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Conquering complexity
Achieve easy front end authentication with DataPower and HTML form-based login
Content series:
This content is part # of # in the series: Conquering complexity
This content is part of the series:Conquering complexity
Stay tuned for additional content in this series.
Each installment of Conquering complexity addresses a common issue related to security that can be resolved or simplified using IBM WebSphere DataPower Appliances and other IBM technologies.
HTML forms-based login authentication is commonly seen on the Internet. A web site displays an HTML form into which a browser user will provide credentials (such as a username and password) that are then used to authenticate the user's access to a web application. IBM WebSphere DataPower Appliances have supported HTML forms-based login since version 3.8.1 within the web application firewall object. This capability was included as a generic mechanism within the AAA (authentication, authorization, audit) action in firmware version 5.
The most commonly deployed use case we see is for the DataPower HTML form login functionality to be deployed in front of a Java™ EE application running on IBM WebSphere Application Server. This is a great use case; DataPower can generate a Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) token, which is an IBM proprietary token format that WebSphere Application Server understands, and can thus propagate the user identity to the application server so that it can be used, for example, to make authorisation decisions or for audit purposes. Protecting applications on WebSphere Application Server, however, is not the only use for HTML form-based Login.
This article presents an example of putting DataPower in front of an existing unauthenticated web site. In this simple example, the back end is a set of static HTML pages that do not need propagation of authentication information; we simply need to be sure that you cannot access the data on the web site without first having logged in with a username and password. Future articles will share more about how — once you have an authenticated the user — you can pass that information on to a back end system in a secure manner, as part of an end-to-end application security solution. DataPower is extremely flexible and is capable of generating many different kinds of security tokens, making it a great choice for a front-end authenticating web proxy for many different types of back ends.
This article is based on DataPower firmware release 188.8.131.52.
The DataPower implementation of HTML forms-based login is originally based on the Java EE specification, as anyone investigating it will quickly realise when they see the default names of the form parameters in use. The vast majority of the work of a forms-based login configuration is carried out in the DataPower AAA Extract Identity (EI) step, which might seem counter-intuitive to those familiar with the framework. The reason for this is to provide a single point of control for the login form, and this point of control is known as the HTML forms login policy. Let's take a look at a simple example of such a policy.
HTML forms-login policy
The HTML forms-login policy used for this article is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. An HTML forms login policy
Let's examine each section of this policy.
- General
- Source for Form-processing configuration tells the runtime that in this instance you will use static HTML files to serve the HTML forms required for login, logout, and error pages. It is also possible to dynamically generate the HTML forms using an XSL stylesheet, which gives a layer of flexibility by enabling the login form to tailor its output based on run time parameters; for example, a configuration that is proxying multiple applications could use a stylesheet to examine which application the user is trying to access and display an appropriately personalised look and feel. In this exercise, however, there is no requirement for dynamic generation.
- Next is the Redirect URL Type. For this example, you will use the Host redirect type; this tells the runtime that when it builds a URL redirection to one of your custom pages (such as the login page), it should use the value of the HTTP host header as the stem of the URL to which it redirects. In some advanced use cases, for example, if this is the second in a chain of reverse proxies, this might not be appropriate. In that instance, you might want to instruct the runtime to use the URL-in service variable instead, which is the other option in the drop-down; this will instruct the runtime to base the request on the value of the DataPower variable var://service/URL-in, which will typically use the IP address that the request came in on. In the majority of cases, Host will be a better option, especially when load balancing is in the picture.
- Security
- The first indicator in this section, Use SSL for Login, defines whether you want to use SSL for the authentication; that is, whether the URL you redirect to should connect to a separate port (typically 443 on the Web) using HTTPS. It is usually not good practise to use SSL only for authentication; rather, if there is a requirement for SSL, then all traffic should be encrypted. Therefore, you would typically set this option to off, and ensure that the gateway you configure only accepts traffic over SSL. If you use a stylesheet to generate your login forms, the SSL option doesn't appear here, and you should also ensure that your gateway only accepts traffic over SSL. You should always use an HTTPS front side handler. For this example, we're showing everything over HTTP so that you can download the example and import it without having to deal with certificates, but it is strongly recommend that everything use SSL.
- You might think that with a name like Enable Session Migration that this indicator is only used when you have multiple appliances in a load balanced configuration. That is true to an extent; it enables the use of a shared secret key (symmetric key encryption) such that all appliances using the same key are able to decrypt the cookies used. However — and this is really important — if you do not select Enable Session Migration and specify a key, the cookies used will not be secured. You must in all configurations specify a shared secret key object, which will be used to encrypt the cookies, otherwise your cookies will not be secure.
- Client-side URL fragments
This is how you tell the runtime what URIs it should use when redirecting to your HTML form-based login pages. You configure the login, error and logout pages, and when a login, logout or authentication error occurs the runtime will generate the URL based on these URIs. The Default URL configured here is the URI that the appliance will redirect the user to after authentication, if he accessed the login page directly; that is, by clicking on a link directly to the login page or by typing the full login page URL into his browser rather than trying to access a protected resource which redirected him to the login page.
- Location of HTML pages
- Login form properties
The contents of this section will appear familiar to anyone versed in Java EE applications, at least with its default settings (which have been left alone for this article). These settings tell the runtime what parameters it should look for when the login form is submitted in order to retrieve the username and password supplied, and to find the original URL that the user tried to access (assuming he was redirected to the login page after trying to access a protected resource) and the POST action that the login form used. Any values that you like can be filled in here — however, whatever values are used here must also be used in the HTML of the login form itself. Be aware that the URI used in the POST action must exactly match the string – for example, if you use the default of
/j_security_check, a form submitting to
/services/j_security_checkwould not work.
- Timeouts
This final section defines the length of time during which the authenticated user session will be valid. This includes an Inactivity Timeout, by default 600 seconds (10 minutes), and a Session Lifetime with a default of 10800 seconds (half an hour).
That's the definition of the HTML forms login policy. The next section looks at how you tell the runtime to actually use the policy use the AAA policies.
AAA policies
In order for the DataPower runtime to apply the HTML Forms Login Policy defined above, you will create two separate AAA actions. The first of these will be used to serve the HTML forms themselves, while the second will handle enforcement of the authorization rules and redirection to the forms when necessary.
Both AAA policies use the same method for the identity extraction phase, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Identity extraction mechanism
This configuration tells the AAA policy to use HTML forms-based authentication, and enables you to specify the HTML forms-based login policy to use. It is important that both AAA actions use the same HTML forms-based login policy; if they do not, it will not work. The names of the cookies used to maintain the authenticated session incorporate the name of the policy, so if the policies used are different, then the login process will fail.
Let's take a look at the AAA policy used to serve the HTML forms. The policy, in this example called hfbl_example_forms, is special; the only processing required is in the identity extraction stage, and so everything else in the policy must allow the request to proceed. It does not require authentication or authorisation as the form is a public document and available to everyone. For example, the Authentication stage of this policy is shown in Figure 3, and it simply passes the identity token on to the Authorisation stage.
Figure 3. Authentication stage of the form-serving AAA policy
Likewise, the Authorisation stage of the policy, shown in Figure 4, is configured to always allow all requests through, relying on the HTTP form-based policy in the identity extraction stage to perform the necessary actions to serve the pages.
Figure 4. Authorisation stage of the form-serving AAA policy
The second AAA policy in use, called hfbl_example in this example, is where the actual enforcement happens. This policy is used in front of all other requests that go through the proxy, and ensures that anything which is not explicitly accepted by an earlier rule (as shown later in the definition of the processing policy) will have been appropriately authenticated and authorised.
The most important part of understanding the AAA policy used for enforcement is that this is where you perform your actual AAA processing. This policy will use the HTML forms-based login identify extraction method to retrieve the username and password and to ensure that all subsequent requests have the correct secure session information — but you are free to configure all of the other sections as you wish. For example, the policy might query an LDAP server to authenticate the username and password provided, or it might run a custom stylesheet to integrate with your own internal authentication system. Likewise, the authorisation step can be customised or integrated with any of the out of the box authorisation mechanisms available. This flexibility is a big part of the popularity of DataPower, and why it makes a very suitable authenticating reverse proxy for web traffic.
In the example, we have chosen to simply authenticate the username and password provided against an on-box list of usernames and passwords in XML form, called a AAAInfo file (a description of this file format can be found in the DataPower documentation). A sample file is provided in the store: directory on the appliance and is shown in Figure 5; this will be used for this example as a quick way of being able to authenticate.
Figure 5. Authentication stage of the enforcement AAA policy
One thing to notice is that a cache lifetime of 300 seconds (5 minutes) is set. This means that the response to the authentication query will be cached for this amount of time, and if the same username and password are supplied again within this time, then the actual repository will not be checked. Of course, this makes little difference when checking a file on the appliance's file system. But if you are authenticating with an off-box server, such as LDAP, this will ensure that the LDAP call is only made once. This is especially important in the case of web traffic, since all requests made will go through this AAA policy – and web pages are typically made up of tens or even hundreds of separate files (images, stylesheets, JavaScript, and so on). As explained below, when a cookie is sent with subsequent requests, the cookie actually contains an encrypted copy of the username and password initially supplied to the login form; this username and password combination are provided to the AAA policy on every request so that it is able to ensure and enforce all requests in the same manner. If the cache lifetime is small, this might result in a large increase of hits on the back end authentication system, which would not be good for performance.
Multi-protocol gateway
So far, we've defined an HTTP forms-login policy and created two AAA policies that use it. All that's left is to create a DataPower proxy configuration to allow traffic through the appliance to your back end system. You will do this by using a multi-protocol gateway configuration.
The multi-protocol gateway used here is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Multi-protocol gateway
The multi-protocol gateway is configured to be an external
front end to your internal server — in this example,
http://internal.protectedweb.co.uk, a (fictional)
internal system that you are about to connect to the Internet.
The multi-protocol gateway is configured with a static back
end, and provides an HTTP front side handler (listening on port 80, the default web port) for its front end. (Again, if this were the real world, you would be listening on port 443 and running over SSL.)
The key to the multi-protocol gateway is the multi-processing gateway policy, which tells the appliance how to behave when dealing with traffic, but before we go through the policy there are a couple of important settings for your multi-protocol gateway that you need to understand.
- First of all, because you are dealing with web traffic, the
vast majority of requests will be HTTP GET requests. The
default front side handler configuration is tailored to web service traffic, which uses a POST request, so by default it does not accept HTTP GETs. You therefore need to modify the configuration to accept GETs, as shown in Figure 7. Be aware that even though this is a static web site (which is likely to be almost exclusively GETs), you must leave the POST method enabled because your login form uses an HTTP POST. In theory, you could write the login form to use an HTTP GET with the data passed as request parameters, but this is seen as a bad practise in the industry (it's all too easy for someone to bookmark a URL with the embedded username and password, so please don't).
Again, while an HTTP front side handler is shown in this example, you must use an HTTPS front side handler in any real application.
Figure 7. Front Side Handler configuration
- Second, again, because you are dealing with web traffic,
which could include JavaScript, CSS, text files, images, JSON, HTML (which is rarely fully formed XML markup) and more, you need to tell the multi-protocol gateway that it is dealing with Non-XML, as shown in Figure 8. Since you are dealing with HTTP GETs, which do not have a request body, the Request Type is also set to Non-XML.
Figure 8. Request and response types set to Non-XML
Now we can look at the multi-protocol gateway policy, shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Multi-protocol gateway policy
As you can see, there are three request (Client to Server) rules configured in the policy. Let's examine each one.
- The first rule, hfbl_example_unauthenticated, contains a match action which is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. The match rule for unauthenticated requests
This match rule, which matches Boolean Or Combinations (exactly one of the conditions can match), will pick up on all of the exact URIs that you will permit through to the back end without the user having to log in. This is effectively a whitelist – if the request isn't on this list, it will not be allowed through. The whitelist allows the main site CSS file, master.css, which is actually used by your HTML forms. It also allows the requesting of the favicon, because browsers rather irritatingly request this constantly (you might wish to match with PRCE for .*/favicon.ico, to pick up any favicon requests elsewhere in the application pages, although there's no harm in enforcing authentication on them; the main reason for doing it here is so that the favicon can also show in the login form page). The list contains exactly one HTML page, the home page of the server (matched as either / or /index.html); a decision was made in this example to allow the main page to be visible to users without them having to log in. This is a relatively common practise; the page can, for example, provide information for users on how to sign up for the service. In our instance, the page simply provides a link to the login form.
Notice that the whitelist of files does not include the HTML forms (login.html, error.html and logout.html) themselves; these will be served via the HTTP forms login policy instead.
- The next rule in line is called
hfbl_example_serve_forms, and its purpose is to serve the HTML forms themselves. It uses a Match with PRCE (Perl Compatible Regular Expression) match action, shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11. The match rule for HTTP Forms
Notice that the URL match here will match your three HTTP forms, with an optional request parameter of originalUrl, and nothing more. This is because this rule does nothing except invoke your form serving AAA action, hfbl_example_forms. This action will serve the login, logout, and error pages; because of the configuration of your HTML Forms Login Policy it will retrieve them from the back end server. It will not request any data from the back end other than this; as discussed earlier, you could configure the appliance to store these forms locally instead, or dynamically generate them using XSLT, if desired.
- The third and final request rule is
hfbl_example_request_rule. This rule has a match action called matchAll that will match all requests that are not matched by previous rules. The actions on this rule are shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12. The request rule for all other requests
There are two important actions on this rule after the match.
- First, you run an action called Convert Query Params to XML. This action will take any HTTP query parameters provided from an incoming request (such as the HTTP form POST used for login) and present them as an XML data structure, so that the AAA action can interrogate and use them.
- The second action is your AAA action for enforcement. Since it uses the identity extraction method of HTML forms-based authentication, referencing your HTML forms-login policy, it requires either a HTTP form POST containing a username and password or a relevant security cookie for every request, and once it extracts the user's credentials from one of these it runs through the AAA steps. Thus we can be sure that each and every request that is permitted through by the AAA policy is legitimate; this is your access control enforcement point.
Putting it all together
You now have your configuration set up and put together. Let's take a look at it in action.
First you will make a request to the web site, in a new browser window (try using Google Chrome in incognito mode to make sure that you have a clean environment with no cookies). Use the URL of the main page in your browser window and connect to the DataPower multi-protocol gateway, where the hfbl_example_unauthenticated rule allows the request to go through to the back end, giving you the main index.html page, as seen in Figure 13.
Figure 13. The main web page of your site
The main page has a link to click on, which leads to the home page. When you click the link, it hits the hfbl_example_serve_forms rule which sees that you have no authentication and redirects you to the login.html page, as seen in Figure 14.
Figure 14. The login page
Notice that the originalUrl parameter has been filled in for you – once you log in, you will be redirected to the page you originally requested, home.html. Type in your username and password and click login, which performs the login by submitting your username and password to the url j_security_check (as specified in your policy). The enforcement AAA policy runs again, your credentials are authenticated, and finally a security cookie is set and you are redirected to the home page, as shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15. The protected application home page
You finally have access to your protected data. You are able to use the web site for as long as your session is valid – 30 minutes, provided you take at least one action every 10 minutes, as per the settings in your policy. Finally, when you are finished using the application, you can click the logout link, which will bring you to the logout page, as shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16. The logout page
As part of serving the logout page, the appliance has deleted the cookie used for authentication; any further access will require you to log in again.
Finally, let's try generating an authentication error by logging in again, but this time with a username and password that is not in your authentication repository. The appliance responds with the authentication error page, as shown in Figure 17.
Figure 17. The error page
Notice that this error page is different and separate from normal DataPower error handling. It will only show up in the event of an error during HTML forms based processing; any error elsewhere will go through normal DataPower error processing, thus a real-world processing policy should use error rules as normal.
What's in the cookie
When you authenticate via the DataPower HTML forms-based login, a cookie is created. You can see this cookie, for example, by using the Google Chrome developer tools, as shown in Figure 18.
Figure 18. The forms-based login cookie
This cookie is named based on the name of the Forms-Based Login Policy, so in this example it is called forms.hfbl_example.session. The cookie is a base64 encoded string, which contains encrypted data. The data inside the cookie includes the username and password provided in the original login, along with a creation timestamp. The data is then encrypted using the Shared Secret key specified earlier, under Enable Session Migration.
Using a web application firewall configuration
Why not use a web application firewall configuration? You could have. The web application firewall could replace the multi-protocol gateway configuration described in this article. Instead of a processing policy, you would create a set of web request profiles, which work in a similar manner. The web application firewall configuration object also has other features that could be useful for fronting web applications; for example, out of the box it can do things like automatically sign and encrypt cookies from back end web applications. That said, for a simple use case like that shown in this example, the multi-protocol gateway is a simpler configuration and a useful teaching tool. In practise, many users choose to use the multi-Protocol gateway for fronting their web applications because they are familiar with its configuration.
What isn't covered here? Well, a lot. There is much more to designing a fully secure end-to-end externally facing system than adding an authenticating reverse proxy server, no matter how wonderful that reverse proxy server might be. Some examples include:
- Propagating identity to the back end system. Maintaining a fully fledged security context at the back end is important; if the application at the back end can be certain of the identity of the user, it is able to make very fine-grained authorisation decisions, to audit the actions of the user and more.
- Encryption of connections to the back end system. The use of SSL for connections to the back end server should be encouraged; once credentials begin to be passed over this connection, it becomes a weak point.
- Authentication of connections to the back end system. How does the back end know that the requests coming to it are indeed from the reverse proxy?
- And there are many, many more.
A good starting point for thinking about designing a secure infrastructure is presented in these WebSphere Application Server security hardening articles.
The author would like to thank Shiu-Fun Poon, Ozair Sheikh and John Rasmussen for their assistance and comments.
Downloadable resources
- PDF of this content
- Sample code (1312_kapadia_export.zip | 516 KB)
Related topics
- Advanced security hardening in WebSphere Application Server V7, V8 and V8.5
- WebSphere DataPower Information Center


