to feel
like a general negative consensus on our abilities, our visions or our
passions, which seem to invalidate our efforts before we can even get them out
Galleries are inundated with
materials from artists seeking representation, and some of them do not have
enough staff-time to cope with the mountain of submissions, or they may be
full, or not able to sell what we do, or simply uninterested. If you are truly
an artistic pioneer as Monet was, you probably will need to find a guardian
angel with the vision and commitment of a Durand-Ruel.
For most of us, there can be
a million reasons for why we sometimes don't fit in. We have all gotten the
rejection letters that usually begin something like, "Thank you for your
interest in our gallery, but..." I once got a letter from a well-known gallery
in Scottsdale that stated, "Your work is very fine and definitely belongs in
Scottsdale, just not here!" That gave me a good laugh. Rejection is just part
of the life we lead, and the sooner we are able to see it as just that, and no
more, the sooner we can accept rejection and get back to painting.
One of our favorite quotes on
the subject came from our friend Robert Genn: "It is necessary to put yourself
out for rejection, and accept that you will be rejected." On the other side of
the coin, Robert Wade said, "Constant acceptance breeds complacency and
mediocrity. Rejection breeds determination and ultimate success."
Here's wishing you all
ultimate success!
For more perspectives on art,
along with step-by-step demonstrations and interviews with well-known artists,
be sure to join us on The Artist's Road.
--Ann & John
Sometimes a well-written thought out article hits us hard, this one is the perfect ,' someone please "pick-me" up day! I needed it, thanks!
A Claude Monet fan, I was sorry to learn of the difficulty he experienced early in his career. On the bright side, his overall life story is inspirational. Thank you for writing about Claude Monet, Ann & John!
Oscar-Claude Monet was in almost every sense considered to be the founder of Impressionism. When tragedy struck his life as his wife died of tuberculosis after the birth of their second son, a determined and renewed Monet, have had enough of living a life in poverty, and went on to create some of the greatest artworks ever made in the 19th century. A Premium Oil Art Reproduction of Claude Monet's paintings are available at BuyArtPaintings.com which is the leading online art gallery reported to have a strong demand from home buyers, art displays for corporate offices, interior designers, furniture shops, art distributors, and super-marts.
Golden Gate Media Inc. is the parent company of BuyArtPaintings.com based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. BuyArtPaintings.com has been voted #1 online art mall by ensuring expedited delivery, high quality artworks, and 24 hours customer service except for sunday. For more information, visit http://www.buyartpaintings.com or call at 1.855.315.ARTS (2787).
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BuyArtPaintings.com boasts +20,000 original & famous artists art reproduction paintings – retailing and distributing oil art paintings worldwide from online shoppers, furniture shops, super marts, interior designers, office and corporate clients. In the past prior to the inception of e-commerce, art lovers relied on local art galleries as well as frame shops. However, the costs involved with purchasing an artwork would cost a fortune and was only considered for the social elite population. BuyArtPaintings.com focuses on breaking the misconception and stereotype that only the high class population can afford these finest artworks. Providing close to 90% off the gallery prices, the company has succeeded in global distribution and exports, further reinventing friendly navigation e-commerce platform for the shoppers to enjoy the shopping experience, at the comfort of their home and office. There is an ongoing promotion for 15% discount on both oil painting and frame. Call to inquire about the discount at 1.855.315.ARTS.
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- Cooking Time:
- Servings: 4
- Preparation Time:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 rib celery, chopped
- 1 small carrot, chopped
- 1/2 small onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 3 medium red bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch chunks (5 cups)
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- pinch sugar
- coarse salt and ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped chives, for garnish
- 1. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add celery, carrot, onion, and garlic; cook until onion is opaque and carrot is crisp/tender, about 10 minutes.
- 2. Add peppers, broth, 2 cups water, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until peppers are very tender, about 15 minutes.
- 3. Remove bay leaf; purée soup in batches in blender. Return to pot; add cream and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. If necessary, gently reheat before serving, and garnish with chives.
