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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Show All Answers
All building permits need to also go through Pikes Peak Regional Building. You may contact them at 719-327-2880
Email planning questions to: email@example.com
Email permit questions to: email@example.com
Most commercial signs and some signs in residential areas require a permit. Some signs are exempt from permits but these signs must still conform to the regulations. Chapter 18.06.- SIGNS in the Town Municipal code sign regulations.
If you need a permit, you would utilize the Cascade Permitting Software.
A demolition permit is required by the Town to demolish any building larger than 120 square feet. PPRBD also requires a permit for this activity as well.
For a current residential home, a tree removal permit is not needed. Note that you may need to confirm more with your HOA and Covenants. Tree removal permits are still needed for Residential new builds.
Yes. You will need have a drawing on your plot plan showing where the fence will be located on your property with red X's. The fence must not obstruct vision at intersections and must be in conformance with the fence regulations-Municipal Code 18.05.185. Electric fences are not allowed. Note that you may need to confirm fence height limits from your HOA and Covenants prior to submitting a fence permit.
If you need a permit, you will utilize the Cascade Permitting Software.
A landscaping permit is only required for new front yards. Please see Article 4. Landscape Standards of the Town of Monument municipal code. If you need a permit for a front yard, you would utilize the Cascade Permitting Software.
Keep in mind that even though a property has a Monument mailing address it does not necessarily mean that it is within Town limits. The El Paso County Assessor can help you determine if you are in Monument by following these steps: - Either enter in the address or property owner's first and last name - Click on the schedule number - Scroll to 'Tax Entity and Levy Information'. If the Town of Monument is not listed as a taxing entity, the property is not in the Town boundaries. For questions, contact El Paso County at 719-520-6300.
Additionally, you can go to the Town of Monument Interactive Zoning map. If it is not listed here, you are not in the Town of monument.
The Town of Monument's Code of Ordinances can be found on Municode.
Additionally, you can view Monument properties on our Interactive Map.
It means Planned Residential Development with the maximum number of units per acre.
Example - PRD-6 allows for a maximum of 6 dwelling units per acre.
For more information, see Section 18.03.260 - Regency Park (RP) overlay zone district, of the Zoning Code.
Planned Developments, or PDs, are zoning and development plans that are tailored for an individual development. The regulations for each development are found in the specific PD Site Plan for the project on file at Town Hall. They are also recorded at the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office. El Paso County zoning maps are available online.
You can view the Town of Monument Interactive zoning map on the Maps page or you may call 719-884-8015 and ask the Planning Department for assistance. You will need the address of the property or the El Paso County Assessor's Office schedule number.
Properties that are not in the Town of Monument will not be zoned in a Town zoning district. Please contact El Paso County for zoning information at 719-520-6300.
Construction Permits are required from the Town for buildings over 120 square feet, basement finishes, kiosks, decks, and additions for example.
A Construction Permit must be obtained for most improvements prior to your obtaining a Building Permit from the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (PPRBD).
Minor Permits for re-roofing, replacement of water heaters, furnaces, or other plumbing and mechanical permits can be obtained online at the PPRBD website.
You may also research information in our Town of Monument Municipal Code
You will need a current business license from the Town of Monument to obtain any Building or Land Use Permit, including a sign or online permit, unless you are the property owner doing the work.
Business Licenses are obtained
Note that the Monument Use Tax is different from Sales Tax. Use Tax is the 2% fee on your Monument permit application "materials estimate" only and is on all monument permits for pre-payment. Note that Sales Tax is different than our Town of monument Use Tax. Sales tax is from items purchased directly from a retail establishment. The "use or consumption of tangible personal property brought into the Town by a nonresident to be used in the conduct of business in the town" is considered non-exempt.
3.12.020 - Collection, administration and enforcement of use tax.
If you have purchased all your building materials for your project within the Town of Monument and have paid a retail sales tax for Monument, you may be eligible for a refund of what is paid on the permit. You would need to supply the Town with copies of receipts or invoices containing proof of Town of Monument sales tax paid, along with the attached form. Please ensure all local retail receipts are organized to clearly show which permit they were for, the amounts paid for Monument sales tax and the date. Note that for anything 1 year or older, we are unable to process for a refund.
Contact the Planning Department for the form we will need returned to us, along with your receipts and the original permit with the use tax included, for review and approval. If your request is approved, we will mail your refund check to you or a letter stating the reasons why you have been denied the Use Tax refund. Please note that the receipts must be readable, be from a business located within the Town of Monument border and must include the date of purchase in relation to the Permit you paid Use Tax on. No labor, only materials can be considered for the Use Tax refund.
Please see the Town of Monument municipal code for the Use Tax code or for further questions you may contact our Planning Department at 719-884-8015.
For information regarding Triview Metro's water and sewer tap fees, please visit their website at: Triview Metro Water & Sewer Tap Fees
All property information can be found on the Pikes Peak Regional Building office website or the El Paso County Assessor Website. You may need to set up an account with each but they will have all final permitting information on your property, including plot plans, easements and boundaries.
Additionally, you can utilize the Town of Monument Interactive Zoning map.
For code enforcement reporting or questions, please email firstname.lastname@example.com. We will review and assist you as soon as possible.
See attached Land Use Entitlement Process diagram/DocumentCenter/View/3760/Land-use-entitlement-process
Yes, Food Trucks aka Mobile Vendors-Kiosk operators, are required to have a Town of Monument Business License and a Temporary Use Permit.
Starting January 2022, Temporary Use permits are required for every location your food Trucks aka Mobile Vendors-Kiosk, is parked within Monument Town limits. Note that you are not allowed to park in any Right of Ways and there is a $50.00 fee per location and the permit will be valid for Two years.
To apply for a Temporary use permit please visit our website www.townofmonument.org, which will assist you for registering with our permitting software Cascade. Please see the Town of Monument Municipal Code 18.03.350 Temporary uses. Mobile Vendors and 18.01.220-Review Process. O. Table 1.1, Temporary Use Permit.


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Whipped Butter - Bright Stripe Happy Mother's Day
There is something to be said about simplicity. We took the chocolate chips out of our Chocolate Chip cookies and, voila, Whipped Butter Cookies were born. Give 'em a try, you won't regret it! Each container features a pre-selected ribbon and bow to match the label of your choice.
Product ships within 1-2 business days.

subset: commoncrawl


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Font events are included with JavaScript font loading, which is used for dynamic subsetting. The font events allow you to customize your webpage based on whether the fonts are active, still loading, or unavailable for any reason.
Font events are not yet available for CSS font loading. If you are using the default or @import CSS embed code in your website, you can include another JavaScript library to customize your font loading.
In order to help you better control how your page is displayed while fonts are loading or inactive, the JavaScript embed code provides a set of font events that are triggered as fonts are loaded onto the page.
There are three main font events, each of which has a corresponding class name (in parentheses):
- loading (.wf-loading): Web fonts are loading
- active (.wf-active): Web fonts are active
- inactive (.wf-inactive): Web fonts are inactive
The CSS classes associated with these events are appended to the HTML element during loading. They can be used in your stylesheets to control how the page is styled as fonts load. For example:
.wf-loading { /* styles to use when web fonts are loading */ } .wf-active { /* styles to use when web fonts are active */ } .wf-inactive { /* styles to use when web fonts are inactive */ }
Common uses of font event classes are to control the flash of unstyled text (FOUT) and to define fallback fonts and styles for browsers that don't support web fonts or have them turned off. It's always a good idea to include fallback fonts and styles since some combinations of browser, OS, and user preferences will result in fonts being inactive on your page.
These font events are also available as JavaScript callback hooks via the Typekit.load method. You can pass an object containing callback functions when you call Typekit.load, and these callback functions will be invoked as different font events occur during loading. For example:

JavaScript callbacks might be used to add things like fade-ins when fonts have loaded or to do complex mathematical resizing for presentational layouts based on the dimensions of rendered text.
In addition to these basic font events, more granular font events for individual font variations are also provided. The class names for these events are a combination of font family name, font variation description, and a font event name. So, for example, adding the normal 400 weight of Gesta to a project would result in font event classes like wf-gesta-n4-loading and wf-gesta-n4-active. On the JavaScript side, fontloading, fontactive, and fontinactive callbacks are available and can be passed the font family and font description for each individual variation.
Each browser handles loading web fonts in its own way. If a browser initially displays the text with a fallback font and then switches to the linked fonts after they've finished loading, you can get a flash of unstyled text or FOUT.
When fonts are loading, a class of .wf-loading is applied to the HTML element. Once the fonts have loaded, that class changes to .wf-active. So, you could add the following to your stylesheets:
.wf-loading h1 { /* styles to use while fonts are loading */ } .wf-active h1 { /* styles to use after fonts have loaded */ }
You can then adjust your styles to make the FOUT less jarring; e.g., by making sure the flashed font and the loaded web font look to be the same size. Or, you could hide your text until the font is completely loaded. For example:

This headline will be hidden until Droid Sans is completely loaded.

