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I've used various Dependency Injection frameworks in the last year or so and have yet to settle on any one in particular.
My focus has been on StructureMap and Microsoft's Unity (I know I know everyone seems to dislike the latter for some reason but it does have its uses!).
On a couple of occasions I had to switch DI frameworks in the middle of a project. At first this was hard work as I had multiple references to the specific DI framework and had to change them all.
Whilst doing a bit more research I stumbled upon this post which talks about abstracting your DI implementation and it ticked a lot of boxes for me.
The basic idea is to provide methods for interacting with your DI framework and then make sure you reference those methods and not the DI framework directly.
Specifically we'll need methods to register a type, retrieve the injected instance of a type and pass in mock types for unit testing purposes (for more detail be sure to check out the original post by Nikola Malovic)
1: public static void Register() where T: I
2: {
3: _unityContainer.RegisterType(new ContainerControlledLifetimeManager());
4: }
The register method simply takes an type definition I (e.g. ILogger) and implementation T (e.g. FileLogger).
In this case I am using Microsoft Unity to register the type but it could be any DI framework.
1: public static T Retrieve
2: {
3: return _unityContainer.Resolve
4: }
The Retrieve method simply returns the injected implementation for the type specified in the parameter (again using MS Unity in this case)
1: public static void InjectStub(I instance)
2: {
3: _unityContainer.RegisterInstance(instance, new ContainerControlledLifetimeManager());
4: }
Finally the InjectStub method allows us to explicitly pass in an instance of a type (I instance) and have the DI framework use that instance instead of anything we might have registered using the Register method.
This is especially useful when writing unit tests.
1: _logger = _mockery.CreateMock
3: ServiceLocator.InjectStub(_logger);
When running tests following the above code, any calls to ServiceLocator.Retrieve


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RUTLAND — Children's book author and anthropologist Charles Norris-Brown will visit Phoenix Books Rutland on Saturday, March 4th at 11am for a story time featuring his new picture book, Did Tiger Take the Rain? (Green Writers Press, 2016).
About Did Tiger Take the Rain?
In a Tharu village in the Nepal terai, it has been uncommonly hot and dry. One day, a tiger comes. People run away in fear. The villagers think it is a bad omen and that the tiger has taken the rain. Best friends Usha and Anjali decide to ask Tiger herself why she has taken the rain. They set out for the jungle. Entering the forest, they meet Jackal, who wants to know why they are there. They tell Jackal that they have come to ask Tiger why she took the rain. Jackal asks them to follow him and he will help them find out where the rain went. Thus they start on an adventure from Jackal's story to being swept away into the tree tops by monkeys who tell their own side of the story. Tiger did not take the rain. Forest helps make clouds. Rain comes from clouds, and when the forests disappear, so will the rain. What happened to the forest, and how can we bring it back? Monkey gives them the seeds they need to replenish the forest. The girls return to the village, plant seedlings, and watch a new forest take shape. The rain returns. Jackal, Tiger and Monkey return deeper into the forest. In the end, Anjali realizes that when the sun shines, it shines down on humans and tigers together. When it rains, we share the same rain.
Dish washer, bus driver, teacher, theoretician, and artist, Charles Norris-Brown was born in the small northern Pennsylvania town of Warren. He completed a PhD degree in Social Anthropology and Sociology at Lund University, Sweden, in 1984, based on fieldwork in the inner hills of Uttarakhand, India.
By 1990, Charles had re-focused his work to look at small communities living in and dependent on forests. This took him from the rainforest of Borneo to poor communities in eastern Canada and the Appalachian region of the USA. Part of this new focus included the terai region of India.
While visiting the Corbett National Park in India as part of a planned applied research project, and on the recommendation of some villagers there, he decided to combine his art, anthropology, and concern for the environment and to focus on writing and illustrating children's books. He began by completing an on-line course with the Institute of Children's Literature in 2005. In time, he would raise the funds to allow his return to the terai, this time to Nepal, and from visits to the western terai region of Nepal in 2011 and 2012, he developed what would become his first children's book: Did Tiger Take the Rain?
All ages are welcome to this event. Did Tiger Take the Rain? is ideal for ages 5-7.
Phoenix Books Rutland is located at 2 Center Street. Copies of Did Tiger Take the Rain will be available for attendees to purchase and have signed. For more information, please call 802-855-8078 or visit www.phoenixbooks.biz.

subset: commoncrawl


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Eighteen months prior to Rosie's fatal stabbing, a man named Mike O'Malley makes a startling confession to his priest son about a film that he must find if he is to keep alive. After that confession, Mike O'Malley dies and his priest son is killed for not having the film.
Ry O'Malley, Mike's other son, survives an assassination attempt and infiltrates the Russian mafia in California, in an effort to find the film that can guarantee his life. Ry joins forces with Zoe Dmitroff, a gutsy attorney with blood ties to the stabbed homeless woman, in order to find the film and ultimately the altar of bones and discover its secrets.
I liked this book. It is a non-stop adventure, full of interesting twists and unexpected turns. The story is a rich tapestry with elements of historical fiction--that may not be as fictional as they seem--, thriller novel and Russian folklore. I did like the concoction, though it is far-fetched at times, such as when talking about the fountain of youth. Aside from that, the story is well written and hard to put down.


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Send SMS is the Default page of the SMS panel. From here you can send SMS on any number.
Route Type
It's shown the route Name with their respective balance. You can Change the route as per your need and nature of content.
Three types of routes are available -
Transactional route:-You can send SMS to your Registered user.
- Used to send informative sms (Transactional sms only)
- Deliver messages On DND and NON DND numbers.
- You can also Schedule your SMS with date & time you want to pass the message.
- SMS Type :- Only Informative sms Allowed.
- Listed DND Numbers can be extracted and will not be charged or credited.
- SMS Time :- You can send sms any time. (24*7)
- You can also check the Delivery Status of SMS.
- Sender ID :- Six character sender id Allowed (Special character and number not allowed).
Promotional route:-Used to send promotional sms.
- You can do promotion of your brand or services from this rout.
- Deliver messages On Only NON DND numbers.
- SMS Type :- Any kind of sms content. Spamming not allowed.
- SMS Time :- 9 AM to 9 PM Delivery
- Listed DND Numbers can be extracted and will not be charged or credited.
- Sender ID :- Six Digit Auto Generate Numeric Sender ID
Temp Route:-Used to send promotional content with sender Id. Used to send promotional sms.
- You can make the promotion of your brand or services from this route.
- Deliver messages On NON DND numbers.
- SMS Type :- Any kind of sms content. Spamming not allowed.
- SMS Time :- 9 AM to 9 PM Delivery
- SMS Time :- 9 AM to 9 PM Delivery
- Sender ID :- Six Digit Auto Generate Numeric Sender ID
Sender ID
Sender id is the name by which the user want to send the sms or the name by which the recipient receive the sms . It Looks Like TD - SMSTST. Where "TD" belongs to the operator name and "SMSTST" Is the sender id.
- It can be the firm name, individual name , product name
- Sender Id should not be more the 6 character (numbers - 1 to 9 and special character - !@@$%^&* are not allowed).
- For transactional Route Six character sender id Allowed (Special character and number not allowed)
- For Promotional Route Six Digit Auto Generate Numeric Sender ID
Note you can not use:- Person Name, Surname, Name Of God, Brand name etc.
Once you can send the sms from a sender id then it's shown on right hand side. From here you can check all sender id and select your sender id.
Mobile Number
In the Mobile number you need to insert the contact number of the audience or customer whom you want to send sms . Our system allows enter and comma between the numbers.For eg - 9999999999, 8888888888, 777777777 OR 9999999999 8888888888 7777777777
If you want to send sms in bulk quantity you have to do single click on mobile number box then you will get 3 option in top side of right hand for send sms in bulk.
There are 4 ways in which you can insert the number -
- 1. Copy paste the number in the mobile number box.
- 2. You can select the group (made by phonebook option).
- 3. If you want to send sms on Selective numbers of group you can send through single option. You can select the Single option. From here you can able to select the contact which is save in your phone book. You can manually select the contact and send the sms to them.
- 4. You can upload the CSV file which is save in your system. Our system only except CSV - Comma separated values . It is the form of excel sheet. While saving the excel sheet, system ask the format of the sheet there we need to select CSV (Comma Delimited) type.
You can download the sample file from the click on the Download sample file button. Just arrange the details in that given format and click on Choose file button.
How to save in CSV :- If you want to save the in csv format you have to update your file according to sample and save the file in CSV
Steps :-
- 1. Click on the File Option from Top.
- 2. Select the Save As Option.
- 3. Then put the desired file name in File name box.
- 4. Then from save as type select the CSV (comma Delimited) (*.CSV)
- 5. Then click on the Save Button.
Description can be said as the content. This is the place where the text or the sms content is to be inserted for sending to people's. The length of single sms is 160 , if you exceed than 160 then the credits will be counted as 2.Flash on :- It's kind of service if you want that sms will not save in the end user inbox then you can use the Flash SMS. flash Sms will displayed on recipients phone and is not saved on the phone. For use that feature just click on the check box so you can able to send the Flash SMS.
Flash off :- by default that checkbox is unchecked means the sm will deliver as a normal sms and will save in the end user inbox.
The text can be in any language . But as per the language the text can be of 2 category -
- 1. English (SMS content in English )One Sms of English content contain 160 characters. More than 160 characters it will count as 2 SMs credit.
- 2. Unicode - If you wish to send sms content in different language other than English , then you need to select Unicode. But the single sms count will be 70 . If you exceed than 70 character then it will be counted as second.
Signature Enable
If you want to send your name or number or website name by default in each sms content then that feature is use full for you. Just put your desired content in the signature box. And Select the checkbox to enable, enable means to send signature with sms content otherwise not .The count of signature will be count with description count.
Save Button
If you want to send same sms content so there is no need to write you that content each and every time. Just write the desired sms content in the text box and then click on the save button so that sms content will save as a draft so next time there is no need to write content.
When you click on the description box then that sms content shown on the right hand side then just click on that your sms content will be copied into the description box.
Scheduled SMS
Schedule sms are used to send sms on a pre defined time. i.e, if your do not want message to be delivered instantly rather on mentioned time in future then you can set time when do you wish to deliver to the destination number.
After clicking on the Schedule sms button, you will get the above mentioned screen. Kindly insert the date and time and schedule the sms.
After inserting all the details click on Send Button . Your sms will be successfully submitted. And your balance will deducted as per the sms credit and on top you will get the notification "SMS Send Successfully.


