text:
The Magic, Fairy Dust Naivete That Is Progressive Economics
ACRU Staff
June 17, 2013
This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform (CCWR) Peter Ferrara was published June 16, 2013 on Forbes.com.
Let's proclaim the Good News: Government money is free. No, not just to the beneficiaries of government programs. To society as a whole. Meaning there is no economic cost to government spending whatsoever. The more the government spends, the richer we will all be. Let the Good Times roll.
That is the foundational principle of Keynesian economics, which is heart and soul "Progressivism." Every Paul Krugman column can just be replaced by the summary paragraph above.
Money doesn't grow on trees, you say? That outdated notion is where you went wrong. Today's paper money IS trees.
The liberal left wing that dominates the Democrat Party today so can't stand cutting just 1% to 2% of federal spending, just from the growth in spending, as provided in the sequester, that they are saying that the sequester spending cuts involve "austerity," which, they claim, is slowing economic growth, jobs, and the non-existent recovery. This is based on the failed, discredited, outdated economic doctrine of Keynesian economics, which holds that economic recovery and growth is restored by increasing government spending, deficits and debt. This supposedly increases "aggregate demand," which supposedly stimulates increased production, and hiring, to meet that demand.
You can see exactly this being said in the public debate today. President Obama's senior economic advisor during his first term, Harvard University Professor of Economics Larry Summers, testified before the Senate Budget Committee on June 5 that during times of sluggish economic growth at least, "Borrowing to support spending, either by the government or the private sector, raises demand and therefore increases output and employment above the level they otherwise would have reached. Unlike in normal times, these gains will not be offset by reduced private spending because there is substantial excess capacity in the economy…."
Summers added,
"Consider the effect of the sequester in 2013. The sequester will impact the last 10 months of calendar year 2013. The CBO estimates that the sequester will, over this 10 month interval, reduce spending by $64 billion [out of total federal spending during this year of close to $3.7 trillion, or nearly 60 times as much]….However, we must also consider the sequester's effect on GDP growth. The CBO estimates that the sequester will reduce the GDP growth rate in 2013 by 0.6 percentage points. This stifling of growth actually increases the debt/GDP ratio through two effects: First, by reducing the GDP growth rate, the sequester reduces the denominator of the debt/GDP ratio. Second, lower GDP during 2013 means lower tax revenue, which increases the deficit."
So the conclusion that Summers draws is,
"[I]t would not be desirable to undertake further measures to rapidly reduce deficits in the short run. Excessively rapid fiscal consolidation in an economy that is still constrained by lack of demand, and where space for monetary policy action is limited, risks slowing economic expansion at best and halting recovery at worst. Indeed, there is no compelling macroeconomic case for the deficit reduction now being achieved through sequestration, as the adverse impacts of spending cuts on GDP more or less offset their direct impacts in reducing debt."
Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray reflected this thinking in hearings the previous day, saying,
"When the economy is struggling, government should act to make things better for the middle class and most vulnerable families by investing in jobs and economic growth [meaning increasing federal spending, deficits and debt] that not only boosts demand in the short term, but also helps lay down a strong foundation for long-term and broad-based growth for years to come….Right now, we're seeing how the indiscriminate and irresponsible cuts from sequestration are hurting the economy….And continuing on the path to austerity right now [meaning making minimal cuts just in the growth of federal spending] would weaken our economy and do serious damage to job creation and growth….In fact, the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission highlighted the importance of 'investing in [meaning increasing federal spending, deficits and debt for] education, infrastructure, and high-value research and development to help our economy grow, keep us globally competitive, and make it easier for businesses to create jobs.'"
But all of this is transparently fallacious, and the marked decline in the ability of our nation's supposed "elites" to reason, or even to communicate clearly, is markedly contributing to the rapid decline of America. The 2009 stimulus in particular included heavy increases in spending for infrastructure, to no good effect for jobs, wages, middle class incomes, or economic growth.
The truth is that Keynesian economics is just plain silly, no matter how many academic eminences embrace it, because increasing government spending, deficits and debt does not increase "aggregate demand." That is because the money to finance that government spending, deficits and debt must come from somewhere. So if you increase federal spending, deficits and debt by close to a trillion, as the Obama/Democrat so-called 2009 "stimulus" did, and finance that government spending, deficits and debt by borrowing an extra trillion dollars out of the private sector, the net increase in aggregate demand is no more than ZERO at best. [This is why the Wall Street Journal's Steve Moore has rightly called Keynesian economics "magic fairy dust economics."] In fact, the whole transaction is probably a net drag on the economy, growth, jobs and wages. (This reasoning still applies even when there is supposed "substantial excess capacity in the economy.").
That, in fact, is exactly what happened with the 2009 "stimulus," because as several of my recent columns have documented, the supposed recovery under President Obama from the 2008-2009 recession was the WORST recovery of any previous recovery from any previous recession under any previous President since the Great Depression. It took far too long for the economy to grow back to the previous peak of GDP, we still have not recovered all the jobs lost during the recession, which is taking far longer than for any previous recovery since the Great Depression, poverty has soared during Obama's entire Presidency, even though the recession actually ended four years ago, middle class incomes have actually declined all that time as well, and economic growth during Obama's first term was the worst of any President since the Great Depression as well, worse even than during the one term of Jimmy Carter, or during the awful second term of George W. Bush.
This pitiful, disastrous, inexcusable economic record is particularly egregious because the American historical record is the worse the recession the stronger the recovery, as the American economy always rebounded back to it's previous, long term, world leading, economic growth trendline. As a matter of math, that means faster than normal growth, until we return to the normal, stable, long term growth trendline. Professor Summers did much better during the 1990s serving under President Clinton, when Newt Gingrich was running the economy, and his predecessor at Treasury in Robert Rubin was protecting the dollar. Given his less well supervised, more recent performance under President Obama, Professor Summers should be retired, instead of pretending to tutor the Congress on economics.
But there is an even more fundamental problem with the logic of Keynesian economics, bes
ides the magic fairy dust problem. Demand can never be inadequate in a free market economy. Demand is insatiable in fact. [Verify that with a talk with your teenage daughter, or son]. If the demand for any particular good or service is inadequate for the supply produced, the price will just fall for that good or service, until demand equals supply. Consumers can never consume more than is produced, no matter what policies the government follows to increase "aggregate demand," and they will never consume less, as the market price system will see to that.
This is because what really drives economic growth, recovery, and prosperity is not "aggregate demand" (a fallacious, fabricated, concept, in fact), but economic production and output. Rich nations, like rich people, are not rich because of their demand for goods and services, but because of their production. Those who produce more, consume more. Demand is not the problem. Production is.
And what drives increased production, economic growth, and prosperity is the economic incentives for such production, growth and prosperity. The more fundamental reason why President Obama's "recovery" and economic record are so bad is because he has consistently followed anti-growth policies across the board, squelching incentives for increased production.
On taxes, President Obama has now raised top marginal tax rates across the board for virtually every major federal tax. That includes personal income taxes, capital gains taxes, the tax on corporate dividends, and death taxes. The corporate income tax rate under President Obama is now the highest in the world, and the capital gains tax rate, counting state capital gains taxes, is close to the highest in the world. All these tax rate increases slash the incentives for productive activity, and are predatory in particular to capital investment, which is the foundation for increased jobs, wages and incomes in a capitalist economy. Which is why President Obama isn't getting any.
On regulation, President Obama has been busily increasing regulatory burdens and barriers across the board, which further reduces the incentives and even the opportunities for increased production. See, e.g., the Keystone pipeline, the out of control EPA, picking and choosing which whole industries to assassinate, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, etc., etc.
On money, the Obama Administration has provided the political cover for, supported, and cheer-led, the wildest Fed monetary policy in U.S. history, debasing the currency, and sharply undercutting confidence in the dollar, which has survived this onslaught only because it is competing with other fiat, paper money currencies which are even less stable. Bad currency murders economic growth, jobs, wages and prosperity, because investors do not want to invest where they are likely to be paid back in a debased currency worth less, and arbitrary monetary policies produce bubble and bust cycles that can bankrupt almost any enterprise. Today's Fed monetary abuses are fostering new bubbles, and laying the groundwork for an even worse crisis to come.
And on spending, President Obama has pursued the wildest spree of federal spending, deficits and debt, since World War II, when at least we were fighting, and defeating, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, which was ultimately very pro-growth. (Investors like to invest where their investments are less likely to be blown up, and they are less likely to be murdered). Before President Obama, no American deficit had ever been anywhere near $1 trillion. Under President Obama, no deficit has ever been less than $1 trillion. And the national debt as a percent of GDP is roaring towards all-time, World War II records.
Contrary to Keynesian economics, that runaway federal spending, deficits and debt just drains resources out of the more productive private sector, only contributing to further decline and stagnation.
There is within this current economy the greatest boom in world history just straining its bonds to break out, and restore the American Dream — traditional, American, world leading, economic growth and prosperity. All we have to do is set it free, by reversing every one of President Obama's policies.
That means individual and corporate tax reform, cutting rates, and closing, especially special interest, crony capitalist loopholes, such as President Obama's green energy tax giveaways. Better if such reform is not revenue neutral, but a net tax cut. Such policies would be served particularly well by the proposed tax reforms of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, hopefully to be implemented later this year by House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp. For individual income taxes, Ryan has proposed a 10% rate for families earning less than $100,000 a year, and a 25% rate for families earning over $100,000. For corporate taxes, Ryan has proposed reducing the world leading 35% federal tax rate to 25%, which is close to the global average. Ryan also proposes to repeal and replace Obamacare, which would end the Obamacare tax increases.
These lower rates would sharply increase incentives for productive activities, particularly the capital investment which is the foundation for growing jobs, wages and incomes. And eliminating the special interest tax loopholes and preferences would terminate the resulting misallocation of resources to less productive activities and enterprises.
It means deregulation, instead of Obama's costly reregulation. That would be served by repealing and replacing Obamacare as well, and Dodd-Frank and the EPA's delusional global warming crusade should join it on the ash heap of history as well. Does that mean returning to the same policies that caused the 2008 financial crisis? That was caused by overregulation, starting with President Clinton's housing policies, adopted to create housing "fairness," (what was fair about the housing bubble and its inevitable collapse?), and by the same Federal Reserve monetary policy mismanagement that the Obama Administration has been cheerleading.
Probably most important of all is fundamental reform of the Fed, and monetary policy, to enforce a stable dollar. That would involve tying the dollar to stable, real world measures. Such a stable currency would draw capital investment to America from the world over, as investors would know their investment returns would arrive in a currency with the same real world value as when they first made their investment, and there would be no bubble and bust cycles to threaten the very survival of their investments.
And the final component would be to restore control over federal spending, deficits and debt. The best plan for that would again be Paul Ryan's 2013 budget, which would actually balance the budget within 10 years, and stabilize the national debt as a percent of GDP at manageable levels. Long forgotten has been Reagan's much vilified at the time 1981 "Reagan budget cuts," which contrary to brain dead Keynesian economics left more resources in the productive private sector, and so contributed to Reagan's 25 year, generation long, economic boom. That boom restored traditional American economic growth and prosperity after the disastrous 1970s, while slaying the double digit 1970s inflation, which all the Keynesian gurus of the time had said was impossible in the real world. Impossible for them.
That leaves as the last question only what would be the appropriate punishment for those blind, persistent fools, who continue to teach and promote Keynesian economics. I will leave that question for suggestions from the commenters.
In conclusion, and in honor of Keynesian economics, and President Obama's economic policies and their results, we can now amend Orwell as follows:
War Is Peace
Freedom Is Slavery
Ignorance Is Strength
Poverty Is Prosperity


