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About a year ago I tried to limit my use of paper towel about the house. I bought up a heap of white face washers and used them for cleaning in the place of paper towel. It worked really well until my cloths became stained and ragged. I found myself less likely to reach into the kitchen cupboard to grab a cloth and more likely to use a paper towel again.
Feeling guilty, I got myself into gear and organised myself with a new set of cleaning cloths. This time I bought a HUGE bag of microfiber cloths. They will last longer than the face washers and will do a better job. They also came in a variety of colours so that I could give each cleaning 'zone' a different coloured wipe.
Part of the problem with using cloths last time was the fact that they were tucked away in the cupboard. I had the plan to keep them in a nice jar on the counter, but white clothes are only display-worthy for a month or so. These new microfiber cloths have been in use for over a month and still look new, so I repurposed a lolly jar I had in the cupboard as my cleaning cloth storage.
Until hubby gets the colour coding down pat, I have labelled the jars with a Sharpie…..I will no doubt have to look for a more permanent label 🙂
What environmental cleaning practises do you use?


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pop does a setq. It won't alter the argument. In my description I'm doing consecutive delete of random elements until I'm at one last using double loop will end up being O(n^2) time and O(1) space. By making the delete O(1), as in hash, you can get it O(n) time in total.pjstirling wrote:Using a loop over POP is O(n) in both.
delete is not about time complexity. It's about space complexity. Using remove will cons n^2 times. eg, a small list of a million elements will cons 8TB memory on a 64 bit machine while none by using delete. If you want a functional interface you copy the initial list ie. cons 8MB. It sure beats 8TB memory usage. When you have a copy using delete in place of remove is not possible to detect by the user except perhaps the user gets the result the same day.

subset: commoncrawl


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Glow in the Dark Makeup Like Kesha 2010-04-19 13:00:11
Is Black Light Makeup the Next Big Thing?
If you saw Ke$ha's performance of "Your Love Is my Drug" on SNL over the weekend, you know what I'm talking about. Glow-in-the-dark makeup has been showing up all over: the Black Eyed Peas wear it in their "I Gotta Feeling" video, Australian singer Sia has been known to use it in performances, and a new DKNY 20th anniversary video features a model dancing around in it.
Black light was huge back in the '80s, and in fashion, everything old eventually becomes new again. If I were going out, I think I'd definitely wear Ke$ha's red lipstick—it would look cool and it's pretty wearable. There's also black light eye shadow, temporary hair color, and nail polish. So what do you think? Is this a trend you'll be trying, or do you think it should stay back in 1984 with frizz perms and single earrings?
Photo courtesy NBC


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| 5.7°C Belfast
A hearing has been scheduled on a motion by Justin Bieber's lawyers to prevent news organisations from obtaining unreleased video of the Canadian pop singer after his arrest last month in South Florida.
The hearing is for next week before a Miami-Dade County judge.
The 19-year-old pop singer's lawyers said in the motion they want more time to review the video showing him in custody.
Media lawyers say there is no basis under Florida public records laws to keep the video private.
A March 3 trial date has been set for Justin on misdemeanour charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with an invalid license. He has pleaded not guilty.
Police say Justin was arrested after an illegal street drag race in Miami Beach.