text:
DIY Kitchen Backsplash
5 comments:
Luke and I don't fight...because we don't do home improvement projects together. If I want something done I either do it myself or ask his mom to help me. :)ReplyDelete
I love seeing all the hardwork you guys are doing. It looks great!
I have seen this board and batten look on several blogs lately and LOVE it! I just might be doing that in my kitchen ... some day. I have so many some day projects. You are a great inspiration to JUST DO IT!ReplyDelete
your b&b looks so good! And I am laughing about your fights...your math idea made perfect sense to me! I usually (and do) tackle these projects on my own...but my last b&b project turned out to be WAY bigger than what I had dreamt up in my head...that usually happens too! Great job, can't wait to see what you do above the window!ReplyDelete
Oh my gosh.. this was a 2009 project and I didn't know about it?!?!?!?! It looks fabulous! I'm so glad you shared it for the workshop!ReplyDelete
I don't have a spouse so there's only fighting with myself. :)
Thanks for linking up and showing us on the workshop series!
FJ Donna
I know this is an old post but I started laughing out loud as you described you and your husband fighting during projects. My husband and I do the same thing and I thought there was something wrong with us! We end up with great results (just did our bathroom and are now going to put beadboard on the ceiling - thanks for the idea!). You two are not alone!ReplyDelete
Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts and comments. We truly love and appreciate each one!


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I've just come back from two weeks in Italy (yes, it's a hard job, but someone has to do it). While there, I noticed something that one doesn't often see in the United States.
In all the little villages, there is the custom of the passeggiata. In the early evening, after the heat of the day, whole families take a gentle stroll, usually winding up in the central piazza of the town. What you see are entire families: small children on bicycles or kicking soccer balls, parents, and grandparents. As you watch the nonni (most often the nonna, or grandmother) keeping a watchful eye on the grandchildren, there's a feeling of real integration into family life.
Spending time in Italy made me think of one of our Legacy Project elders, Maria. Like many Italians of her generation, Maria immigrated to this country, experiencing a mix of opportunity, hardship, and resilience. Maria has been married for 57 years. It would be hard to find a happier 83-year old, despite what many would consider a hard life.
Maria shared her lessons for living:
I didn't have opportunity to go to college but we did have a school, and we had to go miles away from home even for that. And sure, it's very important to get a good education. But now young people expect too much and too soon. We didn't have what we have today; we didn't have computers, we didn't have TV. So today they're lucky, they can learn a lot. But I feel that they don't enjoy life, they look for something they cannot find. So they go with the bottle, they go with drugs and all that.
My life has been hard at times. I went through so much that I can't even explain. The decision to come to this country was the best one at that time, because we had to go someplace, but we lost everything, it was very hard to leave your own country. I left my hometown at sixteen with my father and my brother. What I learned there was how to grow up fast and take care of my brother who was little, be a mother for him. I worked hard, I will suggest to everybody that if they want something, work hard and they're going to get it.
I wasn't spoiled, I was happy with nothing, and that made me work hard to get a little bit more. Take life the way it comes, easy. Try not to think about tomorrow too much, you know? Enjoy today because you don't know when it's tomorrow, if you're going to be here tomorrow.
I enjoy every minute! I love my husband; every time he goes out, I never let him go without a kiss because you always wonder if something can happen. Never fall asleep without saying goodnight to the husband, never. And don't be mad, that's what I learned in my life, don't be mad at other people. Enjoy things now, and stop worrying.


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Logo Portfolio
Logos are the main way to get your company and brand instantly recognized. Therefore, investing in a professional logo that reflects the quality of your business and appeals to your target market is essential.
Below are some examples of logos we have created for clients in the Truckee/ Tahoe/ Reno area as well as nationally and internationally. (Note: If you cannot see the gallery below, please wait for it to load).


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Previous part link I had gone home to do my OCD check on everything in my house. I was deep in thought about all that happened last night. I got ready for work and left my home. I worked at the food court on base. The whole base was almost closed when I had come … Continue reading Two married virgins – part 6
Category: Love Stories
So I'm a 47yo married girl with what can only be described as a normal dull sex relationship with my great husband. I've long auburn hair and a decent figure and I'm 5ft 7' tall and enjoy a night out. Recently I was coerced into going abroad with 8 other lady's on a hen event … Continue reading The Weekend that changed our sex lives
Hina and Garry are well drunk as we both are dancing in party hall with hundred of couples. Hina is looking wild in her jeans and boxer as our waists are making friction while dancing. I can feel her soft breasts quite often on my chest but too many couples are watching us in a … Continue reading BANGED HINA IN THE NEW YEAR
Fictional. Madeline headed out the stable door. Carlos had her ride all ready to do. She smiled at him as he handed her the reins. " All ready Ms Emmett " Carlos said. " Oh cut the formal bullshit " she said smiling at Carlos. " Call me Maddy, all my friends do." " Your … Continue reading Maddy
Crazy love
Marie pulled up to the hotel foyer. She picked up her phone from the hands free cradle on the console. She checked her messages. One missed call. Her husband. She opened the door of her BMW Convertible. A birthday present from her stock broker husband. She opened the door off her car. The hotel concierge … Continue reading Crazy love
Vickie's Anniversary Ride
This is another of those Vickie and Tom stories. Vickie told it the night the guys were at the driving range and a group of us wives (and others!) gathered on my back patio. They all arrived within a few minutes of each other and Tobias (our lab-Sheppard mix rescue) greeted each one by running … Continue reading Vickie's Anniversary Ride
Vickie Goes Camping
Please – after you've read this story, enter a comment at the end! Authors want feedback – it's the price you pay to get this stuff free! Tom and Vickie moved in next door about 3 months ago. They took an OTP (option to purchase) on the house that had recently become vacant due to … Continue reading Vickie Goes Camping
Love story
One evening when I was cooking food he hugged me from back and slid his hands under my tops and circled with his fingers on my navel and pulled my t-shirt from my left shoulder and bit on my neck holding my waist with both his hands. Then he turned me facing him, kissed me on … Continue reading Love story
My Wife, My Lover My Hot Sexy Bitch. My Fantasy
Oh Man I Love fucking my wife, she is the hottest sexiest woman I know. I am 56 years old, have been married for 36 years and I still Fantasize about my wife, she is perfect for me. Big tits, beautiful large dark Areolas that get so tight when touched or licked, beautiful pussy that is … Continue reading My Wife, My Lover My Hot Sexy Bitch. My Fantasy
Hated – Part Five – Revelations and New Beginnings
The next six months were perhaps the most peaceful, and enjoyable time in Pete's life. It had taken a simple statement from Pete to have him removed from Miss Sarah's care, and a quick guardianship hearing the week after for Amelia to have the boy officially move in with she and Ashley. For the first … Continue reading Hated – Part Five – Revelations and New Beginnings


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Sunday, June 7
Upper Muny Parking Lot, Forest Park
Run for 21
Sign In/Registration from 7:00 - 8:00 am
Run starts at 8:00 am
Website/Info: www.dsagsl.org/events/run-for-21
Step Up for Down Syndrome
8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Create a team to join us for our one-mile awareness walk, crafts & activites for all ages, lunch, & music!
Welcome to our 11th Annual Step Up for Down Syndrome awareness walk and fun family festival. We are thrilled to have you join us in celebrating individuals with Down syndrome at this very special event.
Your support and fundraising efforts provide year-round programming and services for individuals with Down syndrome and their families in our community!
Find everything you need to get started in the Team Packet!
Want to join us but don't have a team? Join "Team DSA"! All walkers welcome!
Need help? Contact us @ (314) 961-2504 or firstname.lastname@example.com


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Website Design
Scioli Design creates beautiful, custom responsive WordPress websites that are easy to use and will withstand the test of time. As a business owner, your website is the most important part of your online presence. We can design websites that will resonate with your audience, deliver your brand message, and convert leads into customers.
A responsive website design means that the content on your site is automatically resized to fit the viewer's screen. If your website is mobile-responsive, visitors to your site will be able to find you and any information they're looking for on their phones, and Google will reward your site for it. This is a must because roughly 50% of all web traffic is on a mobile device.
Around 25% of the entire internet runs on WordPress - for a reason! WordPress allows for the development of effective, light-weight, modern website designs with many plugins and integrations available. You'll also have industry-leading security and SEO solutions available, built right in. Choosing it for your site also means that you'll have access to add editable articles, updates, or blog posts as you see fit!
Website Redesigns
If you have an existing site that needs to be refreshed to meet the expectations of modern online consumers, we can help. Drab and boring site? We can breathe life into it again and create an online experience for your site visitors that accurately represents your brand. Broken, unusable website? Let's rebuild, change things around, and switch things up to revamp and relaunch a website you can be proud of!
Landing Page Designs
Landing pages are one-page websites that suit many needs: Events, product launches, and more. They are powerful marketing tools if built and designed correctly. There is only one page so effective attention-grabbing design is necessary in order to deliver outstanding conversion rates.
Google Analytics
Improve user engagement and conversion rates with Google Analytics. This power-packed tool can be a modern business's best friend, providing valuable insights into your brand's customer base. We can help make sure that your marketing efforts are positively impacting conversions and sales by setting up goals, custom reports, A/B testing, and more to allow your business to reach new heights and flourish.
The success of your business or brand is highly dependant on the online experience you provide your site visitors. Building brand awareness and brand recognition are essential for modern businesses. Scioli Design can provide various e-commerce services to help you reach your goals. From shopping carts to graphic design and digital marketing consulting, we will work together to grow your brand.
Interested in web design services or just have a question?


