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Blog Making Money – Can You Do It
A blog making money is a blog that is generally successful. While this is not the focal point of many blogs, for some, this is a great addition to their income and the more successful, their only source of income and allowing them to have a pretty decent lifestyle. For the most part, making money from blogs is a mystery to many people should not keep it that way. Read on and you may find other ways for you to make money. Blog Making Money – Can You Do It
See Passive Income CB -> CLONE AN ENTIRE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Before anything else, you should be able to write fairly consistently and steadily. Three or four entries a week did not look like much at the beginning, but after a while could even use the most loyal author though. It's like a job sometimes you get bored with it and you step out for a day or two, but the Internet is a much more demanding ruler than many bosses. Plus nothing feels better than knowing that you have a blog making money. If you have solid, dedicated followers, you can spend a day or two or even weeks. Some sites even go a month without updating, but at the beginning, you should be able to stick to it like white rice.
For those who open blogs based on products, you're lucky you might be able to follow the affiliate bandwagon and make some money that way. Well, how does it work? It's quite simple. Being an affiliate to a website basically means that you advertise it on your website, either by having content related to the main website and linking them or by displaying their ads on your site. The payout is unlike in any other media industry. The Internet is just a different field than television, which requires different payment methods.
Generally, the setup is pay-per-blank, where blank is something that changes from group to group when it comes to making money blogs. Most people are looking for a pay per click variant, which means exactly what the suggested payment only happens after a viewer on your site clicks a link to their site. Other popular variants, mostly for merchandise sites like Amazon, are pay-per-purchase variants. A user needs to do more than just browse through the items so they really have to buy something.
Payments for ads for a money-making blog vary from one group to another. Luckily the internet and thus, the people you can meet in it are so vast that you may find someone or a group that wants to advertise or have it as an affiliate. Build a good site and the money will come.
Maybe. Internet and blogging are not some magic words you can use to get ahead in the rat race. It does not work that way. You still have to work hard and create a site that really attracts advertisers, who can give real traffic to those who will make you an affiliate site. Work hard, put on the work leg and you can be a blog making money. Blog Making Money – Can You Do It


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The Last of Sheila (1973) - starring Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Raquel Welch, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett & Richard Benjamin.
A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multi-millionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scavenger hunt-style mystery game. The game turns out to be all too real and all too deadly.
It was written by Anthony Perkins & Stephen Sondheim - apparently inspired by the elaborate games and scavenger hunts they planned for their friends.
The plot seemed like it would be right up my murder-mystery-adoring alley, but while watching it I wasn't exactly consumed with an intense curiosity to figure out the puzzle. Not bad though. Not bad.
wikipedia / imdb / netflix / buy or rent
See all the previous movie posts here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Aero is a 50sec animation.
NOTE: You do not need any plugins to open this file
Main features:
- AE CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 project
- No plugins
- Native resolution – 1280×720px
- Easily replace the contact and modify
- Add unlimited number of scenes
- Video tutorial on how to edit the file.
- If you need help customizing the project file, please contact me via my profile page..
Music is not included but can be purchased from here Destruction
Images used are for preview purpose only. You can find them for purchase on depositphotos.comHope you like the file


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Getting Started
So you want to take advantage of the power of the OpenGL API? If you are visiting this page because a game or software uses the OpenGL API, you need to install the appropriate graphic driver which enables usage of the functionality provided.
To program using the OpenGL API, you need the driver and the development package (depends on platform and programming language). More platform-specific details are described in the sections below.
This Wiki maintains a FAQ page for OpenGL. There is an older FAQ available, but information in it is more likely to be out of date.
Downloading OpenGL
In all three major desktop platforms (Linux, MacOS X, and Windows), OpenGL more or less comes with the system. However, you will need to ensure that you have downloaded and installed a recent driver for your graphics hardware.
Appropriate Windows driver websites:
Some sites also distribute beta versions of graphics drivers, which may give you access to bug fixes or new functionality before an official driver release from the manufacturer:
Without drivers, you will default to a software version of OpenGL 1.1 (on Win98, ME, and 2000), a Direct3D wrapper that supports OpenGL 1.1 (WinXP), or a Direct3D wrapper that supports OpenGL 1.1 (Windows Vista and Windows 7). None of these options are particularly fast, so installing drivers is always a good idea.
Graphics on Linux is almost exclusively implemented using the X windows system. Supporting OpenGL on Linux involves using GLX extensions to the X Server. There is a standard Application Binary Interface defined for OpenGL on Linux that gives application compatibility for OpenGL for a range of drivers. In addition the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) is a driver framework that allows drivers to be written and interoperate within a standard framework to easily support hardware acceleration, the DRI is included in of XFree86 4.0 but may need a card specific driver to be configured after installation. These days, XFree86 has been rejected in favor of XOrg due to the change in the license of XFree86, so many developers left Xfree86 and joined the XOrg group. Popular Linux distros come with XOrg now. Developers
Vendors have different approaches to drivers on Linux, some support Open Source efforts using the DRI, and others support closed source frameworks but all methods support the standard ABI that will allow correctly written OpenGL applications to run on Linux.
For more information on developing OpenGL applications on Linux, see Platform specifics: Linux
Linux comes with Mesa libraries, which implements the OpenGL API as a software rasterizer. Most Linux distros don't come with hardware acceleration. Some Linux distributions may include support for hardware acceleration. Also, some GPUs have Open Source drivers developed by the community even though a close source driver may be available from the manufacturer.
Mac OS X
Unlike other platforms, where the Operating System and OpenGL implementations are often updated separately, OpenGL updates are included as part of Mac OS X system updates. To obtain the latest OpenGL on Mac OS X, users should upgrade to the latest OS release, which can be found at Apple.com.
For developers, a default installation of Mac OS X does not include any OpenGL headers, nor does it include other necessary development tools. These are installed by a separate developer tools package called Xcode. This installer includes the OpenGL headers, compilers (gcc), debuggers (gdb), Apple's Xcode IDE, and a number of performance tools useful for OpenGL application development.
For more information on developing OpenGL applications on Mac OS X, see Platform specifics: Mac OS X.
Writing an OpenGL Application
The first step is to pick your language. Bindings for OpenGL exist in many languages, from C# and Java to Python and Lua. Some languages have multiple sets of OpenGL bindings, none of them being official. All of them are ultimately based on the C/C++ bindings.
If you are not using C/C++, you must download and install a package or library for your chosen language that includes the OpenGL bindings. Some come pre-installed, but others have separate downloads.
If you are using C/C++, then you must first set up a build environment (Visual Studio project, GNU makefile, CMake file, etc) that can link to OpenGL. Under Windows, you need to statically link to a library called OpenGL32.lib (note that you still link to OpenGL32.lib if you're building a 64-bit executable. The "32" part is meaningless). Visual Studio, and most Windows compilers, come with this library.
On Linux, you need to link to libGL. This is done with a command-line parameter of "-lGL".
Before you can actually use OpenGL in a program, you must first initialize it. Because OpenGL is platform-independent, there is not a standard way to initialize OpenGL; each platform handles it differently. Non-C/C++ language bindings can also handle these differently.
There are two phases of OpenGL initialization. The first phase is the creation of an OpenGL context; the second phase is to load all of the necessary functions to use OpenGL. Some non-C/C++ language bindings merge these into one.
OpenGL Context Creation
An OpenGL context represents all of OpenGL. Creating one is very platform-specific, as well as language-binding specific.
If you are using the C/C++ language binding for OpenGL, then you are strongly advised to use a window toolkit for managing this task. These libraries create a window, attach an OpenGL context to this window, and manage basic input for that window. Once you are comfortable with OpenGL, you can then start learning how to do this manually.
Most non-C/C++ language bindings will provide you with a language-specific mechanism for creating a context.
Getting Functions
If you are using a non-C/C++ language binding, then the maintainer of that binding will already handle this as part of context creation. If you are using C/C++, read on.
In order to use OpenGL, you must get OpenGL API functions. For most libraries you are familiar with, you simply #include a header file, make sure a library is linked into your project or makefile, and it all works. OpenGL doesn't work that way.
For reasons that are ultimately irrelevant to this discussion, you must manually load functions via a platform-specific API call. This boilerplate work is done with various OpenGL loading libraries; these make this process smooth. You are strongly advised to use one.
If you want to do it manually however, there is a guide as to how to load functions manually. You still should use an extension loader.
Using OpenGL
OpenGL is a rendering library. What OpenGL does not do is retain information about an "object". All OpenGL sees is a ball of triangles and a bag of state with which to render them. It does not remember that you drew a line in one location and a sphere in another.
Because of that, the general way to use OpenGL is to draw everything you need to draw, then show this image with a platform-dependent buffer swapping command. If you need to update the image, you draw everything again, even if you only need to update part of the image. If you want to animate objects moving on the screen, you need a loop that constantly clears and redraws the screen.
There are techniques for only updating a portion of the screen. And you can use OpenGL with these techniques. But OpenGL itself doesn't do it internally; you must remember where you drew everything. You must figure out what needs updating and clear only that part of the screen. And so forth.
There are many tutorials and other materials available for learning how to use OpenGL, both on this wiki and online.
OpenGL Viewers
These are programs that you install and run, and they give you information specific to the OpenGL API your system implements, like the version offered by your system, the vendor, the renderer, the extension list, supported viewport size, line size, point size, plus many other details. Some might include a benchmark. Some are standalone benchmarks.
- GPU Caps Viewer (Windows XP, Vista 32)
- OpenGL Extension Viewer (Windows, Windows x64 and MacOS X): This one comes with a database containing information about what extensions are implemented by hardware other than your own.
- FurMark benchmarking application (Windows)
Tutorials and How To Guides
User contributed tutorials and getting started guides
- OpenGL 3.0 and above:
- Develop with OpenGL 3.1 from scratch (Français)
- Learning Modern 3D Graphics Programming Through OpenGL.
- OpenGL Step by Step (using C++, FreeGLUT and GLEW)
- OpenGLBook.com Free online OpenGL 4.0 book (OpenGL 3.3 code provided wherever possible) using freeglut and GLEW
- Spiele Programmierung Windows OpenGL 3 Tutorials And Articles, Beginner to Advanced in German
- Swiftless OpenGL 4 Tutorials
- opengl-tutorial.org OpenGL 3.3 and later Tutorials
- Modern OpenGL Tom Dalling
- Modern OpenGL 2012 (PDF file) by The Little Grashopper
- Pre-OpenGL 3.0:
- The OpenGL Programming Guide, also called the Red Book Covers OpenGL version 1.1.
- DurianSoftware.com, Intro to Modern OpenGL (en français)
- GLUT, Tutorials
- GPWiki OpenGL Tutorials
- LeoLoL, OpenGL Tutorials for Java (JOGL)
- lighthouse3d.com, GL 2.0, GLSL, tutorials
- MarekKnows.com, Game development video tutorials, OpenGL, shaders, physics, math, C++, 3D modeling, network, audio etc
- NeHe, OpenGL Tutorials
- Setting up OpenGL, C++ & GLUT on Windows 7, Beginner tutorial
- SongHo OpenGL tutorials
- Swiftless Tutorials OpenGL 1 & 2,
- Lazy Foo's OpenGL Tutorial, Covers OpenGL 2D in both OpenGL 2.1 and modern OpenGL
- Code Resources: These are small snippets of code from the web that have been useful in the past. Most of them use deprecated functionality.
By Topic
- Deferred Shading Tutorials
- Shadow Mapping
- opengl-tutorial.org, Tutorial 16 : Shadow mapping PCF, shadow-acne/peter-panning, stratisfied sampling. GL3.3.
- paulsprojects.net GL1.5.
- ShadowMapping with GLSL shadow-acne, resolution, backfaces, border-issues. GL2+
Development Tools
- gDEBugger - OpenGL, OpenGL ES and OpenCL Debugger, Profiler and Memory Analyzer For Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and iPhone
- AMD gDEBugger - After Graphic Remedy became a subsidiary of AMD in 2011, the new line of gDEBugger was released as a Visual Studio plugin and has since been re-released as a stand-alone application for Windows and Linux.
See Also
- OpenGL Reference: All of the OpenGL 4.6 functions and what they do.
- Related toolkits and APIs: For utilities that make using OpenGL easier.
- Language bindings
External Links
- Reference Documentation
- Implementations
- The Mesa 3D Graphics Library, a software renderer based on the OpenGL API.
- Engines
- Demos
- Delphi OpenGL Demos
- G-Truc Creation: OpenGL 2.1 - 4.1 Code samples
- Humus.name many demos, advanced
- Paul Bourke many demos and explanations, advanced
- OpenGL Code Samples modern OpenGL code samples and demos
- OGLplus Examples OpenGL 3 and higher code examples
- Theory and General Graphics Programming
- Vendor SDKs
- Other
- 3D models
- http://www.opengl.org/sdk/docs/tutorials/TyphoonLabs/
- http://www.opencsg.org, Constructive Solid Geometry, boolean operations with geometry
- GameDev.net, The Gamedev OpenGL Forums
- http://gpwiki.org A Wiki about Game Programming, also has GL code snippets and other APIs