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No one presumes that, with the merger of two great big financial services firms, technology integration will be headache-free. But would you believe: A nightmare? Scary? Painful? Agonizing?
Indeed, that's how a broad spectrum of industry participants, in interviews with Research, described such complicated conversions.
Mergers and acquisitions have been woven into the industry's fabric since the 1800s. But during the last few years, they have sharply increased. With government pressure, the financial crisis brought some of the biggest yet: Morgan Stanley's buying of Citigroup's Smith Barney, Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo's purchase of Wachovia.
Technology integration is a highly complex affair, involving hundreds of different systems—thousands if the merged firm is multinational. At best, conversions are difficult to manage. But if riddled with snafus, they will impact financial advisors' productivity and lead to reduced revenue and compensation—together with plummeting client satisfaction and departures. What goes up are operational risk, reputational risk and costs to firms. Net-net: profitability suffers.
Every integration has unique challenges, but nowadays the challenges seem more plentiful than ever.
"It's become a very, very complex environment and not getting any easier. It's a nightmare. You have to be concerned with the provision of services, risk management, compliance, regulatory oversight and, if the conversion is international, a whole set of dimensions for each country," says Colin Clark, president of Cloud Event Processing, a Minneapolis-based infrastructure provider with clients including the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
A pivotal issue: At the start of an acquisition, companies typically pay scant attention to tech integration.
"Firms tend to take the systems decisions too lightly. But what seems like 'just the back office' has consequences all the way to the business side and profitability. Deciding what systems to go with needs a lot more time than is typically dedicated to it," says Alois Pirker, research director, Aite Group, a financial services research and advisory firm based in Boston.
Conversion is a massive enough job when one firm's technology is chosen over others'. It is a herculean task when a whole new platform is created. That's what occurred when Smith Barney became part of Morgan Stanley in 2009.
Boasting 17,000 FAs, the merger marked the largest advisor integration in history. Smith Barney's brokerage platform wasn't included in the deal; so the choice was to use either Morgan Stanley's existing system or design a new one. Senior management opted to start from scratch.
The Smith Barney platform was extremely functional. However, it was based on outmoded mainframe technology; Morgan Stanley, focused on the future, created a new system that was state-of-the-art Web based.
But in the months during and following conversion last summer, the platform, dubbed 3-D, started to give heartburn to many of the firm's FAs—notably those who had come from Smith Barney. Complaints ranged from glitches, delays and therefore decreased production all the way to loss of clients. Exasperated advisors charged that the system was neither fully tested nor adequately explained.
"A period of adjustment" is what Morgan Stanley Wealth Management's David Lessing, managing director-chief operating officer for U.S. wealth management, called the situation in a September interview with Research. Pirker sums it up this way: "Creating a new system is a little bit fraught. They had their work cut out."
But Morgan Stanley's conversion woes are by no means unique.
"It's a systemic issue within the industry. We come across it on a regular basis," says David Furlonger, a vice president and fellowship holder at Gartner, a technology consulting and research firm.
"And when the system doesn't do what you imagined it would do or what it was intended to do," Furlonger says, "there are a number of areas where it hurts not just you as a firm but your clients."
Indeed, bumpy conversions can lead to operational risk. "Even if the [overall] system is working, if it's unfamiliar to users, some will create different ways of working," Furlonger, based in Vancouver, Canada, points out. "That could have operational risk and security implications because what they're doing isn't necessarily reflective of policy."
The firm that is now Wells Fargo Advisors has undergone 15 conversions in the past 15 years alone. Major acquisitions that would lead to the current institution stretch back even earlier, including J.C. Wheat & Co.'s combining with First Securities to create Wheat First Securities in 1971 and a 1988 merger with Butcher & Singer to form Wheat First Butcher Singer.
Joe Nadreau, Wells Fargo Advisors managing director, strategic solutions group, has been with the company for the past 10 mergers and led the integrations of A.G. Edwards (2007) and then Wachovia Securities into Wells Fargo (2008), the latter triggered by federal intervention during the financial crisis.
"Because we've done so many integrations, we have a very formalized methodology," says Nadreau, based in St. Louis. "A lot of the success comes down to the first 100 days after the deal is announced, when you set up a [precise] time frame, create policy, and then build technology around the policies to support them." A target operating model (TOM) forms the foundation of all systems' selection.
"There are always risks that come with integration," Nadreau says, "but the goal is to create the least amount of change for both clients and advisors. We try to make [FAs] aware of what the platform will be and conduct extensive training. They shouldn't find out at the point of integration what the system can or can't do."
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (which changed its name to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in late September) mounted what Lessing calls "the largest training program in the history of corporate mergers," with 450 trainers in branches for four weeks before and four weeks after the conversion. Despite that, many FAs soon began to grouse about the system.
"The transition has been more than difficult—it's impossible," one million-dollar producer formerly with Smith Barney told Research last July. "I don't think a broker got involved in reviewing this. Production is down 30% firm-wide. People are losing accounts. We were given retention bonuses so we wouldn't leave. But now I'm paying for staying with this company. It's very, very stressful."
Claims of client and advisor attrition as well as a drop in production by nearly a third linked to the new platform are "exaggerated," says James Wiggins, head of Morgan Stanley corporate communications, adding, "we've seen no dip in revenues that can be tied directly to technology."
Among the FAs who exited before the conversion, Walter Urban, ex-Smith Barney, went independent with Alpha Capital Partners, in Mount Laurel, N.J., affiliating with Raymond James Financial Services. Technology wasn't a chief reason for his leaving the wirehouse, but the timing was: He wanted to spare clients a double conversion.
Now Urban says: "We certainly didn't know all the nuances of the new platform other than that it was being sold as incorporating the best features of Smith Barney's and Morgan Stanley's technology. Some of my former co-workers say that the new system is anything but user-friendly, and no one is pleased with it."
Lessing maintains: "There is no denying that integrations cause disruptions, and we've tried our best to minimize that. We wanted to do everything we could to bridge the gap. There are areas where the functionality is not what people would want it to be, and we're focused on these very heavily. [But] given the magnitude of the deal, we knew we'd have very significant challenges in completing the integration.
"We also knew," Lessing says, "that very soon after conversion, we'd be able to make upgrades. We've done that [in September] and will do more in November and December. We'll be able to very quickly address issues that come up. Many situations fall into the bucket of fixes; many others fall into the bucket of enhancements."
Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch was totally different technology integration-wise—not just because this was a bank buying a brokerage but because no new system was needed: the firm went with Merrill's platform, far superior to that used by BofA brokers, whose advisory business was tiny in comparison.
According to Pirker, the bank brokerage was essentially "dismantled and switched off." Those advisors remaining with the firm to become Merrill FAs were pleased with the advanced workstation and other high tech capabilities they gained. Where there were gaps, Merrill built additions to conform to what BofA advisors had before.
Still, the integration likely wasn't a stroll in the park.
"I imagine that it would be a delicate, intricate operation because they're global, and the systems have to be treated with kid gloves," Clark says.
The main challenge, according to Scott Logan, managing director and head of global wealth and investment management business technology for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, was maintaining the integrity of data in transitioning bank brokerage clients to Merrill. In particular, the firm had to ensure there were no mix-ups concerning those with accounts at both BofA and Merrill.
"If you put the wrong [two] people together, you've got a privacy incident, and that's your worst possible scenario," says Logan, based in Pennington, N.J.
Bank of America also shifted clearing activities from National Financial Services to Merrill's internal clearing system.
"There were so many [clients], and it was very complex. I wouldn't want to do one of those every year," Logan remarks.
Training is of course imperative when it comes to managing a conversion. Though Morgan Stanley conducted a great deal of it, one problem was that "the trainers weren't familiar with the legacy systems and had a tough time relating the new system to real-life stuff. They didn't know the day-to-day problems of advisors," says recruiter Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants, based in White Plains, N.Y.
Contrary to conjecture by some MSSB FAs, a group of advisors worked with the firm's technology council "to guide the development of the system," Lessing says. Also, 150 focus groups were held in the branches. And a survey on features collected input from thousands of FAs.
"But from our conversion and every other one I've seen, no matter how much input you have, you won't get everything right," Lessing says. "I anticipated that there would be significant noise driven by the degree of difference between the new system and what Smith Barney advisors were used to. We were expecting that in many cases, people would have challenges they had to work through."
Similar in certain technical respects to Morgan Stanley's technology scenario, was Wachovia's A.E. Edwards conversion. Though Edwards' technology "had some capabilities that were better than what we had," Nadreau says, the Wachovia system prevailed. "We lost those Edwards' capabilities but did our best to fill important gaps" by building additions.
When Swiss bank UBS expanded into the U.S. via acquisition of PaineWebber in 2000, "the depth of financial support to enhance our technology enabled us to leapfrog," says UBS Financial Services' Peter Weintraub, senior vice president-investments and partner in the firm's Demsky Weintraub Weath Management Group, in Beverly Hills, Calif. He joined PaineWebber in 1976.
"PaineWebber didn't have the financial capacity to implement a lot of new technology. They did it on the basis of what they could afford, when they could afford it," says Weintraub.
Pirker contends that UBS technology is now lagging somewhat because no further dollars are available for improvements. "UBS's profit is wafer-thin. If they go to Switzerland to ask for more funds to invest in technology, they'll say, 'We already invested in that business. We don't necessarily want to throw even more money into it.'"
Lessons Learned
One of the biggest mistakes in integrating technology, Nadreau says, is to maintain a virtually duplicate legacy process following a conversion. Such skeletons in the closet, "just prolong the agony. You need uniformity. The right answer is to choose a single operating model and systems that support the policies, and move on."
He adds: "Still, we've learned through trial and error over 15 acquisitions and made some of the same mistakes people made in the recent past." For example, when Wachovia bought Prudential Securities in 2003, "we had systems issues, including outages, right out of the gate."
It's best to complete a conversion in one single move, Nadreau advises. "When we've done them as separate events, it's almost like prolonging the pain." With Wells Fargo's purchase of Wachovia, for example, "we did the conversion in 13 or 14 different events, based on geography…. It was difficult for the advisors."
To avoid being plagued with conversion troubles, management needs to be candid and communicative at the start of an acquisition, says Clark at Cloud Event Processing. "Firms should start talking about integration as part of due diligence and [actually] begin on it even before the merger announcement. [Some] do, but brokers probably would not be aware because it's kept quiet. People are afraid of being open."
Furlonger makes a similar point: "There's a disconnect between the business side and the technology side that needs to be addressed."
Nadreau emphasizes: "You need to inform everyone about the decisions you've made and why, and prepare them for the change. Be honest and upfront in setting expectations for advisors…. A different system will always cause anxiety, but it shouldn't be that they didn't understand what was happening to them."
Early on, he advises, "realize that you're not going to please everybody and that you need to be prepared to deal with the fallout. There's always fear on the part of advisors. It's a very scary time."
At Morgan Stanley, many FAs still have little awareness that embedded in their new system is a slew of innovative features. "There's a bucket of things that are better about the platform. But the right time to talk about them isn't now," Lessing says. "First we'll correct what's perceived to need fixing. Then, as we settle the platform down, we'll talk about our new tools to help drive better client relationships. We're addressing the issues we were expecting, but we still have a lot of work to do."
Pirker gives the 3-D design a good rating, though he says that Morgan Stanley "has to get the kinks ironed out and make sure they can bring it into production-level quality—hopefully, quickly."
Lessing is "heartened knowing that we have the ability to make rapid changes, that advisor and client attrition haven't spiked and that it typically takes at least a year before people admit a new platform is better than the old one," he says.
Adds Wiggins: "Idiots didn't design our platform." But if the firm could do it all over again, "we probably would have managed financial advisor expectations better."


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My husband and I have battled continuously for years about whether scraping the mold off the top of — well, anything — makes it OK to eat, or if once a spot of green invades the top of a barely used jar of jam we've got to call it a loss and toss it out. I'm always willing to scrape off the top, cut off the moldy crusts, etc., and carry on with the meal. My husband, not so much.
Well, turns out the USDA has weighed in on the argument with interesting findings. My favorite part of the Safe Food Handling fact sheets is this chart on how to handle moldy foods (very, very carefully is not one of the answers):
An article on CNN takes it one step farther, suggesting that you shouldn't eat the pizza you left out on the counter overnight (What? Even my husband finds this to be absurd). And I never would have thought about eating moldy sausage, hard or not.
In the end, experts and the USDA report both recommend throwing out most moldy foods. I admit, the idea of threads of mold weaving their way into the bottom of the container gives me a moment of pause; but if you read about what happens if you eat a slightly tainted dollop of sour cream, the most likely effect will be a stomach ache.
Sad mold and happy mold. (Photos by napalm nikki and jkuma, respectively)
I've had stomach aches from eating myriad meals over the years, made by friends, family, and fast food joints, so this news isn't likely to change my habits. After all, we all know about the happy molds found in blue cheeses and on the outside of Bries and Camemberts. Now there's some mold I can sink my teeth into.
Anyone out there have any experience working with molds in cheese-making, or have a gruesome tale that will cure me from my "just scrape it off" attitude? Tell me about in the Comments.