text:
We're All Business Owners NowBy
Don't miss this week's magazine cover story: The Disposable Worker. It documents companies' shift from relying on full-time employees to a contingent workforce of temps, freelancers, contractors, and part-timers. Not just in low-skill jobs or easily outsourced tasks, either. One of the people profiled is Sydney Reiner, a University of Chicago MBA who does short-term stints as an "interim chief marketing officer" for companies like Godiva Chocolate and POM Wonderful.
For employers, the shift to a contingent workforce means labor becomes a variable rather than fixed cost. For workers, it means "no health insurance, no retirement benefits, no sick days, no vacation, no severance, and no access to unemployment insurance," particularly in low-end jobs.
Contingent workers are all, to some degree, managing their own single-person businesses. They have to worry about everything from paying taxes as freelancers to building personal brands. Many of them may have separate businesses to generate extra income: Etsy stores, handyman work, consulting. Many people even find working for themselves more secure than relying on a single employer for all their income. With 7.2 million jobs gone in the past two years, and payrolls still shrinking, it's not hard to see why.
The shift to a temporary workforce is a long-term trend accelerated by the recession, not created by it, as my colleagues Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin, and Moira Herbst write:
Their situation isn't likely to improve soon; some economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any semblance of bargaining power. That's because this recession's unusual ferocity has accelerated trends—including offshoring, automation, the decline of labor unions' influence, new management techniques, and regulatory changes—that already had been eroding workers' economic standing.
Here's my takeaway, in two pieces.
1) Every worker needs the capabilities of a small business owner: to find business, think and work creatively, understand and manage risks. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman talked about this in May: "Every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not."
2) The less-covered implication is that our institutions have not caught up to the changing labor economy. The way we prepare young people to enter the workforce — from high schools to MBA programs — should reflect how important entrepreneurship has become. Our employer-based health insurance, retirement plans, tax laws, and unemployment assistance were all built for a 20th century economy. Most people worked for big employers, and stayed in their jobs for long periods. Those days are gone, and forward-thinking policymakers need to reshape those institutions for a more entrepreneurial economy.
All that needs to happen for this shift to benefit individuals and not just corporate bottom lines. What changes would you like to see? Read the story, and let us know.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
WASHINGTON - Marijuana legalization may be the same-sex marriage of 2014 - a trend that reveals itself in the course of the year as obvious and inexorable. At the risk of exposing myself as the fuddy-duddy I seem to have become, I hope not.
This is, I confess, not entirely logical and a tad hypocritical. At the risk of exposing myself as not the total fuddy-duddy of my children's dismissive imaginings, I have done my share of inhaling, though back in the age of bell-bottoms and polyester.
Next time I'm in Colorado, I expect, I'll check out some Bubba Kush. Why not? They used to warn about pot being a gateway drug, but the only gateway I'm apt to be heading through at this stage is the one to Lipitor.
Still, widespread legalization is a bad idea, if an inevitable development. Washington state is the next to light up, in a few months. A measure is heading to the ballot in Alaska this year, along with measures in Oregon and California. As with gambling - also a bad idea, by the way - more states are certain to feel the peer pressure for tax dollars and tourist revenue.
I'm not arguing that marijuana is riskier than other, already legal substances, namely alcohol and tobacco. Indeed, pot is less addictive; an occasional joint strikes me as no worse than an occasional drink. If you had a choice of which of the three substances to ban, tobacco would have to top the list. Unlike pot and alcohol, tobacco has no socially redeeming value; used properly, it is a killer.
So the reason to single out marijuana is the simple fact of its current (semi-)illegality. On balance, society will not be better off with another mind-altering legal substance. In particular, our kids will not be better off with another mind-altering legal substance.
As the American Medical Association concluded in recommending against legalization last November, "Cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such is a public health concern." The association added: "It is the most common illicit drug involved in drugged driving, particularly in drivers under the age of 21. Early cannabis use is related to later substance use disorders."
And this point, for me, is the most convincing: "Heavy cannabis use in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neurocognitive performance and IQ, and use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, mood, and psychotic thought disorders."
A 2012 study of more than 1,000 New Zealanders from birth to age 38 found that "persistent cannabis use was associated with neuropsychological decline broadly across domains of functioning, even after controlling for years of education." Long-term users saw an average decline of eight IQ points.
Once again, teenage toking was the problem. The decrease in IQ was linked only to those with adolescent marijuana use, not those who started in adulthood.
"Impairment was concentrated among adolescent-onset cannabis users, with more persistent use associated with greater decline," the study reported. For those who started as teens, stopping didn't fully restore functioning. The results, it concluded "are suggestive of a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain."
Please do not argue that Colorado's law, like those proposed elsewhere, bans sales to those under 21. Hah! I have teenage children. The laws against underage drinking represent more challenge to overcome than barrier to access.
And although alcohol seems the teen drug of choice among the adolescents I know, the more widely available marijuana becomes, the more minors will use it. If seniors in fraternities can legally buy pot, more freshmen and sophomores will be smoking more of it.
And it's not as if the kids need encouragement. By the time they have graduated from high school, nearly half have tried smoking pot; 16.5 percent of eighth-graders have. More alarming, the number who perceive great risk from regular use has been plummeting, from 58 percent to 40 percent among 12th-graders, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
And for those who trumpet tight controls on sales to minors, a third of 12th-graders who live in states with medical marijuana and who have used the drug in the past year report that one source is another person's prescription. Another 6 percent have their own Rx.
Throwing people in jail for smoking pot is dumb and wasteful. Given changing public attitudes - for the first time last year, a majority of Americans supported legalization - Colorado and Washington are apt to be the vanguard states, not the outliers.
If this doesn't make you nervous, you are smoking something. Maybe even legally.
Danny Hoardern posted on: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 4:28 PM
Title: Correlation vs Causation
"Heavy cannabis use in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neurocognitive performance and IQ, and use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, mood, and psychotic thought disorders."
Causes? This is incorrect, the original study acknowledges that is unable to find a causitive relationship.
The problem prohibitions face is there is very little that you can say cannabis _causes_.
If, in the year 2014, we have not yet found any evidence of cannabis _causing_ mental illness, ones skeptometer should be ringing. We can only find links (correlations).
Now, what if cannabis _treated_ mental illness - currently it treats schizophrenia and psychosis, as it is an antipsychotic (look it up). Cannabis also makes it easier to deal with social pain and anxiety - another factor most studies miss.
So, do people with problems get drawn to a cure, or does cannabis actually cause a problem? Judging by the vast number of successful individuals who have smoked pot in their childhood, I would say that causation is well and truly out of the picture.
Ockham's razor states that the simplest explanation is the most likely.
And to most, it is easy to distinguish between correlation and causation - that the curative effects are the true 'link'. If you are going to provide any evidence to back up your claims, your studies must control for cannabis' curative effects, otherwise it is mere correlation.
By all means, if you can show me some solid causitive evidience, I will change my views.
Even if I am wrong and there are a small population that somehow cannabis _causes_ mental illness - just because peanuts can kill, doesn't mean that supporting the black market and avoiding regulation is the best option.
Check out these recently discussed stories and voice your opinion...


