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This chapter describes issues associated with Oracle Access Manager 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). It includes the following topics:
Section 18.4, "Oracle Security Token Service Issues and Workarounds"
Section 18.5, "Integration and Inter-operability Issues and Workarounds"
Section 18.6, "Oracle Access Manager with Impersonation Workarounds"
This section describes patch requirements for Oracle Access Manager 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). It includes the following sections:
See Also:
Oracle Technology Network for details about the latest supported versions and platforms:
Oracle Fusion Middleware Patching Guide for details about the latest patch set
My Oracle Support at the following URL for the latest Oracle Access Manager 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) bundle patches and related release notes:
To work around this issue:
Go to My Oracle Support at
Click the Patches & Updates tab, and search for bug 9824531.Download the associated patch and install it by following the instructions in the README
file included with the patch.
On the Patches & Updates tab, search for bug 9882205. Download the associated patch and install it by following the instructions in the README
file included with the patch.
This section describes general issue and workarounds. It includes the following topic:
Section 18.2.1, "Resource Protected By Federation Shown Without Authentication"
Section 18.2.3, "Modify Authentication Scheme When Upgrading OAM 188.8.131.52 to OAM 188.8.131.52"
Section 18.2.4, "RemoteRegistrationServerException Seen After PasteConfig IDM (T2P)"
Section 18.2.6, "T2P Paste Config Operation Fails With Exception"
Section 18.2.8, "Sending Valid Cookie For Embedded BI Content"
Section 18.2.9, "Incorrect SSO Agent Date/Time Shown to User"
Section 18.2.10, "Initial Messages After Webgate Registration Are Not Shown in the User's Locale"
Section 18.2.11, "Single-Click to Open Child Node is Not Supported in the Navigation Tree"
Section 18.2.13, "Turkish and Greek Character Issues on Oracle Access Manager Authentication Page"
Section 18.2.15, "Error Message of Create Agent Shows as Server Locale"
Section 18.2.17, "Non-ASCII Resources Require OHS To Restart To Make Protection Take Effect"
Section 18.2.18, "Non-ASCII Characters on Success/Failure URL Results in Garbled Redirect URL"
Section 18.2.19, "Resource with Non-ASCII Characters Cannot Be Protected by an OSSO Agent"
Section 18.2.20, "Error in Administration Server Log from Console Logins"
Section 18.2.22, "editWebgateAgent Command Does Not Give An Error If Invalid Value is Entered"
Section 18.2.24, "Message Logged at Error Level Instead of at INFO When Servers in Cluster Start"
Section 18.2.25, "Help Is Not Available for WLST Command registeroifdappartner"
Section 18.2.26, "User Must Click Continue to Advance in Authentication Flow"
Section 18.2.29, "Online Help Provided Might Not Be Up To Date"
Section 18.2.31, "Disabled: Custom Resource Types Cannot be Created"
Section 18.2.32, "Use of a Non-ASCII Name for a Webgate Might Impact SSO Redirection Flows"
Section 18.2.33, "Authentication Module Lists Non-Primary Identity Stores"
Section 18.2.36, "Changing UserIdentityStore1 Type Can Lock Out Administrators"
Section 18.2.39, "Non-ASCII Query String Issues with Internet Explorer v 7, 8, 9"
Section 18.2.40, "Oracle Virtual Directory with SSL Enabled"
When accessing a page protected by the new Oracle Access Manager integrated Federation feature with the Internet Explorer browser, the browser's delete cookies option does not delete cookies and, therefore, authentication will not be requested. This is a browser specific issue.Workaround: Delete the browsing history using Tools-> Internet Options-> Browsing History (make sure Cookies is selected) and close all instances of Internet Explorer. When accessing the OAM protected page again; authentication will be requested.
The OSSO Plugin is for iPlanet and IIS when a customer does not wish to use OHS. It must be registered with OID/SSO 10.1.2.3 or 10.1.4.3 which have been discontinued as of 2011.
For any Oracle Access Manager customer that upgrades from OAM 188.8.131.52 to OAM 184.108.40.206 and uses a custom login page, remove the redirect=true
entry from Challenge Parameters in the AnonymousScheme authentication scheme or the Login Page will not work. Details are in MOS Note 1548551.1.
Even when pasteConfig goes through successfully, a RemoteRegistrationServerException is logged. If you can access the Oracle Access Manager console and see all the agents, this exception is benign and can be ignored.
After successfully logging in to a page with a longer URL, an Oracle Access Manager system error page might be displayed; access to the same page would not have resulted in this in previous releases. Accessing the page with a longer URL a second time may clear this condition.
When trying to complete the paste config portion of the Test to Production procedure, the following exception may occur:
javax.management.RuntimeMBeanException: javax.management.RuntimeMBeanException: Configuration MBean not initialized.
There is currently no workaround for this issue.
Oracle Identity Manager and Oracle Access Manager integrations support Webgate 11g. Follow this procedure to create policies for Webgate 11g.
Modify the value for WEBGATE_TYPE in the idmConfigTool configOAM
and idmConfigTool configOIM
property files.
ohsWebgate11g (for Webgate 11)
ohsWebgate10g (for Webgate 10)
Log in to the Oracle Access Manager console.
Select the Policy Configuration tab.
Expand Application Domains - IAM Suite
Click Resources.
Click Open.
Click New resource.
Provide values for the following:
Type: HTTP
Description: OAM Credential Collector
Host Identifier: IAMSuiteAgent
Resource URL: /oam
Protection Level: Unprotected
Authentication Policy: Public Policy
Click Apply.
When embedded BI content and Oracle Access Manager are on different physical machines or accessed from different ports on the same machine, the BI proxy on the application's container needs to authenticate itself to the Oracle Access Manager server in order to access the protected BI content. To ensure that the valid OAMAuthnCookie is sent to the Webgate, filterOAMAuthnCookie=false
should be set in the User Defined Parameters section of the Webgate's configuration profile. Restart the server after the modification for the new parameter value to take effect.
The default start date on the Create OAM Agent page is based on the Oracle Access Manager server date/time. The date/time shown to the end user is based on the Oracle Access Manager server time zone rather than on the user's machine.
After Webgate registration, the description fields in the initial messages for related components are not shown in the user's locale.
The description field does not support Multilingual Support (MLS).
Single-click to open a child node in the navigation tree is not supported, but double-click is supported.
The user credential for the Oracle Access Manager registration tool oamreg.sh
does not support non-ASCII characters on the Linux Non-UTF8 server locale and the Windows native server.
In some cases if a user has Turkish, German, or Greek special characters in the user name and the login name only differs in the special characters, he might pass authentication because of case mappings and case-insensitivity.
Some internationalization characters should have special capitalization rule so that characters do not convert back to the lower case.
For example, there is the case with SS and ß in German, where ß only exists as a lower case character. When performing "to Upper" against ß, ß will be changed to SS. And if the upper case text is then converted back to lower case, the SS becomes ss and not the original ß.
When the server locale is not UTF-8 and using WebLogic Server embedded LDAP as an identity store, the SSO Authentication page does not support Non-ASCII passwords.
When an administrator creates an agent with the same name as one that already exists, the language of the error message displayed is based on the server locale rather than on the browser locale.
Oracle Access Manager 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) cannot operate directly with LDAP servers returning referrals.
The workaround is to use Oracle Virtual Directory.
When you add a resource with a non-ASCII name to the protected authentication policy, it will require the 11g OHS Server to restart to make the protection take effect, whereas in adding resources with English characters, protection takes effect in real time without having to restarting the OHS Server.
If an on success or on failure URL configured for an authentication policy contains non-ASCII characters in the URL specified, then the URL specified will be garbled when it is used during a user authentication. This will happen only when the authentication scheme is Basic Authentication and the end user's browser is the Simplified Chinese version of IE8 running on the Chinese version of Windows.
The OSSO Agent cannot protect a resource because it does not encode the entire resource URL to UTF-8 format.
To work around this issue, use the Webgate Agent instead of the SSO Agent.
Webgate is able to convert the entire resource URL to UTF-8 format.
If you log in to the Oracle Access Manager Console as an administrator and then log in to the Console as an administrator in a new browser tab, the following error appears in the administration logs:
------------------------------------------------------------ <May 20, 2010 10:12:47 AM PDT> <Error> <oracle.adfinternal.view.page.editor.utils.ReflectionUtility> <WCS-16178> <Error instantiating class - oracle.adfdtinternal.view.faces.portlet.PortletDefinitionDTFactory> ------------------------------------------------------------
The error message does not impact functionality.
If the Application Domain subtree on the navigation tree does not render or respond to user interface actions over a period of time, it may be the result of multiple refreshes.
To work around these issues, restart the administration server and log in to the Oracle Access Manager Console again.
The WLST command editWebgateAgent
does not give an error when a invalid value is entered for the state field in both online and offline mode. The Oracle Access Manager Console does show the state field value as neither enabled nor disabled, though it is a mandatory field.
In the offline mode, the WLST command, displayWebgate11gAgent
, displays the 11g Webgate Agent entry in the System Configuration tab twice.
When starting Oracle Access Manager servers in a cluster, the following message is displayed:
<Jun 22, 2010 3:59:41 AM PDT> <Error> <oracle.jps.authorization.provider.pd> <JPS-10774> <arme can not find state.chk file.>
The correct level of the message is INFO
, rather than Error
The Help command is not available for the WLST command, registeroifdappartner
The online and offline command registers Oracle Identity Federation as a Delegated Authentication Protocol (DAP) Partner.
