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Mountaineer Snowshoe
The Tubbs Men's Mountaineer Snowshoe boasts beastly features like Anaconda and Python crampons for venomous bite into slick steeps. With a snowshoe this gnarly, you don't have to tell anyone that it also comforts and coddles with its light weight, soft decking, impact-easing frame, and shock-absorbing articulation. Your secret's safe, tough guy.
- Pro-Step frame features a continuous bend with longer, lower rise for optimal flotation, lower nose that packs easily, and impact-reducing upturned tail
- R2 Revolution Response absorbs shock with lateral flex and quick side-slope responsiveness; full-step rotation sheds snow for ultimate crampon bite
- Asymmetric ActiveFit binding features control wings that center the heel and padded midfoot that gives a custom fit without pressure points
- Razor-sharp Anaconda toe crampon boasts eight constant-contact carbon steel teeth; Python heel crampon delivers downhill braking
- SoftTec decking is durable, lightweight for optimal float, smooth, and soft
- ActiveLift 19-degree binding powers up steep terrain with a strain- and fatigue-reducing heel lift that easily pulls up or folds down
- Item #TUB0094
- Frame Material
- Pro-Step (aluminum)
- Deck Material
- Soft Tec
- Crampon Material
- carbon steel
- Dimensions
- [25in] 8 x 25 in, [30in] 9 x 30 in, [36in] 10 x 36 in
- Binding
- Active Fit 2.0
- Recommended User Weight
- [25in] 120 - 200 lb, [30in] 170 - 250 lb, [36in] 220 - 300 lb
- Claimed Weight
- [pair] 4lb 14.4oz
- Recommended Use
- touring, breaking trail
- Manufacturer Warranty
- limited lifetime
Tech Specs
What do you think about this product?
January 29, 2016
Great snowshoe for steep ascents
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I've owned these snowshoes for 2 years and they have not let me down. The ActiveFit binding is easy on and off even with gloves on. I can not say the same about the set up on other popular snowshoes. The toe crampon is very aggressive and has been great on steep ice ascents. I don't agree with the reviews saying that these excel in flat or rolling terrain. They shine on the mountain in deep snow and open ice when the trail goes up. That is where they come into their own. I've worn them for 15-20 mile day hikes and multi day backpacking excursions.
Michael A.
May 13, 2015
Strongly Recommend
- Familiarity:
- I've used it several times
I've used Tubbs snowshoes for years and never had a problem. These Mountaineers are very tight and aggressive on steep and difficult terrain. If you are serious about traveling in a winter alpine environment, this is the snowshoe for you!
Dennis M.
March 22, 2015
Great all-purpose snowshoe
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I bought my Mountaineer 36 snowshoes last winter to replace a broken pair of Tubbs Wilderness 36s, and noticed an increase in traction on hills right away. The toe crampons are much more aggressive and really give a lot of bite on ascents. On descents, however, the lack of a really aggressive heel crampon or braking bars can lead to a bit of unplanned skiing if you put too much weight on the back of the 'shoes. I've found the best method for descending steep slopes is to keep your weight over the toe crampons as much as possible and put a lot of weight on your poles. Like Charles H. said in his review, if a lot of climbing is in order I use my MSR Lightning Ascents, they have far more traction on both ascents and descents. Plus you can sidehill like a champ with them, which is something no tube-framed snowshoe is good at. Anyway, I'm giving these a 4-star rating because while I'm not really sure they quite live up to the "Mountain" part of their name, they're perfect for anyone who finds that day-hiking snowshoes aren't quite aggressive enough for the terrain they travel. The bindings are very comfortable and very secure, giving you plenty of control to maneuver even 36" 'shoes through the woods, and as long as you make sure to tighten the 2 forward toe straps by pulling on the rearward ones (it'll be obvious once you see the bindings) you'll never have to worry about the bindings loosening up on you. Two people wearing these snowshoes can break a really nice, wide trail, and when I wear these on outings with friends that's exactly what I always seem to find myself doing!
Phil S.
April 2, 2014
Great for flat or rolling terrain.
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I have a pair of Tubbs Mountaineer Snowshoes that are about 3 years old. I use them to go snow caving up at Paradise on Mt. Rainier. I have the 30" length and with my pack am at the limit of 250lbs. At this weight they do sink a bit but not bad considering how much weight I'm carrying. The down side for me is once you get into steep terrain they do slip so you have to be careful. If I know I'm going to be climbing I use my 22' MSR Lightning Ascents. I give up a lot of flotation but gain traction. As long as you stay on flat or rolling terrain they are great. There is no perfect snowshoe for every terrain but these are worth it as long as you don't get too crazy. I've never had any quality issues with the Mountaineer snowshoes and I would say I have asked a lot of them considering where I've been with them. I actually prefer the binding to the MSR.
Charles H.
February 22, 2014
watch out for tubbs
- Familiarity:
- I've used it several times
I bought a pair of explorers and on my second trip out the front prongs snapped right off...on both shoes....two km later my wife broke off both of hers...tubbs has been around a very long time but I think they have lowered the quality quite a bit.....I now own a pair of msr ascents, they cost more but the traction is second to none, light, and so far very durable. I also use my msr for running up hill and down with no issues.....in closing, just spend a little more and avoid the cheap crap that tubbs has become..
October 2, 2013
Tubbs Mountaineer Snowshoe - Men's
Backcountry Video
March 30, 2013
February 18, 2013
Freddie A.
January 21, 2013
Favorite One Yet
- Familiarity:
- I've put it through the wringer
I have had these shoes for the last 2 winters and they have never failed to perform. The binding is super stable and will stay tight all day. Once I tighten them down, I never have to re-tighten. You cant say that about many of the other snow shoes. The binding is very user friendly and only requires you to tighten 2 straps. When I go with friends I am always the first one with my snow shoes on and the the first one with them off once we get back to the parking lot. The Heel Lift is amazing. It makes going up the steep and deep stuff much easier. If you do much extended climbing, the heel lift is a must, regardless of what shoe you get. Another feature I love about these shoes is how tough they are. They do weigh a little more than some of the competitors shoes, but they are bomber. Lastly, the way the shoe pivots is great. It simply rotates rather than throw snow up the back of your pants and cloths. I have taken these shoes up ridges waist deep in snow as well as up rivers that have frozen as they run down the canyon. Overall a super bomber shoe. Overall, my favorite. If you get these, you will not be disappointed.
Dusty O.
Dusty O.
January 21, 2013
Here is a pic of a winter excursion I did with my Tubbs.
Michael B.
February 20, 2014
Hello. I am almost sold on the mountaineers - just one question. Err 2 questions...What do you weigh and what size snowshoes did you purchase?
March 25, 2013
Hi, what size do I need? I wear a US size...
Hi, what size do I need? I wear a US size 11 shoe.
Daniel C.
Eli Hauschild
March 25, 2013
The size is determined by your body weight, not shoe size. See the recommended user weight under the tech specs. I weigh 160lbs and own a pair 25" Tubbs snowshoes. Also take into consideration how much you will typically carry in your pack.


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Trout says he's OK not taking part in HR Derby
CHICAGO -- Mike Trout will not be taking part in Monday's Chevrolet Home Run Derby at Citi Field. That became official on Tuesday, when Major League Baseball announced that A's slugger Yoenis Cespedes would be the fourth and final participant for the American League, joining the Orioles' Chris Davis, the Tigers' Prince Fielder and the Yankees' Robinson Cano.
But Trout said Tuesday that he was never asked by Cano, who's serving as the AL captain for the second straight year. And a few days earlier, Angels manager Mike Scioscia strongly recommended that his star outfielder not take part.
"He doesn't want me to do it because nothing good comes out of it," said Trout, who took part in a Minor League Derby three years ago.
"I did one in Low A in the Minor Leagues. Yeah, I had fun with it. But I don't know if it was my thing."
Trout did say that "maybe later down the road" he'd think about taking part in one. Generally speaking, Scioscia said Sunday that he's "not a fan" of the event, adding: "It's grueling for a participant. The number of full gorilla swings you take, it's like being on a driving range and hitting 10 buckets of balls. It's tough. I haven't seen someone come away from that Derby and be a better player for it."
Albert Pujols agrees with his skipper on how tiring the event can be, but says the three days your body has to recover before the start of the second half is normally plenty of time.
Pujols took part in the 2009 Home Run Derby in St. Louis, making it to the second round, and liked the experience. Cano invited him to participate last year in Kansas City, where Pujols attended high school and community college, and he would've gone had he been selected onto the All-Star team.
When he wasn't, Pujols recommended his teammate, Mark Trumbo, who made it to the second round and put on a show. But then Trumbo went on a prolonged slump shortly after the All-Star break, once again raising the question of whether the Derby can alter a player's swing.
Trumbo disagrees, saying that it was "business as usual" at the plate once the games resumed.
"I think if you get to this level, you should be able to have a decent understanding of what you can do and have some bat control," Trumbo said. "In that situation, you're trying to get under some balls. But it shouldn't be terribly hard to adjust out of that. You are going to be sore. If you go far enough, physically you're going to be a little bit tired."

