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Washington DC Archives
August 20th 6:30pm OWASP Meeting, Washington DC
This month we will be holding our meeting at the DC offices of Deloitte & Touche (1001 G St NW Washington DC 20001).
The meeting will start at 1830. Upon arriving, please go to the 9th floor and sign in, someone will escort you to the meeting location, Rm. 8S026. If you are late and can not get in, please call 202.270.8715.
This month, our agenda is as follows:
- Introduction to OWASP, Rex Booth
- The Big Picture: Web Risks and Assessments Beyond Scanning, Matt Fisher
- Security Conference Review: Black Hat & DefCon (group discussion)
- Open floor
Matt's talk will focus on the need to risk and threat model software and pick appropriate peoples, tools, and testing techniques to test against the threat model. In today's resource-constrained market many organizations are simply turning to automation to test their software security without truly understanding the limitations. This talk will discuss some of the broader threat cases, testing techniques for them, and whether current state of the industry technology is effective against them.
July 23rd 6:30pm OWASP Meeting, Washington DC (Alexandria)
This month we will be holding our meeting at the Alexandria offices of Grant Thornton (333 John Carlyle Street Suite 500 Alexandria VA).
The meeting will start at 1830. If you are late and can not get in, please call 703.785.9390.
The presentation for this meeting will be a reprise of Mark and Doug's Web Application Security and Why It Matters talk, which was suggested/requested at the last meeting in Alexandria. The presentation will cover the topics of the OWASP Top 10 and include demonstrations of exploits of the Top 5. This is geared towards newcomers to OWASP, but we hope that all members in the DC Metro area will attend if they have a chance. We also hope to give the DC crowd a "state of the chapter" like we did at the last meeting Columbia, and then open discussion of current events and/or any particular topics of interest will follow.
The presentation can be found here.
June 11th 6:30pm OWASP Meeting, Columbia MD
This month we will be holding our meeting in Columbia MD at Aspect Securities offices (9175 Guilford Rd, Ste 300, Columbia, MD 21046). The meeting will start at 1830. If you are late to the meeting and can not get in the door please call 301-604-4882, or hack the door. The meeting will focus on HTTP Verb Tampering and authentication bypass with other topics as we have time.
March 20th 6pm OWASP Meeting, Columbia MD
This month we will be holding our meeting in Columbia MD at Aspect Securities offices (address below). The meeting will start at 6pm and last to around 9pm or so (depends on the crowd).
The topic for the meeting will be presentation by Jeff Williams on his Enterprise Security API project. (quick overview below)
Securing Java EE Applications with the OWASP Enterprise Security API (ESAPI)
Jeff Williams, the CEO of Aspect Security and the volunteer Chair of the OWASP Foundation, will present the new OWASP Project he is leading -- the OWASP Enterprise Security API (ESAPI). ESAPI is an API and reference implementation designed to make it as easy as possible for web developers to address the most common web application security vulnerabilities, including those discussed in the OWASP Top Ten.
ESAPI defines a simple, well-structured, and obvious interface to all the classes and methods a developer needs to build a secure web application, and comes with a reference implementation and over 600 test cases. ESAPI includes numerous new security mechanisms that are simply not present in Java EE today, including intrusion detection! Correctness, completeness, and simplicity are the three primary design goals of ESAPI.
ESAPI provides a worked example of most security challenges faced by enterprise developers. Developers, architects, and application security specialists can use ESAPI as a baseline for what is expected in their applications. This presentation will cover the basic structure of the API, why using it represents a significant reduction in application security costs, and even why it makes projects more agile.
Look forward to seeing everyone there, so dont forget to set your outlook/entourage/notes calendars!
Location information:
Aspect Security, Inc. 9175 Guilford Road, Suite 300 Columbia, MD 21046-2565 Main: 301-604-4882
February 5th 6pm Meeting, New Location!
This meeting will be held at a new location thanks to a new host Grant Thorton LLP.
I will be giving a presentation on the intersection between web application security and the attackers mindset. The purpose of which is to drill home that web application security isnt just about SQL Injection, XSS, XSRF, and "web application compromises. My approach will be to outline various methods of abusing web applications to gain a foot holds onto networks as well as leveraging vuln's to "repurpose" existing web applications to the attackers whim. The ultimate goal of this presentation is to drill home the fact that web applications (and their insecurities) provide an attacker an amazing attack surface to leverage for various purposes, purposes which I will talk about. A few quick highlights include discussions on PHP/ASP* back door shells, PHP based IRC bots, XSS based Attack frameworks, Flash based attack frameworks, IDS evasion etc.
Location details
Location: 333 John Carlyle St Alexandria, VA 22314
The Day After
I want to thank everyone who attended as well as the two organizations that made yesterdays LIVE-O mini-con possible. If it was not for these two organizations the event would not have been nearly as enjoyable as it was.
MITRE HoneyClient Project Grant Thornton Aspect Security
I would also like to thank the presenters who put together the interesting topics and presented them to our chapter.
For all the presentations, notes, and thoughts of the attendee's and presenters you can use the following link.
Thursday Sept 6th LIVE O minicon!!
Well it looks like I have been able to finally secure a location for the LIVEO mini conference. The meeting will be held at 1:00pm at MITRE's McLean Va Offices in the MITRE 1 Building. (map to the location below)
If you haven't already signed up you must do so ahead of time! Feel free to pass this link around to coworkers or friends who may be interested in attending. Seating is limited to 75 people, and as such we will not be able to take any more people once we have reached that limit. If you are not able to come after signing up please use the same link to cancel your RSVP for the meeting. This will free up a seat for someone else to enjoy the awe inspiring presentations we have lined up. ;)
List of presentations
Honeyclients and Malicious Web Servers - Kathy Wang - Mitre A malcode perspective on web application privacy - Blake Hartstein - iDefense Practical Web Privacy with Firefox - Chuck Willis- Mandiant A sneak peak at Jeff's new "Enterprise Security API" - Jeff Williams - Aspect Security/OWASP Digital Rights Management - James Stibbards - Cloakware
Please make sure to have your ID with you for checking in when you arrive.
Map/Directions to Mini Con location http://www.mitre.org/about/locations/mitre1_map.html
Thursday August 23rd 6pm Location Aspect Security, Columbia MD
I will be giving a presentation outlining some of the various "Rich Interactive Application" (RIA's) Frameworks that are being developed.
Here is the rough draft of the presentation.
Topics to go over
(My unofficial plan- YTBD) Offline Web Application frameworks : The fifth horseman? I will be going over the basics of the four major "off line web app frameworks" (aka webocalypse) Adobe AIR Google Gears Microsoft Silverlight Sun JavaFX Try to go over the differences of each framework, where they fit, and why I think they suck Point out potential weaknesses of each framework Write a group letter to all the developers explaining the coming "webocalypse" (Im joking of course)
Location Information
Aspect is located at 9175 Guilford Road (Suite 300) in Columbia. Driving directions are:
>From I-95:
* Exit 38 B : Rt. 32 West towards Columbia (1.5 miles) * Take the Broken Land Parkway exit * Turn left off the ramp onto Broken Land Parkway * Turn left at the light onto Guilford Road (0.5 miles)
After a sharp left, enter the parking lot at 9175 Guilford Road. [Note: if you go under the bridge, you've gone too far]
We're on the third floor in Suite 300
Wednesday March 28th 6pm Columbia, MD
This meeting will be held at Aspect Security's offices in Columbia MD. The address is below. Food: As usual, geek food will be provided. This usually means pizza and soda.
Getting there: Aspect is located at 9175 Guilford Road (Suite 300) in Columbia. Driving directions are:
>From I-95:
* Exit 38 B : Rt. 32 West towards Columbia (1.5 miles) * Take the Broken Land Parkway exit * Turn left off the ramp onto Broken Land Parkway * Turn left at the light onto Guilford Road (0.5 miles)
After a sharp left, enter the parking lot at 9175 Guilford Road. [Note: if you go under the bridge, you've gone too far]
We're on the third floor in Suite 300
Meeting: Feburary 15th 6PM
Andrew van der stock will be giving a presentation on the following three topics.
OWASP Top 10 2007 Spring of Code 2007 an update on OWASP Guide 3.0 status
Watch this space as it will be updated as the meeting nears.
Location information
Our hosts have asked that if you are to show up for the meeting that you patiently wait in the first floor lobby for someone to escort you into the conference room that we will be using.
Here is the address:
- Arlington Center (NEW! Opened 7/17/06)
- 3434 Washington Boulevard
- Arlington, VA 22201-4508
- Phone: (703) 284-5000
Meeting: January 18th 6PM
Looks like we will have the following lineup for this months meeting.
This meeting will be held at Aspect Security's offices in Columbia MD. The address is below.
- Ed Tracy will be giving a brief presentation on the various Owasp Projects/Products.
- Jeff Williams will be giving a presentation on the recent PDF vulnerability and his released server side fix for it.
The fix can be found here [[1]http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PDF_Attack_Filter_for_Java_EE]
There has been plenty of happenings over the last month that should make for an awesome meeting. Expect to hear about the recent PDF issue! (with example attacks, snort signatures, server side fixes, etc)
As usual, geek food will be provided. This usually means pizza and soda.
Getting there
Aspect is located at 9175 Guilford Road (Suite 300) in Columbia. Driving directions are:
From I-95:
- Exit 38 B : Rt. 32 West towards Columbia (1.5 miles)
- Take the Broken Land Parkway exit
- Turn left off the ramp onto Broken Land Parkway
- Turn left at the light onto Guilford Road (0.5 miles)
After a sharp left, enter the parking lot at 9175 Guilford Road. [Note: if you go under the bridge, you've gone too far]
We're on the third floor in Suite 300
December 14th Meeting Notes
I would again like to thank Eric Pascarello for presenting his Ajax security presentation to our chapter. For those of you who missed the meeting and would still like to see the presentation feel free to grab it from Eric's site below. I would also like to thank SRA International for providing the facilities and staff to help host the meeting. Stay tuned for next months meeting!!
Meeting: December 14th 6PM
December Meeting Announcement
This OWASP meeting will be held at a new location in Arlington per the chapters request. Please note that this IS NOT a permanent shift in venue, but merely an attempt to include those chapter members who are not able to make it to Columbia on a regular basis.
- Opening, introductions
- Presentation by Eric Pascarello: Investigating JavaScript and Ajax Security
- Possible "Unannounced" presentation
- Everything Else: Current Events, OWASP news, Industry News, Recent Hacks in the News, Closing, etc.
- BoF discussion on AJAX and AJAX security
Dont know who Eric is? Well here is a quick blurb I "liberated" from a website about him.
Eric Pascarello dissects Ajax security vulnerabilities
Eric Pascarello is the co-author of "Ajax in Action" (Manning Publications, October 2005, and the author of "JavaScript: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Dynamic Web Pages", 2nd Edition (Wiley, October 2004). Pascarello is a 2002 Graduate of Penn State University with a degree in mechanical engineering. He is also a "bartender" on JavaRanch.com. In this interview he talks about Ajax security issues, the need for server-side validation and the Ajax worm released last October on MySpace.com
I am also trying to work out another presentation that will fit our general "theme" of application security as well. (more details to come!) And as always I will try to go over the latest and greatest application security news. (think myspace and quicktime)
Location information
Our hosts have asked that if you are to show up for the meeting that you patiently wait in the first floor lobby for someone to escort you into the conference room that we will be using.
Here is the address:
- Arlington Center (NEW! Opened 7/17/06)
- 3434 Washington Boulevard
- Arlington, VA 22201-4508
- Phone: (703) 284-5000
Meeting: March 23rd
March Meeting Announcement
Our next meeting is on Thursday March 23rd at 1800 hours in the offices of Aspect Security.
This is going to be a technical meeting focusing on AJAX Security.
In case you weren't aware, AJAX is a clever use of existing technologies to provide richer interfaces on the web (think Google Maps). It's growing in popularity and "buzz", so be sure to make this meeting and learn all you can about it.
If you have some AJAX science you'd like to drop on us, then email me directly at mfisher at spidynamics dot com
The Agenda:
- Opening, introductions
- Presentation by Rick Pries: An introduction to AJAX