For information, refer to "registerOIFDAPPartner" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.
registerOIFDAPPartner(keystoreLocation="/scratch/keystore" logoutURL="http://<oifhost>:<oifport>/fed/user/sploosso?doneURL= http://<oamhost>:< oam port>/ngam/server/pages/logout.jsp", rolloverTime="526")
Parameter Name | Definition |
keystoreLocation |
Location of the Keystore file. The file generated at the OIF Server. (mandatory) |
logoutURL |
The OIF Server's logout URL. <mandatory> |
rolloverInterval |
The Rollover Interval for the keys used to enc/decrypt SASSO Tokens (optional) |
The following invocation illustrates use of all parameters. registerOIFDAPPartner(keystoreLocation="/scratch/keystore", logoutURL="http://<oifhost>:<oifport>/fed/user/sploosso?doneURL=http://<oamhost>: <oam port>/ngam/server/pages/logout.jsp", rolloverTime="526")
In a native integration with Oracle Adaptive Access Manager, the resource is protected by an Oracle Access Manager policy that uses the Basic Oracle Adaptive Access Manager authentication scheme.
When a user tries to access a resource, he is presented with the username page.
After he enters his username, he must click Continue before he can proceed to the password page. He is not taken to this page automatically.
The workaround is for the user to click Continue, which might allow him to proceed to the password page.
In the X509 authentication modules, the following OCSP-related fields are no longer mandatory:
OCSP Server Alias
OCSP Responder URL
OCSP Responder Timeout
If OCSP is enabled
The OCSP-related fields should be filled in by the administrator. If they are not filled, there will not be an error from the Console side.
It is the responsibility of the administrator to provide these values.
If OCSP is not enabled
The OCSP-related fields need not be filled in this case. If there are values for these fields, they will be of no consequence/significance, as OCSP itself is not enabled.
In the default out of the box configuration, the OCSP responder URL is http://ocspresponderhost:port
. If you make changes to other fields and leave this as is, you will see a validation error, since this value is still submitted to the back end and at the Console, the layer port should be a numeric field. You can either modify the field, with the port being a numeric field or delete the entire value.
Under the Data Sources node of the System Configuration tab, Common Configuration section, there is no Databases node in Oracle Access Manager 11g (188.8.131.52).
Online help is available in the Oracle Access Manager Console, but you should check OTN to ensure you have the latest information.
The Oracle Access Manager audit report AuthenticationFromIPByUser uses an Oracle Database 11.2.0 feature and will not work with older versions of database. The following error is displayed if an older version is used:
ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected
For Oracle Access Manager 11g, creating custom resource types should not be attempted. In the initial release, the buttons to create/edit/delete resource types were available.
With Oracle Access Manager 11g (126.96.36.199) these command buttons are disabled. Oracle provided resource types include:
HTTP (includes HTTPS)
TokenServiceRP (Resources for representing Token Service Relying Party)
wl_authen (Resources for representing WebLogic Authentication schemes)
When using the OAM Server with WebGates and when the Webgate ID is registered with a non-ASCII name, the OAM Server may reject that authentication redirect as an invalid request.
To work around this redirection issue, use an ASCII name for the Webgate.
Resources are protected and error messages do not occur when the administration server and oracle access servers are started on UTF-8 locales.
The redirection issue only occurs on native server locales (Windows and Non-UTF8 Linux server locales)
In the user interface under the Authentication Module, only the primary identity store should be selected in the list since only primary identity stores can be used for authentication/authorization. Currently, the Oracle Access Manager Console allows you to select identity stores that are not primary.
The following Oracle Access Manager operations are not supported through using the oam_server node under Identity and Access in Fusion Middleware Control:
Start up
Shut down
View Log Messages
However, these operations are supported per the Oracle Access Manager managed server instance through using the oam_server node (for the specific server) under Application Deployments in Fusion Middleware Control.
WebLogic Server installation on Windows 64-bit platform can be successful with 32-bit JAVA_HOME (jdk1.6.0_23). On Windows 64-bit platform, the path to 32-bit JAVA_HOME (c:\program files (x86)\java\jdkxxx) is not correctly handled by the startWeblogic.cmd.
If you launch the install shield with setup.exe, you are asked for the path of the 64-bit JAVA_HOME. If you provide the 32-bit JAVA_HOME (jdk1.6.0_24) path, the install shield is not launched.
If you execute config.cmd from \Middleware\Oracle_IDM1\common\bin, the path to the 32-bit JAVA_HOME (jdk1.6.0_24) is used. Following successful installation, however, you cannot start AdminServer.
Workaround: Oracle recommends replacing SUN_JAVA_HOME to use the path with the shorter name (c:\progra~2\java\jdkxxxx).
On Windows, the shorter names can be seen by executing "dir /X".
Alternatively, you can set Windows command shell variable JAVA_HOME to path with shorter name and execute startWeblogic.cmd within that. For example:
>set JAVA_HOME=c:\progra~2\java\jdkXX
An Identity Store that is designated as the System Store should not be edited to change the store type (from Embedded LDAP to OID, for instance) nor the connection URLs.
If you do need to change the Identity Store that is designated as the System Store should not be edited to change the store type, Oracle recommends that you create a new Identity Store and then edit that registration to mark it as your System Store.
The layout of the single sign-on (SSO) Login Page, Impersonation Consent page, Logout Page, Impersonation Error page, and Login Error Page do not change for Arabic and Hebrew locales.
The date formats of "Creation Instant" and "Last Access Time" on the Session Management Search page are not correctly localized.
Due to a limitation with the Internet Explorer browser, resources with Non-ASCII query string when if you directly type or paste the resource URL.
With Oracle Virtual Directory as the user identity store, no errors are seen after changing its registration to use the SSL port, checking the SSL box, and testing the connection (Test Connection button). However, authentication fails (even though non-SSL port is fine). The first time Test Connection goes through and any subsequent time it results in Socket Timeout exception from the Oracle Virtual Directory side.
Workaround: Disable NIO for the SSL port as follows:
Stop Oracle Virtual Directory. For example:
$ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=ovd1
Edit the a LDAP SSL listener section of listener.os_xml to add <useNIO>false</useNIO>
, as follows:
<ldap version="20" id="LDAP SSL Endpoint">
Save the file.
Test the connection several times to confirm this is working.
There is no encoding on the query string from Webgate when % is not followed by a sequence of characters that form a valid URL escape sequence. In this case, Oracle Access Manager etains % as % in the decoded string and the following error occurs:
No message for The Access Server has returned a status that is unknown to the Access Gate .Contact your website administrator to remedy this problem.
11g Webgate: To specify the '%' character in a query string, you must specify '%25' instead of '%'.
10g Webgate: The 11g Webgate workaround applies to only the anonymous scheme. For other authentication schemes, there is currently no workaround.
This section describes configuration issues and their workarounds. It includes the following topics:
Section 18.3.1, "For mod-osso Value for RedirectMethod Should be "POST""
Section 18.3.3, "11g Webgate Fails to Install with Compact Configuration."
Section 18.3.7, "What to Avoid or Note in Oracle Access Manager Configuration"
Section 18.3.8, "Install Guides Do Not Include Centralized Logout Configuration Steps"
Section 18.3.9, "NULL Pointer Exception Shown in Administration Server Console During Upgrade"
Section 18.3.10, "Using Access SDK Version 10.1.4.3.0 with Oracle Access Manager 11g Servers"
Section 18.3.11, "Finding and Deleting Sessions Using the Console"
Section 18.3.12, "Non-ASCII Users with Resource Protected by Kerberos Authentication Scheme"
For Webgate to support long URLs, the following code sample was added under oam-config.xml
<Setting Name="AgentConfig" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="OSSO" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="RedirectMethod"Type="xsd:string">GET</Setting> <Setting Name="Delimiter" Type="xsd:string">AND</Setting> </Setting>
For mod-osso
, the value for RedirectMethod
should be POST
, however, the values shipped out of the box is GET
. Follow these steps to perform the modification, as this change needs to be performed manually and there is no user interface or WLST commands available to do so.
Stop the Oracle Access Manager Console and managed servers.
Enter cd DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig
Enter vi oam-config.xml
Go to the following line in oam-config.xml
<Setting Name="AgentConfig" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="OSSO" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="RedirectMethod"Type="xsd:string">GET</Setting>
Modify GET
to POST
as follows:
<Setting Name="RedirectMethod"Type="xsd:string">POST</Setting>
Save the changes and start the AdminServer and managed servers.
The user is directed to the self-user login after logging out of the Oracle Identity Manager Administration Console.
To be redirected correctly, the logout must work properly.
The workaround for logout with 10g Webgate is to:
Copy logout.html
(for example, from Oracle_IDM1/oam/server/oamsso/logout.html
) to webgate_install_dir/oamsso
Update logout URL in the file to http://oam_server:oam_server/ngam/server/logout
If redirection to specific page has to occur after logout, change the logout URL to http://oam_server:oam_server/ngam/server/logout?doneURL=http://host:port/specifipage.html
A compact configuration is an installation with all identity management components on a machine with limited hardware capacity.
On trying to install the 11g Webgate with compact configuration, the following error occurs during the configure step:
Configuring WebGate... There is an error. Please try again. Preparing to connect to Access Server. Please wait. Client authentication failed, please verify your WebGate ID. cp: cannot stat `$ORACLE_HOME/ohs/conf/aaa_key.pem': No such file or directory cp: cannot stat `$ORACLE_HOME/ohs/conf/aaa_cert.pem': No such file or directory cp: cannot stat `$ORACLE_HOME/ohs/conf/aaa_chain.pem':
The error occurs because the following entries were not initialized in oam-config.xml
during the installation:
<Setting Name="oamproxy" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="sslGlobalPassphrase" Type="xsd:string">changeit</Setting> <Setting Name="SharedSecret" Type="xsd:string">1234567812345678</Setting> </Setting>
To initialize oam-config.xml
Delete the OAM
entry from CSF repository by performing the following steps:
Start the WebLogic Scripting Tool:
In the WLST shell, enter the command to connect to the domain and then enter the requested information.