text:
Markdown Here
Write your email in Markdown, then make it pretty.
What is Markdown Here?
Write your email in Markdown, then make it pretty..
Markdown Here lets you write email in Markdown and render it (make it pretty!) before sending. This is great for anyone who doesn't like fiddling around with formatting buttons while writing an email. It's especially good for programmers who write email with code in them -- it even supports syntax highlighting. And for the mathematicians among us: Markdown Here will render TeX formulae as well. Totally simple to use: 1. Write your email in your email client's rich editor using Github-flavoured Markdown. 2. Right-click in the compose area and then click "Markdown Toggle". 3. Your email is now pretty! (That is, it's been rendered to HTML.) 4. If you like the way it looks, just send it. If you want to change or add something, click "Markdown Toggle" again to get back to your original Markdown. 5. Repeat as necessary. Markdown Here is primarily targeted to work with Gmail and Thunderbird, but it also works pretty well with Yahoo and Hotmail. Additionally, it works great with Google Groups and Sites, Evernote's web interface, Blogger, Wordpress, and more! Syntax highlighting note: Use fenced code blocks and specify the language name. See the project page for an example. Privacy: Markdown Here accesses and modifies web content when you activate it. It can, in theory, access other web content, but does not. It also makes no Internet requests whatsoever. Your data is modified when and where you choose, and does not leave your browser. Available as a Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Thunderbird extension. This is an open source project. Visit Markdown Here's Github page for full instructions, more information, bug reports, or to contribute. http://markdown-here.com https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here
See More
Trends for Markdown Here:
User count
Category Rank
HOW TO INSTALL Markdown Here FROM A CRX FILE
- Download Markdown Here CRX file
- NOTE: Sometimes the browser may block downloading / installing CRX file from outside the Chrome Web Store. If so, you may need to download the ZIP file instead
- In the URL bar, go to chrome://extensions
- Enable Developer mode
No reviews

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jessica Kibblewhite grew up the daughter of an astronomer. Her dad, Edward Kibblewhite, invented, among other things, a system that allows scientists to take clearer pictures of stars.
Given his background, Jessica asked him for help finding clarity on a different subject: starting a family.
The world, Jessica told Edward at StoryCorps last October, seemed like an especially difficult place, and she and her husband had been struggling with the idea of bringing children into it.
She felt scared for the future.
Edward, now 75, asks her what the alternative is.
"Not having a kid in the 21st century," Jessica says.
"I think if you do not have children because you fear the future, that is to misunderstand what it means to be human," he says.
Edward says he grew up during a time of great fear as well. He was born after World War II, and there was an Air Force base with a missile site not far from his high school. Students were invited to tour the facility and touch the warhead of a hydrogen bomb.
"We were pretty sure that these missiles would be fired," he says. "I had a whole plan I had worked out – an underground place to go. ... I mean, the whole population believed we would be burned to death."
The period following World War II was plagued with global fear of imminent, mass annihilation. Edward acknowledges that today's future also holds real fears, but, he tells his daughter, it's vital to remain hopeful.
"Having you as a daughter was a very moving experience, and in the case of my parents, WWII started on Sept. 1, 1939. My sister was born the next year," he says. "So having children is an act of hope, and if you do not have children because of fear, then you have given up hope for the future."
For Jessica and her husband, Sam Horn, the StoryCorps conversation played a big role in their decision to try to start a family.
"Maybe it's a choice," Jessica says, "to feel hope."
Audio produced for Morning Edition by Camila Kerwin.
StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that gives people the chance to interview friends and loved ones about their lives. These conversations are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, allowing participants to leave a legacy for future generations. Learn more, including how to interview someone in your life, at StoryCorps.org.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
This is part of our 3-part series on the three most important Stoic philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. Here you will find a short introduction to Epictetus, suggested readings, three exercises/lessons from him as well as a selection of quotes. You can also read our introduction to Stoicism if you are not familiar with the philosophy.
Part of what makes Stoicism fascinating to study is that three of its most well-known practitioners ranged widely in terms of where they stood in society. Think of Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of the Roman Empire holding one of the most powerful positions in the world. Think of Seneca, who was an adviser to an emperor, renowned playwright and one of the richest people in the Roman Empire. And then there is Epictetus, on the complete opposite, who was born as a slave. That's what makes Stoicism so powerful: it can provide timeless principles to help us in both good and bad fortune, no matter our station our life.
Epictetus was born nearly 2,000 years ago in Hierapolis (present-day Pamukkale in Turkey) as a slave in a wealthy household. Epaphroditus, his owner, gave him the permission to pursue liberal studies and it is how Epictetus discovered philosophy through the Stoic Musonius Rufus who became his teacher and mentor. Later, Epictetus obtained his freedom shortly after emperor Nero's death and started teaching philosophy in Rome for nearly 25 years. This lasted until emperor Domitian famously banished all philosophers in Rome. Epictetus fled to Nicopolis in Greece where he founded a philosophy school and taught there until his death.
After his death, Lucian tells us that someone bought Epictetus's earthenware lamp for 3,000 drachmas (surprisingly enough, that same lamp also mentioned later by James Joyce). But what is so special about the lamp? As Epictetus put it and providing an important Stoic lesson: "I keep an iron lamp by the side of my household gods, and, on hearing a noise at the window, I ran down. I found that the lamp had been stolen. I reflected that the man who stole it was moved by no unreasonable motive. What then? Tomorrow, I say, you will find one of earthenware. Indeed, a man loses only that which he already has."
Epictetus' strong and wide-ranging influence can be seen in multiple instances. Marcus Aurelius, in Meditations, thanks his teacher Junius Rusticus for introducing him to Epictetus. There is a slight probability that Rusticus actually attended Epictetus' lectures and passed his own notes to Marcus. Yet the most likely thing is that Marcus read the widely circulated notes by Epictetus's student Arria, which we will discuss below.
James Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for over 7 years credits Epictetus for providing him with a framework on how to endure the tortures he was subjected to. As Stockdale would be confined in leg irons, he certainly remembered that Epictetus had a disabled leg, which was probably broken by his master although there is no certainty around this. However, Epictetus would say in regards to this, "Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself."
Epictetus appears prominently in author Tom Wolfe's well-known novel A Man in Full. Albert Ellis, the psychologist who founded Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was also influenced by Epictetus.
What is fascinating is that this influence came by pure luck. Epictetus never actually wrote anything down. It is through his student Arrian that we have a written account of his lessons. And if everyone from Emperors to war heros have been grateful as they found guidance, solace and strength in Epictetus' lessons, then there must be something for us. But only if we choose to.
Notable Works & Suggested Readings
A great starting point for Epictetus would be his Enchiridion, which translates as a 'small manual or a handbook' and it is exactly that. It is the perfect introduction to Epictetus as it is packed with short Stoic maxims and principles. Unlike both Seneca and Marcus, Epictetus is somewhat more difficult to read and we recommend beginning with those two if you haven't yet read them. The next step would be Epictetus' Discourses, which are much longer and deserve a bigger commitment.
For other readings, as mentioned above we recommend reading the short autobiography Courage Under Fire by James Stockdale as well as A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe.
3 Exercises & Lessons From Epictetus
1. Remember What's In Your Control
The Enchiridion begins with one of the most important maxims in Stoic philosophy. The importance of distinguishing things that are under our control and things that are not. (Think of it as the Stoic Serenity Prayer.) It is a reminder not to get angry and upset by things which we cannot influence such as other people and external events and to only focus on ourselves, our own behavior. This makes things a bit easier, doesn't it? A humbling reminder of how much happens that we can't influence and learning to let go and accept things as they are. Yet at the same time, a powerful reminder that our actions and choices are fully in our own control. As Epictetus said,
"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions."
2. Set the Standard
The best leaders rarely talk how things ought to be done, their actions speak for themselves. Think of someone you admired and how many of the lessons came indirectly from the choices that they've made and the example they have set. Similarly, we need to be focused on how we are actually living and what choices we are making. That's where our time and energy will be best spent. As Epictetus put it,
"Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought."
3. Prescribe Yourself a Character
Epictetus understood how much we act out of habit and how we tend to think that our ways of doing things are set in stone. He admonished his students to set some principles and standards they need to follow and not deviate as much as possible. This is certainly not easy by any stretch but with small steps, each day reminding us what direction we'd like to go to, we can get closer to the character we wish to have. As he put it,
"Immediately prescribe some character and form of conduce to yourself, which you may keep both alone and in company."
Epictetus Quotes
"No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen."
"Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily before your eyes, but death chiefly; and you will never entertain any abject thought, nor too eagerly covet anything."
"Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and your life will be serene."
"Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless itself pleases. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will; and say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens. For you will find it to be an impediment to something else, but not truly to yourself."
"I cannot escape death; but cannot I escape the dread of it? Must I die trembling and lamenting?"
"To make the best of what is in our power, and take the rest as it occurs."
P.S. The bestselling authors of The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, have teamed up again in their new book Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living From Zeno To Marcus. Along with presenting the fascinating lives of all the well-known and not so well-known Stoics, Lives of the Stoics distills timeless and immediately applicable lessons about happiness, success, resilience, and virtue. The book is available for pre-order and is set to release on September 29!
Meet The Stoics:
Who Is Marcus Aurelius? Getting To Know The Roman Emperor
Who Is Seneca? Inside The Mind of The World's Most Interesting Stoic
Who Is Epictetus? From Slave To World's Most Sought After Philosopher
Who is Gaius Musonius Rufus? Getting to Know "The Roman Socrates"
Who Is Cleanthes? Successor to Zeno & Second Head of the Stoic School
Who Is Chrysippus? The 'Second Founder of Stoicism' Who Died Laughing
Who Is Cato? Roman Senator. Mortal Enemy of Julius Caesar.
Who Is Zeno? An Introduction to the Founder of Stoicism
Who Is Cicero? Getting To Know Rome's Greatest Politician
Who Is Posidonius? The Most Academic Stoic
Who Is Panaetius? Spreading Stoicism from Greece to Rome
Who Is Paconius Agrippinus? An Introduction To The Red Thread Contrarian
Who Is Porcia Cato? An Introduction To The Stoic Superwoman
Who Is Gaius Rubellius Plautus? An Introduction To Nero's Rival
Who Is Athenodorus Cananites? An Introduction To The Royal Mentor
Who Is Publius Rutilius Rufus? An Introduction To The Man Who Could Not Be Corrupted
Explore Our Daily Stoic Store