subset: commoncrawl


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flashrd is an OpenBSD installer tailored for flash-backed devices that have at least 1Gb of flash and 128Mb of RAM. Here's the project's homepage.
Installing flashrd[edit]
Download the flashrd binary images.
Backup the existing flash cards using dd.
dd the new flashrd images to the existing flash cards.
Mount the flash cards, boot into single user mode, or boot the flash card using qemu, then modify /etc/ttys as follows:
19c19 < tty00 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" unknown off --- > tty00 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" vt220 on secure
Add this to /flash/etc/boot.conf: (/flash is on /dev/wd0a)
set timeout 5 stty com0 9600 set tty com0
Plug the flash cards into the existing devices, boot as follows:
boot> set tty com0 switching console to com0 >> OpenBSD/i386 BOOT 3.02 boot> boot booting hd0a:/bsd: 10707316+1055248 [52+360656+344597]=0xbe4014 entry point at 0x200120
Usage notes[edit]
To boot the older flash images, "boot -s" and then "/stand/rc" or "sh /etc/rc". If you need to use the network, remember to do "pfctl -d".
Once you have a serial console on the new image, copy /etc/hostname.*, /etc/ssh/*key*, and /root/.ssh/authorized_keys to the new image from the old image. Upon reboot you should be able to log in.
Files to copy from /etc:
hosts x dhcpd.conf x resolv.conf x myname x rc.conf.local x pf.conf x localtime x snmpd.conf x rtadvd.conf x hostname.* master.passwd x ntpd.conf x passwd x ttys x sysctl.conf x mygate x dnsmasq.conf x
Packages to install:
export PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/packages/i386/ pkg_add -v dnsmasq lsof curl bash iperf isc-dhcp-server net-snmp ngrep bwm-ng
Tunnel configuration[edit]
Sonic has a example ipv6 tunnel configuration generator for OpenBSD, but it only gives the pre-4.7 syntax. Here's how r00ter is configured, and these settings should work for any 4.7 or up installation, including recent flashrd builds.
Note that regardless of what the ISP tells you to use as your subnet, you have to use a prefix length of /64 for automatic address configuration to work. If you have a DHCPv6 server you can do whatever you want, though.
inet6 2001:05a8:0004:5630::0001/64
tunnel 188.8.131.52 18.104.22.168 inet6 alias 2001:5a8:0:1::ac7 prefixlen 127
/etc/pf.conf: You also have to make sure that any nat rules for your regular IPv4 traffic explicitly say "inet" only instead of all protocols, otherwise pf will try to nat the ipv6 packets too.
pass in quick on gif0 inet6 keep state pass in quick on $ext_if proto ipv6 pass out quick on $ext_if proto ipv6


text:
For the second time in less than a week surprising jobs numbers came into play. This morning the Labor Department reported a four-year low of 339,000 first-time claims.
Some claimed this validated last Friday's jobs report, a silly notion because the two are not that closely related and a single week of data is meaningless.
I still think Friday's jobs report will be revised away, but I am positive today's "surprising" report will be (for the simple reason California forgot to report 30,000 claims).
Please consider Jobless Claims Data Skewed Downward.
Initial jobless claims, which are a measure of the number of people recently laid off, fell by 30,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000, the lowest level in more than four years.
But the Labor Department spokesman said the numbers were skewed by one large state that underreported its data. The spokesman declined to identify the state, but economists believe California is the only state large enough to have such a significant impact on the overall numbers.
According to the spokesman, the reason that state's claims numbers fell short was because the state left out a pile of unprocessed claims related to seasonal factors around the beginning of the fourth quarter, which began Oct. 1.
In a research note, Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities summed up the data: "In short, this reading is worthless in terms of informing on the general economy."
Actually, the report isn't worthless, it's simply erroneous. Add back in 30,000 claims and the number is 369,000 right about where it has been for some time.
Is there a conspiracy here? Once again the answer is no.
This large state has a history of reporting "volatile" numbers at the beginning of quarters and that the Labor Department has complained and tried to work with the state to more accurately report its claims but with little success.
"There is no explanation" for the volatility. "We have tried and tried to work with them. It's like playing hardball with them," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said that the unprocessed claims are likely to show up in the numbers in the next week or two. "We should see some sort of catch up."
What We Learned Today
The labor department did not confirm the state was California but who else can it be?
We did learn one useful piece of information today: The first couple weeks of every quarter are likely to be seriously messed up by under-reporting of claims from California.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock


text:
Mizzou holds off Hawaii in Sprint Center showcase
Tigers win 6th straight game at 'Mizzou West'
Even though Missouri hadn't played in the Sprint Center in more than a year, interim coach Tim Fuller had a simple message for his team -- it was still playing at home, and it had to defend Kansas City.
The Tigers did just that. Playing in the heart of what's traditionally viewed as Big 12 country, Missouri held off a pesky Hawaii team 92-80 to delight the Tiger fans populating the Sprint Center.
"We were counting on our 13,000 fans tonight from Kansas City to be behind us," Fuller said. "This is Mizzou West, and we continued to reiterate that to our team throughout pregame shootaround and throughout the whole day that we don't lose at home and this is our home away from home."
Jabari Brown scored 23 points, and Jordan Clarkson added 13 for Missouri (3-0), which won its sixth-straight game at the Sprint Center.
However, the last time the Tigers played in the arena, it was 2012 and they had just defeated Baylor to win the Big 12 Tournament. It was the final game Missouri would play in the conference before bolting to the Southeastern Conference.
Christian Standhardinger led Hawaii with 22 points before fouling out as the Rainbow Warriors (2-2) lost their fifth-straight game on the mainland.
Still, Hawaii made sure Missouri's homecoming was anything but easy.
The Tigers' lead remained in single digits for most of the game until Wes Clark fed Ryan Rosburg with a nifty pass for a two-handed dunk, giving Missouri a 10-point lead with just less than 8 minutes remaining. It gave the crowd a dose of energy on a night when both teams struggled to put together any sort of momentum or extended run.
Moments later, Clark drilled a 3-pointer to extend the Tigers' lead to 13 points. Still, Hawaii's Garrett Nevels responded with a 3-pointer of his own. But the Rainbow Warriors couldn't get closer than 7 after that.
Rosburg emphatically ended Hawaii's upset bid with another dunk with 2 minutes remaining.
"Coach has been talking to us about attacking the lane and getting into the lane and creating for the bigs," Missouri guard Earnest Ross said.
Videos welcoming Missouri back to Kansas City from local business leaders and politicians were played on the video board during timeouts, but a chunk of empty seats littered the arena.
Still, Brown and Clarkson made sure the Tigers would leave Kansas City happy. Although Clarkson shot only four free throws, his ability to penetrate and bait the Rainbow Warriors into fouling impressed Hawaii coach Gib Arnold.
"Jordan Clarkson should probably send a lot of his scholarship money to the new rules committee because I don't know how anyone in the country's going to guard him off the bounce," Arnold said, jokingly. "Him driving with those new rules, it's hard to defend."
After trailing by one at the half, the Tigers used a quick 12-6 spurt to grab the lead early in the second half.
Just like in the first half, the Rainbow Warriors responded to both runs.
Hawaii wasn't as flashy as the Tigers, but they used timely 3-pointers and free throw shooting to take its halftime lead. The Rainbow Warriors outscored Missouri 16-6 from the free throw line in the first half before the Tigers scored a multitude of free throws to ice the game late.
For most of second half, Hawaii stayed hot from the free-throw line, but it shot only 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
"We weren't getting any flow by making threes so it had to come a little differently," Arnold. "It had to come out of our defense. It had to come off the drive and at the foul line."
Missouri weathered Hawaii's attack by using penetration to drive the ball and then either kick out to an open guard for a 3-point attempt or to an open big man down low when help defense arrived on the ball. Missouri dominated the points in the paint 56-36.
"Our bigs are going to be able to play off of penetration," Fuller said. "We always talk about making that pocket pass and dropping the ball off down into the paint."
The Tigers stayed undefeated in their third game without coach Frank Haith, who was suspended by the NCAA for five games for his role in the Nevin Shapiro scandal while Haith was the head coach at Miami. He is eligible to coach his first game of the season Nov. 28 against Northwestern.
Missouri held Isaac Fotu, who leads Hawaii in scoring with 16.7 points per game, to only 7 points, helping offset the other four Rainbow Warriors who scored in double figures.
"He was the focal point of our scouting report," Fuller said. "Coach (Mark) Phelps did a phenomenal job. I don't think he slept for 72 hours now, just making sure that our team was prepared to guard."


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As the world around us changes and evolves, so too must our approach to education.
At Valley View, we continue to hold our teaching methods and results to the highest standards. We strive for career- and college-ready graduates, prepared for one of the three Es after graduation: Enrollment, Employment or Enlistment.
Our secondary curriculum, which includes a range of honors and Advanced Placement courses, varies in rigor to challenge students at all different learning levels. Our focus is always on academic achievement and a modernized delivery of instruction, with a special emphasis on early and frequent exploration of different possible career paths.
But with this promise comes a commitment to flexibility. Students learn in different ways and can reach the same end through different means.
And so, we are proud to offer a multitude of options for earning high school credit at Valley View. These options go beyond the traditional experience of selecting courses from our Program of Study and attending courses at a Valley View high school during the regular school day: the Physical Education Waiver, Credit Flexibility options, or College Credit Plus.
Through these options, students will graduate with a similar set of knowledge and skills, but they may get there in different ways. Students will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of paths and individualize their learning experiences to meet their long-term goals.


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HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS—On a cold but sunny January morning, the family and friends of Aaron Swartz gathered at Central Avenue Synagogue in suburban Chicago to mourn his passing and say their farewells. Not in attendance—or at least not anywhere that anyone would take notice of them—was hate group Westboro Baptist Church, which had threatened to picket his funeral. But the Highland Park Police Department was ready anyway should they have shown up, with squad cars set up to keep would-be protestors far away from the service.
But this morning was all about Swartz. Facing onerous federal charges for scraping 4.8 million documents from an academic archive at MIT, the young man took his own life on Friday, January 11 at the age of 26.
The crowd packed the sanctuary, numbering in the hundreds, with some mourners standing in the back. It was a diverse group, sprinkled with old men sporting foot-long beards and young men with pink mohawks. But such was the reach of Swartz.
The funeral service lasted over an hour-and-a-half, with remembrances delivered by friends and family bracketed by ancient prayers recited in Hebrew. There were moments of laughter spurred by memories of Swartz, but the atmosphere was one of incredible sadness befitting the tragic passing of one so young and bright.
Swartz was eulogized by his partner, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, his defense attorney Elliot Peters, and a couple of his friends, as well as tech luminaries Tim Berners-Lee and Lawrence Lessig.
Berners-Lee recalled Swartz's precociousness, sharing his surprise at finding out that one of his conversation partners in a standards-setting group was just 14 years old. "We've lost an elder… a fighter," Berners-Lee remarked.
Struggling at times to compose himself, Lessig described his decade-long friendship with Swartz. "Aaron was the mentor and I the mentee," Lessig explained. He inveighed against the prosecution of the case, arguing that the prosecutor was incapable of recognizing the distinction between "stealing with a computer" and "stealing with a crowbar."
Swartz's lead defense attorney, Elliot Peters, also had harsh words for the US attorney managing the case. He mourned the fact that he would never be able to invoke Boston Harbor and the American Revolution during his closing arguments.
Since his death, the Swartz family has laid blame for his demise at the feet of overzealous federal prosecutors. Indeed, the prosecutors arguably lost all sense of perspective with this case, insisting during plea negotiations that Swartz admit guilt to all charges and serve a stint in prison.
During a heart-wrenching eulogy, Swartz's father Robert accused MIT of betraying "all of its basic principles" by pursuing the case. "Aaron was pushed to his death by his government and the most prominent technical institution in the world," he mourned.
The service concluded with the traditional Jewish funeral prayer, the El maley rakhamim:
O God, full of compassion, Thou who dwellest on high! Grant perfect rest beneath the sheltering wings of Thy presence, among the holy and pure who shine as the brightness of the firmament unto the soul of Aaron Swartz who has gone unto eternity. Lord of mercy, bring him under the cover of Thy wings, and let his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life. Be God's possession, and may his repose be peace. Amen.
Let it be so. Peace to the memory of Aaron Swartz.
Swartz's family invites those who knew him or whose lives were touched by his work in some way to visit his memorial website at rememberaaronsw.com and leave a remembrance or photo. Those desiring to make a memorial contribution in Aaron's name can do so via GiveWell. There's also an open repository on GitHub. National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255


