text:
Salvation in the Trousers of the Eccentric
Perhaps the Eccentric Manifesto has little to do with anything, but I suspect this short pamphlet from 1922 holds a clue to more than a few things RF. At the very least, eccentrism was the subject of one dissertation that never was.
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- KFW's Hugh Tracey Collage-Mix
- Video: Ryoji Ikeda's The Transfinite
- Mark Fell's "Dawn of Man" mixes
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text:
"Drama" was the word Serena Williams used after her French Open match against Maria Jose Martina Sanchez. Williams claims Sanchez used her arm instead of a racket to return a ball over the net, prompting a finger-pointing outburst and introspection.
In addition to the cheating allegations, Williams also suffered a violent coughing fit during her three-set victory that had most of the crowd at Roland Garros confused. Williams says these sort of things just happen to her because she's Serena and being Serena requires a certain amount of patience for inevitable wacky situations:
"I'm like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do, like, drama follows them," Williams said. "I don't want to be that girl."
Now back to the "cheating" scandal: Sanchez charged the net, the ball appeared to hit off her arm (an automatic loss of point) and Williams argued with the umpire about it. She also added that Sanchez "better not come to the net again" which seemed to imply that her Spanish opponent would end up with a ball lodged in her thorax if she did. Sanchez dismissed Serena's allegations as "stupid" (or stupida, I guess) and moved on. Serena realizes her comments were out of line though, but blamed her reaction on the neighborhood she grew up in.
"Well, you know, I am from Compton, so, you know..."
Serena also added that when she's called off, she's got a saw-off and she'll squeeze the trigger where bodies will be hauled off.
Drama Follows Serena [LAT]
Serena Williams Is A Drama Queen [Chicago Tribune]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Press release
At a Chicago summit highlighting a new high-tech war against health care fraud, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder today discussed how the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration's Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) are helping fight Medicare fraud.
HHS Secretary and Attorney General Host Seventh Regional Health Care Fraud Prevention Summit in Chicago
At a Chicago summit highlighting a new high-tech war against health care fraud, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder today discussed how the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration's Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) are helping fight Medicare fraud. The Chicago summit is the seventh regional health care fraud prevention summit hosted by the Department of Justice and HHS.
The regional summits bring together a wide array of public and private partners, and are part of the HEAT partnership between HHS and the Department of Justice to prevent and combat health care fraud. The Obama Administration's HEAT efforts have resulted in record-breaking health care fraud recoveries. In fiscal year 2011, for the second year in a row, the departments' anti-fraud activities resulted in more than $4 billion in recoveries, an all-time high.
"We have a simple message to criminals thinking about committing Medicare fraud: don't even try," said Secretary Sebelius. "Thanks to health reform and our Administration's work, we have new tools and resources to catch criminals and stop Medicare fraud before it happens."
"This Administration continues to move aggressively in protecting patients and consumers and bringing health care fraud criminals to justice," said Attorney General Holder. "Through HEAT, we have achieved unprecedented, record-breaking successes in combating health care fraud and as a result of the Affordable Care Act, we have additional critical resources, tools and authorities to continue this great success."
New tools provided by the Affordable Care Act are strengthening the Obama Administration's efforts to fight health care fraud. As a result of Affordable Care Act provisions:
- Criminals face tougher sentences for health care fraud, 20-50 percent longer for crimes that involve more than $1 million in losses;
- Contractors that police the Medicare program for waste, fraud, and abuse will expand their work to Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Part D programs;
- Government entities, including states, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and law enforcement partners at the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and DOJ, have greater abilities to work together and share information so that CMS can prevent money from going to bad actors by using its authority to suspend payments to providers and suppliers engaged in suspected fraudulent activity.
See this fact sheet for additional details about the Obama administration's efforts to combat health care fraud.
Increased collaboration has yielded significant results through the HEAT partnership. Since the creation of HEAT in 2009, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations have expanded from two to nine locations throughout the United States, including Chicago. Strike Force operations expanded to Chicago in February 2011 and since that time, charges have been filed against more than 35 defendants in the Northern District of Illinois for offenses related to health care fraud. Overall, in fiscal year 2011, strike force operations in nine locations charged a total of more than 320 defendants for allegedly billing more than $1 billion in false claims.
In February, as a result of HEAT and strike force actions, a Dallas-area physician and the office manager of his medical practice, along with five owners of home health agencies, were arrested on charges related to their alleged participation in a nearly $375 million health care scheme involving fraudulent claims for home health services. In conjunction with this action, CMS imposed payment suspensions against 78 home health agencies in the Dallas area.
Today, the Obama Administration also announced more progress from its anti-fraud efforts, beyond the nearly $4.1 billion recovered last year:
- In the early phase of revalidating the enrollment of providers in Medicare, 234 providers were removed from the program because they were deceased, debarred or excluded by other federal agencies, or were found to be in false storefronts or otherwise invalid business locations;
- In 2011, HHS revoked 4,850 Medicaid providers and suppliers and deactivated 56,733 Medicare providers and suppliers as HHS took steps to close vulnerabilities in the Medicare program;
- In 2011, HHS saved $208 million through pre-payment edits that stop implausible claims before they're paid;
- Prosecutions are up: the number of individuals charged with fraud increased from 797 in fiscal year 2008 to 1,430 in fiscal 2011 – nearly a 75 percent increase;
- In the first few weeks of enhanced site visits required under the ACA screening requirements, HHS found 15 providers and suppliers whose business locations were non-operational and terminated their billing privileges;
- Through outreach and engagement efforts more than 49,000 complaints of fraud from seniors and people with disabilities reported to 1-800-MEDICARE were referred for further evaluation;
- A recent re-design of the quarterly Medicare Summary Notices received by Medicare beneficiaries makes it easier to spot and report fraud.


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Table of Contents
Here are my howto's. Giv'em a shot and tell me what you think Thomas
Mail Server - Suse 9.3 - Building a mailserver with Courier, MySQL and Postfixadmin
Postfix Dshield map script - Dshield IP list as Postfix block map
Postfix URL Spam block script - Block mails containing known spam URL's
Mail Server - Ubuntu - Building a mailserver on Ubuntu Hardy Heron
Regex Stuff - Regex stuff
Secure Imap with SASL - Get Secure Email Through IMAP
Dspam ham-spam learning script
Postfix-Dovecot-Sieve - Server-side filtering
FTP server
Pure-FTPd and MySQL - Using Pure-FTPd with MySQL
Pure-FTPd and PureAdmin - Using Pure-FTPd with PureAdmin
ProFTPd - Setting up a ftp server with MySQL and TLS
Apache Web Server
Digest Authentication - Using digest for user authentication
Log format including X-Forwarding-For - Log X-Forwarding-For information
Grub via serial - Get you boot options out on the serial interface
Reinstall Grub - Get Grub back in place
Fix grub - Get to boot again
Zenity Scripts
Random Generator - Random Generator GUI based on Zenity
Laptop firewall - Firewall for my laptop GUI based on Zenity
Mail tester - Generate smtp mails for testing/performance
Exiftool - Insert exif Image Description
VMware / Virtualbox
VMware and USB - USB not working on Linux host (only valid prior VMware Workstation 6)
Virtualbox and USB - Getting access to host usb devices
How to press ctrl-alt-del in Intrepid Ibex
Keyboard messed up i Intrepid Ibex
Force into BIOS - Force VM session into BIOS on reboot
Building floppy image for LSI driver
VMware Tools on Maverick Meerkat
VMware Tools on Precise Pandolin
VMware Workstation 9 on Ubuntu 12.10
apt-file - Find missing packages
Bash Scripting - Bash test and comparison functions
Changing monitor output when using the proprietary ATI driver - Fixing an annoying docking issue
blkid - Find the disk UUID
Move swap partition - Getting hibernation working after new/moved swap partition
Interface names - (un)Binding logical interface names / changing interface names
My xorg.conf for Intel915 chipset and Samsung Syncmaster 959NF
Delete many files - Getting the error "bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long"
TrueCrypt icons - Desktop icons for TrueCrypt
Safe reboot a frozen machine - Raising an Elephant
Create a package list - Creating a list of installed packages for scripting
Making a deb - How to make a deb from source
syslog-ng on Ubuntu - Changing from syslog to syslog-ng
iptables - iptables stuff
loop-devices - mount: could not find any free loop device
Bind on Hardy - Some stuff for bind and Ubuntu Hardy Heron
DHCP and DNS - How to make DHCP update Bind
Serial Console - Setting up a serial console on a headless machine
Upload file via web - Python script to upload files between two machines
Encrypted USB Storage - Quick Guide to make an encrypted usb stick
exiftool - Adding exif tag info to pictures
fail2ban - Stopping brute force attacks
gopenvpn - Install Gopenvpn
De-base64 - Decode base64 content
Move Pictures by Date - Bash script to reorganize your pictures
Remove ^M characters from file - Fix those damn Windows files
Encrypted disk partition - Using LUKS to encrypt a partition
Password Generator - Simple script
Script - A simple way of documenting output from the console
Setting network speed and duplex
Check battery state with bash script
Make cool mail signatures with figlet
Watch filesystem activity with inotify
Automatic backup via FTP with fsniper
Certificate keystore tool - Portecle
Persistent SSH - ssh with screen
Citrix ICA client on 64-bit Ubuntu
Backup a partition with dd and gzip
Generate a random password from command line
Setup a private Firefox Sync Server
Generate A Self-Signed Certificate From Scratch
Generate A Certificate Signing Request
Generate A Certificate Signing Request with SHA-256
Generate A Certificate Signing Request with SAN
Create A Self-Signed Certificate From A Certificate Signing Request
View The Contents Of A Certificate
View The Signer Of A Certificate
View The Contents Of A Signing Request
Verify A Certificate Matches A Private Key
Convert PEM Format Certificate To PKCS12 Format Certificate
Convert PKCS12 Format Certificate To PEM Format Certificate
View The Contents Of A PKCS12 Formatted File
How do I retrieve a remote certificate
How do I extract information from a certificate
Import CA certificates for openssl to use
How do I connect to a secure SMTP server
Convert a TDC/DanID certificate
How do I get the fingerprint of a certificate
Extract intermediate and root CA's from server
Opera Mini
Bluetooth send file - Fixing Ubuntu Edgy gnome-obex-send
I get server reset with Firefox in Feisty - Fixing user agent string
Suspend and Hibernation stopped working in Feisty - Fixing suspend/hibernation
Suspend and Hibernation not working in Hardy Heron - Fixing suspend/hibernation
Intel e1000e driver - Installing Intel's own nic driver
Ubuntu on IP120 - Howto install Hardy on a Nokia IP120 (DO NOT WORK!!)
Create a package list - Creating a list of installed packages for scripting
Creating a local repository - Make a local repository of downloaded deb files
Middle Mouse Button Scrolling - Scrolling with three button mouse
Intel 3945/4965 Wireless Frequencies - How to associate beyond channel 11
Ideapad Critical Low Hibernate - Making hibernation work on critical low battery
Full disk encryption - Encrypted LVM with root and swap
Securely delete files and folders in Nautilus
Adding permanent static routes
NetworkManager and device not managed
Recover from broken update-initramfs
HP and CPU fan constantly on after resume
Install Sun Java on Ubuntu 12.04
Enable hibernation in Ubuntu 12.04
Mounting Windows shares with Nautilus in Ubuntu 12.10
TCP/IP Tuning
sysctl.conf - Tuning parameters
SSD harddrives
Community-ID - Howto install Community-ID


