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From what I understand, it has to do with rancidity. Oxygen compounding results in a different chemical resultant.
I've read in various sources that when cooking certain oils oxidize faster or slower. From what I understand it means that when they reach a certain temperature they become chemically unstable and unhealthy. But from what I read oxidizing means combining with oxygen which seems counterintuitive when cooking, because I would imagine if anything it should lose oxygen when in a very high temperature.
What does oxidizing exactly mean? What are antioxidiants then? And does the boiling point of a given oil = the point where it oxidizes?
From what I understand, it has to do with rancidity. Oxygen compounding results in a different chemical resultant.
This article describes what happens to lipids when they oxidize in your body, but the chemistry is the same for fatty acids outside your body. Lipid peroxidation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There are reactive oxygen species (free radicals) everywhere, not just in your body so when your cooking oil gets up to a certain temperature, the fatty acids can react with free radicals. This is why things like ghee and coconut oil, which are fully saturated fats, are much more stable at high temps than things like olive oil and (gasp, don't ever use this) canola oil.
This is even more relevant: Rancidification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I guess there are other ways that fatty acids in cooking oil can go rancid, other than oxidation.
Didn't know that it could spontaneously combust though. According to Wikipedia: "In 1991, One Meridian Plaza, a high rise in Philadelphia was severely damaged and three firefighters perished in a fire caused by linseed oil-soaked rags.[34] In 2011, a garage in Sacramento also caught fire due to the spontaneous combustion of linseed oil-soaked rags."
In practice, it basically means "choose low-polyunsaturate fats". Solid fats (tallow, lard, ghee, coconut, palm kernel) are by nature more saturated and safe at most temperatures and techniques.
Monounsaturated liquid (olive, avocado, macadamia) are suitable for cold dressings or short sauté.
Polyunsaturate liquid (seeds and nuts) are often excluded due to their omega-6 content regardless of how they're used--it's true that baking or deep frying them makes them worse but there are plenty of reasons to skip them in the first place.
My peculiar nutrition glossary and shopping list


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Natalie Portman, roaring with laughter on the roof deck at Cabo Cantina in Venice Beach, Calif. Sporting no makeup, the actress stood in contrast to her male companion with his shoulder-length black hair, black clothes and "guyliner," according to an onlooker. As her pal told stories, Portman would tilt her head back and let out enormous laughs, causing other patrons to turn and look.
Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and daughter Suri, standing up and singing along at the House of Blues' Gospel Brunch in West Hollywood. There to celebrate Easter with Cruise's sister and mother, the family wore all cream and shared a long, communal table in front of the stage. An onlooker tells us that Suri clapped to the music as Holmes danced along with her daughter, – though the onlooker adds, "Suri was the total center of attention."
Goldie Hawn, snacking on pretzels and drinking beer backstage at the Black Crowes' show at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. There to support her ex-son-in-law, the actress was joined by her main man, Kurt Russell. And the two worked the dressing room, chatting up all the band's friends and guests.
JC Chasez, rocking out to his friend A.J. McLean's solo show at West Hollywood's Roxy. Chasez nodded his head, tossed back a drink and sat on the top of a couch while taking in the 12-song show – and an onstage shout-out from McLean.
Jeff Vespa / WireImage
By JED DREBEN, JENNIFER GARCIA and NICHOLAS WHITE
Want to see where the celebrity action goes down? Tour all of the Celebrity Hot Spots.
Tuesday's Caught in the Act >


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UNIVERSITY PARK - When Elliot Searer looks back on his college baseball career, he will be able to smile with satisfaction.
Searer is now nearing the end of his last year at Penn State (NCAA, Division 1).
It has been a career that got off to a great start and has been full of surprises ever since.
Article Photos
Penn State photo
Lewistown graduate and Penn State senior Elliot Searer, right, at bat in a Nittany Lions' college baseball game. Searer, a legacy player at Penn State, has seen highs and lows in his career, with his freshman year, when he recorded a 17-game hitting streak, among the best.
No one knew for sure where Searer was going to play college baseball as his senior year (2008) faded into summer.
But there was one man who was hoping that he would play at Penn State. And that man was passing him the mashed potatoes at the supper table.
Tim Searer, Elliot's father, played for Penn State from 1974-1977.
"He didn't care where I went, but he just said don't sacrifice your education," Elliot Searer said.
As a youth baseball player, Searer had an outstanding career. He was a three time All-Star in the Mifflin County Babe Ruth League. He was on a state championship team in 2003 (13-year-olds) and was on a state runner-up as a 15-year-old in 2005.
When he was a junior at Lewistown Area High School, he helped lead the Panthers to the District 6 Class AAA title, beating crosstown rival Indian Valley in the title game. Then as a senior, he helped the Panthers win the Central Penn League championship.
He also played three years for the Mifflin County American Legion program.
When, he got to Penn State, he was a preferred walk on and he redshirted his first year on campus.
"That was a very big year (2009) for me," Searer explained. "I was in the weight room and I got stronger physically and mentally. The year off helped me learn the speed of the college game, especially at this level. Some of the older players on the team helped me with the mental aspect of the game."
Coming out of high school, Elliot didn't have a reputation as a bigtime hitter.
"Obviously, I struggled in high school with my hitting," Searer noted. "So, my dad and I looked elsewhere. We contacted Carmen Fusco, a hitting instructor in Harrisburg. He had professional ties and experience. In fact, he was the assistant general manager for the New York Mets when they won the World Series in 1986.
"He brought to me, a new approach to hitting," Searer said. "He gave me a better look at the mental aspect of the game. He showed me how hard the game of baseball can be. One thing, he taught me was how to handle slumps. You know, they can come anytime and at any level.
"What he taught me was how to prepare for every at bat," Searer finished, "He taught me that it was better to go 0-for-4 with four line drives than going 4-for-4 with four bloops."
What he learned in Harrisburg, he was soon applying in his freshman year at Penn State.
He worked his way into the lineup in 2010 and has been there ever since. In fact, the former Panther has been so versatile that he has played five different positions - third base, second base, shortstop, right field and left field. He also has been the team's designated hitter.
"When I first came here, I didn't think I was going to get a lot of playing time, more less play all these positions," Searer explained.
But, that was no surprise as he was an all around player in his youth and could run and field with best players from this area.
It was in that first year that Searer entrenched himself into the Nittany Lion lineup and the record books.
Although, he got his first college hit on hit on March 9, 2010, against Texas A&M, the real part of the his freshman story began on March 27 against Hofstra in a home game.
He got a base hit that day and the hits didn't stop until April 21, a 17-game hitting streak, the eighth longest in school history.
"It was a pretty cool thing," Searer noted. "I was in a zone. I had a clear conscious. I was very comfotable at the plate and very confident. It wasn't if I was going to get a hit, but how many hits would I get that night."
Searer finished his freshman year with a .341 average, fourth best on the team and at the end of the year was named to the Big Ten's All-Freshman team as an outfielder.
As a sophomore, he didn't hit as high, but he singled in both games for Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament.
In his junior year his highlight came against Indiana when he delivered a game-winning, walk-off single for Penn State in a 4-3 victory in extra-innings.
Going into his senior year, Searer had played 147 games and had 523 official at bats. He had scored 66 runs and collected 137 hits. He had 29 extra-base hits including 24 doubles and five triples. He had knocked in 41 runs.
With all those position changes, he has managed to keep his fielding percentage at .951 with 259 putouts, 322 assists and 30 errors.
Searer already has his name in the Penn State record book in the single season marks. In 2011, he had 145 assists, tied for 10th and his name appears twice in the sacrifice hits with nine in 2011 and eight in 2012. Going into his senior year, Searer had 20 sacrifices, which put him eighth on the lifetime list.
Division I baseball plays a lot of games and Searer noted that was good because it doesn't give you time to think about much else.
"It's a lot of games, especially when you have mid-week games," Searer said. "But, what is good about it is when you have a bad game, you don't have time to think about it and when you have a good game, you can't wait to get back to the ball park."
Searer is currently hitting .253 as he heads into his final home stand of the season starting today against Villanova and this weekend against Michigan State. The Nittnay Lions have a 12-34 record.


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The Boston Celtics have been searching for their dominant defensive identity all season long. On Friday, in a signature 108-100 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, they finally found it.
Their rotations were crisp all game, forcing 16 turnovers from a team that can kill you every time down the floor. The Thunder were held to a 6-of-24 shooting night from behind the arc and finished the game on 46.8 percent shooting overall.
Also going Boston's way was Paul Pierce, who scored 27 points (including four three-pointers) and turned back the clock with a wide array of moves on offense that left Thunder defenders in his dust.
Jason Terry pitched in with 16 loud points, including a three-pointer that barely beat the halftime buzzer and a game-clinching three-point dagger that all but sealed it in Boston's favor.
Jeff Green picked a great game to show that his preseason aggression wasn't a fluke, finishing with 17 points against his former team.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 55 points, but it wasn't enough.
Read on for the postgame grades and analysis.