- Overview and Review of the new OWASP AJAX Security Guide
- BoF discussion on AJAX and AJAX security
- Everything Else: Current Events, OWASP news, Industry News, Recent Hacks in the News, Closing, etc.
As usual, geek food will be provided. This usually means pizza and soda.
Getting there
Aspect is located at 9175 Guilford Road (Suite 300) in Columbia. Driving directions are:
From I-95:
- Exit 38 B : Rt. 32 West towards Columbia (1.5 miles)
- Take the Broken Land Parkway exit
- Turn left off the ramp onto Broken Land Parkway
- Turn left at the light onto Guilford Road (0.5 miles)
After a sharp left, enter the parking lot at 9175 Guilford Road. [Note: if you go under the bridge, you've gone too far]
We're on the third floor in Suite 300
Unfortunately being out in the far 'burbs there is very limited public transport.
If you need help getting to the meeting, try emailing the list and asking for a lift.
There are two MARC stations within a twenty minute drive, and the MTA contracted commuter busses drop off within 2 miles of the offices.
I am please to announce that we may just have wireless access for the meeting. No promises, but if you're the type who likes to look stuff up realtime then you may want to bring the laptop.
If we *are* lucky to enough to get wireless access, there will be a serious "no playing around" policy in place, and anyone breaking it will be kick/banned for life, y'all hear ?
December Meeting Notes
[Note: there was no meeting in November due to the holiday crunch. We decided to hold just one meeting in December].
Greetings from the Northern side of the Beltway. I wanted to send out a note to everyone letting them know how great the meeting was last night. The turn out was the perfect size for some "fireside chats".... It was some of the most technical conversation I've had in a long time that didn't involve an instant messenging client.
First of all, Thanks again to the ever-generous Aspect Security whom provided not only meeting space, but pizza and a chaperone as well. I'm glad to say that Chuck was there too .. Chuck is one of our most highly technical meetings, and shows up every time, on time.
For those of you who didn't make it, here's what we discussed. Note that I said *discussed*; not presentations. The smaller size of this meeting really afforded some great technical conversation and the loose interactive format was spectacular. If you missed it , well then you missed out.
- Susan Suskin gave us her thoughts on the AppSec conference for those you who missed the conference. Apparently the majority of the conference rocked, except for some lam3r presentation on web application worms (mine) .
- NIST's SAMATE project. This is a government funded project that attempts to a) gain serious expertise in app sec to the point of being able to 2) define key performance capabilities of app sec tools, 3) define metrics for those capabilities, 4) create test environments against those metrics, and then 5) evaluate and report on all app sec tools. Discussion of this spun off of the discussion of the conference.
- **The recent GMail hack**. This was really well done (props Andre ) . Instead of doing a *presentation* on it, shots from the original 'explanation' site was passed around and we all deciphered it together, making a true learning and discussion opportunity. Unfortunately this also mitigated our ability to mock his lamer slides, but I secretly mocked his lamer xeroxing capabilities. I'm just kidding of course: Andre xerox's like a champ. I think he's certified in it or something.
- **A Tutorial Walk-Through of SQL Injection and Blind SQL Injection** along with *nasty evasive destructive SQL Injections*, followed by the Web App Sec comedy hour. Those of you who missed the AppSec conference and also missed the meeting last night missed all the humour. Plus, you'll never understand how astute Donald Rumsfeld is with input validation. [ If you this far, then you get an extra slice of pizza next meeting ]. My next presentation will be stone-cold serious, but equally lame. My presentations should improve once I finish my PowerPoint certification study class.
- ShmooCon ! The coolest conference you'll find in the area. Be there are be square. http://www.shmoocon.org/ If you are already registered for the conference and aren't staying at the Wardman, , then please consider booking a room - they need this to lock in the hotel for next year. I'm local, and I have a room !
- **AJAX** - what it is, what is isn't, who's using it, how it works, and the security implications of it. We all agreed that none of us know enough about it and we're looking for someone with some real expertise to educate us on it. I for one am willing to chip in some bucks for a serious education on it. If we all chipped in, we may be able to get someone to give us a couple hours of tutorial on it. Thoughts ?
Next Meeting:
For our next gig, we're trying to get none other than a Special Agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigations to talk to us about the real world legal and prosecutorial environment in relations to cyber intrusions. We will also discuss the latest and greatest hacks, vulns and exploit techniques.
We'd like to see if there's a way to get internet access for the attendees as well. For instance, last night we really could have used a Spanish L33t to English L33t Dictionary while deciphering the Gmail hack. It would be great for doing quick googles, demo's etc. If there are any ideas on how we could secure some wireless that would not place us on the host's network, then please bring it. Netstumbling the office doesn't count.
So now you know, and knowing's half the battle.
- Matt
Tuesday October 25th OWASP Meeting Agenda
The next OWASP DC chapter meeting will be held Tuesday, October 25th at 6pm. The meeting will be held in Aspect Security's office in Columbia MD.
- Aspect Security, Inc.
- 9175 Guilford Road, Suite 300
- Columbia, MD 21046-2565
- Main: 301-604-4882
- Fax: 443.583.0772
Directions: http://www.aspectsecurity.com/contact.html
Meeting Agenda
6:00pm – Initial Meeting kickoff 6:30pm – Special Guest Presentation (Steve Elky, see below for more information) 7:15pm – Pizza / General Discussion 7:30pm – Discussion on AppSecDC 2005 (Jeff Williams will be presenting) 8:15pm – Discussion on Myspace.com "worm"
Special Guest Presentation
This week we have a special guest speaker Steve Elky. Steve will be discussing the incorporation of security and Certification and Accreditation into the Software Development Life Cycle. A brief overview of the presentation is below.
Certification and accreditation (C&A) mandate Certification Accreditation C&A and the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Initiation Development/Acquisition Implementation Operations/Maintenance Disposal Key Roles Independent Approach to C&A Integrated Approach to C&A
About Steve Elky
Steve Elky is the Technical Director for Information Security at Software Performance Systems, a software company specializing in e-government solutions. Mr. Elky has his CISSP, CISM, ISSAP, ISSMP, MCSE, CNE, GCNT, CCNA and CCSA as well as a B.S. from the University of Baltimore. Mr. Elky acts as a security advisor to various company clients as well as helping company developers determine and meet security requirements. Mr. Elky is currently assisting the Library of Congress in the design and implementation of their security program.
Discussion and review of AppSecDC 2005
Jeff Williams will be reviewing and discussing the happenings of AppSecDC 2005 for those of us who were not able to attend the conference.
Discussion on Myspace.com "worm"
If time permits we will be reviewing the recent myspace.com "worm", both at a technical level as well as a higher level conceptual view including "what if" scenarios.
Next Meeting - Tuesday, September 27 @6pm
Everyone is welcome to join us at our monthly chapter meeting. It's held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6pm. If you have any items you'd like others to talk about, or if you'd like to make a presentation, post your ideas to our mailing list.
OWASP DC-Maryland Chapter Meeting
The Open Web Application Security Project, DC-Maryland Chapter holds meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month.
SOURCEfire 9770 Patuxent Woods Drive Columbia, MD (Meeting may be in rear building, 9780.)
The agenda for this month's meeting is:
- Meet & Greet(6pm)
- Group Presentation (7pm)
- Jeff Williams presents the OWASP Guide 2.0
- Top Ten feedback survey - Help us test the survey before it's used at the October OWASP conference.
See you there!
Meeting Notes - 7/19/05
At the July 19th meeting, the DC-Maryland chapter took on the topic of the "broken top-ten". We spent 2 and a half hours and digressed many times. Often getting lost in the weeds. We did have some useful ideas (I do apologize to the rest of the chapter as these thoughts are largely influenced by my opinions -ed tracy).
After discussing the problems with the many uses of the top ten, we asked what does the industry need. The industry needs awareness and guidance. These are two different things. We will admit it has been great for awareness, aka marketing. And, a concern of changing the top ten is given: a radical change in the top ten is likely to diminish its reputation and its effectiveness at raising awareness.
Now back to guidance (the other thing the industry needs)...The top ten is being used for education, security review checklist, design/implementation guide, etc. Well, the industry needs these things in very concise form. We should give them that. OWASP should produce these (I know some of it's been produced al y). These shouldn't be top tens or marketed as top tens, as ten is not going to cover everything and having ten top-tens is silly.
The key is to put a big disclaimer in The top ten that advises people not to use it for review checklist, design guide, etc. The disclaimer should go on to point people in the right direction for guidance for each of those tasks. We believe the top ten should warn people that it's not fit for those other tasks. Otherwise, they think it is and that creates "FUD."
Training Session Notes - 6/7/05
We held a training session for web app security in early June. About 15 people trickled in at all hours.
Thanks Aspect Security, for providing installation CDs with WebGoat, WebScarab, and Paros.
As a group, we did some of the WebGoat exercises using the WebScarab application proxy.
Thanks to Chuck for demonstrating bean scripting in WebScarab. It's used to automate testing.
Thanks to Matt Fisher for demonstrating Spi Dynamics' WebInspect and its web proxy capabilities.
The session was held at:
- SOURCEfire
- 9770 Patuxent Woods Drive
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 5/24/05
Thanks to Weilin Zhong for running this meeting.
Weilin led a discussion about security for Web Services. As of mid-august, someone is still trying to sanitize the presentation she gave so that it can be published here.
The meeting was held at:
- SOURCEfire
- 9770 Patuxent Woods Drive
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 4/26/05
Thanks to Bruce Potter for discussing a comparison of secure development on different operating systems.
- App Sec News
- Sorry, this month's notes are lost.
- App Sec News
The meeting was held at:
- SOURCEfire
- 9770 Patuxent Woods Drive
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 3/22/05
Thanks again to Aspect for providing pizza!
- App Sec News
- SHA-1 defrocked (http://www.financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/000355.html)
- XSS Proxy tool described by Andre Ludwig (http://xss-proxy.sourceforge.net/Advanced_XSS_Control.txt)
- Takes XSS vulnerability and exploits the hell out of it
- Potential demonstration in the future
- Ethics Discussion
- Harvard applicants rejected for "hacking" application website (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119938,00.asp)
- Everyone was surprised at the many different opinions of culpability people had
- Vulnerability Sharing Clubs like this one: http://www.immunitysec.com/services-sharing.shtml
- Harvard applicants rejected for "hacking" application website (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119938,00.asp)
- Chapter Direction Discussion, Presentation Ideas
- Are we advancing webappsec, teaching it, or both? Possible worksessions at future meetings to allow both to coexist
- Inno Eroraha suggested cross-polinating with other focus groups in the DC area, ideas?
- Andre Ludwig suggested a demo on the XSS Proxy tool, dates?
- Matt Fisher suggested revisiting the Secure Model Architecture discussion, volunteers to get this started?
- Matt Fisher suggested Absinthe and other SQL testing tools demonstration, dates?
- Joe Bui suggested an outreach session held in DC to reach the government audience. Joe is checking for space availability at his office downtown.
- Several people suggested having a Northern VA meeting. That was countered with the idea of an additional chapter. If someone in VA (or any other area near DC) would like to move one of our meetings to VA, please let me know. I think it's a good idea.
- Penetration Testing Lab
- Introduced the OWASP Penetration Testing Checklist (http://www.owasp.org/documentation/testing/application.html)
- Introduced WebScarab (http://www.owasp.org/software/webscarab.html)
- Introduced WebGoat (http://www.owasp.org/software/webgoat.html)
- Gil Prine and Jeff Williams recommended the book, "Innocent Code" by Sverre H. Huseby
- App Sec News
This meeting was held at:
- Aspect Security
- 9175 Guilford Rd
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 2/22/05
No meeting this month due to chapter organizers being out of town. See you next month!
Meeting Notes - 1/25/05
This month's meeting saw our biggest turnout yet, with over 20 attendees. Thanks to everyone for coming, thanks to Dave Wichers for his presentation, and thanks to Aspect for providing pizza, soda and snacks!