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A man getting married has a new suit to put on, on the day of his wedding. He will make the she'hechiyonu brocho. Should he have the "acquisition" of his wife in mind in addition when he pronounces the blessing?
On the one hand she is much more important than a new suit; on the other hand we do not know that she will agree until he attempts to place the ring on her hand.


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Battery Maker A123 Sold at Auction to Chinese Firm
Chinese auto parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group agreed to purchase battery maker A123 Systems for $256.6 million Sunday, pending approval from U.S. bankruptcy court and the federal government. A123 makes lithium ion batteries and storage systems for the utility and transportation sectors.
The deal ends an ownership roller coaster for the Waltham, Massachusetts-based A123 that began in August, when Wanxiang had agreed to take an 80 percent stake in the troubled company.
That investment deal fell apart "as a result of unanticipated and significant challenges to its completion," A123 CEO David Vieau said in a statement at the time. A few weeks later, A123 filed for bankruptcy, and battery giant Johnson Controls stepped in with an offer to buy. (See related story: "Battery Maker A123's Bankruptcy Underscores Hurdles for Clean Tech") But Wanxiang ultimately outbid Johnson Controls and two other companies, saying the deal would help Wanxiang grow its U.S.-based subsidiary. "We are committed to making the long-term investments necessary for A123 to be successful," said Pin Ni, president of Wanxiang America.
Critics of Wanxiang's investment in A123 have pointed to concerns about job loss and national security. "This is the latest in a seemingly continuous cascade of predictable, super-sized clean-tech commercialization failures, which unfortunately hemorrhages our critical national technology and intellectual property advantages to the Chinese and other economic competitors," said Andy Karsner, former assistant energy secretary under the Bush administration, in The Washington Post.
But Wanxiang and A123 told The Washington Post that Wanxiang would be keeping A123's American operations running and would not move those jobs overseas. A123 has about 1,000 employees in the United States.
The agreed-upon price of $256.6 milion for A123 is just about the same as the amount of government grant money that the company had secured over the last few years. (See: "A123 Bankruptcy by the Numbers") The purchase deal does not, however, include A123's contracts with U.S. government, including military contracts. Those are being acquired by Woodridge, Illinois-based Navitas Systems for $2.25 million.
The A123 deal is part of a tide of Chinese investment in North American energy companies. On Friday, Canada approved the $15.1 billion purchase of oil and gas producer Nexen by China's state-owned CNOOC. (See related blog post: "Snapshot: Chinese Investment in North American Energy in 2012")


