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Bitcoin Revolution Website™ 🥇 The Official App Seen on TV
En trading, une option binaire est un type d'option dont l'exercice, possible uniquement à maturité, ne porte pas sur la livraison de l'actif sous-jacent, mais donne lieu au versement d'une somme monétaire déterminée à l'avance si l'option est dans la monnaie ou rien du tout si l'option est hors la monnaie. Ainsi on l'appelle « option binaire » parce que seulement deux issues sont ...read more
9 Strategies for Growing a Small Trading Account « Trading
According to our latest research in South Africa ( 2021 ), when traders choose which market or forex broker to trade with, they are looking for optimal trading conditions, the lowest minimum deposit, tight spreads, and of course the best chance of making a decent profit.🚀 South Africa is officially Africa's fastest-growing forex trading community in our latest research. ...read more
COMPUSDT Charts and Quotes — TradingView
A forex bonus is a promotional program in which a broker extends a line of credit to traders in the form of free money, trading credits, gifts, or rewards. These credits can be used for trading, but in some cases, they can also be withdrawn, subject to the broker's terms and conditions. ...read more
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26-01-2021 · Compound interest rate is really a key for growing your account. Joy that you have indeed set an indelible mark in the print of forex trading fora in the lives of thousands of traders. Do you know that everyday i login to the thread especially the old (first) ...read more
Exotic Option Definition
Utilizing Correlations in Forex Trading. As mentioned previously, when trading more than one currency pair, a forex trader is either knowingly or unknowingly involved in forex correlation trading. One way of applying a forex correlation strategy in your trading plan is by using correlations to diversify risk. ...read more
How Much Money Can I Make As a Day Trader? | VPT
23-01-2020 · Growing a small trading account is all about consistently. Consistent wins compound to big numbers, over time. …and if you lose all your money, you'll have no account to trade with. So the key is to take a small amount of risk, but figure out ways to win a lot more than you lose. ...read more
Option binaire — Wikipédia
Trading forex is not a shortcut to instant wealth. My plan was to trade forex for a living and let my account compound until I was so well off, I wouldn't have to work again in my life. ...read more
Forex Compounding Strategy: How Does Compounding Work?
De verschillende opties voor crypto trading op een rij. We zullen in dit artikel verschillende varianten en mogelijkheden van crypto trading praktijken bespreken. Ook zullen we kijken naar de verschillen en overeenkomsten met Forex trading. De 10 crypto trading varianten en mogelijkheden: 1. Crypto trading voor beginners via een broker. ...read more
Strat's PASR Long Term, Stress Free Trading - Forex Factory
In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a contract between two parties, typically described as "buyer" and "seller", stipulating that the buyer will pay to the seller the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time (if the difference is negative, then … ...read more
How to Make Money Trading - 2 Keys to Success
Trading Leveraged Products like Forex and Derivatives might not be suitable for all investors as they carry a high degree of risk to your capital. Please make sure that you fully understand the risks involved, taking into consideration your investment objectives and level of experience, before trading, and if necessary, seek independent advice. ...read more
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LONDON, Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LiteForex was recognised as the "Best ECN Broker, Africa", "Best Copy Trading Platform, Southeast Asia" and "Best Retail Forex Trading Platform, MENA" by ...read more
Forex Trading - Day Trade Our Money - Try Day Trading
23-05-2019 · As-You-Like-It Option: A type of exotic option that allows the option holder to choose whether the option is a call or a put. As-you-like-it options, also known as call-or-put options or chooser ...read more
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Free currency calculator to convert between most of the global currencies using live or custom exchange rates. Also check the latest exchange rate of most currencies, experiment with other financial calculators, or explore hundreds of individual calculators addressing other topics such as math, fitness, health, and many more. ...read more
Breakout Forex Strategies-List of the Breakout Trading
A compounding Forex strategy is similar to a snowballing effect, meaning it's based on gradual capital growth. It's a method that allows you to turn your already earned money into profits, increasing the incomes by changing trading approaches. The capital of your Forex compounding account can escalate using the compound forex trading method. ...read more
29-10-2020 · The two keys to making money trading are leverage and compounding which will help you making money in Forex trading. In the end, the more trading skills you acquire, and the more discipline you exercise, the more money you'll make. Remember, trading is not a "one size fits all" scenario, but hard work and dedication will ultimately pay off. ...read more
How to Trade Forex with Artificial Intelligence
2016: Try Day Trading introduced the Trader Executive coaching program. This program includes a 2-day one-on-one forex coaching retreat, an extensive 9-week day trading coaching program, one year of free proprietary leading indicators, and a funded day trading account upon graduation. ...read more
iMarketsLive Review: Legit or Forex Scam? (2021)
Forex trading has the potential to make you a lot of money, even if you don't recruit anyone else. Forex trading is extremely risky which means there's a high probability of losing a lot of money on top of your monthly fees. iMarketsLive involves no physical product that you have to stockpile or drag around to people's houses. ...read more
Contract for difference - Wikipedia
Welcome to Online Trading Campus Dubai ! Learn how to trade Forex, Futures, Stocks at our online trading academy. Get lifetime access and join our daily live trading classes and earn while you learn! ...read more
Locations Map for Trader Training | Online Trading Academy
Your Binary Options Trading will become profitable overnight if you work with us. We keep you updated with the latest financial news; while we have complicated the entire process by offering you the way to work on the best Binary Options Strategy and Forex Trading Strategy. Stay Connected with Experts for Forex and Binary Option Signals ...read more
31+ Best Forex Brokers in South Africa ( Updated ☑ March
Wij willen hier een beschrijving geven, maar de site die u nu bekijkt staat dit niet toe. ...read more
How to Use Currency Correlation in Forex Trading - Forex
14. Forex Trading. Minimum Investment: $100 (₱5,000) According to FXCM, forex, also known as foreign exchange, FX or currency trading, is a decentralized global market where all the world's currencies trade. The forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world with an average daily trading volume exceeding $5 trillion. ...read more
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Greetings, COMP is currently at #9 on the DEFI list. This coin I trade for a long time, but unlike other instruments DEFI (SUSHI, 1INCH, ZRX, YFI, MKR, etc. links will be found below), did not make trading ideas, it's time to correct. On the daily chart we can see that the price works out a concave bottom with a target of +/- $800 ...read more
3 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Trading Forex
A high-level overview of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON) stock. Stay up to date on the latest stock price, chart, news, analysis, fundamentals, trading and investment tools. ...read more
COMPUSDT Charts and Quotes — TradingView
Trading breakouts is not a new concept; traders have been using breakouts for centuriesToday many of the world's top traders trade breakouts for big pro ts. So what actually is a breakout? A breakout is the point at which the market price breaks away, or moves out of a trading range. The trading range can be for any length of time but once prices exceeds the high or low of the range, a ...read more
LiteForex Scores an Amazing Hat-Trick at the Global Brands
IC Markets demo trading accounts do not expire. Once you have started Forex trading with this broker, you can access more than 65 currency pairs at a really low spread. Another important feature of Forex trading through IC Markets is that your account can be linked up with Zulutrade if you are interested in getting involved with Copytrading. ...read more
Stock Market Insights | Seeking Alpha
Forex Compounding Calculator. Forex Compounding Calculator calculates monthly interest earnings based on specified Starting Balance, Monthly percent gain and Number of Months, and outputs the result both as a chart and a table. Simply fill in the form below and click "Calculate" button. ...read more
Currency Calculator
How Much Money Can I Make Day Trading Forex? Forex is the least capital-intensive market to trade. Leverage up to 50:1 (higher in some countries) means you can open an account for as little as $100. I don't recommend this. If you want to make money, start with at least $3000. Only risk 1% of your capital. ...read more
Forex Compounding Calculator – Circle Markets
Compound, like the rest of the DeFi sector, had a significant rally in 2021, jumping from a low of $134 on January 1 to $377 on February 1. The digital asset is now overextended and on the verge ...read more
ROFX Review - Passion For Trading | Forex Best
Futures & Forex electronic markets trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, and some even trade on Sunday! Using Online Forex Trading software you can receive up to 50:1 leverage, the futures industry offers on average 15:1, while the Stock market typically offers 1:1 to 3:1 leverage; higher levels allows money to compound more quickly. However, a high degree of leverage can lead to larger ...read more
Starten met crypto trading! Alle opties op een rijtje
Find a local Financial Education Center near you and tour our state-of-the-art classrooms used by our students. Here you'll discover our beginner through advanced courses where you can receive everything from stock market training, day trading training, and Wealth Management training to Forex… ...read more
Trading Made Simple | Page 5842 | Forex Factory
10-02-2021 · The win rate of all trades should be >68% to be a overall profitable averaging down strategy. That means the winning single-trade "baskets" is about 45-50%. 35% is definitely not enough, risk of ruin is >1% compound with trade frequency. On the other hand, some popular reversal trading strategies in FF can achieve that. These strategies ...read more
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The Jolly Santa Claus - Christmas party theme is an all-time favorite and now you can take your party decorations to the next level with a petite table runner that perfectly matches the rest of your party decorations. Jolly Santa Claus - party table runners look fabulous on any party tables. Add a table runner to your gift table or candy buffet to bring the entire party to life, and then add them to your dining tables for easy party decorations. Petite table runners will give your tablescape a big pop of color and pattern when you add a olly Santa Claus - Christmas party table decoration to your list of party supplies. Each table runner is professionally printed on a water-resistant paper that has a glossy finish.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Our Goal Is To Provide Business And Leisure Travellers Worldwide With A Noble, Stylish, Comfortable And Economical
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"Clean" "Comfortable" And "Convenience" Is Our Services Apartment Best And Excellent Condition.
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Apart from short distance away from shopping haven, the Malacca Services Apartment is at Melaka's City Business Hub - Melaka Raya. Within short walking distance to various Heritage Historical sites and places of interests.
Ideal as a holiday "Home Away From Home", Our Holiday Services Apartment concept is another first in Melaka to provide comfortable and convenient "Home Style Living" to executives and dignitaries on visit to Melaka. Suitable for those who comes for travel and business.
We provide a Noble, Stylish, Comfortable and Economical Holiday Services Apartments. "Clean" "Comfortable" and "Convenience" Is Our Services Apartment Best And Excellent Condition.
Our Motto "Your Comfort Is Our Commitment And Responsibility."
Copyright © 2011 MK Hotel Apartment (MA 0153196-V). All rights reserved.