text:
Welcome to Luleå
Welcome to Sweden, Scandinavia's northernmost university of technology and the second International Congress on eMaintenance. In addition to an interesting workshop, technical programme and events, delegates will be able to enjoy some of the fascinating attractions of Swedish Lapland, including the Midnight Sun, the Luleå archipelago and the Arctic Circle. You will experience the unique and beautiful white wilderness of Luleå, besides celebrating Santa Lucia day.
eMaintenance is being exploited in many industrial domains, e.g. transport, energy, manufacturing and process. One of the main objectives with eMaintenance is to align the maintenance process with the business and operational processes to achieve organisational objectives. eMaintenance is realised in proper information logistics by enhanced utilisation of Information & Communication Technology (ICT). eMaintenance also supports different interconnected levels in an organisation by provision of an effective and efficient infrastructure for decision-making. The benefits of eMaintenance are reflected in organisations´ overall performance and effectiveness.


text:
Ike marks her tenth year at CHS
Deb (Beck) Ike was only coming to teach English and French at Caronport High School (CHS) for one year.
That was 10 years ago.
Today, Ike is in her fifth year as principal of CHS and she marvels at the path that brought her to this place.
Before coming to Caronport, Ike had taught several English courses as well as French, History, Yearbook and Journalism at a large public high school in Abbotsford, B.C.
"I was there for five and a half years," she said. "I had gotten to the point where I was able to teach all the classes I wanted. I had my dream profile."
Then Ike felt God leading her to take a year's leave of absence. As she considered various overseas and aboriginal locations where she could teach for a year, her Dad told her CHS needed an English teacher. Ike inquired about the position and after several phone interviews she was offered the job.
"I struggled," Ike admitted as she explained the process of deciding whether or not to take the position. "Why would I go to a Christian school where all the kids are Christians? I've just been here out on the front lines in the public school system. That's where I felt my calling was. I didn't feel peace until I'd made that decision. It was like Moses stepping into the water. I had to be obedient and get my feet wet before I saw the way clear for me to move forward."
Ike found the following year to stretch her in every way.
"It was a challenge," she said. "But I learned to teach in a whole new way. It was fun to do some things with other types of literature I hadn't had a chance to do before – such as C.S. Lewis. I had more freedom within the curriculum because we weren't so focused on teaching to a provincial exam."
Life in Caronport was also very different from life in Abbotsford.
"It was culture shock," Ike said. "I lived in a trailer with pipes bursting in the winter. It was so lonely. It was like learning to breathe at a different altitude."
Even with the challenges, Ike decided to stay on in Caronport when the time came to renew her contract.
Around that time, she got some life advice from one of her students on the way home from a senior ski trip.
"One of the boys sat down by me and he put his arm around me," she recalled with a laugh. "He said, 'Miss Beck, You've got to get out of here. You will never find anybody here. You have to leave. You have to leave now so you have a chance of happiness in your life."
"I said, 'Thanks, that's kind of you,'" she continued. "'I really appreciate that, but I think the Lord can manage that.' – Even though I wasn't quite sure that He could. I was almost 30. I wasn't coming here to find somebody."
Just a short time later, Ike started a dating relationship with her future husband Marcelo, whom she had gotten to know at a Bible study. Her students took great interest in the relationship's development.
"There wasn't a whole lot to do in Caronport, so watching our relationship was really fascinating for (the students)," Ike said with a laugh.
Ike was married the following winter and several of her students who lived in the B.C. area came to the wedding. AJ Crocker, the current CHS chaplain who was then just freshly graduated from CHS, was one of those students.
"At our wedding there was an open mike," she chuckled. "(AJ) sort of took credit for our relationship developing – in front of all my former staff and professional colleagues!"
During her time at CHS, Ike says there have been some big changes.
"School culture has been the biggest change," she said. "Last year we had as many new students come as we had returning students, so it's a big culture risk every year. There's potential every single year for the culture to descend but we work really hard to bring them into our culture and have them become a part of it and then in turn to shape it."
The CHS principal says the two greatest commandments of Jesus – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself – are the foundation that the school tries to use to shape its important decisions. She says it's changed how they deal with kids in crisis.
"There's a lot more working with them, supporting them," she explained. "We're still holding them accountable – there are still consequences, but our goal is to come alongside them, offer them counseling, mentorship, and tutoring. We're all trying to make it work for them and giving them every opportunity to do that."
"We're not perfect, but we're committed to regeneration," she exclaimed.
Besides the thrill of seeing students graduate and begin to make their mark, Ike says she is grateful for the many different faculty and staff she serves at CHS.
"It's a real testimony to us all being the body of Christ," she said. "Teachers at CHS for the last 65 years have been pouring into kids' lives. That's why we're still her I think because God had a way of connecting to kids through the staff and that's always been the heart of it and that's always what set it apart and that's what kids remember."
Ike says she would like her legacy at CHS to be 'faithfulness to God's direction.'
"The role of each of us (at CHS) is a drop in the bucket," she explained. "There's a bigger work of God that's happening. Ultimately it's God's school to run as He chooses. So we've been trying to be part of this chapter of God's journey for our school and be faithful to that."