WebScarab and WebGoat presentation by Dave Wichers
- WebScarab, written by Rogan Dawes and donated to OWASP, has been around about five years in one form or another (please let Rogan know if you use it!)
- Current version at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=64424&package_id=61823
- Includes a man-in-the-middle proxy, HTTP request/response editor, filtering traffic logger, session ID analyzer, passive web spider, automatic response modifier, encoder/decoder/hasher, and more; it's also scriptable with Java Beanshell
- Dave took us through several of the WebGoat lessons using WebScarab to manipulate traffic and explained common vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting
- We were showed how to use WebScarab to intercept browser requests and change it before sending it to the server
- Discussed some authentication and session management methods such as HTTP Basic Auth (bad), Tomcat JSESSIONID (good), using SSL only for the login (bad), etc.
- WebScarab will point out which pages on your site set cookies
- It will show you both raw and formatted HTTP requests and responses and show you a hex editor-like view of binary data such as images
General Discussion
- Discussed the dilemma of accidentally finding a vulnerability on a public site...do you disclose or not? Will they think you're a cracker or a saint...or just ignore you?
- Discussed what other tools people use, commercial and free: Appscan, WebInspect, Sleuth, Nstealth, Achilles, Odysseus, Paros, etc. Some limited use of both the commercial and free scanning tools was identified.
- Discussed web application "firewalls". No one in the group indicated they were using any of these products.
- DISA has a checklist for application security (called the Application Security Checklist) at: http://csrc.nist.gov/pcig/cig.html, and NIST is working on the FISMA guidelines, but until there's a federal regulation on secure development it will be hard to convince them to (pay to) do it
- Discussed the conundrum of developers having no motivation to think security; mentioned putting security requirements in the business/software requirements; mentioned the OWASP secure software contract annex (http://www.owasp.org/docroot/owasp/misc/contract.doc)
- Discussed the new application code scanning tools, Ounce Lab's Prexis, Fortfy, and Klocwork were all mentioned. Some members had received briefings on them but no significant use was discussed.
- Since the meeting, some articles about these tools have been identified and are included here for reference:
- Here's a recent (Jan 2005) article about Fortify: http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/01/14/03TCfortify_1.html
- Here's an older (Jul 2004) article about a previous release of Ounce's Prexis: http://www.sdtimes.com/news/106/story12.htm
- A summary of mostly open source application security code analysis tools is available here: http://sardonix.org/Auditing_Resources.html
- A general article about the emerging web app security capabilities: "Emerging web app security services and products bring source code vulnerabilities to light" http://infosecuritymag.techtarget.com/ss/0,295796,sid6_iss467_art975,00.html
- And in the same Information Security mag article is a summary chart of various product and service vendors in the space: http://infosecuritymag.techtarget.com/ss/0,295796,sid6_iss467_art978,00.html
- The Vendors' pages for these products are at:
- Since the meeting, some articles about these tools have been identified and are included here for reference:
Note: OWASP is not endorsing these products in any way. This information is simply provided for the interest of the members of the DC Chapter.
This meeting was held at:
- Aspect Security
- 9175 Guilford Rd
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 12/28/04
No meeting this month due to the holidays. Happy holidays!
Meeting Notes - 11/23/04
This month's meeting was again held in the first floor conference room at Aspect Security, the chapter's sponsor. A couple "regulars" couldn't make it due to the holiday but it was still well-attended.
IMPORTANT: Future meetings will continue to be on the fourth Tuesday of the month--so the next meeting will be on December 28, again at 6pm. As long as Aspect can reserve the conference room for us, we'll continue meeting there.
Minutes: A slightly smaller group allowed us to keep discussion on topic more easily this month.
- GEMS Demo: Demonstration of the insecurity of Diebold's General Election Management System (GEMS). See http://www.equalccw.com/dieboldtestnotes.html for more details.
- DropMyRights: Discussed use of dropmyrights.exe when you're running as administrator but want to run your email and browser with lower privileges. Just create a shortcut that contains "C:\Program Files\dropmyrights\DropMyRights.exe" "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" and use that instead of directly invoking the browser. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/securecode/columns/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dncode/html/secure11152004.asp for the tool and a short article.
- OWASP Secure Software Contract Annex: Jeff Williams prepared a draft of this document as a starting point for helping people write software development contracts that include security. We discussed how this contract emphasizes the lifecycle steps, whereas the Ounce Labs version emphasizes specific vulnerabilities. We also discussed the fact that the contract includes "requirements for the requirements" instead of trying to cover everything. The document needs more work on the "teeth," i.e. how to ensure that each element is specific enough to audit. Also, it needs some more work on including risk-related activities before the requirements. The plan is to incorporate a few comments, get approval from the OWASP-Leaders, send it out to WebAppSec and stand up an OWASP project to maintain the document.
- The OWASP Mission: The contract discussion led into questions about OWASP's constituency and how we are serving them. One view is that OWASP serves developers and the contract effort is not exactly on target. The other view we discussed is that OWASP is focused on the problem of insecure software, and it should do whatever is necessary to raise awareness of the issue. We also discussed OWASP's role as a platform for the application security community. Is OWASP an "if you build it, they will come" model?
- Open Letter and Requirements Project: We discussed the Open Letter and how it looks like the various product vendors will be working with OWASP to produce a strong list of requirements for all of web application security.
- Reference Architectures: We discussed the concept for this project again, and examined Microsoft's Improving Web Application Security (http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/threatcounter.asp). While an impressive effort, it seems like there is a need for platform independent documentation that covers the threat, requirements, and architecture levels, but doesn't go into the source code level.
- J2EE Filters: Jeff gave a bit of background on how J2EE Filters works. Anil pointed out that this is very similar to how HTTP Handlers work in the .NET environment. We then discussed the types of things that J2EE Filters can do. Jeff showed how to write filters that implement a request rate throttle, an input sanitizer, a certificate validator, an SSL-only verifier, and several other functions. Some ideas raised by the group included a logging filter and a filter to verify that responses with set-cookie headers should only be sent over SSL.
This meeting was held at:
- Aspect Security
- 9175 Guilford Rd
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 10/28/04
This month we decided to meet in a conference room at Aspect Security, the chapter's sponsor. Aspect was generous enough to provide sodas, chips, and the most delicious brownies anyone ever tasted. Thanks!
IMPORTANT: Future meetings will be on the fourth Tuesday of the month--so the next meeting will be on November 23, again at 6pm. As long as Aspect can reserve the conference room for us, we'll meet there again.
Minutes: We tried to keep the discussion on three main topics: whitepaper topics, a concept for a "webappsec dashboard," and J2EE filters.
- Whitepaper topics: Jeff has a list of subjects he'd really like to whitepapers about, but doesn't have time to write about himself. If anyone would like to volunteer to write a whitepaper to be posted on the OWASP site, email Jeff. Some of the topics that sparked a lot of discussion and interest were:
- The asymmetric/broken market for security: Consumers can't determine if software is secure so they won't pay more for the claim of security; producers can't charge more for more secure software so they don't make it more secure. How do we get vendors to write secure code? How about for libraries--are the circumstances different? A related but possibly separate topic is, who has the burden of proof--the developer to prove software's secure, or the consumer to prove it's insecure?
- Secure web app architectures: How do you draw security or secure web app architectures? We're not so good at telling customers where to do security things in the data flow and n-tier diagrams. Can we do this with UML? Data flow diagrams? How about a "reference architecture" for authentication as an example? This may turn out to be a Chapter project.
- How to decide what to fix first: Is there a quick and easy way for a company with a large number of web apps to determine where they should begin with assessments? If they don't know about any vulnerabilities in any sites, which do they look at first? Maybe we can come up with a short questionnaire for each web app to risk rank them relatively, in the style of The Joel Test. This may also become a Chapter project.
- Mechanisms, vulnerabilities, and threat models: How do people threat-model attacks? Do they even do it? Could we create a standard suite of threat models for any generic web app?
- Webappsec requirements: Are people putting security requirements into their business requirements for projects involving web apps? Can we create a standard list of security requirements people can paste in to their project docs?
- Webappsec dashboard: The concern is that CISOs have no way to get their arms around the state of web app security in their environment. They need a sort of dashboard where they can see metrics and statistics about all their web apps all in one place. Something like this may have to be a tool/software, and OWASP really isn't in the business of writing tools/software.
- J2EE filters: We didn't have time to discuss this but attendees were interested so it will be on the agenda for the next meeting. Jeff quickly demonstrated a tool to analyze JAR files and show what calls they make.
- General discussion: More and more Local Chapters are springing up--what kinds of things can chapters contribute? What should they be expected to contribute?
- Whitepaper topics: Jeff has a list of subjects he'd really like to whitepapers about, but doesn't have time to write about himself. If anyone would like to volunteer to write a whitepaper to be posted on the OWASP site, email Jeff. Some of the topics that sparked a lot of discussion and interest were:
This meeting was held at:
- Aspect Security
- 9175 Guilford Rd
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 9/30/04
A good time was had by all.
IMPORTANT: Future meetings will be on the last Thursday of the month--so the next meeting will be on October 28, again at 6pm. If anyone has a good suggestion about where to meet, please send it to the list.
Minutes: None recorded.
This meeting was held at:
- Rocky Run Tap & Grill
- 6480 Dobbin Center Way
- Columbia, MD
Meeting Notes - 8/25/04
Thanks to everyone who showed up last night to the first OWASP Washington Local Chapter meeting. It was great to finally put some faces to names, meet some local application security folks, and the Guinness was nice too!
IMPORTANT: Meetings will be on the last Wednesday of the month--so the next meeting will be on September 29, again at 6pm. This time we're going to meet in Columbia, MD at a place to be determined soon. If anyone has a good suggestion about where to meet, please send it to the list.
Minutes: We had some wide-ranging discussions that touched on scanning, brute-force attacks, validation, web app firewalls, and new projects for OWASP.
- Brute force attacks: We discussed some schemes for handling brute force attacks on websites, some techniques for making a site hard to scan (and why some scanners don't care), and we discussed the combinatorics of generating productive password lists. We also got a demo of Matt Fisher's password generation utility.
- OWASP and awareness: We had a long discussion about things that OWASP can do to help raise awareness about web application security. Some promising approaches included making some webinars and offering them on the website, and providing more practical stuff (tools, libraries, templates) and not focusing on the academic.
- OWASP image: We discussed some ways that OWASP could build on the "platform" provided by the new portal. We could move the webappsec list to OWASP from sourceforge, maybe create some different lists (newbie, advanced, SQL injection, etc.). We could create some discussion forums.
- Metrics: We talked about the new metrics project and what kinds of metrics would be the most useful to the appsec community.
- Promoting adoption: There were some interesting ideas about things OWASP could do to advance the adoption of good appsec practices. One was to get some buy-in from the FBI (a la SANS) or another high-power agency. Matt Chalmers and Chris Burton are going to pursue a few leads to see if there's interest.
This meeting was held at:
- Mayorga Cafe
- 8040 Georgia Av
- Silver Spring, MD