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What is PWM?
Pulse Width Modulation is simply a way of getting the micro-controller to manage pulsing a pin on and off at a set period and duty. The DipCortex using an LPC11U24 and LPC1347 each have four timers with four match registers each that can be used to create a PWM output on a pin. The period time describes the frequency of the pulses and the Duty is the length of the pulse. Using a timer or a PWM peripheral of a micro-controller has the benefit of not needing software intervention to toggle the pin, freeing the software up to execute less time critical tasks. The PWM output can be used for a variety of things, dimming an LED, controlling a motors speed or setting a servo's position.
How do I create a PWM output?
There are four timers, CT16B0/1 & CT32B0/1, two are 16bit and two 32bit. Chapter 16 and 17 of the user manual describe their function in detail. Each timer has four match registers and each match register can control a pin. When the timer is being used to generate PWM signals it requires one of the four match registers to be used to specify the frequency.
In PWM mode the timer counts up when ever it matches a match register it will raise the pin associated with that match register, if the pin is set to be a match register output. One of the four match registers must be used to reset the timer to zero, upon reset all match outputs are lowered. Unless a match register is set to zero, in which case the output stays high. Setting the match register to same value as the period match will produce a pulse one timer count wide, a higher value we cause the pin to stay low for the duration.
By default the timer will count every peripheral clock cycle, for the DipCortex M0 that is 48MHz for the WIFI and M3 it is 72MHz. To change that and slow the clock down you can specify a prescaler value that will count every peripheral clock and when it reaches a set count will then increment the timer count. Setting the prescaler (PR register) to 1 effectively doubles the time it takes to increment the timer. In the diagram above with a 72MHz clock setting the PR register to 720 and the Period Match Register to 100 gives us a 1KHz PWM. Picking the PR value that fits depends on how much resolution, timer ticks, you want across your PWM period.
To help we have created a simple spreadsheet that lets calculates the counts in period showing the effect of using the prescaler. First pick a pin on the DipCortex to use as a PWM output by looking at the pin out of the product page selecting a pin with a yellow label.
Example Code
This example shows you how to implement a single PWM output with LPCXpresso or another IDE in C with the CMSIS library.
For mbed, you can use the PwmOut class, an example of it's use can be found here – DipCortex PWM example


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SlugOS boot from NFS
NFS roots are not officially supported with SlugOS 4.8.
Unofficially, here's a hack provided by mvester that can get it working.
Start from a fresh flash, and install the necessary stuff for NFS (the nfs, sunrpc, portmap, and lockd kernel modules) to the internal flash. you can do this by doing ( ipkg install kernel-module-nfs )
It may be necessary to do
modprobe nfs
to ensure that nfs (+ sunrpc and lockd which depend on it) are properly loaded,
/etc/init.d/portmap start
(or reboot) if portmap is not running.
Run turnup as described
turnup nfs -i server:/root-filesystem
Once you've done the turnup to the nfs partition, cd to the /boot directory (on the flash), and edit the /boot/nfs file, so that it looks like the one below (addition of lines 9, 11, 12, and 19).
Now on the nfs root filesystem (which is probably easiest to access from the NFS server itself at this point), edit the etc/network/interfaces file, and comment out or remove the "auto eth0" line in that file. Reboot, wait for the triple-beep that would indicate a sucessful boot.
01) #!/bin/sh
view · edit · print · history · Last edited by peter taylor.
Based on work by Charles Lindsey, toms, and x.
Originally by toms.
Page last modified on October 21, 2008, at 01:49 PM


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But, it's refreshing to find a comedy series where geekiness, nerdiness and intelligence is no longer ridiculed or feared. Ok, maybe it is ridiculed a little but in an endearing sort of way. Perhaps this is it, a symptom of the evolution of human consciousness reaching a point where the strange and odd is not only embraced but actually explored with curiosity and celebrated. Or maybe Hollywood just ran out of Joey jokes.
Either way, one of the oddities of the series is that each episode has an "Easter egg" (Google Easter Egg if clueless). This flashes for a second before the end credits, in the form of text written by the show's creator, Chuck Lorre. Below is the screenshot of the text in episode 9 of the first series, which I found rather hmm... wholesome.
|The Big Bang Theory S01E09 Easter Egg


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Light. That's what it's all about for me. Light lifts my spirits and makes me want to record the moment so I can savor it, and share it. I photograph and paint a variety of interesting subjects – people, animals, carnival rides, foliage – but really, I'd paint a garbage can if the light fell on it the right way. I get excited by the way a shadow drifts across a sidewalk, or how back-light wraps around hard edges and creates a soft orange halo. I'm awed by how flesh – an ear, for example – glows with a fiery red translucence when the sun shines through it. Colored lights on a stage, ornate bulbs on a carousel, fireflies on a June night, or a hot air balloon glow at dawn – those are the things that compel me to get out my camera or brushes.
My current project is called State Fair, USA. This series of paintings – and eventual book – are a tribute to the traditions of the American agricultural fair. I'm painting everything from carnival rides to livestock, and everything in between. Deep fried Twinkie, anyone?
Lesley lives in Carmel, Indiana with her husband, two large dogs, and one studio


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The following list provides a sample – by no means a comprehensive list – of organizations working to support the military child.
For more information regarding our Military Support Programs listed below, other questions or concerns, please contact your child's school or Michele Carlton, School Liasion Officer at 315-772-3214 or firstname.lastname@example.com
Department of Defense Education Activity
DoDEA's schools serve the children of military service members and Department of Defense civilian employees throughout the world.
Military Child Education Coalition
A nonprofit organization focused on ensuring quality educational opportunities for all military children affected by mobility, family separation and transition.
Military OneSource
A free support service provided by the Department of Defense offering assistance and resources to service members and their families on many different issues.
National Military Family Association
NMFA's mission it to fight for benefits and programs that strengthen and protect uniformed services families and reflect the nation's respect for their service.
Operation Military Kids
Through a network of community partners, this collaborative effort of the U.S. Army provides program opportunities for youth and connects them to support resources where they live.
Our Military Kids
Provides tangible support to children of deployed National Guard and Reserve personnel as well as to children of severely injured service members through grants for enrichment activities and tutoring.
SOFAR (Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists)
A pro bono, mental health project that provides free psychological support, psychotherapy, psychoeducation and prevention services to extended family of reserve and national guard deployed during the Global War on Terrorism.


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Make sure you address pest issues immediately before they get out of hand. Rely on our vast knowledge and experience to get the right treatment for any pest infestation. Take advantage of our 24/7 emergency pest control services
in Reading and Berks County area.
We eliminate all unwanted pest including bees, hornets / wasps, ants, mice, rats, bed bugs, stink bugs, moles, voles, squirrels, and more from your property. No matter which pest you want to exterminate, we've got you covered. Affordable Pest Control USA is fully licensed and insured for your protection. Contact us now!
Locally-owned and operated family business
FREE estimates for all work
Customer satisfaction 100% GUARANTEED
We'll beat any estimate by 10%
The lowest prices in Berks County GUARANTEED!


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What We Can Do for You
We provide services that cover the whole range of phases of concrete polishing, from meeting with architects and general contractors prior to breaking ground, through installation, and culminating in maintenance that helps to protect your investment.
Ardor Solutions brings over 60 years of combined experience to the table in the concrete industry. Our background includes a history in the ready mix business, concrete placing and finishing all the way through multiple layers of finishes both decorative and industrial.
Epoxy Resinous Flooring
Epoxy is a long-lasting material that is unbelievably durable and solid as well as versatile which is why it has become one of the top choices in the industrial and commercial settings.
Flooring Demolition
Ardor Solutions brings its experience and expertise of a finished floor into the demolition market. We can help you remove Vinyl Composition Tile, Rolled Carpet, Wood Flooring, Epoxy Flooring and various Flooring Underlayments.
Surface Preparation
Any flooring option installed over concrete requires a smooth, flat, and clean floor. There may be some residual product leftover when an old floor is removed due to carpet glue, tile mastic, or epoxy paint. Ardor Solutions has all the equipment needed to work on your floor's surface preparation.
Flooring Underlayments
We bring our experience of flooring finishes to the underlayment side of the business. Whether you need a simple skim coat to float out some imperfections or you need a 3" infill, Ardor Solutions has the product for you.
Parts of the Project
Ardor Solutions is your complete concrete flooring specialists. We'll help you through the entire process from the initial plans and surface preparation to the finished product and maintenance.
Polished concrete floors are very durable; however, they are not impervious to scratches, "chip outs," or staining. This is a finished floor system and must be treated as such. Ardor Solutions will help you learn how to maintain your floor system.
Ardor's Professional Polished Concrete Cleaner Plus with Scratch Guard is a revolutionary, cutting-edge technology that can help prolong the life of your floor. Ardor Solutions offers the industry's leading 7 year warranty with all floors.


text: You thought you'd defeated the evil wizard once and for all. You were certain you'd closed the doorway to his dimension forever. But somehow, he's returned! Now it's time to summon the Magic Ball again, to undo the wretched sorcerer's spells. Return the items he has stolen to their rightful places in the universe. Break free from his spells in Smash Frenzy 3!