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No Lights On - Bake Not Working - Wall Oven
Possible Solutions
Is the Control Lock On?
To unlock:
Press and hold START (on single oven) or the lower START (on double ovens) for 3 seconds to unlock
No keypads will function with the controls locked.
Refer to your Owner's Manual for more information on Control Lock.
If you would like to download or view product literature for your appliance, please visit our Manuals and Literature page.
Has a household circuit breaker tripped or fuse blown?
Check to make sure a household fuse has not blown or that a circuit breaker has tripped. Reset the circuit breaker or replace the fuse if necessary. If the problem continues, contact a licensed electrician.
If not resolved, please note the following:
Do not continue to attempt to operate the wall oven.
Disconnect the power cord and/or turn off the circuit breaker that controls the appliance.
Still need help? Call or schedule service.
You may need assistance from a qualified technician. Call 1-800-422-1230 or click below to schedule an appointment.


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Swartzbaugh Residence
(MAP) 203 Cocoa Ave., Hershey, PA 17033
*** 2014 Preservation Award Winner ***
The current-day Swartzbaugh home, on land originally sold in 1903 to Milton and Catherine Hershey by Peter Shenk, presides over the corner of Granada and Cocoa Avenues. The home at 203 Cocoa was first owned by Charles Glynn, Master Mechanic for the Hershey Chocolate Company. After a number of residential transfers, the home was sold to Evangelical Lutheran Church sometime after 1924. In 1935, the home was sold back to Milton Hershey, who then transferred the title to the Derry Township School District.
The most notable recent tenants included Eugene Jacques, Derry Township School District Superintendent, who resided there for over 20 years, and current homeowners, Claude and Louise Swartzbaugh.
The Swartzbaughs have served as diligent caretakers of the property, maintaining virtually every single design and aesthetic component in its original form, since they purchased it from the School District at public auction in June 1970. Oddly, their attempts to purchase the home took a circuitous route, demonstrated by not one or two, but three separate attempts to purchase the property. As Louise Swartzbaugh so poignantly notes, "After four years and three disappointments we finally settled into the house we fell in love with. We still love it after 44 years."


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Granite State College Stats, Info and Facts
|Institution Type:
|Campus Setting:
|New England Town, on fringe of an urban area
|Highest Degree Offered:
|Master's degree
|Level of Institution:
|Four or more years
This have been a great college experience, particularly for a non-traditional student. I enjoy the different options available, both on campus and on-line, for course. Granite State College fits my…
Granite State offers the best courses, flexibility and options for every student. They have been there to advise, support and help me achieve my goals 100% since I began courses…
Granite State College offers a wide variety of opportunities for prospective students; with college campuses scattered around the State of NH, as well as online courses for those who cannot…
Great School, with Great Professor's that care!…
Not worth it. I graduated in 2011 and still unemployed, regardless of my experience i should be able to get an entry level job or a job that pays me…
Looks like there are no "Am I Enjoying Being Here" reviews for Granite State College.
Have you been to this college? Take a moment to create an account with Cappex and tell us your thoughts. Rating this school will make you eligible to win the Cappex Reviews Scholarship!


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HelpDrivers offers drivers that support both currently shipping and obsolete mouse & keyboard & Other input Gembird, which are only available from this site.
To find a driver, utilities, manual, firmaware and BIOS for your Gembird, select your mouse & keyboard & Other input serie from the list above.
This site is designed to make your search as fast and efficient as possible.


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- Evaluation Station
- Writers' Showcase
- Grammar Blast
- Wacky Web Tales
- Power Proofreading
- Authors and Illustrators
- Graphic Organizers
- Bright Ideas for Writing
- Net's Best for Research
Writing Prompt: Poem
Amusement park rides are exciting experiences. Have students list words that describe what it feels like to ride on a favorite amusement park ride. Then have them write poems about their experiences.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


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SOMERSET, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Following a successful research collaboration, Catalent Pharma Solutions announces that it has taken an exclusive license to innovative taste-masking technology developed by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The technology has been developed to mask the most challenging, unpleasant and bitter tasting pharmaceutical active ingredients.
Under the terms of the license, Catalent will complete transfer of the technology into its world class, cGMP facilities to support manufacture of novel dosage forms such as its Zydis® fast dissolve platform. It is expected that the taste-masking technology will be effective for developing a wide variety of formulations including granules/sachets, sprinkles, chewables, effervescent and oral dispersible tablets.
"Taste masking of fine drug particles has remained a technical challenge for formulators," said Dr. Rajesh Davé, Distinguished Professor and Principal Investigator at NJIT. "Through funding from Catalent, we have been able to leverage our expertise to innovate technology and processes that allow for these materials to be cost effectively coated and taste-masked."
Kurt Nielsen, Ph.D., Catalent's Senior Vice President of Research and Development, commented, "Dr. Davé and his group at NJIT are leaders in pharmaceutical particle engineering. The unique approach to API coating is a perfect complement to Catalent's extensive dose form capabilities and will facilitate formulation of the most difficult-to-taste-mask actives. Catalent has already produced the first feasibility samples, which have exceeded our expectations. This efficient and versatile taste-masking technology will allow development of new dosage forms delivering significant advantages to our customers and benefits to patients and consumers in global markets."
About Catalent
Catalent Pharma Solutions is the global leader in development solutions and advanced drug delivery technologies, providing world-wide clinical and commercial supply capabilities for drugs, biologics and consumer health products. With over 75 years serving the industry, Catalent has proven expertise in bringing more customer products to market faster, enhancing product performance and ensuring reliable product supply. Catalent employs approximately 9,000 people, including over 1,000 scientists, at nearly 30 facilities across 5 continents and generates more than $1.6 billion in annual revenue. Catalent is headquartered in Somerset, N.J. For more information, visit www.catalent.com.
more products. better treatments. reliably supplied.™
About New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 9,558 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2012 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Division of Continuing Professional Education.
Patricia A. McGee, +1-732-537-6407
Chris Halling, +44 (0) 7580 41073
Source: Catalent Pharma Solutions


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Accenture ranked No. 24 on the 2017 Barron's 500, marking its second consecutive year in the top 25 and 15th consecutive year on the list. Accenture was also again the highest-ranked company in its industry sector.
According to Barron's, a leading US financial publication, the list is an exclusive ranking of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States and Canada, as measured by reported sales in the latest fiscal year.
Compiled by HOLT, a unit of Credit Suisse, it compares companies based on three equally weighted factors: median three-year cash-flow-based return on investment, or CFROI; the change in CFROI for the latest year relative to the prior three-year median; and sales growth in the latest fiscal year.
The full article and rankings can be viewed in the May 20, 2017 edition of Barron's, which is available by subscription only at Barrons.com.


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Classic Gum Syrup by Liber & Co. / Gomme Syrup
- 17 oz. bottle sizes
- Made with Gum Arabic
- Called for in classic cocktails
Liber & Co Gum Syrup can be utilized in any recipe calling for gomme syrup. This recipe includes a 2:1 simple syrup ratio with real gum arabic to create a silky smooth texture in your cocktails. Utilize it wherever a simple syrup is called for to add a bit more high scale luxurious textures.
Try Liber & Co Gum Syrup in your next Sazerac or Mint Julep instead of sugar to add a new mouth-feel experience or at least keep it handy for those classics calling for the gomme syrup instead of using regular simple syrup.
Cane sugar, filtered water, gum arabic, citric acid.


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Project U (2009)
Project Description
Project U will determine the most appropriate "social software" functionality to implement to meet the needs of LITA membership. We will specifically look at why the software is needed and how it should be deployed.
Team Members
Team Name: Team UNIT
Tracy Sutherland, Chanitra Bishop, Holly Tomren, Ligaya Ganster
Jean Rainwater, LITA Web Coordinating Committee Chair (2008 - 2010)
Michelle Frisque, firstname.lastname@example.com
ALA Staff Liaison
Melissa S. Prentice American Library Association
50 E Huron St Chicago, IL 60611-2788
Work: 312/280-4268 Fax: (312) 280-3257 E-mail: email@example.com
Progress Timeline
Feb.13- Decided on plan of action for working with LITA based on Michelle's suggestions/ our own ideas. Decided to use Skype as a means of communication.
Feb. 23- Discussed communication efforts. Discussed Jean's recommendations to work on ALA Connect. Contacted appropriate ALA contacts for ideas/suggestions.
March 9- Following the last email from Michelle, we agreed to focus our efforts on ALA Connect and Twitter. However, to round things out, we would also like to look at Facebook and YouTube. Began collecting articles/info via Delicious.
March 23- Discussed our next steps. Concluded we would focus on exploring tools, information gathering, compiling information, and making recommendations for LITA's use of social software for next meeting.
April 6- Discussed ideas for Final Project, which include: a)List of References for use of Twitter & other web tools b) List of Guidelines for organizational use of Twitter & other web tools c) Poster d) Online Presentation.
Current Action Items
1.) Make our guidelines for using Twitter for LITA new doc (Holly will start and Everyone will contribute) to go on a wiki and be printed as a handout--This info will help us create the vid Due Date: Monday June1st.
2.) Everyone can begin working on assigned tasks(See Final Project Outline Google doc)for description of final project tasks and assignments. Rough drafts for assignments are Due: Monday June 8th. There is no meeting this date but everyone should send out a link of their part of the project for review by the group. Date for final completion of assigned tasks TBA.