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I think I had one when I was like 8. Are they really that good?
I always feel left out at this time of year. I really don't like mint... So I'm not into them. Yet I want one. It's like Eggnog... It looks more appealing to me than it ultimately is, and sometimes I cave and have it, and then remember why I didn't have it before and feel left out.It's a really vicious cycle.
Tried my very first Shamrock Shake today.
another year and i don't think any of the local mcd's offer them again. I've never tried one.
Quote from: Diddly on March 9, 2012, 04:29 AMTried my very first Shamrock Shake today. And how were the runs?
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Future Politics
"People have always been good at imagining the end of the world," wrote Rebecca Solnit, "which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end."
The future won't look like the past: dystopian dread takes this for granted, but utopian imagination is just as valid. Future Politics, Austra's third, and most ambitious album to date, calls for radical hope: "a commitment to replace the approaching dystopia," says Katie Stelmanis,who leads Austra with the support of Maya Postepski (Princess Century, TR/ST), Dorian Wolf, and Ryan Wonsiak."Not just hope in the future, but the idea that everyone is required to help write it, and the boundaries of what it can look like are both fascinating and endless. It's not about 'being political,' it's about reaching beyond boundaries, in every single field."
Future Politics, a collection of urgent, but disciplined anthems for dancefloor and headphones, asks each of us to remember that apocalypse is not an inevitability, but the product of human decision-making. It aims for a world without borders, where human compassion and curiosity drive technological innovation rather than profit, where the necessity of labor is replaced with time for creativity and personal growth, and the terror and destruction wrought by colonialism and white supremacy is recognized as a dark age in human history. The album is radicalism distilled: to galvanic beats, gorgeous, kinetic melodies, and the vulnerable majesty of Stelmanis's voice. "Future Politics," with its steady, propulsive beat and siren-like synth hook, is both anthem and ultimatum: we have a duty to imagine better, and to imagine big.
Stelmanis, wrote, produced and engineered the album, with Maya Postepski adding production on half the tracks. It was mixed by Alice Wilder, the band's live engineer, and mastered by Heba Kadry in New York. But its haunting first single, "Utopia," is heart-filling, irresistible pop that feels pulled from the air. "Freepower" deals with the paradox of a physical world in peril while our collective consciousness evolves—there is no denying our reliance on each other and the systems we invent. "To solve the problems of global capitalism," Stelmanis says, "you need to think on the level that global capitalists are thinking."
Making Future Politics was a process of starting from zero. Austra's debut, 2011's Feel It Break, and 2013's critically celebrated Olympia, were followed with five years of non-stop touring, and half a decade without a fixed address. Katie settled in Montreal, where she found herself alone, facing both a language barrier and the dissolution of a few faith-sustaining relationships, romantically and within the band. "I knew writing this record would have nothing to do with music at first," Stelmanis says. "It needed to have a purpose other than just my own ego." The album's center suite, "I'm a Monster" through "Angel in Your Eye," is about the intersection of personal depression and collective despair.
Despair can be paralyzing, but it can act as a compass—the less you can ignore, the more you have to act. "I had a process of overcoming my own cynicism," Stelmanis says. "I came to a whole bunch of philosophers and economists who were writing about real possibilities for reinventing society." Texts that took a realistic approach to climate change and economic disaster, while offering real alternatives: Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams; Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything; David Harvey's Rebel Cities. The album's opener, "We Were Alive," is about "overcoming apathy—becoming more political, and more earnest."
In 2015, Stelmanis moved to Mexico City, where the album was completed. (The cover art was photographed at the Cuadra San Cristóbal, Mexican architect Luis Barragán's famous equestrian estate.) "It was an invigorating, and creatively liberating time—I was entirely immersed in the culture, and in the magic realism of Mexico's rich and violent history," Stelmanis says. "Economic disparity is a huge topic of conversation every day in Mexico, as is colonialism and neoliberalism, and how NAFTA fucked over Latin America. Reading about this history and contrasting it with the white capitalist theory I had learned in school made the issues I was reading about in Montreal feel more global, and feel bigger." The album's final track, "43," is about the 43 students disappeared in Iguala, Guerrero in 2014, written from the perspective of a mother who is searching for her son.
In Mexico, Stelmanis was introduced "to a whole generation of Latin American producers who are mixing traditional folk music with techno beats. It's an underground revolution rooted in the preservation and celebration of Latin American indigenous cultures, and also Latin American independence from the USA—very similar to what A Tribe Called Red is doing in Canada." Inspiration also came from European club culture—Objekt, Peter Van Hoesen, Lena Willikens, and '90s legends like Massive Attack; in all, artists who understand the dancefloor as a source of radical ideas and radical joy.
Stelmanis's music has always had a political charge—after high school she performed in the riot grrrl band Galaxy, with Postepski and Emma McKenna—but this "has become more important as I've gotten older. I've experienced more sexism in my industry, I've witnessed the downfall of the middle class, I've lived through George W. Bush and Stephen Harper." (Her latest album credits only women as producers, mixing and mastering engineers.) This is a reversal of the cliché that radicals get more conservative with age. If you're old enough to have seen both the nightmarish and the fantastical become ordinary, but young enough to imagine the rest of your life, the more radicalism seems like common sense.
Change, Solnit writes, comes from "writers, scholars, public intellectuals, social activists, and participants in social media"—also "artists, club scenes, parties, teenagers, ghettoes," says Stelmanis. "Every single person's idea about the future is valid and relevant, especially the freaks and the queers and the outsiders." This is DIY on a global scale: the ethos of a self-made, self-determining culture, but with global imperatives. "To change the cultural landscape—which is what we do as artists—is to essentially change the mainstream."
- Austra announce new album Future Politics
- Austra Share Video For 'Doepfer'; 'Habitat' EP Out Now
- Austra share new video for Hulluu
- Austra release video for new single Habitat
- Austra announce Habitat EP; listen to title track
- Austra share video for Hurt Me Now
- Austra share Forgive Me video single released on 25th November 2013
- Austra release Forgive Me as a single on 25th November 2013
- Austra to release Painful Like as a single on 2nd September 2013
- Watch Austra's 'Home' video + pre-order Olympia now


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Day off in Cleveland; time for a Q&A
I think it's safe to say it's easier to answer your questions than write a blog on this day off in Cleveland. It's definitely not the best day off, but I looked at some of your questions and thought now was a good time to answer:
Q: Hi, Ozzie. I am a lifelong Sox fan living in Minnesota and am desperate for a Sox series win against the Twins. Anyway, was just wondering if there's any topic you won't talk about in public. Is anything off limits to Ozzie Guillen? — Brandon H. (St. Paul, Minn.)
A: Well, I would also like to beat the Twins, but they have just had our number, I guess. Weird things happen in baseball; sometimes it's just the way it goes. No topic is off limits but my personal life — meaning my wife and my kids are what's sacred to me.
Q: My friend O.G. — congrats on the website. Great way to keep in touch with the people who follow you. Keep doing what you're doing. — Carlos C. (Caracas, Venezuela)
A: Thanks a bunch. The idea behind the website was to stay in touch with the fans and anyone who wants to reach me.
Q: Hey, Ozzie, any suggestions on some places to take her after the game for a few drinks besides the Bacardi Bar? — Eric C. (Joliet, Ill.)
A: Well, Chicago is Chicago, but I would take her down to Buffalo Wings & Rings on 34th and Halsted. My close friends and kids have been going there and I stopped by a couple of times; good place with some very good food. You will be hearing more about this place soon, trust me.
Q: What is your favorite ballpark to visit when your team is on the road? — Russelle D. (Fremont, Calif.)
A: Well, my favorite place to visit is Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. I managed my first game ever there and it has gotten a lot nicer since then. Only problem is they seem to play well against us, and I'm not a fan of extra innings …
Q: Mr. Guillen, what is it like to wake up every morning being so awesome? — Jeff P (Rockton, Ill.)
A: Hahaha. Well I'm glad you think so. Every morning I wake up and my wife sees me, I hope she thinks the same thing you do. I'm just happy to be blessed and healthy; everything else happens for a reason.
Q: Ozzie, I would like to know — what is your view on Interleague Play? It seems like a lot of people in baseball have a dislike for Interleague. I personally believe it's fun. I mean, when else will we see Philles vs. Red Sox, or White Sox vs Cubs? — Seong O. (Las Vegas)
A: I don't mind it, to be honest with you, because it brings people to the stadiums and sells tickets. If it sells tickets, then it makes sense to everyone. But I do think the DH should maybe alternate every year in Interleague Play.
Q: When you are mad at an umpire, do you ever swear at him in Spanish? If so, what is the usual reaction? — Danielle G. (Sycamore, Ill.)
A: Haha. Maybe I do sometimes. In the heat of the moment, you say crazy stuff. And believe me, I run out of bad words in English very fast, so I usually say the same ones over and over.
Q: What do you think about Jim Riggleman resigning in the middle of the season AND over his contract? Thanks, Ozzie! — Jeffrey H. (Minneapolis, Minn.)
A: Well, I believe he had his own personal reasons for doing what he did. But as I have said before, those 25 guys and the coaching staff would be hard for me to walk away from. So to each his own, but I don't see myself being able to do that.
Thanks for all your questions. My day off in Cleveland just got a little better. Come tomorrow, I hope we are ready to kick some butt and come back home on a winning note!
— Ozzie
2 Comments
Hi ozzie im ur biggest fan my question to u is will u ever go on the lopez show. n have u ever gone to ihop in chicago to eat if u haven u need to go . go food great service if ever decide to go. 4210 n cicero best ihop to go to n eat. i think u doin a great job.
Just wanted to know WHY you pulled Brent Lillibridge out of the lineup after that stretch where we had gone to NY, & he made 2 SPARKLING, game-saving, diving catches on back-to-back nights, then came home & was pulling home runs back into the yard, and catching them, AND knocking the cover off the ball, all over the yard AND out of the yard?
I think he EARNED a LOT of playing time in that short span…but instead he grabbed some bench! So, I would like an explanation as to WHY?