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K. Jacques is the absolute reference in sandals from St. Tropez that's midway between sparkle and tradition, glamour and craftsmanship. K. Jacques is family business since 1933, and today the label mix-and-matches fashion and know-how taking its inspiration from the Côte d'Azur to Paris. It's a mix of styles that the brand has cultivated with talent ever since its beginnings in a small boutique-atelier in St. Tropez, which was from the start frequented by the big names from the worlds of art and politics. Since then, K. Jacques sandals have become international classics, they've been invited onto the most prestigious podiums, and they've been worn by the biggest stars. Amongst other renowned couturiers, Marant, Catherine Malandrino, Kenzo, Castelbajac, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Joseph, and also Helmut Lang have all put their faith in K. Jacques to create footwear to go with their creations. Nothing is too beautiful for this southern brand which has its collections produced in France. Each item requires 46 manual operations, which equates to nearly one hour of craftsman's work, and is made from the finest leathers: full-grain calf skin, nubuck, veau verni, goat's skins, and even real python skin. Comfort is standard thanks to soles made from natural rot-proof latex, or from wood, or even sometimes from air bubbles! The Queen brand of sandals, from the flip-flop to gladiator sandals, K. Jacques proudly struts its timeless identity that wins over sunshine people from the Caribbean to Australia, and from the streets of New York, to Saint Tropez.
Create an alert to receive brand updates by e-mail!


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Vaseline (min 3 x 250g tubs)
Waterproof sun cream (highest factor possible)
Rubber gloves (to apply grease)
Bin bags for rubbish
Bottled water, 2L bottles
Ginger Nut biscuits
Dried ginger
"Sea Legs" anti-seasickness pills,
Fruit Sugar
Hot Chocolate powder
Tea bags
Ibuprofen (400mg tablets, not water soluble)
Antihistamine tablets (Claratyn is good)
Sudocrem (1 tub)
Light sticks (5 min)
Large safety pins (5 min)
Swimming costume
Large towels
A pairs of goggles
Silicone swimming hat
Warm blankets
Sleeping bag
Warm clothes and beanie
Water proof jacket (it is Scotland!)
Chocolate Swiss rolls or similar
Selection of sandwiches (for crew)
Selection of pot noodles (for crew)
Plenty of food
White board with marker pens
Mobile phone with plenty of battery life with all useful numbers
Chargers for phones, cameras etc
Waterproof throwaway camera for finish (optional)
Copyright DuckStew Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. SC589378


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Look what I've got for Christmas!!! I'm really happy! My boyfriend gave this to me yesterday! I'm really happy because finally my Harry Potter series is complete!
I'm so lucky that I got this... I once said to him "For Christmas you can give me the Harry Potter book 6 the Half-Blood Prince", but I didn't know that he will really do it! I didn't know that he will give me this for Christmas! I'm really happy! I'm happy that he gave me that although all my Harry Potter books came from him, I'm still happy that he really bought that for me. That was his surprise for me and I'm really happy!
Note: Thank you honey! :)


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The Single Rose Necklace
The Single Rose Necklace which is made of solid silver and has been cast from dried a single roses.
The Rose measures 6cm in length and is placed on a Stirling Silver chain with parrot clasp.
Hand made in New Zealand, a collaboration by Georgie Malyon and Jeweller Sheehan Silver.
Each Rose Stem is unique, these are all handmade so they will be beautifully irregular.
When ordering please make note of if you would like the Polished silver or the tarnished look
Although we try to keep these in stock please allow up to 3 weeks to ship (although often sooner) as each piece is made exclusively for you.
Please note that these have thorns that have been filed down but still have a bite and should be worn with care and some fabrics should be avoided due to snagging or damage to the wearer. The owner of this jewellery is responsible for its care.


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chakra tai chi for summer ease
Summer's expansiveness and heat can bring up all kinds of feelings. Many of us vacillate between wanting to be on permanent vacation, not wanting to leave the house (ever!), and feeling consumed by anxiety of what exactly to do with our time and really, our lives.
Chinese medicine points us to the connection between the summer season and the heart. This is not a reference to the physical heart but rather the energetic center in the middle of the chest. It is said that our energetic heart's "job" is to be at peace. Imagine if it were your job, your actual job, to be at peace. What would you do from 9 to 5? What would you need? How would you feel?
When our hearts are at peace, not only do we feel serenity but also joy. Why? Because it's simply so joyful to feel at ease, safe, and secure in your own heart.
We are actually quite lucky in that peacefulness and joy are not just fleeting experiences but innate aspects of being. They do, however, become veiled. We lose sight of our peace. We lose touch with our joy. We forget that we are ok, and we begin to believe that we are not.
Meditative practices, like Chakra Tai Chi, offer us a place, a gentle way, to remember. Register now @ shiraozsinai.com/summer-chakra.
Can't join me for the class? Please let me know of your interest! It helps inform my future offerings. Also, I'm happy to offer Chakra Tai Chi private sessions and/or acupressure for cultivating joy this summer! So contact me and let me know what you think.
May all beings experience the joy and peacefulness that they are,
-- Shira Oz-Sinai
Leave a Reply.
Shira Oz-Sinai
Shira Oz-Sinai is a spiritual teacher trained in iRest® Yoga Nidra meditation and Soul Lightening Acupressure®, two modalities that share the common principle of noticing what arises in awareness as the foundation to living life with ease and in deep and loving friendship with yourself. These are her musings.
March 2020


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2020 Cheap Bridesmaid Dresses Sequins Sweetheart Floor Length Sexy Party DressesItem Code: BO3527
Market price::
US $217.80Factory price: US $113.00
Following the purchase of goods to reach the number that they can enjoy a range of preferential prices:
- Quantity
- Price
- ≧3
- WEDDING VENUES : Beach / Destination
- SILHOUETTE : A-line
- HEMLINE / TRAIN : Floor-length
- NECKLINE : Sweetheart
- BODY SHAPE : Misses
- SLEEVE LENGTH : Sleeveless
- EMBELLISHMENT : Beading
- BACK DETAILS : Zipper
- WAIST : Empire
- Rush Time : 6 work days
- Custom measurements : Custom measurements
Short Description:
- High quality dresses are available in any colors and available from size 2 to 16 and 14W to 26W. We also offer custom tailor services if you provide your measurements.All our dresses are personally tailored for you from scratch.
- The dress does not include any accessories such as gloves, wedding veil and jacket, etc.If needed, please contact us freely.
- Processing time:18-25 business days made for wedding dresses, 12-18 business days made for party dresses
- Shipping time: 3-5 business days By DHL or EMS
- Package Size: 40.0 * 30.0 * 20.0 (cm) wedding dresses/30.0 * 20.0 * 10.0 (cm) Party dresses
- Welcome Dresses wholesalers and retailers to purchase dresses in big discount.
- Since computer screens have chromatic aberration,we can not guarantee that the color of our products will be exactly the same with the photographs you saw.So please confirm with our sales about the dress color clearly.
Welcome to Babyonlinedress.com to buy more Best Selling Cheap Bridesmaid Dresses
If this were in another colour would it be the sequin top and skirt that are coloured or just one if so top or bottom?


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Kart Racing Pro release10b available!
Started by bobthemac, August 24, 2017, 05:01:56 pm
Quote from: bobthemac on August 25, 2017, 05:17:05 pmYes there is a lot of work involved if we can create hooks that allow us to do this kind of thing in GTA5 with it's budget, its probably possible to do it with KRP. I have a few ideas on how to go about it I just need to find a way to access the games core code.
Quote from: bobthemac on August 30, 2017, 01:22:45 amSlight change of plans after looking into how to reverse engineer the game then looking at some other things like the fact that it is still build to work on a 16 year old version of DirectX. I have decided to work on a complete kart simulation including AI instead using some more modern tech. I can't give release times as I have only just started but currently I am working 12 Hours a day on it.
Quote from: 3rd.Rail on August 31, 2017, 03:23:40 pmThis comes up alot. You can make your own AI. Enable the ghosting mode and save your ghost. I practice with three ghost vehicles set at different lap records. I even change uniform and helmets as the program will save those items. The ghost will constantly lap at the saved lap time you choose next it will travel the lap mirrored to your line so you should be able to anticipate your own moves. This program is solid thru and thru.