The styling fallback fonts section has more examples of setting CSS styles with Font Events.
Fonts are loaded as assets into a web page—just like images or video. Depending on the combination of operating system, web browser, installed extensions, user preferences, and connection speed, web fonts may sometimes fail to load. In these cases, the fallback fonts in the CSS stack will be used instead.
For example, you can adjust the size of the fallback fonts when using a condensed web font, so that your layout remains consistent even when the web fonts fail to load. Here's how:
.headline { /* These fallback styles are used by default */ font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; /* Smaller size for non-condensed fallback font */ } .wf-active .headline { /* These styles are used when web fonts are active */ font-family: "proxima-nova-extra-condensed",Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; /* Larger size for condensed font */ }
By default, dynamic projects will render web font-styled text with the Flash Of Unstyled Text (FOUT). This means that the browser will render fallback fonts while the web fonts are loading and then switch to the web fonts once they are available to use. This is different from the alternate approach to web font rendering, where a browser will hide text while web fonts are downloading and then show the text, styled with the web font, once the web fonts have loaded. That is called the Flash Of Invisible Text (FOIT).
The FOUT approach makes for more immediately usable pages, particularly on slower network connections, but if you prefer the FOIT approach, you can simulate it across all browsers by using font events. Font events are three classes that are added to the element:
- .wf-loading: Added while loading fonts;
- .wf-active: Added when at least one font loaded;
- .wf-inactive: Added when none of the fonts loaded.
You can use these three classes in your CSS to simulate FOIT loading by hiding text when the wf-loading class is active and showing the text when the wf-active or wf-inactive class is active:
.wf-loading { /* styles to use when web fonts are loading */ } .wf-active { /* styles to use when web fonts are active */ } .wf-inactive { /* styles to use when web fonts are inactive */ }
For example, if the h1 and p elements are using a web font, use this CSS to hide them while the fonts are loading.
.wf-loading h1, .wf-loading p { visibility: hidden; } .wf-active h1, .wf-active p, .wf-inactive h1, .wf-inactive p { visibility: visible; }


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UNION, N.J. -- The knock on Ohio State for much of the 2012-2013 season was that they relied far too much on Deshaun Thomas on the offensive end of the floor. They didn't have a second option, and on the nights when Thomas wasn't hitting his shots, the Buckeyes weren't winning games.
That changed down the stretch of the season, however.
Ohio State won their last five regular season games before taking home the Big Ten tournament title and coming within a game of making the Final Four, a feat that no one thought possible last January. The reason for that surge? The play of point guard Aaron Craft, who became a much more aggressive player on the offensive end of the floor over the last month-and-a-half of the season. He had 21 points and six assists in a regular season win over Michigan State. He went for 15 points, four assists and four steals in a win over Indiana. He had 20 points, nine assists and four steals against Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament semifinals. He went for 18 points and six assists -- including the game-saving charge and game-winning three -- in a win over Iowa State to reach the Sweet 16.
And if the Buckeyes are going to make a run at a Big Ten regular season title in 2013-2014, they are going to need that kind of play out of Craft the entire season.
"I've gotta continue to lead the team, the biggest thing [to improve on] would be being aggressive on offense," Craft told NBCSports.com at the Nike Skills Academy on the campus of Kean University. "Without having a guy like DT where you can throw him the ball and let him do his thing. We're going to have to find a way to create shots and get open ones, so if I can attack better, I think it will help us out."
And therein lies the biggest question mark when it comes to the Buckeyes next season. As good as Craft is, his entire career at Ohio State has been built around his leadership and his defense. He's not a dynamic playmaker, he's a facilitator. He picks his spots well and he's aggressive when he needs to be, but he hasn't been the kind of point guard that can beat his man one-on-one and create a shot for himself or his team on any possession. He's not Trey Burke.
But there were times where he was as effective as Burke was last season, especially late in the regular season, and it's those moments that Craft will be looking to build off of.
"Guys like Kyrie [Irving] are always in attack mode," Craft said. "It's not always for him to score, it's for everybody. It's for his entire team, whether he's getting a good shot or he's helping somebody else get a good shot. Just trying to be aggressive and be in attack mode, not trying to go to fast but to make quick decisions. We can make adjustments from there."
The good news is that there will be some talent surrounding Craft next season. Shannon Scott showed flashes of serious potential as a sophomore. Lenzelle Smith has some big scoring games. LaQuinton Ross played his way into some 2014 mock drafts with his play in the postseason.
None of those guys have shown any kind of consistency, however.
Craft has.
Which is ironic, really.
While Scott, Ross and Smith will be looking to improve their consistency next year, Craft, who has built a career out of consistently playing at a high level, will be looking to break out of his mold.
You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.


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Friday, October 14, 2011
EXCLUSIVE: SoapClassics.com President Mark Yates Reveals New Details of ATWT DVD Release - How Did It Happen? What's Next? How You Can Make A Difference!
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Recently WorldScreen featured out an article about MIPCOM about possible international distribution for the P&G soaps. Is there anything you can say about that?
Mark Yates: We're getting interest from all regions of the world, both on the home video side and broadcast/cable/satellite side. We've only had the product since July so our first order was to assess inventory and get things logistically in control. This was our first MIP and we had a tremendous response and we're getting interest from all regions in licensing, broadcast and satellite deals.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: The first question after people saw that article was, "Why are they focusing on distributing the show everywhere but the United States?"
Mark Yates: Right. That's not for me to address. We're focused on the home video market here in the United States and I can tell you what we have coming up in the pipeline. We don't have a North American broadcaster interested at the moment. So our focus is on home video distribution and eventually, within the first quarter of 2012, which we haven't told anybody about yet, will be a live online streaming site.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Can you clarify who's involved and who's doing what with this project and what the structure is?
Mark Yates: BVDM Distribution is the distributor which licenses from Telenext Media, which is the agency for Procter & Gamble. I know that sounds convoluted but it's actually pretty simple. There's three companies involved--Procter & Gamble owns it and produced it for many years as you know; Telenext Media is their agency. And Telenext Media has hired BVDM Distribution to become the international distributor across all media. BVDM Distribution is a partner company with Broadway Video.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: So it's not like the mysterious Prospect Park situation. They don't have a website yet so we get calls every day from fans who think 'we' are Prospect Park.
Mark Yates: Once we launch the site tonight, there's a direct link on there for people to give us feedback and they can email us. Every bit of feedback we get is great. I think it would be interesting if you could clarify really who is what and what's going on here. I've heard people say, "Procter & Gamble is releasing it," and no they're not. Procter & Gamble is the license holder. Telenext gets completely lost in the mix. And now, because we're a partner company of Broadway Video, some people think it's them, but we're really not Broadway Video. We are an affiliate of them. The company distributing this is BVDM Distribution.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: What other P&G shows are you associated with?
Mark Yates: We are the distributor of the Procter & Gamble collection--AS THE WORLD TURNS, GUIDING LIGHT, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, ANOTHER WORLD, THE EDGE OF NIGHT and TEXAS. We know the next project we want to launch is the GUIDING LIGHT version of what we just did with AS THE WORLD TURNS. You can break the news that the next planned release is 20 classic episodes of GUIDING LIGHT.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: As I was walking through the hallways with thousands of tapes everywhere, it made me realize how complicated this entire process is. There are these big gawky tapes, and you have to locate the right episodes, then encode them and so much more. Some people think you can flip a switch and just put everything online overnight not realizing how long it takes.
Mark Yates: Let everyone know how many months we've spent working on this and the amount of time that goes into research and production. We accelerated all that wanting it to be a big Christmas item this year. I think it would be awesome if you can give people an insider view on what goes into making this happen.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I will write more on this experience in a future article.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: And all these shows are 1979 forward?
Mark Yates: Yes. We originally thought we only had 1986 on GUIDING LIGHT and that was actually misquoted in the MIPCOM story. We do go back to September 1979 for both shows. Obviously TEXAS we have the whole thing. ANOTHER WORLD and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW haven't been inventoried yet because we've been so focused on this so I don't know exactly what we have for those shows.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: A few years ago, P&G had a Classic Soap Channel on AOL.
Mark Yates: Yes, we did all the encoding. We were the technical facility for that.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Did that help you now in any way using the work that was done then?
Mark Yates: It did. We were able to preserve a good portion of the library back then and inventory it. Everything that went online on the YouTube Channel and AOL was preserved back then. That gave us a nice jump start on getting the material prepared for future distribution. There's still plenty left to go.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: I think this is going to sell really well. If it does, will that help speed up the process or have you put more resources on it.
Mark Yates: Absolutely. How well this sells determines how many and how quickly the future releases are. This has not been done before.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: This is the first full episode collection of daytime soap episodes.
Mark Yates: It is shocking to me that it has taken this long for someone to do it. This is a real litmus test. I would love to let the fans know that how this goes is going to dictate how quickly we release and how much we release in the coming months.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Is the focus going to be DVDs for a while?
Mark Yates: No. In the first quarter of 2012 we will launch online streaming.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: For all the shows?
Mark Yates: I would say AS THE WORLD TURNS first, then looking at GUIDING LIGHT later in the year.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: So why were you interested in doing this? There's a mainstream perception that daytime soaps are dying. We recently did a 25 Biggest Blunders countdown recently and called out soaps for not marketing enough merchandise as one of them. What made you see the potential in this?
Mark Yates: Honestly, it was a personal hunch in me. I remember growing up watching them with my mom, watching them in college with my friends, and I think my demographic and other demographics out there have a very strong attachment to the history of them and the current. I also thought they were the original reality shows. If you look at what went on in one week versus what happens in a reality show in a season... And I think they have cultural significance and historical significance. My personal line is, "This is the original reality TV." I feel that the networks don't have interest in a still large group of fans.
The group of fans may not be large enough to keep networks interested, but yet there's still plenty of fans interested in this product both as home video and online, and interested in keeping it preserved and available for future generations. That's a little soap boxy, but I get excited about it!
EDITOR'S NOTE: The SoapClassics.com website will be up and running later night. Order a copy for your personal collection and many more as the perfect gifts for family and friends. Like Mark, I also grew up watching with family, so my Christmas decisions just got a little easier. ATWT DVDs for everyone!
Roger Newcomb is a producer and writer in New York City. Aside from co-hosting WE LOVE SOAPS TV, he has written and produced a full-length indie film, Manhattanites, and two radio soap operas, SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES and ROCKLAND COUNTY. He's made acting appearances in web series IMAGINARY BITCHES and EMPIRE and consulted on numerous other indie soaps. He currently serves as a producer on THE BAY and is executive producer on the indie short film May Mercy Lie, currently making the rounds on the festival circuit. He recently made appearances on CTV's NATIONAL NEWS and Radio New Zealand and wrote an essay in the popular academic book, "The Survival of the Soap Opera."
10 comments:
- Cathy BorahOctober 14, 2011 at 2:20 PM
This is wonderful news...I can't wait to see my Guiding Light again..I also ordered the ATWT DVD so I can show my support for the soaps..
ReplyDelete I just learned about this today and I have been reading up on it as much as possible. I have a huge collection of soaps, especially the P&G soaps. My favorite soap is "Texas" - with the last 8 months of the series being outstanding. If Mr. Yates needs an expert for the P&G soaps.. or is missing any episodes, I may be able to supply him with them. I work for a company that does authoring/encoding so perhaps I could help out with that as well. Please e-mail me at [email protected] if I can be of any assistance.
Thank you.- AnonymousOctober 29, 2011 at 4:04 PM
iloved as the world turns. i wish i could get all the espisolds from the beginng to the final time it aired. i miss watching the soap and the chartacters and just watching what was going to happen next each day of their lives. rosalind van well
ReplyDelete - AnonymousDecember 6, 2011 at 7:55 PM
I would love to see Guiding Light and Edge of Night again those were my favorites