text:
City Council Adoption of Fossil Fuel Terminal Zoning Amendments
The ordinance was adopted and went into effect on December 18, 2019.Read More…
General Information: 503-823-4000
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 110, Portland, OR 97204
BPS Director Susan Anderson made a special visit to PGE headquarters recently to present Sustainability at Work's Gold Certification. PGE has shown a strong commitment to sustainability practices; continually improving and taking on new initiatives, tracking sustainability related benchmarks and incorporating them into day-to-day and long-term decision making.
Sustainability at Work offers comprehensive, free assistance for any Portland organization looking to create a more sustainable workplace. Sustainability Advisors, backed by the resources of the City and its expert partners, help assess opportunities to conserve resources, improve efficiency, save money and provide a healthy and quality workspace for employees.
PGE moved from Silver certification status to Gold status rapidly and solidly exceeded the number of actions needed for Gold with 51 out of 45 necessary.
Here are a few examples of their new business practices:
This accomplishment would not have been possible without the PGE Sustainability Committee members and their partnership with PGE and World Trade Center facilities staff. Special thanks to Melissa Sircy, Lynn Demicheli and Erika Johnson for their work on the certification process.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kelsey Grammer continues his whirlwind of real estate activity, popping properties on and off the market.
The latest to rejoin the swirl is an estate in Malibu's gated Serra Retreat community, listed at $14.995 million.
Set on 4.75 acres in the upscale enclave, the main house features a kitchen designed by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, a library, a home theater, four bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,645 square feet of living space. There is a detached guesthouse, a lily pond with an 18th-century stone temple, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a nine-stall barn and a riding ring.
The property was listed in 2004 for nearly $20 million and last year at close to $17 million. Grammer bought the estate in 1998 for $4.5 million.
Malibu is not the only community where every real estate agent knows his name.
Grammer's home in the Beverly Crest area is listed at $14.995 million.
Priced at $19.9 million in 2008, the mansion is described as modern traditional in style. The two-story house, built in 1980, features a central hall, a media room, a library, a wine cellar and a service entrance. There are seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 10,567 square feet of living space. A swimming pool, a six-car motor court and a four-car garage complete the grounds of more than three-quarters of an acre.
Grammer, 58, won four Emmys for his lead role in "Frasier" (1993-2004), a "Cheers" spin-off, and another in 2006 for voice work as Sideshow Bob on "The Simpsons." More recently he has been executive producer of "Medium" and starred in the political drama "Boss." He and his fourth wife, Kayte Walsh, were married two years ago.
Public records show he bought the property in 2007 for $13.7 million.
Christopher Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker's Malibu West office and Christopher Dyson of Keller Williams in Hollywood Hills have the Malibu listing. Linda May of Coldwell Banker's Beverly Hills North office and Dyson are listing agents for the Beverly Crest area house.