A sample is given below.
wls:/offline> connect () Please enter your username [weblogic] : Please enter your password [welcome1] : Please enter your server URL [t3://localhost:7001] : Connecting to t3://localhost:7001 with userid weblogic ... Successfully connected to Admin Server 'AdminServer' that belongs to domain 'imdomain86'.
Change to domainRuntime
A sample is given below.
wls:/imdomain86/serverConfig> domainRuntime () Location changed to domainRuntime tree. This is a read-only tree with DomainMBean as the root.
Check whether an entry exists in the CSF repository with the map name as OAM
and key as jks
A sample is given below.
wls:/imdomain86/domainRuntime> listCred(map="OAM_STORE",key="jks") {map=OAM_STORE, key=jks} Already in Domain Runtime Tree . [Name : jks, Description : null, expiry Date : null] PASSWORD:1qaldrk3eoulhlcmfcqasufgj2 .
Delete the OAM
map entry from the CSF repository.
wls:/imdomain86/domainRuntime> deleteCred(map="OAM_STORE",key="jks") {map=OAM_STORE, key=jks} Already in Domain Runtime Tree .
Exit from wlst shell.
A sample is given below.
wls:/imdomain86/domainRuntime> exit () . . .
Go to DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig and delete the file .oamkeystore
A sample [on linux] is given below.
[aime@pdrac09-5 fmwconfig]$ rm .oamkeystore .
Stop the Managed Server and Admin Server.
Start the AdminServer.
Verify oam-config.xml
Start Managed Server.
Steps to verify oam-config.xml
Go to DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/oam-config.xml.
Verify that all the WebLogic Server server instances are configured under DeployedComponent > Server > NGAMServer > Instance
Verify that the OAM Managed Server protocol, host and port are available at:
DeployedComponent > Server > NGAMServer > Profile > OAMServerProfile > OAMSERVER
Verify that the SSO CipherKey is generated and available at:
DeployedComponent > Server > NGAMServer > Profile > ssoengine > CipherKey
Verify that the oamproxy
entries for SharedSecret
and sslGlobalPassphrase
is generated and available at:
DeployedComponent > Server > NGAMServer > Profile > oamproxy
should have a value different from 1234567812345678
and sslGlobalPassphrase
different from changeit
Although a resource can be protected using the BASIC scheme, the WebLogic server has a feature by which it first authenticates the user and then sends it to the server.
If you add the following flag under <security-configuration>
in config.xml
and restart the server, you will be able to bypass WebLogic server's authentication <enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>false</enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>
. Once the credentials are submitted back to the OAM Server, it will be audited.
The WebLogic Server Administration Console does not display or log the enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials
setting. However, you can use WLST to check the value in a running server. You must modify this value by setting this in config.xml
To do so, refer to "Developing Secure Web Applications" at:
When you install the Oracle Access Manager 10g Webgate, do not replace the current version of msvcirt.dll
with a newer version when prompted. If you do so, there may be incompatibility issues. Later, when you try to install OSSO 10g (10.1.4.3), the opmn.exe
command might fail to start and the OracleCSService
might time out because the required .dll
file is missing.
The supported topology for Oracle Access Manager 11g is shown below.
WebGate10g or Webgate 11g and protected applications on IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) protocol host
OHS (Oracle HTTP Server) reverse proxy on dual-stack host
Client on IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) protocol host
Dual-stack is the presence of two Internet Protocol software implementations in an operating system, one for IPv4 and another for IPv6.
The IPv6 client can access Webgate (10g or 11g) through the reverse proxy on IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack.
This section contains scenarios and items to note in Oracle Access Manager Configuration
WLST scripts for Oracle Access Manager 10g and Oracle Access Manager 11g WebGates do not support changing Agent security modes.
Unsupported operations for the Oracle Access Manager Console and WLST are described in the following subsections.
OAM Server
Use Case: Concurrent Deletion and Updating
Open an OAM Server instance in edit mode in Browser 1.
Using the Oracle Access Manager Console in another browser (Browser 2) or using a WLST script, delete this server instance.
Return to Browser 1 where the server instance is opened in edit mode.
In Browser 1, click the Apply button.
Current Behavior
The Oracle Access Manager Console displays the message, "Server instance server_name might be in use, are you sure you want to edit it?" along with the confirmation that the update succeeded.
On clicking Yes, the following error message pops up, as expected, and the OAM Server instance page is closed (correct behavior):
"Error while reading your_server-name OAM Server Instance Configuration."
However, the navigation tree node might continue to display the OAM Server instance until you click the Refresh command button for the navigation tree.
Use Case: Two OAM Server Instances with Same Host Cannot have the Same Proxy Port.
For this use case, there are two instances of the OAM Server: oam_server1 and oam_server2.
Open oam_server1 in edit mode and specify a host and OAM proxy port.
Now open oam_server2 in edit mode and specify the same host and proxy port as oam_server1.
The changes are saved without any error message.
Current Behavior
The Oracle Access Manager Console does not display any error and allows the update.
The behavior is incorrect.
Use Case: Log Statements Detailing the Server Instance Creation, Update and Delete are not Present on the Oracle Access Manager Console
If you create, edit, or delete an OAM Server instance from the Oracle Access Manager Console, the log statements corresponding to create, edit and delete are not displayed by the Console.
LDAP Authentication Module:
Use Case: Concurrent Deletion/Creation of User Identity Store does not Reflect in the List of Identity Stores in the LDAP Authentication Module Create and Edit
Open create/ edit for the LDAP authentication module.
A list displays the identity stores present in the system.
Now create a user identity store using another tab.
Return to the create/edit tab for the LDAP authentication module and check the list for user identity stores.
Current Behavior
The Oracle Access Manager Console displays the error message, as expected, and closes the Authentication Module page (correct behavior):
"Error while reading module-name Authentication Module Configuration."
However, the navigation tree node might continue to display the Authentication Module node until you click the Refresh command button for the navigation tree.
LDAP, Kerberos and X509 Authentication Module
Use Case: Concurrent deletion and updating
Open an LDAP/Kerberos/X509 authentication module in edit mode in Oracle Access Manager Console in Browser 1.
Using Oracle Access Manager Console in another browser (Browser 2) or using a WLST script, delete this authentication module.
Now return to Browser 1 where the authentication module is opened in edit mode.
Click the Apply button.
Current Behavior
The Oracle Access Manager Console updates this authentication module configuration and writes it to back end.
The behavior is incorrect.
Use Case: Log Statements Detailing the Server Instance Creation, Update and Delete are Not present on Oracle Access Manager Console side.
When you create, edit or delete an authentication module from Oracle Access Manager Console, the log statements corresponding to create, edit and delete are not written by the Console.
OAM 11G Webgate
Use Case: Concurrent Deletion and Update
Open an OAM 11g Webgate instance in edit mode in Oracle Access Manager Console in Browser 1.
Using the Oracle Access Manager Console in another browser (Browser 2) or using a WLST script, delete this OAM 11g Webgate.
Now return to the Browser1 where the server instance is opened in edit mode.
Click on the Apply button.
Current Behavior
The Oracle Access Manager Console for edit OAM11g Webgate does not change and the tab does not close.
A OAM11g Webgate configuration not found error dialog is displayed by the Oracle Access Manager Console.
However, the navigation tree is blank and attempts to perform any operation results in a javax.faces.model.NoRowAvailableException".
The behavior is incorrect.
OSSO Agent
Use Case: Concurrent Deletion and Update
Open an OSSO Agent instance in edit mode in the Oracle Access Manager Console in Browser 1.
Using the Oracle Access Manager Console in another browser (Browser 2) or using a WLST script, delete this OSSO Agent.
Now return to the Browser 1 where the OSSO Agent instance is opened in edit mode.
Click on Apply button.
Current Behavior
Editing the OSSO Agent in the Oracle Access Manager Console results in a null pointer exception.
The behavior is incorrect.
Single-Sign On is enabled after Oracle Access Manager is installed; to complete configuration of Single-Sign On out of the box, centralized log out must be configured post-install. Configure centralized log out by following direction from these sections:
Configuring Centralized Logout for ADF-Coded Applications with Oracle Access Manager 11g
In order for the ADF logout to work correctly, Single Sign-On Server Patch 9824531 is required. Install this patch, as described in the readme
file that is included in the patch.
Configuring Centralized Logout for the IDM Domain Agent (in the patch set this is now the IAMSuiteAgent)
A NULL pointer exception occurs because of the configuration events trigger when the identity store shuts down. The upgrade is successful, however, and error messages are seen in administration server console. There is no loss of service.
If the NULL pointer is seen during upgrade, there is no loss of service, you can ignore the error.
If the NULL pointer is seen during WLST command execution, you must restart the administration server.
In general, the Sun Microsystems JDK 1.4.x compiler is the JDK version used with the Java interfaces of Access SDK Version 10.1.4.3.0.
As an exception, the Java interfaces of the 64-bit Access SDK Version 10.1.4.3.0, specifically for the Linux operating system platform, requires the use of Sun Microsystems JDK 1.5.x compiler.
The new Session Management Engine capability within Oracle Access Manager 11g will create a session for every Access SDK version 10.1.4.3.0 call for authentication.
This may cause issues for customers that use Access SDK to programmatically authenticate an automated process. The issue is the number of sessions in the system that is generated within Access SDK will increase dramatically and cause high memory consumption.
