text:
Brisket Pot Roast for St. Patrick's Day
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Most Americans think of corned beef and cabbage when it comes to a traditional Irish meal on St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland itself, the selection is much more varied, including steak, prime rib roast, stew, or a pot roast made from fresh meat.
One of the glories of Irish cuisine is the magnificent quality of the native ingredients. Most of the beef raised in Ireland is still grassfed and grass-finished, and raised on small farms.
This recipe depends on the quality of the ingredients, and the better the ingredients, the better the dish.
The new beef brisket point introduced by U.S. Wellness Meats is perfect for this recipe. It has the deep beefy flavor of grassfed beef, and a nice fat cap that is needed for this recipe. It is important that all the other ingredients be of high quality as well, meaning organic (or the equivalent) vegetables and herbs, Guinness® stout from Ireland itself, and rich, deeply flavored grassfed beef broth. And it does have a bit of green in it, in the form of green onions and thyme.
This recipe is absolutely delicious and the meat is very tender and flavorful. Here's the link to the recipe which is posted on the U.S. Wellness Meats blog:


text:
Imagine Schools
Imagine Schools' vision is for every student to reach his or her full potential and discover the pathways for life-long success.
Founded in 2004, Imagine Schools is a national non-profit family of public charter schools preparing students for lives of leadership, accomplishment and exemplary character. Our non-profit network consists of 60 public charter campuses educating more than 30,000 students in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Imagine Schools partners with parents and guardians to educate their children, providing high quality schools that develop the character and enrich the minds of the students we are privileged to serve.
While charter schools have flexibility in choosing curriculum and developing effective teaching practices, Imagine charter schools are public schools. This means our schools must meet the same academic performance standards as traditional district schools, as required by federal and state laws. Local governing boards provide oversight and accountability, partnering with Imagine Schools for comprehensive educational and operational expertise, support and programmatic variety.
As members of the Imagine Schools' network, our schools share a common culture based on Shared Values and Measures of Excellence. These elements are foundational to our approach and belief in educating the whole child. While each school is uniquely tailored both in curriculum and structure, the integration of character development with academics sets Imagine campuses apart.
Our work is guided by three shared values: Justice, Integrity, and Fun. We apply "Joy at Work," a unique organizational culture that puts teachers and school leaders squarely responsible for the decisions affecting the schools and students we serve.
We are privileged to partner with parents, communities, and local governing boards to deliver a high quality education that prepares students for life-long success.
"Developing Character, Enriching Minds"

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Valeria Watery Leather Sofa
Save 15%
Original price
Current price
Lease for as low as $125.23/week
Learn More
Exclusive price for ONLINE ONLY
ACME Valeria Sofa, Watery Leather, 79"L x 36"D x 31"H, 130lbs.
The Valeria sofa set is one you-ll want to spend lots of time in. This beautiful mustard or watery leather sofa features
same tone stitching and unique wood block legs. Its deep, comfy seat and flared padded arms give it an incredible
sink-right-in quality that-s perfect for the whole family
- Made in Italy - Material: Leather (Contrast Tone Stiching) - Loose Back & Tight Seat Cushions - Construction: Webbing Seat, Wood Inner Frame - Flared Armrest - Wooden Block Leg: Dark Walnut - Collection Valeria: Available in 2 Colors
Upholstery, Wood Leg


text:
The files ECGwaveGen.m and QRSpulse.m were contributed to PhysioNet by Floyd Harriott of Stellate Systems. ECGwaveGen generates a synthesized ECG signal with user-settable heart rate, signal duration, sampling frequency, QRS amplitude and duration, and T-wave amplitude; it uses QRSpulse to create premature beats followed by compensatory pauses. The algorithm is based in part on Ruha A and Nissila S, "A real-time microprocessor QRS detector system with a 1-ms timing accuracy for the measurement of ambulatory HRV", IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 44(3):159-167 (1997), in which the authors describe an artificial ECG signal based on the standard test waveforms specified in ANSI/AAMI EC13:1992 (American National Standard: Cardiac Monitors, Heart Rate Meters, and Alarms), available from AAMI. (Please note that the synthesized ECG is not intended to be highly realistic; the primary application is for testing the fidelity of analog signal-processing components of cardiac monitors and similar instruments, using an ECG-like signal with well-defined characteristics.)
EC13 also specifies the use of a specific set of non-synthesized waveforms, available in PhysioBank.
Potential users of ECGwaveGen may also wish to consider ECGSYN, which generates realistic ECG signals and provides a somewhat different set of capabilities.
Name Last modified Size Description
Parent Directory - ECGwaveGen.m 13-Nov-2002 15:50 6.1K Matlab/Octave source ECGwaveGen.m-20010122 30-Jan-2001 19:49 4.4K Matlab/Octave source QRSpulse.m 13-Nov-2002 15:50 2.4K Matlab/Octave source
If you would like help understanding, using, or downloading content, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. If you have any comments, feedback, or particular questions regarding this page, please send them to the webmaster. Comments and issues can also be raised on PhysioNet's GitHub page. Updated Friday, 28-Oct-2016 22:58:42 CEST |
PhysioNet is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under NIH grant number 2R01GM104987-09.


text:
Up for sale is a killer 2023 Fender American Vintage II '62 FSR Stratocaster in Sonic Blue. This is a dealer exclusive for Daves Guitars and is not a readily available finish in the AVII lineup. Overall in excellent condition less some finish chipping surrounding the neck pocket. Pro setup in house and comes complete with its original hard case and paperwork. Weight: 7lbs. 13oz.
Sonic Blue
American Vintage II Stratocaster
See Description
Very Good
7lbs. 13oz.
Cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Paypal, Western Union and Bank Wire Transfer. If you have any questions regarding payment please ask.
We ship exclusively through FedEx in the United States and FedEx or DHL worldwide. The shipping price you are charged covers transit, insurance, proper packing, and tracking. If you prefer another shipping method please let us know so we can accommodate your needs. In the event of damage in transit we will help facilitate a claim with the shipping company to ensure full refund.
We offer a 48 hour approval period on all guitars, amplifiers, and pedals from the date of purchase for in store transactions or date of delivery for internet orders. This approval period is for the buyer to make sure that the instrument is in the condition and originality we advertised. If a return is requested because the buyer simply doesn't like the way an instrument plays, sounds or other personal preferences we reserve the right to deduct a 10% restocking fee at our sole discretion. In the event of any return the buyer pays all shipping and insurance costs, both to and from, as well as any other fees associated with the transaction. In the event a return is requested on an item prior to shipment or delivery a 10% restocking fee will be deducted at our sole discretion. All returns must be approved by phone or email and must be returned in the exact condition they left our store. Any item returned not in the same condition it left our store is subject to a 20% restocking fee at our sole discretion. For logistical reasons we are unable to accept returns on any transaction involving a trade, both in store and online. Unauthorized returns will be refused and returned at customer's expense. Please know we go to great lengths to ensure with 100% confidence that you are getting the exact item you purchased in the condition and originality described. We strive to earn your business.


