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Degree Mills
John Bear
Mariah Bear
Degree mills have been around for hundreds of years, and they are still flourishing all over the world. During the 1980s, the number of phony schools significantly diminished as a result of the "DipScam" diploma-mill task force of the FBI. Its work, described below, helped secure indictments and, in most cases, convictions of a great many people who operated scores of phony colleges and universities.
Unfortunately, the trend has reversed and things are getting worse. With the winding down of DipScam in the early 1990s, and the advent of inexpensive laser printers, color copiers, overnight delivery services, 800, 888, 877, and 500 telephone numbers, faxes, computer bulletin boards, and other accessible technology—most significantly the growth of the Internet—diploma mills have made a real comeback, both in the United States and in Europe.
There are now dozens of places where one can buy Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorates, even law and medical degrees, with no questions asked, on payment of fees of anywhere from one dollar to several thousand. To demonstrate this, John purchased (for $53) an extremely authentic-looking law degree (Doctor of Jurisprudence) of Harvard University, from an outfit in Florida that has been advertising nationally, complete with an 800 phone number. Their ads have run for at least four years, and they even have a little retail establishment where they print diplomas while you wait. Transcripts are available as well. And no, we will not provide the address, or those of any other illegal schools. We have no wish to give them business. And our lawyer has advised us that we could be considered "accessories before the fact" should someone buy a fake degree and use it to defraud others. (We will, of course, cooperate with law enforcement officers and bona fide investigative reporters.)
One of the main reasons that fake schools continue to exist is that it is difficult to legally define exactly what is meant by the term "diploma mill" or "degree mill." Surely any school that will send you a Ph.D. by return mail on payment of $100, no questions asked, is a fraud. But what about a school that requires a five-page dissertation before awarding the Doctorate? How about 20 pages? 50? 100? 200? Who is to say? One man's degree mill is another man's alternative university. And nobody seems to want the government stepping in to evaluate doctoral dissertations before permitting schools to grant degrees. Would you want [insert the name of your least-favorite politician] grading your thesis?
Another large gray area is the one dealing with religious schools. Because constitutional safeguards in the United States guarantee separation of church and state, most states have been reluctant to pass any laws restricting the activities of churches -- including their right to grant degrees to all who make an appropriately large donation. In many states, religious schools are not regulated but are restricted to granting religious degrees. But in some, like Louisiana and Hawaii, if you established your own one-person church yesterday, you could start your university today and award a Ph.D. in nuclear physics tomorrow.
Many states say that religious schools can only grant religious degrees. A diploma mill in Louisiana took that argument to new limits, when they announced that because God created everything, no matter what you studied, it was the study of the work of God, and therefore a religious degree. Twice, the Louisiana courts upheld this argument!
Why Are Degree Mills Allowed to Operate?
The answer is that, as just indicated, it is almost impossible to write a law that will discriminate clearly between legitimate schools and mills. Any law that tries to define something that is subjective -- obscenity, pornography, threatening behavior, or the quality of a school -- is bound to be controversial. There can never be a quantitative means for, in effect, holding a meter up to a school and saying, "This one scores 83; it's legitimate. That one scores 62; it's a degree mill."
Also, degree mills that do not muddy their own local waters, but sell their products only in other states or other countries, are more likely to get away with it longer. A goodly number of degree mills have operated from England, selling their product only to people in other countries (primarily the United States, Africa, and Asia). Many British authorities seem not to care as long as the only victims are foreigners, and authorities in the United States find it virtually impossible to take action against foreign businesses.
After decades of debating these matters (even Prince Charles made a speech about the diploma-mill problem), Britain has taken two tiny steps. Step one is to forbid unrecognized schools to call themselves a "University." However, this law had been in effect for about three minutes when one of England's leading diploma mills" the Sussex College of Technology, found the loophole. The law declares that it pertains to everyone enrolling after April 1, 1989. Sussex immediately began offering to backdate applications to March 31,1989, which appears not to be illegal. They are still getting away with this ploy. Step two is to require that unrecognized schools must say in their literature that they do not operate under a Royal Charter or an Act of Parliament (the two ways schools become legitimately recognized in Britain). This, however, is unlikely even to be noticed by degree-buyers in other lands.
Other states and jurisdictions have tried to craft laws that would permit legitimate nontraditional schools to operate while eliminating degree mills. For instance, for many years California had a law that stated that the main requirement for being authorized by the state to grant degrees was ownership of $50,000 worth of real property. That law was apparently passed to eliminate low-budget fly-by-night degree mills. But $50,000 ain't what it used to be, and from the 1960s through the early 1980s, dozens of shady operators declared that their home or their book collection was worth $50,000 and proceeded to sell degrees with wild abandon.
In 1978, John had the pleasure of advising the "60 Minutes" people from CBS on which California "universities" they might wish to send Mike Wallace in to expose. The proprietor of California Pacifica University was actually arrested while Wallace was interviewing him, and soon after pleaded guilty to multiple counts of mail fraud, and went off to federal prison. Two years later, California Pacifica was still listed in the state's official publication, the Directory of California Educational Institutions.
California, thankfully, has tightened things up considerably since then, by eliminating the "authorized" category, and adding requirements that there must be elements of instruction provided by state-approved schools. Once again, of course, we have a law trying to define subjective matters.
In 1990, John had the further pleasure of appearing on the nationally syndicated program "Inside Edition" to help expose yet another major degree mill, North American University. Its proprietor, Edward Reddeck, who had previously been to prison for running another fake school, was convicted on multiple counts of mail and wire (telephone) fraud, and sent to federal prison for a few years.
Another reason for the proliferation of degree mills in the past is that the wheels of justice ground very slowly, when they ground at all. Dallas State College was shut down by authorities in Texas in 1975. The same perpetrators almost immediately opened up as Jackson State University in California. When the post office shut off their mail there, they resurfaced with John Quincy Adams University in Oregon. It took 12 more years and a major effort by the FBI before the Dallas State perpetrators were finally brought to justice in a federal courtroom in North Carolina in late 1987, nearly two decades and millions of dollars in revenues after they sold their first Doctorate. And when the FBI, the IRS and the postal inspectors raided a diploma mill in Louisiana in 1995, where they recovered more than $10 million in cash, the page-one newspaper account at the time said that these agencies had spent more than five years preparing for their visitation.
The entry of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into the diploma-mill arena changed the rules of the game. In the late 1970s, the agency launched an operation called DipScam (for Diploma Scam), which methodically investigated degree-granting institutions from coast to coast and abroad, with some cooperation from Scotland Yard and other foreign authorities as well.
John consulted with the FBI on matters of degree mills from 1979 until 1992, when arch diploma-mill exposer Special Agent Allen Ezell retired, and DipScam wound down.
The FBI looked into hundreds of nonaccredited schools. Some were found to be harmless, innocuous, even good, and no actions were taken. When there was evidence of chicanery, a search warrant was issued, and FBI vans hauled off tons of papers and records. In many cases, but not all, a federal grand jury handed down indictments. And when they did, in many cases, the indictees pleaded guilty to mail or wire (telephone) fraud, and received fines and sentences in federal prison.
The wording of the federal grand jury indictments is quite wonderful. Here is a sample, from one indictment. (This is just a small excerpt from a thick document.)
SCHEME AND ARTIFICE: Count One: That from some unknown time prior to, on, or about [date) and continuing through some unknown time after [date] within the Western District of North Carolina and elsewhere in the United States, [defendants] did knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree with each other and with others to the Grand jurors both known and unknown, to commit offenses against the United States, that is, having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and for obtaining money by false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, for the purpose of executing said scheme and artifice to defraud and attempting to do so knowingly and intentionally placing and causing to be placed in a post office and an authorized depository for mail matter, and causing to be delivered by United States mail according to the direction thereon, matters and things to be sent and delivered by the United States Postal Service, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 2, and knowingly and intentionally transmitting and causing to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce, certain signs, signals and sounds, to wit, interstate telephone conversations, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.
In other words, they sent fake degrees by mail, and made interstate phone calls to their customers.
In its earlier days, DipScam went after the fake medical schools-the most dangerous degree-sellers of all. They were quickly able to shut down the two worst perpetrators, Johann Keppler School of Medicine and the United American Medical College, and send their respective founders to prison.
DipScam's largest case came to its grand finale in a federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October 1987, with John present as an expert witness and observer. On trial were the seven perpetrators of a long string of degree mills, most recently including Roosevelt University, Loyola University, Cromwell University, University of England at Oxford, Lafayette University, DePaul University, and Southern California University, as well as several fake accrediting agencies.
More than 100 witnesses were called over a two-and-a-half-week period, including many who established the substantial size and scope of bank deposits and investments made by the defendants. Witnesses from Europe testified to the mail-forwarding services the defendants used in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and elsewhere. The circus-like atmosphere was not helped by the fact that Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jessica Hahn, and company, were appearing in the courtroom right next door, and so the grounds of the courthouse were covered by photographers and reporters, none of whom took much interest in the DipScam trial.
Two of the minor players were dismissed by the judge for lack of definitive evidence, but the five main defendants were found guilty by the jury on all 27 counts of mail fraud, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to seven years.
Even though the DipScam project is no longer active, the FBI, the postal inspectors, and some crusading state agencies are still actively working to keep fake schools from operating and phony degrees from being sold.
Why Degree Mills Prosper
The main reason—really the only reason—for the success of degree mills (and drug dealers, and pornographers) is, of course, that people keep on buying their product. They crave the degrees and somehow, despite much evidence to the contrary, they really believe that they are going to get away with it.
Unfortunately, many newspapers and magazines continue to permit the perpetrators to advertise. At this writing, for instance, some of the biggest phony schools advertise in nearly every issue of The Economist USA Today, Forbes, Psychology Today, Inc., Discover, Investors Business Daily, the International Herald Tribune, regional editions of Time and Newsweek, and dozens of other publications that should know better.
Indeed they do know better. As a public service, we routinely write to such publications to suggest they are doing their readers a disservice by running these ads. With the exception of the Wall Street Journal, which promptly changed its policies, we have failed utterly. In 1997, USA Today told us they were going to change their policies, but they apparently changed their minds. The Economist even wrote to us to say that their readers were smart enough to make up their own minds. Then, when we tried to run a "Diploma Mill Alert" in The Economist it was rejected, because "We don't run ads critical of our advertisers."
There have been occasions in the past when a class-action suit filed on behalf of fraud victims also named the advertising medium where the fraud advertised. We can only hope that such a suit will attract the attention of the lawyers for other such publications.
Two Other Insidious Academic Frauds
In addition to those who sell fake degrees, two other "services" undermine the academic establishment.
One is the so-called "lost diploma replacement service. " If you tell them you had a legitimate degree but lost it, they will replace it for a modest fee. That's why John has a Harvard "Doctor of Neurosurgery" diploma hanging on his wall (next to his real Michigan State one).The Harvard phony sold for $49.95.When the FBI raided one such service, in Oregon (they had been advertising in national publications), they found thousands of blank diplomas from hundreds of schools-and records showing an alarmingly large number of clients. The Oregon service no longer advertises, but others crop up from time to time, such as the one from which John bought his Harvard law degree. Since the services require their clients to sign a disclaimer saying they really had the original degree, and since the diplomas come with a "Novelty Item" sticker (easy to peel off), the services may well be operating legally. On one occasion, at least, the justice Department was unable to get an indictment from a federal grand jury for these reasons.
The other is term-paper and dissertation-writing services. Several of them put out catalogs listing over a thousand already-written term papers they will sell; and if they don't already have what you want, they will write anything from a short paper to a major dissertation for you, for $7 to $10 a page.
An Emphatic Warning
We must warn you, as emphatically as we can, that it is very risky to buy a fake degree or to claim to have a degree that you have not earned. It is like putting a time bomb in your resumé. It could go off at any time, with dire consequences. The people who sell fake degrees will probably never suffer at all, but the people who buy them often suffer mightily. And -- particularly if their "degree" is health-related -- their clients may be seriously harmed.
About the Authors
John B. Bear obtained his doctoral degree from the Michigan State University. Since 1974 he has devoted much of his time to investigating and writing about nontraditional higher education. In 1977, he established Degree Consulting Services to offer detailed advice to people seeking more personal advice than a book can provide. John's daughter Mariah earned her Master's degree in Journalism at New York University and is executive editor of Degree.net Books. This article is adapted from the 13th edition of Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees Nontraditionally (Ten Speed Press, 1998). The book covers night and weekend colleges; foreign medical schools; degrees by Internet and other e-mail avenues; and other ways to acquire a bachelor's, master's, doctorate, law, or medical degree through some unconventional method. It also lists schools to be avoided, analyzes educational trends, and provides information on more than a thousand sources.
Other Articles by John Bear
- Diploma Mills: The $200- Million-a-Year Competitor You Didn't Know You Have
- Great Moments in Accreditation: The Case of IAC, ACI, and The Three Stooges
- How to Replace the Law Degree Your Dog Ate
Recognized Agencies
- Council for Higher Education Accreditation (lists approved agencies)
- U.S. Department of Education (lists approved agencies)
Additional Information
- Bernadean University: A Mail-Order Diploma Mill
- Donsbach University
- GAO Report on Diploma Mills
- Citizens Against Bogus University Degrees
- Nonaccredited school and agencies
- Glossary of Dubious Credentials (to be posted)
- Individuals with Dubious Credentials
- Name It & Frame It? (discusses Christian degree mills)
- National Council Against Health Fraud Position Paper
- Oregon Student Assistance Commission, Office of Degree Authorization
- Publications that Accept Degree-Mill Ads (to be posted)
- Theologic Degree Mills
- Virtual Universities of Australasia and the World
- DegreeFinders.com: Help in finding suitable distance-learning programs
This report was revised on November 14, 2004.


