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By following a set of rules described in a paper published in Nature (abstract), a husband and wife team from David Baker's laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle has designed five proteins from scratch that fold reliably into predicted conformations.
Barring certain genetic anomalies, it should be pretty easy for any husband and wife team to produce protein sequences that result in predicted conformations.
I want them to synthesize a fully functioning Marylin Monroe to go with my 3D printed vintage sports car.
Barring certain genetic anomalies, it should be pretty easy for any husband and wife team to produce protein sequences that result in predicted conformations.
Sex can produce cars?
A centuries-old tradition of origami!
Not to mention the long and hallowed tradition of husband-and-wife teams engaging in protein-folding experiments...
Next step: understand how specific conformations perform their magic in accelerating chemical reactions by factors of trillions so we can design custom enymes.
This is actually a fairly important discovery. The poster of the article seems to be completely clueless as to why it is important.
Without going into all of the details, being able to predict the shape of proteins is one of the things needed to make nanotechnology fulfill its potential - to build a nanotech "assembler".
If you want all the details you would have to go back to "Engines of Creation" by Eric Drexler.
Proteins of the right shape can be used to create complex structures - anything from a virus to a nano-computer. Construct some RNA, feed it into a cell and get back as many copies of the protein chain as you please.
Do this for several different proteins.
Leave all of these proteins in the same chemical soup and they will combine on their own to form the more complex structuresl
But if you can't predict the shape the protein folds into, you can't get started. This has been a key problem in nano-tech going back to the 1970s.
If this happens this could open up a new era in medicine.
It is literally *the* cure for hiv , cancer and just about everything else. Specific proteins can be created to attach to and kill exactly just about anything , it's the perfect artificial immune system.
The gloomy side of this is that it will also open up the door for new weapons. One could theoretically build proteins designed to kill exactly one individual potentially without leaving much of a trace to the untrained eye.
Shaping is nothing in proteins. Function is everything.
Shaping is nothing in proteins. Function is everything.
And proper function generally requires the proper shape, duh.
So sickle-cell is caused by
Here is homework for you, newbie:
1/ read the Wikipedia article on sickle cell anemia
2/ read the fricking original article
I've always said that protein engineering will become more important to humanity than the transistor, For just one example of the incredible potential proteins have, look at enzymes. These are biological catalysts that tirelessly perform very specific chemical reactions. In the case of some enzymes, they are called 'kinetically perfect', meaning that they are so fast the only way we have of explaining the reaction speed is that every time the molecule they work on collides with the enzyme, the reaction immediately happens. Mind-blowingly, some enzymes are even faster than this, so-called 'better than kinetically perfect' and how they manage their astounding speed is one of biology's great unsolved problems.
Some other cool example of proteins: Proton pumps in your stomach, which carry individual protons into your stomach to make acid. Photosystems 1 and 2 in plant chloroplasts, which juggle electrons between each other and weave sunlight into sugar, forming the basis of the whole earth's food chain.
Photosynthesis is achieved by having a very specialized enzyme that works like a workshop bench. It clamps down the hydrogen bonds of the H2O molecule and literally snips off the hydrogen atoms using the energy from several UV photons. All done using the electrical charges of chemical bonds and free electrons.
In the case of some enzymes, they are called 'kinetically perfect', meaning that they are so fast the only way we have of explaining the reaction speed is that every time the molecule they work on collides with the enzyme, the reaction immediately happens. Mind-blowingly, some enzymes are even faster than this
So... thiotimoline is an enzyme? Biochemist Dr. Asimov was wrong about its composition?
I don't think OP did a great job of explaining kinetic perfection, so I'll try to expand on it.
Firstly, I've generally heard it referred to as catalytic perfection, not kinetic. Regardless, it means that
1) every enzyme-substrate collision is productive, that is, generates a product and
2) the reaction happens in less time than the enzyme and substrate can find each other in solution.
This means that the "limiting reagent" of the reaction is the diffusion speed of the enzyme and substrate - if enzyme and subst
Congratulations, in advance!!!
The other day I reflected over the lack of knowing how these foldings work; I recalled some tv program for the 70s that had identified this as a big issue back then Voila, today we have a working progress.
Nobel Prize material, indeed!!!
chains of amino acids that fold spontaneously into a precise conformation, time after time
I've seen this happen in many Japanese movies before, the Japanese do have a way to make proteins always hit the same spots from a distance.
Ok, I'll have 500g of Bovine Psoas Major proteins, preferably with some cured porcine abdominal protein wrapped around it.
...has designed five proteins from scratch that fold reliably into predicted conformations.
Let me me guess:
One is a potent carcinogen.
One causes deadly priapism [wikipedia.org]
One causes thick hairgrowth... inside your body.
The two others are considered really dangerous.
Here it comes!
I used to work in a protein engineering lab that collaborated extensively with Baker's lab. Let me be the first to say the quality of work coming out of there is outstanding. Protein engineering is incredibly difficult and their Rosetta software (protein folding again) is pretty much essential (yeah yeah, there's other software and rosetta has flaws, like not taking charged amino acids into account, but really its the best we have) -- even more so than pymol for any design you'd be doing.
This is the second large break through coming from them in the past few years. The other one was designing enzyme that performed a totally novel reaction. Details here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5989/309 . I really can't stress how big of a deal this is for designed (chemical) molecules. Even if the reaction wouldn't have happened under normal conditions or without causing decomposition to the rest of the molecule, you can make an enzyme that will do it for you.
This study should help the creation process, generally directed design runs into a lot of problems with proteins that no longer fold. Being able to determine computationally what has a chance of working would greatly speed up the process. Beyond that congrats to the lab and one of the most hands on, in the science PIs I know
This is awfully cool!
According to the article, they used Rosetta@home for some predictions. I wonder if they've also tried fold.it [fold.it], especially since that project is also out of U of Washington.
"I will make no bargains with terrorist hardware." -- Peter da Silva


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Manuel Almunia left Arsenal this week and stands as an example of what has gone wrong in the past seven years under Arsene Wenger.
The Spaniard was inexplicably first choice at the Gunners for a couple if years after Jens Lehmann departed, despite a habit of regularly making mistakes.
You could hear the groans around Emirates Stadium when the former Celta Vigo 'keeper decided a long ball over the top had to be dealt with ten yards outside his area, with a forward bearing down on it.
Latterly his confidence must have been non-existent, as he did not make a single competitive appearance this season and it is easy to imagine this was Wenger finally giving up on him.
The silver lining of Almunia's largely under-par stint between the sticks for Arsenal is that Wenger was forced to give young Pole Wojciech Szczesny his opportunity.
The Poland international has grasped the opportunity with both hands and is now the undisputed number one at the club, with many envisaging him so for many years to come
Almunia's departure is not enough, but he must be the first of a number of players who have proved only that they are not good enough to play for a team that wants to win trophies and have a tilt at the title.
Wenger's faith in his group of young stars is admirable, but many of those have repaid it with fitful displays and showing only a lack of temperament for the big occasion.
A player who must be discarded quickly this summer is Nicklas Bendtner after he had a troublesome season on loan with Sunderland.
The Dane finished as top scorer in a side that was transformed under Martin O'Neill following Steve Bruce's dismissal, but his form has been far from electric.
Another player who is obviously gifted but fails to capitalise fully on his talent and one that has more than enough chances.
Scrapes with the police did his cause of securing a deal with the Black Cats no good and his behaviour was obviously an issue.
The famed self-confidence does not have a lot of real substance to back it up and Bendtner will likely be labelled as a 'big-time Charlie' who was never as good as he thought he was.
Brazilian midfielder Denilson is another case of a player who has had too many chances to prove he is more than just a midfielder with sound technique.
Denilson's case is a little more unfortunate because he showed great promise when he first broke in to the first team, but it was in a similar role to Cesc Fabregas and he was deployed in a deeper role.
The 24-year-old was never the most physical of midfielders, but made up for it with an accurate passing game.
This didn't last long and other Premier League teams began to target him, exposing his lack of power and pace. A period of bad form followed as his confidence slowly seeped out of him and it soon became clear he was not going to make any more improvements.
Denilson and Bendtner are prime examples of a wider problem of personnel because Wenger chose to give them extended runs in the team, in order to help develop their game.
Neither could regularly produce a level of performance to match the expectation that Wenger's successful time at the club has bred.
Not recent successes, however, and discontent is growing among Arsenal fans at having not won a trophy in seven years - that rival fans use this as a stick to beat them with does not help.
Diverting from this barren course will not happen if players of similar quality as Carlos Vela, Sebastien Squillaci and Lukasz Fabianski continue to end up at the club, or are not cut loose sooner.
The financial constraints pressed upon the club since the move to Emirates Stadium meant this course was necessary and shipping in multi-million pound ready-made talent was not possible.
A balance between growing your own and buying in new recruits must be found for a club like Arsenal – they that cannot compete with the biggest spenders but still possess significant financial clout to attract a certain amount of talent.
If reports of a clear-out are true then it is positive news for the club.
Last summer was a low point in Wenger's reign, but they have managed to secure third place in spite of this and that indicates there is quality in the squad.
No major overhaul is needed, but the squad needs fine tuning to begin a new era under the Frenchman.
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subset: commoncrawl