text:
This page is open for contributions, you must create an user account via registration form:
If you have a question suitable for FAQ and you don't know the answer, add it and set the answer to 'TBA', others can read it and give the right answer.
Kamailio is a SIP server, implementing the specifications from RFC3261. Its root functionality is routing any kind of SIP packets. On top of that, many conceptual features are implemented, see more at:
No, Kamailio is a flexible SIP proxy. Many people integrate Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, SEMS, or other products with Kamailio for a B2BUA.
If you use native scripting language, you must restart after you update the configuration file.
But note that many global parameters can be changed via RPC/MI commands without restart (e.g., TCP connecting timeout, debug level). Applying changes related to loaded modules or routing block require always a restart.
If you use a KEMI scripting language (Lua, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Squirrel), then you can reload the routing logic script without restarting Kamailio by issuing an RPC command (see KEMI interpreter modules documentation for more details: app_lua, app_python, app_python3, app_jsdt, app_ruby, app_sqlang).
Kamailio is an open source application licensed under GNU Public License version 2 (aka GPLv2). It can be used for free "as in beer" on your infrastructure. Keep in mind that you need also distribute the source code of your changes, if you distribute it as a binary to your customer. For more information have a look to the GPLv2 FAQ.
Starting with end of 2008, contributions to core and several modules are done under BSD license. That means parts of it can be extracted and used under BSD license terms. But over all, when used as one application, the use must follow the terms of GPLv2, because GPLv2 is viral.
No. There is no official development pushed in this direction, Linux/Unix being the de facto for running servers. But it might not be big effort to make it compile using the Linux-like environments for Windows (such as cygwin).
At network layer, Kamailio supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
At transport layer, Kamailio support UDP, TCP, TLS and SCTP. Transmission can be done in asynchronous mode (configuration option), inclusive for TCP and TLS.
Kamailio can be used to bridge between any combinations of these protocols, e.g., receiving SIP packets on UDP over IPv4 and sending out on TLS over IPv6.
Starting with version 4.0.0, Kamailio supports WebSocket transport protocol, allowing modern web browsers to call between them directly through Kamailio.
Yes, starting with version 4.0.0. It supports WebSockets over TCP (WS) and over TLS (WSS), on both IPv4 and IPv6.
Yes. You can use Kamailio to receive SIP message on one transport and send out on a different transport. For example, receive TLS on IPv6 and send out UDP on IPv4.
Yes, from signaling point of view. Remember that Kamailio is SIP packet router, not handling media plane at all. Simply, Kamailio can do gatewaying from WebSocket to UDP, TCP, TLS or SCTP for all SIP messages.
However, note that media plane (RTP streams) requires special secure encoding of the RTP packets, which may not be supported by the old SIP phones.
A module is an extension that compiles in a separate object file and can be loaded at Kamailio startup. Usually a module exports new functions that can be used in configuration file routing blocks.
Inside the source tree, there are three directories:
Each module is located in its own sub-folder. The documentation for modules that are bundled in Kamailio packages is available at:
The modules that have the same dependencies as the core of Kamailio. Those that are not compiled by default are kept in the variable 'exclude_modules' of Makefile. To print the list of excluded modules:
make printvar v=exclude_modules
Add it to the variable 'include_modules' to the command 'make cfg'. For example, compiling and installing the modules app_lua and db_mysql:
make FLAVOUR=kamailio include_modules="app_lua db_mysql" cfg make all make install
The module is not compiled by default, because depends on libmysqlclient. Use following commands to get in compiled and installed:
make modules include_modules="db_mysql" make install include_modules="db_mysql"
First be sure that the core compiles fine with the command:
To compile a single module, use:
make modules modules=modules/modname
Replace modname with the real name of the module you want to compile – for example, compiling only tls module:
make modules modules=modules/tls
Kamailio is working always with the received SIP message (request or reply). Changes done to headers or body are kept as a list of operations to be applied before writing to the network. If you want changes to be applied immediately, use msg_apply_changes() from textopsx module:
Be careful with it and don't use it after record_route(), because this function has to insert a header containing the IP address from the local socket that is going to be used for forwarding - the socket is not yet know during configuration file execution.
For example, considering that X-Hdr does not exist in incoming message, here are some cases:
append_hf("X-Hdr: xyz\r\n"); if(is_present_hf("X-Hdr")) { # this part is not executed } else { # this part is executed }
append_hf("X-Hdr: xyz\r\n"); msg_apply_changes(); if(is_present_hf("X-Hdr")) { # this part is executed } else { # this part is not executed }
After doing header management operations, it can result that parts of From/To header are duplicated or the result is the concatenation of many values. That is related to previous question, because the changes are not applied immediately and updates to parts of headers are not a simple set operation.
For example, if From username is "alice" and the operations in the config file are:
$fU = "bob"; ... $fU = "carol";
The result can be that From username is "bobcarol".
One solution is to use msg_apply_changes() in between:
$fU = "bob"; msg_apply_changes(); ... $fU = "carol";
Another solution is to keep the value in a variable (e.g., avp or xavp) and do the operation only once, like:
$xavp(fuser) = "bob"; ... $xavp(fuser[0]) = "carol"; ... $fU = $xavp(fuser);
Updating From/To headers is recommended to be done in branch_route, specially if it is needed to have different value for outgoing branches.
The examples above were with assignments to $fU (can be other vars as well, such as $fu, $tU, $tu, ..), but it is the same behaviour when using functions such as uac_replace_from() or uac_replace_to().
It is practically the same reason as for multiple From/To parts.
The configuration file does an operation that changes parts in the headers or body many times. For example, if the body has two concatenated IP addresses for media stream, then likely the rtpproxy function is used twice, or, if the SDP appears two time, then the rtpengine function is used two times.
If the update has to be done many times, use msg_apply_changes() in between, otherwise refactor the config to perform the operation only once (e.g., the RTP relaying functions should be used in a branch_route block).
Set the value of the header inside a branch_route.
All the operations done over a SIP message inside the request_route (including from the sub-routes executed from request_route) will be common to all outgoing branches. If you want to do updates only for specific destinations, use branch routes.
request_route { ... if(is_method("INVITE")) { t_on_branch("SETHEADERS"); t_on_failure("REROUTE"); } t_relay(); exit; } branch_route[SETHEADERS] { if($rd=="voicemail.server.com") { append_hf("X-VBox: $fU\r\n"); } else { append_hf("X-Peer-ID: abc\r\n"); } } failure_route[REROUTE] { if (t_is_canceled()) { exit; } if (t_check_status("486|408")) { $du = $null; $ru = "sip:voicemail.server.com"; t_on_failure("REROUTE"); exit; } }
Very important is also to be aware that doing same operation many times in request_route is not overwriting the previous value, but combines them. For example, if you do two times uac_replace_from(), the From header can become corrupt. Like:
request_route { ... uac_replace_from("sip:email@example.com"); uac_replace_from("sip:email@example.com"); ... }
Results in From header having the URI: sip:email@example.com:email@example.com. Again, use branch_route to do the operations if you need different From header for outgoing branches.
SIP allows that certain header fields may appear multiple times in a SIP message. This header fields (e.g. Via, Route, Record-Route, Contact) may be written either on a single line (with comma separated) or on multiple lines (see RFC 3261 section 7.3 for details).
The remove_hf() function from textops module always removes all header fields with a certain name, thus it can not be used in this case.
To address a certain header (regardless if headers are in a single line or in separate lines) use the @hf_value select. The trick is to load the textopsx module (this select used to be in ser's textops module). Note, header names must use '_' instead of '-'. To delete or manipulate a certain header also use the functions from the textopsx module, e.g: remove_hf_value(). Note, here '-' is used for headers with '-'
For example, incoming message:
Record-Route: <sip:184.108.40.206;lr=on;nat=yes> Record-Route: <sip:22.214.171.124:5060;lr;transport=udp>, <sip:188.8.131.52:22506;lr;transport=udp>
Dump all headers:
Dump the first header (<sip:184.108.40.206;lr=on;nat=yes>):
Dump the second last header (<sip:188.8.131.52:5060;lr;transport=udp>):
Remove the last header (<sip:18.104.22.168:22506;lr;transport=udp>):
remove_hf_value("Record-Route[-1]"); #or in above case: remove_hf_value("Record-Route[3]");
In both cases, the reason is probably an error in request routing script which caused an infinite loop.
You can easily verify whether this happens by watching SIP traffic on loopback interface, for example using ngrep:
ngrep -d lo -qt -W byline port 5060
A typical reason for misrouting is a failure to match local domain correctly. If a server fails to recognize a request for itself, it will try to forward it to current URI in believe it would forward them to a foreign domain.
Alas, it forwards the request to itself again. This continues to happen until value of the max_forwards header field reaches zero or the request grows too big.
The solution: make sure that domain matching is correctly configured.
A quick way to achieve that is to introduce a config option to kamailio.cfg:
where domainname has to be replaced with name of domain, which you wish to serve by Kamailio and which appears in request-URIs.
Check if you have a firewall rule dropping traffic on SIP port (5060). Note that network sniffing tools have hooks in kernel before the firewall, so even if you see the SIP packets with ngrep or wireshark, they may be dropped by the firewall.
If you have the pike module loaded, double check to see if you don't block valid trusted traffic with it.
You can increase the debug parameter value to 3 in the configuration file, restart kamailio and watch syslog messages to see if there is any text printed by kamailio. For each SIP packet received on the networks, Kamailio is printing at least few debug messages.
No, however Kamailio can be configured to proxy media if needed.
Kamailio supports all codecs (even codecs that haven't been created yet).
Since Kamailio is a SIP proxy, it does not handle the media streams. Codecs are negotiated between the two endpoints.
Yes, Kamailio can be used for video calls. The two SIP phones must support video codecs/calling.
To be familiar with Linux or UNIX (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS/X) and understand Session Initiation Protocol (SIP - RFC3261).
Yes, there are few of them, each addressing a particular category of topics, see the list at:
You must subscribe to be able to post questions. Subscription is free, instructions are presented at the link related to each mailing list.
The most important rules are to use a decent vocabulary and post about something related to Kamailio.
If the question is related to a stable version of Kamailio, then email to:
If the question is related to development version of Kamailio, then email to:
If the question is related to commercial aspects of Kamailio, then email to:
Use the bug tracker available at:
Yes. See enum module.
Kamailio can do next DNS query types: A-Name, C-Name, AAAA (IPv6), SRV, NAPTR and TXT.
Do not enclose the IP address between quotes. Use like:
if(src_ip==126.96.36.199) { ...
The next example results in reverse DNS operation, because src_ip is compared with a string:
if(src_ip=="184.108.40.206") { ...
Yes. There is nothing special to do for that in configuration file, MESSAGE requests are simply routed as any other SIP request.
Yes. See msilo module.
Yes. Kamailio offers an embedded MSRP relay function via msrp module. You don't need any external application for relaying MSRP packets.
Yes. There is nothing special to do for that in configuration file, SUBSCRIBE and NOTIFY requests are simply routed as any other SIP request.
Yes. You have to use presence and presence_xml modules to handle PUBLISH and SUBSCRIBE requests.
Yes. You have to use rls module.
Yes. See pua module and its extensions named with 'pua_' prefix (such as pua_usrloc, pua_dialoginfo, etc.).
Yes. You have to use dialog module together with presence_dialoginfo and pua_dialoginfo modules.
Yes. Kamailio offers an embedded XCAP server via xcap_server module. It can receive and handle directly the XCAP requests without using any external application.
The xcap_client module can be used when you want to interact with an external XCAP server (that could be another instance of Kamailio).
Yes, Kamailio supports the so called "far-end NAT traversal". One solution is to use nathelper for NAT traversal of SIP signaling, and rtpproxy modules with the rtpproxy (http://rtpproxy.org) application for relaying RTP packets.
Read the comments at top of default configuration file shipped with Kamailio, to enable NAT traversal logic there, one has to enable the define WITH_NAT:
#!define WITH_NAT
Yes. You have to set the public IP address as advertised attribute to listen parameter:
listen=_localsocket_ advertise _publicaddr_
listen=udp:10.10.10.10:5060 advertise 184.108.40.206:5060
Yes. Use '-c' command line parameter, like:
/usr/local/sbin/kamailio -c -f /usr/local/etc/kamailio/kamailio.cfg
Note that even configuration file is reported to be ok, there might still be troubles starting kamailio with the respective configuration file. For example, the database URL can be syntactically correct, but the access itself is not working due to wrong username or password, causing kamailio to fail starting.
No. The AVPs are automatically deleted when associated SIP transaction is destroyed.
If you want to do it on purpose, you can delete the AVP using assignment to $null, like:
$avp(name) = $null;
A pseudo-variable is a special token that is expanded at runtume with a specific value. It can be used inside the parameters of some functions or in configuration file expressions.
A pseudo-variable can refer to the value of an avp, body of a header, part of a SIP message or other variables from system.
For more see:
If you have a variable holding a string like "a,b,c,d" and want to get each character separately, you have to use a WHILE loop with {s.count,separator} and {s.select,index,separator} transformations.
Here is an example:
$var(x) = "a,b,c,d"; $var(i) = 0; $var(n) = $(var(x){s.count,,}); while( $var(i) <= $var(n) ) { xlog("token at position $var(i) is: $(var(x){s.select,$var(i),,})\n"); $var(i) = $var(i) + 1; }
Configuration file interpreter evaluates the return code of a function as follow:
if(function_returns_one()) { # it goes here } else { # it doesn't go here } ... if(function_returns_minus_one()) { # it doesn't go here } else { # it goes here } ... if(function_returns_zero()) { # it doesn't go here } else { # it doesn't go here }
Note that you can use $rc to get the return code value, like:
function(); xlog("returned code by function() is $rc\n");
However, if return code is 0, the next action after function() is not executed. It can be used only of positive or negative response code.
On the other hand, the pseudo-variables (including $rc) have to be compared as an integer, the rules for evaluating return code of the functions do not apply, for example:
$var(x) = 0; if($var(x) == 0) { # do something }
To compare the return code of a function with a number is recommended to use the value stored in $rc, because the priority of the operators can convert function return code to internal-true or internal-false. Therefore the next approach should be used:
function_returns_four(); $var(rc4) = $rc; if($var(rc4)==4) { # it goes here } else { # it doesn't go here } ... function_returns_two(); $var(rc2) = $rc; if($var(rc4)==$var(rc2)) { # it doesn't go here } else { # it goes here } ... if (function_returns_four() && $rc ieq 6 ) { # it doesn't go here } else if ($rc ieq 4) { # it goes here } else { # it doesn't go here }
Note that $rc is overwritten by a new function call, therefore store its value in another variable (like $var(…)) if it is needed for longer time.
For pseudo-variables, the non-zero value is evaluated to true and zero to false, for example:
$var(x) = 1; if($var(x)) { # do something }
The next snippet is detecting retransmissions:
# handle retransmissions if (!is_method("ACK")) { if(t_precheck_trans()) { t_check_trans(); exit; } t_check_trans(); }
The ACK request is skipped because it doesn't have a SIP response, therefore it doesn't create a transaction, being forwarded in stateless mode.
The function t_precheck_trans() returns true if the same SIP request is processed at that time by another Kamailio process, so in this case it is a retransmission. The inner t_check_trans() has the role of detecting if the SIP transaction was created by the other process, and if yes, send again the last SIP response of the transaction, when one was already sent out (a requirement from SIP specs). The exit is then used to finish the execution of the config file for that request.
If the function t_precheck_trans() returns false, the SIP request is not under processing by another Kamailio process, but it can be the case that the request processing was finished, request being sent out in stateful mode, therefore t_check_trans() is used to see if a transaction is found in shared memory corresponding to the same request. If such transaction is found in shared memory, then t_check_trans() triggers internally the exit for configuration file execution.
Most probably you run out of memory allocated for Kamailio. The application does not use the entire system memory, but up to a configured size.
There are two memory pools used by Kamailio:
To increase the sizes for memory pools you have to give following command line parameters:
For example, start Kamailio with 512MB of shared memory and 8MB of private memory:
/usr/local/bin/kamailio -m 512 -M 8 ...
Use following command:
echo -n 'user:realm:password' | md5sum | awk '{ print $1 }'
Use following command:
echo -n 'user@realm:realm:password' | md5sum | awk '{ print $1 }'
Kamctl couldn't connect to FIFO file for sending MI commands - default FIFO file is /tmp/kamailio_fifo.
Check if your configuration loads the mi_fifo module and configures a fifo name.
Example for the configuration syntax:
loadmodule "mi_fifo.so" modparam("mi_fifo", "fifo_name", "/tmp/kamailio_fifo")
Check also the access privileges of the FIFO file in order to be sure that the user running kamctl can read and write to the file.
There are situations when a kamcmd RPC command fails because the parameters that are provided are auto-converted to integer numbers. This happens when the implementation of the RPC commands expects a string parameter (e.g., username).
To prevent kamcmd to do the auto-conversion, you can prefix its parameter with s:.
# - next command fails kamcmd uac.reg_refresh 1001 # use instead kamcmd uac.reg_refresh s:1001


