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Angel DeAnda Stops Anthony Ruiz for Vacant Tachi Palace Fights Light Heavyweight Title
Angel DeAnda calls himself "The Dream." For Anthony Ruiz, he was more of a nightmare.
DeAnda blitzed Ruiz with a relentless volley of power punches, as he captured the vacant Tachi Palace Fights light heavyweight championship in the TPF 15 "Collision Course" headliner on Thursday at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif. Ruiz (29-18, 2-3 TPF) met his end 3:39 into round three.
"He just wasn't giving up," said DeAnda, who has gone the distance only once in his 13-fight career. "If it wasn't for [referee Jason] McCoy, we'd probably still be fighting."
DeAnda was masterful throughout the matchup, dazzling his foe and onlookers with clean power punches, exceptional lateral movement and excellent takedown defense. Once it became clear Ruiz could not keep him on the ground, the fight was essentially over. DeAnda spent the first two rounds softening the Strikeforce, EliteXC and World Extreme Cagefighting veteran with a vast assortment of strikes, both in close quarters and at a distance.
In round three, with Ruiz clearly on the wane, DeAnda made his move. He pinned the 35-year-old Californian to the cage and unleashed a merciless stream of hooks and uppercuts with both hands. Ruiz never went down, but he was a spent force and McCoy had reason to intervene on his behalf.
DeAnda, who trains with fast-rising UFC bantamweight contender Michael McDonald, has won 10 of his past 11 bouts.
"Whatever they put in front of me," he said, "I'm ready for the challenge."
In the co-main event, aggressive standup and a series of takedowns carried former Palace Fighting Championship titleholder Rolando Velasco to a unanimous verdict over "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 14 alum Carson Beebe at 135 pounds. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Velasco (8-2-1, 2-0 TPF), the defeat snapping Beebe's streak of six consecutive victories.
Velasco struck for takedowns in all three rounds and attacked with winging punches while standing. Beebe (12-2, 0-1 TPF) did his best work in the third frame, where he recorded a takedown of his own, settled into half guard and ultimately moved to Velasco's back. Despite the advantageous position, nothing materialized for Beebe, the younger brother of former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe.
Meanwhile, Team Alpha Male export Anthony Avila submitted Darren Crisp Jr. with a first-round guillotine choke in a featured featherweight encounter. Crisp Jr. (9-7, 0-2 TPF) tapped out 68 seconds into round one.
Avila (10-1, 3-0 TPF) struck for a takedown inside the first 30 seconds, set up the guillotine from half guard, stepped into mount and finished it. He has won his last nine fights, six of them first-round finishes.
Elsewhere, a suffocating clinch game, aggressive punching volleys and an active submission game carried WEC veteran Poppies Martinez to a unanimous decision over Fernando Bernstein in a lightweight showcase. Martinez (24-8, 4-2 TPF) swept the scorecards by identical 30-27 counts.
Martinez moved to the clinch from the start and slowly wore down Bernstein (4-7, 0-1 TPF) in close quarters. He stepped up his attack over the final 10 minutes, as he moved to Bernstein's back in the second and third rounds, threatening him with rear-naked chokes. Though Bernstein refused to succumb to a finish, he could do nothing to avoid a fifth defeat in six appearances.
Finally, once-beaten Team Alpha Male prospect Andre Fili extended his winning streak to seven fights with a unanimous decision over Enoch Wilson in a featured 150-pound catchweight battle. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Fili (11-1, 2-0 TPF).
Fili controlled the distance with his reach and speed, struck for timely takedowns and peppered his experienced foe with punches and elbows from inside guard. Wilson (16-8-2, 0-2 TPF) twice moved to full mount but failed to hold the position, as Fili sprang reversals and resumed his attack from the top. The 22-year-old sealed it with a pair of third-round takedowns.
In preliminary action, Art Arciniega recorded his sixth straight victory with a unanimous nod over Strikeforce veteran Alexander Crispim at 145 pounds, sweeping the scorecards by 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 counts; Team Alpha Male's Freddie Aquitania captured a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) from Javy Ayala in a heavyweight rematch; PKG Training Center representative Dominic Clark stopped Andy Miranda on punches 1:50 into the first round of their lightweight duel; and Alex Perez posted his fourth win in a row, as he put away Carlos DeSoto with punches 1:52 into round one of their 150-pound catchweight affair.


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The LA Times' Cathleen Decker, whose Sunday column is a state treasure (full disclosure: she used to be one of my editors at the Times), makes a provocative point in yesterday's piece: that the nastiest and most expensive campaigns -- like the one just waged for the GOP gubernatorial nomination -- produce the lowest turnouts:
"Campaigns make a great show of getting out the vote; the customary photo op on the final weekend before election day is the candidate thanking volunteers who are working the phones to get voters into the polls.
"What that makes is the other reality; the television advertising campaigns, at least ones like this year's, exist to depress turnout.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
"It is sometimes possible for the ads that swarm the television screens to gin up their own candidate's tallies. But their intent much of the time is to simply turn off the other guy's voters."
Decker quotes the scholar Curtis Gans and his extensive research. There is a contrary view in the academic world: that turnout has been relatively flat for the past three decades (and that it only seems to be going down because the population of adult residents who are ineligible to vote has grown for various reasons -- including greater immigration and larger populations of convicted felons, who are ineligible to vote in many states).
Either way, the results of California's elections are bad news. And it seems clear that, at the very least, greater campaign spending does not improve turnout -- and may reduce it.

subset: commoncrawl


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New WHO publication: Xpert MTB/RIF implementation manual
Technical and operational 'how-to': practical considerations
In December 2010, WHO first recommended the use of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay. The WHO's policy statement was supported by a rapid implementation document, which provided the technical "how-to" and operational considerations for rolling out the use of the assay. An unprecedented uptake of this new technology followed the release of WHO's policy: by the end of March 2014, more than 2,300 GeneXpert instruments and more than 6 million Xpert MTB/RIF cartridges had been procured in the public sector in 104 countries eligible for concessional prices.
An Expert Group was convened by WHO in May 2013 to review the current body of evidence on use of Xpert MTB/RIF. The resulting recommendations from the Expert Group are included in the WHO Policy update, which widens the recommended use of Xpert MTB/RIF, including for the diagnosis of paediatric TB and on selected specimens for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary TB, and includes an additional recommendation on the use of Xpert MTB/RIF as the initial diagnostic test in all individuals presumed to have pulmonary TB.
The accompanying Xpert MTB/RIF implementation manual has been developed to replace the first edition and takes into consideration the current body of evidence and operational experiences available, in the context of the Policy update.
Download the publication from here.
Related Links
- Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB in adults and children
Policy update
- Using the Xpert MTB/RIF assay to detect pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults and children
Expert group meeting report
- WHO monitoring of Xpert MTB/RIF roll-out
- TB diagnostics and laboratory strengthening
Source: WHO


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New Masters of Public Health degree coming to Kent Trumbull
Kent State University College of Public Health is pleased to announce the Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree in Health Policy & Management, Leadership elective. This unique graduate degree is for working health professionals who want advanced skills in organizational change and leadership development and will be offered at Kent State Trumbull beginning with the Spring 2014 semester. Sequential courses are 5-8 weeks in duration, offered one night per week; and the entire sequence can be completed in two years.
"We are thrilled to offer Trumbull and Mahoning Valley health professionals this convenient solution to earning our MPH in optimum time," expressed Dr. Sonia Alemagno, Kent State University's Dean of the College of Public Health. "We currently hold this program at the Twinsburg Regional Academic Center and now we'll be offering it at our Trumbull campus. This is our answer to the growing demand for trained leaders in healthcare industries and health organizations in Northeast Ohio."
The program delivers the advantages that today's health professionals need to compete in the marketplace. "Our world needs leaders who are better prepared to take on the complex health challenges of our society," stated Dr. Ken Zakariasen, Director of the MPH in Health Policy and Management with a focus on Leadership and Organizational Change, "The program ensures graduates are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to become the next generation of leaders." He focuses on innovative whole-systems approaches to organizational strategy and change, as well as leadership and leadership team development - "big-picture" thinking. Zakariasen successfully led a recognized MPH leadership/organizational change program at the University of Alberta before leading the Kent State program at the Twinsburg Regional Academic Center. He will be spearheading efforts to launch the same program at the Trumbull campus.
MPH students experience courses like Emerging Issues in Health Policy and Management and Health Care Systems. Some opt for short-term education abroad where they study the healthcare systems of other countries. What's more, the MPH practicum can be completed as an intervention designed and implemented within student's current organization.
An MPH Information Session will be held Thursday, August 15 from 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m. in Room 117 of the Technology Building, Kent State Trumbull, 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren or visit http://publichealth-emph.com/ or contact the College of Public Health at 330-672-6500 for additional information.
About the Kent State University College of Public Health
Kent State University's College of Public Health was established in 2009 to educate and train students to meet the current and projected shortage of public health professionals in Ohio and the nation. The mission: to develop and promote sustainable public health solutions, in collaboration with community organizations, through education, research and service for populations served by Kent State University campuses and beyond.
One of only two colleges of public health in Ohio, it is the first to offer a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Academic programs integrate theory and practice to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to address the health challenges of the 21st century. Faculty members engage in cutting edge research that seek answers to some of society's most difficult problems including preventing chronic and infectious diseases, responding to natural and manmade disasters, curbing substance abuse, and improving the delivery of health care. Partners include local health departments, community organizations, health care institutions, and businesses that enable students to engage in real-world experiences in the growing field of public health. Learn more http://www2.kent.edu/publichealth/
# # #
Media contact:
Robb W. King, email@example.com, 330-675-7627