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I am a Reseller
Are you a reseller looking for dropshippers? Do you need a review on a specific dropshipper? Do you want to learn how to use dropshipping successfully? Register today to find dropship products, dropshipping companies and dropshippers reviews free.
I am a Dropshipper
Are you a dropship supplier looking for resellers to market your products? Do you need to recruit experienced retailers to market your dropshipped products? Do you want to promote your dropship business free of charge? Register today to find and interact with dropshippees free.
04 Mar 2011 04:25 AM #1
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- Feb 2011
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- 23
Drop shipping Website Profitable?
Was curious whether drop shipping is profitable? Seems a little too-good-to-be-true to be able to run a retail site from my office and not set foot into a post office. How is this model profitable? Is it worth my time? I need an actual income stream, not just pocket change.
04 Mar 2011 05:43 AM #2
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
- Posts
- 29
Understandable questions. Drop shipping can absolutely turn you a profit, you just have to handle it like any other business venture. Protect your investment, take it seriously, and you'll do well. Like any other foray into sales, you want to choose your supplier very carefully. Keep an eye on the bottom line, keep a few things in mind, and you'll do great.
● I'd first recommend doing research on the forum, which is exactly what you're doing right now. Ask about reliable drop shippers; look for products that are in demand but have relatively limited competition. For example, avoid the likes of DVDs, consoles and the other more obvious choices. Demand for those products is high, but the level of competition is one of the highest. Even resellers buying hundreds of thousands in stock from wholesalers and distributors struggle to make a return from those products. Therefore always consider the ratio of demand to competition, for example: product x has demand of 10 (out of a scale of 10) and competition of 10 (very high competition). The ratio in this example is 10/10 = 1. This means that if you chose a different product (let's call it product y), with less demand (eg 5) but also with less competition (eg 2), your ratio would be more attractive (5/2 = 2.5). Lower demand doesn't always mean lower profits; always look at the demand vs competition ratio.
● You want to focus your efforts. Pick a handful of products, maybe even just a couple, and sell those exclusively. If you just take the buckshot approach to selling, you'll get all jumbled. Customers will assume you're some kind of robot site selling junk and false hope. There's thousands of them out there.
● No valid drop shipping supplier is going to require you to pay for the privilege of being their customer. It's amazing how successful these fake drop ship sites with "access" fees for prices and product lists are. Think about it this way- does it make sense to charge people for the privilege of just looking at your catalog, and then another fee to see your prices? People fall for this, don't you do it.
● Stick with suppliers you already trust. Amazon does drop shipping, lots of other traditional suppliers do also. Just ask around. No body's gonna fault you for being curious.
● You want your drop ship supplier to be, essentially, invisible to the customer. Think of them as a sort of ghost writer for your business story. You present the face and take the orders; the supplier is the invisible Hand of Fulfillment.
Can't stress enough the need to take this seriously, which it sounds like you're already bound and determined to do. That's good to hear. The "catch" you want to find in drop shipping is that it's real work. That's pretty much it. Hang in there, do some research, you'll do fine.
04 Mar 2011 06:42 AM #3
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
- Posts
- 25
To the topic of research, I'd pick a product, e.g. briefcases. Whip Google with a combination of manufacturer, wholesaler, drop shipper, dealer, and the like with "briefcases" and see if you can't track down the original source for the product.
You want to do this because you need to be as close to the source as possible. The more gates you need to go through to reach the source, the more your prices grow to resemble retail. This is a very bad thing, obviously.
04 Mar 2011 07:07 AM #4
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
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- 23
I've found some access-fee-based supplier databases that claim to do verification on the suppliers they list. Any thoughts on these? Are the fees worth it? How else can I find suppliers?
04 Mar 2011 09:34 AM #5
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
- Posts
- 29
The databases are different from the suppliers because the actual service the site provides is the listing.
Do know, though, that a lot of people use these lists, and they aren't always entirely up-to-date. If there is one list I would recommend, that's esources. Stay focused on your handful of products, and make sure the market isn't saturated. You don't want to push yourself into a niche with a lot of built-in competition.
Check out trade exhibitions and publications for suppliers, too. Of course, you'll need to pay for a membership to the exhibition and the subscription to the journal, but it's typically worth it. Exhibitions give you face time with suppliers, and you can often exchange references and the like right there. Journals, of course, you'll want a subscription because you want to make sure you stay absolutely up-to-date.
20 Nov 2012 07:56 AM #6
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- Nov 2012
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- United States
- Posts
- 6
To the subject of analysis, I would choose a item, e.g. briefcases. Search for a mixture of producers, suppliers, and the likes for "briefcases" and see if you cannot find a unique source for the item. You want to do this because you need to be as near to the source as possible. The more steps involved in getting the product to your store and customers, the more your cost price will increase.
Business Marketing


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Scrunch a stand out product with a design that highlights the shapes in a flattering way! With the scrunch effect, you emphasize your shapes. The material is soft and comfortable on the body and the tights breathes well. What more could you want from training clothes?!
- Scrunch technology that emphasize your shapes.
- 77% Polyamide, 23% Elastane
- ICIW logo left hip
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- Made in EU
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To succeed at your online business you need a Web design must be just for that – a simple, focused site. One that is easy to build, maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful traffic-builder and customer-converter.
Having the right tool and the right product alone doesn't insure the success of your website. There are many factors to be considered in effective website design
1. Build It for Speed
It's a fact of modern life – people are in a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. To minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible. Use flashy technology (java script, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your presentation.
2. Target your Market
Know who your market is and make certain that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your site reflect the values of your potential customers. Then your site could be more informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your market and build the site to their preferences.
3. Focus the Site
Make certain your web site is focused on the goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is often the case. If your business does offer many products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them all from one page.
4. Credibility Is Crucial
The most professionally designed site won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A clear privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on the site as well as from any location that you are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact information on line.
5. Navigation should be simple
Make site navigation easy and intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate through the whole website to find what they are looking for.
6. Consistency is the key
Make sure the site is consistent in look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.
7. Make your site interactive
Make your website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they might have pertaining to a product.
Personalization of your website is another key element that can lead to customer delight and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell.
8. Content is King
Good content sells a product. Ask yourself the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review, critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.
These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward an effective website design, and most importantly, turning visitors into customers.


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The Town House Fontana di Trevi is a new elegant accommodation located in the very heart of Rome, at only 25 mt from the enchanting Baroque masterpiece of Trevi Fountain. It's exactly located in Via dei Crociferi 41, close to the major tourist attractions offered by the Eternal City. This charming property has been still inaugurated, and offers luxury rooms elegantly furnished housed in a noble building dated XVI Century. The Trevi Fountain is maybe the most famous fountain of Rome and maybe one of the most famous of all over the world. This 18th century fountain has been planed by the famous artist Bernini and Nicolò Salvi, and is an harmonious union of classicism and baroque style. According to the legend, if you throw a coin into the water by expressing a wish, it will become true and you will certainly return to the Rome.
The perfect position of the Town House Fontana di Trevi will allow you to discover walking the whole historical centre of Rome: in a few minutes, you will reach Piazza di Spagna, another symbol of the city, Rome's luxury shopping area between Via Frattina, Via dei Condotti and Via del Corso; Piazza del Popolo, the Ara Pacis and more. In a few minutes you will also reach the Tiber's banks and have a pleasant walk direct to the imposing St. Peters' cathedral and the most popular museums of the world: the Vatican Museums.
The Town House Fontana di Trevi is also located at only 500 mt from two of the most central subway stops: Barberini (Line A) and Piazza di Spagna (Line A). In this way you'll reach all the major sights of Rome in a very short time: the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Castel Sant' Angelo.
The accommodation is also close to Via Veneto, well-know all over the world for the most famous Fellini's movies, "La Dolce Vita", describing the "sweet life" of Via Veneto, one of the main streets of Rome, especially for its cafés, restaurants and shops.
All the rooms of the Town House Fontana di Trevi are located on the 2nd floor of a noble roman building, served by an elevator. The helpful staff will be at your disposal during your holiday and will give you the best suggestions about restaurants, museums, theatres, excursions and will get you for free a useful map of Rome.
Important: Check in can be made from 10.00am to 6.00pm. For latest arrivals we please you to contact us by e-mail, informing about your approximate arrival time: this information is very important for us in order to guarantee the best service.


