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Blog: Ivan Ristić 2016-05-27T07:15:02+01:00 http://blog.ivanristic.com/ Ivan Ristić http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/08/bulletproof-maintenance How Bulletproof SSL and TLS is a living book 2015-08-31T00:00:00+01:00 2015-08-31T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
 I often say that Bulletproof SSL and TLS is a living book, but what does that mean exactly? It's now been one full year since the initial release, so what better time to look back to understand the process. It turns out there is a lot of work producing a living book that covers a turbulent field such as SSL/TLS and PKI. I've broken down the process into five steps:

Ongoing maintenance; I make small updates all the time as I learn new facts that are of potential interest to my readers. For example: new RFCs being released or updated, new software releases that other features or change behaviour. As an illustration, a recent JDK update disabled RC4 by default; when it came out, I updated my Java chapter to add a reference to the update.

There are other small changes that fall into this category, for example fixing typos and errors, and rewriting small parts of the text in response to reader questions. The book should be clear enough so that questions are not necessary.

New content; I add larger chunks of text as necessary. This usually happens when there is a significant new discovery, for example a new protocol vulnerability. For example, POODLE and POODLE TLS, FREAK and Logjam all happened in the year after the first edition, and they're now all covered in the book.

 I don't write about events immediately after they happen, for two reasons. First, because discoveries usually lead to other discoveries. That's how collaborative security research works; an army of researchers starts to look at a problem and contributes to the body of knowledge. The second reason is that I prefer to analyse a situation with a clear head and after the dust settles. Immediately after a discovery, things sometimes seem more exciting than they really are.

 My process usually begins with a blog post. To write about something clearly requires that you understand it very well; writing a blog post therefore forces me to research the problem in depth. I will then mention the news in the Bulletproof TLS newsletter, my periodic notification service. For urgent matters, an email goes out straight away. Finally, within a month or two, I will have added complete coverage of the discovery to the book.

 Quarterly updates; My quarterly updates add structure to the maintenance process. This is where I review the events of the last quarter to make sure that everything that should be covered is covered. Sometimes, new discoveries require not only new content, but book-wide changes. The quarterly update is an opportunity to make the advice in the book consistent.

 At the end of each quarter, my copyeditor, Melinda Rankin, goes through the new content and improves the language. Because all changes are made with change-tracking enabled, she knows exactly where the changes are, making it possible to do copyediting incrementally.

Revisions; After a certain time, I will revise the entire book. What this means is that I read every single page and ensure that the text is fresh enough for a fresh printing. This process catches a lot of small things that slipped through, and generally rejuvenates the book. Then we follow with another copyediting phase, and then an additional proofreading cycle.

 At the end of a revision, the book is brand new. Because we use print on demand, we release new files to our printer, after which they start to print what is essentially a new edition. We don't make much noise about this because, even with print on demand, book sellers have a stock that they need to go through. In other words, we don't know when exactly they will start selling the new version of the book.

 We released our first full revision of Bulletproof SSL and TLS this month, which is exactly one year after the first edition came out in August 2014. The updated version has about 30 more pages, and countless small improvements throughout.

 Editions; Depending on the amount of new content, at some point we will publish a formal new edition, with a new cover, ISBN number and everything else. With a living book, determining when a proper new edition should be made is tricky. You're adding content all the time, at what point do you call it a new edition? Having a fresh release date would surely help with sales. On the other hand, we don't want those who already have the book to buy the new edition if there isn't enough new content in it.

 Given that TLS 1.3 is currently being worked on, the likely outcome for Bulletproof SSL and TLS is that we will publish the second edition after TLS 1.3 is ready and can be used in practice. In the meantime, we'll just keep updating the first edition.

 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/06/introducing-tls-maturity-model Introducing TLS Maturity Model 2015-06-08T00:00:00+01:00 2015-06-08T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
As part of my job working on SSL Labs, I spend a lot of time helping others improve their TLS security, both directly and indirectly–by developing tools and writing documentation. Over time, I started to notice that deploying TLS securely is getting more complicated, rather than less. One possibility is that, with so much attention on TLS and many potential issues to consider, we're losing sight of what's really important.

That's why I would like to introduce a TLS Maturity Model, a conceptual deployment model that describes a journey toward robust TLS security. The model has five maturity levels.

At level 1, there is chaos. Because you don't have any policies or rules related to TLS, you're leaving your security to chance (e.g., vendor defaults), individuals, and ad-hoc efforts generally. As a result, you don't know what you have or what your security will be. Even if your existing sites have good security, you can't guarantee that your new projects will do equally well. Everyone starts at this level.

Level 2, configuration, concerns itself only with the security of the TLS protocol, ignoring higher protocols. This is the level that we spend most time talking about, but it's usually the easiest one to achieve. With modern systems, it's largely a matter of server reconfiguration. Older systems might require an upgrade, or, as a last resort, a more secure proxy installed in front of them.

Level 3, application security, is about securing those higher application protocols, avoiding issues that might otherwise compromise the encryption. If we're talking about web sites, this level requires avoiding mixing plaintext and encrypted areas in the same application, or within the same page. In other words, the entire application surface must be encrypted. Also, all application cookies must be secure and checked for integrity as they arrive in order to defend against cookie injection attacks.

Level 4, commitment, is about long-term commitment to encryption. For web sites, you achieve this level by activating HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which is a relatively new standard supported by modern browsers (IE support coming in Windows 10). HSTS enforces a stricter TLS security model and, as a result, defeats SSL stripping attacks and attacks that rely on users clicking-through certificate warnings.

Finally, at level 5, robust security, you're carving out your own private sliver of the PKI cloud to insulate yourself from the PKI's biggest weakness, which is the fact that any CA can issue a certificate for any web site without the owner's permission. You do this by deploying public key pinning. In one approach, you restrict which CAs can issue certificates for your web sites. Or, in a more secure case, you effectively approve each certificate individually.

The conceptual simplicity of the TLS Maturity Model enables us to easily understand where we are and what we need to do to improve. As a result, we can focus our attention on what really matters. Although level 5 provides best security, it involves most work and addresses risks that don't exist for most sites. Level 4 is arguably the minimum level that can be called secure, and the level that most organisations should be aiming for.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/05/ssl-labs-increased-penalty-no-tls12 SSL Labs: Increased penalty when TLS 1.2 is not supported 2015-05-22T00:00:00+01:00 2015-05-22T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
Earlier this week we released SSL Labs 1.17.10, whose main purpose was to increase the penalty when RC4 is used with modern protocols (i.e., TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2). We had announced this change some time ago, and then put in place on May 20. The same release introduced another change, which was to increase the penalty for servers that don't support TLS 1.2 from B to C. And it seems that this second change is being somewhat controversial, with many asking us to better explain why we did that.

Although what initially prompted us to think about changing the grading for not supporting TLS 1.2 was grade harmonisation (ensuring that a wide range of servers all get grades that make sense -- in other words, to have better-configured servers have better grades), that doesn't change the fact that the reality is that TLS 1.0 is an obsolete security protocol. TLS 1.0 came out in 1999, followed by TLS 1.1 in 2003 and TLS 1.2 in 2008. These new protocol versions were released for a reason -- to address security issues with earlier protocol versions. But, despite being obsolete, TLS 1.0 continues to be the best supported protocol version on many servers. It's not very bad, mind you -- we know from SSL Pulse that about 60% of servers already support TLS 1.2. Client-side, the situation is probably better, because modern browsers have supported TLS 1.2 since 2013. You could say that, overall server configuration is the weaker link.

In that light, we feel that the increase of the penalty for the lack of TLS 1.2 is the natural next step in the deprecation of TLS 1.0. In fact, SSL Labs is probably late in doing that. Just last month, the PCI Security Council deprecated SSL v3 and TLS 1.0 for commercial transactions. No new systems are allowed to use TLS 1.0 for credit card processing and existing systems must immediately begin to transition to better protocols. In comparison, the SSL Labs change of grading is only a mild nudge in the right direction. And, while some people are not happy that we're pushing for TLS 1.2, others are complaining that we're not doing enough. For example, the Chrome browser has been warning about lack of TLS 1.2 and authenticated (GCM) suites for some time now. Clearly, it's difficult to make everyone happy.

The bottom line is that TLS 1.0 is insecure and we must migrate away from it. In 2011, there came the BEAST attack, and, in 2013, the Lucky 13 attack. TLS 1.0 remains vulnerable to this problems, but TLS 1.2 (with authenticated suites) isn't. These attacks are serious and some organisations continue to use RC4 in combination with TLS 1.0 just to be sure that they are mitigated. We understand that many organisations face significant challenges adding support TLS 1.2, but that is unavoidable. In computer technology, and in security in particular, it is often necessary to keep running just to stay in place.

We did get one thing wrong, however -- we didn't communicate our grading changes in advance. It was not our intention to surprise anyone. In fact, we'd prefer much more if changes were smoother. To that end, in the future we'll be announcing all grading changes with at least one month notice, and hopefully more for some more significant changes.