text: Hi Guys I work in a windows dominated environment. We have typical set up, Win2003 server as domain controller with AD. All user accounts exist on AD. We have home drives mapped to a different server. Weve got in a load of iMacs recently. Theyre running Leopard 10.5. Im just getting to grips with mac set ups, ive figured out how to bind them to our AD domain. Now users with a domain account can successfully login to the macs and access their mapped home drives, which automatically gets mapped. The only problem im having at the moment is that we have a shared network folder on one of the other servers. On our windows pcs, we have vb script that maps the shared drive to users when they log in. Ive looked on the mac, google and everywhere else i can think of, but i just cant seem to find a simple script for the mac that maps a shared drive. I had one script i found and modified it and it worked on some eMacs we had, the script was really good it took the login name using 'whoami' and prompted for the password and mapped the drive, but it does not seem to work on the iMacs... Im no means a script expert! It was just trial and error in getting the script to work on the eMac, but now im stumped on the iMac... Any help would be welcome! Thanks Hitesh


text:
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Blog Post
TechFest 2012: Cliplets
Download this episode
TechFest is the annual conference where Microsoft Research shows off all the amazing work they have been up to this year. In this video you'll enjoy project "Cliplets" which literally blurs the line between still photography and video. The coolest part is that's it's available HERE for FREE.
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The Discussion
that's so very cool. Make it a WP7 app please.
Wonderful! Does bing homepage use that?
Reminds me those pictures on papers we saw in Harry Potter movies.
This is awesome. I hope to see this in action very soon.
Comments closed
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to send us feedback you can Contact Us.