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Congrats to you. I kept reading your posts to get through those long weeks of waiting hoping that I would only have to do this one time. I was told by my seat mates our Proctor was good luck and my study partner was in row one, I was in row 2 and we both passed.
SUPER!!! Congrats. Any words of advice??
Oh, and if you're a Concord student, you'll hear Bracci say he doesn't like Tim Tyler's stuff. I don't know about his essay advice, but his method for MCQs is right on the money.


text: Astronomy is the study of celestial objects including comets, asteroids, planets, solar systems, moons, suns, milky way, and galaxies. The creation of the telescope widened the scope of what astronomers could study. Now, satellites and the space station are used to further our understanding of the solar system and all it contains. World of Astronomy is a collection of websites discussing the listed subjects and more. These websites have something for most age groups and most levels of proficiency in the study of Astronomy.


text:
Download (Registration Required, 4.4M) Download (Japanese; Registration Required 6.6M) Download (Spanish; Registration Required 3.2M) Download Excerpt (3.5M) Download Laminate (Member Only, 1.7M)
Provide feedback on this document Visit the Frameworks Knowledge Center community Visit the Risk Management Knowledge Center community
The Risk IT Framework fills the gap between generic risk management frameworks and detailed (primarily security-related) IT risk management frameworks. It provides an end-to-end, comprehensive view of all risks related to the use of IT and a similarly thorough treatment of risk management, from the tone and culture at the top, to operational issues. In summary, the framework will enable enterprises to understand and manage all significant IT risk types, building upon the existing risk related components within the current ISACA frameworks, i.e., COBIT and Val IT.


text:
The Lincoln Zephyr: The car so nice Lincoln replaced it twice.
The Zephyr is a fine car based on a fine platform from the Mazda6, Ford Fusion, and a truly epic masterpiece, the Mercury Milan.
The 3.0 liter V6 in the Zephyr rockets the sedan to 60 in just seven seconds because it uses a six speed automatic transmission, a rarity in class. Sounds like a great car, and thankfully it has a memorable name that Lincoln would never dare change to something else.


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Ireland is one of 32 countries who have declared interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020, which will be staged across the continent.
Ireland, Germany, France, England, Spain and Italy were all among the bidders named by UEFA on Friday following a meeting of its executive committee in Dubrovnik, as were Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Israel and Belarus.
The Aviva Stadium, which can hold 51,700 spectators, meets the criteria to host any game in the tournament up to and including the quarter-final stage.
The required stadium capacities would be 70,000 for the semi-finals and final, 60,000 for the quarter-finals and 50,000 for the group stage and round of 16 matches. Two exceptions will be made where 30,000 capacity stadiums would be permitted.
Potential hosts were given until last week to declare an interest and must present their full bid dossiers by April, with the 13 venues to be chosen in September next year.
"We are extremely proud to see the huge interest in the bidding process, with more than half of our member associations willing to host matches at Euro 2020," said UEFA President Michel Platini.
"The finals will be a great celebration of football across the European continent, and the 60th anniversary edition will be truly special, by really coming to the doorstep of all football fans."
Countries which declined to bid included Austria, Norway, Slovenia and Slovakia, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. UEFA has 54 member federations.
In a radical departure from the conventional format for major tournaments, UEFA decided last year to spread the tournament around its member associations to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship.
Each of the 32 countries can present up to two bids, one for a package of three group matches and a round of 16 or quarter-final game and one for the special package of the two semi-finals and a final. Only one city can be appointed per country.
The decision to stage the semi-finals and final in the same venue takes the competition back to its early days when a four-team final stage was played. The full tournament format was started at the 1980 championship held in Italy.
Countries had to nominate potential host cities which they can change until the final bids are handed over in April.
Potential venue cities: Armenia (Yerevan), Azerbaijan (Baku), Belarus (Minsk), Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Croatia (Zagreb), Czech Republic (Prague), Denmark (Copenhagen), England (London), Finland (Helsinki), France (Lyon), Macedonia (Skopje), Germany (Munich), Greece (Athens), Hungary (Budapest), Israel (Jerusalem), Italy (Rome or Milan), Kazakhstan (Astana), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Poland (Warsaw and Chorzow), Portugal (Lisbon or Porto), Republic of Ireland (Dublin), Romania (Bucharest), Russia (St Petersburg), Scotland (Glasgow), Serbia (Belgrade), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao or Valencia), Sweden (Solna), Switzerland (Basel), Turkey (Istanbul), Ukraine (Kiev or Donetsk) and Wales(Cardiff).


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BEIJING, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The most important development in China in 2012 was the completion of the Communist Party's once-a-decade regime change that brought to the helm Xi Jinping, 59, an economic reformer who, along with other six members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, will lead the country in the coming decade.
But their task won't be easy as they face tough challenges in areas that affect the lives of the country's 1.3 billion people. The challenges include a slowing export-driven economy following years of explosive double-digit growth that made China the world's second largest economy after the United States, widening income disparity, rampant official corruption, complex foreign policy questions such as dealing with the U.S. pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, growing public demand at home for openness and transparency, and ethnic tensions as witnessed by the spate of self-immolations by Tibetans protesting Chinese rule of their land and violence between the Han and Uighrs.
China's official news agency Xinhua, quoting experts, said many of the current party officials were born in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and grew up in a totally different historic and social environment from their predecessors, leading to a different administration concept and approach.
"Unlike the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China and previous generations of leading officials who grew up in wartime, the new leadership, mostly born around the founding of New China, grew up in peace time," the report said.
The Communist Party has ruled China under a one-party system since the founding of the PRC in 1949.
Xi, son of Xi Zhongxun, a hero of the Chinese revolution, will be assisted by second-in-command Li Keqiang, 57, along with Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng and Wang Qishan, the five newly chosen members of the Standing Committee. The reduction in the size of the committee to seven from the previous nine should help Xi to deal with fewer dissenting voices.
Xi, currently the general secretary of the Communist Party as well as chairman of the Central Military Commission, will also become China's president in March, succeeding Hu Jintao, while Li, an economist viewed as a liberal, will replace outgoing Wen Jiabao as premier.
Comments from both Xi and Li only days after the conclusion of the party congress may provide hints to what can be expected from them.
For his first official trip after taking charge as party chief, Xi chose Guangdong, the southern province close to Hong Kong where China's market-based reforms were first put into effect three decades ago.
In his meeting with business leaders, which the official media described a political signal, Xi called for accelerating economic restructuring through deepening reform and enhancing law enforcement.
Similarly, Li Keqiang, while chairing a conference, promised additional reforms and further opening up for sustainable economic growth to improve the lives of the people.
"We are also aware that the current reforms have entered a 'fortified zone' and a 'deep-water zone'... we have to face the challenges and break all the systematic obstacles that block scientific development," he said, while stressing market economy means an economy under the rule of law and that reforms should abide by laws.
At the party congress, the nearly 2,200 delegates, representing more than 80 million Chinese identified as members of the Communist Party, amended the party's constitution. The amendment said reform and opening up will highlight "the path to a stronger China" through sustainable development.
"China's reforms are not impeccable. Some people turn nostalgic or even wish for a stop to reforms. But at this moment, refusing to reform will only put China on the path to a dead end. Stagnation and going backwards in reforms are no way out," Xin Ming, professor at the Central Committee's Party School, told the official Xinhua News Agency.
In the same report, Xinhua said many in the country are upset or perplexed by the country's social ills including "inferior food, yawning wealth gap, environmental woes, corruption, and inequitable access to education, healthcare and social security."
The November party congress also helped put to rest, at least temporarily, a number of embarrassing political scandals that culminated in the expulsion from party membership of disgraced Bo Xilai, once a rising political star, and the imprisonment of his equally prominent wife, accused of murder in the death of a British businessman. Bo faces corruption and abuse of power charges.
Security during the party congress in Beijing was extraordinarily tight, highlighting the security concerns of the authorities in view of ethnic tensions and growing dissidence.
In his keynote address at the opening of the congress, outgoing President Hu warned alienation of average Chinese citizens posed the greatest risk to the party, and called for maintaining close ties with the public. He also said the party should appoint officials based on merit and select officials on the basis of both their moral integrity and professional competence.
Both the incoming and outgoing leaders also spoke repeatedly about fighting corruption, which continues to plague China at various levels despite persistent government crackdowns.
Hu was blunt in his warning about corruption.
"If we fail to handle this issue well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state," he said. "All those who violate party discipline and state laws, whoever they are and whatever power or official positions they have, must be brought to justice without mercy."
Wen said fighting corruption along with increasing people's income should be the focus of leaders in the coming years. A survey prior to the start of the congress showed social justice remained high on the "wish list" of the common man.
These issues also are generating much public outcry as tens of millions of people become Internet and online users despite tough official censorship.
The new Xi government already has ordered its first corruption investigation involving a top provincial Communist Party official. A Dec. 7 official media report said the investigation involved Li Chuncheng, 56, deputy secretary of the Sichuan Communist Party and a newly elected alternate member of the Central Committee. He has been accused of disciplinary violations, but details have not been provided.
In an early indication of the new team's priorities, Xi also has outlined what has since come to be known as the "eight rules" for winning people's trust and support. The rules call for avoiding extravagance and unnecessary bureau trips. The new party Politburo Central Committee under Xi said there should be "no welcome banner, no red carpet, no floral arrangement or grand receptions for officials' visits" and "fewer traffic controls arranged for the leaders' security ... to avoid unnecessary inconvenience to the public." The rules also said official meetings should be made short and to the point "with no empty and rigmarole talks" and warn that anyone violating party disciplines and state laws will be seriously dealt.
In foreign affairs, it is not quite clear how Xi and his new team plan to deal with issues such as President Barack Obama's new U.S. policy of force rebalancing in the Asia-Pacific, also called the pivot to Asia. The policy is being implemented at a time of China's growing military might and aggressive assertiveness of its territorial claims to much of the vital South China Sea. Separately, Japan-China tensions also are rising over their rival claims to the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
During his Asia trip in November, President Obama made it clear his administration will move forward with the new policy, saying the Asia-Pacific will shape much of U.S. security and prosperity in this century and will be critical to creating jobs and opportunity for the American people.
Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said recently the new policy underscores the United States is and will remain a Pacific power, but noted it stresses cooperation and collaboration, and is not aimed at any nation or region.
The policy, however, has raised concerns in China and its official media has bitterly attacked it in the past.
During a rare meeting with invited foreign experts in Beijing in early December, Xi said: "China is following a path of peaceful development," and "China will never seek hegemony or expansionism." But on the same day, during a meeting with the People's Liberation Army's Second Artillery Force, Xi ordered the PLA to build a powerful and technological missile force. The official media quoted him as describing the artillery force as the core strength of China's strategic deterrence and an important cornerstone safeguarding national security.