text:
Testimonials Disclosure
Unique experiences and past performances do not guarantee future results! Testimonials herein are unsolicited and are non-representative of all clients; certain accounts may have worse performance than that indicated. Pet Sitting Services involves risk and there is always the potential for loss. Your results may vary. If you do not have the extra capital that you can afford to lose, you should not invest in the Pet Sitting Services market.


text:
A compromised endpoint gives hackers everything they need to get a foothold in your security network. Once there, they can steal data and potentially hold it for ransom. That's why it's so important for business owners to secure their critical endpoints (including desktops, servers, and laptops). Otherwise, you could be leaving the front door wide open to hackers.
Today's attackers have learned how to bypass traditional antivirus software by using file-less attacks. These types of attacks can hide within sanctioned applications or even within the operating system. Even if you're vigilant about installing antivirus updates and patching, your organization may still be at risk.
What Are Endpoints?
Endpoints in networks are computer hardware items within the TCP/IP connections, which may include desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablet devices, printers, meters, terminals, smartphones and mobile devices, clients, and other forms of hardware.
Endpoint protection (EPP) has evolved to encompass code-based hacking, but the approach is often not adopted as organizations chose to use a legacy solution due to convenience or a lack of sufficient familiarity. Online sources including MSSP report this is common, but improvements in EPP will lead to more mainstream adoption. Meanwhile, current users may find that their existing network and operational variables demand some kind of improvement.
What Should I Know About Current Endpoint Security Risks?
One sign of a demand for improvement is continuing to use an antivirus program operating on a signature base. This form of technology is considered to be too slow to keep up with so-called 'zero day attacks,' or malware programs that are integrated with other coding. Users should expect potential vulnerability with such programming, and devices that are not updated daily are considered vulnerable to ongoing malware threats. Additionally, signature sets (lists of operational protocol) can become so large that they run into the limit issue, leading legacy vendors to drop them, which creates a demand for new solutions that do not use signatures.
Another potential reason you may need to address your EPP is the increase in 'ransomware' attacks. Ransomware, hacks designed to block user access until funds are provided to the hacker, has become increasingly destructive in the past few years. All it takes is one careless user who clicks on a link in an email, and your entire database could be locked until the ransom is paid.
Demands for improved management of antivirus software and continuing to use on-site antivirus management servers may also be grounds for improving EPP. You should be able to manage your entire antivirus system from your cloud, and if you cannot, you should consider updating and improving your system. Meanwhile, however, you should take care to ensure that any increased internet connectivity involved with a system improvement does not involve increased vulnerability. If you are able to manage your antivirus system from your cloud, but it does not seem to be sufficiently organized or efficient, you may benefit from substantial restructuring.
Other practical reasons for investment in End Point Protection integrations or improvements include a developed distrust of your current system. Directly targeting EPP can be more efficient and effective.
If you are still doing regular background scans, or your new machines seem slower than you think they should be, you may want to consider improving your EPP. The newer generations of antiviral protection do not require background scanning. Traditional processes for security may be insufficient in addressing the range of possible endpoint attacks.
What is Current In Research And Development?
Many software and strategy developments have taken place to address relevant needs. Amid a range of scholarly and professional research efforts, several patents have been developed in an attempt to optimize a range of relevant security functions and features.
A patent for automated configuration has been developed to optimize efficiency, using a client security application for an EPP system capable of selecting configuration based on the state of the network. The application can then be used to run security processes managed through the configuration.
Another patent has been developed for scalable cloud-based EPP, which allows users to maintain security policies based on endpoint combinations. Configuration and command information is entered and transmitted with an API server. The endpoint then maintains communication with it in ongoing security processes.
Another recent patent has been designed for relevant structures, processes, and operational systems for End Point Protection. Examples of content in this patent include an execution system based on inputs passed to execution only following a separate validation process, and a security structure based on multiple processors and communication channels.
Such developments are expected to become increasingly available and integrated in improved software and technologies over time.
What's The Bottom Line?
- EPP improvements may be demanded for many essential reasons
- Many additional indirectly relevant factors are also important to consider
- Recent developments show potential for further improvements


