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Mar 31st 2010 By Nicholas Nadel
Who Is ... the Progressive Girl?
While the ads might have some diving for the remote, we like that Flo is a throwback to the days of friendly commercial mascots like the Maytag repairman. (Her retro-geek chic style brings back fond memories of Burger King's "Herb the Nerd.")
We spoke to actress Stephanie Courtney about how she came to portray Flo, her own new-found fame, and which bespectacled spokesperson she finds "crushable."
A regular on the Los Angeles improv scene where she's a member of the Groundlings theater, Stephanie appeared on the first season of "Mad Men," ("I'm sort of living in the '50s and '60s a little bit," the actress says) and starred in the hilarious Bob Odenkirk–directed film "Melvin Goes to Dinner."
She also turned up on the short-lived Geico "Cavemen" sitcom (but we won't hold that against her).
Stephanie tells us that Flo was created to be a sort of "friendly waitress" face for the Progressive brand. Her background in improv comedy helped her nail the perky, friendly vibe the company was looking for. As for the look, the ad agency wanted a "retro-futuristic 'Jetsons' sort of thing" that helped Stephanie perfect the character. "Once you're in that makeup and outfit, you're sort of there," she says.
While Flo has quite the online fanbase, Stephanie enjoys her anonymity. The actress says she only gets recognized "maybe once a month or so," adding that it's "always when I'm in no makeup, hair in a ponytail, chasing after my nephew. That's when someone will be like 'Aren't you ...'"
We've often wondered about the white, gleaming world Flo exists in. Where is this magical land where insurance comes in cardboard boxes? And could it actually be in the same world as the Mac and PC guys? Think about crossover potential. "We could all play poker together in the break room," Stephanie laughed. What does she think about Flo and PC having a little flirtation? "Both [Mac and PC] are extremely crushable." Did someone say spin-off?
Flo fans will want to look for Stephanie in an upcoming episode of "Sons of Tucson" and in new Progressive ads coming soon. She'll also be appearing in the movie "Fred," playing the "awful mother of a bully." But it's her weekly show at the Groundlings theater that keeps the real-life Flo, well, grounded. "Whatever happens in this crazy business, I get to go there and play with my friends onstage."
Wednesday 31 March
By Rob
In the begining it was cute, just like the lizard but now it's gotten so old it has hair growing on it. Every time I see that Geico lizard, I want to take my 12 guage and blow the screen out.
"and we're walking, walking...away from the TV set.
Wednesday 31 March
By Jess
"Flo" is creepy! Everything in the ad is in white and blue and Flo looks like a character from Alice in Wonderland, complete with headband, except for her huge orange-red lips! The Flo character reminds me of Rose the stalker in 2-and-a-half men. If the creators of this commercial were trying to get our attention, they got mine and I won't purchase Progressive Insurance because of it.
Wednesday 31 March
By Big Murth
Very annoying personage to be shilling such a high profile product.....I can't believe those "Mad Men" are paid so much to come up with stinkers like this abrasive and mouthy girl to push their agenda. She reminds me of one of those babes at a party back in HS or college, who you kept wanting to shut up, but kept feeding her more booze so she'd either shut up or put out.
Wednesday 31 March
By Starr
MONICA...I'M WITH YOU. They love to hate because, it is all they are capable of.
This is not about the commercial. It's about "FLO" and she's very cute.
Those that only say and see garbage, ARE GARBAGE...deperately looking for attention.
Friday 02 April
By jeannerita
Stephanie Courtney is excellent!
Wednesday 31 March
By joe hill
I love Flo. She can go motorcycle riding with me anytime, anywhere.
Wednesday 31 March
By gywkwakwa
I love Flo...She is refreshing and delivers her lines perfectly. Her timing is awesome and she makes you like her, really, really like her. Keep Flo around.
Wednesday 31 March
By Kate
The actress does her part well in the commercial.... but I hate the Progressive commercials. I switch the channel when they come on. And Progressive STINKS as an insurance company, so don't be suckered in to purchasing their insurance because of a stupid commercial. Progessive is a rip off company. When I canceled my insurance, they tried to charge me for insurance after the cancellation date. Progressive even sent me to collections because I wouldn't pay the final bill. Finally Progressive admitted I didn't owe money for insurance, but not until after they sent me to collection. Crappy company.
Wednesday 31 March
By Mistie Ann
I hate to say it, but I get a kick out of Flo! I couldn't help a comment about the "friendly waitress" remark in the article, though. Flo and friendly waitress just don't go together in my mind since I immediately hear the words, "Kiss my grits!" Okay, God help me, I REALLY NEED A LIFE!
Is it just me, or should they have gone with Stephanie instead of Flo since she just looks more like her real name...or is this more proof that I REALLY NEED A LIFE?
(Off to check the aisles of nearby stores for a life now.)
Wednesday 31 March
By pat
I talk dirty to the tv when she comes on. Must be the uniform.
Wednesday 31 March
By blogomaniac
The Progressive ads are midleading; the spokesperson is annoying......some auto insurers claim they will save me $400 per year when, in fact, that's what I pay in total for 100/300, uninsured motorists and collision on a Cadillac Seville. That means my premium would be zero.
I think I'll stay with American Family which seldom advertises and, henceforth, saves them and me $$$$$.
Wednesday 31 March
By Ann
THESE ARE THE MOST IRRITATING NATIONAL ADS I HAVE EVER SEEN! I know there are different types of ads and THIS one certainly comes under the heading of extremely IRRITATING! Their spokeswoman is SO WEIRD looking -- WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!! AS A RESULT OF THESE ADS, I would NEVER BUY FROM PROGRESSIVE, I am HAPPY to stick with the cute green gecko and Geico!! All I can say, it thank goodness for the REMOTE CONTROL -- I can't get to it fast enough when these STUPID ads come on!!! (I used to be a Producer for a National Adv. Co. too!)
Wednesday 31 March
By extradna
And check out her brief but entertaining scene in Joss Whedon's series Angel. In episode 3.10, Lilah visits the basement file storage area of Wolfram & Hart to find out more about Angel's sworn enemy, Holtz. Stephanie Courtney's file clerk character is billed as "Gwen," but she confidently says, "I'm Files and Records." Her eyeballs do a vertical spin to create effect of searching for a file. When I first saw the Progressive ads, I said, "Hey, she's Files and Records!"
Thursday 01 April
By JB
Bob - what makes her a bitch. Shes a sweetie. Or are you one of those jerks that refer all women as bitches. I hate that and frankly I find that men who do refer to women in that way are just not worth the time. I don't listen to 102.5 in Tampa because that is how they refer to women.
Wednesday 31 March
By JW
Enough with the car insurance commercials please! All day long,everyday...We all know who you are by now. How about cutting your budget down by 3/4 (several million dollars) and give it back to your policy holders...My rates are offensive!
Wednesday 31 March
By Sean
The last time AOL did a story on Stephanie, she was touted as "the horse-faced hottie". Now she's "perky"?
AOL, a tower of Jello.
Wednesday 31 March
By rlbmagic
Creepy, whiney, Stepford - Progressive could not have picked a worse character. No such thing as bad publicity? Sure there is, and this is the poster chid.
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Free Lance-Star reporter Amy Umble covers Stafford County schools and other education issues
Eight Stafford Middle Schools Receive Perfects SOLs
Eight Stafford County middle schools received a 100 percent pass rate on math SOLs for the 2011-2012 school year.
As previously reported on reporter Pam Gould's blog, SOL results released by Virginia earlier this week did not include two of the middle schools because fewer than 10 students at those schools took the test, said Stafford County school spokeswoman Valerie Cottongim.
Edward E. Drew and A.G. Wright middle were the two previously unreported schools and saw a 100 percent pass rate for geometry. Those schools up the list for perfect pass rates in the Fredericksburg region from 18 to 20.
Here is the complete rundown of Stafford middle schools with perfect pass rates:
- Dixon-Smith Middle, Stafford County, Geometry.
- H.H. Poole Middle, Stafford, Geometry.
- Rodney E. Thompson Middle, Stafford, Algebra I and Geometry.
- Shirley C. Heim Middle, Stafford, Algebra I.
- Stafford Middle, Stafford, Geometry.
- T. Benton Gayle Middle, Stafford, Geometry.
- Edward E. Drew Middle, Stafford, Geometry.
- A.G. Wright Middle, Stafford, Geometry.
Read more about this year's math SOLs results for the area here.
Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/chalkboard/2012/08/17/eight-stafford-middle-schools-receive-perfects-sols/