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(CNN) -- A former Florida police officer convicted of multiple murders in the 1980s is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, and his attorneys are still working to save his life.
Manuel Pardo, 56, was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder in 1988 and was sentenced to death.
Pardo's attorneys argued in federal court Monday that Florida's recent change in the drug combination it uses for lethal injections would violate their client's civil rights. Attorney William McKinley Hennis III told U.S. Judge Timothy Corrigan that if the drugs were to be improperly mixed, the anesthetic effects would be compromised.
"Manny Pardo would be the first inmate to be executed using that new lethal injection protocol," Hennis said.
Corrigan denied the complaint, and Hennis said he would appeal the ruling.
In another legal filing, the Supreme Court of Florida denied Pardo's argument that he should have never been tried in 1988 because he was incompetent to stand trial. David Waksman, who prosecuted the case, dismissed the claim, saying, "He was just a cold-blooded killer who used to be a cop."
Pardo's life started on the other side of the law, according to court documents filed by his attorneys. At age 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served honorably served from 1974 to 1978. In 1981, Pardo re-enlisted in the Marines and remained a reservist while he worked for the Florida Highway Patrol and the Sweetwater, Florida, Police Department.
In 1985 Pardo was fired from the police department and left the reserves when, according to court documents, "he falsely testified in court about police corruption in the Bahamas." Hennis said the stress of losing his job, compounded with a serious undiagnosed disease, turned him into "someone he was not," a killer.
During his trial, Pardo took the stand and admitted to the murders. "He came up with this vigilante story," recalls Waksman. "He said, 'I'm ridding the community of this vermin and technically it is not murder because they're not human beings.'"
The only chance Pardo has to win on the competency issue is if the United States Supreme Court decides to hear his appeal.
The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida.
™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.


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Simers' Interview Provides Insights Into Kobe Bryant's MindsetT.J. Simers' work is usually too irreverent and/or irrelevant for my tastes but his recent Kobe Bryant interview contains many valuable insights. Here are some highlights:
1) Bryant said that he has been misunderstood by the general public: "I just happened to grow in front of everybody and a lot happened. Maybe one day in like 15 years or so some people will come to realize we didn't quite get him when he was playing." Bryant expressed a similar sentiment when I interviewed him during the 2005 NBA All-Star Weekend: "The truth always comes out, so I don't worry about it. I don't think about it. It's going to shake out. People who talk about me in a negative manner don't know me. They don't know me. If they had a chance to be around me and kick it with me and get to know me, then they can judge. I think that will come out as years go by. People will see how I truly am and what I'm truly about and everything will be all right."
2) Bryant himself is taken aback by how much he has grown and matured, laughing as he told Simers, "I find myself talking sometimes and I can't believe what I just said. Realistically I have only one year left, so I'm trying to enjoy myself." Bryant's competitive fire still burns as brightly as ever but his public statements and public persona are much calmer; he gets his message across without losing his cool.
3) Bryant admitted that he is "a little bit" worried that Dwight Howard might leave the Lakers as a free agent after this season but instead of dwelling on that possibility "I want him thinking about being our defensive stopper so we can ride him into the playoffs." Bryant dismissed concerns about any possible tension in his personal relationship with Howard: "I've been through much worse. Shaq and I honestly didn't like each other. At least Dwight and I do like each other." It is refreshing to hear someone tell the truth about the much-discussed (and misunderstood) O'Neal-Bryant dynamic. The real story is that, even though Bryant was young and immature in some ways, he also was much more focused on working hard and competing for championships than O'Neal, who famously put off toe surgery by declaring that he got hurt "on company time" so he would get treated "on company time"--exactly opposite the attitude of Bryant, who has repeatedly played through injuries that would have sidelined any other player. O'Neal's lackadaisical approach resulted in the Lakers trading O'Neal and winning two championships with a team built around Bryant. Four years after the O'Neal trade, Bryant and O'Neal shared the 2009 All-Star MVP and they probably get along as well now as they ever have or ever will but--contrary to O'Neal's oft-spoken revisionist history version of events (which stars O'Neal as the hero who stirred up some kind of so-called creative tension in order to spur the Lakers to greater heights)--Bryant and O'Neal have never been close personally and Bryant not only resents O'Neal's jealousy but he has vowed to treat his younger teammates better than O'Neal treated him, a vow that Bryant has kept first with Andrew Bynum and currently with both Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.
4) Bryant told Simers, "I know I drive a very hard bargain. I was reading the Steve Jobs book, which was enjoyable because it made me seem like a Magic Johnson-like character." Bryant added, "Winning takes precedence over all. There's no gray area. No almosts. It's a very unbalanced way to live and I know that. It's not healthy. And I can't justify it, but someone has to win and why not me and the Lakers organization."
5) Bryant offered a very candid explanation for his recent series of double figure assist games: "This team needed it. In the meeting we had in Memphis we were talking about doing things that maybe were not what we do best. What I do best is shoot, maybe passing is the best way for us to win now.
I tried it in the seventh game of the [2006] playoffs against Phoenix. I scored 50 in Game 6 and we lost. I scored like 17 in the first half, and took a gamble. I decided to pass to try and get everyone else going. It didn't work. I took the same gamble here and if it hadn't worked out, what would people be saying now? Kobe isn't shooting so he can prove some point?
What I'm doing now is being selfish. I'm trying to help the team because I want to win a championship."
6) Bryant said that he wants to be remembered as "a winner and overachiever. A guy who worked and played hard like he was the 12th man on the roster."
Bryant, like Scottie Pippen more than a decade ago, is highly respected by coaches, players and knowledgeable basketball people even though he is a polarizing figure to casual fans. It is no coincidence that great players work hard and want to be appreciated more for their dedication to their craft than just for their statistics or accolades. Here is what Pippen replied when I asked him how he would like to be remembered: "A gym rat. A guy who worked very hard to make sure that his game was complete in every area and wanted to be looked at as one of the best players in the league. Even though I probably never was (the best player), because I played with a great player, but that was my approach to basketball as a whole, being a guy who came from a small college. I wanted to be the best player in the game. Even though I played with the best player in the game, it was always in my mind that if I did a little bit more, if I became a little bit more complete, people would look at me as one of the best players in the game and not just look at the fact that I did not have the offensive skills that Michael had." Being a "gym rat" (as Pippen put it) or an "overachiever" (as Bryant put it) separated these two great players from many other talented performers who did not dedicate themselves to becoming all-around threats who could impact a game with scoring, rebounding, playmaking and defense; hard work is the crucible that forged Pippen's six championship rings and Bryant's five championship rings.
Labels: Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Pau Gasol, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, T.J. Simers
posted by David Friedman @ 6:54 AM