When session search criteria is generic (using just a wild card (*), for example), there is a limitation on deleting a session from a large list of sessions.
Oracle recommends that your session search criteria is fine-grained enough to obtain a relatively small set of results (ideally 20 or less).
Non-ASCII users fail to access a resource protected by a Kerberos authentication scheme using WNA as a challenge method.
The exception occurs when trying to get user details to populate the subject with the user DN and GUID attributes.
This section provides the following topics:
Section 18.4.1, "No Warnings Given If Required Details are Omitted"
Section 18.4.2, "New Requester Pages, Internet Explorer v7, and Japanese Locale"
Section 18.4.3, "Delete Button Not Disabled When Tables Have No Rows"
Section 18.4.4, "Copying an Issuance Template Does Not Copy All Child Elements"
Section 18.4.6, "Only Generic Fault Errors Written to Oracle WSM Agent Logs"
Section 18.4.7, "Server and Client Key Tab Files Must be the Same Version"
Section 18.4.8, "Default Partner Profile Required for WS-Security"
Section 18.4.9, "SAML Token Issued When NameID is Not Found"
On the Token Mapping page of a new Validation Template with the following characteristics:
Token Type SAML 1.1
Default Partner Profile: requester profile
No warnings are given:
If you check the box to Enable Attribute Based User Mapping if you leave empty the required User Attributes field
A new row is not saved if the User Attribute field is empty. However, it is saved if both fields are filled. Removing the value of the User Attribute field in a user-added row causes the row to be deleted when you Apply changes
If you attempt to delete built-in Name Identifier Mapping rows
Built-in Name Identifier Mapping rows cannot be deleted.
When using the Japanese Locale with Internet Explorer v7, the title "New Requester" is not displayed in one line on the page. The Partner, Name, Partner Type, and Partner Profile fields might wrap on the page.
This can occur whether you are creating or modifying the Partner (Requester, Relying Party, and Issuing Authority).
The Delete button is enabled even though there are no rows to be deleted in the following tables:
The Attribute Name Mapping table (Token and Attributes page for Partner Profiles (Requester, Relying Party, Issuing Authority Profiles).
The Value Mapping table in Issuing Authority Partner Profiles
When there are no rows in a table, the Delete button should be disabled by default.
Issuance Template Copy Like function does not copy nested tables (attribute mapping and filtering tables, and the custom token attribute table).
Workaround: Navigate to the desired Issuance Template, click the name in the navigation tree and click the Copy Like button. Manually enter missing information from the original: Attribute Mappings or custom attribute tables.
The Apply and Revert buttons are enabled on Oracle Security Token Service pages even if there are no changes to apply or saved changes to revert to the previous version.
No content is written logs for the Oracle WSM agent errors. There is only a generic fault error.
Workaround: Enable message logging for the Oracle WSM agent on the host OAM Server.
Locate the logging.xml file in $DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/server/oam_server1/logging.xml file.
Change the WSM block of the logging.xml file, to:
<logger name="oracle.wsm" level="TRACE:32" useParentHandlers="false"> <handler name="odl-handler"/> </logger> <logger name="oracle.wsm.msg.logging" level="TRACE:32" useParentHandlers="false"> <handler name="owsm-message-handler"/> <handler name="wls-domain"/> </logger>
OSTS Policies: When Oracle Security Token Service policies are used (instead of Oracle-provided WSM policies) perform the following steps:
Locate: Oracle_IDM1/oam/server/policy
Unjar sts-policies.jar.
Change all the polices to set Enforced to true: META-INF/polices/sts.
<oralgp:Logging orawsp:name="Log Message1" orawsp:Silent="true orawsp:Enforced="true" orawsp:category="security/logging"> <oralgp:msg-log> <oralgp:request>all</oralgp:request> <oralgp:response>all</oralgp:response> <oralgp:fault>all</oralgp:fault> </oralgp:msg-log> </oralgp:Logging>
Re-jar the updated sts-policies.jar.
Restart the AdminServer and managed servers.
An exception to authenticate the Kerberos token occurs if WebLogic 10.3.5 is configured with Sun JDK6 greater than u18.
When using the Kerberos token as an authentication token requesting the security token from Oracle Security Token Service:
The keytab file configured in the validation template should always be the latest version from the KDC server
The KVNO should always be the latest that is available on the server:
The Oracle Access Manager Access Administration Guide states "When you toggle the Token Protocol from WS-Trust to WS-Security, options in the Token Type list do not change. However, the required "Default Partner Profile" list appears from which you must choose one profile for WS-Security."
Correction: When you toggle the Token Protocol from WS-Trust to WS-Security a required field "Default Partner Profile" will appear. You must choose a value for this field. If you again toggle back to WS-Trust without choosing a value for this field The options in the Token Type list are not updated correctly to have the WS-Trust Token Type values.
Rather than returning an error response, an assertion issued with an empty NameIdentifier field can be issued even when the NameIdentifier user attribute has a null or empty value. For example:
<saml:NameIdentifier Format="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"/>
Workaround: The "Name Identifier User Attribute" Field in the Issuance Template requires a value for the Userstore.
This section provides the following topics:
Section 18.5.1, "WNA Authentication Does Not Function on Windows 2008"
Section 18.5.2, "JVM Plug-in Ignores Cookies Marked 'httponly'"
The default Kerberos encryption supported by Windows 2008 Server and Windows 2007 machines are "AES256-CTS-HMAC-SHA1-96", "AES128-CTS-HMAC-SHA1-96" and "RC4-HMAC".
If the clients are configured to use DES only encryption, users will not be able to access protected resources with Kerberos authentication. The error message, An incorrect username and password was specified
might be displayed.
Because the initial Kerberos tokens are not present, the browser sends NTLM tokens, which the OAM Server does not recognize; therefore, the user authentication fails.
The workaround is to enable the encryption mechanisms, and follow the procedure mentioned in:
Cookies set with the httponly
flag are not available to Browser Side Scripts and Java Applets. The JVM plugin ignores cookies marked 'httponly.'
In mod_sso.conf, disable the OssoHTTPOnly off
Add the required OSSO cookies to the list of possible applet parameters to pass for authentication.
This section provides the following topics:
Section 18.6.1, "Impersonation Can Fail on Internet Explorer v 7, 8, 9"
Section 18.6.2, "With Oracle Access Manager 11g ORA_FUSION_PREFS Cookie Domain is Three Dots"
Due to a limitation with the Internet Explorer browser, Impersonation can fail to go to the Consent page when the Impersonatee's userid contains Non-ASCII characters.
Impersonation goes instead to the failure_url if you directly type or paste the starting impersonation URL in the browser.
With Oracle Access Manager 10g the ORA_FUSION_PREFS cookie domain used the following form (2 dots):
10g Form .example.com
However, Oracle Access Manager 11g localized login accepts only the following format for the ORA_FUSION_PREFS cookie domain (3 dots):
11g Form .us.example.com
For example, if the host name is ruby.us.example.com
, Oracle Access Manager 11g creates a cookie with the domain name .us.example.com
However, the application session creates a cookie with the domain name .example.com
, which causes inter-operability failure between Fusion Middleware and the application session using this cookie.
Workaround: Update the FACookieDomain
parameter to correspond to 11g requirements, and increment the Version xsd:integer
in the oam-config.xml, as shown in this example:
Back up DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/oam-config.xml.
Open the file for editing and pay close attention to your changes.
Set FACookieDomain
to your domain (with 3 dot separators):
<Setting Name="FAAppsConfig" Type="htf:map"> <Setting Name="FACookieDomain" Type="xsd:string">.us.example.com</Setting> <Setting Name="FAAuthnLevel" Type="xsd:integer">2</Setting> <Setting Name="consentPage" Type="xsd:string">/oam/pages/impconsent.jsp </Setting> </Setting>
Configuration Version: Increment the Version xsd:integer
as shown in the next to last line of this example (existing value (26, here) + 1):
<Setting Name="Version" Type="xsd:integer">
<Setting xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
Name="NGAMConfiguration" Type="htf:map:>
<Setting Name="ProductRelease" Type="xsd:string">184.108.40.206</Setting>
<Setting Name="Version" Type="xsd:integer">26</Setting>
Save oam-config.xml.
This section provides documentation errata for the following guides:
There is no documentation errata for this guide.
There is no documentation errata for this guide.
This section contains documentation errata applicable to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Integration Guide for Oracle Access Manager, part number E15740-04 only.
The following documentation errata are included for this guide:
In the Oracle Fusion Middleware Integration Guide for Oracle Access Manager, part number E15740-04, Chapter 5 Integrating Oracle Access Manager and Oracle Identity Manager, Section 5.2 Prerequisites, Step 8a instructs you to prepare to configure LDAP synchronization (LDAP sync) in the domain where Oracle Identity Manager runs.
Step 8a directs you to Section 14.8.5 Completing the Prerequisites for Enabling LDAP Synchronization of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Identity Management, Part Number E12002-09. This may be confusing as some steps of that section (such as creating the OIM user and group) are already complete.
Instead, Step 8a should direct you to Section 220.127.116.11 Creating Adapters in Oracle Virtual Directory of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Identity Management, so that you can configure the Oracle Virtual Directory adapter for Oracle Internet Directory.
Also in Section 5.2 Prerequisites, Step 8c instructs you to run a configuration wizard to configure LDAP synchronization (LDAP sync) in the domain where Oracle Identity Manager runs. This step does not work if Oracle Identity Manager was installed without LDAP synchronization enabled.
Instead, Step 8c should direct you to Section 10.1 Enabling Postinstallation LDAP Synchronization of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Identity Manager, Part Number E14308-08, for the correct procedure to enable LDAP synchronization post-installation.