text:
Even though I finished my thesis about a year ago now, I'm still quite keen to learn more and read more articles - and there have certainly been a flurry of articles recently, which I'll have to cover later on. Not only because I am quite obsessed with the subject of taphonomy, but also because I still haven't published my thesis yet, and will need to update it with citations to some of these new studies. If all goes well, I'll be presenting at SVP this year on my thesis, and hopefully will be putting a shorter version of it together for submission to "Geology". That all being said - I was quite interested to see this paper come up in a search on Georef: "Obasi et al. 2011. Glauconite composition and morphology, shocked quartz, and the origin of the Cretaceous? Main Fossiliferous Layer (MFL) in southern New Jersey, U.S.A. Journal of Sedimentary Research 81:479-494. Reading the abstract, the authors had apparently used a combination of glauconitic mineralogy, mineralogy of shocked quartz, and taphonomic evidence to identify a marine vertebrate bonebed in New Jersey as representing a catastrophic assemblage - and not just any catastrophic assemblage, but at the K/Pg boundary (for the unitiated - formerly K/T, meaning Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary) and representing a mass death assemblage from the end Cretaceous extinction.
Map of K/Pg strata in New Jersey. From Obasi et al. (2011).
years. Taphonomy has, in the past, been used as a means to an end to try and substantiate catastrophic hypotheses, and has even been used in weird ways by young earth creationists. So when I read a taphonomy article that does not seem sober, I immediately become skeptical. My last point - I have read a lot of other articles about catastrophic assemblages and their taphonomy, and very few ever really make a great case (especially in marine rocks). So it's not that I don't believe in catastrophic assemblages per se - it's that I haven't read very many good articles on them. They certainly do exist, but there is a substantial volume of evidence you need to provide in order to fully eliminate alternative hypotheses. In the past, people have identified many criteria for identifying catastrophic assemblages - are the fossils all preserved on the same bedding plane? Is there no evidence of post-mortem destruction or transport of bones? Can the fossil assemblage reasonably attributed to one event of short duration? Are the fossils well-preserved and reasonably complete (i.e. articulated or associated)? Is the assemblage biased, and can it reasonably be interpreted as a death assemblage? These are all questions that must be asked. I've probably forgotten a few, and there are certainly others that other researchers have demanded as requirements.
Stratigraphic column of the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene of New Jersey. From Obasi et al. (2011).
Seeing as the author's primary contribution is in the form of mineralogical analysis of glauconite, I'll discuss that first. Glauconite is an authigenic mineral that forms as small sand-grain size pellets, often around fecal pellets or foraminifera, and other tiny organic elements. I am no mineralogist, but if there is one thing I have consistently read in nearly every publication regarding glauconite - it forms during periods of very low sedimentation or during sedimentary hiatuses, often in concert with phosphogenesis (formation of phosphate nodules), and it generally forms on the continental shelf in upwelling regimes. Glauconite often occurs in marine bonebeds, hiatal surfaces, transgressive surfaces of erosion, and sequence boundaries. Using geochemistry and exhamining the morphology of glauconite grains, Obasi et al. (2011) determined that the "maturity" of glauconite grains (i.e. features indicating how well-formed and long the glauconite was able to form for) increased up section through these strata that contain the MFL. Maturity - FYI - is a term applied to mineral grains in sedimentology (and probably other fields in geology); for example (the most widely known use of 'maturity'), the relative maturity of a sandstone is identified based on what proportion of the rock is composed by quartz (the most durable and stable type of grain in sandstone) or not, as opposed to less-stable rock fragments and feldspar grains. Less mature sandstone includes more unstable fragments and grains and less quartz, indicating it is 'fresher' and has not been subjected to as much weathering. The same concept applies to glauconite - mature glauconite has had a long residence time on the seafloor, and vice versa. Lastly, the authors make the case that the sedimentation rate - while already low to form glauconite at all - must have decreased even further through time during "Hornerstown" time.
The trenches, stratigraphic sections, glauconite (middle two rows) and shocked quartz (lower right) from Obasi et al. (2011). Note the green color of the sediment in A and B.
zone and wave base migrate inland during transgression".
The authors then discuss the possibility of the MFL representing a condensed deposit. A condensed deposit is formed by low to zero net sedimentation, as opposed to erosion, and fossil assemblages may appear fairly similar, and may not be associated with a sharp erosional surface. They admit that the intense bioturbation supports this interpretation, as does the preservation of fossil vertebrates, but the steady increase in glauconite maturity does not- in theory, it should peak at the time of lowest sedimentation rate, which should be the MFL under this hypothesis. Finally, they discuss the reasons why they interpret the MFL as being a thanatocenosis formed by the K/Pg bolid impact. Although the authors have not found any evidence for the famed iridium anomaly in their study area (Obasi et al. 2011:491), they argue that the presence of shocked quartz grains in a single burrow below the MFL. Although not found elsewhere in the section, the shocked quartz appears to have been reworked form the Hornerstown Fm. down into the burrow, which extends down into the Navesink Fm. (Shocked quartz is often used as evidence of a bolide impact, as it is a high-pressure low-temperature type of deformation that happens to quartz). They argue that the gray rip up clasts are mud rip-ups from the tsunami wave from the bolide impact, and the shocked quartz is evidence of the bolide impact as well coinciding with bonebed formation. In total, they argue that the MFL formed as marine vertebrate carcasses littered their remains across the seafloor after being killed by the event, leaving some isolated bones and some associated specimens.
There are a lot of serious problems with this study, and I'll try to deal with them quickly so that this post doesn't get any longer. First and foremost, transgressive lags can occur in quite deep environments, and certainly glauconite-producing middle and some outer shelf environments, and glauconite has been identified at sequence boundaries and other large-scale sequence stratigraphic surfaces before. Transgressive lags are not confined to the 'surf zone', and storm waves can rework sediment at the depths which glauconite forms at. Secondly - you cannot make the argument that the lack of primary sedimentary structures (erosional surfaces, cross-bedding, etc.) indicates anything if you also note that the strata are massive and bioturbated (except perhaps that the strata are structureless because they are bioturbated!). Bioturbation is not an alternative mode of sedimentation - it is a process which erases certain physical information and overprints it with biogenic information.
What about the glauconite and taphonomy? We already know that A) glauconite forms during periods of slow sedimentation, B) there are clearly reworked invertebrate fossils, C) some of the vertebrate fossils are abraded, D) the vertebrates are probably not reworked, E) the vertebrates are not concentrated onto a single resolvable bedding plane as a number of clearly complete skeletons. Taken in full, the evidence does not really look that good for a catastrophic assemblage. Relatively little of the negative evidence cited by Obasi et al. (2011) for physically-controlled modes of formation are negative. Instead, nearly all of the evidence cited would positively support a physical control on bonebed formation. My alternative and less hyperbolic interpretation would go something like this: 1) slowdown in sedimentation results in glauconite formation; 2) vertebrates concentrated into 10cm interval due to current reworking of sediment at sea floor surface and transport and abrasion of some bones and disarticulation of skeletons (other elements shed from carcasses over protracted period of time); 3) slow sedimentation allows pervasive bioturbation, deleting the physical sedimentary structures from the strata; 4) K/Pg impact happened sometime before or after, or possibly during. We just don't know when given the evidence, and I don't think that Obasi et al. (2011) really have sufficient evidence to point at any one part of the strat column and say "here!".
Glauconite in the Santa Margarita Sandstone at Limantour Beach, Point Reyes. This is glauconite from a transgressive surface of erosion in California, which apparently should not exist.
Edit: I realize that I ran out of steam a bit and neglected to mention some of the most serious reasons why the results of Obasi et al. (2011) do not hold up, taphonomically speaking. For one - the premise that a fossil assemblage deposited in glauconite can be interpreted in any way except that it is extremely time averaged to some degree or another (and thus preserving a physical depositional signal - and any purely biological/catastrophic signal being deleted permanently from the rock record) - is absurd. Glauconite is de facto geologic evidence (i.e. independent of the taphonomic evidence, which in the case of the MFL is just as strong) of time averaging and slow sedimentation. Secondly - what taphonomic characteristics need to be positively addressed in order to accurately demonstrate a catastrophic death assemblage in the marine realm? I guess I will start by asking (and answering) a third question - how many previously published marine tetrapod assemblages can realistically be interpreted to represent a catastrophic death assemblage? I can really only think of one well-published example: the death assemblage of Shonisaurus published by Hogler (1992). There may be a couple of others preserved under similar circumstances - but in this case, all of the Shonisaurus skeletons are articulated, in a small geographic area on a single bedding plane, not preserved in a concentration that appears to be caused hydraulically or by changes in sedimentary budget, etc. Virtually none of these variables are present in the assemblage from the MFL in New Jersey (Obasi et al., 2011), and even many of these have been argued to be of variable utility by taphonomists.
Lastly, I get the impression that the identification of this exact horizon as the MFL rests solely on the shocked quartz grains in a single burrow. This would correlate the death assemblage with the K/Pg boundary, and voila! There's your cause of death. Once again, here's a perfect example of where correlation and causation may not necessarily be linked, and in this case - there isn't sufficient evidence to link them.
Hogler, J. A. 1992. Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Shonisaurus popularis (Reptilia:
Ichthyosauria). Palaios 7:108-117.
Liebig, P. M., K. W. Flessa, and T. A. Taylor. 2007. Taphonomic variation desite
catastrophic mortality: analysis of a mass stranding of false killer whales (Pseudorca
crassidens), Gulf of California, Mexico. Palaios 22:384-391.
Obasi, C.C., Terry, D.O., Myer, G.H., and D.E. Grandstaff. 2011. Glauconite composition and morphology, shocked quartz, and the origin of the Cretaceous(?) Main Fossiliferous Layer (MFL) in southern New Jersey, U.S.A. Journal of Sedimetnary Research 81:479-494.
Peters, S. E., M. S. M. Antar, I. S. Zalmout, and P. D. Gingerich. 2009. Sequence
stratigraphic control on preservation of late Eocene whales and other vertebrates at Wadi
Al-Hitan, Egypt. Palaios 24:290-302.