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Maybe you know you should be saving more for retirement, but you aren't quite sure how. Or perhaps you've been steadily saving for years but as retirement gets closer, you want to bulk up that nest egg. Olivia Mitchell, executive director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania, shares 10 ideas that can help boost your savings:
Build a bigger nest egg.
Retirement isn't what it used to be, Mitchell says, largely because our standards for what life should be like at age 70 and 80 have changed drastically over the last century. That means the old standard advice, that people should plan to replace about three-quarters of their preretirement income, is no longer sufficient. "A 100 percent replacement rate is a safer place to start," she says.
[See: 10 Steps for Retiring Entrepreneurs.]
Baby boomers often have big plans for retirement, from travel to new hobbies, and those plans usually require money, Mitchell says. "They're not going to be sitting on the front porch on a rocking chair. They're going to do volunteer work, travel and do part-time work. Health care costs are likely to be a lot higher in the future as well. So it's not obvious our expenses will be easily cut, and taxes will likely go up to help bail out the deficit we're confronting."
Retire at age 65 or later.
The concept of retiring at age 62 is not realistic for many Americans. "A significant portion of the baby boom generation -- more than half -- is not adequately prepared for retirement, especially if they retire young. … If you delay retirement, benefits will be higher, and you've deferred eating into that nest egg for more years," Mitchell says. "My husband just quit work at 63, and I said he couldn't claim Social Security until he's 70."
Don't try to follow your parents' example.
That's because mid-career workers today are unlikely to see a repeat of what their parents experienced: housing prices that grew quickly and substantially. A stock market that blossomed for much of their working lives. And in some cases, generous pensions.
"If we were to extrapolate from our parents' generation, we might think, 'We really don't have to save that much because it's happening automatically.' [But] we now realize that putting all our money in one house is a really silly thing to do. It's not diversified, and values can plummet. We saw what happened to the stock market -- on top of Social Security and Medicare facing extraordinary financial challenges," Mitchell says.
That's why you can't look to past generations for guidance, and one reason why boomers feel so much angst about their retirement prospects. "They really wish that the past would be replicated in the future, and it probably won't be," she adds.
[See: 10 Saving Strategies That Can Backfire.]
Save at least a quarter of your income.
Mitchell encourages her two 20-something daughters to put aside between 15 and 25 percent of their income now. "If we're all going to live to 100, we're just going to have to put aside a whole lot more money than in the past," she says.
In response, her daughters ask why they should bother, given the low-to-nonexistent interest rates paid on savings accounts and paltry stock market returns. Mitchell acknowledges there are no easy answers. "That's a huge obstacle we're going to face when it comes to convincing the younger generation to save," she says.
Plan on a second (or third) career for retirement.
"You'll need to retrain, retool and potentially return to school for a new career. You can't afford to be 50 and have no marketable skills. You have to always push yourself and encourage yourself to take the next step, whatever it is -- software on the computer, skills in a profession. If you don't, you won't be employable," Mitchell says.
Proceed as if you're living to 100.
No one knows how long they'll live, which means we should all assume we're living for a long time -- and prepare accordingly. "It's very, very expensive to live to be 100, and you don't know if you will be one of those or not," Mitchell says. She adds that women born today have a 1 in 4 chance of living to age 95, especially if they are educated and have access to health care. That means setting aside as large a chunk of your income each year as you can manage -- perhaps as much as 40 percent, given the low returns savers and investors currently face.
[See: Target Date Mutual Fund Rankings.]
Invest, even if you feel slightly uncomfortable.
Target-date funds that shift assets into more conservative investments as a target retirement date approaches can help investors who feel overwhelmed to the point of paralysis when it comes to picking funds. "Not doing anything is the wrong response. It's better to save something and put it in a diversified fund with a professional manager who's managing the glide path for you than to do nothing," Mitchell says. "At least you have a prayer of building up savings."
Meditate on your future self.
"Saving is just no fun at all. In this world, we feel rewarded by shopping, by spending -- you get to try it on and wear it to the next party. Whereas saving is the reverse," Mitchell says. "You're telling yourself you cannot consume something today, you have to set it aside for a rainy day, or for when you're 90 years old. So it's hard for young people to visualize."
That's why she's intrigued by new research that suggests showing people an aged picture of themselves, depicting how they'll look at an older age, helps them decide to save more now. "The idea is to put you in touch with your future self, so you might begin to care about that future self and take good care of that person," she says.
Learn the basics.
"Most of us will never be mathematicians, but we have found that a little bit of knowledge goes a long way," Mitchell says. Her research has found that even a simple financial literacy class in high school, for example, can increase savings rates later in life.
Know it's not just about the money.
"It's worthwhile to invest not just in saving and pension accounts, but in your human capital -- you need training to be successful in that last third of life," Mitchell says. "And I also encourage people to invest in friendships, communities, families, because it is those networks that will help us age more successfully."
More From US News & World Report