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Low interest rates are a double-edged sword
Under the "new norm" and with the likelihood that there will be more job layoffs as Obamacare takes effect, interest rates may remain low for a long time.
But is the Federal Reserve's policy on interest rates helping the economy or hurting it?
The Fed's prime rate is now so low that if it were a limbo pole an ant couldn't get under it.
In theory, low interest rates are supposed to help a struggling economy. They allow companies to borrow cheaply so they can make improvements to their infrastructure, create more inventory and hire more workers.
These low rates are also supposed to boost consumer spending by keeping mortgage rates and finance charges low. That should encourage the general public to run right out and buy big-ticket items such as homes and cars.
Well, after four years of historically low prime interest rates, none of that has happened. Home sales are still at 20-year lows despite mortgage rates under 4 percent.
As for cars, well, go to your local bank sometime and check out the rates on a car loan. While the prime rate is less than 1 percent, banks will sock you for as much as 8 percent for an auto loan.
Consumers could have gotten those rates when the economy was in high gear and the prime was 5 percent. Only dealer incentives, which are not directly tied to the Fed rate, offer low-rate financing.
Meanwhile, all those companies that are supposed to be scooping up that cheap money aren't. Instead of borrowing, the big corporations like Apple and Microsoft are hoarding billions of dollars in cash and sitting on money, keeping it out of circulation.
Small mom-and-pop companies, on the other hand, are either afraid to borrow because of the sour economy or they don't qualify for loans.
According to the bankers I know, commercial customers aren't beating down their doors trying to get cheap money. Instead, business owners are sitting and waiting until the economy improves before they dig themselves a financial hole.
No, low interest rates haven't spurred the economy along. In fact, they may have hurt it because there is another side to this low-prime coin.


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Fernbank Receives Funding for 'Pathways to Success' Scientific Enrichment Program
Newell Rubbermaid grants $50,000 to provide Metro Atlanta students and families with curriculum-based science and cultural learning
WHAT: Newell Rubbermaid has pledged $50,000 to benefit Fernbank Museum of Natural History's Pathways to Success: Building Scientific Achievement program. Comprised of afterschool programs, outdoor learning, laboratory-based classes and family museum visits, thePathways to Successprogram encourages students and families to become excited about science and cultural studies while providing youth with educational challenges and the tools to succeed in school and life.
WHEN: Fernbank's Science at Hand Day on November 12, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., is one of severalPathways to Successprograms supported through the grant from Newell Rubbermaid. This family programming day will be held at the Museum and offer a unique chance to learn what it's like to be a scientist and explore different scientific fields.Science at Hand Dayis included with Museum admission. Newell Rubbermaid's overall support of thePathways to Successprogram will reach students throughout the 2011 – 2012 school year.
WHO: Fernbank's Pathways to Success initiative will directly serve nearly 200,000 students in elementary through high school in Metro Atlanta, where Newell Rubbermaid's global headquarters is located. Taught by expert scientists, Fernbank's curriculum-focused programs inspire students to excel in science through interactive experiences in ecology, biology, geology, paleontology, archaeology, anthropology and other sciences.
The grant from Newell Rubbermaid will help fund Fernbank's school-outreach and on-site museum educational programs in Atlanta including Science at Hand Day.
WHY: Georgia test scores show there is a pressing need to further develop students' scientific and cultural knowledge as it relates to academic performance. Prevailing research indicates that the expanded learning opportunities museums provide have substantial academic, social and health benefits that promote students' success and leadership. In addition, family learning is critical to children's cognitive development and can bolster in-classroom learning and ease grade-level transitions.
Newell Rubbermaid's donation to Fernbank Museum aligns with the company's focus on Growing Up, one of three strategic areas for itsInvesting in Communitycorporate philanthropy initiative. Donations made under this pillar are intended to provide children with a positive start and the tools to succeed in adulthood.
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roamSyllabification: roam
Pronunciation: /rōm /
Definition of roam in English:
verb[no object]
1Move about or travel aimlessly or unsystematically, especially over a wide area: tigers once roamed over most of Asia (as adjective roaming) roaming elephants
More example sentences
- It houses a remarkable collection of animals - most kept, as one might expect in such a civilized country, in large enclosures in which they can roam about with some semblance of freedom.
- The film-making, which is claustrophobic and closely tied to the heat of the moment, puts us alongside him as he roams about his apartment and the reform school where he works.
- Anywhere he roams, she is there, a reminder of the fragility of his heart and of his sham relationships.
1.1 [with object] Travel unsystematically over, through, or around (a place): gangs of youths roamed the streets unopposed
More example sentences
- Frankie is the leader of a skinhead gang, roaming the streets, getting into bar fights and trashing the occasional record store.
- Charlie roams the streets at night and goes into movie theaters, craving human interaction.
- His interests, however, were not confined to optical recording but also included his emotional reaction to roaming the streets at night.
informal cruise, mosey around/about
formal perambulate
archaic peregrinate
1.2(Of a person's eyes or hands) pass lightly over something without stopping: her eyes roamed over the chattering women [with object]: he let his eyes roam her face
More example sentences
- It was obvious from where he slouched at the bar and where his eyes roamed that he was a pepper man.
- His concept was to pinpoint the exact intersection of every latitude and longitude line in South Africa, and standing on that point, let his eye roam until it framed an image he wished to record on camera.
- Gehry designed a visually active rather than passive interior: the lines of the balconies loop the hall so that the eye roams the space in continuous movement.
1.3(Of a person's mind or thoughts) drift along without dwelling on anything in particular: he let his mind roam as he walked
More example sentences
- Let your imagination roam freely over the facts you have collected.
- She taught me to let my imagination roam freely.
- One of the people who encouraged him to let his imagination roam was his friend, Pierre.
noun[in singular] Back to top
Middle English: of unknown origin.
- 1
roamer noun
- Example sentences
- They were uncentered roamers, like gypsies moving over a space incomprehensibly large to a European eye.
- Whilst his dad was also a midfielder roamer, all left foot and direct, Jason is a natural right-footer who has a go when the nets are within shooting distance.
- You are a roamer and need adventure, excitement, and freedom.
Definition of roam in:
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Word of the day prepotent
Pronunciation: prɪˈpəʊt(ə)nt
greater than others in power or influence


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Health systems topics
About health systems
A health system consists of all the organizations, institutions, resources and people whose primary purpose is to improve health.
Strengthening health systems means addressing key constraints related to:
- health worker staffing,
- infrastructure,
- health commodities (such as equipment and medicines),
- logistics,
- tracking progress and
- effective financing
The poor state of health systems in many parts of the developing world is one of the greatest barriers to increasing access to essential health care. However, problems with health systems are not confined to poor countries. Some rich countries have large populations without access to care because of inequitable arrangements for social protection. Others are struggling with escalating costs because of inefficient use of resources.
Overall there is a growing recognition that to maintain and improve the health of the world's people governments must shape sound, efficient health systems that provide effective disease prevention and treatment to all women, men and children, no matter who they are or where they live. WHO is committed to assisting its member states with that task.