Update (3 June 2015): Notification of SSL Labs grading changes (including signups to get notifications by email) is now available at SSL Labs Notifications.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/05/ssl-labs-1-17-rc4-obsolete-crypto-logjam SSL Labs 1.17: RC4, Obsolete Crypto, and Logjam 2015-05-21T00:00:00+01:00 2015-05-21T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
Yesterday we released SSL Labs 1.17.10, whose main goal was to introduce grading adjustments we had talked about a month ago. We delivered the planned changes as well as a few additional tweaks. Our release coincided with an announcement of a new attack against TLS, called Logjam, and we had some time to work on that, too.

RC4

As discussed last month, starting with this version we are increasing our penalty for using RC4 with modern TLS versions, namely TLS 1.1 and better. Sites that do that are now capped at C. Sites that use RC4 only with older clients will be capped at B. Sites that do not use RC4 will get an A, assuming absence of other problems.

No TLS 1.2 Support

It is important for servers to support modern protocols in order to take advantage of the best security features present in modern clients. To emphasise this, sites that don't support TLS 1.2 are now capped at C (was B previously).

Logjam

Logjam, the new attack on weak Diffie-Hellman (DH) parameters is yet another reminder that supporting obsolete cryptography is never a good idea. Even though TLS provides a negotiation mechanism that should in theory enable modern clients to communicate using only strong security, in practice there are ways to abuse either the clients or the protocol and perform downgrade attacks.

Diffie-Hellman key exchange strength is a relatively obscure aspect of TLS protocol configuration. Until recently, most web servers didn't even have an ability to tune this setting, and some servers don't even today. That wouldn't be a problem, except that most servers default to insecure values. SSL Labs started highlighting servers with weak DH parameters some years ago in an effort to raise awareness of this issue.

Logjam affects only incorrectly configured SSL/TLS servers. Those who have followed best practices (e.g., SSL/TLS Deployment Best Practices from SSL Labs) aren't using any of the vulnerable cryptography and need not make any changes to mitigate LogJam. In addition, for performance reasons, well-tuned sites prefer key exchanges based on Elliptic Curve cryptography, avoiding problems with DH altogether. In SSL Labs, servers vulnerable to the LogJam attacks are graded as F; no changes were made specifically for this attack.

That said, we did extend our SSL/TLS Client Test to detect when user agents accept Diffie-Hellman key exchange that has only 512 bits of security.

Weak DH Parameters

Even though for most sites there isn't an immediate vulnerability if they're using 1024-bit DH parameters (state attacks are not part of most sites' threat model), such parameters are weak and should be discouraged. We have been warning about weak DH parameters for a long time; now, with the announcement of Logjam, we feel that it's a good time to move one step further. As of yesterday, sites that continue to use weak DH parameters are capped at B.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/04/what-is-new-in-ssl-labs-1-16-x What's new in SSL Labs 1.16 2015-04-28T00:00:00+01:00 2015-04-28T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
Yesterday, we released a new version of SSL Labs. In this blog post I'd like to quickly go over what was changed: there were a healthy number of improvements, a few fixes, and a large number of additions to the API.

New features and assessment improvements:

Added checks for Certificate Transparency in certificate, stapled OCSP response and TLS extensions

Stapled OCSP responses are now always checked, with any errors shown in the UI

Java 8 simulation takes into account the 2048-bit DH parameter limit

Java simulations take into account that Java aborts TLS handshakes if it sees unrecognized_name TLS warning

When a strong suite is used with weak or insecure DH parameters, only the parameters are highlighted (using orange or red, as appropriate). This should make it easier to understand exactly what is problematic.

Tests for TLS version intolerance to TLS 1.3+ now use 0x0301 version at the record layer. This change aligns our testing with the recent similar change in the TLS 1.3 specification, which aims to minimise intolerance issues.

Enabled throttling for assessments submitted via the web site. Previously, throttling was enabled only for the API, but, unfortunately, we're seeing out-of-control scrapers that push our load for no good reason and use an unfair share of resources. Throttling is now uniformly implemented, with limits on per IP address-basis. Only new assessment requests are checked; if your IP address already has too many concurrent requests, you will be asked to come later. However, you're not actually supposed to see this message unless you're submitting automated assessments. If you do, please get in touch with us and tell us your IP address. Perhaps our throttling configuration needs to be tuned.

Other smaller changes and fixes:

Updated root store to the latest from Mozilla (only one weak 1024-bit root left!)

Updated browser simulations: Chrome 42, Firefox 37, IE11, and IEMobile 11

The terms and conditions now cover the case when our APIs are used by infrastructure providers (no need to contact us any more!)

All times are now shown in UTC

Fixed A+ awarded with 1024-bit DH parameters

Lots of other smaller changes

API improvements:

Added EndpointDetails.freak

New ChainCert fields: notBefore, notAfter, sigAlg, keyAlg, keySize, keyStrength

Added Cert.sct

Added EndpointDetails.hasSct

Added EndpointDetails.poodle

New EndpointDetails fields: staplingRevocationStatus and staplingRevocationErrorMessage

New Cert fields: crlRevocationStatus and ocspRevocationStatus

New ChainCert fields: revocationStatus, crlRevocationStatus and ocspRevocationStatus

Added Endpoint.gradeTrustIgnored

Field ChainCert.issues is now set to zero if there are no issues. Previously this field wouldn't exist in the JSON structure.

Fixed ChainCert.issues didn't flag weak (e.g., SHA1) certificates

 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/04/ssl-labs-rc4-deprecaton-plan SSL Labs RC4 deprecation plan 2015-04-23T00:00:00+01:00 2015-04-23T00:00:00+01:00 Ivan Ristić
 Nobody wants to use RC4. This well known stream cipher would have been retired long time ago if it weren't for several critical problems in SSL and TLS, problems that affect block ciphers only–for example, BEAST, Lucky 13, and POODLE. So RC4 ended up being the lesser evil.

 Take BEAST, for example. There are mitigations for it (the so-called 1/n-1 split) in all major browsers, but there's also potentially a large number of users who are not updating their browsers (or operating systems). For POODLE, on the other hand, we don't have a workaround. Those who can disable SSLv3 are lucky, because they don't have to worry about this problem. Anecdotally, there are still many companies that can't do that. Small sites usually don't have to worry about these problems, but, for large companies, the worry is about the long tail of vulnerable clients.

 So it seems that we have two large groups: in one corner are users with modern software. They support TLS 1.2 and modern cipher suites. They are safe. In the other corner we have those with old SSL/TLS stacks, who support TLS 1.0 at best; some of them might be vulnerable to the BEAST attack, and most of them to POODLE as well. At SSL Labs, we want to fully deprecate RC4, but we don't want to penalise those who continue to need this cipher to support old clients. After all, there are no publicly-known feasible attacks against RC4, but there are such attacks for BEAST and POODLE.

 At the moment, when a server offers RC4, we cap the grade at B, because we deem that the server supports an undesirable encryption algorithm. Although it might be all right to continue to use RC4 in some cases, it's only fair to give a better grade to those servers that do not use it.

 In the future, we're going to start differentiating between servers that use RC4 with everyone and those that use it only with older clients. If you're using RC4 only with SSL 3 and TLS 1.0, your grade will continue to be capped at B. However, if you're using RC4 with TLS 1.1 or a better protocol, the penalty will be harsher.

 In order to give time to server operators to act, we will increase the penalty in two steps. The first change will be in May, about one month from now, when we will start penalising servers that use RC4 with modern clients. They will be capped at C (now B). Several months after that (tentatively September), we will increase the penalty to F.

 To sum up:

 If you want the best grade, don't use RC4. This is the only recommended option.
 If you feel that you need to continue to use RC4 for older clients, you'll get a B if you properly configure your systems.
 Otherwise, the penalty for using RC4 with modern clients (TLS 1.1+) will increase to a C in about one month, and then an F in a couple of months after that.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/03/openssl-cookbook-second-edition-released OpenSSL Cookbook 2nd Edition released 2015-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 2015-03-03T00:00:00+00:00 Ivan Ristić
 Today we're releasing the second edition of OpenSSL Cookbook, Feisty Duck's free OpenSSL book. This edition is a major update, with some improvements to the existing text and new content added. The new edition has about 95 pages, an increase of about 35 pages.

 Here's a brief overview of what's new:

New chapter Testing with OpenSSL, which focuses on secure server assessment.
New section Recommended Configuration, which contains a list of recommended cipher suites. I now prefer to configure OpenSSL by explicitly listing all the suites I wish to enable.
New section Creating a Private Certification Authority, which contains a step-by-step guide to creating and deploying a private CA.
Updated SSL/TLS Deployment Best Practices to v1.4. Important changes in this version include SHA1 deprecation and SSL 3 weaknesses (POODLE).

 Another important improvement is that I am switching from updating OpenSSL Cookbook once in a while (the previous edition was released in October 2013) to making small changes as the need arises. There still might be further editions, but only when and if new content is added.

 OpenSSL Cookbook draws from the content written for my bigger work, Bulletproof SSL and TLS. If you're looking for a complete guide to the world of SSL/TLS and Internet PKI, give the bigger book a try.

