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A good backup system can help you recover from a lot of different kinds of situations: a botched upgrade (requiring re-installation), a hard drive crash, or even thumb-fingered users deleting the wrong file. In practice, though I've experienced all of these, it's the last sort of problem that causes me the most pain. Sometimes you just wish you could go back a few days in time and grab that file. What you want is something like the Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine", but for your own system. Here's how to set one up using the
rsnapshot package (included in the Debian and Ubuntu distributions).
What you can expect
In practice, you can expect to need a backup drive approximately twice the size of the system you are backing up. Once fully established, the backup system will not continue to grow, because old data will eventually be retired and deleted automatically.
With the configuration options in
rsnapshot it will be possible to create just about any tiered backup arrangement you want. For my system, I keep daily snapshots for 30 days, weeklies for just over a year, and finally, monthly backups for ten years. Presumably, I will have set up a new system long before any of the monthlies get deleted.
Using a script, I have set up my system to work like the Wayback Machine in that each backup incorporates the date in its file path. So, I can browse the available dates and pick one I think is most likely to have the data I want. Thus if today is August 20, 2009, and I've accidently deleted my Mozilla bookmarks file (I've known Sea Monkey to destroy this file if it crashes badly), I can recover it by copying from yesterday's backup:
$ cp /backup/auto/date/2009-08-19/myclient/home/terry/.mozilla/Terry/8ufwbbkq.slt/bookmarks.html /home/terry/.mozilla/Terry/8ufwbbkq.slt/
If I want to see for what dates I have backups, I can simply list the date directory:
myclient:/backup/auto/date$ ls
2009-06-23 2009-08-04 2009-08-12 2009-08-20 2009-08-28
2009-06-29 2009-08-05 2009-08-13 2009-08-21 2009-08-29
2009-07-08 2009-08-06 2009-08-14 2009-08-22 2009-08-30
2009-07-17 2009-08-07 2009-08-15 2009-08-23 2009-08-31
2009-07-25 2009-08-08 2009-08-16 2009-08-24
2009-08-01 2009-08-09 2009-08-17 2009-08-25
2009-08-02 2009-08-10 2009-08-18 2009-08-26
2009-08-03 2009-08-11 2009-08-19 2009-08-27
Installation of
rsnapshot couldn't be much easier in Debian or Ubuntu, where the package is part of the main package repository (and has been for several releases):
myserver:~# apt-get install rsync rsnapshot
If you're going to keep your backups on the same computer (from one disk drive to another, for example), then this is all you will need. For a Local Area Net (LAN) installation, though, you'll most likely have a "backup server" on which the backup disk is mounted, and several "backup clients" whose data you want to back up onto the server.
For this you will need to set up remote login access for the backup user. In this article, we'll set up the backup user to be
root. Although this may be a security risk in a vulnerable commercial network, it's good enough for a home or small-business LAN where you can expect to trust the people with physical access to your computers. It also has the advantage of allowing you to keep correct user identities and permissions on the backed up files.
Password-less SSH access
Probably the worst part of the install is correctly setting up password-less SSH logins on your systems. This is a potential security hole for publicly-open local area networks, although on most home networks this should be no problem. In any case, it does have to be done right for
rsnapshot to work.
We will set up two-way password-less SSH access for the
root users on both client and server machines. For some configurations, this is not strictly necessary, but it is very useful for intermittently-connected machines, as I'll soon show.
Client configuration for SSH access
First of all, you should use your real host names. In my examples, I will use
myclient for a client computer and
myserver for my backup server. On each client computer and on the server, you will need to generate a public/private key pair, using OpenSSH:
$ su
myclient:~# cd /root
myclient:~# ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa): .ssh/myclient
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/myclient.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/myclient.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
. . .
Don't type anything for the passphrase! For password-less access, you will need an empty passphrase.
The ellipsis (
...) omits a representation of the key provided for confirmation.