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NASHVILLE — College tuition could rise this fall by 9.5 percent or even higher for students at Chattanooga State, Cleveland State and other Tennessee Board of Regents colleges and universities, authorities said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the University of Tennessee's vice president for public and government relations, Hank Dye, said the UT board of trustees will also consider increases in the "same general ballpark" at its institutions such as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Officials are pinning blame for the sharper-than-expected increases on a variety of factors, including cuts of 2 percent or about $20 million in state appropriations for higher education in the budget year starting July 1.
Moreover, the Board of Regents and UT systems are continuing to digest the loss of nearly $300 million in federal stimulus funds on July 1, officials said. And the systems also must foot the bill for part of a 1.6 percent pay increase for employees.
Students previously were bracing for 7 percent hikes based on recommendations made last November by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. But the UT and Board of Regents system boards are not bound by that, officials say.
Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan told reporters that "I think what we're going to see is a recommendation from staff that will be somewhere between 8.5 percent to 9.5 percent, with some opportunity for discussion of individual institutions that may need more. ... We don't really know how that's going to come out yet."
Staffers at the Board of Regents are running figures that will be presented to the board's finance committee on Monday, Morgan said. The committee will make its own recommendation to the full board later in the month.
The 8.5 percent range would apparently apply to two-year community colleges like Chattanooga State Community College, Cleveland State Community College and Motlow State Community College near Tullahoma.
UT spokesman Dye said its full board will consider tuition increases at its June 23 meeting.
"There's likely to be some differential among our campuses and, generally speaking, they're going to be in that same [Board of Regents] range," Dye said. "They won't be less than that."
Dye said UT tries to keep tuition as low as officials "reasonably can," but must act to continue to meet its mission as other funds get cut.
According to figures provided by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the burden of paying the costs for a degree is falling increasingly on students.
Russ Deaton, the commission's associate executive director for fiscal affairs, said preliminary estimates for the 2011-12 academic year indicate 67 percent of education and general revenues at four-year universities will come from tuition and the rest from state appropriations.
That doesn't include specific mandatory dedicated fees such as health services or dorm charges, he said, and the percentage could be higher, depending on the amount of the tuition increase.
While tuition now accounts for two-thirds of education and general revenues, Deaton noted that, in the 2001-02 academic year, it was just 46 percent.
For community colleges, the 2011-12 figure is projected at 60 percent. In 2001-02, it was only 36 percent.
That trend worries Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, a Senate Education Committee member.
"We've been steadily decreasing state appropriations to higher education, making it more difficult for these institutions to function without tuition hikes," Berke said. "The amount of college debt in our country now exceeds the amount of credit card debt in our country."
Berke said the Haslam administration and lawmakers "have to be careful about closing off access to people when higher education is more important than ever."
Chattanooga State President Jim Catanzaro said things could be worse. Haslam deserves "high praise because the cut of 2 percent is really modest versus what you see across the United States in higher education," he said.
Morgan said he believes the situation will improve as Tennessee recovers from the recession.
Morgan made his comments to reporters after a signing ceremony in which Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law new policies regarding use of lottery-funded college scholarships. Such scholarships can now be used for summer school. But the law also implements a cap of 120 credit hours for most students.
Contact Andy Sher at firstname.lastname@example.com or 615-255-0550.
Andy Sher is a Nashville-based staff writer covering Tennessee state government and politics for the Times Free Press. A Washington correspondent from 1999-2005 for the Times Free Press, Andy previously headed up state Capitol coverage for The Chattanooga Times, worked as a state Capitol reporter for The Nashville Banner and was a contributor to The Tennessee Journal, among other publications. Andy worked for 17 years at The Chattanooga Times covering police, health care, county government, ...
I have nothing against Tennessee or Georgia raising fees for schools. The anti-christ, pro evolution doctrine they teach our children is a disgrace. I would raise the fees so no one could attend their indoctrination of such heresy. Do the Feds have our schools in a headlock that we won't ignore their mandate for us?
less income? reduce salaries as is done in most industries, but include the chancellor.
And the football coaches, if they can count how many there are...
Sure, with the cost of living increasing at a rapid rate, why not increase the cost of tuition? Many people are saying that there won't be enough qualified people with the right credentials to fill the voids as others retire from certain positions. How do they expect there to be enough qualified applicants when students can no longer afford the cost to obtain a degree because of the cost of tuition, federal loans and pell grants becoming harder to obtain, and the Hope Scholarship becoming available to the ones with the higest ACT scores and cumulative gpa's at the end of students' high school career. Meanwhile administrators keep getting raises in school systems at not only the cost of the students but also the cost of the parents. That's not only federal government for you but also university and community college politics for you. It's not uncommon these days for everything to be about the almighty dollar rather than the future of all of the college students in this country. I should know. I'm one myself, and not all of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths. Maybe if the administrators and coaches would take a little cut in their pay and tone down their lavish lifestyles then maybe just maybe reality would sink in, but when is the last time any of these people voluntarily took a cut in pay to help find a resolution? I can't remember a time, because there probably never has been a time when that has actually happened, and I seriously doubt that there ever will be.


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For related articles and more information, please visit OCA's Genetic Engineering page, Millions Against Monsanto page, and our California News page.
A public-interest group is in the midst of a heated battle to secure the people's "right to know" what is being done to scientifically alter their food by companies selling products such as genetically-engineered salmon.
Last May, the California Assembly Health Committee passed AB 88, sponsored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, which requires all genetically engineered salmon sold in California to be clearly labeled. The bill now moves to the Appropriations Committee where those members will decide if AB 88 should go to full Assembly for the final vote.
"We need to persuade Appropriations Committee members to vote in favor of AB 88!" states Margherita Pagni, the director of strategic relations at the Institute for Responsible Technology.
The first question asked by many is: Are there any health risks to consuming genetically-modified food products?
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) doesn't think so. The Academy reported that "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM asked physicians to advise patients "to avoid GM foods," states the Institute for Responsible Technology.
Group Fights Genetically Engineered Food Sold Secretly
By Jim Kouri
News With Views, January 11, 2012
Straight to the Source


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Peng, Zhenmeng and Yang, Hong (2009) PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modification of Pt-on-Au nanoparticles. Nano Research, 2 (5). pp. 406-415. ISSN 1998-0124 (Print) 1998-0000 (Online)
Official URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/l18h8635u21r66...
Bimetallic PtAu heteronanostructures have been synthesized from Pt-on-Au nanoparticles, which were made from platinum acetylacetonate and gold nanoparticles. Using the Pt-on-Au nanoparticles as precursors, Ptsurface rich PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures can be produced through controlled thermal treatments, as confirmed by field emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and elemental mapping using a high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM). Oxidation of formic acid was used as a model reaction to demonstrate the effects of varying composition and surface structure on the catalytic performance of PtAu bimetallic nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that these carbon-supported PtAu heteronanostructures were much more active than platinum in catalyzing the oxidation of formic acid, judging by the mass current density. The results showed that postsynthesis modification can be a very useful approach to the control of composition distributions in alloy nanostructures.
|Item Type:
|Physical Science > Nanophysics
Physical Science > Nano objects
Material Science > Nanochemistry
Material Science > Nanostructured materials
|Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Physics
Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Chemistry
|ID Code:
|Deposited By:
|Deposited On:
|23 Apr 2010 06:34
|Last Modified:
|23 Apr 2010 06:34
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Thinking the Unthinkable
January 15, 2011
Choose your language
The Fed Adds a Third Mandate
A Rational Voice in Dallas
Thinking the Unthinkable
The Threat of the Irish
Has China Found a Miracle Business Cycle?
LA, Winnipeg, Las Vegas, and Thailand
Last week, in the first part of my annual forecast, I suggested that 2011 would be better than Muddle Through, with GDP growth in the US north of 2.5%. World GDP growth should be even better. This week we look at what I see as the real downside risks to that prediction. Oddly enough, the risks are not in the US but on the other side of both our oceans, in Europe and China. Plus, we will visit a few other items, assuming we have space (Bernanke's recent speech just screams for some comments).
Two housekeeping items. First, I will once again be hosting, along with my partners Altegris Investments, our 8th annual Strategic Investment Conference, in La Jolla April 28-30. Save the date. Each year the conference gets better. We have as strong a lineup of speakers as any conference in the country. I will announce when we will take reservations. It always sells out, so I suggest you do not procrastinate.
Secondly, between finishing my book and the holidays, I have been rather quiet the past few months in regards to my Conversations with John Mauldin, but that is getting ready to change. Over the next few weeks I will be doing conversations with David Rosenberg, Lacy Hunt (his quarterly will be next week's Outside the Box), George Friedman of Stratfor, and John Burns and Rick Sharga to get the latest on the housing markets; and I am lining up some more very interesting Conversations, so that subscribers will get more than their money's worth. Now, let's jump into the letter.
The Fed Adds a Third Mandate
The Fed has two mandates: keeping prices stable and creating an economic climate for low unemployment. I am sure I was not the only one to listen to Steve Liesman's interview of Ben Bernanke this week and shake my head at the spin he was giving us. First, let's set the stage.
In a paper with Alan Blinder early last decade, Bernanke made the case for…


