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On Affirmative Action, High Court Seeks Nuance
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
April 2, 2003
WASHINGTON Opponents of affirmative action came to the Supreme Court today to make an absolute case against race-conscious government policies but found the justices impatient with absolutes and hungry for nuance.
Prepared to argue the merits of the color-blind principle, the opponents found the justices more concerned about a world where color still matters and where senior military officers describe affirmative action as essential for national security.
By the end of two hours of fast-moving and sometimes surprising arguments, it appeared to many in the packed courtroom that affirmative action would survive its most important test in 25 years and that colleges and universities would still be able to take steps to ensure the presence of more than token numbers of minority students on their campuses.
Whether the precise programs the University of Michigan was defending today would survive their encounter with a more conservative Supreme Court than the one that endorsed the use of race as a vague "plus factor" in the Bakke case 25 years ago was uncertain.
The university's undergraduate admissions program gives an automatic 20 points on a 150-point scale to applicants who are black, Hispanic or American Indian. The highly selective law school does not use a formula, but regularly admits students from those three groups who have lower grades and test scores than many white students it admits.
During the arguments today, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a regular opponent of affirmative action, criticized the undergraduate formula as a "disguised quota" and expressed doubts about the law school's program. But late in the second hour, Justice Kennedy asked a question that was potentially one of the most significant of the entire argument.
Justice Kennedy asked John Payton, the lawyer who argued in defense of the undergraduate admissions program, to assume that the court would invalidate both affirmative action plans. What would happen then? Justice Kennedy asked. Would it be the court's job to tell the university what to do, or the university's job to devise "some other system, say, more individualized assessment in order to attain some of the goals you wish to attain?"
What was important about Justice Kennedy's choice of words was that he said "individualized assessment" and not "race-neutral alternative," the formulation urged by the lawyer for the disappointed white applicants who are suing the university and also by the Bush administration, which entered the case on their behalf. An individualized assessment presumably permits consideration of race as one of the elements in an applicant's personal profile, as a race-neutral approach would not.
The Bush administration is arguing that the Michigan programs are unconstitutional because the university has failed to show that it cannot achieve diversity through a race-neutral alternative, such as the plan in use at the University of Texas, which offers admission to students graduating in the top 10 percent of every high school in the state. California and Florida use similar plans.
There was little discussion in the courtroom today of the percentage approach. Instead, the justices consumed much of the time allotted to Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson in firing questions about a brief filed in support of Michigan by a group of retired senior military officers and former military academy superintendents. The brief argued that an integrated officer corps was essential to national security and could be achieved only through affirmative action at the nation's military academies. It was obvious that of the 102 briefs filed in the two cases, this was the one that had grabbed the attention of justices across the court's ideological spectrum.
Mr. Olson did not welcome the line of questions, which not only stalled the flow of his own argument but put the administration, with its opposition to affirmative action, in a delicate position. "We respect the opinions of those individuals," he said, "but the position of the United States is that we do not accept the proposition that black soldiers will only fight for black officers." He added: "Race neutral means should be used in the academies as well as other places."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked, "But you recognize, General Olson, that here and now, all of the military academies do have race preference programs in admissions?"
She added, "Is that illegal, what they're doing?"
Mr. Olson replied, "We haven't examined that, and we haven't presented a brief with respect to the specifics of each individual academy."
The delicacy of the solicitor general's personal, as opposed to institutional, position was also evident. As a lawyer in private practice during the 1990's, he opposed affirmative action and successfully argued the case that shut down affirmative action at the University of Texas. In that case, a federal appeals court declared that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision was no longer valid.
But the briefs that Mr. Olson filed for the administration in the Michigan cases did not go that far Mr. Olson lost an internal battle over the wording and assumed for the sake of argument that the Bakke ruling was still good law and that "diversity," as used in the controlling opinion by Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., was a valid rationale for affirmative action. Justice Kennedy asked Mr. Olson whether he disagreed that diversity was a "permissible governmental goal."
Mr. Olson replied that under the law school's program, diversity was "an end in and of itself" and, as such, "obviously it's constitutionally objectionable."
So wasn't the Texas 10 percent plan just as objectionable, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wanted to know, because its motive and purpose "is to have diversity in the college?"
That was not the "stated motive," Mr. Olson replied. He said the purpose of the program was to break barriers and open access, and accepting the top 10 percent was "one very race-neutral means of accomplishing that legitimate objective."
The lawyer defending the University of Michigan Law School's program was Maureen E. Mahoney, a veteran Supreme Court litigator who was a law clerk for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist when he was an associate justice. Her experience showed as she held her ground in a series of rapid-fire questions from Justice Antonin Scalia, who said he could not take Michigan's position seriously because "the problem is a problem of Michigan's own creation."
Having "decided to create an elite law school," Justice Scalia said, Michigan was now complaining that in order to achieve diversity, it needed to ignore "the Constitution's prohibition of distribution on the basis of race." What was so important about having a "super-duper law school," Justice Scalia, a graduate of Harvard Law School, asked.
Ms. Mahoney replied, "I don't think there's anything in this court's cases that suggests that the law school has to make an election between academic excellence and racial diversity."
Kirk O. Kolbo, a lawyer from Minneapolis, represented the white plaintiffs in both cases Barbara Grutter, who was turned down by the law school when she applied at the age of 43, and Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher, who failed to win admission as undergraduates. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, upheld the law school plan in Grutter v. Bollinger, No. 02-241. It had not yet ruled on the undergraduate plan, in Gratz v. Bollinger, No. 02-516, when the Supreme Court decided to hear both cases. The Court is due to issue its decisions by early summer.
"The Constitution protects the rights of individuals, not racial groups," Mr. Kolbo said. He described his clients as the victims of discrimination.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose position at the center of the court on this issue made her the object of particular attention, was the first to challenge Mr. Kolbo. Was he saying that race "can't be a factor at all," Justice O'Connor wanted to know.
"Race itself should not be a factor among others in choosing students, because of the Constitution," Mr. Kolbo replied.
Justice O'Connor objected that the court's precedents held otherwise. "You are speaking in absolutes, and it isn't quite that," she said.


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Iran, world powers aim for final nuclear deal
At three-day summit kicking off Tuesday in Geneva, diplomats will seek to move beyond last year's interim agreement
VIENNA (AFP) — Iran and world powers embark Tuesday on the Herculean task of transforming an interim nuclear deal into a long-term accord.
After a decade of failure and rising tensions, US President Barack Obama has put the chances of such an agreement at not more than "50-50," while Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has predicted "difficult" discussions.
The scheduled three-day meeting in Vienna between senior diplomats from Iran and the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — the P5+1 — is the first in what is expected to be a series of tricky encounters in the coming months.
It comes after foreign ministers struck a deal in Geneva on November 24 that saw Iran agree to curb — for six months — some of its nuclear activities in exchange for minor relief from painful sanctions.
That agreement, which came into force on January 20, extends the theoretical "breakout time" needed by Iran — which denies seeking the bomb — to produce enough highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.
In return Iran is due to get over the six months some $6-7 billion in sanctions relief, including $4.2 billion in assets frozen in overseas bank accounts.
But Iran's nuclear freeze is only temporary — although it can be extended — and the bulk of UN and Western sanctions remain, continuing to deprive Iran of billions of dollars in oil revenues every week.
Under the "comprehensive" deal now being sought, which the parties aim to conclude and commence implementing by November, the powers will want Iran to scale back its activities permanently.
In exchange, Iran would see all UN Security Council, US and EU sanctions lifted.
The deal might include the closure of Iran's Fordo facility, slashing the number of centrifuges enriching uranium, cutting its stockpile of fissile material and altering a new reactor being built at Arak, diplomats say.
This, plus tighter UN inspections, would not remove entirely Iran's capability to get the bomb but would make it substantially more difficult. According to Obama, it would be "impossible".
"Your enrichment capacities are incompatible with your civilian nuclear program, we are saying to them… They don't fit with your statement that you have no military objectives," one Western envoy involved in the Vienna talks said.
But how such a deal goes down with skeptics in the United States and in Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, and also with Sunni Arab monarchies in the Gulf, remains to be seen.
"I think both sides would be willing to make compromises to meet the bottom lines of the other side," Richard Dalton, the former British ambassador to Tehran now at think-tank Chatham House, told AFP.
"The trouble is that both sides have hard men outside the negotiating room who have to be satisfied."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose election last year has helped thaw relations with the West, for now retains the backing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rouhani called last week for the talks to be "fair and constructive," while Tehran has laid out a series of "red lines" including refusing to close down any nuclear facilities or to stop medium-level enrichment.
"I am not fully sure whether Khamenei himself is fully committed to this process yet," Siavush Randjbar-Daemi, Iran and Middle East lecturer at Manchester University, told AFP.
"Geneva really was a stop gap, a band-aid solution that didn't really heal the wounds."

subset: commoncrawl


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5100 Overhead Lift
The Singel 5100 is a portable overhead lift that can handle weights up to 220 kg. It has many unique features, for example Human Care's adjust-able telescopic hanger bar for better positioning in the sling. Together with the ability to select 2, 3 or 4-point sling suspension, Singel 5100 can easily be adapted to each individual need.