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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A new public-private housing development that received $13 million from Savannah taxpayers has been plagued with mold, mildew and leaks that allow water to seep into apartments, according to tenants and city officials looking into the problems.
Savannah Gardens opened its first units in November after five years of work to demolish and replace the former Strathmore Estates, a crumbling and privately owned low-income housing complex from the World War II era. Touted by city leaders for its mix of subsidized and market-rate housing, Savannah Gardens is slated to have 330 apartments and 120 single-family homes when it's completed in 2014. Its total estimated cost is $100 million.
Asia Jones and her four children lived in apartment 611 for barely six months before they were forced to leave, she says, because of poor conditions that threatened her family's health. In mid-August, she said, her 6-year-old son complained his bedroom carpet was getting wet during a downpour outside. Jones said she pulled up the carpet to find water pooling on the floor underneath.
"It never stopped," Jones said. "It was like a lake."
Workers later found mold behind the sheetrock in her apartment, Jones said, and within two weeks her family had to go to the hospital with respiratory problems, racking up $1,500 in medical bills.
Jones' apartment was one of at least 12 units cited for problems in a memo by City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney sent last week to Savannah's mayor and City Council. The memo said problems found at the apartments included water intrusion, mold and mildew, leaking air conditioners, plumbing and a defective ice maker.
Small-Toney told city officials that one issues is that the new apartments were built to energy-efficient guidelines that keep heated or cooled air indoors from seeping outside. That can promote mold growth if air conditioners aren't kept running during the humid summer months, she said.
Alderman John Hall, whose City Council district includes Savannah Gardens, said he's concerned more mold problems will be found by environmental inspectors being dispatched to the housing development.
"For the children and the people in those units, it's going to be a very, very bad health issue," he said. "They're having breathing problems."
Savannah Gardens is being built by Atlanta-based developer Mercy Housing Southeast. Its president, Charice Heywood, said he's aware of problems in six or seven apartment units and all are being fixed.
Jones has moved out of Savannah Gardens and hired an attorney, Alan S. Lowe, who says her complaints are "the tip of the iceberg."
Heywood says the developer offered Jones an apartment in another housing development or to put her family up in a hotel. He says she declined both offers.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


text: UMW News BureauThe Bulldog men's basketball team split over the weekend with Dickinson State University, winning on Friday, 89-66, and losing on Saturday, 64-81. By Lowell Peterson The University of Montana Western's Brandon Brown (35) and Cedric Clarington (15) combined to score 50 points as the Bulldogs defeated Dickinson State for the second time this season, 75-71. The Bulldogs previously defeated the Blue Hawks on Oct. 29 in Dillon, 89-66. The Bulldogs outscored DSU by two points in each half to come away with the victory in the hard-fought contest. In addition to their scoring exploits, Brown had five assists and Clarington recorded four steals and four rebounds. Jake Owsley, recovering from a knee injury and seeing his first action in almost a month, matched Clarington with four rebounds. Four players scored in double figures for the Blue Hawks. Casper Hesseldal had a game-high 24 points, Matthew Lee added 16, Tevin Hurd had 14 and Robbie Morey scored 11. Lee and Hesseldal each grabbed 10 rebounds to finish the night with double-doubles. Ryan Kittleson was the assist leader with four. The Bulldogs improved to 7-2 on the season while Dickinson State fell to 4-6. On Saturday, the third time was definitely not the charm for the Bulldogs and the adage that it is tough to beat a team three times in the same season also proved to be true. After losing games in their first two meetings this year, Dickinson State defeated the University of Montana Western on their home court Saturday night, 81-64. The Blue Hawks were as hot as the Bulldogs were cold. Dickinson shot .536 (30-56) from the field overall and .458 (11-24) from beyond the three-point arc. Montana Western was just .371 (23-62) from the field and .240 (6-25) on three point attempts. The only place the Bulldogs had the advantage was at the free throw line, going .667 (12-18) to the Blue Hawks .556 (10-18). Once again the Bulldogs were led in scoring by Brandon Brown and Cedric Clarington. Brown finished with 19 points and Clarington had 17 but the rest of the team accounted for just 28 points with no other Bulldog scoring more than five points. Kyle Erickson was the top rebounder with eight and Clarington had four steals and three assists. Gabe Rucker also dished out three assists. Four players scored in double figures for the Blue Hawks. Casper Hesseldal had a huge night, scoring 30 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. John Hanstad hit six of 11 three-point shots to score 25 and Jarek Hansen and Tevin Hurd scored 11 and 10, respectively. Matt Lee also grabbed 10 rebounds and Dickinson won the battle of the boards, 46-31. Hesseldal and Lee each had six assists. The Bulldogs fell to 7-3 on the season while Dickinson State improved to 5-6. Montana Western returns home to host the University of Calgary Dinos in the Straugh Gymnasium on Friday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. It will be the Bulldogs' first home game in over a month. The last time Montana Western enjoyed the comfort of the home court advantage was on Oct. 29.


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A video showing a motorist being arrested for legally carrying a gun is lighting the internet on fire.
In the last week alone, more than ten thousand people have viewed the dash board cam of a Citrus County deputy making the arrest.
Gun advocates say the video is proof Florida needs to change the current law.
The video has been seen more than 38 thousand times in January.
It shows Joel Smith of Citrus County getting stopped. Seventeen seconds after getting out of the car he is asked for his registration and insurance. As he turns, something is slightly visible in his back pocket. Deputy Alan Cox asks Smith "Why do you carry a gun for?" Ten seconds later Smith is being held at gun point. "Put your hands right up or I'll shoot you in the blanking back", says Deputy Cox.
Smith is legally licensed to carry a concealed weapon. But Smith was arrested anyway charged with carrying a prohibited weapon openly.
Marion Hammer from The Unified Sportsmen of Florida calls it an overreaction. "A law enforcement officer losing it and abusing a law abiding citizen who had done nothing wrong and was doing anything he could to cooperate".
When the case got to the courthouse, the state attorney declined to prosecute saying there was little chance a jury would convict.
Florida law was changed in 2011 to say the brief viewing of a gun in a non threatening manner is not a crime. Unified Sportsmen say Smith's case and another are proof Florida needs to do more. "They're arguing that the accidental exposure was not brief", says Hammer.
Deputy Alan Cox has now been put on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.