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Map of Altersberg, Baden-Württemberg, GermanyThis page presents the Google satellite map (zoomable and browsable) of Altersberg in Baden-Württemberg region in Germany.
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| 12.8°C Belfast
Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has told the hacking trial he was "shocked" when he heard voicemails of then-home secretary David Blunkett "declaring his love" for the married publisher of the Spectator.
Coulson told the Old Bailey trial he initially called a halt to the story in 2004 but later changed his mind and confronted Mr Blunkett about it personally.
The 46-year-old former No 10 spin doctor told jurors it was "the first and only time" a hacked phone message was played to him.
During his third day in the witness box, Coulson said he was first alerted to the story by then-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck while he was on holiday in Italy.
Coulson said: "Neville told me he had a tip that David Blunkett was having an affair with Kimberly Fortier. He said that he believed the story was true because he heard some voicemails.
"I was shocked because he told me he had heard some voicemail messages. I was shocked that he was telling me this as well because it was in relation to David Blunkett, the home secretary.
"I was quite angry about it. I used reasonably colourful language, words to the effect 'What in earth do you think you're doing'.
"My concern was it was an apparent breach of privacy and I was concerned also that this was involving somebody who I knew. He was somebody we were broadly supportive of."
When he returned to work, Coulson said he had a meeting with Mr Thurlbeck, who argued his case by playing some voicemails.
Coulson said: "I remember a message which David Blunkett sent which was effectively declaring his love. He was also saying he had considered making the relationship public. There was a mention of terrorist arrests. I also had it in my mind there was a reference made to GCHQ.
"He (Mr Thurlbeck) told me he believed the relationship had been going on for three years.
"He told me that he believed there was a meeting planned between the two of them for the following Wednesday and he also made mention of a possibility that there might be an issue over the paternity of one of Kimberly Fortier's children."
Coulson said the more he listened, the more he started to think there was "some public interest justification".
Asked where he thought the reporter had got the vociemail by his lawyer Timothy Langdale QC, Coulson said: "The conversation did not go into detail about that. If I made an assumption, it was Neville had done this himself. It was all coming from Neville."
He added: "I remained shocked - this was the first and only time a voicemail had been played to me."
Later, Coulson said he took legal advice and made plans to meet Mr Blunkett in his Sheffield constituency.
He said: "I thought, rightly or wrongly, if I suggested to David Blunkett that I would not name Kimberly Fortier, he would be more likely to confirm the story."
Coulson told the court that, looking back, he "should not have handled the story the way I did".
The court heard a tape recording of Coulson's meeting with Mr Blunkett in on Friday August 13 2004.
In it, Mr Blunkett is heard to repeatedly protest that he had a policy of keeping his private life private.
He is heard to tell Coulson: "You are asking me to say yes, I have had a relationship with a married woman?"
Coulson replies: "Yes, and nothing more."
Mr Blunkett, who had been divorced for 14 years at the time, said: "You are putting me in a position where my longstanding precept of keeping my private life private is a disadvantage. Whatever I say breaches my precept of keeping my private life private."
The politician went on: "What I am saying to you is I have got two concerns: one is to prevent Kimberly Fortier from being damaged because she is a friend of mine and obviously her family and friends... I like to think I'm a decent human being, it would be a terrible thing to do to somebody; secondly, to prevent open season on my private life in the future."
During the lengthy exchange, Coulson makes the suggestion of keeping Ms Fortier's name out of the story and warns that other newspapers might run it even if the NotW did not.
But Mr Blunkett would only confirm that she was a "very close friend of mine", adding: "I'm not prepared to go into bedroom talk now or in the future.
"I'm concerned about Kimberly and about all my other married friends who do not want to be fingered either."
The court heard that Mr Blunkett released a statement later which appeared in the NotW story on Sunday August 15.
The paper also spoke to one of Mr Blunkett's special advisers, who confirmed there was nothing incorrect in the story.
He passed on Mr Blunkett's concern not to be seen to be "falling down on the job" or that the story had come from him. Coulson said that, to him, meant the story was "stood up".
The following day, the Sun, which was being edited by Coulson's on-off lover Rebekah Brooks, named the Spectator publisher, who is also known as Kimberly Quinn.
Coulson said he would have talked to Brooks about the story the previous Saturday night, but "the idea that we somehow shared the story is not true".
The court has previously heard that convicted hacker Glenn Mulcaire was involved in intercepting the voicemails and t apes were later recovered from a safe in the offices of News International.
When Mr Langdale asked what happened to the Blunkett tape afterwards, Coulson said "I don't know", adding that he did not recognise any of the safe documents.
Coulson, 46, of Charing, Kent, is charged with conspiring to hack phones with Rebekah Brooks and former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, and conspiring with former royal editor Clive Goodman to commit misconduct in a public office.
All seven defendants deny charges against them.
Coulson's evidence about the Blunkett affair is the first time he has told the trial that he heard a hacked voicemail at the NotW.
But he said he did not know the message from Mr Blunkett was the "product of an illegal act" and he was unaware hacking was illegal at the time.
On his regret over the Blunkett story, Coulson said: "It is easy to say now that what we were laying out in front of him was the product of an illegal act.
"My view is that I kind of wish I had. It would have brought the whole thing to a head and I would have at least been able to argue my point.
"I did not know it was illegal. How it would have ended I have no idea. It could have ended in legal action. It could have ended in police action. I sincerely wish I had followed that course of action at that moment."
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday morning.


