text:
If you've wondered why the blizzard dumping snow on the Northeast has a name, look no further than The Weather Channel. At the start of this storm season, the 24-hour-weather network announced, much to the chagrin of The National Weather Service, that it would give names to winter storms.
The whole storm-naming-phenomenon is just part of a recurring cycle of frenzy, buildup, climax and plateau that we seem to collectively observe with each major weather system these days.
Academics use something called a "hype cycle" to illustrate the way society adopts new technologies. Now, it's becoming increasingly clear that superstorms get hype cycles of their own. Let's break down the phases of a storm hype cycle:
Phase One: The Trigger
It's tricky to forecast the weather several weeks out, so storms like "Nemo" often start as "a cold front that may bring a few inches of snow next weekend." But once many meteorologists agree that something major is coming, the hype cycle is triggered. Use of a storm name also indicates the storm cycle has begun. (See: "Frankenstorm.") Sometime during this phase, assorted social media hashtags that may or may not feature the storm name begin proliferating cyberspace.
Phase Two: The Expectation Buildup
This is when you start seeing headlines that include any of the following terms: historic, extreme, crushing, imminent. Often these terms can be found in all caps. Elected officials start making necessary municipal or state-level preparations for the weather; the governor of Massachusetts, in anticipation of Nemo the Blizzard, banned driving on all Massachusetts streets and bridges by Friday afternoon. Airlines cancel flights. Trains stop service. Anxiety sets in. NPR's Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes put it this way, as she watched 14 hours of The Weather Channel during 2011's Hurricane Irene: "I'm convinced that wall-to-wall weather coverage soothes anxiety by making you feel (quite incorrectly) like you now have an encyclopedic knowledge of how, exactly, you might wind up with a basement full of raw sewage." Perhaps Linda's not alone.
Those in harm's way are either relocating or making the decision to hunker down. On the social front, one or two key hashtags break out from the dozens of different ones that cropped up earlier. In 2012, for example, #Frankenstorm was quickly replaced by #Sandy.
Phase Three: The Wait
The speed of the Web being what it is, the media-consuming public often gets whipped up into a frenzy that crests several hours -- or even days -- before a storm actually begins piling an area with precipitation and doing damage. So this phase represents the gap in time between the crest of the frenzy and the storm actually arriving. Images of empty airports, train stations and people shoring up their homes flash across screens. Television reporters go live from grocery stores, where those in the storm's path have stripped shelves clean of bottled water, batteries and nonperishable food items. Over on The Weather Channel site, a blizzard countdown was measured to the second.
Phase Four: The Storm
The length of this phase depends on the size of the system. But more often than not, the actual storm lasts for a shorter amount of time than its preceding phases. A recognizable trait of this phase is that emergency crews and journalists are the only ones outside. Many of those reporters and meteorologists broadcast while getting pelted with hail, knocked down by sideways rain, swallowed by snow or otherwise suffering the very situations they are warning you to avoid. And for those actually in the path of the storm, phase four presents a rather modern and meta situation. Assuming you haven't lost electricity, it's entirely possible to find yourself watching a storm unfold on television or Twitter instead of looking out your window at wind gusts, driving rain or falling snow.
Phase Five: The Coverage Plateau And Petering Out
Coverage shifts from the disaster to what it left behind. But after a certain amount of time -- a week, perhaps more -- aftermath attention tends to plateau and peter out. Post-storm stories tend to show at a more surface level the way the storm shook up a community in sometimes permanent ways, but the stories don't commonly get revisited. More than three months after Superstorm Sandy, the AP reported that 42,000 of its New Jersey victims remain displaced. But after a week's worth of storm damage stories, Sandy stories largely fell off of front pages.
The danger here is that while a hype cycle tends to follow the same pattern, storms themselves can vary widely in their magnitude, scope and degree of damage to humans and creatures. If the go-to aftermath stories are the same, the public response runs the risk of becoming routine -- to the detriment of those who need help. In Sandy's wake, donations of clothing piled up when aid organizations said what they really needed was cash. In other instances, blankets are sent to tropical areas or bottled water to places with abundant water resources.
With scientists predicting extreme weather systems will only increase in frequency, the storm hype cycle will likely become more common. And when the cycle is standard, the vastly different ways lives are affected could get lost.
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit www.npr.org.


text:
We have imagined ourselves searching like Kelly Manning for loved ones after the explosions on Boylston Street.
We have pictured ourselves huddling in the basement like Beth and Paul Robinson and their four children as bullets and bombs fly on our own city street.
We have thought about wandering into our backyards like David Henneberry, seeing something amiss, finding something unimaginable.
We have joined Bostonians singing the national anthem at a hockey game. Sat in a car with Derrick Hurtt and daughter Khloey, watching in horror as the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explodes. Witnessed the renewed grief of Newtown parent Mark Barden as gun control legislation dies.
We absorbed these past six days in an instantaneous, nonstop, firsthand-but-once-removed way that now defines our communal experiences.
We see it all now, don't we? The boy balancing on the gate at the end of the race, moments before a kitchen pot bomb would take his life. The boat in the backyard. The boxer, now dead, in the ring. With a girl. Before it all went so terribly bad.
"Jesus, This Week," read a headline on the satirical website The Onion.
And that before the gun battle in the wee hours of Friday on the streets of Boston. Before one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was dead, and the other captured, late Friday, bleeding in Henneberry's boat.
There, of course, have been awful weeks before, terrible tragedies, death, war, uncertainty, raw fear.
But this time, in our full-on, post-Sept. 11 surveillance society and freshly Twitterized media, we were able to experience each event in excruciating, exquisite detail.
Through the saturation of social media, we were also able to experience it equally, whether reporting from the streets of Boston or the scorched explosion site in Texas, from newsrooms in New York or Los Angeles or Berlin, or from our own living rooms and college dorm rooms.
This week, these awful events have cemented the reality that the media is now everyone, anyone with a computer or a smartphone, a Twitter account or a Facebook page.
The Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 was the first major news event reported largely via Facebook, with older journalists whose already outdated tactic of using a telephone enlisting the help of younger ones to reach students.
It was those students who first figured out, through a process of elimination on social media, who was dead.
Now, we sit at our kitchen tables and monitor live feeds of police scanners as they close in, and decide whether or not to open a tweeted file purporting to contain a photo of the dead suspect in a Boston morgue.
As the endless loop of the security camera video of the suspects and their homemade bombs continues to crowd our minds, the questions rain down about whether this new media world is good or bad. Whether the old media, leaning ever more heavily on the new, has been enhanced or embarrassed by it.
The questions matter. The answer is yes.
"It's important that we do this right," President Obama said Friday night. "That's why we have investigations. That's why we gather the facts. That's why we have courts. That's why we take care not to rush to judgment about the motives of these individuals, [and] certainly not about entire groups of people."
He was talking about the judicial process that now has control of the surviving but badly injured Boston Marathon bombing suspect, an ethnic Chechen of the Muslim faith.
But the president's caution was made in an age, he said, of instant reporting, tweets and blogs — a world now almost utterly unhinged from traditional notions.
"It was such a beautiful day in Boston," CBS News anchor Scott Pelley said late Friday, as he summed up the week that was with images of the sunny start of the Boston Marathon.
Before Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu and Krystle Campbell were killed. Before limbs were severed, before MIT police officer Sean Collier was slain, and before at least 14 people died in the Texas explosion.
"All in all, this has been a tough week," Obama said, as Bostonians celebrated the capture in the streets. "We have seen the character of our country."
As well as the raw, new and irresistible world of a media that now, for better or worse, belongs to us all.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
DUBLIN, Oct. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/787ds2/2015_us_hepatitis) has announced the addition of the "2015 US Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E Diagnostics Market: Hospitals, Physician Offices, Public Health Labs-Country Market Segment Volume and Sales Forecasts for Immunodiagnostic and NAT Procedures, Innovative Technologies, Instrumentation Review" report to their offering.
2015 US Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E Diagnostics Market: Blood Banks, Commercial Labs, Hospitals, Physician Offices, Public Health Labs--Supplier Shares, Competitive Strategies, Country Market Segment Volume and Sales Forecasts for Immunodiagnostic and NAT Procedures, Innovative Technologies, Instrumentation Review.
The report presents a detailed analysis of the Hepatitis diagnostics market in the US. Current scientific views on the Hepatitis definition, epidemiology and etiology are reviewed.
In addition to test volume and sales projections, the report presents sales and market share estimates for major suppliers of Hepatitis tests.
Also, the report examines the market applications of DNA Probes, Monoclonal Antibodies, Immunoassays, IT and other technologies; reviews features and operating characteristics of automated analyzers; profiles leading suppliers and recent market entrants developing innovative technologies and products; and identifies emerging business expansion opportunities, alternative market penetration strategies, market entry barriers and risks, and strategic planning issues and concerns.
The report provides five-year test volume and sales forecasts for HAV NAT, HBV NAT, HBs Ag, HCV, Anti-HBc, Anti-HBs, Anti-HAV, Hepatitis Delta, HBc Ag, HBe Ag, and ALT/SGPT tests performed in the following markets:
- Hospitals - Commercial/Private Labs - Blood Banks - Physician Offices - Public Health Labs
Companies Mentioned
- Abbott - Affymetrix - Beckman Coulter/Danaher - Becton Dickinson - bioMerieux - Bio-Rad - Cepheid - Diamedix - DiaSorin - Eiken Chemical - Elitech Group - Enzo Biochem - Fujirebio - Grifols - Hologic/Gen-Probe - ID Biomedical/GSK - Kreatech/Leica - Lonza - Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics - Qiagen - Roche - Scienion - Sequenom - SeraCare - Siemens - Takara Bio - Thermo Fisher/Life Technology - Wallac/PE - Wako
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/787ds2/2015_us_hepatitis
Media Contact:
Laura Wood, +353-1-481-1716, [email protected]
SOURCE Research and Markets