text:
Hope you had an awesome weekend!
Besides eating lots of chocolate, I had some time to sit down and respond to a question I'm frequently asked, "Why do my cookies spread so much when I bake them?"
So to answer, and to celebrate the upcoming royal wedding, I made a few of these little cookies:
I knew I wanted them to stay small so that the crowns almost fit on the base, so it was important to me that they didn't spread too much. (I had made the royal icing transfer crowns first. Cookies are 4.5 cm / approx. 2 inches across).
One thing to mention; the little jewels are inedible; they're actually Swarovski Elements craft jewels. I just had to add some truly sparkly bling in honor of the royal wedding. 😉 To prevent the whole cookie from being inedible though, I made the crown a royal icing transfer and just barely iced it to the cookie base, so that it could easily be removed. Another point to mention; the cookie design came from here.
Several of these tips are already in my Sugar Cookie Recipe, and a few are new. By communicating with some of you, I've realized a few key things which helped me which I hadn't thought to mention before.
A quick note first, a little bit of spreading is normal (see photo above with cookie cutter and cookie); but there are things you can do to help cookies keep their shape!
Tips on Helping Your Cookies Keep their Shape
1. Baking Powder
Whichever recipe you're using, don't use baking powder in the dough. I used to take it out only for more detailed cookies, now I omit it all the time.
2. Oven Temperature
Check to make sure your oven really is at the right temperature by using an oven safe thermometer. If your oven isn't hot enough, the cookies don't 'set' quick enough, and the cookies have more time to spread. Also remember that opening your oven up to peek on the progress of the cookies, will make the oven lose heat and affect 'cookie spreadage'. If you still notice that your cookies are spreading, another thing you can do to help cookies keep their shape, is increase the heat 10-25 degrees higher than the suggested temperature on the recipe. Every oven is different, so you may need to try this for yours.
3. Incorporating Too Much Air
Be careful not to mix the butter and sugar too long (Usually the first step of making the dough; called creaming). Overmixing the butter and sugar will cause too much air to be incorporated. I usually mix mine just until the ingredients come together.
4. Correct Measurements
Baking is like a science… If your measurements are off it can change the whole recipe. For example, too much sugar will affect your dough. Sugar becomes liquid when melted and more liquid causes spreading. You can't avoid having some sugar though, after all, we're talking about cookies. 😉
5. Butter
Speaking of liquid, the amount of water in the butter you buy will affect the spreading factor.
As for how to know which butters have more/less water content, so far I've just had to experiment with different brands to see what works best. I haven't found any indication on packaging mentioning percent of water etc. If anyone has more information on this, I'd love to hear your input!
Generally, I've found that the cheaper the butter, the higher the water content seems to be. 🙁
I can't talk about shortening or other types of fat (sorry!), as I don't bake cookies with any other fat than butter.
6. Baking Sheets
It may be that I simply like my shiny, new baking sheets, but it seems to me that cookies baked on a thick baking sheet seem to spread less than on a thin one. Here's a link to the ones I prefer (click here), and, so you can see what I mean, a link to the other ones (click here).
7. Cookie Thickness
How thick are your cookies? The thicker they are, the longer it takes for the heat in your oven to help the cookies 'set', and the more time they have to spread. Mine vary depending on how thick I feel like making them, but in general, they're about 3/4 cm – 1cm thick.
If you would like a thicker cookie, try raising the temperature of your oven a few degrees to bake them. Each oven and recipe are different, so you'll have to play around with this a bit and see what works best.
7. Parchment Paper
Cover your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpatrather than greasing your pan with any type of oil/fat. Cookies seem to spread/slide more when resting on a greasy surface.
8. Chill the Dough
Once you've made the dough and it has rested for at least an hour, cut your cookie shapes out and put them back in the fridge for at least an hour or more before baking.
Regarding re-rolling dough scraps – I've noticed that the very first batch of dough which has only been rolled once, spreads the least, even if I've chilled them for minimum one hour. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the gluten in the flour being overworked.
Hope these tips help! If you have any more ideas, comments or questions, please feel free to share them here, in the comment section, or on my facebook page here.
Happy baking!


text:
A new day dawns on Azeroth. A day like every one before it, and every one after. A day of merciless struggle for the control of the World of Warcraft. Not only is this Small World territory far too tight for everyone, it also hosts the never-ending conflict between the factions of the Alliance and the Horde. Dawn has broken and the time has come to take your place on the front lines.
Small World of Warcraft is a stand-alone board game set in Blizzard's glorious video game universe, Azeroth. 2-5 players vie for control of several islands in this hostile world and their only hope will be to pick the right combination of races and special powers. After staking your claim to a piece of land, defeat your neighbors and expand your territory. If you can occupy legendary places and control powerful magical artifacts, you'll reach new levels of domination. However, empires must eventually fall, so be ready to put your over-extended race into decline and lead a new one to glory so you can eventually rule Azeroth.
Inside The Box
- 6 Double-Sided Game Boards
- 16 World of Warcraft Races with matching banners & tokens
- 20 Special Power badges
- 7 Legendary Places & 5 Artifacts
- 10 Mountains, 15 Murlocs, 9 Wisp Walls, 4 Harmony tokens, 12 Bombs, 1 Champion, 10 Forts, 2 Military Objectives, 5 Beasts & 6 Watch Towers
- 1 Game Turn track & 1 Game Turn Marker
- 110 Victory Coins
- 5 Summary Sheets
- 1 Reinforcement Die
- 1 Rules Booklet
- 1 Team Variant Rules sheet
Download the rules
Basic rules
Other basic rules & Team rules
Watch the trailer video
Download helpers
Choose your language
Download the F.A.Q


text:
Lloyd's Real Estate division offers full range professional services and a free market analysis report. In addition, you receive personalized attention from a local licensed Real Estate Broker who thoroughly knows and understands the Walla Walla Valley area.
- Selling? Lloyd's Real Estate uses Multiple Listing Services to ensure that your property receives the coverage and exposure that it deserves.
- Buying? We'll help you find that perfect property. With our years of experience in the neighborhood we can find a great location for you.
Whether buying or selling, our team of professionals has the knowledge and experience to meet and exceed your expectations. Our team members pride themselves on being on the leading edge of the real estate world in terms of skill and training, experience, and leveraging technology tools. Each of our professional agents is an expert on Washington State procedures and practices. This, combined with an in-depth knowledge of the Southeastern Washington real estate market, guarantees a unique level of personalized service.


text: Verizon announced their new cellphone plan today, called "Share Everything", which gives you unlimited talk and text with a data plan that you share among 10 devices on your plan. You can choose how much data you and your family need, and tethering is included for free, which is a great perk. The downside? If you switch to it, your unlimited data plan will go away, and you'll have to keep track of the entire family's data instead of just your own, which seems incredibly cumbersome. You can, however, keep your unlimited data plan as long as you don't buy any subsidized phones from Verizon—so if you want to buy a new phone, you should do it before then plan goes live on June 28. Hit the link for more information. [Verizon Wireless]


text:
Binary Data Services¶
The modules described in this chapter provide some basic services operations for manipulation of binary data. Other operations on binary data, specifically in relation to file formats and network protocols, are described in the relevant sections.
Some libraries described under Text Processing Services also work with either
ASCII-compatible binary formats (for example, re
) or all binary data
(for example, difflib
In addition, see the documentation for Python's built-in binary data types in Binary Sequence Types — bytes, bytearray, memoryview.
— Interpret bytes as packed binary datacodecs
— Codec registry and base classes


text:
Forget about drones and armies of people driving Amazon trucks. One big Wall Street firm thinks Amazon's plan to build up its air freight delivery service may be what really winds up hurting UPS and FedEx.
Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker said in a report Tuesday that both delivery giants could lose 10% of their revenue to Amazon Air by 2025. Shanker cut his price targets on UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) and both stocks plunged more than 6% as a result.
It was a particularly gruesome day for transportation stocks due to worries about the broader economy and confusion about the status of US-China trade talks.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average, which includes FedEx and UPS as well as leading airlines, truckers and railroads, fell 4.4% -- its worst drop since June 2016.
But Shanker paints a picture that should be extremely worrisome to UPS and FedEx.
He notes that Amazon (AMZN), which currently is leasing 40 cargo jets, could eventually have 100 planes running and estimates that the planned Amazon Air routes could overlap with more than two-thirds of the volume flown by UPS and FedEx.
That's bad news for both companies since Shanker said that UPS and FedEx each generate nearly 20% of their overall revenue from US air deliveries.
Amazon has made big investments to bulk up Amazon Air. In the past few years, it has bought stakes in two freight delivery airlines -- Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) and Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW).
It also announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in order to build an Amazon Air hub on more than 900 acres of land that it is leasing near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Amazon bought an additional 210 acres earlier this year.
There's a simple reason why Amazon will want to handle more of its own air deliveries. According to Shanker, Amazon could save between $1 billion and $2 billion next year. That works out to about 3% to 6% of its global shipping costs.
But on a day when the broader market was tanking, investors didn't seem too enthusiastic about Shanker's thoughts on Amazon either. Shares of Amazon fell nearly 6%.