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Cops: Man shot in face near downtown Orlando
Published On: Nov 01 2013 06:00:46 AM EDT
A man was shot in the face near downtown Orlando early Friday morning, police say.
The victim, who is believed to be homeless, showed up at the Juvenile Assessment Center after he told police he was shot on the 800 block of West Central Boulevard.
The victim, a man in his 50s, is expected to be OK.
Police are still investigating and searching for the suspect.
Check back for more information.
The views expressed are not those of clickorlando.com, WKMG or its affiliated companies. This is a community moderated forum (Please note the 'Flag' button). By posting your comments you agree to accept our Terms Of serviceblog comments powered by Disqus


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How to remove the wizard virus
Most antivirus programs identify wizard.dll as malware, e.g. McAfee identifies it as Generic Toolbar.b, and F-Secure identifies it as Trojan.Generic.5633109.
The free file information forum can help you find out how to remove it. If you know more about this file, please leave a comment or a hint for other users.
Click to Run a Free Virus Scan for the wizard.dll malware
Wizard.dll file information
The process known as IE Toolbar Engine appears to belong to software IE Toolbar by unknown.
Description: Wizard.dll is not essential for Windows and will often cause problems. wizard.dll is located in a subfolder of C:\Windows\System32.
Known file sizes on Windows 7/XP are 868,410 bytes (71% of all occurrences), 9,728 bytes or 9,216 bytes.
This .dll file is a Browser Helper Object (BHO) that runs automatically every time you start your Internet browser. BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are identified by the firewall as your browser itself. BHOs are often used by adware and spyware. IDs used by this BHO are 5CDD839E-255C-415D-9927-3AF98318D15B or 38DFDADF-BA43-4C43-7890-ACAF12375911. The process has no file description. The program is not visible. The wizard.dll file is an unknown file in the Windows folder. The file is able to change the behavior or monitor Internet Explorer. It is not a Windows core file. Wizard.dll is able to record inputs and monitor applications. Therefore the technical security rating is 72% dangerous.
You can uninstall the program using the Control Panel ⇒ Add/Remove programs ⇒ Search.
Recommended: Identify wizard.dll related errors
Important: You should check the wizard.dll process on your PC to see if it is a threat. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. This was one of the Top Download Picks of The Washington Post and PC World.
User Comments
Wizard scanner
Security Task Manager shows all running Windows tasks including embedded hidden functions (e.g. keyboard or browser monitoring, autostart entry). A unique security risk rating indicates the likelihood of the process being potential spyware, malware, keylogger or a Trojan.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware detects and removes sleeping spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, malware and tracking threats from your hard disk. Ideal supplement to Security Task Manager.
SpeedUpMyPC scans, cleans, repairs and optimizes your computer.
Other processes
conf.dll alienwareon-screendisplay.exe smartlauncher.exe wizard.dll emmadevicemgmt.exe phraseexpress.exe clntmgmt.sys ooccsvc.exe tangomanager.exe rmiregistry.exe colorzillastats.dll [all]


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Simply confirm your registered email address below and click "Reset Password." We will immediately email you a link back to the site where you can enter a new password for this account.
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Tune into the John DeBella Morning Show to brighten your morning (weekdays 6a-9a). The show features John DeBella, Jen Posner, Intern Dave, and Rob Calvert. Email John at email@example.com. Visit the John DeBella Show website (jdbshow.com)
Comedian Mitch Fatel slinked into our studio this morning for the first time in a while. Although he's been gone for some time, his attraction to Jen still is as palpable as ever. If you want to experience this "handsome man" for yourself, he'll be performing at Helium Comedy Club this weekend!