text:
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text:
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text: Secrets Of Chute Boxe Instructional DVDs Featuring Shogun And Ninja Chute Boxe is the legendary Mixed Martial Arts Academy originating from Curitiba, Brazil with an academy now in California. It is renowned for churning out legendary Pride FC Middleweight Champion Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva as well as the Rua brothers, Mauricio Shogun, winner of the 2005 Pride FC Middleweight Grand Prix and current UFC light heavyweight contender, and Elite XC, Strikeforce and Cage Rage favorite Murilo Ninja. Chute Boxe is renowned for its relentless and brutal, full-throttle blend of Muay Thai striking and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu groundfighting techniques, solidifying it as one of the premier fighting systems on the planet. |


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When it comes to veteran market research firm NPD Group, Inc., the latest report [press release] on smartphones is more good news for two major players and more very bad news for a third.
I. Google and Apple's Gains are RIM, Microsoft's Losses
For Google, Inc. (GOOG) and Apple, Inc. (AAPL) the news is happy. Google rose from a 33 percent market share in Q2 2010 to a 52 percent market share in Q2 2011 — a 57.6 percent increase in market share which came despite its legal troubles [1][2][3][4][5]. Apple, resigned for now to play second fiddle to Google grew from 22 percent to 29 percent — a 31.8 percent increase in market share.
The bad news came for Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion (TSE:RIM) who saw its U.S. market share drop from 28 percent to 11 percent — a 60.7 percent decline. In the last year the phone maker has lost nearly half its stock value as well.
RIM appears to be fading fast. Things look increasingly bleak for the company, which is rumored to be preparing to push its new operating system — QNX — into the smartphone market in a desperate revitalization bid. It's easy to draw analogies between RIM of today and Palm, Inc. at the start of the webOS era — beloved by some loyal customers, but increasingly scorned by the masses. The similarities run deep in that both companies followed the largely defunct first-party OS model, a sluggish pace of handset releases, and inferior hardware.
The study also showed troublesome signs for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Windows Mobile held approximately 10 percent of the U.S. market last year. But by this year its successor, Windows Phone 7, had only accrued approximately 1 percent of the market, while Windows Mobile hung on to 4 percent of the market. In other words, Microsoft saw its cumulative market share halved.
However, unlike RIM, Microsoft has deep pockets to try to revitalize its sales. And with the upcoming launch of WP7's first major OS and hardware refresh, Mango, which seems to have strong support from a number of top third party handset makers, Microsoft looks poised to turn the corner and become a viable third place competitor.
II. Motorola Dips, Faces Puzzling Outlook
In terms of individual phone manufacturers, the biggest loser was recent Google purchase Motorola Mobility, Inc. (MMI). Motorola saw its total market share drop from 15 percent to 12 percent, and its share of the Android handset market drop from 44 percent to 22 percent.
It saw its market share gobbled up by Android rivals LG Electronics (SEO:066570) and Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (SEO:005930).
NPD analyst Ross Rubin was enthusiastic about Google's acquisition, though, which he says is beneficial to Android as a whole. He comments, "Google's acquisition of Motorola shifts the balance of power in the handset-patent conflict between Google and its operating system competitors. Android's momentum has made for a large pie that is attractive to Motorola's Android rivals, even if they must compete with their operating system developer."
He adds, "Much as it did in the feature phone market in the RAZR era, Motorola is experiencing increased competition from Samsung and LG in the smartphone market. Closer ties to the heart of Android can help inspire new paths to differentiation."
Of course, the Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility appears to have been primarily motivated from an intellectual property standpoint, so it remains unclear whether it will give choose to give unique advantages to its first party feature phones at its third-party partners' expense.
III. What Will the Market Look Like Next Year?
Overall there's still a great deal of uncertainty in the market. Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) did refine the picture a bit, but voluntarily removing itself (and the ex-Palm webOS unit) from the smart phone market.
Looking ahead, though, it remains to be seen whether RIM will find a way to revitalize itself or will become an acquisition target for one of the more successful or deeper-pocketed phone makers. Don't be surprised if RIM has dropped even further in market share next year — or has thrown its weight behind Android or Windows Phone 7.
But the biggest two outstanding questions are how Mango will be received and what will be the outcome of the Apple-Android legal war. The outcome of those two factors should play a critical role in determining what the market looks like next August, when we sit back and look at the results of Q2 2012.
In the wild card category Intel Corp. (INTC) still has high hopes for Meego and Mozilla is cooking up a smartphone operating system of its own. Don't get your hopes up that either of these projects will have generated even enough market share to earn a blip on next year's report, though.


text:
Ecosystem services are a way of thinking about – and evaluating – the goods and services provided by nature that contribute to the well-being of humans.
This MOOC will cover scientific (technical), economic, and socio-political dimensions of the concept through a mix of theory, case-studies, interviews with specialists and a serious-game. By the end of this course, our aim is to enable you to: • define the concept of ecosystem services, its principles and limitations • understand the key services associated with any ressource (e.g., fresh water) through readings and case-studies • appreciate the advantages and potential risks of monetising ecosystem services • appreciate the social dimensions (power issues, cultural biases) embedded within any method • integrate tactical advice on mainstreaming this approach into policy and standard government practices • Optional: learn how to map ecosystem services with GIS tools The session that runs May 29th- July 10th will be actively monitored by the instructors, and learners will have the opportunity to ask questions. This course was developed by instructors from the University of Geneva with the help of numerous researchers and input from the Geneva Water Hub and the Natural Capital Project. The course was financed by the University of Geneva, the Global Programme Water Initiatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Luc Hoffmann Institute. This MOOC is supported by the Geneva Water Hub and the University of Geneva along with the MOOC in « Water Resources Management and Policy » (www.coursera.org/learn/water-management) and the one in « International Water Law » (www.coursera.org/learn/droit-eau). We look forward to you joining us!


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Pluto is one of the little mysteries of our solar system. An icy dwarf planet far from Earth, it's never been studied up close. The best scientists have been able to do is to examine it with the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the coolest scientific instruments ever invented.
In 2011 and 2012, they discovered two new moons around Pluto, bringing the total number of its satellites to five. Right now they're known by the boring scientific designations S/2011 (134340) 1 and S/2012 (134340) 1. Most astronomers call them by the shorter yet equally boring nicknames P4 and P5. Now an online poll on the website Pluto Rocks!, run by Dr. Mark Showalter of the P4/P5 Discovery Team, is letting YOU help decide what to name them.
All the choices come from Greek and Roman mythology but one has a special significance for science fiction fans – Vulcan. None other than William Shatner has gotten behind the push to name one of the moons after Mr. Spock's home world. He's urging fans via his twitter feed to vote for Vulcan. On his own twitter feed, Leonard Nimoy said, "'Vulcan' is the logical choice. LLAP." LLAP stands for "Live long and prosper," of course.
According to the current tally, Vulcan is way ahead, with Cerberus and Styx neck-and-neck for second place. I decided to release my inner Trekkie and voted for Vulcan. Since there are two moons to be named, you get to go back and vote again. I'll be voting for Thanatos. It's way behind but it's the coolest name on there after Vulcan.
P4 is Pluto's smallest moon, measuring an estimated 8-21 miles across and orbits Pluto in about 31 days. P5 is 6-16 miles across and orbits Pluto in 20 days. Little is known about their physical makeup although it is thought they are a combination of water ice, other frozen elements and molecules, and small bits of rock.
While astronauts and space tourists won't be getting to these destinations anytime soon, it's nice to know that you had a part in naming them. Voting ends at noon EST on Monday, February 25.
[Photo courtesy NASA via the Hubble Space Telescope]