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Believe it or not, there has never been such a high demand for online sports betting like in the present times when people are simply mad about wagering on the favorite teams or individual players. The viral nature of the Internet these days and the increased number of options provided by top betting houses has led to an unbelievable rise in the number of online betting sites and users. Much to the delight of the general public, this form of wagering is continuously growing and the upward trend does not seem to stop anytime soon! However, some changes have occurred over time and modern day tricks or tips are not the same as those gamblers from a while back knew. In order to stay competitive and gain an edge over the rest of the users, a clear method should be followed: gaining as much information as possible regarding the latest or most popular tricks in the book, in particular Bet365 bonuses which are extremely demanded at the moment. But what makes these bonuses so appealing? Why are users from all over the world crowding to get a part in all the action and resorting to the bonus codes more frequently than ever before? The answer lies in understanding how these tricks can benefit your situation and bring you one step closer to success.
With the high demand for sports wagering there was an equally high offer of bookkeepers and specialized platforms based online. In order to retain users and make their interest for a particular bookkeeper skyrocket, the concept of bonuses was introduced and it seems to have been working wonderfully so far. The most reputable name in the field is Bet365 and the Bet365 bonus code sports sections are more sought after than you can probably imagine. And there is good reason behind that! Welcome bonuses or initial stimulants are given to punters as a way of rewarding their support and loyalty to this particular bookkeeper. For the persons placing wagers, the amounts offered represent a great way to up their game and practice their skills. These initial bonuses are a general part of the offer from many similar betting companies right now.
Apart from the welcoming gifts, the use of Bet365 bonuses is clearly visible in more areas and includes a large number of punters. Multiple other types of codes exist and each brings its own advantages, as well as less desirable conditions. The golden rule here is to read with care and thoroughness all of the information published on a certain form of bonus so as to fully understand its pros and possible cons, although they hardly ever exist, as well as to rely on a professional source such as SafeBonusCode.com, a premium website used by punters from all over the world. As online platforms have different offers, it is hard to explain in full detail what each provider of bonus codes brings to the table which is why it is recommended that the users browse through all of the sections and information published. One thing is for sure: there is no way you will ever have a fulfilling betting experience in this day and age without these helpful incentives to guide you along the way!


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Arcade Fire released a new video this morning — and it takes a cue from the world of Harry Potter.
While the video for "You Already Know" is simpler than the gripping mini-epic they made for "We Exist" — which clocked in at six minutes and starred Andrew Garfield as a young man struggling with his sexuality in a small town — this video still includes some magical moments.
The clip begins with a statue announcing the band's performance, then the camera tracks up a marble staircase as the group starts playing the catchy Reflektor track in a brightly lit room in a castle-like house. Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler soon relinquishes singing duties to the room's portraits, who were given microphones and guitars for the occasion. It's whimsical — but it works for the song.
Watch up top.


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Frequently Asked Questions
- What happens to my resume when I submit it to your database?
- When should I expect to hear from you?
- Any suggestions for my resume?
- How long should my resume be?
- I hear keywords are important. Are they, and how should I add them?
- How should I dress for an interview?
- What's the interview process?
- How many rounds of interviews do you usually have?
- How do I know my personal information is secure?
- I'm graduating soon. How do I search and apply for jobs at NetApp?
- Does NetApp hire applicants on a visa?
- I do not have a resume. Is one required?
- Great Interview Tips
What happens to my resume when I submit it to your database?
Our applicant tracking system sends you an automatic message that tells you we have your resume. Our recruiters review all new resumes daily. If there is a match, we send your resume on to the hiring manager. If they are interested in you, the recruiter will contact you for a phone interview. If that goes well, you will be invited in for in-person interviews onsite.
When should I expect to hear from you?
If there is a match and the manager has requested we contact you for an initial phone screen, you may hear from us within two weeks or less of your resume submission. If you haven't heard from us in three weeks, please assume your application has been unsuccessful this time. We try to get back to everyone. We receive over 20,000 resumes a month. We wish we had the bandwidth to respond to all applicants who were not a match at the time, but time and volume prevent us from doing so. The good news is that your resume is kept on file and will be reviewed again if a good match comes up.
Any suggestions for my resume?
A recruiter's dream candidate resume is one that reflects the key skills and qualifications as described in the job description. Read the job description and make sure you add the skills you possess that match the qualifications. It's that simple.
How long should my resume be?
The purpose of the resume is to get you invited in for an interview, period. lt's your advertisement to the hiring team that you have what we need. If you write your resume specific to our job requirement with supporting work history, the length does not matter. If you can get all the requisite employment history on one page, then one page is perfect. However, the concept of a "one-page" resume is gone with snail mail and faxed resumes.
I hear keywords are important. Are they, and how should I add them?
Yes, keywords are important. Applicant tracking systems and our recruiters search by keyword. If you have followed our guidance above, you will automatically use keywords in your resume.
How should I dress for an interview?
The style of dress at NetApp is as comfortable as our culture, so you can wear something that is business casual for your interview. We will evaluate you on your technical skill set, communication style, and culture fit, not on the way you dress.
What's the interview process?
You will most likely have a phone interview with someone in Staffing first, which may be prefaced by a questionnaire. If this interview goes well, your recruiter will advocate on your behalf for an interview with the manager. If the manager approves, you will be invited for an in-person interview with the recruiter, hiring manager, and team. We try to arrange for this first interview to be onsite for a three- to -four-hour block of time. If that interview goes well, you may be invited back for other rounds.
How many rounds of interviews do you usually have?
It depends on the job role and level. You may speak to as few as four and even more than 10 people. We do our best to keep the interview team as small as possible.
How do I know my personal information is secure?
NetApp takes your privacy seriously. There are people at NetApp who are solely responsible for protecting the privacy of our users. Read the NetApp Privacy Policy.
When you browse and/or apply for jobs on the Careers portion of our Web site, your application and any additional information you provide may be used to assess your skills and interests against career opportunities at NetApp and for reporting purposes as may be required by U.S. law. We use your information to communicate with you and inform you of career opportunities. Entities acting on behalf of NetApp with which we share your information will be bound by terms of confidentiality and this privacy policy.
I'm graduating soon. How do I search and apply for jobs at NetApp?
To learn about the many roles for new college graduates, visit University Recruiting. Be sure to check out available opportunities at Job Search and submit your resume. Want to meet a NetApp employee in person? Check out our recruiting events and see when we'll be on campus.
Does NetApp hire applicants on a visa?
Yes. NetApp will consider qualified applicants who are currently on a visa.
I do not have a resume. Is one required?
This link Submit resume/CV lets you submit your resume. If you don't have a resume, you can create a profile, even if you're not applying for a specific job. We'll consider you for jobs that match your skills. However, eventually you will need a resume as the introduction interviewers have to you.
Take an active role
The two-way interview question-and-answer conversation demonstrates your active role. Remember, your job interview questions can help you determine if this is the right job for you. The research you did earlier on the company should form a basis for some of your job interview questions to ask. Here are some guidelines:
- Focus on the job, the company, products, services, and people as you pose job interview questions.
- Create a job interview question to ask to gather information about your potential peers, people who will report to you and to whom you will report.
- Ask for bios for the people who will interview you.
- Write your list of job interview questions to ask prior to the interview and take them with you.
- Divide your job interview questions into interest questions about the company and qualification questions regarding duties and responsibilities.
- The most important job interview question to ask if you are sincerely interested in the position and are satisfied with the job interview question and answers is to ask for the job. That may be the difference in getting an offer.
Great sample questions to ask in the interview
As a prospective employee, be prepared to know what job interview questions to ask of your prospective employer. See samples below:
- What kind of person are you looking to hire for this position? Do I meet your requirements?
- How would you describe the working environment at the company? The culture in this particular organization?
- When do you expect to make a decision on the candidate for this position?
- What are the next steps from here?
Be prepared for Behavioral Interviewing
NetApp utilizes the behavioral interview technique to evaluate a candidate's experiences and behaviors in order to help determine a candidate's potential for success.
In preparation for answering behavioral-based interview questions – know yourself. Honestly assess your skill set and work experience and develop explanations for any weak points. You will be asked questions that will require you to recall a past or current situation that can illustrate your potential to handle a situation that may occur while working at NetApp.
The typical format of a behavioral-based interview question is one in which the interviewer will ask you a question, and ideally, you should briefly describe the situation, what specific action you took to have an effect on the situation, and the positive result or outcome.
- Explain the situation (task or problem): Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand.
- Action you took: Describe the action you took , keeping the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did -- not the efforts of the team. Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did.
- Results you achieved: What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn?
Here are some tips for how best to prepare for behavior-based interviews:
- Identify two - four examples from your past experience where you demonstrated top behaviors and skills that employers typically seek.
- Your examples should be a combination of positive situations that started out negatively but either ended positively or you made the best of the outcome.
- Use fairly recent examples.
- Be ready to explain what motivates you to leave your current employer.
- Be ready to explain gaps in time of employment or why you have had several jobs for a short period of time.