- Per serving: 200 calories; 17.3 grams fat; 3.7 grams protein; 9.5 grams carbohydrates; 2.4 grams fiber
NotesThis soup is so easy and delicious. It's good for you, too! You could easily modify the recipe to make it vegetarian or vegan. I found it in Everyday Food magazine.
Per serving: 200 calories; 17.3 grams fat; 3.7 grams protein; 9.5 grams carbohydrates; 2.4 grams fiber
Get Back in the Kitchen! Easy Healthy Meals for the Non-Chef by Kathy and Andrew Judson
'CHEF' the Film Cookbook: Recipes from El Jefe
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Salted Caramel - Sauce and/or squares
All the food groups in one dish...if you consider tomatoes a fruit :)!
Hanky PankySee More


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Paper is textured with a pattern that yields a known signature signal when transformed to the frequency domain. This signature can be used for various purposes, including determining the angular orientation of the paper when scanned, conveying a plural-bit digital watermark, and for simple document recognition purposes (e.g., photocopiers that refuse to reproduce banknotes). The texturing can be effected during the paper-making process, e.g., by shaping the surface of a de-watering element accordingly.
1. A method of marking a paper document comprising:
receiving a first signal comprising plural encoded bits of data;
receiving a second signal comprising an orientation component, the orientation component corresponding to a predetermined frequency domain orientation component; and
in a paper document production process, including a step that imparts into a surface topology of the paper document the first signal and the second signal to thereby steganographically mark the paper document.
2. The method of
3. A method of marking a paper document comprising acts of:
receiving a signal comprising plural bits of data and an orientation component, the orientation component having characteristics observable in at least one transform domain; and
imparting into a surface topology of a paper document a representation of the signal to thereby steganographically mark the paper document, wherein the representation of the signal is machine-readable from optical scan data representing at least a portion of the paper document.
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. A method of marking a document comprising acts of:
receiving a plural-component signal, wherein at least one component of the plural-component signal has characteristics that are observable in at least one transform domain; and
shaping a surface of a document in accordance with the plural-component signal to thereby steganographically mark the document, wherein the plural-component signal is machine-readable from optical scan data representing at least a portion of the document.
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
11. The method of
12. The method of
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/515,545 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,919), filed Feb. 29, 2000, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/437,357 (now abandoned), filed Nov. 10, 1999.
The present invention relates to paper-making, and more particularly relates to techniques useful in encoding information in paper during its formation.
Digital watermarking is a burgeoning science with an extensive literature. Some of it, by the present assignee, relates to texturing the surface of a paper to convey optically-detectable digital information.
The assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,481, for example, details how the microtopology of a paper can be shaped, e.g., by a Braille-like machine, to encode digital data. The assignee's application Ser. No. 09/127,502 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,104) details how the high-pressures used in intaglio printing can be used to similar effect.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, paper is textured during the paper-making process, rather than in a subsequent process, thereby affording various advantages. The texture yields a known signature when transformed to the frequency domain. This signature can be used for various purposes, including determining the angular orientation of the paper when scanned and analyzed for the presence of watermark data, and for simple document recognition purposes (e.g., photocopiers that refuse to reproduce banknotes). One way of effecting the desired texturing is by shaping the surface of a de-watering element accordingly.
The foregoing and additional features of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
On optical scanning of an existing banknote, it was found that that the image data had components that were not attributable to the artwork printed on the note. Rather, further examination found that texturing left during the paper-making process had a pattern that appeared —when transformed into the frequency domain by a FFT process—as a well defined array of spectral impulses (
In the digital watermarking field, subliminal frequency domain patterns are sometimes deliberately inserted into images to serve as calibration signals by which scale, rotation, and offset can be computer-determined. (See, e.g., the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260.) Instead of adding such a pattern during printing, the patterns formed during paper-making might alternatively be used.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the printing on a paper is oriented so as to align in a predetermined manner with the texture markings on the paper surface. For example, the printing process can be tightly integrated with the paper-making process so that the orientation of the printing applied to the paper coincides in the desired manner with the paper texture. In a related embodiment, the paper-making and printing processes are not tightly integrated, but the paper is formed or cut so that its edges correspond in a known relationship to the texture pattern on the paper surface. By such arrangement, careful alignment of the paper's edge with a reference during later printing can assure that the image is oriented in the desired manner with the substrate texture. In still another embodiment, the paper is scanned just before printing, and the resulting data is processed so as to determine orientation of the texture signal. Printing is then oriented relative to the paper in the desired manner.