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I think the ability to annotate webpages — the equivalent of making notes on a written text — is absolutely critical for students to develop their reading skills. Using "post-it" notes on text to demonstrate the use of reading strategies is a key teaching and learning approach I use in the classroom. I am always searching for web tools that will allow students to do the same on Internet pages, which is why I created the The Best Applications For Annotating Websites.
There are some good tools on that list, but Blerp, I think, "trumps" all of them.
Once you register (which is extraordinarily easy and doesn't require activation by email), you type in a webpage address, click on "post" and you can type on a virtual post-it note and place it anywhere on the text of the page and you are then given the page's url with the notes. It's extremely user-friendly.
But that's not all.
It also allows you to see what other readers of the same page have written. All those virtual post-it notes are listed on the side of the page. All you have to do is click on a note and it magically appears at the location on the page where it was placed.
I believe a lot of the things many web tools allow you to do are neat, but don't necessarily provide much "value-added" benefit to doing the same task using non-tech tools. Even the other tools on the "website annotating" best list only let you do the exact same thing you can do with hard copy.
With Blerp, however, after students have completed demonstrating their reading strategies, they can then see what everybody else has written, too.
Now, that's what I'm talking about in terms of a way technology can enhance learning.
A big thanks to Mashable for the tip.
Obviously, I'm adding Blerp to the previously mentioned "The Best.." list.


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Lost unions and lost ground
Over the next few days, the largest national group of unions, the AFL-CIO, meets in Los Angeles to look at ways to stem the long-term decline of American unions. African Americans and other people of color have a lot at stake.
Many people think of a union member as a white, blue-collar male, and historically that was true. In the early 1900s, nearly all U.S. unions discriminated against African Americans and refused to let them join. In 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Wagner Act into law — guaranteeing American workers the right to bargain collectively with their employers — fewer than 1 in 100 union members in the U.S. was an African American.
But then, during the middle of the 20th century, unions experienced a remarkable racial turnaround. Competition between the fast-growing industrial unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the established craft unions of the American Federation of Labor spurred organizers to reach outside existing labor strongholds to recruit millions of new members. And in the run-up to World War II, many African Americans, eager to escape punishing agricultural work in the South, arrived in the Midwest and Northeast to look for new manufacturing jobs just as expanding factories were targeted by union organizers.
Black workers were understandably wary at first, given unions' history of racial discrimination. But before long they came to see organized workplaces as a partial refuge from racist practices that were common in many nonunion firms. After the war, stable employment, rising wages and robust benefit packages cemented the connections of African American workers to the labor movement, especially in the Midwest.
Nationally, union membership rates for black men in the private sector rose to nearly 40% by the early 1970s. What's more, by the end of the 1970s, nearly 1 in 4 black women in the private sector belonged to a union, double the rate of union membership among white women.
An extensive body of research has established that union members earn higher wages than their nonunion counterparts doing the same type of work. And our own research confirms a large effect of union membership on wages for both black and white workers, an effect that holds true even after we take into account other influences on wages such as age, education, occupation and the particular industry and state where workers are employed. Across the decades covered by our data, unionized workers in the private sector have wages about 25% higher than otherwise similar nonunion workers.
But for several decades now, union membership rates have been declining. Using 40 years of nationally representative data, our research aimed to discover what wage trends among blacks and whites, men and women, would have looked like if union membership in the private sector of the U.S. economy had not declined so sharply. Here is what we learned:
• Had union membership rates for women remained at late-1970s levels, racial wage inequality among women in private sector jobs today would be reduced by as much as 30%.
• If rates of union membership among African American men working in the private sector were as high today as in the early 1970s, weekly wages would now be about $50 higher. For a full-time worker, that translates to an income increase of $2,600 a year. Regardless of race, all male workers have lost ground in the private sector as unions have declined.
Our findings recast the modern American labor movement as a remarkably inclusive institution that gave a vital boost to the economic fortunes of African American as well as white workers and their families. The near disappearance of private sector unions in recent times has made many of America's economic and social problems worse, including racial wage gaps.
Meredith Kleykamp and Jake Rosenfeld are professors of sociology at the University of Maryland and the University of Washington, respectively. Both are members of the Scholars Strategy Network.
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I sometimes encounter accounts that the main reason why chemical weapons were not used in WWII was because initially they were invented by a Jew Fritz Haber, and as such Hitler expressed opinion that use of chemical weapons was inhumane and "Jewish" method of warfare.
There were even some hints that the Nazis made certain propaganda canpaigns against use of chemical weapons which involved WWI war veterans who suffered from gas attacks.
I wonder whether it is true that the Nazis regarded chemical weapons inhumane or was it only a propaganda disguise?


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This article is more than 1 year old
Cisco takes comfort in misery of others
Firesale buying spree is on
Cisco Systems is to go on a shopping spree, accelerating its company-acquisition efforts at a time when the Meltdown has depressed equity values worldwide.
Tech companies are a bargain these days. IBM, meanwhile, is unhappy that the Cisco networking giant has turned its attention to server blades - witness IBM's interest in buying Sun Microsystems.
With good deals to be had and the need for some tough talking against IBM, Bloomberg has quoted Cisco's senior vice president of corporate development and the company's consumer group, Ned Hooper, as saying about Cisco's acquisitions efforts: "We will be active - not hope to be - will be."
And with $29.5bn (£20bn) in cash, Cisco is well-positioned in this buyer's market. Armed with that kind of ready money and with company values being cheap, it's a good time for the company to go shopping.
As Hooper put it: "The downturn for us is a big positive."
It remains to be seen, however, how the company will spend its cash. Will it buy up support systems for its new "California" Unified Computer System line? Maybe shore up its consumer-level brand recognition, as it appears was one goal of its recent purchase of that YouTuber's delight, Pure Digital's camcorder-for-the-masses, the Flip?
Or possibly it will simply continue to build its IT-infrastructure offerings, like it did with its January acquisition of Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, an energy-monitoring middleware developer.
We do know of a rather large and reasonably affordable California-based systems company that happens to compete with IBM and is going for around $8.50 a share - if you can win over its former chief executive that is.
Stay tuned. A corporate wallet stuffed with $29.5bn can buy a lot of struggling companies. Along with a lot of business-press headlines.®


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Waco, TX – The 19th-ranked Baylor Bears lift the curtain on the 2012-13 season this afternoon as they play host to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh won 27 games last season and finished 11-3 in the Patriot League, just behind first-place Bucknell, but managed to win the conference tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in school history. That feat alone would have been enough for a fantastic season, but the Mountain Hawks took it one step further. As a No. 15 seed, they defeated second-seeded Duke in the second round, 75-70, marking only the sixth time a 15-seed has upset a second-seed in the history of the tournament.
The 2011-12 season was a historic one for Baylor as well, as it set school records for overall wins (30) and victories in the Big 12 Conference (12). The fantastic season earned the Bears a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in three years before their magical run was cut short by the eventual-champion Kentucky Wildcats, 82-70.
These two programs have never met before. Lehigh is 0-4 all-time against members of the Big 12.
Lehigh was dynamic at both ends of the floor last season, putting up 75.7 ppg and outscoring its opponents by more than 10 points per contest. Prospects of repeating as Patriot League champs are high considering the Mountain Hawks return four of their five starters, the most important being two-time conference Player of the Year C.J. McCollum. The senior is one of the most accomplished guards in the country, and while he's an excellent scorer (21.9 ppg), he brings a balanced skill set to the table that will be attractive to many teams come NBA Draft time (6.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.6 spg, 60 3PM). McCollum is undoubtedly the team's catalyst, but it also welcomes back valuable veteran performers Gabe Knutson (12.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg), Holden Greiner (9.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Mackey McKnight (8.8 ppg, 3.5 apg). Lehigh also added a pair of 6-8 freshmen to help with its frontcourt depth in Jesse Chuku and Justin Goldsborough.
Matching up with McCollum in this one is another guard considered to be one of the best in the nation in Baylor's Pierre Jackson. The 5-10 senior, who was named a Preseason All-American by the AP, scored 13.5 ppg and had nearly two steals per game a year ago, and he recorded the second-most assists in a single season in school history (233, 5.8 pg). Rejoining Jackson in the backcourt is junior Brady Heslip (10.3 ppg), a three-point specialist (98 three-pointers made at 45.6 percent), as well as senior A.J. Walton, who plays great defense out on the perimeter. While the Bears' guards are some of the best the Big 12 has to offer, they are going to have to rely on inexperienced forwards now that Quincy Acy (11.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.9 bpg), Perry Jones III (13.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and Quincy Miller (11.0 ppg) are all playing in the NBA. The only returning players to the frontcourt are Cory Jefferson and J'mison Morgan, who combined to make just one start a year ago. Among the newcomers looking to step in and help right away is 7-1 center Isaiah Austin, who was one of the top recruits in the state of Texas.