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Rami G. Khouri is the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, as well as a columnist at the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. He is a highly regarded commentator on Middle Eastern affairs and often appears on outlets such as NPR, Al Jazeera, and the BBC, among others.
While in San Francisco in June to speak on the events in Syria, Khouri sat down with filmmaker David Zlutnick to discuss the Arab uprisings and their involvement of and effects on external actors - including events in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and elsewhere. What follows is an edited transcript of the full interview. An eight-minute edited selection of the video can be viewed at the filmmaker's web site, Upheaval Productions.
DZ: What motivations do you believe are guiding the policies of international actors attempting to navigate the Arab uprisings, in the Middle East as well as in the West?
RK: Well, every international actor has its own motivations. It's mostly their strategic interests, or sometimes it's personal dislikes against leaders - sometimes things get personal between leaders in the Middle East - sometimes it's material interests like access to markets, and sometimes its geopolitical interests like trying to overthrow Assad because they really want to weaken the link with Iran, for instance, or Hezbollah. So, there's different reasons but they're always political self-interest in the end.
How should the US be approaching events in -
The US government?
The US government, yes - American foreign policy. What are some of the principles that should be guiding the way the US attempts to navigate these events in the Middle East and North Africa?
I would first of all say that the US should be supportive of any democratic movement anywhere in the world, whether it's Myanmar, or North Korea, or Ukraine, or Bahrain, or Syria - anywhere in the world the US should firmly be supporting the right of the people to demonstrate, speak freely, to have political rights, and to live in democratic and accountable systems. And they should not make exceptions. So that's one thing: to be consistent and support democratic change. The second thing is to understand the limits of what America can do. America is deeply criticized by most people in the Arab world because of what it does in the region - because of its anti-Iran policy, its pro-Israeli policy, its anti-Islamist policy, its support of dictators for many years - there's many, many things the United States has done which have caused the US to be widely criticized across most of the Arab world. And not just in the Arab world, but also in Turkey and in Iran and in other places. So, I think the US should understand it has very limited ability to do anything in these Arab transitions and these uprisings.
What it can do is be humble and make it clear to people who are fighting for their liberty and their democracy that the US is willing to support them, to respond to demands that come from Arab democrats and Arab nationalists who are fighting for their rights, to be supportive. The US should say: We're ready to help you. If you need help, whether it's medical aid, you need help with any kind of political transition issues that the US maybe has some expertise that can be useful - one of the areas, for instance, in which the US has a lot of experience is a government system based on multiple tiers, of a federal government, state government, county government and local government. That's an interesting model that we can learn from in the Middle East. So, as countries set up new political systems, we can learn from other countries' experiences. So the US can share experiences, share lessons, provide assistance when people ask for it, and that would be the one thing to do.
But anything the US does that has a political or military dimension to it should be done with legitimacy, meaning it has to be done through the UN Security Council or some other body that gives legitimacy to foreign intervention. It should not be unilateral; it should not be the US deciding, "We're going to give military aid to this group." Or, "We're going to try to throw out this leader." That shouldn't be done unilaterally.
Israel's response to the turmoil among its neighbors has generally been to stay largely silent. It's seemed almost petrified by events, not knowing quite how to react. First, how do you see the Israeli state's response to the uprisings? And secondly, has this had an affect on the US and its strategy?
I think this is one of the situations where the Israeli position has not been very important for Washington. Usually Israel more or less dictates the American position on issues related to, say, Arab-Israeli things, or Iran. But in this case the Israelis have been confused and perplexed. They don't really know what to do; they can't figure out what is the appropriate response; they can't seem to decide if democracy is good for the Arabs or bad for the Arabs, and if it's good for Israel or bad for Israel. So, I think they've been watching this with some confusion, but in the final analysis, I think the Israelis should understand, you know, they've been saying for years, "We're the only democracy in the Middle East" - presumably democracy's a good thing - therefore democracy for the Arabs should be a good thing, too. And I think it is. Therefore, I think the Israelis should at some point get off the fence and stop being hypocrites and just say, "We support democratic Arab systems, because democracies can solve their problems peacefully, rather than through war."
Where do you see Palestinian desires fitting into these developments in the Middle East? What is the future of Palestinians both for those in the occupied territories and those living in states now in such great upheaval?
There's no direct relationship between the Palestinian issue or the condition of the Palestinians and the Arab uprisings. The Palestinians have been watching this process with great interest, but they haven't really been part of it. The Arab-Israeli issue has not been a great element or driver of the uprisings directly. Indirectly it's there, it's beneath the surface. One of the reasons that people in the Arab world have risen up against their regimes is because they feel these regimes have become so subservient to Israeli or American desires and therefore have put Israel's interests above the interests of their own people in the Arab world. And that sentiment is clearly there, but it hasn't really come to the surface very much.
So, the Arab-Israeli issue is one that I think will reemerge. Once you get more democratic Arab systems, hopefully government policies will reflect public opinion. Public opinion in the Arab world is very critical of Israel because of Israel's colonization, and occupation, and annexation, and mass arrests, and murder, and assassinations, etcetera, etcetera. So all the terrible things that Israel's been doing in the eyes of the Arab world are reasons to be critical of it, and this criticism will be reflected in more, I think, vigorous Arab political positions vis a vis Israel in the years ahead.
In the future, how does Egypt reassert itself on the regional stage? For a long time it's taken a back seat; it's lost a lot of prestige in Arab politics. I know a lot depends on the outcome of internal political battles in the short-term, but nonetheless, where do you see Egypt going in the long run?
Egypt will definitely reclaim its important if not leading position on the Arab stage, that's for sure - and the Middle Eastern stage as a whole. We've already seen hints of this with Israeli-Egyptian relations, with Iranian-Egyptian relations. There's been little signs here and there that the Egyptian government is not going to be acquiescent to Israeli or American demands, as it had been in the past. And I think Egypt will play a bigger role regionally, but it's going to take some time for the domestic political situation to stabilize. And dealing with domestic priorities is much more important, especially economic development. But then I think very quickly you'll see Egypt reassert its role on a regional scale, and it may even be a role where you see some competition between Egypt and Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and later maybe Iran and Israel - these are all powerful countries in the region, and they push their - throw their weight around - and therefore it's possible that Egypt's role will be one in which it gets into some political battles, peaceful political conflicts with others.
There's been a lot of tension and unease in Lebanon, where you live, over the past year, occasionally erupting in outbreaks of violence as we've seen recently - of course there's always a lot of tension in Lebanon. The most recent conflicts have been attributed to spillover from Syria - at least that's how it's been portrayed in the media here. What is your take on the current atmosphere in Lebanon? Do you see Syria as a catalyst for some of the longer-standing tensions? What can we expect in the coming months, years?
I think it's true, as you said, that the media in the United States tends to simplistically portray a lot of what's going on in Lebanon as spillover from Syria. So my first suggestion is, don't rely on the mainstream American media for your news of what's going on in the Middle East because it tends to be simplistic, and incomplete, and one-dimensional, and often very ideologically driven - especially if it has anything to do with Israel or Iran or Islamist movements or things like that. I would say that - living in Beirut, Lebanon, as I do - there's very small extra influence of Syria, or the events in Syria, influencing events in Lebanon - refugee flows, people sending arms across the border, things of that nature - but the conflicts in Lebanon, the tensions among different Lebanese were there before the Syria situation happened. So, the Syria spillover is a very small incremental, extra dose of tension that simply exacerbates some existing situations, but it doesn't create whole new problems.
The Lebanese, unfortunately, don't need foreign actors to give them a reason to fight with each other; they do that a lot in Lebanon unfortunately, because of the nature of the [political] system and many other reasons.
So I'm not too worried personally about the international or regional spillover affect from Syria or other places in the region. The problems in Lebanon are local, internal, and have to do with existing things like Arab-Israeli issues, Hezbollah's relations with Iran, Saudi support of Lebanese groups. These are regional tensions that already are manifested by local actors in Lebanon.
There was much initial hope after the Arab uprisings began, but now much of the news coming out of the Middle East and North Africa is not nearly as optimistic. What is your perception of the ongoing course of the Arab uprisings, and does the current trajectory still make you hopeful for their future?
Absolutely. I think it is hopeful. I think there is turmoil; there is regression here and there; there is instability. But this is the nature of this process. You've had regimes that have been run by tyrants from 40 to 60 years. You've had the Egyptian military running Egypt - actually running it into the ground - for 60 years. You've had 42 years of Assad family rule in Syria. These systems are not ones that change quickly and easily within a span of a few months. So, the transition is, by nature, slow, messy, erratic, but it's mostly - where the transitions have started, such as Tunisia, such as Egypt, Yemen, to some extent - they've been largely peaceful and run according to democratic contestation rules. So I'm very hopeful. I think this is about as good as we can expect. We shouldn't expect instant democracy.
The United States, 230 years after independence, is still debating the role of religion in public life, is still debating issues that are contested between state power and federal power. So, you know, these issues are not decided quickly. They take centuries in some cases to achieve some kind of national consensus. And I think we should understand that the transition is going to be messy and it's going to take time, and it'll have forward movement and a little bit of backward movement, but the overall trend is moving towards the reconfiguration and re-legitimization of political systems by their own people, and that's the important thing that's happening. Arab people are acting like citizens who have rights, and they are shaping and configuring and defining new systems of government that define how power is exercised. And that's something that's very hopeful and I think it will continue for years to come.
Is there anything you think we missed that you want to touch on before we wrap up?
I think one critical issue that has to be dealt with all across the region is really the issue of the role of the military. This is the biggest problem that we've had for the last 60 years, which is Arab military, police, security, armies and intelligence agencies manipulating governments, taking over governments, running entire countries. And this has been the real fundamental, foundational problem in our region. So I think you have to keep an eye on the relationship between the military and the civilian governments. That has to be defined in a way where the civilian authorities ultimately have oversight over the military. And that takes a long time.


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An article at the Irish Film & Television Network provides some great new details about Game of Thrones from HBO.
It again note the importance of Mark Huffam, a local producer, in helping to land the project in Northern Ireland. More interestingly, an approximate shooting schedule is given—June through to December, which fits pretty nicely with the rumored 30 weeks of filming a source has provided in the past—and then a list of shooting locations beside the Paint Hall.
Most of them are familiar to those who followed the production closely: Tollymore Forest Park (where the opening scene, featured in the first official publicity still, was shot) and Castle Ward (where scenes of Winterfell's courtyard and gate appear to have been filmed). However, a new name enters the picture: Shane's Castle in County Antrim. The castle proper has been ruined for almost 200 years, but from the description it sounds like the estate itself may be ideal for filming of exteriors in wide-open spaces.


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Genealogy Searches on Google
Google has special syntax searches. One in particular caught my attention. On the Google search page, type the word "info:" and then the url of the webpage you are interested in. For example, if I do the following search:
This search returns about the url that you put in after the term "info:" including pages that link to this particular url and web pages that contain the term or url that you searched. It struck me as one way of finding out who's talking about you out in the blogosphere.
The Organized Genealogist
This talk was completely different from the usual organizing lectures I have attended that usually go over organizing you paper files or the folders on your hard drive. Dick gave this topic a really different and useful twist. One of the points he covered was the program called Evernote which can remember everything for you.. Since I have recently begun using Evernote, I found some very useful ideas presented.
Dick also mentioned a new product that is due to come out on the market soon called the Ion Book Saver. This device will hold a book while you flip the pages and take pictures. I'll be anxiously awaiting Dick's review when the Book Saver becomes available.
Conservation-Keeping Up With Technology
A question from the audience caught my attention during this presentation. A lady brought up that she has many Word documents from very early versions of Word that she is unable to open now. This issue could really apply to any program that has been repeatedly upgraded over the years. This is something hadn't occurred to me. I'll need to find, open and resave really old Word (or whatever) files in a newer version. I just figured that a Word file, no matter how old, could be opened in the current version of Word forever. Apparently that is not so.
Another question that came up had to do with a topic that I have investigated in depth in the past because there is a lot of conflicting information out there. Dick's explanation was incredibly clear. I wish I had asked him this question a long time ago! Since it's become a bit of a pet peeve for me, I am going to save it for a future post so check back in a week or so.
I love seminars. I always learn new things and enjoy the opportunity to see friends and meet new people who share a common interest. Bloggers Mary of me and my ancestors and Carol of Reflections From the Fence also attended (Carol and I had a blast carpooling). I hope you check out their blogs and see what they had to say.
© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum


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We said farewell to Stevo at the Kosice airport--he was the best guide. We then took a cab to Hotel Bankov. We paused for a moment outside to take this picture of our luggage and all of the extra items (gifts from our relatives) we had to squeeze in.
After just a few hours of sleep, we had to rise at 3:00 to get a cab to the airport for our 5:00 a.m. flight to Prague.
We had a long layover and enjoyed some time relaxing in the priority lounge thanks to Andy's generosity.
We then boarded the plane for the long flight back to JFK airport. The plane was full so we were not able to spread out to sleep. Ginny and I spent time watching two movies and looking at photographs from the trip on our laptops. When we touched down, I was happy and relieved to be back in the USA, but carried with me so many fond memories of the time spent in my ancestral homeland. I'm looking forward to going back again!
This ends my "Sojourn in Slovakia" series. Thanks for coming along with me as I recounted my journey!
Photos by Lisa A. Alzo, June 9, 2010
Copyright 2010 Lisa A. Alzo
All Rights Reserved


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Pretty flower vases to make your buds look their best
This past winter felt longer and drearier than anyone had anticipated. But it's finally over, and signs of spring are popping up everywhere. Why not bring some cut blossoms into your home to chase away the last gray clouds of spring? Fill one of these pretty vases with a fresh bunch of spring harbingers and wave goodbye to the cold weather at last. Here are some of our favorite picks to make your buds look their best. --LARA EWEN. Special to Newsday
Like a little glass parfait, these Threshold two-tone vases ($14.99 to $19.99, depending on size) add just the right touch of sweetness to your decor. From Target's recently launched Threshold collection for the home, these mouth-blown glass vases bring a high-end aesthetic without the high-end price. They're available in blue or berry at Target. (target.com)
Reflecting a prism of spring sunlight, the Shanghai vase from Kartell ($210), designed by Mario Bellini, creates a whirl of happy energy that radiates upward into your home. The vases stand an impressive 17 inches high and are made of lightweight, shatter-resistant plastic. Available at Sylvester & Co. at Home, 154 Montauk Hwy., Amagansett, 631-267-9777.
Husband and wife Ken and Ingrid Hanson are inspired by traditional Italian and Swedish glassblowing techniques to create these one-of-a-kind contemporary handblown glass vases ($495). This colorful 15-inch-high piece is so pretty and unusual, you hardly need flowers. Available at Sedoni Gallery, 304 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-547-4811
The gently flowing edges of the Ruffelle vase by L'Object ($230) are reminiscent of draped fabric, while the nickel-plated brass finish lends a certain toughness. Finally, a vase that speaks to the hard and soft sides of a household. Handcrafted by artisans, this 6-inch high piece is available at Lagoon Linens, 481 Central Ave., Cedarhurst, 516-569-9500.
Hide the uneven ends of your stems while highlighting the pretty blooms in this medium rope vase from Elle Décor for Kohl's ($49.99). Made from glass and natural rope, the 12.75-inch-high vase combines clean lines and rustic charm, and it's available through June at select Kohl's stores. (Kohls.com)
Add some rustic charm to your table with these colorful steel Socker vases ($12.99 a pair) from Ikea. The set comes with one wide vase and one skinny vase, and the 10-inch-high pieces are as handy for holding kitchen utensils as they are for keeping flowers from looking too fussy. Available at Ikea. (ikea.com)
You can practically hear the ocean when you look at these Blue Waves vases from Two's Company ($97 to $196, depending on size). Made from a durable resin, the vase collection comes in three sizes, from 12 inches to 24 inches high, and each is sold separately. Available at Dodds & Eder, 221 South St., Oyster Bay, 516-922-4412; 11 Bridge St., Sag Harbor, 631-725-1175
Scrawl love notes, draw doodles or just leave reminders to buy eggs with this chalkboard vase ($40), designed by Ricardo Saint-Clair. There's a removable glass tube inside for water and a handy space to store the included chalk. The 8-inch-high vase comes with optional mounting hardware. (module-r.com)
The ultimate summer accessory: The shell can also double as a vase. Fill it with colorful short-stemmed flowers to really pop in the room. ($41, Overstock.com)
Vermont-based glass blower Matt Seasholtz created this free-flowing form, which almost looks like a motion illusion. Add some flowers and they'll play on that floating theme. $625 at Sedoni Gallery, 304 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-547-4811. (sedonigallery.com)
Industrial designer Harry Allen created this fun paintbrush vase, which was cast from real brushes and carved from resin and marble. Inside is a glass insert to hold water. A portion of your order will be donated to your choice of a nonprofit organization. ($110, UncommonGoods.com)
This earthenware vase set was sculpted by hand by Melanie Mckenney in New York. She used an actual artichoke to make the vase and finished it with a non-toxic glaze. A portion of your order will be donated to your choice of a non-profit organization. ($44, UncommonGoods.com)
The 5-inch-wide opening paired with the 9-inch height makes this a perfect vase, in addition to being a fabulous pitcher when it's not in use for flowers. ($269, Bloomingdale's)


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Huge betting favorite
Huge betting favorite
Right now, a $5 parlay on the three underdogs to win (Fletcher, Santana and Salka) would pay $3,295.
What are the odds of all three underdogs winning,chances of haymon getting hit by lighting on sunny day are better
While dropping $5 with a chance to make $3,295 is nice, I would really think the trifecta of Salka, Santana & Fletcher all winning would pay off a lot more.
-Randy G.


text: I write about dividend growth stocks on my website http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/. I am mostly a buyer of high quality dividend stocks, with solid competitive advantages. My holding period is forever, as long as the dividend is at least maintained. I tend to concentrate my efforts on stocks which grow earnings and dividends, which provides outstanding total returns over time. I only focus my attention to stocks with sustainable dividend payments. I am also a firm believer in diversification accross sectors and geographic locations. I have been focusing my attention particularly to companies that regularly increase dividends to their shareholders since 2007. On my blog I share my thoughts on investing in dividend paying stocks that have consistently increased their payments over time and tips on growing my dividend income. I hope that my blog will serve as an inspiration for my readers and that it would change their financial lives for the better. Visit my website, Dividend Growth Investor (http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/)


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Elvis liked meatloaf
We are on vacation. Our Strong Son has a week off between semesters. The daughter of some dear friends is getting married. We're traveling around together for a week, and then will go to the wedding before our kids start back to school. SS picked the rest of us up at the Nashville airport, and we drove to Memphis.
Someone in the family should have remembered that this week is the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death – but none of us did. We arrived in Memphis to find that there is a citywide event honoring Elvis. I was worried that Graceland would be so crowded that we couldn't see everything.
But I guess true Elvis fans who come back to Memphis for Elvis Week have already visited Graceland. Our tour was wonderful. The gravesite was inundated with flowers. I'm not sure whether it is always like that, or whether this is something special for Elvis Week. There are big crowds at an outdoor pavilion where Elvis impersonators (now called Elvis tribute artists) are giving an ongoing free concert.
Finding BTD compliant food on vacation is always a challenge. We finished our tour about lunchtime. Of the available restaurants in the Graceland area, the Chrome Grill seemed to have the most potential. I was inclined to have Memphis Barbeque. SS advised against it. He said that while barbeque in Texas means brisket, barbeque in the East usually means pulled pork. I asked, and sure enough, they were serving pulled pork.
There was a sign on the menu that said meatloaf was one of Elvis Presley's favorite meals. The trouble with ordering meatloaf in a restaurant is that you don't know how much wheat and what kinds of additives are in it. I passed on the meatloaf and chose a grilled chicken breast.
It came with three side orders. I chose baked beans, green beans, and sweet potatoes. SS told me that Eastern barbeque sauce is sweeter than the sauce on Texas barbeque. Indeed the beans were in a sweet sauce that was tasty. I'll admit that I dipped my chicken in the sauce, pretending that it was barbequed chicken. The green beans were cooked southern style, which probably meant with salt pork, but they were delicious. The sweet potatoes were covered with a cinnamon sauce.
You could say that my basic meal was beneficials and neutrals, but the seasonings and sauces contained small levels of avoids. Knowing that did not keep me from enjoying my lunch.
Our hotel has a nice fitness room, including some free weights. DD, SS and I all worked out before having a totally beneficial picnic dinner in our room.
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Two new videos of Watch_Dogs directly from Sony's stage events at Igromir, showing a single player mission and some driving.
I"m looking foward to this game. November can't come soon enough. And they say there isn't any launch title games to play.
Really looking forward to this game.the whole hacking thing looks a fresh idea
Im still debating if i should get it i cant make up my mind


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Peavy with another quality outing
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The Immigrant
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Old Irving Park
Posts: 4,563
Originally Posted by
I don't think anyone hates him. I think people resent the fact that his actual performance on the mound leaves something to be desired and, thus, would prefer he said little or nothing at all. Personally, I doubt he's any more "passionate" or "desperate to win" than any other professional athlete. His comments aren't boastful so what he says is no big deal to me one way or the other but I can see why guys get sick of hearing it after a while.
I don't know, maybe it was the 800 times he called himself a bulldog or talked about his will to win. Some people get tired of hearing that kind of stuff, or they get the wrong impression about a guy. He was an above average pitcher in his time with the White Sox but he did not live up to our expectations, and as a result there's a fair amount of Sox fans who think of him as "all hat, no cattle." I don't really blame them. I'm greatful that he brought us Avisail Garcia in return, but I'm also glad that someone else is paying him.
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New Titles for June 2017
The publications below are arranged alphabetically by Library of Congress subject headings. A link connects to the full bibliographic record, with holdings information, in the Catalog.
New Titles SearchA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y