text:
Intrusion Detection with fail2ban
For its size, fail2ban, a utility that scans logfiles and bans suspicious IP addresses, punches well above its weight.
I dare say that only a few sys admins haven't heard of fail2ban – maybe those starting out or those who have focused on different areas. In my experience, it's quite rare that really small utilities can affect the way you run your servers to the extent that fail2ban has. It certainly explains its popularity.
fail2ban is a feather-weight set of scripts that can easily integrate with popular firewalls and, amongst many other things, catch any failed logins for services that you're running and then ban the IP address after a certain number of failed attempts. Admittedly that sounds like quite simple functionality, but when you get down to the innards of the software, it's a truly powerful tool.
I had been using fail2ban on SSH login failures, probably it's most common usage, before I became increasingly annoyed with web server logs filling up with nefarious probes attempting to compromise PHP with remote exploits (and a myriad of other HTTP attacks). It got to the point at which a large proportion of the Apache logs were failed attempts to find hidden directories or non-existent Joomla installations among the legitimate hits on the websites.
I also ran a few mail servers that allowed mail relaying via SASL password authentication, which (and there are other ways of running the authentication side) had system user accounts with PAM checking for correct passwords. I had set the SASL user accounts so that a shell login couldn't be used to access the server, but I was still more than aware than having a piece of software so readily open to abuse by brute force was far from ideal. So, fail2ban stepped forward yet again; I could simply ban any IP that entered the wrong password three times for as long as I wanted.
From the scenarios above, I hope you will agree that fail2ban can be applied in all sorts of ways. To give you a head start in this article, I'll offer some examples, ranging from those straight out of the documentation to those that were hard won. (Those of you who speak regular expressions, or regex, as your second language would have found them easy, I'm sure, but I prefer a cogent language that doesn't involve an aching head coupled with eye strain!)
It Must Be Magic
Rather than the smoke and mirrors that some pieces of software employ to keep their workings secret, fail2ban is transparent in the work it does behind the scenes.
In simple terms fail2ban keeps a close eye on your logfiles, and when a specific pattern is matched within those logs, it triggers an action that you've predefined within its "action" config files. The distinction between its filters and actions in the directory structure is clear once you've installed it.
Script Kiddies and Port 22
As I mentioned, the most popular usage of fail2ban is stopping probes that try every username ever conceived by mankind on your poor SSH server on port 22. Not only is it a logging irritation, but it is highly insecure, allowing people limitless tries at guessing your username and password combinations. Now is not the time to detail how to secure your SSH server, but for goodness sake, move it to a port other than port 22, and unless you've got a really, really good reason, then permit access by IP address with TCP Wrappers. Either way, you should consider banning failed logins for a short time in case a poor configuration mistake gives miscreants access inadvertently.
By my reckoning, for user-accessible services on a server, any user who gets a password wrong more than three times is going to need a new password (from a Support Department most likely), so I'd prefer not to allow nefarious types to keep trying repeatedly until they give up. Bear in mind that some scripts attack a port several times a second, so in a minute, they could have just about exhausted all popular logins beginning with the first letter of the alphabet!
Figure 1 shows an SSH logfile example of failed logins. All you have to do (and please bear in mind my comments about eye-strain and regex earlier) is create a regular expression to catch those failed login attempts so you can trigger a response when they're spotted in the logs.
Thankfully, a few useful examples are already available post-installation, with a couple of handy tags to save you from figuring out other ways of spotting patterns – one such tag being <HOST>. If you're sitting comfortably, the pattern below matches an SSH login attempt failure which, on a Debian box, lives in the /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/sshd.conf file. Don't worry this first example isn't too trying. The two salient lines in the config file are as follows:
failregex = ^%(__prefix_line)sFailed (?:password|publickey) for .* from <HOST>(?: port \d*)?(?: ssh\d*)?$ ignoreregex =
By comparing that regex with the logfile in Figure 1, I hope you get the gist of how it pieces together. As I said, don't be too perturbed by the regex complexity; thankfully, several solid examples are included at installation time.
Fortunately, fail2ban is flexible – not just in the services it can monitor but also across different operating systems, all of which have many versions themselves. So, understanding your potential regex pain, the developers, even in the standard SSH config file, have included a number of failregex examples, which should match your system's logfile format. The examples shown below are originally commented out in the config file, ready for you to choose one entry to copy and paste in place of the uncommented line:
failregex = ^%(__prefix_line)s(?:error: PAM: )?Authentication failure for .* from <HOST>\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)s(?:error: PAM: )?User not known to the underlying authentication module for .* from<HOST>\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)sFailed (?:password|publickey) for .* from <HOST>(?: port \d*)?(?: ssh\d*)?$ ^%(__prefix_line)sROOT LOGIN REFUSED.* FROM <HOST>\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)s[iI](?:llegal|nvalid) user .* from <HOST>\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)sUser .+ from <HOST> not allowed because not listed in AllowUsers$ ^%(__prefix_line)sauthentication failure; logname=\S* uid=\S* euid=\S* tty=\S* ruser=\S* rhost=<HOST>(?:\s+user=.*)?\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)srefused connect from \S+ \(<HOST>\)\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)sAddress <HOST> .* POSSIBLE BREAK-IN ATTEMPT!*\s*$ ^%(__prefix_line)sUser .+ from <HOST> not allowed because none of user's groups are listed in AllowGroups\s*$
I still need to explain the ignoreregex line in the first example. I hope it's clear, though, what the setting in that line, again written in hieroglyphics (sorry regex), would produce: an IP address or hostname match that should NOT trigger an action if it's spotted within that failregex pattern in the logfiles. I'll give you some ignoreregex examples a little later.
I briefly touched on SASL and mail server password authentication earlier, as well as my concerns about opening up a username and password combination from /etc/shadow to the Internet as a serious hole for abuse. To allay my fears, a simple fail2ban instance is now configured to catch bad logins in a highly efficient manner.
Here is the failregex line for SASL login attempts from the config file /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/sasl.conf:
failregex = (?i): warning: [-._\w]+\[<HOST>\]: SASL (?:LOGIN|PLAIN|(?:CRAM|DIGEST)-MD5) authentication failed: authentication failure
A quick hunt through my /var/log/mail.log files reveals:
Dec 20 22:59:16 Ganymede postfix/smtpd[26681]: warning: a-not-so-innocent.ip-has-been-disguised.com[20.666.92.40]: SASL LOGIN authentication failed: authentication failure
If you squint long enough at the failregex and the mail server log format (Postfix, in this case), you can see that they should probably tie in with each other. After some testing, you should be confident that they do.
Lay of the Land
Now I'll look a bit closer at how the config files are laid out in fail2ban's directory structure. The above configuration files live in the filter.d/ directory. A quick ls shows a lot of out-of-the-box fail2ban filter examples. A quick warning: if they don't fit your operating system perfectly, you might be using the search engines for a while, unless you have a diploma in regex. For many scenarios, though, the main site http://www.fail2ban.org has how-tos, as well as the bundled examples:
apache-404.conf apache-nohome.conf courierlogin.conf pam-generic.conf pure-ftpd.conf sieve.conf vsftpd.conf apache-auth.conf apache-noscript.conf couriersmtp.conf gssftpd.conf php-url-fopen.conf qmail.conf sshd.conf webmin-auth.conf apache-badbots.conf apache-overflows.conf cyrus-imap.conf lighttpd-fastcgi.conf postfix.conf sasl.conf sshd.conf.dpkg-dist wuftpd.conf apache-misc.conf common.conf exim.conf named-refused.conf proftpd.conf sasl.conf.dpkg-dist sshd-ddos.conf xinetd-fail.conf
As you can see, a multitude of examples are ready to go, including a few Apache config files.
The main configuration file is called jail.conf, and it's commented with lots of helpful instructions. The ignoreip setting can take CIDR IP address formats or just single IP addresses, so the Admin doesn't get locked out accidentally; also, that's really handy for testing. Additionally, a default setting that applies to all jails (a brief set of rules about a particular service) that don't have the ignoreip setting explicitly configured is:
bantime = 1 maxretry = 3
Here, it's referring to how many opportunities a visitor has to trigger the filter; in this case, it's set really tight and is probably impractical for most services for which users occasionally make mistakes.
The next setting is which back-end daemon to use for polling the logfiles. In Debian's case, I set it to gamin, which is great at checking files like mailboxes and logfiles really frequently without putting system load up.
Finally, the actions.d directory contains what actions to take and with which firewall. In the jail.conf file, other than the level of action required, to all intents and purposes, the remainder of the file is filled with a short config for each service (a jail), switched on or off with true or false. Here's the entry for SASL:
[sasl] enabled = true port = smtp filter = sasl logpath = /var/log/mail.log
Aside from inheriting the bantime and maxretry default setting from above, all you have to think about now is the action setting in jail.conf, which is relatively straightforward. Also, you can calm fail2ban's reaction to a trigger; however, I prefer all guns blazing, with all the offending log entries and a whois lookup of the banned IP address mailed to me:
# ban the IP & send an e-mail with whois report and include relevant log lines to the destemail action_mwl = %(banaction)s[name=%(__name__)s, port="%(port)s", protocol="%(protocol)s] %(mta)s-whois-lines[name=%(__name__)s, dest="%(destemail)s", logpath=%(logpath)s]
Lights, Camera, Action
Now that we know what to send and when to send it, we simply need to know how to ban the offending IP address. I'll use the most popular iptables, the kernel's Netfilter firewall. The file /etc/fail2ban/action.d/iptables-multiport.conf has these key config lines present:
Actionban: actionban = iptables -I fail2ban-<name> 1 -s <ip> -j DROP Actionunban: actionunban = iptables -D fail2ban-<name> -s <ip> -j DROP
To anyone familiar with iptables, the commonplace switches -I for INSERT and -D for DELETE for the ban and unban settings should be pretty clear. These are editable, as you'd expect if you want to log further to manipulate iptables in some other way.
Several configurations are already in place for Apache, in-hand with the mail POP3/IMAP and FTP services, but I needed a mishmash of the examples, and admittedly it took me ages to get the regex correct.
I had a very specific requirement that I knew no pages were missing on the websites on the web server (which might generate HTTP status response 404s), but I also needed to ignore explicitly some files and directories.
Any other traffic to the web server that I did not specifically allow could therefore be banned if it attempted to access files that didn't exist or probe other parts of the server looking for PHP exploits, for example. Inside my filter.d/ directory, I created a filter called apache-misc. I've shortened the example a little so it's readable, but the first line of the failregex after the [A-Z] part effectively drops any request to Apache that doesn't include a forward slash. You might be surprised that pretty much everything legitimate should.
After the slash and inside the brackets are entries for what requests I want banned. The next line down (which is still part of the same failregex) beginning with <HOST> looks for matches, including the ever-common 404 errors. Finally the ignoreregex works beautifully, giving some leeway when it's needed.
[Definition] failregex = <HOST>.*"[A-Z]* /(cms|user|muieblackcat|db|cpcommerce|wp-login|joomla|awstatstotals|wp-content|wp-includes|pma|phpmyadmin|myadmin|mysql|mysqladmin|sqladmin|mypma|admin|xampp|mysqldb|pmadb|phpmyadmin1|phpmyadmin2).*" <HOST>.*\" (502|500|417|416|415|414|413|412|404|405|403|401|400) ignoreregex = .*\"GET \/(press|mailto|domestic|word).*
The result of applying this filter to Apache is, whereas formerly I might have had a hundred attempts per IP probing the server, now I only have three entries in the logs (which all happened in the first second before gamin read the logfile and added the iptables rule). I'm delighted with the lack of unwanted logfile noise, and my web servers are safer! If the config is too strict for you, try and remove the 404 entry from the second failregex line and up the bantime and maxretry numbers to see how you get on.
I've barely scratched the surface of this topic here, but I hope it will inspire you to look further into how fail2ban can help secure your servers. After you've installed it, have a look at how many IP addresses are "already banned" in the fail2ban logfile, /var/log/fail2ban.log, and see how many attempts you've successfully blocked in a day. With its level of reporting and the inherently efficient and controllable configuration, to my mind, it's a knockout piece of software that should help out any sys admin greatly.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
Google Extends Support for Linux kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.
SUSE Offers CentOS 7 Support with Liberty Linux Lite
SUSE's Liberty Linux support offering now includes CentOS 7, which means businesses won't be forced to migrate those servers for some time.
Ubuntu's App Center Finally Supports Local Installs Again
If you regularly download .deb files and would prefer a GUI method of installing, Ubuntu has your back.
AlmaLinux Now Supports Raspberry Pi 5
If you're looking to create with the Raspberry Pi 5 and want to use AlmaLinux as your OS, you're in luck because it's now possible.
Kubuntu Focus Releases New Iterations of Ir14 and Ir16 Laptops
If you're a fan of the Kubuntu Focus laptops or have been waiting for the right time to purchase one, that time might be now.