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How To Halloween: Projects from Bloggers
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Brown Bag Halloween Wreath
By: Heidi Borchers of Inspired at Home
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Recycle a brown bag to create the shapes for this fun Halloween wreath designed by Heidi Borchers of Inspired at Home. A bit of paint, raffia and a straw wreath make this a quick, easy and inexpensive Halloween craft. For another Halloween wreath idea, check out the Halloween Crochet Wreath. This quick and easy Halloween craft is a welcoming, festive sight on the door. Your visitors will love how this Halloween wreath craft looks (and the witches and goblins will love it, too).
- Aleene's Original Tacky Glue
- Brown grocery bags
- 3" square cardboard (or plastic) squeegee
- Acrylic paint: black, orange, white, yellow, green
- Paintbrushes – 1/2" flat, 1/2" flat, fine-tip
- Natural raffia
- Scissors
- 12" diameter straw wreath
- Halloween Patterns
- For each shape, cut 2 pieces of brown bag, ½" larger all around than pattern. With edges aligned, glue bag layers together, using squeegee to apply glue. Transfer desired pattern to layered bag and cut out. Shape cutout as desired to give dimension. Let dry.
- Referring to photo for colors and details, paint each shape, letting dry between colors. To paint dots for eyes, dip wooden end of brush into desired color of paint and dot paint on design.
- Cut several 11" lengths of raffia. Handling all lengths as 1, tie into bow. Repeat to make 8 bows. Cut several 60" lengths of raffia. Handling all lengths as 1, tie into bow. Wrap wreath with remaining raffia as desired. Glue large bow at bottom of wreath. Glue 1 bat to streamers of large bow. Cut 1 (10") length of raffia. Glue spider shape to 1 end of raffia length. Tie free end of raffia to wreath at top so that spider hangs inside wreath. Glue remaining painted shapes and small bows to wreath where desired. Let dry.
- I love working with brown bag to create all sorts of shapes for my crafting projects. It's plentiful and inexpensive and a great way to recycle. After you cut out your shapes, as the glue is starting to dry, just gently shape the pieces to give them some dimension. The glue softens the brown bag just enough to make it bendable while still holding the layers together while you give it some shape.
Here is the ultimate Halloween guide, with 287 DIY Halloween ideas for costumes, decorations, accessories, props and much more.
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Oct 19, 2011
I have also used craft wire along with the glue between paper bag layers. It makes it so much easier to shape your project.
Oct 14, 2010
Me and my 8 year old son had so much fun making this project. It was fast, easy and inexpensive. Thanks so much.
Oct 22, 2009
I love this one! Hope to make it for this halloween!
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However, before crashing to the demons,we must first create your character. For this one first selects oneof ten different classes, including for example, Mage, Knight,Barbarian, Paladin and Hunter. Each of these classes has differentdefault character attributes such as strength, skill and luck.
Furthermore, of course, can choose thesex of the character and appearance, with the setting options arelimited to the face. Finally, we give the hero a name, and thenthere's no turning back. The game begins with a tutorial that givesone at once the most important lessons you know later for the gamehas. While playing the "Demon's Souls" starts as athird-person Hack'n'Slash, but it is anything but that .
Simplebutton-smashing here leads to death faster than you can reach theBlock button. One should take every opponent seriously and usetargeted strikes and blocks. This applies even more to keep an eye onthe life and stamina bars. Ailing health, can regenerate the herowith the help of healing herbs. The stamina bar is no less important,because any action that it takes a little from it. When the bar isdepleted, the character is Incapacitated, which in turn usually meansdeath. Mages should also of course give up their mana bar night.


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Do you know of a nonprofit agency or organization in New Hampshire that needs donations this holiday season? Let us know.
We'll profile some of the groups on the news in November and December.
Send an email to email@example.com and include the name of the organization, a little about the group and a phone number.


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Most people, at some point during their lifetime, take up an interest or hobby.
Many have a strong enough interest to become collectors - coins, postcards, stamp, etc. Very few, though, amass a collection that becomes world-renowned, but that's exactly what Lee Crist has done.
He has built a collection of golf tees that is unequaled - publicly or privately - anywhere in the world.
Crist, now 80 years old, was introduced to golf at the age of 12 as a caddy at the Blairmont Country Club. Growing up in Blair County, he would became a football star at Hollidaysburg High School, where he graduated in 1951.
Crist spent most of his working career as a national sales manager of electrical supplies and lived in many areas across the country.
Nearly 40 years ago, while in Florida, a golfing buddy introduced him to the Golf Collectors Society. Intrigued, Crist planned to attend the group's annual convention for collectors and was amazed by the amount of golf memorabilia - balls, clubs, books and more.
"I could hardly believe the amount of items they had on display," he said.
Having an urge to collect, Crist knew it would be more fulfilling to specialize on a specific golf item. He quickly settled on something that would become his passion - golf tees.
Two gentlemen he met at the convention were already golf-tee collectors and encouraged Crist to join them. Over the years, Crist would visit antique shops, flea markets and golf trade shows looking for various types of tees. If he found anything, he would share his discoveries with his golf-tee comrades.
Crist soon became an expert, learning that in the early 1900s there were tremendous varieties of items used for teeing up a golf ball. In fact, before the wooden tees we know today, wet sand was used to elevate a tee ball.
In the early days of golf, every tee box had a supply of sand and water - which a golfer pinched into a small, cone-shaped sand mold and placed on the ground. The golf ball was then placed on top of this for the tee shot.
To date, Crist has collected dozens of these rare antique sand molds metal, wooden and ceramic. His most prized piece is a model called the "Alexander" - the first sand mold ever patented - made in 1890 and worth several thousand dollars.
About a hundred years ago, sand molds began being phased out and replaced by golf tees - of all shapes and sizes. Crist has collected nearly every type ever produced. His collection numbers in the thousands, with duplicates of many, even the very obscure.
Over the years, Crist's collection has grown exponentially. After the sad passing of his two tee-collecting friends, Crist was fortunate to purchase significant portions of each collection.
As it now stands, Crist's golf tee collection is ranked far above any other in existence. It has become well known in golfing circles throughout the world. He's been featured in several publications, including the French publication "Colours" and the "History of Golf," a documentary on the History Channel.
A visit to his Duncansville home reveals an amazing collection of golf tees and related items. Sand molds, tee boxes, tee bags, tee advertisement, patents for tees and literally thousands of antique tees of every size, shape and material. His collection is so extensive that he now finds it difficult to locate anything he doesn't already own.
"At this point," he said, "I come across something new only once or twice a year."
With the knowledge he's gained through collecting, Crist has also become an expert in identifying and appraising unique old tees. He often is contacted by dealers who are in need of his expertise.
His 40 years of amassing the world's largest collection of golf tees has earned Crist an apt name for which he is known within golf collecting circles - "Mr. Tee."


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Since basketball debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1936 games in Berlin, Germany, the United States has won 13 of a possible 17 gold medals, including the most recent summer games held in 2088 in Beijing, China.
To get to the medal round, Team USA needs to get through group play first. Virtually every other team in Group A has some sort of NBA experience on their rosters, from current players to former All-Stars and veterans who have since taken their games overseas.
While they remain the prohibitive favorite to dominate the competition in London, LeBron James and company can be sure that teams will throw everything that they have at them along the way in an attempt to knock them off course.
Let's take a look at who Team USA has on tap in the opening round of group play and when all the action is going down.


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LeBron James is heading back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, so Miami Heat owner Micky Arison will have to find a way to move on.
As much as the news of the homecoming may have hurt Arison, he sent the man who helped bring two championships to Miami a classy farewell message:
I am shocked & disappointed in today's news. However I will never forget what Lebron brought us for 4 years. Thanks for memories @KingJames— Micky Arison (@MickyArison) July 11, 2014
Of course, that tweet is just a bit different from the letter that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert posted after James left Cleveland for Miami four years ago:
The situations are a bit different, however. Gilbert was upset that James left to go chase championships, and Arison is appreciative that the superstar helped the Heat dominate the Eastern Conference during his four seasons in South Beach.
The Miami Heat's official Twitter also thanked James with all class.
Thanks for the memories pic.twitter.com/ATASOdKdcB— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) July 11, 2014
Arison's tweet and Miami's official message once again proved that the Heat are a classy organization. The Heat owner likely understands that Ohio has a special place in James' heart, so he thanked him for the good times and sent him on his way.


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Feel Good
September 6th, 2010
I just read something that reminded me of this cartoon. I was looking at a book yesterday about sustainable landscaping, and it recommended that you choose lights that shine downward to reduce light pollution. I had to laugh, because the stadium type lighting that is on all night long in the industrial area near our house makes the type of outdoor lighting I choose a moot point.


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Talk about destiny.
Way before he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Draft, Kyle Anderson expressed his desire to play for the Spurs.
While speaking to a group of kids, he told them how he would love to play for the Spurs and told the kids how they play the game of basketball beautifully.
Fast forward to this month and guess what… Kyle is now a Spur when he was selected 30th overall.
Check out Kyle and his reaction to hearing his name being called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.