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I enjoy watching "reality documentaries" such as Alaska: The Last Frontier, Mountain Men, Yukon Men and Ice Lake Rebels. But I really don't like "fake" shows, especially when they go out of their way to seem real.
That's why I stopped watching Dual Survivor. Without Cody Lundin, the show lost its credibility in my eyes. I usually watch a show or two, then do some research to find out how legit it is.
Alaska: TLF and MM are, as far as I can tell, solid and real. I haven't researched Yukon Men yet.
Today, I researched Ice Lake Rebels. The first thing I checked was the "remoteness" factor. The show portrays the people as far from civilization, far from help and resources. I was disappointed to see that they were within walking distance (or rowing if the lake wasn't frozen) of a fairly large city. They can probably hit the Canadian equivalent of a 7-11 for a box of Twinkies. Check out the picture below – that island at the top right is the one on the show.
The city of Yellowknife is right there. In this case, I don't think less of the people on the show, unlike the apparently very fake and scripted Alaskan Bush People. But I do think that the producers are being a bit deceptive. Some shots are high views of the island, and the developed mainland next to it are blurred, obscuring the docks and boats and buildings.
That's NOT good television… but I am still watching the show. The Rebels clearly face some real dangers and some tough conditions. But I'm watching a bit more… skeptically than before.
I've been driving organizational change in Scrum implementation for more than a year in two companies, and I've reduced the focus of change to 4 steps. And in keeping with Agile principal #10, I won't be writing a long preamble :-).
1. Effective Scrum Masters
A Scrum Master is a process expert, a coach, a disciplinarian, and great at managing their own time. If you want to know if a person will be a good SM, look at their Inbox. Is it one or two pages, or is it a hundred pages with thousands of unread messages?
My time management process can be boiled down to just a few principals and techniques:
- 24 hour response on all emails
- If it's read but still in my Inbox, then I have an action to take
- In meetings, my notes will result in actions: either paper notes with a ☆ star, indicating something to do, or electronic notes that I email to myself
- Schedule a no-duration appointment so that I am reminded of actions to take
Using this technique, I've kept my Inbox clean, my notepads blank, and an expectation with my colleagues that I respond in a timely fashion to questions and requests.
Your Scrum Masters must be effective time managers. They are responsible for coordinating Sprints and ensuring planning gets done correctly. They must track implementation of retrospective items. They need to make sure dependencies are resolved, schedule Sprint Review/Demos far in advance. And they are often doing it for multiple teams, or otherwise doing other project work of some kind.
Your Scrum of Scrums Master must be an expert at this, coaching and keeping watch to ensure the Scrum Masters keep up with the work.
2. Principled Scrum
Organizations are different. Their needs vary. Managers want different types of information, results, and plans. Some people will be all for Scrum, others will resist it. You'll have Q/A on your teams… or maybe not.
It's okay – adjust how your organization implements Scrum, vary from the "orthodox" methods — but never compromise on Agile Principles. Your Scrum Masters need to know the Agile Manifesto and the 12 Agile Principles. That way, whenever a change is suggested or challenged, you can check it against Agile. Changes are fine, they're great, they're desired and expected: just don't compromise on Agile or you'll end up back where you started.
3. Acceptance Criteria is King
Nothing slows a team more than stories that lack good acceptance criteria. For the teams I coach, I have one test I use to see if the acceptance criteria is good:
- How will you know if the developer did the work correctly?
What, exactly, are you going to do? What will you type/run/examine? Can you actually DO the test, or does it require other steps not in the story?
If you, as a Product Owner, as a Developer, cannot absolutely show that the story is working, by executing the steps in the Acceptance Criteria, then it's not a Done story, and/or the acceptance criteria is flawed. Here are some flawed acceptance criteria items that I've seen get into a Sprint:
- As a Thing, I get built
- As a Platform Feature, I get refactored
- As an Engineer, I researched and documented a design
- Code is written and reviewed
Your acceptance criteria should be detailed: enough so that a developer can execute it or a tester can run it. Browse to the site, enter login credentials, click on the new feature, shows the new stuff. Without this detail, engineers cannot create good definitions of done and the team cannot estimate the size of the story. And worse: developers and product owners will have meeting after meeting to understand what needs to be Done.
4. Interfacing with other teams
Probably the biggest challenge I've seen to date is figuring out how to work with requirements outside of your own Scrum team. Within the team, it's pretty simple to setup priorities for stories: just get them into the Sprint in the right order. It's easy to track dependencies on stories: you know every day at the Daily Scrum whether there's a story or task at risk. But what about between teams – both other Scrum teams and non-Scrum teams?
I call this Dependency Tracking. Or sometimes Dependency Management – something with the word "dependency" in it. Other teams have dependencies on you, and you have dependencies on other teams. Stuff they need to do must get done in time for your Stories, and vice versa.
There are three steps to perfect dependency tracking:
Dates: Every request, every dependency must have an actual date : When will it get resolved? When can you give me a date that it will get resolved? When can you give me a date where you'll be able to give me a date? Never accept anything other than a solid date. And don't accept dependency resolution dates too close to the end of your sprint. Aim for the middle.
Tracking Tickets/Tasks: Even when you are given a date, don't absolutely trust it. Create a tracking task or story that's due just before the dependency, and put it In-Progress: that way you'll see it at every Daily Scrum. A tracking task is basically "Make sure that X dependency will be resolved as promised on mm/dd."
Proactive Communications of Changes: Your team will often be a dependency for other teams: you must make sure that anyone dependent on one of your stories gets notified if you aren't going to make your committed dates. As a Scrum Master, you need to track which of your stories are dependencies, and when they are expected to be Done. If they aren't going to be Done by the committed date, inform the stakeholders! Stuff happens, people understand that. Let them know if a ticket will be late, and give them the new date. That way everyone has an opportunity to re-prioritize and ensure their teams aren't sitting around blocked by your dependency.
Questions? Suggestions? What's the key to effective Scrum in your organization?
As I've worked building the Cartera OfferLink app on iOS, I've learned a little about Apple's Push Notification service. One thing that I wanted to do from the start was avoid sending a notification when someone might be sleeping! Every once in a while, I'll get a text message early, like 6am. I'm a late sleeper, and the BUZZ! that my phone makes will always wake me.
I really don't like that.
So I decided early on that I'd do the best I could to avoid sending messages at inappropriate times. I know you can change your phone settings to avoid notifications at certain times, but the default – and most folks devices are set to the default – is to just deliver the message when it arrives, buzzing and binging and waking you up.
What I did with OfferLink is send the current time, local to the phone, to the server, along with its data requests. Then I calculate the seconds offset from the server and the phone's time. This gives me the current time zone of the phone as of that request.
It's not a perfect system – the user could fly around the world to a different time zone, and get a notification before the app refreshed its data and told the server its new time zone. But it should be a good 80/20 solution – solving for 80% of users.
// (pseudo code for handling the time zone)
localTime = time();
remoteTime = localTime + tzOffset;
if (hourOf(remoteTime) > 8 && hourOf(remoteTime) < 22) doNotify();
Please be kind to your users – handle push notifications in such a way that you don't annoy them.
Or wake them up.
Thought I'd take a second to recommend Blitz.io – a cloud service to load test an application or API. I found it via NovaNet after a quick Google search. (Note – I'm hoping for some free extra credits at Blitz indicates they'll give if you blog about them.)
But hey, I might have blogged anyway – it's VERY cool. I was able to immediately test my API and get a response time and likely capacity.
So I signed up, then ran a few more tests. I modified my app slightly to accept recognition that it was being hit by a load test, so that PUT data to my REST API would go into development database rather than my production DB. It took maybe a minute or two to update, and BAM – I could run a quick (free) load test of 10 users for 6 seconds.
Neat. I'm waiting for a company response to see if we have a load test mechanism. If not, I'm going to let our enterprise operations team know I'm going to load test, get a good time to run it, and just nail the server and see how it does.
I remember writing my own load testing application back in the day, and now I'm happy to highly recommend Blitz.io – it's an Easy button.
Every family has its customs, from eating dinner at the Outback Steakhouse on Sunday nights to the family vacation trip during the summer. There are special rituals that stand out in my memory: the coming of age ceremonies that transformed my cousins and me from boys into men.
My grandmother's farm was the focus of the family while I was growing up. We'd visit almost every weekend, often staying the night during the summer. Their property and surroundings were in Midland, Texas, near the outskirts of the city. Oil pumps and mesquite bushes dotted the dry, dusty landscape. Randy and Ronnie, my two closest cousins, lived nearby. It was our Adventure Land and could easily rival staid, packaged and sanitized parks like Disneyland.
There we would find snakes, mice, jackrabbits, and our favorite: horned lizards. We called them horny-toads, and they were all over the place in West Texas. I'd put one in my pocket and it would kind of flatten out. They aren't fast like other lizards, so I could easily catch them. Grabbing one of these was brave when you were only five years old. I'd carry them around for a few hours and let them go.
Grandmother's house had this rock and weed garden in the front where the horny toads could be found. They also owned wide swaths of land around their house. I remember cows, a few horses, some chickens, a mean old bull and lots of alfalfa. That's what they mostly farmed: alfalfa. My cousins and I came to know those fields very well. We would be assigned the task of moving the irrigation pipes during the hot summer months. They just lay on the ground, so we'd have to move them from one part of the field to another. That was a real chore. I'd remove the connection collar, then slide the big pipe out. The pipes were twenty feet long and had a nine-inch diameter. They weren't too terribly heavy – at least I didn't dare show they were heavy in front of anyone. One of us would pick up an end to dump out the water, and possibly dump out any rabbits that may have wandered into the nice, cool, water-filled pipe. We'd carry the pipes about fifty yards to a new spot and hook them back up, then walk back to the next set of pipes and do it again. Over and over. Hour after hour. All three of us were about eleven years old at the time, and it sure seemed like a lot of work for a couple of silver dollars. We were happy to do it: you knew you were "growing up" when grandpa invited you into his truck for a day in the fields.
Once all that alfalfa turned into hay bales in the fields, I worked hauling it onto a flat bed. Attached to the trailer was a hay elevator. It picked up square bales of hay and carried them way up in the air where they dropped out of the top. Sometimes they became stuck in the top. I'd pull them out with big hooks that resembled the ones used by that homicidal rain slicker slasher guy in I Know What You Did Last Summer. I'd stack them neatly on the trailer, hour after hour, layer after layer, until I was perched on top of five layers of hay bales on a rickety, swaying flatbed and hoping not to fall into the hay elevator the next time the wheels hit a bump.
Near the fields were some rent houses that my grandparents owned. At the end of the block was an old fireworks stand that we would operate around the fourth of July. It wasn't a big stand: not much demand for fireworks out there in the sticks. What was really cool was to light a bottle rocket and hold it until just before it went off, then toss it high into the air. If I timed it right, the rocket would gain extra altitude from the boost. If I didn't, the rocket would be pointed randomly at the dry grass, someone's car, the house, or the person who threw it into the air. Then there was a mad scramble to avoid the widely careening firework before it exploded. I don't think we burned too many things down.
Grandmother's house needed burning down anyway. It was built in the 50′s, but it wasn't vacuumed until the 90′s, if then. The pipes were almost totally corroded away from the super-hard water. I think they pumped it straight out of limestone or something. We didn't dare drink the stuff. Using it to brush your teeth was torture enough. I'm not sure if I got cleaner or dirtier taking a shower, but I certainly gained a nice, shiny coating.
The backyard wasn't any cleaner. There were random holes, snakes, flies and bits of unrecognizable metal lying around: farm implements that had seen better days. The fence was made of concrete blocks but it had no top. That made for empty holes where the blocks were with unknowable creatures living inside. Only the bravest of us would dare to walk on or near that fence. There was a rickety old wooden gate at the back. It led into the barnyard and the fields beyond. Sometimes the bull would get into the yard. I think. Maybe that's just vivid nightmares of the bull getting into the yard or something, but I know there were bees around the side, near the extra front porch. If you had to mow over there, well, just make sure you were a fast runner.
On the opposite side from the bees and way in the back, there was a big hay barn. When we were old enough to go exploring on our own, probably about twelve, we could walk through the field with the bull to go play in the barn. I'd stay close to the fence, but there was a problem with that strategy. The entrance to the barn faced the road, and we came up on the backside of the barn. Therefore, I had to either risk the run in the field with the bull or else climb over the fence. The climb wasn't a big deal; it's where I was climbing to that was the problem.