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Learn About the Law
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw's Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you're ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Petitioner applied in 1966 for conscientious objector status to his local Selective Service board, which advised him that his claim would be passed on when his student deferment expired. His board was told in 1967 that petitioner had been accepted for a graduate program where, in petitioner's own view, he would "probably qualify" for a theological exemption. However, no request for ministerial student status was made, nor was pertinent supporting information presented. Petitioner refused to fill out a current information questionnaire sent to him on his graduation from college, announcing that he would not cooperate with the Selective Service System. Following the local board's subsequent reclassification of petitioner I-A, he did not seek a personal appearance before the board or appeal board review. Petitioner thereafter refused to submit to induction, for which, along with other draft law violations, he was prosecuted and convicted. The Court of Appeals, rejecting petitioner's defense that the local board had erred in its classification, affirmed. Held: Petitioner's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies jeopardized the interest of the Selective Service System, as the administrative agency responsible for classifying registrants, in developing the facts and using its expertise to assess his claims to exempt status and thus bars petitioner's defense that he was erroneously classified. McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185 , factually distinguished. Pp. 483-491.
426 F.2d 691, affirmed.
MARSHALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C. J., and BLACK, HARLAN, BRENNAN, STEWART, WHITE, and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined. DOUGLAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 492.
Alan H. Levine argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Marvin M. Karpatkin and Melvin L. Wulf. [402 U.S. 479, 480]
William Bradford Reynolds argued the cause for the United States pro hac vice. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Griswold and Assistant Attorney General Wilson.
Marvin B. Haiken filed briefs for Richard Kenneth LeGrande as amicus curiae.
MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner was convicted of failing to submit to induction and other violations of the draft laws. His principal defense involves the contention that he had been incorrectly classified by his local Selective Service board. The Court of Appeals ruled that this defense was barred because petitioner had failed to pursue and exhaust his administrative remedies. We granted certiorari, 400 U.S. 864 (1970), to consider the applicability of the "exhaustion of administrative remedies" doctrine in the circumstances of this case.
In February 1966, while attending the University of Rochester, petitioner applied to his local Selective Service board for conscientious objector status. In support of his claim to that exemption he submitted the special form for conscientious objectors (SSS Form 150), setting forth his views concerning participation in war. 1 The board continued petitioner's existing classification - student deferment [402 U.S. 479, 481] - and advised him that the conscientious objector claim would be passed upon when student status no longer applied.
In April 1967 petitioner wrote to President Johnson, enclosing the charred remnants of his draft cards and declaring his conviction that he must "sever every link with violence and war." The letter included a statement that petitioner had "already been accepted for graduate study in a program where I would probably qualify for the theological deferment." A copy of the letter was forwarded to the local board; the board continued petitioner's student deferment. Petitioner graduated in June 1967, and thereafter the board sent him a current information questionnaire (SSS Form 127), which asked inter alia for specific information concerning his future educational plans and generally for any information he thought should be called to the board's attention. Petitioner returned the questionnaire unanswered and announced in a cover letter that henceforth he would adhere to a policy of noncooperation with the Selective Service System.
In September 1967 the board reviewed petitioner's file, rejected the pending conscientious objector claim, 2 and reclassified petitioner I-A. In response to his reclassification petitioner sought neither a personal appearance before the local board nor review by the appeal board. Indeed, pursuant to his policy of noncooperation, he returned to the board, unopened, the communication notifying him of the reclassification and of his right to appear before the local board, to confer with the Government appeal agent, and to appeal. Petitioner did not appear for a physical examination ordered to take place in October 1967. He did respond to an order to appear [402 U.S. 479, 482] for induction in January 1968, and he took a physical examination at that time. However, he refused to submit to induction.
Petitioner was prosecuted, under 12 (a) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, 62 Stat. 622, as amended, 50 U.S.C. App. 462 (a) (1964 ed., Supp. V) and applicable Selective Service regulations, 3 for failing to submit to induction (count I), failing to report for a pre-induction physical examination (count II), failing to keep possession of a valid classification notice (count III), and failing to submit requested information relevant to his draft status (count IV). Petitioner was convicted on all four counts and sentenced to two years' imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently. Petitioner's principal defense to liability for refusing induction 4 was that the local board had erred in classifying him I-A. 5 The Court of Appeals, with one judge dissenting, held that the defense of incorrect classification was barred because petitioner had failed to exhaust the administrative remedies available for correction of such an error. The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. [402 U.S. 479, 483]
Two Terms ago, in McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185 (1969), the Court surveyed the place of the exhaustion doctrine in Selective Service cases, and the policies that underpin the doctrine. As it has evolved since Falbo v. United States, 320 U.S. 549 (1944), and Estep v. United States, 327 U.S. 114 (1946), the doctrine when properly invoked operates to restrict judicial scrutiny of administrative action having to do with the classification of a registrant, in the case of a registrant who has failed to pursue normal administrative remedies and thus has sidestepped a corrective process which might have cured or rendered moot the very defect later complained of in court. Cf. Oestereich v. Selective Service Board, 393 U.S. 233, 235 -236, n. 5 (1968); Gibson v. United States, 329 U.S. 338, 349 -350 (1946). McKart stands for the proposition that the doctrine is not to be applied inflexibly in all situations, but that decision also plainly contemplates situations where a litigant's claims will lose vitality because the litigant has failed to contest his rights in an administrative forum. The result in a criminal context is no doubt a substantial detriment to the defendant whose claims are barred. Still this unhappy result may be justified in particular circumstances by considerations relating to the integrity of the Selective Service classification process and the limited role of the courts in deciding the proper classification of draft registrants. 6 [402 U.S. 479, 484]
After McKart the task for the courts, in deciding the applicability of the exhaustion doctrine to the circumstances of a particular case, is to ask "whether allowing all similarly situated registrants to bypass [the administrative avenue in question] would seriously impair the Selective Service System's ability to perform its functions." 395 U.S., at 197 . McKart specified the salient interests that may be jeopardized by a registrant's failure to pursue administrative remedies. Certain failures to exhaust may deny the administrative system important opportunities "to make a factual record" for purposes of classification, or "to exercise its discretion or apply its expertise" in the course of decisionmaking. Id., at 194. There may be a danger that relaxation of exhaustion requirements, in certain circumstances, would induce "frequent and deliberate flouting of administrative processes," thereby undermining the scheme of decisionmaking that Congress has created. Id., at 195. And of course, a strict exhaustion requirement tends to ensure that the agency have additional opportunities "to discover and correct its own errors," and thus may help to obviate all occasion for judicial review. Ibid.
To be weighed against the interests in exhaustion is the harsh impact of the doctrine when it is invoked to bar any judicial review of a registrant's claims. Surely an insubstantial procedural default by a registrant should [402 U.S. 479, 485] not shield an invalid order from judicial correction, simply because the interest in time-saving self-correction by the agency is involved. That single interest is conceivably slighted by any failure to exhaust, however innocuous the bypass in other respects, and McKart recognizes that the exhaustion requirement is not to be applied "blindly in every case." Id., at 201. McKart also acknowledges that the fear of "frequent and deliberate flouting" can easily be overblown, since in the normal case a registrant would be "foolhardy" indeed to withhold a valid claim from administrative scrutiny. Id., at 200. Thus the contention that the rigors of the exhaustion doctrine should be relaxed is not to be met by mechanical recitation of the broad interests usually served by the doctrine, but rather should be assessed in light of a discrete analysis of the particular default in question, to see whether there is "a governmental interest compelling enough" to justify the forfeiting of judicial review. Id., at 197.
In the McKart case, the focal interest for purposes of analysis was the interest in allowing the agency "to make a factual record, or to exercise its discretion or apply its expertise." There the registrant had failed to take an administrative appeal from the local board's denial of "sole surviving son" status. Later the issue of McKart's entitlement to that exempt status arose in a criminal context, and the Court held that the claim should be heard as a defense to liability despite the failure to exhaust. The validity of the claim was a question "solely . . . of statutory interpretation." Id., at 197-198. McKart's failure to exhaust did not inhibit the making of an administrative record - all the relevant facts had been presented. Id., at 198 n. 15. The issue was not one of fact and thus its resolution would not have been aided by the exercise of special administrative expertise; and proper interpretation of the statutory provision in question was not a matter for agency discretion. [402 U.S. 479, 486]
In the present case the same interest is pivotal - but here it is apparent that McGee's failure to exhaust did jeopardize the interest in full administrative fact gathering and utilization of agency expertise, rather than the contrary. Unlike the dispute about statutory interpretation involved in McKart, McGee's claims to exempt status - as a ministerial student or a conscientious objector - depended on the application of expertise by administrative bodies in resolving underlying issues of fact. Factfinding for purposes of Selective Service classification is committed primarily to the administrative process, with very limited judicial review to ascertain whether there is a "basis in fact" for the administrative determination. See 50 U.S.C. App. 460 (b) (3) (1964 ed., Supp. V); Estep v. United States, 327 U.S., at 122 -123; cf. Witmer v. United States, 348 U.S. 375, 380 -381 (1955). McKart expressly noted that as to classification claims turning on the resolution of particularistic fact questions, "the Selective Service System and the courts may have a stronger interest in having the question decided in the first instance by the local board and then by the appeal board, which considers the question anew." 395 U.S., at 198 n. 16. See id., at 200-201. This "stronger interest," in the circumstances of the present case, has become compelling and fully sufficient to justify invocation of the exhaustion doctrine.
Petitioner argues that denial of exemption as a ministerial student was erroneous, but he had never requested that classification nor had he submitted information that would have been pertinent to such a claim. In regard to his entitlement to this exempt status, McGee made no effort to invoke administrative processes for factfinding, classification, and review, It is true that vagrant bits of information may have come to the attention of the local [402 U.S. 479, 487] board raising a bare possibility that petitioner might qualify as a ministerial student, 7 but this hardly changes the picture of a thoroughgoing attempt to sidestep the administrative process and make the first serious case for an exemption later in court.
Such a default directly jeopardizes the functional autonomy of the administrative bodies on which Congress has conferred the primary responsibility to decide questions of fact relating to the proper classification of Selective Service registrants. 8 See McKart v. United States, [402 U.S. 479, 488] 395 U.S. 185, 198 n. 15 (1969); cf. 32 CFR 1622.1 (c). Here the bypass was deliberate and without excuse, and this is not a case where entitlement to an exemption would be automatically made out, given a minimal showing by the registrant or minimal investigatory effort by the local board. 9 The exhaustion requirement is properly imposed where, as here, the claim to exemption depends on careful factual analysis and where the registrant has completely sidestepped the administrative process designed to marshal relevant facts and resolve factual issues in the first instance. Cf. Dickinson v. United States, 346 U.S. 389, 395 -396 (1953).
Petitioner did claim exemption as a conscientious objector to war. He filled out and returned the special form for conscientious objectors (SSS Form 150), and appended a further statement of beliefs, thereby making out a prima facie case for the exempt status. Since at that [402 U.S. 479, 489] time - 1966 - petitioner held an undergraduate student deferment, the board postponed consideration of the claim to a "higher" classification. See 32 CFR 1623.2. In 1967, after petitioner had graduated, the pending conscientious objector claim was reviewed 10 and rejected, and petitioner was classified I-A. Petitioner contends that denial of conscientious objector status was erroneous, but after the claim was rejected he did not invoke the administrative processes available to correct the error. He did not seek a personal appearance before the local board, 11 nor did he take an administrative appeal to contest the denial before the appeal board, which classifies de novo. 12
That petitioner's failure to exhaust should cut off judicial review of his conscientious objector claim may seem too hard a result, assuming, as the Government admits, that the written information available to the board provided no basis in fact for denial of the exemption, and, as the Court of Appeals ruled, that neither did petitioner's conduct in relation to the conscription system or other acts that came into view. See 426 F.2d 691, 697 (CA2 1970); id., at 700-701 (dissenting opinion). But even assuming the above, petitioner's dual failure to exhaust - his failure either to secure a personal appearance or to take an administrative appeal - implicates decisively the policies served by the exhaustion requirement, especially the purpose of ensuring that the Selective Service System have full opportunity to "make [402 U.S. 479, 490] a factual record" and "apply its expertise" in relation to a registrant's claims. When a claim to exemption depends ultimately on the careful gathering and analysis of relevant facts, the interest in full airing of the facts within the administrative system is prominent, and as the Court of Appeals noted, the exhaustion requirement "cannot properly be limited to those persons those persons whose claims would fail in court anyway." Id., at 699.
Conscientious objector claims turn on the resolution of factual questions relating to the nature of a registrant's beliefs concerning war, Gillette v. United States, 401 U.S. 437 (1971), the basis of the objection in conscience and religion, Welsh v. United States, 398 U.S. 333 (1970), and the registrant's sincerity, Witmer v. United States, 348 U.S. 375, 381 (1955). See 50 U.S.C. App. 456 (j) (1964 ed., Supp. V). Petitioner declined to contest the denial of his conscientious objector claim before the local board by securing a personal appearance, and the Selective Service System was thereby deprived of one opportunity to supplement the record of relevant facts. The opportunity would have been restored had petitioner sought review by the appeal board. While the local board apparently was satisfied that classification should be made on the basis of the record it confronted, 13 the appeal board, which classifies de novo, might have determined that the record should be supplemented by the local board. 14 See 32 CFR 1626.23. In the circumstances of this case, petitioner's failure to take an administrative appeal not only deprived the appeal board of the opportunity to "apply its expertise" in factfinding to the [402 U.S. 479, 491] record that was available; it also removed an opportunity to supplement a record containing petitioner's own submissions but not containing the results of any specific inquiry into sincerity.
The Government contends that unless the exhaustion requirement is imposed to bar judicial review when the failure to exhaust has the present character, registrants would be encouraged to sidestep the administrative processes once a prima facie claim to conscientious objector status is made out by submission of a carefully drafted Form 150. Should the claim be denied at the local board level, the claimant might be tempted to circumvent further fact-gathering processes, and take a chance on showing in court that the only administrative record available contains no basis in fact for denial of the claim. This somewhat extreme situation is indeed presented by the circumstances of the present case, though, of course, there is no reason to question the bona fides of McGee's own supervening policy of noncooperation with the conscription system. It remains that McGee's failure to pursue his administrative remedies was deliberate and without excuse. And it is not fanciful to think that "frequent and deliberate flouting of administrative processes" might occur if McGee and others similarly situated were allowed to press their claims in court despite a dual failure to exhaust.
We conclude that petitioner's failure to exhaust administrative remedies bars the defense of erroneous classification, 15 and therefore the judgment below is
[ Footnote 2 ] See n. 10, infra.
[ Footnote 3 ] See 32 CFR 1632.14; 32 CFR 1628.16; 32 CFR 1623.5; 32 CFR 1641.7 (b).
[ Footnote 4 ] In the Court of Appeals, as here, petitioner argued that the defense of erroneous classification would, if valid, defeat criminal liability for acts charged under counts II and III, as well as count I.
[ Footnote 5 ] Petitioner contended, as he does in this Court, that the board erroneously failed to pass on the merits of his conscientious objector claim when reclassifying him in September 1967, that at any rate the board erred in denying conscientious objector status, and also that the board erred in failing to grant him a ministerial student exemption. Petitioner had matriculated at Union Theological Seminary in September 1967, after being reclassified I-A. He had never, however, requested that he be classified as exempt from the draft as a ministerial student. See infra, at 486-488.
[ Footnote 6 ] Certainly it is late in the day to launch a broadside against the whole scheme of the exhaustion doctrine in Selective Service cases, as petitioner attempts, on the ground that a doctrine of the same name operates in some other legal context simply to inhibit premature access to the courts on the part of a litigant seeking affirmatively to challenge agency action. Cf. McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185, 193 -195 (1969). Nor is it tenable to say that [402 U.S. 479, 484] the doctrine is inappropriate when fashioned by judicial decision rather than specific congressional command. See id., at 193-194, 197; id., at 206 (WHITE, J., concurring in result). The whole rationale of the exhaustion doctrine in the present context lies in purposes intimately related to the autonomy and proper functioning of the particular administrative system Congress has constructed. See generally Mulloy v. United States, 398 U.S. 410, 416 (1970); Witmer v. United States, 348 U.S. 375, 380 -381 (1955).
[ Footnote 7 ] Petitioner's letter to President Johnson, a copy of which was transmitted to the board, declared that petitioner's future graduate studies in his own view "would probably qualify" him for the ministerial student exemption. This is the sole communication from petitioner that actually reached the board, however circuitously, and contained a hint of petitioner's projected studies at the Union Theological Seminary, though the letter did not say where petitioner intended to study and it gave no information whatever on other matters critical to ministerial student status. See n. 9, infra. Petitioner's reliance on information communicated by him, not to the local board, but to certain FBI agents and to an assistant United States attorney, is even more farfetched.
[ Footnote 8 ] Local Board Memorandum No. 56 (August 18, 1954) prescribes that "[t]o substantiate the claim of a registrant that he is a theological student, the local board must require him to furnish" certain relevant evidence. Petitioner contends that this directive places the burden of fact gathering on the board and relieves him of the responsibility to produce unsolicited evidence relevant to a ministerial student claim. However, in petitioner's case there was no "claim of a registrant" before the board, and at any rate the board's fact-gathering efforts were thwarted by petitioner's refusal to fill out the current information questionnaire (SSS Form 127) sent to him. Thus, we need not consider the relevance of the directive for exhaustion purposes in the case of a registrant who claims ministerial student status but falls short in his initial proofs.
Petitioner's emphasis on the mandatory statutory language relating to exemption of ministerial students, 50 U.S.C. App. 456 (g) (such persons "shall be exempt"), is also misplaced. This is not a case where, though no definite formal request for exemption is [402 U.S. 479, 488] made, entitlement to exemption is clear on information submitted. Indeed, even on the record as developed in the trial court below, much less on the scraps of information available to the Selective Service System, denial of exemption in petitioner's case is not unsupportable. See n. 9, infra.
[ Footnote 9 ] The Military Selective Service Act of 1967, 50 U.S.C. App. 456 (g), provides that "students preparing for the ministry under the direction of recognized churches or religious organizations, who are satisfactorily pursuing full-time courses of instruction in recognized theological or divinity schools . . . shall be exempt . . . ." See 32 CFR 1622.43 (a). Evidence aired at trial showed that after September 1967 petitioner was engaged in studies at Union Theological Seminary, a nondenominational seminary. There was some evidence that petitioner intended eventually to become a priest, but scant evidence, if any, tending to indicate that petitioner's studies were "under the direction" of his church. The Court of Appeals determined, in view of the trial record, that "denial of a [ministerial student] exemption to McGee would have had a `basis in fact.'" 426 F.2d 691, 696 (CA2 1970).
[ Footnote 10 ] Though the trial testimony was somewhat ambiguous, the District Judge found specifically that the local board had passed on the merits of petitioner's pending conscientious objector claim in September 1967, before reclassifying petitioner I-A. We do not disturb this finding, which was approved by the Court of Appeals majority below.
[ Footnote 11 ] See 32 CFR 1624.1, 1624.2.
[ Footnote 12 ] See 32 CFR 1626.2, 1626.26.
[ Footnote 13 ] Petitioner's board did not summon him for an interview to inquire into the sincerity of his claim prior to classification, as it might have done. See Local Board Memorandum No. 41, as amended July 30, 1968 (rescinded August 27, 1970).
[ Footnote 14 ] Local boards have wide fact-gathering powers. See 32 CFR 1621.14, 1621.15, and 1625.1 (c).
[ Footnote 15 ] This defense figures in petitioner's challenge to his conviction on counts I, II, and III. The two-year sentences on each of the [402 U.S. 479, 492] four counts are to run concurrently, and we decline to disturb the conviction on count IV, a minor offense indeed in comparison to the act involved in count I. [402 U.S. 479, 492]
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, dissenting.
This is a case where so far every judge has agreed that McGee is a conscientious objector. He expressed his belief "in a personal Supreme Being to whom obligation is superior when duties of human relations are considered"; he said that "taking part in any form of military operation indicates an approval/consent situation repugnant . . . to love and service of God and fellowman." The majority of the Court of Appeals concluded that "[n]either his prior nor his subsequent actions were inconsistent with his assertions . . . and we see nothing in McGee's file - all that was before the board - that could reasonably put his sincerity in issue." 426 F.2d 691, 697. Judge Feinberg in dissent agreed. Id., at 703.
Petitioner was a Roman Catholic studying at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, preparing for the ministry. His sincerity and dedication to his moral cause are not questioned.
The critical issue in the case is whether the Selective Service Board in 1966 did "consider" and reject the claim of the registrant that he was a conscientious objector. The District Court and a majority of the Court of Appeals held that the board did pass on the claim. And this Court now refuses to pass on the registrant's claim to the contrary, because, it says, that finding is not "clearly erroneous." That the finding is clearly erroneous seems apparent to one who reads the entire record.
The advice which the registrant received in a letter from the board, dated March 23, 1966, was as follows: "We wish to advise that your claim as conscientious objector will be considered when you no longer qualify for student classification." That letter states that decision [402 U.S. 479, 493] on the "claim as conscientious objector" will be passed on later. The inference is clear - that it was not then considered and decided.
The Chairman of the board testified that the conscientious objector claim was not considered, "because the young man was attending college and in my judgment he rated a 2S qualification which we proceeded to give him." He later testified that in February 1966 he, the Chairman of the board, felt "that there weren't sufficient facts in that to motivate me to grant the registrant the request he sought." Yet even that ambiguous statement is a far cry from concluding that the board rejected his claim to status as a conscientious objector. Indeed, it was the duty of the board under the Regulations to classify the registrant "in the lowest class for which he is determined to be eligible." 32 CFR 1623.2. And it is clear that the student classification of II-S is lower than the classification of a conscientious objector, I-O. In 1966 the board therefore had no occasion to pass on the conscientious objector claim.
As respects the reclassification of registrant in 1967 the Chairman of the board testified: ". . . I recall that subsequently the young man finished his college or left college, I don't recall, and did not further merit a 2S deferment at which time, sir, based on nothing further in his file other than what we had already had in the file, we gave him a 1A classification. In doing that, sir, we again reviewed what appeared in the file." And the Chairman also testified: "He was no longer in school and we had no alternative but to classify him 1A."
But it is clear from the Chairman's own testimony that the classification of I-A granted in 1967 was based upon the supposition that the board had denied the conscientious objector claim in 1966, for the Chairman stated:
The question might not loom as important as it seems to be in this case if the claim itself were a transparent one. But there is nothing on the face of the claim or in the record to detract from it. The man was a theological student studying for the priesthood, and to send him off to prison on this record is either to sanction a form of administrative trickery or to allow the Selective Service board to act quite irresponsibly.
If there were a "lawless" act in this case, it was committed by the Selective Service Board.
It was the board that defaulted, not McGee. Its duty under the Regulations was to "receive and consider all information, pertinent to the classification of a registrant, presented to it." 32 CFR 1622.1 (c) (italics added). The board did not "consider" the claim. Since the board did not "consider" the claim and reject it, but deferred decision on it in 1966 and then in 1967 said that the 1966 deferment was a decision on the merits, there was no way in which McGee could have made a timely appeal to the board.
This case, on the facts, is a much stronger one for dispensing with the need to exhaust administrative remedies than was McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185 . In McKart the registrant failed to appeal his classification of I-A where he had enjoyed a IV-A classification (sole surviving son status) until his mother died. Then the board put him in I-A on the ground that the "family unit" had ceased to exist. We excused exhaustion of remedies on the ground that only a question of law was involved. We rationalized the result as follows:
I would reverse this judgment of conviction. [402 U.S. 479, 497]
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D'Souza enters guilty plea
Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza entered a guilty plea Tuesday to a charge that he used straw donors to make $20,000 in illegal contributions to Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long in 2012, officials said.
The unexpected guilty plea came on the same day the trial for the strident critic of President Barack Obama was set to open in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The single felony count D'Souza admitted guilt on carries a maximum prison sentence of two years, but the plea agreement D'Souza's lawyers reached with the government says sentencing guidelines applicable to the case call for a sentence of 10 to 16 months.
Judges are not required to sentence defendants in accordance with the guidelines, but usually do. Both sides reserved their rights to argue for a sentence outside that range and D'Souza's lawyer Benjamin Brafman indicated he plans to ask Judge Richard Berman not to send D'Souza to prison.
The plea deal calls for dismissal of a second charge D'Souza faced if he went to trial: causing Long to file a false report with the Federal Election Commission. That carried a potential sentence of up to five years behind bars.
"We are hopeful that Judge Berman will recognize Mr. D'Souza to be a fundamentally honorable man who should not be imprisoned for what was an isolated instance of wrongdoing in an otherwise productive and responsible life," Brafman said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.
D'Souza's case has become a cause celebre for conservative activists and lawmakers, who have complained that he was singled out by the Justice Department because of his views, including the apocalyptic film "2016: Obama's America." D'Souza also worked as a White House policy adviser under President Ronald Reagan.
"Dinesh D'Souza, who did a very big movie criticizing the president, is now being prosecuted by this Administration," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a portion of a January CBS interview edited out by the network but posted online by Cruz's office. "Can you image the reaction if the Bush administration had went, gone and prosecuted Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn?"
Cruz and three other senators, Mike Lee of Utah, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, also sent FBI Director James Comey a letter in February seeking more information about prosecutors' claims that D'Souza's case arose from a routine FBI review of FEC filings, which show refunds and re-allocations of contributions to Long's unsuccessful bid.
D'Souza moved unsuccessfully to challenge the charges on the basis of selective prosecution, but U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement Tuesday that the case was handled without any political bias.
"We will investigate and prosecute violations of federal law, particularly those that undermine the integrity of the democratic electoral process, without regard to the defendant's political persuasion or party affiliation. That is what we did in this case and what we will continue to do," Bharara said.
At the court hearing Tuesday, D'Souza admitted he knew what he did was against the law.
"I knew that causing a campaign contribution to be made in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids," D'Souza said, according to Newsday. "I deeply regret my conduct."
Brafman added in his press statement: "Mr. D'Souza agreed to accept responsibility for having urged two close associates to make contributions of $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 senate campaign of Wendy Long and then reimbursing them for their contributions. Given the technical nature of the charge, there was no viable defense."
Berman set D'Souza's sentencing for Sept. 23.
In addition to capping the amount of jail time D'Souza could face, the plea deal could help minimize attention to embarrassing aspects of the case that go beyond the illegality the author admitted to Tuesday.
Evidence disclosed in pre-trial motions indicated that two of the illegal donations were routed through D'Souza's mistress, Denise Joseph, and her husband, Louis Joseph.
In 2012, D' Souza resigned from his post as president of evangelical King's College in New York following reports that he attended a South Carolina conference on Christian values accompanied by Denise Joseph and introduced her as his fiancee despite the fact that he was still married at the time to another woman.
He later said in a statement he'd been separated from his wife for two years and "had no idea that it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced, even though in a state of separation and in divorce proceedings."