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PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. (WDAF/CNN) - They say love doesn't cost a thing, but a Kansas man says differently.
If someone finds Jeff Gebhart a girlfriend, he'll pay them $25,000.
It sounds like a lot of money, but he believes love and happiness at that price is a good deal.
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The 47-year-old who's never been married says he tried online dating after his last breakup, but it wasn't for him.
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Women who nominate themselves, so far that's about 60 percent of the applicants, won't be eligible for the money but are considered.
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Gebhart says he will also donate $25,000 to a no-kill dog shelter if he finds his match.
Copyright 2020 WDAF via CNN. People Magazine contributed to the report. All rights reserved.


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pulse, in botany, common name for members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), a large plant family, called also the pea, or legume, family. Numbering about 650 genera and 17,000 species, the family is third largest, after the asters and the orchids. Some botanists divide the Fabaceae into three or more separate families, but most species share certain common and easily recognizable features. The leaves are usually compound; the fruit is a legume (a type of pod); and the blossoms may have an irregular butterflylike (papilionaceous) shape. Typically, the flowers have 10 stamens, and the corolla and the calyx are formed of 5 petals and 5 sepals, respectively. Some species have thorny branches.
The Fabaceae include herbs, shrubs, and trees distributed throughout the world in a great variety of forms. Arboreal species occur in temperate and, frequently, in tropical zones, where epiphytic and climbing forms also thrive. Many leguminous shrubs and trees inhabit desert and semiarid regions, usually forming the characteristic vegetation—e.g., the acacias of the S African bushveld and of Australia, and the mesquite of the American Southwest.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Plants


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Shrinking British oil company BP PLC announced quarterly profit down a fifth from a year ago, after it sold assets in preparation for what could be its biggest oil spill payout when the case comes to trial later this month.
BP, the last of the big four western world oil companies to report fourth quarter figures, still beat expectations because of one-off taxes related to its divestments and liability payments, and its shares rose nearly 2 per cent.
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The company's stock was up 2.0 per cent at 471 pence by 0930 GMT on Tuesday, outperforming Shell which was up 0.5 per cent.
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A further six major projects are expected to come onstream through 2014. In addition, the major upgrade of the Whiting refinery in Indiana is expected to come online in the second half of 2013, BP said.
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BP's dividend for the quarter was 9 cents, unchanged from the third quarter.


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- Concealed, 110-degree soft-close hinges
- Full-extension drawer runners
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Space-maximizing accessories add storage to any area.
Whether you are working with a small space or a large room that needs lots of love, Closets Plus creates custom designs using a variety of accessories to make the most of your space. Our storage solutions include more than just closet shelving. Our designers will evaluate the space as-is to identify trouble spots, and make recommendations to ensure everything has its own place. Our accessories are a great way to maximize space and get the most efficient design possible for your home.
- Corner storage
- Hanging rods
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Our designers will create a 3D rendering of your space to scale — no matter how many irregular angles it might have — to allow you to visualize the finished space. Showing all cabinets, shelves and hooks needed, we can add upgrades, make changes and finalize your design with the click of a button. It's about more than just putting things away — our storage solutions for unique spaces will help you "Simplify – Organize – Enjoy" your Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Milton/Georgetown, and Hamilton home.
Discover attractive home storage solutions and organized interiors for every part of your home. Contact us today and learn more about increasing your home's usable space.


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Andrew Burton/Reuters
Phil Fung, right, holds hands with Shawn Klein during their marriage ceremony in the Empire State Building in New York, on Feb. 14, 2012.
Support for same-sex marriage rose among voters of all political stripes in recent years, but it surged so much among Democrats that the partisan divide on the issue is wider than ever, according to a national survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.
Sixty-five percent of Democrats are now favor same-sex marriage, compared to 50 percent four years ago, while 24 percent of Republicans are in support, versus 19 percent in 2008, the survey found. The gap between the two major parties stands at 41 percentage points.
"The latest national survey … finds that the partisan divide over gay marriage continues to widen," the forum said. The survey also found that 51 percent of independents now favor gay marriage, seven percentage points more than 2008.
President Barack Obama's announcement in May that he supported same-sex marriage -- the first American president to do so -- "rallied the Democratic base," especially liberal Democrats, to the issue, though its overall impact on public opinion has been limited, the forum said.
"Reports that the Democratic Party may add support for gay marriage to its party platform are in keeping with a significant shift of opinion on this issue among Democrats nationwide," the forum report said.
The report noted that there had been an increase in support for same-sex marriage across several demographic groups who had opposed it in the past: African-American support is up to 40 percent from 26 percent in 2008, while 28 percent of those who attend church at least weekly back it, compared with 23 percent in 2008.
In May, a Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal and bestow the same rights as traditional marriage, compared to 48 percent who don't.
"This year's results underscore just how divided the nation is on this issue," Gallup said at the time.
Six states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage, while 31 states have constitutional amendments that effectively ban it. Plaintiffs in several lawsuits challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- which defines marriage as between a man and a woman -- have asked the Supreme Court to hear their case in the high court's next session.
The Pew Forum survey of 2,973 adults was conducted from June 28-July 9 with a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Poll: Views on gun laws unchanged after theater massacre
- Baptist leader: Decision not to marry black couple 'unfortunate'
- Man shoots at police officer in dash-cam video
- Woman who snatched newborn in '87 gets 12 years in jail
- Berenstain Bears keep distance from Chick-fil-A


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Developer Staffing Survey: Needs Outstrip Supply, September 04, 2012 An InformationWeek survey shows IT managers expect that developers with the needed skills will be hard to find for a while yet.
One year from now: Slightly worse.
Most sites expect that the situation will be much the same a year from now. Slightly more think that it will be worse, rather than better.


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QUESTION OF THE WEEK- Who's your favorite photographer?
Ivana Kadija:"Billy Hunt. The photos are dynamic and very colorful and they tell a story."
Adrienne Dent: "My favorite photographer is Sally Mann. I love the haunting quality of her work and the way it captures the more troubled side of real life and the beauty in family living and nature. "
Kai Saffron: "I have no idea what his name is. The mosaic person that has their work at Eppie's. Great stuff. [The artist/photographer is Blake Hurt –ed.]"