text:
Car Mechanic In Clayton, NC
Proficient Auto are your mobile car mechanic specialists!
At your HOME, OFFICE, even on the ROADSIDE…WE COME TO YOU!!!
In a Hurry? Call Now: 919.675.AUTO
Proficient Auto Mobile Mechanics
The Top Choice for Car Mechanics in Clayton, NC
Proficient Auto brings car mechanics to you!
We provide convenient auto work for people who don't have the time to get to a busy shop with their insane wait times. Wherever you may be in Clayton we make it easy to get your auto serviced quickly. Getting your car mechanic work done is no problem for our skilled technicians!
Not only do we come directly to your vehicle to perform the job, we do so with competitive pricing and amiable service for you!
When you get your auto repairs with us in Clayton you get an ASE Certified mechanic and a 12 Month / 12,000 Mile Warranty
Car Mechanics Anywhere In Clayton, NC
Hassle-free repairs with peace of mind at your home or office.
Get Your FREE Quote For Car Mechanic In Clayton, NC:
We'll get back in touch with a quote in minutes!
In a hurry for your car mechanic?
Call: 919.675.2886
"I was skeptical about having a mechanic come to our house to replace brakes, but I will never take our car to a traditional repair shop again! Our technician was thorough, extremely polite and we paid an incredibly reasonable rate for services. We had him come back the next day to handle our husband's car as well. Value, convenience, and outstanding work! Highly recommend."
For more information or to get a quote for your repair, please call us directly at (919) 675-2886 or fill out our easy contact form here. We look forward to working with you and creating a lifelong customer.
We Offer The All Of These Car Mechanic Services in Clayton, NC:
- Pre-Purchase Inspections
- Brake Repairs
- Starter Replacement
- Spark Plugs
- Battery Replacement
- Engine Repair
- Timing Belt Service
- Check Engine Light
- Oil Leaks
- Radiator Replacement
- Water Pump Replacement
- A/C Repair
- Power Steering
- Fleet Repair Services
"Car Care With A Conscience"
At Proficient Auto Mobile Mechanics we believe in "Car Care with a Conscience". This entails building lifetime relationships with our customers while providing honest, convenient and affordable auto repair. When and where you need us.


text:
Doll Measurements:
Height: 157cm | 5ft 1.8inch
Weight: 39kg | 86lbs
Chest: 78cm | 30.7in
Waist: 60cm | 23.6in
Hips: 94cm | 37in
Foot Length: 22cm | 8.7in
※Material: Medical grade high quality TPE
※The doll is from original maker, 100% as advertised pictures except customization.
※The free sex outfit doesn't match the pictures, it will come in random style.
※The actual skin color may slightly different from the pictures depending on screen settings and light environment.
※FREE wig, holes cleaning kit, soft blanket and white glove in the box.
※If you want to customize more details (like areola, nails color) for your doll which are not optional in this page, please contact us.
Manufactured by Zelex Doll


text:
Title: The Weight Of Rain
Author: Mariah Dietz
Genre: New Adult
Release Date: October 27, 2015
One night changed my life—one that I barely remember.
When I close my eyes, my mind paints a picture of his smile and shades the contours of his hands, the deep scar around his bicep.
I'm an artist, yet my hands are unsteady. With his presence, he has unknowingly broken that something inside of me that makes me who I am.
Being around him is like standing in a rainstorm. First the drops tickle my skin, and then they coat me, refusing to be ignored. Finally, they soak into me, reaching parts of me I don't think anyone has ever touched.
When dreams turn into reality, will the picture in my mind transfer to paper?
Buy The Book
"Why do you pretend that I don't mean anything to you when clearly I do?"
My charcoal presses hard against the paper as my neck snaps up. He's fully dressed, his usual baseball hat still on, flipped backward, and wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Flannel is growing on me, but I won't tell him that. His face shows no signs of humor or teasing. If anything, he looks almost pained.
"Did you just get home?"
"Why did you pretend you wanted to know me? Why not just call it what it was?" His eyes narrow as his chin drops.
"Have you been drinking?" I know the answer before I ask the question. I can smell it.
"I liked you, Lo."
My heart races with too many possibilities and hopes, and not enough validation.
"You spend so much time trying to convince yourself that what happened that night wasn't real."
"I was drunk."
"You weren't drunk. I wouldn't have slept with you if you were drunk! I don't do shit like that. It's disgusting!"
"I don't remember large parts of that night."
"You remember more of that night than you're willing to admit." His eyes land on my drawing where he studies the image for several long seconds. I should have covered it as soon as I realized he was here, but it was too late from the beginning. It's of him—of course it's of him. And to make matters worse, he's shirtless. The scars he mentioned me knowing about are there, as well as the few tattoos most of the world is deprived of seeing. "Obviously you remember."
His words make my cheeks burn with embarrassment. He's right, but hearing that he's aware of this fact is both strangely relieving and move-to-Australia-tomorrow worthy. "You left an impression," I admit before moving my attention so I don't have to see his reaction.
"Lo, I haven't been able to forget that night either. I think about it all. The. Damn. Time." His words are punctuated, driving his message much further than just my thoughts. "I spent weeks trying to figure out who you were." I feel slightly guilty that his admission makes me so happy. For so long I have thought he avoided me, lied about his name and identity so that I wouldn't find out who he truly was.
"Why did we wait so long to be honest with each other?"
His breath is a snicker. "We're only admitting a fraction of anything."
His words run through my head, lacing into several variations of what he actually means, still, I nod. "This conversation needs to happen. We need to figure shit out because I'm tired of trying to avoid you, and I'm really tired of you ignoring me."
"Aren't we kind of doing that now?"
He shakes his head as he closes the distance between us, then grips the table with his left hand and bends so his face is level with mine. "If I stay in here any longer I'm going to do something that would probably make me deserve getting slapped, so I am going to say this and then leave." He pauses. I can smell the scent of beer and peppermint on his breath, along with the warmth of his skin as his shoulders roll forward. His eyes are wide and bright, demanding me to pay close attention to his words. "I know you're tough. I know you can draw better than any damn person I've ever met in my life and most likely ever will. I know you love Mercedes and would never risk changing that relationship. But we like each other, and I don't know what in the hell that means exactly, but I know I want to find out. The question you need to ask yourself is, do you?"
His throat moves, swallowing words we both know he's fighting with. Ones that would make things both better and worse. He reaches forward, his chest grazing my shoulder. I hate that I don't want to move. That I want to absorb the feel of his warmth and convince him to admit truths we both know and bury on a daily basis in a sea of general politeness and attempts to avoid one another. But the truths are laid open with the innuendos, silent stares, and capitalized when we go out of the way to cross the other's path. He has become an exhausting and thrilling addiction that I don't know how to consider stopping or even changing at this point.
A long breath runs through my nose as his dark eyes meet mine, exposing he's fighting his own battle: silently pleading with me to bring things up by making a cutting remark or joke about our night. I know he wants it because it's the only way we can both talk about it and relive it. It's apparent by the way his jaw locks and his eyes waver from mine that he also doesn't want me to respond. He's waiting for me to consider his words and come back. His arm flexes as he holds the table even tighter. Then he stands and stalks out of the room, leaving my heart racing.
Holy shit.
About The Author
Mariah Dietz lives in Eastern Washington with her husband and two sons that are the axis of her crazy and wonderful world.
Mariah grew up in a tiny town outside of Portland, Oregon where she spent the majority of her time immersed in the pages of books that she both read and created.
She has a love for all things that include her sons, good coffee, books, travel, and dark chocolate. She also has a deep passion for the stories she writes, and hopes readers enjoy the journeys she takes them on, as much as she loves creating them.


text:
Whenever you go on a trip overseas, it is always best to stay protected, safe and secure. Whether you are going on a business trip or on a family holiday in a different country, it would be best to be always prepared in case of any emergencies or untoward incident. You can do this by investing in a travel insurance policy.
Not all travel policies are the same though. Various companies offer different types of coverage. However, to make sure that you are fully covered during your travel, you have to correctly choose the right type of insurance policy.
To make sure that you choose the right travel insurance policy, consider following the tips below:
Find out if you already have some coverage. Without even knowing it, you might already be covered. This is because some banks now provide free although basic travel insurance coverage for their customers. As such, it's always worth checking this before you start shopping around. While you're doing this, have a look at your home insurance policy as well. This type of coverage will often cover the loss of personal items while away from home.
Make sure the policy covers all the basics. This means that the best travel insurance you should get must cover all the important areas or aspects: medical, luggage and personal items, excess, and cancellation policy. All of these are important and have to be covered by your policy and as such, make sure they are included in the coverage you want to invest in.
Make sure your destination is covered. Unfortunately, not all insurance providers offer coverage for all the countries in the world. You'll find that while the US & Caribbean are frequently not automatically included in worldwide policies, African countries such as Egypt and Morocco are included in European ones. This is important to keep in mind if you're heading to multiple locations or choosing an annual policy.
Lastly, find out if you will benefit more from an annual coverage or single trip policy. If you have plans of taking three holidays or more in the next year, get yourself an annual policy. By doing so, you will definitely save some extra money. However, make sure you check the maximum number of days covered in a single trip since some policies will provide cover for just 45 days, some for just 21. If you're going backpacking, travel insurance experts recommend choosing a specific backpacker's travel insurance policy.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_O_Harrison