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"They're not us," Torii Hunter tells USA Today. "They're impostors." Yeah, he's going there.
There isn't much to say about this that Craig Calcaterra hasn't already, except to point out that not only is this yet more evidence that the culture of baseball is still hopelessly backward on matters of race, but it's also proof that ballplayers aren't entirely clear on the business of their game.
Some more of Hunter's comments:
"Even people I know come up and say, 'Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?' I say, 'Come on, he's Dominican. He's not black.' "
Baseball's African-American population is 8%, compared with 28% for foreign players on last year's opening-day rosters.
"As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us," Hunter says. "It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It's like, 'Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?'
"I'm telling you, it's sad."
Not to say that baseball hasn't richly earned Torii Hunter's paranoia, but the man gets so lost inside his own crackpottery that he fails to see which way the exploitation actually runs. As Calcaterra notes (and as USA Today should have), baseball isn't getting those "imitation" black ballplayers for a bag of chips; teams are bidding for them on an open market, unlike their black American counterparts, who are subject to a wage-depressing draft. Real Black Person Torii Hunter made $200,000 in his first full season in the majors. Meanwhile, Aroldis Chapman is in the first year of a six-year, $30.25 million contract (with a $16.25 million signing bonus) — money that adds up to many, many, many bags of chips, all for an imitation black person.
Panel Part III: Efforts to develop black talent in USA insufficient [USA Today]
Torii Hunter: black Dominican players are "imposters" [HardballTalk]