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MIAMI — Edwarda O"Bara, who spent more than four decades in a coma in her Miami Gardens home, always cared for by her mother, then by her sister, and who inspired a book and garnered a devoted following across the globe, has died. She was 59.
She died Wednesday morning, her family said, five years after the death of her mother, who had remained at Edwarda"s side since she slipped into a coma.
"I think my mother said, "Come on, let"s go,"?" sister Colleen O"Bara said.
Edwarda O"Bara was a teenage high school student who wanted to be a pediatrician when in 1970 she fell ill, throwing up her diabetic medicine.
Her family rushed her to the hospital, where she slipped into a diabetic coma. Before losing consciousness, Edwarda asked her mother, Kaye O"Bara, to never leave her side.
Kaye O"Bara promised, and kept her word.
Edwarda returned to the family"s Miami Gardens home, and her family never left her side. She was turned every two hours to keep away bedsores, given insulin and fed through a tube.
She was read to, had music played for her, and constantly had company.
Her father, Joe O"Bara, died in 1976. After his death, Kaye O"Bara continued to care for Edwarda, always saying she was a blessing, not a burden, no matter the piling debts and difficulties.
A devout Catholic, O"Bara said she had felt the presence of the Virgin Mary in Edwarda"s bedroom.
It inspired author Dr. Wayne Dyer to write the book "A Promise Is A Promise: An Almost Unbelievable Story of a Mother"s Unconditional Love and What It Can Teach Us."
And visitors from across the world traveled to the Miami Gardens home, every year, sometimes appearing at the doorstep on random days, other times for Edwarda"s yearly birthday party, a boisterous affair with decorations, balloons and cake.
"I had to learn you let strangers in," Colleen O"Bara said, "because they aren"t strangers."
Through it all, Edwarda remained in a coma. But to her family and followers she remained vibrantly alive. Colleen O"Bara described her as "the best sister in the whole wide world."
"She taught me so much, and I"m talking about now, after she was in the coma," Colleen O"Bara said. "She taught me so much about unconditional love that I couldn"t say I had it before. She taught me about patience, that I didn"t have before. I learned so much from taking care of my sister. It"s like I grew up overnight."
Her mother kept her promise, right up to her death in 2008. Kaye O"Bara, 80, died in her sleep, in the same room she had shared with Edwarda since 1970.
Afterward, Colleen took over, quitting her job as a horse trainer.
"I didn"t give it a second thought. She"s my sister," Colleen O"Bara said, "and I love her."
Tuesday night, Colleen O"Bara said she noticed her sister was spitting up food and figured it was because of the change in the weather, which usually gives Edwarda a cold. Colleen gave her antibiotics, and had her son care for Edwarda while she got some rest.
Edwarda seemed a bit better in the morning. It started with 6 a.m. breakfast and Edwarda"s bath a half hour later.
"I said, OK, this is gonna be a good day. Things are looking up," Colleen O"Bara said. "Her color is coming back. I"m talking to her. I give her a bath, turn her, brush her teeth, put Vaseline on her lips so they don"t dry out."
She told her sister she was going to get a cup of coffee and be right back.
Edwarda responded with the biggest smile, Colleen O"Bara said. She had a twinkle in her eyes, then closed them. Her breathing relaxed.
Colleen got her coffee, came back to the room and gave her sister a shake, but Edwarda didn"t wake up.
Edwarda O"Bara is survived by her sister, nephew Richard O"Bara and great-nephew Joseph Michael O"Bara, who all stayed with her in the home.


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Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War" trailer premiered Tuesday and the action-packed clip gives fans a glimpse of Captain America (Chris Evans) facing off with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.).
Their conflict divides the rest of the Marvel gang—including Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie)—and it's clear this huge rift among the superheroes is going to have consequences.
At one point Black Widow warns Captain America taking a stand might not be worth it. "You know what's about to happen," she says. "Do you really want to punch your way out of this?"
U.S. & World
"Captain America: Civil War" also provides a first look at Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman).
As you can see in the video above, tensions are high between the whole gang. The feuding didn't continue offscreen, though. Evans and Downey, who introduced the trailer on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday, reassured the late-night host they're actually "good friends" in real life, despite the animosities between their characters.
"Captain America: Civil War" hits theaters May 6, 2016.
PHOTOS: Captain America movie pics


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Moderator: Moderators - Public
Luce wrote:1. [/color]How long should the LBRP & Middle Pillar take? I have a feeling I'm doing them too quickly based on what I read in a couple of threads.
Middle Pillar
2. I *think* I read somewhere on here that Jim said he teaches people to inhale while drawing the "up" lines of a pentagram, retain breath while drawing the horizontal lines, and exhale while drawing the "down" lines. Did I read that right?
Related to the previous question, how long should it take to draw a pentagram?
Also, does this technique apply also to hexagrams?
3. I read an experienced member's post in which he said that during the Middle Pillar he'll focus on the sphere until it is formed, and that this can take a few minutes. I don't really understand what this means. I kind of just use my imagination and pretend they are there while vibrating the names.
I wouldn't really know when they are "there."
When doing this technique correctly, is there actually a point at which you know the sphere is there?
Do you see it via visualization, or do you feel it?
Is the name AGLA a geburahn name, or is it more of a Mal'kuth name?
Also, I'm a bit confused because I read that it's called "lesser" because it relates to the spheres under Tiphareth, but Geburah is above Tiphareth. I have the feeling what I read is wrong, because even the Q-cross relates to spheres above Tiphareth.
5. Related to number 3, is there a point at which the archangels "click" (if that makes sense). I usually just vibrate the name once, and imagine that angel in the right place.
Is it like, "RAAAA-PHIIIII-ELLLLL... (focus on the visualization, feel the elements... 40 seconds go by... BAM there he is, okay time to move to the next).
6. Just out of curiousity, when you do the LBRP, do you actually see the lines being drawn (if your eyes are open?).
If someone is in the room with you, have they ever told you they've seen them?
Luce wrote:The problem is that I've been doing the LBRP almost daily for about a year and a half now... I feel like I should be out of the "pretend" stage, but I agree that I'm in it for the most part.
1. When you say that you see the pentagrams, do you mean that they actually are in your visual field of view?
Words escape me, but what I mean is that if you drew a pentagram , and there was, say, a plant behind the pentagram, would the blue light of the pentagram actually block your view of the plant?
...you're probably not seeing the pentagrams with your physical eyes, but does it feel like you're seeing them with your eyes?
2. When you vibrate God names, is your voice deep and bellowing, or is it opera-like?
Do you do the MPR on each sphere until the spheres "click" into place, or do you do it for a set amount of time?
When I do it, I just imagine the sphere is there, do it for a bit and then move on. Nothing seems to "click" into place -- should I do it for longer and should my goal be to try to get that definitive moment where "Oh, there's Kether, it's in place and charged now."
4. I don't want to be nit-picky, but I was wondering how long it takes you to vibrate a God name.
I'm assuming it depends on the length of the name?
Your questions aren't annoying questions; your constantly tugging at the robe and saying "mister? mister? mister? mister? mister?" is the annoyance.
Luce wrote:One member says my questions are "very valuable" and the next says they are "exceedingly annoying."
Jim, I think it's important to remember what it's like to be an absolute beginner without any magical training whatsoever. You probably do remember what it's like, but it's still not the same as actually BEING an absolute beginner.
You haven't been one for decades, and so these questions probably seem really annoying and silly.
So when someone says they can see their pentagrams, my first thought is "no way, they can't actually mean that they REALLY see them.. it just must be imagination"
But thank you for answering my questions and seeing my sincerity despite your annoyance.
Do you (or anyone reading this) have the link where you explain the vibration drills?
Luce wrote:Sorry, I didn't mean to project
When I draw a pentagram I can imagine that it's there... But I can see everything behind it completely fine.
...when you stare at a tattva and look at a white wall, you see the complement color shape on the wall. Can you see that exact same thing on the wall without first staring at a tattva?
Is it normal for people to be able to do that? Can everyone do that?
Let me ask you a question, though: Can you hear the pentagram as you draw it? Like surging electricity with a crackle or something similar? Do you feel it being present as if you were spraying (oh, I dunno) whipped cream that hung in the air? Can you smell or taste it? Any of these?
Do you (or anyone reading this) have the link where you explain the vibration drills?
I don't think your technique (as I understand from your description) is particularly good. This doesn't (for example) sound like Gregorian chant (though that would be cool in its own right). I don't have anything I've written on the subject (it always makes most sense to me to teach this in person, one-on-one), but let's try something simple.
The idea is to get the deepest, most resonate utterance possible, with each syllable having its own weight. If I were to exaggerate hugely (hugely!), you want to turn into a cathedral style pipe organ, the kind of instrument that is physically felt and, more importantly, is emotionally felt for its resonance and depth.
Why do this? I suspect it is mostly psychological, and secondarily does set up a resonance in the physical body that has various advantageous effects.
To practice, stand upright and do a little shaking loose the physical stress and tension, and a little light rhythmic breathing. Then take a deep breath, and aim your voice substantially lower than you think makes any sense - as low as you can go (we're looking for a "floor" that is below what you eventually will use) - and slowly let out the most resonant "Ahhhhh" on a single note that you can. (You can use other syllables, but this is a good one for mouth shape and sound.)
Concentrate primarily on your physical body sensations. Watch the breath, how it moves out, how everything feels in your body. (At this point, it probably will feel all wrong.)
Take another deep breath and, this time, start at the same place and then, every few seconds, raise the tone a note or two. Pause at each place to witness how your physical body feels. At some point - still down in the deep registers - something will happen that is quite different, that resembles a tuning fork suddenly having the right note sounded near it. Your body will take on a new "buzz," will enter into the vibration more. If you move up, past it, this effect will stop. After you've found it once, you can move up and down past it, and find that when you are exactly on that spot, you will have this additional, distinctive "buzz" in your body, but you won't have it above or below that.
This is the note you should use.
Except, it will change. It will change (just a little) more or less every time you work. It varies with you, the room, the temperature, your physical and psychological condition, etc. So you need to practice finding it, after which it will be pretty automatic to go to (or near) the right spot every time (and easy to tweak it, with the highly recognizable feel, if you don't hit it outright).
Unless you are using specialty techniques that assign distinctive notes to each Hebrew letter, you should keep your tone steady throughout an entire vibration. Make every syllable of even length and weight with the others. YOD HEH VAV HEH is four even syllables of equal weight, but so is AH DO NA EE, etc.
Quaestor Lucis wrote:Mr. Eshelman, what is FLO?
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doneb necesitaba un nuevo diseño de impreso o envases y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 30 diseños de 14 diseñadores freelance.
I'm a small business that's trying out my first print ad. I've been working with a writer and we have the layout and everything -- just want an artist to touch it before shipping.
IT types -- but that doesn't matter too much in this case since we're past this stage ;)
'Cleanup' the existing ad (attached).
The dashed lines need to be much thinner (though still plenty visible) more professional and with a half-scissors image at the right hand side of the screenshot.
The screenshot image needs to be sharper, clearer but don't change the colors.
All colors should be CMYK (rather than RGB), supplied as a print-ready SWOP compatible PDF, at 300 dots per inch, fonts embedded.
Add more whoosh or swoosh to the red line around the hand-writing bit.
That handwriting font is "Brian Handwriting", which you probably don't have. Feel free to substitute something very similar (or if you can, extract it from the PDF, it's embedded) Alternatively create the writing as art, as it's a little too thin.
Ensure everything is lined up perfectly and symmetrical - I just threw it together by hand :o)
I mentioned it before but to confirm, the exact size is 7.5 inch by 4.187. No "bleed" is required but please supply both with and without, in case the ad is used elsewhere.
I'd like to make the image larger but we're constrained by space and cannot lose any of the text. However, with those restrictions, feel free to also supply your own interpretation.
Add flair, pop, jazz or whatever - show us what you've got!
Remember, print is far less forgiving than the web - ensure it's going to look great at 300dpi on glossy.