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[Date Index]
[Thread Index]
[Author Index]
[Q] Equation solving?
I'm a newbie to Mathematica
and have a question about what's wrong in the following
(The parameters are generated by the program,
so there're some terms that can be cancelled out.)
Solve[{ Q1==(2*z+1-1)^2+4*1*1 ,
k1==(1/Sqrt[Q1])*(v*z-(3/2)*(2*z+1+1-Sqrt[Q1])) ,
Q2==(2*z+1-1)^2+4*1*1 ,
k2==(1/Sqrt[Q2])*((6.10-v)* z-(2/2)*(2*z+1+1-Sqrt[Q2])) ,
(3/2)*(2*z+1+1)+(k1-(3/2))*Sqrt[Q1] ==
6.10*z-((2/2)*(2*z+1+1)+(k2-(2/2))*Sqrt[Q2])}, {z,v}]
I want to solve the above equations according to 'z',
and I tried several ways in expressing {z,v} or z, {v}, etc
to get an answer(s), but all in vain.
Is there anyone who can tell me how to express the equations?
Sorry about the question, if this is trivial.
Thank you.


text: On Thu, Jan 07 2010 at 12:15pm -0500, Martin K. Petersen <martin petersen oracle com> wrote: > >>>>> "Mike" == Mike Snitzer <snitzer redhat com> writes: > > >> However, there are other subsystems that need to stack without an > >> associated block_device. So instead of changing blk_stack_limits I > >> propose we use the wrapper below. > > Mike> Yes, looks like osdblk.c's use of blk_queue_stack_limits() > > DM also does a stacking pass without a bdev (dm_calculate_queue_limits), > although I think you can avoid that by getting rid of ti_limits > altogether and just stack limits. Yeah, I'm keeping the stacking of all devices within a target self-contained; I also do validation of the target's limits: /* * Check each device area is consistent with the target's * overall queue limits. */ if (ti->type->iterate_devices(ti, device_area_is_invalid, &ti_limits)) return -EINVAL; The validation, with device_area_is_invalid, is confined to validating only this target's devices' limits. I couldn't do the same target-local validation by stacking a single flat 'limits'. I then stack that target's limits on the final DM device's 'limits' (and will spew a warning accordingly). > I couldn't figure out why the alignment_offset for a misaligned DM > device was zero, despite being -1 after stacking had completed. I > finally spotted this in dm_table_set_restrictions(): > > limits->alignment_offset = 0; > limits->misaligned = 0; > > So after all the stacking function's hard work you set the alignment to > 0 and clear the misaligned flag. Why? Good question, it made my head hurt trying to recall why :) A very critical piece to this is the assumption that alignment_offset is consumed by LVM2 (it adjusts by shifting a target device's 'start' to include alignment_offset). DM doesn't rely on the block layer to validate alignment_offset at all. The comment above the lines you referenced offers: /* * Each target device in the table has a data area that should normally * be aligned such that the DM device's alignment_offset is 0. * FIXME: Propagate alignment_offsets up the stack and warn of * sub-optimal or inconsistent settings. */ Seems I took the time to add a comment whose FIXME doesn't ring many bells now! But ignoring that, the comment before the FIXME is making a veiled reference to userspace having consumed alignment_offset. To recap: Userspace consumes alignment_offset so it shouldn't be a concern in DM. Each target device is validated (like I covered above) such that any misalignment (purely logicical vs physical misalignment) within a target device is not tolerated. So by the time the DM table's limits get copied to the DM device's limits (in dm_table_set_restrictions) any misalignment percieved by the block layer is not trusted/published. Mike p.s. Any feedback on fatal flaws in all of this is much appreciated. I thought I cleared most of this with you as it was developed but seems not (obviously I didn't clear resetting alignment_offset and misaligned). But I'm now thinking that if all the above works according to plan we shouldn't ever have a DM device's alignment_offset or misaligned be anything but 0 (unless one isn't using a trained LVM2; which I'd imagine you aren't). Anyway, long story short, those lines _should_ likely be removed... but it needs further testing that I can't do right now.


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Peregrine Falcon
- Laguna Madre, Mexico
The peregrine falcon is one of the world's most widespread terrestrial vertebrates with more than 15 distinct races varying in plumage color across the globe. It generally prefers open habitats like grasslands and tundras, but has also begun to colonize cities, which provide suitable nesting sites on building ledges and easy prey like pigeons.
Although some island and southern populations are resident, many populations migrate vast distances between breeding sites and winter ranges. The northernmost peregrine falcons in the Western hemisphere migrate from Alaska and Canada to central Argentina and Chile.
One of the fiercest avian hunters, the falcon's diet consists almost entirely of other birds, which it usually captures on the wing, diving as fast as 200 miles per hour to stun the prey with its talons. Its fantastic dives (stoops) and tight turns also emerge in spectacular courtship displays. They mate in monogamous pairs that may last many breeding seasons. Both males and females show strong attachment to previous nesting sites, and it has been suggested that this preference, rather than investment in the mate, accounts for the long-term pairings.
In the mid-twentieth century, DDT contamination of prey and habitat in North America decimated the raptors. By the mid 1960s, there were no breeding pairs east of the Mississippi river, and they were added to the Federal Endangered Species List in 1969. However, the falcon proved admirably resilient and is now one of the signal victories in species conservation efforts. It was removed from the endangered list in the 1990s.
The Texas coast is one of the most important staging areas in the world for migrating peregrine falcons. Like many other migratory birds, falcons frequently stopover along the Texas coast to rest and feed before embarking on the long flight south across the Gulf of Mexico. During migration, peregrine falcons can be found at the Conservancy's Francine Cohn Preserve, Shamrock Island Preserve, Clive Runnells Family Mad Island Marsh Preserve and Texas City Prairie Preserve.
Tidbit: In spring of 2005, a pair of adult breeding falcons were netted at the Conservancy's South Padre Island Preserve (now part of Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge) and fitted with satellite telemetry transmitters. Over an 18-month period, the pair were tracked by a partner organization, Earthspan. The two birds traveled together north from Texas to the Canadian border in North Dakota before diverging. One continued northwest to Point Barrow at the edge of the Beaufort Sea above the Arctic Circle while the other flew northeast across the Hudson Bay to the northernmost reaches of Quebec. At those two points, more than 2,600 miles apart, the birds spent months feeding before simultaneously beginning their long journeys south, stopping again on the Gulf Coast and reuniting in Central America before continuing all the way to Brazil.


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With 1.7 million freelancers, we'll match you with the perfect talent.
Ross Asset Advisors is a full service, independent financial advisory firm. We help you achieve maximum, long-term returns while controlling risk. We assess a fixed, quarterly fee for portfolios of any size, and we provide unbiased advice - we receive no commissions or compensation other than from our clients.
Acting as your personal CFO, we ensure that you make sound investment decisions and achieve your financial goals. If you are trying to find a financial advisor, we welcome the opportunity to discuss your needs and objectives.


text:
Each month, Rated People connects over 50,000 homeowners with quality tradesmen - simply enter your job details in the form above to get started.
We'll match your job to the relevant tradesmen in your area - those interested will pay to see your contact details and call you to quote.
As each tradesman expresses interest in quoting on your job, we'll send you their profile and ratings to help you choose the right one for you.
After the work is complete, return to the site and rate your tradesman based on their quality of work, reliability and value for money.
Added 24/10/2016
Install 9 x light fittings Additional information: In the Allotments Club house on the Eddington...
Added 06/10/2016
Install 1 x light fitting Additional information: A small job. I have a very old strip light...
Added 27/09/2016
Supply electrics from house to summerhouse and workshop in the back of the garden. Garden is...
Added 15/07/2016
I have already run armoured cable to my shed but need a consumer unit installed.
Added 31/05/2016
To replace electric shower control in bathroom with new one. Yet to purchase shower and would...
Added 06/03/2016
removal of unauthorised wiring and fuse boxes and subsequent certification so supply can be...
Efficient, friendly and excellent value. I will use them again without question.
Faultless installation undertaken with great care and attention to detail. The cleanest tradespeople we have ever used - cleaning up as they went. No hesitation to recommend Dan.
Made a really good job of a difficult re-wiring on an old house. Really friendly and efficient service, would recommend them.
Very helpful in explaining what was needed and why. Andy did a very professional job, very quickly, in installing the external circuit and sockets.
Very pleased with the professional, friendly and helpful service provided.
Very quick and efficient service. Darryl was very friendly and did a great job. No hesitation at all in recommending him. Thank you.
Managing your job is easier with the Rated People Homes App, download it today.