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Emory Douglas - Creator of iconic imagery behind Black Panther Party
- Neil Cooper
- 26 March 2012
GI show from American Black Power movement linchpin
As Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party Emory Douglas created some of the movement's most iconic imagery in the 1960s and 70s, harnessing the power or art to communicate ideas. He talks to Neil Cooper about his political and artistic journey
'In Revolution one wins, or one dies.' When this slogan appeared aloft Emory Douglas' image of a couple of beret-clad African-American guerrillas on a big-screen back-drop at major concert halls around the world, it was a far cry from the roots of Douglas' work 30 years before. Then, such visual provocations were on the front-line of the American Black Power movement via the pages of The Black Panther Party's weekly newspaper, which regularly sold more than 250,000 copies.
In the current climate of born-again activism, the archive of Douglas' newspaper images, collages, posters and lithographs that visits GI is especially pertinent. Fusing the iconic immediacy of poster art with a loaded polemical intent, the images by the Black Panthers' Minister of Culture up until the party's demise in 1980 are a living record of one of the most turbulent times of American history that neither preaches nor patronises.
'To me it's about sharing the ideals,' says Douglas today. 'It's about getting information out there and enlightening people. Art is something that people observe and learn through, whether it's subliminal or very provocative. It's communication. Once you understand that, you can learn to get your message across in a broader way. I see some young artists trying to do that, but it looks coded. If you learn that it's about communication, art can become a profound tool for change.'
The man dubbed by critic Colette Gaiter as the Norman Rockwell of the ghetto fell in with the Panthers while making props for plays by radical black writer LeRoi Jones, (who would later change his name to Amiri Baraka), who was presenting his work in San Francisco campuses, community centres and shop-front spaces. After attending a meeting he'd designed the poster for, Douglas visited the Panther-patronised political/cultural centre The Black House, where the likes of Jones and the Art Ensemble of Chicago were regulars. Here he found Panther Minister of Information Eldridge Cleaver poring over the first issue of the party's rather dry-looking tabloid weekly, and told him he could make it look better. It was the beginning of a great, if somewhat stormy, adventure.
'We were in coalition politics,' says Douglas. 'We weren't in isolation. We had solidarity with groups in Vietnam and Korea. In America the Latinos formed the Brown Berets inspired by us, and there were other groups. That whole period changed how the dialogue in this country worked, with young people beginning to define things for themselves.'
After four decades working on socially and politically aware community-based projects, it was only in 2007 that the world rediscovered Douglas via the publication of The Black Panther Party for Self Defense: The Protest Art of Emory Douglas. The concerts, featuring the likes of proto-Rap street-gurus The Last Poets, latter-day hip hop troupe The Roots and free-jazz saxophonist David Murray, were a form of pop-cultural entryism rather than what Tom Wolfe dubbed in a famous 1970 essay 'radical chic'.
Similarly, Douglas quite correctly points out that mainstream exposure of his work in museums is down to 'open-minded people who open the work up to a new audience, where in the past it would've been black-listed, and that's a plus. The pictures are fine in themselves, but once you get the history behind them, you see it's not just art, but art with a meaning.'
Emory Douglas, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow, Thu 12 Apr–Mon 7 May.


text: After sitting out a whole season due to an ACL injury in his left knee, the three-time All-star Derrick Rose out indefinitely because of a medial meniscus tear which he will need surgery. the sad part about is, there's no immediate timetable for his return. I really feel bad for all Chicago fans cause you all wait so long for "THE RETURN," just for him to return back to the bench. The good part he will come back but it just might be shaky for him. He better start ordering his custom made wheelchair now and walker.. -Nofilterlashey


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From beach stone garden edging to miniature gardens for youngsters, recycled pallet furniture to regrowing vegetables from scraps ' I've put with each other 5 actually wonderful garden suggestions which will give you loads of inspiration for your next project. One way to create a sense of space in a modest garden is to place some curves into your garden paths A slightly meandering walkway is usually greater than a straight path because it will give guests the sense that they are traveling via a big landscape.
Pinning this hub and hoping you will be writing much more as the year goes on (to guide me by way of gardening as a very first-timer :)) If you want concepts for future hubs, I would enjoy to hear what/how to shop fruits/veggies for longer use and canning ideas!!
I have an old vintage residence and I have located all sorts of beautiful, broken containers I wanted to use somehow and your idea of a vintage garden…tends to make me wish spring was right here because that is specifically what I wanted to do…but had not figured it out however!
Your landscape gardening expert can assist you set up structures such as sheds, pergolas and gazebos that complement your garden design and style, and artfully-placed garden concepts such as lawn edging and lighting will add definition to your selected style.
Because then he has created dozens of books on aspects of design and the home— most recently The Way We Live, a outstanding 480-page survey of residences around the globe, and two titles for Artisan: Property, a groundbreaking investigation into how we feel about our properties, and 1000 Garden Tips, a visual sourcebook featuring garden and patio components from around the globe.


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|How to fight computer viruses, spyware and malware
|Page: Computer Viruses and Worms - Types of Viruses
Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreck a havoc on our computer systems. Many of them are simply designed to annoy and cause disruptions on your computer or computer systems.
But some of them can cause a serious and permanent damage and loss of data, often resulting in having to make costly repairs to your computer system, while you try to fight off viruses.
Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage. New viruses are created daily. This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.
Computer viruses and worms have been proliferated online, posing threats to your PC,
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.
A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.
This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).
A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption "CRC: 04F6Bh" and the text "Error in packed file!".
A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.
A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to "We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)"
So, beware of viruses by avoding visits to suspicious websites and not openning email attachments, unless they're from trusted friends. Even then, always keep your antivirus protection on when online or openning email attachments. And above all, keep your antivirus software or internet security subscription always current and get automatic updates.
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Windyhill Golf Club held its Ainslie-Brown Horn Gents' Open tournament on Saturday. The SSS was 70 and the CSS was 70 at home and 72 away. A total of 105 golfers took part.
Results: 1st Hugh Divers (Windyhill) 78(12)66, 2nd Gary McGroarty (Earl of Mar) 76(9)67, 3rd Craig Bisset (Dumbarton) 73(4)69, 4th Marc Erunlu (Windyhill) 73(4)69, 5th Alasdair MacMillan (Windyhill) 79(10)69. Scratch was Scott Dickson (Windyhill)69 and second was Neil Melvin (Newmachar) 72.
Douglas Park Golf Club ladies' section held its ladies match medal earlier this month. The scratch winner was Carol Fell with 73. Silver: Laura Macdougall 20 hcp, nett 71, runner up Carol Fell 10 hcp Nett 73. Bronze: Marie Bryce 21 Hcp Nett 75, runner up Paula Crichton Hcp 23 Nett 78.
And in the ladies' Stableford Competition last Friday results were: Silver: Joan Gemmell Handicap 9 – 37 points, runner-up, Barbara Aitchison – handicap 20 – 33 points. Bronze: Lyndsay Steel, Handicap 33 – 37 points, runner-up,Denise MacNaughton – handicap 26 – 30 points.