text:
The subject of my departure from PETRONAS in 2009 had been a favourite point of attack by Umno activists lately. I was allegedly sacked from PETRONAS on account of fraudulent claim.
I actually did not want to respond, because it was a cheap shot. They could not find anything to run me down with, so they had to create a story on misappropriation so that it tarnishes my credibility. Tarnishing that credibility, in their miscalculation, will dilute the credibility of my past, present and future exposes on corruption scandal.
It came to a point that I feel a continued silence ignoring the slander is not in the best interest of the truth.
I did not get sacked (as most people can testify and know), I resigned.
I was promoted early in my career, entering PETRONAS as a manager straight away when I came back from London (after my 3+ year stint in an accountancy firm to qualify for my ICAEW). After serving at the PDH plant/MMSB in Gebeng for nearly 2 years, the corporate centre decided to move me back to the HQ in the Twin Towers.
So, at the age of 27, I was promoted to a post of Senior Manager (apparently it was unprecendented and I was told I was the youngest to be appointed to such a position) to oversee the overall business, operational and technology planning for PETRONAS' petrochemical business, given that supposedly I had both the accounting and engineering qualifications.
Two years later, I was moved to head the finance function of the international upstream at Carigali, to draw from my previous work on taxation since PETRONAS needed to put its taxation in order all around the world at the time when governments begin to use tax non-compliance as an excuse to interfere with production sharing contacts.
By the time I reached 31, I had covered the oil and gas at management level quite extensively. I had been in the plant, at the corporate centre, worked in downstream and upstream. It would not be long before I was promoted to the next level. At that junction, I was faced with a dilemma. If I stayed on, most probably I would end up in the oil and gas forever because with the money and senior position, it would be too comfortable a life to switch. I didn't want to be a one field professional, life has always been an adventure of learning for me, so the idea to continue beyond my 7-year bond in PETRONAS weighed heavily.
By fate, in January 2008, Adlan Benan Omar – a dear friend, a mentor and most importantly the single most important influence in my life (apart from my parents) up to that point, passed away after prolonged illnesses. When we were in school in MCKK in the early 90s, we made this foolish promise that we would make a difference to the country when we grew up. He was serious, I just played along because he was a super senior and my debating captain. I was the ever obliging junior.
Being silly, we held dear to that promise. He went to Cambridge, set up the United Kingdom Executive Council for Malaysian students (UKEC) and dragged me with him. I had always been a workaholic, so my presence was handy because I could turn his idea into workable events and programs.
When Dato' Seri Anwar was sacked and humiliated in 1998, both of us went through a political awakening of sorts. Ben (as everyone called him) plunged into partisan politics to become the early pioneers of KEADILAN, and again he dragged me with him.
He passed away 2 months before the political tsunami of March 2008. On his death bed in early January 2008, it dawned on me that if he were to pass away, someone had to carry on so that he didn't die in vain. Finishing the task of getting rid of BN and establishing a 2-party system (as how we always dreamt as youth) became personal to us – when he died, I knew my comfortable life in the corporate world would come to an end somehow.
So, by 2009, I somehow had made a career decision to move on. I never had any plan to enter politics even at that time, I just wanted to go out of my comfort zone. And tested how much, as a chartered accountant, my worth was outside.
On 30 April 2009, I tendered my resignation.
In the next 3 months, I settled all my obligations with PETRONAS including paying RM31,499.89 for the 6-month remainder of my scholarship bond, so that I had fully repaid every single sen of what was invested on me by PETRONAS. I also paid cash a sum of RM41,091.80 for the balance of my car grant, given to management level and above.
Fortunately, my curiosity to find out how much I was worth outside PETRONAS paid off. I had a much better offer outside PETRONAS and in August 2009 joined Pharmaniaga as a general manager, with a combined role of overseeing its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Bangi and the finance functions of the group.
I was supposed to start at Pharmaniaga on 10 August 2009. Fate had it that on 8 August 2009, I went back to Kemaman to see my parents and co-incidentally Dato' Seri Anwar was in Kemaman for his grand ceramah. So I was asked to become the MC for the night.
Ever obliging, so I went. Dato' Seri Anwar was quite shocked to see me there, because the last time we met about a year before that (during a discussion in preparation for the debate on fuel price), I was not at all interested in politics and kept repeating that I would stay in PETRONAS.
He enquired what I was doing, I briefly told him that I was no longer in PETRONAS and about to start at Pharmaniaga. The rest, as they said, was history.
From that encounter, Dato' Seri Anwar requested for a quick meeting and we met twice at Parliament. He asked me to come back to the party (I was in the youth leadership line up until 2004), twice he asked and twice I said no. Until at one point, he said to me that "you need to stand up and be counted, stop being an armchair critic" – he bruised my ego.
While I never plan to do what I am doing now, somehow I have peace because I have a promise to keep. And that promise Ben and I made when we were young is close to being fulfilled. What happens after I keep that promise is a different thing. Some people said I was so foolish to hold on to a childhood promise, but that promise keeps his memory alive.
Going back to the part on PETRONAS, I had a wonderful career in PETRONAS. It has given me so much that most of what I am now professionally, I acquired from my time in PETRONAS. And PETRONAS returned my diligence with the quickest promotion – a result of an evaluation of my career is attached just to prove how fruitful the partnership with PETRONAS was.
My resignation from PETRONAS was abrupt. A lot of people did not understand why I should leave a career when I seemed to be destined for better things in PETRONAS.
A lot of them tried to persuade me, including Datuk Mohamad Medan Abdullah, Senior General Manager of the Group Corporate Affairs (who was my boss at Carigali at one point).
He tweeted on 21 August 2012 to reflect how he tried to persuade me from resigning, and how there was no indication that I was planning to plunge into politics.
I hope this clears the air once and for all.
I refuse to be dragged into it before because it was a personal choice. It related to a death of a dear friend and it brought sadness to revisit that life changing decision. It was a private matter and I prefer to keep it there.
This is my first and last non-legal response on this matter. If this persists, I will resort to a legal action.


text:
Aside from Hannibal, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the CW have made their decisions about which shows are returning next season. How did I do this year on picking which new shows to watch?
Canceled: 666 Park Avenue, The Family Tools, How to Live with Your Parents, Last Resort, Malibu Country, Red Widow, Zero Hour
Renewed: The Neighbors
I watched more of ABC's pilots than I typically would for a network since their media site allowed me to preview several shows weeks or even months before they aired. I didn't like 666 Park Avenue. I thought The Family Tools and How to Live with Your Parents were decent, but by the time they finally started airing I didn't have time to watch. I loved the pilot of Last Resort, but subsequent episodes lacked the same polish, so I bailed after episode 3, always saying I'd get back to the show, but never actually doing so. The Neighbors was far better than I was expecting, and I watched through the mid-season break, and plan to catch up this summer.
Grade: A+
Canceled: Golden Boy, Made in Jersey, Partners, Vegas
Renewed: Elementary
I watched not a single full episode of any of the canceled shows, and I loved Elementary right from the start, and it remains one of my favorite new shows.
Grade: A+
Canceled: Ben & Kate, The Mob Doctor
Renewed: The Following, The Mindy Project
I watched the two new comedies on Fox with a nervous eye toward the ratings. While Ben & Kate was cute, The Mindy Project was far more funny. The drama premises interested me not at all.
Grade: C+
Canceled: 1600 Penn, Animal Practice, Deception, Do No Harm, Go On, Guys With Kids, The New Normal
Renewed: Chicago Fire, Revolution
I passed on all of NBC's new dramas, though I did give Revolution two episodes to convince me it was must-see-TV (it failed to), but I was far more willing to try out comedies. The New Normal proved its awfulness in one episode, and I moderately enjoyed Animal Practice while it lasted. I enjoyed 1600 Penn, Go On, and Guys With Kids, but fell multiple episodes behind with each of them quite frequently.
Grade: D
The CW
Canceled: Cult, Emily Owens, MD
Renewed: Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries
I was going to give Cult a chance because of Matt Davis, but the previews turned me off, and I never planned to watch Emily Owens. Arrow is tied with Elementary for my favorite new drama of the year, and I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast but fell behind because of my new job. Initially I didn't like the idea of The Carrie Diaries at all, but cute promos and a Doctor Who alum has pushed the show into "maybe I'll check it out someday" territory.
Grade: A
In all, I give myself a B+ for show selection this year – beating my score for last year.
How did you do on picking new shows to watch?