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Levels of Retention
Levels of Security for Safariland™ Holsters
Safariland purchased the Rogers Holster Company in 1985. At the time of purchase, Safariland adopted a security rating system that had been developed by the Rogers Holster Company in 1975. This system was based on a series of simple tests that could be conducted in the field by the end user. At the time of purchase, the Rogers SS2 and SS3 holsters were the only holsters that could pass the described Level II and Level III tests. They became Safariland Models 295 and 070 and are still manufactured and sold to this day.
Advancement in holster technology and no set standard for testing has in many ways confused the terminology used to describe security levels. Because of this confusion, many law enforcement agencies presently are shown holsters of other manufacturers and are told that the product conforms to a certain level of security. In most cases those stated levels of security do not match the same tests that Safariland has historically used. In order to clarify the Safariland tests and to make it easier to understand the levels of security when compared to present day designs, clearly defined terminology is required.
Although Safariland has not changed the method of testing its holsters, in reviewing the present mechanisms we have changed the security level rating of some of our models. Twenty years ago the use of the socket and stud snap was the primary securing lock. Now the industry uses several locking mechanisms that re-engage if the user releases them. In some cases an additional movement is required by the user to release a mechanism.
For example, in the case of Safariland's SLS (Self Locking System), the user must overcome the pressure of two springs to push the hood down in order to unlock the mechanism. Then, while holding the unit in the down unlocked position, the user must rotate the hood completely forward to allow the weapon an opening to exit from the holster. If the user simply pushes the hood down to the unlocked position and then releases it, allowing the hood to re-lock, the holster is as secure as it was initially. However, since there are two separate and distinct motions (much like releasing a snap and then rotating the weapon forward slightly with the older 295 holster before drawing), the SLS provides two levels of security by itself. By adding a Sentry device to the SLS, which requires a separate and distinct motion by the user, a third level of security is achieved.
Levels of Retention Test Details (PDF)
Levels of Retention Test Results (PDF)


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ASSA Holiday Fast Pitch League 2011 begins
The American Samoa Softball Association Holiday Fast Pitch League 2011 got underway this past Saturday morning with an opening ceremony at the Tony Solaita Baseball Field in Tafuna, with eight teams, four in the Men's division and four in the Women's division.
The Women's division have the teams of, Alanoa, Kip McGrath War-Cats, Leone Angels and the American Samoa Baseball Association (ASBA). The Men's division boasts teams of Leone Angels, American Samoa Baseball Association (ASBA), Alanoa and the Spartans.
In the opening ceremony on Saturday, the Director the the Department of Parks and Recreation Samana Semo Ve'ave'a said, "With the next Pacific Games, there will be fast pitch softball and with this fast pitch softball league; it will help train our National Team in preparing them for the games, as we are in partnership with the American Samoa Softball Association to try and get this fast pitch league going."
President of the American Samoa Softball Association and House Representative Larry Sanitoa said, "With the support of the government and the Department of Parks and Recreation, they have been fantastic in being great partners."
In today's action, it will have ASBA versus Alanoa in the Men's division and tomorrow Dec. 20, the Women's division will see the Kip McGrath War-Cats going against the Leone Angels.
On Wednesday December 21, the Spartans will face off with the Leone Angels in the Men's division; while on Thursday December 22 in the Women's division, ASBA will be battling it out with the team of Alanoa.
On Friday December 23, the men will have the the teams of the Leone Angels and Alanoa playing one another.
Games that are played Monday through Friday, have a starting time of 4:30 p.m. and all will be at the Tony Solaita Baseball Field. Stay tuned to Samoa News for the starting times of the games that are scheduled for Saturday.
President of the ASSA Sanitoa would like to invite the public out to all of these games.