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CAROLINA SHORES—The town has been advised it can proceed with abolishing its two voting districts.
The news came at a town commissioners workshop March 27, with commissioner Jack Csernecky citing a recent letter from town attorney Holt Moore.
At their regular meeting Tuesday, commissioners approved the change.
Moore wrote that in his opinion, it is "entirely legal and appropriate" for the town to adopt a resolution, hold a public hearing and pass an ordinance to amend the town charter.
The measure would establish one at-large district.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Brunswick Beacon, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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Vote in the 3- to 4-Year-Old Division of the Cutie Patootie Contest
The time has come -- your time to vote for the cutest of the cute in East Texas! Here are all the submissions of cuties submitted in the 3- to 4-year-old division of the Mix 93-1 + Sonocare + Peek A Bootique Cutie Patootie Contest. Check out the adorable kids of East Texas and vote for the cutest!
RULES: You may vote in each division of the Cutie Patootie Contest once every 24 hours. So, don't forget to come back each day and vote for your favorite! Voting is open until 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 25. The division winner will receive a $100 gift card to Peek A Boutique and will advance to the final round of the Cutie Patootie Contest, in which the winner will receive $500 to Peek A Boutique and an iPad Mini from Mix 93-1!
So, without further adieu, here are the entrants in the 3- to 4-year-old division of the Cutie Patootie Contest. Be sure and scroll to the right and left to see all the entrants -- there are lots of cuties! Voting is below all the pictures. Good luck to all!


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Georgia wide receiver Michael Bennett is out for the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee during Tuesday's practice.
Georgia director of sports medicine Ron Courson said Wednesday that the sophomore will undergo reconstructive surgery at an undetermined date.
Bennett leads the fifth-ranked Bulldogs with 24 catches for 345 yards and four touchdowns.


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Nominations Sought for Green Raider Awards
March 08, 2013
ALLIANCE, Ohio – The University of Mount Union's Sustainability Management Advisory Committee is again seeking nominations for "Green Raider" award recipients.
These awards are presented annually to one faculty member, one staff member and one student who have enhanced sustainability at Mount Union through actions that promoted the principles of social, financial and environmental responsibility. Their actions should have created a more sustainable, efficient and healthy atmosphere for our campus community.
Nominations may be made by any member of the campus community. To nominate a faculty member, staff member or student for this award, send an email to email@example.com. The email should include the nominee's name, whether he or she is a faculty member, staff member, or student and a response to the following question:
What has the nominee done (through education, action or communication) to promote the sustainability principles of social, financial and/or environmental responsibility on the Mount Union Campus?
Nominations will be accepted through Friday, March 22, 2013. Award winners will be selected by a sub-committee of the Sustainability Management Advisory Committee. Winners will be honored during the campus Earth Day Celebration the week of April 22, 2013.


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Mobile Phones Guide
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HTC's New Smartphones - Hands On
HTC Desire HD - Big is Beautiful
The new HTC Desire HD will come powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. It's important to note that this is the second-generation MSM8255 Snapdragon processor, featuring the Adreno 205 GPU which should lead to better graphics performance on that beautiful and spacious WVGA 4.3-inch display. You'll also notice that HTC removed the optical trackpad found on the original Desire, while the buttons on the front have been replaced with touch-sensitive controls.
The Desire HD will come with Android 2.2 out of the box. In terms of storage, you get 1.5GB worth and 768MB of RAM. For additional storage, there's the microSD card slot for up to 32GB of extra space.
The Desire HD felt very well balanced in the hands, and despite the large screen, didn't feel very bulky, thanks to the rounded edges, while tipping the scales at just 164g including the 1230mAh battery.
For entertainment, the Desire HD also comes with Dolby Digital certification, integrating Dolby Mobile and SRS for improved sound. At the same time, support for the DLNA standard is included, letting you share videos on bigger screens such as your new HDTV.
In terms of connectivity, you get Bluetooth 2.1, and interestingly enough, WiFi 802.11n support. Lastly, you get an 8-megapixel color camera with autofocus and dual LED flash, as well as the ability to record 720p HD video.
HTC Desire Z - A Smarter Keyboard
The HTC Desire Z features a QWERTY keyboard that makes it a top notch smartphone for messaging. Big props to HTC's designers for paying attention to the top row of keys, providing loads of space for users with big thumbs (or long, manicured nails) to type away. The keyboard also features two programmable keys to provide instant access to apps and other functions without having to wade through multiple menus.
The Desire Z is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7230 processor running at 800MHz and 512MB of RAM. For storage, you get 1.5GB internally, and a microSD slot for expansion. Android 2.2 a.k.a. FroYo will come standard, as will HTC's updated Sense UI.
Despite the built-in keyboard, the Desire Z isn't that much thicker than the original Desire, with dimensions of 19x60.4x14.16mm and a weight of 180g, inclusive of the 1300mAh battery.
Other features include a 3.7-inch WVGA Super LCD capacitive touch screen, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11n, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and 720p HD video recording.
According to HTC, both the Desire HD and Desire Z will be available in Singapore sometime in October this year. Similarly, HTC spokespeople were unable to comment on how much these devices would cost.
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European Commission
Press release
Brussels, 18 December 2012
State aid: Commission opens in-depth investigation into payment of dividends by Caixa Geral de Depósitos
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether a payment of dividends in September 2012 by Caixa Geral Finance Limited, an affiliate of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), is in line with EU State aid rules. In June 2012 CGD received a rescue capital injection from the Portuguese State amounting to €1.65 billion. The Commission had authorised the capital increase, subject to commitments including, in particular, a ban on the payment of dividends and coupons on hybrid capital (see IP/12/805). The Commission will investigate whether the dividend payments involve a misuse of the rescue aid that CGD had received and whether they constitute, in turn, state aid to the recipients. The opening of a formal investigation procedure gives interested third parties an opportunity to submit comments on the measures under examination. It does not prejudge the outcome.
When Portugal recapitalised CGD in June 2012, the bank could not have obtained financing under the same conditions from the market. The Commission therefore concluded that the capital injection from the Portuguese State constituted state aid.
Such aid should be used to restructure the bank. It should not be used to remunerate own funds when the activities of the beneficiary do not generate sufficient profits, as the Commission clarified already in 2009 (see MEMO/09/441). In the context of the restructuring of a bank, measures which reduce the total amount of own funds, like payments on hybrid instruments, are in principle not compatible with the principles that investors and owners of the bank need to share the burden of restructuring and that the bank should receive only the minimum aid necessary to allow it to restructure.
CGD is a banking group fully owned by Portugal. It held total net assets amounting to €120.6 billion as of 31 December 2011. The bank's activities comprise, inter alia, nationwide and international commercial banking (notably, in Spain, Lusophone Africa and Brazil), investment banking, asset management, specialised credit business, and insurance activities.
In June 2012, the Republic of Portugal, as CGD's only shareholder, subscribed to newly-issued ordinary shares of €750 million and to €900 million of hybrid securities. CGD needed the recapitalisation so as to meet regulatory capital requirements. One of the conditions for allowing this rescue aid was a commitment by the bank to not execute any payments to holders of capital instruments including subordinated debt in the bank.
On 28 September 2012, Caixa Geral Finance Limited, an affiliate of CGD, paid dividends on perpetual preference shares in the amount of €405 415 to institutional investors without the Commission's consent.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under case number SA.35062 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.
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Why There's No Nobel Prize In Computing 229
alphadogg writes "When Nobel Prizes are dished out each fall, the most accomplished professionals in computing, telecom and IT have usually been left out in the cold. That's because there is no Nobel Prize for these fields, and it's unlikely there will be one any time soon. According to the Nobel Foundation: 'The Nobel Prizes, as designated in the Will of Alfred Nobel, are in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Only once has a prize been added — a Memorial Prize — The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, donated by Sweden's central bank to celebrate its tercentenary in 1968. The Nobel Foundation's Board of Directors later decided to keep the original five prizes intact and not to permit new additions.' So, if IBM, Google, Apple or some other deep-pocketed tech company wanted to make a big donation along the lines of what Sweden's central bank did in 1968, maybe it could sway the Nobel Foundation to add a prize. But it most likely wouldn't be officially called a Nobel Prize."