text:
Wolfi Landstreicher
A Balanced Account of the World: A Critical Look at the Scientific World View
The origin of modern science in the 16th and 17th centuries corresponds with the origins of modern capitalism and the industrial system. From the beginning, the worldview and methods of science have fit in perfectly with the need of the capitalist social system to dominate nature and the vast majority of human beings. Francis Bacon made it clear that science was not an attempt to understand nature as it is, but to dominate it in order to twist it to the ends of humanity — in this case meaning the current rulers of the social order. In this light, science must necessarily be subjected to social analysis by anyone claiming to call the present social reality into question.
Science is not simply a matter of observing the world, experimenting with its elements and drawing reasonable conclusions. Otherwise, we would have to recognize children, so-called primitives and a good many animals as excellent scientists. But the practical experiments carried out by all of us every day lack a few necessary factors, the first and most important of which is the concept of the universe as a single entity operating under universal, rational, knowable laws. Without this foundation, science cannot operate as such.
Of course, the idea of universal natural laws had already come into existence in ancient Greece, arising at about the same time as written law for governing the city-states and money-based commerce. But the ancient Greek perspective differed significantly from that of modern science. The universal natural laws of Greek philosophy were fundamentally relational, parallel to the political and economic institutions of ancient Greek society. Thus this conception tended to promote moderation — Aristotle's "golden mean" — and an avoidance of hubris, traits that very clearly do not find their equivalent in the modern scientific perspective.
Between the time of the ancient Greek philosophers and the origin of modern science, two significant historical events affected the western view of the world. The first of these was the rise of the Christian religion as the central dominating factor in western thought. This worldview replaced the concept of a multiplicity of gods who were part of the world with that of a single god external to the universe who created it and controls it. It additionally declared that the world had been created for the use of god's favored creature, the human being, who was to subdue and rule it. The second significant event was the invention of the first automatic machine to play a significant role in public social life: the clock. The full significance of the invention of the clock in the development of capitalism, particularly in its industrial form, is a tale in itself, but my concern here is more specific. By materializing the concept of a non-living thing that could nonetheless move on its own for the populace, the clock gave an understandable basis for a new conception of the universe. Together with the idea of a creator external to the universe, it provided the basis for perceiving the unity of the universe as a clockwork created by the great clockmaker. In other words, it was essentially mechanical.
So religion and a technological development laid the basis for the development of a mechanistic view of the universe and with it of modern science. Recognizing the importance of religion in providing this ideological framework, it should come as no surprise that most early scientists were ecclesiastics, and that the sufferings of Galileo and Copernicus were exceptions to the rule, useful in developing the mythology of science as a force of truth fighting against the obscurantism of superstition and dogma. In reality, the early scientists were generally working for one or another of the various state powers as integral parts of the power structure, following the same path as one of the best known among them, Francis Bacon, who had no problem with reporting people like Giordano Bruno, who expressed 'heretical' ideas, to the church authorities.
But the scandals of science, like those of the church, the state or capital, are not the substance of the problem. The substance lies in the ideological foundations of science. Basically relational views of the universe — whether the legalistic one of the ancient Greek or the more fluid views of people who lived outside civilization — imply that an understanding of the universe would come from attempting to view it as holistically as possible in order to observe the relationships between things, the connections and interactions. Such a viewpoint works well for those who have no desire to dominate the universe, but rather only want to determine how to interact with their environment in order to fulfill their desires and create their life. But the capitalist need for industrial development required a different worldview.
If the universe is a machine and not an interrelationship between a myriad of beings, then one does not achieve an understanding of it through simple observation and direct experimentation, but through a specialized form of experimentation. One cannot come to an understanding of how a machine works simply by observing it as it functions in its environment. One needs to break it down into its parts — the gears, the wheels, the wires, the levers, etc. — in order to figure out what each part does. Thus, a foundational aspect of the method of modern science is the necessity of breaking everything down into its parts, with the aim of achieving the most basic unit. It is in this light that one can understand why scientists think that it is possible to learn more about life by cutting a frog open in a laboratory than by sitting by a pond observing frogs and fish and mosquitoes and lily pads actually living together. The knowledge science pursues is quantitative knowledge, mathematical knowledge, utilitarian knowledge — a type of knowledge that transforms the world into the machine it claims the world is. This sort of knowledge cannot be drawn from free observation in the world. It requires the sphere of the laboratory where parts can be experimented with outside of the context of the whole and within the framework of the ideological foundations of mathematics and a mechanistic worldview. Only parts that have been separated in this way can be reconstructed to meet the needs of those who rule.
Of course, the first parts that must be separated from this mechanistic whole are the scientists themselves. The factor that makes the experiments of animals, children, non-civilized people and untrained people within the modern world unscientific is our lack of so-called objectivity; we are too involved, still in intimate relationship with that with which we experiment. The scientist, on the other hand, has been trained to place himself outside of that on which she experiments, to use the cold rationality of mathematics. But this objectivity is really no different from the separation of a king, an emperor or a dictator from the people they rule. The scientist cannot step out of the natural world in any literal sense which would allow him to view it from beyond its borders (for all practical intents and purposes, this universe has no borders). Rather like an emperor from the heights of his throne, from her laboratory the scientist proclaims to the universe: "You will submit to my commands." The scientific worldview can really only be understood in these terms. The conceptions of the nature of the universe that have been put forth by modern science have not been so much descriptive as prescriptive, edicts proclaiming what the natural world must be forced to become: mechanical parts with regular, predictable motions which can be made to function as the ruling class that funds scientific research desires. It should come as no surprise then that the language of science is the same as the language of the economy and of bureaucracy, a language devoid of passion and any concrete connection to life, the language of mathematics. What better language could one find for ruling the universe — a language that is at the same time utterly arbitrary and utterly rational?
So modern science developed with a specific purpose. That purpose was not the pursuit of truth or even knowledge except in the most utilitarian sense, but rather the atomization and rationalization of the natural world so that it could be broken down into its component parts which could then be forced into new, regularized, measured relations useful to the development of technological systems that could extract more and more components for the reproduction of these systems. After all, this was what the rulers wanted, and they were the funders (and thus financially the founders) of modern science.
With the mathematization of all things, what is singular in each thing disappears, because what is singular is beyond abstraction and therefore beyond mathematics. When that which is singular in beings and things disappears, the basis for passionate relations, relations of desire, disappears as well. After all, how does one measure passion? How does one calculate desire? The domination of instrumental reason has little room for any passion other than that deformed sort of greed that seeks to accumulate more and more of the standardized, commodified items available on the market and the money that makes them all equal in the strictest mathematical sense.
The various classification systems of science — which parallel systems used by state bureaucracies — certainly played a significant role in excluding the singular from the realm of science. But science uses another more insidious and irreparable method for destroying the singular. It attempts to break every thing down into its smallest possible components — first those units that are shared by every entity of a particular type, and then those that are shared by every entity that exists — because mathematics can only be applied to homogeneous units, units that can be equivalent. If early scientists had a tendency to experiment frequently with dead animals, including humans, it was because in death one dog or one monkey or one human is very much like any other. When pinned on a board in a laboratory with their bodies cut open, have not all frogs become equivalent? But this does not yet break things down adequately. Certainly such experimentation, whether with dead organisms or with non-organic matter allowed science to break the world down into components it could mold to fit into its well-measured, calculated, mechanistic perspective, a necessary step in the development of industrial technology. But mathematics and the corresponding mechanistic worldview were still quite clearly ideas that were being imposed on an unwilling and resistant world — particularly (or maybe just most noticeably) the human world, the world of the exploited who did not want their lives measured out in hours of work timed by the industrially accurate clocks of the boss, the exploited who didn't want to spend every day in the same repetitive task that is also being carried out by hundreds — or maybe thousands — of others in the same building, or one that is identical to it in order to earn the general equivalent for buying survival.
Physics has always been the science in the forefront of the effort to make mathematics the inherent basis of reality. If one is to believe the myth, when the apple hit Newton on the head, it supposedly led him to come up with equations to mathematically explain the attraction and repulsion of objects. For some reason, this is supposed to make us think of him as a genius rather than a petty-minded, calculating businessman/scientist. (He was a stockholder in the famous East India Company which provided the financial basis for so many of Britain's imperialistic endeavors and head of the Bank of England for a time.) But Newton's law of gravity, Galileo's law of inertia, the laws of thermodynamics, etc. come across as mathematical constructs of the human mind that are imposed on the universe, just as their technological results — the industrial system of capitalism — was an imposition of this rationalized worldview into the daily lives of the exploited classes.
It should be clear from this that the scientific method was never the empirical method. The latter was based only on experience, observation and experiment within the world with no preconceptions, mathematical or otherwise. The scientific method, on the other hand starts from the necessity of imposing mathematical, instrumental rationality on the universe. In order to carry out this task, as I have said, it had to separate specific components from their environment, remove them to the sterility of the laboratory and there experiment with them in order to figure out how to conform them to this instrumental, mathematical logic. A far cry from the sensual exploration of the world that would constitute a truly empirical investigation.
Modern science has been able to continue developing not because it opens the way to increasing knowledge, but because it has been successful at carrying out the task for which the state and the ruling class funded it. Modern science was never intended to provide real knowledge of the world — that would have required immersion in the world, not separation from it — but rather to impose a particular perspective on the universe that would turn it in to a machine useful to the ruling class. The industrial system is proof of the success of science at carrying out this task, but not of the truth of its worldview. It is in this light that we can examine the "advances" that constitute the "new physics" — relativity physics, atomic physics and quantum physics — because it is this post-Newtonian physics that succeeds in imposing the mathematical conception onto the universe to such a degree that the two come to be seen as one. In Newtonian physics, the universe is a material reality, a machine made up of parts the interactions of which can be "explained" (though, in fact, nothing is really explained) mathematically. In the "new" physics, the universe is a mathematical construct — matter simply being part of the equation — made up of bits of information. In other words, the "new" physics has a cybernetic view of the universe.
Relativity physics mathematizes the universe on the macrocosmic level. According to its theories, the universe is a "space-time continuum". But what does this mean? The "space-time continuum" is, in fact, purely a mathematical construct, the multi-dimensional graph of a complex equation. Thus, it is completely beyond empirical observation — strangely like cyber-space. Or not so strangely, if one considers the former as a model for the latter. Once again, it matters little if this picture of the universe is true. It works on a technological and economic level, and that has always been the bottom line for science.
The "ultimate reality" that is the "space-time continuum" — this "reality" beyond our senses that the experts tell is more real than our daily experience (and who still doubts them in this alienated world?) — is constructed of bits of information called quanta. This is the microcosm of the total mathematization of the universe, the realm of quantum physics. Quantum physics is particularly interesting for the way in which it exposes the project of modern science. Quantum physics is supposed to be the science of sub-atomic particles. At first, there were just three: the proton, the electron and the neutron. These explained atomic weight, electricity, etc. and allowed for the development of nuclear technology and modern electronics. But too many mathematical discrepancies appeared. Quantum physics has dealt with these discrepancies by using the most consistent scientific method possible; it has formulated new equations in order to calculate away the discrepancies and called these mathematical constructs newly discovered sub-atomic particles. Once again, there is nothing that we can observe through our senses — even with the aid of tools such as microscopes. We are dependent on the claims of experts. But experts in what? Clearly, they are experts in constructing stopgap equations that uphold the mathematical conception of the universe until the next discrepancy arises — functioning in a way that parallels capitalism itself.
Relativity physics and quantum physics are often passed off as "pure science" (as if such a thing has ever existed), theoretical exploration without any instrumental considerations. Without even considering the role these branches of science have played in the development of nuclear weapons and power, cybernetics, electronics, and so on, this claim is also belied by the ideological interests of power that they serve. Together these scientific perspectives present a conception of reality that is completely outside of the sphere of empirical observation. Ultimate reality lies utterly beyond what we can sense and exists completely within the sphere of complex mathematical equations that only those with the time and education — that is the experts — are capable of learning and manipulating. Thus the "new" physics — like the old, but more emphatically — promotes the necessity of faith in the experts, of acceptance of their word over one's own perception. Furthermore, it promotes the idea that reality consists of bits of information that are connected mathematically and can be manipulated at will by those who know the secrets, the sorcerers of our age, the scientist-technicians.
Relativity and quantum physics have succeeded in doing what every branch of science would like to do; they have completely separated their sphere of knowledge from the realm of the senses. If reality is only a complex mathematical equation made up of bits of information, then thought experiments are certainly at least as reliable as experiments on material objects. It should be evident by now that this has been an ideal of modern science from the beginning. The separation of the scientist from the sphere of daily life, the sterile laboratory as the realm of experimentation, the blatant scorn of the early scientists for daily experience and what is learned through the senses alone are clear indications of the attitude and direction of science. For Bacon, for Newton, for modern science as a whole, the senses — like the natural world of which they are a part — are obstacles to be overcome in the pursuit of dominance over the universe. Interacting with the world on a sensual level is much too likely to evoke passion, and the reason of science is a cold, calculating reason, not the passionate reason of desire. So the world of non-material experimentation opened by the "new" physics fits in well with the trajectory of science.
While some have tried to portray the concepts of relativity and quantum physics as a break with the mechanistic worldview held by science up to that time, in fact, this "new" view of the world as pure mathematical construct made up of bits of information was precisely the aim of science. It developed its material manifestation in cybernetic technology. The industrial mechanistic worldview gave way to the far more totalizing cybernetic mechanistic worldview, because the latter serves the purposes of science and its masters better than the former. The development of cybernetic technology and particularly of virtual reality opened the door to the possibility of non-material experimentation for those branches of science for which this had previously been impossible, particularly the life sciences and the social sciences. This world doesn't just provide a means of storing, organizing, categorizing and manipulating figures and information gathered during experimentation and research in the physical world; it also provides a virtual world in which one can experiment on virtual organic beings and systems, on virtual societies and cultures. And if the universe is nothing more than interchangeable bits of information in mathematical relationship to each other, then such experiments are on the same level as those carried out in the physical world. In fact, they are more reliable, since the obstacles of the senses and of the possible development of sympathetic emotion toward those upon which the scientist is experimenting do not come into play. No need to worry about the fact that anything mathematically calculable, and thus programmable, can happen in the virtual realm; this merely shows the infinite technological possibilities to be found in the manipulation of bits of information.
It is worth noting that the "discovery" of DNA occurred just a few years before the beginning of what some have called the "information age". Of course, cybernetic and information technologies had existed for some time already, but it was in the early 1970's that these technologies began to penetrate into the general social sphere to a great enough extent to be able to affect how people viewed the world. Since we have already been torn from any sort of deep, direct relationship with the natural world due to the exigencies of the industrial system, most of our knowledge of the world comes to us indirectly. It is not really knowledge at all, but bits of information accepted by faith. It is, therefore, not so difficult to convince people that knowledge really is nothing more than an accumulation of these bits and that reality is simply the complex mathematical equation that encompasses them. It is a very short distance from this to the genetic perspective that life is simply the relationship between bits of coded information. DNA provides the precise interchangeable bits that are the necessary basis for this and, thus, provides the basis for the digitalization of life.
As we have seen, science has never been simply an attempt to describe what exists. Rather it seeks to dominate reality and make it conform to the ends of those who hold power. Thus, the digitalization of life and of the universe has the express purpose of breaking everything down into interchangeable bits that can be manipulated and adjusted by those trained in these complex techniques in order to meet the specific needs of the ruling order. There is no place in this perspective for a conception of individuality made up of one's body, one's mind, one's passions, one's desires and one's relations in an inimitable dance through the world. Instead, we are nothing more than a series of adjustable bio-bits. This conception is not without its social basis. Capitalist development, particularly in the last half of the 20th century, turned citizens (already part of the apparatus of the nation-state) into producer-consumers, interchangeable with all others in terms of the needs of the social machine. With the integrity of the individual already shattered, it is not such a great step to transform each living thing into a mere storage bank for useful genetic parts, a resource for the development of biotechnology.
Nanotechnology applies the same digitalization to inorganic matter. Chemistry and atomic physics provided the conception of matter as constructed of molecules which are constructed of atoms which are constructed of subatomic particles. The goal of nanotechnology is the construction of microscopic machines on a molecular level that will ideally be programmed to reproduce themselves through the manipulation of molecular and atomic structures. If one accepts the impoverished conception of life promoted be genetic science and biotechnology, these machines would arguably be "alive". If one examines some of the purposes their developers hope they will serve, it seems that they could, like spliced genes, function in the environment in ways very much like viruses. On the other hand, some of the descriptions of the auto-reproductive function that is to be programmed into them give the frightening idea of air-borne active cancer cells.
Both biotechnology and nanotechnology can evoke horrific visions: large and small scale monsters, strange diseases, totalitarian gene manipulation, microscopic air-borne spying devices, intelligent machines with no more need of their human dependents. But these potential horrors do not strike at the heart of the problem. These technologies are reflective of a view of the world drained of wonder, joy, desire, passion and individuality, a view of the world transformed into a calculating machine, the worldview of capitalism.
The earliest modern scientists were mostly devout christians. Their mechanical universe was a machine manufactured by god with a purpose beyond itself, determined by god. This conception of a higher purpose disappeared from scientific thought long ago. The cybernetic universe serves no other purpose than that of maintaining itself in order to maintain the flow of bits of information. On the social level where it affects our lives, this means that every individual is simply a tool for maintaining the present social order and can be adjusted as necessary to maintain the flow of information that allows this order to reproduce itself, information more precisely called commodity exchange.
And here the real function of science is revealed. Science is the attempt to create a system that can present a balanced account of all the resources in the universe, making them available to capital. This is why it must break the universe down into its smallest bits, bits that have a sufficient degree of identity and interchangeability to act as a general equivalent. This is why it must force the universe to conform to a mathematical construct. This is why ultimately a cybernetic model is best for the functioning of science. The real end of modern science from the start has been to render the universe into a great calculating machine that will render account of its own resources. So the function of science has always been to serve the economy and its development has been the search for the most efficient means of doing so. But the scientific accountants with their calculations, graphs, charts and ledgers are perpetually confronted with a recalcitrant reality comprised of entities that don't conform to numbers or measurements, of individuals who resist interchangeabilty, of phenomena that cannot be repeated — in other words, of things that incessantly unbalance the accounts. Scientists may attempt to retreat to the laboratory, to the thought experiment, to virtual reality, but beyond the door, beyond their minds, beyond the realm of cyberspace, the unaccountable still waits. So science, like the capitalist social order it serves, becomes a system of stopgap measures, of perpetual adjustment in the face of a chaos that threatens to destroy the economy. The world envisioned by science — the one it proclaims to be real as it tries to create it through the most excruciating technological bondage and torture — is an economized world, and such a world is one drained of wonder, joy and passion, of all that will not be measured, of all that will not give an account of itself.
Thus, the struggle against capitalism is the struggle against modern science, the struggle against a system that strives to know the world merely as measurable resources with a price, as interchangeable bits of economic value. For those of us who seek to know the world passionately, who want to encounter it joyfully with a sense of wonder, different ways of knowledge are essential, ways that aim not at domination, but at pleasure and adventure. That it is possible to study and explore the universe in ways other than that of modern science has been shown by the reasonings of certain natural philosophers in ancient Greece, the knowledge of the sea of Polynesian navigators, the song-lines of Australian aborigines and the best explorations of certain alchemists and heretics like Giordano Bruno. But I am not interested in models but in the opening of possibilities, the opening to relations with the world around us that are without measure — and the past is never an opening; at best, it is evidence that what exists is not inevitable. A conscious rebellion of those who will not be measured could open a world of possibilities. It's a risk worth taking.