text:
Help buying 86 535is 5spd manual
Just looking around for my first car and my daily driver. I like quite a lot of things about the e28 BMWs. I live near the East coast of NH, I found a 535is, which Im very interested in. Here's the link: http://nh.craigslist.org/ctd/3219581493.html
Paint is a bit funky, chassis is converted to accept euro bumpers, they are not on yet. They are asking $5500.
Should I look into it, or stay far away from it?
Try mye28.com for more e28 info/opinions...
I would stay away since it can not be a real 535is. The 535is only came out in 87 and 88. and for 5500 you can get a good looking car that is in good condition. So I would say run away from what sounds like an over priced car.
If you're in Maine, I'd check these E28's for sale in Damariscotta.
I was trying to get my dad to go see them.
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- Admissions
- Academics
- Research
- University Life
- Alumni
- About
Office of the Provost
Fax: 202-885-2173
Leonard, Room Lower Level
Bass, Scott A.
May 5, 2010
|American University Community
|Scott A. Bass, Provost
|Nominations for the Interim Vice provost for Undergraduate Studies
I am inviting nominations, including self-nominations, from faculty members for a two-year term as Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. This opportunity is occasioned by the appointment of Phyllis Peres and Interim Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs. The appointee to the undergraduate studies position will report to Senior Vice Provost Peres.
The portfolio of responsibilities for this position includes all aspects of the undergraduate academic program and experience. AU Abroad/Abroad at AU, the Career Center and its Office of Merit Awards, the Frederick Douglass Scholar Program, General Education, Learning Communities, University College and the University Honors Program all report to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. The vice provost also serves on the Orientation Project Team, the First Year Project Team, the University Experience Council, the Enrollment Management Task Force, and the Provost's Operational Council. Serving in this capacity is an opportunity to shape and strengthen undergraduate education at American University and make a difference in the lives of our students.
Please send nominations and self-nominations to Denise Wilkerson firstname.lastname@example.com , Special Assistant to the Provost, Office of the provost, Leonard Lower Level, 8061 by Tuesday, May 18, 2010.


text:
The tradition of practicing dentists taking time to teach is as
old as dentistry itself; the central role of practitioners as
faculty is as old as the earliest organized dental schools.
Established in 1892, the School of Dental Medicine continues to
educate general practitioners, specialists and biomedical
scientists in the art and science of oral health through our
comprehensive accredited programs.
As a proud member of the prestigious Association of American
Universities (AAU), the University at Buffalo is committed to
discovery, both basic and applied research, development and
scholarship particularly related to oral health and disease.
For nearly five decades, the School of Dental Medicine has been
a national leader in the science behind oral health.
In addition to steady activity in our laboratories and clinics,
students and faculty are preparing and submitting abstracts for the
annual meeting of the International Association for Dental
Research. Read more...
The complete classroom-to-clinic experience provided by Oral
Diagnostic Sciences supported by several specialty care clinics
including one associated with the Center for Orofacial Pain
Research. Read
Since 1997 the School of Dental Medicine has operated a mobile
dental unit (MDU) serving Chautauqua County in WNY. The MDU
averages approximately 3,100 patient visits per year.
Read more >>
The UB Smile Team promotes dental education and provides free
oral health care in areas of the world that lack adequate access to
Buffalo Outreach and Community Assistance (BOCA) is administered
by SDM students and dedicated to providing care to underserved
areas including Appalachia, Belize, Dominican Republic, Ghana,
Guatemala, Mexico and Vietnam and the Buffalo area.
Each year, volunteers guide hundreds of children through the
award-winning Teddy Bear Clinic and to dental cleanings and
treatment at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine's
annual "Give Kids a Smile Day."
Our Campus
Mobile Dental Unit
Student Engagement


text:
Cloud computing workloads are increasingly sophisticated and specialized. End users continue to recognize the value of choice of their computing infrastructure (i.e. being able to select the 'right tool for the job' in their data centers). Why is computational architectural diversity important? How do you work with a relatively new community on enabling choice? Is it possible to do so in a manner that is viewed as a "win-win"" for everyone? Please join us for an overview of how IBM is working with the OpenStack Community to expand the choices available to our customers which enables them to optimize their workloads
Getting Physical: Using OpenStack to Provision and Manage Physical Servers, not just VMs
Gur Saran Varma
From the Outside Looking In: The Analyst Perspective on OpenStack
Krishnan Subramanian, Stephen O\'Grady, Gary Chen, Sean Michael Kerner, Gretchen Curtis
OpenStack Distributions: How they will shape the future of OpenStack innovation
Nick Barcet, Christopher Aedo, Perry Myers, Kamesh Pemmaraju, Joseph George, Pete Chadwick
International updates from Brazil, China, Vietnam, India
Yuije Du ???, Renato Serra Armani, Trung Nguyen, Sriram Subramanian
Panel: Network Virtualization - The Next Big Thing?
Ken Pepple, Gavin Pratt, Dan Mihai Dumitriu, Mike Cohen
Achieving Visibility and Insight Across OpenStack Projects with Dashboards, Traceability, and Faceted Search
Sanjiva Nath, Stefano Maffulli
Panel: How to Establish and Sustain Successful OpenStack Meetup Groups
Sean Roberts, Kamesh Pemmaraju
Moving an Open Source Project to a Foundation ? Lessons from the OpenStack Project
Eileen Evans, Alice King
Understanding the Patent Context of Linux/OSS: Developing a Thoughtful Strategy to Ensure OpenStack's Future
Keith Bergelt
Cloudifying Virtual Desktops: How OpenStack Can Reduce the Cost and Complexity of Virtual Desktops
Ken Ringdahl


text:
November 5, 2013
This talk will provide a brief history of STEM in Massachusetts, discuss the progress that has been made, highlight major accomplishments, and talk about the challenges ahead.
November 5, 2013
4:00 pm
Hasbrouck Hall, 138
Artist Diana Cooper will speak about her work, present examples, and answer questions.
November 5, 2013
4:00 pm-5:00 pm
Studio Arts Building, 240
An introduction to grant writing for graduate students.
November 5, 2013
5:00 pm-6:00 pm
Campus Center, 903
The Massachusetts Native American Trail Project is a UMass Amherst collaborative initiative project presentation. This event will be facilitated by John Peters, Jean S.Forward, and Virginia McLaurin.
November 5, 2013
5:30 pm
Chadbourne House, Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center
The Women of Color and Leadership Network invites ALL to perform original spoken word pieces and poetry as well as the work of favorite artists/authors relating to power, liberation, oppression, cultural identities, social identities, resistance, solidarity, activism, and other social justice topics.
November 5, 2013
7:30 pm
Latin American Cultural Center, 2nd Floor
Opus One Chamber Orchestra performs! Coordinated by Elizabeth Chang.
November 5, 2013
7:30 pm
Fine Arts Center Bezanson Recital Hall
Du Bois in Our Time is a landmark exhibition that focuses on the intersection of art and the major issues of our time, centered on the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois.
September 10—December 8, 2013, Sun/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat
This event does NOT occur on:
November 28—December 1
University Museum of Contemporary Art
The Marriott Meals is a core course within the HTM program in which students have the opportunity to manage the restaurant with a team of student employees.
September 24—December 6, 2013, Tue/Wed/Thu 11:45 am
This event does NOT occur on:
November 28
Campus Center, 11
The exhibit centers on the post-World War II expansion of UMass and its emergence as a fully-fledged research university.
October 18—January 6, 2014
This event does NOT occur on:
November 28, December 15, December 21—December 22, December 25, December 28—January 1, January 5
Learning Commons in W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Lower Level and Floor 25
Exhibit celebrating the legacy of William Smith Clark and his influence at UMass Amherst and Hokkaido University.
October 19—November 30, 2013 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Integrated Sciences Building, Atrium
The Letters to Dr. Ehrlich series is a collection of images based on "The Population Bomb" by Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich.
October 20—November 20, 2013, Sun/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri
Hampden Gallery
Rice has used this method of writing in several projects over the years but the reason for its usage remains the same.
October 20—November 20, 2013, Sun/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri
Hampden Gallery
A self-proclaimed "populist" photographer, Parr is a true master of social commentary, he captures humanity in all of its follies.
October 31—November 29, 2013, Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri
This event does NOT occur on:
November 28
Herter Art Gallery
Herter Art Gallery is pleased to present It's an American Thing", a group exhibition featuring images by 14 photographers each of whom seeks to crystallize the essence of vintage American style, beauty and attitude during the last half of the 20th Century.