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CRICKET: Belton Park record first win of the season
South Lincs & Border League
Premier Division
Belton Park 187-8
Spalding 2nd 114
Belton Park registered their first win of the season in bitterly cold conditions for the time of year.
Having been asked to bat first, Belton openers Dan Reynolds (16) and Richard Cocks (31) combined good defence with attractive strokeplay to see off Spalding's new ball attack, for whom Dring was particularly impressive.
With the score at 69-2, Rohan Perera was joined by 16-year-old Matthew Law and together they doubled the score. Perera started circumspectly but then opened his shoulders to hit an excellent 50, but it was Law (57no) who particularly caught the eye with an array of superbly timed strokes all around the ground.
There followed a clatter of wickets in the search for quick runs towards the end of the innings, with Hussain (4-42) the most successful bowler, before Tom Ward (15) provided Law with the support to set a testing target.
Spalding's reply started disastrously as they were reduced to 5-3 by a fine spell of hostile, fast bowling from 16-year-old Tom Ward.
Good support from Will Rich (2-27) and Gavin Clarke (2-22) did further damage as Spalding slumped to 43-6, before offering resistance from Hussain (25) and Juckes (26).
The re-introduction of Ward into the attack quickly concluded matters as he finished with the excellent figures of 5-18 off 10 overs, with Belton earning a deserved victory by 73 runs.
South Notts League
Division A
Collingham 134
Belvoir 135-4
If ever a man deserved a century, it was Ali Haynes of Collingham.
The opener carried his bat through the whole innings, scoring 73 per cent of his side's runs from the bat.
Indeed it was more than one innings. He built steadily, had a period of acceleration and, as wickets tumbled around him, he scrapped and conjured up runs like a veteran.
At the non-striker's end it, was all about the bowling. Danny Gibson worked up a head of steam, capturing the first two wickets, helped by an outstanding diving catch at cover-point by debutant Greg Oldfield.
A shrewd bowling change by captain Tom Neville saw Lyndon James (3-17) tear the heart out of Collingham's middle-order. Olly Elson (3-15) scrooged a few overs and then trapped the obstinate Jonathan Todd LBW to end any hope Collingham had of a decent total. Greg Oldfield (2-12) tidied up the tail, leaving Haynes cruelly six runs short of his ton.
Jack Copley (32) started hauling in Collingham's meagre score with a punchy display, including four sweetly struck drives through the covers. At the other end, the busy Greg Oldfield (62no) gave the third man the run around with a series of accurately placed late cuts. These were interspersed with vigorous forcing shots through mid-wicket, including one mighty six.
However, David Sears (2-29) and Chad Batty (2-46) were still on the case. The former nagged miserly away with little luck and the latter ran in to bowl with express pace.
With Belvoir at 90-4, there was still a glimmer of hope for Collingham. Enter Lewis Dann (17no) to deny the bowlers any more damage with a stalwart display of defence, with a sprinkling of aggressive shots.
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Fixing file system corruption in the vCenter Server Appliance
I recently had a storage network outage in my lab environment, and after powering back on my vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) I was rudely greeted with the following information at the console:
Ouch! I've never dealt with file system corruption in a VCSA before, and the internet doesn't seem to contain much information on what to do next. This post is my effort towards changing that.Read More →


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Sessions for China
Adoption has always held a special place in my heart. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to adopt and God blessed me with an adopted son 11 years ago. Jayden's birth and adoption story created a passion in me that can't be explained. For a while, I felt called to adopt every orphan I heard about. Obviously, one person can't do that… but that feeling made me realize God gave me this passion for a reason. I have begged Him for ways to use my talents to highlight adoption stories. In 2011, April and I were given the opportunity to go to India to document an adoption and that sealed it. (Read Avi's story here!) I knew on that trip… THIS is what I can do.
Life sometimes takes over and gets in the way of us pursuing our God-given dreams. We're too busy paying bills, doing laundry, pursuing jobs that will pay well, and doing the mundane, everyday tasks required to run a home. In October of 2016, I remember having a moment where I felt like things had gotten stale. Life was great, but was I doing what I was born to do? Was documenting weddings enough? Don't get me wrong… documenting weddings is one of the greatest things ever! It's such an honor to be a part of the day when two people commit their lives to each other. I will never take that for granted. But there was something in my heart that said I wasn't actively pursuing what God had called me to do. A Bible study I was in at the time had me questioning how to get there… how to fulfill my calling. I spent the morning of October 6 praying for God to remind me of my purpose and make a way for me to use my talents for Him. Within one hour, my cousin's cousin (yeah, that sounds funny) contacted me asking how it came about that we went to India. She and her husband were starting the adoption process from China for the second time, and she was curious if it was possible for us to go with them when they picked up their son.
Talk about chills! Within moments of having a heart-to-heart with my Creator, He sent me the most obvious reminder of His calling on my life… and I knew after reading Bree's message THIS is what I was made to do.
So… with that being said, Cody and Bree will be headed to China in late March or early April. We want to make sure the first moments with their son are documented. It's a once-in-a-lifetime occasion that can't be redone. Adoption is expensive. We don't want adoptive parents to have to come out of pocket to pay our way, but we feel so strongly that we have been called to offer this. So we're doing what we did last time.
We will be offering "Sessions for China" to raise money for our expenses. Booking one of these sessions gets you a half price photo session and all of the money will go directly towards our trip. We are so honored to be a part of this life-changing experience for them (and for us!) and can't wait to share the images of their first moments with Chen Ke.
Click here to buy your Session for China. Then shoot us an email to set up your session time.
If you'd like to donate but don't need a photo shoot, you can mail a check to: PO Box 4766, Gulf Shores, AL 36547 or you can donate through Paypal.
We would love your prayers as we prepare to travel around the world again. And please remember Cody and Bree as they finish the final paperwork and prepare to meet their son. Thank you to our clients, friends, and family for supporting us in everything we do. We love you all!


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It's official.
Neiman Marcus is returning to the public market, confirming rumors that have been circulating.
The luxury retailer, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman on New York's Fifth Avenue, filed its IPO papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Taken private in 2005 in a $5.1 billion deal by private equity owners TPG and Warburg Pincus, it said it won't receive any proceeds from the IPO because its shareholders are the ones selling the shares.
It hasn't yet disclosed how many shares it will offer and at what price. The company's filing said it plans to raise $100 million, though spokeswoman Ginger Reeder said that amount may change throughout the process. Bloomberg News said in May the private equity owners may seek about $8 billion.
Neiman Marcus's filing comes at a time when things look to be appetizing in the luxury sector. Its rival Saks Inc. is shopping itself around and rumored to be eyed by parties including Lord & Taylor parent Hudson's Bay Co.. Gap Inc. this year bought Intermix Inc. and Nike Inc.'s sold its high-end label Cole Haan to private-equity firm Apax Partners.
After being dinged by the financial meltdown in 2008, luxury retail group's same-store sales have outperformed the broader retail sector for each of the past 14 quarters, Retail Metrics data showed.
"The global luxury goods industry is a very attractive segment of the overall apparel and accessories market," Neiman said in the filing. Citing Euromonitor data, the company said the global luxury goods industry is expected to grow over 40% from $302 billion in 2012 to $427 billion in 2017.
Neiman Marcus, which also owns discount outlet Last Call and the smaller Cusp chain targeting younger shoppers, increased sales 6.5% to $4.5 billion in the year ended April 27. Online sales total about $1 billion as it has expanded global shipping to over 100 countries, including Australia and Russia. To target the growing affluent population in China, it has introduced a Chinese language Internet site.
The retailer, which owns 41 full-priced namesake stores, said its growth strategy includes continued online investments, opening more of its smaller format Last Call and Cusp stores, and increasing its proprietary private label offerings, less than 2% of sales.
-- Andria Cheng
-- Follow her on twitter @AndriaCheng


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Welcome to the Border Kirk Carlisle and St Andrew's Longtown. We are the most northerly Church of Scotland in the North West of England and have in our midst many Scots who live in and around the Border City but we attract also many non-Scots who enjoy our friendship and share our worship on a Sunday or join us in our Fairtrade Doves Café daily for coffee or lunch.
Our services at Carlisle are weekly on Sunday at 11am with an alternative informal worship at 9.50am on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month which are aptly named 10-2-10. Children too are welcomed at our Sunday club, which runs during the main service. If you visit Longtown, worship there is on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month at the earlier time of 9.30am.