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As I retweeted this yesterday: RT @Ali_Abbas_Zaidi Donation/victim received after 2 weeks of appeal ~ Haiti : USD 157.16 & Pakistan : USD15.24 #Pkfloods and my subsequent talks with British, American and other International donors, and their "reservations" which only cemented when I was interviewed by Voice of America yesterday on the link between Pakistan's foreign policy & relief-aide for 20 Million human beings (this time Pakistanis) dying due to neglect.
To link Pakistan's foreign policy, as guided by some super-power's interests in the region and their "bombing to stone-age" threats, isnt exactly humane . There is no politics in human-lives, and to be brutally honest, in the last 20 years, foreign policy of Uncle Sam has caused more damage and is subjected to most-hate across the globe. If disaster of this magnitude strikes USA, would it be humane to say: "Oh, you bombed Iraq for WMD's that you couldnt find, thats why we aint giving you aide to save your dying citizens (humans)".
Pakistan has a been a frontline-ally in the war against terrorism and has borne more damage than anyone else, of civilian/military casaulties and financial losses due to security situation. And we kept on hearing "DO MORE" from International community, like 30000 dead Pakistanis (including top-notch Generals, politicians, religious figures) werent enough. Anyways, thats debate-able as previously said, if geo-strategtic politics come into consideration, some of the 'super-powers' have caused more damage on ground, to humanity than Pakistan. So, now its our turn and I dont give a tiny-rats ass if my leaders say it or not, but I urge the International Community to DO MORE. To DO-MORE, this time not for your interests in the region or your-cold wars with other super-powers, DO MORE for humanity.
Hafsa Khawaja, writes in her blog:
When earthquake hit Haiti this January 2010, the world rose in unison to help the victims of the deadly shake with many nations generously chipping in to donate for the people and governments munificently sending billions of dollars of aid and displatching relief teams to the country.
But today, when Pakistan has been hit by the most devastating floods in its history, which have been termed as "the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history with the number of people suffering possibly to exceed the combined total in three recent megadisasters – the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake" by the UN, it seems that the world has started to suffer from a 'donor fatigue' or has intentionally closed its eyes and ears to the cries and pleas of the flood-hit Pakistanis.
While it is true, that the number of people killed in the Haitian Earthquake were more than those killed in the floods but according to statistics and figures available it can be known that around 20 million have been affected, thousands injured or left homeless with their families separated from them, over 722,000 houses damaged or destroyed, 70,000 children at a risk of dying of malnutritioon and around 6 million can lose their lives in the second expected wave of death likely to be caused by a combination of lack of clean water, food shortages and water-borne and vector-borne diseases.
It has become apparent that those in other countries seem to ignore the current state of people in Pakistan considering the type of image that is portrayed of the country by much of the Western media – of a terrorist and barbaric nation that only breeds intolerance and extremism despite the fact that it is the single most nation that has bore the brunt of terrorism the most.
But some like Liz Borkowski have come to realize that the catastrophe is not being met with the appropriate response as it should. She has written a post on why the floods here are not receiving as much aid and attention as Haiti. Writing as :
"The UN has requested $459 million for emergency relief and has received or gotten commitments for 35% of that. The majority of that has come from the US and UK governments reports Nathaniel Gronewold of Greenwire. Aid agencies report that responses from individual US donors have been slow, though.
On the list of possible factors behind the lag in individual US donations, Gronewold starts with "public opinion of Pakistan" and cites a June CNN poll showing "78 percent of Americans hold mostly unfavorable views of Pakistan." I'd like to think people can hold an unfavorable opinion of a country but still be willing to help its citizens get food and water after a natural disaster; maybe when it comes to donations, though, decisions aren't entirely rational.
I expect the slow pace of donations is mostly a function of less media coverage (compared to the Haiti earthquake). It's not like the major news organizations are failing to cover Pakistan's disaster at all, but so far I don't think I've seen many stories about individual families' struggles – and those are the pieces that spur donations. "
One UN assessment in the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) found: "37% of women in households surveyed were consuming less food than men, while 50% of households reported having no food for an entire day."
The UN asked for $460 million to fund an emergency response. So far, donors have contributed or pledged $148 million, or 32% of the total. The top donors are the United States ($75,621,599), the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund ($26,595,962) The United Kingdom ( $40,235,085 ) Denmark ( 26,595,962 ) and Private individuals and organzations ($10,510,184).
After visiting flood-ravaged areas of Pakistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "In the past I have visited the scenes of many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this."
Approximately, 1/5 th of Pakistan is under water.
Elizabeth Ferris at ReliefWeb has prepared an excellent analysis and report on the comparison between the Haiti Earthquake and Pakistan Floods, compiling a data as follows:
|Haitian earthquake
|Pakistan flooding
|Date of disaster
|12 Jan 2010First OCHA Situation Report: January 12
|Late July 2010 (First reports of flash floods in Baluchistan on July 23, floods in KPK starting around July 26/27)First OCHA Situation Report: July 29
|National population 2009
|10.2 million
|166.1 millionii
|Over 300.000v
|Est. 1.8 million (1.3 within Port-au-Prince, 500.000 leaving Port-au-Prince) vii
|Est. 6 million in need of shelter(August 23)
|Total affected/as percentage of total national population
|3 million (29.4 %)ix
|17.2 millionx (10.35 %)
|Houses destroyed/damaged
|1,226,678 (August 23)xii
|Schools destroyed/damaged
|Hospitals destroyed/damaged
|Original UN Flash appeal launched
|15 January: xviiUS $ 575 million
|11 August: xviiiUS $ 460 million
|International pledges 2 weeks after flash appeal as percent of total appeal
|82 %xix
|57 %xx
|Flash appeal funded 100 %
|16 February (35 Days)xxiOn Feb 18 revised Humanitarian Appeal is launched requesting US $ 1.4 billion for 1 year (includes the $575 Million of the flash appeal)
|US pledges
|US $ 211.6 millionxxii (part of the extended 1.4 billion US $ appeal)
|US $ 150 millionxxiii (August 23)
|Appeal by International Federation of the Red Cross/Crescent Society
|US $ 103 million
|US $ 74 million
|Number of tents/plastic sheets distributed 3 weeks after
|10,545/11,390 (February 3)xxiv
|109,500/72,200 (August 23)xxv
|% of displaced receiving tents/tarpaulins (after three weeks)
|1.2 %
|3.0 %
|Donation per affected person received after 2 weeks of flash appeal
|Role of US military
|Deployed 22,000 troops,58 aircrafts,15 ships; oversaw airport operations,rehabilitated the harbor,distributed aid, hospital ship
|15 helicopters,as of August 24 the U.S. military had delivered 1.5 million pounds of relief supplies and food,and helicopters had rescued or transported about 6,500 people.xxvi
|Health concerns
|Traumatic injuries,including crushing Injuries,high needs for surgery, infections
|Water-borne illnesses (diarrhea, cholera),skin-disease,acute respiratory disease
|Protection concerns
|Trafficking of children;gender-based violence in camps,generalized insecurity
|Early reports of separated families, a few landmine victims,discrimination against lower castes, women-headed households
|Shelter concerns
|Land tenure issues, rubble clearance
|Land markers washed away by floods, mud removal
|Political concerns
|Interrupted Haitian election timetable,governance questions and relief effort;
|Potential strengthening of fundamentalist groups,destabilization and delegitimization of government
|Economic concerns
|70 % of Haiti's GDP is generated in the Port-au-Prince area which has been most heavily impacted by the disaster, massive destruction of infrastructure
|Massive destruction of infrastructure, 3.2 million hectares of standing crops have so far been damaged or lost;widespread loss of livestock
|Destroyed airport, harbor, roads.Generally bad infrastructure;Particular logistics difficulties in Port-au-Prince and surroundings
|Destroyed roads, bridges;some areas only accessible by helicopter;20% of the country flooded
|Total GDP 2009 xxvii
|US $ 6.5 billion
|US $ 166.5 billion
|GDP per capita 2009 nominal
|Estimated Damage
|US$ 7.8 billionxxix
|Est. US $ 15 billionxxx
|Estimated Damage as percentage of GDP
|119 %
|9 %
|Reconstruction Pledges
|March 31 – Donors pledge US $ 9.9 billion of which US $ 5.3 billion is pledged over 2 years (requested US $3.9 billion).
|Aug. 22 – World Bank US $ 0.9 billion Asia Development Bank US $ 2.0 billion (loans)
|Corruption Perception Index 2009 (out of 180)
|HDI 2009xxxii (out of 182)
|Media stories 10 days after the disaster xxxiii
|Well over 3,000 stories in both print and broadcast media respectively by day 10 and by day 20
|320 broadcast news stories and 730 print news stories
|Top 10 donors (pledges)
|Venezuela US$ 2.417 m Inter-American Development Bank US$2.000 mUSA US$ 1.152 mEuropean CommissionUS$ 567m
IMF US$ 436 m
Spain US$ 427 m
World Bank US $ 399 m
Canada US $ 387 m
InterAction members
US $ 322 m
(Donor's Conference) xxxiv
|USA US $161.9 m Saudi Arabia US $114.4 mUK US $108 mEuropean Commission US $93.5 m
Private Donors US $84.2 m
Germany US $32 m
Australia US $31.8 m
CERF US $26.6 m
Norway US$ 14.8 m
Japan US$ 14.4 m
(Flash Appeal) xxxv
So why this difference? When over eighty international artists collaborated for the song 'We Are The World' for Haiti, why have not international celebrities other than a few (George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher) and sportsmen spoken about or rallied for the distressed and hopeless people of Pakistan who now neither have nothing to look back to nor a future to look to until people help them? If Haiti was poor, it should be remembered that Pakistan too is a developing country with rsising poverty and inflation. Does there not even a speck of sympathy and empathy reside in our hearts anymore? Why such slim coverage of this catalysm that has struck a nation already struck by many jolts?
As of 1st Sept, 2010 – Pakistan has so far received aid-committment of 984.52 Million USD (ONLY) from International Community — PLEASE DO MORE!
Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi


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For some reason I was reluctant to visit one of Minnesota's many corn mazes. But last year I succumbed to the right and left turns and occasional dead ends and got lost in the excitement of field crop fun. Now I know I won't miss another year — and you've still got time to join in.
Sever Peterson settled into the Minnesota River valley in 1890 and began farming sweet corn. Four generations later, the same family is still tilling the soil. While the bulk of their business is selling fresh produce in 17 farm stands throughout the metro area, their Shakopee corn maze has grown over the last 15 years to become one of the largest corn mazes in the country. Yes, you may wonder, there are corn mazes throughout the U.S. and Canada. And the origins of topiary mazes actually dates back to the 13th century in Belgium. This is historic entertainment.
Sever's maze covers more than 10 acres, but clearly-defined, wide aisles make maneuvering through the towering corn stalks a breeze. This year's theme is "Out of this World." Every maze-goer receives a guide showing the spaceship design. Mark your path on the paper and find your way to 26 location markers. If you find the six signs with a special markings you can enter to win a prize.
Up close, the corn stalks look like a bamboo forest. The segmented stalks sprout yellow corn cobs that ultimately become animal feed. My friend and I probably only walked about a quarter of the maze, but that was enough for us because there are plenty of other things to do there and we were getting hungry.
The spacious courtyard area is lined with food booths and more attractions. As you can probably guess, we had corn dogs and roasted corn, hand-picked that morning. We wandered around watching kids play on the air-filled jumping pillows, navigate the strawbale maze, shoot a corn cannon and ride a camel. Our favorite part was seeing kids and adults dive and roll around in the corn pit — a giant swimming pool of golden kernels. Then we fed exotic animals in the petting zoo, watched canaries land on people's shoulders in the aviary, saw live pig races and finally purchased prize pumpkins in the pick-you-own pumpkin patch.
About four miles from Sever's, just past Shakopee's quaint downtown, is one of Minnesota's last trading posts. Run by the Estenson family for more than 20 years, the Shakopee Trading Post is a treasure trove of authentic Native American arts and crafts including a vast assortment of stunning sterling silver jewelry. All pieces in the store are made by hand by local, national and Canadian artisans as well as by the store's talented family of artists. Walls and shelves are stocked with porcupine quill boxes, colorful beadwork, Navajo rugs, braided grasses, hand-harvested wildrice, and plenty of birch bark creations. The store also sells many raw materials such as stones and beads and tobacco tin covers that pow wow participants use to decorate their clothing. If you need a Minnesota gift for anyone or want to get a head start on your holiday shopping don't miss this unique treasure.
For an easy map to Shakopee destinations write to firstname.lastname@example.com
Sever's Corn Maze
Southwest corner of Canterbury Downs
Open 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Oct. 15–16, 20–23, 29–30, last tickets sold at 4:30 p.m.
$13, free for ages 3 and under (get $1 off coupon at severscornmaze.com)
Shakopee Trading Post
723 W. First Ave.
Open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Saturday; 12–5 p.m. Sunday


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The Newlin Quaker Center identifies young Quaker leaders, nurtures Quaker scholarship and dialogue on campus, and provides members of the Earlham and wider communities with information about the Religious Society of Friends and Earlham's living Quaker character. The Center promotes conversation and cooperation among Friends, and provides a gathering place for Friends of all sorts.
Housed in Virginia Cottage just north of the Admissions Office, the Newlin Quaker Center focuses on Quaker-related events and programs on campus. The Cottage has a kitchen and two comfortable gathering rooms, which are available for your use. Reservations are needed.
To reserve the kitchen, living room or garden room, visit 25 Live — our campus reservation site.


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Apple may be having phenomenal success with its iOS App Store ecosystem, but Intel thinks it's going about online app sales in the wrong way.
As might be expected, Intel prefers its app-store-in-a-box AppUp program, which allows world+dog to create their own app stores using its software tools, then let Intel handle all the messy details such as collecting payments and delivering the software to customers, all for a 70/30 revenue split.
Intel's AppUp headman Peter Biddle sat down with reporters on Thursday in San Francisco to provide an update on the program, which was launched in September 2009, with a beta introduced in January 2010 and Intel's own AppUp store going live last September.
"AppUp is the world's largest app store that nobody's ever heard of," Biddle admitted – perhaps explaining why he had called us together to hear his thoughts on the program's plans and future focus.
From Biddle's point of view, monolithic app stores such as Apple's and Google's are based on an old retail model, which was bound by the need to ship physical objects to physical stores containing a wide variety of goods in expensive brick-and-mortar real estate.
"The current app marketplace is defined by 150 years of molecular thinking," he said, referring to those physical goods. "We're not thinking about electrons – electrons, for all intents and purposes, are free."
One central tenet of the AppUp model is that those freebie electrons can be sold through a wide variety of different stores, each catering to a different demographic.
"Hipsters want to shop at hipster stores," he said. "If you were looking for a hat, you don't want to trip over a hammer – you're looking for a hat. You go to a hat store for a hat."
Not that you're limited to hat stores in the real world – it's just that you can find better hats if they're not crowded out by other products. "You may go to Walmart for hats," he said, "but you know for a fact that they're basically going to have wool beanies, baseball caps, and maybe a couple of other hats. They're not going to have a thousand hats. And they're not going to have a thousand hats presented to you by people who are really, really into hats."
Moms versus fixies
It's not only the amount of targeted, easy-to-find content that makes multple online stores attractive, Biddle argues. It's also the ability to target different demographics.
"If you're a working mom who's looking for great educational titles for your kids," he said, "you don't want to be bumping into a bunch of hipsters talking about their fixies and bicycle polo."
Apple, for example, has one App Store that tries to be all things to all users. The AppUp model turns that idea on its head.
"We love the idea that there could be thousands of stores," said Biddle, "and each store can specialize in its own goods, its own merchandising, its own marketing, its own promotions, its own look and feel, its own user community based on [the] premise that people want to buy an appropriate array of digital goods that will simultaneously reinforce who they are, and also delight them with stuff. 'Wow, I didn't know about that. Now that I found it, I'm so glad that I came to your store, because you presented me with this thing that I never would have thought I liked, but now I do'."
He admitted that the AppUp program doesn't yet support this vision. "What we've built doesn't fulfill a majority of that reality," he said, "but it's built to."
One core difference between monolihtic app stores and the AppUp vision is that Intel's stores can be built inside websites that attract users for reasons other than mere shopping.
"Let's say you're a blog," he said. "If you did 'My favorite puzzle of the week' as a little store, that's awesome. It reinforces your brand, reinforces who you are, it cross-promotes between people who are looking for the apps you're curating, the experiences you're curating, as well as the rest of the things you're doing on the interwebs."
When asked if he thought that the internet could fuel a resurgence of "mom and pop" online merchandising, he replied: "We want there to be. Yes. We think it's the most effective way to move digital goods."
Help is on the way, mom and pop
The AppUp program is working on ways to help those moms and pops dig through the mountain of existing apps to find the ones that they'd like to offer to their particular niche customers.
"They need some tools to help them," he said, "so we're working on curation tools for mom and pops to be able to do sort of like a first pass."
With such tools to cut through the massive clutter of, say, a software universe as large as Apple's iOS App Store, Biddle believes that mom and pop stores could differentiate themselves from one another, and remain small and focused on specific user types.
"People who provide either goods or an ongoing service directly to users are going to be best at providing an ongoing service or goods to users," he said – tautologically though reasonably. "Mom and pop shops are going to be best at being mom and pop shops."
In the mobile world into which Intel is trying mightily to move its silicon, however, users are being trained to use monolithic stores such as Apple's App Store and the Android Market rather than to hunt out mom and pop software vendors.
When we asked Biddle when users might move from such mega online stores to mom and pop software botiques, he said: "Actually, I think it's already happening."
To illustrate how he believe that move is taking place, he said that when he's looking for, say puzzle games, he Googles "puzzle games", and finds blogs that recommend puzzle games, and follows their advice. If those blogs had AppUp elements where those games could be purchased, his search would be over.
Another advantage of a mom and pop app store affiliated with an ongoing online presence such as a blog, Biddle believes, is that users will visit the blog for the content and end up shopping as well, unlike monolithic app stores to which you have to go to specifically when you're looking for an app to buy.
"Everyone is looking for a way to increase the cadence, so that shopping is less of an intentional activity. You're not suddenly realizing, 'I haven't bought an app in six months, I wonder if there's anything interesting there'. You don't want to wait until your consumer has to think that way to be telling them that there's an interesting thing that they want to buy," he said.
"If I go to Geeks are Sexy every day, then Geeks are Sexy is where you ought to be catching me. And you ought to be catching me with my top ten favorite apps that are different for me as a Geeks are Sexy daily user than someone else."
Specifically targeting sexy geeks is one thing a monolithic app store may never do – unless, of course, it takes advantage of webcam face-recognition technology. ®


text: Preaching in English by Fr. Xavier Khan Vattayil. His words will surely help to understand about the sins and repentance, help to understand the everlasting love and affection of God, help to make a way to God. Watch the below video and have peace and joy in mind. Fr. Xavier Khan Vattayil is the founder-director of Sehion Ministries, of Palakkad Diocese. Fr. Xavier who has earned name and fame as an outstanding preacher of the Word of the Lord, Retreat Leader, television orator and organizer, is conducting many retreats for priests, nuns and believers in India and abroad.