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Six people have been arrested for their involvement in a worldwide ATM heist that resulted in the theft of US$45 million from two Middle East banks.
Five men and one woman, all from the suburbs of New York City, were charged with being members of a cybercrime outfit that lifted debit card information from MasterCard. The six people were accused of being "cashers" in the crime ring; they reportedly withdrew nearly $3 million from 140 ATMs in NYC. There are believed to have been similar "cells" in more than 20 countries.
The complicated operation worked by hacking into, and stealing debit card data from, the National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates and the Bank Muscat in Oman. The hackers then raised the withdrawal limits on cards and went to town.
Samsung Looking for Rare-Earths Replacements
Samsung is investing about $1.4 billion in a lengthy research project designed, in part, to develop alternatives to rare-earth substances, which are key components in an array of high-tech products.
The quest to replace, or at least complement, rare earths is part of the Samsung Future Technology Cultivation Project. Among the 27 research areas in question is whether optoelectronics materials can replace rare earths.
China is the leading supplier of rare earths. The country, however, has been accused of choking off the supply of said materials in a move Beijing claims is designed to avoid over-exploitation, but which others claim is the Middle Kingdom's way of driving up prices.
[Sources:Joongang Daily and The Register]
Google, Microsoft Cleansing Search Results
Google and Microsoft issued a joint statement saying that they will roll out software that makes it harder for users to search for child abuse materials online.
The software, to be launched in Britain and other English-speaking countries, will make it so any searches for child sexual abuse-related content will yield no links to illegal content.
Google and Microsoft are sharing picture-detection technology as well as technology to identify and nix illegal videos. Google will also adorn more than 13,000 queries with warnings declaring that child abuse is illegal.
[Source:The Associated Press]
UK to Sick Surveillance Agency on Online Filth
The UK's Government Communications Headquarters will be enlisted to weed out child abuse materials from peer-to-peer networks, according to British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Cameron's announcement followed news that Google and Microsoft planned to do more to remove links to child abuse material from search results. That, however, still leaves the so-called "dark Net," which isn't accessible through search engines but is nonetheless a potential hotbed for deplorable materials.
The GCHQ is far better known for its partnership with the NSA — the NSA and GCHQ reportedly partnered up to conduct oodles of tag-team snooping. Cameron said that "that expertise is going to be brought to bear to go after these revolting people" peddling child abuse on the dark Net.
[Source:The Guardian]
Tencent to Offer 10 TB of Cloud Storage
Chinese tech giant Tencent will offer 10 TB of cloud storage for international users starting next year.
That is an absurd 682.7 times more space than Google Drive offers. Or, as Tech In Asia points out, enough space to store the entire series of Breaking Bad — the entire HD series — 333 times.
Tencent's offer will be available only in English, which would seem to signal its intentions to expand beyond China.
[Source:Pando Daily via Tech In Asia]


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Here are a few basic tips and ideas for creating your own wreaths either as a gift to yourself or for a friend.
Transformed Bargain Wreaths
Keep your eyes open for bargains with possibilities. I always check out the clearance section at various stores for items that can easily be transformed with a few fresh flowers or greens. I purchased this grapevine wreath with silk ivy for $5.00. In order to create a simple fresh holiday wreath, all I had to do was add a few sprigs of white pine, pinecones, and a green grosgrain ribbon. You can use almost any variety of evergreens. Simply insert individual sprigs between the grapevine branches and attach the pinecones and ribbon with wire or hot glue.
Ornament Wreath
I adore this colorful bottlebrush wreath with the shiny ornaments and use it in different rooms and in different ways each year. This year I added tiny sprigs of balsam to the outer rim of the wreath by inserting them directly into the bottlebrush base. It not only gives it a totally new look, but also brings the refreshing scent of fresh evergreens into the room.
Multiply The Merry
If one wreath looks good, doesn't it follow that three wreaths will look even better! I love this Fruit and Pinecone Wreath from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. This 24 inch wreath is now 50% off!
Christmas in Bali
This is how I imagine Christmas in Bali might look. Create you own little piece of Bali and go there when the stress and pressure of everything that you "have to do" starts to build up. Light a little candle, burn some incense, and be still. OK – now back to reality!
Did you know that the decorative value of a wreath is believed to have been derived from an ancient tradition? In the way that we use house numbers today, wreaths featuring different floral arrangements were used to identify different families and houses. This inspired me to create a few fresh arrangements for friends of mine to hang on their front door. Check back and see how I interpreted some of their professions and hobbies.


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Welcome to ASHS
ASHS is a cooperative of small and medium sized businesses, supplying Scottish hardwood and premium softwood timber products to the UK market place (if you are interested in buying timber, please see our list of members). It also hosts an associate membership consisting of oak framers, tree surgeons, architects, furniture makers, farmers, land owners and other industries involved to some degree or another within the Scottish Timber industry.
Through the ASHS website, you can access on-line information about Scotland's native hardwood trees and timber as well as information on the products and services that ASHS members supply. You will also be able to download technical notes to assist in specification and be able to locate your local sawmill and supplier of Scottish hardwoods and quality softwoods. Link up with other people who appreciate and are inspired by Scotland's native hardwoods and support the creation of new woodlands as well as the sustainable and productive management of Scotland's existing forest resource.
It is our objective to encourage all sectors to work together from woodland creation through to final specification. By so doing we can encourage interest in growing and managing broadleaf woodlands which have a very high biodiversity value providing landscape amenity and wonderful places for walking and recreation. It reduces the reliance on imports and associated energy costs and adds value to a local natural resource which is retained in the local economy. It will also provide jobs in wood processing, furniture making and forestry. As a cooperative the ASHS group work together to offer support and regular training events to our members. You can keep up to date with events on the ASHS Facebook page and read about the various sectors and news within the industry in the ASHS by annual journal The Full Circle which is written by our members and is free as part of our membership package.
What ASHS Offer
ASHS was formed to facilitate the promotion of Scottish hardwood to the Scottish market.
Education Typically, most people are not aware that Scotland produces hardwood of quality and character, which is suitable for use in building, furniture making and in the craft sector. Lack of knowledge about Scottish hardwood is a significant obstacle: it means that Scottish hardwood is often not specified in appropriate situations and customers buying, for example, items of furniture are not aware that furniture is even made from locally grown wood. ASHS aims to educate the public about Scottish hardwood, both through this website and through attendance at shows, fairs and other events.
Market Development ASHS is a trade organisation, and it also aims to develop the market for Scottish hardwood more directly. In this website, buyers can easily find their local supplier and easily send an enquiry to the whole group. Market development is also being undertaken by the ASHS co-ordinator.
Training ASHS is a co-operative organisation, which also aims to help its members acquire new skills and refresh existing knowledge through its training events and programs.
Membership is open to all small suppliers of Scottish hardwoods and to those who are directly involved in the trade. Click here for membership information, or please contact the ASHS Co-ordinator.


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Because I love colors and fabrics so much I just can't stop designing—it simply flows out of me. The pieces in our gallery are the end results of those artistic impulses that fill my day. I want them to fill your days too.
Yet, I don't want to be the one that has all the fun. So we've included the opportunity of designing your own dress. I want that to be a special option for little girls, to create designs with their moms, dads, aunts or grandma's.
So whether you are taken by one of my designs or you take the time to create your own, the goal is to always complement and enhance the innate beauty and exuberance of each little girl. We hope Heather Hill helps you discover and express that unique part of you.
So sweet isn't it? She also has tops, pants and skirts, and accessories!!
Here's my favorite top


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- Home
- Government
- Departments
- Human Resources
- Customer Service Standards
Customer Service Standards
Hometown Friendliness
Customers are the most important part of our job. We treat each customer with warmth and friendliness and strive to create that feeling in our facilities and community. We do this through personal contact, listening carefully, prompt responses, fairness, and empathy for the customer's situation.
Customer Focus
Our customers are Parker residents, visitors, and all those who use our facilities, services and programs. We treat our co-workers as customers. We are entrusted with the opportunity to provide vital public services; we are dedicated to meeting or exceeding the expectations of those we serve.
Focus on Problem Solving
The goal of every employee is to help our customers solve problems. We look for opportunities to help people and then act to follow through. We take the initiative to continually improve our service and operations. Complaints are viewed as opportunities to improve our service.
Personal Responsibility
We follow up on our commitments and take personal responsibility for our customers. We identify ourselves when responding to customers. We offer all available information in a timely manner and suggest options and alternatives whenever possible. We own problems and complaints rather than hand them off. If a referral needs to be made to address an issue, we follow through to make sure the customer gets what they need.
Working as a Team
We work together to serve our customers, solve problems and work out issues. We understand and value the importance of information sharing and communication. We know that being a part of the team means being respectful and helpful to all team members. We cooperate and collaborate with other governmental agencies and community organizations to provide resources to our customers.
We believe it is important to be consistent when delivering customer service. We answer all customer contacts within one business day whenever possible. When additional time is required to adequately respond to a customer concern, we respond to advise them of a timeline for resolution. We know that providing the same quality of customer service to the customer is important every time we come in contact with any customer.