Section 5.4, Perform Integration Tasks in Oracle Identity Manager, does not provide definitions of all the properties to be specified in the properties file when executing the -configOIM
command in Step 3.
Use the following property definitions to assist you in configuring the properties file of the procedure:
Table 18-1 Properties for configOIM Command
Property | Definition |
URI required by OPSS. Default value is /${app.context}/adfAuthentication |
URI required by OPSS. Default value is /oamsso/logout.html |
URI required by OPSS. Default value is /obrar.cgi |
Oracle Access Manager hostname. |
Oracle Access Manager NAP port. |
The OAM access gate ID to which OIM needs to communicate. |
The name of the Oracle Identity Manager managed server. If clustered, any of the managed servers can be specified. |
Web domain on which the OIM application resides. Specify the domain in the format .cc.example.com. |
Cookie expiration period. Set to -1. |
The security model in which the Access Servers function. Choices are OPEN or SIMPLE. |
The type of WebGate agent you want to create. Set to |
Flag to determine if SSO should be enabled. Set to |
The port number for the identity store (corresponding to the IDSTORE_DIRECTORYTYPE). |
The hostname of the identity store (corresponding to the IDSTORE_DIRECTORYTYPE). |
The type of directory for which the authenticator must be created. |
User with admin privileges. Note that the entry must contain the complete LDAP DN of the user. |
The location in the directory where users are stored. |
The location in the directory where groups are stored |
The URL for the MDS database. |
The schema name for the MDS database. |
The WebLogic server hostname. |
The WebLogic server port number. |
The WebLogic server administrator. |
The Oracle Identity Manager domain name. |
The Oracle Identity Manager domain location. |
In Section 4.3 Integrate Oracle Identity Federation in SP Mode, under sub-section 4.3.2 Delegate Authentication to Oracle Identity Federation, Step 7c contains an incorrect example of how to update the OIFDAP
partner block in the oam-config.xml
configuration file. The correct example should be:
registerOIFDAPPartner(keystoreLocation="/scratch/keystore", logoutURL="http(s)://oifhost:oifport/fed/user/splooam11g?doneURL= http(s)://oamhost:oamport/oam/server/pages/logout.jsp", rolloverTime="500")
Note that oifhost
and oifport
refer to the Oracle Identity Federation server host and port respectively; and oamhost
and oamport
refer to the Oracle Access Manager server host and port respectively.


text:
Yesterday I testified to the House Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade (part of the House Financial Services Committee). The hearing's title was "Implications of the G-20 Leaders Summit for Low Income Countries and the Global Economy," and the main topic was whether Congress should support an extra $100bn for the IMF that the Obama Administration agreed at the G20 summit in early April (witness list, webcast, and written testimony).
The committee was mostly in favor of the US continuing to play a leading role in supporting the IMF, but pressed the witnesses to explain whether the IMF could lose this money (highly unlikely), how this would protect American jobs (definitely, but hard to quantify precisely), and if the broader package of IMF reform should also be supported (e.g., the proposed gold sales are being reassessed, to see they could generate more resources for aid to developing countries).
Politico is reporting that US funding for the IMF is likely to be attached to the war supplemental spending bill. The subcommittee's chairman, Gregory Meeks, seemed positive – as did all the Democrats who spoke, along with Gary Miller, the Ranking Member/Senior Republican. But, based on remarks made by at least two Republican members of the subcommittee, there is likely to be a big public fight at some point. My guess is that the Democratic side will press hard for President Obama to more publicly explain why supporting the IMF (and the G20) is very much in the US interest.
The main points from my written testimony are below. While Treasury represents the US vis-a-vis the IMF and traditionally has considerable scope for action, the views of Congress on IMF details are very important as both guidance and constraints. In our advice on the wide range of IMF-related issues below, both I and the other witnesses laid out broadly similar views with varying emphasis – there was actually much more disagreement among committee members than at the witness table.
Main points
Low income countries have been severely affected by the global economic downturn. Many of the worst consequences, including on the poorest people, have yet to be felt.
In that context, by contributing to the stabilization of the world's financial system, the G-20 summit had a positive effect. However, it left open a large number of important issues, some of which call for immediate congressional attention.
First and foremost, low income countries need to receive considerable additional resources in order to weather the crisis. This crisis is not of their making and, prior to this shock, poorer countries were making considerable progress along the lines of implementing exactly the policies advised by richer countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF has adapted its standard forms of conditionality to current circumstances. The goal of protecting core social spending is commendable and long overdue, and the implementation in recent East European and Pakistan programs is encouraging. However, the retreat from structural conditionality has probably gone too far and needs to be reappraised; the weaknesses of low income countries arise from and are manifest in disproportionate power of key individuals or sectors, and this needs to be addressed in a transparent manner wherever the IMF is engaged. In situations where such issues have been taken on board – as with transparency for extractive industries – the reception among civil society has been very positive.
The potential US legislative package (including IMF gold sales, its new income model, and $100 billion for the New Arrangements to Borrow) is worth serious consideration but also needs careful congressional review. The $250bn issue of Special Drawing Rights is a bold move which, while it involves some risks, is well worth taking – hopefully, this will be regarded as a pilot project for potentially larger increases in resources for troubled countries, on an "as needed" basis.
The G20 called for $6 billion of additional concessional resources from the Fund over the next 2-3 years for Low Income Countries, including some vague phrasing on money from gold sales. So far, the gold piece of this puzzle remains stalled at the level of the IMF's executive board. More transparency around board discussions on this and other items would reveal who is holding up change and for what reason.
Providing additional resources to low income is a very good idea, and increasing the resource flow from and through the IMF is timely and appropriate. If these resources can come from "extra" proceeds from gold sales, that would be an attractive solution – particularly as the income model needs some adjustment in the light of (a) the increase in Fund lending over the past 12 months, and (b) the introduction of the Flexible Credit Line, which offers the promise of Fund revenue even during quiet times for the global economy. However, it is too early to determine how profoundly the Fund's income model will be affected by this crisis and how the world responds.
As long as the Fund lends at concessional rates to low income countries (and the relevant, Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility interest rate is only 0.5% per year currently), loans may be attractive relative to grants – the key issue is the resource flow that is available, i.e., does lending allow more transfers in a meaningful and sustainable manner. Avoiding unsustainable debt burdens is of course of paramount importance.
Most important, we should take all available actions to shore up low income country defenses against this crisis. We should also guard against any form of complacency.
For that reason, it is most important that the IMF be authorized to restore its budget to its early 2008 level (i.e., before the 15-20% across the board cuts were implemented). Cutting the budget and letting go some of the most experienced IMF staff was the unfortunate result of gross macroeconomic negligence at the level of leading industrialized countries, including the US and its G7 partners. At the same time as the IMF was warning, clearly and firmly, that a global crisis was developing, major shareholders pushed through budget cuts that resulted in some of the IMF's best people leaving the organization.
Undoing the budget cuts would be embarrassing to leading European countries, but it should fine support from the Obama Administration – after all, it was their idea to make increasing IMF resources a central issue at the recent G20 summit. The IMF simply does not currently have sufficient skilled staff to undertake all the important tasks it has been asked to handle.
The G20 summit effectively agreed to end the European monopoly on the position of Managing Director at the IMF. Since the summit, there has been some indication of backsliding on this issue, but assuming that European countries can be kept to their commitments, this would be a major step in the right direction. Given that the next leadership change is likely to take place in a little over a year, identifying and supporting sensible candidates from emerging markets would be most constructive. If an Indian or a Brazilian, for example, could be brought in as Managing Director, that has the potential to greatly expedite the rebuilding of the IMF's legitimacy and its engagement throughout the developing world.
Unfortunately, IMF credibility has been somewhat damaged by its inability to follow through on exchange rate surveillance, particularly with regard to China. While there seems to be a movement towards implicit agreement among leading countries, in and around the G20, to take this issue of the table, that would be a serious mistake. Countries must not think that competitive devaluation (or even sustaining accidental undervaluation) is a sensible or attractive policy. This will lead to greater global imbalances and potential instability, as some countries compete to get current account surpluses and other countries – willingly or not – run deficits.
Unless and until countries are assured that there is an effective international lender of last resort, they will be tempted to try to accumulate large amounts of reserves. This creates problems for reserve currency countries (e.g., the United States) as well as for the global system as a whole. We need an international system that can handle these issues and prevent them from becoming destabilizing. The IMF should be given another chance to show that it can help run the global system in a constructive fashion. This is of paramount importance for the United States and for everyone who wants to participate in an open international trading system – particularly low income countries, which have few other opportunities to grow and which remain highly vulnerable to shocks of all kinds.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland has opened the world's most comprehensive collection of items from The Beatles as part of the first redesign in the facility's 15-year history.
The exhibit announced Wednesday features nearly 70 items, including several that are being displayed for the first time, such as Paul McCartney's handwritten arrangement for the song "Birthday." Visitors also can see guitars played by John Lennon and George Harrison, the logo drum head from the kit that Ringo Starr used on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964, and notable clothing worn by each group member on tour or on film.
"For many years now, we have been fortunate to have a great relationship with Yoko Ono, which enabled us to have many John Lennon artifacts," said Jim Henke, vice president of exhibitions. "This time around, we were able to work with Ringo Starr and with George Harrison's estate, so they are well-represented in the exhibit. We also worked with some collectors who had other key Beatles pieces, and before we knew it, we had an absolutely incredible collection."
The items have gone on display as part of a museum redesign that is funded by part of the Rock Hall's $35 million capital campaign and is expected to be complete by next year. It includes technology upgrades and changes aimed at presenting the history of rock and roll more chronologically. Visitors can learn more through interactive kiosks and listening stations, new exhibits and oversize images of inductees like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The Hall of Fame also got a bit of the Hollywood treatment with a 50-foot red carpet welcoming visitors.