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March 15, 2011
Group responsible offers free haircuts at Enbridge HQ at noon
Earlier today, the world learned of oil transport giant Enbridge's strategy for handling inevitable oil spills along its proposed pipeline through pristine British Columbian wilderness: mop it up with human hair.
The cockamamie "MyHairCares" hoax, dreamed up by former oil workers and involving outreach to over 1000 hair salons, was promoted in a slick Video News Release and involved a flurry of conflicting press releases. The original story ran in a number of major news outlets (archive will be posted shortly here), but was pulled with no retraction or explanation after a terse denial by Enbridge that seemed to miss the point entirely. (For a longer, better denial, written on behalf of Enbridge by the pranksters, click here.)
"This was a funny way to dramatize the fact that neither Enbridge nor any other oil company can prevent spills, and that they basically have no cleanup plan," said Shannon McPhail, a former Canadian oil worker and Canadian spokesperson for People Enbridge Ruined in Michigan (PERM), the group responsible for MyHairCares. "What's happening in Michigan proves that."
Between 1999 and 2008 Enbridge recorded an average of more than one oil spill every week. Just last summer, an Enbridge pipeline spilled more than 800,000 gallons of oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River. Enbridge is expected to face federal criminal charges for neglecting to maintain that pipeline; they are also accused of merely covering up, not actually cleaning up the oil. Further, a joint investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and CBS News found that Enbridge was coercing Kalamazoo spill victims into signing liability waiver forms. "Enbridge is manipulating and exploiting people who trust the company to do the right thing," said former US Congressman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., Chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
"We don't want Canadian rivers or coastlines to end up like the oily mess that Enbridge has left in a number of places around here," said US PERM spokesperson Rick Smith.
"In the U.S. Enbridge failed to maintain their pipeline, failed to clean up their mess, and are exploiting the victims," said McPhail. "It would be madness to let them build a pipeline in Canada, especially through one of our planet's last great wildernesses."
Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline would cut across the Rocky Mountains, the pristine Great Bear rain forest, and over 1,000 streams and rivers. The pipeline would carry 700,000 barrels a day of petroleum products across 1,170 kilometres between Alberta's Tar Sands and the Pacific Coast, where supertankers would carry the crude though the treacherous Douglas Channel—an area in which currents render conventional oil containment booms useless.
"A major spill on the coast or in a river would be devastating and irreversible," said McPhail. "Canada must not trade in our wilderness just to make some foreign oil companies rich."
One salon owner contacted after the ruse lauded the activists' approach to getting the media to pay attention to one of the most pressing environmental issues in North America. "I wasn't tricked, I was educated," said Brian Phillips, owner of World Salon in Toronto. "I had no idea what the people in Michigan were going through with Enbridge. We shouldn't invite that treatment here in Canada."
People Enbridge Ruined In Michigan (PERM) cooked up the "My Hair Cares" action with guidance from The Yes Men, as part of the Yes Lab for Creative Activism. Tomorrow, Canadian members of PERM will introduce themselves to the public during a noon press conference in front of Enbridge's Vancouver offices. Free haircuts will available for all, and all clippings collected then (as well as any clippings mailed in by salons) will be donated to Michigan PERM members still struggling to clean up Enbridge's mess in their community.
"Enbridge spends millions trying to convince people there's no problem," noted McPhail. "We had to be a bit clever to compete with that."
FREE HAIRCUTS: 12 noon PST, 505 Burrard St., Vancouver, CA
VIDEO DOWNLOAD: www.MyHairCares.com
Shannon McPhail (Smithers, BC), Canadian PERM spokesperson, 250-842-2494, email@example.com
Rick Smith (Michigan), US PERM spokesperson: 269-425-1822, email@example.com
Sean Devlin (Vancouver) , The Yes Lab: 778.321.7306, email@example.com


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Halloween is the time of year when people reveal their most ghoulish fears and fantasies, decorating their houses with fake mummies, plastic skulls and skeletons, and eerie contorted faces carved into apples and pumpkins. But for a certain breed of collector, like artist Ryan Matthew Cohn (pictured above, in a photo by Sergio Royzen), this sort of decor is just not creepy enough. Such collectors would rather deck their apartments with specimen jars, real mummified heads, musical instruments made out of human bones, Victorian hair art, and actual skeletons—human or otherwise. We recently took a look inside Cohn's Brooklyn apartment, in an article on decorating with taxidermy.
Perhaps the most famous store dealing in these bizarre collectibles is Obscura Antiques and Oddities in New York City (pictured above), run by Mike Zohn and Evan Michelson. Their store has risen to fame thanks to the "Oddities" reality TV show, which has aired on the Discovery and Science channels. Other shops specializing in the same sort of Victorian "cabinet of curiosities" antiques include Loved to Death in San Francisco and the Necromance stores in L.A.
On the show, Cohn—a buyer for Obscura who maintains a bone-filled Tumblr blog—goes on his idea of a dream date, taking a beautiful woman to admire some flesh-eating beetles. Cohn's friend, artist Ian Mehr, uses the beetles to eat the meat clean off goat skulls, so he can employ them in fantastically gorgeous Tim Burton-esque chandeliers.
Cohn, also a co-owner of the New York City clothing store, Against Nature, says he grew up wandering the woods in upstate New York, where he and his dog would often stumble across dead animals. Being a curious teen, he was morbidly fascinated with the corpses and would bring them home to study and incorporate into art projects. He became particularly fascinated with bones and how to tell when one is misshapen or deformed.
Thus, Cohn became an expert in "articulating" human and animal skeletons. Customers will come into Obscura with boxes or bags of skull bones, and ask him to put them together again.
"One of the things I do in my art is a reiteration of what was done in the Victorian era, what's referred to as exploded Beauchene skulls," Cohn says, who explains they were named after 19th century French anatomist Claude Beauchene.
"Those early skull models that were collected by world travelers and used at schools were based on Beauchene's work. For my own artwork, I am always looking for pathological skulls that might have had a disease or something that makes them different from any other skull that I've seen."
Often, Cohn's clients want to memorialize beloved pets. Instead of having those pets taxidermied, owners will have Cohn put their skeletons together, often in a pose of the animal's favorite activity, whether it's Fluffy the cat sleeping by the fire or Fido the dog leaping for a ball.
"What I'm doing is I'm trying to help respect these pets," he says. "I find it a little bit more pleasing to the eye to look at a skeleton as opposed to a taxidermied animal."
Taxidermy and skeleton articulation were popular in the Victorian era. People in the 19th century obsessed over the scientific study of anatomy, thanks to Charles Darwin and natural-history museum dioramas, as well as death and mourning, thanks to Queen Victoria's endless grieving of her beloved Prince Albert. People would keep reminders of mortality, like Victorian death photos, known as "memento mori."
Naturally, Cohn is a big fan of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, which houses a huge collection of specimens with curious deformities and antique medical devices. In the spirit of the Mütter, Cohn recently purchased a rather freaky two-bodied pig in a specimen jar and a "beyond rare" elongated human skull—his personal holy grail.
"What I love about this business is you wake up at 1 in the morning to get somewhere by 3 so that you can be there before everyone else," he says. "You don't know if you're going to find anything. You're just going there with the hopes of finding the holy grail of antiques that you've always been looking for.
"And then, you might walk away with one of the most amazing treasures on earth, or you might walk away with absolutely nothing. The persistence does pay off. It depends on how obsessive-compulsive you are. I clearly am."
When Cohn walked into Obscura 12 years ago, he knew he'd found kindred spirits in Zohn and Michelson, who are also drawn to the macabre and bizarre side of Victorian antiques. He found he was spending all his money in the shop, so he started selling them pieces he'd unearthed.
"I coincidentally walked in one day, and have spent every one of my dollars in there ever since," Cohn says. "Basically, I was wowed by the things that they had, a lot of freaky, real stuff. They've had two-headed taxidermy. They've had museum relics like elongated mummy heads. They've had a lot of skeletons, skulls, and they have these interesting, old display cases. It's just stuff that you will not find at your average antiques store in the South. Mike and Evan have always had the best eye that I've ever seen besides my own, for just peculiar, off-the-wall pieces that you don't see around."
On the show, they've featured Tibetan trumpets made out of human femurs, a book bound with human skin, a World War I blood transfusion kit, a Fiji Mermaid (a mummified monkey sewn to a taxidermied fish tail), a desk lamp made from a baboon's paw, a spooky Edison talking doll, and a Houdini-owned throwing knife.
"This is not normal. This guy's reading a newspaper, and I have a two-headed cat."
Naturally, you see on "Oddities" the sort of people you'd expect for such transactions—artists who work with their own bodily fluids, circus sideshow performers, black metal band members—as well as edgy celebrities like actress Chloe Sevigny and Jonathan Davis of the rock band Korn. Collectors Weekly guest blogger Steve Erenberg, of Industrial Anatomy, even makes an appearance, sharing his expertise on Victorian era firefighter smoke masks, the ones that remind him so much of "Star Wars."
Of course, when it comes to trading in human parts, like skeletons, there's always a concern about exactly where the body came from. Cohn and the Obscura staff will only accept skulls and skeletons that come to them via legal means, such as those that were used for medical research. Still, it doesn't mean they don't find themselves in hysterical situations, like when Cohn decided to investigate a Craigslist ad in upstate New York that read, "Victorian human skeleton found in Masonic Temple, belonged to my grandfather, comes with coffin."
"The ad had every element of cool that I could think of, but no pictures," Cohn says. "But it happened to be very close to where I grew up, so I just said, 'Screw it, if it doesn't work out, I'll at least get to go say hi to my mom.' But sure enough, we find this old, creepy house off a side street, and this lady had it sitting right on her porch: a Victorian human skeleton in its coffin, with Oddfellows symbols all over it. It was clearly a medical one with nice brass hardware.
"I bought it, and I didn't think anything of it," he continues. "But then realized that I had to take the bus home.
"I had to take the whole thing apart and put it into a duffel bag and then sit with it on a bus. I was looking around me and getting these weird thoughts in my head that everybody knows what's in the bag."
Cohn says he's found himself in these situations more than once over the years, particularly because he lives in Brooklyn and doesn't have a car.
"I'll be on a subway and I get that weird feeling like, 'What if anyone knows what's in this bag. They couldn't possibly, but oh my gosh, if they did! I have a two-headed cat right now. This is not normal. This guy's reading a newspaper, and I have a two-headed cat.'"
8 comments so far
Joan Hix Says:
I love this mans work. We watch the Oddities show on a regular basis and love the odd and unusual. Keep up the good work. Much respect! Such an artistic view!
BigDragonDaddy (Dave) Says:
Yikes! But really interesting :-)
Some Like it Vintage.com Says:
I was amazed to find this wonderful show on TV. I have always loved the bizarre & one-of-a-kind things, not many people do. I record every show , Great!!
Chawica Says:
Where can one find a webpage for Ian Mehr or Maher (as spelled on the show)? It seems nearly impossible to find anything on him. He has such beautiful creations and is such a talented artist. Any links would be appreciated!
Mama Rose Says:
I am envious of Cohn . I have a oddities collection myself but nothing compared to his
crazy in the brain Says:
It's Ian Maher (he's my cousin) and unfortunately he is no longer making these chandeliers.
Susannah Says:
I have a monkey skull that is part of a necklace with tusks on it.I would like to know more about it.I found it at a yard sale and only know the past owner was a world traveler and is long dead.
Andy Jones Says:


text:
Additional information
|2.5 × 15.5 × 11 in
Smooth round bellies and geometric striations within the nautilus bowl set these forms apart. The trick is to preserve these good features and then add distinctive feet and rim textures. With a trio of feet, the bowl can be set flat or rested on two feet and the rim for a jaunty tilt.
3.5″ h X 5.75″ w X 5″ d
All Raku pottery is decorative and should not be used to hold food or liquid.
1 in stock
|2.5 × 15.5 × 11 in


text:
Indian Court Rules Rummy Is Not Gambling Game
Recently, the High Court in the nation of India ruled that Rummy is not gambling:
The 13-card games like Rummy is a game of skill, and not gambling or game of chance, the Madras High Court has held, adding that police should not disturb club members and guests playing the game.
Justice S Rajeswaran, relying on a Supreme Court order of 1968 vintage, said: "The game of Rummy is mainly and predominantly a game of skill."
Justice Rajeswaran, in his order, referred to an apex court ruling delivered in 1968 stating: "The game of rummy is not a game entirely of chance like the 'three-card' game. The 'three-card' game, which goes under different names such as 'flush', 'brag', etc is a game of pure chance. Rummy, on the other hand, requires certain amount of skill because the fall of the card has to be memorized and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards."
United States courts have long held that rummy games are not gambling (see Is Rummy A Game Of Luck Or A Game Of Skill?): "In 1964 a Las Vegas-based Gin Rummy tournament was promoted by mailing flyers to players. The post office objected on the grounds that it was illegal to promote a 'game of chance' (a lottery) through postal services. This case ended up in court. After listening to the testimony of experts that included statisticians and several prominent players, the US District Court of Las Vegas on February 23, 1965, ruled that Gin Rummy is indeed a game of skill."
It's good to see yet another nation make this common-sense distinction between skill games and gambling games!


text:
Connection Handling
Connection Functions
The OCI8 extension provides three different functions for connecting to Oracle. The standard connection function is oci_connect(). This creates a connection to an Oracle database and returns a resource used by subsequent database calls.
Connecting to an Oracle server is a reasonably expensive operation in terms of the time that it takes to complete. The oci_pconnect() function uses a persistent cache of connections that can be re-used across different script requests. This means that the connection overhead will typically only occur once per PHP process (or Apache child).
If the application connects to Oracle using a different set of credentials for each web user, the persistent cache employed by oci_pconnect() will become less useful as the number of concurrent users increases, to the point where it may start to adversely affect the overall performance of the Oracle server due to maintaining too many idle connections. If the application is structured in this way, it is recommended to either tune the application using the oci8.max_persistent and oci8.persistent_timeout configuration settings (these will give control over the persistent connection cache size and lifetime), use Oracle 11g Database Resident Connection Pooling, or use oci_connect() instead.
Both oci_connect() and oci_pconnect() employ a connection cache; if multiple calls to oci_connect() use the same parameters in a given script, the second and subsequent calls return the existing connection handle. The cache used by oci_connect() is cleaned up at the end of the script run, or when the connection handle is explicitly closed. The function oci_pconnect() has similar behavior, although its cache is maintained separately and survives between HTTP requests.
This caching feature means the two handles are not transactionally isolated (they are in fact the same connection handle, so there is no isolation of any kind). If the application needs two separate, transactionally isolated connections, then use oci_new_connect().
The oci_pconnect() cache is cleared and any database connections closed when the PHP process terminates, so effective use of persistent connections requires that PHP be an Apache module or used with FGCI, or similar. Persistent connections will not have any benefits over oci_connect() when PHP is used with CGI or via the command-line.
The function oci_new_connect() always creates a new connection to the Oracle server, regardless of what other connections might already exist. High traffic web applications should avoid using oci_new_connect(), especially in the busiest sections of the application.
DRCP Connection Pooling
PHP 5.3 (PECL OCI8 1.3) supports Oracle 11g Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP). DRCP allows more efficient use of database machine memory and provides high scalability. No, or minimal, application changes are needed to use DRCP.
DRCP is suited for applications that connect using few database schemas and hold database connections open for a short period of time. Other applications should use Oracle's default Dedicated database server processes, or use Shared servers.
DRCP benefits all three connection functions, but gives the highest scalability when connections are created with oci_pconnect().
For DRCP to be available in OCI8, Oracle client libraries used by PHP and the version of the Oracle Database must both be 11g.
Documentation on DRCP is found in several Oracle manuals. For example, see » Configuring Database Resident Connection Pooling in the Oracle documentation for usage information. A » DRCP white paper contains background information on DRCP.
To use DRCP, build PHP with the OCI8 1.3 extension and Oracle 11g libraries and then follow these steps:
As a privileged database administrator, use a program like SQL*Plus to start the connection pool in the database:
SQL> execute dbms_connection_pool.start_pool;
Optionally use dbms_connection_pool.alter_param() to configure DRCP settings. The current pool settings can be queried from the DBA_CPOOL_INFO view.
Update the connection strings used. For PHP applications that currently connect using a Network Connect Name like MYDB:
$c = oci_pconnect("myuser", "mypassword", "MYDB");
modify the tnsnames.ora file and add a (SERVER=POOLED) clause, for example:
MYDB = (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp) (HOST=myhost.dom.com) (PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=sales) (SERVER=POOLED)))
Alternatively, modify the Easy Connect syntax in PHP and add :POOLED after the service name:
$c = oci_pconnect("myuser", "mypassword", "myhost.dom.com:1521/sales:POOLED");
Edit php.ini and choose a connection class name. This name indicates a logical division of the connection pool and can be used to isolate pooling for separate applications. Any PHP applications with the same user name and connection class value will be able to share connections in the pool, giving greater scalability.
oci8.connection_class = "MY_APPLICATION_NAME"
Run the application, connecting to the 11g database.
Applications using Oracle 10g that require the performance of persistent connections can reduce the amount of database server memory needed by using Oracle Shared servers (previously known as Multi Threaded Servers). Refer to Oracle documentation for information.
DRCP Recommendations and Known Limitations
Changing a password over DRCP connections will fail with the error ORA-56609: Usage not supported with DRCP. This is a documented restriction of Oracle Database 11g.
With the OCI8 1.3 extension, persistent connections can now be closed by the user, allowing greater control over connection resource usage. Persistent connections will now also be closed automatically when there is no PHP variable referencing them, such as at the end of scope of a PHP user function. This will rollback any uncommitted transaction. These changes to persistent connections make them behave similarly to non-persistent connections, simplifying the interface, allowing for greater application consistency and predictability. Use oci8.old_oci_close_semantics set to On to retain the historical behavior.
If the Oracle Database is version 188.8.131.52, then the Oracle database patch for Oracle bug 6474441 must be applied to use DRCP. Without this patch, errors such as ORA-01000: maximum open cursors exceeded, ORA-01001 invalid cursor or ORA-01002 fetch out of sequence may occur. This bug was fixed in Oracle 126.96.36.199 onwards.
If the Oracle 188.8.131.52 database patch cannot be applied, one of the following three workarounds can be used instead:
- Connect using Oracle Dedicated or Shared servers instead of DRCP.
- Set PHP's oci8.statement_cache_size to 0.
- Set an event in the database initialization parameter file: event="56699 trace name context forever, level 128".
Oracle Database 18.104.22.168 and the Oracle Database 184.108.40.206 patch for Oracle bug 6474441 allow PHP applications with DRCP connection to use a database LOGON trigger to set session properties at the time of session creation. Examples of such settings are the NLS language and the date format.
If the Oracle 188.8.131.52 database patch cannot be applied, one of the following workarounds can be used instead of using LOGON triggers:
- After logon, explicitly set the session properties using PHP application code.
- Connect using Oracle Dedicated or Shared servers instead of DRCP.
The automatic re-establishment of PHP persistent connections after an Apache or FGCI process respawns means LOGON triggers in PHP are only recommended for setting session attributes and not for per-application user connection requests. This is even more so with DRCP due to the automatic pool sizing and with the way LOGON triggers fire with DRCP authentication.
Fast Application Notification (FAN) Support
FAN support gives fast connection failover, a high availability feature. This allows PHP OCI8 scripts to be notified when a database machine or database instance becomes unavailable. Without FAN, OCI8 can hang until a TCP timeout occurs and an error is returned, which might be several minutes. Enabling FAN in OCI8 can allow applications to detect errors and re-connect to an available database instance without the web user being aware of an outage.
FAN support is available when the Oracle client libraries that PHP links with and the Oracle Database are either version 10gR2 or 11g.
FAN benefits users of Oracle's clustering technology (RAC) because connections to surviving database instances can be immediately made. Users of Oracle's Data Guard with a broker will see the FAN events generated when the standby database goes online. Standalone databases will send FAN events when the database restarts.
For active connections, when a machine or database instance becomes unavailable, a connection failure error will be returned by the OCI8 extension function currently being called. On a subsequent PHP script re-connect, a connection to a surviving database instance will be established. The OCI8 extension also transparently cleans up any idle connections affected by a database machine or instance failure so PHP connect calls will establish a fresh connection without the script being aware of any service disruption.
When oci8.events is On, it is suggested to set oci8.ping_interval to -1 to disable pinging, since enabling FAN events provide pro-active connection management of idle connections made invalid by a service disruption.
To enable FAN support in PHP, build PHP with Oracle 10gR2 or 11g libraries and then follow these steps:
As a privileged database administrator, use a program like
SQL*Plus to enable the database service to post FAN events, for
SQL> execute dbms_service.modify_service( SERVICE_NAME => 'sales', AQ_HA_NOTIFICATIONS => TRUE);
Edit php.ini and add
oci8.events = On
- If the application does not already handle OCI8 error conditions, modify it to detect failures and take appropriate action. This may include re-connecting and re-executing statements.
- Run the application, connecting to an Oracle 10gR2 or 11g database.