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Padres rally vs. Braves bullpen to steal opener
Forsythe's eighth-inning RBI single puts San Diego in front for good
ATLANTA -- The pain in Logan Forsythe's right foot isn't necessarily searing or radiating, though it's with him all the time, which might actually make it worse.
It was with him as he stood in the on-deck circle Friday night at Turner Field and it was certainly with him as he battled Braves reliever Scott Downs during a critical at-bat in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter.
But Forsythe felt something other than the pain that a nagging case of plantar fasciitis has caused him, and it came after his RBI single off Downs helped the Padres to an unlikely 4-3 comeback victory over the Braves before a crowd of 34,112.
Call it unfettered jubilation.
"Absolutely ... right when I got around first base," Forsythe said, smiling. "It's really rewarding. It feels good to do the little stuff like that to help us win."
The 'little stuff' -- from a lot of different contributors -- added up to a big victory for the Padres, who scored four runs over the seventh and eighth inning to stun the Braves, who surely have not had a lot of losses like this one.
"Our guys kept playing," said Padres manager Bud Black. "There were a lot of contributions along the way. Their pitching staff is impressive. But I thought our guys had good at-bats."
Most of them came late in the game, as the Padres struggled early against Braves rookie right-hander David Hale, who was making his Major League debut.
If Hale -- who spent the entire season with the Braves' Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett -- was overwhelmed or even the least bit anxious about his Major League debut, it certainly didn't show in his work.
Hale, 25, used a low-90s fastball effectively and threw his slider and curveball for strikes. He allowed two hits in the first inning -- singles to Chris Denorfia and Jedd Gyorko. Hale ended the threat, though, when he struck out Chase Headley and Kyle Blanks to end the inning.
All told, Hale struck out nine over five scoreless innings.
"His stuff was electric," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. "He had the two-seamer going, the sinker that the bottom was just dropping off on it. That young man was terrific."
The Braves built a 3-0 lead as Justin Upton hit a home run to start the fourth inning off Padres starting pitcher Ian Kennedy. Three batters later, Brian McCann hit a two-run home run to right field. Kennedy allowed three runs in six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.
The game changed -- and in the Padres case, for the better -- once they got into the Braves' bullpen. In the seventh inning, rookie Tommy Medica, Ronny Cedeno and Rene Rivera singled to load the bases. With Kennedy's spot up, lefty Mark Kotsay was announced as a pinch-hitter. The Braves went to their bullpen for left-hander Luis Avilan.
Black countered with righty Jesus Guzman, who knocked in his 14th run of the season as a pinch-hitter with an infield single to make it 3-1. Two batters later, and with pitcher David Carpenter in the game, the Padres cut the lead to 3-2 on Chris Denorfia's sacrifice fly.
"I thought the guys kept battling and had good at-bats," Headley said. "We kept the pressure on them."
Never was that more apparent Friday than the eighth inning when Headley jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Jordan Walden, sending it into the seats in right field to tie the score. Medica, playing in his third big league game, followed with a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. The Braves went to their bullpen again, this time for Downs.
The Padres then called upon Forsythe, who has battled pain in his right foot for as long as he cares to remember. He was on the 60-day disabled list earlier this season after suffering a tear in his foot in a Spring Training game in March. He returned in June and felt fine, though the plantar fasciitis started to bother him again recently.
Forsythe fell behind Downs with two strikes and then stayed off a sinker down for a ball and a curveball that missed. Finally, he knocked a curveball down in the strike zone into center field that fell for a hit, as the go-ahead run scored.
The Padres, who were 4-63 in games in game in which they trailed after seven innings, are now 5-63.
"What a great at-bat by Logan to finish it off," Headley said.
The Padres bullpen followed Kennedy with three scoreless innings, as Nick Vincent, Luke Gregerson and Huston Street combined for six strikeouts. Street got the last three outs for his 30th save.
"It's a testament to these guys that they kept battling," Gregerson said. "That's why you play nine innings."


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Multi-year Grand Prize Winner
Toast of St. Augustine – Best Upscale Taste
Professional Wedding and Catering Services
Let our professional party planners help make your occasion especially memorable.
Old City House Restaurant in St. Augustine will help make your special occasion a captivating experience and a culina
ry success, with fresh menu ideas to fit your distinctive tastes and a professional, courteous staff to serve your every need.
We specialize in intimate weddings and special events,
from 10 to 80 people, or more!
Not the standard banquet fare – We specialize in the same high quality food served in the Old City House Restaurant. Events can be served buffet style or by our highly trained waitstaff. Ideas for your event can be found in our buffet catering or restaurant menus (see links below).
Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, intimate dinner parties, office parties, corporate functions, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers…. any occasion! The owners, Juan Solano and Christopher Tur, will personally work with you to create a menu within your particular budget.
Old City House was named "Best Upscale Taste", Taste of St. Augustine, has been named one of Florida's Top 100 Restaurants by Florida Trend Magazine, and as one of Northeast Florida's Top 25 restaurants by Jacksonville Magazine since its opening in 1990. Old City House Catering promises the same high standards of excellence and professionalism that have earned the Old City House Restaurant such high acclaim in such short time.
- Catering Menu Suggestions and Facility Fees, or…
- Explore our current Menu items for other catering ideas
- Bar Option
Table service is available for all menu items. In addition, many of the menu items can also be served buffet style. Please ask our Catering Manager for service options.
With our intimate knowledge of special events and the resources of Historic St. Augustine, we can make arrangements and help coordinate all aspects of your special celebration, both on and off-site.
- Tables
- Chairs
- Tents
- Dinnerware
- Specialty Items
Old City House Restaurant delivers an entire experience with style. Please contact Catering Manager (904) 826-0113 to start planning your special event.
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The stock market recovered much of a nearly swoon caused by the latest signs of distress in China's economy and rising U.S. bond yields.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139 points, or 0.9 per cent, to close at 14,659 Monday. It was down as much as 248 in the first hour of trading.
The Standard & Poor's index fell 19 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 1,573. The Nasdaq composite fell 36 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 3,320.
An increase in China's commercial lending rates worried investors. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged 5 per cent.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to its highest level in almost two years.
Seven stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy at 4.7 billion shares.


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Louisiana DWF Reminds Waterfowl Hunters to Be Alert for Whooping Cranes
As young waterfowl hunters prepare for the Nov. 2-3 Youth Waterfowl Weekend in the state's coastal zone, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is reminding all waterfowl hunters to be alert for whooping cranes in marshes and fields that contain legally hunted game birds.
LDWF's whooping crane reintroduction program has released cranes into the wild from White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area each year since 2011. The birds have dispersed over time to locations that include east Texas, but there are whooping cranes situated in Acadia, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Rapides and Vermilion parishes.
Anyone encountering whooping cranes in the wild is advised to observe them from a distance and minimize any disturbance. Hunters are cautioned to positively identify their targets as game birds before shooting. Although whooping cranes in Louisiana are considered an "experimental, non-essential population" under the Endangered Species Act, they are still protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and cannot be pursued, harassed, captured or killed.
Waterfowl hunters should be accustomed to seeing large-bodied, white birds with black wing-tips, such as white ibis, white pelicans, and wood storks, which must be distinguished from the legally-hunted snow geese. Whooping cranes are equally identifiable as they stand an impressive 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of 7-8 feet. Easily identifiable characteristics of whooping cranes in flight include fully extended neck and legs, and black wing tips. Photos of the cranes and similar species can be seen on the LDWF website at http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/document/whooping-crane-identification-fact-sheet or in the 2013-14 Louisiana Hunting Regulations pamphlet between pages 30 and 31.
Hunters are encouraged to report whooping crane sightings to assist the department in tracking their movements. Location information can be reported to the White Lake WCA office at 337-536-9400, ext. 4 or [email protected] .
LDWF also asks experienced hunters to take the time in the field to educate young hunters and improve their target identification skills to distinguish game birds from non-game birds. A whooping crane sighting can add to the outdoor experience for outdoorsmen and women of all ages and hunter vigilance can assist the department's efforts to restore this unique species in southwestern Louisiana.
Anyone witnessing whooping cranes being pursued, harassed, captured or killed is urged to call the LDWF Enforcement Division's Game Thief hotline at 1-800-442-2511 to report what they've seen.
For more information, contact Bo Boehringer at 225-765-5115 or [email protected] .


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Adobe has identified a critical security vulnerability in all recent versions of Acrobat and Reader, the company's software for creating and viewing files in portable document format, on all platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
A buffer overflow issue in versions 7, 8, and 9 of Acrobat, Acrobat Pro, and Acrobat Pro Extended, as well as versions 7, 8, and 9 of the free Adobe Reader can cause crashing, and can also be exploited to take control of a users system. Adobe has received reports that exploits are already in the wild.
Adobe has engineers hard at work on the problem, though the company does not expect a fix for version 9 of Acrobat or Reader until March 11, with fixes for the older versions to follow at a later date. The company is also working with anti-virus vendors to identify exploits using the buffer overflow.
Meanwhile, users of Mac OS X can do a couple things to mitigate the issue. One easy step is to set Preview to handle opening all PDF documents. If Preview is not already the default:
- Select a PDF file in the Finder
- Select File > Get Info (cmd-I)
- Under "Open with:", choose Preview from the drop down menu
- Finally, click the "Change All..." button
You can also set Safari to use Mac OS X's built-in PDF file-viewing capabilities by un-checking "Display PDF in browser using:" in Acrobat's or Reader's preferences. Both of these should keep you safe from the vulnerability until Adobe can release a fix.
Alternatives for Windows users, like FoxIt, also exist. Most Linux installations already rely on a default alternative viewer.