The facility expects to have the final upgrades, including a new video wall, in place before the Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies in 2012.


text:
Winter is coming, and all across the southern states eyes turn to energy bills and minds towards how to make them smaller. What is the most efficient way to heat your house?
As with anything to do with thermodynamics the answer is complicated, but there are some solid rules to help shape your thinking.
Insulate, insulate, insulate; then add more insulation
Both heating and cooling come down to one fundamental problem; how to put heat where you want it and keep it there. That means outside in summer and inside in winter.
The rate that heat enters or leaves a building is governed by the materials that make up your "building envelope": the surface which surrounds your living spaces. You have to stop heat crossing the boundary of your walls, ceiling, floor, windows and doors without your permission.
We say "without your permission" because in winter your first priority must be getting sunlight into the house and stopping it leaving again.
Direct sunlight is almost entirely ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which passes easily through glass and into your living room. Once it strikes an object it heats up and the sunlight becomes infrared (IR) radiation, which is best thought of as radiant heat. IR radiation doesn't pass through glass as readily as UV radiation, so the room heats up. Ever left your car in the sun for a day where it is a lovely 25 degrees outside but 60 degrees inside your car? It is exactly this mechanism at work.
Insulation will stop heat crossing boundaries. If you own your house, the path is well trodden and fairly simple. Start with the ceiling, adding the thickest insulation you can find.
Next consider how the wall insulation can be improved. There are some new materials and processes available for this task now and you can pay someone to come and pump insulation into your wall cavity for $2000 and upwards. Doing this can make your house about 2 degrees warmer.
Window treatments are just about on-par with walls for making a difference; even more so if you include doors.
If you're on a budget, or renting, there's a lot you can do with windows and doors. First, seal all the gaps around doors in the house, even the internal ones, to control the size of your heated space; there are rubber seals that can do the job for doors and windows.
Then seal all the ancillaries that let heat escape, like bathroom vents and the rangehood, which vents outside. This is where renters can get creative and reap rewards; rolled towels under doors are a good start, but why not go further? Tape a garbage bag over the window that opens onto the neighbour's bathroom. Block the old chimney with anything you can find. Do anything you can to stop heat going where you want it to go.
Curtains and pelmets are virtually mandatory in cold climates. Curtains must be as heavy as possible, touch the ground and the walls next to the window. Windows are the last great frontier in home insulation; and honestly, there's no cost-effective way to retrofit them. Energy payback on double-glazing your windows could be close to 70 years. But as with all energy efficiency upgrades there is more to it than the energy savings. What is niceness worth to you? How much nicer is it being in a house which is 14 degrees instead of 10? What is that worth to you?
Once your windows are done think about what you can do to the floor. Slabs are hard to change, but there are products for suspended boards which will make a big difference.
Which fuel?
You have three choices for heating: electricity, gas and wood.
The cost of wood is variable and will likely increase in coming years. The environmental impacts are strongly dependent on your fuel source. Fallen timber is not fair game: it is vital habitat for some animals, so should not be burnt. Particulate emissions are a concern as well.
Gas is great in that it can deliver astonishing amounts of heat quickly, with lower greenhouse gas emissions than grid electricity, but not as low as renewable energy, and the future costs are quite uncertain. Gas heating is traditionally considered to be pretty cheap, but gas prices are tipped by many analysts to climb steeply in the next few years , much as electricity has in the last few years.
That leaves electricity. Unintuitively, its the only option which can have zero emissions. Switching your electricity supply to GreenPower, an accredited and audited scheme which supplies 100% renewable power, means zero emissions electricity any time you want it. But how you use it is very important, as all electric heaters are not created equal.
There are two distinct classes of electric heater; plug-in heaters, and heat-pumps (or reverse cycle air conditioners).
All of the plug-in heaters end up at the same efficiency; they convert electricity into heat, the most basic form of energy, and will only ever produce a maximum of 2.4kW. It doesn't matter how it does it - radiant bars, a hot wire and a fan or a clicking oil-heater - 2.4kW of electricity becomes 2.4kW of heat and not a drop more. Buy the cheapest one you can.
Heat-pumps have been common in Australia for years - reverse-cycle air-conditioners are a form of heat-pump - but the technology has advanced markedly recently. Heat-pumps have an advantage over the plug in units as they use electricity to move heat around, not create it.
Heat-pumps have access to the ambient heat outside your house, even in small amounts, and can concentrate it and put it in your house. Even well below freezing there is enough heat available for this to be worth doing.
Heat-pumps' performance is reported as a "co-efficient of performance" or COP. This describes the amount of heat transported per unit of energy used to move it. A good heat pump will approach a COP of 5 - five units of heat produced for every unit expended - dependent on the ambient temperature. Newer designs are achieving COPs greater than 3 even when the ambient temperature is as low as -10 degrees.
If you're thinking of getting a heat-pump, look for one with an EC (electronically commutated) motor; it will be described as "Inverter driven". A good heat-pump will have a high energy efficiency rating (that is, lots of stars on its label).
To summarise then: insulate your house, as much as you can, in every way available. Then think about how you want to heat it. If emissions are important to you, go for GreenPower and a heat pump. If you just want heat, then gas is probably your best bet, but be warned the price is on the way up and likely to outstrip electricity price rises in coming years.
This article was substantially based on research by Evan Beaver. Evan is a mechanical engineer and a senior consultant at Energetics, where he advises government on energy policy and industry on energy efficiency.


text:
Eufora Beautifying Elixirs Bodifying Conditioner 8.5oz
Brand: | Eufora |
Size: | 8.5oz |
Availability: | In Stock |
This formula provides weightless moisturization to rejuvenate dry, brittle, and damaged hair.
Eufora's proprietary technology delivers a new generation of hair care with real repair and renewed vitality to the inner cortex and outer cuticle of the hair and improves the health of the hair follicle and scalp.
Restore your inner strength with Bodifying Shampoo and Conditioner. These Innovative formulas provide gentle cleansing and weightless moisturization to rejuvenate dry, brittle and damaged hair. Normal, fine, thin, and thinning hair that requires body, volume and fullness will look, feel and behave like healthy hair again; soft, silky, moveable, touchable. Hair is full, luxurious and brimming with body and bounce.
Beautifying Elixirs™ formulations are designed to work in synergy with each other to repair damaged hair. Use Bodifying Shampoo and Conditioner daily. Use Damage Cure Clay Masque™ once or twice a week. Follow daily regimen with Leave-In Repair Treatment.
Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetrimonium Chloride, Diivinyldimethicone/ Dimethicone Copolymer, Fragrance, Dimethconol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone, Glycerth-26, Phenoxyethanol, Polyimide-1, Cetrimonium Bromide, Polyquaternium-55, C11-15 Pareth-7, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Polyquaternium-37, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Glycerin, Laureth-9, Disodium EDTA, Trideceth-12, C12-13 Pareth-23, C12-13 Pareth-3, Polysilicone-15, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG_Propyl Silanetriol, Lauryl Glucoside, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Extract, Sodium Laneth-40 Maleate/Styrene Sulfonate Copolymer, Hydrolyzed Lupine Seed Extract, Methylisothiazolinone, Ascorbic Acid, BCC12-Base


text:
get the flash player to see animation.
Tel: 646-434-6457
Fly to St. Petersburg with the best airline fare. Saint Petersburg is a very young city compared to old European capitals and, probably, the only city in the world that has acquired so much historic significance in such a short time. It was founded in 1703 as an outlet to the sea, which was very important for Russia's future development from both strategic and economical points of view. Saint Petersburg was considered to be "a key for paradise" for the Russian Empire, so the city's name is very symbolic: it was called in honor of Saint Peter, who, as we know from the Holy Bible, was a keeper of the keys from the paradise. Saint Petersburg today is one of the most important cultural, scientific and industrial cities in Russia, housing several hundred of museums and exhibition halls. Great Russian and foreign artists, poets, writers and composers admired the beauty of Saint Petersburg and commemorated it in their works. |
All Cruises in one place.Travel Guard Insurance. |


text:
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Chocolate Baroque challenge blog. This week we are announcing the winners of the last challenge, which is one of our favourite parts of the month!
The Winner of our £15 prize to spend at Chocolate Baroque is Barbara, her fabulously elegant card was drawn randomly by Random.Org as the overall
winner. Congratulations Barbara, we hope that you will enjoy your prize.
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Our Top Three has been chosen by the Design Team and we had a really hard
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We have some more inspiration from our Design Team for you this week. Our first project is from Maria:
We will back next week with more projects from the Design Team so,
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Wellness Tourism Market Report 2017-25 : COVID- 19 Impact and Recovery | Sep 17, 2020
San Francisco, CA — (SBWIRE) — 09/17/2020 — Global Wellness Tourism Market: Snapshot The demand…
San Francisco, CA — (SBWIRE) — 09/17/2020 — Global Wellness Tourism Market: Snapshot
The demand within the global market for wellness tourism is expanding on account of the global propensity of the masses to immerse themselves into the cultures of a foreign land. Wellness tourism essentially refers to travel to a different country or region in order to get physiological and mental tranquillity through the native therapies of that region. In the contemporary times, globalization has not just led to the exchange of products and services across regions, but has also led to an exchange of cultures. Hence, the demand within the global market for wellness tourism is expected to reach new heights over the forthcoming years.