 That said, the main goals of OpenSSL Cookbook are to be useful, short, and contain documentation for everything you might want to do with it as a user (i.e., no programming). If you're looking for something and you can't find it in this book, please get in touch to propose improvements.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/02/apache-security-ten-years-later Apache Security: free, ten years later 2015-02-26T00:00:00+00:00 2015-02-26T00:00:00+00:00 Ivan Ristić
  Officially, Apache Security—my first book—came to life in March 2005, when it was published by O'Reilly. But its life started earlier; in May 2004, I left my steady job in a pursuit of a more exciting future. Or perhaps a future in which I'd be spending more time doing what I loved. In retrospective, I wouldn't recommend to anyone to leave their job to write a book, but it worked out for me in the end.

 About a week ago, quietly, and ten years after the original publishing date, we set Apache Security free. (You can get it from the Feisty Duck web site.) Although it's been clear for a long time that Apache Security isn't going anywhere, it's only now that its journey is finally complete.

 Naturally, I wasn't planning for it to be like this. Soon after the first release I started to compile notes for the second edition. After all, it's only after publishing a book that you start to hear from your readers. Unfortunately, O'Reilly had other ideas and -- a couple of years later -- refused to publish another edition. Although Apache Security did sell pretty well (for a technical book), O'Reilly wanted more. Their decision probably made sense from a business perspective, but that hadn't been my motivation.

 To their credit, O'Reilly immediately agreed to return the copyright to the book to me, which would have allowed me to work on the second edition independently from them. But it wasn't to be. Sadly, it took them years to follow through on that promise, by which time it was too late. The world had moved on, and Apache wasn't as interesting as it had been once. I, too, moved onto other subjects.

 Today, Apache Security exists largely only as a record of a past time. It's actually still a very useful book, because it teaches concepts that are still valid. Conceptually, there were no significant changes since 2005. However, many of the details (e.g., the configuration directives) are now obsolete. Thus, I'd recommend that you browse it though it, but refer to the official Apache documentation for up-to-date instructions for particular tasks.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2015/01/ssl-labs-apis-now-available-beta SSL Labs APIs now available in Beta 2015-01-22T00:00:00+00:00 2015-01-22T00:00:00+00:00 Ivan Ristić
In the end-of-year post last month, I mentioned that SSL Labs APIs had been made available for early access. What that meant was that we wanted some people to have a look at our APIs and play with the open source reference client, but otherwise didn't want everyone to come at once. After a period of testing, we're ready to move to the next phase. The APIs (as in the specification, not the implementation) are now considered stable and we're committed to supporting them for a long period of time. We're also happy with more people looking at the APIs and using them. The APIs are still running on our development servers and may lack the power of our production cluster, but are otherwise stable and fully production ready. In the following weeks we'll do some more testing, with the goal of moving the APIs into production by the end of February.

 We see three important use cases for our APIs:

Testing of your own infrastructure
Integration with CAs and large infrastructure providers (e.g., hosting providers, CDNs, etc).
Integration with non-commercial open source tools

 We will formulate formal terms and conditions soon. We regret to say, but at this time we are not interested in integration of SSL Labs with commercial products, or the use of the APIs to build web sites (e.g., report aggregators) or online testing tools.

 All you need to use the APIs is available from our GitHub repository: https://github.com/ssllabs/ssllabs-scan.

 I hope you'll find the APIs useful. If you'd like to give us your feedback and/or participate in the further development of the APIs and the reference client, please join us on the ssllabs-devel mailing list: https://sourceforge.net/p/ssllabs/mailman/ssllabs-devel/.
 http://blog.ivanristic.com/2014/12/ssl-labs-end-of-year-updates SSL Labs end of year 2014 updates 2014-12-08T00:00:00+00:00 2014-12-08T00:00:00+00:00 Ivan Ristić
From the SSL/TLS perspective, 2014 was quite an eventful year. The best way to describe what we at SSL Labs did is we kept running to stay in the same place. What I mean by this is that we spent a lot of time reacting to high profile vulnerabilities: Hearbleed, the ChangeCipherSpec protocol issue in OpenSSL, POODLE (against SSL 3 in October and against TLS in December), and others. Ultimately, this has been a very successful year for us, with millions of assessments carried out.

We have just deployed what is principally our last update for 2014, bringing several improvements and refinements:

We made a series of improvements to our grading criteria, to keep up with recent discoveries and continue to nudge site operators to improve their configurations:

Servers that support SSL 3 are now capped at B (C if vulnerable to POODLE).
Grade F given to servers that support only SSL 3.
Servers that support RC4 are capped at B.
Incomplete certificate chains capped at B.
A+ servers are now expected to support TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV and have a SHA2 certificate chain.

The Client Capabilities test has been extended to test client support for all protocol versions, from the first SSL 2 until the most recent TLS 1.2. There have been many improvements to handle various edge cases.
Our SSL/TLS Deployment Best Practices guide has been fully updated.
SSL Labs APIs and our open source client tool for automated bulk testing have become available for early access. We are very excited about our making our APIs publicly available and hope that this will make it easier for system administrators to keep an eye on their systems.
There have been many small improvements throughout, thanks for the attention to detail of the members of our growing SSL Labs community.

According to SSL Pulse, before these changes we had about 24% secure servers. Now, the latest results (not yet released, but will be soon) show that number drop down to 11%. This shows that others, too, have to "run" in the same way that we do.

Naturally, we have many plans for 2015, but we'll talk about them in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I hope that you will enjoy the SSL Labs updates.


text:
Bubble Buster - famous arcade game where you have to shoot colored balls, combining three or more balls of the same color to knock them from the playing field. The game has beautiful graphics, realistic effects of falling balls. You can choose the level to pass.
Attention! All files represented on this site either were found freely distributed on the internet or by their authors' permission. If any of materials on this site violates your rights, report us
Rating:(49) 3.59★ 71.71%
Rate the game:Plot
Version: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1000Mhz)
Display: 3.20", 480x320
Dimensions: 56x106x14.2 mm

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Generic Company Place Holder
|** As a response to the MacWorld and other reviews we have reduced the price and will be rolling out new functionality shortly. Please feel free to provide useful feedback and feature requests for the next and future releases.
** Thanks for all the feedback -- please see the manual on our website for more details specifically on Groups integration.
Do you want to use your iPhone and your Contacts database to help you stay in touch with your colleagues, family and friends?
Do you have trouble finding that person or company in an ever increasing contacts database?
inTouch is a powerful alternative to the iPhone Contacts app designed to help you make more of the value locked-up in your contacts database and recognizing the desire to make your iPhone work harder for you.
➤ We show your contacts in 5 ways to help you navigate, all contacts, people, people by organization, people by city and organizations.
➤ We provide searching over a wide range of fields so your results are now as good as your data.
➤ Attractive and intuitive color coded interface for the different types of information in front of you.
➤ We have added new structures to support the wider networking experience, specifically activities and events. Events create calendar objects that can be mailed to your contacts, groups and activity members.
➤ The home page summarizes your up and coming birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions.
➤ Contacts can be maintained, emailed and vCards sent. Emailing is by individual, entire groups and activities without the need for leaving inTouch.
➤ Support for backup and restore of the inTouch backing database to your Mac or PC.
Activities behave in a similar way to Groups except they are held within inTouch. They are intended to be used to create "interest" areas and to allow the classification of contacts. Examples might be 'Golf Players', 'Financiers'. As with groups it is possible to send emails to members of an activity.
Events are used to create calendar events that are maintained by inTouch and these Events are made up of contacts, groups and activities. So, for instance you might set up a 'Golf Tournament' for some individual contacts and all your contacts you have put into the 'Less than 9 Handicap Activity'. Calendar iCal objects can be sent to the members of an Event inviting them to your organized event.
inTouch Contacts


text:
The iUrban Teen Tech Summit for youth ages 13 to 18 interested in technology careers returns to Washington State University Vancouver for a second time Oct. 20. Registration is free and includes snacks, lunch and a chance to win prizes. Students can register online at either iUrban Teen Summit or Eventbrite.
Intel will present a robotics demonstration followed by concurrent workshops in gaming, digital animation and cybersecurity.
The summit strives to reach underserved and underrepresented teens. Attendees have opportunities to interact with local technology leaders in the hope they become inspired to become tomorrow's leaders. Event organizers are seeking American Sign Language interpreters and can pay a modest stipend. ASL interpreters can call Deena Pierott, 360-980-8418.