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Shirley Temple Black Honored with 2005 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
42nd Annual Accolade to be Presented During the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards� Simulcast on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006
Los Angeles, California (September 12, 2005) � Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced today that Shirley Temple Black, who captivated the world as no other child star has done before or since, then served her country as an eminent diplomat over more than three decades, will receive the Guild�s most prestigious honor�the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Ambassador Black will be presented the Award, given annually to an actor who fosters the �finest ideals of the acting profession,� at the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards�, which premieres live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 29, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. Central and 6 p.m. MT.
In making today�s announcement, Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert said, "I can think of no one more deserving of this year�s SAG Life Achievement award than Shirley Temple Black. Her contributions to the entertainment industry are without precedent; her contributions to the world are nothing short of inspirational. She has lived the most remarkable life, as the brilliant performer the world came to know when she was just a child, to the dedicated public servant who has served her country both at home and abroad for 30 years. In everything she has done and accomplished, Shirley Temple Black has demonstrated uncommon grace, talent and determination, not to mention compassion and courage. As a child, I was thrilled to dance and sing to her films and more recently as Guild president I have been proud to work alongside her, as her friend and colleague, in service to our union. She has been an indelible influence on my life. She was my idol when I was a girl and remains my idol today.�
Shirley Temple Black�s early fame is legendary. Born Shirley Jane Temple in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928, to George and Gertrude Temple, a banker and a housewife, she was enrolled in Ethel Meglin�s Dance Studio in Los Angeles at age 3. Discovered by Charles Lamont, she made her screen debut in 1932 in What�s to Do. She parodied such famed adult stars as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich in the �Baby Burlesks� series of shorts and played toddler roles in such films as The Red Haired Alibi, before contracting with Fox Studios, which soon would become 20th Century Fox.
1934 was a year that saw her star in 10 motion pictures, including her breakout role in Stand Up and Cheer and her star turns in Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow and Bright Eyes�-the film which introduced her signature song �On the Good Ship Lollipop.� Singing, tap dancing and acting her way to international stardom, the golden-haired tyke with a remarkable ability to evoke genuine emotion was honored at age 6 with an unprecedented Juvenile Academy Award in 1935 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment. She remains the youngest actor ever to receive an Oscar�. As Hollywood�s number one box office leader from 1935 to 1938, she headlined such hits as Curly Top, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Stowaway, Heidi and Little Miss Broadway and was credited with securing Fox�s position in the industry. As the decade closed, she made The Little Princess, Susannah of the Mounties and her last film as a child actress, The Blue Bird. The star of more than 40 major motion pictures (most made before she was 12), she raised the spirits of a nation struggling with the Great Depression; charmed presidents and royalty; held her own on the screen opposite such stars as Lionel Barrymore, Adolph Menjou, Robert Young, Jimmy Durante, James Dunn, Buddy Ebsen and Gary Cooper; luminously broke the color barrier holding the hand of her dance mentor and partner Bill �Bojangles� Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Just Around the Corner and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; and inspired a new industry of dolls and collectibles bearing her image.
Kathleen, made for MGM in 1941, was Temple�s transition to teenage and young adult roles. During a seven-year contract with David O. Selznick, she made such films as I�ll Be Seeing You, Since You Went Away, That Hagen Girl (opposite Ronald Reagan) and The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (opposite Cary Grant). In 1948, she reunited after a decade with her Wee Willie Winkie director John Ford for an ing�nue role in Fort Apache, starring opposite John Wayne, Henry Fonda and her first husband, John Agar. She made her last features, A Kiss for Corliss and The Story of Seabiscuit, in 1949, then retired from acting until 1958, when, among her more than 50 major television appearances, she hosted and starred in two television literary anthologies bearing her name: Shirley Temple�s Storybook and The Shirley Temple Show through 1961.
Shirley Temple Black has called her 1988 memoir �Child Star,� covering her first 22 years, as the �first half� of her autobiography, and rightly so. Her distinguished career in public, corporate and humanitarian service is now longer than her years as a performer.
Her role as a diplomat evolved from her desire to assist her brother George, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1952. Active on the local and national boards of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, she co-founded the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, building its membership to 19 countries and intensifying her interest in world affairs. She ran for Congress in 1967, but was not elected.
In 1969, Hollywood�s former emissary of goodwill to the world was given her first opportunity to serve her country in an official capacity, when President Richard M. Nixon appointed her United States Delegate to the 24th United Nations General Assembly.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana, after she had served as deputy chair of the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in 1970-1972, U.S. Delegate on the Joint Commission of the U.S.S.R-U.S.A. Cooperative Treaty on the Environment in Moscow in 1972-73 and Special Assistant to the Chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality from 1972-1974.
Returning from Ghana, she was named White House Chief of Protocol by President Ford in 1976, the first woman to hold that post.
From 1981 to 1988, during President Ronald Reagan�s administration, Ambassador Black served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and conducted Ambassadorial seminars for first time Ambassadors and their spouses.
In 1989, President George Bush appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Two decades earlier, she had been in Czechoslovakia as a volunteer soliciting the country�s membership in the Foundation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies when, on August 21, 1968, Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks rolled into Prague. She served as Ambassador from 1989 to 1992, pivotal years in the Czech development of economic and political reforms.
Ambassador Black has continued to foster diplomatic relations as a founding member and former vice president of the American Academy of Diplomacy; as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, the United States Commission for UNESCO and the U.S. Citizens� Space Task Force; as a board member of the Association for Diplomatic Studies, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the American-China Society, the United Nations Association and the World Affairs Council of Northern California; and as an advisor to the Institute for International Studies at Stanford.
She has served on the board of directors of such corporations as Del Monte, Fireman�s Fund Insurance, Bancal Tri-state, Bank of California, the Oakland Tribune and Walt Disney Productions; on the boards of the Bay Area Educational Television Association, the Regional Advisory Board for Criminal Justice and the Bay Area Council; and as President of the Commonwealth Club of California.
In 1972 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Reluctant at first to talk about her surgery, she was the first woman of international fame to go public with her illness, generating more than 50,000 letters of support. She has served on the board of directors of the San Francisco Health Facilities Planning Association and the California Advisory Hospital Council.
Ambassador Black has been named a Chubb Fellow of Timothy Dwight College at Yale University, a member of the Board of Visitors for the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a fellow of the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California and has been honored with honorary doctorates from the University of Santa Clara and Lehigh University.
She was honored in 1993 with the Northern California Emmy Awards Governors Award and in 1998 by the Kennedy Center for lifetime contribution to the arts and American culture. In 2002, 20th Century Fox dedicated the Shirley Temple Child Development Center on the studio lot, graced by a bronze statue immortalizing her performance of �Baby Take A Bow.� She now serves as a consultant to Fox on the marketing of the collection of films she made for the studio as a child, as well as other Fox family-oriented entertainment.
She served as Grand Marshal for the 1939, 1989 and 1999 Tournament of Roses, the only woman to have done so three times and the only person to have led the parade as both a child and an adult. In the 1989 parade, she was accompanied by her granddaughter, Teresa Falaschi.
In 2001 she served as a consultant on the ABC Television Network production of Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, based on part one of her autobiography.
Married to marine entrepreneur and maritime issues expert Charles A. Black from December 1950 until his death on August 4, 2005, Black has three children, Susan Black Falaschi (from her marriage to Agar), Charles Alden Black Jr. and Lori Alden Black. She resides in Woodside, California.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG), is the nation�s largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists� rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents nearly 120,000 working actors in film, television, industrials, commercials and music videos. The Guild exists to enhance actors� working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists� rights. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Additional SAG information is available online at www.sag.org.
The 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards� is a presentation of Jeff Margolis Productions in association with Screen Actors Guild. Jeff Margolis is executive producer and Kathy Connell is producer. SAG Awards� information and a list of previous SAG Life Achievement Award recipients may be found at www.sagawards.org.
Turner Network Television (TNT), television�s destination for drama and one of cable�s top-rated networks, offers original movies and series, including Into the West, an epic six-week television event from DreamWorks Television and master storyteller and executive producer Steven Spielberg; the detective drama series The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, and the action-packed crime series Wanted, with Gary Cole; powerful one-hour dramas, such as Law & Order, Without a Trace, Alias, Las Vegas, Cold Case, ER, NYPD Blue, Charmed, Judging Amy and Angel; broadcast premiere movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.
TBS is television�s �very funny� network, serving as home to such hot contemporary comedies as Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy, Seinfeld and Friends; original comedy series and specials, like Daisy Does America and Earth to America!; blockbuster movies; and hosted movie showcases.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.


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A couple of my wonderful readers have recently asked me for my "recipe" for pork rub. You will find the recipe below and I want you all to know, that if ever you want a recipe from me, just write me and I will be happy to help out.
Actually, I have been meaning to have a discussion with you on the subject of recipes, so I am going to take this opportunity now.
You may have noticed that I do not generally post recipes. This is definitely NOT because I keep these things secret or because I am stingy in this way. I am more than happy to tell anyone how I prepared any particular dish, sauce, etc. and to give enough details to enable a person to duplicate my effort. The real truth about why I don't post formal recipes is because I don't very often use them! My cooking is an ongoing experiment and I always think it is a delightful miracle when I can duplicate a dish perfectly a multiple of times. My mom taught me how to cook early on and it was always about being there, at her side, watching. "A little bit of this and a handful of that" she would tell me. Taste and adjust, taste some more. This explains why I am not much of a baker – precision is my nemesis.
When I research how to cook something, I look at multiple sources. The internet is invaluable and I also have a sizeable cookbook collection (I can always use more). I try to find two or three recipes for something I am thinking of preparing. From these, I get ideas and guidance. I look at a recipe as a set of suggestions for seasonings, proportions, etc. Of course, I also get assistance about methodology – what is the right temperature to cook something at, should I braise or roast it, and so on. But, it is rare for me to really follow a recipe closely, unless I am baking. But, I don't bake much!
I do like to think of myself as a big time locavore. By limiting my cooking to mostly what is local and seasonal, often times something has to give with the ingredients, right? Ok, I admit, that is a bit of a cop-out. With many recipes, you can at least figure out what to substitute for what is not available. Certainly in this case a recipe can provide good guidance.
Ok, ok, no more chatter. Here is the pulled pork Rub:
- 1 part ordinary chile powder
- .5 part each of Ground cumin, good fresh smoked paprika
- .25 parts each ground coriander, granulated onion powder
- .12 parts each granulated garlic, white pepper, a combo of dried herbs including parsley, rubbed sage, cilantro, basil and oregano
- Kosher salt, cayenne to taste – a little of each though be careful with the heat.
- A teaspoon or two of dehydrated/granulated lemon zest – entirely optional
Mix or shake up these ingredients and give the mix a smell. Adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle the spice mixture generously on and rub into any kind of pork for barbeque, crock pot or of course, sous vide cooking.
A couple of final notes: the smoked paprika I bought lately has a whole lot of heat so I left out the cayenne in my recent batch. But I have used some weaker stuff in the past so I pick it up with the cayenne. The rub mixture will keep for a year – I make it in batches of about 4-6 oz.
Someday I will realize my dream of having a bona fide recipe section on this blog. Until then, please don't hesitate to let me know if you want any other recipes.