When a document printed by such a technique is thereafter placed on the platen of a scanner and scanned, the resulting image data is of uncertain rotation. The scan data can be converted to a frequency domain (e.g., by the FFT), and the known frequency pattern due to the paper texture can then be used as a calibration signal permitting the rotational state of the image data to be determined. Decoding of the watermark can then proceed once the rotation is known. (In some watermarking systems, scale and/or offset may also need to be determined. However, their determination is facilitated by knowledge of rotation. Moreover, the frequency domain signal may result in some ambiguity in the document orientation, e.g., rotations beyond 180 degrees may appear as rotations in the range 0–180 degrees. Such cases can be resolved through other means.)
As is familiar to those skilled in the art, paper is typically formed by depositing a layer of pulp slurry on a planar or cylindrical surface, extracting the water from the pulp, and drying. The middle step, sometimes known as de-watering, can be performed using various structures. Porous ceramic rollers are used in some processes, with a vacuum applied to the inside of the roller that serves to draw water away from the wet layer, through the pores, and to the inside of the roller. Other processes involve meshes or screens through which water is drawn from the pulp. The surfaces of such de-watering structures can be textured to impart a complementary texture (and a corresponding frequency-domain signal) to the paper.
In particular, a desired frequency domain signal can first be defined. The signal can be comprised of one or more impulses in the frequency domain, or can be spread across the spectrum. (The signal shown in FIG. 29A of U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,260 is exemplary of a suitable signal.) This signal is then inverse—transformed into the spatial domain, and the de-watering element then shaped in accordance with the resulting pattern.
In many embodiments, the frequency domain signal is manifested as a fine continuous "weave"-like pattern in the spatial domain. In other embodiments, pseudo-random patterns can be used. If desired, certain discrete markings in the spatial domain can also be provided on the de-watering element surface to provide additional functionality in the texture signal (e.g., permitting image translation to be determined in addition to image rotation).
In other embodiments, the frequency domain signal effected by the texturing does not serve as a calibration adjunct to another signal (e.g., a watermark signal). Rather, the frequency domain signal is employed alone. One application is in simple document recognition. For example, a photocopier may be arranged to look for the frequency domain signature characteristic of the texturing associated with banknote paper and, if detected on a document-to-be-copied, refuse to copy. (An example of another banknote sensing photocopier, albeit one that looks for a pattern in the printing on the document rather than in the paper texture, is shown in Canon's U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,614.) The texturing may be arbitrarily complex so as to reduce false triggering of such a detector.
In still other embodiments, the texturing can convey a plural-bit watermark payload. For example, the presence or absence of different frequency-domain components can signal "1" or "0" bits. Many other such arrangements will be apparent.
To provide a comprehensive disclosure without unduly lengthening this specification, applicant incorporates by reference the patents and applications cited above.
Having described an illustrated the principles of my invention with reference to specific embodiments, it will be recognized that the principles thereof can be implemented in many other, different, forms. For example, while the detailed embodiment discussed use of the FFT transform, the patterns formed during paper-making can likewise be discerned in other transform domains. Similarly, while a de-watering element was particularly noted as suitable for texturing, other elements in a paper-making apparatus can be alternatively be textured with similar effect. Still further, while the invention was illustrated with reference to conventional "paper," the principles thereof are equally applicable to other printable media, including plastic and the material marketed by DuPont under the brand name Tyvek. Yet further, while the illustrated embodiment textured the paper during its formation, post-formation texturing—as detailed in the assignee's other patents/applications—can be used in the particular applications above-detailed (e.g., to determine image rotation, for simple document recognition, etc.).
Moreover, the particular combinations of elements and features in the above-detailed embodiments are exemplary only; the interchanging and substitution of these teachings with other teachings in this and the incorporated-by-reference patents/applications are also contemplated.
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