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Dying in the Land of Promise presents the reader with two simultaneous narratives, the dominant of which is the story of Palestinian Christianity. The narrative is set within the context of Palestine's changing political and religious history. Gradually the secondary narrative overtakes the Christian narrative, particularly during the last 125 years with the rise of nationalism, Zionism, the triumph of Israel, and the dramatic decline of Palestinian Christianity in the Holy Land.
Written for the non-specialist and geared towards a Western audience, the volume challenges traditional assumptions articulated in the mainstream media concerning the Christians of Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The history of Palestinian Christianity is tragic and inspiring as it calls for a profound and immediate response from Western Christians and all concerned friends to a community that is truly an endangered species in the 'land of promise', given the present rates of emigration, economic blight, and an all too delayed resolution to the political conflict in the Holy Land today.
This is an amazing book, and greatly needed. It is the continuous history of Christianity in Palestine from the year 33 to now, detailing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians by the Israelis. Wagner writes without hate and without fear. This is not an attempt to bash Jews in any way. It is an attempt to bring to light a forgotten history. How we as Christians have been present there since the very beginning, in a continuous witness, until the present day. How Palestine was about 20% Christian, until al Nakba- the Catastrophe, when the Zionists invaded the land and took the land from the people of Palestine. And now, it is about 2% Christian- mostly because of flight to Western lands, since the Christians tended to be better educated and wealthier and able to leave when things got too hard. And Wagner shows who it was who made it hard, and how purposely this plan was put in place. It is gut-wrenching to read accounts of people who saved Jews from the Nazis, as they watch the ethnic cleansing of a town. The Zionists go from house to house, shooting the victims. And the man who protected Jews, who watches this, reflects that it seemed just like what he had witnessed under the Nazi regime. Thankfully, such genocide was localized. Unlike with the Nazis, on the whole, the ethnic cleansing was done without murder and mass destruction of a people. It was done surreptitiously, through disinformation, through enforced poverty, and generally making it hard to live there. We've perhaps heard this before. What Wagner does is remind us that it was also happening to Christians- that this was an area with a large Christian minority at one point. He writes simply the story of Christianity in the land of it's birth, and it has its end with these last 50 years, as native Christians have endured persecution from the Israeli government as well as from Palestinian Muslims around them. Wagner is to be applauded for writing a book about a neglected history, and doing it without resorting to hate speech to denigrate the Jewish people. He points out the problems with the government, and as he says, in order to truly be a brother to someone, you have to point out how they need to change, and become more just. This is the true sign of love and brotherhood. Wagner's evidence is overwhelming, and his writing compelling. This book should challenge and enlighten you into new ways of seeing and believing. -Amazon Reader Review


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The Holiday Hustle Challenge (Week 4)
You made it! See, that was easy, right? Hopefully this gave you a kick start to your new year's resolution to work out. So now that we are on Week 4, there is nothing to it. This is pretty much a recap of the past few weeks.
So for Week 4, this week is all about putting in your best work. Now you will do cardio just a little longer from when you first started to beat your fastest mile, beat your highest calorie burn or beat your best time in completing Power Challenge (see video).
Optional: Complete Week 3 of Hasfit's 30 Day Abs.
Here's the video from last week since this is a recap of everything. Congratulations on completing the challenge and look out for more to come!
Don't forget to download Doc B's workout mixtape HERE


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The 2012 free agency period has slowed to a crawl, college pro days are at an end, and NFL teams are turning their focus to putting the final touches on their collective draft boards. What are we to do as fantasy football fanatics? By now, we have undoubtedly had numerous discussions with leaguemates as to the value of Peyton Manning with the Broncos and what it will do to the wide receiving corps, whether the signing of Michael Bush by Chicago is a harbinger of a Matt Forte hold out, and how many touchdowns will Peyton Hillis vulture from Jamaal Charles? As fantasy savvy folk, we are by nature very knowledgeable NFL fans as well, and all have our opinions on which teams are winners and losers thus far in the 2012 free agency period. That is all well and good and makes for some fine debates, and helps to pass the time as we eagerly anticipate the wildly entertaining, Hall of Fame Game in August. However, before I can turn my full attention to the upcoming NFL draft, I need some closure on this free agency season. I am very puzzled by a few of the signings, and trades that have occurred and believe they merit further examination.
#1 Mike Tolbert , RB, CAR: The Panthers have signed the former San Diego Charger, do it all, and do it well running back Mike Tolbert to be their primary fullback in 2012. What? A four year, $8.4 million dollar contract, with $2.7 million guaranteed, for a fullback, that is ridiculous. I realize that coach Ron Rivera is a former defensive coordinator, and that maybe he is a little naïve in setting up the offensive side of the ball, but surely someone in the Panther organization is capable of recognizing offensive talent. Tolbert has accumulated over 1,225 yards rushing, 19 rushing touchdowns in the last 2 seasons for the Chargers. Add to that, 79 receptions, 649 receiving yards, and another 2 touchdowns in that same time frame. So, the plan is to waste all that versatility as a running back, and have Tolbert lead blocking for a pair of players that he has as much, if not more, talent than. Tolbert attended Coastal Carolina, so merit has to be given to the idea that he took this deal (reportedly, San Diego had offered him more money than Carolina, to remain a Charger) to head back to familiar territory. The fantasy value of Mike Tolbert takes a huge hit with this move to fullback, barring an injury to Jonathan Stewart or De'Angelo Williams; there is no need to select Tolbert before the final 3 rounds of your fantasy draft.
#2 Tim Tebow , QB, NYJ: After falling out of the Peyton Manning sweepstakes early on, the Jets decided that Mark Sanchez is their quarterback of the future and signed him to a 3 year extension in March. Barely a week later, New York signed former Detroit Lion Drew Stanton on March 16th, 2012 to be their back up quarterback. OK, the QB position is set for 2012, and let the mending of the fences between Sanchez and Santonio Holmes commence. Full steam ahead for the Jets, who stumbled down the stretch in 2011 losing their final 3 games, arguing, finger pointing and finally, missing the post season. All is on schedule for a smooth off-season in The Big Apple. Hold on a second, here comes the news that Tim Tebow is suddenly available. Ooooh, yes!! The Jets decide that Tim Tebow is just the player they need to add to the melting pot that is their locker room. Sure, Tebow helped lead the Broncos to the playoffs (actually, they backed in when Oakland lost to San Diego in week #17) and energized the entire NFL for the second half of 2011, but was he really ever on the Jets radar? So now, Mark Sanchez gets to look over his shoulder at perhaps the most loved (and hated) quarterback in the league. Yeah, that will do wonders for the already shaky confidence of the starting quarterback. Should the Jets lose 2 games in a row (or Sanchez continue his tendency to toss 'pick sixes'), the New York media and fans will be calling for the 'Savior'. This move will not work, the Jets are a team in a state of constant confusion and the addition of Tim Tebow only adds to the chaos.
#3 Vincent Jackson , WR, TB: Jackson signed a 5 year $55,555,555 Million dollar contract with Tampa Bay with $26 million guaranteed, so the reason he signed in Tampa is very obvious. It is how he will fit into the Buccaneers offense that is a bit puzzling. First year head coach Greg Schiano, formerly of Rutgers, has the reputation of being a meticulous, structured, and defensive minded coach. That is all well and good in turning around the attitude of a Tampa Bay squad that looked as if they had quit on former coach Raheem Morris, but does it jibe with the signing of perhaps the premier, deep threat wide receiver in the NFL? In the 2011 season, Josh Freeman attempted only 3 passes of 41 yards or more, failing to complete a single one of those attempts. Last season in San Diego, the Chargers attempted 11 passes of 41 yards or more, completing 3, of which Jackson caught 1. This does not appear to be a match made in fantasy production heaven, unless Tampa Bay revamps their offensive scheme heading forward. New offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan (the former quarterback and wide receiver coach for the New York Giants) is the man in charge of getting the Buccaneers to be a more vertical threat style of offense. Eli Manning attempted 13 passes of at least 41 yards in 2011, so the possibility is certainly there for Tampa Bay to attempt to stretch the field. However, for his career, Josh Freeman is 2 of 11 in passes over 41 yards, with a single touchdown; it remains to be seen if he has the deep accuracy to make Jackson a viable, long ball receiving threat. This is a curious signing for the Buccaneers, and one that looks to limit Vincent Jackson as both NFL and fantasy receiver.
#4 John Carlson, TE, MINN: The Vikings signed the former Seahawk tight end to a five- year $25 million deal, with $11 million of the deal guaranteed. Really? The franchise tender offer for tight ends in 2012 is $5.446 million. A second year quarterback-- Christian Ponder -- who needs all the help he can get at the wide receiver position and Minnesota forks over $25 million to a tight end. Minnesota currently lists one Michael Jenkins, the cast off from the Atlanta Falcons, at their number two wide receiver position. Carlson missed the entire 2011 season with a shoulder injury, and somehow gets this sweet deal from the Vikings. Carlson had a career best 55 receptions, with 5 touchdowns back in his rookie season of 2008, and added another 7 touchdowns in 2009 before seeing a big drop off in production in 2010 for Seattle. Kyle Rudolph had a decent rookie season at the tight end position last year for Minnesota, with 26 receptions, 249 yards and 3 touchdowns. Not bad considering the fact Donovan McNabb, Christian Ponder, and Joe Webb were the starting quarterbacks in Minnesota last season. The only line of thinking here can be that the Vikings intend to run a whole lot of two tight end sets in 2012. In his second year as offensive coordinator, Bill Musgrave better have some very inventive ways to get the ball to tight ends up his sleeve, or the Vikings just paid way too much money on a player with 13 career touchdowns in 4 years in the NFL.
So there they are, four moves that make one really scratch their head and wonder just what each franchise was thinking when these deals became a good idea. Doesn't make them winners or losers in free agency, they just make little, or no sense.