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teach teacher teaching classroom materials Professions topics subjects Math 23 games Geography 10 games Languistics 5 games Cyberkidz, edutainment, home, school, math, topography, geography, languistics, language, elementary, primary, education, entertainment, touchscreen We would also like to hear what games you think are missing. Use this form to let us know. Cyberkidz Cyberkidz is an educational platform for boys and girls in the age of 4 till 12 years. By playing the educational games, children will practise the professions learned in primary school. Edutainment The Cyberkidz Games are developped with concepts of education and entertainment, which we call edutainment: learning by playing. Perfect for using in the classroom with a smartboard or touchscreen, but Cyberkidz can also be played individual by the children. At school or at home. Measuring progress Especially for schools there's a analysisprogram connected to the Cyberkidz games. With this program you can plan children to play certain games and monitor their results. Painting Music 1 Music 2 Music 3 Dutch road signs Coloring pages animals Coloring pages scenery Maze 1 Maze 2 Amounts Finding Scale Balloon popping Feed the animals Number rows 1-10 Counting Scale Finger count Soccer Number rows 11-20 Sums to 10 Sums to 20 Frogsum 3 Weights Multiplication tables 1,2,5 and 10 Multiplication tables 3,4,6,7,8,9 Frogsum 4 Number jumper Telling time Buying food Multiplication tables 1 to 10 Ruler Sum shower Calendar Add and substract Water measurements Percentages Distances Taxi Multiply and divide Fractions Percentages 1 Mathmix Sowing Grass Percentages 2 Math Puzzle Letter bubbles Jigsaw 1 Alphabet Character memory 2 Jigsaw 2 hangman 3 fast typing 3 crosswords 3 Character memory 3 Animals Crosswords 4 hangman 4 fast typing 4 speed typing 5 hangman 5 crosswords 5 Word Master 5 Hangman 6 Plural fast typing 6 crosswords 6 Singular Word Master 6 Sayings and Quotes hangman 7 fast typing 7 crosswords 7 Word Master 7 learning spanish - animals 1 learning dutch - animals 1 Find the typo Hangman 8 Fast Typing 8 Crosswords 8 Word Master 8 learning spanish - animals 2 learning dutch - animals 2 Jigsaw The Netherlands Jigsaw New Zealand Jigsaw England Jigsaw Australia Jigsaw Canada Heli Holland Europe quiz Famous flags States USA Helicopter New Zealand Helicopter California USA State Flags of the USA Helicopter Texas USA Helicopter Australia Helicopter Illinois USA Helicopter Washington USA Helicopter Montana USA Helicopter Idaho USA Helicopter Nevada USA Heli Holland Heli Europe Flags Dutch cities State capitals USA 1 Main capitals Mexico Africa quiz America quiz Asia quiz Oceanië quiz World quiz State capitals USA 2 Spain France Austria Luxembourg Portugal Belgium Switzerland Countries Afica Countries Asia Countries South America Countries world Germany Great Britain Australia New Zealand Italy South Africa Suriname Ireland Point the City NL Point the City BE Point the City CA Point the City NZ Food for Animals Skeleton puzzle Body parts Animal cleaning Animal dots Special animals the Solar system Water animals Shockwave Mammals Skeleton The eye


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As USA Today reports, the truth is that the Canadians did almost all of the work of the rescue mission.
The former Canadian ambassador to Iran who protected Americans at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis says it will reflect poorly on Ben Affleck if he doesn't say a few words about Canada's role should the director's film "Argo" win the Oscar for best picture Sunday.
But Ken Taylor — who said he feels slighted by the movie because it makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics in the rescue of six U.S. Embassy staff members caught in the crisis — is not expecting it.
"I would hope he would. If he doesn't then it's a further reflection," Taylor told The Associated Press. But the 78-year-old Taylor added that given what's happened in the last few months, "I'm not necessarily anticipating anything."
Taylor kept the Americans hidden at his residence and the home of his deputy, John Sheardown, in Tehran and facilitated their escape by arranging plane tickets and persuading the Ottawa government to issue fake passports. He also agreed to go along with the CIA's film production cover story to get the Americans out of Iran.
Taylor became a hero in Canada and the United States afterward. He felt the role that he and other Canadians played in helping the Americans to freedom was minimized in the film.
"In general it makes it seem like the Canadians were just along for the ride. The Canadians were brave. Period," Taylor said.
[…][Former U.S. President Jimmy] Carter appeared on CNN on Thursday night and said "90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian," but the film "gives almost full credit to the American CIA."
Carter also called "Argo" a complete distortion of what happened when he accepted an honorary degree from Queen's University in Canada in November.
"I saw the movie Argo recently and I was taken aback by its distortion of what happened because almost everything that was heroic, or courageous or innovative was done by Canada and not the United States," Carter said.
Taylor said there would be no movie without the Canadians.
"We took the six in without being asked so it starts there," Taylor said. "And the fact that we got them out with some help from the CIA then that's where the story loses itself. I think Jimmy Carter has it about right, it was 90 percent Canada, 10 percent the CIA."
He said CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Affleck in the film, was only in Iran for a day and a half.
So, naturally, it gets the Oscar for Best Picture. It's a fake movie, and that's what we expect from uneducated artists who play make-believe for a living. The real Best Picture of 2012 was Dinesh D'Souza's "2016", but they'll never pick that, because it told the truth. It was not even included as a nominee for Best Documentary, although it made more money than all the 15 nominees for Best Documentary, combined.