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The men behind the alleged hack attack--Felix Roque, 55, and Joseph Roque, 22--have been charged with gaining unauthorized access, causing damage to protected computers, and conspiracy to commit those crimes. If convicted of all charges, they each face up to 11 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.
As first quipped by Mashable.com, the alleged attacks give new meaning to the term "political hack."
[ Sophisticated Flame malware has the markings of a Western intelligence agency. Read more at Flame Espionage Malware Seeks Middle East Data. ]
The allegedly hacked website, www.recallroque.com, was created in early February 2012 by an anonymous public official who lives in Hudson County, N.J., who's referred to in court documents as "Victim 1." The now-defunct recall campaign website, which was hosted by GoDaddy.com, offered pointed commentary and criticism of Mayor Roque and his administration.
The mayor apparently decided to retaliate. "On February 6, 2012, Mayor Roque and his son, Joseph Roque, schemed to hack into and take down the website and to identify, intimidate, and harass those who operated and were associated with the website," read court documents. Prosecutors accused Joseph Roque of first emailing the recall site's owner to arrange an in-person meeting. When that failed, he searched Google for "hacking a GoDaddy Site," "recallroque log-in," and "html hacking tutorial," according to court documents, and ultimately was able to redirect all of the website traffic to Weebly, a service provider located in California, and store a copy of the data there.
"By the late afternoon of February 8, 2012, Joseph Roque had successfully hacked into various online accounts used in connection with the recall website. Joseph Roque then used that access to disable the website. Mayor Roque harassed and attempted to intimidate several individuals whom he had learned were associated with the recall website," read the court documents.
"Mayor Roque stated that he, the Mayor, had a friend in high levels of government who had shut the Recall Website down," read the complaint. According to Victim 1, Mayor Roque stated that "everyone would pay for getting involved against him." Roque also claimed to have obtained the information about the site's owner via a friend at the CIA.
Officials have accused the men of a "violation of public trust" for attacking other people's right to free speech. "The elected leader of West New York and his son allegedly hacked into computers to intimidate constituents who were simply using the Internet to exercise their Constitutional rights to criticize the government," said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, in a statement. "We will continue to investigate and prosecute those who illegally hack into computers and disable websites with the goal of suppressing the exercise of that right."
The FBI also suggested that its cyber-crime investigation capabilities could have been put to better use. "It's incredibly disappointing that resources have to be diverted from protecting the U.S. against cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure, federally funded research, and military technology to address a public official intruding into computer systems to further a political agenda," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, in a statement.
Given that these allegations were leveled over a recall website, might the alleged hack attack now also lead to Roque's removal as mayor before his elected term expires on April 30, 2014? Reached by phone, a town public affairs official said she had no comment on the matter. The mayor's office, meanwhile, didn't immediately return a phone call requesting comment.
Mayor Roque, however, told law enforcement personnel during a March 2012 interview that he had nothing to do with any hacking attacks. "Mayor Roque denied directing his son ... to take down the Recall Website or to hack into it. Mayor Roque further stated that if his son did something wrong, he [Joseph] should go to jail, and that if he [Mayor Roque] did something wrong he [Mayor Roque] should go to jail as well," said FBI special agent Ignace Ertilus in a court filing. "Mayor Roque stated, among other things, that he would be fine if he had to go to jail because he was set financially and had 'lived the dream,' and would not have a problem with serving time in jail because he would work out and read while there."
Hacktivist and cybercriminal threats concern IT teams most, our first Federal Government Cybersecurity Survey reveals. Here's how they're fighting back. Also in the new, all-digital Top Federal IT Threats issue of InformationWeek Government: Why federal efforts to cut IT costs don't go far enough, and how the State Department is enhancing security. (Free registration required.)