text:
State and federal vital statistics offices often experience difficulty in obtaining accurate information on death certificates. The Registrar of Vital Statistics, summarizing a recent study of death certificates filed in one state, notes that half of all the certificates filed were found to be defective in regard to medical certification of cause of death.
The types of defects were classified into three categories: obsolete or unacceptable terminology, incomplete reporting and inaccurate reporting. Obsolete or unacceptable terminology includes diseases reported under nondescriptive names when descriptive names are available, vague and ambiguous terms such as senility, stillbirth and heart failure. Incomplete reporting means the omission of one or more of the following items: type of organism, anatomic site, duration of illness and underlying causes. About half of all defects classed as incomplete reporting are due to the omission of underlying causes of the immediate cause of death. Inaccurate reporting involves confusion between
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text:
Am I the only girl that doesn't like talking on the phone? I HATE IT.
I'd much rather visit and talk in person.
Am I the only girl that doesn't like talking on the phone? I HATE IT.
I'd much rather visit and talk in person.
Hand raised high here too. And for a reasonable reason too. Those that call me are calling at their convenience and that's generally not convenient for me. I'm always doing something or tending to Cody or working or whatever. If I had time to be on the phone, I'd be calling them. LOL!!!
Email is the best communication device for me. Visiting in person is highly irregular with my current lifestyle, so if you don't have facebook or email, you may not hear about/from me in quite some time. I do make time to see my mom once a week but then I'm tapped out of time to see others.
I just really don't have the time!
Donna & 10 yr old Cody
Home decor at it's funkiest...
Well I like email also. Its preferred actually, but for ppl I see everyday, they dont need to call me so damn much.
Not me..can't live without it and i am not ashamed to admit it..lol ...I don't have to be on the cell phone all of the time to talk, but I am a texting addict...
It also depends on the person I am talking too, if I am on with someone that has something to say and needs advice that is one thing. If it is someone that I just hear breathing on the other end and doesn't contribute, then I cut it short and wonder why they called me if they didn't want to talk...
Its funny I used to be on the phone all the time and now in the past couple of months the phone is the LAST thing I want to be on.
I hear ya sista!
I too used to be a huge phone talker, hated the idea of texting and couldn't understand why people didn't want to talk on the phone. Started texting in August and now that's all I do. I realize its so much easier to text then talk, texting doesn't interupt what you are doing, watching, etc. So I'm hardly on the phone anymore and I love it.
I really am mixed up, lol. There are some people I love to talk on the phone with, very few. My friend in NY I would love to talk to him in person but can't (3,000 miles away) so phone is awesome for him. E-mail is great for the acquittance's and then sometimes I just like to see who I am chatting with. So as I said I am very mixed up person, literally, lol.
Helen mother to
DD - Chloe (my heart baby, OHS at 18months old)
As a teenager, I used to LOVE talking on the phone. Could talk for hours...now that I have gotten into my field (social work) and all I do is talk to people, when I get home I do not want to talk. And people get mad at me because I do not answer my phone or keep in touch, but hey, they have to understand I just don't want to talk lol
I used to do alot of texting too, but then I got out of that...plus people curse me out for doing that and misconstrue my words and say they would rather me call. Can't win for losing.
Ugh, I HATE talking on the phone. Especially with people on phones with bad connections, so I have to strain with /all/ of my attention to get the gist of what they're talking about. Even if it's somehting I really want to hear, to be supportive to a friend in need. Because I cannot put all of my attention to the phone! Cameron's usually making noise, or talking to me, or I'm making supper, or getting him into the tub, or they call during nap or bedtime, or heck, once Cameron is in bed that is MY time.
Stepmom to K - Jan'04
Mama to C - Jan'06
And welcoming Anna, born 11th Aug 2014!
I'm with ya! I despise talking on the phone.
I spend the majority of my days at work on canference calls, so the last thing I want to do at night is talk on the phone. My friends get a little miffed at times because I'm sometimes terrible about keeping in touch, but the idea of sitting on the phone at night makes my head hurt. If they need to talk about something important, they know to leave a message. I'll always pick up the phone if they have something specific that they want to talk about, but I don't like the chit-chat.
A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. -Gloria Steinem
When I was younger (think high school) the phone was consistently glued to my ear. But throughout college, and now w/ madame & grad classes, I simply don't have the time. Shoot me an email, maybe even a text. Hell you can even drop by with 30 min notice, but the phone? I could be doing something else while chatting away w/ you.


text:
Pricewatch: Readers' queries
Consumer concerns this week include Tesco's creeping prices and the sluggishness of Sepa
The Tesco own brand tin foil has definitely gone from €1.09 to a staggering €1.99
More on Tesco's price increases. A reader, John Jameson, was thinking about emailing us about a number of price hikes he had noticed, but was spurred on by our item last week about the retailer's decision to increase the price of its own-brand milk from €1.49 to €1.69.
John says that the Tesco Loves Baby cotton wool pleat has gone from €1.95 before Christmas to €2.49. "They did try to soften the blow on this one, and were doing it three-for-two for a few weeks. The Tesco budget brand 65 food/lunch bags have gone from less than €1 to €1.59."
He has more. "I really can't believe this one," he says. "The Tesco own-brand tin foil has definitely gone from €1.09 to a staggering €1.99. It seems to me that they leave their goods at a low price until the name brands have gone a good bit higher over the years. Then they suddenly jump their prices to still be below the name brands, but significantly raising their prices and therefore their profits in one swoop.
"You stay true to their brands and then suddenly you get hammered by huge hikes that, if you didn't look at the prices before you placed the goods in the basket or trolley, you wouldn't notice until you actually paid at the till. Supervalu has had no increase in their cotton pleat."
With grocery inflation running at less than 5 per cent and general inflation running at much less than that, these increases seem out of line with what is happening elsewhere so we contacted Tesco again.
We contacted Tesco and it appears that the products highlighted by our reader were priced incorrectly. A spokesman said that "when managing over 20,000 products, pricing errors, both up and down, do occur very occasionally. The errors in this instance are now amended to their previous levels."
A reader, Colin, has been in touch. Last September he opted to avail of Airtricity's Budget Plan billing option for his gas and electricity supply, beginning the following month. "At the time we were advised that the budget figure would be calculated based on the previous year's consumption for both services, and we were told the budget figure would be €89 gross. It was also explained that, after four months, this budget could be reviewed upwards or downwards, depending on actual consumption."
At the beginning of this month he got a phone call from a representative of Airtricity to say that the budget plan would now be €263 from March, "an unfathomable increase of 195 per cent. The main reason for us signing up to this budget plan was so we did not get any surprise bills in the new year, and that our energy costs would be spread evenly over the entire year," he says.
"We have since been advised that the budget figure of €89 was based upon actual usage from June to September 2013. Basing a budget for winter consumption upon the four months of the year where average consumption is at its lowest is nonsensical and absurd. I am surprised any provider would be allowed sell a product such as this in any period outside those immediately after the winter period."
He contacted us after waiting two weeks for written confirmation of the basis for both budget figures, and said he was also still waiting for the free energy monitor he was promised when he signed up.
An Airtricity spokesman said Budget Plan payment amounts were calculated based on 12 months' previous consumption history. "While it is unusual for consumption between occupants of a property to vary substantially, it appears that since [our reader] opened his new account, there has been a significant increase in energy consumption at the property."
This meant the initial monthly payment of €89 was insufficient. "Airtricity regrets any impact the revision of the account has had and has offered to explore different payment options with him on the amount outstanding."
A reader has been in touch to express his disquiet with Sepa, the EU's new payment system, which is supposed to be a faster and less expensive way to move money around. "I had a term deposit that matured in a Bank of Ireland branch. I wanted to have some of the funds transferred to an account in the same branch of BoI and the remainder to an account at AIB, " he writes. "It took four banking days for the funds to get to the BoI account and about 11 days to get to the AIB account. Things only started to move when I went to BoI, and insisted that it recall the Sepa payment and issue a bank draft that I could bring to AIB. Sepa is not performing the way the public was told it would. Perhaps by slowing down the movement of funds the banks are making a little bit of 'overnight' interest."