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A lot of acquisition activities seems to be happening recently in the global solar and wind markets. I guess with the volatile stock market these days, some companies are ripe for the picking. I do wonder if these M&A activities will continue next year and if this is a good omen or a bad one for the clean tech industry.
For now, here are this week's green news roundup.
Evonik borrows genome tools
Integrated Genomics has licensed its ERGO genomics platform to specialty chemicals company Evonik. Scientists from Evonik's Science-to-Business Center Biotechnology will use the ERGO™ system to optimize their production strains and find new methods for high yield production of specialty chemicals.
Japanese solar plant grows
Kyocera is building a new solar cell manufacturing facility in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, said to be the company's largest plant in Japan. Production is scheduled in the spring of 2010 with estimated output of 300 megawatt to 650 MW by March 2012.GE's clean coal R&D
GE Energy and the University of Wyoming will develop the High Plains Gasification Advanced Technology Center to accelerate the commercial use of cleaner coal technology. The new center, which will open in 2012, will include a small-scale gasification system that will enable researchers from GE and the university to develop advanced gasification solutions for Powder River Basin and other Wyoming coals.
Carbon financing in clean energy
The Goldman Sachs Group will purchase the majority of the carbon offset portfolio of nonprofit investment company E+Co. Through the multi-year alliance, Goldman Sachs will help promote E+Co's goal of providing investment capital and support services to small, clean energy business ventures in developing countries.
Wind farm buyout
European energy company Vattenfall has acquired the Thanet Offshore Wind project off Margate, Kent, for the sum of L35 million ($51.6 million). The wind farm will have an installed capacity of some 300 MW. The acquisition will make Vattenfall one of the biggest wind power operators in Britain
And in ICIS news (which requires subscription):
European trading in green certificates to promote power from renewable energy projects would lead to higher electricity costs for German chemical producers and thus harm their competitiveness according to industry trade group VCI.
Prices for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) in Europe is facing downward pressure due to competitive prices of virgin PET, according to traders
Dow Chemical and Brazilian ethanol producer Crystalsev plan to locate their joint venture sugar cane-to-polyethylene (PE) complex in the border region between Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais in southeast Brazil.


text:
[Date Index]
[Thread Index]
[Author Index]
Creating an ordered list of pairs
How do I create an ordered list of pairs of the following structure:
{{x1,y1}, {x2,y2}, {x3,y3}, ...} ? I want x1, x2, and x3 to be increasing in constant-interval steps (e.g. 1,2,3) and similarly for the y's (e.g. 5,10,15). E.g.
{{1,5}, {1,10}, {1,15}, {2, 5}, {2,10}, ...} etc.
I cannot figure out how to do this with Table or Array. Is there another function that will do this?
Table does not create the correct nesting or structure.


text:
Thank you for visiting my website, blog, and shop. I am a freelance writer, artist, and designer with a passion for creating and sharing. Whether it be creating with words or creating with paint; I've always enjoyed dreaming up a story or world in which I (and others) can escape.
I've been blogging since 2009 and my mission is to share all that I've learned with you. Whether you are a writer, blogger, artist, designer, or reader; my hope is that you come away from my site having learned something positive and new.
For my complete story see:
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I started "creating" at a young age when I took my first private art lesson at 6 or 7 years old. I later caught the writing bug when I was chosen to participate in a young writers program in high school. I went on to study Graphic Design and graduated with a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
I regularly write about art and design, writing and blogging, food allergies, healthy living, parenting, and gardening. I'm sometimes serious and sometimes snarky.
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text: A dumpster sitting on Middle Street in Pittsfield is now home to the belongings of twelve residents whose apartment building was ravaged by a fire, Saturday morning."It's been a nightmare. I just want to get out of here and get it out, and get out of here," said tenant, David Halpin.He and his wife have spent the last couple days picking through the charred remains of their apartment.Patricia Halpin said, "We was able to salvage a few clothes that are going to have to be washed really good."Around 12:30 a.m., the two had to run from their building when a grease fire sparked in a third floor apartment."It was all flames and smoke," described Halpin.According to Pittsfield's Fire Chief Bernard Williams, a tenant had been cooking french fries when the grease caught fire.While no one was injured, the damages will be costly.Williams said, "Apparently, only one of the tenants had insurance. So, it's kind of a sad situation."The building owner was also uninsured."I'd say it's well over $100,000," said Williams.Residents, like the Halpins, are staying in motels with the help of the Red Cross, but with little left of their home, they're not sure how they will be able to rebuild."It's totaled in ours. Totaled third floor. Totaled, totaled ours," said David Halpin.


text:
Attach Drywall through plywood
I recently stiffened my floor joists in a bouncy upstairs room. Now I want to hang drywall from these floor joists for finishing in the basement downstairs.
When I stiffened the joists, I sistered some of the 2x8 joists with 2x10s. The other joists, I stiffened by attaching 2x4s laid flat to the bottom of the joist (to create something like an I-beam... or up-side-down T beam).
The result is that the bottom of the 2x10s hang below the level of the 2x4s by about 1/2". To get the joists "level" I want to rip some 1/2" plywood and attach it to the underside of the 2x4s.
Now the 2x4s have been attached in such a maner that they will be able to support the load of the drywall (they were attached with a combination of liquid nails, 3" long wood screws, and 3" nails). So from a support stand point, I want the drywall to be supported by the 2x4s rather than the plywood.
My plan is to loosely attach the plywood (perhaps just a few finishing nails to hold them in place) and then attach 5/8" drywall with 2" drywall screws.
Anything wrong with this plan? Any issues with plywood as a backer to the drywall?
I would nail ply secure no reason to not and more solid b more better imo
It would be sound against the bottom of the joists, but the only thing holding it in place (until drywall screws go through it) would be 1.5" long finishing nails. But since the nails would all be vertically oriented, if you attempted to pull DOWN on the plywood, it (or those finishing nails) would likely slide right off.
The idea is that the 2x4 studs firmly attached to the joists would be the support structure. The plywood is just a spacer.
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text:
by Megan Miranda
Published on May 24, 2016
By Crown Books for Young Readers
Source: library
Synopsis from Goodreads: Kelsey was raised to see danger everywhere. Her mother hasn't set foot outside their front door in seventeen years, since she escaped from her kidnappers with Kelsey growing inside her. Kelsey knows she's supposed to keep a low profile for their own protection, but that plan is shattered when she drives off a cliff and is rescued by volunteer firefighter and classmate Ryan Baker. A few days later, she arrives home to face her greatest fear: her mother is missing. She and her mother have drilled for all contingencies—except this one. Luckily, Ryan is as skilled at emergency rescues as Kelsey is at escape and evasion. To have a chance at a future, Kelsey will have to face all her darkest fears. Because someone is coming for her. And the truth about the past may end up being the most dangerous thing of all.My take: I've enjoyed Megan Miranda's books before, especially Soulprint, so I really wanted to read this. I really like the way Miranda weaves scientific and psychological theory into her stories.
The main character of The Safest Lies, Kelsey, has grown up in an environment of fear - Kelsey's mom was abducted as a teenager and then later found, four months pregnant with Kelsey. Now the two of them live in a fortified house with a panic room. Kelsey's mom is afraid to leave the house, and she manages this, until Kelsey is involved in an accident that sends her to the hospital. When the accident is written up in the local paper, Kelsey's mom suddenly disappears and Kelsey is left to figure out what to do.
There was something about this book that didn't quite work for me and I'm not sure I've yet put my finger on exactly what it was. I'll try.
What I liked: the suspense that The Safest Lies is able to generate and the way it kept me guessing. I had some theories about what was actually going on with Kelsey and her mom ... but I wasn't right.
I also liked that the story poses the question as to whether fear can be inherited - an interesting idea, given Kelsey's history. I kept thinking this idea was going to be used to make the reader wonder if Kelsey is rational or just having a huge irrational panic attack caused by her inherited fear. But that didn't feel like the case to me - I felt that Kelsey came off as a pretty levelheaded character. So I ended up feeling like the inherited fear thing didn't really go anywhere.
I had more issue with the fact that, for me, this book didn't connect all the dots by the end. Without going into spoilers, I'll just say that a) I assumed that the inciting incident of the book would tie in better to the story. Also b) I'm not sure that certain things about Kelsey's mom's past were entirely credible. And, finally, d) though the romance in this was promising, it didn't really come together for me. I liked Ryan (the love interest) until this big revelation toward the end that seemed kind of disturbing.
Even though this was a bit of a miss for me, a lot of people in my Goodreads feed really enjoyed it, so don't let my opinion dissuade you. I remain a fan of this author -- I bought All the Missing Girls, her recently released adult book and look forward to trying that!
Have you read this? If so, let me know what you thought!


text:
Eleven dead in two wrong-way highway collisions on one day: Driver doing 100mph wipes out family in California while frat brothers die in Florida fireball
- Car crashes in Californian and Florida kill 11 people - including members of a fraternity and an entire family
- Unidentified Ford SUV driver traveled on wrong side of Interstate 275 in Tampa, Florida about 2am
- Collided with Hyundai Sonata carrying four University of South Florida students
- Olivia Culbreath, 21, has been
identified as the driver behind the wheel of the Camaro driving the
wrong way along a Californian highway
- She hit two cars at more than 100 mph and killed six people in the Sunday morning collision
- Culbreath has been charged with six counts of vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence
Eleven people were killed in separate head on collisions on opposite sides of the country today - including a tragic family of four.
In Tampa, Florida, five men, including four fraternity brothers, lost their lives on a southwest Florida highway early this morning when a suspected drunk driving on the wrong-side of the road smashed into their car.
And in Diamond Bar, California, a family of four perished in massive 100mph pileup after a Camaro driving the wrong way down the freeway slammed head-on into their SUV.
Scroll down for video
The driver: Olivia Culbreath, 21, has been identified by authorities as the driver of the wrong-way Camaro
Devastating: A family of four is among the six people killed Sunday morning in a suspected drunk-driving wrong-way crash in California
Hunting for clues: Officials investigate the scene of the horrific accident
The driver of the Camaro, Olivia Culbreath, 21, survived the 4.45am crash and police have indicated that they believe she was intoxicated at the the time of the collision which also caused the death of two of Culbreath's passengers.
Culbreath and another passenger are currently in intensive care at a local hospital and authorities said that two of the victims were ejected from the vehicles in the tragic smash.
The family has not been identified by law enforcement yet.
In Florida, a Ford Expedition heading south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 275 in Tampa collided head-on with a Hyundai Sonata about 2am.
Victims: Jobin Joy Kuriakose, 21 (left) and Ankeet Patel, 22 (right) died when an SUV plowed into their vehicle
Victims: Dammie Yesudhas (left) and Imtiyaz Ilias, 20 (right) were University of South Florida students
As the Ford burst into flames, killing the unidentified driver, the Hyundai's four young passengers succumbed to their injuries.
Due to extensive fire damage, officials are working to identify the male driver of the Ford who was in his early 20s.
Police have identified the victims in the other car as Jobin Joy Kuriakose, 21, Ankeet Harshad Patel, 22, Imtiyaz 'Jim' Ilias, 20 and Dammie Yesudhas, 21 - all members of University of South Florida's Sigma Beta Rho fraternity.
News of the horrific crash has rocked the close-knit fraternity, with condolences rolling in after Sigma Beta Rho Fraternity, Inc posted this touching message on the Facebook page:
'RIP to four of our brothers from Mu Chapter at USF in Tampa who we lost early this morning from a car crash.
- Dammie Yesudhas, Brother Netflix
- Imtiyaz Ilias, Brother Rodnac
- Jobin Kuriakose, Brother Ambition
- Ankeet Patel, Brother Facetious
'May you rest in peace and remain in remembrance. Please pray for the families.'
In California, Culbreath has spoken to investigators about the accident on the 60 Freeway, police spokesperson Steve Urrea told MailOnline.
Horrifying: Officials investigate the scene of the accident
Alcohol may be to blame: CHP officials say there is evidence of alcohol consumption
Alcohol is suspected to be the primary factor in the accident after Culbreath was observed by law enforcement as acting drunk both at the scene and in the hospital.
However, her blood alcohol content has not been made public.
She suffered a broken femur and a ruptured bladder but is listed in stable condition, sources told NBC Los Angeles.
The coroner's office told Patch that the deceased were four females and two males – four died at the scene, two at local hospitals.
Their identities have not yet been released, but will be once next-of-kin are notified.
Culbreath has been arrested and charged with counts of vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI, Urrea told MailOnline.
A Ford Expedition (pictured) heading south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 275 in Tampa collided head-on with a Hyundai Sonata about 2am
Scene: The driver of the Ford SUV, a male in his 20s, has not yet been identified due to the fire damage to the vehicle
She is in custody but remains at the hospital while recovering from injuries sustained in the crash.
The highway's westbound lanes remain shut and the investigation is ongoing.
NBC 2 reported the death of young Ilias, a Cypress Lake High School graduate, has devastated the Cypress Lake community.
His former wrestling coach Paul Rothenberg said Ilias was one of the most determined kids on the team.
'Jim was an amazing guy. In everything, school, wrestling, he worked hard, had fun, was a pleasure to be around always entertaining Always wanted to joke,' he said.
The newspaper reported Ilias was only the second wrestler in school history to place in the state tournament twice - coming 6th in 2011 and 4th in 2012.
Yesudhas was an engineering intern at QTM Incorporated and was completing a Bachelor of Science and Mechanical Engineering at USF.
Shut down: The entire westbound side of the highway is shutdown while investigators comb the scene for evidence
He had completed a Bachelor of Arts last year and was formerly the president of the university's chess club. He also loved playing a variety of sports, including basketball, tennis and volleyball.
Witness Crystal Fountain said she dodged the Ford SUV just moments before the crash.
'It was a car going directly at me in the same lane,' Fountain told Bay News 9.
'It was going straight, it was going fast, all I could think of was the car was on a death mission.'
Fountain said as soon as she swerved out of the way and the Ford SUV sped by, she looked in the side mirror and knew something terrible was about to happen.
'It's just so painful and hurt that innocent people lost their lives and we still don't know why or what the reason is,' she said.
Another witness captured the burning vehicle on camera, and she can be heard screaming as she drives past the crash site.
Authorities said they are investigating whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
The tragic news comes after six people, including a family of four, were killed in a head-on collision in California today.
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text:
Now Viewing:
The Omega 670MXL is a professional medium format dichroic-color head for negatives up to 6cm x 7cm. Whether you depend on an enlarger for earning your livelihood, for exhibit-caliber work or instructional applications, you need an instrument that's versatile and built to last.
The 670MXL is exactly that. Its tough, die cast components assure trouble-free operation and locked-in alignment. The benefits of a diffusion illumination system also include easier printing because the effects of dust and scratches on negatives are suppressed.
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|Light Source
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|Light Control
|Dichroic filtration system with a 6" x 7" mixing chamber
|Filter Drawer
|Not applicable
|Power Supply
|120volts, 50/60Hertz


text:
to much other nosie then gun fire and talking bothers me.
This is a discussion on Music at the range? within the General Firearm Discussion forums, part of the Related Topics category; Originally Posted by MotorCityGun Running with headset/music on is antithetical to SA. That is why I don't even bother carrying when I run. I run ...
to much other nosie then gun fire and talking bothers me.
When I'm shooting I rock to "Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies"
Really makes me want to kill out that paper silhouette target... with a vengeance!
In all honesty I get into that "zone" from the pistols own action rhythm... no music needed.
When I'm doing my HIIT cardio (high intensity interval training) I always listen to classic rock
Yep. Most entertaining to blast off .45 ACP or large bore magnum revolvers to Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture, in time with the cannon fire.
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (Full with Cannons) - YouTube (at 12:05 and 14:15).
Turn up loud!
Charter Member of the DC .41 LC Society "Get heeled! No really"
No possible rapidity of fire can atone for habitual carelessness of aim with the first shot.
Theodore Roosevelt, The Wilderness Hunter, 1893
"Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands. " Col. Jeff Cooper
Proud member NRA, VCDL, USPSA, IDPA & DADD ( if you have daughters, you understand )
Best way to keep you fit is running and while running if you listen to music then it would be more refreshing and energetic while gyming or working out you can listen to your favorite music.


text: As we sit here in the Atlanta airport, one puddle jumper away from Sebring, our excitement level is increasing by the minute. This excitement was pushed even further when Andy Blackmore posted his newest spotter guide for the 2012 American Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship at Sebring International Raceway to his blog. Andy's guides are absolutely an asset to anyone watching the race either in person or from home. Please visit his site and download his guide for the race! Also, Andy has added a PDF version which is really nice for those who wish to view the guide on their mobile phone or iPad. Thumbs up to Andy, and make sure you give him a "like" on Facebook too!


text:
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