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20 - 26 October
Wednesday 26 October: She's Got A Ticket To Ride...
After completion of the rocket last night we were honoured to be allowed to attend the State Commissioning of the launch, hosted by the Cosmodrome Commander. SSTL confirmed the readiness of their spacecraft, I confirmed readiness of SSETI Express, Polyot confirmed readiness of SINAH-1 and Moxhaet, and the Cosmodrome team confirmed readiness of the launch pad and the launch crew. Final approval for launch at 06:52:26 UTC on 27 October was given and signed by the Commander.
We then kept ourselves entertained until 02:30 this morning so that we could go back to the assembly facility and watch the rollout of the rocket from the facility. We were even lucky enough that on the drive back to the hotel afterwards we had to stop at a level crossing while the train carrying the rocket rolled majestically past in front of us.
After grabbing a few hours sleep we were taken out to the launch complex, braving the bitter cold, to witness the erection of the rocket on the launch pad. A fantastic experience! It is now standing safely in its tower and they will begin fuelling shortly.
There is nothing more we can do for her - our baby will soon fly the nest. We are all very excited about the launch tomorrow and the start of operations.
Tuesday 25th October: Fairing closure
The milestones just seem to be wooshing past us as we complete such glorious tasks as Final Checkout, Launch Adaptor Integration, Remove Before Flight and, this afternoon: Fairing Closure.
Like most other events in this place, the closure of the fairing was a somewhat surreal experience to some of us; just standing there in front of two rather intimidating rockets while a day-glow nose cone slowly slides over the five spacecraft sticking out the tip of the Russian booster. Priceless stuff!
The manoeuvre goes surprisingly painlessly, and in a matter of minutes our yellow stripey friend disappears from view, and it will never see the world again from inside the atmosphere. The launch is still on schedule, so coming up next: the roll-out.
Monday 24 October: Break on through (to the other side)
Preparations for today started the night before, when we reviewed the RBF/ABF Item Procedure for the very last time (Remark: RBF=Remove before Flight, ABF=Apply Before Flight). After close investigation several minor changes in the action sequence was agreed upon and more detail about the required tools and intermediate actions was added.
Well prepared we started the working day "just another day in the office..." by the selection of the required tools and equipment. After a short review of the plan with the SSTL representative we got a 'go' and started the final procedure to make the S/C ready for launch and armed for operation.
After performance of the first phase of the procedure inside the cleantent, the S/C was lifted over to the launcher adapter and mounted there. The electrical integration of the separation system was completed, which paved the way for the second phase - the arming of the spacecraft subsystems. Accompanied by safety status checks the EPS (Electrical Power Sub-System), the T-Pods and the Propulsion Pyro were armed and the FPP (Flight Preparation Panel) was finally closed.
Afterwards, the lengthy and demanding process of tilting the launch adapter into horizontal attitude, and its transportation and mating to the Cosmos rocket, was performed by the Cosmodrome engineers. Now the SSETI Express spacecraft and its three pico-satellites are mounted on the launcher adapter, almost ready for launch. The only parts remaining for removal are the -y side protector panel, the camera lens cap and the -y sun-sensor cover.
It's 700km to orbit, we've got fully charged batteries, armed sub-systems, there are two days left and we're getting nervous...hit it!
23 October: Final independent preparations
Today was our last day working with our spacecraft on its own, as tomorrow it will be integrated to the launch adapterFirst we had to retrieve appropriate data from the spacecraft with which to make the final tests of the TDIB, then we shut the On-Board Computer down and turned the spacecraft off for the last time. The main activity that remained to be done was the trickle-charging of the flight battery, which took around five hours. We also fixed the thermal foils and checked the integrity of the pyrotechnic charges that will separate SSETI Express from the launcher.
It was very interesting to watch the other passengers being integrated to the adapter today - all four of them have been installed, leaving just one space for us...
22 October: Are we nearly there yet?
Well the answer is, it seems, - almost! As Karl predicted yesterday, we completed the battery charging of the final T-Pod and spent some time working with the TDBI team in France finalising the telemetry submission website. It is amazing to those of us of a certain age to remember what communications was like before the internet (the younger members of the team just can't imagine it!). It would have been impossible to have created this sophisticated space vehicle without using the 'net to the full in the short time that was available to the SSETI Express teams across Europe.
I think today will prove to be the last "quiet" day that we have in this launch campaign - tomorrow the process of integrating all the satellites with the launch adaptor commences and then the adrenaline will really start to flow.
21 October: Cubic spacecraft and their deployers
Today was not seriously challenging. For the first couple of hours, a lot of battery charging went on. In fact, they will still be charging tomorrow. These are the T-POD batteries being topped up to make sure they can deliver the energy needed to burn the strings that release the cubesats, which is absolutely critical for the three pico-satellite collaborators. Also, the cubesats themselves were checked to make sure they hadn't lost too must of their charge, and it was confirmed that they were copasetic.
At some point during the day Karl got some time off from software development and took the opportunity to pull the RBF plug from NCUBE-2, which means it is now armed and ready for flight. As are all the rest of our little cubic passengers.
20 October: Phase II, the return to Russia
The launch campaign team came back to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome today after a two-day journey from everyone's respective homes. We re-installed the spacecraft on its table and set up the groundstation and cleantent around it. Although we were short of time we managed to perform a complete Integrated System Check and were very pleased to find that the spacecraft is in excellent health and is still fully fuelled!
We have changed hotel and are now staying in the Rockot instead of the Zaria - this has a slightly more "western" feel to it.
There are only seven more days to go until the launch, and all preparations seem to be progressing very well for each of the five microsatellites.


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'The Lunchbox': Romance with a dash of regret
In Ritesh Batra's beguiling romance "The Lunchbox," a virtual relationship blossoms not through a sexy operating system as in "Her," or modern-day epistolary as in "You've Got Mail," but the old-fashioned way, through carefully written notes delivered by hand every day.
The conceit isn't nearly as archaic as it sounds. In Mumbai, where this touching story takes place, millions of people still get their noontime lunches courtesy of "dabbawallahs," deliverymen who shuttle stacked metal cans from home to office and back again using an elaborate, color-coded system. The technique is so foolproof that it was even studied by Harvard Business School.
What university researchers discovered was that the odds of a wrongful delivery are something like a million to one. That tantalizing blip was all Batra needed to construct a love story with all the charm of 1940's "Shop Around the Corner" and all the contemporary resonance of "Slumdog Millionaire." Even more commendably, the filmmaker - here making a bracingly assured debut - stays true to his characters throughout the story, which, despite its classic contours, still manages to hold one or two genuine surprises.
Newcomer Nimrat Kaur plays Ila, a young homemaker whose attempts at creating delicious lunches go chronically unnoticed by her workaholic husband. (Among the film's many charms are the scenes of her cooking; you can almost smell the delectable spices wafting up from her pot.)
When one of her meals accidentally goes to a middle manager named Sajaan (Irrfan Khan), the two strike up a tentative correspondence. Khan is by now familiar to American viewers from HBO's "In Treatment" and last year's "Life of Pi." He's an actor whose doleful expression and sensitive demeanor win almost instant identification from the audience. Together with Kaur - a theater actress who has a promising future in front of the camera - Khan fully and sympathetically inhabits what could have been simply a gimmicky conceit.
Even though much of "The Lunchbox" transpires in Ila's kitchen (where she conducts another virtual relationship, with her "auntie" upstairs, by way of yelling through the window) and in Sajaan's office, Batra nonetheless plunges the audience into the riotous city life of Mumbai, where we follow Sajaan onto crowded buses and streets to his lonely apartment and where Ila barely ventures forth. What begins as a nagging sense of dissatisfaction eventually reveals the deeper, sorrowful reality of a woman's life in India, as Ila's hopes for her future became increasingly thwarted and constrained.
"The Lunchbox" probably shouldn't be called a romantic comedy - there's too much regret and longing at the core of its protagonists to qualify for that - but it does have comic elements, including Ila's confiding conversations with her upstairs neighbor and an eager young colleague of Sajaan's, played by an effervescent Nawazuddin Siddiqui. His character, Shaikh, is a survivor of Mumbai's streets, here depicted as teeming with life and color, even as the inhabitants live in crushing loneliness. Through a simple, even fanciful story, Batra communicates the essence of that dichotomy, leaving the audience with a fragile sense of hope in the midst of otherwise dizzying indifference.
Three stars. PG. Contains thematic material and smoking. In English and Hindi with subtitles. 104 minutes.
Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.


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#9 Gopher Basketball Tops #18 Michigan State
The 9th ranked Gopher men's basketball team defeated #18 Michigan State 76-63 at Williams Arena in their Big Ten opener Monday. The Gophers finished the game on a 22-4 run. Andre Hollins led the Gophers with 22 points with Rodney Williams adding 15 points and 6 rebounds and Trevor Mbakwe chipped in 11 points and 12 rebounds. Minnesota shot 57 percent while MIchigan State shot 44 percent.
The Gophers are 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten. The 9th ranked in this week's Associated Press poll is the highest ranking since 1997. Michigan State falls to 11-3 overall. The Gophers host Northwestern Sunday night at 6pm, pregame on AM 1390-the Fan at 5:30.