text:
Create ringtones on Audiko.net! It's easy to download a free LA DREAM TEAM ringtones for your iPhone or mobile. Scope out your favorite snippet from your favorite thing - Dream Team Is, ROCKBERRY, Police Academy 4, or any other track. Then download the prepared LA DREAM TEAM ringtones to your device, and enjoy Hip-Hop music by LA DREAM TEAM every time your phone rings. If you adore Hip-Hop or maybe Miami Bass music, then you will probably like MC Luscious as well. You are free to gain your tune both in the MP3 and m4a formats, supported by both mobile phones and iPhones. Just select a track, and choose free LA DREAM TEAM ringtones download option.
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|Dream Team Is
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text:
USA Insulation of Cincinnati
USA Insulation of Cincinnati serves the greater Cincinnati area from Lebanon in the North to Covington, KY in the South and from Hillsboro in the East to SE Indiana in the West with professional-quality home insulation services - featuring blow-in insulation for attics and injection foam insulation for house-wide comfort.
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Heating and cooling demands result in enormous utility bills when a house is not properly insulated. USA Premium Foam® Insulation creates a thermal and acoustical envelope providing you with Comfort, Savings and Energy Efficiency all year long. USA Premium Foam® Insulation has the highest R-value (insulating ability) of any retro-fit insulation product available. It is a water-based, Green product safe for family and pets.
There are three elements necessary to provide high performance insulation in the Kentucky climate. They are:
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Over the last 30 years, USA Insulation developed its Premium Foam Insulation to provide the highest performing insulation product and service to owners of existing homes. Other products simply do not have the insulating or cavity fill capabilities of USA Premium Foam® Insulation. Most competitive products do not completely fill each wall cavity as they get 'hung up' on pipes and wires creating voids. Most also settle over time due to gravity aslo creating voids. If an insulation product or the installation technique does not build a complete thermal barrier around your home, you simply do not have the kind of high performing insulation required in Kentucky to keep you comfortable and energy efficient all year long.
In addition to great insulating capabilities, USA Premium Foam® Insulation:
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text:
Woman protests paddling of her 5-year-old son in Levy County
Paddling opponents urge state to ban the practice
Published: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:53 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:53 p.m.
The 5-year-old son of Tenika Jones missed a week of school and still suffers from nightmares of the woman who spanked him — his school principal.
Paddling numbers
Paddling, or corporal punishment, is allowed in 27 school districts across the state. More than 3,600 incidents of paddling occurred during the 2009-2010 school year.
Alachua County: 0
Bradford: 0
Clay: 133
Columbia: 0
Gilchrist: 113
Levy: 104
Marion: 197
Putnam: 0
Source: Florida Department of Education
Photo Galleries
"That's child abuse to me," Jones said on Thursday during a news conference at the Northwood YMCA.
Jones and the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and a state coalition want to ban paddling, which is still practiced in 27 Florida school districts, including where Jones lives in Levy County
Jones said she never gave administrators at Joyce Bullock Elementary School permission to paddle her son. The bruises on his buttocks from the February incident led to an asthma attack, she said, and a hospital trip.
"If they don't want us to hit our kids, they shouldn't either," she said.
No one at the school contacted her about the punishment, stemming from an incident on a school bus, Jones said.
"Every step (the principal) did, she was wrong," Jones said.
Although paddling is practiced in only a third of school districts, more than 3,600 incidents of paddling were reported during the 2009-10 school year — more than 100 per week, according to the SPLC.
"Corporal punishment is harmful and ineffective," said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the SPLC. "It does not make schools safe, and it does not lead to positive academic outcomes."
Alachua County Public Schools banned paddling several years ago, spokeswoman Jackie Johnson said. Marion County banned the practice last year. Twenty states allow paddling in schools.
State statute dictates the parameters for paddling and prohibits administrators from paddling kindergarten students. Jones' son is a pre-kindergarten student, she said.
It was unknown at press time if the principal was disciplined for her actions.
In New Orleans, hundreds of people marched in support of corporal punishment at a historically black Catholic school this February, arguing that paddling helps build character and maintains a high graduation rate.
According to the Levy County schools code of conduct, corporal punishment should never be given to students with a known physical condition that would cause their life to be endangered.
Jones said her son, who suffers from asthma, falls under that category, as his crying provoked an asthma attack and prevented him from breathing properly.
Shaloma Shawmut-Lessner of the Florida Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools has worked to end the practice, convincing lawmakers to exempt kindergartners in 2010.
"That's all we've won from 1970 to today," she said.
Katzerman said paddling disproportionately affects black and disabled students. Black students comprise 17 percent of the public school population but receive nearly 40 percent of paddlings, according to the SPLC.
Jones said she hopes her story informs parents and forces lawmakers to reverse their stance.
"I want them to stop," she said. "It doesn't make sense."
Contact Jackie Alexander at firstname.lastname@example.com or 338-3166.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text: ROTC Roberts Wesleyan College is pleased to offer students the opportunity to participate in Army ROTC through SUNY Brockport and also Air Force ROTC on the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus. In exchange for tuition assistance and a guaranteed post-college career, cadets commit to serve in the Military after graduation. Army ROTC Roberts Wesleyan College students who enroll in Army ROTC Basic Courses and Advanced Courses will be offered at SUNY Brockport. Credits and grades will be transferred to Roberts. Discover Army ROTC: You can take up to two years of ROTC classes without a military obligation. Learn about Army ROTC Scholarships. Explore opportunities in Army ROTC: www.brockport.edu/Armyrotc. For more information, please contact: CPT Vernon Webb, Recruiting Operation firstname.lastname@example.com or 585.395.2769Facebook Page Air Force ROTC Roberts Wesleyan College students who enroll in the Air Force ROTC program through Rochester Institute of Technology will take Air Force ROTC classes at RIT. Learn about Air Force ROTC Scholarships. For more information, please contact: firstname.lastname@example.com SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING YOUR BENEFITS: Roberts Wesleyan College reserves the right to reduce a student's Roberts funded financial aid (including merit aid) if the total of the student's grants and scholarship from all sources, including military, meets or exceeds the cost of tuition except where specifically addressed by regulation (i.e. PELL grants). For more information, contact: 585.594.6419 or firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
- CambodiaAgricultureFunding via KREDIT Microfinance Institution Plc.
Khom GroupCambodiaAgricultureFunding via KREDIT Microfinance Institution Plc.
Sarum GroupCambodiaAgricultureFunding via KREDIT Microfinance Institution Plc.
Mab's Group
Mab has been with VisionFund (a Kiva partner) for the past three loan cycles. The past loans have helped a great deal in injecting capital to ensure the smooth operation of her businesses. She has successfully repaid her previous loans.
For this cycle, she is the leader of a loan group consisting of three female members, including herself. She is applying for a loan in the amount of 800,000 KHR, and the other two borrowers are requesting loans of 1,400,000 KHR each. Mab will use her loan funds to pay for the harvesting and shipping fees of her agricultural output. Additionally, she will use a portion of her loan to buy two more pigs to raise.
She is confident that she can harvest her crop production in good time and sell it at a high price, allowing her to generate a higher income. This in turn will allow her to expand her animal husbandry venture.
Mab's goal is to support her children's education to the tertiary level.
Additional Information
About VisionFund CambodiaVisionFund Cambodia is a Christian organization and microfinance institution that provides small loans and other financial services to improve the lives of children, empower poor women and their families, and grow successful businesses. The organization works primarily in rural parts of Cambodia and has distinguished itself by targeting the very poor who require smaller loan sizes, regardless of religious beliefs, gender or ethnic background.
Kiva lenders' funds will help the organization to expand into the northeastern provinces of the country, which have historically been underserved and difficult to reach with financial services.
This is a Group Loan
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.
Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.
About Cambodia
77View loans »
Success!! The loan was 100% repaid
- Repayment Term
- 14 months (Additional Information)
- Repayment Schedule
- Irregularly
- Pre-Disbursed:
- Dec 21, 2012
- Listed
- Feb 1, 2013
- Currency Exchange Loss:
- Possible
- Ended:
- Jan 18, 2014


text:
Marijuana Markets: Inferences from Reports by the Household Population
Caulkins, Jonathan P., Pacula, Rosalie Liccardo, Journal of Drug Issues
Generally more is known about drug use and demand than about markets and supply, in large part because population survey data are available while market data are not. Although the household population represents a relatively small proportion of users of hard drugs, it represents a large proportion of the population using marijuana and participating in marijuana markets. This paper provides a description of marijuana market and acquisition patterns as reported by participants in the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. We find that most respondents obtain marijuana indoors (87%), from a friend or relative (89%), and for free (58%). Retail marijuana distribution appears to be embedded in social networks rather than being dominated by "professional" sellers. Despite these contrasts with stereotypical street markets for cocaine and heroin, there are also similarities, such as evidence of quantity discounts and a minority of users accounting for the majority of purchases. We estimate that there are on the order of 400 million retail marijuana purchases in the U.S. each year and that the average purchase size is small, about six or seven joints.
Drug markets have long been a topic of interest (Preble & Casey, 1969), and disrupting them is a centerpiece of drug control policy - most notably in the U.S. but also abroad (Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP], 2004a; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2004). There is increasing recognition that drug policies ought to be grounded in research on drug markets (Natarajan & Hough, 2000) and that understanding drug markets is central to understanding and controlling drug-related crime (National Institute of Justice [NIJ], 2003). Due to their illicit nature, information on drug markets is not readily available. However, limited information has been gleaned from ethnographic studies and data related to enforcement activities (e.g., the Drug Enforcement Administration's [DEA's] System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence [STRIDE] database).
The information we do have suggests that not all drug markets are alike. In particular, marijuana markets differ substantially from the street markets for cocaine and heroin that have been the focus of so much interesting ethnographic research (Bourgois, 1995; Curtis & Wendel, 2000; Dunlap, Johnson, & Maher, 1997; Johnson, Golub, & Pagan, 1995). Ethnographic data suggest that marijuana sellers are more likely to operate independently (than as part of organized operation), sell indoors, and involve acquaintance or referral networks than street markets for cocaine, crack, and heroin (ONDCP, 2002; ONDCP, 2004b). These latter two findings are supported by results obtained from survey data of populations with a broad geographic spread, including youth (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2003) and arrestees (Taylor, Fitzgerald, Hunt, Reardon, &Brownstein, 2001).
Although some features of the marijuana market have been highlighted in previous studies, no study to date has looked carefully at the structure and characteristics of U.S. marijuana markets and the individuals who participate in them. This is surprising given that it is the most widely used illicit substance (SAMHSA, 2003) and a major focus of the Bush administration's drug policy. It is also surprising because major population surveys such as NIJ's Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program and SAMHS A's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse have recently included modules that inquire about users' purchasing habits.
Survey data obtained from the household population would not generally be viewed as a reliable source for information about the acquisition of hard drugs because the household population represents such a small proportion of total demand in these markets. However, there is evidence that these data sources may be useful for understanding marijuana markets (ONDCP, 2001). …