If you look in the
.ssh directory, you will now see your two keys:
myclient:/root/.ssh# ls
myclient myclient.pub known_hosts
scp ("secure copy" from OpenSSH) to transfer the
myclient.pub file to the backup server (and also copy the server's
myserver.pub file to the client machine). When you have all of the necessary keys, you will then create (or append to) a file called
/root/.ssh/authorized_keys2 in order to make the machines accessible:
myserver:/root/.ssh# cat *.pub >> authorized_keys2
Of course, you will do the same thing on each client to set up two-way access:
myclient:/root/.ssh# cat myserver.pub >> authorized_keys2
rsnapshot on the server
The default configuration file for
rsnapshot, is, unsurprisingly,
/etc/rsnapshot.conf. We'll configure this file to handle local backups for filesystems that are mounted on the server, and also on one reliably-connected client (for example, you might use this for a separate file server, called
myfileserver here). This is also appropriate for a stand-alone computer.
There are lots of comments in the
/etc/rsnapshot.conf that comes with the standard install on Debian, but I'll omit those in the listings I show here.
First, let me show the final result for my example setup:
config_version 1.2
snapshot_root /backup/auto/
cmd_cp /bin/cp
cmd_rm /bin/rm
cmd_rsync /usr/bin/rsync
cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh
cmd_logger /usr/bin/logger
cmd_du /usr/bin/du
interval daily 30
interval weekly 52
interval monthly 120
verbose 2
loglevel 3
logfile /var/log/rsnapshot
lockfile /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
one_fs 1
sync_first 1
backup root@myfileserver:/project/ myfileserver/
backup /home/ myserver/
backup /etc/ myserver/
Now let's break that down. The first line (
config_version) is basically boilerplate, it just tells rsnapshot what format to expect in this file (copy it exactly). The next line,
snapshot_root tells where the backup volume is mounted on the server. I have a large hard drive mounted as
/backup, but I use parts of it for other kinds of backup jobs, so I let
rsnapshot use the
/backup/auto directory on it.
The next few lines (
cmd_*) are essentially more boilerplate. They tell rsnapshot what sort of utilities it has available to do its work (without them, it can fall back on internal methods -- but on any GNU/Linux system, all of these are available).
The next lines (
interval) are much more interesting:
interval daily 30
interval weekly 52
interval monthly 120
This is where I decide on what sort of backup schedule I want to keep. Many configurations are possible here, but in my case I've chosen to keep one backup per day for a month, weekly backups for a year before that, and monthly backups "indefinitely", here defined as 10 years (plenty of time to make permanent archives of anything I'm going to need longer than that!).
By the way, the names "daily", "weekly", and "monthly" used here have no special meaning to
rsnapshot, you can use any interval name you find useful. You'll give these names meaning yourself when you set up the
cron (or
anacron) jobs to call rsnapshot. You're perfectly entitled to set up a "fortnightly" or "every10days" job if you want to.
On the other hand, it is critical that the intervals are listed in order from most-frequent to least-frequent. This is because
rsnapshot will actually make the longer-interval backups by simply rotating an appropriate shorter-interval backup (so for example, the last daily backup will become the first weekly backup when the time comes, and the last weekly backup will become the first monthly one). This may seem a little confusing at first, but it really does work out correctly.
Following this are some more minor details: how much to include in my logs should be (
loglevel), where to put them (
logfile), and where to keep a lockfile to avoid collisions if I should (accidentally) attempt to run two instances of the program at once (
The next line (
one_fs) prevents backup sets from following symlinks onto other drives. This could be a problem if you make a lot of use of symlinks to aide command-line navigation on your system, and is otherwise fairly harmless.
Somewhat more arcanely, the
sync_first line tells
rsnapshot to operate a little differently than it normally does. Instead of making each backup and rotating backups all in one operation, it will do them in two operations: first synchronizing its backup copy, and then rotating into the daily backup set. This is extremely useful for backing up computers which are not reliably available to your network, as we will see a little later.
Finally, the
backup lines tell what data should be backed up:
backup root@myfileserver:/project/ myfileserver/
backup /home/ myserver/
backup /etc/ myserver/
In this case, I'm making backups of my
/home directory (user data) and the
/etc directory (configuration data) on my backup server (which also happens to be a workstation in this example). These are local backups, so no login information is required on the source column (the first argument).
myfileserver, I have set up password-less SSH login (see the previous section), and the source column includes the login ID and hostname as well as the directory.