text:
The most pleasure pleasing
Vibrating Ring ever
- Black Pearl
- Perfectly Purple
Your Bunny can operate for 2 hours when it's fully charged. That's a whole lotta love'n. The charging status will display through the bunny's beautiful LED signal.
5 vibration modes
The Frisky Bunny has 5 hopping, ear twitching, body shaking, toe curling vibration modes, enabling you to unlock all your sexual desires.
High quality
All our bunnies get their silky smooth texture from the DNA of medical grade silicone, delivering you a sensation like no other.
Splash proof
The seamless finish of all our bunnies allows you to enjoy yourself in all the right wet places. You can submerge the the bunny's head and ears, bet never its full body.
Easy operation
All our bunnies come with an ohhh so easy one button control. With a single touch, control all your favorite toe curling modes.
USB CHarger
To make things handy, our team of bunny engineers has included a portable USB charger so you can charge your bunny anywhere, any time. So charge ahead and let you bunny loose in the wild!


text:
The Web Animations API is part of a new web standard, currently under development by browser engineers from Mozilla and Google.
Chrome 36 implemented the element.animate() method from the Web Animations API, empowering developers to build performant compositor threaded animations using JavaScript.
We're excited to see Mozilla have now shipped their implementation of element.animate() in Firefox 48, enabling true cross-browser accelerated animations using this emerging JS API. Google and Mozilla have worked hard together to make sure our implementations are interoperable. This has truly been a collaborative effort!
The benefits in using the Web Animations API can include faster frame-rate with lower power consumption which translates to a better user experience on all devices, especially mobile.
To get the full accelerated Web Animations experience in either Chrome, Firefox or Opera, head over to these demo pages and try it for yourself.