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Marketing and promotions have played a crucial role in establishing an image of mental peace and physical wellness attained through herbal treatments, spa therapies, and rejuvenation programs in exotic locations. This factor, coupled with the rising paying capacity of the masses has eased the travel of people across countries for physiological wellness. Hence, the demand within the global market for wellness tourism has been expanding at a robust rate in recent times. Furthermore, several holiday planners and hospitality websites have emerged over the past decade, and these entities have extensively promoted the domain of wellness tourism. This has also created growth spaces within the global market for medical tourism.
Several exotic destinations in Asia Pacific including Malaysia, the Indian mountain ranges, and Chinese retreats are extremely popular across the globe. Hence, the demand within the market for wellness tourism across Asia Pacific has been increasing at a healthy rate. The general propensity to travel to unexplored destinations has propelled demand for wellness tourism across North America and Europe.
Global Wellness Tourism Market: Overview
The global wellness tourism market is poised for healthy growth in the years ahead. The rising incidence of mental illness mostly related to personal and professional reasons is stoking demand for holistic remedial therapies.
Wellness tourism refers to travelling wherein activities planned for health and well-being are on top priority. Trips organized for wellness include healthy food, spa treatments, exercise, and opportunities for spiritual and creative development. Wellness therapies include administering conventional, complementary, alternative, herbal, or homeopathic medicine on its own or in combination.
Global Wellness Tourism Market: Trends and Opportunities
One of the key growth drivers of the wellness tourism market is increasing interest of hospitality industry towards wellness. Large hotel chains are equipped with state-of-the-art health and wellness center that guests that combine on their stay. These offer massage, spa treatments, meditation, spiritual healing, and herbal therapies. Primary travelers who undertake wellness trips focus on achieving wellness.
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The growth of leisure travel is also serving to boost wellness tourism. Travelers from different parts of the world seeking to experience local culture tend to experience local age-old health remedies in their travel. Word of mouth marketing of wellness and health remedies offered at a particular place is boosting wellness tourism.
Secondary travelers look for additional wellness package while on leisure trips to experience fitness. Wellness programs may include organic food, special diets seasonal fruits, natural herbs, spa treatments, massages with aromatherapy within the hotels. Consequently, increasing number of hotels that carry wellness destination quality labels are indirectly boosting wellness tourism.
Travelers traveling with religious objectives also tend to experience local medicinal therapies offered by local healers. This serves to boost wellness tourism.
Global Wellness Tourism Market: Market Potential
In a recent industry news, in India, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) joined hands with Global Vipassana Pagoda to promote wellness tourism. The objective of the association is to encourage and promote wellness tourism in the state.
Global Wellness Tourism Market: Geographical Outlook
North America is a key regional market for wellness tourism. High awareness among individuals about holistic health therapies and high disposable incomes that boost travel for health are key factors that promote North America wellness tourism market. The U.S. and Canada are key domestic markets for wellness tourism in North America. The growing popularity of wellness tourism among baby boomers will further boost the North America market for anti-ageing treatments and spa treatments.
Asia Pacific is rapidly emerging as a key market for wellness tourism. Rising popularity of health practices of Ayurveda are drawing large number of westerners to India. Individuals are recognizing the long term health benefits of Ayurveda and are traveling to Indian shores to learn and practice wellness therapies. This is giving a push to the wellness tourism market.
Rising adoption of ancient Chinese medicine and other oriental therapies known to bbost health and well-being is favoring the wellness tourism market.
Global Wellness Tourism Market: Competitive Outlook
Top players in the global wellness tourism market are Accor Hotels, IHG, Canyon Ranch, and Red Carnation Hotels. Other prominent vendors in the market include IHHR Hospitality (Ananda resort), Body and Soul Wellness Center, Fitpacking, Gwinganna Lifestyle, Hilton, Kamalaya Koh Samui, MOUNTAIN TREK FITNESS RETREAT & HEALTH SPA, Wellness & Hormone Centers of America, Aro Ha Wellness Retreat, BodySense, Four Seasons Hotels, Hyatt, Marriott International, and Rancho La Puerta.
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TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in today's supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients' conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.


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Borgore gets quite messy in his new video for "Decisions," taking on his collaborator Miley Cyrus in a cake-filled food fight. Filmed at Beacher's Madhouse in Los Angeles, "Decisions" is about, according to Borgore, "How much bitches love cake." But it's also about interpreting "becoming successful, or... the way you look, or because you've got money" as having "cake."
"During the cake fight, Miley asked me to cake her anywhere but her face," Borgore tells Rolling Stone. "It's clearly not part of my agenda but she's pretty, so I cut her some slack."
Borgore's Decisions EP is out now.


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Every time I cash in on being (just barely) a senior citizen – at the movie line, on the subway, for example – I feel a twinge of guilt. The elderly, on average, can better afford such items than can young adults, especially those raising small children. Yet the system of discounts for age, like much else these days – say, Medicare vs. Medicaid – is slanted toward seniors. The logic is rooted in an earlier time.
Back in the day – say, before the '60s – the assumption was that most old people could make it through their sunset years only with financial and personal help from their grown children. In last few decades, the flow of money and of energy has been largely going the other way (see earlier post).
In two new overview papers (pdf and pdf), sociologists Judith Seltzer and Suzanne Bianchi document the help many American seniors are giving their adult children long past the school years, be it directly with money or through help such as babysitting. (Bianchi, a terrific scholar of American family life, passed away recently, much too soon.) Among the less well-off, parents might largely help by re-opening a bedroom at home or providing after-school care. One study found that about 3 of 10 pre-schoolers are with grandparents when the parents are at work. Among the most affluent, parental help can include buying 20-somethings their own Manhattan apartments (seehere and here).
From those according … to those according …
The hard data on trends are few. Nonetheless, new studies suggest that, while most older Americans do not give significant amounts of money to their adult children — to those, say, 23 and older — more parents are doing so and they are giving greater amounts. Part of the explanation is that the parents (and grandparents) of today's 20-somethings are somewhat better off than their predecessors were, so they have more to give. And part is that their children are somewhat needier – less likely to be employed and to be married. (See, e.g., pdf and pdf.)
Along similar lines, a study which I reported last summer showed a dramatic change between 1960 and 2010 in households where adults over 24 years old and their parents lived together: Earlier, the parents in these two-generation households typically depended economically on the grown children; now the grown children typically depend economically on the parents.
Adult children also call on parents for practical help and increasingly they rely on the "safety net" parents provide. That is, even when parents do not give any direct help, they provide – if they are themselves economically secure – the emergency back-up that allows young adults to take risks like going back to school or changing jobs.
A striking feature of this trend toward parents giving more is that it rose despite another social trend: increasing cohabitation, divorce, and "blended" families. Children whose parents never married or whose parents broke up are less likely to receive help – usually because the father has distanced himself and often has new children. Similarly, parents are less likely to help step-children. Despite the big increase in the number of children who grew up in such situations, young adults on average are now receiving more direct help from parents.
As noted earlier, not only can today's elderly better afford to give, today's young adults, worn down by years of stagnating wages and battered by the Great Recession, need more. Seltzer and Bianchi cite studies showing that the young adults suffered a major loss in wealth and in rates of home ownership in roughly the last two decades, while the elderly reaped a major increase in wealth.
Which parents help which children depends on what parents have and what children need. In the most recent data that Seltzer and Bianchi present, over a third of young adults whose parents had graduated college received money from them in 2011; and those who got something got an average of $9,600. Only one-fifth of the children of high school graduates got money, with an average of $3,200. Over 70% of the young adults with college-graduate parents had gotten help with their educational expenses since they turned 18; about 25% of them got help with housing. For parents able to help, whom they help depends on which child needs help most and when – when going to college, when unemployed, when a new baby arrives.
That American parents are increasingly stretching their time and their budgets to help their adult children testifies that family ties continue to bind; that the need to help has grown testifies to the tight bind that young adults face in the 21st century.
Cross-post from Claude Fischer's blog, Made in America: Notes on American life from American history.


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SAN RAMON, CA, November 20, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- App Orchid today announced it was chosen as a 2020 Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner which recognizes the continent's most exciting and innovative private technology companies.
"We are thrilled to have made the 2020 Red Herring Top 100 list. This is a huge testament to our amazing team that has built transformative AI solutions such as ContractAI on our end-to-end enterprise AI platform," says App Orchid's chief executive officer, Vaibhav Nadgauda. He credits the company's innovative platform's ability to create predictive, powerful AI powered apps for App Orchid's win.
The winners have been chosen from thousands of entrants, whittled down to hundreds presenting their companies at the virtual conference on November 17th and 18th. The event, led by Red Herring chairman Alex Vieux, included two days of keynote speeches, discussions, and finalist presentations. Industry experts, insiders, and journalists evaluated the companies on a wide variety of criteria including financial performance, innovation, business strategy, and market penetration judged companies.
"2020's crop of Top 100 winners has been among our most intriguing yet," said Vieux. "What has excited me most is to see so many people forging niches in high-tech and cutting edge sectors," added Vieux. "Some of the technical wizardry and first-rate business models showcased at the conference has been fantastic to learn about. We believe App Orchid embodies the drive, skill and passion on which tech thrives. App Orchid should be proud of its achievement - the competition was incredibly strong."
About Red Herring
Red Herring is a global media company which unites the world's best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine, an online daily technology news service, technology newsletters and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider's access to the global innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy
About App Orchid
The App Orchid platform helps enterprises build AI fueled apps for the Energy, Utilities and Insurance industries. The App Orchid platform uses deep learning and natural language processing with industry specific content delivered through knowledge graphs, to create powerful predictive apps. App Orchid blends historical and real-time, structured and unstructured data with user "tribal knowledge" to deliver innovative enterprise apps, including solutions such as ContractAI, AssetThink, CustomerThink and DocuThink. App Orchid helps enterprises achieve their digital transformation objectives easily through rapid deployment, low cost implementation and minimum disruption across their organization. For more information, please visit www.apporchid.com.