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A buck chases a doe through a harvested field. Alan Harn studied behavior patterns of white-tailed deer for 50 years. Photos by Chris Young
Scientist documents 50 years of deer behavior
January 24, 2014 at 03:40 AM
The State Journal-Register
Put a scientist in a tree stand in the woods for 50 years, and you likely will get some interesting science in return.
Alan Harn is an archaeologist by trade who is fortunate to hunt not far from his office at Dickson Mounds Museum near Lewistown.
So most mornings during bow season, Harn is in the woods for an hour or so before work, waiting and patiently watching the behavior of the white-tailed deer.
"I've been capturing some subjects with my camera," Harn said. "And other, I guess you would have to say, somewhat less fortunate subjects with my bow."
From 1962 to 2011, Harn spent 6,800 hours in the woods from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 each year recording the behavior of 1,379 male white-tailed deer. Nearly all the observations were made from tree stands on two tracts of private timber.
Harn says what he is doing is nothing new.
"Man has been interacting with the white-tailed deer and observing its patterns for about 11,000 years here in Illinois," he said.
Harn even published his results: "Five Decades at the Scrape: Observations on Variation in Whitetail Breeding Patterns in Illinois."
Alan Harn at Dickson Mounds Museum.
A scrape is a patch of earth pawed by a white-tailed deer and marked with its scent to announce its presence. Rubbing, the process of deer rubbing antlers on young trees, performs a similar function.
Clearing up misconceptions
Over a half-century of hunting, Harn has seen some things change and some things stay the same.
Mostly, he has seen the number of deer in Illinois grow.
Harn began recording his observations not long after deer hunting resumed in Illinois. Deer were mostly gone from the state by the early 1900s and numbers were too low to allow hunting until the first modern deer-hunting season in 1957.
"As I got older, deer numbers dramatically increased over time," he said.
During the early years, Harn said he saw one buck for every 15-18 hours in the field. Now he sees one buck every 1.2 hours.
"Expressed another way, in 1962 I saw four bucks that year and they only killed 38 deer total in Fulton County that year," he said. "I saw 51 bucks last year."
Until fairly recently, Harn had undisturbed access to his hunting area, with no one else around.
Harn said he was able to document how deer breeding behaviors in the fall follow predictable patterns based on the length of days and the accompanying rise and fall of hormones that initiate and then slowly reduce the breeding season — or rut.
"There are many misconceptions involving the whitetail breeding process that have become part of hunting lore and oral traditions," Harn said.
"The study has provided conclusive evidence that the triggering of the rut is not related to weather conditions like first frost, the falling barometer or other weather changes or the phases of the moon," he said.
That deer breeding cycles are tied to moon phases is the "most blatant" misconception," Harn said.
For years, he said, experts have published hunting calendars that equate deer movement with moon phases.
He documented 156 full moon phases over the duration of his study and there were no breeding activity peaks.
Rut activity occurs in peaks and lulls governed by the times that does are receptive.
"Onset of the breeding cycle is triggered by decreasing sunlight known as 'photo period,'" Harn said.
"Sunlight entering the eye also triggers antler growth the following year in mid-April.
"The pattern hasn't changed in the past 50 years and it probably hasn't changed in the past several thousand years."
Harn said the cycle continues in late spring and early summer when fawns are born.
"Two hundred days after courtship and successful breeding a new biological clock is set ticking in the renewal of life here in the deer woods."


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Virginia Beach, VA 23464
Tel: (757) 466-8080
To get directions to this location, click "Directions" or "View larger map" on the map below (Google Maps will open in a new window).
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|Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Arts and Sciences
|Seminar in Mexican History
|Three semester hours.
|A seminar focusing on social, economic, political, and religious aspects of Mexico. Topics may cover periods from Indian Mexico to recent developments. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in history.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
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Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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Marriage and Family
"Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and … the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children" ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145).
The outlines in this unit will help Aaronic Priesthood holders understand the importance of the family in their own lives and in Heavenly Father's plan for His children. The truths they discover in this unit will help them defend marriage and family against the adversary's attacks and deceptions. These truths will also help them fulfill their priesthood duty to strengthen their families now and prepare to raise righteous families as worthy husbands and fathers in Zion.
To make Duty to God part of the Sunday quorum meeting, you may consider teaching the Duty to God outline below during this unit.
Outlines to Choose from This Month
Why is it important to follow the Church's standards regarding dating?
How can I prepare now to become a righteous husband and father?
How do the roles of men and women complement each other in families?
Consider how you can plan activities that connect with what the youth are learning. The Church's Youth Activities site is available to assist you. Many of the learning activities in these outlines could also serve as effective Mutual activities. Work with quorum presidencies to select and plan appropriate activities that reinforce what the young men learn on Sunday.
Duty to God
The following sections from the Duty to God book relate to the lessons in this unit:
"Serve Others," pages 26–27, 50–51, 74–75
"Understand Doctrine," pages 18–20, 42–44, 66–68
"Family and Friends," pages 79–83


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Yesterday I posted about why my family was able to rejoice even in that difficult time because of the things we know for sure.
Today I want to tell you about what happened next.
- I drove back to San Antonio, where Brian and I packed for a longer stay. We headed back to the Valley, heartbroken and teary-eyed, but praising the Lord!
- We arrived at my parents' house and embraced my mama, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my nephews. We cried. We prayed. We laughed. We rejoiced. My brother and his family stayed with us at my mom's house all week. We planned a memorial service for Friday. We decided that my brother would deliver the message, and he worked tirelessly to craft the message God gave him. And WOW. It was powerful. Thank you, Lord! We prepared a slide show and a program and music, and asked several dear ones to speak. The week passed by in a blur of tears and joy, photos and memories and hard work.
- We had wonderful friends and family ministering to us. We were so blessed. So many people stepped up to love on us and feed us and help us with details, both large and small. Julie, Kirstin, and Stacie, you were a special blessing to me!
- We had a precious, beautiful memorial service for Daddy. I can't tell you how healing it was for all of us. Oh, how we praised God! For the privilege of knowing my Daddy, for the fact that he's well and whole now, and for the promise of eternal life! And we had a sweet reception afterward. My parents' church blessed us later with a dinner together with loved ones who had traveled down for the service.
- When we finally had time to breathe and relax and remember, we rejoiced again at the things God had done for us over the summer. Because Mama & Daddy were planning to move to San Antonio, we got to see them both a lot more than usual! Because they had a contract on their home, they came up even more! Because my brother had to close his business and was visiting with churches in San Antonio, we got to see his family more often that usual, and we all got to spend a lot of precious family time together. Because the home sale fell through, we went home for a special weekend to help with the open house, and had precious time with my daddy before he died. Also, because the home sale fell through, my parents weren't in the middle of packing up when Daddy died, and Mama didn't have to rush out of the house. Because my brother didn't take a job in San Antonio, he and his family were able to spend that whole week with us after Daddy died. Because I didn't leave for the Valley on Monday night, I was not too far away from Brian when I got the news about Daddy, and I was able to have him at my side when I needed him. Because Daddy was on chemo this summer, we got to have the best of him, right up until he died. These may seem like circumstancial things, but we know for sure that God was working out His plan for us, so that we would be encouraged and so that He would be glorified. Thank You, Lord!
After the service, my mom encouraged Brian to take me to Comfort for my birthday, as they had planned. It just ended up being me and him. But it was a precious, healing time. AND it gave us time to get our initial adoption application completed. (I told you I'd get back to that!) We were so excited to have it completed! So, we sent it off and in September we went to Waco to have our orientation meeting with Generations. We knew right away that this was the place. God affirmed and encouraged us so much! This month, we went back for our training - even more affirmation. All that time dragging our feet, and now we're raring to go! We've been reading books and studying and praying and preparing our home. We've had inspections and worked on documents. We've almost finished our formal application. We hope to send it in this week. Then we'll be getting close to a home study...we're so excited!
It has been an eventful summer. Life-changing. I have more to say about the changes and that Ebenezer Stone, but I will save that for a later day. For now, I am looking ahead and trusting God for the future and praising Him for the things He has done!


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SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 23, 2011-- Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that it will webcast the company's presentation at the Piper Jaffray Health Care Conference in New York, New York, on November 30, 2011. The live webcast is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. ET and will feature a brief overview of the company by Jay Flatley, President and Chief Executive Officer, followed by a question and answer session.
This webcast can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of Illumina's web site under the "Company" tab at www.illumina.com.
About Illumina
Illumina (http://www.illumina.com) is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. We provide innovative sequencing and array-based solutions for genotyping, copy number variation analysis, methylation studies, gene expression profiling, and low-multiplex analysis of DNA, RNA and protein. We also provide tools and services that are fueling advances in consumer genomics and diagnostics. Our technology and products accelerate genetic analysis research and its application, paving the way for molecular medicine and ultimately transforming healthcare.
Source: Illumina, Inc.
Illumina, Inc.
Kevin Williams, MD
Investor Relations
Laura Trotter
Public Relations


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Resultados da Busca
Creator: Caselli, Francesco, 1966- and Coleman, Wilbur John Series: Productivity and the industrial revolution Abstract:
The process by which per capita income in the South converged to northern levels is intimately related to the structural transformation of the U.S. economy. We find that empirically most of the southern gains are attributable to the nation-wide convergence of agricultural wages to non-agricultural wages, and the faster rate of transition of the Southern labor force from agricultural to non-agricultural jobs. Similar results describe the Mid-West's catch up to the North-East (but not the relative experience of the West). To explain these observations, we construct a model in which the South (Mid-West) has a comparative advantage in producing unskilled-labor intensive agricultural goods. Thus, it starts with a disproportionate share of the unskilled labor force and lower per capita incomes. Over time, declining education/training costs induce an increasing proportion of the labor force to move out of the (unskilled) agricultural sector and into the (skilled) non-agricultural sector. The decline in the agricultural labor force leads to an increase in relative agricultural wages. Both effects benefit the South (Mid-West) disproportionately since it has more agricultural workers. The model successfully matches the quantitative features of the U.S. structural transformation and regional convergence, as well as several other stylized facts on U.S. economic growth in the last century. The model does not rely on frictions on factor mobility, since in our empirical work we find this channel to be less important than the compositional effects the model emphasizes.
Palavra-chave: Regional economies, Agricultural and non-agricultural workers, Skill acquisition, Regional convergence, and Structural transformation Sujeito: O41 - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models, O18 - Economic development - Regional, urban, and rural analyses, and O14 - Economic development - Industrialization ; Manufacturing and service industries ; Choice of technology