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My favourite restaurant in Singapore is near City Hall.
Nalan's serves up the tastiest vegetarian food going. Every couple of weeks I go back and find a new and interesting dish.
At lunch today my girlfriend ordered Manchurian cauliflower. Deep fried cauliflower in a Hokkien Chinese sauce which usually coats chicken.
Think you know cauliflower? Not until you try it Manchurian style.
Quirky, curious but most of all tasty.
I enjoy revisiting my assumptions.
Visits to Indonesia always throw up situations like this.
Chocolate and grated cheese sandwiches, anybody?
If you are lucky enough to visit a local Betawi wedding in Jakarta. Don't expect a bouquet thrown at the end of the ceremony.
They throw a live chicken. First one to catch it is next to be hitched!
Revisiting Sharpe
Recently I found myself going back over the Sharpe ratio, discovering a couple of common gotchas:
Firstly, simple (or geometric) returns cannot be used to calculate the Sharpe ratio (even if you are using the correct geometric formula). Mainly because the geometric standard deviation is dimensionless and therefore cannot be measured in dollar amounts.
Secondly, Sharpe himself revisited his formula in 1994, years after he wrote about the original 1966 'Reward to Variability' ratio (the form most commonly used today).
The original formula is,
the revised formula is
There are a couple of subtle things to note.
One, the nomenclature has changed. The original refers to a 'risk free' rate. The latter to a 'benchmark'.
Two, both equations are equivalent if the benchmark does indeed have zero volatility. In a world without a risk free asset however, the revised formula is the only way to go.
Moreover, the numerator and denominator need to be an 'apples to apples' comparison.
Strictly speaking the revised formula is the only one that should be in use.
Sharpe concludes:
[I]t is essential that the Sharpe Ratio be computed using the mean and standard deviation of a differential return.
The upshot is that the Sharpe ratio is indistinguishable from the Information ratio and most Sharpe ratios you see in the wild are wrong!


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SADCASE Gliders and Classics-2017
The past two years have seen SADCASE join forces with the Southdowns Gliding Club for a Classics and Gliders afternoon at their Parham airfield.
By kind invitation of the Gliding Club, the plan is to meet again this summer on the afternoon of Sunday 11 June – 1.00 pm to 4.00pm. Hopefully, the weather will be kind and we will be able to park up, admire each others cars, take in the view, watch some flying and enjoy an afternoon tea.
Being an operational airfield and subject to Civil Aviation Authority regulations, the number of cars has to be limited to no more than 60. If you fancy a pleasant afternoon out and would like to come, please contact Chris Mason at email@example.com who will send you a numbered entrance form which you will need to display. First come first served and sorry but no numbered form on display, no entry.
NOTE-As of the 26th April 30 of the 60 available spaces have gone already.


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Visited: May 2007
After graduating from Purdue we hit the road to Seattle .. here is a map of my rout. I kept a little dairy of my coffee shop visits so here it is ... enjoy!
St. Louis
There were 2 coffee shops that I was going to check out Kaldi's and Northwest. We tried to find the Northwest store in central west end but failed, as the maps weren't clear, so we went to Kaldi's the next morning.
Kaldi's – Coffee Roasting Company
Located in the suburbs of St. Louis it's a pretty long drive out of down town. The company roast their own coffee and have a large selection of both single origins and blended coffee in open jars. Among those, a good amount of Sumatran peabery and even some harah.
The equipment set up looked very promising a brand new GB5 with bottomless portafilters and mazzer majors. The house roast itself was very dark. My expectations didn't really live up to the cup I got. A clearly overextracted shot with bitter notes, very watery with pale crema. Anyways, it didn't leave a good impression. The café itself was pretty big with lots of people inside. A large outside area with fancy umbrellas and of course don't forget the laptop culture, with people that isolate themselves from everyone. The neighbourhood was very fancy, with mostly older crowds that don't drink espresso.
I think that Northwest would have been a better place as it was my first choice but still … never the less there is still nothing coming out of St Louis apart from the terrible taste of Budweiser, and Busch which is even worse.
Kansas City
To be perfectly honest I wasn't expecting such quality out of Kansas City, after doing my crafty coffee shop research I ended up with two espresso bars on my list. One of which was about a six-minute drive from where we were staying, and the other south of downtown Kansas City.
Espresso Dell'Anatra – really really nice, hands down the best out of the two shops we went to. Outside a shopping mall complex, this modern "clean cut interior" espresso bar offered much more than I had expected. Working on a Linea Marzocco and Mazzer major grinder, our barista produced one of the best shots I have tried in America. Coffee was made with precision, excellent technique and REAL passion for good espresso. Not a high volume shop, every cup is ground fresh. The barista we had used a very strange technique for pulling a double shot. He pulled a single shot into a cup and than pulled another shot into the cup on the other group, never the less the coffee was outstanding. Extractions for both shots were roughly the same so it didn't make a difference, still I've never seen anyone do that nor do I know why he did it.
The coffee was great in both smell and taste. Distinct smell of toast, cocoa and dark smooth chocolate and on the palate a strong nutty profile with distinct sweet melted milk chocolate. This coffee was full of body and certainly wasn't lacking crema. The smooth mouth feel really added to the overall picture, just picturing that shot slowly rolling down my tongue makes my mouth water. Long lasting aftertaste, just great!
Their blend was 100% arabica and had 3 brazils.
Broadway Cafe – this coffee shop was recommended to me by the barista from Dell'Anatra he said that they are the closest thing to a quality espresso in all of Kansas city. Conveniently located close to Starbucks, this coffee shop is very popular amongst lots of people. I couldn't help but notice a very large gay community that really set the theme for this coffee shop. A very social, busy café with long benches against the outside windows of the shop made it look like Melbourne's St. Kilda area. The coffee itself was very Melbourne-like, with a long extraction with over roasted coffee and slight bitterness, as well as a lack of crema and general lack of flavour.
Hippy looking guys full of tats and piercing run the show behind the bar. The 4 group LaMarzocco Linea was at total rest, and whilst there were lots of people getting various drinks none of them were espresso based. The wall full of flavouring syrups didn't impress me at all. The cup was ground on demand and the coffee was not brewed immediately and sat in the group for at least a good 5 seconds, whilst the barista reached over to grab the cup and feel its warmth.
Overall wasn't as smooth as Dell'Anatra, but still a more than drinkable espresso.
I was very fortunate to find outstanding coffee in Kansas City, as I didn't expect it.
Dodge City
This "one horse town" doesn't have any coffee. The closest thing to it was the percolator coffee offered at the motel. If you are ever in dodge city I recommend a very nice steakhouse we went to - Casey's Cow House on trail street.
Montana - Missoula
Butterfly - My next coffee shop worthy of mentioning would have to be a very long way away from Dodge City in a small town in Montana called Missoula. We spent few days there and I found myself in a very interesting place called butterfly, this shop was deep within a bizarre bookstore and very much added on to the overall atmosphere of the shop. Those guys don't roast their own; but buy from 16 different roasters from all over the world. Their house espresso blend was absolute garbage a definite overextraction, so I couldn't pick out any characteristics out of my shot. On the other hand they had all the right equipment. They were running 3 group Marzocco Linea along side automatic Marzocco Swift grinder. I have never actually seen a Swift in action but it looked indeed swift and very quick on grinding and tamping.
I was staying with a good friend of mine and she had a little starbucks espresso machine at home. So I decided to buy the house blend and play around with it at her house. The beans that I got were well over a month old and have been sitting in an open container so they were stale. I couldn't wrap my finger around a decent shot after many attempts and different extraction methods. On top of things this poor espresso machine had a 10g filter basket with me packing 14g hitting the shower screen and trying to fit as much as possible. Anyways I was disappointed with the coffee. Overall the coffee shop ambience is outstanding but espresso is lacking.
Coeur d'Alene
This trip is almost over but we still have few more spots to visit. I heard some nice things about this one coffee shop in small town in Idaho, Coeur d'Alene. This is a very small town with few cool pubs and even an award winning local microbrewery that serves great beer. Café DOMA is located on main street among the pubs. A trendy looking, very modern place has an absolute eye candy at the bar, MIRAGE Classic by Kees van der Westen. I very much adore this machine both inside and outside in it's unique design aspects. In my opinion one of the most beautiful coffee machines ever designed. I was in total love with the Mirage, unfortunately my love was cut short by a very mediocre espresso shot.
I really like the way they set the shop with a very eye catching, beautiful machine, so I visited them later that day once again and had my 2nd shot of the day. This time a different barista has made my coffee but it was still very average. DOMA roast their coffee just outside Coeur d'Alene and sell to surrounding coffee shops.
I really enjoyed driving across the staes, it has definitely given me an amazing experience that I will never forget. Going through all the national parks and seeing small towns has been a blast. Coffee wise I can clearly say that Kansas City impressed me the most. Hope you enjoyed reading my blog … I will post a whole separate blog on Seattle so check back soon!