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- While the functional value of ingredients is a must for beauty products, those ingredient functions can also be a great way to relate a product's story to consumers.
- Talking to consumers about ingredients doesn't have to be complicated. Being honest, clear, concise and informative will help them get a clear picture of the benefits a product provides.
- As consumers continue to get savvier about ingredients and their effects, ingredient-based marketing continues to be a smart strategy.
As the building blocks of any beauty product, ingredients are obviously a must-have for any successful beauty brand. But beyond effectively lessening wrinkles, offering quality color, cleansing and protecting hair and skin, and providing numerous other beauty benefits, ingredients can also help beauty brands tell their story and the story of their products.
"Certain ingredients have a story, which can create or add to the finished product's story," says Denise Gabriele, vice president, sales and marketing, Sederma, Inc., citing examples such as Amazonian ingredients that support sustainability claims and clinically tested ingredients that can create specific benefit claims. And with the array of available ingredients, there is little limit to the stories ingredients can tell.
"The beauty industry is highly competitive, and brand owners are always looking to differentiate their products," says Denise Petersen, skin care marketing manager, BASF. In order to do this, Petersen says, "They look for ingredients that can deliver a positive sensory experience that supports product positioning. We still see an increasing demand for products that are sustainable and suitable for sensitive skin."
And it doesn't end with the sensory experience. "New technologies are always interesting to formulators and marketers of beauty care products," comments Gabriele. "In order to differentiate yourself from your competition, companies look for new ways to achieve results—and if these new ways can be faster and more effective, even better."
What the Product Needs
Of course, ingredients first need to be looked at from a functional point of view. Beth Bewley, co-founder of the Eufora International hair care brand, explains, "In the world of beauty, there are many wonderful ingredients that are available for personal care formulations. Some provide a proven efficacy and others, while they sound intriguing, do not deliver the promise of the product or proven results. Choosing ingredients that genuinely deliver on the promise of the product is paramount in Eufora's ingredient decisions."
"It all starts from [beauty brands'] needs," says Isabelle Lacasse, marketing director, Unipex. "We must know what they are looking for before doing anything. Are they reformulating a new product line and they need new ingredients? Sometimes they are working on a more natural line, so they need eco-friendly actives. Constant needs [include those] for effective anti-aging ingredients, skin lightening, ingredients that target skin imperfections and so on."
And thus the product story can dictate the necessities required of the ingredients. "What is most important to one formulator or marketer may be very different to another. Sometimes ingredients are trend-driven while others are need-driven," explains Caren Dres-Hajeski, marketing director, Lipo Chemicals. "It is our goal to try to marry the science with the glamour and deliver an ingredient that helps our customers find success."
However, few products these days aren't multitaskers, and their ingredients are often expected to achieve several desired outcomes as well. "While innovation is often the first thing that is looked at in formulating with new ingredients, the R&D team at Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase seeks ingredients that are effective, safe, gentle and deliver proven results," says Jill Wittenberg, marketing manager, Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase. "When our chemists feel an ingredient could be a good fit, preliminary studies, sources of the ingredient and safety testing are examined to ensure the quality. The ingredients that ultimately end up in our formula are effective and work synergistically with kinetin and our formulas."
So, beyond the functionality needs of the ingredient, there is also often a need for a USP—the ingredient's unique selling proposition. For example, Petersen comments, "We have a broad range of emollients—from light, fast-spreading emollients to rich, solid emollients. This gives [product developers] many opportunities to develop formulations that achieve desired effects."
The key is providing a means to create products that, in turn, provide a sensory experience that consumers enjoy. "Our Cetiol Sensoft is an emollient that helps beauty brands meet consumers' demands for a sensorial and holistic product experience," Petersen offers as an example. "Its characteristics were evaluated using different methodologies such as our Pillow Talk Method and our Objective Emotional Assessment (OEA). The Pillow Talk Method enables panelists to evaluate the sensory of a product and translate it into an objective response characterization; while applying the emollient on the forearm, they touch different types of pillows with the other hand and choose the pillow fabric that is closest to the skin feel (e.g., silky, velvety, etc.). With the help of OEA, an approach based on the measurement of subjective and psychophysiological parameters, panelists' individual sensory perceptions of the ingredient itself and the final formulations can be confirmed." This is a USP that can pinpoint and fulfill the specific needs of a beauty product formulation, as well as lend itself to the USP of the product itself.
In accordance with the needs of green beauty products, "Another great example is BASF's Cetiol RLF, a fast-spreading emollient that gives products a pleasant and light skin feel," says Petersen. "Cetiol RLF is made from 100% natural renewable feedstock and is catalyzed with enzymes. This new process helps to reduce emissions while ensuring high quality. Additionally, the emollient is approved by Ecocert, and certified by NaTrue and by the National Products Association, and recommended for concepts according to BDIH and COSMOS." Telling a green product story is more important in the marketplace today, and ingredients with green certifications help that story hit home with consumers. "Cetiol RLF helps to satisfy the needs of consumers with both sensitive skin and the desire for products of natural origin," Petersen notes. "Its mildness, along with its hydrating effect and the light skin feel, can enhance people's sense of well-being." A story of heightened well-being is one any beauty brand would want to tell.
"Many beauty brands have developed a keen interest in natural-based products and products that contribute to a sustainability theme," acknowledges Jeff Rogers, business director Americas, AkzoNobel. "We are conducting a significant amount of activity around product life cycle analysis to better help our customers understand how to communicate the value of this activity to the consumers." However, many other ingredient stories are also possible. "There is a focus today on meeting options. Options can offer a higher level of flexibility when it comes to product position for a consumer brand," Rogers notes.
The effectiveness of a quality ingredient is another important product talking point option. "Kinetin has long been the key ingredient in Kinerase, the parent brand of Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase," says Wittenberg. "Kinetin is known for its antioxidant activity, its ability to target the signs of aging, and its extremely gentle nature. We wanted to make this clinically proven ingredient accessible to more people because we know it works."
And Eufora's Bewley explains, "Utilizing certified organic aloe was a way for Eufora to provide a unique point of difference for our brand. Plus, aloe has been proven to have amazing results, including positive healing and soothing benefits. Utilizing aloe in our brand wasn't just a way to differentiate Eufora from the rest—it meant that our products produce real results."
The ingredient stories can be as varying and vast as the number of beauty ingredients themselves. "Since our ingredients provide a performance benefit that supports the promise of the product, we let our consumers know what each ingredient does," says Bewley. "We also try not to hang our hat on just one ingredient in a product. The reality is that the performance of a product is rarely the result of just one ingredient. Instead, it is a complex formula where the synergy of ingredients are what delivers the result."
Straight Talk
With all the great opportunities to include ingredient stories in product stories, brands also have to be smart about how they integrate and offer this message (or messages) to their customers. "Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy about what goes on their skin, making communication easier about the science behind ingredients. Typically we seek to educate the consumer on where the ingredient comes from, the safety of the ingredient and what the ingredient does, which consumers can easily relate to," says Wittenberg. "We focus on the ingredients that best support the product's benefits."
"You always have to tell the truth," Bewley emphasizes. "The consumer wants a product that is going to solve a problem. Although the scientific information can be great to support a product's claim, at the end of the day if the product doesn't deliver on that promise then the consumer will be disappointed." And Gabriele reiterates the importance of letting consumers know about the quality and effectiveness of a product and its ingredients. "Effectiveness is something that consumers are increasingly looking for as part of their skin and hair care regimens," she says. "She may purchase a product once based on promotions, but she will not repurchase if she doesn't perceive a benefit. And in the age of so much information readily available online, she may not even purchase initially if common opinion states that it is not effective."
What is the best way to ensure a customer is getting the right message, however? "We have to speak more about the skin benefits instead of the mechanism of action or product origin or the different tests that shows the efficacy," says Lacasse of Unipex's approach. "We must speak the same language as the consumer, talking about 'What does it give to the consumer?' e.g., reduction of wrinkles, improvement of skin imperfections, prevention of sun burns—these types of claims."
Rogers notes that at AkzoNobel, "We have taken an approach that involves a more graphic and pictorial explanation" to get the right message across, and Bewley says, "We provide Eufora stylists with extensive education that teaches them how to talk to their clients about the products in a way they understand. Since our products are salon professional, we always recommend explaining which products are right for the customer and why."
Clarity can even be a key component to a product's story as well, Dres-Hajeski says. "As we all know, there is a very large trend in our industry and many others is to go green. Part of this is also a trend to simplify a formulation and focus on one main concept. If you throw everything but the kitchen sink into a product, it loses its credibility," she explains. But perhaps most importantly, keep at it. "The consumer has become extremely educated over the years and it is important to continue to educate them on how ingredients work, the synergies, and how to use products to achieve the most effective outcome," Dres-Hajeski says.
A Story With Meaning
In choosing the right ingredient for your product, Lacasse says, "Effectiveness is the key factor for the majority, and after that it is a mix of good marketing story behind the product and the right pricing for the market segment. At the end, if the efficacy and price are the same, people tend to choose the ingredient with the most unique story. It can even help sometimes to develop the marketing concept of the new product and/or line."
And Rogers also emphasizes, "Clearly ingredients are the nuts and bolts of a product and the product performance promised by the consumer goods companies. I think it is vital and important that consumer goods organizations in the business-to-consumer environment have a link to help their customers more clearly understand that business-to-business organizations are genuinely engaged in [providing information on] how a product's value, features and benefits can be more widely understood."
Ultimately, Bewley says, "Promoting important and effective ingredients is part of smart marketing. However, an exotic-sounding ingredient will only get you the first purchase. The product's performance is what creates consumer loyalty."