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Officials say FedRAMP will launch this year, removing a key obstacle to federal cloud adoption — and states may benefit too.
It may not be long before the federal government becomes a power user of cloud computing, potentially diffusing its reputation as a slow adopter of cutting-edge technologies.
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is just a part of the 25-point plan for federal IT reform announced by former Federal CIO Vivek Kundra in December 2010. Among other things, that plan set deadlines for federal agencies to adopt "cloud-first" strategies. And while federal budget cuts, a looming presidential election and a change in CIOs have raised some question as to FedRAMP's future, new Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is committed.
On Dec. 8, 2011, VanRoekel, along with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Associate Administrator David McClure, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) CIO Richard Spires, and National Institute of Standards and Technology's Director for the Information Technology Laboratory Charles Romine, held a conference call with reporters formally announcing FedRAMP, thereby solidifying the fed's commitment to the program.
"Cloud computing offers a unique opportunity for the federal government to take advantage of cutting-edge information technologies to dramatically reduce procurement and operating costs and greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided to its citizens," VanRoekel said during the call.
VanRoekel added that FedRAMP would go live within the next year — a move projected to save the government 30 to 40 percent on cloud computing costs.
FedRAMP is an interagency initiative being led by the GSA. The program's goal is to develop a governmentwide certification process to reduce costs and duplication when multiple agencies attempt to certify products and services for security compliance. Under FedRAMP, a cloud computing provider's services can be authorized just once, and other agencies can piggyback on that authorization, instead of conducting individual accreditation.
"FedRAMP will reduce duplicative efforts, costs and inconsistencies we currently face with the security authorization process," said McClure.
Security controls around cloud computing are a high priority because while the Obama administration has advocated the adoption of cloud computing by federal agencies as a means to reduce costs, IT experts have consistently pointed to lack of security and the lack of a governmentwide authorization program as the biggest barriers to adoption. Spires has experienced this at his agency. "On the public side, we are doing things at DHS with some of our public-facing data, but we have been reluctant to use cloud," he said. "The big concern has always been making sure we have that security clearance. For that reason, we have not yet aggressively pursued a public cloud capability."
McClure agrees. "The security issues have been the key impediment of the federal government using cloud capabilities," he said. "FedRAMP changes that by mapping out the baseline required security controls for cloud systems, and thus creating a consistent set of security guidelines for cloud computing."
Federal adoption of cloud computing is inevitable, says Jennifer Kerber, vice president of federal and homeland security policy for TechAmerica, an industry group which has advocated for streamlining the accreditation process for cloud vendors. "The only question is if it will be done in a secure or insecure fashion. The FedRAMP program could be the game-changer in this equation."
McClure said VanRoekel's December announcement gave the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) — led by the GSA, DHS and Department of Defense — approximately 180 days to become operational. "We are currently in a prelaunch set of activities, making sure all the security controls are in place," he said. "On or around the 180th day, we'll move into initial operating capacity with an initial set of cloud services being offered through FedRAMP."
JAB's role is to evaluate and approve accreditation criteria for independent third-party organizations that'll provide assessments of cloud service providers' compliance with FedRAMP. Those third-party assessment organizations will be rigorously evaluated and tested to ensure they have the appropriate skills to perform such assessments. The approved assessors will charge cloud services providers to analyze their software or hardware to ensure it meets the FedRAMP standards. Working with the cloud provider, an assessor will gather data and then report its security evaluation to the provider and the feds. If the cloud computing provider isn't approved, it will be given 30 days to correct any high-risk vulnerabilities, or 90 days to fix moderate-risk vulnerabilities. Providers must also conduct at least quarterly vulnerability scans of operating systems, Web applications and databases, according to McClure.
Because it will generate income for approved third-party assessors, FedRAMP has sparked much interest from the private sector. "Some of these assessment providers already exist, and some are hoping to be selected and approved," said McClure. "But we'll require both old and new to go through a rigorous certification and review. If they pass, there could potentially be a lot of work available to them."
On Dec. 16, 2011, GSA hosted an Industry Day for vendors wanting to provide cloud services and assess other vendors under the FedRAMP program. The goal of the session was to educate industry representatives on FedRAMP and the third-party assessment application process. More than 200 people attended. During the session, Kathy Conrad, principal deputy association administrator for the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, stressed that vendors will be watched closely so as not to violate federal conflict-of-interest rules.
"The success of FedRAMP depends on the integrity and rigor of these third-party assessments. If there is any question that they are not done fairly and consistently and with real independence, that would undermine the whole concept of FedRAMP," she said.
FedRAMP will move into full operations mode in fiscal 2013, scaling intake to accommodate larger demand, according to McClure. By fiscal 2014, it will be in a "sustaining operations" mode, with a mostly automated process in place and JAB will continue to define and update the security authorization requirements. Once launched, FedRAMP will be mandatory for all federal agencies.
"FedRAMP will help us become much more comfortable that the cloud companies will provide the security we need," said Spires. "Even better, it's a leveraged model. Before, there was no way to leverage what one company had done. With FedRAMP, we'll be able to provide that authorization and ultimately should be able to leverage 80 to 90 percent of the work that's already gone on."
McClure said they're also working on securing permanent funding for fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014, which was originally funded under the e-government initiative. "We are moving to make sure that in FY13 and FY14, we have a sustained budget for FedRAMP parked at GSA," he said.
Why is cloud computing so important to the federal government? VanRoekel's Dec. 8 presentation attempted to address that question. To illustrate his point, VanRoekel included examples of federal agencies that have already used cloud computing to stretch resources. For instance, he pointed out that moving the Environmental Protection Agency's Internet security services to the cloud improved identification of and response to cyberthreats and attacks; tripled bandwidth for Internet connections to support mission requirements; and reduced the cost-per-MB from $179 to $83. Similarly, moving Air Force customer relationship management services to the cloud improved response time (from two to four minutes to two to four seconds); reduced call center volume by 23 percent through better service response; tripled system capacity for queries; and resulted in $12 million in savings.
"I'm excited about saving resources," said Spires. "And FedRAMP should also make it much easier for agencies to launch these services faster. Overall, it will foster a more secure environment for us as we leverage cloud to a greater extent in the future."
It's possible that FedRAMP also may have implications for state and local government. McClure said he thinks that states are paying attention to how FedRAMP unfolds. "If a state or local agency is buying something off the GSA schedule and it's been granted a GSA acceptance, that could mean savings for them if they chose to accept the FedRAMP authorization process," he said. "A lot of them look to the federal process and pattern some of their security processes after ours. It's possible they may duplicate some of our approaches so we end up having the same approach at all levels of government. That would be great, but I don't expect FedRAMP will totally replace what's being done at the state and local levels."
As for the possibility of further delay or even cancelation of FedRAMP, most agree the chances look slim, even with the presidential election on the horizon. "I think we are rolling; at this time, I don't expect any more delays," said TechAmerica's Kerber. "The key thing is to wait and see how the process works and if we can fine-tune it so it's good for both industry and government."
"VanRoekel has been a real champion of FedRAMP," McClure said. "Overall, I think this is a program that will transcend administrations. This program is about good government, and about getting efficient about how we do security reviews. I think we are moving in the right direction, we just have to run it efficiently and do a good job."
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Niche Vehicle Network opens funding competitions for collaborative low carbon vehicle technology development and for demonstration projects
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4107 Views
Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstration 2 Webcast 14 July - register for online briefing on Innovate UK's £19m greener trucks and vans trial
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Innovate UK competition to test out technologies for cleaner, greener vans and lorries - first briefing and chance to network at Solihull, on 14 July
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UK researchers in electric mobility invited to mission to Baden-Württemberg, taking in visits to leading institutes and World of Energy Solutions
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By Tim Watt
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Wirehouse advisors now use more liquid alternative mutual funds than traditional alternative products, such as hedge funds, a recent study found.
Furthermore, wirehouse flows into these liquid-alt products, which hold assets that typically mature in 91 days or less, are outpacing sales of traditional long-term funds, the research conducted by the Money Management Institute and Dover Financial Research finds. Sales of traditional long-term funds fell dramatically from 85% in 2012 to 54% in 2013, the groups say.
"Although alternative ETFs and mutual funds have a small share of total wirehouse assets, they accounted for about 43% of the net flows in 2013," said the report, released Tuesday.
Part of the growth in this category may be coming at the expense of funds-of-funds hedge assets. "Although pockets of funds of funds continue to thrive, FOF assets at wirehouses dropped 25% over the last three years as the bull market made it difficult to justify the higher fees and lower returns associated with these products," the study said.
For instance, wirehouse-based alternative assets allocated to the nontraditional bond category hit 46% in 2013, up from 34% in 2012 to 46% in 2013. This shift "is an example of how investors are using liquid alternatives as a complement to their fixed- income holdings rather than as a stand-alone allocation to alternatives," the research finds.
Long/short equity funds also have been rising in popularity. They now represent 24% of assets in 2013 compared with 14% in 2012. "This strategy is increasingly used as a complement to equity exposures, making long/short equity particularly appealing in a bull market," the researchers shared.
Shift to Alternatives
The total level of alternative assets held by clients in wirehouse accounts was about $172 billion in 2013, with 51% of these assets invested in liquid-alternative products ($88 billion).
That's up from 44% in 2012 and 38% in 2011, the MMI/Dover research reveals.
Liquid-alt mutual funds accounted for about $27.2 billion of wirehouse assets in 2013, and a group of five liquid-alternative mutual funds accounted for 75% of net sales in this category, say MMI and Dover Financial Research.
"The rise of blockbuster funds reflects trends throughout the mutual fund industry, as wirehouses streamline their recommended lists and their model portfolios," the groups noted.
Some factors influencing this "blockbuster" fund trend, the organization says, are investment performance, firm reputation and the distribution strengths of certain asset managers.
The study found that MainStay Marketfield Fund had net flows of $7.1 billion in 2013, representing about 26% of total flows coming from clients with wirehouse reps. Goldman Sachs Strategic Income fund attracted some $4.8 billion in flows, accounting for 18% of net wirehouse flows.
Other top funds included the JPMorgan Strategic Income Opportunities ($3.2 billion), BlackRock Strategic Income Opps ($2.7 million) and BlackRock Global Long/Short Credit Fund $2.3 billion).
Still, wirehouse broker-dealers may want to work more with investors to add alternative investments to their portfolios.
"Most investor portfolios have less than 5% of assets in alternatives, which is well below the 15% to 20% levels recommended for achieving proper portfolio diversification and investors' objectives," the report stressed.
Wirehouse advisors are considered to be those working at Merrill Lynch (BAC), UBS-Americas (UBS), Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) and Morgan Stanley (MS).
As of March 31, these firms—excluding licensed bankers and reps with affiliated units—included about 52,400 FAs with some $6.27 trillion in client assets.