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Traffic pattern to change on I-180 today
August 1, 2013
As work continues along Interstate 180 on bridges over Loyalsock Creek between exits 21 and 23, traffic patterns are expected to change today....
Taco I would have to disagree with your assessment of PA road conditions compared to other states. According to Statemaster dot com, (a statistical database website) PA ranks 5th in the nation for the number of roads classified in the fair and poor categories.
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Hahaha, I thought the Hawbaker slush fund was 15 between the split & Trout Run!
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Yep, another year that the world will look in upon Lycoming county for the LLWS and 180 and 15 are under repair yet again. Why can't these things be done in the spring? (I understand that 15 has been ongoing for years and looks like it will be more years before they get done!) And, as for 180 needing yearly work, it is almost like a slush fund for Hawbaker, isn't it?
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
radioactive, service roads next to the highways in Texas? Tell me how these service roads circumnavigate bridges? And how do they work in the mountainous regions of Texas? I'm not saying Penndot is full of brainiacs, but I'm pretty sure your concept is poorly thought out in its application to Pennsylvania's geography. Also, having traveled throughout this country, I can tell you that Pennsylvania's roads are not even in the lower quarter in condition.
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I see the article ends that it's "scheduled" to be back to normal by LLWS week. Well, the best laid plans... Hopefully.
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How long is this work going to last? I only ask because it seems that lately every year right around LLWS 180 between Wpt. and the mall is down to one lane for some stretch. Isn't Lycoming Mall one of the big attractions touted to visitors for LLWS? Even if it's not pushed as an attraction, it's still our only mall, plus Target, etc. It seems silly that they would constrict traffic flow to the mall when we expect a whole lot of visitors to this area who may be looking for things to do. Of course PennDot planning has never made much sense.
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Halle Berry & Olivier Martinez Welcome Their Son!
It is a second child for the Oscar winner, who married French actor Martinez in July.
The healthy baby, who was born in Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, has a 5-year-old sister, Nahla, Berry's daughter with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry.
A source at the hospital told PEOPLE on Saturday night, "Olivier hasn't left Halle's side. Nahla visited her baby brother earlier today." On Sunday, the big sister was seen happily skipping and prancing in the corridor of the maternity floor.
Earlier this week, only days before the birth, the 47-year-old star looked gorgeous and chic as ever, shopping at the Grove in L.A. with her daughter.
In April, Berry said about the impending arrival: "This has been the biggest surprise of my life, to tell you the truth.
"Thought I was kind of past the point where this could be a reality for me. So it's been a big surprise and the most wonderful."


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We have an incredible Groupon deal for you today – $39 gets you a 16″x20″ custom gallery-wrapped canvas! And, it includes shipping!
Let's break it down… You get an amazing gallery wrapped canvas valued at $124, you save $85 (that's 69%) and it includes shipping. Make sure to buy today before the deal ends – but rest assured that you have until the end of the year to redeem.
Details can be found here: http://www.groupon.com/deals/cafepress-national-exc-market-november
I don't know about your gift giving plans, but its possible all of my family members will be receiving a canvas this year (please don't tell them).


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Originally Posted by The Return of Dado
Her name will be The Fat Woman.
I laughed out loud at this! And then I re-looked at the pounds. I guess that at a height of 4' 2", you can call your 150-200 lb log, The Fat Woman. But as a 5' 10" woman who's goal is around 150ish, I think I might, sort-of, almost be offended... But not really, because you know, your log is only 4' 2" and yes, 150 would be quite fluffy for a 4' 2" woman.
Congrats on the new purchase. We need photos once you start lifting her over your head.
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Ⓒ2016 Mark's Daily Apple


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This course is Bureau of Real Estate (BRE) accredited for 4 hours of Continuing Education (CE) in Consumer Protection, when course is taken live lecture or as a online correspondence course. BRE Sponsor No. 0001. It is not BRE accredited when taken as a LearnMyWay® webinar course. Course DescriptionThe Mastering REOs and the Broker Price Opinion course is designed to enable real estate professionals with a thorough knowledge of the concepts of valuation, marketing, and management of lender real-estate-owned (REO) properties and the execution of each including the BPO (Broker Price Opinion).This course will teach the procedures, guidelines, and requirements of the lender to achieve the desired goals in the cost-effective liquidation of the bank's REO properties. The class will provide an understanding of the procedures, legal, and sensitivity issues working with and removing the occupant of a REO property.Registration: To register for the Mastering REOs and the Broker Price Opinion course near you, visit the C.A.R. Education Calendar.How you will benefit from taking this course:
RequirementsComplete the Mastering REOs and the Broker Price Opinion course and successfully pass exam.Materials Provided50-page Student ManualThis course will cover:
Who Should Attend:Any licensed real estate agent, broker, attorney, and transaction coordinator who are involved in the real estate transaction.InstructorGeorge LawrenceFor Instructor Bios click here
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As a writer on a my website, I receive a decent amount of feedback from many readers through comments or emails. My recent article on the ten companies I purchased for my Roth IRA raised an interesting question. In the article, I had mentioned that it was better to invest $2000 in ten dividend paying stocks, rather than in just two.
My article was assuming that transactions costs can be maintained below 0.50%, and quality is not sacrificed. The question raised was whether it was worth it investing in dividend paying stocks at $200 per position.
The argument against investing $200 in dividend paying stocks was that the amount of the dividend would be so miniscule, that it would essentially not add any value to the investor. In other words, investing $200 at a time is probably not worth the effort.
I wholeheartedly disagree with this argument for so many reasons, that I decided to write a whole article about it.
1) The most important thing about dividend investing is to actually get started. That way, you get to put the power of compounding to your use for the longest time possible. If you put $200/month for 15 years in dividend paying stocks yielding 4% today, which raised dividends by 6%/year, and if you reinvested dividends over time, you would be earning $265 in monthly dividend income. While you would be earning $4 in annual dividends on the first purchase, after 15 years of persistent saving, investing and reinvesting, you would be generating more than what you are putting to work in your brokerage account. The power of compounding is strongest when you let your amounts work for you for long periods of time. To put it in perspective, if you put $200 at age 15, and let it compound at 10% for 70 years, you would end up with over $170,000 by your 85th birthday. Even after adjusting for 3% annual inflation, you still end up with close to $20,000 in inflation adjusted dollars.
2) The other reason is that one does not need a million dollars to get started with dividend investing. If you start with as little as $100 - $200/month, and you get to increase your contributions as your financial position improves, you have a very good shot of achieving your financial goals. Just by saving $100 - $200/month, you are ahead of most people in the US, who live paycheck to paycheck. Just remember that in order to reach your goal of financial independence, you would have to balance time to your goal, amount you put to work, and the investment return assumptions you are taking.
3) A third reason to start as soon as you have some money is because dividend investing is a cumulative learning process. When you start small, you can gain the knowledge on how to screen for dividend stocks, how to analyze them, how to select dividend stocks, and how to build and maintain a diversified income portfolio. You would also learn eventually not to panic during bear markets or not to get too excited when stock prices keep setting all time highs every single day. Those skills are highly scalable, meaning that if you know how to invest with $5,000, you also know how to invest with $5 million. For example, I spent several years learning about investing and paper trading, before putting actual money to work. I have found that you learn much more about investing, and the emotional side to it, when you have actual money on the line. Therefore, I would have been better off putting a few hundred dollars on the line, while paper investing.
4) A fourth reason to get started as early as possible is to experience the motivating factor of receiving passive dividend income. It is really refreshing to see your money work for you, and sending you a growing amount of dividends every quarter, no matter how small initially it is. I received my first "a-ha" moment when the first dividend payment hit my brokerage account several years ago. For the labor of identifying a dividend stock, and for the trouble of risking a small amount of funds on that idea, I was going to be paid a small but growing amount of income. I didn't have to wake up at 6 o'clock, shuffle TPS reports all day long, deal with the eight levels of management above me, or get stuck in traffic for 2 hours/day to get my dividend payment. This dividend payment was also growing much faster than the salary raises most employees receive. Using this idea of dividends as a passive income source, I have been able to put every extra dollar to use in dividend growth stocks.
5) The fifth reason is somewhat of a repetition of everything from the previous four reasons. It is the story of Grace Groner, who was a secretary at Abbott Laboratories (ABT) who purchased 3 shares at $60 each in 1935. She then patiently reinvested the dividends for almost 75 years, until she passed away in 2010. At the time of her death, her investment was worth over $7 million, and throwing off over $300,000 in annual dividend income. If she had listened to the naysayers who would have told her that the dividend income from a mere $180 investment would be too low to be even worth doing, her estate would not have been able to leave millions of dollars to fund scholarships for generations of talented students.
6) Last but not least, putting a few hundred dollars to work per position might be a better alternative for most dividend investors, compared to making one or two large purchases per month. This applies to investors who build diversified portfolios of quality merchandise selling at attractive valuations over time, and who can maintain purchase costs below 0.50%. For several years i would buy stocks in $1000 - $2000 increments per position. Since I have 10 - 15 ideas at all times, this meant that I might wait for several months before I have the cash to buy more stock from ideas number 10 through 15. At that point, these ideas might be overvalued and no longer cost effective to buy. As a result, I would end up with plenty of companies which are a great long-term hold, although the positions are destined to remain low in proportion to my average portfolio positions.
By reducing purchase lot sizes, I increase my flexibility to add purchase shares in more than one – three companies per month. If I can keep commissions to below 0.50% overall, it is better to invest $2000/month in 10 companies than investing it in 2 companies.
Overall, in the past few weeks I have decided to start buying more than 1 – 3 positions per month, mainly by reducing my purchase size per position. I am essentially going to ramp up purchases in my Sharebuilder taxable brokerage account using their monthly plan for 12 transactions for 12 dollars. In addition, there are no additional fees to pay. Check my article on Best Brokerage Accounts for Dividend Investors.
The investments are made every Tuesday, and the stock prices I end up paying are very competitive. In my investing, I usually place the buy order in the morning before the stock market opens. I very rarely make investments during the day. With the likes of Zecco or Tradeking, I almost always managed to get filled at the open price. With Sharebuilder, I am actually getting a slightly better price in the aggregate. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if I paid $38.02/share for Coca-Cola (KO) shares using Sharebuilder, versus $38.27/share that I would have gotten with another brokerage. The most important thing is to look at the big picture, and not be carried away chasing pennies and losing dollars in the process. If my thesis is correct, 20 years from now Coca-Cola will trade anywhere between $120 - $160/share and pay over $4/share in annual dividends.
If I see a big drop in the stock of a company I am following and plan on purchasing, I might still purchase it in another account, especially if I believe that this is an opportunity that is short-lived. Sometimes, paying a $3 - $5 commission might make sense over a $1 commission, if it provides slightly more flexibility. After analyzing my investments however, I can attest that such purchases happen only 2 – 3 times/year.
Relevant Articles:
- Dividend Growth Investing is a Perfect Strategy for Young Investors
- Reinvesting Dividends Pays Off
- How much money do you really need to retire with dividend paying stocks?
- Dividend Portfolios – concentrate or diversify?
- Check the Complete Article Archive
This post was featured in the Carnival of Wealth, Snowflake Edition
Friday, October 4, 2013
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"It's like going to the zoo when you come to my house," Morgan tells PEOPLE, who voices a guinea pig action hero in Disney's new action comedy G-Force. "I have snakes, three sharks, moray eels, piranhas, five scorpions and a bird spider. All of them are predators. They are dangerous but it's cool to have strong and powerful pets."
Having recently earned his first Emmy nomination, the 30 Rock star, 40, is relishing in his good fortune, especially after hitting a rough patch over the past few years. Arrested for drunk driving in 2005 and again in 2006, Morgan in May 2007 was fitted with an ankle bracelet that monitored his alcohol level. Now sober, Morgan has cleaned up his act and says he's a changed man.
"I've been sober for a year-and-a-half now, and I feel it all," he says. "I'm not inebriated anymore. I want to feel the good, the bad and the ugly. I want to remember it all. I couldn't do that when I wasn't sober. What I have learned over the years is to try to stay in the moment. I want to feel it all because I've realized nothing lasts. I'm not perfect but I strive for it. I take it one day at a time, but if you can get it to one hour at a time, I'm good."
Family ManBut most importantly, the SNL alum says he was motivated to get help with his substance abuse for his three sons, Gitrid, 23, Malcolm, 21, and Tracy, Jr., 17. Now, they have a "stronger relationship than ever," says Morgan.
"I deal with my sons like young men," he says. "If they have a problem with something, they come to me. I am the type of dad that will drop everything I am doing for them, and always tell them to talk to me about it. I'm not [as] crazy as you'd think. They have grown to be respectable young men that are funnier that I could ever be."
During his down time, Morgan relaxes at home in front of the TV, though he is a selective viewer.
"You will be surprised but I do a lot of studying and I watch National Geographic," he says. "I try to stay away from the reality shows. I don't get anything out of Kim Kardashian and her family and nothing out of Kendra. When I watch television, I got to walk away with new type of knowledge. I get none of that from Kendra [Wilkinson] and Hugh Hefner and his girlfriends. I'm not a ninth grader who gets enticed by the female anatomy like that!"