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Raleigh, NC – C.J. Leslie posted a game-best 25 points as 20th-ranked North Carolina State knocked No. 1 Duke from the ranks of the unbeaten with an 84-76 decision on Saturday afternoon.
Richard Howell dropped in 16 points with a game-high 18 rebounds for the Wolfpack (14-2, 3-0 ACC), who beat their conference rivals for the first time in nearly three years.
"We drew some energy off our fans, no question about it," said NC State head coach Mark Gottfried. "Our guys played really hard, they knew this was a big deal. Our ability to finish defensive possessions with rebounds in the second half helped us. The best offense we could run was getting on the boards and scoring. We finished it with defensive rebounding."
Scott Wood had 14 points and Lorenzo Brown picked up 12 points and tied a career best by dishing out 13 assists as NC State won its 10th in a row overall.
Seth Curry made five three-pointers en route to 22 points for the Blue Devils (15-1, 2-1), who couldn't meet the challenge in their first true road contest of the season.
Quinn Cook added 17 points and Mason Plumlee contributed 15 points and 11 boards with four steals in defeat, one which came without the services of Ryan Kelly.
Only Michigan, which plays Ohio State on Sunday, remains unblemished on the year.
"Give NC State all the credit, I thought they played a heck of a game and I thought we fought like crazy to give ourselves a chance to win," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "State played outstanding basketball. I thought we played well, we're banged up but our kids played with a lot of heart and their kids did too."
Cook's layup brought Duke back within 55-51 with just over seven minutes played in the second half, and when Curry was true from long distance, the Blue Devils found themselves down only 58-57 approaching the midway point.
The hosts struck back with nine in a row to gain the breathing room they needed to post the victory, ending on a fast-break lay-in from Rodney Purvis plus a free throw for a 67-57 game. Leslie fueled the surge with the first three baskets.
Cook's bucket and a Curry triple pulled Duke within five, but the NC State lead grew to nine once more, 71-62, with 5:02 to go, after Howell made his tries from the charity stripe. Plumlee's bucket in the paint made it 73-69 with 2:07 to play, but Leslie answered in kind to push NC State's lead to six.
Following Cook's miss in close, Brown made the front end of a 1-and-1 for a seven-point spread inside of a minute remaining. Cook then hit a layup for a 76-71 score with 40.7 on the clock.
Brown connected on two from the line to extend the lead to seven, and Cook responded in kind to make it 78-73. That was as close as Duke was allowed down the stretch. Wood and Leslie combined to go 6-for-6 from the line to seal it.
NC State led 5-2 in the opening minutes, and its lead grew to 13-8 with just over 5 1/2 minutes played. Duke used a quick burst to take a 21-15 advantage after a fadeaway jumper from Curry and the resulting free throw.
A four-point play by Wood then pulled the hosts within 27-23, and a short time later back-to-back Leslie buckets pushed the Wolfpack on top 31-29. Purvis followed with a slam and Duke called timeout down by four with 3:47 left in the half.
Curry's later triple forged a 39-39 deadlock, but T.J. Warren's bucket in the final seconds sent NC State to the break up by two.
Howell began the second half with consecutive baskets to give the Wolfpack a 45-39 edge, and his lay-in off the break provided a 53-45 margin less than five minutes in.
"Richard was going over the top of ball screens, finding his way to the basket, rebounding the ball," Gottfried added. "I challenged everyone in the huddle, 'Is anybody going to get a rebound besides Richard?' and he said, 'Don't worry coach, I've got them all.'"
Game Notes
NC State's last win over Duke came on January 20, 2010, an 88-74 home triumph ... The Wolfpack's 10-game win streak and 3-0 start to their ACC schedule match similar marks last attained in 1988-89 ... Duke has still won 26 of the last 30 meetings ... Warren finished with 10 points for the victors ... Duke's Amile Jefferson fouled out after posting 10 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.


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I say no. John Royal says yes.
I'm a big Roy Oswalt fan. I've been a big fan since he came up in 2001. I like that Oswalt actually seems to care about what happens in a game. I really like this in that it generally appears that guys like Tejada, Lee, and Lance Berkman rarely give a damn about what actually happens during the game. And the fact that Tejada has emerged as the clubhouse leader instead of a guy like Oswalt has always been a sign that most of the team just doesn't really care.
It's pretty obvious that there are going to be changes in this club come the off-season. Cooper will probably be fired. Tejada and Jose Valverde are free agents. And I'm sure the club will start listening to trade offers for just about everybody else on the team. Including Roy Oswalt.
For the sake of Oswalt, to preserve his sanity, and because he deserves it, the team really should make sure that he's one of those that get traded. I could never understand why Oswalt signed that big extension on his contract a couple of years ago. It was obvious then the team was headed in the wrong direction, and as a free agent, he would have been able to command big dollars from clubs like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers -- teams that have shown a willingness to pay for pitching as well as teams that are using in contention for the playoffs.
Of all of the players on the Astros, Oswalt, to me, is the one who most deserves to be playing baseball when it really matters, and that's not something the Astros are going to be doing for a long, long time. So as soon as this season's over, the Astros should be on the phone to all of the other clubs telling them that it's open season and Oswalt can be theirs if the deal is just right...
...Sure. The Astros pitching will suck without Oswalt. But the pitching sucks with him here, as does the rest of the team, and there's no legit reason why he should continued to be punished. Send him to a team that cares, and that can win. And if the Astros can do this right, they'll get a lot of grade A talent for restocking the farm system so that, in about three more years, there will be somebody available to play with Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn. Plus, by then, the team will be free of Lee, Matsui, and the rest of the slackers who just show up to collect pay checks.


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NEW YORK » Zillow and Trulia, two companies that changed the way people shop for homes, are combining.
Real estate website operator Zillow Inc. is buying its rival in a $3.5 billion deal that will make the biggest player in the online real estate information market.
Zillow will also become king of real estate listings available on smartphones and tablets — the fastest growing area for listings. Both Zillow and Trulia were founded nearly a decade ago and have capitalized on Americans' increasing preference for researching purchases, including homes, online, rather than relying solely on a real estate agent.
"It's a very sound business move by Zillow. They wiped out their closest competitor," said Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos.
According to Benchmark estimates, Zillow and Trulia are No. 1 and 2 in the online real estate market, followed by No. 3 Move Inc. Zillow reported nearly 83 million monthly unique visitors in June. Trulia reported 54 million.
"We're moving away from word of mouth, or calling an agent to try to find a home," Kurnos said. "Now people realize, 'Hey, I can go look for houses online, and use the Internet to start searching for a home.'"
Zillow, which debuted in late 2004, became well known for its "Zestimate" housing price estimate for 100 million homes nationwide. The number is based on geographic data, user-submitted information and public records. Zillow says the "Zestimate" has a 6.9 percent median error rate, and should be used as a starting point in determining a home's value.
Both Zillow, which went public in 2011 and Trulia, which had its stock market debut in 2012, offer similar information like neighborhood school and crime reports and mortgage calculators.
Both Zillow and San Francisco-based Trulia generate revenue through advertising and subscription software and services sold to real estate agents.
Trulia shareholders will receive 0.444 shares of Zillow common stock for each share they hold, and will own approximately 33 percent of the combined company. Zillow Inc. shareholders will receive one comparable share of the combined company and own the other two-thirds of the business.
The combined company will keep both the Trulia and Zillow brands.
The companies said that there is limited consumer overlap of their brands, as about half of Trulia.com's monthly visitors don't visit Zillow.com.
It's not Zillow's first expansion through acquisition. The company bought New York City-focused real estate website StreetEasy in 2013 for $50 million.
Zillow, based in Seattle, plans to save $100 million in cost cutting once the Trulia purchase is complete.
Trulia Inc. CEO Pete Flint will stay in his post and join the board of the combined business. He will report to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. Another Trulia director will join the combined company's board after the transaction is finalized.
Both companies' boards approved the deal. Both companies' shareholders still must approve it. The transaction is targeted to close next year.
Shares of Zillow fell $3.97, or 2.5 percent to $154.89 in midday trading. Shares of Trulia jumped $6.84, or 12 percent, to $63.19.


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The five-member Architectural Commission is appointed by the City Council to make decisions regarding the aesthetics of development in all commercial and multi-family residential areas of the City. It does not have jurisdiction over development in single-family residential areas, public schools in the Beverly Hills Unified School District, or public parks. The Commission also serves as the advisory commission to the City Council regarding encroachments in commercial-adjacent public rights-of way, and on City building projects. The official secretary of the Commission is the Director of Community Development, who provides staff support to the Architectural Commission.
The Commission's comprehensive approach to Architectural Review includes landscape design, paint and other finishes, and signs, as well as exterior building form. All reviews require that the Commission be able to make certain findings about the circumstances and merits of the design proposals, prior to issuance of associated building permits. In addition, the Architectural Commission reviews specific departures from the sign code through a special procedure called a "Sign Accommodation", conducted in a public hearing for which neighboring property owners and residential occupants have been notified by mail. The Commission also presents Architectural Design Awards for outstanding completed projects on an annual or biennial basis. The Architectural Commission meets the third Wednesday of each month, with additional meetings as necessary. Meetings are held in Room 280A on the second floor of Beverly Hills City Hall. All meetings are webstreamed and broadcast live on BH10.
To view audio/video of past Architectural Commission meetings, click this link: Archived Architectural Commission Meetings
For project or property-specific information, including zoning inquiries, permitted uses, and filing an application, please call 310-285-1141.
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