text:
This long post examines the causes of and offers a response to the dangerous escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
While the details of U.S.-North Korean relations are complex, the story is relatively simple. In brief, the U.S. government continues to reject possibilities for normalizing relations with North Korea and promoting peace on the Korean peninsula in favor of a dangerous policy of regime change. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the U.S. media supports this policy choice with a deliberately one sided presentation of events designed to make North Korea appear to be an unwilling and untrustworthy negotiating partner.
As a corrective, in what follows I offer a more complete history of U.S. -North Korean relations, focusing on the major events that frame current tensions over North Korea's nuclear program. This history makes clear that these tensions are largely the result of repeated and deliberate U.S. provocations and that our best hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula is an educated U.S. population ready and able to challenge and change U.S. foreign policy.
Historical Context
Perhaps the best starting point for understanding the logic of U.S.-North Korean relations is the end of Korean War fighting in 1953. At U.S. insistence, the fighting ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. A Geneva conference held the following year failed to secure the peace or the reunification of Korea, and U.S. demands were the main reason for the failure.
The United States rejected North Korean calls for Korea-wide elections, supervised by a commission of neutral nation representatives, to establish a new unified Korean government, a proposal that even many U.S. allies found reasonable. Instead, the U.S. insisted, along with South Korea, that elections for a new government be held only in the North and under the supervision of the U.S. dominated United Nations. Needless to say, the conference ended without any final declaration, Korea divided, and the United States and North Korea in a continuing state of war.
Up until the late 1980s/early 1990s, an interrelated, contentious but relatively stable set of relationships - between the United States and the Soviet Union and between North Korea and South Korea - kept North Korean-U.S. hostilities in check. The end of the Soviet Union and transformation of Russia and other Central European countries into capitalist countries changed everything.
The loss of its major economic partners threw North Korea's economy into chaos; conditions only worsened the following years as a result of alternating periods of flood and drought. The North Korean government, now in a relatively weak position, responded by seeking new trade and investment partners, which above all required normalization of relations with the United States. The U.S. government had a different response to the changed circumstances; seeking to take advantage of the North's economic problems and political isolation, it rejected negotiations and pursued regime change.
It is the interplay of U.S. and North Korean efforts to achieve their respective aims that is largely responsible for the following oft repeated pattern of interaction: the North tries to force the United States into direct talks by demonstrating its ability to boost its military capacities and threaten U.S. interests while simultaneously offering to negotiate away those capacities in exchange for normalized relations. The United States, in turn, seizes on such demonstrations to justify ever harsher economic sanctions, which then leads North Korea to up the ante.
There are occasional interruptions to the pattern. At times, the United States, concerned with North Korean military advances, will enter into negotiations. Agreements are even signed. But, the U.S. rarely follows through on its commitments. Then the pattern resumes. The critical point here is that it is the North that wants to conclude a peace treaty ending the Korean War and normalize relations with the United States. It is the U.S. that is the unwilling partner, preferring to risk war in the hopes of toppling the North Korean regime.
The Framework Agreement, 1994-2002
The U.S. government began to raise public concerns about a possible North Korean nuclear threat almost immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These concerns were driven by many factors, in particular the U.S. need for a new enemy to justify continued high levels of military spending. Colin Powell, then head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained in testimony to Congress that with the Soviet Union gone, the United States was running out of enemies. All that was left, he said, was Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung.
The North had shut down its one operating reactor in 1989 for repairs. In 1992, the CIA claimed that the North used the shutdown to reprocess plutonium and was now in possession of one or two nuclear weapons, a claim disputed at the time by the State Department. The North also denied the claim but offered to settle U.S. nuclear concerns if the United States would enter into normalization talks.
The Clinton Administration rejected the invitation and began planning for war. War was averted only because of Jimmy Carter's intervention. He traveled to North Korea and brokered an agreement with Kim Il Sung that Clinton reluctantly accepted. The resulting 1994 Framework Agreement required the North to freeze its graphite-moderated reactor and halt construction of two bigger reactors. It also required the North to store the spent fuel from its operating reactor under International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) supervision.
In exchange, the U.S. agreed to coordinate the building of two new light water reactors (which are considered less militarily dangerous) that were to be finished by 2003. Once the reactors were completed, but before they were fully operational, the North would have to allow full IAEA inspections of all its nuclear facilities. During the period of construction, the U.S. agreed to provide the North with shipments of heavy oil for heating and electricity production.
Perhaps most importantly, the agreement also called for the United States to "move toward full normalization of political and economic relations" with the North and "provide formal assurances to the DPRK against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the United States."
Tragically, although rarely mentioned in the U.S. media, the U.S. government did little to meet its commitments. It was repeatedly late in delivering the promised oil and didn't begin lifting sanctions until June 2000. Even more telling, the concrete for the first light water reactor wasn't poured until August 2002. Years later, U.S. government documents revealed that the United States made no attempt to complete the reactors because officials were convinced that the North Korean regime would collapse.
The Bush administration had no use for the Framework Agreement and was more than happy to see it terminated, which it unilaterally did in late 2002, after charging the North with violating its terms by pursuing nuclear weapons through a secret uranium enrichment program. Prior to that, in January 2002, President Bush branded North Korea a member of the "axis of evil." In March, the terms of a new military doctrine were leaked, revealing that the United States reserved the right to take preemptive military strikes and covert actions against nations possessing nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons as well as use nuclear weapons as an option in any conflict; North Korea was listed as one of the targeted nations. In July, President Bush rejected a North Korean request for a meeting of foreign ministers, calling Kim Jong Il a "pygmy" and a "spoiled child at the dinner table"
It is certainly possible that North Korea did begin a uranium enrichment program in the late 1990s, although the Bush Administration never provided proof of the program's existence. However, what is clear is that the North did halt its plutonium program, allowing its facilities to deteriorate, with little to show for it. The failure of the United States to live up to its side of the agreement is highlighted by the fact that North Korea's current demands are no different from what it was promised in 1994.
The North Korean government responded to the Bush administration's unilateral termination of the Framework Agreement by ordering IAEA inspectors out of the country, restarting its plutonium program, and pledging to build a nuclear arsenal for its defense.
A U.S. Marine stands on top of a M1A1 battle tank during the Combined Joint Logistics Over The Shore (CJLOTS) exercise, as a part of the annual joint U.S. and South Korean exercise "Foal Eagle", at a seashore in Pohang, about 370 km (231 miles) southeast of Seoul April 22, 2013.
credit - RT.com / Reuters
Six Party Talks, 2003-7
Fearful of a new war on the Korean peninsula, the Chinese government organized talks aimed at deescalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. The talks began in August 2003 and included six countries - the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia. Two years of talks failed to produce any progress in resolving U.S.-North Korea differences. One reason: the U.S. representative was under orders not to speak directly to his North Korean counterpart except to demand that North Korea end its nuclear activities, scrap its missiles, reduce its conventional forces, and end human rights abuses. The North, for its part, refused to discuss its nuclear program separate from its broader relations with the United States.
Finally, in mid-2005, the Chinese made it known that they were prepared to declare the talks a failure and would blame the United States for the outcome. Not long after, the United States ended its opposition to an agreement. In September 2005, the six countries issued a Joint Statement, which was largely a repackaged Framework Agreement. While all the countries pledged to work towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, most of the concrete steps were to be taken by the United States and North Korea "in a phased manner in line with the principle of `commitment for commitment, action for action'."
Unfortunately, the day after the Joint Statement was issued, the United States sabotaged it. The U.S. Treasury announced that it had "proof" that North Korea was counterfeiting $100 bills, so called super notes, an action it said amounted to war. It singled out the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia, which was one of North Korea's main financial connections to the west, for supporting the country's illegal activities, froze its dollar accounts, and warned other banks not to conduct business with it or service any North Korean dollar transactions. The aim was to isolate North Korea by denying it access to international credit markets. The charge of counterfeiting was rejected by the North, most Western currency experts, and even China and Russia who were given a presentation of evidence by the U.S. Treasury. However, fearful of possible U.S. retaliation, most banks complied with U.S. policy, greatly harming the North Korean economy.