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What would Herman Melville have made of Larry Niven's huge space mega-engineering project? You don't have to wonder any longer.
What would Herman Melville have made of Larry Niven's huge space mega-engineering project? You don't have to wonder any longer.
Animal Planet is mostly known for reality TV series about hell cats who piss all over their owner's furniture, but now the animal-centric station is getting into scripted TV, thanks to Moby Dick.
If you're the sort of person who likes to wear your literary tastes on your sleeve—or your lapel—these brooches might be for you. Each one is made from the pages of a classic book—Moby Dick, Watership Down, the tales of Sherlock Holmes—highlighting not just the stories, but also the words themselves.
Call me Spaceman Ishmael! The next movie from We Need to Talk About Kevin scribes Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear just got backed by Scott Pictures. Which means, we're one big step closer to seeing Captain Ahab chase down a space whale in the big black sky. Officially titled Mobius, this movie is based off the classic…
Railsea, the new young adult novel by China Miéville, is quite literary but playful — with vast molehills of brilliant worldbuilding & lots & lots of ampersands. Utterly unlike any of the many shmoopy vampires & dystopian romances out there, one wonders whether this novel will find an eager audience among teenaged…
At first glance, this looks like a poster for Harry Potter, but is there something more going on? These posters illustrate famous stories with minimalist images, but hide a second story inside.
Who says giant, thrilling space opera is dead? British author John Love just sold his debut novel, Faith, to Nightshade Books, and it has a huge widescreen premise that sounds like the perfect mix of space battles and politics.
Urban explorers from Undercity took their cameras down below and into NYC's century old sewer systems, abandoned subway stations, and inside the Lincoln Tunnel to see the remnants of the society of tunnel folk. Watch what they uncovered.
King Kong's monstrous motivations aren't the same as Dracula's — one wants a castle made of bananas, the other a swimming pool full of hemoglobin — but, on a psychological level, their motivations differ too. Here's Chris Braak's monster taxonomy.
Not to be confused with the Danny Glover dragon-centric Moby Dick, this whale story is grounded in reality, sort of. Plus get a better look at the future social networking brain-to-brain in 0000. And finally, Ghost Shark!
The long-awaited webseries Ark, starring Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle from Xena) is finally online, and we talked to O'Connor about the secret conspiracy behind the mysterious ark in space. And O'Connor also told us about her scifi version of Moby Dick.
Timur Bekmambetov will be revisiting superpowered assassins with his sequel to Wanted, but he's already looking to his next project, a contemporary adaptation of Moby Dick. But this being Bekmambetov, his whales and whale hunters will have their own superpowers.


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LED Accessories and Parts
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The Spurs, Lakers, Grizzlies and Space
From the head coach to the players, there weren't many answers coming from the bowels of the AT&T Center after the Los Angeles Lakers 98-84 physical dismantling of the San Antonio Spurs.
Statements proclaiming an unexplainable lack of focus, or a need to play harder and smarter were offered half-heartedly. But the simplest truth was summed up succinctly by head coach Gregg Popovich.
"The Lakers played great and they beat us to death," Popovich said. "There's nothing else you can say about it."
The embarrassing loss was a confluence of damning circumstances for the Spurs—players came out flat and unprepared for an unusually keyed in Andrew Bynum, the Lakers bench played over their heads—that can be dismissed as simply a bad night.
Even with Kobe Bryant, these Lakers are not 20-something points better than the San Antonio Spurs.
But the loss did well to bring the Spurs most glaring weakness to the forefront. In terms of public perception, in one night Andrew Bynum was able to rip the scab off the festering wound that was last season's playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies for the Spurs.
For all their improvements this season, and there have legitimately been quite a few, the San Antonio Spurs are still vulnerable against an abundance of size.
Andrew Bynum's 30-rebound performance emphatically punctuated that point, but fails to fully encompass the extent of their vulnerability.
In the waning years of Tim Duncan's career, the Spurs have maintained their status as an upper-echelon team through their manipulation of time and space. Their utilization of shooters and player and ball movement help create open spacing on the floor where Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili can wreak havoc.
The combinations of Bynum and Gasol, and even Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, exist to consume space.
And while that most obviously manifests itself on the defensive end where the Spurs struggled to rebound and defend the paint, against the Lakers or Grizzlies it's not a problem unique to the Spurs in the NBA. No team really has an answer to keeping these frontline tandems from their respective 20-10 double-doubles.
Where the Spurs are vulnerable is in providing a response of their own. The days of claiming ownership of the paint by simply planting Tim Duncan in the lane like a 7-foot "Come and Take It" flag are gone, and have been for some time.
The Spurs are still able to maintain an inside-out approach thanks to the dribble penetration of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, but against an engaged Bynum or Grizzlies, that equation changes.
For all their strengths as elite ball handlers and finishers, the duo of Ginobili and Parker are deficient when it comes to explosive verticality. The entire roster is. That was apparent last night on any one of Ginobili's drives that ended up with the Argentine engulfed and smothered by Bynum and Gasol.
Even a sliver of space is generally enough for either to ignite the Spurs entire offense, and there was a time Duncan supplied it in massive quantities like an oxygen tank on an acetylene torch.
That tank isn't entirely empty, but it's not as free flowing as it once was, either.
Tiago Splitter, for all his length, manipulates space more than he creates it. This is why the Spurs employ Matt Bonner, and why simply not playing him in these matchups is not a viable option for the Spurs.
The thought that running Bonner off the 3-point line negates his worth is short sighted. Running Bonner off the line means a defensive player had to rotate out there in the first place. The onus then falls on the rest of the Spurs to react and exploit the opening quickly.
Between DeJuan Blair and Boris Diaw, the Spurs have two quality interior passers, but the lack of respect paid to them as scoring threats by the Grizzlies or Lakers also mutes their contributions.
Defending the likes of the Lakers or Grizzlies on the interior remains a weakness for the Spurs, but truthfully, few teams have competent answers.
An elite defensive big man to pair with Duncan would be ideal, but they are also expensive and the Spurs have precious few resources to acquire one. Instead the Spurs must deploy their frontlines strategically, trusting that there will be enough pride not to surrender such a horrid rebounding performance throughout a seven-game series, and transform the game from a vertical one, to one played side-to-side.
Anything less, and the Spurs playoff hopes will be suffocated.