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TJ and the Time Stumblers: Oops!
- Bill Myers Author
- 2011 12 Sep
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from TJ and the Time Stumblers: Oops! (Book #3) by Bill Myers (Tyndale House Publishers).
Beginnings . . .
Malibu, California, November 2
Begin Transmission:
All-school bully from the future stopped by. Despite his disguise, Tuna and I are positive it's Bruce Bruiseabone, winner of the Worst Breath in the World Contest. We fear he could really zwork things up for our subject (who, by the way, is still smoot to the max).
End Transmission
Thelma Jean Finkelstein, better known as TJ to her friends (all four of them—unless you leave out her goldfish and pet hamster, which brings it down to two friends), ran through the empty cafeteria, screaming her lungs out.
And when she wasn't
she was yelling,
"Why is he chasing us?
Why is he chasing us?!"
Now, you might call her behavior a little weird (which may be why she has only two friends). But weirder than that weirdness is that the HE in her little screamfest just happened to be an African elephant the size of a Chevy pickup who, unlike a Chevy pickup, had some very bad breath.
Weirder than that weirdness was that the African elephant (complete with large tusks and a crummy mood) was shouting in a very bad British accent,
"Excuse me, miss. If you don't mind, I should like to speak with you a moment!"
Weirder than that weird weirdness was the US TJ happened to be screaming about. And who, exactly, was the US?
Actually, they were nobody. (Unless you counted the two invisible teenagers from the 23rd century who were running beside her.)
First, there was Thomas Uriah Norman Alphonso the Third. Or for those who don't enjoy spraining their tongues, Tuna. On TJ's other side ran Herby, a tall surfer dude with long blond bangs and the exact same number of brain cells as TJ had friends (after you subtract the goldfish and hamster).
The boys had traveled back in time to do a history report on TJ because, believe it or not, someday when she was through screaming her lungs out and being chased by African elephants through school cafeterias, TJ would become a great world leader.
But until then, she had other things on her mind like
Get us out of here!
Get us out of here!"
"No worries, Your Dude-ness," Herby shouted. "I'll transport us home!" With that he pulled out his trusty Swiss Army Knife (sold at 23rd-century timetravel stores everywhere), opened its Transporter Beam Blade, and
The good news was Herby transported them out of the cafeteria.
The bad news was he missed TJ's house (unless she had moved to the top of Mount Everest).
The top of Mount Everest! you say?
Yeah, that's what TJ was saying too. Only more like
"How odd!" Tuna yelled over the howling wind.
"That we're on Mount Everest?" Herby shouted. "Or that the elephant is still behind us?"
"Actually, I'm talking about the end of the giant glacier we're approaching."
"What end?" Herby shouted. "What glacier?"
"The end we've just reached and the glacier we are now jumping
Wanting to be part of the conversation, TJ threw in her own comment—the always clever and very appropriate
And refusing to be left out, the elephant, who was falling beside them, added,
But thanks to Herby's great thinking (and accidental good luck), he tried the Transporter Beam Blade again and
instead of hitting the ground, they
back to school and were running down the hallway toward the auditorium.
That was the good news. But as you may recall, every time TJ gets a little good news, she gets a ton of bad. In this case, it came in the form of one African elephant (whose breath had not improved) who was still running after them. And (since we're having a two-for-one special in TJ's bad luck department) there was the added problem of Hesper Breakahart, star of her own TV series on the Dizzy Channel (and the richest, most gorgeous, most spoiled 13-year-old in the entire civilized world— and maybe Texas, too). At the moment she was inside that very auditorium holding auditions for her TV show.
* * * * *
"Now remember, kiddies," the TV director with a bad hairpiece said to nearly a hundred girls sitting in the auditorium, "we're looking for somebody to play Hesper's younger sister. It's going to be tough. You might have to memorize lines, remember where to move, and—" he lowered his voice—"the people in wardrobe may even want you to wear glasses."
All the wannabe actresses shuddered. "Eeew . . ."
"I know; I know," the director agreed. "Acting can be brutal. But it's the price one pays for stardom. Isn't that right, Ms. Breakahart?"
"That's right," Hesper said, flashing her perfect, glow-in-the-dark, bleach-toothed smile.
All the girls grinned, flashing their own perfect, glow-in-the-dark smiles. (Malibu Junior High girls have a thing about perfect, glow-in-the-dark smiles. They also have a thing about perfect skin, perfect tans, and perfect anything else their rich mommies and daddies can afford.)
The director turned to Hesper. "So, Ms. Breakahart, who would you like to audition first?"
Every little-sister hopeful's hand shot up like they all had to go to the bathroom.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Please Please! Please"
"Me! Me! Me!"
Chad Steel glanced up from the homework he was doing at the back of the auditorium. Earlier, Hesper had asked him to swing by and give her some emotional support. It seemed Hesper always needed his emotional support. And since they were supposed to be "a couple" and since Chad was the nicest guy in school, he helped her out when he could.
At the moment "helping out" meant watching Hesper audition her fellow students for a tiny part in her TV series. Lately, she'd been making so many enemies (courtesy of the New Kid) that Hesper figured this would be a great way to play kissy-kissy to everyone.
And it seemed to be working.
Even Miss Grumpaton, their fossilized English teacher, was there. "I could play her slightly older sister," she said. (I guess even old people have fantasies.)
But Mr. Beaker, the science teacher, had definitely gone too far. Honestly, who did the guy think he was fooling by wearing that wig and miniskirt?
The point is, everyone wanted to be a star. Which meant they were all slaves to Hesper Breakahart's slightest whim.
"Let's see," Hesper said, tossing her perfect blonde hair held in place by 4½ cans of hair spray (and one full-time hairstylist). "How about . . . you!"
"Me?" A shorter version of Hesper leaped to her feet. "Really? Really, really?!"
"Yes, uh . . . what is your name?"
Hesper frowned.
"You know, Elizabeth Mindlessfan. I've been your best friend since forever?"
"Oh yes, of course. Well, go up on the stage, uh
. . . um . . ."
"Elizabeth," Elizabeth said.
"Right. Go up there and read the lines."
"Oh, goody," Elizabeth squealed as she raced to the stage and took her place. "Goody, goody, goody!"
"Are you ready?" the director asked.
"Oh yes! Absolutely, yes, yes, yes!"
"All right, then," the director said. "And . . . action!"
Elizabeth looked down at the script in her hands and read, "Oh, Hesper, you're so beautiful and talented and beautiful and rich and did I mention beautiful?" (If you'd guessed Hesper helped write the script, you'd have guessed right.) "I hope that someday I'll grow up to be just as beautiful and talented and beautiful and rich and—did I mention beautiful?—as you."
"And cut!" the director shouted. "That was wonderful, babe. You're a natural."
"Really?" Elizabeth squealed in delight.
"You bet," he said. "You were magic."
"Goody, goody, goody!"
Chad looked down, shaking his head. It was amazing how crazy people got when they thought they could be on TV. He was about to return to his work when the auditorium door suddenly flew open and
one very loud and very frightened New Kid ran in.
To be honest, Chad wasn't entirely surprised. It seemed the New Kid was always doing unusual things—which in a strange way he found kinda cute. Not that he had a thing for escaped mental patients, but ever since she moved in next door to him, there'd been something about her he found . . . interesting.
And this was the perfect example. Because not only was she running down the aisle toward the front exit yelling,
"Why is he still chasing us?
Why is he still chasing us?!"
but as far as Chad could tell, there was no US being chased. It was just the New Kid. But even more interesting was the fact that she was being chased down the aisle by an African elephant.
Naturally, everyone screamed and panicked. And those girls who had been raising their hands like they had to go to the bathroom? Well, this time it was for real (and it might have been too late).
Without thinking, Chad leaped to his feet and ran toward the New Kid and her peanut-eating pet. He wasn't sure why. Maybe he thought even mental patients deserved protection from runaway elephants. Whatever the reason, he'd read that the best way to handle wild animals was to stand up to them and not be afraid. This would explain his running down the aisle, waving his arms, and screaming like a madman. Either that or he'd caught whatever mental disorder the New Kid had.
Still, it did not explain why the elephant stopped, turned on its heels (or paws or whatever elephants turn on), and said in a very poor English accent,
"Excuse me. You needn't be rude."
Chad's jaw dropped—either because the elephant spoke or because Chad had never been accused of being rude. (Though if he'd really wanted to be mean, he could have said something about the animal's breath.)
In any case, the elephant continued speaking.
"I merely wish to warn the young lady
about the DANGERS of allowing these
two invisible boys floating beside—"
He would have said more, but he was interrupted by the New Kid screaming,
"Herby! Tuna! Do someth—"
And she would have said more, except it's hard saying more when you suddenly
Instantly, everything was back to normal—well, except for those girls racing to the bathroom . . . and the lingering bad breath of an African elephant who had just vanished from everyone's sight.
Copyright © 2011 by Bill Myers. All rights reserved.
Visit Tyndale's Web site for kids at www.tyndale.com/kids.