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What you need to Learn about AmSec Safes
In the event that you are searching for the secure to safeguard your own belongings or even essential paperwork, you should look at AmSec safes. If you want to shop your own weapon selection, they've a multitude of weapon storage space choices, as well. What ever your own protection requirements, AmSec includes a item for you personally.
AmSec has existed with regard to 60 many years producing high quality safes. You'll find a number of items to suit your storage space requirements as well as room needs inside nearly every spending budget. They've walls safes as well as ground safes if you want the thought of the traveler film kind of protection or even conventional safes that may be attached towards the ground. You will get safes along with fireplace safety or even thievery safety or even a mix of each.
You'll find the actual UL score upon AmSec versions so you understand how a lot fireplace safety each one of these offers. Additionally they include functions to avoid thievery, for example deadbolt hair which avoid the doorway through becoming eliminated when the depends tend to be pried away. In contrast to a few manufacturers which make use of concealed depends, their own depends is visible.
A few of the versions may have a life time alternative guarantee in case of the fireplace. A few safes possess a two-hour fireplace score, that is advantageous for those who reside in non-urban places. This enables the actual fireplace division additional time to place away a home fireplace before you decide to shed the actual material inside your secure.
Should you personal the weapon with regard to safety, you realize you should contain it inside simple achieve although not obtainable in order to kids. AmSec can make the protection secure which suits underneath the mattress and it has a digital locking mechanism having a gentle which allows fast access despite evening.
AmSec can make weapon safes in various dimensions with regard to big weapons or even handguns as well as pistols. These people have a unique secure with regard to attack guns as well as tactical weaponry.
You will get various digital hair. They might possess keypads with regard to mixture hair or even fingerprint entry. You are able to setup 2 rules if you wish to provide use of another person in the event of crisis. The actual digital hair include guide override resources when these people stop operating or even a person your investment signal.
You will discover a cost to suit nearly every spending budget. You will get the secure for under $ 200. Nevertheless, a few weapon safes will definitely cost thousands of bucks, with respect to the design you select. You can purchase your own secure with the corporation's web site should you choose on the internet buying. However if you want to check out an item before you decide to purchase this, you'll find the seller via their own website where one can store personally.
If you would like more info prior to investing in a secure, AmSec offers useful resources on the website. These people let you know details about fireplace rankings as well as thievery rankings as well as clarify their own items at length.
You will discover a sizable choice of items to suit your safe storage space requirements. You'll find some thing inside your cost as well as dimension variety as well as realize that you'll have a item which will final several years.


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The Roman Colosseum is one of the Seven Wonders of the world and exalted to be one of the most lofty structures ever built. When I was at school, as a part of a history project, I had resolved to build a model of the Colosseum which back then was another historical monument I had to mug up about. As we studied the structure, the windows, the shape of the ruins, the more monumental the DIY project became! I remember several failed attempts at making a simple model of this building which included foolish attempts at cutting up a bucket to get the round shape, curling up a cardpaper which looked too one dimensional, using all kinds of thermocol to no avail, creating moulds that would not break for a POP model and finally using the brilliant technique of paper mache to create that three-dimensional structure that wouldn't collapse with a breeze! And ever since then, I have wondered how they built the real thing so well! And I guess, that little school project was one of the reasons why I always wanted to visit Rome!
But, well, onto the real thing, when we were at Rome, we wanted to save the best for the last (or a Free Sunday) to see this amazing structure. We scheduled our visit on the first Sunday of the month to gain free access to the Colosseum. Worrying about snaking long lines, we hurried to the Colosseum, a few stones throw away from our apartment bright and early and were at the gate at 8 am where people had started lining up already. 20 minutes later, we were inside after all the free ticket and security formalities were completed. We took the audio guides for the Colosseum to understand points in the building.
About an hour was enough to see the inside of the colosseum. Although much of the middle portion is in ruins, it was still interesting to imagine the gladiators of the days that are past enter make their dramatic entries into the field where the blood of many a brave man was shed. Scenes from the movies on Gladiator obviously came to mind listened to the roar of the lions and the shrieks of the victims.
We went around for about an hour, took some nice pictures and were out on our way to the next stop not before we saw the serpentine lines and thanked our stars we were well on time to see the greatest highlight of the city and the country.
Alongside the Colosseum are other historical structures – the Roman Forum and the Palatine hill. Well, those are another story to tell. So will leave you with a few pictures of this truly wondrous structure.


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Olde Towne Tavern was established in October 2010 in the old Phoebus section of Hampton. We are a locally owned tavern focused on providing you a comfortable atmosphere with great customer service, some delicious local "tavern style" Seafood favorites, 100% Beef Burgers plus some soups & salads to satisfy all your tastes.
In addition to serving great food, cold beer and coctails we bring you the best variety in LIVE MUSIC around, from Acoustic to Rock to Country & Jazz music. Daily lunch and dinner specials keep things fresh and new around here. Pool Tables, Steel Tip Darts, 8 HD Flatscreen tv's and Free Wi-Fi are all available to round out your Tavern experience. This is a non-smoking establishment but we do have an outdoor covered patio for your eating drinking and smoking enjoyment! So come check things out for yourself, we are looking forward to seeing you.


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The Arduino Ethernet Shield is a wonderful device for DIY electronics projects, and this project is really creative and awesome. In this video you will learn how to use an Arduino, a promixity sensor, and some LED lights to make a proximity-sensing, LED-lit, evil Jack-o'-Lantern that will terrorize your neighborhood and probably get stolen if you don't watch it like a hawk.
Get the source code and other written info here.
Want to help support Gadget Hacks and get a great deal on some sweet new tech? Check out all the deals on the new Gadget Hacks Shop.