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Sandpiper Pest Control experts service Residential and Commercial Customers in Brevard and Indian River Counties. As critical as it is for residential homes to be pest free it may be even more important to have a pest free environment for your business. Sandpiper Pest Control has plans we have developed specifically for our commercial customers. We take care of all of your pests with more than two legs. Ants, flies, spiders, termites, rodents and more can carry disease and make for an unclean and hazardous work environment, and no business wants that.
Our education and experience in the eating and nesting habits of exotic pests can save you time and money.
At Sandpiper Pest Control we know that businesses like hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living residences need to maintain a clean and sterile environment. Schools and day care centers are magnets for pests that hitch a ride on a back pack, and children are very susceptible to disease as well as allergies, so we have a specialized plan for businesses like this.
We eliminate Ants, Roaches, Fleas, Rats and Termites.
Sandpiper Pest Control's Commercial Division also takes care of the hotels in Brevard County and Indian River County. We make sure your rooms are free of pests like bed bugs, ants and spiders. We also have a plan for regular bed bug prevention. And for local Retail Establishments, we take care of you, too. After all, shoppers expect the places they buy their food and clothing to be clean and bug free. They also want to shop where it's safe, in an environment free of harmful contaminants.
Did you know? There are 41 different kinds of roaches in Florida.
Sandpiper offers programs for restaurants, food & beverage facilities, and food processing plants, which have some of the strictest sanitation requirements going. When you work with Sandpiper Pest Control we work with you to ensure you pass any required inspections with confidence.
Commercial Pest Control Services
Offices and Government Buildings have their own set of rules governing pest control and eradication, we develop plans for these government run facilities which meet the strict criteria for your business whether as a governing agency or a local retailer.


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From the moment Tawakul Karmen took off her veil in front of television cameras five years ago, she has been a force of change in Yemen. And now the activist has been recognized around the world with a Nobel Peace Prize. Meet the woman who started the entire peaceful protest movement in the Arab world.
Protesters in Change Square, the main grounds of the Yemen revolution, rejoiced as news that their lady hero Tawakul Karman was chosen as one of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners. Cheers filled the air.
Starting in 2008, every Tuesday Tawakul Karman led protests in the square in front of the cabinet building. In a way it would be fair to say that it was she who started the concept of peaceful protests in the Muslim world way before the Arab Spring.
(READ the story in the Daily Beast)