text:
ArteFill Q&A
Pain + ArteFill
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I Had a PMMA-based Filler in Mexico. It is Irritating, Painful and Itchy. What Can I Do?
Since I received PMMA in Mexico Placement was thoughtless and extensive. Since It is irritating and itchy forgetting how bad it looks it impossible.... READ MORE
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text:
Iain Hume's 11th-minute strike and a bizarre own goal from Jay McEveley three minutes after the break saw North End make it nine league games unbeaten with their fifth win in a row.
Dany N'Guessan's curling effort from the edge of the area, with four minutes remaining, gave Swindon hope of a comeback but Preston hung on.
"Naturally, I'm really frustrated," Cooper said. "We looked very lethargic for large parts of the game, and I think the efforts of the other night (Tuesday's 2-0 Capital One Cup defeat to Chelsea) took it out of us.
"Preston were in our faces and very physical and we didn't deal with it particularly well. If we'd started the game as well as we finished it then it may have been a different story, but that's not good enough.
"We didn't pass the ball properly and we didn't match Preston, and we conceded another two sloppy goals which is what it's all about at the end of the day. You can't concede goals like that and expect to win football matches.
"The second was a real comedy goal, and between them they've got to sort it out. They have to deal with the situation better than that because Preston have scored a goal there without even trying."
- Sports & Recreation
- Soccer


text:
How long did it take for a full team?
View Single Post
June 15th, 2013 (3:59 PM).
Lizardon Man
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Atop Mount Silver
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Nature: Adamant
Posts: 388
I'll go with the consensus and say between getting my 6th and 7th Badge (usually because I get Lapras last at Silph Co).
The first time I played though Fire Red, I pretty much replicated my Championship Team from the original Red: Charizard, Raichu, Lapras, Dragonite, Alakazam, Machamp. (I originally had a Pidgeot instead of a Dragonite, but this was the only change I made)
Subsequent restarts and replays of both this Fire Red and an extra copy of Leaf Green that I got from my friend, I planned out my teams, each time using a different team.
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text:
Call it a debate of fair versus feasible.
Here's the question: Should C-Tran ask its entire service area to pay for operating light rail and bus rapid transit systems in Vancouver? Or, should it ask only those closest to it — and perhaps more likely to support it — even if it means asking those residents to pay a little more?
C-Tran board members tackled those and other questions as they began to map out the agency's future during a work session meeting Friday. After last month's passage of Proposition 1 — a sales tax hike that paid for existing bus service — leaders are focusing on a measure planned for November 2012. That measure would pay to operate a proposed bus rapid transit system in Vancouver as well as light rail that would come into downtown with the Columbia River Crossing.
But for much of the last year, exactly who would be asked to vote on that tax was uncertain. C-Tran leaders have wrestled with whether to put the vote to the agency's entire service area, or a smaller subdistrict — likely Vancouver or its urban growth boundary.
"It's a tough issue," said Vancouver City Councilor Larry Smith, one of nine C-Tran board members. "It's a very tough issue."
The outcome could have big implications on how the 2012 vote looks. A district-wide vote would mean the agency asking voters for an additional 0.1 percentage point in the local sales tax. A Vancouver-only vote would likely mean 0.2 percentage points.
The latter option would leave Clark County's smaller cities without a direct say in funding light rail operations. But it would also leave them out of the higher sales tax if the measure passed.
Any increase passed next year would stack on top of the 0.2 percentage point sales tax bump voters approved last month.
C-Tran board members are far from a decision. They have to take the question back to their respective councils, then return and vote as a group. But Friday's wide-ranging discussion covered plenty of arguments on both sides.
Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart offered a reason to open the vote to the entire service area, saying new high-capacity transit systems will have impacts well outside Vancouver's city limits, and those residents should have a say. C-Tran Executive Director Jeff Hamm gave an example: The arrival of those options could free up resources to boost bus service elsewhere.
"We are one system," Stuart said. "We are an interconnected system, and we all benefit from the success of the other parts."
Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt argued the opposite approach, noting that the issue lands closer to home for his city. And local leaders should try to ensure the success of Columbia River Crossing plans they agreed to more than three years ago, he said.
Leavitt acknowledged the higher tax rate in a subdistrict vote "could be a tougher sell." But, he added, "Our folks are more directly receiving a benefit."
C-Tran leaders have said they took the success of Prop. 1 as a positive sign for next year. The measure found its strongest support in Vancouver, passing by a margin of nearly 57 percent to 43 percent within city limits, according to data from the county elections office.
La Center Mayor Jim Irish brought up what's likely a common sentiment among CRC opponents: Next year's vote would be their referendum on the project itself, an "up or down" vote on light rail.
It will play a role in securing the $850 million check the feds will have to write to fund the capital cost of building the light rail extension, Hamm said. The region will have to demonstrate it can maintain the system once it's in place, he said.
But Leavitt made it clear he doesn't think a local tax measure — raising $2 million to $3 million — is going to decide the fate of a more than $3 billion project.
"There is no way that the community leadership is going to let this opportunity pass us by," Leavitt said. "We'd be sacrificing future generations' economic prosperity."
But Leavitt added this caveat, in the event that next year's measure fails:
"There has to be a back-up plan," he said.
The agency will have to decide how to frame the measure before a July deadline to place it on the November ballot. Meanwhile, a state-appointed expert review panel required by law will review C-Tran's high-capacity transit plans.
Of course, a lot can change on the political and economic landscape in the next year. Stuart cautioned against making any assumptions.
"I think it's incredibly dangerous to presume the will of the voters," he said.
Eric Florip: 360-735-4541; http://twitter.com/col_enviro; email@example.com.


text:
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Our database contains 2 offers for Frova:
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This is a discount offer provided by the manufacturer of Frova. Click the link below to visit their website for additional information or to sign up for the offer.
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text:
|Operational Guidance Note: Burma (Myanmar)
|United Kingdom: Home Office
|Publication Date
|September 2012
|Christian | Democracy | Freedom of religion | Good governance | Hindu | Karen | Mon | Muslim | Political parties | Political situation | Prison or detention conditions | Religious persecution (including forced conversion) | Rohingya (Arakanese) | Shan | Unaccompanied / Separated children
|Citation / Document Symbol
|OGN v 7.0
|Cite as
|United Kingdom: Home Office, Operational Guidance Note: Burma (Myanmar), September 2012, OGN v 7.0, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50519ce12.html [accessed 1 June 2016]
|This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.