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At qCon San Francisco, Asish Kumar, head of development infrastructure at Google, gave a talk titled "Development at the Speed and Scale of Google". While I wasn't at qCon San Francisco, InfoQ has posted the video and slides, which I've just watched. First of all, stop what you're doing and watch the presentation if you're interested in development/build-and-test/SCM infrastructure. Stop now. This post will wait for you.
I originally wanted to write an article about how the talk shows just how much great developer infrastructure technologies can improve performance, and why every firm and team should be devoting significant resources to improving the infrastructure provided to developers. Heck, that's why OpenGamma's systems administrator spends most of his time working on our development infrastructure.
However, then as I kept watching the video, the more I saw a potential downside to this, particularly at Google scale: virtually everything you're using is bespoke. That has a number of potential issues:
- Developers who may be quite familiar with "industry standard" development technologies will take time to come up to speed. While if you're focusing primarily on relatively long duration hires (on the order of years) this doesn't really matter that much, but many industries (for example, Finance, with its strong reliance on short-term contractors) have to factor staff churn in.
- Unlike with most other development tools (which are dominated by Open Source technologies in the particular types of development Google does), once you start aggressively building a bespoke infrastructure you have to keep going down the bespoke route: you've effectively locked yourself into a path where you have to throw more and more resources at building your bespoke infrastructure to keep up with the state of the art.
In general, for Google, I think they broadly made the right choice to go bespoke in their tool chain. They want to leverage their own (highly proprietary) production infrastructure where possible, in probably most cases they're operating at a scale that no other tool chain would be capable of handling, and (Facebook poaching notwithstanding) they focus primarily on longer-term hiring.
But what about the developers themselves? My only worry about this type of thing from a longer term career development perspective is that, quite frankly, you get lazy in managing your own development infrastructure.
Let's say that you join Google, and spend a few years working very productively using their fantastic development infrastructure. And then you want to join a much smaller firm (which may or may not be your own startup). What then?
- Could you even setup a makefile/ant script/maven setup yourself anymore? How long would it take you to relearn it?
- Are you really going to have a good knowledge of what the current state of the art is in generic development infrastructure and build tools? After all, at New Gig you won't have the Google team backing you up.
- Are you going to be perpetually frustrated in a role where you don't have a team working on your infrastructure for you?
- Are you going to start designing systems where the build and test burden would be more than manageable with the infrastructure at Google, but where the lack of that infrastructure means that you might have been better off designing the system in a radically different way?
Note that I'm not actually saying that this is a bad thing, but I think if you find yourself as a developer in an environment where you have a large, well-skilled team taking care of stuff for you (whether that team is systems administration, operations, development infrastructure, whatever), you owe it to yourself to keep up to date with the state of the art in all the things in between writing your code, and your production environment, that other people currently do for you.
Otherwise, when you finally do get to a role where you no longer have those teams to work for you (or you have to figure out if they actually know what they're doing), you're not hamstrung by your background.


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Paul Rudd wants you to be a "bae" and wear a mask.
The 51-year-old actor filmed a public service announcement at the behest of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as part of the "Mask Up, America" campaign.
In it, Rudd dons a hoodie, an NYC cap and some headphones as he carries a skateboard and speaks the language of the younger generation.
Says Rudd, "I was talking on the iPhone with my homie, Gov. Cuomo, and he's just going off about how us millennials need to wear masks because, get this, apparently a lot of Covid is transmitted by us millennials."
"So Cuomes asks me, he's like, 'Paul, you've got to help. What are you, like, 26?'" Rudd says in the video. "And I didn't correct him. So, fam, let's real-talk. Masks, they're totally beast. So, slide that into your DMs and Twitch it."
"Hot Ones" web series host Sean Evans makes a cameo, in a nod to Rudd's appearance on an episode.
"This nation is still battling the Covid-19 pandemic and young people are not immune from it," Cuomo said in a statement. "We all need to do our part and wear a mask. Thanks to Paul Rudd for helping us spread this crucial message and reach young people like him."
It's the latest in a series of ads for the mask campaign, which has featured celebs including Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro.
The video was produced in partnership with Rudd and Evans in coordination with Jane Rosenthal, producer and chief executive officer of Tribeca Enterprises.


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2002 will forever be remembered as the year of corporate crime, the year even President George Bush embraced the notion of "corporate responsibility."
While the Bush White House has now downgraded its "corporate responsibility portal" to a mere link to uninspiring content on the White House webpage, and although the prospect of war has largely bumped the issue off the front pages, the cascade of corporate financial and accounting scandals continues.
We easily could have filled Multinational Monitor's list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the Year with some of the dozens of companies embroiled in the financial scandals.
But we decided against that course.
As extraordinary as the financial misconduct has been, we didn't want to contribute to the perception that corporate wrongdoing in 2002 was limited to the financial misdeeds arena.
For Multinational Monitor's 10 Worst Corporations of 2002 list, we included only Andersen from the ranks of the financial criminals and miscreants. Andersen's assembly line document destruction certainly merits a place on the list. (Citigroup appears on the list as well, but primarily for a subsidiary's involvement in predatory lending, as well as the company's funding of environmentally destructive projects around the world.)
As for the rest, we present a collection of polluters, dangerous pill peddlers, modern-day mercenaries, enablers of human rights abuses, merchants of death, and beneficiaries of rural destruction and misery.
Multinational Monitor has named Arthur Andersen, British American Tobacco (BAT), Caterpillar, Citigroup, DynCorp, M&M/Mars, Procter & Gamble, Schering Plough, Shell and Wyeth as the 10 Worst Corporations of 2001.
Appearing in alphabetical order, the 10 worst are:
Arthur Andersen, for a massive scheme to destroy documents related to the Enron meltdown. "Tons of paper relating to the Enron audit were promptly shredded as part of the orchestrated document destruction," a federal indictment against Andersen alleged. "The shredder at the Andersen office at the Enron building was used virtually constantly and, to handle the overload, dozens of large trunks filled with Enron documents were sent to Andersen's main Houston office to be shredded." Andersen was convicted for illegal document destruction, effectively putting the company out of business.
BAT, for operating worldwide programs supposedly designed to prevent youth smoking but which actually make the practice more attractive to kids (by suggesting smoking is an adult activity), continuing to deny the harmful health effects of second-hand smoke, and working to oppose efforts at the World Health Organization to adopt a strong Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Caterpillar, for selling bulldozers to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which are used as an instrument of war to destroy Palestinian homes and buildings. The IDF has destroyed more than 7,000 Palestinian homes since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967, leaving 30,000 people homeless.
Citigroup, both for its deep involvement in the Enron and other financial scandals and its predatory lending practices through its recently acquired subsidiary The Associates. Citigroup paid $215 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that The Associates engaged in systematic and widespread deceptive and abusive lending practices.
DynCorp, a controversial private firm which subcontracts military services with the Defense Department, for flying planes that spray herbicides on coca crops in Colombia. Farmers on the ground allege that the herbicides are killing their legal crops, and exposing them to dangerous toxins.
M&M/Mars, for responding tepidly to revelations about child slaves in the West African fields where much of the world's cocoa is grown, and refusing to commit to purchase a modest 5 percent of its product from Fair Trade providers.
Procter & Gamble, the maker of Folger's coffee and part of the coffee roaster oligopoly, for failing to take action to address plummeting coffee bean prices. Low prices have pushed tens of thousands of farmers in Central America, Ethiopia, Uganda and elsewhere to the edge of survival, or destroyed their means of livelihood altogether.
Schering Plough, for a series of scandals, most prominently allegation of repeated failure over recent years to fix problems in manufacturing dozens of drugs at four of its facilities in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Schering paid $500 million to settle the case with the Food and Drug Administration.
Shell Oil, for continuing business as usual as one of the world's leading environmental violators — while marketing itself as a socially and environmentally responsible company.
Wyeth, for using duplicitous means, and without sufficient scientific proof, to market hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to women as a fountain of youth. Scientific evidence reported in 2002 showed that long-term HRT actually threatens women's lives, by increasing the risks of breast cancer, heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism.
What's the lesson to draw from this year's 10 worst list? Not only are Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Tyco and the rest indicative of a fundamentally corrupt financial system, they are representative of a rotten system of corporate dominance.
The full 10 Worst Corporations of 2002 list is available at http://www.multinationalmonitor.org.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, and co-director of Essential Action. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999.)