text:
Barely a day goes by when you switch on your computer, plug into the web and come across yet another deranged scheme to restrict freedom in the name of security, safety or morality. RIAA, DMCA, RIPA, Pallidium computing, the list almost seems to grow exponentially. So, some guys got together in a dark room, brainstormed and came up with yet another ruse to curtail access to and use of the internet. Relax, this one won't fly. Trust me. But the sheer audacity of it! Even the bovine docility of Windows users wouldn't stomach this one (or would they?)--and here's the irony. It seems to have been dreamed up by someone at Microsoft but in reality this nonsense has form. The wrap sheet's a long one. Welcome to the world of "Microsoft's Internet license".
Microsoft and internet licencing. Same difference
Users of proprietary operating systems and software are the equivalent of digital couch potatoes. They are essentially passive consumers of high cholesterol product. Digital sludge is their fare. Users and advocates of free and open operating systems and software are active producers. Digital freedom is their food of choice. Lean, mean and low fat. Companies like Microsoft have already larded their customers with a never ending escalator of restrictions, licences and attempts to tie down their very motherboards with intrusive polling to prevent copyright infringement.
Microsoft have already larded their customers with a never ending escalator of restrictions and licences
That the suggestion should come from Craig Mundie, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, at a meeting of the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland shouldn't really come as a surprise. This is the same man who has championed both Trusted Computing and Digital Rights Management (DRM). He not only called for individuals to be licenced to access the internet; much more sinisterly, he called for the United Nations (utterly unelected, unaccountable, corrupt and and composed of some of the most odious dictatorships on the planet) to be given the power to "organize the systematic quarantine of computers without their owner's permission". (That's probably already a reality in some countries.)
This was also the man who, in a speech to the New York University Stern School of Business, asserted that there are those who say, "Shared Source is Microsoft's failed attempt at being an Open Source Company. This could not be a more incorrect statement. Shared Source is Open Source". That's just beyond parody. I'm not even going to try. All I will add is that Mundie went on to claim, without the slightest hint of irony, that, in contrast to Microsoft's "shared source", "the OSS development model leads to a strong possibility of unhealthy "forking" of a code base, resulting in the development of multiple incompatible versions of programs, weakened interoperability, product instability, and hindering businesses ability to strategically plan for the future. Furthermore, it has inherent security risks and can force intellectual property into the public domain". I could go on but anyone who is familiar with Microsoft's FUD will recognize this. That then is the background of the man calling for the internet to be licenced and for more powers for an undemocratic transnational body like the UN.
Don't trust but verify
The licence would be mandatory and authentication would be enforced on three levels: people, devices and applications. Given Mundie's support for DRM and Trusted Computing, that inclusion of device authentication is particularly worrying, given that 95% of computers are using some version of Windows. As usual, the lure is the threat of the dangers of the internet: "People don't understand the scale of criminal activity on the internet. Whether criminal, individual or nation states, the community is growing more sophisticated". There, they're idiots who don't know what they are doing. Test, trust and verify. Or rather, test, distrust and ban.
if people were properly trained in the use of computers they wouldn't knowingly touch the Microsoft OS with the proverbial disinfected barge pole
Mundie also compared computer users on the net to car drivers: "If you want to drive a car you have to have a licence to say that you are capable of driving a car, the car has to pass a test to say it is fit to drive and you have to have insurance". Actually, he is right. Most of them are technically illiterate but if the only people who were allowed to drive were also qualified car mechanics then most drivers would be off the road. What next? Not allowed to switch on your TV without being a qualified electronics engineer? The point has been made before: if people were properly trained in the use of computers they wouldn't knowingly touch the Microsoft OS with the proverbial disinfected barge pole. They'd be using GNU/Linux. Instead, at the same economic forum at Davos, Andre Kudelski of the Kudelski Group actually called for the creation of an new internet where everyone would be forced to own two computers: one for secure internet and one for freedom.
You've really got to wonder what the definition of freedom would look like here. In effect, a two-tier internet and guess who's going to be in the digital underclass? Or rather, guess who will be in the first tier: proprietary Windows code, Windows-controlled hardware and Windows-approved software. Great news if you live in the developing third world. You couldn't afford the first computer or the Windows licence, now you can't afford the second computer even if it was running a GNU/Linux distro --unless of course you've been given a OLPC running Fedora.
It's been tried before
Mundie, like big government, uses security threats to cow people into submission. For example, he pointed out that there were at least ten countries in the world with the capacity and sophistication to wage cyberwar. Doubtless true but he managed to forget the fact that these countries also have seats at the UN and could, if it suited their interests, block or rig access to the internet. Hell, China's already doing it. Hasn't Mundie ever heard of the Great Firewall of China? I'm told you can see it from space. And it would be such countries, including freedom-loving democracies like Iran, who would be extending their internal control of digital media to the global reach facilitated by the UN.
If that dystopian nightmare ever materialised there would be few if any countries left on the planet where dissent and an unlicenced internet and privately owned computers could function. Any such remaining countries would be be classified as rogue states and rapidly attain pariah status in the eyes of the control freaks on the banks of the East River.
If you are a political dissident (even in a notional democracy) under the ominous dispensation of a licenced internet (and the hardware and software used to access it) the tools you use for blogging anonymously to get out stories or whistleblow on governments or corporations could disappear. The imperative to dissent is an elemental force in human nature (as Orwell described it in 1984) and attempts to curtail or deny it leads to dysfunctional behaviour and since that cannot long endure without imploding it would only be a matter of time before the emergence of a kind of "undernet".
What did the geeks do? Walked through the airport with the PGP algorithm printed on teeshirts
Geeks, nerds and technical activists always find a way round. Remember the battle about Philip Zimmerman's PGP? The US government classified it as a weapon and subject to export restrictions. What did the geeks do? Walked through the airport with the PGP algorithm printed on teeshirts. So, if a net licence was based on, say, issuing everyone with a personal encryption key, access could be monitored and controlled but a meta newtwork with anonymous packets encrypted inside real data might subvert that. It would be Samizdat for the digital age. (I'm old enough to remember the era of the Soviet Union during the cold war when Samizdat was the only way dissidents could disseminate information--and ownership of mechanical copying machines was illegal. The Soviet empire collapsed anyway.) That notwithstanding, I'd predict a whole new black economy based on cloned encryption keys. Carbon Emissions Credits, oil for food, card fraud--mere bagatelle.
Flawed analogies and other motives
The internet is a wide area network. It is made up of various protocols, ISPs, operating systems and programming languages. It operates in this heterogeneous environment and it does not have a single "owner". For example, there are thirteen root nameservers which form the backbone of the internet, distributed across the world (mostly in the USA, the rest in the UK, Sweden and Japan) supervised by ICANN. So, who would be issuing licences and on who's behalf? Driving licences are issued as proof of ability to be on a public road and not be a hazard to oneself or other road users. Mundie's licence proposal--a flawed analogy-- pretends to be the same but is in reality an attempt to control the internet and the main beneficiaries would be government and commercial corporations.
What happens if you are known to have just accessed the Wikileaks site, not to whistleblow information but simply to read the files? Will you have your licence revoked or restricted? How could Climategate have happened in the era of total control? (I suspect that the critical role of the blogsphere in this episode has utterly infuriated the one worlders and provoked many of them to ratchet up the control knobs.)
The chances are, if you read websites like this, you already subscribe to the belief that free and open is best. Best both technically and politically. Whilst the idea of an internet driving licence is stupid, unworkable and unenforceable we can predict that if ever such a reality came to pass free and open software would play a crucial role in subverting it. I can also predict that this nonsense is recidivist. It will reoffend. It will come back in some form or another. Unless we have descended into a global totalitarian dictatorship, it won't come to pass.
There are other monsters to slay
So, why bother to discuss it at all? Because the very notion tells you a lot about the mindset of its proposers and backers. All the usual culprits from proprietary software, antivirus companies and governments. They have all been dab hands at creating scares (real or imagined) about safety and security on the internet. Those of us using GNU/Linux are less prone to being unsettled. We are more aware of the threats and many of us jumped off the good ship Microsoft years ago--or never boarded in the first place. We know that the best and cleanest driving licence on the web is free and open software and operating systems. Anything else is just re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
What we should be concentrating on (at least in the UK) is Peter Mandleson's Digital Economy Bill. Now, that's a really nasty piece of work. It's a bill going through the British parliament, not some unfeasible, hair-brained proposal by Mundie. It has substance and if it passes it will allow the government to disconnect persistent file sharers from the internet, pass the cost of notification to ISPs and more importantly it will also allow the government to appoint someone it deems appropriate to take over the allocation and registration of domain names by UK-based registries.
Mr Mundie, take a look closer to home. Try googling "microsoft". There's your problem
This bill is sponsored by Mandleson, an unelected member of the British government who has been forced to resign twice for less than ethical behaviour. Meanwhile, ICANN signed a new agreement with the US Department of Commerce towards the end of last year establishing its independence. It's CEO, Rob Beckstrom, described its motto as One world, one internet, everyone connected — this is our goal at Icann. What a pity Mundie, his fellow travellers and other useful figures haven't adopted this motto. Of course, they could always use a GNU/Linux distro for a while and eventually discover that many of the alleged "problems" which provoked the idea of an internet driving licence in the first instance hardly exists in Unixland. Mr Mundie, take a look closer to home. Try googling "microsoft". There's your problem.