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Blog Archives
Leaving Mesa Kamp Kiefair
Leaving Mesa Kamp Kiefair
Leaving Mesa Kamp Kiefair
In early October 2010, things seemed to be picking up and making a turn for the better in my life. Behind me were the days of sleeping in the RV in abandoned parking lots and worrying when we'd have trouble from the law. I'd sacrificed a lot, but finally had my land under my feet .Life was harsh, but good. I enjoyed living at nine thousand feet immensely. The wildlife in the area was a constant source of joy to me. The wild horses and human raised but released to the wild horses often visited me. Each morning I woke before dawn to greet icy morning and the beauty of the sunrise. Every morning the tiny footprints of the chipmunks and ground squirrels covered the space outside my shelter. I had an alarm set each evening to remind me to step out and enjoy the sunset.
Beneath the surface, all was not well up on the property I dubbed "Mesa Kamp Kiefair" (MKK) I was often cold. The expense of propane more than our budget to bear. We had built a large fire pit outside the canvas sided pop up camper, but it was rarely used to its full potential. My husband often didn't feel like gathering fire wood, or starting a fire. At the same time, he didn't want me engaging in those activities, stating that I was too sick and weak to do them for myself. So I remained cold and hungry. It was much the same with cooking responsibilities. There were many days, often several days in succession when we went hungry with perfectly good food frozen solid in their tin cans in the pantry.
Inter-personally, things were not going well between Mr. Kiefair and I either. We fought all the time. We couldn't seem to agree on anything, and the dysfunction between us made my disease flare and my emotions and behavior run away with me. I take responsibility for some pretty bizarre behavior during this time. After a fight that left me quite insane, I was so distraught that I took off walking across the mesa in the snow wearing nothing but my boots, my my hat, my walking stick and a grim expression on my face. He had goaded me into going out onto the mesa in the snow with the intention of letting mother nature take my life due to exposure. I should not have played his game, and I feel horrible for having done such an extreme and dangerous activity. I just wanted out of the world I found myself stuck in. A world where I was right next to someone I loved a great deal, yet feeling that I was not loved in return. A world where my MMJ license was allowed to expire because he didn't want me to have it. Yet, I was also not allowed to seek pain relief from a medical doctor via pharmaceutical medications either. He even called the police on me the day my license expired telling them I intended to set fire to all the sage on the mesa. I had never said any such thing. I lived in a world where anger was thrown at me and brought out of me on a daily basis, especially when I was trying to do any writing, activism, or art work. One day in early December 2010, it all boiled over.
It was a warm night in comparison to the bitter cold early December nights we had been having up at 9,000 ft above sea level on the wind swept mesa in Southern Colorado. For the time being, the wind had blown itself out, and the storm had abated. I sat at my neighbor's geodesic house by the fire waiting for my husband to return from town with supplies. The glow of the fire felt like heaven itself to my cold and fibromyalgia pain ridden bones and muscles. We had not been able to afford propane for the stove in the Coleman tent trailer in some time. Most nights, a down comforter and body heat were the only source of warmth as I slept back to back with my husband, always with nearly a foot of space in between us. In the dark of those cold nights, I often cried myself to sleep. I was so cold. The anguish in my soul sprang from the inherent knowledge that the man I loved lying next to me did not seem interested in holding me; not for the sake of body heat, nor for any other reason. My soul's ache kept me awake at night more than the cold did.
My neighbor's adult daughter wanted to feed me, but I wanted to wait on my husband, knowing he would be angry if I ate without him or wasn't hungry for whatever he brought home. She had seen my weight plummeting since I had moved up to the mesa. This was due in part to my chronic wasting associated with my disease, but the real root cause was my husband.
As I said before, we had food, but it was frozen solid in their cans or needed to be prepared over heat. We rarely built a fire to warm ourselves and cook on. It was enough to drive a saint insane. My husband had made it very clear that didn't want me building fires or gathering wood. On this day, it had been a full 4 days since I had eaten anything. I eagerly awaited his return from town because I relished the promise of something to eat, hopefully something fresh. My optimistic mind salivated at the thought of a Caesar salad and some protein.
When my husband finally walked through my neighbor's door, it was much later than I had expected him. He tossed me a pack of the most expensive cigarettes in town (for which I was grateful. I smoke tobacco when I have no herb to fill the gap in meditation), and a pint of "Dr. Magillicuty's vanilla liqueur", which I quickly put into my coat. He had a pack of cigarettes for himself, a 30 pack of bush beer, 2 pints of Jim Beam, and some Southern Comfort. No food. I was furious, and took off into the night for home, not waiting for my neighbor who had offered to drive us both the 0.08 miles back to our place. I had hoped that the walk would cool my temper. It did not.
When he came through the door, we immediately began fighting. "This is your idea of supplies?" I screamed at him with tears running down my face. "We cannot live on liquor and tobacco! Well, maybe you can, but I cannot."
I slammed the door of the little canvas trailer as if it were the door to some grand house and set myself to defiantly building a fire. The bottle of vanilla liqueur was still in my jacket, and found its way to my hand. I began to drink it thinking, "If drinking on an empty stomach were his plans for the night, who am I do disrupt that part of it. At least tonight I intend to be warm."
I sat outside by my fire as he and I screamed at each other long into the night. I screamed at him about so many things that had been eating away at my broken my heart lately including: his refusal to be affectionate to me, him quitting work over a year ago and refusing to find more work, him wanting me to stay in bed all the time like an invalid, the bitter cold and no heat, about the hunger and food within reach but frozen, being surrounded by sage wood that burns quickly but hot and yet never having a fire to be warm near, my medicinal cannabis license expiring because he would not allow me to renew my state ID and we hadn't the money to pay the doctor's fees, him not allowing me to get pharmaceuticals to fill in the gap of pain that the lack of cannabis caused. I'd had enough! I could deal with all these hardships if only I felt like he loved me, but that feeling was long gone. He screamed at me about how unreasonable and irrational I was being.
I can't remember exactly what I said, but suddenly, his 6 foot frame came out of the trailer, towering over my nearly 5 ft self, and knocked me to the ground. He took the fire extinguisher, and put out my triumphant fire. Still on the ground in shock from him knocking me down, I got up, and we continued to fight. He slapped me, knocked me to the ground again, and began dragging me to the road. As he pulled my tail end through a prickly pear cactus patch I knew he was aware was there, he said, "You are going to leave this mesa. You are going to walk out of here, and I don't want you to ever show your face on this property or on this mesa ever again. Now get out and don't come back!"
I limped down the road in the dark down the dirt road towards the next dirt road. I was terrified that the coyotes would spot me in the dark and make a dinner out of me. I didn't even have my walking stick, let alone anything that would actually be effective against a predator for protection. I walked up the road to the junction with the main mesa road and maybe 2 miles up the road. I was exhausted, and so, I sat on a kindly old rock and had a cry under the stars. I sat there in the dark and cold for perhaps a couple of hours. When I sat down, I thought I would wait for dawn and then head down the mesa, but as I pondered in the night, I decided to go back.
When I got back home, he was still awake, and the door was unlocked. I went inside, humbling myself and graveling begging for one more chance. After me begging for some time, he finally relented and said, "Alright, but if we get into it one more time, YOU are leaving this mesa on foot immediately." I humbly agreed and lay down to find sleep.
Dawn broke cold the next morning, and I was so hungry and sore after the previous night's exertion. I asked if he would build a fire so I could make some breakfast. This began another fight. It was a minor spat compared to the previous night's flare. He left and headed to our other neighbor's place. Even though it was early morning, I knew he had gone to drink Crown Royal Bourbon. I set about clearing the fire extinguisher covered ashes out of the pit, so I could build a fire any way and make something to eat. As I did this, I thought about the night before, and about how he had been so willing to toss me to the coyotes quite literally. I grabbed the backpack that I used as a purse, my walking stick and headed for the neighbor's place where he went. Once I got there, I asked him to give me my food stamp card, and when he came outside, I explained to him in the privacy of the outdoors that I intended to fulfill the terms of his late night ultimatum based on the argument the morning of December 5, 2010. There was a cruel smile on his face of when he said, "OK, if that is what you want. I hope you are happy with yourself." He knew that wasn't what I wanted, especially after last night's begging session that got me back into the house. He also knew that I really didn't have any place to go but homeless shelters.
I set off walking for town. I knew it was a long hike that I really had no business making with my medical issues. I stopped frequently to rest. I didn't even have any water with me. Partway down, I found an old bottle of what I thought was water someone had tossed from their vehicle. I was so thirsty I took a swig, then promptly spit it out. It was moonshine, I'd had the pleasure of drinking good white lightning before, but this tasted to be dangerously bad shine at that. I dumped it out to save someone else from it and continued on my way. My gut was on fire from the alcohol I imbibed the night before, and had to get off the road several times to empty my bowels. Luckily I am a country girl and always kept some toilet paper in my bag. I didn't have a shovel with me though, and was angry at myself that I couldn't bury it the way I would have liked. I kicked dirt and put rocks over the mess at least.
I began to be concerned about dehydration. When I thought I couldn't go any further without a drink, I found another bottle. This time it proved to actually be water. I was so grateful! I had left around 8:30 in the morning. I walked 7 of the nearly 10 miles to town. An older Latin American man picked me up and gave me a ride the rest of the way to town. It was so nice to have a gentleman take pity on me and want nothing from me. By the time I got to town, it was late afternoon. It felt like I walked 12 miles or more!
Luckily, it was the beginning of the month, so I stumbled into the little pizza parlor and ordered a personal pizza. I ate but one slice, and my stomach was over full. So full I was afraid I would loose my hard won calories. I got a to-go box and walked down the street to put myself up in a hotel room for the night. Despite my exhaustion, my body would not allow me to rest, so I treated myself to several baths in close succession. I had so missed having water on demand and enough of it to soak in. My husband seemed to think 9 gallons of water a week were enough for two adults and the dog I had given him for his birthday in November (to replace the 3 cats the mesa predators had all claimed).
I called my husband several times, inviting him to come down and have a bath at least. I hoped that perhaps if he got into a more comfortable setting and had a bath that perhaps he and I could talk some sense into one another. He wanted nothing of it. So, I had another bath, enjoyed the rest of my pizza while watching TV, (a luxury I both missed and did not miss at the same time). I also called my neighbor's daughter who had just recently moved to town so it was easier on the children to get to and from school in town each day. The next morning, she took me into Alamosa and to the domestic violence resource who then put me up in the protected part of the only shelter in town.
I had explained to both places that I have panic attacks from pain, and that sometimes a cigarette was the best way to end that panic attack. I was assured that if I needed to smoke in the night, I would be allowed, even though it was not exactly within the procedures of the shelter. Sure enough, my first night there, the pain got out of control and I had nothing to ease it. I had a panic attack and made my way down to the lower level to ask to go out to smoke. The message regarding my needs had not been passed on to the cruel gentleman who was watching the shelter that night. When he harshly refused me, he melted away in my panic, and all I could see was every man who had ever hurt me. I screamed and soon the police were called on me. I spent the night at the hospital, and left with a firm recommendation to continue my medical cannabis (despite not being legal to do so) and a prescription for Lyrica to help ease the pain when I could not smoke. The ER doctor even told me in the presence of the officers who had brought me in that I should go buy some weed on the street to get my pain under control. The mental health worker put me up in a hotel around 5 am. I had been assured that I would have at least one night there. I bathed again, and went out to get my prescription filled and some food. When I returned, I promptly began getting calls from the hotel to leave. They informed me that check out time had come and gone and I was to get out. The cops were called on me again, and I ended up back at the same shelter I had been at the night before. I could only bear to be there one more night, and then left early the next morning for the bus station.
I had decided to head for Denver where I knew there were many more shelters and many more services for the homeless. Before boarding the bus, I called my husband to make sure it was what he wanted. He refused to pick up the phone. It was already mid afternoon when I got into Denver. I was dropped off at Union Station, and made my way to the "tattered cover book store" on the 16th street mall. There, I bought myself a cup of Earl Grey tea to settle my stomach and to justify to myself the use of their wi-fi connection. I made contact with some people over the internet and let them know my situation. I hadn't been homeless in Denver since I was a teenager and couldn't remember all the good places. I ended up in "Writer's Square" on the 16th Street Mall. It was one of my old haunts from when I was younger, but the vibe there had changed a lot and I was not comfortable sleeping out in the open air there as I once had been. I spit venom at other activists, probably trying to self destruct. Luckily, a fellow sufferer from post traumatic stress disorder came to my aid and helped me get my things to Samaritan House. But there was no room for Breezy at the homeless inn. They made arrangements for me to stay at a shelter for women and gave me bus fare and directions to get there.
I narrowly missed my bus, and sat on the bench patiently waiting for the next one. Across the street from me were several of my homeless fellows bedding down for the night on the street. I am not sure why, but I began to serenade them with Christmas carols and other songs I used to preform with choir as a child. Whenever I stopped singing, they asked me to continue, and I did. The bus finally came, and I left them in the cold night, perhaps a little warmer for my music. I finally got to the woman's shelter I had been directed to, was let in and given a bed for the night.