text:
We believe that writing correct concurrent & distributed, resilient and elastic applications is too hard. Most of the time it's because we are using the wrong tools and the wrong level of abstraction.
Akka is here to change that.
Using the Actor Model we raise the abstraction level and provide a better platform to build correct concurrent and scalable applications. This model is a perfect match for the principles laid out in the Reactive Manifesto.
For resilience, we adopt the "Let it crash" model which the telecom industry has used with great success to build applications that self-heal and systems that never stop.
Actors also provide the abstraction for transparent distribution and the basis for truly scalable and fault-tolerant applications.
Learn more at akka.io.
Reference Documentation
The reference documentation is available at doc.akka.io, for Scala and Java.
You can join these groups and chats to discuss and ask Akka related questions:
- Forums: discuss.akka.io
- Chat room about using Akka:
- Issue tracker:
In addition to that, you may enjoy following:
- The news section of the page, which is updated whenever a new version is released
- The Akka Team Blog
- @akkateam on Twitter
- Questions tagged #akka on StackOverflow
- Projects built with Akka:
Contributions are very welcome!
If you see an issue that you'd like to see fixed, the best way to make it happen is to help out by submitting a pull request implementing it.
Refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md file for more details about the workflow, and general hints on how to prepare your pull request. You can also ask for clarifications or guidance in GitHub issues directly, or in the akka/dev chat if a more real time communication would be of benefit.
A chat room is available for all questions related to developing and contributing to Akka:
Akka is Open Source and available under the Apache 2 License.


text: This workshop will give students hands-on experience in developing interesting Android applications. No previous experience in programming is needed, and the course is suitable for students with any level of computing experience. MIT App Inventor will be used in this workshop. It is a blocks-based programming tool that allows everyone, even novices, to start programming and build fully functional apps for Android devices. Students are encouraged to use their Android devices for hands-on testing and exploitation.


text:
Nowadays there is a lot of trend of online shopping, people want to shop at home, due to which many online shopping stores are opening day by day. Some of these are quite right but some are made just to fool people and loot their money.
Due to time constraints and market rush, people are moving towards more online shopping, people get a lot of facilities and offer in online shopping.
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Please Share your Personal Experience, Rating, and Reviews of Ultrareally.com with us:
There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.
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- Website Domain and Url/ check very carefully: Look at the URL of the website very carefully because most of the scam website makers make their website like the domain of a branded website. And people go into the trap because of this mistake.
- Website Whois Information/provided or not provided: If the website owner and the company are providing their complete information, then they are good, and if they are not, then it means that they want to hide which generates some doubt. "Click Here" for website/company information: Enter the domain of the website at this link and then see all the information.
- Website Domain Age/ how old this website: the age of the website is very important always check if this website is very new or old. The new website is low trustworthy until becomes very famous.
- Https Secure or not: Make sure that the website connection is secure or not, because if you make a payment through the card, then a secure connection is very beneficial for that.
- Social media pages: Social media is the largest platform for advertising of any e-commerce business. So most popular websites use it. But the short-term website creator does not want to work so hard.
- Contact us/ About Us/ Shipping/ Payment/ Delivery pages details: These pages provide complete information about the seller to the buyer, if the Buyer gets satisfactory information, this increases the transparency of the website and the owner. But low and unsatisfactory information always raises doubt in the mind of the buyer.
- COD/ Payment gateway: Cash on delivery is a good payment option for any new online store, but most websites do not offer this payment option. And people get upset after paying with their card and Payal.
- Real/Paid or fake customer reviews: real or fake customer reviews always different, real reviews can be good or bad experiences but fake reviews always are good.
- Discounts and Offers Limits: discounts and offers have a limit, unlimited, and look very cheap offer/ discounts always suspicious.
- Product descriptions/ Rating and Reviews: check products rating and reviews before purchase.
- Models images real or fake: Half faces model means they are not hired for this work, the images are copied so be careful and check these before shopping.
- Trust Score of Website: many blog sites provide deep information of online store website, check always there and find the legitimacy of any website.
- Online Reviews of the Website: Read and research on the internet before buying online. "Check review Here":


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In March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt approached politician James M. Cox to offer him what should have been a cushy gig: the ambassadorship to Germany. But Cox turned down the job. Germany was unstable and violent — and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's paramilitary army had started to attack and jail thousands of its own citizens.
The job remained open for months as candidates were summarily rejected. In early June 1933, Roosevelt's commerce secretary suggested an alternative: William Dodd, a professor at the University of Chicago who spoke German and received his graduate degree in Germany.
Roosevelt offered Dodd the job, who accepted and went to Berlin with his wife, son and daughter. Roosevelt emphasized that Dodd needed to be a model of American values in Nazi Germany. But there was a less official mandate, too.
"He wanted Dodd to address [anti-Semitism] in essentially a less-than-official manner," writer Erik Larson tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "the argument being that this was, of course, shameful [and] it was an awful thing, but it was not necessarily something that America should get involved with in an official level."
Larson chronicles Dodd's time in Germany in a new book, In the Garden of Beasts. It's a detailed portrait of the man who served for four years as the ambassador to Germany before resigning — after repeatedly clashing with both Nazi Party officials and the State Department.
"I was interested in him because I wanted to find out what was that like, to have met these people when you didn't know how all of this would turn out?" Larson says. "We, of course, have the power of hindsight in our arsenal, but people living in Berlin in that era didn't. What would that have been like as this darkness fell over Germany?"
Hitler's Rise To Power
When Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933, Larson says, many diplomats in the U.S. State Department — including Dodd — assumed he wouldn't be in office for very long.
"It was a commonly held opinion, especially among the U.S. diplomats operating in Berlin [and] certainly the British ambassador to Germany also felt that way," he says. "Hitler was such an anomalous character — he was so over-the-top chaotic in his approach to statesmanship, his manner [and] in the violence which overwhelmed the country initially. I think diplomats around the world ... felt like something like that simply would not be tolerated by the people of Germany."
But Hitler stayed in office for 12 more years, serving as the head of the Nazi Party until he took his own life in 1945. Ambassador Dodd met with him twice in 1933, noting later how unhinged Hitler seemed, Larson says.
"Suddenly [in their first meeting] this ordinary statesman becomes absolutely vehement, savage and outspoken in a way that really kind of takes Dodd aback," Larson says. "In the second meeting, something very similar happens when they talk about Jews. Hitler again completely loses it. ... He says all of the criticism of Germany is coming from Jews and he is going to make an end to them."
Larson says Dodd ignored the remark.
"At that moment, Dodd the rationalist, the student of history, hears a remark like that and doesn't think Hitler truly means it," Larson says. "He doesn't take it seriously. Because, my God, who could possibly even think about something like that? Who could act on something like that? Remember, this is early. This is very early in the march toward the Holocaust."
But in 1934, things changed. Between June 30 and July 2, the Nazis carried out a series of political executions in a weekend known as the "night of the long knives." Tens of critics of Hitler — including Nazis — were imprisoned and executed.
"This seemed to be the moment when Dodd, at last, understands the true pathological nature of this regime," Larson says. "He tried to convey his sense of horror to the State Department. And what the State Department said was, 'Look, we don't really care about this, we care about Germany's debt. Can you please start working on getting Germany to pay back its debt to American creditors? It was almost as though, back in America, they wrote this off as some weekend excursion of the Nazis — not a big deal, not something to worry about."
The Other Dodd In Berlin
While Dodd was navigating Berlin's diplomatic channels, Larson says, his daughter, Martha, was also immersing herself in Berlin. The 24-year-old was recently divorced, and she hit the party circuit and started to have affairs — including one with the first head of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels.
"She [initially] shared a view that actually many did share with regards to the Nazi revolution — the idea that Hitler was at last getting Germany in line and was helping to revive this once-vibrant nation," he says. "She sees [Berlin] as a remarkable, charismatic city. ... She sees these glittering cafes, she sees the street life, the trams, the cars, the whole thing. ... And she wonders, right away, at the contrast between what the press back home is reporting and what she's experiencing."
But Martha starts to change her mind, when she sees storm troopers marching a girl through the streets with a placard around her neck that says, "I offered myself to a Jew."
"As time goes on, she becomes aware that something scary is going on, and she comes to this realization through her relationship with the first chief of the Gestapo," he says. "Through her relationship with Diels ... she came to see this network of official terror and espionage [and] surveillance."
In her memoir, Martha described once walking into Diels' office and seeing the floor littered with recording devices he was using to listen in on telephone conversations.
"One of the things that drew me to her as a character is she follows this very interesting personal arc — almost like the kind of thing you would expect from a novel," Larson says. "That's not to say it has the satisfying end you might get in a novel — like maybe she would start an underground operation and start shooting up Nazis; that didn't happen — but she does come to a realization that this is not the benign revolution she had first thought."
Martha returned to the U.S. in 1937, when Dodd resigned from his appointment. The State Department replaced him with Hugh Wilson, a "classic old-school diplomat," Larson says, who was "wholly the opposite of Dodd."
"He was a classic example of someone in sympathy with the Nazi regime," Larson says. "But the thing that changed Hugh Wilson was Kristallnacht, the 'night of broken glass' — the official pogrom against the Jews. That changed Hugh Wilson. That horrified him. Even he got the point."
Interview Highlights
On anti-Semitism in the United States
"As hard as it may seem to imagine now ... in that era, there was what you might describe as an ambient anti-Semitism that was embraced by many in America and many in government. Dodd himself exhibited aspects like that, as well. For example, there's one astonishing moment where Dodd writes to the State Department to complain that [his office] in Berlin has too many Jews on his staff and this is interfering with his ability to deal with the Nazis. And his receptionist was ardently anti-Nazi, and this caused all kinds of problems with visitors from the Nazi regime."
On being affected by his subject matter
"I pride myself on having a journalistic remove. For example, after my book The Devil in the White City, people often ask if I had nightmares [and] wasn't I horrified by the nature of that serial killer? And my answer was always, 'I always wear two hats. The one that says, 'this is horrific,' and the other part that says, 'this is great stuff.' In this case, something very different happened. I found myself entering a low-grade depression. There's something so relentless and foul about Hitler and his people, and the way things progressed from year to year. It just got to me in the strangest way."
On taking extremists seriously vs. dismissing them
"The immediate trigger for this book was reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, but I read that also at a time when I was feeling uneasy about how things were going in this country. It troubled me that we had these reports of torture of detainees, we had people jailed at Guantanamo Bay who couldn't even talk to their lawyers and couldn't see the evidence against them — sort of fundamental bedrock civil liberties things. ... Look, I don't care what your party is. I went to public school on Long Island, and it seemed every year we were being taught that you had a right to a fair trial and a right to confront your accuser. So it's this kind of vague feeling I had in the background which was, 'What was that like to experience a real extreme version of that?' ... So it made me wonder what allows a culture to slip its moorings."
Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.