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Cellular Modems & Hotspots
Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot (Virgin Mobile)
We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use.
- Inexpensive, unlimited 4G WiMAX data.
- Useful, easy-to-read LCD.
- Plenty of router options.
- 4G reception and speed aren't great.
- Limited 4G coverage area.
Bottom LineThe Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot for Virgin Mobile gets you unlimited 4G WiMAX data for as little as $35 per month—just don't expect lightning-fast speeds.
The Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot for Virgin Mobile ($79.99) is a lot like a buffet—you get as much data as you want, though it isn't particularly top-quality. It's a bulky mobile hotspot that hooks into Sprint's slow 3G network, as well as its abandoned 4G WiMAX network, to provide a wireless connection for up to five devices. And while neither of those networks will get you speeds on par with 4G LTE, you're paying a whole lot less. For as little as $35 per month, you can have access to all the 4G WiMAX data you can handle. If you live in the coverage area and use lots of data, it's definitely worth considering.
Pricing and PerformanceWe have a full review of the Overdrive Pro on Sprint, and the Virgin model looks and acts very similarly. I'll focus on the pricing and data speeds on Virgin, as well as comparisons with other contract-free hotspots, in this review.
There are two big reasons to consider the Overdrive Pro on Virgin: pricing and unlimited data. The hotspot itself costs $79.99, which is average. But there's a lot of value to be found in Virgin's Broadband2Go plans. For $35 per month, you get 2GB of 3G data. $55 per month gets you 5GB. There's also a daily plan, where $5 per day gets you 200MB of 3G data. Those prices are okay, but here's where it gets really good: Each of those plans comes with unlimited 4G WiMAX data. That means you can use the Overdrive Pro as much as you want for as little as $35 per month.
Unlike Clear, which provides unlimited data on the same WiMAX network as Virgin, here there's no cap on download or upload speeds. But there's still a catch—Virgin claims that speeds may be throttled after 10GB of usage per month. But even then, speeds are capped at 2Mbps, which isn't bad.
AT&T and Verizon have higher-quality 3G networks, as well as much faster 4G LTE networks, but those plans average around $50 per month for 5GB of data; you can burn through all of that before you finish watching a season of Breaking Bad on Netflix. Theoretically, with unlimited data, you can even use the Overdrive Pro as your primary home Internet connection.
As we discovered in our annual Fastest Mobile Networks report, Sprint has the slowest 3G speeds of all the carriers we tested. So if you don't live in a WiMAX coverage area, you may want to rethink your options. But if you are covered by WiMAX, you can expect speeds that are much faster than Sprint's 3G, though still not on a par with 4G LTE. To find out if you're covered, check here.
In testing the Overdrive Pro, I saw average download speeds of around 3Mbps, which isn't bad. It should make for relatively smooth browsing and media streaming. Uploads, on the other hand, never made it past 0.4Mbps, which is rather slow, and reception isn't great either. But if you can tolerate the slower speeds, it's a major relief to know that you have unlimited data at your disposal. And unlike the Clear Spot Voyager , which only supports WiMAX, the Overdrive Pro gets you a finite amount of 3G data per month as well. Again, this data is very slow, but it's good to have if you're traveling outside of the WiMAX coverage zone.
The Overdrive Pro's battery was good four 4 hours and 10 minutes of 4G streaming in my tests, which is okay, but not great.
ConclusionsThe Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot is a good choice if you're looking for a way to stay connected without running out of data or breaking the bank. You'll get more reliable, faster speeds with 4G LTE from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon, but you'll also be paying a lot more. The Clear Spot Voyager lacks 3G support, but it also gets you unlimited data on the same 4G WiMAX network as the Overdrive Pro. It's smaller and more portable, with much better battery life, but it lacks the Overdrive Pro's external display. The Freedom Spot Photon from FreedomPop is another interesting choice. It too hooks into the same 4G WiMAX network, and actually gets you your data for free, though only in limited quantities. It's worth a look if you only need a hotspot to get online occasionally.
More Cellular Modem Reviews:
• Travel Wifi
• Skyroam Solis
• Roaming Man U2 Global 4G Wi-Fi Hotspot
• Nighthawk LTE Mobile Hotspot Router (AT&T)
• ZTE Warp Connect (Sprint)
• more


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Critical data has moved to the cloud and employees are able to access it from any network, wherever they are in the world.
Enabling mobility and the ability to access data seamlessly is a great development for enterprise productivity, but it causes a serious challenge to security teams who rely on perimeter provisions such as firewalls and secure web gateways.
This whitepaper shares key insights on how businesses can move key security functions to the endpoint and establish a zero-trust security model.


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Interested in watching Morenci's electronic voting machine go through its paces?
The public accuracy test—open to the public—is scheduled at 10 a.m. Oct. 31 at city hall.
The city received a packet of blank ballots to run through the voting machine to make sure the computer is clear. City workers, along with two election inspectors, will also mark ballots randomly to test the machine's accuracy.
Write-in ballots are automatically separated from the other ballots for hand tabulation.
Anyone wishing to run as a write-in candidate has until 4 p.m. Nov. 2 to register at city hall. If a "write-in candidate declaration of intent" form is not submitted, the votes will not count.
City hall will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Nov. 3 for residents seeking to obtain an absentee ballot.
Morenci's ballot in the Nov. 6 general election will include only local races.
Doug Erskin is challenging Russ Sutherland for mayor. Three council members will also be chosen. Incumbents Dick Hewitt and Leasa Slocum will be joined on the ballot by Wes Clark, Art Erbskorn, Jeff Lantz and Carl VanDeWalker, Jr.
PHOTO ID—Voting in Michigan will require an extra step starting next month in the Nov. 6 general election.
In order to cast a vote, photo identification will be requested by election workers. If the voter is in possession of only non-photo ID, an affidavit must be signed attesting that the person is not in possession of picture identification.
Without a photo ID or a signature on an affidavit, voting will not be allowed.
The affidavits will be filed at city hall, said clerk/administrator Renée Schroeder, and will not be checked unless someone makes a request.
Photo ID is now required in all states, however, only first-time voters are required to show a photo in Kansas and Pennsylvania.


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HF Radio Series 3000 is a family of software-based, multi-purpose, high-performance and modular equipment in the frequency range 10 kHz to 30 MHz (receive) and 1.5 MHz to 30 MHz (transmit). It is comprising the transceivers TRX 3015 (150 W) / TRX 3050 (500 W) / TRX 3100 (1 kW), the transmitters TX 3500 (5 kW), TX 310K/FH (10 kW) and the VLF/HF receiver RX 3002.
All radios are available also as "T" version with touchscreen and LAN interface.
To adapt the transceivers to the corresponding antennas various antenna tuning units are available for up to 1kW HF.
The equipment family features identical basic modules for the receivers as well as transmitters / transceivers. This modular building structure not only results in cost savings for production and provides for product versatility but also implies advantages with respect to integrated logistic support and high upgrade potential.
The radios can be operated via the built-in front panel display which assists during menu-driven operation and/or via the detached front panel DFP 3000 T or, alternatively, by using the remote control terminal UT 3002. Parameter settings are achieved via soft keys and/or flywheel and appropriate keypad elements on the front panel.
Product overview
The modular design structure, available range of built-in and external system options, and extensive software support guarantees flexible adaptation to current and future radio communication requirements, including network applications.
Other options on request


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Orphan Photo #3
This was originally posted at my other blog, GenBlog. Here is the initial post:
This postcard was rescued from the Antique Mall in El Paso, Illinois, by me, on 05 October 2008.
The message reads:
Harold Leslie Nelson
____ Paula
There is no other identifying information, postmark, date, or location.
Any takers? Any ideas as to when this was taken?


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- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg101045] Ansatz?
- From: AES <siegman at stanford.edu>
- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:23:03 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Stanford University
Wolfram MathWorld says: An ansatz is an assumed form for a mathematical statement that is not based on any underlying theory or principle. SEE ALSO: Conjecture, Hypothesis, Principle, Proposition Somewhere I've picked up the idea that "ansatz" can also be used to indicate the "form" or the "approach" -- more specifically, something like the choice of coordinates and variables and equations -- the "geometry and notation" so to speak -- in which one sets up a problem or a calculation. The "underlying theory or principles" in my interpretation can be perfectly clear, and no "Conjectures" or "Hypotheses" need be involved. One is simply setting up the calculation using this ansatz, in order to calculate certain consequences or numerical results (a calculation which one, of course, carries out using Mathematica). Is my interpretation of this term off the mark? (Wikipedia's explanation of the term seems to me considerably closer to my understanding than to Wolfram's definition.)
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Ansatz?
- From: János Löbb <email@example.com>
- Re: Ansatz?