text: The 3D-A1000 Item Detection System is a compact and industrial 3D + 2D motion-capable smart camera used for identifying the presence or absence of objects on sorters. Patented 3D technology combined with 2D inspection capabilities accurately detects items, overhangs, empty trays, and debris on all types of carriers traveling at production line speeds. The 3D-A1000 delivers higher detection rates compared to conventional detection technologies, and outputs granular data to track system performance and health.


text:
Birth control comes in all shapes and sizes, from the incredibly high-tech to the ridiculously simple. So if you're worried about the long-term effects of taking hormones, or tired of taking a daily birth-control pill, there's always another method of birth control that's simple, cheap and effective: the Copper T. The only downside? It requires a doctor to implant it for you.
The Copper T has been in use for over five decades, touting a greater than 99% pregnancy prevention rate. What is the process behind inserting a Copper T, and how exactly can it prevent a pregnancy?
What is a Copper T?
The Copper T is a simple intra-uterine device (IUD) made of a flexible, "T" shaped piece of plastic wrapped with a thin copper containing wire. This shape is chosen as it fits the area around the uterus, allowing for the Copper T to sit in place for years without moving around.
When inserted, the ends of the "T" are folded and inserted into the patient with a straw-like tube. Once in place, the spermicidal effects of the Copper T are in effect, and the the tiny piece of plastic and copper becomes a birth control device.
How does it work?
Copper ions destroy biochemical structures with ease — they confound enzyme structures, making them useless. The ions can also bore holes into cell membranes, by interacting with the cells lipid bilayer, spilling the contents of the cell into the surrounding environment.
Once a Copper T is in place, copper ions separate from the coiled copper wire and begin to alter the biochemistry around the uterus. "Alter" sounds like a strong and permanent word, but it really isn't. The copper ions leach into uterine fluids and the cervical mucus — when these fluids come in contact with sperm, the copper ions sound the death knell for the squiggly beasts.
Copper ions prevent pregnancy by inhibiting the movement of sperm, because the copper-ion-containing fluids are directly toxic to sperm. Even if an aggressive little spermatozoa fertilizes an egg, the copper ion laden environment prevents implantation of the fertilized egg, and thus pregnancy.
Low maintenance
Once implanted in a simple outpatient procedure, a Copper T can work successfully as a form of birth control for over a decade. The long lasting effects make this IUD an exceptionally inexpensive method, which doesn't require taking a pill or putting on a condom.
The only maintenance necessary is a monthly check to see if the piece of thin thread used to track the position of the IUD is in place around the cervix. This piece of plastic thread is used by a physician to remove the IUD and reverse the procedure, allowing a woman to become pregnant within weeks after removal.
Emergency contraception and STDS
The Copper T presents another interesting application. The device can be used as a form of emergency contraception if implanted up to five days after ovulation.
The emergency contraceptive application is due to the timetable necessary to implant a fertilized egg, which can happen anywhere from six to twelve days after ovulation. This is more than enough time for the copper ions released to prevent implantation.
Copper IUDs do not prevent against sexually transmitted diseases, however, and they open the user up to a variety of pelvic infections if an STD/STI arises. These infections are very serious and require immediate treatment — with infertility one possible effect, if the pelvic inflammation goes untreated.
Top image: Lukiyanova Natalia / frenta/ Shutterstock.com Additional images from Grace Herbert/Flickr and The Contraceptive CHOICE Project/PD. Sources linked within the article.


