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Daily combat at the White House
Mike McCurry still has recurring dreams. They are like the ones people have about showing up at a final exam not having done the reading.
But for McCurry, who was the White House press secretary for Bill Clinton from December 1994 to August 1998 — from Whitewater through most of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in other words — the dreams are slightly different.
"In my anxiety dream, I walk out to give the daily briefing, and I don't have my briefing book," McCurry says.
( Also on POLITICO: 5 questions for the White House on Bergdahl)
The briefing book, which takes enormous effort to assemble each morning, contains the assembled wisdom, positions, acumen and sheer flackery of the Cabinet, the executive agencies, the White House staff and sometimes even the president of the United States.
It is all done — and the process often starts before dawn — in anticipation of what questions the press corps will be asking at the daily briefing and what messages the White House wants to convey.
As McCurry once told me: "The modern presidency is defined by the manipulation of the newsflow, 24 hours a day."
( PHOTOS: Presidential press conferences)
McCurry was the first press secretary to allow the daily briefings to be televised, a decision he now regrets. In the beginning, the networks used very little from the briefings because the briefings, then as now, produced very little news.
Sometimes the networks would take snippets for the nightly news but go live only for big, breaking stories like the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
But in 1998, Monica happened. And everything changed. The networks began televising the briefings live and a technical, but very, very important change took place. "The moment I realized I had made some kind of mistake," McCurry says, "was when the networks started using two cameras: one to shoot the briefing [i.e., McCurry at the lectern] and a second one, right near my shoulder, to shoot correspondents asking the questions."
"The dynamic changed," McCurry goes on. "Now the briefings were television events rather than an opportunity to answer questions about the news."
( Also on POLITICO: Carney: Bergdahl deal separate from desertion question)
Reporters, especially television reporters, now could use the briefings to perform. The better their performances (which, in fairness, were mostly linked to a genuine attempt to dig out the news and determine the truth), the greater chance they had of looking tough and dogged during the afternoons and getting airtime that night.
"The networks would break away from their afternoon soap operas to present the real soap opera of Monica," McCurry says.
Televised briefings also greatly enhanced the visibility of the White House press secretaries and their ability to cash in on that visibility (paid speeches, consulting firms, etc.) once they left office.
The current White House press secretary, Jay Carney, announced last week that he would resign in mid-June. This set off a spate of stories assessing his performance, especially his on-camera performance. Most agreed that whatever Carney's abilities, the daily briefing had become a trial by combat.
Last July, the New Republic published a piece by Reid Cherlin, a former White House assistant press secretary, who wrote: "The daily briefing has become a worthless chore for reporters, an embarrassing nuisance to administration staff, and a source of added friction between the two camps. It's time to do the humane, obvious thing and get rid of it altogether."
Cherlin quoted Peter Baker of The New York Times, saying: "The White House decided a long time ago that it's not about candor; it's about deflection and survival. The press decided it's about preening."
A few days ago, Cherlin wrote: "But whether docile or sneering, Carney was just doing what was expected of him, and — depending on where you sit — doing it quite capably. … He doggedly protected the president's interests with the full understanding that doing so would earn him bad reviews from reporters."
Exactly. As I wrote about Carney's predecessor, Robert Gibbs: "Gibbs has one boss and it isn't the press. It's the guy in the Oval Office."
Press secretaries, standing behind the lectern each day, appear to wield great power. In fact, like everybody else at the White House, their power is limited by the needs, desires and whims of the president.
"President Clinton used to watch, near as I could tell, the replay of the daily briefing on C-SPAN at 11:30 every night," McCurry tells me. "And right after, I would get a call from him at home." McCurry slips into Clinton's soft, Arkansas accent: "'I thought you did a fine job, but, you know, we could also use this.'"
McCurry, who often began his workday at 4:30 a.m., was not personally bothered by the lateness of the calls, but "we had small kids then and they would wake up when the phone rang."
So one day, McCurry gently and politely told the president, "I always enjoy getting feedback, but not so late at night" and then explained about the children.
"I'm so sorry," Clinton said.
"And he never called back at night again," McCurry says a little wistfully. "I probably should not have told him that."
Roger Simon is POLITICO's chief political columnist.


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I saw "Moneyball" this weekend. It's an excellent movie, but I still think Michael Lewis' book is even better. My suggestion: Go read the book. Then go see the movie.
But one thing the movie has, which the book doesn't, is a subplot involving Beane's 12-year-old daughter. In the movie the daughter sings and plays guitar, and the song she writes becomes kind of an anthem for her father.
The song, called "The Show," was actually written by a singer-songwriter named Lenka and released in 2008. Here's Kerris Dorsey's cover (she's the actress who plays the daughter), in a video that looks like a trailer for the movie:
Lovely song, eh? But since I'm a hobbyist musician, I spend a lot of time listening to music, and I thought it sounded familiar. Like, really familiar. Like, substitute-other-lyrics-on-top-of-existing-song familiar.
Which existing song? "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz (first released in 2005):
I took a look at the chords, and they're not the same (though I think they're both using variations on the I-IV-V chord progressions). Then I compared the first two lines:
"The Show":
I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
"I'm Yours""
Well uh you dawned on me and you bet I felt it,
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted,
Similar number of syllables, similar meter. You could easily sing those four lines as a single verse.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Swiss Alps just above Gimmelwald on my hike to Müren
From Here To Uncertainty - The Redpath Family Goes Mobile for a year
Everything Everywhere - Gary Arndt travels around the world
Travelogged - Liz Borod Wright's World Travels
Flashpacking Wife - Better half of Flashpacking Life
The above are not paying advertisers, they're just good companies, great services and good causes that I've had really good customer experiences with.
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"Fujitsu offers a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for retail that ticked all our boxes.."
Ramón Echeverria Pequeño, Sales Manager, Belltech
Belltech is a leading provider of IT and communications solutions in South America with operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Perú. The company has more than 1,000 customers in the region and annual revenues of US$60 million. Belltech's Retail division is focused on the design, implementation and support of advanced IT and store automation solutions.
Belltech's preferred retail software partner was acquired, leading to a lack of support. The company wanted to find a new retail solution provider that could better meet its needs.
Belltech now offers Fujitsu's Retail Suite, comprising Fujitsu GlobalSTORE and Fujitsu StoreCENTER, as well as Fujitsu EPOS devices to numerous customers accounting for thousands of sales points across Chile.
Read the full Belltech case study (189 KB/A4, 2 pages)
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text:
300 Days of Run
[From the Organizers of the Event]
300 Days of Run began as a 'one-day' item that seemed like an incredible running feat.
Bold yet doabale. Outrageous yet achievable.
Well, after about 2 years of kicking it around in my head, one day while running, the discussion became trying to figure out the 'next' goal for a few people who liked to create 'crazy' running goals for common runners. 300 Days of Run was born.
Why not the 300 Days of running within a year? Plus 2016 would be the easiest year ever (considering you get an extra day with the leap year!).
The idea was also to make it something bigger than just the runner and his or her own personal running goal - which would be a HUGE achievement. 300 Days of Run makes the milestone MORE memorable by joining it with the satisfaction of raising money for charity at the same time in order to make the achievement even more outstanding.
Now 300 Days of Run is a reality and you can participate - by donating to a runner or even running it yourself!
Anyone can participate in the event. To Run - all you will need to be able to track your runs and make the minimum run distance and speed for the run. While 300 days of running in a year may seem outrageous, it is an achievable goal for those who are determined to make it happen. To Donate - well all you need is a credit card...
A HUGE thanks to the volunteers who helped engineer the site and make this all a possibility and a very special thanks to all of the participants who are helping to make 300 Days of Run a reailty!
Here's to 300 Days of Run in 2016!
For more information on the event visit www.300daysofrun.com


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Legal Definitions
A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
A monetary amount set by the court that a defendant can post in order to be released from custody. The bail is usually based upon such factors as the defendant's dangerousness to the community and flight risk.
Postponements in court hearings and trials.
A person charged with breaking the law.
Defense Attorney
An attorney hired or appointed to represent the defendant and defend him/her against criminal charges.
The process by which the prosecution turns over all evidence against the defendant. Discovery can include written or oral statements.
An oral or written notice to the court and the defendant by the prosecutor which declares that the prosecution has terminated. If the defendant is in custody he/she will be released on that charge.
A crime carrying more than one year possible imprisonment.
Grand Jury
Eighteen citizens who are selected at random from voting, hunting, fishing, PFD and similar rosters to hear evidence presented by a prosecutor to determine if there is enough evidence to bring a person to trial for a crime.
Guilty Plea
A defendant charged with any crime may plead guilty, not guilty, or a no contest plea.
Formal court proceedings that occurs in a courtroom and are open to the public.
A formal, written accusation issued by a grand jury charging someone with a crime after considering evidence presented by a prosecutor. An indictment is not proof of a crime.
A crime carrying maximum jail time of one year or less.
Own Recognizance (OR)
Releasing the defendant from custody without requiring any bond.
Plea Bargain
An agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor in which the defendant admits having committed a crime. In return, the prosecutor asks the judge to impose a less severe sentence than had the defendant been convicted at a trial.
A sentencing option for most misdemeanor and felony convictions where the defendant avoids some/all incarceration, and is released back into the community under the supervision of a probation officer for a specific time period, with many rules to follow.
The attorney who represents the State of Alaska in a criminal prosecution.
Release Conditions
Requirements imposed by the court that the defendant must follow if he/she is released from custody. These conditions can include no contact with the victim and witnesses, geographical restrictions, drug testing, etc.
Payments ordered by the judge to repay victims for economic losses incurred as the result of the crime (property loss or injuries). Does not include compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress or other non-economic damages that can result in compensation through a civil law suit.
Speedy Trial Rule
Defendants are entitled by law to have their case tried within 120 days from the date they are arrested or served with a document charging them with a crime. The defendant can ask the courts for a delay in the trial.
A written order to be at the court proceedings at a certain date and time. The witness is subject to a penalty for failing to comply.
Victim Impact Statement
A statement, usually in the form of a letter or spoken directly to the judge, from the victim or survivors concerning how this crime has affected the victim.


text:
Here are the best car leasing deals on all Maserati vans. Pick the model range below to view our great car leasing deals on on the entire Maserati van range.
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Disclaimer: All vehicle images and descriptions are for illustration and reference purposes only, all vehicle leases are subject to credit approval and subject to change at any time. E&OE.
Copyright © 2020 Van Sales UK, All rights reserved.
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Although late, I thought I'd share my experience as a Bryn Mawr College student at one day (Day 2) of the two week long Women in Public Service Summer Institute.
I arrived at Bryn Mawr's campus in the morning, just in time to catch a panel on "Alternative Approaches to Women's Leadership in Transitional Settings."
The panelists included Moushira Khattab, former Ambassador of Egypt to Italy and South Africa & Egyptian Council on Foreign Affairs, Lilia Labidi, Visiting Research Professor, Middle East Institute, National University Singapore, and Fatima Sbaity-Kassem, former Director, UN-ESCWA Centre for Women from the Middle East/North Africa. The panel was moderated by Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.
Much of what the panelists said centered on changing consciousness as a way to garner change in transitional communities. They also offered that the best was to do this is through local leaders, specifically the religious leaders in these setting. The effectiveness of this method is exemplified by female genital mutilation, which is far less prevalent today than a mere decade ago. (There's a great article in The New York Times today about fgm and the power of insiders, which can be found here.)
About halfway through the panel, Jane Harman, a former U.S. Representative, president and CEO of the Wilson Center, and a graduate of sister college, Smith, entered the room and offered encouragement to the delegates in attendance.
The delegates had a limited amount of time at the end for questions and comments, but one that really resonated with me was one delegate's commenting on the west's implementation of gender quotas, like the 25% quota in Iraq, without having these numbers of women in their own governments.
For more about this panel you can look to my or the UI's twitter feed.
In the afternoon, I ventured to Thomas Great Hall to see Hillary Clinton's Keynote Address. She was introduced by Ms. Harman, who spoke about the importance of the convergence of government (The State Department) with academia. She also noted how fitting it was that the Wilson Center and the Women and Public Service Project's Summer Institute was held that summer on Bryn Mawr's campus, where President Woodrow Wilson began his academic career.
When Hillary took to the stage there were feelings of hysteria from my friends and I. She spoke about the importance of women's rights and political parity, something she has continued to champion in her time as FLOTUS, a United States Senator, Secretary of State, and something I know she will continue to champion in her time as the first female President. (Only partially kidding.)
For more on Hillary Clinton's speech, look to my recent Huffington Post article.
As the day drew to a close, those in attendance at Secretary Clinton's address enjoyed cocktails and horderves in Bryn Mawr's historic cloisters. I was surrounded by incredible women such as Farah Pandith, the inspiring Women in Public Service delegates, friends who share my passion for public service, as well as some professors who continually support and encourage me to follow my dreams, the one where I'm holding public office in particular.
I wish I could have been able to make more of the institute, but so cherish the one day I was able to spend at Bryn Mawr's Women in Public Service Project.


text:
Student resources are available here to explain how to use Blackboard
Helpful guides on how to reset your browser.Find out if your computer hardware is ready for online courses.
How do I log into:
- Blackboard?
- MyMail (Student Email)?
- MyTRCC?
Visit the CoursEval Site to complete your course evaluations for the semester.
Having trouble with your Blackboard course? Contact the Office of Distance Learning Services here for assistance.
Details on how the Blackboard Mobile App can help you through the semester.


text:
A Message from Diane Ladd
Dear Members & Friends of Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.:
I want to take this opportunity to inform you about my new TV show, "Enlightened." It premieres on October 10 on HBO at 9:30 PM PST. It's a half hour comedy/drama that comes on right after Ted Danson's "Bored to Death." It stars my daughter Laura Dern as Amy and Luke Wilson as her ex-husband, and I play her Mom, Helen.
I think the show will be of interest to many individuals who have been drawn to the Edgar Cayce work, as it shows a very distraught woman having a nervous breakdown. She tries to find enlightenment, and she tries to maintain a positive attitude and yet she is around people who aren't enlightened at all. It's very funny, and has received great reviews. One said, "You'll want to TiVo this one not because you're afraid to miss it but because you'll want to watch it over and over."
One of the reasons I am excited about the program is that it really does help lift up television. It is good old fashioned entertainment. It is the story of a spiritual quest. I'm very proud to be a part of it.
Please encourage your family and friends (and all of their social networks) to watch this new series. I think you will enjoy it! I believe the show can help lift up people. It's a comedy/drama that portrays both a serious and a funny look at how hard it is to get enlightened in this world.
Remember to mark your calendars to watch "Enlightened" on Monday evenings on HBO.
Light and Love, Diane Ladd
Diane Ladd is an actress, director, writer and producer. She is a three time Emmy and a three time Oscar nominee, and the winner of twenty seven international awards, including the British Academy Award, the Independent Spirit Award and the Eleanor Duse Award. She is also president of Exxcell Films.


text:
Brooks Roy
Despite a strong eight-plus innings from starter Brooks Roy, the Liberty Flames could not overcome the pitching performance by Longwood right-hander Brandon Vick, falling to the Lancers, 6-2, in game one of a Big South doubleheader at Liberty Baseball Stadium.
Roy pitched eight-plus innings, allowing six runs on seven hits to fall to 3-3. The right-hander only allowed runs in the fourth inning, before being reached for more runs in the ninth by the Lancers. He struck out a career-high seven batters and walked two.
Vick retired the first 15 Liberty batters to face him on his way to upping his record to 2-3 on the year. The left-hander gave up two runs on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. Aaron Meyers took over with two outs in the seventh and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to record his fifth save of the year.
Liberty falls to 5-3 in the Big South and 16-11 overall. Longwood moves to 4-4 in the conference and 12-15 overall.
After a scoreless first two innings, the Lancers jumped into the lead with four runs. With one out, catcher Kenny Cassidy singled and scored on right fielder Brandon Delk's third home run of the year. Center fielder Colton Konvicka followed with a single and stole second. After an intentional walk to third baseman Alex Owens with two outs, first baseman Scott Burkett doubled into the left-center field gap, plating both runners for a 4-0 advantage.
Vick held the Flames in check until the sixth inning. Third baseman Jake Kimble opened the frame with a single. After moving to second and third base on ground outs by the next two batters, left fielder Ashton Perritt punched a single into right field to bring home Liberty's first run of the contest and make it, 4-1 Longwood.
Liberty sliced into its deficit again in the seventh, striking for a two-out run. Designated hitter Justin Sizemore lined a double into the right-center field gap and first baseman Danny Grauer followed with a run-producing single to cut the Lancer advantage to 4-2.
Longwood added two insurance runs in the ninth. Burkett and second baseman Matt Dickason led off the inning with back-to-back singles. After a Liberty pitching change, pinch hitter Justin Lacy lined a two-out triple off the right field wall, scoring both runners for the final score of 6-2.
Liberty managed four hits in the contest. No Flame had more than one. Liberty catcher Trey Wimmer saw his career-high 14-game hit streak come to an end in the contest.
Longwood collected eight hits in the game. Burkett and Cassidy each had two apiece for the Lancers.


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Critical PGP Security Issue
Attention PGP Users: New Vulnerabilities Require You To Take Action Now
A group of European security researchers have released a warning about a set of vulnerabilities affecting users of PGP and S/MIME. EFF has been in communication with the research team, and can confirm that these vulnerabilities pose an immediate risk to those using these tools for email communication, including the potential exposure of the contents of past messages.
The full details will be published in a paper on Tuesday at 07:00 AM UTC (3:00 AM Eastern, midnight Pacific). In order to reduce the short-term risk, we and the researchers have agreed to warn the wider PGP user community in advance of its full publication.
Our advice, which mirrors that of the researchers, is to immediately disable and/or uninstall tools that automatically decrypt PGP-encrypted email. Until the flaws described in the paper are more widely understood and fixed, users should arrange for the use of alternative end-to-end secure channels, such as Signal, and temporarily stop sending and especially reading PGP-encrypted email.
Disabling PGP in Thunderbird with Enigmail
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Response from Werner Koch
Subject: Efail or OpenPGP is safer than S/MIME
Date: Mon, 14 May 2018 09:45:51 +0200
From: Werner Koch
To: firstname.lastname@example.com
Some may have noticed that the EFF has warnings about the use of PGP out
which I consider pretty overblown. The GnuPG team was not contacted by
the researchers but I got access to version of the paper related to
KMail. It seems to be the complete paper with just the names of the
other MUAs redacted.
Given that the EFF suggests to deinstall GpgOL, we know tha it is not
vulnerable; see see https://dev.gnupg.org/T3714.).
Here is a response I wrote on the weekend to a reporter who inquired on
this problem.
The topic of that paper is that HTML is used as a back channel to create
an oracle for modified encrypted mails. It is long known that HTML
mails and in particular external links like
are evil if the MUA actually honors them (which many meanwhile seem to
do again; see all these newsletters). Due to broken MIME parsers a
bunch of MUAs seem to concatenate decrypted HTML mime parts which makes
it easy to plant such HTML snippets.
There are two ways to mitigate this attack
- Don't use HTML mails. Or if you really need to read them use a
proper MIME parser and disallow any access to external links.
- Use authenticated encryption.
The latter is actually easy for OpenPGP because we started to use
authenticated encryption (AE) since 2000 or 2001. Our AE is called MDC
(Modification detection code) and was back then introduced for a very
similar attack. Unfortunately some OpenPGP implementations were late to
introduce MDC and thus GPG could not fail hard on receiving a mail
without an MDC. However, an error is returned during decrypting and no
MDC is used:
gpg: encrypted with 256-bit ECDH key, ID 7F3B7ED4319BCCA8, created 2017-01-01
"Werner Koch
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protected
When giving a filename on the command line an output file is even not
created. This can't be done in pipe mode because gpg allows to process
huge amounts of data. MUAs are advised to consider the DECRYPTION_FAILED
status code and not to show the data or at least use a proper way to
display the possible corrupted mail without creating an oracle and to
inform the user that the mail is fishy.
For S/MIME authenticated encryption is not used or implemented in
practice and thus there is no short term way to fix this in S/MIME
except for not using HTML mails.
The upshot of this is that OpenPGP messages are way better protected
against such kind of attacks than S/MIME messages. Unless, well, the
MUAs are correctly implemented and check error codes!
Some cryptographers turn up their nose at the OpenPGP MDC which is an
ad-hoc AE mode from a time before AE received much research. However,
it does it job and protects reliable against this and other attacks.
The next OpenPGP revision will bring a real AE mode (EAX or OCB
depending on key preferences) which has other benefits (early detection
of corrupted messages, speed) but it will takes years before it will be
widely deployed and can can actually be used to create messages.
# Please read: Daniel Ellsberg - The Doomsday Machine #
Die Gedanken sind frei. Ausnahmen regelt ein Bundesgesetz.
Alarmist articles
Subject: Re: [Enigmail] FYI disable enigmail now
Date: Mon, 14 May 2018 03:14:12 -0400
From: Robert J. Hansen
Reply-To: Enigmail user discussion list
To: firstname.lastname@example.com
We saw a preview of that paper. It's under embargo so it would be
inappropriate for us to comment on it until it's released. It was also
inappropriate for the EFF to comment on it. You can expect us to have
an official statement on it once the paper is published.
I will say this is a tempest in a teapot. Patrick, Werner, and I have
all seen it. We are not in the least bit worried. We wish the EFF had
reached out to us before running with an alarmist article.
tl;dr: as always, please use the latest Enigmail version, and do so with
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The memoir "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness" by Dr. Heather Sellers of the Hope College English faculty has been named a 2011 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.
The memoir "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness" by Dr. Heather Sellers of the Hope College English faculty has been named a 2011 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.
This year's selections were announced on Monday, Dec. 13.
As the announcement release explains, each year, the Michigan Notable Books program, which began in 1991, features 20 books published in the previous calendar year that are about, or set in, Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a native or resident of Michigan. Selections include nonfiction and fiction books that appeal to a variety of audiences and cover a range of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.
Published in October by Riverhead Books, Sellers's memoir has been highlighted in publications ranging from the "New York Times," to "Psychology Today," "Elle" and "People." Since the book's release, she has been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC's "Good Morning America" and "Rachel Ray," among others.
Sellers, who has taught at Hope since 1995, has a highly unusual neurological condition known as face blindness, or prosopagnosia. The disorder, which is believed to affect about two percent of the population to some degree, prevents the brain from interpreting the information that it receives from the eyes, with the effect specific to the section or process that deals with face recognition. The eyes function correctly, but the brain can't store any image of the human face.
In the memoir, she describes her childhood in Florida, and how the strange circumstances of that upbringing made it impossible for anyone to realize she had the bizarre, troubling condition. She was working on a memoir about her family when she discovered she had the condition after coming across the term "face recognition" in an article about five years ago. She eventually connected with the Prosopagnosia Research Center at HarvardUniversity, where researchers confirmed that she had a severe degree of face blindness.
The book is about her experiences coming to terms with the disorder and explores how the apparent handicap turned out to be a remarkable gift that allowed her to "see" people as they truly were and gave her unexpected insights into the nature of family, forgiveness and love.
Copies of "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness" are available through the college's Hope-Geneva Bookstore as well as through other area book sellers and online.
The other 19 books named 2011 Michigan Notable Books are: "Apparition and Late Fiction: A Novella and Stories," by Thomas Lynch; "Blues in Black and White: The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals," by Michael Erlewine, Stanley Livingstone (photographer) and Tom Erlewine; "Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation," by Steve Lehto; "Detroit Disassembled," by Andrew Moore; "The Detroit Electric Scheme: A Mystery," by D.E. Johnson; "Eden Springs: A Novella," by Laura Kasischke; "Freshwater Boys: Stories," by Adam Schuitema; "The Hanging Tree: A Starvation Lake Mystery," by Bryan Gruley; "Lord of Misrule," by Jaimy Gordon; "A Michigan Polar Bear Confronts the Bolsheviks: A War Memoir," by Godfrey J. Anderson, edited by Gordon Olson; "Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan's Copper Country," by Alison K. Hoagland; "Picturing Hemingway's Michigan," by Michael R. Federspiel; "Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City," by John Gallagher; "Sawdusted: Notes from a Post-boom Mill," by Raymond Goodwin; "Sixty to Zero: An Inside Look at the Collapse of General Motors and the Detroit Auto Industry," by Alex Taylor III; "The Sweetness of Freedom: Stories of Immigrants," by Stephen Ostrander and Martha Bloomfield; "To Account for Murder," by William C. Whitbeck; "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams," edited by M.L. Liebler; and "Wounded Warrior: The Rise and Fall of Michigan Governor John Swainson," by Lawrence M. Glazer. More information about the program, including additional information about each of the books recognized, is available online at www.michigan.gov/notablebooks.


text:
up, down, up, down...
Israel likes to play this little game of falling back into my lap and then pulling
himself back up again. It's sweet to see how he just trusts that I will be there to
catch him, it's so cute and I hope he always feels that way.
Other Stories
9 comments:
those tiny converse are amazing!ReplyDelete
sooooo sweet!ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete
i'm dying over those chucks!!! oh my, he's so cute!!!ReplyDelete
cute!!!! He's so stylish !ReplyDelete
Ooh those shoes!!! We saw some Dr. Suess, Red fish Blue fish chucks a while back but I restrained lol-my boys love theirs.ReplyDelete
This mini is SOOOO cute!!!!!
he's such stud! love him!ReplyDelete
He's getting so big! Hugs and kisses to that little man. :)ReplyDelete
that is so, so adorable. what a sweet post. ps. israel, i love your kicks! :)ReplyDelete
Thank you for your comments, I love hearing from you!
Questions, comments or sponsorship inquires, please contact me via the 'contact' link.


text:
As 2012 draws to a close, FIFA.com looks over some of the year's most eye-catching stats in the world of football.
Manchester United appearances was the landmark reached by Ryan Giggs in February, 7,666 days after his debut for the club in March 1991. The evergreen Welshman marked the occasion in style too, scoring a stoppage-time winner – the first time he has done so for the Red Devils – as Sir Alex Ferguson's side clinched a 2-1 win at Norwich City.
consecutive Premier League appearances was the record sequence that came to an end for Brad Friedel in October. The 41-year-old's uninterrupted run, the longest in the division's history, had spanned almost eight years and spells at three different clubs, dating back to the end of the 2003/04 season.
goals was the incredible tally with which Lionel Messi signed off for the year on 22 December. The Barcelona No10 had earlier in the month surpassed Gerd Muller's 1971 benchmark of 85 goals in a single calendar year, and back in March – while still just 24 – he became his club's all-time leading goalscorer by eclipsing Cesar Rodriguez's record of 232.
international clean sheets is the tally with which Iker Casillas has ended the year, having broken Edwin van der Sar's previous record of 72 back in May. Later the same month, he claimed his 95th international victory, eclipsing Lilian Thuram's existing benchmark.
years of OFC Nations Cup history had, until June, included just two winners: Australia and New Zealand. This duopoly, which had seen eight titles shared equally between the two, was finally broken when Tahiti, against all the odds, became the first Pacific Islands nations to win Oceania's most coveted prize. Eddy Etaeta's all-conquering side were worthy champions too, finishing the tournament with 20 goals - 14 more than deposed continental kings, New Zealand - and with three-quarters of that haul having come from the Tehau family: brothers Jonathan, Lorenzo and Alvin, and cousin Teaonui.
unanswered goals in a Romanian Cup clash handed CS Buftea the biggest defeat in their nation's football history in September. Making matters even worse, the second division team, who gained promotion at the end of last season, were humbled by their former third-tier rivals ACS Berceni.
seconds were on the clock when Oribe Peralta opened the scoring in the Men's Olympic Tournament final with the fastest goal ever seen in the final of a FIFA tournament. The Santos Laguna striker went on to score a second with 15 minutes of Mexico's 2-1 win over Brazil remaining, and in the process became the eighth player to find the net twice in a gold medal match.
wins and 15 draws were the results that enabled Juventus to become the first team to survive an entire 20-team Serie A campaign without tasting defeat. Juve also set a new record for fewest goals conceded, with their meagre record of 20 leaving them four better off than Modena in 1946/47, Juventus in 2005/06 and Milan in 2010/11.
years and 98 days was the age at which Malaga's Fabrice Olinga became the youngest goalscorer in La Liga history back in August. The Cameroonian youngster, a product of the Samuel Eto'o foundation, eclipsed the record of 16 years and 289 days set by Iker Muniain in 2009.
goals were scored by USA en route to winning the Women's Olympic Football Tournament, setting a new record for the female event. Canada's Christine Sinclair also set a new goalscoring benchmark, with her six goals during London 2012 the highest tally to have been accrued by any individual player in the competition's history. US captain Christie Rampone, meanwhile, won gold for the third time and became the first footballer of either gender to win four Olympic medals.
goals in as many Wembley appearances was the impressive record with which Didier Drogba left Chelsea after he became the first player to score in four different FA Cup finals. By finding the net in the 2-1 win over Liverpool, the Ivorian maintained his unblemished record of scoring for the Blues in each of his six appearances in domestic finals. The Londoners possessed another lucky mascot in Ashley Cole, who boosted his already-record tally of FA Cup winners' medals to seven.
straight European wins was the sequence that came to an end in this month's FIFA Club World Cup final. Corinthians' 1-0 victory over Chelsea ended the Old Continent's recent stranglehold and reclaimed the title O Timão first won 12 years ago in the tournament's inaugural edition. It also ensured that the FIFA Club World Cup trophy returned to Brazil for the fourth time, strengthening its position as the most successful nation in the competition's history.
goals: that was the seemingly insurmountable deficit Sweden recovered from in October to snatch a draw in Berlin and ensure Germany failed to win a match in which they led by four goals for the first time in their 108-year history.
unanswered goals against Italy in July gave Spain the biggest margin of victory ever recorded in a FIFA World Cup or EURO final. La Roja also became the first European team in history to win three major tournaments in succession, and the first to retain the continental crown. Midfield conductor Xavi was again hugely influential for Vicente del Bosque's side, claiming three assists against the Italians - the highest number ever recorded in a EURO final.


text:
In March of 1980, a school librarian by the name of Jo Ellen Misakian wrote to Francis Ford Coppola and, on behalf of the students at Lone Star School in Fresno, California, asked him to consider adapting their favourite novel, S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, for the big screen. Also included with her letter were a copy of the book, and a petition signed by 110 of the kids. Amazingly, three months later they received an unexpected and cautiously optimistic reply from producer Fred Roos, who soon advised Coppola to read the book. Coppola did exactly that, and two years later production on the movie began.
The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was released in March of 1983, with an incredible up-and-coming cast that included Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, and Matt Dillon. A première was held for the school, attended by the cast.
Misakian's original letter can be seen below, along with a selection of Fred Roos' subsequent letters to the school.
(These letters, and many other fascinating pieces of correspondence, can be found in the bestselling book, More Letters of Note. For more info, visit Books of Note.)
Lone Star School Library
2617 South Fowler Avenue
Fresno, California 93725
March 21, 1980
Mr. Francis Ford Coppola
1 Gulf and Western Plaza
New York, N. Y. 10023
Dear Mr. Copolla:
I am writing to you on behalf of the students and faculty of Lone Star School. We hope you will take the time to consider our request.
We are all so impressed with the book, THE OUTSIDERS by S. E. Hinton, that a petition has been circulated asking that it be made into a movie. We have chosen you to send it to. In hopes that you might also see the possibilities of the movie we have enclosed a copy of the book.
Lone Star is a small school in Fresno County. We have a student body of 324 students. It is a kindergarten through eighth grade school. I feel our students are representative of the youth of America. Everyone who has read the book, regardless of ethnic or economical background, has enthusiastically endorsed this project. This plea comes from our seventh and eighth grade students.
We feel certain that if you will read the book you will agree with us.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely yours,
Jo Ellen Misakian
(Mrs. John Misakian)
Librarian Aide
American Zoetrope
June 10, 1980
Ms. Jo Ellen Misakian
Lone Star School Library
2617 South Fowler Avenue
Fresno, Calif. 93725
Dear Mrs. Misakina:
Thank you for sending us your letter, the petition from your students and the book "THE OUTSIDERS" by S.E. Hinton. Francis Ford Coppola received them and was very impressed with the passionate interest you and your students showed in this book.
We are thus following through on it as you can see by the attached report that was done by one of our readers. The reader seems to agree with you and your students.
The next step is for myself and other members of our company to read the book and see if we really might want to make a film out of it. I'll try to keep you posted on the progress.
Thanks again to you and your seventh and eighth graders for being good literary scouts and for choosing our company.
Fred Roos
cc: F. Coppola, L. Fisher
S. Rogers, S. Ingleby
Jo Ellen Misakian
Lone Star School
2617 South Fowler Avenue
Fresno, Calif. 93725
Dear Miss Misakian:
Thanks for your letter of July 14, 1980. Sorry your class was not in school to share the news.
The latest is that the Zoetrope Studios executives read and discussed at length the pros and cons of making a movie out of "THE OUTSIDERS" with some being for it and some being against it. I flew to Tulsa to have a personal meeting with Suzie Hinton which I enjoyed very much and found valuable.
The final decision has been to go ahead and try to option the book with the aim of filming it if we can get a good screenplay. The negotiations with Ms. Hinton's agents are going on now.
By the time school reconvenes, hopefully we will have acquired "THE OUTSIDERS" and have begun to hire a screenwriter to adapt it. If you want to further use this book as a class study project, perhaps you could have each of your students write an essay on why they like "THE OUTSIDERS"; perhaps talking about their favorite scenes or about scenes they don't like. This could be helpful to we the filmakers.
Also, there is a chance that we may not be able to use the title "THE OUTSIDERS" because of another movie that came out recently with that title. I hope we don't have to change it but if we do, I'd like to hear your students suggestions of an alternative title…such as "Ponyboy".
I'd also like to hear your students opinion of one possible change that we might have in the movie. That is to not have a gang fight at the end. It seems wrong to me in light of what has just happened to Dallas, Johnny and Bob that the two groups would still have another fight. Hopefully they would have learned something during the course of the story. At least I'd like to think they had and to show audiences through our movie that they had. Any opinions on this would be helpful.
I look forward to hearing from you and your students in a few weeks. Again, thanks for your help.
Fred Roos
the OUTSIDERS
April 21, 1982
Mrs. Jo Ellen Misakian
Librarian Aide
Lone Star School Library
2617 South Fowler Ave.
Fresno, California 93725
Dear Mrs. Misakian,
I want to keep you and the school up to date on the progress of Lone Star's very own movie production, THE OUTSIDERS.
We are presently shooting the film in Tulsa and are into our fifth week. We have a wonderful cast and it's going very well.
The enclosed production notes will tell you and the kids about everything they need to know about the movie and who's in it.
I'll keep giving you updates.
Fred Roos
cc: Francis Coppola
Beverly Walker


text:
bgfx has recently added support for Remotery profiler (https://github.com/Celtoys/Remotery). It's a pretty nice little addon that lets you view profile data in real time in a browser through websockets. I figured since the lib was already included with bgfx now I may as well plug torques profiler code into it.
It's pretty cool watching the live data as you move around the scene. It'll be nice to get GPU profiling working on it as well. I do plan to give it a custom Torque 6 interface eventually.


text:
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IDE Controller
BSC: Alfapower 500
|Alfa Data: Alfapower 500
|Connection: Seitlicher Expansion Slot
Back of Alfapower 500
Front of Alfapower 500
Image of Alfapower 500 motherboard inside case with 2.5" HD, ZIP Version - 306K
Image of Alfapower 500 motherboard inside case, ZIP version - 504K
Image of Alfapower 500 motherboard, ZIP version - 491K
Hi Res Version, Back of Alfapower 500 - 36K
Hi Res Version, Front of Alfapower 500 - 67K
Image of Alfapower 500 motherboard, SIMM version - 67K
Closeup of Alfapower 500 with HD, SIMM version - 65K
Closeup of Alfapower 500 SIMM slots - 71K
An IDE controller which connects to the side expansion slot of the A500/+ which requires at least Kickstart 1.3 and 512k of RAM. The unit contains both a 3.5" header and a 2.5" header for up to two IDE drives. The unit also supports additional memory up to a maximum of 8MB in the form of ZIP Chips, or 72pin SIMMs depending on the version you have. Supported memory configurations are 2/4/6/8MB using up to 16 1024x4bit DRAM ZIPs which must be faster than 80ns. The front of the unit contains two buttons, the left button disables or enables the RAM whilst the right button disables or enables the IDE controller. The rear of the unit has a power connector for an optional external power supply, as well as access to the 3.5" IDE header for attaching an externally mounted hard drive as there is only sufficient room inside the case for mounting one drive. Jumper descriptions are printed on the motherboard.
Contributions to this page by:
Andy Johnson, Marc Bradshaw, Sascha Coltrane
Letzte Änderung des Artikels: 2009-01-25 21:35
Revision: 1.0
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text:
Manitoulin Star Party (August 2014)
August 29, 2014 - September 1, 2014
Stargazing & Camping in the RASC designated Dark Sky Preserve at Gordon's Park on Manitoulin Island in Ontario. Guest presenters, wine & cheese welcome reception, public observing sessions, pot luck supper, solar observing, slide show, horseshoe tournament and more. The dark sky preserve offers exceptional dark skies, the darkest in the Province of Ontario, no light pollution, 360 degree observing and a 21.45 SQM reading.


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text:
Anita graduated from SJSU with a BS ME in 2007, and received her Ph.D. in ME from Stanford University this past fall. A video of her dissertation topic can be found here: On-chip Isotachophoresis for Separation of Ions and Purification of Nucleic Acids. A short interview with Anita is found below:
1. Could you explain the steps involved in getting a PhD?
It all starts before you apply to graduate school. Here I list the most important steps I believe you should take to increase your chances of success:
- I highly recommend getting involved in undergraduate research while you are still pursuing your baccalaureate degree. This will allow you get a taste for research, but above all, you develop a closer relationship with your research advisor. When time comes to ask for recommendation letters, the strongest and most meaningful letters will come from him/her.
- Start researching the schools you are interested in. If you have an opportunity to visit the university, try to schedule an appointment with the faculty members whose research you find interesting. If you get a chance to meet them, prepare meaningful questions about their work and research group. Also, make sure to ask their advice on how to navigate the first year so you get a successful start.
- Search for a graduate handbook published by their department. You will find answers to all of your administrate questions there.
- Start preparing your application package early. Have someone review your essay!
2. How does it feel now that you have finished your dissertation and successfully defended it?
It is exciting to close this chapter and open a new one.
3. What was the topic of your dissertation?
Microfluidic Techniques for Lysing, Purification and Bead-based Detection of RNA from Complex Samples
4. How would you describe your experience at Stanford University?
Stanford University is an amazing institution. It has world class research programs, supporting environment for graduate students and postdocs, generous resources, and fun and engaging student culture. The university also strongly encourages students and faculty to cross disciplines and fields in their work. I was incredibly fortunate to work in a research group which combined mechanical engineering with electrical, chemical and bio-engineering.
5. What is next on the horizon for you?
I recently joined HP Laboratories.
6. What advice would you give SJSU students who want to pursue an advanced degree?
Start to prepare early. Gather as much information as possible. And don't be afraid to ask for help and advice.


text:
By Robbie and Ward
TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - A storm system that killed more than 20 people continued its march across a large swath of the U.S. Southeast on Tuesday, packing baseball-sized hail, damaging winds and the threat of more tornados, meteorologists said.
Reports of the death toll varied, but CNN has put it at 29 lives across six states, and scores of people have been injured.
The threat of tornadoes could last for several days as the strong weather system with a large area of unstable air lashed the southern and central United States.
Early on Tuesday morning, a large cluster of thunderstorms pelted Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, with tornados likely touching down along the Alabama-Georgia state line. The tornado threat in those areas will briefly weaken before rising again in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama later on Tuesday morning and afternoon.
"The main severe threat today is down in the central and eastern Gulf Coast," National Weather Service meteorologist Brynn Kerr said, adding that there was potential for severe conditions in Tennessee and the Ohio Valley later on Tuesday.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who declared a state of emergency late on Monday evening in preparation for the looming storms, said in a statement: "We're prepared now, and we'll be ready for recovery should we, God forbid, experience tornado damage or flooding."
Most of the deaths from the severe storm system occurred on Sunday, when tornadoes tossed cars like toys in Arkansas and other states.
One of several twisters to tear across Mississippi struck Tupelo on Monday, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses, downing power lines and shredding trees, the National Weather Service said. At least one person was killed in Tupelo, where residents grappled with widespread power outages and an 8 p.m. (0100 GMT Tuesday) curfew.
Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre said emergency crews were going house to house, searching damaged buildings, and some residential areas were closed off as emergency crews checked downed power lines and gas leaks. Some residents whose homes were destroyed took refuge in a Red Cross shelter at a downtown sports arena.
Officials were also picking through the rubble in Lincoln County, Tennessee, near the Alabama state line state late Monday evening, with reports of a tornado that had likely damaged Lincoln County High school and area homes, National Weather Service Meteorologist Mark Richards said.
There also appeared to be a tornado that hit about 80 miles east of Nashville.
The storm system later pushed into parts of Alabama, where emergency officials said at least two people were killed at a trailer park near Athens.
At least 15 people had died in Arkansas in the storm that authorities said produced the first fatalities of this year's tornado season, Governor Mike Beebe said.
The White House said President Barack Obama, who has been on a trip abroad, called Beebe to receive an update on the damage and to offer condolences. Medical officials reported at least 100 people in Arkansas were injured.
One person was killed in neighboring Oklahoma and another in Iowa, authorities said.
(Reporting by Robbie Ward in Tupelo, Mississippi; Emily LeCoz in Oxford, Mississippi; Steve Barnes and Suzi Parker in Little Rock, Arkansas; Verna Gates in Birmingham; Kevin Gray in Miami; and Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Tennessee; Writing by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)


text:
Alaska Airlines, together with Virgin America and its regional partners, flies 40 million guests a year to more than 115 destinations. It offers an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica.
Earn up to 1.5 Miles per mile flown and start redeeming from 15,000 Miles. Emirates Skywards members can earn and spend Miles when flying on the Alaska network, including all flights marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines.
Please quote your membership number when booking your flight, and present your Emirates Skywards card at check-in.
Flight rewards start from 15,000 Miles. The table below shows the number of Miles you need for a return reward flight.
This list of destinations mentioned in the table above is subject to change. Please refer to the complete list of return reward destinations below:
United States
Other countries
Earning Miles
Spending Miles
Baggage Allowance
Please visit the Alaska Airlines website(Opens a website in a new tab) to find out more about baggage allowances.


text:
Reviewed By Thomas H (North Charleston, SC) Reviewed for a 2015 Audi A3 —5/23/2014 8:32 AM
Bought a pair for the front of my 2007 Audi A4. They fit perfectly! Better quality than I expected. Beautiful color. Super great deal for the price. I will be using Lloyds in the future!


text:
You Don't Need Facebook Home to Get Your Chat Heads On
The new Facebook Home software is available in the Google Play store, at least for those in the U.S. and with certain supported Android phones.
But even those who don't get Facebook Home can use one of its key features — Chat Heads.
Facebook is making Chat Heads available as part of an update to its Messenger app for Android — something it hadn't touted when it announced Home last week.
The Chat Heads feature creates a persistent messaging experience that allows chatting with friends from within any other application. It is one of the main features of Facebook Home, which also offers a "Cover Feed" that replaces the home screen and lock screen of an Android phone with a scrolling array of pictures and status updates.
Facebook Home can be downloaded for a handful of phones including the Galaxy S III, HTC One, HTC One X and HTC One X+ and is available on a new mid-range phone from AT&T — the HTC First.
The Messenger app update is available to a broader range of Android users, appearing to require only that phones be running version 2.2 of the operating system or later.
Update: Facebook says the new Messenger app requires Android 2.2 (Froyo) but that the Chat Heads feature needs at least Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) along with "a sufficiently large screen."


text:
Advanced Search
Letters to Redmond
Readers sound off on password security, remote scripting and bargaining with Microsoft.
1. You don't need to enable the complexity settings GPO setting, it can be disabled. You only need to set a DLL name in the notification packages. I have done this several times where a
company doesn't want the default Microsoft filter but wants some sort of filter.
2. You should make note that password filters are not trivial things. Done incorrectly you can seriously impact the security and stability of your domain controllers. Filters run at the highest security context possible on a domain controller and are fully exposed to outside influence. Coding must be extremely well done so as not to open up security holes.
3. Finally, another more user-friendly solution is to disable the ability to natively change passwords and force people through a Web interface that can give feedback on what is wrong with the password someone is trying to set. The native feedback system is poor at best.
—[email protected]
In reference to your first comment: Correct, you can customize your own DLL to create the filter that you want. The Microsoft filter is rather basic, but does a great job of forcing at least three types of characters in every password, as well as a longer password.
As for your second item: An extremely good point! All new filters should be tested in a lab before rolled out into production. You would not want to have to rebuild your domain controllers or restore any part of Active Directory based on a poor coding error. Every iteration of the password that you are implementing should be tested thoroughly, to ensure it meets all security criteria and possible characters that users will use.
As for your final thought: Plenty of third-party tools do a great job of allowing users to change passwords. You make a great point that these tools do a much better job of communicating back to the user where they have failed with the password complexity. The built-in feedback is far from desirable! Thanks for the comments.
—Derek Melber
Pre-SP2 Firewall
I'm not a scripter, but I did essentially the same thing [as in Chris Brooke's Mr. Script column, "Remote Scripting for SP2," December 2004] by configuring the netfw.inf file to open up the appropriate apps and subnets and by creating a simple batch file that renames the original inf (just in case), copies the new inf and runs the netsh firewall reset command.
I don't see how you can use either method to reset the firewall before installing SP2, because those settings don't even exist in the pre-SP2 firewall.
Let me know if I'm incorrect, as this would be extremely helpful, just as Chris said.
Boston, Mass.
Thanks for the excellent question, Charlie. You may well have prevented even more cards and letters!
You can pre-configure the netfw.inf for a "slipstreamed" installation of XP SP2 by modifying the "netfw.in_" file in the i386 directory of the XP installation CD. If you already have XP installed, the following page outlines the steps to pre-configure the netfw.inf file prior to installing SP2: http://windowsecurity.com/articles/Customizing-Windows-Firewall.html.
Please note that this step includes a LOT of extra work (code signing, etc.) Turns out that maybe it's easier to just fix it after the SP2 install, after all.
—Chris Brooke
No Upgrade Stipulation
Good article overall ("7 Steps to a Better Bargain," November 2004) … just a few comments:
Microsoft has announced the release of its "Digital Defense Report," which is described as "a reimagining" of Microsoft's "Security Intelligence Report" (SIR).
Ignite 2020 saw the public preview of Azure Arc enabled data services, the latest step in Microsoft's bid to demystify multicloud. Principal program manager Travis Wright explains how it works.
The acquisitions are expected to enhance Ivanti's mobile endpoint security offerings.
Microsoft has affirmed its software-defined networking infrastructure support for telecom companies, especially as they move more toward rolling out 5G wireless services.
More Tech Library
More Webcasts


text:
Fixed - 2 years
based on $350,000 loan amount for 25 years
RateCity Says: With a discounted variable interest rate and no upfront or ongoing fees, you may be able to minimise the cost of your owner-occupied home loan.
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Fixed - 2 years
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Only 1 year fixed has offset account
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ANZ Features and Fees
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Fixed - 2 years
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Interest only
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Yes - limited to $5000 per year
Offset account
Redraw facility
Split interest facility
Loan portable
Repayment holiday available
Allow guarantors
Available for first home buyers
Total estimated upfront fees
Application fee
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Each lender has its own policies, but as a general rule you will have to pay lender's mortgage insurance (LMI) if your loan-to-value ratio (LVR) exceeds 80 per cent. This applies whether you're taking out a new home loan or you're refinancing.
If you're looking to buy a property, you can use this LMI calculator to work out how much you're likely to be charged in LMI.
What happens to my home loan when interest rates rise?
If you are on a variable rate home loan, every so often your rate will be subject to increases and decreases. Rate changes are determined by your lender, not the Reserve Bank of Australia, however often when the RBA changes the cash rate, a number of banks will follow suit, at least to some extent. You can use RateCity cash rate to check how the latest interest rate change affected your mortgage interest rate.
When your rate rises, you will be required to pay your bank more each month in mortgage repayments. Similarly, if your interest rate is cut, then your monthly repayments will decrease. Your lender will notify you of what your new repayments will be, although you can do the calculations yourself, and compare other home loan rates using our mortgage calculator.
There is no way of conclusively predicting when interest rates will go up or down on home loans so if you prefer a more stable approach consider opting for a fixed rate loan.
What happens when you default on your mortgage?
A mortgage default occurs when you are 90 days or more behind on your mortgage repayments. Late repayments will often incur a late fee on top of the amount owed which will continue to gather interest along with the remaining principal amount.
If you do default on a mortgage repayment you should try and catch up in next month's payment. If this isn't possible, and missing payments is going to become a regular issue, you need to contact your lender as soon as possible to organise an alternative payment schedule and discuss further options.
You may also want to talk to a financial counsellor.
How personalised is my rating?
Real Time Ratings produces instant scores for loan products and updates them based what you tell us about what you're looking for in a loan. In that sense, we believe the ratings are as close as you get to personalised; the more you tell us, the more we customise to ratings to your needs. Some borrowers value flexibility, while others want the lowest cost loan. Your preferences will be reflected in the rating.
We also take a shorter term, more realistic view of how long borrowers hold onto their loan, which gives you a better idea about the true borrowing costs. We take your loan details and calculate how much each of the relevent loans would cost you on average each month over the next five years. We assess the overall flexibility of each loan and give you an easy indication of which ones are likely to adjust to your needs over time.
How often is your data updated?
We work closely with lenders to get updates as quick as possible, with updates made the same day wherever possible.
How can I get a home loan with no deposit?
Following the Global Financial Crisis, no-deposit loans, as they once used to be known, have largely been removed from the market. Now, if you wish to enter the market with no deposit, you will require a property of your own to secure a loan against or the assistance of a guarantor.
How much of the RBA rate cut do lenders pass on to borrowers?
When the Reserve Bank of Australia cuts its official cash rate, there is no guarantee lenders will then pass that cut on to lenders by way of lower interest rates.
Sometimes lenders pass on the cut in full, sometimes they partially pass on the cut, sometimes they don't at all. When they don't, they often defend the decision by saying they need to balance the needs of their shareholders with the needs of their borrowers.
As the attached graph shows, more recent cuts have seen less lenders passing on the full RBA interest rate cut; the average lender was more likely to pass on about two-thirds of the 25 basis points cut to its borrowers.
What is 'principal and interest'?
'Principal and interest' loans are the most common type of home loans on the market. The principal part of the loan is the initial sum lent to the customer and the interest is the money paid on top of this, at the agreed interest rate, until the end of the loan.
By reducing the principal amount, the total of interest charged will also become smaller until eventually the debt is paid off in full.
How common are low-deposit home loans?
Low-deposit home loans aren't as common as they once were, because they're regarded as relatively risky and the banking regulator (APRA) is trying to reduce risk from the mortgage market.
However, if you do your research, you'll find there is still a fairly wide selection of banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders that offers low-deposit home loans.
How do I take out a low-deposit home loan?
If you want to take out a low-deposit home loan, it might be a good idea to consult a mortgage broker who can give you professional financial advice and organise the mortgage for you.
Another way to take out a low-deposit home loan is to do your own research with a comparison website like RateCity. Once you've identified your preferred mortgage, you can apply through RateCity or go direct to the lender.
What is an ombudsman?
An complaints officer – previously referred to as an ombudsman -looks at formal complaints from customers about their credit providers, and helps to find a fair and independent solution to these problems.
These services are handled by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, a non-profit government organisation that addresses and resolves financial disputes between customers and financial service providers.
Remaining loan term
The length of time it will take to pay off your current home loan, based on the currently-entered mortgage balance, monthly repayment and interest rate.
Do other comparison sites offer the same service?
Real Time RatingsTM is the only online system that ranks the home loan market based on your personal borrowing preferences. Until now, home loans have been rated based on outdated data. Our system is unique because it reacts to changes as soon as we update our database.
How does Real Time Ratings work?
Real Time RatingsTM looks at your individual home loan requirements and uses this information to rank every applicable home loan in our database out of five.
This score is based on two main factors – cost and flexibility.
Cost is calculated by looking at the interest rates and fees over the first five years of the loan.
Flexibility is based on whether a loan offers features such as an offset account, redraw facility and extra repayments.
Real Time RatingsTM also includes the following assumptions:
- Costs are calculated on the current variable rate however they could change in the future.
- Loans are assumed to be principal and interest
- Fixed-rate loans with terms greater than five years are still assessed on a five-year basis, so 10-year fixed loans are assessed as being only five years' long.
- Break costs are not included.
Mortgage Calculator, Repayment Type
Will you pay off the amount you borrowed + interest or just the interest for a period?
What fees are there when buying a house?
Buying a home comes with 'hidden fees' that should be factored in when considering how much the total cost of your new home will be. These can include stamp duty, title registration costs, building inspection fees, loan establishment fee, lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), legal fees and bank valuation costs.
Tip: you can calculate your stamp duty costs as well as LMI in Rate City mortgage repayments calculator
Some of these fees can be taken out of the mix, such as LMI, if you have a big enough deposit or by asking your lender to waive establishment fees for your loan. Even so, fees can run into the thousands of dollars on top of the purchase price.
Keep this in mind when deciding if you are ready to make the move in to the property market.
What is the flexibility score?
Today's home loans often try to lure borrowers with a range of flexible features, including offset accounts, redraw facilities, repayment frequency options, repayment holidays, split loan options and portability. Real Time Ratings™ weights each of these features based on popularity and gives loans a 'flexibility score' based on how much they cater to borrowers' needs over time. The aim is to give a higher score to loans which give borrowers more features and options.
How can I avoid mortgage insurance?
Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) can be avoided by having a substantial deposit saved up before you apply for a loan, usually around 20 per cent or more (or a LVR of 80 per cent or less). This amount needs to be considered genuine savings by your lender so it has to have been in your account for three months rather than a lump sum that has just been deposited.
Some lenders may even require a six months saving history so the best way to ensure you don't end up paying LMI is to plan ahead for your home loan and save regularly.
Tip: You can use RateCity mortgage repayment calculator to calculate your LMI based on your borrowing profile
What is upfront fee?
An 'upfront' or 'application' fee is a one-off expense you are charged by your bank when you take out a loan. The average start-up fee is around $600 however there are over 1,000 loans on the market with none at all. If the loan you want does include an application fee, try and negotiate to have it waived. You'll be surprised what your bank agrees to when they want your business.
What is a cooling-off period?
Once a home loan's contracts are exchanged between the borrower and the lender, a five-day cooling-off period follows, during which the contracts may be cancelled if needed.


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by Jay Parr
I generally like to keep this blog about things other than the BLS Program, lest we be accused of navel-gazing. This is going to be one of those exceptions.
If you open the UNCG Home Page in the next two weeks, the first thing you're going to see is our very own BLS student Nargiza Kiger smiling at you from a field in West Africa. Though she's technically an in-state student (she and her husband live here in the Triad), I know of no other student who brings a more international perspective to the BLS Program. A native of Uzbekistan in central Asia, where relatively few women manage to achieve higher education, Nargiza traveled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan to attend a university. It was there that she met her husband Brian, and after finishing her Associate of Arts at Forsyth Tech, she had to reconcile her desire to continue her own education with Brian's career in international development. The BLS Program allowed her to do just that, continuing her education at an American university while stationed with him in Nigeria and then in Ghana. She's on track to graduate in December.
Nargiza came to my attention last fall, shortly after she had moved to Ghana (one downside of my mostly-administrative role is that I'm not as in touch with all our students as I was when I was their academic advisor). I think it may have been infrastructure issues—unreliable power and internet connections—that brought her to my attention. Always on the lookout for BLS students who lead interesting lives, I asked her if she would be interested in writing a post for our blog. Given her history, which you can read in her cover story, I expected her to write about her own experiences. Boy, did she ever turn that on its head.
The post she gave me starts out on the frustrations of being an online student in an African city with tentative infrastructure—with the nerve-wracking image of taking an online test with a glitchy internet connection and having the power go out (yet again) in the middle of it. But then, after getting the reader sucked into her frustrating circumstances, she immediately turns around and points out that in Ghana, she is the privileged one. In a country with a per-capita income of roughly $2.00 a day, where education beyond 9th grade costs real money, and where placement into professional programs is rife with corruption, she can afford tuition at an American institution that costs more than most of her neighbors will make in a year. And yet, despite all these challenges—her own and others'—the post she gave me is ultimately the inspirational story of a security guard who is paying for his siblings to go to school, and who aspires to become a nurse so he can help others.
I feel like our little online program is all grown up, out there on the front page of the university's website. And I can't think of many people to better represent us than Nargiza, wearing her UNCG colors in Tamale, Ghana, and constantly doing the little things she can do to make the world a better place.