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Very Effecient
Fund: Trident Capital
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-03-23
My exposure to the firm was minimal as they did not invest in my company, but it was one of the best VC experiences I've ever had. I only met Evangelos (who is a managing director but at the time of writing not listed on The Funded under Trident). He was incredibly polite. He listened, asked relevant questions and when the pitch was done he gave me a timeline and process for decision making. Moreover, he stuck to his timeline! I pitched on a Wednesday. He responded to my thank you e-mail immediately, re-capping their decision process and timeline. They had their partner meeting on Monday and on Tuesday I got a note from him explaining why they weren't investing in clear concise terms. I was simply flabbergasted. For all of us who encountered the infuriating VC disease of no-reply, no-decision, Evangelos at least was a thankful exception.PRIVATE: Members Only


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Andrew Meyer believes that he's found a "whey" to help Vermont's dairy farms by turning a cheesemaking byproduct into an eco-friendly wood finish.
Like other water-based substitutes for traditional (oil-based) polyurethane, Vermont Natural Coatings' (VNC) PolyWhey dries fast and emits no toxic fumes. It releases very low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), about one-quarter the amount released by some polyurethanes. Unlike other waterborne finishes, its hardness makes it a viable option for professional-grade work, experts say.
Building Green, a private publisher that researches green building products and practices for contractors and policymakers, named PolyWhey one of its Top 10 products in 2008. "I'm not aware of any other clear coating that combines its high level of performance with such low VOC emissions," says Building Green's Alex Wilson. It costs about 2 cents per square foot more than comparable wood finishes.
The whey-based coating has been applied with good results on the floor of a yoga center in Berkeley, Calif., woodwork in a Montessori school in New York City, and in the five-child, three-dog home of contractor Jason Lawrence of Stewartstown, N.H., who says it's the equal of any oil-based product he's ever used.
Mr. Meyer originally set out to save Vermont's farms through legislation. He went to Washington to work on milk-pricing policy after graduating from the University of Vermont (UVM) in 1992. But after a few years it became clear to him that "Vermont always missed out. Its needs were different than the national agenda."
Meanwhile, Ming Guo, a functional food scientist at UVM, was working with whey proteins to develop new applications. When Dr. Guo discovered the unusual strength of these proteins, he realized the 90 billion pounds of cheese whey produced in the United States each year might be put to better use. "It's a great resource," Guo says, "natural and renewable. And it can reduce the use of petroleum-based compounds."
Guo conceived of a wood finish made with whey. UVM sought federal funds to develop it. Excited by the possibilities and eager to return to Vermont, Meyer left Washington in 2004 to work with Guo.
Meyer prizes the early success of VNC because of its potential to help the local farm-based economy. "The desire was to help Vermont," he says. He and like-minded entrepreneurs have formed the nonprofit Center for an Agricultural Economy to collaborate and share infrastructure in an agriculture-based eco-industrial park.
Meyer and Guo are developing exterior and tinted whey-based finishes, and a vegetable-based, zero-VOC cleaner for wood floors and decks.


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Network to Unveil Summer Action Lineup at SXSW with Panel Discussions for All Three Shows, Plus Sneak Peek Watch Party for The Last Ship
TNT is gearing up for an explosive summer with three action-packed dramas in the lineup, including the fourth season of returning hit Falling Skies and the launch of the new series The Last Ship and Legends. TNT announced the summer airdates and unveiled new video trailers for the three shows prior to today's panel discussions with the stars and producers at SXSW, the annual music, film and interactive conference and festival held in Austin, Texas. In addition, TNT will provide SXSW attendees with a sneak peek of The Last Ship by hosting a special watch party of the entire first episode.
"For the past three summers, TNT has had great creative and commercial success with Falling Skies, which has inspired us to continue to program for fans of sci-fi and action," said Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "This year, we're going to launch The Last Ship and Legends, two expertly crafted shows that bring the storytelling scope and thrill-ride excitement of our favorite summer movies to series television. With their great writing, expansive casts and outstanding production quality, these are really fun, smart and addictive shows."
TNT's summer action series will kick off Sunday, June 22, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) with the premiere of The Last Ship, from executive producer Michael Bay (Transformers). Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy) and Rhona Mitra (Strike Back) star in the series about a Navy vessel that may be humanity's last hope in the wake of a worldwide catastrophe.
The fourth season premiere of Falling Skies, from Amblin Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg, will follow The Last Ship at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). Noah Wyle stars in the highly rated drama about the struggle against a deadly force of alien invaders.
In August, the action will intensify even more as TNT premieres the new drama Legends, from Homeland executive producers Howard Gordon and Alexander Cary and Fringe co-executive producer David Wilcox. Set to premiere Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), Legends stars Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings) as a deep-undercover FBI agent who may be losing his grip on reality.
TNT's summer slate will also include new seasons of the hit series Major Crimes, Rizzoli & Isles, Perception and Franklin & Bash; new episodes of Dallas; and the launch of Stephen Bochco's new crime drama Murder in the First. Premiere dates for those series will be announced later.
Below are descriptions for The Last Ship, Falling Skies and Legends, along with links to the series' trailers.
The Last Ship - New Series Premiere: Sunday, June 22, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
This summer, TNT is going to take take viewers on an action-packed ride with the exciting new drama series The Last Ship, starring Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy) and executive-produced by blockbuster filmmaker Michael Bay (Transformers). The Last Ship opens with a global catastrophe that nearly decimates the world's population. Because of its positioning, the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Nathan James avoids falling victim to the devastating tragedy. But now, Captain Tom Chandler (Dane) and his crew must confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they may be among the few remaining survivors. Rhona Mitra (Strike Back) plays Rachel Scott, a strong-willed, intelligent and fearless paleomicrobiologist assigned to the ship. Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck) is XO Mike Slattery, a former homicide detective and Chandler's second-in-command. Also starring in The Last Ship are Travis Van Winkle (Heart of Dixie), Charles Parnell (Pariah), Christina Elmore (Fruitvale Station), Sam Spruell (Snow White and The Huntsman) and Marissa Neitling (Leverage). Based on William Brinkley's popular novel, The Last Ship comes to TNT from Bay's Platinum Dunes and its partners, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, whose credits include the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bay, Fuller and Form serve as executive producers, along with showrunner Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace, The Nine), Steven Kane (The Closer) and director Jack Bender (Lost). Steinberg and Kane wrote the series pilot, which was directed by Jonathan Mostow (U-571).
Falling Skies - Season 4 Premiere: Sunday, June 22, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT)
TNT's epic drama Falling Skies - from Amblin Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg - tells the extraordinary story about life and survival in the wake of a catastrophic alien invasion. Noah Wyle stars as Tom Mason, a college professor who became an unlikely resistance leader. Moon Bloodgood is Dr. Ann Glass, a pediatrician who became the survivors' primary physician and eventually fell in love with Tom. Will Patton is Colonel Weaver, the gruff and emotionally scarred commander leading the battle against the invaders. Also starring in Falling Skies are Drew Roy, Connor Jessup, Maxim Knight, Seychelle Gabriel, Colin Cunningham, Mpho Koaho, Sarah Carter and Doug Jones. Since premiering as basic cable's #1 new series of 2011, Falling Skies has ranked as one of the Top 20 original series on basic cable with total viewers and key adult demos. In addition to Spielberg, Falling Skies is executive-produced by Amblin Television heads Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank, along with David Eick and Greg Beeman.
Legends - New Series Premiere: Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
Screen Actors Guild Award(R) winner Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings) stars in Legends, TNT's new, suspense-filled drama based on the award-winning book by master spy novelist Robert Littell. Bean plays Martin Odum, an undercover agent working for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations (DCO) division. Martin has the uncanny ability to transform himself into a completely different person for each job. But he begins to question his own identity when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn't the man he believes himself to be. Legends also stars Ali Larter (Heroes) as Crystal Quest, a fellow operative who has a history with Martin; Morris Chestnut (American Horror Story, Nurse Jackie) as Tony Cimarro, a smart, quick-witted and charming DCO agent; Tina Majorino (Grey's Anatomy, True Blood) as Maggie Harris, the newest member of the DCO team; Steve Harris (The Practice, Awake) as Nelson Gates, the director of the DCO Task Force; and Amber Valletta (Revenge) as Sonya Odum, Martin's ex-wife; and Mason Cook (The Lone Ranger) as Martin's pre-teen son, Aiden. Legends is being produced by Fox 21, with Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24), Alexander Cary (Homeland, Lie to Me) and Jonathan Levin (Charmed) serving as executive producers, along with showrunner David Wilcox (Fringe). The Legends pilot was written by Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor), who developed the story with Mark Gordon (Criminal Minds) and Mark Bomback (The Wolverine). The pilot was directed by David Semel (American Horror Story).
About TNT
TNT is television's destination for drama. Seen in 101 million households and ranking among cable's top networks, TNT is home to such original drama series as Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes, Falling Skies, Perception, Dallas and Franklin & Bash. TNT's upcoming slate of scripted dramas includes the original series Legends, The Last Ship and Murder in the First, as well as Transporter The Series, which will make its U.S. television debut on the network this fall. TNT also features dramatic unscripted originals like Cold Justice, Boston's Finest, Marshal Law: Texas, APB with Troy Dunn, Private Lives of Nashville Wives, Save Our Business and Inside Job, as well as the upcoming On the Menu, Wake Up Call and Life Flight. In addition, TNT is the cable home to popular dramas like Hawaii Five-0, Castle, The Mentalist, Bones and Supernatural; primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards(R); blockbuster movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR, the NBA and the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
TNT is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Turner Broadcasting creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.