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Member since 20132010 Jimmy Durante Blvd
Suite 220
Del Mar , CA 92014 Map 7605946934 Visit website
Our mission is to improve the quality of each client's home, as well as protecting the earth's natural environment. We strive to keep our carbon footprint low by choosing eco-friendly materials and practices, reusing as much material as possible for a sustainable future. Acevedo Construction Corporation
- Membership
- June 4, 2013 - Present


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Legislative Alert
By Jennifer Boyter
n July 27, President Bush signed into law legislation (HR 4472) designed to strengthen federal registration requirements for convicted sex offenders. The bill also makes failing to register a federal crime and creates a national sex offender registry.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the bill "the most comprehensive child crimes and protection bill in our nation's history."
The legislation combines measures introduced last year by lawmakers in both chambers, and was prompted by a series of high-profile crimes by registered sex offenders. To speed passage of the sex offender provisions, the Senate removed provisions included in the House-passed version related to gang violence and court security.
The bill requires states to maintain an Internet sex offender registry that includes an offender's address, picture, vehicle, and facts of conviction. It also directs the Department of Justice to create a national sex offender Web site, and requires states to notify the federal government of any changes to a sex offender's registration information.
Failure to register as a sex offender will now be a federal felony. Offenders who fail to register or update their registration information would risk a possible ten-year prison term; if they commit a violent crime while registered, they would be subject to a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
In addition, sex offenders will now be required to provide DNA samples, and will be subjected to more frequent in-person verification of information they provide regarding their residences and workplaces. If their workplace and residence differ, offenders would be required to register in each jurisdiction.
The legislation also broadens registration requirements for convicted sex offenders to include juveniles convicted of sex crimes and those convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses against minors.
The bill also establishes many new mandatory minimum sentences for crimes against children. Offenders convicted of causing serious bodily injury to a child or using a weapon to attack a child would be subject to a mandatory minimum prison sentence of ten years. Offenders would face a minimum of 30 years in prison for having sex with a child under 12 or sexually assaulting a child between 13 and 17.
Mandatory minimums will also be increased for coercing or enticing a child to have sex, transporting a child to engage in criminal sexual activity, sexual exploitation of a child, and sex trafficking of children.
The legislation also eliminates the statute of limitations for sexual offenses against a child and adds abuse and neglect of native American children as a federal criminal offense. It also amends immigration laws to make failure to register a deportable offense and prohibits convicted sex offenders from having family-based petitions approved.
The measure will direct the U.S. Marshals Service to apprehend unregistered sex offenders and create a new office within the Justice Department to monitor and track sex offenders.
In addition, the bill will authorize grants to help local law enforcement agencies to strengthen their registry systems.
To help combat Internet predators and online pornography, the measure sets up education grants and provides funding for 200 new federal prosecutors and 45 new computer forensic scientists to work on Internet sex crimes. In addition, the bill forms 10 task forces to deal with Internet crimes involving children. New regional Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforces will provide funding and training to help state and local law enforcement combat crimes involving the sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet.
IACP Opposes House-Passed Firearms Seizure Bill On July 25, the House passed a bill (HR 5013) designed to guarantee that lawful gun owners would be allowed to keep their firearms during major disasters, such as hurricanes or following terrorist attacks.
The bill would prohibit federal, state, or local authorities, during the response to an emergency situation, from temporarily or permanently seizing any lawful firearm from citizens in the affected area. The limitations apply to federal law enforcement or military officers, along with local police that receive federal funds.
The bill also institutes a private cause of action against any agency or officer who seizes lawful weapons in an emergency situation. Consequently, law enforcement agencies and officers would be held personally liable if they mistakenly confiscate a lawful firearm during an emergency. Consequently, the IACP opposes this legislation.
The bill was amended before passage to address concerns raised during the markup in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The substitute language clarifies that the bill would not force a rescue worker to allow a lawfully possessed firearm onboard a rescue vehicle, such as a boat or helicopter.
It also specifies that the bill would not supersede existing state and local prohibitions. Some lawmakers had expressed concerns that the bill would trump tougher state or local laws.
An amendment containing similar language was passed by the Senate during consideration of the FY 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill (HR 5441).
Opponents, including the IACP, argued that the bill could make it harder for law enforcement officials to maintain order during a crisis. For example, the bill would prevent police from picking up guns that could be seized by looters and would also prevent state or local governments from prohibiting individuals from bringing firearms into emergency shelters.
Proponents of the bill maintain that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, law enforcement officers in Louisiana confiscated firearms from law-abiding gun owners. However, New Orleans law enforcement officials defended their actions, saying very few guns were confiscated and that widespread disarming did not occur.
Proponents of the bill recently announced that they were launching a nationwide campaign demanding that police chiefs and mayors pledge never to confiscate weapons from law-abiding citizens in the wake of disasters such as hurricanes or terrorist attacks.
In response to this effort, the IACP Executive Committee approved a statement outlining the association's opposition to the pledge campaign and the IACP's opposition to a series of firearms-related bills, which would significantly degrade law enforcement's ability to combat the illegal use of guns and illegal firearms trafficking.
For a copy of the IACP's statement on the Gun Confiscation Pledge Campaign, please visit the IACP Web site at (www.theiacp.org). ■
From The Police Chief, vol. 73, no. 9, September 2006. Copyright held by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 515 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 USA.