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The issue of whether women and minorities are attracted to S&E majors is of national interest because they now make up the majority of the labor force. Their successful completion of S&E degrees will determine the adequacy of entrants into the S&E workforce in the United States. This section reports on two longitudinal surveys of student intentions to major in S&E, by race, ethnicity, and sex. (See "Bachelor's Degrees," "Trends in Earned S&E Degrees.") The Higher Education Research Institute's (HERI) Freshman Norms Survey annually surveys a nationally representative sample of first-year students in four-year colleges and universities about their intention to major in any S&E field (HERI 1998). The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88 unpublished tabulations) tracked a large, nationally representative sample of eighth graders and identified in a follow-up survey those who were enrolled in undergraduate S&E programs (NCES 1998b).
The Freshman Norms data show that, by 1998, 47 percent of the first-year college students reporting intentions to major in S&E were women; 53 percent were men (HERI 1998). These data also show increasing racial diversity among students choosing an S&E major. By 1998, underrepresented minority groups represented 19 percent of those intending an S&E major,[5] up from 8 percent in 1971. The trend is toward an increased percentage of black and Hispanic freshmen intending a natural science or engineering major. (See appendix table 4-9.) For example, from 1986 to 1998, the proportion of underrepresented minorities intending to major in the biological sciences rose from 10 percent of first-year college students to 18 percent.[6] (See appendix table 4-9.)
NELS:88 corroborated the findings of the Freshman Norms Survey and showed little difference between racial and ethnic groups with regard to choosing an S&E major. NELS:88 followed students from eighth grade through high school, college, and entry into the labor force. Students who reported being enrolled in an S&E program (generally as sophomores in college) were examined to identify differences by race and sex. Between 9 and 10 percent of all racial/ethnic groups of this cohort were enrolled in S&E programs in 1994. In contrast, the study found a significant difference in the percentage of males and females enrolled in S&E programs: 12 percent of males were enrolled in such programs, whereas only 7 percent of females were enrolled in S&E fields. The gap between males and females is particularly pronounced among (or attributable mainly to) the gaps among white and Asian/Pacific Islander students; among black and Hispanic students, women are essentially on par with men. (See figure 4-7.)
Of the relatively small percentage of students who enroll as S&E majors, less than one-half complete an S&E degree within 5 years. (See "Diversity Patterns in S&E Enrollment and Degrees in the United States.") Although there may be many reasons for this, the disparity between the percentage of students who aspire to study S&E fields and the percentage who complete an undergraduate S&E degree reflects, in part, the lack of readiness of U.S. students for college-level S&E coursework.
Are U.S. freshmen ready for college-level coursework? Data from national longitudinal studies (HERI 1998; NELS:88 unpublished tabulations) and the 1994 High School Transcript Study (NCES 1997) provide some indicators of readiness: the increasing number of mathematics and science courses taken, the relatively low level of 12th-grade proficiency in science and mathematics, and the continuing need for remedial work in college.
Trend data from 1971 to 1998 on the number of high school mathematics and science courses that students have taken show that an increasing percentage of entering first-year college students have taken four years of high school mathematics and two to three years of science coursework (HERI 1998). These percentage increases have occurred across all racial groups, though they are somewhat lower among some minority groups. In 1998, between 64 and 75 percent of different subpopulations of entering first-year college students reported that they had completed four years of high school mathematicsa considerable increase from the figures reported in the previous decade. In 1984, between 37 and 65 percent of entering first-year college students reported having four years of high school math. In addition, first-year college students reported an increasing amount of high school coursework in the biological sciences. (See appendix table 4-10.) This increase in mathematics and science courses is corroborated in the 1994 High School Transcript Study, which showed that, from 1982 to 1994, rising percentages of male and female high school graduates had taken various mathematics and science courses. (See text table 4-3.)
Despite the additional mathematics and science coursetaking in high school, a relatively small percentage of 12th graders demonstrate a high level of proficiency in mathematics and science.[7] NELS:88 tracked a representative sample of 25,000 students from eighth grade through high school, college, and entry into the labor force. This study included assessment of students' high school course-taking behavior and their mathematics and science proficiency. Analysis of the NELS data shows that in 1992 only about 37 percent of white and Asian/Pacific Islander students reached a high level of proficiency (level 4 or 5) in mathematics; an even smaller percentage of underrepresented minority students achieved this high proficiency (14 percent). In the sciences, only 25 percent of white and Asian/Pacific Islander students reached a high level (level 3) of proficiency in this exam, and even lower percentages of underrepresented minority students (8 percent) reached this level. (See appendix table 4-11.) This low level of science proficiency is also reflected in science literacy data collected with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) survey of public attitudes toward and understanding of science and technology (S&T) (see chapter 8).
Low mathematics and science proficiency is also evident among entering first-year college students. In 1997, 22 percent of first-year college students who intended an S&E major reported that they needed remedial work in mathematics; 10 percent reported they needed remedial work in the sciences. The percentages of students who need remedial work in mathematics and science have remained high over the past 20 years, with some differences by field of intended major. (See appendix table 4-12.) Students intending to major in the physical sciences and engineering report less need for remedial work. In contrast, students intending to major in the social and biological sciences, as well as in non-S&E fields, report more need for remedial work. (See figure 4-8 and appendix table 4-12.)
The American Mathematical Society's (AMS) surveys of mathematics courses (five-year incremental studies from 1970 to 1995) show an increasing percentage of remedial mathematics courses at two- and four-year colleges and a decreasing percentage of advanced-level course work at four-year institutions (NSB 1998). In the past decade, fewer students majored in mathematics (see "Bachelor's Degrees"), and universities decreased advanced-level coursework in mathematics. The forthcoming AMS survey of mathematics courses in the year 2000 should be monitored to see whether enrollment in remedial mathematics in four-year institutions continues to remain around 15 percent, or whether it decreases. (See text table 4-4.)
In contrast to intentions to major in S&E provided above, the annual fall survey of the Engineering Workforce Commission (EWC) obtains data on actual enrollment in graduate and undergraduate programs. Engineering programs generally require students to declare their major as first-year students, allowing enrollment to be used as an early indicator of undergraduate engineering degrees and interest in engineering careers.
The overall trend has been fewer students entering engineering (reflecting demographic declines in the college-age population), with a slight upturn in 1997 and 1998 (EWC 1999). At the undergraduate level, the EWC data show a declining trend in enrollment, from a high point of 441,200 students in 1983 to 356,000 students in 1996 (a 19-percent reduction). (See appendix table 4-13.) The decline was neither smooth nor continuous. Engineering enrollment stabilized for several years (1989--92) before resuming its declining trend until 1996. This declining trend turned around slightly in 1997 and 1998, with a 1.5-percent annual increase in undergraduate engineering enrollment. Trends in graduate engineering enrollment differ: graduate enrollment increased from 1979 to 1992 and then declined each year. (See figure 4-9.)
The characteristics of the community collegeflexibility, accessibility, links with industry, remediation, and low costcontribute to its broad appeal. Many students who enroll in two-year colleges are seeking certificates or associate's degrees, but some find two-year colleges an inexpensive means of completing the first two years of a college education before transferring to a four-year institution. About 22 percent of 1989/90 beginning postsecondary students who began at two-year institutions transferred to four-year institutions[8] (NCES 1998a), thereby increasing access to higher levels of education. The majority of community colleges have links with industry; two-year engineering technology programs generally have cooperative programs with industry to train workers (Burton and Celebuski 1995). One-half of community college students are enrolled on a part-time basis. Almost all public two-year institutions provide remedial coursework, and approximately one-third of the students in these institutions are enrolled in remedial mathematics courses. (See figure 4-10.)
Since 1990, student enrollment has leveled off in all institution types that produce large numbers of S&E degrees. In contrast, over the past several decades, student enrollment in U.S. higher education institutions has increased most in two-year colleges. These institutions produce relatively few degrees, however. In 1996, 38 percent of the 15 million students in U.S. higher education were enrolled in two-year colleges, but they earned only 500,000 associate's degrees. Among beginning students at two-year colleges in the 1989/90 school year, only 24 percent had earned an associate's or higher degree by 1994 (NCES 1998a). This large disparity between the number of students enrolled and earned degrees implies high attrition rates but also highlights one of the characteristics of community collegesa large amount of coursetaking for specific skills not necessarily leading to an associate's degree. Part of this lack of persistence in completing an associate's degree is intentional; full-time students, as well as part-time, older, and night school students, may take a sequence of courses for specific skills to enter or change positions in the labor force. For a variety of other reasons, students can earn credentials below the level of associate's degree.
Among those who do earn associate-level degrees, relatively few (11 percent) earn them in S&E or engineering technology fields. In 1986--96, the number of associate's degrees in S&E fields has been modest and quite stable, ranging between 20,000 and 25,000 degrees out of approximately 450,000 to 540,000 total degrees. (See appendix table 4-16.) More numerous, however, are degrees earned in engineering technology programs (approximately 36,000 in 1996). Such engineering technology programs are mainly focused on electronics, computer technology, graphics, and mechanical engineering. (See Burton and Celebuski 1995.)
Although associate's degrees in engineering technology have been declining for about a decadereaching a low of 36,000 in 1996 (Burton and Celebuski 1995)enrollment in these programs is far higher than completed degrees would indicate. A survey of technical education in two-year colleges showed that course enrollment was about seven times higher than completed degrees (Burton and Celebuski 1995). The study also showed linkages with local industry that allow enrollees to acquire useful skills and familiarity with science, mathematics, engineering, and technology and join the industrial workforce without completing an associate's degree. Because of the importance of two-year colleges in preparing workers for high-technology employment, more needs to be known about the quality of education being provided and the attrition rates of their students.
Since the 1950s, trends in total S&E degrees earned show continual upward growth, although several fields of NS&E show a declining number of degrees in the 1990s. (See figure 4-11.) The growth occurred in two waves: the first in the 1950s and 1960s and the second in the 1990s (U.S. HEW 1956). The first growth period was the strongest; the number of degrees in S&E fields increased at an average annual rate of eight percent. Then, during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, the total overall degrees earned fluctuated and increased at an average annual rate of less than 1 percent, followed by a second and milder growth period in the 1990s. S&E degrees at the bachelor's level increased at an average annual rate of 2.6 percent from 1990 to 1996. (See appendix table 4-17.)
The increase seen in overall S&E degrees in the past four decades actually represents divergent trends in various fields. Different fields contributed to the expansion of S&E degrees at different time periods, and several fields show a declining number of degrees in the 1990s. The number of degrees in the physical and mathematical sciences peaked in the early 1970s, slowly declined in the 1980s, and then leveled off in the 1990s. In contrast, engineering and computer science degrees peaked in the mid-1980s, quickly declined, and leveled off in the 1990s. Trends in the biological sciences showed a long, slow decline in earned degrees in the 1980s but a reversal of this trend in the 1990s. The only fields with an increasing number of earned degrees in the 1990s are psychology and the biological sciences.
The Steelman report's concern for improving the quality of undergraduate education has been of recurring national interest and has gained momentum in the past 10 years. Individual faculty, departments, professional societies, and institutions of higher education are increasingly involved in reform to enhance undergraduate teaching and the curriculum in mathematics, the various fields of sciences, engineering, and technology. Since 1992, faculties from 700 institutions of higher education have participated in one or more workshops to strengthen student interest and success in mathematics and science (Project Kaleidoscope 1999). Reforms include, for example, infusing more investigative learning into the curricula, using innovative computer laboratories and learning technologies, increasing undergraduate research experiences, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration in team teaching.
Reforms are directed at both science and nonscience majors. Improved introductory and advanced courses that attract and retain science majors seek both to augment the S&E workforce needed in the U.S. economy and to prepare adequate numbers of students for advanced study. Designing successful introductory courses is also aimed at strengthening the understanding of the processes and methods of science for all college students. This broader attention to curricular reform in mathematics and science courses for all students is essential for improving future K--12 teachers, public understanding of scientific issues, and citizen participation in an increasingly technological society. (See sidebar,"Institution-Wide Reform.")
Institution-Wide Reform
Since curricular changes and facility improvements occur slowly without departmental and institutional backing, a major theme of undergraduate education reform in S&E courses is the so-called institution-wide reform. The aim of institution-wide reform is to revitalize undergraduate education on a more comprehensive, self-sustaining, and interdisciplinary basis. Recently initiated assessments of these initiatives will attempt to develop quantitative indicators on faculty, students, and institutions (Ruskus 1999). For example, faculty assessment will include the proportion of S&E faculty revising their curricula for best practices in teaching, collaborating with other faculty in developing courses, and publishing research on improved teaching and learning. Student outcomes will include the proportion of students completing S&E courses that reflect best practices, enrollment in follow-on courses, completion rates for S&E majors, and an undergraduate research experience or internship.