Bees. Lots of bees. Hives of bees. They were kept at the end of that field behind the barn. I guess they helped pollinate the fields of alfalfa. Maybe that hive on the side of the house was founded by Columbus Bee. All I knew back then was that: 1) Bees made honey, and 2) Bees stung little boys. However, they were near the hay barn, and although it was a good walk from the house, it was fun to play in the stacks and stacks of hay. It was also the shortest path to the gravel pit.
After working in the fields all day, we'd go down to The Pit and play around. It was big, probably a football field in length and forty feet deep. It had a mucky, yucky, water-filled end where we would swim, usually with cousins and sisters from five to fifteen. We had to wear these ratty old shoes because the bottom of the "pond" had the sort of trash you'd expect in a gravel pit: old tires, rusting re-bars and other pointy, infectious objects. There was a sort of platform (too generous to actually call it a "dock") on one side. It was just barely possible to jump off and sort of dive into the water, but we first had to walk around out there to make sure we wouldn't impale ourselves on something. Usually we had to aim to the side to avoid hitting an underwater obstacle, and it seems like only we twelve-year-old boys made that leap of faith. The water was only about four feet deep, and we couldn't see the bottom.
All of these adventures helped shape the boys in our family, but there was one final exam before you could say that you ran the gamut and survived.
Grandmother's house was near, way too near, a sewage treatment plant. When the wind was just right, which was all too often, the smell would waft over the house and fields. We boys were drawn to that place like flies to carrion. We just had to go see what a sewage treatment plant was like. It was at the outer edge of walking distance, just past one of the fields and across a highway. I don't know why the plant drew us, but draw it did. We would talk about it almost every weekend.
"Let's go to the plant!"
"Nahh, I saw a truck and a bunch of people when we came up. They're doin' somethin' over there."
"Let's go see what they're doin'!"
And so the dialog went, always discussing but rarely taking the chance until the need to visit overcame the obstacles of distance, highway and danger. First we'd plan the attack.
"Right after lunch," I'd whisper to Ronnie, "We're goin' to the plant."
"What are we gonna tell Mom?"
"Nuthin', let's just go to the other block and play around. We'll head off down the road when the coast is clear."
"I'll tell Randy."
It was rare that we'd attempt the trip when the wind was blowing the stench across the farm. It couldn't really be that much worse close up, right? We'd work our way toward the plant, down the road and across the highway. It was at least a twenty minute walk. We ignored the "Keep Out!" signs and clambered over the low fence to stare at the pools of ooze before running out of stench range.
This was the pinnacle of our coming of age rituals: visiting the sewage plant and getting the blast full on. It was our final family test of manhood.
I've been on a few Scrum teams now, the latest with my current Intuit Hosting Engineering (HE) position. HE is doing Scrum well, implementing almost all of it as far as I can tell. I recently took the training to be a certified Scrum Product Owner – one of the three primary Scrum roles. It seems like this is what was missing from the Innovation Lab (iLab) processes we used – the "what came next" part that was always a challenge for us.
In the iLab, we had an unmatched process for discovering innovative solutions for tough problems, and getting quickly to the minimum viable feature set. What was tough was then transitioning that to a business unit for development and launch. Scrum takes care of that part of the process.
What we needed was a feature set that was described in terms of User Stories, detailed deeply enough for a development team to estimate in terms of relative development time (story points). The User Stories would be more than just the minimum viable, getting us over the hump of disbelief on the part of the business – disbelief that the product had enough features. The "minimum viable" would simply be the highest priority user stories, and the entire set would be in the "backlog" – all of the known user stories in diminishing detail.
The cost/time of development would be established if you already had a Scrum team, but it only takes about three Sprints – 1 to 4 weeks – to establish a baseline "velocity" for a new team. Velocity is a simple measure that indicates how many story points that a team can accomplish in a given sprint.
When a team follows Scrum, they can become hyper-productive: teams that quadruple their velocity compared to their first sprint. There's apparently two simple things that get a team to this measure – a backlog that has very well-defined user stories and an automated build that includes automated testing.
I think there's a trifecta here that, when combined, would be a simple but effective way to make a successful idea into a successful business: front end innovation (iLab style), with lean startup-mindset prioritizing of user stories, developed by a Scrum team.
It's finally here (or at least it's in the App Store awaiting review)! This is the Super Conversions (aka SuperConvert) that I've always wanted to develop. I had some time, so I coded almost non-stop, and it's ready to roll. This is a fully functional calculator, with Memory, sin, cos, Pi, tan and other useful functions. See the calculations at the top and the unit conversions at the bottom, with easily selected conversion categories and units. Copy either the calculated value or the converted value.
If you have a support question on this or other SuperConvert or Super Conversions apps, please post a comment below or @Super_Covert on Twitter. There are also "conversion facts" that show up every once in a while. If you have a fact you'd like to see in the App, tweet it to @Super_Convert and I'll add it to the list. Include a link to an image if there's an appropriate one for the fact. Note that all facts are moderated.
The design of the new SuperConvert 9.0 is actually based on an old calculator I've had for about 28 years. The solar powered device still works, and it's still the primary calculator I use at my desk. Check out the picture of the app and compare it with the picture I took of my calculator. I used that picture to design most of the visual elements of the app.
If you have any support questions, or features you'd like to see, bugs to report, etc… – please post a comment below and I'll get back to you.
I'm currently testing an iPad Dashboard app for QuickBooks Windows Desktop. It shows a few informational things about your QuickBooks company in a dashboard style app on an iPad. I have no idea yet if it'll be useful for anyone, or if I'm showing the right kind of information. I'm using TestFlightApp.com to get testers running the app before (if) it goes live in the Apple App store.
If you've never published into the Apple app store before, and you've never used TestFlight before… I have to say, it isn't an easy process to use. It took me about 3 hours to finally get the TestFlight process down to the minimum. I installed and deleted and re-installed on my iPad.
Apple doesn't help – if you delete a device from your allocation of 99 test devices, then re-add it, it takes up 2 slots. I added my personal iPad, then deleted it, then added it again. Presto: down to 97 devices. Avoid deleting a device if you can. Apparently my allocation will reset after a year. When I pay another $99 for the iOS developer subscription.
Intuit has, of course, a developer account and provisioning certificates and all that… but is also limited in the number of devices. When you have a dozen apps you're testing, then the team doing the apps will need their own iOS developer subscriptions. I guess that's okay.
And that's step number 1: get your own iOS developer subscription.
Apple has a great product in Xcode, but make sure you have the latest version – 4.3.3. Because if you don't, using TestFlight gets harder.
That's step number 2: use the Mac App Store to install Xcode 4.3.3 – note that it'll nicely, at least mostly nicely, update your Mac and get rid of the older version for you.
Step number 3 is to always use Xcode to manage your developer profiles and account – go to the Organizer in Xcode, Devices/Provisioning Profiles and click Refresh. That'll generate the various certificates and such that you need – just click the various dialogs to automatically submit requests and such. Hey, and make sure your iPad is connected to your Mac when you do the refresh.
Next you will need to go back to the Developer site and add an Ad-Hoc Provisioning profile. That's step number 4. Provisioning, Distribution, New Profile, Ad Hoc. That's pretty much it – select all your devices (probably only your personal one will be there). Apple will accept that "new profile" as a request, then approve it. Apple used to take up to 24 hours, it seemed, to approve, but now it appears to happen within seconds.
Step number 5 is to go back to the Xcode organizer (after your Ad-Hoc profile is approved) and click Refresh again. That'll download the new Ad-Hoc provisioning profile.
Step number 6 is to make sure your app is setup with the proper profile. In Xcode, go to your Target, Build Settings, Code Signing. Click the Top "Code Signing" line and select iPhone Distribution. If the Ad-Hoc is the only distribution profile you have, it'll be the one properly selected for everything. If it isn't the only one, you'll have to look at the drop down and select your new Ad-Hoc profile.
Okay, that's it for the basics. Those 6 steps don't have to be done again. However, the next part of the process, using TestFlight, is a bit repetitive – you must do it over and over, every time a new tester is added (or at least every time you want to authorize new tester(s) for your app).
Step A: Invitations - TestFlight has a couple of ways to invite folks. I've found the one-off invitation form to be useful. Click on Add Teammate and you can enter an email address and a short message. The recipient will get a link to TestFlightApp.com's acceptance page, with a single button click to accept (and an optional form to fill out if they want to permanently register on TestFlightApp.com).
In addition to Accepting, the invitee must also install a TestFlightApp profile on their device (shows up as an Add my device type of button after Accept is clicked). It's just a matter of "Yes, accept, yes, install, Done" type clicks.
You'll get an email for each action – Accept and Device Added. The Device Added email will include an attachment containing the device ID for that tester.
Which brings me to Step B: Add Device. You must add that tester's device ID to your Apple developer account list of devices. In the developer portal, click on Devices, then click Upload Devices. Select that text file that was attached to the email from TestFlight. That'll add that tester's device.
Next, you must add that new device to your Ad-Hoc Provisioning Profile, aka Step C. Click on Provisioning, Distribution, then click Edit and Modify next to your Ad-Hoc profile. There you can Select all the devices for that profile – the new one you just uploaded will be available but un-selected. Just select it and then click Save.
Step D: Update Xcode. Now go back to Xcode's Organizer and click Refresh. It'll churn for a bit, eventually updating your Ad-Hoc profile with the new one that includes the tester devices.
Step E: Compile and save your app as an IPA file. Now that you have valid testers in the Ad-Hoc provisioning profile, you can compile a version of your app that is ready for TestFlight-ing. Build for Archiving, then Archive. The organizer will pop up and you can select Distribute, Save for Enterprise or Ad-Hoc. Make sure you select the same Ad-Hoc provisioning profile in the subsequent drop down that you used to create the build. The dialog will ask you the filename to save as an IPA.
Step F: Upload your build to TestFlight. Next click on the Upload Build in TestFlight and upload your IPA. Easy peasy.
Step G: Inform your tester. After uploading, you'll see the "Permissions" dialog in TestFlight. Select the new tester and click the Update and Notify button. That'll send an auto-generated email to that tester with a link to install the app.
And you're done! At least until the next time a tester accepts your invitation, because you'll have to go back to Step A (well, really Step B since they've obviously been invited already) and do it all over again! Ahh well, at least it's much easier than trying to enter those IDs manually and distribute the IPA to be installed via iTunes or other such messy means.
Okay, so most of you probably already know how to do this, but it only occurred to me today. I develop various websites, usually creating a local version, then uploading it to an online dev version, and finally to the production instance.
In the past, I'd go into my httpd.conf configuration file and change my DocumentRoot to a different website, then restart Apache.
But I realized I could just use a hosts file to point local subdomain to a different folder, e.g. gi.localhost or site2.localhost, or, I could even use the real site's eventual url: mysite.com or some such.
On my Mac (generally my exclusive machine these days), I edit /etc/hosts and add a line:
gi.localhost 127.0.0.1
Then I make the appropriate changes in /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
<Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Order deny,allow Allow from all </Directory>NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80 <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80> DocumentRoot /Users/mhart/localhost ServerName localhost:80 ServerAlias 127.0.0.1:80 </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80> DocumentRoot /Users/mhart/gi.localhost ServerName gi.localhost:80 ServerAlias 127.0.0.1:80 </VirtualHost>
In Windows, the hosts file is in c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc, and your Apache config file can be found from the Start menu.
I think that my best apps are the ones I create in order to fulfill my own needs. PhotoKiosk is one of them – I wanted a nice way to view and discover photos. I set it to view the Flickr public feed, Utata Pool, my own feed, plus a variety of tags. It's cool!
I recently saw new toy prototypes for the next Batman movie, beautiful snowscapes from around the world, and even a ladies' roller derby team party. It's also cool watching what people tag as "iPad". It's usually a drawing created on the iPad, but sometimes it is children using the device or a new case. I saw a sort of stick on peel off case that created a form-fitted protective cover around the iPad.
I updated PhotoKiosk, so check out the Lite and paid versions in the App Store.
Here's the Feed list I use on mine:
- public feed
- Utata Pool
- wildlife (tag)
- tiger
- guitar
- toys
- iPad
- batman
- snow
- landscape
- funny