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Price Match
- "Price is what you pay, value is what you get"
Here at GFURN, our priority has always been to source high-end quality products. Across our journey, we have visited many factories in many countries and we have touched, felt, torn, tested a lot of materials (leather, fabric, wood, metal, steel, marble etc.) and we confidently believe that our products are of superior quality compared to our competitors, as a result of the quality of materials that we use as inputs and the finest craftsmanship of our manufacturing divisions.
We also believe that our customers deserve the very best price/quality ratio. That is why we want to introduce Price Match, a new service that will ensure that GFURN is the place to find design furniture & lighting at competitive prices.
Should you find the same product from another supplier for less than our advertised price, where we know that the quality is matching that of GFURN's quality in terms of materials used – we will match the price.
Email us at email@example.com and tell us where you have seen the similar product and we will look into the quality and offer you a price, which will as a minimum match this price if the product is of the same quality.
- Once the transaction is approved, the purchase is considered a final sale.
- The competitor must be a North American-based company.
- The competitor price, handling & shipping fees must be listed on the website provided.
- The competitor product has to be brand new.
- The competitor product's quality must meet the standards of Gfurn.
- This offer is not applicable to prior purchases made on our website.
- This offer can not be combined with any other promotion or coupon.
- This offer is not applicable on advertising errors or misprints, limited or minimum quantity or limited time offers, closeouts, liquidations, clearance sales, out-of-stock or one-day promotions.


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Leaks to tech industry sites give us a sense of what to expect from Apple's coming product announcement: Not one, but two new iPhone models. One will be more affordable, to reach international markets. The other, which we believe will be called the iPhone 5S, will come in gold or champagne colors.
When a company that once revolutionized personal electronics and changed our culture sets up a big reveal for relatively small product enhancements, is it worth so many megabytes of news coverage? We (at NPR and other organizations) don't usually cover Ford announcements when it updates its SUV line, or when other appliances in our lives are suddenly available in new colors. I was excited about all those colorful front-loading washer-dryers a few years back, but I didn't write about it.
Of course, Apple gets a special place in the cultural zeitgeist because in the Steve Jobs era, new concepts or user interfaces would come out of these product reveals, and they would mean major shifts in the industry and the way we behave. But in a sign of Apple's waning magic, the conversations we're having around the newsroom are not how to cover Apple's announcement, but whether we should do a full piece at all. CNN Money writes that Apple's innovation problem is real:
"Rivals have caught up to Apple in the markets it once dominated, and the tech giant's rumored future products appear to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. A smartwatch and an 'iTV' are intriguing, but they're niche products that won't set the world on fire like the iPhone and iPad did.
"Plus, the golden days of hockey-stick-like growth in Apple's core products are over. Phones and tablets from Samsung and others who make devices running on Google's Android have outsold the iPhone and iPad. Apple's shares have tumbled 30% over the past year, partly due to concerns that Apple has nothing new up its sleeve."
That said, there is still plenty of hype surrounding the announcement. This is how it goes with hype cycles — lots of breathless commentary in anticipation, social media all atwitter during the moment, then, the inevitable denouement. Get ready, hype will climax in 3, 2, 1 ...
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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2 out of 3 Games whoever wins 2 games first takes the match
3 out of 5 games during Grand Finals Only
Double Elimination: once you have been defeated in the Winners and Losers bracket you are out the tournament.
Character Lock: Switching characters during a set is only allowed right after a loss game, the Winner of last game cannot switch characters.
Entries: If tournament entries exceed 10 people losers matches will be played off stream to a certain point and it is required for you and your opponent to fight each other if you're in losers till said otherwise
Failure to follow these rules will lead to DQs or Losers bracket placement
Check-ins: PLEASE use your PSN ID as your challonge name, not doing so hinders the tournament and be ready before tournament starts.
If your match is called and you do not report in 2 minutes and another match can't be played in your place you will be DQ'D out the tournament. ALWAYS BE ACTIVE AND ALERT IN STREAM CHAT.
Connectivity: For the sake of everyone participating this tournament if your connection quality is very low and provides unplayable experiences I will have to omit you out of the tournament. You can test your connection here-> http://www.speedtest.net/
If both opponents agree, a redo match can be issued and I WILL give you time to restart your internet if someone chooses to do so. QUIT THE MATCH ASAP IF THE CONNECTION IS UNPLAYABLE You will not be penalized. However if you play the whole match out the point will still be given to the victor of the match regardless of game condition.
If a disconnect happens midmatch the person responsible will automatically lose a game to their opponent unless their opponent objects to this.
If both players are experiencing bad connection specifically with each other the match will just have to be played out like normal. Nothing much can really be done about this issue sorry :(
If you have any issues let us know, we will listen to your thoughts or concerns but we do have the right to disagree.


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WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) announced today the following hearing:
"The Western Balkans and the 2012 NATO Summit"
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
2:00 pm
Room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building
As the United States and other NATO allies prepare for their summit in Chicago on May 20-21, this hearing will assess the current relationship with NATO of each of the countries of the Western Balkans with the goal of deeper engagement and further enlargement. While further enlargement of the European Union after Croatia's entry next year remains a more distant goal, greater Euro-Atlantic integration has the potential to increase stability in the Western Balkans now, and strengthen the Alliance in the process. The focus of the hearing will be on what Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia need to do meet their respective Euro-Atlantic aspirations, including the building of democratic institutions and adherence to the rule of law at home. The hearing will also look at the potential contribution each could make to the NATO alliance, as well as NATO's continuing role in deterring further violence and conflict in the Western Balkans.
Witnesses Scheduled to Testify:
- Nida Gelazis, Senior Associate, European Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
- Daniel Serwer, Professor and Senior Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (will particpate via Skype)
- Ivan Vejvoda, Vice President for Programs, German Marshall Fund of the United States


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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) today urged European foreign ministers to denounce, without ambiguity, the recent article in the Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, that raised the allegation that Israeli soldiers "harvested" the organs of deceased Palestinians.
"We at the U.S. Helsinki Commission are dedicated to upholding human rights, particularly freedom of the press. But with freedom of the press comes responsibility. And when major press outlets fail to meet their responsibility, and instead raise the specter of racism or anti-Semitism, then public officials are duty bound to speak out and condemn such blatant falsehoods. I commend Sweden's Ambassador to Israel for fulfilling this duty, and I call on the Swedish Government, which currently holds the European Union Presidency, to support Italian and other EU efforts to denounce this harmful reporting," said Chairman Cardin.
Co-Chairman Hastings added, "This incendiary article draws on age old anti-Semitic imagery, and attempts to place it in a modern context of worrisome hostility in Europe towards both Jews and Israel. Government leaders must demand the press act with journalistic integrity and report responsibly, particularly when it can incite the violent potential of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred."