text:
NEW YORK — If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck.
In most places around the country, there's no specific safeguard against employment discrimination based on a worker's status as a caregiver. Connecticut and the District of Columbia are exceptions. Legislation that would change that is pending in New York City and California, but business interests have objected.
At a recent hearing on the New York City bill, Dena Adams testified that she lost her job at a nonprofit organization when she was switched from a regular day shift to irregular night hours, couldn't get nighttime child care and didn't want to leave her 11-year-old daughter alone.
She offered to work weekends and holidays, then requested a consistent night schedule and finally asked if she could bring her 11-year-old daughter to work with her. She was turned down every time, she said, though other workers were given hours that allowed them to go to school.
"I said, 'Oh, no, no, no, something is not right here,"' she told a City Council committee. "That's when I realized, you know what, this is discrimination."
But there was no law against it, and Adams had to look for another job.
Proponents say various demographic trends have fed the problem and created the need for new laws: more single-parent households, more households with both parents working and more elderly people who need family care.
"In previous generations, there was this concept of the stay-at-home parent — a mother — who would be available to deal with all the domestic responsibilities," said Phoebe Taubman, senior staff attorney at A Better Balance, a legal organization that helps workers meet the demands of work and family. "Now both parents are working, work hours are longer than ever, schedules are unpredictable, overtime is frequent and there's just no way to be everywhere and do everything for everybody."
The Center for WorkLifeLaw at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law said in 2012 that only a few states and a few dozen localities have laws that go beyond the federal Family Medical Leave Act. That law is limited to serious health conditions, employers with 50 or more workers and employees with a year on the job.
Connecticut and the District of Columbia protect all workers with "caregiver responsibilities," while Alaska, New Jersey and Oregon protect workers with child care but not elder care responsibilities, the center said. It found 67 local ordinances, most of which covered only child care.
A bill in the California Legislature would cover those who provide "medical or supervisory care" to children, spouses or parents, but the state Chamber of Commerce claims it's too vague and "a job killer" and has successfully opposed it for several years.
In a letter to the Legislature last year, the chamber said the bill would "dramatically increase the amount of frivolous litigation." It said medical care could be interpreted as "administering over the counter medication once a day." And it said there are enough existing protections.
Among the California bill's proponents is Derek Tisinger, who claims he was denied a promotion in the Bakersfield Fire Department because he had sole custody of three children. The department had earlier made it difficult for him to take time off for child care, he said, "although they bent over backward to make sure the guys on the softball team could play softball."
He lost a lawsuit on appeal — the city denies he was passed over because of child care issues — and now campaigns for a new law.
The New York City bill would add "caregiver status" to race, religion, disability and other forbidden reasons for employers to discriminate. It defines a caregiver as someone who provides ongoing care to children or to others "in a dependent relationship" who suffer from a disability.
It calls on employers to make "reasonable accommodation" to caregivers.
"It could be as simple as the need to take a few phone calls during the day," said City Councilwoman Deborah Rose, whose committee is considering the bill.
"It doesn't say people with caregiving responsibilities get to come in late or leave early," said Robin Devaux, managing director of the WorkLifeLaw center. "What it says is if you let Joe leave early for his golf game, then you also need to let Mary leave early to care for her father. It's simply asking for equal treatment."
At the New York City hearing, a slew of examples was alleged, including a mother who was fired when she returned from her second maternity leave; she claimed she was told she was incapable of doing the work because she had "multiple small children."
Backers say the city's previous administration opposed the bill as bad for job growth and they're hoping for more support from Mayor Bill de Blasio. Gale Brewer, who was the main backer of the bill in the City Council and is now Manhattan borough president, said she plans to reintroduce it.
"Years ago, you know, before everything was so corporate, there was maybe more human kindness between an employer and the workers," she said. "A lot of our growth is in corporate retail, chain stores, and they don't have that personal touch. So we have to mandate it legislatively."
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FreshBooks is a Web-based and 256-bit encrypted accounting, time billing, estimate, and invoicing application that seeks to replace desktop-based accounting programs like Quicken, QuickBooks, FirstEdge ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ), and AccountEdge ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ). It's an aspiration that FreshBooks reaches for and nearly meets.
Good business accounting packages do a few things well: Track income and expenses, manage estimates, invoices, and customer payments, and give you clear, concise year-end financial information. Really great accounting applications also let you create and manage inventory and track the cost of goods sold. FreshBooks excels in almost all these areas, but offers only 19 reports. While this is far fewer than you'll find in most desktop accounting applications, the reports FreshBooks does offer are sufficient for most businesses. FreshBooks is also limited when it comes to inventory management, offering basic inventory tracking that will only be useful for those businesses where inventory isn't a major source of income.
Like Ballpark ( Macworld rated 3 out of 5 mice ), FreshBooks offers several cost tiers, from free to $149 per month. Paying more increases the number of clients and employees you can carry, and free accounts display a small FreshBooks ad on every e-mail, invoice, and estimate you send. As a business finance app, FreshBooks offers most of the features found in similar business accounting apps like AccountEdge and QuickBooks and offers many more features than Ballpark.
FreshBooks' workspace is broken into ten tabs that you use to manage clients, employees, invoices, estimates, and expenses. FreshBooks also offers tools for time tracking and billing. You can access these time tracking tools using any Web browser, including mobile Safari. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you can use the MiniBooks for FreshBooks (iTunes link). Using MiniBooks on your iPhone or iPod Touch lets you create new clients, invoices, and estimates. I much preferred MiniBooks to FreshBooks on my phone, as FreshBooks' Web interface didn't scale well to the iPhone's smaller screen.
FreshBooks uses a homepage to display the status and current activity of all your open invoices and estimates, and includes information on the last time one of your clients logged in to view an invoice or estimate or to make a payment. While FreshBooks displays the same information that Ballpark does, the FreshBooks home page isn't as clear or well organized as is the Ballpark home page.
It's easy to import client data from your existing accounting app or almost any address book application, but importing existing accounting information isn't currently possible. As you create new estimates and invoices they're emailed to your customers who can then approve the estimate, make payment on the invoice, or request that changes be made. FreshBooks currently supports 10 different payment methods, including PayPal and Authorize.net and your customers can make payment by clicking a payment link that appears on the invoice. If you choose, or if your clients prefer, you can also send out paper invoices via snail mail for a small fee.
(Image Caption: FreshBooks lets you interact with clients and update estimates and invoices entirely via the Internet.)
FreshBooks can track all of your business expenses and lets you link individual expenses to specific customers when you need them to pay for items you've purchased, but there's no way for you to add a markup to anything you've paid for. FreshBooks also lets your clients create support tickets that you can track and respond to and you can create client-specific folders to store documents for your clients to review.
Macworld buying advice
FreshBooks is a very capable web-based business accounting package that's suitable for many types of small business owners. While FreshBooks' reporting features are very limited when compared with desktop applications like QuickBooks or even MYOB's very basic FirstEdge, what FreshBooks does offer should be more than sufficient for most users. But take note, if inventory management is a big part of your business, FreshBooks will not be able to fill your business accounting needs.
[Jeffery Battersby is a writer, (very) smalltime actor, and a regular contributor to Macworld.]


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Victoria Azarenka overcame some anxiety, a sore left knee, and a slew of frustrating forehand errors before fending off American teenager Sloane Stephens to reach the Australian Open final against Li Na.
For the second time in two days, 19-year-old Stephens sat patiently in a courtside chair late in the second set while an experienced, older player took a medical timeout.
On Thursday, the top-seeded Azarenka asked for a medical timeout after wasting five match points with a sequence of forehand errors, but returned to quickly finish off a 6-1, 6-4 win on her sixth match point. The outcome was different on Wednesday, when Stephens rallied from a set and a break down to beat an injured Serena Williams in three sets.
After dropping serve in the ninth game of the second set, Azarenka went to the locker room for treatment — the tournament confirmed later it was for left knee and rib injuries — and then returned to break the 29th-seeded Stephens' serve to finish off the match.
"Well I almost did the choke of the year right now at 5-3 having so many chances I couldn't close it out," Azarenka said in an on-court TV interview. "I just felt a little bit overwhelmed. I realized I'm one step away from the final and nerves got into me for sure."
The crowd had tried to get Stephens back into the match in the second set. Fans yelled encouragement after almost every point and a few in the crowd heckled Azarenka by mocking the noise she makes when she hits the ball.
Azarenka started to lose her composure when she hit a forehand way beyond the baseline on her third match point, her hooting sound elevating to a louder, high-pitched shriek.
After Stephens saved the match points, the crowd gave her a huge round of applause and a few people jumped out of their seats. Azarenka got a tepid applause after clinching the match.
The 23-year-old Azarenka later said she'd had difficulty breathing.
"I couldn't breathe. I had chest pains," she said. "It was like I was getting a heart attack.
"After that it wasn't my best, but it's important to overcome this little bit of a struggle and win the match."
Stephens said the timing of the medical break didn't affect the match.
"It's happened before. Last match, match before, I've had people going for medical breaks, going to the bathroom," she said. "Didn't affect me. Just another something else that happens."
The temperature hit 97 degrees during the second women's semifinal, slightly hotter than it had been when Li Na beat No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 to reach the Australian Open final for the second time in three years.
Sharapova was the heavy favorite after conceding only nine games in her first five matches, a record at the Australian Open.
But the semifinal started badly for the 25-year-old Russian, serving double-faults to lose the first two points and conceding a break in the first game.
Li was the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final when she lost to Kim Clijsters at Melbourne Park in 2011. She had her breakthrough a few months later when she won the French Open, beating Sharapova in the semifinals along the way.
The crowd got behind Li early in the match, yelling "Come on, Li Na!" and others yelling "Jia You!" which is "Come on" in Chinese. After she broke Sharapova to take a 5-2 lead, the Chinese fans in the crowd shook Chinese flags and shouted again, "Jia You!"
"I don't know what happened (but) I always play well here, so thanks guys," said Li, who was playing her third Australian Open semifinal in four years. "I just came to the court feeling like, 'OK, just do it.'"
The heat and the speed of the court surface suited Li's game.
She broke Sharapova in the third game of the second set and served an ace to move within a point of a 4-2 lead, but lost the next three points to give her opponent a break opportunity.
Two big second serves took Sharapova by surprise, and Li fended off the challenge.
Li's coach, Carlos Rodriguez — who worked with retired seven-time major winner Justine Henin — pumped his fist over his heart after Li won the game.
Sharapova had control in her next service game, but Li scrambled from side to side and pushed the reigning French Open champion to go for the lines, getting a series of unforced errors and another break.
The sixth-seeded Li has been working since August with Rodriguez, and credits him with reviving her career with a renewed emphasis on condition.
"I'm happy. I know I have a tough coach, a tough physio," Li said, looking across to the stands and adding: "You don't need to push me anymore. I will push myself."
Sharapova, who lost the 2012 Australian final in straight sets to Azarenka, admitted it was hard to get into the match against Li.
"She was certainly much more aggressive than I was, dictating the play. I was always on the defense," said Sharapova, who could have gained the No. 1 ranking by reaching the Australian final. "When I had my opportunities and break points in games that went to deuce, I don't think any of them really went my way."
The composition of the women's semifinals was somewhat unexpected.
Stephens produced the upset of the tournament to advance to a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time with her 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over 15-time major winner Serena Williams on Wednesday. Williams, who had been bidding for a third consecutive Grand Slam title, hurt her back in the second set and, after leading by a set and a break, ended a 20-match winning streak.
While there were surprises in the composition of the women's last four, the makeup of the men's semifinals was as expected.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will continue his bid for a third consecutive Australian title when he takes on No. 4 David Ferrer on Thursday. No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Andy Murray will meet Friday.