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Discussion in 'Games' started by Manchee, Oct 18, 2010.
Page 147 of 1079
Page 147 of 1079


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Although some analysts actually expect security spending to rise this year -- at least as a percentage of total IT spending -- some CIOs are giving serious thought to the once-unthinkable idea of trimming security budgets as businesses look to cut costs during this global recession.
"Almost certainly people are experiencing cuts," says Pete Lindstrom, an analyst with the research firm Spire Security. "If you think of security as a cost center within a cost center [IT], ... then security is a great place to start," he adds. "There are companies that are discounting their security in order to drive bottom line," says Charlie Meister, executive director of the University of Southern California's Institute for Critical Information Infrastructure Protection. "I've seen a pretty significant cutback over the past six months," says Rich Cummings, CTO at HBGary, a security company that has clients in the financial services industry.
The risk of cutting security is that a security breach can be disastrous. The Ponemon Institute pegs the average cost of a data breach at US$6.7 million.
But you may have no choice if the money is not there. Experts say companies that have done the hard work of really understanding their risk posture can trim spending without increasing risk. And companies that have taken security seriously can be equally smart about how they reduce their security costs, says USC's Meister. Sadly, he notes, the companies that are in this position are exceptional: "I don't think enough companies have done a great job of managing their risk profile. And it doesn't really occur [to them] until somebody loses a laptop."
So how do you cut security safely?
One method is to get your security intelligence from free projects, such as the Shadowserver project, rather than paying for the information, Cummings says.
Open-source tools preserve security, trim costs
The use of open-source software can also be a great place to cut security costs -- especially for small and medium-size businesses, says Spire's Lindstrom. They let businesses get equivalent security tools for less money. "If the product is commoditized enough and your people are skilled enough, it's not unreasonable at this stage of the game to consider open-source applications," he says.
For example, the ClamAV antivirus software and Snort intrusion-detection system are two widely used open-source antivirus products, as is the Open Source Security Information Management security event management software.
Companies that don't have the money to pay for full disk encryption might want to look at TrueCrypt, another open-source project. Because it lacks centralized management capabilities, TrueCrypt is "not going to be appropriate for every environment," says Morey Straus, an information security officer with the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation, but it does work for some.
Outsourcing security to the cloud
For cash-strapped organizations, moving security processes out of the house can be a money-saver. "Look to the cloud computing services to replace some [security products]," Straus recommends.
Forrester Research reports that 28 percent of companies that move to in-the-cloud managed security services do so to cut costs. Although e-mail and Web filtering are the most popular managed security services today, Forrester projects that more businesses will move to the cloud for vulnerability assessment and event monitoring as well.
Using brainpower instead of buying tools
But for companies that want to improve their security posture without spending money, taking the time to promote an information security awareness program can pay off big-time, according to Straus. "That's just one of the easiest, most effective things you can do and it costs very little."
Straus says he did this in two phases at his organization, a student loan provider. First, he started with a mass presentation outlining good security practices for his users. He then followed up with departmental meetings, which he described as more of a two-way discussion. "I'm able to get the employees to share with me some of the risks and possible pitfalls," he said. "Those meetings are very beneficial."
Analysts say that cutting down on manual processes is one way that smart companies can reduce costs and refocus staff resources.
It wasn't budget constraints that pushed the U.S. Navy to do something in this area, but the sheer volume of data that caused the Navy to move from manually handling intrusion-detection system alerts to a more automated system, called Prometheus.
As the Navy expanded sensor coverage and the amount of activity on the network spiked in recent years, manual monitoring became impossible, said Jim Granger, director of capabilities of readiness with the Navy Cyber Defense operation command in Norfolk, Virginia. "All of that just contributed to more information, and that contributed to sensor overload," he said. "We figured that if our watch team did nothing but clear alarms … these guys would be able to spend an average of about 4.5 seconds per alarm."
Based on Novell's Sentinel event management software, Prometheus keeps watch on the Navy's global network, used by more than 700,000 sailors and support staff. On a typical day, it handles anywhere between a few hundred thousand to several million alerts, leaving the 180 staff members charged with monitoring the network to deal with the real problems.
Granger isn't expecting to make any cuts on security spending, but he agreed with Straus that focusing on users was worthwhile. "The best tool in the world is no substitute for a smart operator," he said.
Sometimes, though, other factors can make security spending choices obvious. Last October, Gibson General Hospital, located in Princeton, Indiana, was looking at rolling out an e-mail encryption product. That's when Director of Information Services Steve Rausch just happened to run a demonstration test of Palisade Systems' PacketSure data-loss-prevention appliance.
Within a day, PacketSure reported an ICQ message leaving from the company's e-mail server. It turned out that the hospital's e-mail server had just been hacked, and criminals were trying to install malicious software on the server. Rausch immediately took the server offline, before the bad guys could breach any confidential data. "If there had been a data breach, the PR on that alone would have been humongously detrimental," he said. "I don't know how you can put a price tag on that."
That lucky turn of events pushed data loss prevention (DLP) to the forefront, but it also put the e-mail encryption system on the back burner. "At the time of the demo, yes we were interested in it, but there were no immediate plans to get [a DLP system] installed," he said. "The hack said, 'we have to make this immediate.'"
Luckily, many IT shops are not being forced to make the hard decisions just yet about where to cut security spending. Forrester Research says that security will get a slightly larger percentage of IT budget dollars this year -- on average, 12.6 percent of total IT spending, compared to 11.7 percent in 2008. But because IT budgets are expected to drop 3.1 percent in 2009, that's a big jump in relative terms.
Next read this:
- Top 9 challenges IT leaders will face in 2020
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Kawasaki Engine Case Cover - Ignition side - KX450F 2019-20
- Brands Kawasaski
- Ex Tax: £41.66
Carbon fibre protection for your engine case covers. The solution to the standard cases making your bike look untidy where your boots have scratched them.
Also provides impact protection. Not just your normal thin skin of carbon, these are thicker and made to last.