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How to Get Started with WordPress to Design Your Website
With the popularity of WordPress showing no signs of stopping you would think there would be an easier method to create your own WordPress website rather than complete coding.
The new CS5 version of Dreamweaver is suppose to make it easier, and from what I have heard from the features it will make it somewhat of a more simpler job, but still something only the knowledgeable web developers will be able to achieve.
I assume this is possible the only way it can be done, since there no systematic tool to design a website without knowledge of coding. Now you may argue, but I'm talking about real design. Not templated options. I know for a fact there is software out there for you to create a WordPress blog from templates and color options. This isn't the kind of design I am talking about.
So now we have come to the conclusion there is no easy option if you decide to create your website with the WordPress platform as your preferred CMS. What do we need to learn to accomplish this?
- A design platform will be key of course; most notable Photoshop seems to be the most efficient platform to design a WordPress template although it is possible with fireworks with a little more effort if that is your preference. In addition to the design you'll need to slice and dice the site so you can export header, footer, etc.
- Knowledge of PHP is fundamental, although you'll not need to be extremely advanced in this coding platform learning the basics will go a long way in assisting you put together your theme.
- HTML, not too dissimilar to our PHP knowledge basics will helps greatly but you may be able to pick up what you need to know along the way as long as you are eager to learn.
- CSS, this is one of the most important parts of any website to be honest and no more so with your WordPress theme. This CSS files will tell your WordPress theme how to look. And that's the reason we doing it ourselves right? So we can make it look, the way we want it to look.
So this is what you'll need to get your head around before and during the design and development process of your WordPress website. If you already have knowledge of these coding platforms then you'll have no problem whatsoever.
Those beginners out there, there is no better way to start as WordPress incorporates some of the most highly used coding platforms on the web today. There is no hiding from it, so bite the bullet and dive in.
There are many tutorials out there which will help you design and develop your WordPress website, so get Googling!
Building a WordPress Website
These days every single business and organization needs a website for their effective functioning. Even individuals have their own websites. Therefore, you should know how to build a WordPress website or any website for that matter.
You may ask – 'Why WordPress'? There's a simple reason behind this choice – ease of use! WordPress has grown in popularity the world over because it is really easy to create and manage websites. You can easily add new posts and pages in addition to pictures, videos and much more on your WordPress website.
When it first began, WordPress has just a simple place where bloggers could organize their posts. But, ever since it took its first step into the CMS world, it's just been growing and growing – today it's one of the most advanced and secure CMS platforms available to the common man.
Building a WordPress CMS Website
Building a WordPress site from scratch isn't difficult, but you need patience and time. It's not going to happen with the click of a button. Here are some of the things that you need to do in order to build your WordPress website or blog.
- Get a domain name – The first step towards building any website is to buy a domain name. A domain name is the virtual address of your website. – this is the domain name.
- Hosting your website – Once you buy a domain name, you would also need to find a good host. A hosting company sees to the storage of all your files and makes sure that the people visiting your website are capable of assessing the pages you've made public.
- Download WordPress – Once you've got a domain name and a host, the next step would be to download WordPress so that you could work on the building of you website or blog. Google WordPress download and you'd find the right link
- Install WordPress on your hosting site – When you look out for a host, make sure that they support WordPress. Once you've downloaded it and got the right host, login to your account and install WordPress on your host site.
- Customize you website – Once you've got it onto your computer, you could use themes and plugins that are available for free or buy some cool ones to enhance the functionality of your website.
- Post content – Now that the basic design of your website is completed; get ready to post information onto your website.
That's it, you've now got yourself a fully functional website using WordPress CMS platform.
WordPress Web Design – How to create a WordPress websites in 7 steps
Do you agree with us when we say; WordPress is the great solution to create an awesome website
Is it?
Well, you will get 7 steps guidelines for WordPress web design and this complete guide will help you to frame WordPress website design whether you are a beginner or professional.
WordPress is a great solution to create a blog or website. This is because the software is open-source (free), easy to install, customize, maintain and is search friendly. One of the biggest problems site owners have is how to set up their WordPress website. This can be achieved within a few minutes b following the steps below:
How to create a WordPress website in 7 steps:
1. Register your own domain name
Although you can create a WordPress blog at WordPress dot com, I recommend registering your own domain name so you will have more control over it and you can brand your business. Select a domain name that is short, easy to remember and includes your business name or a keyword related to your business.
2. Select a web hosting provider
A web hosting service allows your website to be displayed on the web. Choose a web hosting plan that has sufficient disk space and bandwidth to host your website files. Get at least 50 MB of space and 3 GB of bandwidth and make sure you have the option to upgrade your hosting plan should you need more space and bandwidth. Make sure your Web hosting plans include the installation of WordPress. Check tech support service by calling or e-mailing the company to see how fast they respond and how friendly they are.
3. Install WordPress
Log into your web hosting administration panel (domain.com/cpanel) and look for the Fantastico icon. Click on this icon, and look for the WordPress link. Clicking on this link will install the WordPress software in a folder on the server. It will ask you for the name of our site, where to install it (domain or subdirectory) and provide a password to log in to the admin panel of the website.
4. Select a theme
There are hundreds of free and paid WordPress themes on the net. Google "free WordPress themes" to receive a list of themes to choose from. Choose on that suits your business and download the zipped files to your computer desktop. Unzip the files, then upload the new theme to the themes folder on the server (wp-content-themes) using FTP software (e.g. Filezilla, Smart FTP). Login to the admin panel, click on "appearance" to select your new theme then click "add new." Refresh your browser to display the new theme.
5. Optimize your website for the search engines
Click on setting – permalinks and check "custom structure." Insert /%postname%.html and save your changes. This enables your web pages to have search engine friendly addresses. Every time you create a new post or page, insert your keywords in the title and content so the search engines spiders will index your content. An alternative way to optimize your content is to install the all-in-one SEO pack plug-in.
6. Promote your website
Here are 10 methods for promoting your site:
- Write good quality content
- Write and submit articles to article directories
- Offer a newsletter or e-zine
- Encourage interactivity by responding to comments
- Submit RSS feed to RSS directories
- Submit blog to Blog directories
- Add social media icons to make it easy for visitors to share your content with others
- Create videos of your content and submit them to video sharing websites
- Write a press release and submit it to press release websites
- Submit your website to online directories and search engines
7. Track your visitors
Your web hosting plan usually includes site statistics which tell you how many visits your website receives, where they are coming from and the keywords used to find your site. View these statistics regularly to track traffic coming to your website.
WordPress Security Checklist for WordPress Websites
Here is a simple checklist for WordPress owners and publishers.
WordPress is one of the most popular website platforms because of it's ease of use however, it has its problems, and it is because of its popularity that hackers use this platform to attempt to inject their malware and malicious scripts.
WordPress Security has become essential today to protect not only your website but your brand reputation.
Unknown Infections
Often WordPress owners are unaware that their website has been hacked. Just because your website has been hacked it doesn't necessarily mean you will see a strange image when you access your website. Hackers often disguise the fact they have hacked your site as they have injected a mailbot and you are spamming from your IP address.
Use our checklist for the foundation of good WordPress Security:
- Clean and remove spyware, malware and viruses from your PC/Mac before entering the backend of your WordPress installation.
- Backup your website before you do anything, this is easily done with the use of Backup Buddy.
- Never use 'admin' as a username.
- Always use a strong password.
- Stay Updated – Ensure your WordPress Installation and WordPress plug-ins are always up to date. See latest WP Security updates in the resources section below.
- Limit Login Attempts – Ensure you reduce the login attempts down to around 3 attempts. Don't make it easy for the hackers.
- Remove unwanted WordPress Themes – When themes are still on your website and they go out of date hackers use these to gain entry. Only have the theme you are using installed and keep that up to date.
- Spring Clean – Your WordPress website may have other folders on the root of your server. Do you really need them or are they development areas. If you don't need to folders delete them.
- Your Hosting Company – Make sure you are using a hosting company that specializes in WordPress installations. WordPress servers need special attention to protect your website.
- Double layer Authentication – Use an added layer of security.
Whilst the checklist above is not an exhaustive list, it is a foundation level of security. Protection is the start of the process, monitoring your website on a daily basis is important. We realize that many website owners just don't have time or the knowledge, so we provide 3 services that can be found in the resources section below.
WordPress Development – An Ideal Web Design Solution
For companies which are looking for simple and effective web or blog design options. WordPress Development is the ideal most solution. This platform offers effective open source development platforms that help you easily customize the website to your business needs. The fact that this platform is an open source content management system; it offers tremendous flexibility with respect to customizing your entire online development initiative.
The market has an array of expert WordPress Development professionals who will assist you in building custom themes and templates, and even help in modifying pre-existing ones to build a unique portal that fits your design, style and internet marketing objectives.
Cost Effective
Not only is the portal extremely easy to use, but it is also an effective open source WordPress Development additionally provides inexpensive theme and plug-in development solutions which allows you to develop a content rich, friendly and lightweight portal for your audiences.
Themes and Plug-ins
It is extremely easy to add as many plug-ins as you want. Additionally, it offers the unique capability of switching between themes and customized widgets without the need to make any modifications in the PHP or HTML coding of the portal.
Easy Hosting and Installing
There is no task easier than installing and hosting a WordPress website. All the developer needs to do is identify a hosting company and with a single click proceed to the installation process. This platform also offers easy solutions that make for effective back linking exercises. One can easily gain access to track-back or ping-back support standards for link exchanges. It's superior plug-in architecture enables to enhance the functionality of the features that are incorporated on the portal through WordPress Development.
Enhanced Security
A major benefit offered by this open source development platform is the enhanced features in security that are empowered by features such as complete user registration, protection from spam, password protected content uploading and posts as well as simplifying the installation and upgrading features f the website.
This portal offers impressive capabilities to effectively manage and absorb high traffic levels by taking control of the server load thus ensuring that the website works efficiently at all times.
Search Engine Optimization
Not only us WordPress Development an extremely simple and quick way to create a blog site, but it is also extremely marketing objectives. The moment you set your WordPress domain live, it provides a vast variety of features that help you get creative with our content allowing you to manage your SEO objectives efficiently.
Customizing a WordPress Website
Now you have set up your WordPress website, it's time to customize it to get most out of it. Log into your dashboard and click on the setting tab. From the drop down menu click on general tab. Once inside the admin area you can customize your site title, tagline, email address, time zone information and save your changes. Whatever, you do, DO NOT change the WordPress URL and site address URL or your website will not work. Then click on the tab reading and choose the option static page. You can choose what you want to be your front page or after your create coupe of pages you can come back and select your main (front) page and save your changes. Next click on the permalinks tab and select custom structure. In the box write this; /%postname% and save changes. If you want to change the look of your website you do that by changing the theme. There are lots of options available online where you can use free themes or for real professional look purchase a theme you like. Click on the appearance tab in your dashboard.
From the drop down menu choose theme option and click install themes. On the bottom of the page click on the option find themes. There are whole bunch of theme you can choose from. If you downloaded a theme on our computer then after selecting install theme click upload the browse where you saved the file and then select install now. Once installed then choose the option activate the theme. Now you have a new look to your website. If you are using a theme that has sidebar and you want to customize how it looks. In you dashboard click on appearance and then choose widget. Once side widget menu you can then drag and drop widgets into your sidebar and customize it.
Finally you can improve the functionality of your website by downloading plugins. Plugins are additional software you integrate into your website that gives your website additional features. There are thousands of plugins online, you just have to Google to find theme. To install them, click on the plugin tab on your dashboard and choose option add new. In the search term type in whatever plugin you are looking for. Once you find your plugin click install now and when it's installed activate it. If you have downloaded it on your computer choose upload and browse where you saved it on your hard drive and upload it and activate it. Some of the must have plugins are as follows:
Smart YouTube by Vladimir Prelovac. It allows you to display YouTube videos in your post or page. Once you download the plugin and activate it, you have to customize it. From settings tab in your dashboard click on smart youtube, once inside choose the option to display video in your post. If you want you can play around with size of video display and so on. Make sure save your changes. Now all you have to do is copy the url of the video and paste it into your post. Remember if for example your URL is; http://, insert v in the URL for the video to display, so the URL will look like this; httpv://
Google Analytics Visits, follow the installation procedure mention above. This vital tool gives detail analysis of visitors to your website.
Google Sitemaps, is a way to tell Google about pages on your site that they might not otherwise know about.
Affordable WordPress Websites for Small Business
Many small business owners are at the mercy of website designers and developers. With high hourly rates, small business owners are held hostage when the website need content updates or other minor changes. Why does this happen? Website designers and website developers know that if they create a website for their clients that is difficult to use and understand, the business owner will have to keep coming back to theme for updates and modifications. Add this insult to the already astronomical price applied to having a new website designed and you can be thousands of dollars in the whole before your website reaches the one year mark.
WordPress offers a simpler, more affordable solution to small business websites.
The Benefits of a WordPress Website to Small Business
WordPress is a 100% FREE blogging / content management platform. That's right; many of you may be surprised to read that it is completely free. Because WordPress is free, it has hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of users. Furthermore, there is an army of web developers all working and contributing to make it more secure and to keep it up to date. As if that all wasn't enough, there are thousands of free theme themes available to make your website look different from all of the others, and thousands more premium (usually costing under $100) themes available for purchase. Also due to the large number of users there are thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins available which can extend the functionality of WordPress beyond that of just a normal website. And, believe it or not, I haven't gotten to the best part yet. WordPress has an admin section with a graphic user interface (GUI) which makes it possible for the web layperson to make updates and additions to their own website. I have numerous clients myself that are using the WordPress platform that login to their own websites and make updates and alterations without having to call me for support or spend a time.
How Expensive are WordPress Websites
As mentioned previously, WordPress itself is free. However, there are still costs associated with setting up the WordPress website, Domain Registration, and Hosting for the website. If you're not very good at learning new software you may want to consider having the person who sets up your WordPress website do some training with you. There are also may be some need to have the WordPress web designer or WordPress web developer that is helping you make some modifications that may be too difficult for you, such as adding your business logo. On average, we are able to get a client's website online between $400 and $500. Although, we have provided clients with websites for as little as $200.
What you need to know before you start a WordPress blog
If you've been considering starting a wordpress blog, you have probably run into people telling you that WordPress is the way to go. After all their blogs are flexible and easy to use, and yet they offer endless options for customization. You might have heard about people who make money by blogging and selling adspace on their websites and you've decided that you want a piece of the pie. Obviously blogging isn't a get rich quick answer to all of your money woes, but it can be way to earn some extra cash. If you're considering using WordPress for your blog there are a few things that you need to know before you signup.
When you choose to start a WordPress blog your basically have two different options. This option is free and still provides most of the flexibility that WordPress can offer. You get to start your own blog, publish posts, and build on online audience. The downfall to this option is that because you are using WordPress to host your blog they technically own your writing.This means that they can take your blog down at any time and for any reason. Although this rarely happens it is still a cause for concern. The larger disadvantage to having WordPress host your blog is that you don't have your own domain name. This severely limits the growth potential of your blog. If you want to maximize the potential of your blog it is far better to use the second option that is available through WordPress.
By using wordpress.org instead of wordpress.com you can ensure that your blog will have your domain name, and that it will be easily recognizable as yours. Obviously this costs a bit of money up front, but it makes sense if you think of your domain name as an investment in the future of your business. Using a hosting site with your own domain name means that you own the content and can determine what you publish and how you market your website. You still have all of the flexibility and support that WordPress offers along with the added bonus of having complete control of the content that you put on your website.
No matter which option you choose, WordPress provides detailed instructions for getting started. Even if you are choosing to purchase a domain name and use an outside host the process for getting everything set up is very easy. WordPress advertises that they have a 5-minute install that will get you up and running in no time. The customizing and templates are easy to use and thousands of plugins are available that will enable you to professional looking website exactly the way you want it, even if you don't know anything about web design.
Custom Web Design- WordPress
Whenever customers click on your page, the first five minute are enough to tell them what they will get from your website. The very five minutes will tell them whether what they were looking for will be found in your site or not. Having this well in your mind, you have to make sure that the features which they are searching for ( the customers) are provided in your website. Some of the features will involve.
– Legitimate
– Trustworthiness
-And lastly but the very important professionalism
Any website design, which has those elements, is very sure to compete with the so called mega-businesses, which are known to contain more than 50k customers, selling thousands of products each week. So what is present in those websites which use custom web design and what is lacking? The custom web design allows WordPress features to be used, and this means that most of the websites made using this design are more SEO friendly. It is a factor which determines the websites performance in customer attraction. Another advantage of having this web design is that your business persona is well captured. Your website needs to be able to generate certain specific results. For example, if you sell beauty products, then your site should be able to generate sales.
Custom web design is geared in achieving these kinds of results. A very important feature of WordPress is its ability to have a unique website. Did you know that some business owners are subjected to not getting enough customers simply because the website is 'just like the other type?'
Graphics used in creating and designing the website have been used elsewhere and thus customers find nothing new. Custom web design ensures that a website created is unique and nothing else can resemble that website. To get the full taste of custom design, it would be advisable to not just emphasize on web creation but also ensure that you first identify the requirements of the customers, and then translate these requirements into feature which can be applied using the custom web design to get nothing but the best.
Convenience of using WordPress Development for your web design work
To ensure a smooth startup, now is the time for you to call a programmer and make sure that your site are in usable condition and that you have the best programs and tools. After you do this, you will not have to worry about the above problems and will be on your way to gaining more business and clients.
5 Tips for using WordPress Development:-
- One of the perks of WordPress is that for the most basic options, it is completely free. If later on you want a particular theme or custom design all you have to do is download the newer versions to your website. While these are not free, most of the services should not cost you more than $100.
- If you are somewhat tech savvy, then you can easily clear errors in the system by yourself instead of hiring a programmer. With the help of WordPress, you will save money and solve technical issues without any extra hassles.
- Templates are normally expensive, especially if you are looking for high quality, custom templates. With WordPress, you can find many template designs for free. This is a good option for smaller businesses, of for those that are just starting out.
- WordPress can be accessed from any place and in any part of the world. No longer will you have to manage without when you are travelling or working outside of the office.
- You can rearrange the results of your website through the help of WordPress. If for example, your site is not in the first page of results online, then you can optimize the site by using wordpress.
After reading the above benefits of using WordPress, you are most likely debating whether or not it is worth it to pay money for extra plug-ins. Most well-respected business invest money in a few plug-ins because they know that the higher the quality of their products and advertising, the higher their chances are to gain new clients and a lager profit. If you want to earn money through your website, then you will have to invest more money. If you pay more for the services, you will have more options in terms of design aesthetics and layout. You will also develop a professional reputation for your business, which will generate more spending. Before you invest your time and money with WordPress, you need to be sure of your financial budget and goals and then choose the right option for you.