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If You Are Doing Incident Response, You Are Doing It Wrong
I'd been thinking about this for awhile, but conversations with Rob Lee and then a presentation with him really helped me clarify my thinking on this issue. Here goes:
If you are doing incident response, you are psychologically, if not operationally, in a reactive rather than proactive mode. To do it right, incident response needs to be part of your ongoing daily business process. True incident response only occurs during major breaches. As part of your incident management, you proactively – days, months, even years in advance – address the issues that might create a need to respond to an incident.
By managing incidents rather than responding to them, you:
- Reduce the severity of the incidents that do occur.
- Reduce the number of incidents that do occur.
- Shift from responding to incidents to managing incidents as part of your normal operations
- Reduce unforeseen expenses related to incident investigations
- Increase your visibility within the business, and thus the support for your organization
- Strengthen security posture (Thank you to Corey)
- Reduce stress on your staff and increase their job satisfaction (unless they are adrenalin junkies)
An incident management mindset depends on accepting a truism:
Compromise Is Inevitable – Something truly malicious has been in, is in, and will be in your environment.
If you accept that compromise is inevitable, why wait for it to happen? Why not get ahead of it, reduce its impact, and increase your resilience?
Which leads me to my second point – traditional emergency management has been doing this for decades. If you do a search for "Emergency management cycle", you will find many images similar to the following:
Tornados, earthquakes, fires, automobile accidents, heart attacks, and many more emergencies happen daily. Rather than treating these as one off incidents that require all hands on deck, emergency services plan, recruit, train, and respond in a very calm, business like manner because it is their normal business. (I speak from 15 years of emergency management experience. Find a fire fighter in your organization and run this past them.) When a fire engine rolls up to a fire, does everyone jump out, run around, and add to the chaos? No, they respond in a very consistent, calm, and methodical manner.
Take a hard look at ICS – Incident Command System. FEMA has several short, online courses to familiarize you with it. Step back and think about how it might apply to your organization. The modular, scalable nature of ICS enables effective response to incidents by multiple agencies. Sounds like something that might apply to a breach investigation? (You don't need to buy into all the labels. Just think about the core concepts.)
In closing, let me ask you to think on two points:
- Manage incidents, and the entire lifecycle, in a way that enables you to treat incidents as part of your normal operational tempo.
- Pay attention to how traditional emergency management works and learn from them. An enormous amount of thought and effort has been invested in emergency management already. Build on that rather than try to recreate everything.
SANS DFIR Summit Prague – Blue Team Perspectives slides
I gave a presentation at SANS DFIR Summit in Prague this morning. My presentation was designed to introduce DFIR practitioners to the larger business context that they might be working within. This could help with career progression, avoiding frustration in the workplace, or developing your reputation within your firm to name just a few possibilities.
Any and all feedback on the presentation is welcome.
Patents in the DFIR community space
Good morning,
David Cowen announced that he has submitted a patent application for NTFS TriForce. Let me start off by stating that I admire David quite a bit, I think TriForce is very useful and pushes into new territory, and that I am not angry at anyone, least of all David.
That said, I'm very concerned. The discussion is going on over in G+. Here is my very off the top of my head contribution to what may be a very interesting discussion. I hope others chime in.
From the G+ post:
I think my response may have been phrased in overly strong language. I've given some thought to why – why I am concerned and why my response was more emotional than the situation warranted.
My perception was that your tool was well supported by the community, and that through your beta program, presentations, and blog posts you were engaging with the community to help develop it. I, rightly or wrongly, mentally lumped it in with other reasonably priced tools that were closely tied to the DFIR community. So when I saw your patent post my immediate thought was "There's another tool that I'm not going to want to support any more."
Your post set off warning bells in my hindbrain. My experience with patents has almost always been negative, and in some very personal ways at times. I've had colleagues say "I'm doing this for all of us" on more than one occasion. Even when they were being honest, there were negative repercussions.
I think you're going to run into prior art issues, and quite a few of them. I think that this may be part of my emotional reaction. My perception is that the prior art may be the DFIR community's work and I'm reacting to the perception that you may be trying, directly or indirectly, to patent the work of many other people.
I fear that you may set off an arms race in the DFIR community. Maybe it is going to happen anyhow and you're just getting there first. I don't really want to be a part of that, and I'm not going to be thrilled about watching it happen if it does occur.
Guidance is a very poor example to cite of good behavior with respect to public relations, community engagement, and good business decisions. If they are your model for pretty much anything, you're elevating my level of concern.
There are other ways to protect and control your intellectual property without patents. Sharing your thoughts on why you're going with patents rather than licensing would be helpful.
Someone asked me if I am angry. I'm not. I am quite concerned though and I look forward to seeing how this plays out.
IRcollect – collect incident response information via raw disk reads and $MFT parsing
ircollect is a Python tool designed to collect files of interest in an incident response investigation or triage effort. This is very beta code. I'm hacking on it regularly, using it to learn about internal structures, finding minor and major issues, …. Use it at your own risk! If you have advice on how to address issues I've encountered, please share ….
In the process of writing this, I added data run parsing and ADS detection to analyzeMFT so those are now available.
The github site has more details and will be updated much more regularly than this blog.
Running as local admin, it:
- Opens the raw disk
- Reads the master boot record, collects a copy of it, and uses the MBR to find partition and disk information
- Using the MBR information, it finds the NTFS partitions.
- Working from the start of the NTFS partition, it finds the $MFT
- It collects a copy of the $MFT and then builds a list of all the files on the system and their data runs
- Using the file list and data runs, it collects interesting files through direct reads from the disk, bypassing access controls.
All collected files are stored in a directory specified with the -d option. They are further organized by hostname and the date-time the script was run.
pip install analyzemft
VERY beta. Active development daily, often hourly.
Currently collects master boot record, $MFT, and live (corrupted) registry hives. User can modify table in ircollect.py to specify any files they desire.
Thank you to:
- Jamie Levy for mbr_parser
- Willi Ballenthin – bit manipulation code, lots of useful tips for analyzeMFT
Adventures in Powershell for IR
So, I wanted to access locked registry hives. Simple enough using F-Response, but it devolves into various solutions that are not well supported after that. I came across one solution that was of particular interest from a response side but also from an attack side:
Using PowerShell to Copy NTDS.dit / Registry Hives, Bypass SACL's / DACL's / File Locks
In short, it opens a read handle to the C volume, parses the NTFS structures, and reads the files directly thus bypassing all access controls and locks. You do need to be local admin to run it.
This is great for getting locked registry hives, or for remotely copying NTDS.dit without deploying hacker tools on the remote system. Bear in mind that the remote system needs to be running the WS-Management service. This is not running by default on our Windows 7 desktops, but the author mentioned that it is running by default on Windows Server 2012.
There are a number of niggling issues with getting PowerShell scripts to run. This article covers almost all of them nicely: Execution Policy
However, it didn't cover one issue – what happens when you try to do:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
and get a registry access error?
This post explains how to edit the registry directly.
Once you've worked your way through those issues, you can grab local and remote files to your heart's content.
DFIR Fiction Reading List
The Digital Forensics and Incident Response fiction reading list, in no particular order:
- Ender's Game – Orson Scott Card
- Jumper and Reflex – Steven Gould
- Most anything by John Grisham
- Daemon – Daniel Suarez
- Zero Day and Trojan Horse – Mark Russinovich (yes, that Mark)
- Pretty much anything on the Access Data or Guidance Software support web sites
- Blue Nowhere – Jeffrey Deaver
- Halting State and Rule 34 – Charles Stross
- Zero History – William Gibson
- American Gods – Neil Gaiman
- The Magicians – Lev Grossman
- The Night Watch Trilogy – Sergei Lukyanenko
Dissecting a Blackhole 2 PDF (mostly) with peepdf.
I'm fairly new to malware analysis having spent most of the last ten years doing IT consulting, computer forensics, ediscovery, and some related work. I'm now doing a lot of incident response and am taking on some malware analysis responsibilities, at least on a triage and management level.
We got phished the other day, and a rather nice phish it was. Kudos to the mail team for shutting it down quickly and to an alert user who escalated it as well. Some quick dynamic analysis led to a PDF, and there our story starts.
If you open the PDF up you'll get a rectangle and possibly an error message.
So what do we as analysts do with this? There are a lot of analysis tools out there and I worked my way through quite a few of them, partly just to see what worked, and how they worked. The one I ended up using was peepdf. I barely scratched the surface of its capabilities, but the following features sold me on it for this project:
- It handled the malformed references that many other PDF analysis tools failed to handle.
- It is command line based and scriptable. If you develop a peepdf workflow, put that into a file and execute it each time
- Search raw and decoded objects
- Spidermonkey built in
So, I loaded my malicious PDF into peepdf and got the following output:
Well, that's pretty simple, there is only one object with JavaScript in it. Let's take a look at it:
One thing immediately leaps out at you and another one follows soon after that. First off, this is very ugly code. I mean, rather than just saying "ff = charCode" the construction of ff is broken up over multiple lines. This is classic obfuscation technique, though a lot easier to detect in JavaScript than assembly code. If you look through this code you'll start to see other similar techniques and will eventually be able to see some pretty simple structure. A hint – everything between /* */ pairs is a comment.
I cleaned up the code a bit and rewrote it in pseudocode (because I don't know JavaScript yet) to try to figure out what was going on. As you run into JavaScript calls just do a Google search for them, just as you would for Windows APIs. You don't need to be an expert programmer to figure out what the code is doing. In this case, the bulk of the code amounts to this:
s = s + char(str(int(concat(b1, b2), 0x1a)))
It is building a string up by concatenating pairs of bytes, converting that to an integer with radix 0x1a, and converting that to a string and then into a character.
So that is the second part, a decryption routine, but it needs something to decrypt. I guessed that the first part located the stuff to decrypt and that it found it using the keyword "creation date". So, how to find that stuff? Back to peepdf:
The search for "creation date" didn't turn up anything, but searching for "creation" produced hits in object 3 and object 43. We're already looking at object 43 so let us see what is in object 3. Lo and behold, there is CreationDate and a lot of … stuff. Working on the assumption that the code in object 43 will decode the stuff in object 3, I proceeded as follows. (Yes, there is probably a way to do this all within peepdf, but I'm still learning how to use spidermonkey properly so I took this route.)
First, dump object 3 out.
PPDF> object 3 > object3.txt
Write a Python version of the code in object 43:
Strip the noise off the front of object3.txt ("<< /Title asdasdsad/CreationDate %#^&*%^#@&%#@3") and then run the Python code against the object 3 stuff we saved earlier:
> jsparse.py -f object3.txt > object3.js
And then jump back into peepdf and clean up the newly created code:
PPDF> js_beautify file object3.txt > object3-clean.js
This illustrates one of the things that I love about peepdf – it includes a lot of very useful functionality in the application so you don't need to jump in and out of the tool all the time. (My foray into Python is due to my own issues and not peepdf's.)
object3-clean.js now contains the second stage of the malicious PDF.
There is a lot more that can be done with this, such as noticing that the JavaScript coding style looks a lot like the php code used elsewhere in this phishing attack, but I'll leave that and leave decoding the second stage for another day. Readers interested in carrying on will note that var1 and var2 are awfully similar and may be headers for shellcode.
This was a pretty high level run through of a relatively simple problem done by someone rather new to the subject, but hopefully it left you with the confidence to dive into this sort of thing yourself. There are a lot of good tools out there, lots of examples to work on, and many good people to help you out. (Tip of the hat to Willi and to the folks from rem-alumni.)


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Hi beauties, hope you are having a great week so far. It's been a while I didn't update anything as I was busy with my new job! Yes, I've changed my job for good and it's been a week on my new work place. But as always, the beginning is little taunting trying to adapt the new environment and new people. However, that doesn't stop me to enjoy my life, I try to find every possible way to cheer myself up and find happiness in each small thing. So, today's post "back to school girl style" is inspired by my current situation.
Back in high school, life seems to be much more fun and simple, because I follow my heart and do things I love. As I grow older, I feel like I'm becoming more calculative, reserve, often afraid of what people will think and so on…, finally end up doing things I don't enjoy and struggle to do things I really want, just because I'm scared of what the world would say. If you are with me, it's high time we should let it go and start living free. Life is too beautiful to be wasted doing things we despise. With that saying, how many of you believe that your outfit can actually change your mood??? It sounds funny but I'm a strong believer of it and that's the reason why I dress up today like this school girl style. Hope you like it!
Talking about the outfit, a great light color shirt and a cute skirt are essentials of this summer. They will never disappoint you no matter where you are heading to. Currently loving the trend of wearing socks with oxford shoes or sandals, as you can see in my previous post Cropped Flared Jeans & Fish Net Socks.
Skirt from BOOHOO, Tops ZARA(old), Shoes New Look
Thank you very much for stopping by my blog!
xoxo Ashon