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State gets creative to pay bills
HARTFORD -- The state turned to some creative accounting Wednesday to help pay the bills -- raising concerns among minority Republicans in the General Assembly.
Cascading financial problems became even more complicated when Republican members of the Assembly found that an additional $260 million borrowed for long-term capital projects had been moved to the monthly cash pool to pay for operating expenses.
The $260 million was transferred by Treasurer Denise Nappier on Monday, the same day she announced that as of the end of November, $366 million in bonding funds had been transferred to the cash pool because of low balances driven mostly by the growing shortfall in the budget. That gap ranges from $365 million to $417 million.
Nappier also announced that because of a "significant decline" in the cash pool, she was establishing lines of credit with banks totaling about $550 million -- in case more money was needed to float monthly expenses.
The Malloy administration's budgetary high-wire act may make for a contentious special session of the General Assembly later this month, said House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk.
For seven of the last 12 months, Cafero said Nappier has used capital accounts to pay monthly bills totaling $1.6 billion.
"We're going month-to-month, borrowing money out of bond proceeds, and it's just getting progressively worse," Cafero said. "I don't understand how the governor can say it's not a big deal."
Part of the state's fragile cash position is the result of changing over to Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles, which has pumped up the state's flow of red ink by about a billion dollars and may require assistance from banks, said Andrew Doba, Malloy's spokesman.
"While not something that is undertaken lightly, this action is necessary because of financial decisions that were made over a long period of time," Doba said. "The state's failure to convert to GAAP, the exhaustion of the rainy day fund and the decision to borrow to cover operating expenses all contributed to the state's low cash flow. Allowing access to this line of credit will make sure that service providers and contractors are paid on time for the hard work they do."
Doba recalled that in 2009, under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the state issued more than $900 million in economic recovery notes that were used to cover operating costs and balance the nearly billion-dollar budget deficit.
"We are not doing that," he said. "This is a short term line of credit that will cost the state relatively little and allow necessary payments to be made if the treasurer elects to access it."
Nappier's office on Wednesday did not return a call for comment. Last week Malloy and his budget chief, Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, announced $123 million in cuts to the current $20 billion budget, which runs through June 30.
In addition, William Bowes, chief financial officer for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, this week announced a hiring freeze at the 12 community colleges, four state universities and Charter Oak State College to save an estimated $14.3 million in the current state budget.
Bowes warned that the 2010 collective bargaining agreement with state employees that reopened contracts on health and retirement benefits, protects all but the most-recent hires from layoffs until 2014.
"Options to implement furloughs, layoffs of protected employees hired prior to FY 2012, increases in teaching workload, or other options that may violate the agreement with state collective bargaining units are not acceptable," Bowes wrote to university presidents.
Colleen Flanagan, spokeswoman for the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, said Wednesday that the board's human resources department would have to approve waivers to the freeze, which expects to save $7 million in the State University System, $7.2 million in the community colleges and $123,000 in Charter Oak State College.
The promised transparency of the Malloy administration seems to be growing more opaque, said Cafero, the GOP House leader. His House staff has totaled about $1.6 billion in pending bond money that was taken for operating expenses, he said.
"It looks like in seven out of 12 months, such borrowing totaled $1.6 billion," Cafero said. "Shouldn't we, as a state government, have all that information? There's a lack of transparency at the time we need it the most."
Robert M. Ward, one of the state's two auditors of public accounts, said Wednesday that it appears that all bond money used for the cash pool this year has been returned, except $590 million taken in November.
"From time to time the money gets repaid," said Ward in a phone interview. "They do frequently repay it, but the November one looks like it went in one direction."
He said that in October, June and, previously, in April, there were zero balances in the cash pool, but transferred amounts were returned. He said from early November until this week appears to be the highest borrowing.
State government costs about $1.6 billion a month to run.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 860-549-4670; twitter.com/KenDixonCT


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The disposable razor that a confessed serial killer used in his suicide in an Alaska jail last December was mistakenly issued to him by a prison employee, state officials said on Wednesday.
Israel Keyes, a 34-year-old contractor who told investigators he killed an Anchorage barista, a Vermont couple and at least five other people across the country over the past decade, was found dead in his Anchorage cell on Dec. 2.
He slashed his wrist with the razor and used some bedding to strangle himself, officials said.
"It was learned a razor had been mistakenly issued to Keyes and it appears that razor was not retrieved," said a statement from the Alaska Department of Corrections.
Keyes' suicide cut short any further disclosures he might have made about his crimes or the identities of all his possible victims. Investigators have said the true toll from Keyes' crimes could be higher.
He had been awaiting trial for the kidnapping and killing of an 18-year-old barista who disappeared from an Alaska espresso stand in February 2012 and whose body was later found in an iced-over lake.
Five days before his death, Keyes was disciplined for possessing an object crafted into a handcuff key, the department said in its statement, which summarized a federal-state investigation of the suicide.
He obtained the razor despite being barred due to the makeshift key incident from using razors or anything metal, said Kaci Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Corrections.
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90 Errors in Open-Source Projects
There are actually 91 errors described in the article, but number 90 looks nicer in the title. The article is intended for C/C++ programmers, but developers working with other languages may also find it interesting.
The materials collected in this article will be useful for authors of articles, books and blogs. Examples of errors can be used to demonstrate advantages of different programming styles - for instance, why you should not try to make your code shorter by writing long expressions.
Examples of errors detected in various open-source projects
We regularly check known and little-known open-source projects. We do it with the purpose to get an opportunity to write a corresponding advertisement item and test the PVS-Studio analyzer on new code. Many readers ask if we tell projects' authors about errors. Surely. And sometimes it happens that we get a new customer after that.
All the examples of detected errors are divided into several groups. This division is rather relative. One and the same error can be referred to misprints, vulnerabilities and incorrect array handling at a time. That's why we have arranged the errors in different categories just to show you that the analyzer can detect a wide range of various defects.
We took only a few errors from each of the projects we have checked, of course. If we describe all the detected issues, the article will turn into a reference book. Here is a list of projects we have analyzed:
- Apache HTTP Server - http://httpd.apache.org/
- Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
- Chromium - http://www.chromium.org/
- Clang - http://clang-analyzer.llvm.org/
- CMake - http://www.cmake.org/
- Crystal Space 3D SDK - http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/Main_Page
- Emule - http://www.emule.com/
- FAR Manager - http://www.farmanager.com/
- FCE Ultra - http://fceux.com/web/home.html
- Fennec Media Project - http://fennec.sourceforge.net/
- G3D Content Pak - http://sourceforge.net/projects/g3d-cpp/
- IPP Samples - http://www.viva64.com/go.php?url=449
- Lugaru - http://www.wolfire.com/lugaru
- Miranda IM - http://www.miranda-im.org/
- MySQL - http://www.mysql.com/
- Game Dynamics - http://newtondynamics.com/forum/newton.php
- Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- Pixie - http://www.renderpixie.com/
- PNG library - http://libpng.org/pub/png/
- QT - http://qt.nokia.com/products/
- ReactOS - http://www.reactos.org/en/
- Shareaza - http://www.shareaza.com/
- SMTP Client with SSL/TLS - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/smtp_ssl.aspx
- StrongDC++ - http://strongdc.sourceforge.net/index.php?lang=eng
- Swiss-Army Knife of Trace - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/trace/tracetool.aspx
- TortoiseSVN - http://tortoisesvn.net/
- Ultimate TCP/IP - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/MFC/UltimateTCPIP.aspx
- VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org/
- WinDjView - http://windjview.sourceforge.net/