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Burda 7401 - a slouchy jacket
Added Nov 8, 2013
by SewBusyLizzy
Port Macquarie, ...
A lightweight jacket with intriguing seam lines. This jacket has a standing collar, softy folded lapels and sewn-on peplum. The front panels also double as hidden pockets.
This jacket was a real challenge. I flat felled most of the seams, the sleeve gussets are harder than they look to insert.
I put it away for a week and got it back out and finished it. In the end I fell in love with it. Great pattern.
Visit my Blog SewBusyLizzy for more information and pictures
Material Notes
Twill with a shimmer thread
- For
- Women
- Garment Type
- Jacket/Blazer
1 Comment Sign in to add a post
Nov 9, 2013, 06.13 PMby Mary Athey
Great jacket, I went onto your blog as well for a better look. The photos are lovely as well. What gorgeous scenary x
1 Reply
Nov 10, 2013, 09.31 AMby SewBusyLizzy
I live in a beautiful town. Thank you… no idea why the pictures are so dark on this site, it's really odd.
Add to Favorites 6 people added it


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STERLING — Approximately 379 area students from throughout northeastern Colorado gathered at Overland Trail Museum on Tuesday for the annual Children's Water Festival.
"We were really excited about how it went," said Rick Fleharty, district technician for the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, which helps organize the event. "From all indications from the teachers and presenters it went very smoothly. It was above my expectations how it went."
They were a little nervous about this year's festival, because for the past 17 or 18 years they've held it at Northeastern Junior College. However, due to the unavailability of classrooms at the college, because of their semester not finishing until the end of this week, organizers decided to move the festival to the museum this year.
With the event taking place outside, there was concern about the weather, but they lucked out there, with a warm, sunny day.
The Water Festival featured 17 different presenters this year, who talked about the various roles of water and its importance
Among the presenters were members of the Sterling Fire Department, who spoke about "How Water is Used by Firefighters." They showed students some of the different ways they use water to put fires out and had students race to see who could fill up a bucket with water first.
Also, they talked about the importance of "stop, drop and roll," reminded students not to play with matches and encouraged them to call 911 if there is a fire.
Another presenter was Jeff Poe of Highline Electric. During his "Look Up and Live" presentation he spoke about his education and the training he received for his job and showed some of the tools he uses.
He also spoke about the importance of safety in his job.
"We do everything above and beyond in safety," Poe told the students. "If you mess up with electricity, more than likely you're not going to have a chance to mess up a second time."
He reminded students to exercise caution when working in areas containing overhead power lines and encouraged them to call 811 before digging to find out what's below the ground, because there may be underground utility poles.
Of course, you can't come to the museum without trying your hand at gold panning. Museum staff talked to the students about the history of gold panning and how it's done.
At another station, Gary Landcaster spoke to students about the Pony Express, which was in operation for 18 months, and the National Pony Express Re-Ride, planned for June 16-27. The annual re-enactment of mail delivery starts in St. Joseph, Mo.., and ends in Sacramento, Calif.
He spoke about the mochila, used to carry the mail, and how riders kept the mail dry when they crossed a river or a rainstorm, by oiling a silk bandana and wrapping it around the letters.
At the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service "Earth Parfait," Terry Weaver talked to students about the importance of aquifers, how they're used to grow crops and water livestock. The students also got to learn how aquifers work, using an ice cream parfait and a straw to drill.
Weather was the topic at Colorado Climate Center's "Weather is Fun" station. Noah Newman told them how scientists use rain gauges to measure the amount of precipitation an area received and the students got to try to fill rain gauges using water guns.
Additionally, at the "Backyard Bass" station, Kindra Plumb, of the CSU Extension Office, talked to students about different kinds of fish and the students got to try their hand at fishing.
Other stations included: "Soak That Pres," presented by Gisele Jefferson of the Golden Plains Area Co-op Extension Office; "Power to the People," presented by museum curator Kay Rich; "The Wonders of Water," presented by Lynn Lovell, of the USDA-NRCS; "So You Want to Be a Cowboy?" presented by Caliche High School ag teacher Todd Thomas; "A Slip of Old-Time School," presented by Paula Albrandt, from the Prairie School Program; "Let it Grow," presented by Brian Kailey, of the Logan County CSU Extension Office; "On the River," presented by Fleharty; "Pass the Jug," presented by Christy Fitzpatrick of CSU Extension; "Critters in the Water," presented by Kent Swedlund of LSPWCD; and "Our Cool Water Cycle," presented by Steve Cramer with Logan County 4H.
Fleharty would like to thank Culligan Water for donating a water station for the event and the city of Sterling, Logan County and Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District for the financial donations. He also thanked Gary Miller, Steve Cramer and Joe Frank for their help in organizing the event.
"We so appreciate the help that the Overland Trail Museum staff, particularly Kay Rich and Perry Johnson, gave us," Fleharty said. "Everything turned out better than expected. We look forward to even more exciting Children's Water Festivals at the museum in the future."
Contact Journal-Advocate staff writer Callie Jones at 970-526-9286 or email@example.com


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Ok, so heres my question. I have a select dropdown that is populated from my table, category_names. I am getting the id and the name and using the id as the value. And the name as the select name.
$query="SELECT id,name FROM category_names";
$result = mysql_query ($query);
echo "Pick as many that fit your business

";
echo"
<select>";
// while loop
while($nt=mysql_fetch_array($result)){//Array or records stored in $nt
echo "<option value=NAME=$nt[id]>$nt[name]</option>

Ok so that populates my select. But now I want to hit a little "ADD" hyperlink at the bottom and another identical select dropdown to appear underneath that is also populated from my database. And each select needs to add to a different row in table. How do I achieve this?


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AJ Russell began racing when he got his first dirt bike at age five. He's now part of the first racing team to have both a Native American owner and driver. He recently debuted in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series. As part of Native American Heritage Month, host Michel Martin speaks with Russell about race car driving and embracing his ancestry.
Need For Speed: Native American Joins NASCAR
By editor • Nov 30, 2011


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Researchers advocate better access to angioplasty treatment
New research from the United Kingdom has found that primary angioplasty does increase the survival rate of heart attack patients. The Imperial College London researchers said recent studies examining the role of specialist heart attack centres generated misleading results, because physicians tend to allocate the best care to high-risk patients. They have discovered that the lack of benefit indicated in clinical records is an outcome of the sickest patients being sent to the specialist centres, effectively skewing the data. The finding was recently presented in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Physicians in the United Kingdom usually send most heart attack patients to specialist centres for primary angioplasty, an operation that reopens blocked arteries. Randomised trials showed that angioplasty gives patients a greater chance of surviving than drug treatment alone. However, past studies based on 'real-world' data indicate that patients given an angioplasty do not fare better. For the purposes of their study, the team from Imperial College London took the bias of skewed data into account, observing that primary angioplasty cuts the death rate from heart attacks by 22 %.
According to the researchers, their data confirm that heart attack centres are effective and should be more widely available. The data show that 82 % of heart attack patients in England and 30 % in Wales have access to primary angioplasty. They also found wide discrepancies in access between regions.
'There has been some debate in the cardiology community about whether it is worthwhile to run specialist heart attack centres, despite evidence from clinical trials that they save lives,' said co-author Dr Iqbal Malik from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. 'This study resolves an important question. We must strive to make sure everyone in the UK has access to the best emergency treatment in the event of a heart attack.'
The team cautioned that in today's world, physicians who treat very sick patients tend to give them the most effective possible treatment. Called 'allocation bias', this phenomenon is good medical practice but can make 'comparative effectiveness' research unreliable. Adjusting for this bias is hard because doctors may base their decisions on many features that are difficult to document. So the researchers developed a method to help their peers detect when a disease is vulnerable to this form of bias in evaluation of its treatments.
'Comparing treatments based on clinical records will always be hindered by the good wisdom of the first-line doctors, who choose the most effective therapy for the most sick patients,' explained Dr Sayan Sen from Imperial College London, the lead author of the study. 'We demonstrate that decisions regarding the therapy of heart attack patients should be tested in the most reliable way, namely a randomised trial, and should not rely on registries.'
See also


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The rescue of a man who set out on a long trek with just potatoes and naan bread is likely to cost taxpayers about $10,000.
The 29-year-old Victorian planned to cross the New South Wales Blue Mountains in just three days – a task police say was virtually impossible – but came unstuck after injuring his ankle.
A search operation was launched last Wednesday after the bushwalker failed to meet friends at a pre-designated rendezvous point.
When the man was found, police discovered he had no locator beacon and had only one kilogram of potatoes and naan bread in his backpack.
The man was handed a $500 fine; a fraction of the cost of rescuing him.
After yesterday publicly chastising the bushwalker for endangering himself and the search teams, NSW Police today refused to estimate what plucking him to safety had cost. A spokesman said police do not comment on the cost of operations.
What is known is this: two police choppers were involved in last Wednesday's search. Polair 2 found the man in the Wolgan Valley but Polair 3 had to be called upon to winch the man to safety.
NSW Police usually charge between $2500 and $3300 per hour to recover the cost of using a chopper for non-police matters like traffic control or filming for a television show or movie, according to a publicly-available schedule of fees.
NSW Police also refused to say how long the helicopters were in the air during last week's rescue but it's understood to have been a number of hours, potentially taking costs to about $10,000.
In addition, a team of State Emergency Service volunteers were deployed on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains to look for the man, while in the west, four NSW Volunteer Rescue Association members battled fading light in a three-hour search.
Previous calls to bill unprepared or negligent bushwalkers and water enthusiasts for the cost of their rescues have been dismissed as impractical because the costs – often climbing into the tens of thousands of dollars - are unaffordable.
Yesterday, social media users debated the merits of a user-pays system as a deterrent for dumb behaviour.
"People need to be made responsible for foolish actions that waste resources," @wombatjedi said on Twitter.
However, Philip Penfold, a councillor from the NSW Hunter region, said the situation was more complex.
"Worth consideration, though we don't charge smokers and morbidly obese more for public health care," he tweeted.
Authorities estimate the Snowy Hydro SouthCare helicopter, which services Canberra and southern NSW, costs about $6000 an hour to operate.
Missions from Western Australia and Tasmania's emergency helicopter services cost between $10,000 and $12,000 an hour.
Bushwalking Australia former president David Reid said charging hikers for their rescue could prove harmful.
"To introduce a broad-based penalty for people who get into trouble could well deter them from seeking assistance when it's important to do so," he said.
"There are usually provisions anyway for the authorities to impose some sort of sanction, like a small fine, against people deemed totally irresponsible or wilfully negligent."
Mr Reid said this was the first time he had heard of an unprepared bushwalker being fined.
NSW SES spokesman Phil Campbell said bush searches imposed little cost on the organisation thanks to volunteer labour. But they do often present unnecessary risks, he said.
"While our volunteers are trained and well supplied and equipped, there is always an element of risk when they go out into the bush to search for people and it's important the public understands that and follows the warnings," he said.
NSW Volunteer Rescue Association commissioner Mark Gibson said many searches would be prevented if all bushwalkers carried locator beacons.
In 2012, about 1700 beacons were triggered this year. About 270 resulted in costly searches, with only 109 found to be genuine emergencies. Some activated the devices after encountering minor car problems.