In all of the lines, I include a target column which is a relative path. This will be interpreted relative to the
snapshot_root defined earlier. So for example, a user named
joe on
myserver will find yesterday's backup data beneath
myfileserver, I need to make sure that
rsync is installed and that I have correctly set up password-less SSH login for the
root user on
myserver. Nothing else is required on the backup client (
The cron job
The final step is to set up a job in the "crontab" on the backup server (
myserver) to run the
rsnapshot program at the appropriate intervals to make the backups:
Cron tables are handled differently on different GNU/Linux distributions, so you may encounter a different approach on your system. However, on Debian-derived distributions, there is actually a directory,
/etc/cron.d, with this information. This makes it easier to keep separate tables for different purposes. The Debian
rsnapshot package creates a file here for
rsnapshot, predictably named `/etc/crond.d/rsnapshot'.
It is in this file that you will define the meaning of your
rsnapshot backup intervals. Omitting comments, here's my sample setup:
30 4 * * * root /usr/bin/rsnapshot daily
0 4 * * 1 root /usr/bin/rsnapshot weekly
30 3 1 * * root /usr/bin/rsnapshot monthly
The syntax at the beginning of each line is unique to
cron. For a more complete understanding, I'll just refer you to the man page (type
man 5 crontab to find "
crontab(5)" which documents this format). In this case, the lines say to run the program with the argument
daily at 4:30 AM every day, to run with
weekly at 4:00 AM each Monday morning, and to run with
monthly at 3:30 AM on the first day of each calendar month.
The reason the times are spaced as they are is to avoid collisions between the different invocations (e.g. whenever Monday falls on the first of the month --
rsnapshot will be called three times in succession in that case, and you want it to have enough time to finish each rotation before beginning the next).
Dealing with intermittent clients
Now I mainly use
rsnapshot to back up personal workstations, not servers. These machines are not necessarily always turned on or always connected to my LAN (a couple of them are laptops, for example). If rsnapshot attempts to run when one of them is down, it will simply crash during the backup process and no further backups will be made. This is ungraceful and results in missed daily backups (not just for the machine that is off, but for any others that follow it in
So for these machines, I use the two-way SSH password-less login that I have set up, in combination with the
anacron package, to create a call-back system. Instead of having the backup server try to back up these machines on its own schedule, these machines run a script that allows them to ask for a backup whenever they are ready. The resulting backups get collected along with the others into the daily/weekly/monthly backup rotation.
Setting up the server for intermittent clients
For each intermittent client, we'll use a separate
/etc/rsnapshot_myclient.conf configuration file. These are essentially just copies of the main configuration file, with a few minor changes. Here's an example for a host named
config_version 1.2
snapshot_root /backup/auto/
cmd_cp /bin/cp
cmd_rm /bin/rm
cmd_rsync /usr/bin/rsync
cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh
cmd_logger /usr/bin/logger
cmd_du /usr/bin/du
interval daily 30
verbose 2
loglevel 3
logfile /var/log/rsnapshot
lockfile /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
one_fs 1
sync_first 1
backup root@myclient:/home/ myclient/
backup root@myclient:/etc/ myclient/
Note that for the intermittent case, the "
sync_first" option is mandatory. Since the backup synchronization will be asynchronous to the rotation process, they need to happen as separate steps. This file obviously only deals with the backups from this one client. Any other clients will have their own files.
Setting up the
anacron job on intermittent clients
anacron package was made with the idea of intermittently operating computers in mind. It's the usual choice for laptop or desktop computers that aren't always running. Instead of being invoked at rigid, regular intervals, it is simply invoked according to a set of constraints: so many minutes after the computer has been turned on, provided that the last time it was run exceeded some given interval. Again, if you want to know more about how
anacron works, I'll just refer you to its man page.
The invocation of the backup is run from the client computer, using its anacron table. A command will be executed which in turn makes a remote call to the backup server and runs
rsnapshot there. After that, the job runs essentially as it does for normal server-initiated backups.