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Being a successful, professional fangirl is by no means easy. There is actually a lot that goes into prepping yourself to become a real fangirl. Not to mention that there are an endless amount of fandoms that exist, and finding the select few that you really identify with can be quite a challenge.
Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the definitions:
1) "Sophisticated definition:" fan*girl - a female fan, especially one who is obsessive about comics, movies, music, or science fiction. (C)(Oxford Dictionaries).
2) "My definition:" fan*girl - a female fan, especially one who is prone to creating shrines to a specific movie, owning more fandom-related clothes than normal ones, finding every excuse to insert their fandom of choice into normal conversations, and crying profusely every time she reads her favorite character's death scene. (C)(Me).
Step 2: Choose a fandom:
Star Wars OR Star Trek? Harry Potter OR Game of Thrones? Lord of the Rings OR...well, there isn't really anything in the same league as Lord of the Rings.
How do you decide between all the fandoms? Here's how you can tell which fandom is best for you:
1. Start by exploring the stories you already like: if you own the extended versions of Lord of the Rings (ahem...guilty), then why not start there? If you're the first in line on opening night to see a new Star Wars movie, then, yeah, I'd say that would qualify you to claim that fandom.
2. If you find yourself freaking out whenever you see someone wearing a specific geeky, fangirl-y shirt, then make sure to keep track of which fandoms you do that to most.
3. If you've grown up reading a favorite book series, then it may be time to explore the side culture that goes along with that series. Are there enough places to buy t-shirts to satisfy every fangirl's inner need to express their fandom? (Psst...if you can get past the emo music and overall uncomfortable feel of Hot Topic, they actually have some pretty decent clothes). Do enough people like your fandom, or are you going to be the only one in your town who really gets it?
4. If you have feelings (i.e. crying, uncontrollable hysteria, wailing and gnashing of teeth) whenever a character in a book/movie you like dies, that sounds like a pretty good fandom to stick with. If you're that emotionally involved in a story, then that is hands down your fandom.
5. If you still can't decide which fandom you want to be involved in, ask a friend (specifically a geeky friend) for help. If you don't have a geeky friend, ask one of those people whose shirt you freaked out over. They'd be glad to help you.
Step 3: Acting the Part
Most fangirls generally devote their time to one specific fandom. There is a rare species of fangirl out there that has the brain capacity to properly fangirl over 2 or more fandoms (mine are Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter...go, brain capacity!). If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all.
Once you've found your fandom, you need to become the fangirl you were born to be. This includes, and is not limited to: dressing in fandom clothes, associating with other fangirls, reading, discussing your fandom whenever possible, reading, annoying the heck out of your family by sending not-so-subtle hints about your fandom-related Christmas presents, reading, taping quotes from your fandom all over your bedroom until it looks like a printer threw up, begging strangers for money so you can visit the places where your fandom was filmed (UM, HELLO, NEW ZEALAND!), reading, etc. You get the point.
Step 4: Don't Let it Define You
Being a fangirl is fun, but if you find yourself forever thinking about your fandom and not able to concentrate on anything else important (school, job, life), then you should probably tone it down. If that means not wearing a fandom shirt for a few weeks, then go ahead and do it. Remember, kids: it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. (< Yes, that is a Dumbledore quote). Keep in mind that fandoms are fictional, and those characters you love so much are, sadly, fake. Occupying your time with dreams of running away with your fandom's main character may be fun, but it won't help you better your life...unless you happen to write for Mugglenet.com.
The most important fangirl golden rule is: do NOT obsess. Nobody likes a person who only talks and thinks about fandoms. Honestly, I think even other fangirls get annoyed by each other sometimes. Be open to doing other things outside of the fangirl bubble.
I hope this guide has helped you to grasp a better understanding of how to be a professional fangirl! I enjoyed writing it, and I certainly hope you enjoyed reading it.
Don't forget to bookmark the page if you want to keep up with more blog posts, and to comment if you like a post.
Remember, never, EVER leave the house without your wand! :)
All Ask The Blogger Author Interviews Blog Awards Blogger Interviews Book Review Geeky Stuff Life Hacks (The Geek Way) MY FAVORITE POST EVER
January 2020


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Woke up Wednesday to wet, drippy conditions and overcast skies. The forecast was calling for the rains from overnight to clear out of the area by late morning with a window of opportunity for a ride happening by lunchtime. Okay, that works for me. I had some stuff I could do before then around The Lab and on the innerweb. I wasn't too worried about not getting in a ride.
Getting in a ride on a bicycle, other than commuting, (which I do not mean to belittle in any way), was rare lately what with the ill timed rains since Trans Iowa. I just have been hard pressed to find the time off that coincides with riding conditions that are better than "duck's weather".
So when I heard the pitter-patter of rain drops mid-morning, my heart sank. I thought that this rain was going away, not redeveloping. Meh! But just then, Captain Bob sent me an e-mail that indicated he had some time to scoot over for a visit. He had some bicycle parts and bikes that he needed to get back to me since they were on loan, and he just wanted to stop by. So I threw on a pot of this awesome organic coffee from a co-operative in Madison, Wisconsin called "Bike Fuel", (Thanks Craig!!!) and waited for the Captain to show up.
We had a nice chat, and when he was about to leave he says, "Hey, if you are going to pop out for a ride at Cedar Bend give me a call." I said I would. So, I made some lunch after he left and checked the radar. No shower activity, the rain was leaving!
So, I threw my riding gear on, popped the new Lynskey Ridgeline into the Dirty Blue Box, and hit the road for Cedar Bend. I called Captain Bob as I pulled out. He said he'd meet me there. I was stoked that I might get a ride in and have Captain Bob there to share it with. Cool.
Well, the skies didn't look so accommodating as I pulled out of Waterloo. Clouds were everywhere. I saw a few sprinkles on the windshield from time to time. "Thick humidity", I thought to myself as I tried to stay optimistic. It went away, but then the drops formed on the windshield again as I pulled into Cedar Bend.
Captain Bob wasn't there yet, he said he would probably get there a bit after I did. So I pulled the featherweight Ridgeline out of the car, put on my helmet and started off. The trails were tacky. Just right. I went in for a ways until I hit the first steep climb, then I heard what every single speeder dreads. "Snap!!!" Came in the direction of the chain. Gah! I stopped. Yep.......loose chain! Checked for my Allen wrenches to tension the chain. Rats! They are back at the car. I soft pedal back, make the adjustment to the sliders, and get set to go. Hmm......I notice that the "thick humidity" is getting "thicker". Ahh.........who am I kidding? It is a full on sprinkly-misty rain now. Nothing that a tree canopy can't stop though, and thankfully the canopy was out now. No Captain yet. Hmmm.........I am a bit concerned, but I speed off into the woods again, expecting the cell phone to ring any second.
I get all the way through the trails on the lower end, work my way up a longish climb, and come out on the gravel service road heading back to the campgrounds. It is raining a bit heavier now, and I am wet. The trails are getting greasy, and I am thinking I am done. I'll just call Captain Bob to let him know not to bother. Of course, just at that precise moment, you can guess what happened.
"Hey! Where are you at? I just pulled in.", says an excited Captain Bob. Realizing he knows it is raining just as much as I do, I figure a lap won't hurt. So we go out for a leisurely lap, trading bikes for a bit, and having a great time.
We get back soaked, muddy, and grinning. Man! It is great to be out riding again!
May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?
10 hours ago


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It's been raining here since yesterday afternoon. It finally stopped about 2:00 and the sun came out, so Toots and I went for a walk. It was HOT after that sun came out, though! I was planning to take him to the pool after he woke up from his nap, but he's napping longer than usual, so we'll probably just hang out here until Tim gets home and then it's off to Rosa's for Taco Tuesday! If you don't know what Taco Tuesday is, there is this Mexican restaurant called Rosa's Tortilla Factory and on Tuesdays they have taco plates for $3.66 (or something like that, it used to be $3.33 and they just raised the price). You get three tacos, rice, beans, and two tortillas for that price! It's a good deal and we go EVERY Tuesday - it's a family tradition :)
This past week, we went to Waco on Thursday to surprise my dad for his birthday. I thought he was going to be out of town on his birthday, so we hadn't planned on going there but when I talked to him to tell him "Happy Birthday" on Thursday morning, I found out he was in Waco so I quickly called Tim and told him we needed to plan on going there. My dad was surprised and we had a great time. Before we left, we had our first playdate with several kids the same age as Toots. There was a little girl born January 3, a little boy born January 8, a little boy who was 7 months old, and an 11 month old little boy. It was really fun to see two other kids almost exactly the same age as Toots. I really liked the moms as well and hope to get to hang out with them more and make some friends.
This weekend, we mostly just hung out. Tim went and watched the soccer game on Saturday with some friends. He wanted me to come with Toots but I didn't feel comfortable bringing Toots to the bar they were going to (I felt like it was weird to bring a baby unless it was a restaurant/bar and this place isn't really like that). I was glad we ended up not going because he texted me when he got there and told me he was having to stand to watch the game. Holding a 20 pound baby for two hours while standing would not have been fun!
Sunday, we tried out a church closer to our new house. Well, it is closer in number of miles but almost took us the same amount of time to get there. It was a nice church and the people seemed friendly, but I didn't like it as much as our current church. We are going to try another one that is only 7 miles from our house and see what we think about it. I'm having a hard time wanting to switch because I love our church so much, but when it takes 20-30 minutes to get there, it's easy to decide not to go and we don't want to do that. Toots has started being quite loud in church and we actually had to take turns alternating going outside with him this Sunday. I think we're going to have to check out the nurseries at the churches and consider leaving him in there if we're going to go to church. That makes me nervous, but we'll check them out and see.
Nothing much else is going on. We went to the mall today and walked around for about an hour because I was going stir crazy in this house with Toots since it was raining. I am having a hard time lately because he is awake for a lot more time now (2 - 2.5 hours at a time) and I quickly run out of ways to entertain him! Because his attention span is pretty short, it seems like we can play with all his toys and read some books and it has still only been 45 minutes. I try taking him on walks, to swing, or to the pool when it's nice outside but since it hasn't been yesterday afternoon and today, I was not sure of how the heck I was going to find things to do with him. If any of you moms have any suggestions of things to do, please let me know! I'm not sure if I need to buy some more toys or what. He doesn't really like his playmat anymore. Actually, I take that back. He still likes the playmat and is on it right now. I think he just doesn't like to be on it multiple times a day anymore. We use the exersaucer and jumper some and I also play with blocks and some other toys with him. I might get him some light-up drums because I've heard from some moms on The Bump that their kids really like them.
Next Thursday (not this coming one, but the next) we have his 6 month appointment. I can't believe he's going to be 6 months old in one week! He's such a big boy - in size and otherwise now - and it's crazy it's been a half year since he was first born. Sometimes, it felt like it had been years and years but now that he's sleeping, it goes by fast ;)
We LOVE our new video monitor we got! I don't know how I survived without it and it would be a HUGE recommendation on my part to any new moms. I originally read that people didn't like them because they would stare at the baby the whole night and that's why I didn't register for one, but I definitely wish I had because it really helps to not have to jump up everytime I hear him make a noise and be able to know he's fine when he is crying. I got a funny picture of him sleeping the other day on it:
He konked out with his hand over his eye!
Me and Toots. This is, not kidding, the first picture I have of him and me (by ourselves) since he was about a month old or less. I told Tim we have to start taking more pictures of me and him - I'm usually the one behind the camera.
He and Daddy were sitting on the porch the other afternoon and I snuck a picture of them through the window. I just thought it was cute.
He loves his baseball toy his Nana got him before he was born. It makes cute noises that he likes, but he mostly loves chewing on the ball and on the tee right now!
Look what I can do now! Last week, I reported he sat up on his own for about 30 seconds. Now, he does it for minutes at a time. It's amazing the difference a week makes in a baby!
Daddy's home! Yay! (His shirt says "My Dad Rocks")
We tried the duck tub again last night since he sits up better. He can sit up in it, but he prefers to sink down so the water is all over him, which leads to tilting and getting close to falling out. We'll keep trying :)
Uh, oh! She caught me!
Playing in his exersaucer. He is soooo good at controlling everything on it now and turning around to play with everything.