text:
Ask Donna Mayland what it takes for a couple to stay together for 63 years and you'll get the same answer - repeatedly.
"Just kissing and making up," Donna says.
It was 63 years ago today that Alfred and Donna were married at the Little Brown Church in the Vale near Nashua. That isn't the whole story, though. Theirs is a story of a love that took root on the Iowa prairie and that has continued to grow as strong and solid as the wild prairie grass that was here long before them and that will continue long after.
Article Photos
Rosewood Manor residents Donna and Alfred Mayland are celebrating 63 years of marriage today.
EDN photo by Michael Tidemann
Alfred was born in Titonka April 19, 1928 - Donna was delivered by her grandmother April 22, 1929 in Swea City. "We kind of thought we were made for each other," Donna says.
When Donna first met Alfred, she was mad at him. It seems that his family moved into the farmplace a couple miles away, displacing her then-current boyfriend. Alfred was just getting to the age of being pretty decent boyfriend material himself, then - about 18 he figures.
Alfred's sister Marian, though, was friends with Donna. It seems that Alfred's parents had the big house and there was a tenant house. So Marian invited Donna to the tenant house for a birthday party - Alfred's.
And that's where they met.
"I didn't like him. He moved on that farm and my boyfriend moved away," Donna recalls of her first meeting with Alfred.
That didn't turn Alfred back, though.
He took her to the ballroom at Fairmont, Minn. - her first time dancing ever. That was where they first heard Midnight Waltz, which Donna to this day considers their song.
"We still like country," Alfred is quick to add.
"He said, 'When we get old enough, will you marry me?' I said, 'You bet.'"
That wasn't the only time Donna was ever mad at Alfred. She got mad at him again - when he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1945. Alfred was stationed at Inyokern - now China Lake. That went on for four years, and when he was out of the Corps they were married in 1950.
They rented some farm ground near Alfred's parents and Alfred tried his hand at the plow.
A little thing called the Korean Conflict came up, and Alfred was on standby in the Marine Reserves for a couple years - but thankfully never activated.
They later rented a farm a mile east of Elmore, Minn. for a couple years - the landlord died before they moved there.
Then Alfred milked cows for a man 10 miles east of Blue Earth, Minn., on a 50/50 basis, for four years. After that, they moved to southwest of Rake for 25 years.
Later they bought 120 acres by Thompson and in the 80s Alfred bought another 80 - bad timing, as it turned out. "That didn't work so good," he says.
Alfred decided to haul heating oil for Ron's LP in Lake Mills as Donna worked processing crop insurance claims. One day when Alfred was working the ladder shattered and he broke his hip. Fortunately, his Worker's Comp helped them along for a couple years. That was when he was 75.
So what's kept them together for so long?
"We don't have any magic formula. We just stayed married for 63 years," says Alfred.
"It takes a lot of kissing and making up," repeats Donna.
Their son, Douglas, gave them three grandchildren - Jordan, who is playing or has played in the rock bands The Wheelers, Tires, Nuclear Rodeo, Volcano Boys, Electronidoll, Mantis Pincers, Keepers of the Carpet and the Thermal Detonators. He teaches drums and guitar and centers out of Des Moines, having played in such venues as Chicago and New York. Holly is in human services in Clear Lake and Maria, their adopted granddaughter originally from Guatemala, plays basketball at Buffalo Center and graduates this year. "She's just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside," says Donna.
So is it easy, staying together all those years?
Well, no.
"It takes effort," says Donna. "A lot of kissing and making up. And because I love him."
"We never thought about it ever," Alfred says of their more than six decades together. "You just get there."
"I just thank God," adds Donna.
So what's their secret to a long marriage?
"Kiss and make up," says Donna. "Kiss and make up because it will pass."
They've had their share of travel - starting with their honeymoon at Bradenton Beach, Fla. They've also been to Hawaii and Mackinac Island, Michigan and a stint when they delivered RVs around the country. "It never failed. Donna was the one that broke down," Alfred notes.
One time Alfred was driving and went in the ditch at 55 then right straight out again - without a scratch.
"God had us in the palm of His hand," sighs Donna.
They're living in Rosewood Manor now as Alfred recovers from a second hip surgery he had in November. It's a familiar and comfortable place for them both, though, since Alfred's mother went there in 2001 to live out her last years.
The main thing, though, is they're there together.
"It takes a lot of kissing and making up," sighs Donna.


text:
Story highlights
- Cheaper European crude helps push down U.S. gas prices
- The average price of a gallon of U.S. regular was $3.71 on Friday
- The most expensive gas was in Chicago; the cheapest in Billings, Montana
U.S. gasoline prices have declined for four weeks straight and now average more than 20 cents a gallon cheaper than a year ago, according to a new nationwide survey.
The average cost of a gallon across the continental United States of regular stands at $3.71, down 3 cents from two weeks earlier, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey. Prices have fallen nearly 9 cents a gallon in the past four weeks and are 22 cents cheaper than at this point in 2012, Lundberg said.
Lower prices in the Europe's benchmark Brent crude oil are largely behind the most recent fall. More U.S. refining capacity coming back on line after seasonal maintenance also contributed, Lundberg said.
"From there, short-term, we may see more price-cutting soon, perhaps on the order of this approximate 3-cent decline," she said. "But the current picture suggests it won't be large."
Gas prices broke a three-month upward spiral in early March, which had climbed nearly 54 cents since late December.
The Lundberg Survey canvasses about 2,500 filling stations across the Lower 48 states every two weeks. The most expensive fuel in the latest survey, conducted Friday, was in Chicago, where pump prices averaged $4.10 a gallon; the cheapest could be found in Billings, Montana, at $3.33, Lundberg said.
Average per-gallon prices in other cities:
Atlanta: $3.57
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: $3.45
Boston: $3.75
Denver: $3.53
Las Vegas: $3.72
Memphis, Tennessee: $3.43
Miami: $3.74
Philadelphia: $3.64
San Francisco: $4.07
Seattle: $3.81