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Win friends or kill infidels: Career incentives for Jihadi clerics
Harvard's Rich Nielsen looks into the reasons why some fundamentalist Muslim clerics advocate violence, and others do not:
I argue that clerics strategically adopt or reject Jihadi ideology because of career incentives generated by the structure of cleric educational networks.Well-connected clerics typically enjoy successful careers within state-run religious institutions. Inexchange for continued support from the state, they assist the political elites by opposing - or atleast not adopting - the ideology of militant Jihad. In contrast, clerics with low-quality educationalnetworks cannot rely on connections to advance through the state-run institutions, so many pursuecareers outside of the system by appealing directly to lay audiences for support. These clerics aremore likely to adopt Jihadi ideology because it credibly signals to potential supporters that theyhave not been theologically coopted by political elites.
For his analysis, Nielsen analyzes "29,430 fatwas, articles, and books written by 91 contemporary clerics" -- a sample consisting of both "Jihad clerics" and "conservative Salafi clerics who share similar beliefs to Jihadis but reject the ideology of militant Jihad." These are mostly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The finding suggests that jailing radical clerics is not a particularly effective deterrent -- it only increases their credibility. Rather, Nielsen wonders whether governments should spend more resources on finding ways to coopt these clerics, getting them to sell out rather than locking them up.
The paper briefly mentions the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, though I'm not sure he really fits the pattern. In the immediate period following 9/11, the middle class, highly-educated Awlaki had led one of the largest mosques in the United States, was frequently consulted by the media, and even invited to speak with Pentagon officials. Whatever involvement with terrorism he had already had, it seems like there were career incentives for him to distance himself from violence.
Of course, this doesn't really conflict with Nielsen's argument, but it would be interesting to explore whether the incentive structure works differently in non-majority Muslim countries.
Hat tip: Chris Blattman