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Social Networking
Maintaining privacy on social networks is much like hanging all your dirty laundry on a highway billboard—and then asking only your friends to look. While it's possible to avoid sharing your life's story with the entire world, it takes a lot of effort and is often contrary to the goals of the services you use. Remember: these services are free because they're selling access to you.
Your private profile
The risk: Since the entire goal of social networking is to help you connect and communicate with other people, the privacy settings on most social networks default to Wide Open. They often stay that way, because many users don't know how to adjust them.
How to protect yourself: The ease of customizing privacy settings varies by service. Twitter has just one option: On your Settings page, you can select your Tweet Privacy to protect your tweets (meaning that only people you approve can see them). At the other end of the spectrum are services like LinkedIn, which scatters its privacy settings across nine separate screens, and Facebook, whose supposedly simplified privacy settings span menus up to four layers deep.
No matter which service you use, it's incumbent on you to find out where these settings live (Google is your friend in that regard). Once you find them, the most important settings to look for are:
- Who can read your profile;
- Who can see your posts and activities;
- What information is shared with external sites and businesses;
- Which applications can access your data;
- What information your friends can share about you;
- Who can see your pictures and/or location;
- Which sites integrate with your social network (for example, Facebook's Like feature).
Most services allow you to control tiered privacy levels: one for friends (or immediate contacts); friends of friends (or second-degree contacts); third-parties; or everyone in the world.
On Facebook, you should also be sure to limit what your friends can share about you (under the hard-to-find Account > Privacy Settings > Apps and Websites > Info Accessible Through Your Friends), as that can potentially override other settings. Additionally, you should always keep an eye out for changes in the service's privacy policies and adjust your settings accordingly.
Finally, consider what you put in your profile in the first place. There's no rule that you have to provide all the information for which there's a field. If you don't want everyone to know how old you are, don't fill in that birthday field. It's possible to provide virtually no private information yet still use the service.
Public profile
The risk: Most services show the world a public profile, one that's different from the one your network can see. But that public profile can still include some pretty private information.
How to protect yourself: Review your profile and see what information is public. Check your settings, then log out and look at your profile. Have a friend check from his or her account.
External applications
The risk: With your approval, most social networks allow access from external applications, third-party games, and third-party sites such as Twitter. Some of these apps require complete access to your account, including ongoing access to all of your activities, perhaps even your friends' information.
How to protect yourself: Depending on the service and application, you may be able to control what such applications can access. Do you really need to give that snowball app access to all your photos and posts?
Your friends and you
The risk: You and your friends can be the biggest threat to your privacy. You may accidentally reveal too much about yourself by tweeting, posting, or updating without considering the consequences.
How to protect yourself: The first rule of social networking: Assume that everything you post is public and accessible to anyone forever. These networks are great for sharing and connecting, not so great for private communication. So think before you post. Leave the Twitter alone when you're skipping work for a happy hour that the boss wasn't invited to.
[Rich Mogull has worked in the security world for 17 years. He writes for TidBits and works as a security analyst through Securosis.com.]


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Are you venturing into the world of photography and are wondering what would be the perfect camera to buy? Or are you planning to upgrade that old-timer which seems to visit the repair shop too often? There are so many cameras in the market these days and the various features that manufacturers and camera shops are parading are not making it any easier to arrive at a decision. Ask yourself a few probing questions before you buy a camera:
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text: November 3, 2017 November 10, 2017 by Lincoln County Central [pdfviewer width="600px" height="849px" beta="true/false"]https://lccentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/lcr-11-3-17.pdf[/pdfviewer] This article is available to Lincoln County Record Digital or Print+Digital subscribers. If you are already a subscriber, please log in. To purchase a subscription, please visit the Subscription Page. Thank you for supporting your hometown newspaper!


text: Rhodonite Spell Beads with Pentagram, Goddess and Tree of Life Charms ~ SALE £5.00 Quantity: at £5.00 each 1 in stock. 0 in your basket View Basket Checkout Our own range of beautiful Spell beads, also called meditation beads or prayer beads/witches ladders, with Gemstone Beads. The set of beads come with a Pentagram, goddess and tree of life charm with lobster clasps so you can decide which ones to use on your beads. The Spell beads are all made to order, come in a carry pouch and are around 19cm long. Was £8.99


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It's said that most groups arise through their actions. For instance, Galois groups arise in Galois theory as automorphisms of field extensions. Linear groups arise as automorphisms of vector spaces, permutation groups arise as automorphisms of sets, and so on.
On the other hand, abelian groups often arise without any natural (or at least obvious) action -- the "class groups" such as the ideal class group and Picard group, as well as the various homology groups and higher homotopy groups in topology are examples. [ADDED: One (sloppy?) way of putting it is that abelian groups arise quite often for "bookkeeping" purposes, where we think of them simply as more efficient ways to store invariants, and their actions are not obvious and not necessary for most of their basic applications.]
What are some good examples of non-abelian groups that arise without any natural action? Or, where the way the group is defined doesn't seem to indicate any natural action at all, even though there may be an action lurking somewhere? The only prima facie example I could think of was the fundamental group of a topological space, but as we know from covering space theory, for nice enough spaces (locally path-connected and semilocally simply connected), the fundamental group is the group of deck transformations on the universal covering space.
This might be somewhat related to the question raised here: Why do groups and abelian groups feel so different?.
To clarify: There are surely a lot of ways of constructing groups within group theory (or using the tools of group theory, which includes various kinds of semidirect and free products, presentations, etc.) where there is no natural action. These examples are of interest, but what I'm most interested in is cases where such groups seem to arise fully formed from something that's not group theory, and there is at least no immediate way of seeing an action of the group that illuminates what's happening.