text: Delfi, used for feed placing into primary packaging, and Paloma, used for placing into primary or secondary packaging, are vision-guided solutions that feature GD33 Delta robot in open frame design. With its 3-kilo payload capability and speed, robot promotes productivity and application versatility. It can integrate with Gemini 4 control and software platform, and access to main components facilitates maintenance. Hygienic design with stainless steel frame option is also available.


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Retailer Quiz Reveals Fresh Halo 4 Details
Written Wednesday, June 27, 2012 By Lee BradleyView author's profile
Some new details on Halo 4 have been revealed by a retailer quiz on Microsoft's ExpertZone, a site designed to educate retailers about the platform holder's products.
Prefacing the quiz are a number of slides, with various bits of interesting information on them. They were spotted by LittleEnglishHaloBlog and can be found below.
Here's some of the highlights:
- A total of 10 new weapons
- 2 new vehicles, "plus many of your favourites from the past"
- "Improved support to create, organise and track groups" - hinting at clan support
- 10 multiplayer maps at launch, with more to follow
- 50 Spartan Ops missions to be released per season, all with a "high-quality" intro cinematic
- First season will be free, with 12 hours of gameplay in either single-player or co-op multiplayer
All encouraging stuff. You can read our latest preview of the game here. Halo 4 is scheduled for a November 6th, 2012 release worldwide.


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The anticipation has been building over the past weeks as fishermen await the arrival of the giant bluefin tuna to our waters. Since 2005, these powerful and highly valuable fish have provided sport and much needed supplemental income to local fishermen. As this is still a new fishery to our area, every year the big question is, "I wonder if they'll show."
As a working journalist, I have met a lot of different folks over the years. Interviews are one of the facets of writing I dearly love. It's fun to meet new people, to ask questions, to find out what makes them tick.
Last week, I met a real raconteur, a guy who has a great life story and a gift of gab to go with it.
Charlie Megaswing has been teaching the game of golf at the State Line Driving Range for more than 10 years. The facility is on the southbound lane of U.S. 17, right on the border of North and South Carolina.
After being rained out Friday and Saturday, Beach Assembly of God presented Bethlehem Live for the first time on Sunday, Dec. 6.
About 500 people attended Sunday night despite the cold. The church had more than 2,500 people make reservations to attend one of six performances.
Performances are set for Friday, Dec. 11, Saturday, Dec. 12 and Sunday, Dec. 13.
To make reservations, or for more information, call the church at 579-9701.
A Columbus County grand jury has found probable cause that R.C. Soles Jr., the state's longest-serving legislator, assaulted a man during the August shooting at Sole's Tabor City home.
On Thursday, 12 grand jurors found sufficient evidence that Soles, a state senator and Tabor City attorney whose district includes Brunswick County, assaulted Kyle Blackburn during an altercation at his home on Aug. 23.
While the grand jury found probable cause, no charges have been filed.
On the outside, it's the Brunswick Family Assistance Christmas headquarters on Main Street. Inside, it's a Santa's workshop of sorts, with an army of volunteers packing, wrapping and organizing presents to fulfill local children's Christmas wish lists.
Shallotte police officers are investigating a robbery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping and assault by pointing a gun at Hardee's on Main Street on Saturday night.
Officers reported two suspects entered the store and rushed an employee into the office where the manager was. The suspects held employees against their will and stole $2,700 from the restaurant.
CAROLINA SHORES—Mayor Stephen Selby said this week he doesn't plan to further pursue a breach of his e-mail account at town hall.
A few weeks ago, it was discovered Selby had not received e-mail sent to him at town hall for about a month because it had been "compromised."
Speaking at a town board of commissioners' workshop Dec. 7, Selby said he did not receive e-mails sent to his town hall address from Oct. 19 through Nov. 23.
All of his e-mail had been forwarded to a now defunct address, to "Mica Richards" at yahoo.com.
Property owners in the Midway Road area, one of two areas the town of St. James has approved for involuntary annexation, recently filed suit against the town seeking to declare the annexation ordinance "null and void."
The suit claims the annexation plan does not meet the requirements of state statutes regarding annexation and criticizes methods the town used to select the property.
Shallotte police officers have charged a Hardee's employee in connection with a robbery at the restaurant on Main Street on Saturday night. Two other suspects remain at large.
Jessica Danielle Cortes, 17, of 4731 Babson Road, Ash, has been charged with aiding and abetting an armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Arrests of the two suspected robbers are pending, police said Tuesday.
Water quality testing is being done on nearby areas on Benton Road in Bolivia following a sewer leak early Tuesday morning.
John Nichols, assistant director of utility operations, said a minor leak in a relatively new line installed by developers of the Goose Marsh subdivision occurred Tuesday morning.
"Evidently, there was a leak, which was apparent and just coming up through the ground," he said. "We sent our forces down to repair it. They dug down to the pipe and they had to cut the line…after isolating the line to make the repair."
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The Brunswick Beacon is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Brunswick County, North Carolina and surrounding areas.


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Web's Largest listing of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding events
2,968 crowdsourcing and crowdfunding sites
Anybody who's ever seen The Office will recognize the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company – the fictional office supply brand that employs the show's cast of characters.
But not everyone knows that they can actually purchase reams of Dunder Mifflin paper. Through a partnership with NBC Universal, the Quill paper company, a Staples subsidiary, has been making Dunder Mifflin branded products since 2011.
Now, Dunder Mifflin is looking to raise its non-fictional profile, and it's asking the crowd for help. Quill has paired up with the crowdsourcing platform Tongal to create a spot for the Super Bowl, which will air in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Here's the lowdown. The competition runs in two phases: the first for pitches and the second for actual videos. In the pitch phase, which ended earlier today, Tongal asked individuals to submit ideas – either short videos or storyboards – for the commercial. Two first phase winners, who will be announced on Friday, will receive a $1,000 prize, and will have a chance at winning the grand prize in the second phase.
In the video stage, which runs until January 30th, all users will be able to upload actual 30-second commercials. The first place winner will receive $15,000, the runner up will get $6,000, and the second runner up will take home $2,000. Winners from the pitch phase are at an advantage here, as they are guaranteed to take home at least $2,000.
The Office is a comedy, and the ads should mimic the show's comic demeanor. Here's how the campaign description puts it:
The Dunder Mifflin products should be the key focus of your commercial, and you must show their flagship product: Dunder Mifflin Copy Paper at least once in your commercial. Given the awesome subject matter here, we're expecting some pretty damn funny stuff from you. It should be done in the spirit of "The Office" without coming across as a parody of it and engaging enough to generate continued online appeal beyond being a great and memorable TV commercial.
This isn't the first crowdsourced marketing initiative tied to the Super Bowl that we've seen in recent weeks. We wrote about Lincoln teaming up with Jimmy Fallon for the Steer The Script campaign. Pepsi and Beyonce are also asking fans to submit photos of themselves in hopes of getting to dance with the singer during the halftime show. Doritos is getting in on the action, as well.
It figures to be a big year for crowdsourced marketing, so let's see if the crowd can live up to the high standards set by previous Super Bowl ads.
Update: It's worth mentioning that Tongal recently received $15 million in Series B funding from Insight Venture Partners. So overall, a great week for the creative crowdsourcing company!
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John Frank CEO, we create rap video commercials by crowdsourcing a contest featuring your brand - myrapaudition.com/brands


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Too Tough to Die
|Running Time: 80 mins.
|Genre: Documentary, Music
Marky Ramone
Henry Rollins
Rob Zombie
All Cast & Crew >>
Summary:A tribute to The Ramones. Musicians and family members gathered at the legendary Avalon Theatre in Los Angeles on September 12, 2004, for a concert honoring The Ramones' 30th anniversary. The concert, which took place just two-and-a-half days before Johnny Ramone's death, featured more than a dozen musicians cranking out Ramones covers.