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Before we begin…
Later in this post I mention that some of my fellow bloggers might be too genteel to express themselves the way that I tend to do. If I had to pick one person that I know to apply that word to, it would be my fellow Texas import, Melanie Ofenloch, otherwise known as DallasWineChick. As far as I know, I've never done this before, but I would like to dedicate this post to her.
In conversation with her at the Wine Blogger Conference I mentioned that I was in a rut and had nothing much to say lately, especially with regards to this blog. It was actually worse than that, although I didn't say so. I have been wondering a lot lately if I would ever regain interest in writing about food and wine again. So, she had no way of knowing that I was seriously thinking about hanging it up when I said, "I'm sure that I'll start writing again some day." To which she replied, "Please do, and soon, you're way too good to not." I'm sure other people will wish she had not spoken those words, but I am very grateful to her. Those words, from a peer, from a friend, were just the kick in the ass that I needed…and nearly caused my allergies to kick in. Thanks Melanie.
On to the WBC…
There is a difference between blogs and print publications. Of that there is no doubt. But is there a difference between print writers and bloggers? Not physiologically, at least not much. Talent-wise? None that I can tell. There are exceptionally talented people and complete hacks in both. Education? Accomplishment? Personal hygiene? Hmm, not in any overly apparent way. Attitude? Ah, perhaps we are getting somewhere now.
A blogger should have a different attitude than a traditional writer. Otherwise, what's the point? Most bloggers are their own editors, and we like it that way. Nearly all of the best bloggers I've met are the type writers that have style, they have a sharpness to them that an editor would likely try to blunt, and most importantly they have a point of view. Even if they borrow it, it is still filtered through them and they then own it. They are responsible for what they say, and can't blame bad editing or have a company PR flak try to explain away something that they said that might be unpopular.
Another difference between the two groups is that bloggers, while typically don't aspire to be traditional writers, tend to respect them. The inverse is true of print journalists. They have little respect for bloggers, but know that if they want to continue to write, they better aspire to be us.
This sometimes leads to some friction, if not outright animosity. It is warranted. One area of blogging that I look to as a harbinger that points to where we are moving as writers is in the area of sports. Anyone who doubts that the traditional media should fear bloggers should do a Google search of their favorite sports team, or click any sports related link at CNN. If my chosen profession was print journalism I'd hate the shit out of me.
So, what were the two most-hyped, not to mention ridiculed if you go by the comments of the snarky bastards and bastardettes that I was hanging around with, events at the recently concluded Wine Blogger Conference? One was a panel of print guys talking about, um being print guys. The other was a panel of print guys who, if you were lucky enough, would critique your work. Woo boy, we're having some fun now! Now we know how the Ramones felt when Bachman Turner Overdrive showed up to give them some pointers.
It turns out that not only did someone think that those sessions of dinosaur judging were a good idea, but they also thought that all of us, as bloggers should have our work judged by them as well. The Wine Blog Awards creator, Tom Wark is all puffy proud of himself for letting print writers decide who should get a Wine Blogger Awark, oops Award (why does my spellchecker always do that?), this year. But more on the Awarks (dammit!) , Awards later.
Now some of what I have written may make it seem that I dislike traditional journalists, writers, or any of the other forms of media out there. Nothing could be farther from the truth. But I don't need to be judged by them. I know exactly how good I am, and areas where I am weak, and I make no apology to anyone about it, and especially not to ANY print journalist. To whomever dreamed up this idea that we should be judged by a group that has exhibited very little but contempt for us; you, sir, are an idiot.
Another misconception that I would like to head off at the pass is that I didn't enjoy WBC14, or that I think it was poorly done, or any other happy horseshit that might be inferred from my criticisms. It was, for me personally, one of the most enjoyable ones the organizers have done to date. Yeah, many of the sessions were bullshit or way too basic for a lot of attendees. Yeah, Allan is still in need of a little more time at Charm School so that he can stop addressing a crowd of paying adult attendees as if they were children. And yeah, the keynote speaker elicited responses ranging from "insulting" to "best one yet." But even in those areas, some sessions were good, Allan always seems quite personable in one-on-one conversations, and keynotes tend to suck because they are either too broadly or narrowly focused.
But those are never the things that make the WBC an experience that should rarely be missed. Three things can make or break a WBC. The first is location. Second is my fellow bloggers, many of whom I now count as good friends because of the WBC. And third; the wine makers.
The latter is what made this a WBC for the record books this year. Whether or not it was intentional, or just a happy accident matters not even the slightest bit, but the region chosen provided a perfect synergy between the wine makers and the bloggers. In the same way that "real" writers will often look down on bloggers, or the way some "bloggers" who aspire to be considered as equals of print writers, the wine makers of the area visited are dismissed because, well frankly, if they were "real" wine makers, why aren't they working in Napa or Sonoma? Some stuff just puts a chip on one's shoulder, it's all about how you carry it.
I think that the perfect synergy that mentioned is achieved due to many of the wine makers and many of the bloggers want to raise our middle fingers in the air and scream into the faces of the ignorant folks who try to judge us, "Fuck you, you can only dream of doing what I do!" Some of the wine makers and even some of the bloggers are too genteel or polite for that. I am not.
Some of the best wine makers working today are in the Santa Barbara area, and some of the best wine writers on the planet are bloggers. Disagree? Fuck you. Sorry if that's a bit brutal, but so were the Ramones at times, and they changed the world. The bloggers and wine makers I was around this weekend may just do the same. BTO? They still suck.
RIP Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and now Tommy.


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Q: How do granite and marble compare to other solid surface countertops?
A: Granite is one of the most durable, maintenance-free countertop materials available. Granite is a natural material made of very hard igneous rock that is second only in hardness and compacted strength to diamonds. As a result of its geological composition, granite is stain, scratch, and burn resistant. Easy to care for and much desired for its natural beauty, granite is an investment that amortizes over time, retaining its original appearance long after initial installation. In most cases, granite countertops fall within the same price range as other high-end surfacing materials.
Q: Can you cut on granite or marble?
A: Granite is an extremely tough, durable material and in most cases can be used as a cutting surface without fear of scratching the stone, although repeated cutting on granite may dull knives. Using marble as a cutting surface will result in scratches as if cutting on a piece of wood.
Cutting boards are recommended in daily use.
Q: Can you set hot pans on granite or marble countertops or stove tops?
A: Granite is ideal for kitchens because under normal conditions it will not burn and it will not be harmed by hot pans or open flames, but the stone will absorb heat from hot trays. Marble should not be used in kitchens as excessive heat can cause damage and potentially leave scars or burn marks. Neither material is flammable.
Trivets or cloths are highly recommended.
Q: Does granite or marble chip or scratch?
A: Granite is a very dense material and under normal conditions it is chip and scratch resistant. However, we do not recommend a straight edge polish for countertops, especially around a sink because pots, pans, and other heavy objects may chip the sharp edge of a straight edge finish. Several other edge options are available that will look beautiful and reduce the chance of chipping. Marble can be chipped and scratched under normal use and therefore, should be used in low traffic areas and should always be treated like a piece of fine wood.
Q: Will granite or marble stain?
A: Marble and granite are porous materials and therefore, are subject to staining if not maintained properly. In granite, the same porosity that allows for staining also allows for easy stain removal. In most cases, stains can be prevented by quickly wiping the spill. If a spill is left overnight, especially if the liquid is grease, oil, coffee, or wine the granite will usually darken. To remove the stain, a poultice should be applied, which may pull out the stain from the granite. Marble can be stained and etched by acidic or oil-based products.
Q: How can you limit the staining of granite or marble?
A: To prevent staining, you should wipe up spills on marble and granite as quickly as possible, and avoid using acidic or oil-based products on marble. We highly recoment natural based spray cleaners or neutral soap.
Q: Should granite be sealed?
A: The most effective method of protecting your granite is sealing. Universal Countertop applies a stone sealer, which penetrates the granite and keeps dirt, liquids, and food from easily absorbing into the stone, giving a good window of time for proper clean up. The stone impregnating material does not change the color of the granite or marble. It penetrates the stone and will help prevent staining. However, it will not stop the penetration of moisture entirely. When a liquid that might cause staining spills on the top, it should be cleaned up as soon as possible. Water stains will be seen on the surface after washing dishes, especially on light stones, but it will dry in a few minutes.
Permanent lifetime sealing is recomended and is available upon especial request. Ask one of Universal Countertop specialists about the permanent sealing of your granite.
Q: Will my granite countertop have visible seams?
A: Most granite installations will require at least one or more joints called seams. During layout and design, we will try to avoid or minimize the number of seams required. Additionally, our care in fabricating the countertop ensures that edges fit together very tightly to help lessen the appearance of visible seams. The epoxy used for the joining matches the color of the granite.
Q: Can I choose the granite slab that will be used for their countertops.
A: Universal Countertop encourages customers visit our Shrewsbury showroom to hand select their material. Customers will be shown different "lots" of the same granite and the customer can select which lot they prefer. We will also lay the template on the slab with the customer so they specifically select the most desirable sections of the stone. We only cut what you like!