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Add a touch of class to any gathering area with the Dante stationary bar stool. The wood framed, transitional stool finished in white has a slightly curved, oval backrest and 3-inch padded, web woven seat covered in peet microfiber that is beautiful to look at and easy to clean. The base is a mortise and tenon construction to add strength and durability and includes a antique brass kick plate.
If you have the below table, bar, or counter
height, please get the chairs or stools with the following height:
Table 28"
to 30" H --------- Chair 17" to 19" H
Counter 35" to 37" H ----- Stool 23" to 28"
H (Counter Height Stools)
Bar 41" to 43" H ----------- Stool 29" to 32"
H (Bar Height Stools)
Bar 44" to 47" H ------------Stool 33" to 36"
H (Extra Tall Bar Stools)
There should be an 11"
to 13" space between the seat of the stool or chair and the table
To determine how many stools
you need to fit your bar or counter, measure the length of the bar in
inches and divide by 24. You should allow 24" of counter length per
stool, with or without a back. Example: You would need four stools for
an 8' counter.
Copyright � 2013 BarstoolDirect.com All Rights Reserved.


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It hasn't always been pretty, but the Phillies are quietly riding their best 10-game stretch of the season.
After beating the Marlins on Wednesday night, 3-0, the Phillies are now 7-3 over their last 10 games heading into their first meeting with the Nationals of 2013.
Cliff Lee was brilliant in clinching his club a series victory in Miami after the trip started on such a sour note. Lee threw his first complete game of the season by shutting out the Marlins (13-34). The lefty gave up just three hits, two of which were infield singles, while striking out five. He threw 115 pitches, 85 for strikes, to earn his 12th career shutout and lower his 2013 ERA to 2.48.
Out of Lee's 10 starts thus far, eight have been quality starts.
The offense could have gone for more than three runs, but the bats did produce 12 hits a night after they banged out 15.
Delmon Young hit a solo home run to nearly the same exact spot he homered in Tuesday night's win. Twenty-one of the Phillies' last 22 long balls have now been of the solo variety.
Domonic Brown tripled home his 24th RBI of the season. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard (25 each) are the only Phillies with more runs batted in.
Jimmy Rollins, Delmon Young, Howard and Lee all collected two hits apiece. Dating back to May 8, Rollins is 18 for his last 54 (.333).
The Phillies (23-24) are 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves (28-18), who have won six straight. The Nationals (24-23), on the other hand, have lost eight of their last 12 games and sit one game above the Phillies.
Here are the probable piching matchups for the Phillies' three-game set in Washington, D.C. this weekend:
Friday — Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 2.82) vs. Jordan Zimmermann (7-2, 1.62)
Saturday — Jonathan Pettibone (3-0, 3.00) vs. Dan Haren (4-5, 5.54)
Sunday — Cole Hamels (1-7, 4.45) vs. Stephen Strasburg (2-5, 2.66)


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Microsoft Becomes Official Joomla! Contributor
A Joomla! developer blog has announced that Microsoft has signed the Joomla! Contributor Agreement (JCA).
Code from Microsoft will start appearing in version 1.6 of the Joomla! Web CMS. An example is WinCache, an extension that accelerates PHP applications running on Windows.
Microsoft's involvement was reported by Joomla! developer Sam Moffatt and Microsoft collaborator Josh Holmes in separate blogs. Moffatt's blog: "There, I said it. It feels like it should be so much more doesn't it? Don't worry, I won't end the blog post there."
Josh Holmes, self-described in his WordCamp speaker bio as "UX Architect Evangelist with Microsoft," advises developer business partners in that role in matters user experience and Rich Internet Application. He's "all excited" that the Microsoft legal department finally agreed to contribute to GPL code.
Issue 170/2015
Buy this issue as a PDF
TOR Network Isn't So Anonymous
A new study says it is possible to unmask 81% of TOR users.
.NET Goes Open Source
Redmond joins the revolution by turning the .NET Core Runtime into a GitHub project.
Drupal Advisory Unleashes a Torrent of Attacks
Users only had 7 hours to update before the intrusions started.
HTML5 Gets Promoted to a Standard
It's official: The new web arrives
Linus Addresses Criticism for Harsh Language
Kernel king admits his tone has alienated volunteers, but says the demands of the process require directness.
New SSL Attack Lets a Malicious Listener Steal Session Cookies
New flaw in an old encryption scheme leaves the experts scrambling to disable SSL 3
Leading Open Source Coder Rants about Rants
Lennart Poettering wants to change the way Linux developers talk to each other.
HP Splits into Two Companies
Enterprise giant frees itself from ink and home PCs (and visa versa).
Mozilla Labs Shuts Down
Mozilla's product think tank sinks silently into history.
Internet Giants Launch Collaboration to Improve Open Source
TODO group will focus on open source tools in large-scale environments.


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The National Disability Insurance Scheme will make it easier for people to access essential care, support, therapy, equipment, early intervention and training. Let's revolutionise disability services. Find out more »
Our government has changed but one thing has not.
They cannot walk away from The Promise they made to implement the NDIS now and for the future.


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UPDATE: The road has reopened according the dispatch at the Plymouth Police Department.
State Road 17 is currently closed from Westgate Avenue to Meadow Lane (through the curve) due to a gas line being cut. Drivers are urged to avoid the area. We are working on gathering the details.
Yesterday, Washington Discovery Academy Principal Andy Hartley made good on a promise to students. He puckered up and kissed a pig because the students met their goal of having 100+ individuals sign up to donate blood.
The Downtown Revitalization committee will meet on December 3 at the administration building of Plymouth High School.
Their proposed agenda is posted.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
_________________________________________________________Plymouth Community Schools___
5:30 P.M. Administration Building
611 Berkley Dr, Plymouth
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Minutes of the November 5, 2014 meeting
4. New downtown ideas
5. Other Business
6. Adjournment
From one generation to the next Karma Records has opened it's doors to thousands of customers since opening in October 26th 1990.
Tom Sampson and his wife Juli were trying to figure our what path they would take in life 24 years ago. Sampson's love for music led him to the idea of opening up a record store, since Plymouth didn't have one.
Plymouth High School Principal, James Condon, received the 2014 Principal of the Year award Sunday from the Indiana Association of Schools and Principals. Condon had previously been named the District 2 High School Principal winner. On Sunday during a special recognition dinner, Condon was awarded the State of Indiana High School Principal of the Year award.
Alco Store in the Knox Mall will soon be closing its doors forever.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas Texas approved an order this week that authorized three liquidators to to oversee the "going out of business" sales for each of Alcos 198 stores: Great American Group LLC, Tiger Capital Group LLC and SB Capital Group LLC will arrange for the sale of more than 260 million dollars of inventory, beginning Friday, Nov. 21.
In October, Alco Stores filed Chapter 11 protection in the Northern District of Texas federal bankruptcy court.
Locally, sales will start at five to 30 percent off.
Culver town marshal Wayne Bean confirmed Thursday night that the second bomb threat in two days has been received noted at Culver Community High School.
As was the case Wednesday afternoon, a hand-written note in one of the boys' restrooms at the school was discovered Thursday after school, according to Bean, who contacted the Culver Citizen from the school building around 10:30 p.m., where police are searching the building and planning to bring a bomb-sniffing dog. School officials are also on the scene or in communication with police, Bean affirmed.
Over the course of the night the railroad crossing at Garro and Second Street, in Plymouth, warning signal was activated but there was no train. This morning the railroad crossing at Lake Avenue is doing the same thing. Plymouth Police Department is aware of the situation and has contacted the railroad about the signal. The railroad is looking into the situation and hopes to have it resolved soon.
Drivers are urged to use caution in the area.