- WinMerge - http://winmerge.org/
- Wolfenstein 3D - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D
- And some others.
Figure 1. Logos of projects we have checked
Errors of array and string handling
Errors of array and string handling are the largest class of defects in C/C++ programs. This is the price for the capability of effective low-level memory handling available to programmers. In the article we will show just a small part of these errors found by the PVS-Studio analyzer. But we think any C/C++ programmer understands how numerous and insidious they are.
Example 1. Wolfenstein 3D project. Only part of an object is cleared.
void CG_RegisterItemVisuals( int itemNum ) { ... itemInfo_t *itemInfo; ... memset( itemInfo, 0, sizeof( &itemInfo ) ); ... }
The error was found through the V568 diagnostic: It's odd that the argument of sizeof() operator is the '&itemInfo' expression. cgame cg_weapons.c 1467.
The sizeof() operator calculates the size of the pointer instead of the 'itemInfo_t' structure's size. It is "sizeof(*itemInfo)" that must be written.
Example 2. Wolfenstein 3D project. Only part of a matrix is cleared.
ID_INLINE mat3_t::mat3_t( float src[ 3 ][ 3 ] ) { memcpy( mat, src, sizeof( src ) ); }
The error was found through the V511: The sizeof() operator returns size of the pointer, and not of the array, in 'sizeof(src)' expression. Splines math_matrix.h 94
Usually programmers expect 'sizeof(src)' to return the size of an array equal to "3*3*sizeof(float)" bytes. But according to the language standard, 'src' is just a pointer, not an array. Thus, the matrix will be copied only partly. The 'memcpy' function will copy 4 or 8 bytes (the pointer size) depending on whether the code is 32-bit or 64-bit.
If you want the whole matrix to be copied, you may pass a reference to the array into the function. This is the correct code:
ID_INLINE mat3_t::mat3_t( float (&src)[3][3] ) { memcpy( mat, src, sizeof( src ) ); }
Example 3. FAR Manager project. Only part of an array is cleared.
struct TreeItem { int *Last; size_t LastCount; ... void Clear() { strName.Clear(); memset(Last, 0, sizeof(Last)); Depth=0; } };
The error was found through the V579: diagnostic The memset function receives the pointer and its size as arguments. It is probably a mistake. Inspect the third argument. far treelist.hpp 66
Most likely, there is a missing operation of multiplication by the number of items being cleared, and the code must look as follows: "memset(Last, 0, LastCount * sizeof(Last));".
Example 4. ReactOS project. Incorrect calculation of a string length.
static const PCHAR Nv11Board = "NV11 (GeForce2) Board"; static const PCHAR Nv11Chip = "Chip Rev B2"; static const PCHAR Nv11Vendor = "NVidia Corporation"; BOOLEAN IsVesaBiosOk(...) { ... if (!(strncmp(Vendor, Nv11Vendor, sizeof(Nv11Vendor))) && !(strncmp(Product, Nv11Board, sizeof(Nv11Board))) && !(strncmp(Revision, Nv11Chip, sizeof(Nv11Chip))) && (OemRevision == 0x311)) ... }
The error was found through the V579 diagnostic: The strncmp function receives the pointer and its size as arguments. It is probably a mistake. Inspect the third argument. vga vbe.c 57
Calls of the 'strncmp' function in this code compare only the first several characters, not whole strings. The error here is this: the sizeof() operator, absolutely inappropriate in this situation, is used to calculate string lengths. The sizeof() operator actually calculates the pointer size instead of the number of bytes in a string.
What is the most unpleasant and insidious about this error is that this code almost works as intended. In 99% of cases, comparison of the first several characters is enough. But the remaining 1% can bring you much fun and long debugging.
Example 5. VirtualDub project. Array overrun (explicit index).
struct ConvoluteFilterData { long m[9]; long bias; void *dyna_func; DWORD dyna_size; DWORD dyna_old_protect; BOOL fClip; }; static unsigned long __fastcall do_conv( unsigned long *data, const ConvoluteFilterData *cfd, long sflags, long pit) { long rt0=cfd->m[9], gt0=cfd->m[9], bt0=cfd->m[9]; ... }
The error was found through the V557 diagnostic: Array overrun is possible. The '9' index is pointing beyond array bound. VirtualDub f_convolute.cpp 73
This is one of the simplest errors causing an array overrun. Index 9 is used explicitly, though the last item's index is 8. The author probably forgot, while writing this code, that array items in C/C++ are numbered starting with zero, not one. It happens when you have to switch between different programming languages.
Example 6. CPU Identifying Tool project. Array overrun (index in a macro).
#define FINDBUFFLEN 64 // Max buffer find/replace size ... int WINAPI Sticky (...) { ... static char findWhat[FINDBUFFLEN] = {'\0'}; ... findWhat[FINDBUFFLEN] = '\0'; ... }
The error was found through the V557 diagnostic: Array overrun is possible. The '64' index is pointing beyond array bound. stickies stickies.cpp 7947
This error is a kind of the previous one. The terminal null is written outside the array. The correct code is: "findWhat[FINDBUFFLEN - 1] = '\0';".
Example 7. Wolfenstein 3D project. Array overrun (incorrect expression).
void BotTeamAI( bot_state_t *bs ) { ... bs->teamleader[sizeof( bs->teamleader )] = '\0'; ... }
The error was found through the V557 diagnostic: Array overrun is possible. The 'sizeof (bs->teamleader)' index is pointing beyond array bound. game ai_team.c 548
Here is one more example of an array overrun when using an explicitly declared index. These samples show that such simple at first sight errors are much more widely-spread than it may seem.
The terminal null is written outside the 'teamleader' array. This is the correct code:
bs->teamleader[sizeof( bs->teamleader ) - 1] = '\0';
Example 8. Miranda IM project. Only part of a string is copied.
typedef struct _textrangew { CHARRANGE chrg; LPWSTR lpstrText; } TEXTRANGEW; const wchar_t* Utils::extractURLFromRichEdit(...) { ... ::CopyMemory(tr.lpstrText, L"mailto:", 7); ... }
The error was found through the V512 diagnostic: A call of the 'memcpy' function will lead to a buffer overflow or underflow. tabsrmm utils.cpp 1080
If Unicode-strings are used, one character occupies 2 or 4 bytes (depending on the data model being used in compiler) instead of one byte. Unfortunately, programmers easily forget about it, and you can often see defects like our example in programs.
The 'CopyMemory' function will copy only part of the L"mailto:" string since it handles bytes, not characters. You can fix the code by using a more appropriate function for string copying or, at least, multiplying number 7 by sizeof(wchar_t).
Example 9. CMake project. Array overrun inside a loop.
static const struct { DWORD winerr; int doserr; } doserrors[] = { ... }; static void la_dosmaperr(unsigned long e) { ... for (i = 0; i < sizeof(doserrors); i++) { if (doserrors[i].winerr == e) { errno = doserrors[i].doserr; return; } } ... }
The error was found through the V557 diagnostic: Array overrun is possible. The value of 'i' index could reach 367. cmlibarchive archive_windows.c 1140, 1142
The error handler itself contains an error. The sizeof() operator returns the array size in bytes and not the number of items inside it. As a result, the program will try to search much more items than it should in the loop. This is the correct loop:
for (i = 0; i < sizeof(doserrors) / sizeof(*doserrors); i++)
Example 10. CPU Identifying Tool project. A string is printed into itself.
char * OSDetection () { ... sprintf(szOperatingSystem, "%sversion %d.%d %s (Build %d)", szOperatingSystem, osvi.dwMajorVersion, osvi.dwMinorVersion, osvi.szCSDVersion, osvi.dwBuildNumber & 0xFFFF); ... sprintf (szOperatingSystem, "%s%s(Build %d)", szOperatingSystem, osvi.szCSDVersion, osvi.dwBuildNumber & 0xFFFF); ... }
This error was found through the V541 diagnostic: It is dangerous to print the string 'szOperatingSystem' into itself. stickies camel.cpp 572, 603
An attempt of formatted printing of a string into itself can lead to bad consequences. The result of executing this code depends on the input data, and you cannot predict what will happen. Most likely, the result will be a meaningless string or an Access Violation will occur.
This error can be referred to the category "code vulnerabilities". In some programs, by feeding special data to code, you can exploit such code fragments to cause a buffer overflow or other effects an intruder needs.
Example 11. FCE Ultra project. A string gets less memory than needed.
int FCEUI_SetCheat(...) { ... if((t=(char *)realloc(next->name,strlen(name+1)))) ... }
The error was found through the V518 diagnostic: The 'realloc' function allocates strange amount of memory calculated by 'strlen(expr)'. Perhaps the correct variant is 'strlen(expr) + 1'. fceux cheat.cpp 609
This error is caused by a misprint. It is the 'name' pointer instead of the "name+1" expression that must be the argument of the strlen() function. As a result, the realloc function allocates 2 bytes less memory than needed: one byte is lost because 1 is not added to the string length; another byte is lost because the 'strlen' function calculates the string length skipping the first character.
Example 12. Notepad++ project. Partial array clearing.
#define CONT_MAP_MAX 50 int _iContMap[CONT_MAP_MAX]; ... DockingManager::DockingManager() { ... memset(_iContMap, -1, CONT_MAP_MAX); ... }
The error was found through the V512 diagnostic: A call of the memset function will lead to a buffer overflow or underflow. notepadPlus DockingManager.cpp 60
That's one more example of how the number of array items is mixed up with an array size. A multiplication by sizeof(int) is missing.
We can go on and on showing you errors of array handling we have found in various programs. But we have to stop somewhere. Let it be 12, for number 13 is considered to be unlucky.