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My post for this year's Day of Archaeology covers work I'm undertaking for a pilot community archaeology project that I co-direct ('Past Sense', or 'PSP'), with the other project co-director, Debra (a psychotherapist). PSP is a voluntary community and public project that adopts archaeological and psychological approaches in examining the material histories of violence in the home, and using such histories within trauma therapy. We explore the significance of material culture within and after situations of domestic and sexual violence and abuse in the past, through archaeological data and artefacts; objects within public archives and private collections; and a range of historical sources (including written evidence, photos, and oral histories). And we're using this research in developing therapeutic archaeological workshops.
The project works within the fields of Contemporary and Historical Archaeology, analysing postmedieval material (for the purposes of PSP work, 17th – 21st century, focusing on the 19th – 20th century). We primarily examine material from Derbyshire (centring on Derby), but also investigate contexts within other areas in the East Midlands, and other parts of Britain. Though mostly looking at housing, we also consider other buildings, and landscapes. I sometimes investigate sites of recreation and sociability (such as pubs and parks); commerce and industry (such as shops and factories); education and religion (such as schools and meeting halls); law and order (such as courts and prisons); and care and burial (such as hospitals and cemeteries). Where it may be useful to do so, this may include looking at the homes of the family and friends of victims and perpetrators of violence, and of police officers and magistrates.
What I've been doing today
Much of my time is spent reading previous work, and thinking how I might develop and apply this research in socially beneficial ways; my day began by re-reading an academic article (and the notes that I made) that provides useful grounding for project work. (I use Archaeological Theories that integrate and develop approaches from other disciplines – such as Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, and Geography – to inform my work, particularly research on archaeologies of emotion and sensory experience.)
I then returned to a presentation that I'm preparing, which briefly explains how Debra and I are developing educational and therapeutic workshops and other resources, and how community participation might enhance knowledge surrounding understandings of material culture in the past. This slideshow outlines the ideas behind the project (which began about five years ago with the recognition of common ground between archaeology and therapy: the direct involvement of material culture in managing trauma within Debra's psychotherapeutic work provided a starting point from which we might explore other ways to integrate archaeological approaches. But we only began to implement preparations for project work at the very end of 2014). It also introduces some of our work in progress – and today I've been working on one slide that will demonstrate this.
This involves putting together artefacts and survey data, with texts and images that relate to domestic and sexual violence in the past. These will provide examples of how we might use archaeological and other historical sources within project workshops and other resources, to consider how the home environment may have affected the ways in which people experienced violence in the past, in comparison to more recent situations of abuse.
'Tea and Sympathy'
PSP uses data from another community archaeology project that I direct ('Living in the Past Community Archaeology Project', or 'LIP' / 'LIPCAP' – which featured in posts for the 2013 Day of Archaeology, here and here). Today I went through the collection of 'finds' photos so far obtained during building and garden surveys, to see what might be used in workshops, and the presentation. I'm creating a MS Powerpoint slide entitled 'Tea and Sympathy', and have found a photo that may be suitable for this topic: of a 19th century ceramic sherd found in the garden of a terraced house in Ashbourne, Derbyshire (which is described and illustrated briefly here and here). The artefact depicted is made of refined white earthenware, decorated with a floral blue transfer print, and is probably part of a teacup. The photo's not great quality, and I'd prefer a slightly older sherd than this, but it's acceptable for present purposes. So I'm preparing the image in Adobe Photoshop, removing the 'noise' from the white background on which the sherd was placed when it was photographed.
Workshops will integrate a broad range of historical sources, including literature – in this instance, I've decided to use this artefact alongside material from Charles Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop. I selected an extract from an appropriate scene in the book, in which the character Betsy Quilp (whose husband, Daniel, treats her with cruelty) and her mother take tea in their home with female neighbours:
"…it was extremely natural that the discourse should turn upon the propensity of mankind to tyrannise over the weaker sex, and the duty that devolved upon the weaker sex to resist that tyranny and assert their rights and dignity."
Workshop handouts may present further extracts, and other historical information, to provide the 'bigger picture', and related artefacts provided for participants to 'handle', to stimulate discussion regarding material culture and female support networks.
'Home, sweet home?'
I'm also preparing illustrations for a slide titled 'Home, sweet home?', which will show how we're using studies of housing and neighbourhood landscapes to consider the environments (and potential causes and effects) of the abuse that appears to have taken place. Workshops will involve a case study of a family, the wife and mother of which summonsed her husband to the magistrates court in 1883, complaining of his violence towards her (information on this case can be found on the project website, here).
I've been carrying out research into the background of family members, and into what happened to them after the court case. This has involved going through various archives to examine newspaper reports and magazine articles; trade directories and maps; census and civic records; parish and poor law records; and photographic and art archives and collections; oral histories and other recollections of local people. I've looked at local and other historical sources in order to consider the context in which this family lived, and examined archaeological reports (the area of the family home was excavated a few years ago) and historic environment records, to find out more about their domestic and community surroundings. I still have some sources to consult before I'm able to complete the picture of home life for this and other families in the area at the time, but what I've found out so far has proved useful.
The photos, maps, and descriptions of this housing within newspapers, and in the recollections of local people; and archaeological excavations and standing building surveys of similar housing; suggest how the arrangement of domestic and neighbourhood architecture and space may have affected movement (limiting opportunities to escape from violent incidents), and access to possible support networks – for both victim and perpetrator. It is also clear from this evidence that the children in the family, and neighbours, would have likely heard, and perhaps seen, violence (and yet from the newspaper reports, no witnesses appeared in court to support the claimant). This analysis suggests how surroundings may have enabled or prevented particular acts of violence, and resistance to abuse, and how such behaviour might have affected the lives of others, as well as those directly involved.
My workday shall end with continued reading of a study on domestic abuse and violence in 18th and 19th century Britain. Not, it might be thought, uplifting bedtime reading. But research on violence between the 17th and 20th centuries demonstrates that, despite those in authority not always supporting those terrorised and abused in their homes by spouse, family member, supposed friend, or neighbour, and contrary to popular belief today, many in the past saw such behaviour as unacceptable. Not only friends and family, but communities and members of wider society, often expressed disapproval at domestic and sexual violence.
So I'll end this post with a short video (this is not of my making: thanks instead go to the 'Marchers' – a 'LARP troupe', I think – for putting this on Youtube). This demonstrates 'rough music' – one way that communities (most often women) in the past used material culture to demonstrate condemnation of domestic and sexual violence, when those in power could not (or would not) punish the offender.
More information on PSP is available through our website and social media, through which anyone interested can follow the project:
Website: https://pastsenseproject.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PastSenseProject
Twitter: @P_S_Project


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I'm not too sure why I'm posting this on the forums, but o wel.
I'm getting one within 2 weeks and I'm stuck between the iPhone 6s and the 6s plus. Both are solid choices, but the 6s plus has better battery and OIS. It's also huge and I have small hands. I need opinions on which I should pick because it's honestly tied imo.
P.S. What color should i get? I was thinking Silver, but Space Grey looks really cool too.


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nano-bug wrote:The Big Lebowski
I heard people get together for Lebowski parties, dress like their favorite characters. And a lot of people go as the Jesus pervert bowler.
Sounds fun, and way better than the shitty Eurovision Song Contest parties people throw here and all across Europe... I can thankfully say I've never been to one. Too cheesy for me..
I'm watching 22 Jump Street at the mo... not really cult, but really funny. I've been watching 'funny' today.. I think I need the reprieve


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The Senate GOP's decision to include a repeal of the individual mandate in their tax plan could have significant consequences for American taxpayers — and, combined with President Trump's recent executive order opening the door to stripped-down insurance plans, it could result in "unintended consequences the Republicans haven't appeared to comprehend," says Robert Laszewski, a health policy expert and the president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. In the end, Laszewski writes in a blog post, the change will create "an insurance nightmare for the middle class."
Laszewski says that the insurance market could split into two pools, with the sickest Americans buying Obamacare-compliant policies while healthier people buy only skimpy, short-term coverage and then opt into Obamacare plans if they got sick. But, Laszewski warns, the unsubsidized cost for those who get sick and look to buy a more comprehensive plan "would be simply astronomical."
His bottom line: "This Republican scheme would work best for the healthiest. It would also work well for the poor because the premium subsidy system would protect them from the even higher costs inside of Obamacare. But the Republican scheme would be devastating for those in the unsubsidized middle class who would not be able to afford coverage once they got sick."