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Directed by Lee Jung-seob (이정섭)
Screenplay by Kang Eun-kyeong (강은경)KBS | Airing dates : 2010/06/09~2010/09/16
Also known as "Kim Tak-goo, King of Baking"
30 episodes - Wed, Thu 21:55
Story begins 12 years prior to when maid Kim Mee-soon gave a birth to a child named, Tak-gu. As Kim became pregnant with Geo-seung food cooperation chairman, Gu Ill-joongs child, Mr. Gus wife, Suh In-sook forced Kim out of her house. It is after 12 years that Tak-gu appears again at Mr.Gus birthday party to formally announce himself as the legitimate son of Mr. Gu. However, due to Suhs contempt towards him, he is driven out of the house once more. It is at this worst moment in life that Tak-gu meets his everlasting mentor, Pal bong and his true love, Yang Mee -soon. From then on he finally determines to embrace his new life by becoming the worlds best baker. However, his journey to his goal appears to be tough due to unexpected encounters with his first love and his step brother Gu Ma-joon. So how would his journey end?
You're reading the news with potential spoilers, make them spoiler free, dismiss
DVD (SG - Ch Tr, English Subtitled)
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View all 620 pictures for "Bread, Love and Dreams"
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FOOTBALL: Yoga part of Xavier's winning recipe
MIDDLETOWN -- There are many reasons for the success of the Xavier High School football program. These include a winning tradition, excellent coaching and many talented players. Oh, and one more thing.
"We've been doing yoga for a while," said coach Sean Marinan. "Actually, is was Paul Bischoff [former Xavier assistant, now coaching at Wesleyan University] who brought it here in 2005. The kids back then said their legs felt better after doing it."
Now it's an integral part of the Xavier program -- one that has won consecutive state championships and hasn't lost in 29 games.
"During the summer, we do it twice a week," said Marinan. "During the season, we do it every Saturday after a Friday night game. It essentially is made up of different ways to stretch and we move from one body part to another continuously, as in moving from legs to arms to back and back to legs again."
It seemed kind of crazy at first, senior defensive end Max Schumann admitted.
"But if Coach said it was good for us, then OK," Schumann said. "I knew I needed flexibility and that's what it does for me. After the first or second time, I looked forward to the next session to see what muscles we were going to work on."
The man in charge of the yoga program is John Dorsey, a professional yoga instructor whose son, Jonah, is a senior on the Falcon football squad.
"I started with the Xavier kids last year," said Dorsey, a Newington resident who has been instructing for 25 years. "In the summer of 2011 we had sessions twice a week as part of the strength and conditioning program. I would guess we had 40 or 50 kids participating."
During the season, it is the starters who do the Saturday sessions.
"There's about 25 kids there on a given Saturday," said Dorsey, the senior yoga instructor at ESPN in Bristol. "The starters work out, then I stretch them. The yoga session lasts about 45 minutes and we will do this all season."
Dorsey said that yoga is very adaptable and he holds what he called a power yoga class with the Xavier players.
"We begin with what's called a sun salutation, that is a set sequence of movements which serve as a warm-up. We go through formal postures in a predetermined order with one leading to another," he said. "Not to get too technical, but one pose would be the warrior pose, another is the downward-facing dog and another is the upward-facing dog."
He said that these postures are essentially a choreographed series of poses identified as "vinyasa yoga."
"We move from one pose to another in a logical way. We stretch and counter stretch all parts of the body along with deep breathing," said Dorsey, who lives in Newington. "The movement and breathing are all synchronized. With an in-breath, we are lengthening the body and with an out-breath we are stretching the body."
He said the essential part of his teaching is to have the players breathe and stretch in sequence.
"At first I didn't have an understanding of how this benefited athletes," senior running back DeAngelo Berry said. "Mr. Dorsey teaches us how this relieves stress and prevents injury. When the session is over, I feel energized. I feel like I've gotten all the kinks out and I'm much more relaxed."
Dorsey said that injury prevention is one of the key benefits to yoga.
"Football is such an explosive sport," said Dorsey. "When you have all those sudden, explosive movements, muscles get short. The shorter they are, the more prone to injury one is. What yoga does is lengthen muscles. In football especially, that need to stretch muscles is very important. It gives players a much better range of motion, which in turn lessens the chance of injury."
Proper breathing is part and parcel of the process. He said that proper breathing helps not only football players, but any athlete.
"Yoga helps get blood to injured areas," said Dorsey. "It helps circulation. That helps wash out toxic buildup and contracts muscles and lengthens them out. There is also a metaphysical part to yoga that is just as important."
Dorsey spoke of the mind/body connection that yoga creates.
"Yoga helps with an athlete's focus," he said. "yoga maintains the body and in an athlete's mind, he/she comes to see the body as an outside observer would. The overall self-awareness is stronger, things slow down and an athlete can better sustain concentration. So he/she is more likely to listen to a coach's instructions and to understand and remember the instructions because things have slowed down and he/she can focus better.
"I think it's great to see people so young looking at their own body and taking care of it."
Schumann buys it.
"It's very effective mentally," he said. "During a game we are hyped and the adrenaline flows. But on Saturday, things slow down, and both the mind and body relax."
Yoga is very effective at stimulating positive thoughts and getting rid of negative ones, Dorsey maintained.
"The physical part of stretching and preventing injury is a positive," he said. "And the mental aspects of relaxation and better focus are positives. Kids might think they can't do something, but yoga helps to change that negativity. You learn a lot in yoga about a more positive mindset."
Dorsey wasn't sure how the players would respond at first. He further worried about them buying into the quieter parts of the process.
"In yoga, there is a time of deep relaxation at the end of a session, a time of five to 10 minutes where you just lie flat on the floor," said Dorsey. "I didn't do it with them at first because I wasn't sure they would buy into it. But I discovered that the kids love it."
Among Dorsey's clients at ESPN are former NFL players and many of the on-air commentators.
"I have a particular interest in athletic teams," said Dorsey, 52. "I strongly believe that we are just scratching the surface with athletes. yoga and athleticism: that's what I want to do when I grow up."


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- Custom wallpaper
- Roll dimension (installed): 24" W x 27' L
- Vertical repeat: 20.5" L
- Type II wallcovering - paste required
- Class A fire-rated
- PVC-free and FSC-certified (what's this?)
- Mold and mildew resistant
More Product Info
Isobar Durable will bring a splash of color and sophistication to any residential or commercial space with its subtly leathered texture and low-sheen finish.
Isobar Durable features scrub and scratch resistant performance making it ideal for use in all environments subject to wear and tear, from playrooms and bathrooms to restaurants and office spaces. This PVC-free, FSC Certified wallpaper also features mold, mildew, and water resistance.
Isobar un-pasted double rolls measure 25" wide by 27' long and are designed to be double-cut for a final install width of 24". We recommend you work with a professional paper installer for consultation, estimation, and installation.
Each wallpaper pattern is designed by independent designers, from around the world, and printed in the USA.
Sized for one yard of fabric. Perfect for modern decor. Includes a town with stores, houses, a school, train station, farm, mountains and campground.
Sized to one yard of fabric and works as a repeat for endless fun! Recommended fabric is Eco Canvas. A smaller, quarter yard version is also available in my shop, along with coordinating patterns for backing or lining.
How Much Wallpaper Should I buy
Visit our FAQ page to learn how to measure your walls.
If you have any questions or would like help, send us an email with your measurements - we'd be happy to help!
We recommend hiring a wallpaper professional for installation.
If you have questions or would like help, send us an email with yor measurements - we'd be happy to help.


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This chapter includes the following sections:
The Imaging APIs ApplicationService and DocumentService interfaces are used to manage applications and documents in the imaging system. All documents must be associated with an imaging application. The application defines many default features that are then applied to the documents that are associated with the application. In this way, an application may be thought of as a template that defines a single document type. Typically, a single application is created for documents of a single type (for example, invoices, proposals, contracts, and so on).
This chapter details how to use basic methods used for creating documents in an application including mechanisms for list and getting existing application definitions and mechanisms for uploading and indexing documents. At the end of the chapter, Example 4-1 provides a code sample of the topics presented here.
The Imaging API provides two mechanisms for enumerating the list of applications defined within and Imaging system: ApplicationService.listApplications and DocumentService.listTargetApplications. Each operation accepts an "Ability" parameter that specifies which applications to return based the user's security settings. However, they differ in one which security filter is used.
The ApplicationService.listApplications returns applications based on Application definition security. Ability.VIEW returns all applications to which the calling user has view permission. The Ability.MANAGE parameter returns all applications to which that user has either delete or modify permissions. The intended purpose of this operation is primarily for code written to manage application definitions.
The DocumentService.listTargetApplications returns applications based on the user's document permissions within the application, i.e., whether the user has either view document or create document permissions for that application. This operation is the best choice when the client is working with directly documents.
Both of these operations return a java.util.List of NameId objects identifying both the numerical ID and the textual name for the application.
As with list applications, the Imaging API provides two distinct operations for getting details of the field defined for an application: ApplicationService.getApplication and DocumentService.getTargetApplication. These operations again differ by the permissions used to determine whether or not the user is allowed to get the requested application. ApplicationService.getApplication requires application view permissions. DocumentService.getTargetApplication requires document view permissions.
Application.getApplication operation is intended for use when managing the definition itself and provides a parameter for specifying which sections of the definition are desired. Sections are requested using a SectionSet, which is a container for passing in a list of SectionFlags. For example, in order to get the application's properties and field definitions sections, calling code would pass in a SectionSet defined as follows:
sectionSet = Application.SectionSet.of(Application.SectionFlag.PROPERTIES, Application.SectionFlag.FIELDDEFINITIONS);
The DocumentService.getTargetApplication, however, returns a fixed section set that automatically includes both the properties and field definitions because these sections typically required when working with documents.
Creating a document in an Imaging application is a two step process. In the first step, the documents binary data is uploaded to the Imaging server using the DocumentContentService.uploadDocument operation. This operation returns a unique token (and upload token) that is then used in a subsequent call to DocumentService.createDocument to index the document into the application. This uploadToken is valid until the user logs out or until it is used in either a createDocument or updateDocument call. It may only be used once.
The upload operation accepts data in the form a javax.activation.DataHandler, which in turn wraps the document content as a javax.activation.DataSource, typically a javax.activation.FileDataSource. The javax.mail.util package also contains a ByteArrayDataSource which can wrap the document content from and InputStream. However, the ByteArrayDataSource will load the entire document into memory on the client before performing the upload, so it should be used with caution for very large documents Please refer to the Javadoc for the javax.activation and javax.mail.util packages for complete details on the use of DataHandlers and DataSources.
The Document.FieldValue class in the Imaging API is used to provide document metadata when indexing a document. FieldValues are passed to createDocument as a java.util.List of Document.FieldValue instances. Each FieldValue in the list will map to a FieldDefinition in the application.
The Document.FieldValue object behaves similarly to NameId definition classes in that they can be defined to map to an application field definition by either Field ID or Field Name. If both are supplied, then the ID value supersedes the name value.
A Document.FieldValue also contains a value property. The type of the value must be compatible with the Imaging FieldType of the field definition. The Imaging type of the value is automatically determined by the Java type used. The following table lists the Imaging field types and the corresponding compatible Java types.
|Imaging Field Type
|Java Type
java.util.Date, java.util.GregorianCalendar
java.math.BigDecimal, float, decimal
Integer, Long,
In the table, the Java types in bold are the native types associated with the FieldType. The FieldValue will coerce other types in the table into the native type. Caution should be used when using types other than the native types since precision on the value may sometime be lost during the coercion process.
When FieldValues are use with createDocument, all field values that are defined as required must be supplied. For fields that are not required, it is also possible to deliberately set the value to null by including the FieldValue in the list but setting the FieldValue's value to null. When doing this, the FieldValue cannot determine the necessary field type based on the null Java type, so the FieldValue constructor accepting an Imaging FieldType must be used.
Example 4-1 demonstrates the basic concepts discussed in this section.
Example 4-1 text
package devguidesamples; import java.math.BigDecimal; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Date; import java.util.List; import java.util.Locale; import javax.activation.DataHandler; import javax.activation.FileDataSource; import oracle.imaging.Application; import oracle.imaging.ApplicationService; import oracle.imaging.BasicUserToken; import oracle.imaging.Document; import oracle.imaging.DocumentContentService; import oracle.imaging.DocumentService; import oracle.imaging.ImagingException; import oracle.imaging.NameId; import oracle.imaging.ServicesFactory; import oracle.imaging.UserToken; public class CreateDocumentSample { public static void main(String[] args) { try { // try-catch UserToken credentials = new BasicUserToken("ipmuser", "ipmuserpwd"); ServicesFactory servicesFactory = ServicesFactory.login(credentials, Locale.US, "http://ipmhost:16000/imaging/ws"); try { // try-finally to ensure logout DocumentService docService = servicesFactory.getDocumentService(); DocumentContentService docContentService = servicesFactory.getDocumentContentService(); NameId invoicesAppNameId = null; // List the viewable applications to confirm that "Invoices" exists List<NameId> appsList = docService.listTargetApplications(Document.Ability.CREATEDOCUMENT); for (NameId nameId: appsList) { if (nameId.getName().equals("Invoices")) { invoicesAppNameId = nameId; } } if (invoicesAppNameId == null) { System.out.println("Invoices application not found."); return; } // Upload document content String fileName = "C:/PathToImages/invoice1234.tif"; DataHandler fileData = new DataHandler(new FileDataSource(fileName)); String uploadToken = docContentService.uploadDocument(fileData, "invoice1234.tif"); // Index the document List<Document.FieldValue> fieldValues = new ArrayList<Document.FieldValue>(); fieldValues.add(new Document.FieldValue("Invoice Number", 1234)); fieldValues.add(new Document.FieldValue("Purchase Order", 4321)); fieldValues.add(new Document.FieldValue("Vendor", "Acme Supply")); fieldValues.add(new Document.FieldValue("Amount", new BigDecimal("99.95"))); fieldValues.add(new Document.FieldValue("Receive Date", new Date())); docService.createDocument(uploadToken, invoicesAppNameId, fieldValues, true); } finally { if (servicesFactory != null) { servicesFactory.logout(); } } } catch (ImagingException e) { System.out.println(e.getMessage()); } } }


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Home » Candywriter, LLC
Dogs Playing Poker Review
It's such a simple idea, but Dogs Playing Poker could easily have been a hard one to stomach thanks to C. M. Coolidge's paintings holding a dubious position in pop culture and its assorted ephemera. Thankfully instead of some tacky attempt at cashing in on a pop reference Dogs Playing Poker by Candywriter is probably one of the friendliest and certainly furriest Texas Hold'em games for the iPhone. The tutorial is simply brilliant and gives players a chance to not only learn the game's…Watch The Video Review


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Ellen Hefner
last names A-G
|Shirley Wade
last names H-N
|Tawnia Hoelzeman last names 0-Z
RHS students are encouraged to meet with their school counselor to discuss important academic, personal-social, and career decisions. The RHS counselors strive to help all students reach their full potential. To make an appointment, use the computer at the front counter. See Mrs. Debbie Cooper for help.
The school counselor's role is to help students achieve success in school and be prepared to meet the challenges of college and careers after graduation. School counselors advocate for students and serve as liaisons with teachers, administrators, and parents.
Parents are also invited to make an appointment with their student's counselor regarding their student's school experience.


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Antique Radio Cake
On Grandparents' Day or any occasion, the "music box" our crafty cooks tuned into is sure to get a warm reception! Its old-fashioned appeal begins with mocha-flavored German chocolate cake and frosting...both a cinch to whip up. You won't need a special pan, either—simple round and square ones will do.
Total TimePrep: 30 min. Bake: 30 min. + cooling
Makes12-15 servings
- 1 package German chocolate cake mix (regular size)
- 3 teaspoons instant coffee granules, divided
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 6 tablespoons baking cocoa
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 miniature peanut butter cups
- 1 ounce white baking chocolate
- Black or brown paste food coloring
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 15- x10-inch board or piece of corrugated cardboard
- Bue gift wrap to cover board
- Lace fabric or place mat (we used a purchased crocheted lace place mat)
- Graph paper
- Pastry tips#5 round and #16 star
- Prepare cake batter according to package directions, adding 2 teaspoons coffee granules. Pour into three greased and floured baking pans, two 8-in. square and one 8-in. round. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cakes for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Cut round cake in half, forming two semi-circles.
- For frosting, cream butter and sugar in a bowl. Add cocoa, vanilla and salt. Dissolve the remaining coffee granules in water; add enough to the creamed mixture to achieve desired spreading consistency.
- Place one square cake on the covered board. Place the cut edge of a semi-circle cake touching one side of square cake. Frost the top of both cakes. Stack remaining square and semicircle cakes on top. Frost the top and sides smoothly. Set remaining frosting aside.
- Unwrap peanut butter cups. Place each cup about 1-1/2-in. from the bottom and sides of cake for radio dials as shown in photo.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate. Spread on waxed paper into a rectangle about 6x1-1/2x1/16-in. Let harden for 5 minutes. Using a sharp knife, cut into a 5x1-in. rectangle.
- When white chocolate is totally set, use a toothpick dipped into brown or black paste food coloring to write "AM" and "FM" as shown in photo. Add station marks in same way. Place chocolate rectangle 1 inch above the dials.
- Melt chocolate chips and place in a small plastic bag. Place a piece of waxed paper over graph paper. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.
- For the radio speaker, pipe a 5-in.-wide half-circle of melted chocolate onto waxed paper. Using graph paper as a guide, pipe diagonal 1/4 in. apart. Repeat lines in the opposite direction. Refrigerate until set. Carefully remove speaker from waxed paper and place about 1 inch from top of cake.
- Prepare another plastic bag and insert round tip and reserved frosting. Pipe a border around the white rectangle. Insert star tip. Pipe a rope border around top and bottom edges of cake.
Editor's Note: Use of a coupler ring will allow you to easily change pastry tips for different designs. Crafter thoughts: In the space between the speaker and AM/FM tuning bar, you could pipe "Happy Grandparents' Day" or "Happy Birthday" with frosting. Rather than shape the speaker and tuning bar with melted chocolate, you could pipe them onto the cake using brown and white frosting.


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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - STS-108 Mission Specialist Daniel M. Tani waves as he undergoes final suit check before launch on Nov. 29. Top priorities for the STS-108 (UF-1) mission of Endeavour are rotation of the International Space Station Expedition Three and Expedition Four crews; bringing water, equipment and supplies to the station in the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello; and completion of robotics tasks and a spacewalk to install thermal blankets over two pieces of equipment at the bases of the Space Station's solar wings. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:41 p.m. EST. (Photo Release Date: 11/26/2001 )
KSC-01PD-1717 - Raw ASCII Text Caption file
KSC-01PD-1717 - Low (GIF Format, 320x240 pixels x 256 colors, approx 50 Kbytes)
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KSC-01PD-1717 - High (JPEG, 2040x2640 pixels x 16 million colors, approx 400 Kbytes)
STS-108 KSC Photo IndexNext Image KSC-01PD-1718
DISCLAIMER: No copyright protection is asserted for these photographs.
If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA of a commercial product. These photographs are available for preview and download in electronic digital form ONLY. They may not be ordered from NASA in photograph form. (See NASA Copyright Notice)