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When Fox Sun Sports reporter Kelly Nash was at Fenway Park in Boston on Saturday to cover the Houston Astros' game with the Red Sox, she decided to take a few "selfie" photos while atop the famous Green Monster in left field.
Below, batting practice was underway. So some balls were flying in her direction. Nash turned her back to the field, held her smartphone up and started snapping.
And when she looked at one of the photos she'd just taken, Nash says, she discovered she'd come much closer to being beaned than she'd realized.
She posted the image of a ball flying by behind her head. Her caption: "Most dangerous selfie ever. That happened."
"I laughed pretty hard when I saw such a surreal picture that I had no idea I took," she said later, according to Fox. "I thought, you have got to be kidding me, maybe there are really angels in the outfield." (She says she had a DVD copy of the movie Angels in the Outfield in her briefcase.)
For skeptics, there's this from NBC Sports:
"People who try to Photoshop fake ones like that never do such a good job. But this one is real, as the interplay with witnesses and others on her Twitter feed make clear."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Summer Sun Damage and Your Eyes
Sunscreen provides an excellent way to protect your skin from the damaging rays of the sun, but did you know that your eyes can also suffer from sun damage? Long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause a variety of eye problems, ranging from "sunburn" of the cornea to cancer. Learning more about the way the sun affects your eyes can help you prevent damage.
What Types of Light Cause Damage?
UV light is a type of electromagnetic radiation. Unlike visible light, it can't be seen because it has a shorter wavelength. Types of UV light include:
- UVC Rays. UVC rays are very damaging to the eyes and skin. Luckily, the ozone layer prevents most of them from ever reaching the earth.
- UVB Rays. The ozone layer blocks some UVB rays, but a significant amount still break through, resulting in sunburns and suntans and contributing to the formation of cataracts.
- UVA Rays. UVA rays are particularly damaging to your eyes, although they are not quite as strong as UVB or UVC rays. These rays can damage the macula, the part of your retina responsible for central vision.
- Visible Blue Light. The bulk of your exposure to blue light comes from the sun, but it's also found in digital screens, including computer monitors, smartphones, flat screen televisions, and LED and fluorescent lights. Exposure to blue light can increase your risk of developing macular degeneration.
What Conditions or Diseases Can Be Caused by Exposure to UV Light?
Exposure to UV light can increase your risk of developing these conditions:
- Photokeratitis. Photokeratitis causes an eye "sunburn." If you are exposed to a significant amount of UV light in a few hours, such as if you spend the afternoon at the beach and do not protect your eyes, you may experience red eyes, tearing, sensitivity to light and a feeling that something is stuck in your eyes. Photokeratitis usually goes away on its own.
- Cataracts. Prolonged sun exposure can increase your risk of cataracts. When you have a cataract, the clear lens in the center of your eye becomes cloudy, impairing your vision.
- Macular Degeneration. Sun exposure can play a role in the development of macular degeneration, a condition that occurs when the cells in the center of your retina begin to deteriorate, affecting your ability to read, drive and recognize people.
- Conjunctival Growths. Sun exposure can also cause benign growths to form on the conjunctiva, the white part of your eye. The problem is more likely to occur if you live in an area that is very sunny year-round.
- Cancer. Melanoma and basal cell and squamous cell cancers can develop on your eyelids and most often occur on the lower eyelids. Possible symptoms of eyelid cancer include eyelash loss, bleeding bumps, new spots on the eyelids that grow or have irregular borders, and chronic inflammation of the eyelids that doesn't get better when you use medication. In some cases, melanoma can affect the middle layer of your eye and cause blurry vision, a spot on your iris or a change in the shape of a pupil. Cancer can also develop in the conjunctiva.
Factors That Can Increase Your Risk of Sun Damage
You risk of eye sun damage may be higher if you:
- Spend time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- Live at a high altitude or near the equator
- Frequently spend time on surfaces that reflect light, such as sand or snow
- Take medications that increase your sensitivity to UV and blue light, including tranquilizers, birth control pills, diabetes and chemotherapy drugs, antihistamines, retinoids, steroids, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics.
During your yearly eye exam, your doctor not only tests your vision, but also looks for possible signs of sun damage. If it's time for your next exam, or if you have any concerns about your eye health, call us today to schedule an appointment.
You can avoid many of the damaging effects of sun by following these tips:
- Schedule outdoor activities for the early morning or late afternoon/early evening hours when the sun's rays are not quite as intense.
- Wear sunglasses every time you step outdoors. Look for glasses that block 100 percent of UV rays. Wraparound sunglasses provide the best protection.
- Block blue light by buying sunglasses with copper or bronze-colored lenses. (Make sure the glasses also protect you from UV light.)
- Buy a hat with a large brim for increased sun protection.
- Wear sunglasses even if your contacts block UV light. Although the protection is very helpful, your lenses don't protect your entire eye.
- Don't take your sunglasses off in shady locations. Your UV exposure decreases in the shade, but you will still receive some exposure from reflected light from sand, road surfaces or buildings.
Skin Cancer Foundation: How Sunlight Damages the Eyes, 12/7/12
American Optometric Association: UV Protection
The Vision Council: Spare Your Sight
All About Vision: Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation and Your Eyes, 5/16
All About Vision: Blue Light: Bad for Your Eyes?, 4/16