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NEW YORK — Stocks have plummeted again as travel bans and coronavirus-related shutdowns escalate. The Dow lost more than 2,300 points, or 10%, when markets closed Thursday.
The stock market had its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987 as fears of economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis deepened. The Dow industrials plunged more than 2,300 points, or 10%.
The sell-off came despite action from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The steep drops over the last month have wiped out most of the big run-up on Wall Street since President Donald Trump's inauguration.
Markets have turned turbulent amid a cascade of shutdowns across the globe and rising worries that the White House and other authorities around the world can't or won't help the weakening economy any time soon.
The S&P 500 fell 7% shortly after the opening bell, triggering an automatic trading halt. The Dow Jones Industrial was off nearly 1,600 points, or 6.7%, early Thursday afternoon.
Before Monday, the circuit breakers instituted after the market crash of 1987 had only been triggered once, back in 1997.
The sell-off slamming global markets came after President Trump imposed a travel ban on most of Europe and offered few new measures to contain the impact.
European markets were down 9%, even after the European Central Bank announced more stimulus measures. World markets are enduring violent swings amid uncertainty about how badly the outbreak will hit the economy.
Thailand's exchange halted trading for a half-hour after the benchmark hit its 10% limit down. Benchmarks in Paris, London and Frankfurt all opened more than 5% lower.
Trump on Wednesday announced actions designed to ease the economic cost of the outbreak including unspecified aid for workers impacted by the virus, a deferment of tax payments for some individuals and businesses and low-interest loans for small businesses. He also announced a 30-day ban on travel from Europe starting Friday night, with exceptions for Americans and for travel from the United Kingdom.
Futures for the S&P 500 moved from a loss of 0.4% just before Trump spoke from the Oval Office at 9 p.m. EST to a loss of 3.3% an hour later. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were showing a drop of 3.5%.
But within that same hour came two more stunning pieces of news related to the virus. Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson said they had contracted the virus, and the NBA announced it would suspend its season after a player tested positive.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dived in Thursday morning trading. Benchmarks in Australia, South Korea and China were also falling.
As the U.S. deals with both the health and economic fallouts from the virus, it's important to separate facts from fear. World Health Organization officials said Monday that of about 80,000 people who have been sickened by COVID-19 in China, more than 70% have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.
To put the coronavirus numbers in context, millions of Americans get the flu every single year and there are thousands of flu deaths annually. Since October 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates around 32 million Americans have gotten the flu. That's one in every 10 Americans.


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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Sabres have bought out defenseman Christian Ehrhoff's contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Ehrhoff signed a 10-year, $40 million contract with the Sabres in 2011. He made $18 million over the first two years of the deal.
The Sabres used their second compliance buyout on Ehrhoff. Buffalo also bought out underperforming forward Ville Leino on June 17.
TSN was the first to report the move, which was announced by the team on Sunday.
By buying out Ehrhoff and Leino, the Sabres parted ways with Darcy Regier's last two major acquisitions as general manager. Regier was fired in November after 17 years with the Sabres.
Buffalo had high hopes for both players after making a splash under new owner Terry Pegula in 2011. Buffalo acquired Ehrhoff's rights from the New York Islanders shortly before the start of free agency and signed the defenseman to a front-loaded deal. The team also signed Leino to a six-year, $27 million contract.
Leino had just 46 points in 137 games with Buffalo. Ehrhoff quickly became one of Buffalo's top blueliners, recording 87 points in 192 games, but the Sabres struggled throughout the past three seasons. They had the worst record in the NHL last season.
Ehrhoff, 31, has 313 career points in 692 games. He had 33 points in 79 games last season.
Ehrhoff entered the NHL as a fourth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2001. He has played for the Sharks, Sabres and Vancouver Canucks in his NHL career.


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Friday's Smallville — "Patriot" — was a heaping platter of hammy political metaphors, illegally tortured beefcake, and Atlantean cheesecake. Also, Michael Hogan dons the eyepatch again as General Slade Wilson, and Aquaman blew up
an oil rig a superhuman prison.
"Patriot" was very much par for the course for Season 10 of Smallville — we had the barely veiled allusions to today's political climate (superhuman prisons are hidden in oil rigs, Darkseid controls unscrupulous military officials), the obligatory, totally random appearance of Kryptonite to slow down Clark (a Kryptonite cage!), the "Smallvillization" of new DC characters (Deathstroke and Mera), and hunky men in bondage — is William Marston literally ghost-writing episodes? The episode's main focus was General Wilson going rogue in the wake of the Vigilante Registration Act's passing (he has a superprison in Alaska) and Lois and Clark's relationship squabbling (he's too mysterious, she's too nosy).
Hogan played Wilson as a no-nonsense military man who views superheroes as demagogues who threaten democracy with their idealist agendas (he refers to them as would-be Hitlers and Saddams). Wilson uses his military clout to "waterboard" Green Arrow in a dunk tank. Later in the episode, we discover that Slade's under the thrall of Darkseid — Clark uses his X-Ray vision to discover an omega symbol etched onto his skull — and the explosion of his super-bondage prison gives him his signature Deathstroke eyepatch.
As for the relationship subplot, "Patriot" also added Mera and Arthur Curry's aqua-hippie relationship as an aspirational counterpoint to Clois (or is it Lark?) but the Atlantean dyad was annoyingly self-righteous and semi-useless — Mera accused Lois of being a superhero groupie and both Mera and AC were vexed by General Slade's evil heat lamps. On the plus side, this episode did have a scene that will spawn a thousand slash fictions:
So yeah, this wasn't a bad episode — the action was fast-paced and the milieu was sexy. The presence of Hogan playing Tigh redux was welcome, and it kept up the BDSM that has inflected almost every episode this season. We've seen the Vigilante Registration Act before, but it keeps bringing classic DC characters to the small screen. A solid B episode. Play us out, sex dungeon Aquaman.


text: A mammoth army of infected computers is being assembled, but it's unclear yet what purpose they will be put to.Wave after wave of malicious email attachments has been sent out since August, and with average success rates for such mailings, millions of machines could be compromised, says Internet security firm Commtouch.BACKGROUND: Brace for email-attachment malware spreeOnce infected, the computers can be loaded with additional malware that can perform a range of activities, including spamming, participating in DDoS attacks, stealing bank credentials and compromising email and social-network accounts, according to an upcoming Commtouch blog post.But what this botnet will do remains a mystery. "The purpose of this vast computing force is still not clear," the blog says.Since a record peak of 25 billion malicious attachments to emails being sent on a single day in mid-August, email-attached malware has peaked five times since, each spike smaller than the one before, says Commtouch. The company predicted this pattern in August just after the highest peak.Each peak represents a surge in a particular scam used to dupe victims into opening the attack attachments. The first wave consisted mainly of phony notices from UPS or FedEx that a package has been misrouted. The second, called the Map of Love, is a PDF that purports to be a map of interesting destinations worldwide. The third is a false notice of an altered charge for a hotel room, the blog post says.User forums indicate that the malware campaigns worked, with many users opening the attachments. While it doesn't have estimates of the number of machines compromised, Commtouch says that such campaigns have linear success, so the more attachments sent, the more opened.If the purpose of the assembled botnet is to send spam, it hasn't had an impact on overall spam traffic, which has actually been trending a bit downward, Commtouch says.Read more about wide area network in Network World's Wide Area Network section.