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Eldermark Success Stories & Videos
Eldermark Blog: Recent Articles
– Scottie Sindora, RN
In the past 2 weeks I've been on the phone with 2 of your employees getting Eldermark installed on three different computers. The first instance I spoke with Jamie, and today with with Heather Winkler.
In both cases both Jamie and Heather were fabulous to work with. They were courteous, professional, very knowledgeable and flexible.
For me, these types of installs usually take time and there is a certain amount of "small talk" necessary for me so I'm not just sitting there with a quiet phone against my ear. As a result I usually end up trying to be funny and whether I was or not, both of these young ladies were able to get their work done quickly while keeping me at ease about my apparent lack of computer literacy.
– Jennifer, Executive Director, Homewood Heights Assisted Living
Since using EMAR Direct Connect we have experienced increased efficiency and streamlined operations, from admission to discharge. If there are ever issues, questions or requests, we get a prompt response. I would highly recommend all of the Eldermark products and services that we have used."
– Megan, Home Health Aide, Epiphany Assisted Living
"All the information I need goes with me wherever I am in the building and everything I need to know to care for my residents is in one place. I don't have to go through different books, charts, etc. and that makes it easy and faster for me."
– Terri, Assistant Executive Director, Epiphany Assisted Living
"Our residents' safety is our number one priority so it only makes sense to choose Eldermark."
– Nikki, Resident Care Director, The Bridge Assisted Living
"I was very nervous about our transition to the EMAR system, as it is new to our community and staff. When I saw how easy and straightforward the software is all of my fears were pushed aside. My staff has been able to quickly learn the program and our transition is going incredibly smoothly. We are very excited!"
– Elizabeth Weisner, Orchard Hill, Sudbury, MA
"Eldermark ties Resident Care, Marketing and Executive positions together so we can spend more time with residents and less at our computers. We can check on each other's progress and remain current with our census status."
– Angela, VP of Clinical Services, Prestige Care Senior Living
"We love EMAR Direct Connect. It has made staff members confident in their knowledge of residents and their medications. And the Risk Management system has brought a huge sense of relief to our Risk Management team."
– Terri, Assistant Executive Director, Epiphany Assisted Living
"I can't tell you what a time saver the Eldermark system is. It has our staff asking why we didn't do it sooner!"
– Susan Eckstrom, Executive Director, Rakhma Homes
"The system's cross-referencing attributes have improved communication across departments and with our vendors."
– Matilda, Administrative Assistant, The Glenn at St. Therese
"We use iPod touch at the point of care to substitute centralized, manual data entry. This wonderful new way of recording care and services not only saves us the expense of paper and labor but it has improved the quality of data."
– Susan Eckstrom, Executive Director, Rakhma Homes
"Eldermark is exceptional software, providing easy and affordable access to electronic health records. It has vastly improved time management and quality initiatives by allowing us to document resident care in real time and with abundant detail."
– Matilda, Administrative Assistant, The Glenn at St. Therese
"We increased revenues after just the first month and by streamlining processes we almost instantly improved quality of care. We love the change from paper to iPod touch."
– Teresa, Administrator, Fox Ridge Senior LIving
"Eldermark has been wonderful to work with. Their training process is nothing short of phenomenal. Our trainer stayed with us during the entire process and still to this day calls or emails to check on us. Their support line is so quick to answer with no waiting time and always manages to fix the problem within minutes."
– Susan Eckstrom, Executive Director, Rakhma Homes
"We couldn't be more satisfied! The support team has guided our staff step-by-step, from start-up through ongoing daily use to ensure our 100% satisfaction. We highly recommend Eldermark."
– Pat, Ecumen Senior Housing
"Eldermark has been a very responsive company to work with. They are progressive, supportive and readily available for troubleshooting."
Eldermark opens Fargo support office
Eldermark's commitment to world-class support just got bigger. Its new Fargo, ND office is home to an extended staff offering 24/7 customer care and nurse trainers.


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Custom and Consultation
Let The Forum Project design a custom workshop, community project, performance or training for your group, class or organization. We have worked with a wide range of organizations, community groups and classes to provide critical pedagogy, interactive theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed workshops and performances to explore a wide range of issues and work towards a diverse set of goals.
We can also train members of your community or your organization's staff in how to utilize Theatre of the Oppressed tools to better battle oppression and to achieve social change. For more details, please email us with information about your group or organization, some idea of the issues you'd like to address and the goals you hope to accomplish.