text:
This is the sequel to my first movella "Stole My Heart"...
Stole My Heart717441100124353
- by HazzaIsMyPrince
- Rating:
- Published: 24 Jul 2012
- Updated: 4 Jan 2013
- Status: Complete
All the boys from One Direction are taking a couple months off to spend time with their family. Harry is excited to spend a lot of time with his mum. But he never thought he would find a girl on break that would change him.
Join MovellasFind out what all the buzz is about. Join now to start sharing your creativity and passion
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text:
Oil Devastation in Arkansas — Government Relents and Releases Photos to the Public [Slideshow]
April 5, 2013 in Blogs
After outrcies of media blackouts and Exxon running the cleanup show, today the EPA released photos of the tar sands spill that shocked the Mayflower, Arkansas neighborhood last week. Check out more of our coverage of the spill here and Exxon's response.
EPA Releases Tar Sands Spill Photos
April 5, 2013 |
A week after Exxon's Pegasus pipeline spilled in Arkansas, the EPA has released photos.


text:
It's been a fantastic ride -- I'll continue to be involved in the Direct Project and the S&I Framework, but on the community side now.
It's been a fantastic ride -- I'll continue to be involved in the Direct Project and the S&I Framework, but on the community side now.
Posted at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
An overdue update on pilot production usage of Direct Project specifications:
As of February 25, 2011 Heartland Regional Medical Center (St. Joseph, MO) is sending production clinical information to Living Community of St. Joseph (a long term care facility). Direct is being leveraged as a replacement for traditional ad hoc fax communications, representing primarily lab results and discharge summaries to facilitate transitions of care for the residents of that facility.
Posted at 07:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
OK, it seems I'm a bit behind the times. Yesterday, I mused about a capability based on Direct Project specifications for EHRs to send information to a personally controlled Direct Address, and I immediately learned that it's already happening. That's, incidentally, one of the "emergent" properties of standards: people and organizations independently do innovative things around them. We intentionally designed Direct to be a specification for "any-to-any" secure, universal directed exchange based on a universal address to enable that kind of emergent behavior.
Dr. Paolo Andre yesterday blogged about how he is using the Care360 EHR to send information to a patient's personally controlled health record on HealthVault. This illustrates a number of interesting things:
To recap across the set of announcements the last couple of weeks:
We are almost playing production bingo with the Direct Project User Stories.
Posted at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
I'm pleased to echo a couple of blog posts about our newest Direct Project production environment, the HealthVault Message Center.
Here's Sean Nolan's blog post announcing the feature, and Dr. Halamka's description on his blog.
A number of our implementation geographies will be opening up the ability to send data to the HealthVault Message Center. Individuals in Minnesota in will be able to designate that their immunization data be sent to their HealthVault account in conjunction with the pilot activity with Hennepin County Medical Center, and we'll see more of this as we see more pilots moving to production. What's particularly elegant about this is that the same transport mechanism supports both sending to the Minnesota Department of Health and HealthVault, and will support sending to any other PCHR that supports Direct, without any additional work by Hennepin County Medical Center.
My belief is that as we see more EHRs supporting Direct, we'll open up a world where individuals can designate a certain Direct Address as their consolidation point for their health data. That might be a PCHR, like HealthVault, a point at my medical home, or the regional HIO that serves my community. Or, it could be a combination; perhaps I want my primary care provider (my medical home) and my PCHR to each get a copy of my encounter summary, laboratory results (if allowed in the state where I live), discharge summary, etc.
Universal addressing and universal transport opens up a wide set of options.
Posted at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
I am incredibly pleased to announce today the first two production networks using Direct Project specifications.
VisionShare has enabled Hennepin County Medical Center to send immunization information to the Minnesota Department of Health. Testing of immunization (or syndromic surveillance) communication to a public health agency is a requirement for Meaningful Use incentives.
Rhode Island Quality Institute has implemented provider-to-provider health information exchange supporting Meaningful Use objectives with Dr. Al Puerini and members of the Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corporation.
These are the first two of many to go live: the Direct Project homepage now has an interactive map listing all of the implementation geographies that will be going live later this year. This milestone is a significant accomplishment by all the members of the Direct Project community, and I would like to thank you all for your dedication, hard work and sweat equity in the critical mission we are engaged in and the significant progress we have made to date.
In conjunction with the go-live, there was an HHS event in the Humphrey Building Great Hall to highlight and spotlight the implementation pilots. The event was keynoted by Dr. David Blumenthal, Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and Aneesh Chopra, US CTO, closed by Todd Park, HHS CTO, MCd by Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Deputy National Coordinator for ONC, and presented the stories of some of the members of the community who helped make this happen, including VisionShare, Allscripts, Microsoft and Dr. Puerini. I wish the stage and event were big enough to tell the stories of everyone who has been involved in the Direct Project -- there are so many stories to tell. One of those key stories is that of the "spiritual father" of the Direct Project: Wes Rishel, in his Simple Interop series of blog posts.
You can read the ONC HealthITBuzz blog post about this event and the press release by ONC.
In addition, Steve Lohr wrote about the events for the New York Times and Mary Mosquera wrote about it for Government Health IT News. Peter Neupert at Microsoft and VisionShare also made some significant announcements in conjunction with this event.
We'll update this blog post with more information about the event as it comes in.
Posted at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Many of you have already received invitations to participate in one of the Standards and Interoperability Framework Initiatives that the ONC has launched. If you haven't received the call for participation, or if you are confused about what is being asked of you:
The Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework was launched on January 7th and is currently undergoing a call for participation during the month of January. ONC is looking for volunteers to collaborate on interoperability challenges critical to meeting Meaningful Use objectives for 2011.
The two main initiatives are:
Transition of Care, to address interoperability of a set of core information that needs to be exchanged at transitions of care. Lab Interface, to reduce the cost and time to implement new laboratory results interfaces in ambulatory settings
In addition, we are working on a focused initiative with HL7, IHE, HealthStory and VLER:
Consolidation Project, to consolidate and harmonize the information needed to create compliant templated CDA documents, including C32 constrained CCDs
To participate in these initiatives, please follow the instructions to register for the wiki, and submit a statement of initiative commitment.
You may also want to be aware of the calendar of events associated with the initiatives.
Posted at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
This post is hopefully going to sum up a good deal of what is taken for granted within the Direct Project implementation group membership, but causes confusion outside.
It touches a bit on John Halamka's latest post and on the feedback from the HITSC Privacy and Security Workgroup on XDR.
I started the work on the Direct Project with my neighborhood in mind. In the SF Bay Area, there are a large set of HIOs that share information within clinical networks, but there are also large numbers of real-world clinical transactions that cross clinical networks on an hourly basis. The combination of Universal Addressing and Universal Transport was a powerful idea that could help coordinate transitions of care across organizational boundaries.
Each of those clinical networks, however, use proprietary mechanisms for information sharing within the network. Is it the goal of the Direct Project to replace those networks?
The definition of "Direct Project Compliant" that we have been using (at least informally) in the project is pretty simple: a participant can send and receive from any other participant with a Direct Address, given a common trust fabric. That does not mean that the "last mile" connection necessarily needs to be SMTP + S/MIME. It may mean that there is an XDS or XDR or a proprietary connection to an HIO, and the HIO has a Direct gateway that allows for sending and receiving from other Direct Project Compliant users. It may also mean that two HIOs mutually agree to use XDR or REST or another protocol to bridge between them. The semantics of the directed message, however, need to be preserved (this is what the sometimes misunderstood specification on using XDR and XDM for Direct messaging is all about: specifying a well-defined mechanism to bridge between SMTP + S/MIME and XDR while preserving directed messaging semantics).
For a provider or hospital that already has the capability and the trust fabric to share laboratory, discharge, referral, and consult information robustly across organizational boundaries, and is creating the capability to improve quality and health outcomes in both a patient-centered and population-centered way, and does so with SOAP or REST transport (such as the example John Halamka provided of NEHEN), there is no interest in the Direct Project to replace those mechanisms of transport with S/MIME and SMPT.
That being said, there will, over time, be a benefit for using Direct Project specifications for the last mile. It will often be easier to connect EHRs that have built-in support for Direct Project specifications, and have built-in workflow for receiving structured data over that transport, particularly if, as John Halamka notes, the HITSC recommends that support for Direct Project specifications and common X.509 certificates become a certification criterion.
If this seems familiar, it parallels the evolution of the common e-mail network. In the beginning, e-mail was fragmented into proprietary networks (e.g., AOL, Compuserve). Over time, those proprietary networks added SMTP gateways so their members could send and receive from other e-mail users. Those gateways did not replace the existing transports for sending and receiving from other Compuserve or AOL members, and even now Blackberry users receive encrypted content over HTTP connections and a GMail user sending to a GMail user will use a different transport mechanism from a GMail user sending to a Hotmail user. However, the SMTP standard allows any device to plug into any standard network, and any e-mail user can send and receive from any other e-mail user. Seems like a good pattern for health information exchange.
Posted at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
John Halamka today posted on a topic that has been a huge item of historical discussion in the Direct Project: whether we can enable simple, direct, scalable and secure transport in support of meaningful use based just on TLS.
Our conclusion was that you couldn't, at least not simply, and we felt that S/MIME was the natural proven fallback.
To explain why, I'm going to go moderately deep on bits and bytes in a rather long post. I apologize in advance. If you want to get to the meat, go to the paragraph that starts "so why is this a problem?"
First, I want to distinguish server authenticated TLS from client (or mutually authenticated) TLS. Server authenticated TLS is the form you are likely most familiar with. You connect to a website using SSL (https), and your browser's lock turns green (in some sites that use Extended Validation (EV) certificates, your browser's lock turns green with the name of the organization you are connecting to). Your browser is checking:
This gives you, the shopper, assurance that the channel is encrypted and that the server is not spoofing the organization it pretends to be (for example, ensures that when you shop at Amazon, you aren't actually shopping at BadHacker.com, who is syphoning off your credit card and CCV number and not shipping you any books).
Your browser has a list of root certificates (for example, this is the list of roots approved by the Mozilla Foundation for Firefox) that it trusts. As I mentioned above, there are two kinds of trusted SSL certificates in common use: the ordinary kind, that verify that the certificate holder actually controls the domain in question, and the EV kind, that verify that the certificate holder is the actual legal entity it purports to be.
So far, so good. This approach works well, and promotes a good ecosystem of certificate issuers who compete on cost without lowering overall quality.
The only problem is that this approach authenticates the server, but not the client. In the context of information exchange, it would give assurance that the receiver of information was the individual or organization it purported to be, but would give no assurance whatsoever about the sender. Oops.
If you want to authenticate the client and the server in an TLS-encrypted channel, you can use mutual authentication. In this mode, the server presents its certificate and encrypts the channel, as before, and then requests that the client present its certificate. If the client trusts the server and the server trusts the client, the transaction can proceed. Brilliant!
Here was the problem we ran into: in the TLS negotiation process, the server presents one and only one certificate path. In typical implementations*, the server also verifies the client certificate against one and only CA root. That means for every pair of client-server connections, the server and the client have to have the same root CA.
So why is this a problem? Well, if everyone lives in the same exchange, it's not a problem. The exchange hands client certificates to everyone, and everything works. If people use different exchanges, it falls apart. Consider a typical practicing physician:
This is not a crazy situation; in fact, the real world will likely have more exchanges in the mix (many EHR vendors are building exchange capabilities into their products). Based on the way TLS currently works, for this model of real world exchange to work, every exchange would have to use the same CA. If StateHISP got its certificate from Verizon, GreatEHRCo got its certificate from Verisign, and GeneralIDN got its certificate from Thawte, they couldn't connect based on the mutual-authenticated TLS of today.
If you take anything away from this long post, take this away: using TLS with mutual authentication would require central coordination and configuration. That is, unlike the browser bundle I mentioned above, which provides a market-based approach where anyone can stand up a CA, and, assuming they pass validation by WebTrust or a similar credentialing organization, can play on an equal footing with the established CAs, in the single rooted world, there would be only one master CA. Assuming ONC provided that single master CA root or bundle, getting the operational and governance mechanisms to make that work, and rolling it out nationwide, and enabling a robust market for identity assurance would take us a ways out in the future.
In addition, authentication in this approach is explicitly machine to machine, not organization to organization. To get organization to organization authentication, the SNI extension would be needed because TLS servers provide a single server certificate for the IP address on which the server runs. In cases where the same machine is used for multiple organizations (e.g., an HIE or a HISP), SNI allows virtual hosts to be used on the same IP address. Unfortunately, SNI is not well supported across web servers or SMTP servers. Without SNI, authentication is exchange to exchange, not organization to organization, which bumps the policy requirement for identity assurance to the intermediary.
There are inventive ways around this problem, by using TLS extensions like SNI** and agressive (and by agressive, I mean agressive) use of DNS RRs like SRV and NAPTR and CERT to allow discovery of the certificate in use by a particular exchange participant, or using server-auth TLS and client signed Oauth bearer tokens but it ends up being pretty knotty and uses a technology stack that is not well supported. We tried. We really wanted TLS to work.
S/MIME, by contrast, works today, is well supported, has multiple interoperable implementations, works on the PKI infrastructure that is in common use today, is well described by IETF and is forward compatible to a day where we have authentication and digital signatures at the individual provider level. That's why we went that direction in the Direct Project, and I feel just as good about that decision today as when we made it.
`* The TLS spec supports multiple CAs for client authentication but only one cert chain for the server. Multiple client CAs are supported in Apache and IIS, but not in Nginx.
Posted at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
On Friday, the HITSC Privacy and Security Workgroup reviewed the Direct Project specifications. Their findings are on the HITSC website. I would like to thank the Workgroup for the time and thought they put into the review, and would like to thank Dixie in particular for leading the Workgroup through the review process.
The Workgroup found that the core Direct Project SMTP + S/MIME specification met the goals of a secure transport and is scalable for the purpose intended (although it should be marked as less applicable for large (GB and higher) file size transport). In addition to that finding, the Workgroup also noted:
The core specification is "messy"
We agree -- the original version of the SMTP + S/MIME was a mixture of design advice and specification leading out of the creation of the reference implementations. On review, if you do not know what it already says, it is hard to read it to find out. We are in the process of revising the specification for editorial cleanup and readability.
The specification implies a key policy decision -- that it is OK for a receiver to reject unstructured content.
The discussion on this point was interesting. John Halamka has a good summary of the discussion and some e-mail based follow-on. The key point is that the policy decision (for instance, that sophisticated receivers should be open to accepting electronic data from senders who have less sophisticated technology) should be separated from the technology question (that, for instance, in some cases, receivers who are expecting particular healthcare formats should error if the content is not what is expected).
The use of DNS for certificate discovery should not be mandated
The HIT Policy Committee just published recommendations (link forthcoming) on provider directories, which call for certificate discovery as a key directory attribute. We expect a great deal of innovation here. DNS may be an appropriate option for the short term; long term, the strategy should align with the standards for provider and organizational directories.
TLS and S/MIME wrapping should be removed as optional components for already encrypted S/MIME content
The TLS issue is, I think, not an issue. The SMTP infrastructure already has the ability to upgrade to TLS on the fly so encouraging TLS support does not impede interoperability. The recommendation on message wrapping is that the complexity of wrapping the full message does not justify the benefit (protecting headers) and that the risk of subject and other headers containing PHI should be mitigated by policy.
There were some important recommendation regarding XDM and XDR that I will address in a separate post.
Posted at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Newly posted to the FACA blog (the blog of the HIT Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee) is a request for comment on Standards and Interoperability Framework Initiatives and priorities.
Posted at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)