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Olivia Engel remembered for joy in life
NEWTOWN -- A large color photograph of Olivia Rose Engel, 6, adorned an easel with a cluster of white roses arranged on the floor.
Dressed in white, Olivia smiled playfully, bent slightly at the waist as if inviting those gathered to join in her fun.
Yet the mood was solemn at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church Friday as hundreds gathered to say goodbye to the little girl, one of the students who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a week earlier.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, First Selectman Pat Llodra and Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson were among those attending.
A lone state trooper stood at attention beside the closed, white coffin in the sanctuary as Monsignor Robert Weiss returned to Olivia's last moments. He recalled that a Newtown police officer bent down to the dying girl, held her in his arms and said "I love you."
Olivia's godparents, Dan Merton and Julie Pokrinchak, remembered the girl who loved purple and brought so much joy to the world.
They spoke of her "infectious giggle," of how she laughed the loudest at her own jokes and how she loved to sail over the waves in a boat with her father, Brian, and grandfather, Richard Engel.
Olivia was to be an angel in St. Rose of Lima's Christmas Eve pageant this year. As her mourners exited the chapel Friday, they learned that the pageant, to be held at Newtown High School, will be dedicated to her.


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Woman charged in thefts from Municipal Courts office
Pittsburgh police say Terri Randolph worked in records room
The investigation of thousands of dollars missing from the records room in the downtown Municipal Courts building has led to the arrest of a woman who worked there.
Pittsburgh police said Terri Randolph, 48, of Bon Air, surrendered Tuesday to face charges of theft by unlawful taking or disposition and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds.
Police said Randolph is suspected of taking about $15,000 from the records room over a period of about one year, until November, when a supervisor discovered that the money was missing. Randolph no longer works for the city.
The records room is a place where the public can buy copies of reports and documents, like accident reports and some criminal reports.
Three days after the department became aware of the missing money, City Controller Michael Lamb was contacted about doing an audit, police said.
Since then, the police bureau said it stopped accepting cash payments for documents from the records room and will only take checks or money orders.
Last week, Lamb said there should be an annual audit of the records room, as well as new cash registers where data can be more easily tracked.


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Monday, May 28, 2012
New Approaches to the Study of Violence
States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders
Paul Staniland
A Plague of Initials: Fragmentation, Cohesion, and Infighting in Civil Wars
Kristin M. Bakke and Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham and Lee J. M. Seymour
Terrorism and Civil War: A Spatial and Temporal Approach to a Conceptual Problem
Michael G. Findley and Joseph K. Young
The Political Science of Genocide: Outlines of an Emerging Research Agenda
Ernesto Verdeja
Can There Be a Political Science of the Holocaust?
Charles King
Retreating from the Brink: Theorizing Mass Violence and the Dynamics of Restraint
Scott Straus
"You Talk Of Terrible Things So Matter-of-Factly in This Language of Science": Constructing Human Rights in the Academy
Charli Carpenter
Too Much Information? Political Science, the University, and the Public Sphere
Lisa Anderson
Looking into the Abyss
Daniel Chirot
Children and War: How "Soft" Research Can Answer the Hard Questions in Political Science
Christopher Blattman
Genocide and the Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Victims
Lee Ann Fujii
Genocide and the Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Victims
Kristina E. Thalhammer
Genocide and the Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Victims
Joan C. Tronto
3 comments:
- Patrick S. O'Donnell said...
For some reason, I can't get the link to work properly, although it appears I won't be able to access the articles in any case, so I suppose it doesn't matter! That said, the study of violence in political science is indeed ripe for imaginative and cross-disciplinary exploration (i.e., 'new approaches'). And I happen to believe any such approach will have to be, at the very least, grounded in neo-Freudian psychology but include as well a nuanced understanding of the emotions. A pioneering study in this regard that does not seem to have reverberated in any significant degree into the halls of political science is Thomas J. Scheff and Suzanne M. Retzinger's Emotions and Violence: Shame and rage in Destructive Conflicts (1991).
- May 28, 2012 at 6:03:00 PM EDT
- Dan Ernst said...
Patrick, thanks for pointing out that the issue is gated. I've deleted the link.
- May 29, 2012 at 10:02:00 AM EDT
- jmeasor said...
FYI - the entire issue is now open source - thanks to Cambridge University Press!
- June 7, 2012 at 9:53:00 AM EDT


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In a continuing effort to shift more production to its plant in China, Star Trac is shutting down its factory in California, resulting in close to 50 layoffs.
The Irvine, CA-based company announced in early April that it would shut down its factory in Murrieta, CA. Production was scheduled to stop May 31, but new Star Trac President Dustin Grosz says that deadline may get extended by a few more weeks. A total of 48 employees currently work at the Murrieta factory, which had produced Flex Fitness products.
In addition to those jobs that will be eliminated, Star Trac laid off about 25 employees from its corporate headquarters last month. Most of those employees were in departments such as sales, finance, accounting and IT, says Grosz, who adds that some of those departments are being consolidated with the StairMaster offices in Vancouver, WA. Star Trac owner Michael Bruno purchased the StairMaster and Schwinn brands from Nautilus Inc. last year.
"In Irvine, we're going to continue to have our marketing team, our product development team, our warehousing and shipping of goods," Grosz says. "We're going to keep our showroom here for our customers to come into. We have all of our testing labs and everything else that's still going to be here."
Bruno has been in China for about a month overseeing the company's production in its Xiamen, China, plant. Bruno, who bought Star Trac 10 months ago, said in March that he hoped 75 percent of the company's production would be shifted to China by June and 90 percent would be shifted to China by the end of the summer.
Grosz says Star Trac should be close to Bruno's percentage prediction by summer's end. In the meantime, Grosz says the company will continue to be in a turnaround phase over the next couple of months. He says he does not anticipate more layoffs.
"We believe that we made the necessary changes with the decisions that we've made in the past 45 to 60 days," Grosz says. "With those decisions, we feel very strongly that we're going to be able to make the transitions and consolidate some of the functions and then be back to profitability and growth in the not-too-distant future."
Grosz, who came from StairMaster to take over as Star Trac president after Mike Leveque resigned in March, says the company has gained some momentum after the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association show in March—where it announced several international club agreements—and the FIBO trade show last month in Germany.
"A lot of the buying decisions for a lot of our customers had been made for the spring and summer, so therefore, we're not going to be able to get the business for spring and summer," Grosz says. "But as we go into the fall and winter, we're starting to pick up that business that we've maybe lost in the past 18 months of downturn in our company. It's coming back. It just takes time. We feel good about where we're at in the process."
Grosz acknowledges some of the mistakes the company has made in the recent past, mistakes the company is now trying to correct.
"We've lost customers, we've disappointed customers, but a lot of that can be easily fixed," Grosz says. "What we failed at is not delivering on our commitments, not providing the product on time, not providing the parts when we have a quality issue. We're making a lot of headway there. Are we where we want to be? No, absolutely not. We've got a lot of work to do. But we're getting the traction we needed and the focus we needed."