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Aries / WidderMars has left Aries' house of couples, where it didn't really make a happy pair with Saturn. That being said, the later half of September will bring you clarity. You will suddenly understand techniques you never dreamed of.
Your color is blue.
You will be, too, as you realize your insight comes too late for a big event.
| Taurus / Stier
The ruler of your sign, Venus, will overflow with passion in Leo, the Sun will burn in your house of sensuality, and Mars will "play with fire" in your house of couples!
In Short: You are on fire, dude! Your color is soooooo red.
End of September there is a chance to go down in a blaze of glory.
| Gemini / Zwillinge
Venus in Leo makes September 2012 your favorite: You feel strongly connected to communication, trips and information.
You should visit at least one miniature event or workshop this month - great things will come from it. Maybe even l.o.v.e.?
Your color is yellow.
| Cancer / Krebs
September will bring unexpected income for you! You'll do as well when it comes to intellectual, commercial or creative-artistic matters. Ebay calls you.
However, all will come with a taste of disappointment - is there more to painting than this?
Your color is dark green.
| Leo / Löwe
On September 6th 2012, Venus will step into Leo. It'll be by your side until October 3rd, in which period it'll spoil you with its precious gifts.
You will fall in love with something new. But you must search the new first!
You will do very well in group events this month.
Your color is Shiny Silver.
| Virgo / Jungfrau
Because the Sun and Mercury (which is the ruler of Virgo) are in your sign, your personality and physical advantages will be highly marked. Your appetite for fame will be satisfied.
You must finish a competition miniature this month and victory will sure be yours.
Your colors are purple with golden stars.
| Libra / Waage
Both Venus and Mars will be in stable positions that don't foreshadow too many changes for you.
If you are a great painter, thats cool. If not, it sucks. But longlasting success will come from international corporations and trips abroad.
Your colors are dried up. Buy new ones.
| Scorpio / Skorpion
Mars in Scorpio will motivate and energize you. In September 2012 you'll focus on your profession, have clear objectives, energy, ambition and initiative.
If you pull things together, a big event at the end of September or the beginning of October will turn out fantastic.
Your colors are blue and orange.
| Sagittarius / Schütze
You'll be very enthusiastic, but not in a top shape as far as painting is concerned. Take a step back and take a deep long breath before you ruin your work with over-eagerness.
Beware of sharp modelling knives.
Beware of tweezers.
Beware of pointy things in general.
Beware of.... ah, just be careful, get it?
Your colors are white and red-orange.
| Capricorn / Steinbock
September 2012 will finally be the last month that Saturn will spend in Libra, meaning the last month of hard work, obstacles and constraints in painting. Jupiter already has some big plans for you.
At the end of September, pick up your brush. And dont stop painting until your fingers bleed!
Your colors are waiting for you.
| Aquarius / Wasserman
You'll be the most fortunate painter of the zodiac in September 2012! You feel the need to test your skill in a competition - maybe even a one-on-one battle of the brushes!
Everything you do will turn out fantastic.
You can choose any color you want, you lucky bastard! The stars said so!
| Pisces / Fische
Things stay the way they are - and you are happy with it.
Challenging yourself might get you out of your comfort zone. Try something you have never tried before. A freehand. Oils. Crazy bases.
Your colors are grey. All of them. You should REALLY challenge yourself.
masterminis.net - where we learn to be a better painter!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Painter's Horoscope - September 2012
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