text:
I'd like to know how to configure a kludge of shit (using all FOSS, of course) for my enterprise environment. I want everything under the sun plus the kitchen sink.
Also, I'm going to be paranoid and reject anything you propose. After all, I can't be sure that anything I buy doesn't have a backdoor that the government or extra terrestrials could use to snoop on the uber secrets at my company.
We have one in works. Email to me df.inbox at gmail.com for details.
Seems legit.
I'm sure it's legit. And secure. Legitimately & securely transmits your info to China....
I would recommend developing your own system. If you are dealing with highly sensitive information, you want to make sure that it is fully secure. There are plenty of independent security contractors out there to develop something for you if you do not have the skill set to make it yourself within your company. Custom ROM, kernel, and various modifications to it should do it for you.
Why android? is there an app you need or something? or is it a latest bling thing?
Because Blackberry does the encrypted thing, and if you buy BES you can also set device policies and centrally administer the devices (remote wipe for example).
Because starting from scratch on RIMs BB right now could be suicide...
- New OS devices coming in the fall with a new untested management platform
- Over stock of current gen devices they can't sell ( way under powered compared to WP, Android, iOS)
- Bleeding management
- Laying off huge amounts of staff.
There isn't much real security provided by closed source encryption products. If they've no intentional backdoors, you still face the company concealing their mistakes to save face, which costs you security.
I agree, looking around Good, would be the closest off the shelf solution, it would also work with iOS devices giving you access to BOTH the most popular platforms right now..
One of my clients attempted to use Good for secure email on iOS last year. They were entirely unresponsive to even the slightest technical queries and their stuff was incompatible with other apps. Also, parent comment sounds like spam.
I spent years managing Good on our mobiles and mail servers. It really was a miserable experience.
I'd probably do it again before switching to blackberries, though. I think they've changed ownership once or twice since I was using it.
Good can't do half of what RIM's management software can do. Their new Fusion software can also manage other platforms in addition to BlackBerries -- including iOS and Android. Good is okay, but it doesn't compare to RIM's best-in-class tools.
While trolling around my Galaxy Nexus I found the ability to encrypt it (not using it though). At the least that should protect data on the phone, surely you can find more details about that feature on the intertubes.
Calls are already "secure" to a point but if you need even more security then perhaps Skype?
my brief foray with android showed me that pretty much every app wants access to everything on the phone, including phone-home capability.
Blame the security "roles" not the app developers.
Want your app to detect if you're on a call, so it doesn't blow your eardrum out with an alert tone?
Well, then you need "Access to Phone State / Identity"
I guess mostly this [google.com]
days numbered...
Stock price or price-per-share does not indicate nor does it necessarily correlate with the health of a company.
Investing 101, man. Come on.
Unfortunately I am of the opinion that Android is NOT the platform for this (I use Android for my personal phone). It doesn't support it and as you see you need to use third-party applications to even make it work. Even if you could trust those third-parties, now how do you push updates to your reps? The answer is you don't. There are just too many hoops to jump through for a business where security is a "major consideration." I'd recommend Blackberry but it seems RIM could be going under any day. iOS is pr
I'm not worried about RIM going under. They've been supposedly dying for years, but they just now posted their first quarterly loss. (Even with non-competitive handsets, they were still profitable. The 9900 is amazing, but you get my meaning.) Their customer base is growing and they've got plenty of cash on hand. They've got a fantastic suite of new development tools, best-in-class new remote management software, business friendly features like Balance, and a new operating system that is, by any metric, a cut above the rest Their app library is also growing like crazy and they're doing a fantastic job of recruiting new developers with a fantastic and varied suite of development tools. The handsets out this fall running their new OS look to be exceptionally high-end, with a brilliant UI.
RIM is hardly dying. They're a popular whipping-boy, but there are other companies doing far worse than RIM that don't get the same media bashing. When is the last time you heard that Sony is dying? They're worse off than RIM, and don't appear to have a strategy moving forward.
RIM is in no danger of "going under any day". That's been the line everyone's been chanting for the past year or so, sure, but that whole time their customer base was growing at an alarming rate and they were posting profits every quarter.
Pretty much sounds like you need a blackberry. Only they offer what you describe.
Trouble is, blackberry phones are crap, BES is crap, the blackberry network is crap, and the blackberry company (RIM) is circling the drain.
Turns out the infrastructure you need for your idea of a "secure" phone is more trouble than it's worth. Most companies have come to the realization that security is in fact a social and policy issue and much less a technological one. Just get good quality bog standard smart phones and create a policy that minimizes risk.
That said, iphones are officially supported activesync devices and will respect activesync security policies set by an exchange server. You can remote wipe them. (Funny thing - Winphone7's activesync support is provisional and not recommended for an enterprise environment - Microsoft's words!)
there's nothing you can do to a phone that a savvy user can't also do (or undo).
And if you are a phone manufacturer, (A) it's easy to more-or-less do what you're saying, and (B) there will still be people to can find work-arounds to break out of the lockdown.
The only reason I mention this is that Android has an energetic modding community, in spite of platform security built into some of these. (Locked bootloaders, S-ON partitions, etc.)
Just using your "for example" as an example... if you can put flash Cyanogenmod onto the phone, your users can flash a completely different ROM and defeat a lot of the things you want to do. The tools you would use are available to anyone, and if you try to deny your users root (for instance), there are plenty of root exploits available to break that jail.
In general, I think smartphones are too much general-purpose computers to really secure in the static way you're thinking about.
As to the (perhaps more weighty) matters like all-storage encryption, I have never seen a good answer. Anything you could install as an app would probably be too shallow (i.e., not effective before booting). In fact, I don't know if the standard Android Linux kernels are amenable to that; you'd need a custom bootloader or 2nd stage, and I haven't seen those specifically tailored for storage decryption.
I dunno. Sounds like you have a challenge ahead of you.
I know that Boeing is producing a secure phone, which is no doubt good — but probably too expensive for us
If a secure, off the shelf phone is too expensive for you, you probably don't have the resources to build a secure phone yourself. Even the experts have trouble getting security right, an amateur will unknowingly leave big gaping holes.
That said, Android ICS will do full filesystem encryption, make sure you use a secure passphrase and not a 4 digit PIN. Use SSL to talk to your email server to keep that traffic from being snooped. Don't use SMS's.
Do you really need to encrypt your phone calls? Stick with a CDMA provider (supposedly it's trivial to hack GSM, but I believe CDMA is still relatively safe) and your calls are safe from all but the most determined (and well funded) eavesdropper. Unless you're worried about the US Government doing the eavesdropping, they'll just tap the call on the Telco side, so you need end-to-end encryption to protect against that.
Skype reportedly encrypts skype-to-skype calls.
But really, unless you're doing top-secret government work, your phone is the least of your worries. If the information is valuable, it's much easier to pay an employee to leak it than to steal your phone and hope to find the data stored on the phone. And if you are doing top-secret government work, a home-brew solution isn't going to meet the federal standards you'll be required to meet.
I suspect that no off the shelf product is secure from the network side. The hardware needs to have two independent blocks: a communications module and a application module. The two need to be linked with a well defined API so that the communications module can't change the application code and there is a good point for an audit. There are probably regulatory issues like GPS to emergency services, not being able to hang up an emergency call, etc. You need to be able to load the application code from a s
Even the experts have trouble getting security right, an amateur will unknowingly leave big gaping holes...But really, unless you're doing top-secret government work, your phone is the least of your worries.
Something about the OP's question bothered me, and this helped me put my finger on it. I think one of the big rules of security should be: don't trust your security. There's something about the question that sniffs of "How do I make my phones so full-proof secure that I don't need to worry about them anymore?" The first part of the answer has to be, if it were that easy, then we'd all have perfectly secure phones and you wouldn't be asking the question.
Encrypting calls and network traffic are probably n
Just a question, but why Android?
If you indeed NEED the security (I do for work, which is why I have a BlackBerry) why not just go the tried and true route of BlackBerry? Security is built in, everything except SMS (to my knowledge) can be encrypted, and you don't have to worry about updates from a 3rd party firmware (CM) breaking your apps or security model.
Other things I LOVE about my BlackBerry...
This is a sincere question. I carry two devices (BB 9900 for work, and a CM9 rom'd SGS2 for my personal phone) and I personally cannot stand the exchange email client on Android, it just seems slow and clunky, and CM9 helped a little bit, but not much. Use the right tool for the job, instead of trying to shoehorn a tool into the job you want it to do.
I would also say Blackberry, others have covered that angle well though...
But why are you not considering an iPhone? Storage on the device is hardware encrypted, and can be wiped remotely. You cannot have people using un-secured SD cards with it.
There's nothing you can do to secure SMS since that's a carrier level thing, but you can use any number of secured messaging applications.
But really the biggest red flag I see is - you claim to be worried about security but then are trying to base a solution on th
key is - are you going to allow non-default apps. If you allow appstore, what policies will you have in place? Can they install Girls Around Me for example? porn? etc
No, because then we'll say he's incompetent for asking slashdot to do his job for him, rather than our telling him he's incompetent because his spec is incomplete.
I'm surprised I'm the only one suggesting this: Android Management [mobileiron.com]
Phone calls are already encrypted. Text messages stored on the phone will be encrypted if the phone's system storage is also encrypted. Data traffic can be encrypted by forcing the use of VPN back to the company's local network (and as such, web filtering, etc. also applied).
This is the first question you need to answer, most likely the answer is the latter.
I was thinking of maybe installing Cyanogenmod onto something, using a permissions management app to try and lock down some backdoors and searching out a trustworthy text and phone encryption app. Any good ideas out there?
Custom-rolled solutions like this are a bad idea, and from a practical standpoint will likely result in less security going forward. Do you just have too much free time on your hands?
This is a problem that's largely been solved.
use encryption for texting and phone calls.
I can't recommend or not recommend but http://www.koolspan.com/ [koolspan.com] offers a product to do this. Otherwise Nokia has been doing it for 8 years though with Symbian not Android.
Your use case and focus on security really suggests that BlackBerry would be the best bet, but if you are focused on finding a way to securely deploy Android devices, but still maintain some security, take a look at the BlackBerry Universal Device Service product as an MDM solution:
Feature Checklist: http://ca.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackBerry/pdf/brochure/northAmerica/english/BlackBerryMobileFusion,UniversalDeviceServiceFeatureChecklist-1.pdf
Details: http://us.blackberry.com/business/software/mobilef
The way the "common criteria" are defined, you need to be an accountant or a logician to figure out just what feature set they claim a high security on. I usually wasl "would it meet B2?" If they can't answer, it won't (;-))
--dave (and yes, on good days I am a logician) c-b
B2, from the Orange Book, is an old military standard, approximately what SELinux meets. C means crappy, and there were a very few people who got an A
Without full disclosure on the OS, the source, and hardware you can't guarantee its secure.
I am guessing here, but it seems to me cell phones are designed from the ground up to be insecure.
Buying into the "Walled garden == Security" philosophy doesn't cut it because you have no way to VERIFY things haven't been tampered with. You just "believe" they haven't been. Unless you jail break/root you can't be sure because you have no access. That makes it just as un-trustworthy as a trac-fone you found in the gutter. You might as well just use cyanogen, root it, get an sha1sum of everything on the device and have a way to track changes. Feeding Apple all your $$ while drinking all their "walled gar
Enterproid http://www.divide.com/ [divide.com] mobile device management is a service that costs $60/device/year that creates a secured remotely wipe-able sandbox on Android. They also submitted their app to the Apple store so it should be appearing soon for iPhone's.
FYI, they are working with Fixmo to be Common Access Card compliant for NSA standards...
http://www.whispersys.com/ [whispersys.com]
This may or may not be what you're looking for... not all of their offerings appear to be open source.
Pick two.
A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson