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Introduction to the CEntrance DACMini
CEntrance is a Chicago based company with engineering in the US and Moscow, Russia, design in Holland, and manufacturing facilities in Asia but final assembly in the US . Let's just say 'multi-national'. They got their start in pro audio making microphone/guitar pre-amps with analog to digital converters, the MicPort Pro and AxePort Pro in amazingly small packages. Designed to plug inline on the microphone or guitar cord with a USB output (the units are powered by the USB connection) they provide the smallest possible recording studio, enabling musicians to plug a microphone or guitar 'directly' into a computer as if they were plugging into tape deck. Here, we review the CEntrance DACMini.
The natural extension was to go the other way with a USB powered DAC in the same small package, the DACPort. 24/96 DACs available in line level or headphone models. This product was well reviewed throughout the audiophile press. I first heard it at RMAF in 2008. The experience was disconcerting, how could this little thing, powered with that 5V, computer power supply afterthought on the USB interface sound so good? I was impressed but I'd been listening to different systems all day, maybe I was deluded, audio fatigued.
The DACMini is the latest product from CEntrance, using the same DAC technology as the DACPort but in a larger, rather beautiful package, with both headphone and line level (RCA) outputs. Inputs are via USB or S/PDIF. Analog inputs (RCA) are also provided. That latter input might make one think that the DACMini functions like a preamp but it only provides input switching, the volume knob is for the headphone output, the RCA outs are fixed at line level. The line-outs are automatically disabled when headphones are plugged in – preventing embarrassing unintended loudspeaker accompaniment for your late night listening.
CEntrance DACMini SPECIFICATIONS
- Design: USB DAC
- Digital Resolution: 24-bit (Also Supports 16-bit)
- Sample Rate: USB: Up to 96kHz, S/PDIF: Up to 192 kHz
- Interface: USB1.1 or 2.0, Driverless Local Clock: 10 ppm Precision, Immeasurable Jitter
- Compatibility: PC, Mac, Linux
- Nominal Output level: +6.0 dBV (RCA Analog Outputs)
- MFR: 20 Hz – 40 kHz +0.0 dB / -0.1dB (Line or Digital Inputs)
- S/N Ratio: (A-Weighted): 144 dB (Line Inputs); 113 dB (Digital Inputs)
- THD+N: 0.00022% (Line Inputs); 0.001% (Digital Inputs)
- Crosstalk: -128 dB (Line Inputs); 118 dB (Digital Inputs)
- Output Impedance: 25 Ohms (Line Output); 10 Ohms (Headphone Output)
- Maximum Output Power: 1.5W; +13.5 dBV (32 Ohms Load) +18.6 dBV (300 Ohms Load) +19.0 dBV (600 Ohms Load)
- CEntrance
- SECRETS Tags: DAC, USB DAC
Design of the CEntrance DACMini
The headphone amp is a class-A amplifier design. The unit I reviewed was the standard model with 10 Ohms of output impedance. A modified version is available that lowers the headphone out impedance to 1 Ohm. CEntrance offers this mod to enable the flattest possible frequency response and for best coupling with low impedance headphones. Also available is a modification to provide more gain at the headphone output, for better driving of high impedance headphones (such as electro-static models).
Additional modifications are available – a black anodized case and Variable Output to convert the DACMini into a preamp.
There is no power supply upgrade which is what I first went looking for when I realized the supplied supply was a switching model. My power supply prejudice prompted me to push back on CEntrance about this.. why no PS upgrade mod?? I got this reply from Michael Goodman CEO and chief designer: "The external power supply that ships with DACMini is a specially designed, ultra-quiet, high-stability power supply. It is optimized for best performance in audio products. Inside DACMini, there is a number of additional power supplies with galvanic ally isolated grounds — they totally decouple the internal circuitry from the external power supply."
Yeah, yeah, but have you tried a linear PS?
"We've had a number of outside parties attempt to improve the audio quality by using an external linear power supply. Nobody reported hearing any audible difference. Technology has moved on from the time when switching power supplies were a total taboo in audio."
And there is this from the design blog for the DACMini (http://www.centrance.com/products/dacmini/blog/)
"DACMini is so insensitive to external power because its internal power station utilizes a high-frequency transformer-isolated circuit to re-generate all the needed voltages, maintaining cleanliness and stability of audio power independently of brownouts and spikes on the line."
And this.." A cheaper USB DAC does not need an isolated power supply, because its own self-noise will mask any noise related to ground differences. On most USB DACs, when you turn the volume control fully "on", you will hear a loud hiss, which covers up the computer switching noise. However, with DACport and DACMini, we are employing breakthrough headphone amp technology, which ensures no noticeable noise floor in the headphones. It's actually "pitch black" in the headphones when you crank the volume knob all the way up. Now, at this level of low-noise performance nothing masks the computer grunge anymore, so additional isolation is needed to fully get rid of the ground-coupled signal impurities. This is why for DACMini we designed a transformer- and opto-coupled power supply that fully disconnects the analog ground from the digital ground. Galvanic isolation ensures that you are hearing the actual music and not the artifacts of computer chips clicking "on" an "off" on the motherboard."
Ok, ok, I give, we'll see when I listen. I had to ask though.. Opto-coupled power supply? This means that the digital signals are sent optically at key junctions, like at the input and output of the DAC, so that the power supplies for the different parts of the circuit are isolated. Simple and utterly effective, so much so that it's hard to believe that no one has done this before. Of course, cost might be a factor. The DACMini is pioneering a price point that gives me a bit of hope for the future of hifi – charge a little bit more for a high end product, in the consumer realm, and maybe some people who didn't know what was possible will give it a try. It's hard to know though what people will spend, to me the $795 price tag for the DACMini seems quite reasonable but I'm into this stuff. The ace in the hole for the DACMini is its design. It's the perfect mate for a MACmini. The two stacked together would look pretty cool.
Getting back to the power supply though – just for one second – bare with me – one of the satisfying aspects of traditional, heavy iron power supplies is heft. When one is paying big (or even small) dollars for an electronics product it's much easier to justify if the thing has some mass to it. Well the DACMini has heft. As I said the case is strikingly beautiful with a sparkly glow, but it is also substantial. By my crude estimations the DACMini weighs 2.5-3 lbs and feels and looks like it was made to last. A paper available on the CEntrance web site goes into detail about the internal design of the case. At what must be considerable expense, the inside is compartmentalized for the different functions. The compartments are separated with tongue and groove construction to provide thorough RF isolation. This is not just a pretty box.
That isolation is all the more necessary because there is not just a DAC in there, there is a processor as well. Gathering the data from the USB input, volume control, switching inputs and the on/off switch are all handled by the processor, not by mechanical switching which is firmware upgradable. The volume control, while handled by the processor is done in the analog realm which is what you want, digital volume control means throwing bits away.
But what about the DAC in there? Which one is it? Wolfson? Cirrus? I had all but given up on finding out. CEntrance doesn't divulge this info even though it is the custom to do so. Well your intrepid reporter poked and prodded to get the story behind the DAC. The DAC chip in the DACMini is the AK4396 from the Japanese company AKM. Michael Goodman explained that this DAC chip is special in that even though it is a delta-sigma design it is a new variety with far less noise. Delta-sigma D/A conversion requires a high clock rate, many multiples of the sampling rate, which brings its own set of noise issues. I'm not sure what exactly but the AK4396 does something radically different (or so it is claimed) in delta-sigma conversion that greatly reduces (ala 60db) the noise issues from this high frequency circuitry. It is a different sort of sound as compared to other DACs I had heard. Liquid and very listen-able (i.e., not fatiguing). The Transporter from Slimdevices/Logitech also employs an AK4396.
Setup of the CEntrance DACMini
Setup is about as simple as can be for an audio product. I first tried the DACmini using a wired (not optical) S/PDIF connection from my ancient Marantz CD63, plugged in my Grado SR325i cans and I was ready to go. When I later tried out the line level inputs I used my Audioquest Sidewinder RCA interconnects. A sizable chunk of time was spent using the DACMini as a DAC, driving my main stereo system which consists of SimAudio gear and Daedalus speakers. For a brief bit I tried my AKG 401 phones which proved inferior to the Grados.
CEntrance DACMini In Use
The first CD I tried with the DACMini was Lida Husik's Faith In Space, a lovely bit of textured electronic from the 1990's that loved the DACmini (or vice versa). The interesting thing with electronic music is that a high fidelity playback system will make it exponentially better than mass market equipment would because a good hifi will reveal hidden textures to the synth sounds. With the DACMini those textures were rich. The highs had terrific detail, Lida Husik's voice was sweet as it should be and the bass was chunky which is how I expect this recording to sound.
I tried a crude jitter test by first feeding the DACMini from my vintage Marantz CD-63 and then from the new Emotiva ERC-2. I had its predecessor the ERC-1 in my system for a few months and so ended up using it with a variety of DACs, I discovered that it was a superior digital transport compared to the Marantz. I now have the ERC-2 in for review so after a time using the Marantz as a transport I switched the optical toslink (the highly recommended Ixos Xotica) over to the Emotiva. Going back to Lida Husik's Faith in Space, with the DACmini's line-outs connected my Simaudio system driving my Daedalus speakers, the electronic instruments emerged from a blacker background with more detail when I used the ERC-2. Similar with Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, her voice was sweeter and I heard more of it – more breathiness, more accents, more twang when she twanged. Also when using the Emotiva to drive the DACMini, I was reluctant to remove a disk to switch to another, I just kept listening. Note that this test presumes that the ancient Marantz doesn't commit some even more base sins than merely jitter. It's possible that it has outright errors in its output bit stream. Wouldn't be surprising at all.
Comparing the Emotiva as a CD player (i.e., using the DAC inside the ERC-2) the sound was a bit warmer than the DACMini but the background not as black. I need some more time with the ERC-2 but as I listen now I have a slight preference for the DACmini. The DACmini costs about 2x what the Emotiva does so there is some order in the audiophile universe. Both of these products are swinging way above their weight class however.
The chassis of the DACMini never seemed to vary much from room temperature even with extended listening but I wonder if the class-A amplifier inside liked to be warmed up because I kept finding that the sound was better the longer I listened. The sound was impressive enough at the start of whatever CD I put in first but by the end I would inevitably be enrapt. With Hector Zazou's Songs from the Cold Seas this was exactly my experience as I was unable to stop listening all the way through the record, even as I was thinking – man I should go back to the beginning and see if it sounds even better than when I first put it in because it's really rockin' now. But I couldn't stop listening to the track I was on. When I did finally get to the end I restarted the disc and I do think that the backgrounds were slightly blacker but that's not the kind of difference I can clearly recall after 60 minutes of listening. I recommend an extended listening session with the DACMini if you're trying it out.
I quoted from the extensive DACMini design blog above: ". It's actually "pitch black" in the headphones when you crank the volume knob all the way up". I can verify that this is true, and impressive. The 'black background' that us crazy audiophile reviewers are always going on about though is a combination of this quiet noise floor and dynamics (micro and macro). That is, how well do the instruments emerge from the background and distinguish themselves? The most challenging reproductive challenge I know of in this regard is the piano. All the various sounds that a piano makes – the hammers hitting the strings, the strings themselves, the sounding board – not to mention the variable decay controlled by the player via the foot petals – add up to several closely related 'instruments' for an audio system to sort out. I've heard a couple of (crazy expensive) systems reproducing jazz or rock music well enough that it seemed like if I could be fooled into thinking the band was there in the room. Not so with piano though. I've never thought 'jeez it sounds like there's a piano over there'. An aside – one trick that helps with this is to have speakers with a large sidewall that is not well damped, even if it is MDF, it seems to mimic the sounding board of pianos. Still, it gets you closer but not all the way there.
So, for eight hundred bucks plus headphones, can the DACMini do what even the most high end systems can't do? Well no. On track two of Songs from the Cold Seas, a track sought after by Bjork fans, she sings a haunting traditional Icelandic song, 'Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu' accompanied by piano amongst other things. At various time some piano is added to an already long list of instruments. On the highest-end systems of the audiophile world this piano kicks in with impressive force and the overtones and harmonics of this complex instrument are preserved, to some degree anyway. The DACMini did an impressive job with the overtone bit, but the initial slam seemed contained within the space allotted. That's an important thing to note – in the space allotted – the overall sound of the DACmini always sounded right, whatever music I was listening to, the sound was right. This means not only reproducing the highs and lows but also the dynamics. Large scale dynamics is when the volume on a recording jumps, perhaps because a new instrument is introduced. With this recording, I got more if it when I switched the toslink back to my Naim DAC. A DAC which costs four times as much not counting the outboard power supply and with that power supply ends up occupying about 20x as much shelf space. At one fourth the cost, and with a headphone amp built in, the DACmini came ridiculously close to the Naim in overall musical satisfaction and non-fatiguing enjoyment.
But the DACMini was born to be paired with a computer, specifically a MACmini. I don't have a MACmini but I do have a Dell laptop (running Windows7) and another desktop system running XP. There was a driver issue with the Dell that seemed to lock the DACMini onto the USB connection (did I say it's not a MAC?). I put the blame squarely on the Dell laptop which has some sort of a home theater package that seems to prevent all kinds of things from working. With my home-built XP system there was no such hiccup. In both cases though the sound through the USB connection was lovely. I sometimes thought maybe the sound was a little smoother, more liquid, through USB than S/PDIF but it wasn't enough to make me try to do extensive A/B comparisons.
While using the USB connection I was able to listen to some 88.2kHz recordings I had made from the vinyl version of Joanna Newsom's Have One On Me. With this high res recording there was not much to complain about and a lot to enjoy. I could still hear a slight loss in micro dynamics (and not in macro) as compared to my Naim but the differences just became less and less important. I've had similar results with high res recordings from other DACs which shows us once again that the unfortunate constraints of the CD standard have really cost us all.
I did have one other nit during my otherwise completely enjoyable time with the DACMini – the USB and power connectors both don't seem to insert all the way to the chassis, leaving about an eighth of an inch of the outer conductor exposed. I pushed as hard as I dared, it wasn't that they weren't in enough, it just seemed like they weren't in 'all the way'. A small thing soon forgotten once you've set the unit down and started listening.
Conclusions About the CEntrance DACMini
The DACMini from CEntrance is a great audio value in a gorgeous package. A lot of engineering expertise went into the design and it shows… sounds? You know what I mean. I'm a big fan of leveraging pro-audio for home systems and it seems like CEntrance is on the case. The design blog for this product has a lot more detail than I quoted above and if you read it you'll see the passion that was applied to the DACMini development. My listening told me that passion was well placed, enabling the musical enjoyment that is the reason we're all into this stuff.


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On September 30 2007, Patch O' Pits wrote:Not a big show at all about 10 on Saturday and 8-9 today I didn't count but that seems about right. I wish there had been more.
I thought you would have been there.
The flies weren't bad until the later part of the second shows. It was beautiful and cool in the AM. We missed you!!!
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Teacher Assessment
Embracing Contraries: Combing Assistance and Assessment in New Teacher Induction
written by
Brian Yusko and
Sharon Feiman-Nemser
Though induction literature traditionally recommends separating assistance and assessment, there has been growing recognition that assessment is integral to promoting and gauging teacher quality. This has led to increased interest in approaches to new teacher induction that meld support, development, assessment and accountability. This article provides images of mentoring from two well-regarded induction programs – the Peer Assistance and Evaluation Program in Cincinnati and the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project – that integrate assistance and assessment to promote quality teaching. This article highlights the possibilities and pitfalls of each approach.
The Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary School Physics Teache
written by
Beverly Cannon,
Patrick Callahan,
Elizabeth Chesick,
Joan Mackin,
Shannon Mandel, and
Carl Wenning
Candidates for secondary school physics teaching positions may be drawn from a variety of sources. Some may have completed an accredited physics or physics teaching program, others may have training in other educational, science, engineering, or business disciplines. Still others may be entering the profession as an alternative or second career. The purpose of this document is to provide some guidance for administrators to gauge a candidate's qualifications to teach physics.
Assessing Student Understanding Part II: Attaching meaning to results
written by
Karen Cummings
This presentation describes the analysis of the results of conceptual pre/post student assessment instruments. Questions of correlations between learning and initial understanding and normalizing the reported gain are covered.
What is Teacher Effectiveness and How May it Be Assessed?
written by
David E. Meltzer
This presentation describes some ways in which science teachers can be assessed. Among the quantities that may be measured are student learning, the use of science processes by students, attitudes, and the management of the classroom. Rubrics for teacher assessment and many tools are given.
Workshop: Assessing Coherent Student Understanding in Introductory Physics Courses
written by
Priscilla W. Laws
This presentation outlines active learning techniques and active assessments used to measure student learning. The assessment instruments covered force and motion, electricity, and mathematical modeling. The results for various interactive-engagement curricula are given.
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Bloomberg on Approaching Winter Storm Nemo
Mayor Bloomberg addresses concerns about the winter storm set to hit the New York region.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... me update you on what's being called when just on me Moana city's preparations for it ... the current ... forecast from the National weather service but keep in mind these are forecasts ... this is a reasonably unpredictable storm ... it could turn for the Northeast ... or it could stall and give us more precipitation ... right now as you know outside it is all rain ... there really isn't any snow even when you look at the grass it's pretty clean ... um but the heavy snow is supposed to come in later on ... the National weather Service's says that this morning ... the snow started its artist downturn to rein ... back to snow this afternoon ... likely to fall in a fast and heavy rate their words during much of the evening and overnight period ... with the heaviest snow expected to begin between three and seven pm tonight ... and by the time the storm passes early Saturday afternoon work spectrum have accumulations ... of ten to fourteen inches across the five boroughs based on the latest National weather service ... and high local accommodations are possible ... now all back and change the storm could move much for the East faster ... and we could have an awful lot less snow which would be a great ... time but we gotta prepare for ... the worse case ... and to this is what the weather ... National weather service says is the worst case ... as widely reported the storm is resulting from emerging into low pressure systems ... when approaching from the west of the Chicago area and one coming up the Atlantic coast of North Carolina area ... am largely because of the coastal Northeastern ... will see sustained winds of ten to thirty miles an hour gusts up to forty or fifty miles an hour ... and this combination of snow high winds and reduced visibility ... our hazards for travel ... and that's why we may we remain under a blizzard warning through one pm on Saturday ... as neither does know all too well high winds could also disrupt electrical service in neighborhoods with of the headlines ... as trees toppled down of branches shear off trees and do serious damage ... let me just remind you if you have a tree come down as a power line down don't ... go near it don't touch it ... pick up the phone call three one one and they'll tell you what to do and will get a professional crew there ... to remove that that power lines are dangerous every time it was on like this ... many times we do have tragedies occur ... a fire all of potentially have says own an ... element of the storm is some coastal flooding flooding ... it is likely to happen during high tide ... which will wash up at the Bowery shortly after seven pm ... and along the Long Island Sound Shore is a northern Queens the Bronx several hours later


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Self Sufficiency is the branch of the Health and Human Services Agency that provides social welfare services to citizens in need. These services include, but are not limited to: cash, food assistance, employment services and medical needs. There are a variety of programs available for persons both with and without minor children.
The service areas and services for this program are listed below. Click on any entry for more information.


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In recent years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reported an increase in the number of drug shortages and discontinuations.
The number of drug shortages reported to the FDA gained 41 percent to 251 shortages in 2011, compared to 178 shortages reported in 2010. The agency says it continues to see an increasing number of shortages, including drugs used to treat cancer, anesthetics used for patients undergoing surgery, drugs needed for emergency medicine and injectable drugs. The FDA also has reported a spike in the number of medications that have been discontinued.
Brett Wright, the owner of Benevere Pharmacy in Collierville, says he's noticed an increase in the number of his clients requesting medications that are no longer commercially available.
Wright, who is a pharmacist by training, opened Benevere Pharmacy in May. The pharmacy specializes in custom-making medications that are tailored to meet the medical needs of an individual patient. Sometimes compounding is needed because a patient may be allergic to a certain dye, or an elderly patient may need a medicine in a liquid or suppository form that is not available. In other cases, compounding is necessary because a drug has been discontinued altogether.
Antonio Anderson mixes compounds at Benevere Specialty Pharmacy & Diabetic Supply. Benevere is a compounding and specialty pharmacy company serving Collierville and the surrounding areas. (Daily News File Photo: Lance Murphey)
Bellamine is a drug used to relieve symptoms related to menopause. It's a drug frequently requested at Wright's pharmacy. That's because the drug was discontinued recently, and can only be made by compounding pharmacies.
"Menopause can be a challenging experience for many women," Wright said. "We can take the original ingredients and compound them into a capsule."
Midrin, a medication used to treat headaches, is also a popular request, Wright says. The medication has been discontinued within the last year because its manufacturer decided it was no longer commercially profitable.
Drug shortages can occur because of quality and manufacturing issues. Some facilities, particularly those that make older, sterile injectables, are limited by the number of drugs they can make at their facilities for safety and sterility reasons. In other cases, drug manufacturers decide to stop making a particular drug in favor of newer, more profitable drugs.
"If there isn't a large patient group using the drug, it can impact a manufacturer's desire to make the drug," Wright said. "It may only be viable for a specific patient at a smaller pharmacy."
The FDA does not approve drugs made by compounding pharmacies; instead, a compounding pharmacy is licensed by its state's board of pharmacy. Unlike traditional drug manufacturers, compounding pharmacies are not required to tell the FDA what drugs they are making. Compounding, particularly sterile injectables have fallen under the scrutiny of the FDA because of a string of recent health emergencies.
In 2012, an outbreak of fungal meningitis was linked to an injectable steroid that infected hundreds of people across the U.S. The outbreak resulted in serious injuries and deaths and was tied to a firm in Framingham, Mass. In 2011, contaminated injectable eye medications also resulted in serious health problems.
Most of those problems have been tied to the emergence of firms with pharmacy licenses making and distributing drugs in a way that's outside the bounds of traditional pharmacy compounding. Many of those pharmacies mass produce injectables for hospitals and larger clients – which is different than a traditional retail compounding pharmacy like Wright's Benevere Pharmacy.
While many compounded medications are covered by insurance, Wright says it can still be a challenge for some patients. Pricing is based on the average wholesale price of the medication – which can sometimes be cheaper if there is no price that a pharmacy has to match in cases where a medication has been discontinued.
"The biggest challenge we face is payment," he said. "We want to make sure that we can make it affordable for our patients."
Wright says he's also seen a boost in patients who have requested specialized thyroid medications that can provide more precise dosing than commercially available thyroid medication.
"We are focused on providing care to specific patients and their needs," Wright said. "We are a retail pharmacy, but we can do that on an individualized basis for each patient. That's what makes our pharmacy unique."
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"Wow! Loved our stay and we'll definitely try and make it back again, really accommodating, especially with the baby."
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We have 3 individually designed rooms all with large double beds, luxurious linen, flat screen TV & DVDs, iPod stations & wi-fi


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Houndstooth Eco Friendly iPad Folio
By Rouge
Beautiful, matte-finish laminated hard cover folio made of 88% post-consumer recycled materials and eco-friendly inks. iPad folios are "smart" cases that automatically wake/sleep the device when open/closed and double as a horizontal stand for movie and TV watching. Kindle covers are book/folder style and do not feature the auto wake/sleep feature.
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Optional Upgrade: A lightweight wireless Bluetooth keyboard is an available option for iPad 2/3/4 devices. The keyboard attaches to the inside cover by magnet, so its completely detachable when you don't need it. The keyboard features a built-in lithium ion battery that offers 90 hours of continuous use when fully charged. Mini-USB keyboard charger is included. The auto awake/sleep feature is not available if choosing this upgrade.
Not sure? Order a proof! Proofs take 3-5 business days to put together and cost $5


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2014 Canadian Mathematics Education Forum
University of Ottawa, May 1 - 4, 2014
|Thursday May 1
|19:30 - 20:30
|France Caron (Université de Montréal), Plenary Speaker, Reconnecting the curriculum - beyond tensions, myths and paradoxes, LMX 122
|Friday May 2
|9:00 - 10:00
|Chris Suurtamm (University of Ottawa), Plenary Speaker, Assessment that elicits and supports mathematical thinking, LMX 122
|Saturday May 3
|9:00 - 10:00
|Peter Liljedahl (Simon Fraser University), Plenary Speaker, Environments to Occasion Problem Solving, FSS 1007
|14:00 - 15:30
|Panel: Statistical Thinking in Schools, FSS 1007
Chair: Len Rak (Sheridan College)
Panelists: Michael Campbell (Ottawa Carleton District School Board) Georges Monette (York University), John Braun (Western University)
|17:15 - 18:15
|Peter Harrison (Toronto DSB), Plenary Speaker, Ontario's Stifling Mathematics Curriculum, FSS 1007
|Sunday May 4
|9:00 - 10:00
|Panel: Does the Curriculum Need Some Fresh Air?, LMX 122
Panelists: Jocelyn Harrison (Toronto District School Board) Shaun Hussain (Toronto Catholic District School Board) Yves Khouzam (École secondaire Saint-Georges, Senneville, QC)Ruth Hicks (Pierre Elliot Trudeau, West Quebec School Board)
The panel will build on ideas from the plenary session the previous evening. Drawing on their past classroom experience, panelists will throw out some ideas and creative energy focused on the question of what might be needed to revitalize the curriculum.
|10:30 - 11:30
|Discussion: Does the Curriculum Need Some Fresh Air?, LMX 122


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Captain's Report
Mission Statement
Now boaters with size limits due to lake restrictions or tow vehicle size no longer have to settle for second best because they need a smaller boat. The RZR takes the same hull as the entry level R20 and loads it up with all the high end features of the larger premium boats. Here, it's all available in a package measuring just 20' (6.1 m) in length.
Distinguishing Features
Pickle Fork Bow.
This provides for a wider bow while still allowing the hull to taper into the conventional V. Coupled with carrying the beam fully forward this provides for a roomier bow.•
Tigé Touch Standard.
Tigé's intuitive touch screen display has been a game changer that is fully loaded with features to control all of the functions on the RZR.•
Alpha Z Tower.
The RZR comes standard with the basic Vector tower, but it would be a rare customer indeed that didn't opt for the premium Alpha Z tower custom-designed in-house by Tigé engineers.•
Powered by Indmar.
Tigé has recently completed an agreement with Indmar Marine to power its line of boats, a deal we wholeheartedly approve of. This RZR comes standard with the 355-hp 5.7L M57 engine.
The Tigé RZR has a length overall of 20' (6.1 m) and a beam of 94" (239 cm). With an empty weight of 3,100 lbs. (1,406 kg), 35% fuel and two people onboard we had an estimated test weight of 3,600 lbs. (1,633 kg).With the 355-hp 5.7L Indmar M57 engine powering our test boat, we reached a top speed of 5300 rpm of 41.4 mph. At that speed we were burning 24.05 gph giving us a range of 59 miles.
Wake Speed
So that'll get us to the play area quick enough. But once there, just how long can we ride for? Well, say for wakeboarders, the typical speed will be 18-23 mph. So let's take the high end. 3000 rpm gave us 23.1 mph while burning only 7.3 gph. That means our RZR can keep up that pace for 4hrs and 42 minutes while still maintaining a 10% reserve. Let's pick it up to slalom skiing speeds between 28-36 mph. 3500 rpm had us running at just over 28 mph with a fuel burn of 9.5 gph. We could keep that up for 3 hours and 36 minutes. 4500 rpm translates into 36.9 mph with a 15.3 gph fuel burn. That means continual skiing for 2 hours and 12 minutes. Still with that 10% reserve.
With these boats it is not so much about the speed as it is about the wake and this boat can accommodate anyone from slalom skiers -- who need the wake to virtually disappear -- to wake surfers, that not only need the perfect size wake but even want a curl dialed in to perfection. It's all done with a combination of strategically filling the ballast sacs, adjusting speed, and adjusting the TAPS2 ride plate with the ConvexV hull.
When to Trim
The RZR turns like it's on rails. In fast tight turns it almost feels like it's going to spin out, but she never does. She does bleed off speed so don't hesitate to add power. The speedset tow system will do that automatically. She stays flat when crossing wakes. When cruising, add a lot of TAPS trim, all the way down to number one on the gauge. Otherwise there's a lot of bow porpoising, but that's by design thanks to the ConvexV hull so no points taken away for that. This is a wake boat, not a cruising boat.
Playing TAPS
TAPS is the adjustable trim plate at the bottom center of the transom, so users can dial in the parameters they're looking for in ways that were previously unavailable. The system is called TAPS2, for Tigé Adjustable Performance System. When used in conjunction with the ConvexV hull, the ride plate is dropped during regular cruise to maintain the optimum running attitude.
Getting Wake
Adding ballast and adjusting the TAPS plate allows for the perfect wake to be dialed in. Want a bigger wake? Adjust the TAPS2 plane up and the hooked stern drops. Want a flat wake? Bring the TAPS2 plane down to get a more laminar flow to the hull.
The ConvexV
Where other wakeboats have hull bottoms that run in a straight line until they get to the stern and then hook down, Tigé's curves slightly upward. That drops the transom down, creating bigger wake. The more of the transom in the water, the more wake you will have.
Getting it On
Does it work? Oh yeah it does, but better with the ballast bags filled. Without any added ballast, activating the TAPS2 did make a difference: the bow came up and down with the control. But the difference in wake was negligible, at least from the driver's seat. At the end of the towline, maybe it would be more pronounced. But the fact that it did anything at all is a step past other boats that have a fixed, hooked hull.
Big Wake
However, add ballast and things change dramatically. Now when the TAPS2 is brought up, the stern sinks way down, and the wake… well, if you want higher then perhaps Olympic ski jumping is more for you. We were able to go easily from a moderately flat wake to a monster wake-surfing wake, all with the touch of a throttle mounted button.
From an operational standpoint, it wasn't pretty. No one would say that operating a boat with so much extra weight, and having the bow so high, is efficient or cost effective, but in the world of wakeboarding, it's not about the driver's comfort, it's all about the wake and speed, and in this boat, you can have it your way.
Tigé Touch…
But all of this is of little consequence if you can't get back to a favorite position the next day. With Tigé Touch, that can be done… and more. With its 6.5" (16.5 cm) touch screen, up to 25 different profiles can be created that contain information on boat speed, ballast bag levels, and TAPS adjustments, AND those profiles can be named after the friends that they are dialed in for. Tigé Touch also includes full control of all switches and tunes (regardless of what source they come from--stereo, MP3, Bluetooth streaming…) and even gives a readout of all gauges.
Features Walkthrough
Tigé incorporates a pickle fork bow design which allows for more room in the bow while still maintaining the characteristics of the of the V-hull. Unlike the typical bowrider configuration, with two V seats, this one remains completely filled in with padded seating. Storage is behind the port seatback leading into the console while the space under the seats is reserved for ballast sacs.
The level of quality in the RZR's fit-and-finish becomes immediately evident by looking at the premium handrails and quilted stitching. Under the center seat cushion is an insulated cooler keeping the drinks within easy reach of both the bow and cockpit. As the day winds die down, consider draining out some of the water from the melted ice otherwise it will likely slosh out when the throttle is hit.
For the helm, Tigé went with a vinyl brow stitched with UV resistant Gore Tenera thread over a dash panel with only three gauges to reduce clutter. The six-spoke steering wheel is mounted to a tilt base surrounded by more vinyl that's color matched to the interior upholstery.
The helm seat is equally high end with pleated upholstery, raised sides to the bottom and seatback, stainless framed flip down armrests, flip-up bolster and of course the entire assembly swivels and slides.
Cockpit and Sun Pad
Cockpit seating wraps around the full cockpit and provides a dedicated aft facing observers seat for watching the towline. The usual accommodations for storage are underneath and corner cushions flip over to reveal a carpeted step for entering and exiting the cockpit.
Behind, a full sun pad has a removable cushion to starboard to expose a non skid walkthrough. Beneath the two side hatches is access to storage and the stern ballast sacs. The battery switch is to port. Underneath is the standard M57 engine from Indmar putting out 355-hp.
To the stern is Tigé's transom activity center. Aside from a stereo remote, there are two self draining storage compartments underneath the seats that are well-positioned to create a staging area for putting on boards. The swim platform has inlaid rubber matting that not only resists heat but provides an appropriate nonskid surface. The entire platform is nearly level with the water's surface.
Tower of Coolness
The RZR comes with the Tigé Vector anodized aluminum wakeboard tower with fixed board racks. This tower accomplishes the basic needs of a tower, but the optional vacuum-cast aluminum Alpha Z tower is much cooler.
Load Distribution
Tigé says the Alpha Z is "engineered to transfer the tower load to the main structure of the boat," a stronger and more rigid set-up than simply mounting the tower on the deck. The Alpha Z includes built-in dock lights and the tow point rotates to reveal the all-around nav light. Mounts are included so the tower can be accessorized with up to four Wet Sounds speakers. Swivel board racks are offered that have ratcheting clamps. And of course the entire assembly folds down to windshield height if clearance is an issue when storing or trailering.
It's really hard not to appreciate the level of sophistication that went into the hull design when the results are seen firsthand. This boat went from producing nearly no wake at all to a monster wave with the perfect curl that can be put on either side of the boat. That level of sophistication is usually reserved for larger boats but with the RZR it is now possible in a shorter platform while maintaining the same level of fit and finish and high end accessories that Tigé customers have come to expect.
Test Result Highlights
- Top speed for the Tigé RZR (2014-) is 41.4 mph (66.6 kph), burning 24.05 gallons per hour (gph) or 91.03 liters per hour (lph).
- Best cruise for the Tigé RZR (2014-) is 28.8 mph (46.3 kph), and the boat gets 3.03 miles per gallon (mpg) or 1.29 kilometers per liter (kpl), giving the boat a cruising range of 104 miles (167.37 kilometers).
- Tested power is 1 x 355-hp Indmar 5.7 M57.
Standard and Optional Features
Marine Electronics
|Air Cond./Heat
|Optional 3-vent heater
|Battery Charger/Converter
|CD Stereo
Exterior Features
|Outlet: 12-Volt Acc
|Swim Platform
|Tower: Watersports
|Transom Shower
|Bimini Top
Full Warranty Information on this brand coming soon!
(It's quick and FREE!)


text:
From ConsumerWiki
Questions or issues related to the California State Lottery should be directed to the California State Lottery Commission. Most other lotteries held in California is illegal. The two major exceptions to the prohibitions against lotteries are: a city or county may authorize the conduct or bingo games by certain organizations for charitable purposes, and certain organizations may conduct raffles as a funding mechanism.
California State Lottery Commission
600 North 10th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(800) 568-8379
Penal Code Section 319.
Consumer Resource & Referral Guide Directory of State Agencies Directory of Federal Agencies Return to DCA Home Page


text:
Create an account.
- Heal The Broken Hearted
- Arise and Shine Shine Bobo
- Afterglow "Shine"
- Broken Dreamz
- Young Dago - Just Think (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
Friday, 13 September 2013 09:12
Congrats on 5K downloads
Tuesday, 06 September 2016 16:14
Uploaded By Lloyd J. Rhoden
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Affix Amp music network profile website for bands, artists and musicians. Create a profile, add music video links, photos, list shows, upload mp3 music for streaming only or offer fans and visitors free downloads. At Affix Amp we also promote all uploaded albums to our music network through social media for free and also on a regular basis through Twitter especially.
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text:
How much do you know about magic? It's time to see through the illusion! The Magic! exhibit is now open at HMNS. Throughout the run of the exhibit, check back here for exclusive videos and descriptions of the unique items on display from curator Scott Cervine.
In 1563, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a law was passed making the practice of witchcraft a felony. This led to the persecution of many innocents and so outraged a gentleman farmer, Reginald Scot, Esquire (1538-1599) that he decided to publish an exposé of the fallacies of such superstitious thinking.
He had previously written the first known book in English on the cultivation of hops (A Perfite Platform of a Hoppe Garden, 1574). In 1584, his self-published The Discoverie of Witchcraft became the first book in English "debunking" such superstitions. But it was regarded by many as heretical, since it countered the teachings of the Church of England at the time. King James I of Scotland wrote an entire book, Daemonologie (1597) defending his belief in witchcraft against the arguments presented by Scot and others. When James ascended to the English throne in 1603, he is said to have ordered all copies of Scot's Discoverie publicly burned by the Royal hangman. Many of the surviving copies, like this one, have severely reduced margins, which may have resulted from trimming away the charred edges of copies rescued from the hangman's fire.
The importance of Scot's book to conjuring is due to his extensive discussion of conjuring tricks, explaining their natural—not supernatural—basis by revealing the basics of sleight of hand. That it pained him to expose the secrets of this already ancient art is clear in introduction to this section of his work: "… being sorie that it falleth out to my lot, to laie open the secrets of this mysterie, to the hindrance of such poore men as live thereby, whose doings herein are not only tolerable, but greatly commendable, so they abuse not the Name of God, nor make the people attribute unto them His power…"
Scot had learned much of the magicians' repertoire from a skilled French-born named John Cautares who earned an "honest living" as a laborer. Scot chiefly discussed tricks with balls, coins and cards, but also apparent feats of self mutilation and even decapitation. In doing so, he gave us an intimate portrait of the 16th century conjuring repertoire and its technical basis. Although Scot's intent was to expose—rather than teach—magic, his book formed the basis of conjuring literature in English and several other languages (it was quickly translated into Dutch and German) for more than 200 years. It is also said to have been used by Shakespeare as a source for his plays when dealing with the themes of witchcraft.


text: A set of four very scarce leaflets issued by the Conservative Party urging voters to re-elect Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party in the 1945 General Election. They are as follows: 1) a single-page leaflet with a photograph of Churchill and the heading 'Help Him Finish the Job', followed by 'We've beaten the Hun, but there's more to be done - we must defeat Japan, we must put Britain back on her feet again . . . these are tasks calling for sane and experienced statesmanship . . . Vote Conservative, support Mr Churchill and national government'. (The election took place in July 1945; Germany had surrendered but the war in the Far East against Japan was to continue until August). There is a little foxing, mostly on the back, and a crease to one corner. 2) A single-page leaflet, printed on both sides, with the heading: 'Why we must have EXPORTS and how to get them'. 3) 'War on Want', a four-page leaflet outlining how 'Mr Churchill's National Government is pledged to carry out the full National Insurance plan' and listing the principal benefits of the scheme ('for the young, for the old, for mothers, for all'). 4) 'A Chance for All Children', a four-page leaflet outlining 'an Act which remodels our system of education . . . which a Conservative Minister has passed through Parliament. The 'main plan' includes '(from two to five years) more nursery schools in the larger cities . . . (from eleven to 15 years) a full range of secondary education with a well-planned curriculum to the aptitude of the boys and girls and the wishes of the parents, in Grammar, Modern and Technical schools. The school leaving age to be raised to 15 at the earliest opportunity . . .'. This has a little foxing to one corner.


text:
A Senate race that has been hard to focus on
Candidates are campaigning hard but news events have conspired against them
Brutal snowstorms, an upheaval in Boston city politics, a contentious tax debate on Beacon Hill, and now terrorism at the Marathon. Since nearly the opening hours of the race to fill John Kerry's US Senate seat, a series of events has smothered the campaign and raised serious questions over the efficacy of special elections.
For three months, the candidates — two Democrats and three Republicans — have been crisscrossing the state, airing commercials, and raising money, hoping to gain voters' attention.
But they have found little success. With the primary election looming on Tuesday, the public appears to have barely taken notice. Despite several televised debates and a flurry of media coverage, the race has lacked the sort of robust and spirited discussions of issues and the vetting of candidates that has historically distinguished Massachusetts Senate campaigns.
Analysts cite a host of reasons: the inability of the candidates in either party to swiftly generate voter enthusiasm; the string of news and weather events in the last few months that consumed the media's and public's interest; and the voters' fatigue after a year of intense politicking.
The sputtering race and the prospect that it will lure few people to the polls to fill such an important political position has prompted some strong criticism of the truncated special election system that Democrats created in 2004 to fill vacant US Senate seats.
"It's no one's idea of a functioning democracy,'' said Thomas J. Whalen, a political historian and associate professor of social sciences at Boston University. "If the weather interferes, or there's an act of God, or this tragedy we just experienced at the Marathon, it throws everything off base. It's like a house of cards, one little thing will cause the electoral process to collapse.''
Evidence that the campaign has not captured voter interest can be found in the early requests for absentee balloting, prompting the state's top election official to predict a low turnout.
"These are abysmal numbers,'' said Secretary of State William F. Galvin, citing the fact that applications are running about 25 percent the level in the primary for the 2010 special election. "It is depressing to see. There seems to be no momentum to the election."
Other experienced observers of state politics agree. "This is like a race that didn't happen,'' said Gregory Torres, president of MassInc, a nonpartisan think tank that has in the past sponsored debates in statewide political races. "This is a United States Senate seat, for God's sake. We need to have a much more vigorous debate and examination of the candidates and the issues.''
In their last weekend before primary day, the candidates raced to make up for lost time, packing their schedules and sprinting across the state to meet voters at dozens of events.
But most acknowledged the attention deficit they face.
"So many of the voters are still trying to grasp what happened last week, and aren't thinking about politics," Lynch said after an event in Worcester on Saturday afternoon.
In an overtly political move, a coalition of Democratic leaders concocted the special election process in 2004, when Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee. To prevent Republican Governor Mitt Romney from handpicking Kerry's Senate replacement, the Democratic Legislature changed state law to establish a special election process to fill a vacancy.
Democrats were confident they could win a special election if Kerry won his race against President George W. Bush.
That calculation that Democrats would have a clear advantage in a special election proved embarrassingly false several years later when Scott Brown, a little-known Republican state senator, won a special election in January 2010 to fill the seat long held by the late Edward M. Kennedy.
Under the 2004 law, the election must take place no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after the vacancy is created — a tight campaign schedule that can easily be overwhelmed by other events.
During a normal election cycle, races for state constitutional offices and the US Senate take place over months, or possibly several years, giving candidates and their staff time to build organizations, polish their campaign skills, and create a strong profile. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren did battle for more than a year before the November 2012 election.
The shorter election cycle has the greatest impact on candidates who have low voter identification, few resources, and are not heavily tied into the party apparatus or leadership that can be critical in a primary.
Analysts agree that Democrat Stephen Lynch, the South Boston congressman who is already facing an uphill primary fight, could have used more time and public attention to gain traction to overtake front-runner, Edward J. Markey, a veteran congressman.
On the Republican side, state Representative Daniel B. Winslow of Norfolk and political newcomer Gabriel Gomez, a Cohasset businessman, are also facing the same problem as they try to challenge the GOP's perceived front-runner, Michael J. Sullivan, a former federal and state prosecutor and one-time state legislator.
Jeffrey M. Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University, said Winslow, with his energetic effort to bring new approaches to the Republican Party, is a good example of how the truncated election process works against candidates who could be more viable in a longer campaign.
"Of the Republicans, Winslow has to be most disappointed,'' said Berry. "He has a good reputation in the state Legislature and among the party faithful but can't get the recognition outside the political world.''
That analysis underscores what other critics say is the ability of insiders and activists in both parties to dominate a special election and effectively choose who will fill such a critical public office in a low turnout elections.
Jerold Duquette, associate professor of political science at Central Connecticut State University, thinks gubernatorial appointment to fill the seat is far preferable than holding elections that draw little interest or participation. He suggests that the state should examine going back to the system in place prior to 2004, in which the governor would appoint a senator until the next regular state election.
"Having a system with a gubernatorial appointment for two years and then a campaign is not perfect, but having a longer debate is a much better deal,'' Duquette said. "What's in place now is not good for democracy or a competitive election.''
But others dismiss those arguments, saying the special election process is far better than allowing a governor to make the decision.
"A flawed campaign that allows the voters to decide who will be the senator is a lot better than having one person, the governor, filling the position,'' said former Republican state treasurer Joseph D. Malone.
Pam Wilmot, the executive director of Common Cause of Massachusetts, said her group's initial support of the law to create special elections for the US Senate remains unchanged despite what she acknowledges have been "a string of disastrous events that has fully absorbed the public's and media's attention.''
"If you give the governor the appointment for two years, it makes it very difficult to unseat that person,'' Wilmot said. "Incumbents have all the privileges and benefits of incumbency that accrues to an enormous extent over a two-year period.''
State Representative William M. Straus, a Mattapoisett Democrat and one of the architects of the law, agrees.
"There is no impediment to registered voters to participate in making the decisions,'' he said. "If they don't turn out, it is a shame, but I don't blame the fact we are holding the election as the problem.''
Frank Phillips can be reached at email@example.com.


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You step inside a life of a man who steals for living and is hunted by City guards. And who has lost his light in the darkness. His wife. Rikhard is a thief. He gets certain objects for his clients. But after the murder of his wife by a hitman hired by an angry man who was robbed by Rikhard, he got depressed and started drinking. Lost the house and moved to the miserable hideout in the allies. Not doing big jobs anymore, he's doing his living by picking pockets. But then, he wakes up to a knock on his door. A note left under the door inviting Rikhard to his house for a job.The note was sent by his good friend and a client, Thomas. This custom story is heavily inspired by Thief-game series.
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By Patrick Toomey
Direct link to keychaindumper (for those that want to skip the article and get straight to the code)
So, a few weeks ago a wave of articles hit the usual sites about research that came out of the Fraunhofer Institute (yes, the MP3 folks) regrading some issues found in Apple's Keychain service. The vast majority of the articles, while factually accurate, didn't quite present the full details of what the researchers found. What the researchers actually found was more nuanced than what was reported. But, before we get to what they actually found, let's bring everyone up to speed on Apple's keychain service.
Apple's keychain service is a library/API provided by Apple that developers can use to store sensitive information on an iOS device "securely" (a similar service is provided in Mac OS X). The idea is that instead of storing sensitive information in plaintext configuration files, developers can leverage the keychain service to have the operating system store sensitive information securely on their behalf. We'll get into what is meant by "securely" in a minute, but at a high level the keychain encrypts (using a unique per-device key that cannot be exported off of the device) data stored in the keychain database and attempts to restrict which applications can access the stored data. Each application on an iOS device has a unique "application-identifier" that is cryptographically signed into the application before being submitted to the Apple App store. The keychain service restricts which data an application can access based on this identifier. By default, applications can only access data associated with their own application-identifier. Apple realized this was a bit restrictive, so they also created another mechanism that can be used to share data between applications by using "keychain-access-groups". As an example, a developer could release two distinct applications (each with their own application-identifier) and assign each of them a shared access group. When writing/reading data to the keychain a developer can specify which access group to use. By default, when no access group is specified, the application will use the unique application-identifier as the access group (thus limiting access to the application itself). Ok, so that should be all we need to know about the Keychain. If you want to dig a little deeper Apple has a good doc here.
Ok, so we know the keychain is basically a protected storage facility that the iOS kernel delegates read/write privileges to based on the cryptographic signature of each application. These cryptographic signatures are known as "entitlements" in iOS parlance. Essentially, an application must have the correct entitlement to access a given item in the keychain. So, the most obvious way to go about attacking the keychain is to figure out a way to sign fake entitlements into an application (ok, patching the kernel would be another way to go, but that is a topic for another day). As an example, if we can sign our application with the "apple" access group then we would be able to access any keychain item stored using this access group. Hmmm…well, it just so happens that we can do exactly that with the "ldid" tool that is available in the Cydia repositories once you Jailbreak your iOS device. When a user Jailbreak's their phone, the portion of the kernel responsible for validating cryptographic signatures is patched so that any signature will validate. So, ldid basically allows you to sign an application using a bogus signature. But, because it is technically signed, a Jailbroken device will honor the signature as if it were from Apple itself.
Based on the above descrption, so long as we can determine all of the access groups that were used to store items in a user's keychain, we should be able to dump all of them, sign our own application to be a member of all of them using ldid, and then be allowed access to every single keychain item in a user's keychain. So, how do we go about getting a list of all the access group entitlements we will need? Well, the kechain is nothing more than a SQLite database stored in:
And, it turns out, the access group is stored with each item that is stored in the keychain database. We can get a complete list of these groups with the following query:
SELECT DISTINCT agrp FROM genp
Once we have a list of all the access groups we just need to create an XML file that contains all of these groups and then sign our own application with ldid. So, I created a tool that does exactly that called keychain_dumper. You can first get a properly formatted XML document with all the entitlements you will need by doing the following:
./keychain_dumper -e > /var/tmp/entitlements.xml
You can then sign all of these entitlments into keychain_dumper itself (please note the lack of a space between the flag and the path argument):
ldid -S/var/tmp/entitlements.xml keychain_dumper
After that, you can dump all of the entries within the keychain:
If all of the above worked you will see numerous entries that look similar to the following:
Service: Dropbox Account: remote Entitlement Group: R96HGCUQ8V.* Label: Generic Field: data Keychain Data: SenSiTive_PassWorD_Here
Ok, so what does any of this have to do with what was being reported on a few weeks ago? We basically just showed that you can in fact dump all of the keychain items using a jailbroken iOS device. Here is where the discussion is more nuanced than what was reported. The steps we took above will only dump the entire keychain on devices that have no PIN set or are currently unlocked. If you set a PIN on your device, lock the device, and rerun the above steps, you will find that some keychain data items are returned, while others are not. You will find a number of entries now look like this:
Service: Dropbox Account: remote Entitlement Group: R96HGCUQ8V.* Label: Generic Field: data Keychain Data: <Not Accessible>
This fundamental point was either glossed over or simply ignored in every single article I happend to come across (I'm sure at least one person will find the article that does mention this point :-)). This is an important point, as it completely reframes the discussion. The way it was reported it looks like the point is to show how insecure iOS is. In reality the point should have been to show how security is all about trading off various factors (security, convenience, etc). This point was not lost on Apple, and the keychain allows developers to choose the appropriate level of security for their application. Stealing a small section from the keychain document from Apple, they allow six levels of access for a given keychain item:
CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlocked; CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlock; CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleAlways; CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly; CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlockThisDeviceOnly; CFTypeRef kSecAttrAccessibleAlwaysThisDeviceOnly;
The names are pretty self descriptive, but the main thing to focus in on is the "WhenUnlocked" accessibility constants. If a developer chooses the "WhenUnlocked" constant then the keychain item is encrypted using a cryptographic key that is created using the user's PIN as well as the per-device key mentioned above. In other words, if a device is locked, the cryptographic key material does not exist on the phone to decrypt the related keychain item. Thus, when the device is locked, keychain_dumper, despite having the correct entitlements, does not have the ability to access keychain items stored using the "WhenUnlocked" constant. We won't talk about the "ThisDeviceOnly" constant, but it is basically the most strict security constant available for a keychain item, as it prevents the items from being backed up through iTunes (see the Apple docs for more detail).
If a developer does not specify an accessibility constant, a keychain item will use "kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlocked", which makes the item available only when the device is unlocked. In other words, applications that store items in the keychain using the default security settings would not have been leaked using the approach used by Fraunhofer and/or keychain_dumper (I assume we are both just using the Keychain API as it is documented). That said, quite a few items appear to be set with "kSecAttrAccessibleAlways". Such items include wireless access point passwords, MS Exchange passwords, etc. So, what was Apple thinking; why does Apple let developers choose among all these options? Well, let's use some pretty typical use cases to think about it. A user boots their phone and they expect their device to connect to their wireless access point without intervention. I guess that requires that iOS be able to retrieve their access point's password regardless of whether the device is locked or not. How about MS Exchange? Let's say I lost my iPhone on the subway this morning. Once I get to work I let the system administrator know and they proceed to initiate a remote wipe of my Exchange data. Oh, right, my device would have to be able to login to the Exchange server, even when locked, for that to work. So, Apple is left in the position of having to balance the privacy of user's data with a number of use cases where less privacy is potentially worthwhile. We can probably go through each keychain item and debate whether Apple chose the right accessibility constant for each service, but I think the main point still stands.
Wow…that turned out to be way longer than I thought it would be. Anyway, if you want to grab the code for keychain_dumper to reproduce the above steps yourself you can grab the code on github. I've included the source as well as a binary just in case you don't want/have the developer tools on your machine. Hopefully this tool will be useful for security professionals that are trying to evaluate whether an application has chosen the appropriate accessibility parameters during blackbox assessments. Oh, and if you want to read the original paper by Fraunhofer you can find that here.


text:
|Bedrooms 1
|Parking Spaces 0
Treble Hall is a grand building with an even more lustrous heritage. Built in 1879, it is the most spectacular example of Renaissance Revival style architecture in Hamilton. Our approach to revitalizing this historic landmark is to preserve its elegant essence and to create a jewel worthy of its center stage location. Live at Treble Hall and own a piece of history. Let this beautiful building and its prime location help you give the performance of your life. This is a1 bedroom 1 bath unit. Lockers are available for $50/month. No Parking available with this building. Units are under construction tentatively Aug. 1st 2018 occupancy. All showings to be done off-site. (id:20029)
Listing Office: Three Pillars Realty Inc.
Data Provided by REALTORS® Association of Canadian Real Estate
Last Modified: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 23:05:38 GMT
MLS®, REALTOR®, and the associated logos are trademarks of The Canadian Real Estate Association
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text:
April 6, 2008
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -
The UC Santa Barbara women's tennis team swept past UC Riverside 7-0, this Sunday afternoon at the Rob Gym Tennis Courts and snapped its five game slide in the process. With the victory, the Gauchos improve to 8-12 overall on the season, and 3-3 in Big West play.
Starting things off for UCSB were the doubles pair of Jill Damion and Asagi Onaga defeating the Highlanders Donna McCullough and Roxanne Plata 8-2. The Gauchos captured the doubles point when Tova Hausman and Brittany Kausen dispatched Angelique Corpuz and Nadia Sakhakorn 8-3, at No. 3. UC Riverside posted a win at No. 1 doubles, as Erynne Oki and H.R. Espiritu barely edged Marta Simic and Charlotte Scatliffe 8-7, (6).
In singles play, UC Santa Barbara swept all six matches to notch the win. Leading things off for the Gauchos was Charlotte Scatliffe breezing by Yasaman Sakhakorn 6-1, 6-2. Jill Damion followed suit, with a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory at No. 2. Brittany Kausen wrapped up the win for the Gauchos, as she took care of Angelique Corpuz in straight sets as well 7-5, 6-1. UCSB ended the match with wins at No. 4, No. 1, and No. 3.
"We now have a very important and emotional match next Friday against UC Davis," said head coach Pete Kirkwood. "We are one game ahead of the Aggies in the Big West standings and will play them in our final home match of the year."
Next up for the Gauchos is a home match Friday, Apr. 11 against UC Davis. First serve at the Rob Gym Tennis Courts against the Aggies is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (PT).
Complete results listed below
UC Santa Barbara 7, UC Riverside 0
No. 1 Marta Simic (UCSB) def. Erynne Oki (UCR) 7-5, 6-3
No. 2 Jill Damion (UCSB) def. Nadia Sakakorn (UCR) 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 Asagi Onaga (UCSB) def. Donna Mccullogh (UCR) 6-4, 4-6 (10-5)
No. 4 Tova Hausman (UCSB) def. Yasmin Sakakorn (UCR) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 Charlotte Scatliffe (UCSB) def. Roxanne Plata (UCR) 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 Brittany Kausen (UCSB) def. Angalique Corpuz (UCR) 7-5, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 5, 2, 6, 4, 1, 3
No. 1 Oki/Espiritu (UCR) def. Simic/Scatliffe (UCSB) 8-7 (6)
No. 2 Damion/Onaga (UCSB) def. McCullough/Plata (UCR) 8-2
No. 3 Hausman/Kausen (UCSB) def. Corpuz/Sakhakorn (UCR (8-3)
Doubles order of finish: 2, 3, 1


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David Corn at Mother Jones has released another Romney video. This one's from a Bain Capital meeting in 1985 in which Romney says Bain's business model is to acquire companies and then "harvest them at a significant profit" in five to eight years.
The word "harvest" has a creepy, sci-fi ring to it, which inspired me to make the image you see below. (My more serious policy-minded colleagues were clearly unimpressed.) And it brought back a horrifying scene in a white and sterile laboratory, one I'd seen many years ago and have never been able to forget.
But is this new video important?
On the one hand, that's how business people talk all the time, which suggests it's not much of a revelation. On the other hand, that's how business people talk all the time.
Some progressives have been outraged at this impersonal description of places that provided people with their livelihoods. But Ayn Rand cultists like Romney's running mate should be even more outraged. After all, it's a pretty shabby way to talk about enterprises which began as the prized brainchildren of Randian free-market Übermenschen.
What does it mean for society when investors increasingly seek to "harvest" a company for a profitable sale? We looked into Bain's impact on the health economy in more detail in "Sick Money."
Here's how it works: Target companies are fattened up like sacrificial animals on a diet of debt, much of which goes to pay the exorbitant fees charged by companies like Bain. That put intense pressure on their management to pump up short-term earnings by any means necessary. Jobs are lost. Companies go bankrupt. The harvest continues.
There are good investment firms with long-term strategies. Then there are the "harvesters," whose fast-buck business model has had repercussions throughout the economy. They take whatever they can, drain it, and move on. They have no need for a healthy national economy anymore – no need for roads, bridges, a thriving middle class, or an educated and health population. They can drain an entire economy to a dry husk and then move on.
That's why from I occasionally compare these new-model financiers to the aliens in Independence Day. Their plan for the Earth was to rip all the natural resources from it and move on, leaving a lifeless husk behind as they headed for the next conquest. So when I saw Corn's video, I photoshopped this:
This was done for fun, of course. But it's a serious subject. And admittedly it's a little over the top to compare Bain Capital to the aliens in Independence Day. In my corporate life I heard people say things like Romney did every day and never thought twice about it. That gets me to that laboratory …
Well, it looked like a laboratory, but it was really a factory. I was seventeen, and had just landed a summer job, writing press releases and employee newsletter pieces for a now-defunct pharmaceutical company. On my first day the boss, a very nice guy, gave me the grand tour.
The company's grounds held a lot of surprises – a stable with some aging horses, vats that were six stories deep – but the the highest-tech part of the tour began when we put on masks and gowns and entered a large dark room filled with green monkeys. Tubes on the ceiling sent soft breezes of sterile air into the room. Some monkeys stared listlessly into space. Others shrieked and rattled the bars of their cages, which were stacked from the floor to the ceiling.
A small conveyor belt ran from the monkey room into a white, brightly lit sterile room where … well, I won't go into details, except to say that the last stop on the conveyor belt involved workers with microtomes slicing kidneys into paper thin layers.
Slightly at a loss for words, I muttered something to my new boss about the impressive assembly-line design. "Yep,"he agreed cheerfully, "this is a darned good harvesting operation." For the process to work properly, the monkeys needed to "harvested" alive.
I still remember the first stop on the conveyor belt, where the monkeys slapped at the plexiglass between us. And stared.
Hey, at least Mitt Romney didn't vivisect anybody. He just tried to maximize profits. That was his job. That's why it seems this video isn't that big a story, I guess. But I keep thinking about those monkeys. I can still see them at the first stop on that conveyor belt, staring at us as they slapped their hands on the plexiglas pane that separated us.
Those monkeys: I'll never forget their eyes.
The Bain people didn't talk about these companies or their employees as if they were real. Their dehumanizing language is a natural response to their job duties. Some of them, like my first boss at the pharmaceutical company, are sure to be great folks once you get to know them.
They're not evil. To paraphrase Jessica Rabbit: They're not bad, they're just drawn that way – drawn by the lure of easy money, drawn by the politicians who give them tax breaks and bend the rules for them, drawn by the incentives that society (meaning 'we') give them.
The human cost of these "harvests" is pervasive and terrible. But they're not inevitable, and even in this corrupted democracy the the people behind them aren't all-powerful.
So don't fear the reapers. We're not helpless primates in a science-fiction nightmare. We can take our democracy back, even if we have to wrestle it from the hands of corporatized politicians. We can change the warped incentives in our economic policies and encourage more productive investments – and more responsible business leaders.
At least we can try. And even if we fail, we can do one last thing before they "harvest" our economic future: We can make sure they've looked into our eyes.


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Posted 6/26/13 (Wed)
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
With the exploding development in the Bakken oilfield in McKenzie County, many businesses are seeing the biggest growth in sales in their history.
And McKenzie Electric Cooperative is one of those local businesses that is seeing unprecedented growth as the local power supplier is scrambling to keep pace with new demand.
"The Bakken boom is exploding," stated Ray Tescher, chairman of the cooperative's board of directors, during the co-op's annual meeting in Watford City last Tuesday. "We have doubled in two years what we did in electric sales during the first 66 years of the co-op's existence."
According to Tescher, of the 188 rigs that are currently drilling in North Dakota, 100 of them are in the cooperative's service area.
"In 2011-2012, cooperative sales grew by 70 percent," stated Tescher. "And this past year, we saw growth of over 40 percent."
That unprecedented growth has resulted in the co-op's gross operating revenues to grow by $27 million, a 64 percent increase from last year, and the net margins to increase by over $4.8 million.
In 2011, the cooperative had net margins of $8,003,328 on sales of $37,995,060, while in 2012 net margins increased to $12,847,583 on sales of $64,613,133.
And according to Tescher, McKenzie Electric doesn't expect to see any slowdown in the growth of electric sales in the years ahead.
"By 2025, we estimate that the cooperative will be six times our size today," stated Tescher. "And we probably are underestimating that growth."
As a result of the growth, according to Tescher, the cooperative is constantly upgrading and expanding its system which improves electrical service to its members.
"As we're building substations and lines, we are improving them," stated Tescher. "We're building redundancy into our system, which will mean less power outages and better service."
And because of the growth, the cooperative is still able to offer its residential customers some of the lowest electrical rates in the state.
But with the tremendous growth, the biggest challenge facing McKenzie Electric and its power supplier, Basin Electric, is ensuring that there is enough power available to serve the demand.
"Our peak load is normally in December," stated John Skurupey, McKenzie Electric's CEO. "This past winter, we could have been load limited, which is why Basin Electric is working to bring more power to this area of the state."
According to Skurupey, the cooperative is facing a daunting task in meeting the demand for increased electrical service. But he says that McKenzie Electric is holding its own.
And to meet the increased demand for power, the cooperative is looking forward to seeing several of Basin Electric's new projects come online.
Currently, Basin Electric, according to Andrew Serri, CEO of the regional power supplier, the cooperative is in the process of building three electric generating stations near Watford City, as well as three more near Williston. Those six stations will add 270 megawatts of power to the system. In addition, Basin Electric is planning to construct a 345kv line from the Antelope Station to Tioga.
"Overall, Basin Electric is seeing a 200 megawatt increase in power demand system-wide," stated Serri. "And almost all of that growth is in the Bakken region of northwest North Dakota."
While McKenzie Electric is growing to meet the demands for new electric customers, Tescher assured the members at Tuesday's meeting that everything that the cooperative is doing is being done for its members.
"We're adapting our policies to protect our members, both old and new," stated Tescher. "We're trying to do it right for you, the consumer. But it's hard. We've got to treat all our members fairly."


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No. 6 Ole Miss (37-21, 15-15 SEC) vs. No. 7 Alabama (33-25, 14-15 SEC)
May 23 | 9:30 a.m. | Hoover, Ala. | SportSouth/ESPN3
UM Fr. RHP Jacob Waguespack (0-1, 2.89 ERA) vs. UA So. RHP Spencer Turnbull (4-3, 3.61 ERA)
Ole Miss NCAA Tournament resume:
Overall Record: 37-21
SEC Record/Finish: 15-15/6th
RPI (Warren Nolan): 18
Strength of Schedule: 8
Record vs Top 50 RPI: 13-17
Record vs. 51-100 RPI: 5-2
Record vs. 100+ RPI: 19-2
Ole Miss NCAA Tournament projection:
Mark Etheridge, SEBaseball.com (May 22): No. 2 seed in Louisville Regional
Kendall Rogers, Perfect Game (May 20): No. 2 seed in Clemson Regional
Bianco in SEC Tournament elimination games: Head coach Mike Bianco has advanced to 11 SEC Tournaments in his 13-year tenure at Ole Miss. He is 9-9 all-time in SEC Tournament elimination games, including a 4-1 win against Kentucky on Tuesday. With a 1-1 record this year, he is 20-19 all-time in SEC Tournament games.
Rebels sweep in regular season: Ole Miss and Alabama met for a three-game series in Oxford with the Rebels winning all three games.
Bobby Wahl and Aaron Greenwood combined for a two-hit shutout in game one, as Ole Miss won 6-0. The Rebels clinched the series with a 5-2 win in game two, then Tanner Mathis delivered a bases-loaded single in the 11th to sweep the series with a 4-3 win in the series finale.
Waguespack to make second career start: Freshman right-hander Jacob Waguespack will start for Ole Miss against Alabama. The 6-foot-6, 215-pounder from Prairieville, La., dealt with an elbow injury for much of the season and made his season debut April 16 against Southern Miss.
Waguespack has made five appearances, including one start, and allowed four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 9.1 innings. In his one start, he took the loss against Southern Miss, as he gave up two run on four hits in three innings.
Another turn for Mississippi native Turnbull: Jacob Waguespack will be opposed on the mound by Spencer Turnbull, a sophomore right-hander from Madison, Miss.
Earlier this year, he took a no-decision in a 4-3 loss to Ole Miss, as he allowed two runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts in six innings. He pitched in relief against the Rebels in 2012 and took the loss, as he allowed four runs on four hits a strikeout in 0.2 innings.
This season, the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder is second on the team with 13 starts and 77.1 innings pitched this season. He holds a 4-3 record with a 3.61 ERA, .295 B/AVG, 1.46 WHIP and 41-to-30 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Turnbull has also thrown two complete games this season, including a four-hit shutout against Auburn.
Bianco, on availability of Bobby Wahl: "Bobby threw a little bit off the mound today. He could probably throw tomorrow in an emergency. It's not health-wise. We got to be careful with him. We want to do what's right for him and for the program. And as much as we want to have success here, we're going to have to win the following day as well, so somebody else has to pitch.
"We've really pushed him over the last couple of weeks, as far as short rest and throwing one inning on Friday, then coming back on Sunday, then coming back on two days' short rest. I think we got to get closer to what his normal routine is."
Bianco, on 10 different ineups over last 13 games: "Part of it, I think is trying to find the right matchup... The top five have been pretty solid the last few games with Mathis, Anderson, and then Turner, Mistone, Boz... You just try to find the right matchup for that pitcher that day."
Ole Miss Lineup (career vs. UA SO RHP Spencer Turnbull)
LF Tanner Mathis (1-for-2, 2B, BB)
SS Austin Anderson (1-for-2)
C Stuart Turner (0-for-1, 2 BB)
3B Andrew Mistone (1-for-3)
CF Auston Bousfield (2-for-3, BB)
DH Sikes Orvis (0-for-2)
1B Preston Overbey (2-for-3)
2B Christian Helsel (0-for-0)
RF Will Jamison (1-for-2)
Alabama Lineup (season batting average)
3B Kenny Roberts (.251)
CF Georgie Salem (.272)
2B Kyle Overstreet (.279)
RF Ben Moore (.289)
SS Mikey White (.278)
1B Austen Smith (.277)
C Brett Booth (.283)
LF Andrew Miller (.237)
DH Chance Vincent (.214)


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VERGENNES –– Fourteen-year-old Damian Bougor knew the Vergennes skate park needed seating and decided to do something about it.
"I go there every day and we just needed something to sit on after we're done skating, so I figured we needed a bench," he said.
His friend Ian Shalek took the idea further and suggested a bench made out of skateboards.


text:
Printer Friendly Version
Standard ECMA-171
3,81 mm Wide Magnetic Tape Cartridge
for Information Interchange - Helical Scan Recording - DATA/DAT-DC
Format using 60 m and 90 m Length Tapes
(June 1992)
This Ecma Standard specifies the physical and magnetic characteristics of a 3,81 mm wide magnetic tape cartridge to enable interchangeability of such cartridges. It also specifies the quality of the recorded signals, the recorded format and the recording method, thereby allowing data interchange between drives by means of such magnetic tape cartridges.
This Ecma Standard specifies two types of cartridges which, for the purpose of this Ecma Standard, are referred to as Type A and Type B.
For Type A, the magnetic tape has a nominal thickness of 13 µm and a nominal length of up to 60,5 m.
For Type B, the magnetic tape has a nominal thickness of 9 µm a length of up to 92 m.
The following file can be freely downloaded:


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|2011-12-12, 14:49
|Link #1
Prefectural Magical Girl
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Paris, France
Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
Original creator (light novel) : Hajime Taguchi
Original Character Design : CUTEG
Plot summary : The story centers around Shōgo Mikadono, the son of an industrial magnate named Kumagorō Mikadono who passed away. As a final wish, Kumagorō gave Shōgo a condition before Shōgo can inherit the family legacy — find a female mate at school. Shōgo transfers into a school to fulfill that condition. However, he learns that he has a younger sister who was separated at birth. He does not know what his long-lost sister looks like, but she happens to be one of the students at his new school.
Note : Taguchi launched the light novel series last year, and the fifth volume shipped in August. Mottun* has been adapting the light novel series into a manga (with the subtitle Who is Imouto?) in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine since May.
|2011-12-12, 17:17
|Link #2
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Ottawa, Canada
As much as I love imoutos, the story is mediocre with the normal set of character types (except they're all 'imoutos' now). The main thing that annoyed me was that Shougo keeps on questioning himself whether or not <insert girl of the moment here> is his imouto or not, and after the nth time, it just gets tiring. Kinda like Onegai Twins, if you know what I mean. That's not to say the characters aren't likeable, but don't expect too much from the story.
The main draw of the series is CUTEG's art and we all know what generally happens to artwork during adaptations. I guess I'll look forward to the fanservice then. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Mmm... Miyabi...
|2011-12-12, 19:30
|Link #3
Try me! <3
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Germany
Age: 35
Nice uniform, and lovely overknee socks... this deserves further investigation!
Imouto are nice, too.
From the story, I wouldn't be too surprised if the girl he falls for at the end turns out to be his *actual* imouto XD
|2012-03-22, 06:33
|Link #4
Prefectural Magical Girl
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Paris, France
Staff announced :
Director : Munenori Miwa
Series composition : Go Zappa
Character Design, Animation Director : Kenichiro Katsura
Animation Production : Studio Gokumi
The anime premieres in July on TBS.
|2012-05-27, 23:32
|Link #20
Enjoying Snack Time!
Volume 1 colored illustrations. Nice, totally loved reading that scene in the manga though.
|romantic comedy, shounen
|Thread Tools


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C Evan Dietrich-Smith, who turned his ankle yesterday, not practicing. Also out: Bakhtiari, Pickett, Neal, Wilson. Bakhtiari is a new one.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) December 5, 2013
There have been no reports as to the reason David Bakhtiari missed practice for the Packers in Green Bay on Thursday, but head coach Mike McCarthy will give an update at a press conference later in the afternoon.
Likewise, there was no report as to who was filling in on the offensive line in the absence of Bakhtiari and Dietrich-Smith, although the makeup of the starting lineup has to come as a concern with so many backups playing significant roles.
The Packers would have to choose from some combination of Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, Don Barclay, Marshall Newhouse, Derek Sherrod and Lane Taylor.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers may have practiced in pads for the first time since breaking his collarbone on Thursday, but the Packers would have to think long and hard about letting him operate behind a makeshift offensive line in a game environment.
The offensive line struggled as it was with only Dietrich-Smith missing from the team's last game against Detroit when they allowed seven sacks to Matt Flynn.
Also missing practice on Thursday were linebacker Mike Neal (abdomen) and defensive linemen C.J. Wilson (ankle) and Ryan Pickett, who's missing practice for the first time this week.
Newhouse mostly at LT and combination of Sherrod, Barclay, Taylor, on the right. RT @jpdavis1982: Who is working without Bakthiari and EDS?
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) December 5, 2013
Mike McCarthy said Bakhtiari went home ill on Thursday, though he did take part in team meetings.
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DEAR ABBY: My husband wears a hairpiece. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very real. Nearly every time we are in a public place, I notice somebody staring or laughing at it. I have talked to him about it only a couple of times, but each time he tells me how attached he is to it and how good it feels on his head. I want him to be happy, but I do not want him to be publicly ridiculed. Should I throw it away? -- WIFE OF A MAN WITH A "SECRET"
DEAR WIFE: Absolutely not. If you want to help your husband, start talking with some hairstylists. There may be a product on the market that is more convincing than what your husband is wearing. (Depending upon how much hair he has on the back of his head, a transplant of some follicles may also be possible.) This isn't just about him having something on his head that "feels good." If it was only that, he'd be wearing a hat.
DEAR ABBY: I am recently married, and my husband and I have not consummated our marriage. I made it very clear that this would not be a part of our life together, and he agreed long before we took our vows. We sleep separately.
Recently, my husband has become sullen and passive-aggressive. He tries to push the issue, to the point of making unwanted physical contact. He knew going in that I am extremely uncomfortable with this form of intimacy and that my views would not change.
We love each other, but his behavior is starting to take a toll on me and the stress is straining our relationship. Please help. -- ASEXUAL IN LOVE
DEAR ASEXUAL: You and your husband are obviously not on the same page as far as what your expectations are about your marriage. How uncomfortable for you and how frustrating for him. He may have thought that after your wedding, with time, he could change your mind -- or he may regard your lack of interest in sex as personal rejection.
For the kind of marriage you envisioned, both parties must feel the same way about sex. Because he agreed to something he can't live with, it might be better for both of you if you separated.
DEAR ABBY: Would you please settle a disagreement I'm having with my mother's boyfriend?
The three of us go out to eat together often. Most times we "go Dutch" and pay for our own meals. The problem arises when he pays for my meal. He'll request the senior price for all of us because he's paying.
I believe the senior discount should apply to the seniors in the group only, and mine should be the regular price. I don't think it's wrong to ask for the senior discount for theirs when I'm paying, but do not feel right claiming it for mine. (I'm more than 20 years away from qualifying.)
It embarrasses me when he does it. I'd much rather pay the full adult price. Even if it's only 50 cents, I still feel like it's cheating.
Shouldn't a senior discount apply to items being purchased for the senior, or should the senior be able to apply their discount for everyone at the table, even if the person is underage? -- KIM IN IOWA CITY
DEAR KIM: Senior discounts are intended to accommodate people who are presumably retired and living on a fixed income. That said, various restaurants make their own rules. If they are willing to comply when your mother's boyfriend asks that everyone be included in the discount, it's no reflection on you if he's the one doing the asking and paying the bill.
Good advice for everyone -- teens to seniors -- is in "The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It." To order, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)


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Harry Connick, Jr. Rumored to Be Third 'American Idol' Judge
The 'American Idol' revolving door and drama continues! A week after it was all but announced that Dr. Luke would take the third judging place at the table, he's backed out of the deal -- and may be replaced with a classic crooner.
Singer, actor and southern gentleman Harry Connick, Jr. is rumored to be thisclose to inking a deal with 'Idol.'
The Hollywood Reporter says that Dr. Luke backed out of the deal over conflicts with his label, Sony Music. Now, Connick, a regular mentor on the show, is edging in on the coveted third chair.
Insiders say that producers ideally wanted an industry exec or record producer on the panel, but that they were running too short on time to truly vet any other candidates without facing production delays -- which are expensive as heck. They also didn't want to add another woman to the panel, saying it didn't sit well with their older female demographic (and, in terms of last season, ended in catfights between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey). Connick has a rapport with the staff of the series, so he was an easy choice.
Connick was on hand with returning judges Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban, producer Simon Fuller and former judge-turned-mentor Randy Jackson on Thursday night (Aug. 29) to celebrate the impending announcement. 'Idol' host Ryan Seacrest tweeted a cryptic but promising message yesterday (Aug. 30):
Welcome aboard, Harry!