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As Valentine's Day approaches, our minds turn to our loved ones...plus perhaps a little bit of panic about what to give and what to eat. To make things easier on you, we have collected our Valentine's Day menu ,with a twist, from the pages of Cooking Light with recipe suggestions on how best to say "I love you" with Red Food. We are also honouring Heart and Stroke Month since these recipes are on the "light" side and good for not only your own heart health but for the ones you love. What better way to show them you love them by creating light dishes that are good for them from the pages of Cooking Light magazine. Stay tuned for my 4th Anniversary Giveaway...so keep reading!
As we continue into a new year we are so glad you have decided to join us once again for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club. This is a monthly event where 5 ladies and now one gent in two neighbouring countries get together to create a delicious meal with a theme in mind. We are now in our second year and continue to share a love for Cooking Light magazine which has an emphasis on healthy eating and living. This is a team effort where we combine what Cooking Light readers like best...good food with great company!!! Every month millions of readers turn to Cooking Light for recipes, advice on nutrition and fitness. If you have a "heart - healthy" red dish that would fit into this months theme please feel free to add your link at the bottom of this post.
From strawberries to beets, red fruits and vegetables pack a vibrant nutritional punch. We've all heard the cliche that an apple a day can keep the doctor away, but the same runs true for a virtual cornucopia of red foods, including strawberries, cherries, raspberries, watermelon, tomatoes, and beets? Many red fruits and veggies are loaded with powerful, healthy antioxidants...such as lycopene and anthocyanins...that may do everything from fight heart disease and prostate cancer to decrease the risk for stroke and macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness in people aged 60 and older). Antioxidants soak up damaging free radicals as well.
To amp up our Red Menu Jamie of Mom's Cooking Club started us off with Bruschetta with Warm Tomatoes. Briefly heating the tomatoes intensifies their sweetness while preserving their bright, fresh flavours. This is a timely reminder of summer! In the area of food and phytonutrient research, nothing has been hotter in the last several years than studies on the lycopene factor , another antioxidant, in the prevention of heart disease and cancer. Good thing I eat tomatoes like apples!
For our menu I chose a recipe from the pages of Cooking Light that used both red meat and red potatoes... Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak with Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes. I've made this recipe several times, always to rave reviews!!! It's perfect to make when you want something that tastes special, but takes no time at all. Marinate the steak before you head off for work in the morning and supper will be ready in however long it takes to cook the potatoes.
Potatoes' reputation as a high-carb, white starch has removed them from the meals of many a weight-conscious eater, but this stereotype is due for a significant overhaul. Analysis of Red potatoes revealed that these spuds' phenolic content rivals that of broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and includes flavonoids with protective activity against cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and certain cancers.
Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen rounded out the theme by bringing a refreshing Granny Smith, Radish, and Radicchio Salad with Orange-Walnut Vinaigrette. This tasty salads include radishes and radicchio and is eye candy when the vegetables are julienned.
In the vegetable neighborhood of salad greens Radicchio is the rowdy redhead when it comes to nutritional power. Radicchio has many healthful properties, it provides an antioxidant content rivaling that of blueberries and spinach.
Next Sandi of The Whistlestop Cafe wowed us with a salad that uses red onions....Spanish Salad of Oranges, Fennel, Red Onion, and Mint with Dressing.This is a typical Spanish-style salad that goes so well with our menu.
Onions contain a number of sulfides similar to those found in garlic which may lower blood lipids and blood pressure. Onions are also a rich source of flavonoids, substances known to provide protection against cardiovascular disease.
Now let's introduce you to one of our latest members of the Virtual Supper Club Jerry of Jerry's Thoughts, Musings and Rants from my old stomping grounds of Ontario, Canada. He rocks red with beets in a Roasted Sweet-and-Sour Beets, Carrots and Parsnips dish. The cider vinegar provides fruity, acidic zip and enough liquid to prevent the sugary maple syrup from burning.
Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support.
And for the "piece de resistance" I would also like to introduce Roz of La Bella Vita who is living "the beautiful life" in South Carolina and loves Cooking Light also. She uses fragrantly sweet and subtly tart raspberries in a sensuous Almond Jelly Roll with Raspberry Filling. This cake can be made a day in advance; just wrap it in plastic wrap, and store your treat in the fridge. This leaves more time to spend with the ones you love.
Raspberries are high in antioxidants and flavanoids. Now for the giveaway....
The Giveaway....
Before I move on to the recipe, it so happens today February 2nd also marks my 4th year blogiversary. Yes, I have now officially been blogging for 4 years. I would like to thank each and every one of you, whether you have followed me for years or are a brand new friend, for your support and friendship over the past years. I don't think I would be blogging without the feeling of community. What better way to make new friendships than by sharing the food around our table! As a small token of my appreciation I would like to offer you the chance for all bloggers worldwide to win a cookbook! What do foodies appreciate more than a good cookbook to add to their collections!!!
February is Heart and Stroke Month so I felt the perfect book to offer was from a Canadian Author where part of the proceeds benefit a charity. For the past three decades, Anne Lindsay has changed the way Canadians eat, bringing flavour to healthy eating and inspiring a nation with her easy-to-make, delicious food. Anne was one of my icons when I was a teenager reading issues of Canadian Living magazine. Now, Anne invites you into her kitchen with Lighthearted at Home, a collection of her favourite recipes.
Anne offers more than 500 fully tested recipes, reviewed by the registered dietitians of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, complete with nutritional analysis for every occasion: signature stews and soups, perfectly prepared meat and fish, protein-packed vegetarian entrees, deliciously simple appetizers, entertaining menus and much more.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation, a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy. You can also visit their website at heartandstroke.ca.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to support the work of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.The giveaway is open to all bloggers worldwide to thank you all for your support.
To win simply leave a comment and tell me what you do to incorporate healthy eating into your lifestyle.I will select one winner randomly on midnight Sunday, February 6th.
Now on to the recipe!!!! Next month the Virtual Supper Club will be cooking with fresh flavours in Notes of Citrus so get into the kitchen and join in the fun!
**Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak with Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes**
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup minced green onions
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (2-pound) flank steak, trimmed
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
3 pounds small red potatoes
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
2 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
8 fresh chives, cut into 1-inch pieces
To prepare steak, combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add steak. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight, turning bag occasionally. Remove steak from bag, reserving marinade.
Prepare grill.
Place steak on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut diagonally across grain into thin slices.
Combine reserved marinade and cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
To prepare potatoes, place potatoes and garlic in a large Dutch oven; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes or until tender. Drain.
Return potatoes and garlic to pan, and place over medium heat. Add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Mash potato mixture to desired consistency with a potato masher. Stir in chopped chives. Mound 3/4 cup potatoes on each of 8 plates; arrange 3 ounces steak around each serving of potatoes. Drizzle 1 tablespoon sauce on each plate; sprinkle with chive pieces, if desired.
You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Content must be credited to this author.


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Anti-forensic techniques try to frustrate forensic investigators and their techniques.
From 1: Attempts to negatively affect the existence, amount and/or quality of evidence from a crime scene, or make the analysis and examination of evidence difficult or impossible to conduct
This can include refusing to run when debugging mode is enabled, refusing to run when running inside of a virtual machine, or deliberately overwriting data. Although some anti-forensic tools have legitimate purposes, such as overwriting sensitive data that shouldn't fall into the wrong hands, like any tool they can be abused.
Traditional anti-forensics
Overwriting Data and Metadata
Secure Data Deletion
Secure Deletion data, so that it cannot be restored with forensic methods.
Overwriting programs typically operate in one of three modes:
- The program can overwrite the entire media.
- The program can attempt to overwrite individual files. This task is complicated by journaling file systems: the file itself may be overwritten, but portions may be left in the journal.
- The program can attempt to overwrite files that were previously "deleted" but left on the drive. Programs typically do this by creating one or more files on the media and then writing to these files until no free space remains, taking special measures to erase small files — for example, files that exist entirely within the Windows Master File Table of an NTFS partition (Garfinkel and Malan, 2005).
Programs employ a variety of techniques to overwrite data. Apple's Disk Utility allows data to be overwritten with a single pass of NULL bytes, with 7 passes of random data, or with 35 passes of data. Microsoft's cipher.exe, writes a pass of zeros, a pass of FFs, and a pass of random data, in compliance with DoD standard 5220.22-M. (US DoD, 1995). In 1996 Gutmann asserted that it might be possible to recover overwritten data and proposed a 35-pass approach for assured sanitization (Gutmann 1996). However, a single overwriting pass is now viewed as sufficient for sanitizing data from ATA drives with capacities over 15 GB that were manufactured after 2001 (NIST 2006).
Be aware that software 'data destroyers' may not necessarily do what they state on the burb site. In particular a common mistake is the oversight of how the underlying file system actually stores files, for instance a 'wipe drive' application that will write a series of random values across unallocated space on the hard disk may not take into account the slack space at the end of allocated data blocks. Thus allowing a large portion of old data to still be recoverable. This is a very handy for a forensic analyst, but not so handy for IT Managers.
Overwriting Metadata
If the examiner knows when an attacker had access to a Windows, Mac or Unix system, it is frequently possible to determine which files the attacker accessed, by examining file "access" times for every file on the system. Some CFTs can prepare a "timeline" of the attacker's actions by sorting all of the computer's timestamps in chronological order. Although an attacker could wipe the contents of the media, this action itself might attract attention. Instead, the attacker might hide their tracks by overwriting the access times themselves so that the timeline could not be reliably constructed.
For example, Timestomp will overwrite NTFS "create," "modify," "access," and "change" timestamps (metasploit). The Defiler's Toolkit can overwrite inode timestamps and deleted directory entries on many Unix systems; timestamps on allocated files can also be modified using the Unix touch command (The Grugq).
Preventing Data Creation
Prevent the creation of certain data in the first place. Data which was never there, obviously cannot be restored with forensic methods.
For example, a partition can be mounted read-only or accessed through the raw device to prevent the file access times from being updated. The Windows registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate can be set to "1" to disable updating of the last-accessed timestamp; this setting is default under Windows Vista (Microsoft 2006).
Cryptography, Steganography, and other Data Hiding Approaches
Encrypted Data
Cryptographic file systems transparently encrypt data when it is written to the disk and decrypt data when it is read back, making the data opaque to any attacker (or CFT) that does not have the key. These file systems are now readily available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The key can be protected with a passphrase or stored on an auxiliary device such as a USB token. If there is no copy of the key, intentionally destroying the key makes the data stored on the media inaccessible (Boneh and Lipton, 1996). Even if the cryptographic system lacks an intentional sanitization command or "self-destruct," cryptography can still be a potent barrier to forensic analysis if the cryptographic key is unknown to the examiner.
Cryptography can also be used at the application level. For example, Microsoft Word can be configured to encrypt the contents of a document by specifying that the document has a "password to open." Although older versions of Microsoft Word encrypted documents with a 40-bit key that can be cracked with commercial tools, modern versions can optionally use a 128-bit encryption that is uncrackable if a secure passphrase is used.
Encrypted Network Protocols
Network traffic can likewise be encrypted to protect its content from forensic analysis. Cryptographic encapsulation protocols such as SSL and SSH only protect the content of the traffic. Protecting against traffic analysis requires the use of intermediaries. Onion Routing (Goldschlag, Reed and Syverson, 1999) combines both approaches with multiple layers of encryption, so that no intermediary knows both ends of the communication and the plaintext content.
More information: Tor and VPN.
Program Packers
Packers are commonly used by attackers so that attack tools will not be subject to reverse engineering or detection by scanning. Packers such as PECompact (Bitsum 2006) and Burneye (Vrba 2004) will take a second program, compress and/or encrypt it, and wrap it with a suitable extractor. Packers can also incorporate active protection against debugging or reverse engineering techniques. For example, Shiva will exit if its process is being traced; if the process is not being traced, it will create a second process, and the two processes will then trace each other, since each process on a Unix system may only be traced by one other process. (Mehta and Clowes, 2003)
Packed programs that require a password in order to be run can be as strong as their encryption and password. However, the programs are vulnerable at runtime. Burndump is a loadable kernel module (LKM) that automatically detects when a Burneye-protected file is run, waits for the program to be decrypted, and then writes the raw, unprotected binary to another location (ByteRage 2002). Packed programs are also vulnerable to static analysis if no password is required (Eagle 2003).
Steganography can be used to embed encrypted data in a cover text to avoid detection. Steghide embeds text in JPEG, MBP, MP3, WAV and AU files (Hetzl 2002). Hydan exploits redundancy in the x86 instruction set; it can encode roughly 1 byte per 110 (El-Khalil 2004). Stegdetect (Provos 2004) can detect some forms of steganography.
StegFS hides encrypted data in the unused blocks of a Linux ext2 file system, making the data "look like a partition in which unused blocks have recently been overwritten with random bytes using some disk wiping tool" (McDonald and Kuhn, 2003).
FreeOTFE and TrueCrypt allow a second encrypted file system to be hidden within another encrypted file system. The goal of this filesystem-within-a-filesystem is to allow the users to have a "decoy" file system with data that is interesting but not overtly sensitive. A person who is arrested or captured with a laptop encrypted using this software could then give up the first file system's password, with the hope that the decoy would be sufficient to satisfy the person's interrogators.
Generic Data Hiding
Data can also be hidden in unallocated or otherwise unreachable locations that are ignored by the current generation of forensic tools.
Metasploit's Slacker will hide data within the slack space of FAT or NTFS file system. FragFS hides data within the NTFS Master File Table. RuneFS (Grugq 2003) stores data in bad blocks. (Thompson and Monroe, 2006). Waffen FS stores data in the ext3 journal file (Eckstein and Jahnke 2005). KY FS stores data in directories (Grugq 2003). Data Mule FS stores data in inode reserved space (Grugq 2003). It is also possible to store information in the unallocated pages of Microsoft Office files.
Information can be stored in the Host Protected Area and the Device Configuration Overlay areas of modern ATA hard drives. Data in the HPA and DCO is not visible to the BIOS or operating system, although it can be extracted with special tools.
Detecting Forensic Analysis
There are methods to detect whether an investigator forensic analysis on the system. A malicious user or program could react to that by destroying evidence, for example.
Other Anti Forensics
Targeting forensic tool blind spots
Targeting forensic tool vulnerabilities
Grml mounted root file system on the hard drive Casper is a set of scripts used to enable Linux-based distributions to boot from removable media. Casper scripts will search for the root file system (typically SquashFS on the local data storage media during the boot, mount it, and execute /sbin/init program on mounted root. Most forensic Linux distributions based on Ubuntu and Debian lack of integrity checks of selected SquashFS images and will boot specially crafted images found on the hard drive (not on the CD).
STARFisH - Structured Testing Approach for Resilience of Forensic Soft- and Hardware
STARFisH was a B.Sc. project by Phil Knüfer, which dealt with using a structured testing approach to improve the resilience of IT forensic software (and hardware). To this end, a test schema was designed and test cases were developed.
Targeting generic tool/lib vulnerabilities
Garfinkel, S., Anti-Forensics: Techniques, Detection and Countermeasures, The 2nd International Conference on i-Warfare and Security (ICIW), Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, March 8-9, 2007. 2
Henrique, G. Wendel, Anti Forensics: Making computer forensics hard, Code Breakers III, São Paulo, Brazil, Setember 2006. 3
Externals Links
- Anti-Forensics: The Next Step in Digital Forensics Tool Testing, in: IT Security Incident Management and IT Forensics (IMF): 2013 Seventh International Conference on, Date 12-14 March 2013, IEEE, S. 83 – 97
- Talk on Anti-Forensics, on 28C3, in German
- Breaking Encase with FILE0 and Winhex
- Anti Forensics: making computer forensics hard
- PTK Forensic Local Command Execution Vulnerability (fixed in 1.0.1, see CHANGELOG)
- Anti-Forensics Class Little over 3hr of video on the subject of anti-forensic techniques
- Linux for computer forensic investigators: problems of booting trusted operating system
- Low Down and Dirty: Anti-forensic Rootkits, by Darren Bilby, Blackhat Japan 2006
- One-byte Modification for Breaking Memory Forensic Analysis, by Takahiro Haruyama, Hiroshi Suzuki, March 14-16, 2012
- Mitigating Anti-Forensics: A Schema-based Approach, by Phil Knüfer, January 5, 2014


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Southend Utd 3
(Atkinson 9, Barnard pen 16, Loza 86)
Oxford Utd 0
Oxford United were blown away by Southend United as Gary Waddock's reign began with a heavy defeat at Roots Hall.
The result looked likely inside the opening 20 minutes as the hosts made the most of a nervous start.
They raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to Will Atkinson's neat finish and a penalty by Lee Barnard.
Ryan Clarke conceded the spot kick but more than made amends with a series of excellent saves to keep United in the game.
They were unable to take a couple of decent chances and Southend added a third late on through man of the match Jamar Loza.
The result was Southend's first win in two months to send them back into the play-off places and leave United looking nervously over their shoulders.
New boss Gary Waddock salutes the Oxford fans at the start
Waddock's first selection showed three changes from the side which started Friday's 1-0 home win over Hartlepool United.
Deane Smalley, Danny Rose and Alfie Potter came in for David Connolly, Andy Whing and Ryan Williams, who dropped to the bench.
The seeds of an uncertain performance were sown inside the opening minute.
Jake Wright played Sam Long into trouble and Loza blocked the youngster's clearance.
Fortunately for United the ball ricocheted for Clarke to race out and smother, but it was began a torrid opening 20 minutes.
The impressive Loza, making his first start on loan from Norwich City, had a role in the opening goal, which arrived on nine minutes.
Oxford United captain Jake Wright controls the ball
United failed to cut out a pass to the striker, who had pulled wide to the left.
His cross reached Atkinson and the midfielder finished crisply from eight yards.
Just as in their 3-0 defeat to Chesterfield ten days earlier, one early goal led to another for United.
Again Loza was heavily involved, running on to a long ball and pressurising Wright into a weak header which allowed he striker to beat Clarke to the ball.
The goalkeeper's momentum floored Loza for a penalty, which Barnard coolly dispatched.
Southend, who had not won in 12 league games, were full of confidence and only a smart save from Clarke prevented Michael Timlin from extending the lead.
It took almost half a hour for United, who badly missed Whing's steel in the middle of the park, to seriously threaten.
When the chance came it was a good one, as David Hunt's corner found an unmarked James Constable to volley off-target.
But Loza remained the most dangerous player on the pitch. On 33 minutes he outmuscled a panicky Long in the area and cut inside, where Clarke was needed to make another decent stop.
United might have been out of the game, but having ridden their luck the visitors had a chance to get back in it late in the half.
Hunt's corner was met firmly by Smalley's header, but Kevan Hurst was in the right place to clear off the line.
The first half display gave Waddock plenty of food for thought at the break, but United had another chance shortly after the restart.
Hunt's long throw just cleared a defender and Constable, not expecting the ball to reach him, could only chest it wide.
Oxford United's Josh Ruffels knocks the ball forward
A goal would have brought them right back into the game, but a lack of quality hampered the odds of a comeback.
Southend looked far more dangerous and only a series of fine saves after the hour from Clarke kept the contest alive.
After tipping a fierce Hurst drive over, he made an even better stop from the resulting corner to divert John Egan's header over the bar with his knee.
The defender was denied again two minutes later after winning another header at a corner.
United continued to probe without much joy, as all the clear chances came at the other end.
Clarke was forced into another excellent tip over the bar after Ryan Leonard's 30-yard effort took a wicked deflection.
The pressure finally told four minutes from time and it was no surprise the inspiration came from Loza.
Showing great strength to hold off Wright twice, the striker shows the U's skipper a clean pair of heels before smashing a finish past Clarke.
It was no less than he, or Southend, deserved and suggested Waddock has lots to do before Saturday's trip to Dagenham & Redbridge.
Southend Utd (4-4-2): Bentley, White, Egan, Sokolik, Coker, Hurst, Leonard, Timlin (Laird 68), Atkinson, Barnard (Straker 87), Loza.
Unused subs: Smith, Prosser, Eastwood, Clifford, Payne.
Booked: None.
Oxford Utd (4-4-2): Clarke, Bevans, Long, Wright, Hunt, Potter, Rose, Ruffels, Rigg, Smalley, Constable Subs used: Williams (Rigg 55), Davies (Rose 65), Connolly (Constable 80).
Unused subs: Crocombe, Raynes, Wroe, Whing.
Booked: None.
Southend Utd (4-4-2): Bentley, White, Egan, Sokolik, Coker, Hurst, Leonard, Timlin (Laird 68), Atkinson, Barnard (Straker 87), Loza.
Unused subs: Smith, Prosser, Eastwood, Clifford, Payne.
Booked: None.
Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire).
Attendance: 6,078 (175 visitors).
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The PayPal vs. Square Battle: Who's Your Money On?
Some in the banking industry may be worried about disintermediation from PayPal or Square, but the two companies seem more intent on battling each other. Last week Square announced the availability of its new iPad point of sale card reader, Square Stand, which is connected to a receipt printer, cash drawer and barcode scanner. On the same day PayPal announced it will start a new program next month called Cash for Registers. PayPal will offer merchants free credit, debit, check and PayPal processing through the end of 2013 if the merchant trades in its old point of sale terminal for a PayPal Here iPad-based card reader, which is similar to Square Stand.
PayPal clearly thinks that the added incentive of free transaction processing should help it lure retailers and merchants interested in mobile point of sale solutions who might be looking at Square.
[See Related: Bank of America and the "Point-of-Sale Revolution" ]
Then yesterday Square took aim at PayPal's bread and butter: P2P payments. Square is launching an invitation-only email P2P payments service, dubbed Square Cash, according to media reports. Users will be able to register their debit card with Square and then send money via email by entering the recipients name in the "to" field and entering "[email protected]" in the "cc" field. The sender will have to pay 50 cents per transaction, and recipients will have to register their debit card within 48 hours of receiving the payment to access their funds.
Google launched a similar P2P payments service through Gmail last week. It will be interesting to see if Google or Square (or both) will be successful in taking market share in P2P payments away from PayPal with these email-based P2P offerings.
Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio


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Ripken and Gwynn enshrined in Baseball Hall of Fame: And, for one day at least, sports (and fans) are pulled from the month's sense of ruin.
Bonds Watch: Still at 754, but the record is better tied (and broken) during the week, when there's of a national focus by fans, than on the weekend.
(Will they boo Bonds in
UPDATE: KG to Celtics? Man, could the NBA use a blockbuster trade right now or what? (Note: I have been a proponent of the T'wolves trading Garnett for a few seasons now. And getting Al Jefferson -- even if Jefferson will command a near-max contract soon enough -- will make it easier to take. If the Celtics have KG, Pierce and Ray Allen, they might have the best threesome in the NBA... but who gets to shoot?) Tracking...
UPDATE 2: Tony Taylor is going to bury Michael Vick. The biggest claim of Taylor's filed "statement of facts": Vick funded the dog-fighting operation.
Meanwhile, Jose Canseco insinuated that A-Rod might be tainted. As others have noted (and I agree): It's no longer easy to dismiss Canseco as some kind of fame-whore lying to get more attention. Not when he seems to be the only person in baseball talking even remotely straight about the extent and severity of its steroids scandal. (And he isn't afraid to name names to the Mitchell Commission. Cripes, if the guy had even a smidgen of a p.r. compass, he would be able to turn himself into a rare HERO in this MLB/PED story.)
MLB Stud: Carlos Zambrano, who became MLB's first 14-game winner. And as the Cubs close in on the NL Central lead, Zambrano assumes front-runner status in the NL Cy Young race.
MLB Dud: Brewers. In just 5 weeks,
MLB Trade Deadline: Tomorrow. Suddenly, Eric Gagne (as set-up guy, not uber-closer) is the hottest commodity on the block. UPDATE: Teixeira to the Braves for a Salty catcher and prospects. Great move for the Braves. Good move for the Rangers, who would have lost Teixeira to free agency inevitably anyway. More on this and all trades tomorrow.
MLB Milestones: Ichiro became the third-fastest player to get to 1,500 career hits. Between his career in
Arena Bowl: The San Jose Sabercats are officially a dynasty, after winning their third Arena Bowl title in the last 6 years. More important, the game was the first team championship game to be held in
NFL Signings: Vikings sign RB Adrian Peterson, who might be my pick for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. (And, on defense, the Redskins signed safety LaRon Landry.)
Meanwhile, will Simeon Rice replace Michael Strahan in
Pac-Man Fever: Jones could be joining TNA wrestling. Which will undoubtedly make him THAT much more appealing for Roger Goodell to bring back to the NFL, right? Cripes. Can't Jones just spend the year quietly training for his NFL return? His agent might think that Jones is simply capitalizing on his brand awareness, but what kind of brand are we aware of?
CFB: Pac-10 secession from BCS? I'm late on this, but it's worth pointing out. The Pac-10 Commissioner said he would pull the conference from the BCS if it instituted any kind of "Plus-One" playoff model.
Now, how is that so far off from my ground-breaking idea that the SEC should secede ("SEC-ede" – get it?) from the BCS, but not because it doesn't want a playoff, but because it DEMANDS a playoff.
By the way, I would love to see how the Pac-10 Commissioner would react when, say, USC goes undefeated but loses out on a national championship because they can't play for it.
Look, let's just dump the Pac-10: They can have the Rose Bowl (and take the Big Ten with them). Let them play their little Grandaddy of an exhibition game after the season, while the SEC crowns its next national champ. (OK: I'd settle for the SEC champ versus
Tour de France: Alberto Contador wins the least-respected championship in sports.
Gulbis gets first LPGA win: She's still better known for being hot (or squiring around with Big Ben) than for being a great golfer. But now she can point to a tournament W.
High School Football: Hoover (AL) High from MTV's "Two-a-Days" is both arguably the best high school football program in America and, arguably, the most corrupted high school football program in America. And if you don't think those two things are interrelated, you're living in a fantasy world.
Finally, some good news from


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January was a miserable month for weather, but the wintry blasts in much of the country weren't enough to stop people from shopping for health insurance.
More than 1.1 million people signed up for coverage through state and federal health exchanges in January, according to a just-released report, bringing the total to just shy of 3.3 million people.
And the percentage of young adults — the coveted demographic considered key to making the insurance pools viable — rose a bit during January. People ages 18-34 now account for 25 percent of the total exchange enrollment, up from 24 percent in December.
"The 65 percent growth rate" of young adults signing up "is larger than all other age groups combined," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters in a conference call.
For the first time, the monthly report includes information on gender and the types of plan people are buying. At least so far, more women (55 percent) than men are signing up for coverage. And by far the most popular plan is the silver, or third-most generous plan, which has been selected by 62 percent of enrollees.
Many questions, however, remain unanswered. Officials still can't say how many of those who signed up have actually paid their premiums, or how many of those who enrolled were previously covered by insurance and how many were uninsured.
Officials did, however, point to a new Gallup survey finding a reduction in the number of uninsured Americans.
One thing officials insist on — at least for now — is that they have no plans to extend the current closing date of the open enrollment period from March 31.
"I think we've been pretty clear that the end of the open enrollment period is March 31," said HHS spokeswoman Julie Battaille, "and you'll see that messaging in a lot of the outreach activities that we are conducting to date."
Reaction to the January numbers was, not surprisingly, mixed.
Brian Haile of Jackson-Hewitt, who has been urging officials to move the open enrollment to dates that don't conflict with holiday spending, says the unexpectedly strong January signups prove his point.
"Given the cash flow pinch at the holidays, most lower- and middle-income consumers wait for their tax refund before they take on new financial obligations," Haile said in a statement. "So the key to enrollment success among low and middle income Americans is to offer products when those consumers have the cash to purchase what is for sale."
Insurance consultant Robert Laszewski, however, was less impressed. "The feds made a big deal in the release about getting an improved age result," he wrote in an analysis of the numbers. "But the greater challenge for them is the overall low number of people enrolling."
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