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At Fastweb, we get it. Students are busy. Amongst a challenging curriculum, exciting social life and personal commitments, sometimes it can be difficult to remember to take care of yourself. But, without your health, none of your other activities are possible.
That's why it's so important to develop great habits now that you can follow for a lifetime.
Check out the following ten health tips to ensure you stay at the top of your game through the remainder of this semester and beyond.
Here's what you should do to stay healthy:
1. Eat Right
This can seem difficult in college but, when broken down, is a bit more attainable. Try to follow some simple principles like: always eat breakfast, never skip meals and snack regularly to avoid hunger.
Balance your meals by ensuring you have the proper amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and proteins while leaving sugary and fatty foods by the wayside.
2. Exercise
Keeping your body healthy and in shape is important. It doesn't have to be extreme either! Walk to your classes, take a class that involves physical fitness or check out the student facilities your campus offers for students to utilize.
3. Get Enough Sleep
It can be difficult to ensure you're getting enough sleep when you've got a huge load of class work, piled on top of all your other commitments or when your friends are staying out all night partying. But getting enough sleep can really improve your overall health and wellness. For college students, experts recommend seven to nine hours nightly.
In addition, try to stick to a sleep schedule so that you can stay well-rested throughout the day.
So stay asleep, turn off the lights and all of your electronic devices. Also, try not to eat or drink caffeinated beverages near bedtime.
4. Wash Your Hands
It's so easy for students to spread germs to one another and not washing your hands makes it even easier to do so! Hand washing is such a simple way to prevent germs from spreading from many illnesses.
Wash your hands throughout the day but especially before mealtime, when you've been around people that are sick and whenever you touch your eyes, nose or mouth.
5. Don't Smoke
Even smoking occasionally can put your life at risk. Do we really need to elaborate? If you'd like help quitting, your student health center has many programs that can assist you.
6. Avoid Caffeine and Sugary Drinks
Foods that are high in protein and fiber are way better for you in the long run since caffeinated and sugary drinks seems like a great choice for studying until you crash later on.
7. Get a Flu Shot
It's always better to be safe than sorry and getting a flu shot is no exception. It's one of the easiest ways to avoid illness. Trust us, come flu season, you'll be happy you did.
8. Drink Lots of Water
Staying hydrated will give you more energy throughout the day, reinvigorates your body, stops you from overeating and aids in concentration. It also helps prevent those pesky headaches so fill up your water bottle daily.
Remember to reuse a refillable bottle rather than wasting plastic, which is bad for the environment!
9. Relax
It's all too easy to get stressed but being overly stressed can cause a variety of health issues. Make sure to give yourself plenty of breaks, maintain a healthy routine on a daily basis and always have time to do activities that are low-stress like hobbies, hanging out with friends and exercising.
10. Avoid Tanning and Wear Sunscreen
The beach is relaxing and fun and we're not saying to avoid it all together, just lather up in sunscreen to avoid the unhealthy side effects that come along with it. Reapply every two to three hours to make sure you're fully protected.
Make sure you avoid harmful tanning salon beds because putting yourself at risk for skin cancer is definitely not worth the risk of a little color.
If you feel you must have some summer glow, try a healthier alternative of a sunless tanner. There are plenty of realistic looking options out there that don't have the deadly cancerous side effects!
What other health tips would you share with students?
What other health tips would you share with students?


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We will continue in this part of our tutorial with the complex data types in C, and we will talk about structures. Many modern programming languages offer them, one shape or another, and so does C. As you will see later, structures allow you to manipulate data easier, by allowing you to store different variables of (possibly) different types under one single "roof".
Beginning structures
Although I wanted to postpone the definition part for this sub-chapter, it seems like I couldn't wait and included it in the introduction. Yes, folks, that's what a structure is, and you will see in a whim how useful it is when I will show you some examples. One interesting parallel is the one referring to a database table: if you have a table called users (the unique name), then you will put in that table the exact data which pertains directly to the users: age, gender, name, address, and so on. But these are different types! No problem, you can do that with a table, just as you can do it with a struct: age will be an integer, gender will be a char, name will be a string and so on. Then you will be able to access the members of the table easily, by referring to the name of the table/member. But this is not a database course, so let's move on. But before that, let's take a short look at a logical aspect: you are invited to create structs with members that have something in common from a logical point of view, like the example above. Make it easier for you and the people that will later look at your code. So, let's see how our users database table would translate in a C struct:
struct users { int age; char gender; char *name; char *address; };
Please do not forget the semicolon at the end. OK, so I boasted that the members of the structure are simple to access. Here's how, provided you want to access the age of the user:
printf("The age of the user is %d.\n", users.age);
But for that printf to work, we'll have to define the age first. That can be done like this
struct users { int age; ... } usrs; usrs.age = 25; ... ...
What we did here is declare an instance of the struct (you can have as many instances as you please), named "usrs". You can have usrs1, usrs2, usrs3 and so on, so you can use these attributes (like age, gender, address) on all of them. The second way to do this is to declare the struct as we did the first time (e.g. without instances) and then declare the respective instances later in the code:
... struct users usrs1, usrs2, usrs3;
…and then take care of the age, gender, address and so on as we did above.
When we talk about structs in conjunction with functions, the most important thing to talk about is probably the fact that structs are regarded as a whole, not as a compound made of several elements. Here's an example:
void show_age(usrs i) { printf("User's age is %d.\n", i.age); printf("User's name is %s.\n", (&i)->name); }
What this function does is: it takes a numeric argument and prints out all the users that have that specific age. You might have noticed a new operator in the above code (if you haven't, look again). The "->" operator does exactly what the dot operator does, allowing you to access a member of the structure, with the specification that it's used when pointers are involved, just as the dot operator is used in cases when pointers are not involved. One more important consideration here. Given the following code:
struct mystruct { int myint; char *mystring; } *p;
what do you think the following expression will do?
Advanced topics
One of the things you'll see pretty often in relation with structures, but not only, is the typedef keyword. As the name implies, it allows you to define custom datatypes, like in the examples below:
typedef int Length; /* now Length is a synonym for int */ typedef char * String;
Regarding structs , typedef basically eliminates the need to use the 's' word. So here's a struct declared in this manner:
typedef struct colleagues { int age; char gender; ... } colls;
For our next topic, we will take an idea found in K&R and use it to illustrate our point. Why? It's well-thought and it shows very well and in a simple way what we're about to illustrate. But before we begin, here's a question for you: knowing that C allows nested structs, do you think nested structs by means of typedef could be accepted? Why?
So, here's the next topic: struct arrays. Now that you know what arrays are you can easily guess what this is about. However, some questions remain: how to implement the concept and, more important, what could be the use? The example we talked about will soon shed some light on both matters. LEt's presume you have a program, written in C, and you want to count the number of occurrences of all the keywords the standard defines. We need two arrays: one to store the keywords and another to store the number of occurrences corresponding to each keyword. This implementation can be written as such:
char *keywords[NRKEYWORDS]; int results [NRKEYWORDS];
Looking at the concept you will soon see that it uses a pairs concept, which is more efficiently described by using a structure. So, because of the end result we'll need, we will have an array whose each element is a structure. Let's see.
struct keyword { char *keywords; int results; } keywrdtbl [NRKEYWORDS];
Now let's initialize the array with the keywords and the initial number of occurrences which will, of course, be 0.
struct keyword { char *keywords; int results; } keywrdtbl [] = { "auto", 0, "break", 0, "case", 0, ... "while", 0 };
Your next and last assignment, since this task is a bit more complex, is to write a complete program that takes itself as the text to work on and print the number of occurances of every keyword, according to the method above.
The last subject on structs I will deal with is the matter of pointers to structs. If you wrote the program in the last exercise, you might already have quite a good idea how it could be re-written so it can use pointers instead on indexes. So if you like writing code, you might consider this as an optional exercise. So there's nothing much around here, just a few aspects, like (very important), you must introduce some extra code with extra care so that when parsing the source code of the file you're scanning for keywords, and of course the search function must be modified, you won't create or stumble upon an illegal pointer. See the previous part for reference on pointer arithmetic and differences between using arrays and using pointers. Another issue to be careful with is the size of the structs. Don't be fooled : there can be only one way to get a structure's way right, and that is by using sizeof().
#include <stdio.h> struct test { int one; int two; char *str; float flt; }; int main() { printf("Struct's size is %d.\n", sizeof(struct test)); return 0; }
This should return 24, but that is not guaranteed, and K&R explains this is because of various alignment requirements. I recommend using sizeof whenever you are in doubt, and presume nothing.
I should have altered the title and include the word "unions", and maybe even "bitfields". But because of the importance and general usage pattern of structures versus unions and bitfields, especially now that hardware is becoming a cheaper commodity (not necessarily healthy thinking, but anyway), I guess the title will say only "structures". So what is an union? A union resembles much a structure, what differs is the way the compiler deals with the storage (memory) for it. In short, a union is a complex data type that can store different types of data, but one member at a time. So regardless how big the variable stored will be, it will have its' place, but others won't be allowed in the union at that precise moment. Hence the name "union". The declarations and definitions of unions are the same as structures, and it's guaranteed that the union will take as much memory as its' biggest member.
If you will want to use C in embedded systems programming and/or low-level stuff is your game, then this part will seem appealing. A bitfield (some write it bit field), doesn't have a keyword assigned like enum or union, and it requires you to know your machine. It allows you to go beyond the tipical word-based limitations other languages confine you to. It also allows you to, and this might be a formal definition, "pack" more than one object in a single word.
To start with a short historical fact, enums were introduced in C when C89 was out the door, meaning K&R lacked this nifty type. An enum allows the programmer to create a set of named values, also known as enumerators, which have as their main characteristic that they have an integer value associated with them, either implicitly (0,1,2…) or explicitly by the programmer (1,2,4,8,16…) . This makes it easy to avoid magic numbers.
enum Pressure { pres_low, pres_medium, pres_high }; enum Pressure p = pres_high;
Now, this is easier, if we need pres_low to be 0, medium 1 and so forth, and you won't have to use #defines for this. I recommend a bit of reading if you're interested.
Although the information might seem a bit more condensed than before, don't worry. The concepts are relatively easy to grasp and a little bit of exercise will work wonders. We're waiting for you at our Linux Forums for any further discussion.
All articles in this series:
- I. C development on Linux – Introduction
- II. Comparison between C and other programming languages
- III. Types, operators, variables
- IV. Flow control
- V. Functions
- VI. Pointers and arrays
- VII. Structures
- VIII. Basic I/O
- IX. Coding style and recommendations
- X. Building a program
- XI. Packaging for Debian and Fedora
- XII. Getting a package in the official Debian repositories