text:
A young driver, Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile.
Directors: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci
Wannahave a poster?
The story begins with Speed Racer who is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country car racing rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer. Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops and Mom. Pops designed Speed's car, the Mach 5. The owner of Royalton Industries makes Speed a lucrative offer, Speed rejects the offer, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing races and cheating to gain profit. With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton wants to ensure that Speed will not win races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X, seeking to rescue his family's business and the racing sport itself.


text:
Due to the global health crisis our customer service hours have been adjusted to Monday through Friday 7am-1pm PST.
Please be assured that we are working closely with our delivery partners and taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of our customers and our team members. Thank you for your patience and be safe and healthy!
We ship all orders less than 10 lbs expedited ground freight. Receive free freight (continental USA) on orders over $49 with use of code. Otherwise, orders less than 1 lb for a flat rate of $4.95 and $8.95 for orders greater than 1 lb. Delivery times may vary based on delivery zip code. Orders greater than 10 lbs will be shipped ground and may exceed 3-days. Delivery times do not include processing time. Cannot be combined with other offers and additional restrictions may apply.
5 (11)
4 (3)
3 (0)
2 (0)
1 (3)
I've had these toe pads for years and they have never failed me. I can switch them from shoe to shoe and they work perfectly. No need for lambs wool and keep your foot secure in the shoe. They don't even absorb the sweat from your feet!
Age: 15 to 18 Fit: True to size Comfort: Durability:
I wear these with my pointe shoes and they are the perfect fit. I wash by hand and they have lasted years. It is just the right amount of cushioning for me. I wear toe tape as well for my baby toes though.
Age: 15 to 18 Fit: Runs very large Comfort: Durability:
I like ouch pouches because they are washable and I can still feel the floor without a lot of pain. They last me about 2-3 months and that is with me dancing full time. I would highly recommend these if you don't like a lot of padding and if you like to feel the floor when you are en pointe.
Age: 19 to 21 Fit: True to size Comfort: Durability:
These toe pads are great. They provide excellent comfort, they don't rip or tear, and they're machine washable (I always wash mine on delicate then let them air dry). 5 stars
Age: 15-18 Comfort: Durability:
First - I am NOT a dancer. I got these to wear on 12 hour shifts as a nurse! Because I have arthritic feet I have to wear mega orthotics in my shoes. I find myself sliding forward in my nursing shoes and need to protect my toes without using insoles. This product worked well but the toe seam did bother my toes about half way through the shift.
If this pouch took care of the pressure spot between my big and second toes, I'd never need anything else. Bunions by your big joint or achy points on your small? This will take care of you. Make sure to order the correct size though. Order too big and you'll have extra gel. Order too small and you'll stretch it too thin. I suggest trying on each size in your local store, buying your first pair there (only fair since you're using their time), and the continue buying here, there, wherever you like.
Age: 30-39 Comfort: Durability:
These toe pads are just perfect. They feel amazing and give your foot a lot of padding, without being bulky. These toe pads fit my foot shape really well, and doesn't fall off. I would recommend wearing these above the tights not underneath them. They give plenty of support when on pointe, and they don't move around while dancing. They have enough room to put a toe spacer or two, without being to big. These toe pads have been lifesavers, and I believe every dancer will fall in love with them.
These are the most amazing toe pad ever! They give you alot of support and they have gel on the inside. You can even wash them in the washing machine! The only bad thing is that mine tend to smell REALLY bad.
These pads are just right! They cover everything and you can't even feel them! They just work! Ouch pouches are supposed to release the pressure on your toes by kind of distributing the weight of your body more evenly. Or so I've been told. I like a little bit of pain just because I've been on pointe for a while now. So I wouldn't recommend these for beginners. These pads last a really long time and can be washed even molded to your foot when damp. If your going for more even coverage try these. They work best when your shoes are fitted absolutely perfect. Just make sure these are the right choice for you, try them.
I love this. I used to use Gellows and they were way too thick. These give you enough padding so that it doesn't hurt, but you can still feel the floor. I use a little white sports tape on my big toe so that it doesn't feel crunch and this makes the pads way better. I used to use lambs wool and this product is way better.
These are nice! I wear these with big tip, pinky pads, and jelly tips, and it was a great combination! All four of these made my pointe work almost painless and I could still feel the floor! Although the downside with Ouch Pouches is that it gets smelly easily... but washing it wont hurt :] I highly recommend these!
I really did not like these very much.... The "sleeker shape" did not help at all. I have really really long toes, and well, they just stunk. I like the old Ouch Pouches much better.
These are very bulky! I ordered them for more overall protection, and instead, my feet felt squashed and, as another reviewer said, suffocated. I couldn't feel the floor either. If you like thinner padding, don't get these!
These are very comfortable, it lets you feel the floor with COMFORT! GREAT for beginners. Thin and yet comfy. It fits perfectly with my pointe shoes -- doesn't show!
These pads were way too bulky and I couldn't feel the floor at all. My toes were also extremely squished when I wore these. I wouldn't recommend them.
These are the best Ouch-Pouches I have ever had. My old ones didn't have more coverage in the bunion area and would slip off in my pointe shoe. These, however, stay on my feet and protect the sides of my feet from blisters. Great for beginners :)
After trying the gels, it quite didn't fit my feet, however, when I switched to these, they fit incredibly well.
Unfortunately this item is not sized based upon what you would wear in your shoes, what I can tell you is the large is about 1/4" longer and wider than small. Both have a deep cut vamp to match the line of the pointe shoe,- DDS Customer Service (03/13/2014)
Sign in before answering this dancer's questions.
Hi, I am looking for the ouch pouch without the padding on the ball, only on top. I just want to make sure this is it, since the description doesn't mention it. Thank you!
The item you would need that best fits this description would be item BH1205.- DDS Customer Service (02/11/2013)
We're sorry this item is temporarily out of stock. Would you like to order it anyway?


text:
February 21, 2007: Now Shipping!
Here is our latest release, now shipping to the shelves of a game store near you:GURPS Ultra-Tech
Weapons, Vehicles, and GadgetsGURPS Ultra-Tech is the sourcebook for science-fiction technology, from the near future to the farthest reaches of the imagination. It's a valuable companion to GURPS Space, GURPS Bio-Tech, and GURPS Infinite Worlds, and an exceptional resource for any character or campaign that needs technology from tomorrow . . . and beyond. GURPS Ultra-Tech is full of personal equipment for heroes and superheroes from TL9 to TL12, including:
And still more! Living biosuits, computer implants, holographic projectors, psionic amplifiers, neutrino communicators, nanofactories, hyperspectral goggles, chameleon suits, repair paste, Dyson spheres – there's something for every adventure at every tech level.
From the edge of tomorrow to the star-flung future, GURPS Ultra-Tech can equip your characters and your campaign!240 pages. Hardback. Stock #01-0104, ISBN 978-1-55634-753-5. $34.95.
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text:
From the moment it was first published in 1997, Maria Todorova's Imagining the Balkans became an instant must-read, in particular but not only, for readers interested in the history of the 'Balkans'. Concerns about the situation in Southeast Europe at the time, in the aftermath of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, guaranteed that its impact reached beyond the specialist public.
How does one define empire? What are the characteristics of a successful empire? These two questions arise foremost after reading John Darwin's monumental masterpiece After Tamerlane. In nine succinct chapters with informative titles, Darwin encompassed 600 years of global history, supported by illustrations and maps and for those interested, suggestions for further reading.
The Enlightenment as Modernity: Jonathan Israel's Interpretation Across Two Decades / Jonathan Israel
Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750 (Oxford, 2001); Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity and the Emancipation of Man 1670–1752 (Oxford, 2006); Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution and Human Rights 1750–1790 (Oxford, 2011); Revolutionary Ideas: an Intellectual History of the French Revolution from the Rights


text:
Steve had managed to get Don Knuth, the legendary Stanford professor of computer science, to give a lunchtime lecture to the Mac team. Knuth is the author of at least a dozen books, including the massive and somewhat impenetrable trilogy "The Art of Computer Programming." (For an amusing look at Knuth's heady self image, and his $2.56 reward program, see http//www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/books.html)
I was sitting in Steve's office when Lynn Takahashi, Steve's assistant, announced Knuth's arrival. Steve bounced out of his chair, bounded over to the door and extended a welcoming hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Knuth," Steve said. "I've read all of your books."
"You're full of shit," Knuth responded.


text:
As CEO of AlienVault, Barmak Meftah faces enemies every day who play out their attacks from faraway lands using seemingly unbeatable weapons.
One of the weapons AlienVault uses with the support of the open source community is a global report called the Open Threat Exchange that tracks threats to computer networks. The results allow these free threat exchanges from security software users to identify trouble spots in their network shields and take corrective action.
In this interview, LinuxInsider talks with Meftah about how the threat environment is changing and why the Linux OS is now at greater risk.
LinuxInsider: How much of a difference is there in the approach taken by open source security solutions versus proprietary software?
Barmak Meftah: My feeling is when you have a collective set of eyes around the globe that has downloaded something many times, has installed it globally and has gone through trials and tribulations, it has been tested and tried so much more than any commercial equivalent. I am a big believer in the more people that download, install and test a product objectively and openly, the more stable and the stronger the product is.
LI: Given today's emerging threat levels, is there a difference in the security threshold for the Linux OS being targeted more frequently?
Meftah: We use Debian 6. In general, the operating system has done an extremely good job in isolating the parts of the OS that could potentially be an attack surface. It has done an extremely good job of keeping the bad guys away from it. It is really hard to get into, especially compared to the Windows OS, even with that platform's improvements. By design, Windows is wide open in terms of allowing intruders to cause a stack overflow.
LI: Are you suggesting that the Linux OS is so hardened that it is impenetrable?
Meftah: Hackers initially take the easy path. Now they are going after the more exotic targets. All of those attack vectors continue to exist on top of the Linux OS. It is just harder to access. Yet it is just a matter of the sophistication of the hacker and the amount of time that they want to put into it.
LI: What method you have found for protecting that potentially vulnerable attack layer sitting above the Linux OS?
Meftah: We assume that any asset is going to be breached — it is just a matter of time and sophistication. So then the question becomes, are you equipped well enough to have full observation and analysis and visibility in terms of what is happening in your environment?
LI: How do open source solutions provide that assurance that the user is suitably equipped? Is this something that requires high-level IT support or skills a typical end user can acquire?
Meftah: I do not want to minimize the importance of firewalls and antivirus and anti-malware solutions — I think that those are extremely important — but if you look at targeted markets, those users with IT departments and aware users typically know how to deploy those products.
Once you look at the analytics side of a computer operation, it has traditionally required a lot of technical expertise, and it has only been in the purview of the top end of the market that could have afforded to spend a lot of money on these things. The vast majority of the market is the SMB and the midlevel enterprises. They have not had the financial wherewithal.
LI: Money resources aside, what makes that middle market segment deficient in using security analytics?
Meftah: In most cases, the IT support — Linux sysadmins — at that level do not have the level of security expertise for that perspective to be able to figure out what is going on. So security companies have to simplify by virtue of bringing the necessary security visibility controls together in one suite of products in a very open form factor.
LI: So products are available to effectively deal with the Linux attack surface as long as they are properly configured without building thick security walls that can bog down performance?
Meftah: The ideal solution if you have the financial resources is to buy and configure the required five types of security software: intrusion detection, vulnerability analysis, behavior analysis or forensics, asset inventory management and security intelligence. Your other option is to subscribe to an integrated service solution that offers the same products at a more affordable price point.
LI: Is that level of sophisticated security needed by desktop Linux users and SMBs?
Meftah: Our solution is not really a firewall. What we do is compliment the firewall to only tell users what is going on. A firewall will only attempt to block an intrusion. Our assumption is that at some point you are going to get breached. We stop short of providing protective coverage. We only provide detective services.
LI: Do the threat levels change depending on the computing environment in an SMB shop or a home office compared to a large corporate plant?
Meftah: The only way to know that for sure is to have asset and breach assessments conducted. Then the user can tailor the security response accordingly. It is more an issue of finding out what you are running that is vulnerable rather than what you are running it on.
LI: One of the open source community-based services you developed is a project that maps threat levels. How does the Open Threat Exchange help users with their security issues?
Meftah: The idea behind it is a crowdsourced sharing of computer threats. The Open Threat Exchange is a huge asset that we have thanks to the efforts of the community. There is this aspiration in the security world in the past four years to essentially share threat information. There is so much valuable threat information out there. If we only had access to it, we could finally put the hackers — who have been on the offense for such a long period of time — on the defense.
LI: Why has that concept not already succeeded?
Meftah: Everybody wants to get everybody's threat data, but nobody wants to submit their threat data. So we leverage worldwide through our open source community all of the security product downloads we offer. If you submit your threat data to us, we anonymize it and give you back everybody else's threat data. This is sort of a crowdsourced way of sharing threat data.
LI: Has the reliance on the open source community had any results in gathering threat reports from users?
Meftah: In a very short amount of time we are up to about 10,000 subscribers. That threat network encompasses about 140 countries. If you opt in by agreeing to submit your threat reports from our software, you get the full shared results for free. Otherwise, you can pay the subscription fee to get the same thing. Whether you download the open source free version or are using our commercial version, and even for commercial entities, if you opt in, you get the service for free. This is based on the opt-out model. It encourages users even of the free products to share their threat results with the open source community.
LI: So let's say I am an open source user and agree to opt in, and I get the full threat report. What can I do with it to harden my own response to potential security breaches?
Meftah: What happens then is that as our product is performing its security analytics finding out your threats and your vulnerabilities and your anomalies, we will send you correlation analytics against the threat data that is being shared with you. This is really an invaluable context because then you can start asking questions like: "If I got breached or if I am observing this intrusion or this vulnerability, am I the only company seeing this? Are other companies in my industry seeing the same thing? Are other companies in my geography seeing this region?"
LI: Based on this data flow that you see, are you now aware of any changes or trends in the threat levels? Can you tell how things are different now than they were three years ago?
Meftah: The pace of sophistication in terms of the attack vectors and the hacking techniques being used is pretty amazing. We are seeing a lot more orientation towards state-sponsored attacks. We are seeing a lot more attacks from nation states rather than the traditional hacking from kids trying to break in. There is so much sophistication to the attack methods that you can pretty much tell that they are being sponsored by organized crime. The more we get sophisticated about protecting and detecting these attacks going through the environment, the more exponential is the sophistication and skill of the hackers.
LI: What would you say are today's top two or three security concerns facing Linux users?
Meftah: I can tell you three things that I honestly think every system administrator and every IT Ops person and every security operations officer should really focus on. This is particularly true of companies that are in mid-market to SMB phase. One is prevent attacks or threats from happening. A lot of the traditional security controls like firewalls and antivirus and anti-spyware and Web filtering — all the things we call thick walls — are still important between the hacker and your assets, but these walls by themselves are insufficient.
Two is to have a full-fledged capability around threat visibility. It is not just enough to say, 'I put a firewall in place.' It is critical to continue to monitor and analyze the threats and the vulnerabilities and the anomalies that are happening in that environment.
Finally, you have to have a sophisticated way to respond to those attacks. You need sort of an instant response mechanism to block what you observe happening.


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Are you sending a text, or are you just glad to see me?…
From Clusterflock, via the ever-illuminating Jason Kottke, "Meat Stylus for the iPhone":
Sales of CJ Corporation's snack sausages are on the increase in South Korea because of the cold weather; they are useful as a meat stylus for those who don't want to take off their gloves to use their iPhones.
It seems that the sausages, electrostatically speaking, are close approximations of the human finger. Here's the not-entirely-useful English translation of a Korean news article about the soaring sausage sales.
As we head directly for the refrigerated section of our grocery stores, we might recall that it was on this date in 1733 that James Oglethorpe founded that 13th of the original American Colonies– Georgia– and a settlement that has grown to become Savannah. February 12 is still observed as Georgia Day.
Oglethorpe's idea was that British debtors should be released from prison and sent to the new colony. Ultimately, though, few debtors ended up in Georgia. Rather, colonists included many Scots and English tradesmen and artisans and religious refugees from Switzerland, France and Germany, as well as a number of Jewish refugees. The colony's charter guaranteed the acceptance of all religions– except Roman Catholicism, a ban based on fears born of the colony's proximity to the hostile settlements in Spanish Florida.
Oglethorpe also arranged that slavery should be banned by Georgia's Royal Charter; and the colony was slavery-free through 1750 (after Oglethorpe's departure back to England). At that point, the Crown acceded to land owners' desire for a larger work force, and lifted the ban.


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Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Assemblages by Tom Ungerer, 1971-2006
from ZUT! Hors-Serie 01, Strasbourg, December 2011---An entire 286 page magazine dedicated to the life and work of Tomi Ungerer. Found today at a local thrift shop.
Posted by ahoi! at Wednesday, May 08, 2013 0 comments
Labels: magazines, sculpture, tomi ungerer
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Rankin Inlet
Arlook Arluk, Figure, 1972, grey stone / John Kavin, Figure, 1973, black stone / John Kavin, Figure, 1973, black stone / John Tiktak, Standing Figure, grey stone
Selections from Rankin Inlet - On Loan to The Winnipeg Art Gallery, from a one page exhibition checklist, no date.
Posted by ahoi! at Thursday, May 02, 2013 0 comments
Labels: carving/whittling, exhibitions, inuit art, sculpture
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Philatelic Foundation
Posted by ahoi! at Wednesday, May 01, 2013 0 comments
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BANGKOK, 15 December 2013 Diesel price will be maintained at under 30 baht per liter until the first quarter of 2014, thanks to the dissolution of parliament.
According to the Energy Ministry, the dissolution of parliament has automatically put on hold the planned energy- price-increase policy, which includes the restructuring of natural gas and electricity prices and the implementation of Power Development Plan (PDP), all of which will have to be considered and decided by the next government.
Diesel will, however, remain pegged at less than 30 baht per liter until the end of the first quarter of next year; liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be adjusted up 50 satang/kilogram each month until the price reaches 24.82 baht per kilogram, up from the present 20.30 baht, in line with its production cost.


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BOWMAN, S.C. – A Florida mother and her two young children died after their car struck an alligator that had crawled onto a South Carolina highway early Monday morning.
Amber Stanley, 24, was driving along Interstate 95 in Orangeburg County with her 4-year-old son, Jack, and 2-year-old daughter, Autumn, when their vehicle hit the reptile around 1 am., according to WLTX.
The collision sent the family's 2011 Kia Soul off the side of the road and into a tree, causing the car to burst into flames.
Stanley and her two children died from burn injuries, according to WLTX.
Amber Stanley's husband, Josh, was on a work trip when the accident happened. He told People he knew something was wrong when he landed in Pennsylvania and couldn't reach Amber.
Josh told WJAX that his wife and children had been traveling to Myrtle Beach to see a friend and enjoy some time at the beach.
An officer from the South Carolina Highway Patrol later called to tell him what happened.
"I broke down," Josh told People. "They were my life. Everything we had was built around each other. We were building our family up. I was just crying."
He said he's still in disbelief that they're gone, even as he tries to find money for their funeral.
Josh said he's going to miss how happy his wife was, how she'd just smile at him and hug him, tell him she loved him.
"Everyone keeps saying, 'If you need anything, let me know,'" Josh told WJAX, his voice trembling with emotion. "I'd love to have me family back, but obviously no one can do that."


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We're all works in progress, but that shouldn't stop us from feeling confident along the way.
By Moreah Vestan — Written on Mar 23, 2018
Photo: Getty Images
We all have idiosyncracies. Sometimes they even keep us from being the ideal partner, parent or co-worker or friend. Most of us know (or think we know) what we could or should do to improve ourselves. Some of you have made changes while others are working on making changes. Either way, the journey to self-improvement isn't always easy and can at times be bumpy. Read on to learn how you can stay happy and motivated while you work towards improving yourself and your life. These tips worked for me and I hope they work for you, too.
1) Take Action Or Let It Go
My greatest pull or push is a sentence that hit me strongly when I was reading Be Yourself: Everyone Else is Taken. It was discussing inner and outer conflicts and said "Do something about it, or let it go." Of course, that's not a new concept. The serenity prayer urges us to know what we can or can't change and the have the wisdom to know the difference. But I've taped "Do something about it, or let it go" on my desktop computer. And literally, in the past three weeks it's been there, whenever I've felt frustrated or overextended or torn and have read the sentence, I have taken action or let it go. And that feels good!
2) Connect With Encouraging Friends
I talk to friends who know I have thousands of emails in my inbox, and who suggest I not sweat it unless it's getting in my way (since suggestions of deleting all but the past month's have not worked). Now I do move emails into my Nonviolent Communication, Personal Growth, Writing or Singles folders (and several more) when I get 10 or 20 stacked up in the inbox. Part of me agrees — I don't owe myself or anyone else a certain maximum of emails anywhere! And when I look at my priorities: my Managing Difficult Conversations workshops, my coaching (www.cc.net), my writing (P&P), and my relationships — I know I'd rather spend time on them than weeding out emails. So I suggest you have a friend or 2 who's on your side to converse with when you need an outside perspective. If you feel more peaceful when you hear their encouragement, connect with them when support keeps you on track.
3) Keep A Gratitude List
And add to every day. Okay, three times a week if that's easier. If you value the phone calls, hugs, good food, new learnings, Facebook friends, accomplishments at work, outings, concerts, TV shows, times with friends, etc., you certainly get to be happy with yourself as you improve. Start it today and make a note to check in with your contentment level a week or month from now.
4) Check In With Yourself
Set a timer for each hour or so when you're focused on work or another important part of your life. When you hear it, check in with yourself. Ask "What am I happy about this last hour or two?" Answer it aloud, or write it down if that's an easier way to remember all the little and big things that contribute to your contentment.
5) Try Emotional Freedom Technique
Read about and practice Emotional Freedom Technique. Seven friends of mine practiced it at my New Year's Eve party for 20 minutes, and one found enough relief that she cried. Check it out at EFTTappingExpert.com or EMOFree.com. TheTappingSolution.com is a valuable resource and takes you through the entire EFT process. It's connected to acupuncture points and is meant to be a healing process.
6) Write It Down
Write down what you intend to let go of. Write each item three times. For me, that would be my Inner Critic. When she nags, "Moreah, clear your desk. Don't leave papers on the floor", instead of feeling shame or annoyance, I prefer to say something like "I hear you, and I don't want to think about that now. Goodbye." So I write it down 3 times: "I don't need to do what my Inner Critic says." When you've done that, put the three statements in the fire, in the garbage or flush them. If you notice the unwanted experience again, just say to yourself "I let go of that" and put your attention elsewhere. OK? OK!
You should also write down the areas where you'd like to improve. I listened to a webinar by Jeannette Maw on December 24 about Slacker Manifesting. She suggested not trying so hard to reach our goals. Since that day, I've written a sentence about what I want to be, do or feel. On my partner page, I may write "I love it when we dance and come home and cuddle" even though I've not met that current right guy yet. However, writing down my feelings has helped me cope with them.
On my prosperity page, one of the sentences said "I love that I made $___ in January, even though that's more than I've made before in a month. I did notice this morning when I was making calls about my Managing Difficult Conversations workshop that I kept calling because I wanted to meet that goal.
My getting organized page includes "I love how expansive I feel when I see the clear floor and the cleared desk." Part of the feeling happy with yourself as you improve could be the joy you get each day as you read each sentence from the days before in your journal and then add to it. So decide now what you want to improve, and begin the daily sentences as you visualize who and how you will be when those statements are true and current.
Related Stories From YourTango:
7) Find Your Personality Type
I've found Enneagrams very instructive. Knowing I'm an 'enneagram 7', an adventurer, and that none of the 9 personality styles is right OR wrong, I read and note the ways a 7 is at her best or not at her best. I am easily distracted by many things, and I love to Google many subjects or to follow up on most anything that intrigues or stimulates my imagination. Just now, as I'm writing at a coffee shop with a friend, I got the urge for a cookie. No Inner Critic stepped in. So I paid $1.75 and put the change in my coin purse. My habit has often been to drop it into my backpack and find it later. I know I want to be more conscientious about handling things at the moment, so I took the extra seconds to pull out the coin purse and add the quarter. And I felt happy with myself. To find which personality style you are, go to www.9types.com and take the tests of the sentences you resonate with. If you want more sites, Google EFT or email me. I love to find and share resources!


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Fighting for animal liberation and an end to speciesism
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People on the internet seem to be enjoying a game for the iPhone called Eliss. Offworld:
It was exactly one week ago last night that I fell in love, and to be quite honest I'm still at a little bit of a loss for words. The new object of my desire? She's Eliss, an iPhone game, and I say that only slightly facetiously, because I'm not entirely exaggerating when I admit to getting goosebumps every time I even just see her in the video above.
And Touch Arcade:
Simply stated, Eliss perfectly demonstrates what iPhone gaming can be. It's a highly challenging game that's near impossible to put down and it could not exist on any other platform.
I just d/led it and have only played it a little. The aesthetic is great...it feels more like art than a game. The game's developer, one Steph Thirion, is up for an award for Innovation in Mobile Game Design for Eliss.


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1958 Article
Poland, located between Germany and Russia, has undergone many changes in its history as a "buffer state" and played a significant role in the history of the Mennonites who moved eastward from the Netherlands and South Germany. West and East Prussia were added to Poland in 1466 under the Jagellon dynasty (1386-1572) in a conflict with the Teutonic Knights. After 1530, therefore, when the Mennonites started to come from the Low Countries to settle along the Vistula River, they settled in Polish territory. Both privileges permitting them to settle under certain conditions; and edicts prohibiting their settlement as "heretics" were issued in early times, primarily by Polish rulers. They were mostly valid only during the lifetime of a ruler. The Mennonites were tolerated only because some estate owners or officials derived benefits from them as expert farmers and drainers of the swampy areas along the Vistula River. In many instances they were unfairly exploited by government officials. After Willibald von Haxberg, the representative of the king of Poland, had unjustly exploited them, King John Casimir (1648-1668) issued two "privilegia," 16 July and 28 November 1650, which were renewals of a privilegium of 1642 and applied to the Mennonites of the Marienburg and Graudenz lowlands. The Mennonites and other Dutch immigrants became known as experts in various trades, particularly in draining swamps. Numerous favorable privileges and restricting edicts were issued in the following years. A special manner of settling, i.e., the pattern by which the "Hollanders" settled and rented their land, became known throughout Poland.
Starting in Danzig (Gdansk) around 1535 Mennonite settlers moved into the unoccupied areas along the Vistula River establishing "Hollander" villages in the triangle between Danzig and Elbing and Marienburg. Some of the areas were the Danzig Werder (i.e., marsh), Scharpau, Tiegenhof, Marienburg Werder, Heubuden, Herrenhagen, and Einlage.
As the land in this triangle became occupied the descendants and newcomers proceeded south along the Vistula River, establishing themselves in Schwetz, Graudenz, and Culm. From here they proceeded into the interior of Poland. During the late 18th century they established the Mennonite settlements of Deutsch-Kazun and Deutsch-Wymysle near Warsaw and farther southeast Michalin near Makhnovka, Karolswalde near Ostrog in Volhynia which meanwhile had become Russian Poland.
During the 18th century Swiss Mennonites and Amish from South Germany and Alsace-Lorraine settled near Lemberg in Galicia, which was ceded by Poland to Austria in 1772. In Volhynia such villages as Kutuzovka and Neumanovka were established. Most of these Swiss-Volhynian and Swiss-Galician Mennonites immigrated to the United States around 1874 (see also Volhynia).
Since the fate of Poland is so varied most of the Mennonite settlements shared in the same vicissitudes. The history is related in greater detail in the articles dealing with the individual provinces, settlements, and villages.
During the Reformation period Poland experienced its greatest expansion when its territories extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, including West and East Prussia, Galicia, Volhynia, and other parts of the Ukraine and Lithuania. Lithuania was lost in 1635 and parts of the Ukraine in 1667. During the first partition of Poland (1772) West Prussia, not including Danzig and Thorn, became a part of Prussia, and East Galicia of Austria. During the partitions of 1793 and 1795 other parts of Poland—Danzig, Thorn, Plock, and Warsaw—were added to Prussia, and Volhynia to Russia. The Volhynian and some other Mennonite settlements were in Russian Poland when the great migration of Mennonites to America took place in 1874.
After World War I Poland again became independent, and Danzig became a free city. Many of the Mennonite settlements were located in Polish territory or the Polish Corridor. At the beginning of World War II Germany and Russia divided Poland once more, and the Mennonite population in Russian-occupied Poland was transferred to the German part. After 1945 all of the areas in which Mennonites lived in Danzig, Prussia (except the Königsberg-Memel area, now Russian), and Poland belonged to Poland and were under Polish rule. The Mennonite population either fled from this territory during World War II or the German collapse in 1943-45 or they were evacuated or have fled since that time. No organized Mennonite community or church existed in 1957 along the Vistula River or any other part of Poland. Two women were known to be still living in Danzig and Elbing who survived because of intermarriage with Poles.
American Mennonites did relief work in Poland in 1940-1941 and 1947-1949. M. C. Lehman was in charge of the Mennonite Central Committee work in 1940-1941, when needy Poles and the Deutsch-Kazun Mennonites were helped. In 1947 relief work was resumed by the Mennonite Relief Committee and the MCC. In the Danzig area and in Nasielsk north of Warsaw some 245 tons of food and 31 tons of clothing were distributed in 1947-1948. In 1947 the MCC established a demonstration farm near Pelplin south of Danzig. At its peak this unit had 23 men. The MCC was also instrumental in helping some remaining Prussian, Polish, and Russian Mennonites to leave for Western Germany.
The relation of the Mennonites to the Poles and Poland, the attitude of the Polish rulers toward the Mennonites, and their contribution to the country have not been thoroughly investigated. Much of the source material was not accessible at this time or has been destroyed. Some of the church records have been rescued and are located in the Bethel College Historical Library, the Mennonite Research Center at Weierhof (Germany), and in private hands. In some instances the Mennonite communities were fertile soil for the Baptist movement, which entered Poland in the mid-19th century. Some Mennonites joined the Baptists and helped the spread of this movement, which ultimately reached not only the German Protestant churches, but also the Polish Catholic churches. Today the Polish Baptists are primarily Polish nationals, since the German population has fled or been evacuated from Poland. There is some evidence that intermarriages have taken place between the Mennonites and Poles since the early days of their settlement. In some instances, since it was forbidden to proselyte among non-Mennonites, Polish nationals went to Holland to become members of the Mennonite Church, and after their return married a Mennonite and transferred their membership to the local church. Some of the names which are still common among Mennonites which are likely of Polish origin are Dellesky, Ratzlaff, Rogalsky, Sawatzky, Schepanski, Tetzlaff, Tilitsky, and Utesch. Quiring (107) lists fifty words in the Low German language which are of Polish background. These are adaptations made by Mennonites while living in a Polish environment. -- Cornelius Krahn
1989 Update
Mennonite mission and service in Poland, a socialist yet predominantly Roman Catholic country, have developed in the period since the mid-1950s despite various obstacles. Decades of Polish-German antagonism have affected the views of Poles and Mennonites toward each other. The difficult course of East-West relations and Polish domestic turmoil also hampered the forming of stronger Mennonite ties to Poland. Nevertheless, a variety of formal and informal contacts developed, providing an ever-broadening framework for future activity.
The detente years of the 1970s ushered in the most intense period of program development by Mennonite institutions. In the field of educational and cultural exchange, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) brought Polish farmers and young people to North America under the International Visitors' Exchange Program, while Goshen College sent and received students and faculty as part of the Study-Service Trimester (SST) program. MCC has also sponsored full-term volunteers who, through their capacities as teachers and students, worshiped with Polish Christians, talked with representatives of various sectors of Polish society, and, on occasion, helped administer relief aid. Peter Foth actively promoted broader European Mennonite contacts with Poland. In the years 1979 to 1983 MCC provided relief aid during the Polish economic crisis as well as disaster relief after flooding in the Plock region, where Mennonite colonies formerly existed.
The generally neglected story of the four centuries of Mennonite experience in Poland has drawn increasing attention from a small body of Polish historians as well as a new generation of Mennonite scholars. There is a growing Mennonite conviction of the need for a symbolic gesture of gratitude for the tolerance, refuge, and decades of privileges offered by successive Polish kings to the early Mennonites. In addition, the long shadow cast by the hostilities of the last centuries seems to be giving way to a more sympathetic understanding from both sides. -- Sam Myovich
See also West Prussia, Danzig, and other cities.
Kauenhowen, Kurt. "Das Schrifttum zur Sippenkunde und Geschichte der taffgesinnten niederländischen Einwanderer (Mennoniten) in Alt-Preussen und ihrer Abzweigungen." Mitteilungen der Niederldndischen Ahnengemeinschaft I. Hamburg, 1939.
Kauder, Viktor. Das Deutschtum in Polen: ein Bildband. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1940.
Kuhn, Walter. Deutsche Blätter in Polen. Posen, 1928.
Luck, Kurt. Der Mythos vom Deutschen in der polnischen Volksüberlieferung und Literatur. Leipzig, 1938.
Postma, "Literatuurlijst over Nederlandsche Mennoniten in Pruisen, Polen en Rusland." Manuscript, 1942.
Schadewaldt, Hans. Polish Acts of Atrocity. New York, 1940.
Tazbir, Janusz. A State Without Stakes: Polish Religious Toleration in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Translator: A. T. Jordan. New York: Kosciuszko Foundation, Twayne Publishers, 1973.
Winkel, Richard. Die Weichsel: ihre bedeutung als strom und schiffahrtstrasse und ihre kulturaufgaben. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1939.
Bachmann, Peter. Mennoniten in Kleinpollen. Lemberg,1934.
Friesen, John. "Mennonites in Poland: An Expanded Historical View." Journal of Mennonite Studies 4 (1986): 94-108.
Gnadenberg Mennonite Church. From Michalin to Gnadenberg, 1811-1950. North Newton, 1950.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 381
Hulshof, Abraham. Tentoonstelling van Kaarten, Boeken Plaatwerken Nederland-Danzig 15 April-15-Mei 1942. Utrecht.
Kerber, W. Mennoniten in der Weichselniederung. Bromberg, 1936.
Klassen, Peter. "Faith and Culture in Conflict: Mennonites in the Vistula Delta." Mennonite Quarterly Review 57 (1983): 194-205.
Kuhn, Walter. "Deutsche Taufersiedlungen im westukrainischen Raume." Zeitschrifft für Ostforschung IV (1955): 481-505.
Kuhn, Walter. "Swiss Galician Mennonites." Mennonite Life VIII (January 1953).
Kupsch, Edward. Geschichte der Baptisten in Polen 1852-1932. Zdunska-Wola, 1932.
Ludkiewicz, Zdzislaw. Osady Holenderskie na nizinie Sartawicko-Nowskiej. Torun, 1934.
Mannhardt, H. G. Die Danziger Mennonitengemeinde. Danzig, 1919.
Mannhardt, H. G. Jahrbuch der Mennoniten-Gemeinden in Ost- und Westpreussen. 1883.
Mannhardt, Wilhelm. Die Wehrfreiheit der Altpreussischen Mennoniten. Danzig, 1863.
Marchlewski, Wojciech. "The Hollanders' Settlements in Mazovia." Mennonite Life 41 (1986): 5-9.
Mezynski, Kazimierz. From the History of Mennonites in Poland. Warsaw: Akademia Rolnicza w Warszawie, 1975.
Mezynski, Kazimierz. "Über die Mennoniten in Polen." Mennonite Geschichtsblätter J. 25, n.F. 20 (1968): 49-66.
Namenverzeichniss der Aeltesten, Lehrer und Diakonen oder Vorsteher der Taufgesinnten Mennonitischen Gemeinden in Ost- und West-Preussen, Litthauen, Polen und den neu angesiedelten Kolonien in Russland. Elbing, (1835), (1843), and Danzig, (1857), (1881).
Neff, Christian. "Die Mennoniten in Deutschland, Danzig und Polen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart." Allgemeiner Kongress der Mennoniten (1936): 40-47.
Penner, Horst. Ansiedlung mennonitischer Niederldnder im Weichselmündungsgebiet von der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts bis sum Beginn der preussischen Zeit. Weierhof, 1940.
Penner, Horst. Die ost- und west-preussischen Mennoniten. Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1978.
Penner, Horst."West Prussian Mennonites Through Four Centuries." Mennonite Quarterly Review XXI (October 1949): 232-45.
Quiring, Jacob. Die Mundart von Chortitza in Süd-Russland. München, 1928.
Ratzlaff, Erich L. Im Weichselbogen. Winnipeg, 1971.
Schrag, Martin. "The Swiss-Volhynian Mennonite Background." Mennonite Life 7 (October 1954).
Schreiber, William T. The Fate of the Prussian Mennonites. Gottingen, 1955.
Smith, C. Henry. Story of the Mennonites. Newton, KS, 1957.
Szper, Felicia. Nederlandsche Nederzettlingen in West-Pruisen gedurende den poolschen tijd. Enkhuizen, 1913.
Unruh, Benjamin H. Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Karlsruhe-Rüppurr: Selbstverlag, 1955.
Unruh, John D. In the Name of Christ: a history of the Mennonite Central Committee and its service, 1920-1951. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1952.
Wiebe, Herbert. Das Siedlungswerk niederllindischer Mennoniten im Weichseltal. Marburg, 1952.
|Cornelius Krahn
|Sam Myovich
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Sam Myovich. "Poland." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 28 Sep 2023. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Poland&oldid=146035.
APA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Sam Myovich. (1989). Poland. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 28 September 2023, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Poland&oldid=146035.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 199-200; vol. 5, p. 707. All rights reserved.
©1996-2023 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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Full Field Linen Napkin in Avocado Green, 50x50cm
Part of our classic collection, these hand painted avocado green linen napkins, with a thick white border are made to match the tablecloth by the same name.
They look great on any surface, though, adding an elegant pop of colour to your table.
We also have a matching tablecloth available.
Wash at up to 60 degrees on a regular cycle (avoid "eco" or longer cycles).
Never soak for longer than 10 minutes and avoid using Vanish and other whitening products.
Tumble dry at 70 degrees for a soft effect, and 90 degrees for a more crushed finish.
We don't recommend ironing the full napkin in order to keep the linen's lovely crumpled texture intact, but we do like to iron the edges to give it a sharper edge.
50cm x 50cm / 20 x 20 In.


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Love my puppy
The Boruca (also known as Brunca or Brunka) are an indigenous tribe in Costa Rica. The 2,500 members of the tribe live on a reservation in the Puntarenas Province in southwestern Costa Rica, near the Pan-American Highway where it follows the Terraba river. The ancestors of the modern Boruca made up a group of chiefdoms that ruled most of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, from Quepos to what is now the Panamanian border, including the Osa Peninsula. Boruca traditionally spoke the Boruca language, which is now nearly extinct.
Like their ancestors the Boruca are known for their art and craftwork, especially weaving and their distinctive painted balsa wood masks, which have become popular decorative items among Costa Ricans and tourists.
This girl was having fun playing with her puppy while her father was teaching us how to paint those beautiful masks. She seem to really enjoy the moment.
Working On My Jukebox
taking care of our valued possessions can be very rewarding and not that many people own a real functional jukebox at home!
Ride with me
There were many people renting these very colorful bikes at Fatahillah Square and matching strawhats in Jakarta. They certainly added a touch of color to what was otherwise a cloudy grey day.
Fatahillah Square (Indonesian: Taman Fatahillah), formerly Batavia City Square (Dutch: Stadhuisplein), is home to the Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum (puppetry) and Fine Art and Ceramics Museum in Kota, Jakarta along the east bank of the Ciliwung River. The plaza is named for Indonesian national hero Fatahillah.
Music in the desert
Some years ago we visited Petra in Jordan 🇯🇴. A truly spectacular site so full of history and beauty. But not only those archeological monuments are worth all the attention but the local people have a lot to say. In words or by playing interesting melodies. I had to stop and listen.


text: CDFI - Important Part of Infrastructure The 8th Annual Governor's Native American Summit was held last week at Utah Valley University in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah's Rural Development State Director Wilson "David" Conine wanted to share with attendees the importance a community development financial institution (CDFI) can play in tribal development. He turned to his counterpart, South Dakota Rural Development State Director Elsie M. Meeks who has over 20 years of experience working for Native community economic development. Meeks recognized CDFI as an important part of the infrastructure for delivering consistent funding for housing and small business development activities that benefit low and moderate income people. They combine multiple sources of public and private capital in order to make loans and investments available in ways tailored to the particular underserved geographies and types of businesses or borrowers. Developing capacity among these types of organizations can increase utilization of USDA programs in a region, many of which provide long-term below-market capital for permanent improvements in rural areas. Tammi Schone, USDA Rural Development, South Dakota Posted in Rural Aug 28, 2013 Respond to this story


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Fathers of the Church
Letter XXVIII
by Augustine of Hippo in 394 or 395 | translated by J. G. Cunningham
CHAP. I. — 1. Never was the face of any one more familiar to another, than the peaceful, happy, and truly noble diligence of your studies in the Lord has become to me. For although I long greatly to be acquainted with you, I feel that already my knowledge of you is deficient in respect of nothing but a very small part of you,—namely, your personal appearance; and even as to this, I cannot deny that since my most blessed brother Alypius (now invested with the office of bishop, of which he was then truly worthy) has seen you, and has on his return been seen by me, it has been almost completely imprinted on my mind by his report of you; nay, I may say that before his return, when he saw you there, I was seeing you myself with his eyes. For any one who knows us may say of him and me, that in body only, and not in mind, we are two, so great is the union of heart, so firm the intimate friendship subsisting between us; though in merit we are not alike, for his is far above mine. Seeing, therefore, that you love me, both of old through the communion of spirit by which we are knit to each other, and more recently through what you know of me from the mouth of my friend, I feel that it is not presumptuous in me (as it would be in one wholly unknown to you) to recommend to your brotherly esteem the brother Profuturus, in whom we trust that the happy omen of his name (Good-speed) may be fulfilled through our efforts furthered after this by your aid; although, perhaps, it may be presumptuous on this ground, that he is so great a man, that it would be much more fitting that I should be commended to you by him, than he by me. I ought perhaps to write no more, if I were willing to content myself with the style of a formal letter of introduction; but my mind overflows into conference with you, concerning the studies with which we are occupied in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is pleased to furnish us largely through your love with many benefits, and some helps by the way, in the path which He has pointed out to His' followers.
CHAP. II. — 2. We therefore, and with us all that are devoted to study in the African churches, beseech you not to refuse to devote care and labour to the translation of the books of those who have written in the Greek language most able commentaries on our Scriptures. You may thus put us also in possession of these men, and especially of that one whose name you seem to have singular pleasure in sounding forth in your writings [Origen]. But I beseech you not to devote your labour to the work of translating into Latin the sacred canonical books, unless you follow the method in which you have translated Job, viz. with the addition of notes, to let it be seen plainly what differences there are between this version of yours and that of the LXX., whose authority is worthy of highest esteem. For my own part, I cannot sufficiently express my wonder that anything should at this date be found in the Hebrew Mss. which escaped so many translators perfectly acquainted with the language. I say nothing of the LXX., regarding whose harmony in mind and spirit, surpassing that which is found in even one man, I dare not in any way pronounce a decided opinion, except that in my judgment, beyond question, very high authority must in this work of translation be conceded to them. I am more perplexed by those translators who, though enjoying the advantage of labouring after the LXX. had completed their work, and although well acquainted, as it is reported, with the force of Hebrew words and phrases, and with Hebrew syntax, have not only failed to agree among themselves, but have left many things which, even after so long a time, still remain to be discovered and brought to light. Now these things were either obscure or plain: if they were obscure, it is believed that you are as likely to have been mistaken as the others; if they were plain, it is not believed that they [the LXX.] could possibly have been mistaken. Having stated the grounds of my perplexity, I appeal to your kindness to give me an answer regarding this matter.
CHAP. III. — 3. I have been reading also some writings, ascribed to you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In reading your exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians, that passage came to my hand in which the Apostle Peter is called back from a course of dangerous dissimulation. To find there the defence of falsehood undertaken, whether by you, a man of such weight, or by any author (if it is the writing of another), causes me, I must confess, great sorrow, until at least those things which decide my opinion in the matter are refuted, if indeed they admit of refutation. For it seems to me that most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us, and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false. It is one question whether it may be at any time the duty of a good man to deceive; but it is another question whether it can have been the duty of a writer of Holy Scripture to deceive: nay, it is not another question—it is no question at all. For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement as made in the way of duty, there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which, intentionally, and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true.
4. For if the Apostle Paul did not speak the truth when, finding fault with the Apostle Peter, he said: "If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?"—if, indeed, Peter seemed to him to be doing what was right, and if, notwithstanding, he, in order to soothe troublesome opponents, both said and wrote that Peter did what was wrong;— if we say thus, what then shall be our answer when perverse men such as he himself prophetically described arise, forbidding marriage, if they defend themselves by saying that, in all which the same apostle wrote in confirmation of the lawfulness of marriage, he was, on account of men who, through love for their wives, might become troublesome opponents, declaring what was false,—saying these things, forsooth, not because he believed them, but because their opposition might thus be averted? It is unnecessary to quote many parallel examples. For even things which pertain to the praises of God might be represented as piously intended falsehoods, written in order that love for Him might be enkindled in men who were slow of heart; and thus nowhere in the sacred books shall the authority of pure truth stand sure. Do we not observe the great care with which the same apostle commends the truth to us, when he says: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ; whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." If any one said to him, "Why are you so shocked by this falsehood, when the thing which you have said, even if it were false, tends very greatly to the glory of God ?" would he not, abhorring the madness of such a man, with every word and sign which could express his feelings, open clearly the secret depths of his own heart, protesting that to speak well of a falsehood uttered on behalf of God, was a crime not less, perhaps even greater, than to speak ill of the truth concerning Him? We must therefore be careful to secure, in order to our knowledge of the divine Scriptures, the guidance only of such a man as is imbued with a high reverence for the sacred books, and a profound persuasion of their truth, preventing him from flattering himself in any part of them with the hypothesis of a statement being made not because it was true, but because it was expedient, and making him rather pass by what he does not understand, than set up his own feelings above that truth. For, truly, when he pronounces anything to be untrue, he demands that he be believed in preference, and endeavours to shake our confidence in the authority of the divine Scriptures.
5. For my part, I would devote all the strength which the Lord grants me, to show that every one of those texts which are wont to be quoted in defence of the expediency of falsehood ought to be otherwise understood, in order that everywhere the sure truth of these passages themselves may be consistently maintained. For as statements adduced in evidence must not be false, neither ought they to favour falsehood. This, however, I leave to your own judgment. For if you apply more thorough attention to the passage, perhaps you will see it much more readily than I have done. To this more careful study that piety will move you, by which you discern that the authority of the divine Scriptures becomes unsettled (so that every one may believe what he wishes, and reject what he does not wish) if this be once admitted, that the men by whom these things have been delivered unto us, could in their writings state some things which were not true, from considerations of duty; unless, perchance, you propose to furnish us with certain rules by which we may know when a falsehood might or might not become a duty. If this can be done, I beg you to set forth these rules with reasonings which may be neither equivocal nor precarious; and I beseech you by our Lord, in whom Truth was incarnate, not to consider me burdensome or presumptuous in making this request. For a mistake of mine which is in the interest of truth cannot deserve great blame, if indeed it deserves blame at all, when it is possible for you to use truth in the interest of falsehood without doing wrong.
CHAP. IV. — 6. Of many other things I would wish to discourse with your most ingenuous heart, and to take counsel with you concerning Christian studies; but this desire could not be satisfied within the limits of any letter. I may do this more fully by means of the brother bearing this letter, whom I rejoice in sending to share and profit by your sweet and useful conversation. Nevertheless, although I do not reckon myself superior in any respect to him, even he may take less from you than I would desire; and he will excuse my saying so, for I confess myself to have more room for receiving from you than he has. I see his mind to be already more fully stored, in which unquestionably he excels me. Therefore, when he returns, as I trust he may happily do by God's blessing, and when I become a sharer in all with which his heart has been richly furnished by you, there will still be a consciousness of void unsatisfied in me, and a longing for personal fellowship with you. Hence of the two I shall be the poorer, and he the richer, then as now. This brother carries with him some of my writings, which if you condescend to read, I implore you to review them with candid and brotherly strictness. For the words of Scripture, "The righteous shall correct me in compassion, and reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head," I understand to mean that he is the truer friend who by his censure heals me, than the one who by flattery anoints my head. I find the greatest difficulty in exercising a right judgment when I read over what I have written, being either too cautious or too rash. For I sometimes see my own faults, but I prefer to hear them reproved by those who are better able to judge than I am; lest after I have, perhaps justly, charged myself with error, I begin again to flatter myself, and think that my censure has arisen from an undue mistrust of my own judgment.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in 1867. (NPNF I/I, Schaff). The digital version is by The Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.


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text: Smokey Bear, Iconic Symbol of Wildfire Prevention, Still Going Strong at 70 "Remember . . . Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires." For more than 50 years, that iconic catch phrase grabbed the hearts and minds of generations of children, spurred a series of books, games and gifts, helped to change the face of wildland firefighting and prompted more than one child to grow up to be a forester. "On Saturday morning's, I would watch the 'Farm Report' just waiting for 'Lassie' to come on," said Glenn Casamassa, a Long Island, New York, native who grew up to become a forester. "Right after the Farm Report I saw this bear talking about forest fires, and it got me thinking about the woods. As a kid, Smokey and his message really stuck in my head." Kathryn Sosbe, Office of Communication, U.S. Forest Service Posted in Forestry Aug 07, 2014 Respond to this story


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Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment- Jim Rohn
In December I set my goals for 2015, and I have to admit, it has been a rocky start. It is the first week of March and I am not where I thought I should be at this point in the year. I can't cry over spilled milk. I just have to keep it moving. On Instagram I constantly see people meeting their goals and seeing results. I am super happy and proud of them all, especially the people that I actually know like my bestie Erica who is a meal prep goddess! I see everyone making progress and I'm just scrolling and double tapping on IG, which is not helping me meet my goals at all.
On one of those posts from the IG_Weightl0ss page was of a woman who was my height and roughly 7-10 lbs pounds heavier than me said something that clicked with me…
"It wasn't until my 5'4" frame hit 160 lbs that it really clicked- our bodies are a direct reflection of our lifestyle. So I changed mine- I started exercising, eating clean, and laying off the cocktails. I started goal setting, 5 lb milestones at a time…The process has taught me the ability of the body to transform when you train and feed it with the right foods. Patience and perseverance are key in any transformation." Source
Boy did that resonate with me. In order for me to see change, I have to truly change my lifestyle.
She started small with goal setting. Usually when I get on this fitness and healthy lifestyle track I try to go all in at once. That was my first mistake. Humans are creatures of habits and it takes a lot to break those bad habits. We have to make a conscious decision to break those habits by setting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals. Yes SMART Goals. I need to set goals that I know will require discipline, but I will have a greater chance of success.
So my first set of goals is to increase my water intake (At least 6 glasses daily-It is a struggle for 4) and minimize the amount of times I eat out per week. Last week I ate out at least 4 times, and I want to bring that number down 1. Sometimes I get lazy and don't want to cook, or I don't want to eat what I did cook. I need to get over that. Also, I just need to increase drink more period. It's not like I'm drinking juice or soda, I'm just not drinking anything at all, and that is a problem.
Next week I'll report back on my progress. Do you set fitness and health goals?
How do you stay on track?


text: Church of All Saints in Sobol dates from the late sixteenth century, is a one-nave structure with log construction. On the east wall of the chancel is a group of Gethsemane in the twentieth century: an angel handing the cup of Christ. The church appears detached, wooden bell tower of the seventeenth century, in which the Gothic bell is suspended. The oldest monument in the church is Mannerist painting of the Crucifixion.


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(CNN) -- As the floodwaters rose by the hour, so did Bruce Vander Sanden's worst fears.
Bruce Vander Sanden says AmeriCorps volunteers helped his community group clean up after the 2008 Iowa floods.
"It was devastating," he said. "The most vulnerable people were being hit the hardest. They were losing their homes, their jobs, everything."
So the 43-year-old father of two rolled up his sleeves and began preparing Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the long road back.
"We didn't really have a choice," he said. "There were so many people in such desperate need."
In many ways, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and dozens of other communities still haven't recovered from the record-setting June 2008 floods that ripped apart homes and lives across eastern Iowa.
But with the help of organizations and programs supported by the AmeriCorps volunteer service program, they are seeing significant improvements.
One of those programs is a Cedar Rapids "Weed and Seed" initiative, created to "weed out" crime and "seed in" social services for low-income neighborhoods in need of revitalization.
Vander Sanden, an Iowa corrections system manager, helps to coordinate the program.
"In June 2008, 60 percent of our 'Weed and Seed' neighborhoods ended up under water," he told CNN. "The program went from trying to improve neighborhoods to just trying to save neighborhoods -- period."
But the initiative's full-time nine-member team was not nearly large enough to handle the task. There were 5,390 low- to moderate-income households in the Cedar Rapids area affected by the floods, Vander Sanden said. Thousands of homes needed to be mucked out, among other things.
Vander Sanden turned to the AmeriCorps VISTA program, which focuses on poverty assistance. It provided 25 additional additional full-time members, as well as 100 summer volunteers.
"It made a huge difference," Vander Sanden said. "We ended up being primary coordination point for flood victims who needed volunteer assistance."
AmeriCorps has "been an awesome resource for us to get things done," he added. "The individuals [from] the VISTA program have the true spirit of community service. They're here to serve in every way, shape, and form."
But Vander Sanden acknowledges there's still a long way to go. A full recovery from flooding on the magnitude of what Iowa experienced in 2008 can take up to five years, he said.
It also takes more manpower than the "Weed and Seed program" has available. So far, the program has been able to reach only 20 percent of homes in the Cedar Rapids area affected by the floods.
That's one of the reasons Vander Sanden was thrilled to learn that the House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday that will, among other things, more than triple the number of positions in the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 to 250,000 by the year 2017.
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, recently renamed to honor the Massachusetts senator's sponsorship, is designed to strengthen volunteer national community service by boosting funding for thousands of volunteers in fields such as clean energy, health care and education.
The House passed it by a vote of 275-149; the Senate cleared identical legislation last Thursday by a vote of 78-20. President Obama, who spent several years working as a community organizer, is expected to sign it into law shortly.
"At this time of economic crisis, we need service and volunteering more than ever. This bill will unleash a new era of service for our nation at a time of great need," AmeriCorps spokesman Sandy Scott told CNN.
The increase could have a huge ripple effect in national volunteerism rates. Last year, the 75,000 AmeriCorps members recruited and supervised 2.2 million community volunteers, according to Scott.
At the same time, the bill would create four new national service corps and several other initiatives, including a "Summer of Service" program to spur greater community outreach by middle and high school students.
Older Americans would be encouraged to volunteer more through the creation of a "Silver Scholars" program, under which individuals 55 and older who perform 350 hours of service would receive a $1,000 award.
The legislation would also increase the existing AmeriCorps educational stipend offered to volunteers to $5,350 -- the same amount as the maximum Pell college grant.
"History has shown that in times of crisis, Americans turn to service and volunteering for healing, for rebuilding and for hope," one of the bill's main House co-sponsors, Rep. George Miller, D-California, said shortly before its final passage.
"The spirit and generosity of the American people is one of our greatest assets as a nation. ... [It] is just what this country needs at this pivotal moment in our history."
Some critics said that the bill, which is expected to cost roughly $6 billion over the next five years, is fiscally irresponsible in light of the economic downturn. They also argue that the concept of volunteerism is undermined by providing financial compensation.
For Vander Sanden, however, the bill can't be signed into law fast enough.
Communities like Cedar Rapids "still have a long way to go," he said. With the size of AmeriCorps tripling, "if we, in turn, triple the size of our program, we'd theoretically be able to triple the number of households we could reach. It would have an incalculable impact."
Until then, however, Vander Sanden and his fellow volunteers will make do with what they have. The floods may have struck months ago, but the goal of a full recovery remains a long way in the future.
All About AmeriCorps • Barack Obama • U.S. House of Representatives • Cedar Rapids


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Did Congress kill the Twinkie? The tariff tale behind the Hostess demise.
Since 1934, Congress has supported sugar trade tariffs. In a sign of the power of the sugar lobby, Hostess picked unions, not the lobby, to fight when it had to cut costs to stay in business.
| Atlanta
It's the end of a lunchbox era as baked icons such as Twinkies, Hostess CupCakes, and Wonder bread face extinction amid a contentious labor dispute, which ended Friday in the declared liquidation of Hostess Brands Inc., the Texas-based confectioner.
So far, Big Labor has gotten the brunt of criticism for the demise of Hostess, since the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers ,and Grain Millers union refused, despite warnings from fellow union heads, to return from strike at some 20 facilities nationwide. That forced CEO Gregory Rayburn to declare, after two rounds of bankruptcy proceedings, that "it's over."
Yet as the political recriminations echo amid news of 18,500 lost jobs in an already sluggish economy, some economists suggest that Americans shift their blame from Big Labor to the role Congress might have played in writing the Twinkies' obituary.
And that, economists say, may come down to one sweet little word: sugar.
Since 1934, Congress has supported tariffs that benefit primarily a few handful of powerful Florida families while forcing US confectioners to pay nearly twice the global market price for sugar.
One telling event: When Hostess had to cut costs to stay in business, it picked unions, not the sugar lobby, to fight.
"These large sugar growers ... are a notoriously powerful lobbying interest in Washington," writes Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute in a 2007 report. "Federal supply restrictions have given them monopoly power, and they protect that power by becoming important supporters of presidents, governors, and many members of Congress."
Such power has been good for business in the important swing state of Florida, but it has punished manufacturers who rely on sugar in other parts of the United States, the Commerce Department said in a 2006 report on the impact of sugar prices.
Sugar trade tariffs are "a classic case of protectionism, pure and simple, and that has ripple effects through other sectors of the economy, and, for all I know, the Hostess decision is one of them," says William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Trade restrictions on sugar have a long, complex history, and sugar is certainly not the only major industry to have Congress play nose tackle against global prices by restricting imports. Yet as those policies have come under fire in the past decade, both Republicans and Democrats have so far refused significant reforms.
That refusal to address tariffs that neither support infant industries nor provide national security has come despite damning reports from the Commerce Department about the impact on US jobs, including the fact that for every sugar job saved by tariffs, three confectionery manufacturing jobs are lost.
Some of those job losses came when candy companies like Fannie May and Brach's moved the bulk of their manufacturing to Mexico and Kraft relocated a 600-worker Life Savers factory from Michigan to Canada, in order to pay global market prices for sugar.
The impending mass layoffs from 33 Hostess plants scattered around the US, economists say, might force Washington to take a more serious look at how public policy affects the ability of corporations to make money – especially in an economy where even iconic brands like Twinkies and Wonder bread aren't safe.
"I think there are policy implications here," says Mr. Edwards, an economist at the conservative Cato Institute. "The Department of Commerce, the Obama administration, and [Congress] need to look at Hostess as a case study: Why did this company have to go bankrupt? Why were its costs higher than it could afford? Are there regulatory issues with import barriers on sugar or unionization rules that we need to look at and change? We've got to understand why manufacturing in a lot of cases doesn't seem to be profitable anymore."