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Coney Island took a beating from Superstorm Sandy. Way down by the Atlantic Ocean at the south end of Brooklyn, flooding and high winds exacted a heavy toll on the seaside community. Most residents are still without power, and gasoline and food are scarce.
Several gourmet food trucks normally enjoyed by the Midtown Manhattan lunch crowd made tracks for NYC's battered amusement park district yesterday to hand out food to the hard-hit neighborhood. Many people were already waiting in lines at FEMA's food distribution points.
JP Morgan Chase footed the food truck bill, and the trucks served everything from sausage and peppers to Korean-style tacos to thousands of people. Chase told the Wall Street Journal that it also sent food trucks to the Rockaways and Staten Island — areas of the city that also sustained heavy storm damage.
If you've never been to Coney Island or don't know much about it, a lot of people live there — more than 50,000. Many live in high rise buildings that have been without power for a week. I don't have to tell you what happens when a bunch of people are crowded together in one place without services. Things can get messy.
Most Coney Islanders were evacuated during the storm, but many have returned to find the place in disarray. The iconic Cyclone roller coaster and Parachute Drop are still standing, but homes and businesses in all directions are in bad shape. Much of the boardwalk that serves as the spine of Coney Island's summertime commercial activity was swept away with the storm surge.
We hope Chase keeps those food trucks on standby, just in case the Nor'easter headed up the coast right now compounds damage from last week's storm.
Photo credit: Getty Images; Associated Press


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RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Top samba schools take centre stage at the Sambodrome late Sunday, set to dazzle crowds with giant allegorical floats and scantily-dressed beauty queens in a fiery climax to the famed Rio Carnival.
Over the next two nights, 12 schools will showcase their mesmerizing allegorical pageantry before a global television audience, the highlight of a five-day extravaganza.
Their floats are packed with dancers wearing huge headgear, feathers, sequins, body paint - and little else.
The fierce contest for the title of Brazil's Carnival champion is watched with the same fervor as football matches in this soccer-mad nation.
The first school to perform late Sunday will be Inocentes de Belford Roxo, with a colourful homage to Korean culture on a theme called "The Seven Confluences of the Han River" that will invoke the protection of the ancient Korean wind goddess Yondung Halmoni.
Salgueiro, last year's Carnival champion Unidos da Tijuca, Uniao da Ilha, Mocidade and Portela will then follow.
Six other schools will stage their own parades Monday night.
Thousands of participants bedecked in elaborate costumes made their way to Rio's 72,500-seat open-air Sambodrome, designed by the late star architect Oscar Niemeyer.
The parading schools are divided into sections, and each section has a number of wings of about 100 people wearing the same costume.
Between the wings there are several floats separating the sections. Most of the floats are pushed by men from the school's community, though some are motorised.
Preparation for the show starts months in advance, and each school mobilizes thousands of supporters who must create the various parts of the school's display.
Unlike the ubiquitous Carnival streets parties that are open to all, the parades at the Sambodrome are mainly for the wealthy and foreign tourists.
Carnival, however, is Brazil's most important festival and is celebrated with equal gusto across the country, including cities like Sao Paulo, Salvador, Recife, Olinda, Manaus and Porto Alegre.
This year there is a special tribute to Koreans to mark the 50th anniversary of their immigration to Brazil.
Parades in Rio and Sao Paulo are honoring Korean history and technological prowess, and the contribution the 50,000-strong Korean community has made to the racially diverse nation of 194 million people.
"We are paying tribute to the courage, perseverance and dedication of Korean immigrants in this country," Isabel Napolitano, an official of the 50-year-old Unidos de Vila Maria samba school, told AFP at the 30,000-seat Sao Paulo Sambodrome early Sunday.
"It's a historic moment, a recognition of the contribution Koreans have made to Brazilian society," said Marcelo Choi, vice-president of the Sao Paulo-based Korean-Brazilian Association.
"The whole world can see that we are an integral part of the Brazilian family. So yes, it's a moment of great pride not just for us Korean-Brazilians but for Koreans around the world," he told AFP.
In the north-eastern city of Salvador, South Korean pop star Psy performed to huge crowds Friday alongside Brazilian stars Claudia Leitte, Gilberto Gil and Daniela Mercury.
The rapper, who shot to global fame last year with his Gangnam Style hit, was warmly applauded Saturday when he appeared at the Rio Sambodrome.
Dubbed "the greatest show on Earth," the Rio Carnival officially got under way Friday, when the legendary King Momo received a giant key to the city from Mayor Eduardo Paes.
Authorities said six million people, including more than 900,000 tourists, were expected to attend the five-day Rio bash.
Rio, which will host next year's World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, has mobilized 14,500 police officers to provide security.
Carnival is for many Brazilians a time for closure after the Jan 27 nightclub fire in the southern college town of Santa Maria that killed 239 people.
The tragedy prompted authorities to increase safety inspections at entertainment spots nationwide.


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WASHINGTON (AP) ? There is no changing how Washington works. It doesn't.
Even if a bitterly divided Congress and President Barack Obama avoid a U.S. debt default by striking a last-second deal, as all sides expect, plenty of damage has been done.
People are disgusted. Confidence in the political system is tanking. Nothing else is getting done in Washington. The markets are spooked. The global reputation of the United States has slipped.
And the real kicker? This whole wrenching effort to shrink the debt may actually increase the debt.
Any emergency deal may not be broad enough to prevent the major credit rating agencies from downgrading the United States as a rock-solid investment. That, in turn, could increase the cost of borrowing for the government (hence more interest and debt), not to mention for everyone else.
The spectacle has brought Washington to its knees. Obama went on TV before the nation and called it a circus. One lawmaker felt compelled to apologize to the American people.
"I can only imagine the anger and disgust they have," said Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, "at witnessing a broken government and a president and members of Congress who can't seem to even agree sometimes on what day it is, yet alone to solve the nation's debt crisis."
That about sums it up.
Polls show people's trust in government is at one of its worst levels in decades. An ABC/Washington Post survey this month found that a whopping 80 percent of people were angry or dissatisfied with the federal government. About a decade ago, it wasn't half that high.
Pleading for the parties to work together for the American people, Obama said, "That's the least that they should expect of us, not the most that they should expect of us."
Achieving the least is proving nearly impossible.
Leaders have talked to each other, then not talked to each other, then talked about each other. None of it has really worked.
This Washington moment began as something big ? a bipartisan effort to put a real dent in the long-term debt by taking on political issues that are genuinely tough for both parties. It has now devolved into a panicky debate over whether the nation's debt limit will be raised by Tuesday so the country can pay its bills.
Voters, remember, want their leaders to be focused on jobs. The goal of preventing a self-inflicted economic catastrophe is hardly a standard of excellence.
When this is all over, politicians will claim credit wherever they can, and blame their opponents for the long, embarrassing spectacle. The results will be viewed through the prism of the 2012 election, in terms of who came out best overall, or with those oh-so-coveted independent voters, or among their polarized bases as the party primaries approach.
And the public will assign blame, deciding whether those pushing compromise will be rewarded as eminently sensible or punished for caving.
That misses the point.
In the biggest sense, everyone has lost.
"We have now taken a process that was not getting a lot of attention and convinced people that this is not the usual shenanigans. It is farcical and utterly dysfunctional," said Norman Ornstein, a political science scholar at the American Enterprise who has long examined Washington's ways. "Whatever they pull out here in the end, that image isn't going to change."
Consider some of the many ways Washington has not been able to escape itself:
?Given the huge issues at stake, from the size of the debt to the role of government, voters might have hoped for a big, open debate of ideas. What they have had instead is a confusing process that's playing out in secret or in strident statements to the press. Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had dueling news conferences to assign blame for their broken negotiations, then rivaling addresses to the nation to try to sway the American people. Obama at one point said he could not even get a phone call returned from Boehner.
?Congress, as usual, is exhausting all of its partisan options before truly considering a potential agreement in the final hours. That's viewed as normal, or even helpful, in Washington. A weary country, meanwhile, is getting daily updates about what it would mean to live with the first default in the country's history.
?Boehner suspended the voting on his own bill so that he could find a way to snag the final votes he needed. The House switched to naming post offices as time slipped away. A White House official said this is why people hate Washington. Boehner's office said it showed reform for Washington: At least he didn't try to ram the bill through in the dead of night.
?Obama is getting bashed for not putting his own plan on paper. The White House claims to do that would be to ensure its defeat, because Republicans cannot publicly support whatever Obama does. "Maybe that's a sad statement, perhaps, about how Washington works," said presidential spokesman Jay Carney, "but it's an incredibly realistic statement."
?The president said the world is watching. The international community is seeing a superpower bicker and flail in its attempt to reduce its staggering debt.
?The embarrassing stalemate follows a breathless budget clash between the parties that came close to shutting down the government. And with the nation still stuck in a rut on job creation, there is little reason to be hopeful for a bipartisan economic agenda between now and the presidential and congressional elections in November 2012.
?The voices of moderation in both parties have been disappearing, in part because of election districts drawn to favor sharply one party of the other. Ornstein predicts the next election will bring only more polarization, meaning there's little chance for a climate of compromise anytime over the horizon. "This is not exactly a shining moment for America," he said.
Obama likes to remind voters that they had better intentions than this when they put Democrats in control of the White House and Senate and Republicans in charge of the House.
"The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government," the president says.
Too bad they got both.
EDITOR'S NOTE ? White House Correspondent Ben Feller has covered the Obama and Bush presidencies for The Associated Press.