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12-Year-Old Girl Saves Bus After Driver Passes Out
LAKE ELMO, Minn. (WCCO) -- A 12-year-old's quick thinking likely helped save a bus full of children when the driver blacked out.
When Rana Kraftson noticed her bus driver was unconscious, she ran to the front of the bus, and pressed her hand on the brake pedal.
WCCO-TV talked to the girl who humbly says she did what anyone would've done.
"Of course I realized it could have been a much more serious situation," said Torry Kraftson, the 12-year-old's father.
Like they do every Tuesday in the winter months, last week, nine seventh graders pulled out of the Oak-Land Junior High School parking lot to go Nordic ski practice.
"He started to shake, and then all of a sudden he fell like a brick off of his seat, and then I stood up and started screaming, 'He fainted!'" Rana Kraftson said.
Rana Kraftson noticed they were heading straight for a snow bank.
"When Rana ran up there and she started screaming, I think everyone just kind of got this adrenaline rush and just like, 'Oh my gosh, what's happening?'" said Emma Anderson, 12.
Rana Kraftson said that's when she had a quick moment of clarity -- "That I had to stop the bus, or else we're going to hit a tree," she said.
She knew she had to get to the brake pedal.
"His leg was still in the area that the breaks are in, so I had to move his leg," she said.
She first pushed the accelerator, and when the kids yelled to her to push the other pedal, the bus came to a stop.
Rana Kraftson then picked up the bus driver's radio and asked for help, and soon after, faculty came to their aid.
Rana Kraftson's friends and her father say they are proud of her for stopping what could've been a dangerous situation.
"She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she gets a lot of that from her mom," Torry Kraftson said.
The skiers said that the bus driver suffered a stroke, but has pretty much recovered, aside from a broken arm.
The seventh graders on the Nordic ski team say they recently sent him a Christmas card.
for more features.


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Prison food is notoriously terrible, and it's not like you can go out to a drive-thru when you get hungry between meal-times. But prison inmates are famous for their amazing creativity — and when they're not making shivs and other improvised weapons, they're creating some truly bizarre food items.
Here are 10 food items that you could make from scratch if you pulling a long stint at the big house.
Prison inmates have a lot of time on their hands, and a strict schedule to follow. But they still find ways to do some cooking, sneaking out leftovers from the cafeteria and purchasing basic items from prison commissaries. Including these delicacies:
10. Correctional Cake
Used to celebrate birthdays and the release of beloved prisoners, this cake is created using Oreo cookies, peanut butter, and M&Ms. The Oreo cookies are separated, with the cookie itself crushed and molded in the presence of water to create the layers of the cake. The creamy interior of the Oreos is used as icing. Peanut butter then becomes icing for another layer, with the "cake" topped off with broken up M&Ms.
9. No Bake Cheesecake
Piper Kerman worked as a drug smuggler and money launderer for a West African drug kingpin. She wrote about her time in prison in her memoir, Orange Is The New Black. In the book, Kerman gives the recipe for a common prison cheesecake, made with graham crackers, lemon juice, vanilla pudding mix, stolen margarine, and coffee creamer.
8. Fried Chicken
There is not a lot of information out there as to how prisoners accomplish this in their cells, but what is out there involves wiring a heating element into a plastic trashcan. How the oil and raw chicken (or fish) are obtained, I'm not entirely sure — but the smell probably makes fellow inmates jealous. Fresh fried chicken has to be worth at least a pack of cigarettes.
7. Prison Lattes
The first drink to make our list is probably the tastiest. Making prison lattes involves a carton of milk and finding a faucet with really hot water. Keep the carton sealed and place it under the water until steam starts emanating from the sink. Pop open the carton of milk and add instant coffee along with maple syrup if you can grab a leftover packet from breakfast. Serve hot.
6. Prison Pizza
To make this "pizza", prisoners mold ramen noodles and crackers into a crust using hot water and a trash bag. After the crust hardens, top with anything absconded from the cafeteria or purchased from the commissary - leftover meat, cheese, salsa, etc. I'm scared of this one.
5. Teriyaki flavored water
Prisoners often use leftover flavor packets from ramen noodles to add an extra zest to the their water. If you can't find a soft drink in your cell, this is better than nothing. Maybe.
4. Tamales
Similar in concept to prison pizza, you make these tamales by mixing crushed Frito corn chips and spicy Cheetos inside a plastic bag. Once mingled together, you add hot water until the chips and Cheetos get soggy. Prisoners then mold the chips into the shape of a tamale and let the concoction sit for about five minutes until it hardens.
3. Pad Thai
Once again, you use ramen noodles for this recipe (beginning to see a trend?), but this time, the noodles are used for their intended manner. You add peanut butter and hot sauce to cooked ramen noodles, to make a quick and simple facsimile of Pad Thai.
2. Crabapple Jelly
During her stint at Alderson Federal Prison Camp for insider trading, home and lifestyle guru Martha Stewart created crab apple jelly and earned the nickname M. Diddy. M. Diddy picked crabapples from trees on the prison grounds (technically a rules violation) to create her jelly. Stewart likely made this recipe with access to a kitchen.
1. "The Spread"
The cheese ball of prison culture makes for a weekend treat and an opportunity for other prisoners to contribute leftovers or small amounts of food for a communal meal. To make "the spread", break up ramen noodles and mix the spices in a trash bag, and then toss anything into it the mixture. Canned tuna, hot sauce, salsa, Doritos, and flavored popcorn are common — essentially whatever you can keep in your cell or buy from the commissary is fair game. Hot water is added to "cook" the mixture, which is then spread over a newspaper and eaten by fellow inmates with a spoon.
Honorable Mention #1 - Non-alcoholic Cognac
Mix a can of Cherry Dr. Pepper with instant coffee, cocoa, cappuccino mix, a carton of milk, and some leftover sugar packets to make a drink that tastes as close to cognac as you will get in prison. I would not let this one ferment.
Honorable Mention #2 - Beef stick Barbecue
Not quite worthy of its own entry — but pretty interesting. This recipe involves cooking a Slim Jim (not typical beef jerky - it's too dry) with a lighter to create a little sizzle and variation on the Macho Man Randy Savage's favorite food.
Images from Eptalon/CC, kim siciliano salem/Flickr, sylvar/Flickr, Wehha/CC, and journeyscoffee/Flickr. If you want to check out some more of the amazing things created by inmates in their cells, check out the forums at Prison Talk. Sources linked within the article.


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A study led by a researcher at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine indicates that parent-only treatments for childhood obesity work equally as well as plans that include parents and child, while at the same time more cost effective and potentially easier for families.
The results were published in the advanced online edition of the journal Obesity.
Kerri N. Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, and colleagues set out to assess whether parent-only groups are an equally viable method for weight loss.
"Our results showed that the parent-only group was not inferior in terms of child weight loss, parent weight loss and child physical activity," said Boutelle. "While further research is needed, our work suggests that parent-only groups are a viable method for providing childhood obesity treatment."
Recent data suggests at 31 percent of children in the United States are overweight or obese, or between four and five million children. Current treatment programs generally require participation by both parents and children in a plan that combines nutrition education and exercise with behavior therapy techniques.
"Parents are the most significant people in a child's environment, serving as the first and most important teachers," said Boutelle "Since they play a significant role in any weight-loss program for children, we wondered if the same results could be achieved by working with just the parents, without the child coming to the clinic."
The researchers looked at eighty parent-child groups with an 8 to 12-year-old overweight or obese child, and randomly assigned families into parent-only or parent + child treatment programs for five months. Child and parent body size, child caloric intake and child physical activity were assessed at baseline, post-treatment and at a six-month follow up visit.
The results showed that the parent-only group provided similar results in child weight loss and other relevant outcomes. Since parent-only treatments are successfully used to deliver treatments for other child behavioral issues, this approach to instilling better nutrition and exercise habits in children -- designed to result in weight loss -- could also prove to be an effective treatment model.
Boutelle has received another grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct this study with 150 families and follow them for 18 months. This larger study will be recruiting families for the next three years.
Additional contributors to the study include Guy Cafri, UCSD Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, and Scott J. Crown, University of Minnesota. The study was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
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Materials provided by University of California -- San Diego. Original written by Debra Kain. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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text: Visual Studio LightSwitch Beyond the Basics 12 August 2010 Tyler-Jensen Commentary, LightSwitch Before you make up your mind about LightSwitch prior to beta release, watch the new video on Channel 9. Before you decide that LightSwitch is for non-developers, watch Joe Binder in this video extend a LightSwitch application with a Silverlight user control and a custom WCF RIA Service. The key point, I believe, made in the video is that EVERY LightSwitch application is essentially a 3-tier application. The extension of the Data Access tier with WCF RIA Services makes it possible to extend those tiers into the enterprise infrastructure easily. The demo also makes a very important point. When you write a real LightSwitch application, you will be writing code. While LightSwitch might be appealing to non-professional or hobbyist or business types, whoever uses it successfully will in fact end up writing code. Will they have to be an expert developer. Not if they have support from the enterprise pros that build the infrastructure for the business. I still want to see and play with the beta before making up my mind, but what I've seen so far looks very promising.


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Here's this week's thing:
6. Write a love letter to my husband and mail it to him
I wrote a love letter to my husband back in June (it was another one of my june projects) and gave it to him as a Father's Day Card. I didn't mail it to him but I stuck it on his computer in his office when he wasn't looking.
The card was inspired by this art by Dana.
I used the same card for my catalyst for creative therapy:
and here's the back
the letter inside was two pages typed. Yep, I typed it. I've learned over the years that I can express myself more deeply and more eloquently when I type.
I'm afraid the contents are too personal to share but suffice it to say I love and adore my husband and I am very thankful he is in my life.