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Where is Denzel Washington from? Denzel Washington is from Mount Vernon, New York, where he was born on December 28, 1954. The future Hollywood star grew up in the greater New York area, and he eventually studied at Fordham University, located in the Bronx. After getting his bachelors, he went to the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, though he moved back east after a year. By the early '80s, he'd made his name as a cast member on "St. Elsewhere," the TV show that vaulted him into the movies. Since making the big screen, he's never looked back, and over the years, Denzel has earned six Oscar nominations and grabbed two trophies.
Denzel Washington has come a long way form his hometown of Mount Vernon, and he's now a global superstar virtually unrivaled in Hollywood. He's up there with icons like Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, and over the years, he's played a wide range of characters in such diverse films as "Malcolm X," "The Hurricane," "The Taking of Pelham 123," "The Book of Eli," "American Gangsters," "Inside Man," "Training Day," and "Remember the Titans."
Fans wondering where Denzel Washington is from may be surprised to learn that his hometown is Mount Vernon. Washington is one of those A-list actors who's typically seen on location or the red carpet of some fancy awards show, and it's rare that we think of him as an East Coast kid with showbiz dreams. After all, he's won two Oscars — Best Supporting Actor for "Glory" and Best Actor for "Training Day" — and he's reportedly worth $140 million. And since the acclaimed actor and director is pulling in $40 million per year, it's not a question of where he's from, but rather where he's going. With luck, he's got dozens more great performances in him, and the pride of Mount Vernon is likely to add a few more Academy Awards to his trophy case before all is said and done.

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UFC Singapore: Octagon girl Azusa Nishigaki too busy to dateBy Cheryl Taya, Yahoo Sports
"It is a somewhat tiny outfit that Azusa Nishigaki has to wear as an octagon girl and some men may mind having their girlfriends dress like that.
"However, the former Miss Universe Japan finalist is single at the moment – work keeps her too busy to date – and said she wishes there would be someone who would care that way for her.
"Only revealing her age as "in the late 20s", Nishigaki made a surprise appearance at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Open Workout session on Wednesday."
Read the full article.


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Medical literature long has touted the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for the heart. But until now, researchers have not studied the potential benefit for people on hemodialysis, who are among the highest-risk patients for sudden cardiac death.
A study published Feb. 6 online in the journal Kidney International, which included 100 patients who died of sudden cardiac death during their first year of hemodialysis and 300 patients who survived, is the first to examine this question.
Allon N. Friedman, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and first author of the study, said the findings are impressive enough that he believes a placebo-controlled clinical study is warranted to confirm the results.
"We found that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood of patients who were just starting hemodialysis were very strongly associated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death over the first year of their treatment," Friedman said.
The five-year survival rate for patients on hemodialysis is 35 percent, with the risk of death highest in the first few months of starting treatment. The most common cause of death in these patients is sudden cardiac death, which accounts for about one out of every four deaths.
"The risk of sudden cardiac death in hemodialysis patients is highest during the first year of treatment. The annual rate of sudden cardiac death is about 6 to 7 percent, which may even exceed the rate in patients with heart failure," Friedman said. "This study is a first step toward identifying a possible treatment for sudden cardiac death in dialysis patients.
"Because omega-3 fatty acids can be obtained from certain foods, such as fish oil, our findings also have important implications for the type of diet we recommend to patients on dialysis," Friedman said.
Others involved in the research are Zhangsheng Yu, Rebeka Tabbey and Cheryl Denski from the Indiana University Department of Biostatistics; Hector Tamez, Julia Wenger and Ravi Thadhani from the Division of Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Yong Li and Bruce A. Watkins with the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Lipid Chemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University of Connecticut.
Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the National Kidney Foundation.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Indiana University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2011 — While progress remains fragile in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a civilian-military partnership is helping the Afghan people there make strides in governance, the judicial system, police effectiveness and education, a senior official involved in the effort said today.
Michael O'Neill, Great Britain's senior representative in southern Afghanistan and the head of the civil-military mission, has traveled to 11 districts in Helmand since he arrived there in October.
Good progress has taken place thanks to provincial Gov. Mohammad Gulab Mangal, coalition forces and the provincial reconstruction team]," O'Neill told Pentagon reporters in a video teleconference from Camp Leatherneck.
Helmand's provincial reconstruction team is made up of 200 people from eight nations who are specialists in development, diplomacy, policing, law, local government, education and agriculture. O'Neill said progress in governance is visible in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, as well as in Geresk and, increasingly, in places such as Marja, Khanishin and Naw Zad.
The growth in governance can be seen in "better structures and systems put in place, with more staff [and] more resilience," O'Neill said.
O'Neill and the United Kingdom-led reconstruction team work with Regional Command Southwest in establishing governance and security across the province.
"There are a lot more schools open now than there were 12 months ago, [and] more kids in schools, including girls," he said. He added that other efforts also have paid off, such as Mangal's work in counternarcotics and a 37 percent reduction in poppy cultivation in the last two years.
"You're seeing a lot of positives here," O'Neill said, adding that he believes it's a result of Mangal's political leadership and improvements in security and freedom of movement, Afghan army and police forces, and what he termed as a "very close partnership" with coalition troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark and Estonia.
Conditions remain fragile, O'Neill said, because Afghan and coalition forces continue to come under attack.
"Afghanistan is one of the very poorest countries in the world," he said. "It's suffered from 30 years of conflict. So it's not surprising that the progress is hard to achieve, and it's going to take more time."
The challenge for 2011, he said, involves consolidating and deepening the progress that has taken place over the last 12 to 18 months.
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)


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Wikileaks isn't the only site struggling to stay up these days because service providers are pulling their support. It appears that at least one person who wants to provide mirror access to Wikileaks documents is having the same trouble.
Recently we heard from a user who mirrored the Cablegate documents on his website. His hosting provider SiteGround suspended his account, claiming that he "severely" violated the SiteGround Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. SiteGround explained that it had gotten a complaint from an upstream provider, SoftLayer, and had taken action "in order to prevent any further issues caused by the illegal activity."
SiteGround told the user that he would need to update his antivirus measures and get rid of the folder containing the Wikileaks cables to re-enable his account. When the user asked why it was necessary to remove the Wikileaks folder, SiteGround sent him to SoftLayer. The user asked SoftLayer about the problem, but the company refused to discuss it with him because he isn't a SoftLayer customer. Finally, SiteGround told the user that SoftLayer wanted the mirror taken down because it was worried about the potential for distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. When the user pointed out that no attack had actually happened, and that this rationale could let the company use hypothetical future events to take down any site, SiteGround said that it was suspending the account because a future DDOS attack might violate its terms of use.
If this sounds like a lame excuse, that's because it is a lame excuse. It's incredibly disappointing to see more service providers cutting off customers simply because they decide (or fear) that content is too volatile or unpopular to host. And the runaround that this user received from his host and its upstream provider demonstrates the broader problems with the lack of any real transparency or process around such important decisions.
Internet intermediaries — whether directly in contract with their users or further up the chain — need to stick up for their customers, not undermine their freedom to speak online. As we've said before, your speech online is only as free as the weakest intermediary.
This incident shows that censorship is a slippery slope. The first victim here was Wikileaks. Now it's a Wikileaks mirror. Will a news organization that posts cables and provides journalistic analysis be next? Or a blogger who posts links to news articles describing the cables? If intermediaries are willing to use the potential for future DDOS attacks as a reason to cut off users, they can cut off anyone for anything.
EFF urges SiteGround, SoftLayer and other service providers to champion user rights and say no to online censorship.


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Could you have vinyl worth thousands in your collection?
The album - 'Music for Viola & Cello Played By Herbert Downes & Jacqueline Du Pre', on the Electric Recording Co. label - was recorded with violinist, Herbert Downes. Du Pre was just 17 when she made the album, her debut cello recital, for HMV.
You may not have an album by the cellist in your loft, but with rare vinyl turning up in the most unlikely places, it's certainly worth a look. Do you have any of these in your collection?
Oxford-born Du Pre was a child prodigy cellist - she began learning the instrument at the age of five. She made her concerto début in March 1962 at the Royal Festival Hall, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto which brought her global recognition.
Sadly, her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, and she was forced to stop performing at the age of 27.
She was immortalised in a 1998 biopic,'Hilary and Jackie' starring Emily Watson.