The timing of the counterfeit charge was telling. The U.S. Treasury had been concerned with counterfeit super notes since 1989 and had originally blamed Iran. The sum total identified was only $50 million, and none of the notes had ever circulated in the United States. This was clearly yet another effort to stop normalization and intensify economic pressure on North Korea.
The North announced that its participation in Six Party talks was contingent on the withdrawal of the counterfeit charge and the return of its Banco Delta Asia dollar deposits. After months of inaction by the United States, the North took action. On July 4, 2006, it test-fired six missiles over the Sea of Japan, including an intercontinental missile. The U.S. and Japan condemned the missile firings and further tightened their sanctions against North Korea. In response, on October 8, 2006, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. Finally, the U.S. agreed to reconsider its financial embargo and the North agreed that if its money was returned and it received energy supplies and economic assistance it was willing to once again shutdown its nuclear facilities, readmit international inspectors, and discuss nuclear disarmament in line with steps toward normalization of relations with the United States.
The Six Party talks began again in December 2006 but the process of securing implementation of the Joint Statement was anything but smooth. The U.S. chief negotiator at the talks announced in February 2007 that all frozen North Korean deposits would be unfrozen and made available to the North within 30 days; the North was given 60 days to shut down its reactor. However, the Treasury refused to withdraw its charges, and no bank was willing to handle the money for fear of being targeted as complicit with terrorism. It took the State Department until June 25 to work out a back-door alternative arrangement, thereby finally allowing the Six Party agreement to go into effect.
The Six Party Agreement, 2007-9
As noted above, the Six Party agreement involved a phased process. Phase 1, although behind schedule because of the U.S. delay in releasing North Korean funds, was completed with no problems. In July 2007, North Korea shut down and sealed its Yongbyon nuclear complex which housed its reactor, reprocessing facility, and fuel rod fabrication plant. It also shut down and sealed its two partially constructed nuclear reactors. It also invited back IAEA inspectors who verified the North Korean actions. In return, the U.S. provided a shipment of fuel oil.
Phase 2, which began in October, required the North to disable all its nuclear facilities by December 31, 2007 and "provide a complete and correct declaration of all its existing nuclear programs." In a separate agreement it also agreed to disclose the status of its uranium enrichment activities. In exchange, the North was to receive, in stages, "economic, energy, and humanitarian assistance." Once it fulfilled all Phase 2 requirements it would also be removed from the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
North Korean complaints over the slow delivery of fuel oil delayed the completion of this second phase. However, in May 2008, North Korea completed the last stage of its required Phase 2 actions when it released extensive documentation of its plutonium program and in June a declaration of its nuclear inventory. In response, the U.S. removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
However, the U.S. government failed to release the remaining promised aid or end the remaining sanctions on North Korea. It now demanded that North Korea accept a highly intrusive verification protocol, one that would open up all North Korean military installations to U.S. inspection, and made satisfaction of Phase 2 commitments dependent on its acceptance. The U.S. was well aware that this demand was not part of the original agreement. As Secretary of State Rice stated, "What we've done, in a sense, is move up issues that were to be taken up in phase three, like verification, like access to the reactors, into phase two."
The North offered a compromise - a Six Party verification mechanism which would include visits to declared nuclear sites and interviews with technical personal. It also offered to negotiate a further verification protocol in the final dismantlement phase. The U.S. government rejected the compromise and ended all aid deliveries.
In February 2009, the North Korea began preparation to launch a satellite. South Korea was preparing to launch a satellite of its own in July. The North had signed the appropriate international protocols governing satellites and was now providing, as required, notification of its launch plan. The Obama administration warned the North that doing so would violate sanctions placed on the country after its nuclear test. In response, the North declared that it had every right to develop its satellite technology and if the U.S. responded with new sanctions it would withdraw from the Six Party talks, eject IAEA monitors, restart its reactors, and strengthen its nuclear deterrent.
The North launched its satellite in April. In June, the U.S. won UN support for enhanced sanctions, and the North followed through on its threat. In May the North conducted a second nuclear test, producing yet another round of sanctions.
Recent Events
In April and December 2012 the North again launched earth observation satellites. Although before each of these launches the U.S. asserted that these were veiled attempts to test ballistic missiles designed to threaten the United States, after each launch almost all observers agreed that the characteristics of the launches - their flight pattern and the second stage low-thrust, long burntime - were what is required to put a satellite in space and not consistent with a missile test.
After the December launch, the only successful one, the U.S. again convinced the Security Council to apply a new round of sanctions. And in response, the North carried out its third nuclear test in February 2013. The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that there have been "more than 2,000 nuclear tests and 9,000 satellite launches" in the world, "but the UN Security Council has never passed a resolution prohibiting nuclear tests or satellite launches." The Security Council responded to the North's nuclear test by approving stricter sanctions.
In addition to sanctions, the U.S. has also intensified its military provocations against the North in hopes of destabilizing the new North Korean regime led by Kim Jung Un. For example, in 2012, U.S.-South Korean military analysts conducted the world's largest computerized war simulation exercise, practicing the deployment of more than 100,000 South Korean troops into North Korea to "stabilize the country in case of regime collapse." As part of their yearly war games, U.S. and South Korean forces also carried out their largest amphibious landing operations in 20 years; 13 naval vessels, 52 amphibious armored vehicles, 40 fighter jets and helicopters, and 9,000 U.S. troops were involved.
As part of its March 2013 war games, the U.S. flew nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth bombers over South Korea; these are also the only planes capable of dropping the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, which was developed to destroy North Korean underground facilities. Nuclear-capable B-52 bombers also flew over South Korea, dropping dummy munitions. The United States also sent the nuclear-powered submarine USS Cheyenne, equipped with Tomahawk missiles, into Korea waters.
The North Korean government responded to these threats in three ways. First, the content of their declarations changed. In particular, they began to focus their own threats on the U.S. as well as South Korea. For example, the government stated, "If the US imperialists brandish nuclear weapons, we - in complete contrast to former times - will by means of diversified, precision nuclear strike in our own style turn not just Seoul, but even Washington, into a sea of fire." It also asserted, for the first time, that its nuclear weapons were no longer negotiable. At least, not "as long as the United States' nuclear threats and hostile policy exist."
Second, the government put North Korean forces on full alert, including all artillery, rockets, and missiles. Kim Jong Un announced that the country would "answer the US imperialists' nuclear blackmail with a merciless nuclear attack." Finally, it announced, in April, that it would restart its uranium enrichment program and its Yongbyon reactor.
What Lies Ahead
The Obama administration has adopted what it has called the doctrine of "strategic patience" in dealing with North Korea. But as made clear from above, in reality the U.S. has continued to pursue an aggressive policy towards North Korea, motivated by the hope that the regime will collapse and Korean reunification will be achieved by the South's absorption of the North, much like the German experience.
The consequence of this policy is ever worsening economic conditions in the North; continuing military buildup in the United States, Japan, China, and both North and South Korea; a strengthening of right-wing forces in South Korea and Japan; and the growing threat of a new war on the Korean peninsula. There are powerful interests in Japan, South Korea, and the United States that are eager to further militarize their respective domestic and foreign policies, even at the risk of war. Tragically, their pursuit of this goal comes at great cost to majorities in all the countries concerned, even if war is averted.
The North has made clear its willingness to enter direct talks with the United States. It is only popular pressure in the United States that will cause the U.S. government to change its policy and accept the North Korean offer. It is time for the U.S. government to sign a peace treaty finally ending the Korean War and take sincere steps towards normalization of relations with North Korea.
[Martin Hart-Landsberg is Professor of Economics and Director of the Political Economy Program at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon; and Adjunct Researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea. His areas of teaching and research include political economy, economic development, international economics, and the political economy of East Asia. He is also a member of the Workers' Rights Board (Portland, Oregon).]