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Plus One Lap used to be all about cyclocross, now it's my dumping grounds for anything cycling.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Tool Drive for Rwandan Coffee Farmers
Recently, I stumbled upon a non-profit organization located here in Portland called Bikes To Rwanda (BTR). BTR strives to make bikes available to coffee farmers in Rwanda so that they can transport their raw coffee beans to the market. These are folks who make less in a year than most of us make in a day: a coffee farmer who has 5 kids and a wife barely supports his family on around $160 a year.
So, recently these coffee farmers were given some pretty sick coffee bikes (see above). They are the ultimate hauling rigs. What they desperately need though, is tools.
We all know bikes break, now imagine there is no local bike shop, no Performance Bike, no internet to order new tools from.
After talking with the Executive Director of BTR, Plus One Lap is starting a tool donation drive. Find all of the tools you dont really need (how many 5mm allen wrenches do you really need anyway?) and mail them to:
Plus One Lap Tool Drive
4820 SW Barbur Blvd #15
Portland OR 97239
All of your tools will be given directly to the BTR by myself. I found 3 allen sets sitting in my cupboard in addition to the 2 sets which are my "everyday" ones. I am also donating 2 chain breakers, some pliers and some loose allen tools.
If you don't have tools sitting around to donate, run down to your local Harbor Freight and pick some up and mail them in.
These farmers really need things like:
metric allen tools
tire levers
adjustable wrenches
hand pumps
and any other basic tool you think someone would need to work on their bike.
I'm asking all the +1lap readers to dig to the bottom of your tool box and pull out some tools that these people will cherish. I know we can pull together and amass a pretty large donation to give to the BTR. They will handle it from there to get these tools to the coffee farmers in Rwanda.
Again, please mail your tools to:
Plus One Lap Tool Drive
4820 SW Barbur Blvd #15
Portland OR 97239
Related links:
Ubikerwanda Blog
Project Rwanda
Bikes to Rwanda
Scallywags Bike Shop
4 comments:
- Chris said...
This is great! I may be moving soon and hence doing a thorough de-tooling. What about parts? Not big parts, but things like chain rings, stems, etc?
- Jeremy Burlingame said...
My contact at the BTR said that the bikes they have are so specialized that tools are the only real thing they need right now. Used parts were my first thought too on things I could send them.
this is a really cool idea, I'll be sure to send you some tools right away.
- gwadzilla said...
very cool!
they may need tools
they may also need lessons in how to use them
I am not much of a mechanic
but I would love to go on at trip to Rwanda
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Monday, February 27, 2012
Economic forcasters predicting economic doomsday...
By Adam Shell
Behind the mainstream Wall Street happy talk about more stable financial markets and an improving economy are grim warnings of tough times ahead from a small cadre of doomsayers who warn that the worst of the financial crisis is still to come.
Harry Dent, author of the new book The Great Crash Ahead, says another stock market crash is coming due to a bad ending to the global debt bubble. He has pulled back on his earlier prediction of a crash in 2012, as central banks around the world have been flooding markets with money, giving stocks an artificial short-term boost. But a crash is coming in 2013 or 2014, he warns. "This will be a repeat of 2008-09, only bigger, when it finally hits," Dent told USA TODAY.
Gerald Celente, a trend forecaster at the Trends Research Institute, says Americans should brace themselves for an "economic 9/11" due to policymakers' inability to solve the world's financial and economic woes. The coming meltdown, he predicts, will lead to growing social unrest and anti-government sentiment, a U.S. dollar with far less purchasing power and more people out of work.
Celente won't rule out another financial panic that could spark enough fear to cause a run on the nation's banks by depositors. That risk could cause the government to invoke "economic martial law" and call a "bank holiday" and close banks as it did during the Great Depression.
"We see some kind of threat of that magnitude," Celente, publisher of The Trends Journal newsletter, warned in an interview.
Robert Prechter, author of Conquer the Crash, first published in 2002 and updated in 2009, is still bearish. He says today's economy has similarities to the Great Depression and warns that 1930s-style deflation is still poised to cause financial havoc. Prechter predicts that the major U.S. stock indexes, such as the Dow Jones industrials and Standard & Poor's 500, will plunge below their bear market lows hit in March 2009 during the last financial crisis. The brief recovery will fail as it did in the 1930s, he says.
2 very different viewpoints
If he's right, stocks would lose more than half of their value. "The economic recovery has been weak, so the next downturn should generate bad news in a big way," Prechter said in an e-mail interview. "For the third time in a dozen years, the stock market is in a very bearish position."
These dire forecasts differ sharply with the brighter outlooks being espoused by the bulls, or optimists, on Wall Street. Recent stock performance and fresh readings on the economy also suggest a future that is less gloomy than the doomsayers predict.
The Dow, for instance, is in rebound mode and has climbed back to levels not seen since the early days of the financial crisis in May 2008. Tech stocks in the Nasdaq composite are trading at levels last seen in 2000. Data on auto sales, manufacturing and consumer confidence have been firming. Job creation is also on the rise. The unemployment rate dipped to 8.3% in January, its lowest level in three years.
As a result, stock market strategists such as Rod Smyth of RiverFront Investment have been raising their outlooks for 2012. Smyth raised his target range for the S&P 500 to 1250-1500. If the market hits the top of the range, stocks would have risen 10%. Similarly, Brian Belski, strategist at Oppenheimer, recently said he remains comfortable with his year-end 2012 target of 1400. That's up 2.5% from here. Bespoke Investment Group published research that shows the market, which is closing in on a new bull market high, has done well in the past once it breaks through old highs.
Bulls are betting that Europe's banking system will be stabilized, minimizing the risk of a severe credit crisis. Bulls are also encouraged by recent data from around the world that show modest growth and a pickup in economic momentum.
The causes of economic calamity
So what has the super-bears so worried?
Dent says the combination of aging Baby Boomers exiting their big spending years and a shift toward debt reduction and austerity around the world will cause the economy to suffer another severe leg down, making it more difficult for the government and Federal Reserve to avert a new meltdown. He has not always been bearish. In 1993 he wrote The Great Boom Ahead.
Celente, who as far back as 2008 has been warning of economic calamity, argues that the ballooning debt and the growing divide between the haves and have-nots has put the U.S. in a weakened state.
As a result, he says, the nation is more vulnerable to potential shocks. He worries about potential chaos caused by people all trying to yank their money out of financial markets at the same time. He also sees risk in the event there is a loss of confidence in elected leaders.
Societal unrest in the form of street protests and increased crime are possible, too, he adds. Markets could also be spooked by an oil price shock due to a military conflict between Israel and Iran, or a bad outcome to Europe's debt crisis.
"2012 is when many of the long-simmering socioeconomic and political trends that we have been forecasting and tracking will climax," Celente noted in his Top 12 Trends 2012 newsletter. In an interview he added: "When money stops flowing to the man on the street, blood starts flowing in the street."
While bulls are urging investors to get back into stocks, the doomsayers are advising a far different strategy. Dent's investment advice is simple: "Get out of the way." He recommends buying short-term U.S. Treasury bills and the U.S. dollar, which will benefit from safe-haven cash flows. He says stocks will fall sharply in value.
Celente's advice centers on survival. He says buy gold so you don't lose purchasing power when the value of the dollar plummets. He says buy a gun to protect your family against desperate people in search of food and money. He says plan a getaway to places with more stable finances and governments.
Prechter says to keep your powder dry and buy when things get really bad: "When things get really scary, as in early 2009, I get bullish."
Posted by Wallyworld
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In car manufacturing, countless elements such as boreholes, sections or threaded bolts have to be measured, including the finished vehicles themselves. For new vehicles, parts must be analyzed quickly and accurately. The requirements are very challenging and inspections are extremely time-consuming – particularly for serial inspection.
The ZEISS FalconEye optical sensor system, which is modeled on the technology of the ZEISS EagleEye navigator, overcomes these challenges, as it can be additionally used on stepping, articulating probe holders.
To obtain the required measuring results quickly and easily, the sensor has to be optimally integrated into the overall system. The RDS-CAA stepping, articulating probe holder is ideal because only a few single positions have to be calibrated, but all angular settings are available for the application. This enables a considerable reduction in measuring times.
Through the utilization of an additional manual rotary axis, the ZEISS FalconEye system can be positioned in three angular settings with very accurate repeatability, permitting the laser line to be aligned relative to the part. Therefore, the sensor provides users with an outstanding system to quickly and accurately complete their jobs. The new ZEISS FalconEye system has also been optimally integrated into the CALIGO software package.


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Compliment your precious little one's outfit with our cute, warm and stretchy baby leg warmers. These Sweetie design baby leggings, feature a soft and comfortable fit and feel. When worn in place of pants, they make diaper changes a breeze. Also, they will protect your little one's soft knees as they begin to crawl.
Our baby leg warmers are made from 80% cotton, 15% polyester, and 5% spandex, and fit children 9-35 lbs.


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The Virginia Senate race is turning into quite the catfight now that Hank the cat has thrown his paw into the race.
Hank, a moderate, is a 9-year-old Maine Coon who is running as an independent against former Govs. George Allen (R) and Tim Kaine (D) for the state's open Senate seat. A Virginia native, Hank has no previous political experience, but he has a wealth of life experience: Born to a single mother and raised on the streets, Hank clawed his way to the top and now lives a comfortable life with his owner, Anthony Roberts.
In fact, it's Hank's unique background that makes him such a qualified candidate, according to his campaign manager, Matthew O'Leary. "It definitely gives him a great insight into how difficult it is to live on the streets and to almost being put down. He realizes that the judicial system needs reworking and that there needs to be opportunities for everyone," he says.
Hank, who has an affinity for cheese and plaid ties, supports spaying-and-neutering programs and job creation for Virginians, the latter of which is a hot issue for Allen and Kaine. The other Senate candidates have been embroiled in economic debates, which has given Hank a shot at sinking his claws into undecided voters.
Hank's political career began when O'Leary ran the cat as a write-in candidate in a recent state election as a joke. The furry feline received nine votes, so Roberts and O'Leary launched Hank's campaign. Since then, the cat's sudden spate of publicity has crashed his website, HankForSenate.com.
In addition to his website, Hank's campaign has been publicized on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and the politically minded feline has even done a television interview.
"There seems to be a whole lot of support right now," O'Leary said. "He's very hopeful that this grassroots support will explode and get a lot of people interested in him."
But while Hank has refrained from mudslinging, he's recently become the target of a negative ad sponsored by Canines for a Feline-Free Tomorrow. The ad points out that Hank has never released his birth certificate or responded to allegations that he's used catnip, and that while Hank says he's been to the vet, there's no record of his serving in any military branch.
Despite these negative attacks, Hank has garnered a great deal of support, but he still faces one large political hurdle: Current regulations prohibit animals from serving in Congress. But if a dog can serve as mayor of a Kentucky town, surely it's only a matter of time until we have a senator with whiskers. As Hank states on his website, "with hard work and dedication anyone can seize the opportunities."
Check out Hank's campaign commercial below to see how he'll work to make sure America stays "the greatest land of all."
Photos: HankForSenate.com
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