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Wireless Insecurity
by Joe Kashi
May 2004
Among the
purported benefits of wireless networks are increased
flexibility, much lower installation costs, lower long-term
maintenance burdens, and easy "hot desking"
where users are highly mobile and need to physically
share an office space or regularly rearrange the physical
configuration of their office. Wireless networking is
also particularly suited to conferencing where portable
computers are used by most of the participants and to
working arrangements where employees are frequently
out of the office.
These advantages might seem to be compelling, but the
threat of intrusion is a substantial deterrent, given
current wireless standards as implemented by most manufacturers.
Because of critical security vulnerabilities, wireless
Ethernet networking (also called Wi-Fi) remains far
more suited to a home-based family Internet sharing
arrangement than to legal and medical office arrangements
where confidentiality is not only ethically necessary,
but legally mandated. The very ease of setting up Wi-Fi
networks encourages their installation by casual users
who don't have enough experience or technical
savvy to recognize gaping security problems, let alone
remedy them.
Wi-Fi technology is a broadcast radio technology that
works on the same 2.4 gigahertz microwave radio band
as modern cordless telephones and Bluetooth wireless
devices built into many notebook computers. As a result,
Wi-Fi has the same advantages and disadvantages as any
radio technology.
On one hand, as with any radio signal, Wireless Ethernet
technology is susceptible to interference from such
simple obstructions as the foil backing of fiberglass
wall insulation. It is also susceptible to innocent,
but annoying, jamming and degradation from such mundane
items as a bad florescent light ballast, lightning,
a sparking electrical motor, or an older automobile
with a bad ignition, all of which can cause "static"
electrical noise which can degrade a Wi-Fi networking
signal, or even render it unusable.
Conversely, Wi-Fi's networking transmissions
are broadcast indiscriminately so that they may be directly
accessible by an intruder or hacker whom you'll never
notice in your parking lot, across the street, or in
a different part of your building. Wireless hacking
is so common that there are many Web sites and discussion
groups devoted to the practice, from which the barely
computer literate can download enough freeware programs
to overwhelm most small wireless networks.
Wireless technology is inherently much more susceptible
to intrusion and hacking than an equivalent hard wired
network where signals are not radiated indiscriminately
to drive-by hackers and the network server and cabling
are, or at least should be, physically protected from
casual intruders. In contrast, a wireless network is
potentially available anywhere within the range of its
radio broadcast signals, which can range anywhere from
20 or 50 meters to as much as 500 meters when sensitive
equipment is used on the other end. Even given a 50
meter signal radius, an intruder can be driving by or
sitting in a car across the street intercepting your
signals—and you'll likely be totally oblivious
to such activity unless forewarned to implement sophisticated
hacking detection technology.
Wi-Fi's security dilemma is fundamentally the
same as radio signal intelligence and cryptography efforts
by national security agencies. Human nature being what
it is, even if you have some suspicions of intercepted
communications, it's easy to disregard those concerns
as vague. After all, even in the middle of all out war,
the Japanese high command in World War II continued
to believe in the invulnerability of their codes even
after its catastrophic losses at the Battle of Midway
Island and in the Solomon Islands strongly suggested
that the U.S. was reading its mail. Because of their
ability to convince themselves that their broadcast
radio messages were safe from intrusion, Japanese radio
codes did not materially change during World War II,
to the enduring advantage of U.S. forces.
Unfortunately, hacking is in fact a very real and large
problem. One need only run a basic firewall program
and note the periodic intrusion attempts on any network
that has an Internet connection to understand the even
greater threat to a network where a user need only drive
by your office to obtain a connection. Some analysts
believe that as many as 30 percent of all Wi-Fi corporate
networks have already suffered a hacking attempt. Wi-Fi
networks are particularly vulnerable to drive-by hackers
who will map Wi-Fi networks, a process called "war-driving."
Of course, it's illegal to penetrate any computer
system without authorization, but that stricture has
not stopped decades of hacking into hard-wired systems
where the chances of leaving traces and being caught
are higher.
Feel better because your Wireless access point box
states that the product includes 128-bit WEP encryption?
Even that's of potentially little use. A 2001 drive-by
survey of 808 different London Wi-Fi networks using
the current 802.11b Wi-Fi standard found that a staggering
67 percent of those networks did not use any encryption
at all, probably because the network installer was either
too lazy to work through the resulting configuration
complications or because the wireless access point manufacturer
simply did not turn on encryption as the default configuration.
Most users accept the default configuration or a non-secure
configuration in any event because that makes for faster,
easier installation and that's how Wi-Fi networking
has been promoted, as a faster, easier means of connecting
Beyond the propensity of most users to stick with insecure
setup defaults, there are other, less obvious, but still
gaping security holes. Typically, in all but the larger
cities, only one or two brands of wireless access points
and routers will be readily available and the default
password needed to access administrator privileges and
complete control of these readily available wireless
access points probably will not be changed. Hence, the
potential hackers doesn't even need to ascertain your
password to try hack into a wireless network using another
computer—the hacker need only find a similar router
and its instruction manual or download the instruction
manual for that router from the manufacturer's
Web site. The default administrator password, which
I suspect 90 percent of all users will retain, will
be very clearly set out. Similarly, the default SSID
System access information is typically not changed and
is printed in the access point's instruction manual.
Although newer Wi-Fi standards, such as 802.11g are
now coming on the market, the need for backward compatibility
with much more common 802.11b devices limits the implementation
of more intrinsically secure standards.
There is a great deal of freeware software available
for immediate download that provides even a novice with
substantial tools to remotely intercept wireless network
data transmission packets and after having collected
enough of your "encrypted data packets,"
crack your encryption vector for 128 bit WEP. That allows
a hacker to remotely read your files and transmissions
as if the they were directly connected to your network.
One of the more sinister aspects of wireless hacking
is that it doesn't necessarily leave footprints. To
use such programs one need not be a deeply experienced
computer engineer, but merely have some basic computing
knowledge. Finding and downloading cookbook Wi-Fi hacking
programs takes about ten seconds using any standard
Internet search tool. Wi-Fi hacking software is available
for Windows systems, Mac, Linux/Unix, and Pocket PC
based systems.
Here is a small sampler of the more common freeware
Wireless hacking software:
These programs can be downloaded, for example, from
Readily available programs like these cut both ways.
They're useful for illicit intrusion into your
network but also as a means of independently checking
your own Wi-Fi security. You might find it both enlightening
and useful to download some of this readily available
freeware yourself an attempt to hack into your own network
to test its security. Similarly, if you have any indication
that you might be vulnerable to hacking, then try some
counter-hacking software such as Odessey or FakeAP,
programs that hides your network's true access
addresses by generating thousands of false and misleading
access point addresses that confuse fifteen-year-old
cookbook "script kiddies."
Often, the same Web sites that provide double-edged
hacking/security audit tools also include links to commercial
security products that ostensibly plug the same Wi-Fi
security gaps that are exploited by programs posted.
Be sure that any commercial vendor solutions you might
consider has been rigorously audited by neutral parties.
Wi-Fi is not yet even a fully mature technology and
yet even reasonably mature and proven technology like
30 year old UNIX or 10 year old 32 bit Windows typically
has some security vulnerabilities, although these become
increasingly more difficult for "script kiddies"
as the obvious holes are plugged. One need only recall
at the "extremely critical " security vulnerabilities
still found in Internet Explorer 6 and in Microsoft
Active Scripting as late as November 2003, or the SNMP
holes found in Cisco's Wi-Fi software to develop a disconcerting
sense of the potential vulnerabilities that remain in
even thoroughly studied, mature software.
The 802.11b Wi-Fi encryption algorithm is now widely
considered to be a systemically flawed implementation
of the more general RC4 encryption algorithm. Once flaws
are known in the algorithm, then specific decryption
techniques can be devised to efficiently crack the encryption
without the need for slow brute force cracking efforts.
As a result, a longer encryption bit length does not
necessarily provide additional protection. Unfortunately,
because this is a systemic problem, it is not susceptible
to easy solution. In other words, the principal Wi-Fi
security protocol is fundamentally flawed. Commercial
vendors essentially try to provide rather complicated
patches to a flawed product.
Further, because devices on a basic Wi-Fi network use
the same encryption key and SSID, then the compromise
or physical loss of any connected device, particularly
a laptop computer, compromises the entire networks and
its encryption security. An alternative to basic hacking
is to simply sniff the Media Access Address (MAC) that
is a fundamental part of every Ethernet network card
and then hack to that specific network device. To do
this, you don't necessarily need to intercept
radio packets. In fact, getting a notebook computers
MAC address can be as simple as turning the notebook
computer upside down and reading the Wireless MAC address
sticker the that is often attached to the bottom.
Other wireless security attacks are simply variants
of well-known cryptology techniques. For example, one
can passively intercept and decrypt network traffic
by using standard statistical analysis, an approach
that has formed the basis for code cracking for a few
hundred years and which is the basis of some freeware
Wi-Fi hacking programs. One can actively attack the
network by forwarding known plain text messages from
an unauthorized mobile station and then cracking the
WEP encryption key by comparing the known plain text
with the WEP-encrypted broadcast version. One can trick
an access points into accepting an unauthorized user
and then granting administrative privileges, a form
of attacking which is quite straightforward if a standard
router's default administrator password is not
changed. Or, one can use a little more finesse by employing
standard Windows and UNIX hacking techniques such as
buffer overflows.
After about a day's worth of traffic has been captured,
a user with a sufficiently powerful notebook computer
can analyze that traffic, build a dictionary deconstructing
the encryption scheme, and then read network traffic
on a the real time basis. As with the case of identity
theft, old-fashioned methods, such as going through
your trash or otherwise finding plain text documents,
still work and may be sufficient to support a decryption
attack on your network. The worst part is that with
passive monitoring and remote capture of your Wi-Fi
network's broadcast traffic, you'll never
really know.
Another problem is that a single malicious user can
readily saturate a Wireless Ethernet connection with
a standard denial of service attack similar to those
which have previously interrupted major Internet servers.
Let's not forget the possibility of internal breaches
resulting from unauthorized Wireless points that are
connected to a network by unsophisticated but well-meaning
employees who may not understand wireless network vulnerabilities.
These access points may not have even rudimentary networking
security enabled and can compromise your entire network.
Similarly, it's well to recall that about 80%
of the security breaches of hard-wired networks result
from disgruntled and former employees, perhaps terminated
from employment, who retain the information to get into
your network without even coming on your premises. Unauthorized
use by current and former employees is perhaps the biggest
single threat to the security of any network, whether
wireless or hard wired. It's simply easier for disgruntled
former employees to get into a wireless network without
leaving a trace.
These obvious and growing security problems threaten
both our ethical obligations and also the basic commercial
needs of confidentiality and assured data integrity.
Even though any unauthorized intrusion into someone
else's computer or network is clearly illegal
and unethical, that's unlikely to stop someone
otherwise inclined, particularly when remote Wi-Fi hacking
greatly reduces the chance of detection.
One is led to the essentially inexorable conclusion
that wireless networks cannot be trusted at this time
as a means of connecting law office users with to each
other and to the firm's data. Indeed, given that Wireless
networks only use a standard CRC redundancy check for
data integrity and given that the CRC check itself is
susceptible to malicious attack, a wireless user cannot
even be certain that data itself has not been damaged
or altered, not to mention read. Under such circumstances,
attorneys using Wi-Fi networks must be concerned about
their potential liability under Graham-Leach-Bliley
and sooner or later HIPPA in the instance of attorneys
deal with confidential medical information and records.
Change your system configuration defaults NOW to something
that can't be ascertained in a readily downloadable
manual. You might as well implement the WEP security
if for no reason other than discouraging casual or unintentional
interception and reading of the data that you're
broadcasting to one and all within a 50 to 500 meter
radius. Try a non-obvious encryption key and change
it regularly.
Don't use a Wi-Fi network for any confidential
information and isolate it from your confidential data
using a tested and verified hardware firewall.
Download some of the cookbook Wi-Fi hacking programs
and try to break into your own network. At a minimum,
you'll have a better idea of your own vulnerabilities.
Physically protect all mobile and external devices
that connect to your Wi-Fi network so that someone can't
simply find the device's MAC Ethernet address
as a means to hack into your system.
Run current and frequently updated anti-virus and personal
firewall software on every wireless device. In fact,
I won't be surprised to see wireless-specific
viruses and worms specifically targeting Wi-Fi devices
before the next ABA TECHSHOW. These would be particularly
insidious because they would be broadcasting your data
in such a way that a passively listening hacker couldn't
be electronically ascertained.
Change your passwords and SSIDs regularly.
Some manufacturers, such as Cisco and Bluesocket, are
beginning to address the inherent vulnerabilities of
wireless networks, but the solutions are still not fully
mature nor based upon generally accepted, interoperable
IEEE standards. If you're interested in such devices,
then check the validity of the security audits performed
upon them.
Even with these somewhat tedious protections, you can
have no assurance whatsoever that anything sent across
your wire across a wireless network is in being read
by somebody sitting in a different building or vehicle
a hundred yards away. You just don't know and is no
ready way to ascertain that. For all practical purposes,
Wi-Fi networking should be treated for the next year
or two, at a minimum, as if it were a public conversation
in a room crowded with strangers. Nothing confidential
or potentially damaging should ever be mentioned.
Joe Kashi is an attorney and litigator
living in Soldotna, Alaska, who is active in the Law
Practice Management Section and a technology editor
for Law Practice Today. He has written regularly on
legal technology for the Law Practice Management Section,
Law Office Computing magazine and other publications
since 1990. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees
from MIT in 1973 and his J.D. from Georgetown University
in 1976, and is admitted to practice in Alaska, Pennsylvania,
the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.


text:
Find Your Child's Learning Style
Tips for School Night Meal Planning
Preparing for College
It's been a challenging winter with record-breaking low temperatures and plenty of snow. Right about now, most families are wishing for spring—and the last thing they need is a cold or the flu invading their home.
So, it's ...
As parents, we want to convey the right messages about mobile safety so our kids understand the importance of behaving responsibly w ...
If you are the parent of a teen or tween who has a mobile phone (or may be getting one for the holidays), you might have con ...
As parents, we talk to our kids about healthy living, but sometimes those messages are, well, boring. But here&rsq ...
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text:
Smartwool Midweight Bottom - Kids'
While the kids' version hasn't been reviewed yet, there are 2 reviews for other versions of the Midweight Bottom. Read all reviews »
Where to Buy
sponsored links
Manufacturer's Description
Visit Smartwool's Midweight Bottom page.
Retailers' Descriptions
Here's what other sites are saying:
Now available in kids' sizes, and exclusive to REI, SmartWool's warmest base layer is ideal for stop-and-go activities in cold weather.
CLOSEOUTS . Utilizing a supersoft NTS 250 midweight merino wool interlock knit, SmartWool's NTS Midweight base layer bottoms are an essential layering piece for their winter-weather sporting activities. Available Colors: ROYAL, PEONY, BERRY HEATHER, DEEP SEA, PERSIAN RED HEATHER, INDIGO. Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL.
- Sierra Trading Post
The Smartwool Boys' Midweight Bottoms put the soft, warm properties of wool right where your kid needs them most--next to his skin. The wool in these midweight bottoms naturally insulates, transfers moisture when your boy heats up on the ski or sledding hill, and blocks odor so you can spend a little less time doing laundry this winter.
- Backcountry.com
Perfect for layering on a cold day and great for wearing alone around the house or outside on a mild day. Now your kids can be as warm, dry and comfortable as you.
Smartwool Kids' Midweight Bottom
currently retails for:


text:
Embarkation : A breeze, we are Platinum and were on board quickly. Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle: They served appetizers and lemonade. They had a raffle which we won a prize.
FOOD: I thougt the menus were limited, the quantities small, and the service slow. Most of the time we spent almost 2 hours on dinner, the only thing that saved us was our great tablemates. (We were at a table for 10, but had 8 of us for the trip) I noticed that chicken dishes were none existence, except for the daily chicken breast, same with fish, the only fish I saw was the daily salmon. Port was served over and over again. The best dinner I had was the steak with crabmeat and bearnaise sauce.. On lobster night, the waiters seemed to disappear when it came time for seconds. The dining room at lunch was limited to the same menu for the entire cruise. We ended up going to the Windjammer where we had more choices. Windjammer: Trays are gone. Dishes are small and curved like bowls so you can take only small quantities. It was quicker to get your beverage then to wait for a server to come to you. There is also limited hours as to when you can get food. Check your daily paper everyday or you could go hungry.
ENTERTAINMENT: From a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best,I would give them a 1. Nothing memorable, and even one night all they had was a movie, can't even recall the name. Drinks: Very expensive
Captains Party: Poor Champagne, and then the waiters disappeared. Hardly worth going too. Disembarkation: Was a breeze for the Carry Off, until we found out that we docked at a different terminal and needed to wait for a shuttle. It added an extra hour to our day.
Trivia Contests: Had a ball with all of them, prizes were hokey, but the people I grouped with were awesome. Made the trip a lot of fun.


text:
In my opinion, we do not need more predators in this country and when you read this column, I hope you will agree.
When you introduce or allow predators to multiply without being curtailed, the economic and social impact in regions of North America could be devastating. To understand what is happening in our country with regard to predation, you must approach the problem with an unbiased philosophy. That will allow you to understand the mindset of individuals who have chosen to adopt ideas closely related to:
The control of game animals in national parks, national forests, state forests and regions open to hunters;
The biological effect of predation on native species; and
The cost to the economy.
In recent years (1993-95), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under pressure, introduced wolf packs into Yellowstone National Park and the vast wilderness areas of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The contract was to maintain the packs at a level of 100 per state, or roughly 300 wolves, and management then was turned over to the states.
A plan was crafted to protect at least 50 percent of each pack. Recently. it was noted that there are more than six times the number promised.
As a result, a once healthy moose population in Yellowstone is near extinction. In Idaho, the mule deer and elk populations are so low that hunters are seeking the more productive states.
As a reader, you probably are thinking, "So what is the problem?" The problem quickly becomes economic because in Idaho alone it is estimated that a mule deer is worth close to $1,000, if you consider the money spent on a guide, equipment and visiting.
Considering the fact that most of this money is spent by out-of-state hunters, that equates to $5.8 million for the economy. That is big business from mule deer hunting alone.
How does predation affect us in Pennsylvania? We first must realize that other than the funding from the Pittman-Robertson Act, the state Game Commission operates on the sale of licenses, as do a majority of other states.
The pinch comes that when you have fewer animals to hunt, the hunters go to another state or country to enjoy their sport or they just quit - period - and agencies have less money.
That should be a good argument for stronger control in our state for better regulation of predators. That way, we could allow them to regulate populations of game birds, such as ring-necked pheasants, and deer fawns that supplement a vital class of older deer.
There are a variety of predators, in my opinion, that we really should concentrate on reducing in addition to the worm-infested coyotes. The curse in the mammal world is raccoons.
The raccoon reproduces at a fantastic rate, carries the rabies virus and will clean out a nest of game birds in minutes, as well as newborn mammals. The population has exploded in our state and along the eastern seaboard and appears not to have enough natural enemies to check their progress.
Predators can be controlled biologically and with a good market for furs. My trapping friend, Randy Timisso, of Wyoming state, tells me last season he hit the jackpot, trapping big cats that have put many ranchers out of business. Perhaps that's what we need to do instead of protecting predators under the Endangered Species Act and stocking game birds for them to eat without our help for survival.


text:
When I first went into the service of humanity, Gafar Ajao
04 October 1999
by Gafar Ajao.
In 1990 when I first went into the service of humanity, I first saw it as a brief idea and no big deal whatsoever. At Dutse where we were taken to there was no food and the water was a bit unhygienic, this made the organizer to import food and water from a neighboring state; Kano. After the camping we were put to work for no fee at all but my friends and some of my close relatives discouraged this and ask me often time that "Are you crazy"? and I remember I was always answering "No, I am not crazy".
My late mother (she died on the 20th of June 1999 at the age of 70 year, may her soul rest in perfect peace) who herself, her late mother, Victoria Omotonike alias Iya Dosu, were volunteers but in the local presentation and because of their own rich background people believed they were just generous besides, nobody knew what volunteering supposed to mean then. There was no any linkages to what Volunteering is. In short they could not have imagined it but they do because they all participated in voluntary services either in the mosques, churches, community development and so on and so forth.
There was this system of volunteering in the17th, 18th, even 19th century whereby people around you will build your house the moment you purchase a piece of land without you asking them. They do it as their own contribution and support for their fellow. All you need to do is to provide entertainment for them and everybody is happy.
Later, I joined a traveling theatre where there is no remuneration for your toil but nobody complained but in the real sense of it we were the crusader, we were like prophets telling people the right path to go and we never disappointed anybody.
In 1991 I was invited by the British council, Kano Office to come and be part of the new theatre company set up by the then director, Mr. David Feiller as a charity organization. I was there for three years and I started my own theatre organization(voluntary) called A-BAS the thespian realm. Our major voluntary services include a drama packaged for secondary school pupils in seven states of the northern part of Nigeria we did not charge any money.
Reason: there are many theatre companies in kano state and they are profit making organization and many times they put up shows only for them to perform for empty chairs. We did not want this to happen to us, we put heads together myself and my friend Eze Eze Ogali then a youth corper serving in kano, what we came up with was the idea of a developmental drama that will help the youths and adults, concentrating more and creating awareness for the importance of education for a Nigerian child in the northern part of Nigeria.
My mother provided us with logistics including food and little money and we tasked ourselves because we wanted to be unique and at the end of the tour the British council acting director called me and asked me to write a short play on child labour, abuse and educational development. I wrote the play and it became difficult to get it on stage due to the insufficient budget of the British Council for the arts at the time, but we had the preview at the Arts Theatre of the University of Ibadan in 1997, and there were talents exhibition of the younger actors between ages of 10- 12.
I moved on to Orsu-Obodo, Ihiala, Mbaise, Mgbidi, Izombe, Awo-Mmanma, Oguta, Onitsha, Agbor, Asaba etc in the eastern part in search of more young volunteers, unfortunately nobody volunteered but i was able to show them ways of starting a developmental project and getting it done without involving physical cash. To the southern part I went to Ile-Ife, Iwo, Ibadan, Oyo, Ijebu-Ode, Benin, Ewohimi, Eruwa etc, and I was able to get more encouragement.
I was the best volunteer for the year 1998 and I was just been the awarded the Volunteer of the millennium by the students' union government of the polytechnic of ibadan.
I currently work as a volunteer with Educare Trust Exhibition Centre with N2000 allowance every month.
Gafar Ajao.


text:
Notre Dame AD: Conference realignment far from over
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame's athletic director said he's been watching and waiting while some of the nation's leading sports conferences go through a major realignment.
The process is far from finished, said Jack Swarbrick, adding that he's keeping an eye on his school's options. The Fighting Irish are independent in football but play in the Big East conference in other sports.
"This isn't over," Swarbrick told the South Bend Tribune. "This will be back around."
In March, Swarbrick said Notre Dame's hand might be forced if there were sweeping changes in college football. In May, he said being independent is "core to who we are."
The shake up has involved a number of schools moving among the Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences.
Swarbrick said there's been fan pressure for Notre Dame's football team to stay independent, as well as some calls for it to join a conference.
"I had a lot of people shouting across the street to me to stay independent and it was interesting, but correspondences ran both ways," Swarbrick said. "I think there's an assumption that there's a universal view among our fans and alumni on this, and there isn't."
Swarbrick said the input is of limited value because of all the factors needed to decide the school's future.
"It's not like some things where they may have an idea of who a football coach should be or something like that," he said. "Here there were hundreds of relevant pieces of information that you were never going to have.
For now, Notre Dame is focusing on two things - contributing to the growth and vitality of the Big East while working to maintain football independence.
"We're going to keep on trying to play a leadership role in the industry," Swarbrick said.