text:
Find the Care You Need
Mount Sinai's primary care providers help you achieve your best possible long-term health. Available for in-person and video visits, your primary care doctor handles new symptoms, performs annual physicals, and keeps you up to date on preventive services.
Whether you have new symptoms or live with a chronic condition, Mount Sinai has a wide range of highly skilled doctors, specializing in all areas of care. Our board-certified specialists put today's most advanced diagnostics and treatments to work for you.
For an immediate problem, second opinion, or other issue, Mount Sinai offers in person and online appointments today throughout New York City. Depending on your need and the time you call, we can schedule a same-day visit (excluding holidays and weekends).


text:
From Fedora Project Wiki
< SELinux
NEWROLE(1) NSA NEWROLE(1) NAME newrole - run a shell with a new role SYNOPSIS newrole [-r|--role] ROLE [-t|--type] TYPE [-l|--level] LEVEL [-- ][ARGS] ... DESCRIPTION Run a new shell in a new context. The new context is derived from the old context in which newrole is originally executed. If the -r or --role option is specified, then the new context will have the role specified by ROLE. If the -t or --type option is specified, then the new context will have the type (domain) specified by TYPE. If a role is specified, but no type is specified, the default type is derived from the specified role. If the -l or --level option is specified, then the new context will have the sensitivity level specified by LEVEL. If LEVEL is a range, the new context will have the sensitivity level and clearance specified by that range. Additional arguments ARGS may be provided after a -- option, in which case they are supplied to the new shell. In particular, an argument of -- -c will cause the next argument to be treated as a command by most command interpreters. The new shell will be the shell specified in the user's entry in the /etc/passwd file. FILES /etc/passwd - user account information /etc/shadow - encrypted passwords and age information SEE ALSO su (1), runas (1) AUTHORS Tim Fraser (email@example.com) Anthony Colatrella (email@example.com) Security Enhanced Linux October 2000 NEWROLE(1)


text:
TRENDnet's vision is to build innovative, easy to use, and reliable Networks People Trust™. TRENDnet solutions network the countless devices which enable your connected lifestyle and workplace. Building award winning networking solutions since 1990, TRENDnet connects you with what you value most.
Founded in Torrance, California, TRENDnet has grown to become a leading global networking hardware brand. From the network core to the periphery, TRENDnet's expansive product portfolio includes Wireless, Wired, Surveillance, Connectivity, and Peripheral device categories.
An emphasis on continual improvement and our ISO 9001:2008 quality management certification is an essential component of TRENDnet's success. The TRENDnet brand is consistently recognized for exceptional quality, superior performance, and responsive support.


text:
Primitive Obsession
Signs and Symptoms
Use of primitives instead of small objects for simple tasks (such as currency, ranges, special strings for phone numbers, etc.)
Use of constants for coding information (such as a constant
for referring to users with administrator rights.) -
Use of string constants as field names for use in data arrays.
Reasons for the Problem
Like most other smells, primitive obsessions are born in moments of weakness. "Just a field for storing some data!" the programmer said. Creating a primitive field is so much easier than making a whole new class, right? And so it was done. Then another field was needed and added in the same way. Lo and behold, the class became huge and unwieldy.
Primitives are often used to "simulate" types. So instead of a separate data type, you have a set of numbers or strings that form the list of allowable values for some entity. Easy-to-understand names are then given to these specific numbers and strings via constants, which is why they're spread wide and far.
Another example of poor primitive use is field simulation. The class contains a large array of diverse data and string constants (which are specified in the class) are used as array indices for getting this data.
If you have a large variety of primitive fields, it may be possible to logically group some of them into their own class. Even better, move the behavior associated with this data into the class too. For this task, try Replace Data Value with Object.
If the values of primitive fields are used in method parameters, go with Introduce Parameter Object or Preserve Whole Object.
When complicated data is coded in variables, use Replace Type Code with Class, Replace Type Code with Subclasses or Replace Type Code with State/Strategy.
If there are arrays among the variables, use Replace Array with Object.
Code becomes more flexible thanks to use of objects instead of primitives.
Better understandability and organization of code. Operations on particular data are in the same place, instead of being scattered. No more guessing about the reason for all these strange constants and why they're in an array.
Easier finding of duplicate code.


text:
Phoenix Verb is one of two debut plugins from new company Exponential Audio. Company founder Michael Carnes is the DSP wiz behind the Lexicon PCM Native Bundle and various other high-end Lexicon reverbs. So, although it seems to have appeared out of nowhere, this plugin has to be taken very seriously indeed.
Phoenix Verb is aimed at generating clean, realistic-sounding spaces. The plugin comes in 32- and 64-bit versions and is compatible with AU/VST/RTAS/AAX hosts on Mac, but currently only comes in VST flavour on PC (with RTAS and AAX possibly coming in future).
Phoenix rising
Upon first firing up Phoenix Verb, the archaic-looking GUI comes as a bit of a shock. Compared to similarly priced plugins - which usually sport beautiful, visually striking interfaces - this one's a tad clunky to say the least.
Having seen Exponential Audio's 90s-style website, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised. This admittedly minor niggle aside, Phoenix Verb is sensibly laid out and easy to get your head around; and of course, as long as the pricetag is justified by the sound, that's very much the main consideration.
The left-hand side of the interface hosts a frequency amplitude display with an overlaid output filter curve visualising your current filter settings. Below this are the main level controls for the early reflections and reverb tail, and an output filter cutoff frequency control.
Phoenix Verb lets you add a low- or high-pass filter to the reverb output, with a choice of 6dB or 12dB/ octave slope for each - it's a shame you can't apply both types of filter at once, doing away with the need to fire up a separate EQ. In the centre of the GUI is the main reverb Mix control along with the essential PreDelay and Reverb Time knobs.
So, with the left and centre sections, the most essential controls are readily to hand. Should you wish to delve a bit deeper, the panel to the right is where full-on tweaking begins, its three tabs hosting a wide range of further parameters.
Particularly noteworthy is the Rvb Attack section's Reverb Type slider, which enables quick changes between Plate, Chamber and Hall reverb types without a full change of preset. Also, the Rvb Tail section features a Width control that can be used to narrow the stereo field or blow it up to super-wide proportions.
Starting with some of the stock presets and putting Phoenix Verb through it's paces, we were taken aback by how transparent and natural it sounds. Neutral, clear, airy 'verbs are the order of the day, the early reflections and tails sitting perfectly in the mix. Phoenix Verb really shines in delicate, quiet situations where you might expect to detect some graininess. Naming no names, it knocked the reverb we were using for comparison for six.
Word up
Phoenix Verb uses a keyword-based preset system: you begin by choosing a keyword such as 'large', 'small plate' or 'drums', which loads up all of the presets relating to that word. Should you prefer, though, you can dispense with the keywords and simply view all the available presets in one long list.
Assigning keywords to your own presets is a doddle, too. The Compare button lets you A/B compare whatever edits you've made to the original settings of the current preset, while the useful Reload function recalls the original preset, should you find that you've wandered off in the wrong direction with your changes.
Phoenix Verb is a well-thought-out reverb. Along with solid presets, all crucial controls are within easy reach, and detailed fine-tuning is available should you wish to get more involved.
It's possibly the cleanest reverb we've ever heard and thus absolutely qualifies as well-priced. It handles those often hard-to-pull-off small spaces effortlessly with superb results, which is no small achievement.
Ultimately, this is an excellent reverb, powered by its own distinctive algorithm with its own particular strengths, yet no real weaknesses. A storming debut for Carnes' new marque, then.


text:
Winter Themed Decorative Throw Pillow/Sham Cushion Cover Call to the Sea
Light weight 100% cotton broadcloth fabric sewn into decorative pillow/ cushion cover. Envelop style closure. Machine washable and dry. Iron as needed. Each cover is sold separately. Pillow Insert NOT Included. Custom sizes available, contact us for more information.


text:
We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
Creations Curved Diamond 21x33cm (x12)
Login to view your prices
Stunning glassware, designed for impact
Creations glass inspires creativity and adds impact to the tabletop. From clear glass to dramatic, coloured underliners and textured accent pieces. With a choice of unusual shapes and features in a variety of sizes – Creations glass adds instant glamour to the table top.
Make your tabletop truly memorable:
• High quality glassware
• Wide selection of unusual shapes and textures
• Available in both clear and coloured glass
• Extremely practical and versatile
• Used for food service presentation or as striking accent pieces
• Combines beautifully with other elements from the Steelite International portfolio.
Write Your Own Review


text:
San Francisco, CA - Yesterday, the Authors Guild filed a class-action copyright infringement suit against Google over its Google Print library project. Working with major university libraries, Google Print aims to make thousands of books searchable via the Web, allowing people to search for key words or phrases in books. The public may browse the full text of public domain materials in the process of such a search, but only a few sentences of text around the search term in books still covered by copyright.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) applauds Google's effort to create the digital equivalent of a library card catalog, and believes the company has a strong case.
"Just as libraries don't need to pay publishers when they create a card catalog, neither should Google or other search engines be required to when they create an improved digital equivalent," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann.
In defending the lawsuit, Google is relying on the copyright principle of fair use, which allows the public to copy works without having to ask permission or pay licensing fees to copyright holders. EFF believes Google is likely to prevail on its defense. One key point in Google's favor is that Google Print is a transformative use of these books -- the company is creating a virtual card catalog to assist people in finding relevant books, rather than creating replacements for the books themselves.
In addition, it is almost certain that Google Print will boost, rather than hurt, the market for the copyrighted books. "It's easy to see how Google Print can stimulate demand for books that otherwise would lay undiscovered in library stacks," said von Lohmann. "It's hard to see how it could hurt publishers or authors."
For additional legal analysis, EFF recommends the white paper, "The Google Print Library Project: A Copyright Analysis," recently published by noted DC copyright attorney Jonathan Band of Policy Bandwidth.
Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation