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Queen Elizabeth Names Queen Elizabethby Paul Motter | Oct. 13, 2010
It was a beautiful October 11 in the British port city of Southampton, England, as I sat with many of the most important people in Britain and the ship industry in Europe to witness the third time the lady now known as Queen Elizabeth II has christened a passenger ship. Actually, the Queen "named" the ship rather than "christened" it. The British stopped calling the ceremony a christening when they broke with the Catholic Church.
Queen Elizabeth was present when the first Queen Elizabeth was christened in 1937, but that was named for her mother and she was only 12 years old and still a princess. As Princess Elizabeth she christened the Cunard Caronia also known as the "Green Goddess." In 2004 she christened the Queen Mary 2 and now she has christened the third Queen Elizabeth, named for herself.
Centuries ago, the ship naming ceremony was much more primitive than it is today, with priests pouring blood over the long tracks the ships needed to slide into the sea. In those days ships were built on dry land, and the ship makers had to "grease the skids" to make it so the ships could slide to the sea during the initial launch.
Legend has it they used the blood of slaves to lubricate those skids. But before long they replaced the precious blood with wine, also red color in color. But wine is for drinking, not for spilling, and so they began breaking just one bottle of wine against the hull of the ship to "christen" it. The French were the first to replace that wine with champagne, since champagne is more synonymous with celebration.
Today, I just witnessed Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, naming the brand new Cunard cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth, with a bottle of champagne.
The ceremony started with Cunard Line filling a huge grandstand with people in their finest clothing; men in suits and ladies in fine dresses with hats. As soon as we were seated, the excellent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra played an introductory piece accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, an ensemble of hundreds of voices.
There were two large-screen live video monitors showing the Queen meeting with the navigational officers on the ship's bridge, and looking quizzically at a small black button. She stuck her finger onto that button and the collective crowd laughed when the ship's horn blasted out at 110 decibels.
click on pictures below for larger images:
|The Queen signs the ship's guest book
|The external monitor shows us the Queen touring the ship
|The Queen offers a bit of usefel critique, perhaps? on the portrait painted by the youngest artist to paint a monarch.
Next we saw her admiring an original portrait of herself gracing the main entrance. She discussed it with the original artist for a few minutes. She moved on while the music continued to play outside. Then the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Irish Guards introduced a Priest to give the queen a blessing.
Finally, she actually pulled up in a Rolls Royce, presumably having driven to her chair a distance of 50 feet from the ship's gangway. She was part of a small and separate assembly placed in a small tent with a dozen pre-set chairs. Waiting for her in the grandstand were Micky Arison, owner and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, the parent company to Cunard Cruise Line, along with Peter Shanks, the current president and managing director of Cunard Line.
click on pictures below for larger images:
|The formal group with Micky Arison (thrid from left) and Queen Elizabeth in blue
|A closeup of the same on the monitor
|Micky asks "Is everything all right, mum?"
As soon as the Queen was seated we heard the British national anthem, which many Americans already know as the same melody the American patriotic song "My County 'tis of Thee." But in this case the real words to the song go like this:God Save our gracious Queen Long live our noble Queen! God Save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save The Queen.
At that point we heard a short song by a young male soprano, a few words of welcome to the Queen by Peter Shanks (Cunard President), a short rendition of "Amazing Grace" by the Pipers and Coldstream guards and a short prayer to bless the ship by the archbishop:
"Almighty and everlasting God, the Creator and Upholder of all people, who has in every age inspired your servants with courage and skill; we give thanks for examples of those who have gone before us, for the seafarers of our nation, for all who in great or small ships have braved the perils of the deep, and for all who have given their lives for their country."
Finally Captain Wells inviting the Queen to come to podium and name the ship. Queen Elizabeth rose smartly from her seat and strode to the podium, a waist-high pedestal with sky-blue satin rope draped over it. From the podium she spoke a short blessing.
"I name this ship Queen Elizabeth. May God bless her and all who sail in her."
The she press a "magic button" which cut the ceremonial rope which sent the bottle of white wine, from Baron Rothschild vineyard in France, hurling against the hull and shattering against the ship. The ship's horn blasted in celebration as several firework cannons shot off colorful streamers in progressive order. The philharmonic jubilantly began playing the patriotic music of Great Britain.
Her majesty's luck was better than Camilla's, for whom the bottle of champagne inexplicably did not break. In any case, almost immediately the queen's Rolls Royce came to the stage once again and the queen was on her way back to London. It does appear she left without any Cunarders with her as all of the executives remained on board for the celebration.
Cunard Queen Elizabeth officially entered service and Cunard Queen Elizabeth now has the two sister cruise liners; Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, and the mother ship, Queen Mary 2, giving the line smallest and youngest fleet in the world.
Queen Elizabeth Naming Ceremony Highlights:
Discuss the Queen Elizabeth here: Queen Elizabeth Inaugural.
The Royal Palace TheaterThe shops, the library and the Internet cafe are all ready for visitors to come and enjoy...
|Internet Cafe
Similarly to the Queen Victoria, Elizabeth also has a beautiful Grand Lobby with a Dent clock, flanked by a two story library with a winding staircase and a new iLounge called "Connexxions" which features all Apple Computer products such as iMacs and iPhones.
One other difference between Queen Victoria and Elizabeth is that the alternative restaurant Todd English on Victoria has been replaced by "The Verandah," one of the original surcharge restaurants ever built on a cruise ship, back on the original Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria ships built in 1938. Then it was actually known as "The Verandah Grill" and my ship historian friend, Peter Knego, tells me that it carried just a slight cover charge, just enough to keep it very exclusive. It was known as the place where the celebrities and nobles would go not to be bothered by the hoi polloi.
The Verandah Restaurant
On today's Queen Elizabeth, it is called just "The Verandah," and we dined there Sunday for lunch. It was absolutely delicious. From my fois gras opener to my rare duck followed by a chocolate tort, accompanied with several shots of café latte, every moment of our three hour lunch was an utter joy.
We have already told you about the other subtle differences of this ship, and we will be telling your more after the ceremony tomorrow. This is a just an update keep you primed as we continue our Queen Elizabeth maming adventure.
The naming Black-tie ceremony commenced at 4:00 pm, Monday, October 11, GMT, U.K. We were told picture taking was not allowed during the ceremony but no one could resist, plus we all have access to pool photos and of course, our own vivid memories to bring the event to life for you. See you tomorrow.
For other videos of the event - go to We Are Cunard on YouTube.


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As the tech world sits on the edge of their seats awaiting what's next from Apple at today's keynote, another Bay Area-based company is again trying to shine some of the limelight on their own product.
Palm Inc., which revitalized its product line with the Pre smart phone launch in June (also during an Apple big event) , is hoping to keep momentum going with the release of a lighter, cheaper handset called the Pixi.
The Pixi will be available just in time for the holidays through Sprint Nextel Corp., currently the Pre's exclusive wireless carrier.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm would not divulge the Pixi's price tag, but confirmed it will be less than that of its big brother. Sprint dropped the Pre's price by $50 to $150 on Wednesday, including two rebates and a two-year service contract.
The Pixi's release will mark Palm's second attempt in less than a year to use new software and streamlined designs to lure consumers in the still small but fast-growing smart phone market, which is dominated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices.

subset: commoncrawl


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PROVO, Utah—Coming within two points of a win in the fifth set against a BYU squad that remains undefeated at home (25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13), the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos slip to 14-7, 13-7 MPSF. Despite the loss, the Gauchos are still in contention for the post season with the possibility to host the first round match.
Providing another feeding frenzy with 51 assists, setter Jonah Seif helped put three Gauchos into double-digit kills figures— Evan Licht and Weston Nielsen both with 15 and Matt Hanley with 14. Seif's performance marks the fifth game with over 50 assists, his third in the past four games.
UCSB dropped the first set to BYU's dominant net presence and their own subsequent attack errors. However, the Gauchos were able to respond with six blocks and hold BYU to .107 clip in the second set. Jake Staahl led the Gauchos' overall 12 team blocks with an assist in seven blocks while Seif and Nielsen both had a hand in five blocks.
Also in the second set, the offense found its footing to overcome BYU at the net and, in combination with UCSB's own defensive display, snatched the second set. The Gaucho attack fully developed by the third set as the team pounded 17 combined kills but could not maintain the building momentum into the fourth set. UCSB did not swing for higher than .161 clip in each of their losing sets.
BYU put up a dominant net presence with 15.5 blocks on the night. Taylor Sander primarily drove the Cougars success with 27 kills with an assist in eight blocks. In addition, Matt Underwood tacked on 11 kills with an assist in nine blocks.
The Gauchos continue their road trip as they face Long Beach St. next Thursday followed by Northridge next Saturday. UCSB then returns home for the final two matches of the season. UCSB finishes the season Friday, April 11 in a pivotal rematch at home against BYU.


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Commissioner's Award of Excellence
- MAY 2011 WINNER - Todd Tuet, Heavy Truck Operator
Engineering Department;
Category - Valor
The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners presented its May, 2011 Commissioners Award of Excellence to Todd Tuet, in the category of Valor. Todd works as a Heavy Truck Operator in the County Engineering Department, beginning his work for Lancaster County in July, 2010. He was nominated for this award by Scott Gagner.
On January 10, 2011, Todd was plowing snow when he noticed an elderly lady lying partially on the road, unable to get up. He immediately stopped to help. Todd helped her up and walked her into her house. He asked if she needed him to call 9-1-1, but she just wanted to get inside to warm up and get dry clothing. She was very grateful for Todd's assistance due to the weather and bad road conditions. Todd reported this incident and asked someone to check on this citizen.
Deb Schorr, Lancaster County Board of Commissioners Chair, stated "The Board is pleased to recognize Todd for this outstanding act of kindness and his nonstop dedication to help the public. On behalf of the Board I want to congratulate Todd on this award". The Commissioners Award of Excellence award recognizes employees who consistently provide outstanding service and work that demonstrates exemplary personal commitment to Lancaster County.


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JTF (just the facts): Published in 2003 by Chronicle Books (here). 272 pages, with 274 black and white and color photographs (some duplicates). With essays by Diana Gaston, Jeff Brouws, D.J. Waldie, Luc Sante, M. Mark, Phil Patton, Joel Jensen, Mark Frauenfelder, Bruce Caron, Wendy Burton, and Alan Rapp. (Cover shot at right, via Chronicle Books website.)
The book is divided into 11 separate sections, each centered on a single subject matter type. These include:
Freshly Painted Houses
Language in the Landscape
Abandoned Drive-Ins
Farm Forms
Partially Painted Pickup Trucks
Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations
Freight Cars
Storage Units
Comments/Context: If you took Walker Evans' love of the American vernacular and threw it into a mixer with the rigorous conceptual ideas of Bernd and Hilla Becher and added a splash of the spirit of the open road, what might emerge is the work of Jeff Brouws. In many ways, Brouws is a collector (just like some of us), cataloging fragments of increasingly obsolete American culture, making careful inventories of the worn, distressed and left behind.
This small, thick book gathers together nearly a dozen photographic projects, where Brouws has selected a single resonant American subject (beat-up partially painted pickup trucks, or railway freight cars, or bowling alleys) and then traveled the country finding multiple examples of this specific form. His images are generally straight-on "portraits" of these places or things, carefully laid out with clarity and order (although somewhat less meticulously rigid and repetitive than the Bechers). The prints are then displayed as typologies, thereby accenting the theme and variation effect found when a number of images of the same subject are brought together on one wall (or page). The result is a visual inventory of American small town culture, an anthropology of the quirks of our American personality which are slowly being lost to the homogenizing forces of global change.
The best of these groups are those that accent the individuality and eccentricities of the subjects: the garishly painted houses that seem overflowing with optimism, the lovingly dilapidated side panels of the work horse trucks, the simplicity of empty drive-ins, and the innovations in graphic design found in paint and neon across the land. I also enjoyed the systematic surveying of abandoned gas stations, as an homage to Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations.
In paging through this book, I found myself wanting more of the projects I found most interesting, and would have willingly given up several of the less successful subjects (Farm Forms and Storage Units were my least favorite) to make room for more depth on a few. That said, the diversity of common subjects creates a broader picture of the peculiar landscape of the American back roads, thereby telling a more complex and whimsical story of vernacular America.
Collector's POV: Jeff Brouws is represented by Robert Mann Gallery in New York (here), Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco (here), and Robert Klein Gallery in Boston (here). Surprisingly, there have been very few examples of Brouws' work in the secondary markets, so interested collectors will need to follow up with the appropriate retail galleries. For our particular collection, a selection/grid of gasoline stations, sign elements or colorful houses would likely be the best fit.
Transit Hub:
From one photography collector to another: a venue for thoughtful discussion of vintage and contemporary photography via reviews of recent museum exhibitions, gallery shows, photography auctions, photo books, art fairs and other items of interest to photography collectors large and small.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Book: Readymades: American Roadside Artifacts, Photographs by Jeff Brouws
2 comments:
- Joe Reifer said...
Readymades is a fun book, but Brouws previous books Highway and Reptile Tent are much stronger. Approaching Nowhere is a major work -- the first section picks up where Highway left off, the latter half of the book focuses on rust-belt ruins.
- July 6, 2009 at 12:19 PM
- dlkcollection said...
Thanks, Joe. We'll add the rest of his books, especially Approaching Nowhere, to our ever growing list of books to explore further.
- July 7, 2009 at 9:52 AM
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How to optimize costs by setting expired date for Azure Virtual Machine by PowerShell
This script demonstrates how to set expired date for Azure Virtual Machine in Dev Labs by PowerShell.
Related topics
- How to create Azure Virtual Machine (VM) by Powershell using ARM API
- How to create Azure VM by Powershell using classic ASM API
Practically, developers often create Azure Virtual Machines in Dev Labs for demo or development purpose, while those "test" VM instances are also charged by the company. Since nobody remembers to delete them after development, company will have to pay for the instances. Thus, it must be so wonderful to have "test" VM instances automatically deleted.
Luckily, Microsoft Azure has released new features about expired date of virtual machine on October 6, 2016. IT pro can make the use of this new feature to optimize costs. Besides, this sample also supplies an OOB script to set expired date for your existed VM instance in Dev Labs.
- Install Azure PowerShell
Run this sample
- Open the script file SetExpiredDateAzureVM.ps1
- Edit the parameter "-VMName" and "-LabName" and "-ExpiredUTCDate"
ps1 Set-AzureVirtualMachineExpiredDate -VMName "vmname" -LabName "labname" -ExpiredUTCDate "2016-10-10"
Note: the date is in UTC format
- Then run the script in PowerShell console
- After the script finishes its job, you can see the result it's have Azure Virtual Machine infomation.
Function Set-AzureVirtualMachineExpiredDate
# get vm info
$targetVMInfo = Get-AzureRmResource | Where { $_.Name -eq "$LabName/$VMName" -and $_.ResourceType -eq 'Microsoft.DevTestLab/labs/virtualMachines' }
# if not find, throw exception
If ($targetVMInfo -eq $null) {
Throw "No VM naming $VMName"
# get vm properties
$vmInfoWithProperties = Get-AzureRmResource -ResourceId $targetVMInfo.ResourceId -ExpandProperties
$vmProperties = $vmInfoWithProperties.Properties
# set expired date
$vmProperties | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name expirationDate -Value $ExpiredUTCDate
Set-AzureRmResource -ResourceId $targetVMInfo.ResourceId -Properties $vmProperties -Force
Write-Host "Successfully to set VM "$LabName/$VMName" to expire on UTC $ExpiredUTCDate"
# 1. login azure
# 2. fill target vm name, lab name and expired date
Set-AzureVirtualMachineExpiredDate -VMName "lab-autoexpired" -LabName "eric-lab" -ExpiredUTCDate "2016-10-10"
Additional Resources
- Azure PowerShell SDK: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/powershell-install-configure
- First hand news about "expired date" of Azure Virtual Machine: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/set-expiration-date-for-vms-in-azure-devtest-labs/
More samples by One Code
- How to get started for using IoT Hub REST API in Python
- How to use Azure Blob Storage modules by PHP
- Store temp files by Azure Blob storage on Azure applications
- How to create Internal Load Balancer for PaaS cloud service
- How to execute PowerShell from mounted Azure storage file disks in Azure Cloud service worker role


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The Wing
The Wing
from 3.00
The Wing
Coaster or Mug
Coaster comes as a 9 cm cork backed hardboard wooden coaster
Each 11 oz ceramic mug is double coated sublimation printed to professional standard with crisp colourful prints that are embedded into the surface of the mug itself, leaving a smooth clean glossy finish. These mugs feature nice large handles, and are both microwave and dishwasher safe.
Add To Cart


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The last time I was speechless after seeing images of a young Black woman on the internet was June 2009 when John at The Smoking Section ( a rap blog) posted what were then believed to be nude images of Rihanna Fenty. I contacted him and asked him why he did it, we had a conversation, and he then refused to give me permission to blog about the conversation. To this day, I still find it problematic that he published what is believed to be images of singer Rihanna Fenty. I always ask permission to write about conversations. Consent. Get it?
I was also speechless nearly two weeks ago when I saw the images of Amber Cole. I knew that I was going to write something, but I wanted to sort out my thoughts first because sometimes being quick to speak doesn't do anyone any good. I also took my time to read what other people had written.
In these last week weeks Latoya Peterson has written about how the boys participation in this assault has been framed, and on how boys are taught that treating a woman or girl like a piece of shit, like an object to be used is perfectly legitimate. I would add that part of the reasoning behind this is that this behavior is legitimate and acceptable because implicitly, women are put here to be protected and dominated. There is a thin line between protection and domination.
Mark Anthony Neal has written about how Amber Cole is "his daughter" and the importance of Black communities examining "the politics of respectability that go hand-in-hand with Black collective shame, that often keeps us from having honest discussions about sex and sexuality in our communities—often to the detriment of our children. "
Lastly, Bianca Laureano has written about the politics of naming Amber's name, the history of sexting, and the importance of consent. Consent, get it?
Side bar: Ms. Laureano was very deliberate in not using Amber Coles name in her post because she did not want to add to the plethora of searchable posts and I understand that. I am deliberate about using Ms. Cole's name because I aggressively track and archive how "black feminism" is searched on the internet. By adding "black feminism" to the title I am inserting our Black feminist voices into "The Google" and it's searchable archive.
Now, having read the others work, I want to address three things which are Black women's sexuality, the internet as a gendered and racialized space and the role of patriarchy in the Amber Cole conversations.
Black Women's Sexuality
In doing research on Black women's sexuality I have come across an incredible quote by Mierelle Miller-Young's in her dissertation "A Taste for Brown Sugar: The History of Black Women in American Pornography". Miller-Young quotes a veteran Black woman pornography worker who states,
"You are not suppose to talk about liking sex, because you are already assumed to be a whore."~Jeannie Pepper
This is the quote that came to my mind when I saw the images of Amber Cole on social media sites and the comments left on social media sites, which lectured Cole, admonished Cole and talked about the "general nastiness" of young women.
Gendered, Racial and Sexual Images
The posting of those images of her are racial, sexual and gendered violence. It is also cyberbullying. Because Black women are assumed to already be whores the images of this fourteen year old girl takes on special connotations.
Historically, in the US Black women were raped and Black men were lynched, publicly, as an act of power. I reason that the videotaping of Amber Cole and the posting of images from the video was an act of power as well. I am not saying that these acts are the same. What I am saying is they both constitute an act of power.
While I can appreciate the sentiment of "Amber Cole is all of our daughters" there is something profoundly patriarchal about this idea. What I am getting at here is, for me the issue is not whether or not Amber Cole is my sister or my daughter, the issue is when will black girls be seen as full human beings?
By being seen as a human being, and not an automatic whore, there is a basic intrinsic level of respect and love that is shown.
To say that a person, a girl, is entitled to care because she is related to me creates a system where some women are worth being cared after, and the others….oh well.
If we are only interested in protecting "our daughters" and "our sisters" then does that mean that the women and girls who we don't classify as being "belonging" to us or are "related to us" are shit out of luck?
Black Feminist Love and Amber Cole
What does Black Feminist Love look like in the face of digital, racialized, sexualized violence? I honestly don't know. What I do know is preparing to write this entailed me sittting, listening, think and reading on what I felt. It also meant trying to write something that was meaningful.
I am not sure what can be done in the future if this occurs again. We can involve the state by contacting the FBI regarding child pornography charges? But, how does that shift our culture?
We can decide to teach young people, consistently about cyberbulling.
I am thinking about writing a short weekend curriculum on cyberbullying that addresses race, sex and violence.
There are also a couple of organizations doing work on consent such as The Line Campaign.
Any other thoughts on what we can do, and what Black feminist Love looks like within this context would be appreciated.


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Nation & World
Rate of killings in Syria peaks in April amid government counteroffensive
The pace of killing in Syria's civil war reached a new high in April, with one human rights group counting an average of 196 deaths daily for the month.
Overall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 5,889 deaths in April, slightly lower than the 5,896 it tracked in March. But because April has one fewer day than March does, the rate of killing was higher: 196 per day in April versus 190 in March.
More importantly, there was a sharp increase in civilian deaths. Of the deaths recorded in April, half of them _ 2,994 _ were of civilians, 1,677 were rebel fighters and 1,009 belonged to the army. The allegiances of the remainder couldn't be determined.
In March, the observatory had reported 1,780 civilians dead, just over 30 percent of the total.
Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cautioned that the totals are likely to be incomplete. Since the beginning of the conflict, the group, which relies on a network of activists on both sides of the conflict, has recorded 79,643 deaths that it says are verifiable.
Death tolls are considered imprecise for Syria because no independent source tracks casualties. The observatory, which opposes the Bashar Assad regime, is considered the most authoritative source of information, however, because it details deaths on both sides of the conflict. Its monthly totals provide a sense of the trend of the violence, which declined a year ago when a U.N.-brokered cease-fire was in place, then surged after that cease-fire – which was never fully honored – was abandoned. Before March, the previous highest number of deaths recorded was last August, at 5,400.
Syrians continued to flee the country by the tens of thousands throughout April, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees now saying that about 1.5 million have left the country. The UNHCR also has said that as many as 6.5 million Syrians still in the country lack basic necessities such as food and shelter. Many have been displaced multiple times as the fighting spreads to areas that previously had been relatively quiet.
"We've been traveling everywhere to get away from the fighting," said Ubaida, a Syrian who arrived at a refugee camp in Jordan last week. He used only his first name because he feared reprisals by the Syrian government. Ubaida said he'd first fled Homs before moving to the city of Tadmor, in eastern Syria. When fighting broke out there, he took his family to the Damascus suburbs.
"We decided to finally just come to Jordan so as to at least be able to rest," Ubaida said. "I now have nothing at all. Every time fighting would break out, the Red Crescent would coordinate with the rebels and the Syrian army and we would evacuate the area. Then when we got somewhere, the army would be setting up a safe zone, restoring services, and then fighting would start again. It's becoming worse, and there is absolutely no work. I'm a chef, so I tried to work for a while with the (rebels) even, cooking for them, but there is almost no pay, and I have to take care of my family."
As it has been since fighting broke out there last July, the capital of Damascus has been the most violent part of Syria. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, another group that tracks casualties in rebel-held areas, recorded nearly twice as many deaths in Damascus as in any other province in April. It tallied 2,330 civilian deaths in rebel-held areas last month, as well as the deaths of 983 rebel fighters. The Damascus area accounted for 1,141 of those deaths, with Aleppo province, much of which is under rebel control, accounting for 633, the next highest total.
The beginning of the year found the rebels on the offensive in the north, east and south of the country, but their advance has stalled in recent weeks as the government appears to have bolstered its troops with newly trained militia forces, as well as the support of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia that receives arms and support from Iran via Syria. Rebels also say ammunition has run low in many places, forcing their forces to withdraw from some battles.
McClatchy special correspondent Nabih Bulos contributed to this report from Jordan


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More & Bigger Mistakes Discovered In Homeland Security's Domain Seizures
from the another-day,-another-set-of-mistakes deptWe've been covering the ridiculous domain name seizures by Homeland Security's Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) group over the last few weeks, and it seems that nearly every day we come across more info that makes the seizures look like a bigger and bigger mistake. We already noted how strange it was that a group of the seized domains were hiphop blogs and forums that were regularly supported by some of the leading stars in hiphop. Furthermore, we discussed how the specific affidavit that was used to show "probable cause" to get the warrant to seize these domains was full of technical and legal errors, was written by a guy who just graduated college, Agent Andrew Reynolds, and seemed to rely heavily on MPAA and RIAA claims.
With one specific site, dajaz1.com, we noted that the songs used by Agent Reynolds to support his claims, had actually been sent by the artists or record label representatives themselves. Dajaz1 is a blog, not a forum. Agent Reynolds called it a "linking site" which downplays and/or ignores the fact that there is a lot more on the site than just links.
I've now seen the specific email and other evidence as well, and it certainly looks like dajaz1 was asked to promote all four songs that Agent Reynolds listed by the artists or representatives of the artists. There were four songs listed in Agent Reynolds' affidavit, and in each case it appears that the songs were sent by official representatives for the specific purpose of promoting them.
- Deuces, by Chris Brown
This song was released for free by Chris Brown, as a part of a mixtape entitled Fan of a Fan -- apparently released as part of the effort to rehabilitate Brown's reputation, following the incident with Rihanna. It was only after the song was released free, and a bunch of (you guessed it) hiphop blogs and forums started promoting it, that his label, a subsidiary of Sony Music decided to release it commercially. That song was sent directly to dajaz1 from someone at Brown's record label, using an email from the record label, and it's clear from the email that the sender is urging the recipient to spread the songs.
- Long Gone, by Nelly
This song was sent directly by a VP at the record label, who was thanked in the blog post on the website, which linked to where the song could be downloaded. A simple search by Agent Reynolds of the person thanked on the blog posting (which I did) would quickly uncover the fact that the person was a VP at the record label.
- Fall For Your Type, by Jamie Foxx
This song was sent directly by a known promoter of music, who has worked with the major record labels. The email clearly suggests that it is promoting the song for the rightsholder, and directly encourages the recipients of the email to download and share the song.
- Mechanics, by Reek Da Villian
This one's interesting, since Reek Da Villian is not signed to a major record label, but is an artist whom Busta Rhymes has taken under his wing, and has been supporting and promoting for a while now. That song was apparently sent directly by Busta Rhymes -- though I did not see that email. However, considering that his work is not represented through an RIAA affiliated label, it seems odd that Reynolds would rely on an RIAA representative to later claim that this file was infringing. There's even a sort of odd admission of this in Agent Reynold's affidavit, where he notes:
"Based on my review of public record listings, as well as conversations with RIAA representatives, I know that as of October 26th, 2010, all of the above referenced songs were determined to be "Pre-release" or not yet released for purchase to the general public, three were copyrighted, and the copyright holders did not authorize their third party distribution over the Internet by DAJAZ1.COM or any other website."Note that he says all were pre-release, but only three were copyrighted. Of course, this is another example of where Agent Reynolds shows his confusion about the law. All new and original creative works in the US when set in fixed format are automatically covered by copyright (technically "copyrighted" is not a verb, also). What Agent Reynolds probably meant, but got wrong, was that the Reek Da Villian song was not registered (which is not required to be covered by copyright). Still, if we assume that he believes what he wrote, how is it copyright infringement when Agent Reynolds himself admits that one of the songs is supposedly not covered by copyright? And why would the magistrate judge allow that?
On top of that, if you dig into the dajaz1 website, you quickly see that it is not at all focused on just offering up as much as possible to download. In multiple cases, the blogger notes that he will not post links to too many tracks from an album, suggesting that the site is not at all focused on getting as much infringing material up as possible, as implied in the affidavit. If that was the goal, why would it specifically refuse to post links to more than just a few songs?
Separately, the person I spoke with from dajaz1 claims that, contrary to Agent Reynolds' assertion that the site had signed up for a Valueclick advertising account, no such account was actually set up. He claims he's willing to state that under oath. Agent Reynolds' claims that the account was set up using an email address that was associated with the site. I'm not sure who's right in this instance, but the whole thing does seem questionable.
The further you dig into this, the deeper you get into just how ridiculous the music industry works these days -- with various subsidiaries and independent promoters and DJs and mixtapes, and all sorts of stuff that the labels very specifically support with one hand, while pretending to be above all that with the other. There are more details that I'm still researching, but some of it suggests that the last thing the major record labels want is for this to go to court, because it'll expose all sorts of things that the labels are doing that they probably don't want exposed.
Either way, even if we go with Occam's Razor and assume that these four cases are examples of the left hand (lawyers) not knowing what the right hand (promotions/marketing) was doing, it highlights why it's a total mistake (and probably a violation of the law) for Homeland Security to have simply seized these domains without an adversarial hearing -- or any contact with the sites in question themselves. Some of our commenters have insisted that all of these sites were "obviously criminally infringing," but the evidence suggests an extremely different story. And it's that sort of thing which is why we're supposed to have due process in the US before we shut stuff down or seize things.
Contrary to what some believe, copyright infringement is rarely a "black and white" case -- which is why we have trials to determine whether or not something is actually infringing. This is even more true in cases of criminal copyright infringement, which has a much higher bar to prove. So it's beyond baffling that Homeland Security and the magistrate judge who approved these seizures felt that it was simply okay to seize them prior to any adversarial hearing, where much of these details might have come out.
Filed Under: andrew reynolds, copyright, dajaz1, domain names, first amendment, homeland security, ice, promotions, seizure
Companies: dajaz1


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50 Tailgating Recipes That Score
Mini Italian Beef Sandwiches with Pepperoncini Slaw
These little beef sandwiches make a great appetizer for a party. And you can put them together in just 20 minutes.
Mini Italian Beef Sandwiches with Pepperoncini Slaw
Light and Layered Taco Dip
Ground turkey, reduced-sodium and light ingredients, and a confetti of crisp, colorful veggies make this potluck staple more nutritious than a typical layered dip—but every bit as tasty.
Ripe Olive Cheese Ball
Perfect for parties and tailgating! Make these cheese balls up to three months ahead of time then freeze. Thaw frozen cheese balls overnight in fridge before serving.
Sunny Broccoli Salad
A Cleveland reader makes this potluck salad the day ahead and refrigerates the dressing and vegetables separately. When it's time to serve it, she tosses everything together. Bacon, sunflower kernels and raisins make a crunchy and flavorful side dish.
Pizza Burgers
Bring along extra toppers inspired by pizza-parlor classics: thinly sliced sweet peppers and onion, spinach, sautéed mushrooms, jarred banana peppers or sliced olives.
Caramel Snack Mix
Don't be surprised if this nutty, caramel-y, chocolaty snack mix disappears quickly! Good thing it only takes six ingredients to whip up.
Beer-Braised Brats
Steep your grilled brats in this onion-and-herb beer mixture for an easy way to keep them warm while tailgating. Beer-Braised Brats get a liberal dose of cranberry-pickle relish for extra color and tang.
Jack Cheese and Smoky Chipotle Fondue
Lots of Monterey Jack cheese goes into this creamy fondue, along with sour cream, chipotle peppers and bacon. Scoop up with bread or tortilla chips.
Edamame-Avocado Dip
Combine edamame and avocado with basil pesto, lemon juice and chopped tomato for this easy potluck dip.
Breakfast Burritos
Combine hash browns, sausage, bacon, eggs, cheese and chopped veggies for a hearty breakfast tortilla. Top the colorful mixture with cool sour cream and spicy salsa in this recipe inspired by RAGBRAI vendor Farm Boys.
Bloody Marys
A leafy celery stalk is the classic bloody mary garnish, but you can also use long picks with green olives and small pickles, or even a strip of crisp bacon or smoky beef jerky.
Roasted Red Pepper-Chipotle Hummus
Hummus is easier than you might think: Just throw the ingredients in the food processor. Find canned smoky chipotle peppers in the Mexican aisle of large supermarkets.
Beefy Chili Dogs
The Coney Island Lunch Room in Grand Island, Nebraska, has served its all-American chili dog since 1933. In honor of this Cornhusker State edible institution, we created this recipe for Beefy Chili Dogs. Stewing the hot dogs in the seasoned meat mixture makes them extra juicy. Top them with cheese.
Black Bean Salsa
This salsa does double duty as a tortilla dip or a meat topper. Serve with a slotted spoon over grilled pork, smoked bratwursts or sausages, grilled chicken or salmon.
Horseradish-Mustard Mayonnaise
This easy sauce spices up hot dogs, sandwiches or any grilled meat.
Calico Bean Bake
This recipe blurs the line between baked beans and chili. It's great for feeding a crowd.
Chipotle Black-Bean Chili
This chili is great for tucking into your slow cooker in the morning, so you can come home to a warm winter dinner. Omit the meat if you'd prefer a hearty meatless main dish. If you like, add chopped avocado or shredded cheese as toppers before serving.
Cheesy Snack Mix
Grated Parmesan cheese gives extra cheesy flavor to this blend of crispy corn and rice cereals, canned shoestring potatoes, crisp breadsticks and bite-size cheese crackers.
Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip
Good food and friends are what tailgating is all about, says Debbie Pamperin of Suamico, Wisconsin. Debbie plans her Green Bay Packer tailgating experiences with this in mind. The Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip recipe, originally from one of her co-workers, has been a crowd-pleaser at her tailgate parties.
Greens, Eggs and Ham Potato Salad
Loaded with protein and fresh greens, this is a simple yet flavorful potato salad. Paired with a fruit salad, it's almost hearty enough to eat as a meal.
Chicken Cuban Sandwiches
We traded the traditional roast pork for rotisserie chicken, but kept the signature Cuban flavors—mustard, onion and pickles.
Southwestern Potato Sausage Chowder
Vary the heat of this easy chowder by choosing sweet or hot sausage and serrano or jalapeno pepper. Cumin adds subtle Southwest character.
Hash Brown Casserole
A crispy, savory crust of cheese, crushed cornflakes and butter tops a combination of ham, hash brown potatoes, cubed cheese, condensed soup and sour cream. A potluck favorite!
Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing
Carrot and celery sticks add crisp crunch to the platter of Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing. Our wings recipe includes blue cheese, garlic powder, vinegar, and spicy cayenne pepper sauce for kick.
Reuben Breakfast Sandwiches
This classic sandwich stars at breakfast when rye bread is swapped for English muffins or biscuits.
Starker's Bacon and Cheese Curd Burger
Sugared bacon and melting cheese curds or string cheese make a mouthwatering filling for these behemoth burgers. The recipe comes from chef/owner John McClure of Starker's Restaurant at Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.
Chicken Cuban Sandwiches
We traded the traditional roast pork for rotisserie chicken, but kept the signature Cuban flavors—mustard, onion and pickles.
Meat and Potato Pizza
Chalk this recipe up as an occasional indulgence. It's topped with a totally mouth-watering combo of thin-sliced potatoes, bacon, sausage and a delectable garlic-rosemary butter. The recipe comes from Hidemi Walsh of Plainfield, Indiana.
Dave's Pigskin Special
Assemble these hefty ham-and-cheese sandwiches at home, then grill them on-site for a warm game-day meal. The recipe is from Dave Sutton of Menomenee Falls, Wisconsin.
Chili Verde with Corn Bread Croutons
Bulgur wheat lends meaty texture, fiber and protein to soups and stews, where it can cook in the broth. In our sweet and savory chili, we match the grain with salsa verde, peppers and edamame—a weeknight meal that makes it oh-so-easy to be green.
Crimson Slaw
Dried cranberries plump up when tossed with vinaigrette in this tangy coleslaw. The recipe was a winner at the Wisconsin State Fair.
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars
Peanut butter and chocolate meet for a sweet treat in this recipe from a Cedarburg, Wisconsin, reader who likes to make these bar cookies for potluck gatherings.
Creamy Crab Rangoon Dip with Wonton Chips
The chips are easy and definitely add to the dip's appeal, but rice crackers, sugar snap peas, celery sticks and baby bok choy leaves all make good Asian-inspired dippers.
Orange Chicken Coleslaw Salad
This unusual recipe combines orange marmalade and soy sauce to make a sweet-and-salty dressing for chicken, cabbage and crunchy ramen noodles. Serve the mixture over a bed of fresh spinach for a nutrient-packed meal.
Italian Dinner Soup
Gail Gladding-Pullara of Oregon, Wisconsin, created this simple, crowd-pleasing soup. "My family loves this recipe," she says. "It's easy and tastes like you've been cooking for hours."
Trail Mix Brownies
Trail mix ingredients such as salted peanuts, pretzel sticks, dried cranberries, raisins and chocolate pieces make a sweet-and-salty topper for brownies.
Zesty Three-Bean Salad
Combine kidney beans, garbanzo beans and frozen sweet soybeans (edamame) with red onion, cilantro and lime juice for a fresh twist on three-bean salad.
Easy Apple Cranberry Slab Pie
Purchased puff pastry adds to the ease of this dessert recipe, but the real star is the filling the pairing of sweet apples and tart cranberries. Homemade icing rounds out this crowd-pleasing potluck pie.
Apple Bagel Sandwiches with Pumpkin Cream Cheese
Illinois grows 80 percent of the pumpkins processed in the United States. That's why we created Apple Bagel Sandwiches with Pumpkin Cream Cheese. They're a good option for morning tailgating events. Or try them as a meatless sandwich any time of day.
To see more one-of-a-kind sandwiches created using ingredients special to each Midwest state, click the link below.
Apple Bagel Sandwiches with Pumpkin Cream Cheese
Cocoa-Cola Cake
Soft melting marshmallows blend with toasty pecans and chocolate to create a sure crowd-pleaser.
Tex-Mex Cheesy Chicken Chowder
Nina Swan-Kohler of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, loves easy-to-make dishes that travel well to football games or other events. Tex-Mex Cheesy Chicken Chowder is one of her favorite recipes. "It uses a variety of convenience foods that are stirred together in one big pot, and brings out the great flavor of all the ingredients," Nina says.
Tex-Mex Cheesy Chicken Chowder
Cuban Griller
Mustard, mayo and dill pickle spice up this grilled ham, pork, salami and Swiss cheese sandwich. Our recipe gives step-by-step instructions to make this a tailgating success!
Mississippi Corn Bread Salad
Layers of corn bread, bacon and veggies ensure a flavor-packed salad that adds plenty of color to a potluck table.
More party and snack ideas
Click below for more great Midwest Living party and snack recipes!Related Links


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Ever wanted a lap dance from Steve Sanders? This summer, your time has come.
You may remember Ian Ziering as the white boy-Jheri curled rich kid on the Aaron Spelling incarnation of Beverly Hills, 90210. Since his 10-season run on the show, Ziering has continued to keep in shape by working out, and, yes, dancing: Back in 2010, he and Cheryl Burke made it to the semifinals of Dancing With The Stars.
Now 49, a husband and a father, Ziering's stint as a sex symbol isn't quite over yet. Us Weekly reports that he's accepted an offer to headline Chippendales' Vegas shows every Thursday through Sunday at two prominent casinos until the end of June.
Ironically, as many aging heartthrobs do, Ziering was forced lately to contend with media snarkiness right before he scored the Vegas. Says Ziering: "Actors and performers never know what their next job will be, and when I got the call from Chippendales, my jaw dropped, as it came on the heels of TMZ calling me fat on national TV... I am passionate about health and fitness, so I've kept in shape, and dancing is something I've always enjoyed, so I figured why not?"
He went on: "I am so excited to be a part of this iconic worldwide organization, it's really a dream come true! Hey TMZ, I've got two front row seats for you!"
God bless dude for his lack of cynicism about the gig. I guess he never saw Magic Mike.
Follow Anna on Twitter: @annabreslaw
Photo via Getty Images


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If you have a particular preference on the colour of the tie email the designer Rebecca and she'll be happy to help.
For info on clothing sizes click here.
Made using an EarthPositive® Climate Neutral® Organic T-shirt. Machine Washable.


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For generations, little boys and girls have been playing with dolls, figurines and action figures of characters from their favorite books, movies, TV shows and comic books. At Kmart, we have tons of action figures for children and adults of all ages, whether your kids are trying to collect all the characters from their favorite Disney movie or your husband wants all the figurines from a Star Wars collector's set. Action figures and accessories make great gifts for kids of all ages. At Kmart, we have a complete inventory of action figures and other toys that your child will love. Choosing the right action figure for your son or daughter is easy with our selection, whether you want your kids to enjoy it right away or leave it in the box to store on a collector's shelf.
If your kids love everything sports-related, Kmart has tons of different action figures, figurines and dolls to choose from. When it comes to boys' toys, you'll find a variety of masculine action and sports figures. If they are a fan of the sport and not necessarily the players, you can find generic sports figurines. If they have a team or players they adore, pick up a few figurines of your kids' favorite athletes. With more than 200 sports action figures to choose from, you'll never run out of options for your sports-loving son (or husband). We carry soccer, baseball, basketball, college football and WWE sports figurines.
Kmart also has tons of character figurines from different movies and books. Collect all your favorite Star Wars, Star Trek or Disney characters. For younger children, we carry plenty of action figures that are safe for little ones, from Thomas and Friends toy trains, the Toy Story movies, Nickelodeon shows, Pokemon and more. Though girls and boys both love character figurines of all types, sometimes your little lady would rather have specifically designed girls' toys. Playsets featuring her favorite Disney characters like Minnie Mouse are the perfect option. If she prefers superheroes to princesses, she'll love to scoop up favorite comic book characters from DC Universe, Marvel and more. Spiderman, Iron Man, Batman and The Hulk are just a few of the most popular comic book characters we carry. Let your child's imagination run wild with superhero battles that feature characters from all kinds of movies and comic books.
At Kmart, we have plenty of action figures that your sons and daughters will love, but when it's time to change gears, we also have you covered. Get your child using his or her brain with a variety of different puzzles, including 3D puzzles, brain teasers and more standard 2D puzzles for all ages. Outdoor playsets are the perfect way to get your kids active and out into fresh air. At Kmart, we have plenty of different types of toys to choose from for your kids.
So whether you're looking for the perfect action figure for your son or daughter, or another kind of toy that will keep them occupied and entertained, Kmart has the variety and selection of toys you need.


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It is brand-spankin' new and I LOVE it. It's a Scion xD. We personalized the entire car and it only had 25 miles on it when we picked it up...oh, and our actual car has a bigger Spoiler than this picture...I like Spoilers and have never had one on my car, so I splurged :)
Also, Jesse's sister and her family are here from Germany. Her hubby, Lee, is in the Air Force and thus they move from place to place and I never get to see them...neither does anyone else for that matter, but this is my blog, so I shall state that "I" never get to see them. I love my Wilstead's and I wish I could see them more...they are headed to Spain for the next 11 months and then after that who knows...hopefully they will move to the States so we can visit them.
Thanks for listening to me peeps. My next post shall be about one of the greatest nights of my life...the night that Meg and I met the Barenaked Ladies...man was that amazing...so the next time you hear from me it shall be a positive post with fun pictures, I promise!


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Time to think about your roundup!
I'm posting the roundup prompts a little early this month because I will be celebrating Digital Scrapbook Day here on my blog over the weekend!
Here are my roundup prompts in a written list if you want to copy and paste them into your own word document or blog post.
Here's a written list of the Roundup Prompts:
- List what you read and/or learned in the past month.
- What fun things did you do with friends and/or family?
- What milestones occurred? Any holidays or celebrations? How about special events?
- What happened in the news and the world around you? What was the weather like?
- Talk about the everyday and routine bits of life in the past month.
- What tv shows did you watch? Did you go to any movies or live performances?
- What and where did you eat?
- What places did you visit? Did you travel or go anywhere out of the ordinary?
- What good stuff happened? What were the hard things? Anything unusual?
- Report on the progress you've made toward your goals or list any new goals you have set. What accomplishments did you make? What projects did you work on?
Remember, you don't have to answer ALL of these questions and prompts and you are free to add whatever else will help you get your month documented in a meaningful way. This is just meant to be a basic checklist to help you think about what you want to remember.
What's the best way to go about all of this? How do you remember what has happened in the past week, or thirty days, or even a year? Yes, you can apply the roundup technique to any period of time! Here are the tools that will help you Roundup Your Memories! I created this graphic to help you see this task list all in one place. It's a great one to pin to your Pinterest boards for a reminder!
Here's the list in written form if you prefer it that way:
How to Roundup Your Memories
• Gather all photos taken during the month and be sure they are uploaded to a labeled file with month and year in the name. That file can be on your computer, and external hard drive, or in the cloud. Try to be consistent with file naming and structure.
• Gather any papers, documents, awards, receipts, etc. that help you illustrate your month. Scan them or take photos. Include them with your monthly file.
• If others have taken photos during the month that you want to include in your memory keeping, be sure to ask them for copies. Include them with your monthly file. You can name them differently if you want to remember who they are from.
• Look through your social feeds like blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. to find information you can use for journaling. Copy it all to one place (Word, Evernote, Email, etc.) if possible. Put a copy of that file in the same folder of the month that you have everything else saved.
• NOW back that monthly folder up to a few locations. Make sure at least one of them is offsite (Dropbox, Flickr, Google Drive, Evernote, etc.) Back up photos more often if possible.
Need a few more resources? Here are some helpful links:
- Some of my Roundup inspired scrapbook pages
- Using your digital presence to make memory keeping easier by Heddy at The Daily Digi
- How to organize the past
- How to capture and document the things people say written by me for The Daily Digi
- How I organize my digital photos
- Why I don't sync dropbox
Have fun roundup up your memories and documenting your month! I promise that it's worth taking a few minutes now to have those moments preserved for a lifetime!


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Fifty years ago, in the fall of 1964, LIFE magazine published what must have felt to the venerable weekly's long-time readers like a strikingly weird feature. Titled "Real Witches at Work," the piece included photographs of modern-day British pagans—doctors, housewives, nurses, teachers—celebrating their ancient rites, dancing around fires and generally behaving like perfectly normal, faithful worshippers of the sun, the moon and Mother Nature have been acting for thousands of years.
Today, of course, when magic, the supernatural and the occult are central elements of some of pop culture's most familiar (and profitable) franchises, and Wiccans are more likely to be found serving on the local school board or city council than practicing their beliefs in secret for fear of being "found out," an article on real, live witches would excite little more than a shrug and a meh. In the early 1960s, however—and certainly in much of the United States—the notion of grown men and women getting naked in order to practice their religion would likely have blown a goodly number of puritanical minds.
But then, as Mrs. Ray Bone—a British housewife and pagan high priestess—noted in a nicely reasoned defense of witchcraft penned for that long-ago issue of LIFE: "It seems obvious to me that people can be just as immoral with their clothes on as with them off."
Amen to that, Mrs. Bone. Amen to that.


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What Kind Of Professor Patents A Way To Make It More Expensive & More Difficult For Students To Learn?
from the insanity deptTorrentfreak has the story of an economics professor (of all things) who has apparently received a patent on a way to try to force students to buy expensive textbooks. The professor, Joseph Henry Vogel, is positioning this patent (8,195,571) as an "anti-piracy" technique, though it appears that it works equally well in preventing students from sharing a single textbook or merely checking the textbook out of the library. The details of the patent are hardly new or innovative either. The basics are that the class has both a textbook and an online discussion board -- and buying the textbook provides you a code that allows you to enter the discussion board. In theory, you could also just buy the code.
There'a all sorts of idiocy involved in this situation. Let's just separate out a few examples:
- How the hell does something like this get patented in the first place? There is a tremendous amount of prior art in the form of things like "one-time" use codes for video games and other digital offerings to limit the used sales market. And yet this still gets approved? USPTO examiner James D. Nigh should be ashamed for letting this piece of garbage get approved.
- The claims here (the patent only has four) are so broad and so general, I don't see how it passes the non-obvious test, nor how it is anything more than mashing together a few different things that are widely available already and have been for years. After the KSR ruling the USPTO was supposed to reject broad patents that just combined basic concepts already found in the market.
- How could a professor of economics actually think that locking up access to information is a good idea? That alone would make me avoid any class that he taught, as his understanding of information economics is way, way off.
- It's sad that anyone in academia would think that this is a good idea. In an age where Harvard and MIT are investing a ton into opening up access, this guy is focused on locking it down.
Filed Under: economics, education, harvard, james d. nigh, mit, textbooks, uspto


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New Whitepaper Highlights Vulnerabilities as Mobile Banking Grows
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 7, 2013) - 41st Parameter, the global leader in fraud detection and prevention, warns that financial institutions are facing serious vulnerabilities as the usage of mobile banking skyrockets. To educate the industry, 41st Parameter has published a whitepaper that looks at adoption trends, threats and potential solutions to help mitigate the mobile risk to consumers and institutions alike.
Mobile banking and m-commerce have gained massive global traction over the past three years, with almost 600M people expected to use mobile banking services in 2013, up from 185M in 2011. With so many devices from smartphones to tablets to PCs, so many transactions and growing consumer demand for mobile banking, it's easy to understand why this is a major focus for many financial institutions.
Consumers have become increasingly comfortable using their mobile devices for financial transactions such as checking balances, transferring funds, making deposits and even opening new accounts. Unfortunately, in the arms race to release more and more feature-rich mobile applications, security has sometimes suffered.
"Financial institutions are under tremendous pressure to provide robust services through the mobile channel, but these increased consumer offerings require sophisticated fraud prevention solutions to combat the growing number of security threats," said Ori Eisen, founder, chairman and chief innovation officer of 41st Parameter. "From malware to rogue remote deposit capture to mobile Web and app based attacks, incorporating device intelligence into a multi-layered security strategy is the only way to mitigate mobile fraud risk."
To help financial institutions understand and make sense of the rapidly changing mobile environment they must operate in, the company has published its new whitepaper, "Mobile Banking: Fraud Risks and Solutions." The whitepaper can be downloaded at http://www.the41st.com/buzz/resources.
For more information on fraud prevention for financial institutions, please visit: http://www.the41st.com/industries/fraud-prevention-financial-institutions.
About 41st Parameter
In a world where people are increasingly reliant on a variety of Internet-connected devices for everything from banking to shopping to entertainment and media, creating relevant customer experiences and preventing online fraud are constant business challenges. 41st Parameter, the global leader in device recognition and intelligence, combines patented technologies and years of expertise to identify devices without cookies, without compromising privacy and without impacting performance. AdTruth, the digital media division, gives marketers a better way to recognize and reach their most valuable audiences across all types of devices. The company's FraudNet platform protects businesses from fraud before it happens. These privacy compliant solutions help keep the Internet more secure and relevant for everyone.


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Russian and CIS hospitality market, July 2019
Read our new issue of the News Bulletin for the Russian and CIS hospitality market.
Russian and CIS hospitality market, July 2019
Portfolio transformation propels robust M&A activity
Digital transformation: opening new growth channels
Is the next evolution of big data, big judgement?
Megatrends are shaping the industry's future
Courting Millennials
Cybersecurity: key findings for real estate sector
The attractiveness of world-class business districts
Hospitality Sector Roundtables
Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction
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Today's real estate, hospitality and construction companies must adopt new approaches to address regulatory requirements and financial risks – while meeting the challenges of expanding globally and achieving sustainable growth.
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0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
In about 10 tens there has been 3,501 posts. That's a lot. It must be all the new people that have joined.
Vivec, you're the best forum member ever.
Sam is basically right, he's just cranky.
And we broke the most online record for a total of 49 people online today! This has been quite a busy month. I wonder what March will be like after GDC??
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The National Museum
The National Museum houses a colossal hoard of Thailand's chief artistic riches, ranging from sculptural treasures in the north and south wings, through bizarre decorative objects in the older buildings, to outlandish funeral chariots and the exquisite Buddhaisawan chapel, as well as sometimes staging worthwhile temporary exhibitions.
History building
The first building you'll come to near the ticket office houses an overview of the authorized history of Thailand, including a small archeological gem: a black stone inscription, credited to King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, which became the first capital of the Thai nation (c.1278–99) under his rule. Discovered in 1833 by the future Rama IV, Mongkut, it's the oldest extant inscription using the Thai alphabet. This, combined with the description it records of prosperity and piety in Sukhothai's Golden Age, has made the stone a symbol of Thai nationhood. There's recently been much controversy over the stone's origins, arising from the suggestion that it was a fake made by Mongkut, but it seems most likely that it is indeed genuine, and was written partly as a kind of prospectus for Sukhothai, to attract traders and settlers to the underpopulated kingdom.
The main collection: southern building
At the back of the compound, two large modern buildings, flanking an old converted palace, house the museum's main collection, kicking off on the ground floor of the southern building. Look out here for some historic sculptures from the rest of Asia (S1), including one of the earliest representations of the Buddha, from Gandhara in modern-day Pakistan. Alexander the Great left a garrison at Gandhara, which explains why the image is in the style of Classical Greek sculpture: for example, the ushnisha, the supernatural bump on the top of the head, which symbolizes the Buddha's intellectual and spiritual power, is rationalized into a bun of thick, wavy hair.
Upstairs, the prehistory room (S6) displays axe heads and spear points from Ban Chiang in the northeast of Thailand, one of the earliest Bronze Age cultures ever discovered. Alongside are many roughly contemporaneous metal artefacts from Kanchanaburi province, as well as some excellent examples of the developments of Ban Chiang's famous pottery. In the adjacent Dvaravati room (S7; sixth to eleventh centuries), the pick of the stone and terracotta Buddhas is a small head in smooth, pink clay from Wat Phra Ngam, Nakhon Pathom, whose downcast eyes and faintly smiling full lips typify the serene look of this era. At the far end of the first floor, you can't miss a voluptuous Javanese statue of elephant-headed Ganesh, Hindu god of wisdom and the arts, which, being the symbol of the Fine Arts Department, is always freshly garlanded. As Ganesh is known as the clearer of obstacles, Hindus always worship him before other gods, so by tradition he has grown fat through getting first choice of the offerings – witness his trunk jammed into a bowl of food in this sculpture.
Room S9 next door contains the most famous piece of Srivijaya art (seventh to thirteenth centuries), a bronze Bodhisattva Padmapani found at Chaiya (according to Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a saint who has postponed his passage into Nirvana to help ordinary believers gain enlightenment). With its pouting face and sinuous torso, this image has become the ubiquitous emblem of southern Thailand. The rough chronological order of the collection continues back downstairs with an exhibition of Khmer and Lopburi sculpture (seventh to fourteenth centuries), most notably some dynamic bronze statuettes and stone lintels. Look out for an elaborate lintel from Ku Suan Tang, Buriram (S3), which depicts Vishnu reclining on the dragon Ananta in the sea of eternity, dreaming up a new universe after the old one has been annihilated in the Hindu cycle of creation and destruction. Out of his navel comes a lotus, and out of this emerges four-headed Brahma, who will put the dream into practice.
The main collection: northern building
The second half of the survey, in the northern building, begins upstairs with the Sukhothai collection (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries; N7–8), which features some typically elegant and sinuous Buddha images, as well as chunky bronzes of Hindu gods and a wide range of ceramics. The Lanna rooms (roughly thirteenth to sixteenth centuries; N5–6) include a miniature set of golden regalia, among them tiny umbrellas and a cute pair of filigree flip-flops, which would have been enshrined in a chedi. An ungainly but serene Buddha head, carved from grainy, pink sandstone, represents the Ayutthaya style of sculpture (fourteenth to eighteenth centuries; N9–10): the faintest incision of a moustache above the lips betrays the Khmer influences that came to Ayutthaya after its conquest of Angkor. A sumptuous scripture cabinet, showing a cityscape of old Ayutthaya, is a more unusual piece, one of a surviving handful of such carved and painted items of furniture.
Downstairs in the section on Bangkok or Ratanakosin art (eighteenth century onwards; N1), a stiffly realistic standing bronze brings you full circle. In his zeal for Western naturalism, Rama V had the statue made in the Gandhara style of the earliest Buddha image displayed in the first room of the museum.
The funeral chariots
To the east of the northern building, beyond the café on the left, stands a large garage where the fantastically elaborate funeral chariots of the royal family are stored. Pre-eminent among these is the Royal Chariot of Great Victory, built by Rama I in about 1789 for carrying the urn at his father's funeral. The 11m-high structure symbolizes heaven on Mount Meru, while the dragons and divinities around the sides – piled in five golden tiers to suggest the flames of the cremation – represent the mythological inhabitants of the mountain's forests. Each weighing around forty tonnes and requiring the pulling power of three hundred men, the teak chariots last had an outing in 2012, for the funeral of the only child of Rama VI, Princess Bejaratana.
Wang Na (Palace of the Second King)
The sprawling central building of the compound was originally part of the Wang Na, a huge palace stretching across Sanam Luang to Khlong Lod, which housed the "second king", appointed by the reigning monarch as his heir and deputy. When Rama V did away with the office in 1887, he turned the palace into a museum, which now contains a fascinating array of Thai objets d'art. As you enter (room 5), the display of sumptuous rare gold pieces behind heavy iron bars includes a well-preserved armlet taken from the ruined prang of fifteenth-century Wat Ratburana in Ayutthaya. In adjacent room 6, an intricately carved ivory seat turns out, with gruesome irony, to be a howdah, for use on an elephant's back. Among the masks worn by khon actors next door (room 7), look out especially for a fierce Hanuman, the white monkey-warrior in the Ramayana epic, gleaming with mother-of-pearl.
The huge and varied ceramic collection in room 8 includes some sophisticated pieces from Sukhothai, while the room behind (9) holds a riot of mother-of-pearl items, whose flaming rainbow of colours comes from the shell of the turbo snail from the Gulf of Thailand. It's also worth seeking out the display of richly decorated musical instruments in room 15.
The Buddhaisawan chapel
The second-holiest image in Thailand, after the Emerald Buddha, is housed in the Buddhaisawan chapel, the vast hall in front of the eastern entrance to the Wang Na. Inside, the fine proportions of the hall, with its ornate coffered ceiling and lacquered window shutters, are enhanced by painted rows of divinities and converted demons, all turned to face the chubby, glowing Phra Sihing Buddha, which according to legend was magically created in Sri Lanka and sent to Sukhothai in the thirteenth century. Like the Emerald Buddha, the image was believed to bring good luck to its owner and was frequently snatched from one northern town to another, until Rama I brought it down from Chiang Mai in 1795 and installed it here in the second king's private chapel. Two other images (in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chiang Mai) now claim to be the authentic Phra Sihing Buddha, but all three are in fact derived from a lost original – this one is in a fifteenth-century Sukhothai style. It's still much loved by ordinary people and at Thai New Year is carried out onto Sanam Luang, where worshippers sprinkle it with water as a merit-making gesture.
The careful detail and rich, soothing colours of the surrounding two-hundred-year-old murals are surprisingly well preserved; the bottom row between the windows narrates the life of the Buddha, beginning in the far right-hand corner with his parents' wedding.
Tamnak Daeng
On the south side of the Buddhaisawan chapel, the gaudily restored Tamnak Daeng (Red House) stands out, a large, airy Ayutthaya-style house made of rare golden teak, surmounted by a multi-tiered roof decorated with swan's-tail finials. Originally part of the private quarters of Princess Sri Sudarak, elder sister of Rama I, it was moved from the Grand Palace to the old palace in Thonburi for Queen Sri Suriyen, wife of Rama II; when her son became second king to Rama IV, he dismantled the edifice again and shipped it here to the Wang Na compound. Inside, it's furnished in the style of the early Bangkok period, with some of the beautiful objects that once belonged to Sri Suriyen, a huge, ornately carved box-bed, and the uncommon luxury of an indoor bathroom.
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A Pa joke.A lifelong unchurched man suddenly develops a vague religious urge and decides to join a church--any church. So he sets out to find one.His first stop is a Roman Catholic church where he asks what he has to do to join. The priest mentions diligent study and the affirmation of the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, then--just to see how much the man knows--asks him where Jesus was born. "Pittsburgh," he answers. "Get out!" cries the shocked priest.Next stop is a Southern Baptist church where the seeker is told he would have to learn Bible verses, swear belief in the Nicene and Apostles' creeds, swear off booze, and be baptized ("By immersion, not just some sissy sprinklin'"). The Baptist preacher then, to see how much this man knows, asks him where Jesus was born. "Philadelphia?" he asks tentatively (once bitten, twice shy). "Get out, you heathen!" yells the preacher.Our perplexed protagonist finally walks into a Unitarian church where he is told all he has to do is sign a membership card. "You mean I don't have to renounce anything, swear to anything, or be dunked in anything?" "That's right. We have no special tests for membership, no dogma. We support total individual freedom of belief." "Then I'll join! But tell me--where was Jesus born?" "Why, Bethlehem, of course." The man's face lights up. "I knew it was some place in Pennsylvania!"jC
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"Dis moi
Dans ces vents contraires comment s'y prendre?
Plus rien n'a de sens, plus rien ne va."
I tend to be somewhat indecisive by nature. When making any kind of important decision, I try my best to gather all of the relevant facts so that the final decision I make will be a well-informed one. I seek to exhaust all avenues of inquiry that may bear on the decision before I make it. As you can imagine, this often leads to a long, drawn-out process in which I will go back and forth several times before making up my mind and settling on what I should do.
My professional training probably hasn't helped in this regard. As a lawyer, I can usually see -- and argue -- all sides of an issue. In my work life, this isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's a necessary skill. I have to be able to see not only the strengths of my own case but also the strengths of my opponent's. To fully understand and present my side, I must be able to place myself in the adverse party's position and argue his.
Given my personality and professional background, it probably won't surprise you that I had a very tough time deciding whether or not I should start antiretroviral medication. My decision was made even more difficult because no one seems to agree on exactly when a person in my situation should start meds. I've written previously about my body's ability to maintain a low viral load in the absence of medication (Control Queen). I also noted that despite this ability, my CD4 count was gradually drifting downward. Recently, I reached the point where two successive counts were below 500. On top of that, in January I traveled to Bethesda, Maryland to donate blood plasma for the NIH [U.S. National Institute of Health]'s LTNP [Long-Term Nonprogressor] study, and NIH's testing put my CD4 count below 400 for the first time. My viral load, though, remained stubbornly low at 1,816. And putting all the test results aside, lately I just haven't been feeling so hot.
What to do? I know that the current guidelines call for beginning antiretroviral medication when one's CD4 count drops below 350. On the other hand, many HIV researchers are now arguing that treatment should be initiated earlier, usually once a patient's CD4 count drops below 500. Being the kind of person I am, I sought the opinions of experts. Surely, I thought, they will be able to provide me with the kind of advice I need to make the "right" decision.
So I did some research and looked to see what the finest minds in this field were saying. Instead of a consensus of opinion pointing me in a certain direction, I discovered something of a disagreement about how best to proceed. On one end of the spectrum were luminaries such as UCSF's Dr. Steven Deeks. Dr. Deeks thinks "essentially -- everyone with HIV needs to be on meds unless there's a reason not to be."
Somewhere in the middle is another eminent researcher, Dr. Peter Hunt. Back in October 2009, at the HIV Controller Symposium sponsored by the Zephyr Foundation and Shanti, Dr. Hunt gave a very informative presentation on the adverse effects HIV appears to have even on people who maintain good viral suppression. So I asked Dr. Hunt directly whether he would recommend treatment for someone with my then-current numbers (CD4 a bit above 500 and viral load below 2,000). He hedged, calling it an individual decision.
While at NIH in January, I asked Dr. Stephen Migueles, another prominent researcher, whether he would advise starting meds. He, too, gave guarded counsel. He told me that my CD4 count should "concern" me, but did not say that I should begin treatment.
Finally, I turned to a researcher with whom I have had a long relationship and who is truly a legend in the field of HIV -- Dr. Jay Levy. During one of my regular visits to his laboratory to donate blood, I asked Dr. Levy for his view. He was emphatic. He was unconvinced by the studies that seemed to show some benefit to beginning antiretroviral treatment once CD4 counts dropped below 500, as opposed to waiting until they were below 350. He went on to describe what he saw as the defects in those studies and to try to explain why they did not necessarily support the conclusion that starting at 500 was better than starting at 350. (To be honest, since I lack any medical background, I couldn't really understand his explanation.) He did allow, however, that my case was at least "arguable."
Thus, I found myself faced with somewhat conflicting advice. All of my efforts to gather facts and to make an "informed" decision had only led me to an unhappy place where I had plenty of information but no clear right answer. I asked myself, how is a layman like me to make a decision on something about which the most knowledgeable doctors disagree?
In the end, I based my decision not on all of my research, not on the opinions of experts, and not on any guidelines. As your mother always told you, it's better to be safe than sorry, and I chose to apply that bit of folk wisdom to my situation. Since the medications now available are a lot better tolerated than earlier ones, it seemed preferable to begin treatment and prevent any further decline in my immune system. Therefore, on my last visit to my doctor, I got prescriptions for Truvada and Isentress. I went straight to the pharmacy and filled them. The following Friday evening, I swallowed my first antiretroviral medications.
And you know what? It's only been two weeks at this writing, and I already feel better. No, I don't think the medications are already having a physical effect. Instead, I think the best explanation for my improved sense of well being comes from the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1137-1204) who said, "The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision." I realize that a large part of what was bothering me was simply the anguish of worrying about whether I was doing the right thing. Just putting the decision behind me has been a tremendous relief. I guess the lesson is that sometimes just making a decision is the right decision.
Read more of Outlier: My Unusual Journey With HIV, fogcityjohn's blog, at TheBody.com.


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You can mix pinball with anything and I'll at least give it a taste; puzzles, role-playing, potato salad. Paladin Studios' Momonga Pinball Adventurers for iOS and Android mixes silver ball mechanics with an epic world-spanning adventure. And the ball is a Japanese flying squirrel. Well I'm sold.
Having briefly been the proud owner of a sugar glider, I heartily approve of anything small and furry that flies, as long as it doesn't have its own country (looking at you, bats). You never heard a dour Southerner proclaiming, "This here's flying squirrel country". Maybe you should.
As for Momonga, I'm getting a very pinball-meets-Zelda vibe, which would be the most glorious thing ever.
Momonga Pinball Adventures [Paladin Studios]


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As Microsoft's 2013 Financial Analyst Meeting wraps up, outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer fielded questions from the audience of investors about the company. In responding to one inquiry about Microsoft, its direction and reorganization, Ballmer had an interesting confession regarding the last decade at Microsoft.
Although Ballmer has previously acknowledged that Vista was something he wished he handled differently, in tonight's response he was even more specific. Ballmer regrets not putting more resources into what was then Windows Mobile. Instead, the company had invested its talent and resources into Vista, an OS that would forever blemish the reputation of the company.
It would also cause Microsoft to miss the mobile explosion just a couple years later.
Ballmer gets candid during a Q&A
Ballmer's response during the Financial Analyst Meeting:
"If there's one thing I guess you would say I regret, I regret that there was a period in the early 2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do around Windows that we weren't able to redeploy talent to the new device called the phone. That is the thing I regret the most. The time we missed is the time we were working on what became Vista and I wish we had resources slightly differently deployed. It would have been better for Windows and our success in other form factors."
Indeed, Windows Mobile (and Windows Pocket PC before that) was way ahead of its time. Back in 2002, it was Dell leading the way with the Axim X5. That device was spec'd with a 300 MHz Intel XScale processor, 32 MB RAM, 32 MB flash ROM, a Type II CompactFlash slot, an SD/MMC slot, a 16-bit QVGA (240 × 320 dots) TFT. Cost? $279. While that device and subsequent Axims and iPaqs that came after it remained a niche, it was clearly the future and Microsoft at the time owned the market.
Microsoft spent only a little time and money with Windows Mobile in subsequent years, going through a few iterations and stumbling around with non-touch versions of the OS. While the phones at the time were impressive, it was Apple's iPhone that made that industry take off due to its appeal to the masses. Unfortunately at the time, Ballmer famously mocked Apple, noting that they welcomed the challenge and that the iPhone was "not a smartphone". Ironically, Apple is doing very well years later and it is now Microsoft who is scrambling to catch up.
There is no argument that Microsoft had missed an opportunity. They focused on desktop when they should have seen mobile as the next big thing. Will they be able to improve? We sure hope so.


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Have you ever had a refrigerator konk out on you in the middle of the summer, leaving you without one for days?
If you have, you know what a pain it is to be without something as essential as a refrigerator. And you know what a relief it is when you have a working refrigerator again.
But can you imagine trying to raise a healthy family without a refrigerator at all? Or without a stove?
Can you imagine barely scraping together the time and money to wash your childrens' clothes at the laundromat so they don't have to face the other school children in a soiled shirt?
If you replace your working appliances over the next five days, these are the kinds of people you will help.
Beginning tomorrow, when you buy a new refrigerator, stove, washer or dryer from Warners' Stellian, we'll help you donate the clean, working appliances you are replacing to Hope For The City.
If Hope For the City accepts your appliance donation (see criteria below), you'll receive a tax-deductible donation form for up to $200 (see graphic to the left). If it's not accepted, Warners' Stellian will still recycle your appliance free of charge.
Hope For the City is a Minnesota-based nonprofit that collects surplus goods from businesses and distributes them to its partner nonprofits, who in turn give the goods to people in need. (Note: Hope For The City does NOT fulfill requests for individuals, so working through a Hope For The City partner is the best way to get help for someone.)
The 85 partner organizations pretty much touch every type. They serve children and adults in need of food, shelter and medical care. They provide hot meals for hungry children and adults, education for the underprivileged, job skills for the unemployed, support for senior citizens, medical care for the sick, and educational and social programs for youth.
Basically, these people really need your donation. It's not a matter of replacing for these worthy recipients — It's a matter of having.
In the past year alone, Warners' Stellian and its customers have donated over 500 appliances to Hope For The City. Aside from this promotion, we send a set of appliances over to the nonprofit weekly.


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episode guide
Forget about athletes, movie stars and politicians. Parents are the real heroes—but we think Frankie Heck, must be some kind of superhero. A loving wife and mother of three, she's middle class in the middle of the country and is rapidly approaching middle age.
season 5
A short drive turns into an eternity as the Hecks try to move Axl into his college dorm.
Sue feels a new sense of freedom now that Axl is out of the house, Brick avoids the middle school bathroom, and Frankie is jealous that Axl returns Mike's calls and text but not hers.
Sue gets a job at a local mall eatery in order to buy herself a car, Frankie and Mike are called into Brick's principal's office and told that he hasn't attended any of his classes.
As the town of Orson celebrates its 100th anniversary, Frankie and Mike find themselves driving a giant cow float in the parade, Axl and his friends resurrect Boss Co., Sue uses Brad to make Darrin jealous.
Sue sees the ghost of Christopher Columbus, Axl is hazed by the football team, and the family offers Brick advice on asking a girl to a dance.
Frankie finds solace by rescuing and taking in a lost dog, Sue makes the volleyball team, and Axl calls on Brick to help when he discovers that he's failing three of his four college classes.
Frankie's parents - along with some uninvited guests - show up for Thanksgiving dinner, and Axl tries to find the perfect time to tell Frankie and Mike that he's dropped most of his college courses.
Frankie and Mike's romantic house-sitting weekend is jeopardized by the home's technical difficulties, and the Glossner kids invade the heck household.
Axl forces Frankie into a negotiation when he announces that he would rather spend his Christmas vacation with friends over family.
Frankie and Mike become concerned when Brick suddenly develops a host of irrational fears.
Sue makes a discovery that leads to an ultimate prank battle with Axl.
Principal Barker asks the parents to form carpools while the bus drivers are on strike.
Reverend Deveaux interferes with the Hecks' plan to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet after church.
Frankie tries to persuade Mike to attend a dinner honoring his dedicated service at the quarry.
Brick makes it hard for Mike to relax during the vacation he was forced to take.
Frankie is arrested over an unreturned library book; Cassidy and Axl reunite during spring break.
Frankie and Mike discover that they are more fun and charming with other people than with each other, Sue ends up with multiple dates to the prom.
Bill backs out of coaching the girls soccer team; Frankie tries to teach Brick better hygiene.
Frankie begs Rita Glossner to take down her wind chimes; Sue announces she is back with Darrin.
Frankie hopes to correct a mistake at work without her boss finding out.
Mike watches to make sure Darrin doesn't take advantage of Sue; Brick invites new friends over.
Sue enters a contest to win a car; Mike and his brother bond on a road trip to Chicago.
Sue looks forward to the trip to Walt Disney World; Axl waits to learn his final grades.
When the Hecks arrive at Walt Disney World, a good time may not be had for all when a series of misfortunes threaten to put a damper on their trip.


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