To do this, we simply add the following line to
1 60 backup ssh root@myserver /usr/bin/rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot_myclient.conf sync
This command will be executed no more than once per day, no sooner than one hour after the computer is turned on. The command is called
backup, and the actual command to run is a secure-shell connection to the server, which remotely executes
rsnapshot, with a switch telling it to use the correct configuration file for this client, and the argument
sync argument for
rsnapshot does the data synchronization step only. It does not initiate backup rotations. This is because we simply want this script to get the client's data into the correct directory (which, by the way, is
/backup/auto/.sync in this example) along with the other daily backups.
rsnapshot daily command (which will actually move this backup data into the correct backup directory,
/backup/auto/daily.0) will be run by the server's normal server-driven cron job (the client requires no special treatment for this to work, except that
sync_first must be set to
1 for all of the
rsnapshot configurations used).
Some caveats about backups for intermittent clients
It's worth pointing out a couple of details about how the intermittent system will work in practice.
First of all, note that no backups will get made if the machines are not left on longer than the specified limit in
/etc/anacrontab (60 minutes in the example above). This is handy, because it means that if you just turn on your laptop to check something quickly, it won't spontaneously get tied up with the backup right away. On the other hand, it means that if you want backups to happen, you need to leave your system on now and then so that the scripts will have a chance to run.
Second, unless the system is left on for backup every day, you won't really get daily backups. This is generally harmless, since if it's not on, the data is not being changed, so you aren't missing anything.
Nevertheless, daily backups for the system will appear in the backup system for days when the system was off or disconnected. They will simply be (hardlinked) copies of the last real daily backup. So the datestamps on directories in the backup may be incorrect. If you look closely, however, you'll see that the modification dates on the files are correct.
Creating a date index
There's really only one thing missing from this set up to make it really usable, and that is a better index. For me at least, trying to figure out what backup to check for a missing file would be a lot easier if I could look things up by date. Trying to do the math and figure out if that was
daily.29 or
weekly.2 is just way too much trouble.
rsnapshot package unfortunately does not provide for a date-based index. However, it's not that hard to make one, and I wrote my own Python script to do it. To use the following script, save it as
/usr/local/bin/datestamp_backups.py on the
myserver machine:
#!/usr/bin/env python
# Copyright (C) 2009 by Terry Hancock
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
#-- Datestamp Index for Backups --
from datetime import date
import os, glob
RSNAP_ROOT = '/backup/auto'
RSNAP_INTS = 'daily', 'weekly', 'monthly'
date_dir = os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, 'date')
# get the date
today = date.today()
stamp = today.isoformat()
# put date in the top level of the current backup (daily.0)
os.remove(os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, 'daily.0', 'DATE'))
open(os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, 'daily.0', 'DATE'), 'wt').write(stamp+'\n')
# delete the old index entries
os.system('rm -r %s' % os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, 'date'))
os.mkdir(os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, 'date'))
#for symlink in os.listdir(date_dir):
# os.remove(os.path.join(date_dir, symlink))
# read dates in all backups and write out symlinks for them as new index
append = 'bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
for interval in RSNAP_INTS:
for dirname in glob.glob(os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, '%s.*'%interval)):
directory = os.path.join(RSNAP_ROOT, dirname)
datestamp = open(os.path.join(directory, 'DATE'),'rt').read().strip()
target = os.path.join(date_dir, datestamp)
while os.path.exists(target):
target = os.path.join(date_dir, datestamp + append[i])
i += 1
os.symlink(directory, target)
I have (somewhat lazily, I admit) simply defined the
rsnapshot_root and interval names as constants in this script. You'll have to change these two definitions (
RSNAP_ROOT and
RSNAP_INTS) to suit your system.
You will also need to add a line to the
/etc/cron.d/rsnapshot file on
myserver to make use of this script, resulting in this configuration:
30 4 * * * root /usr/bin/rsnapshot daily
0 4 * * 1 root /usr/bin/rsnapshot weekly
30 3 1 * * root /usr/bin/rsnapshot monthly
0 5 * * * root /usr/local/bin/datestamp_backups.py
This causes the program to be run daily, 30 minutes after the backups are rotated. It simply builds a directory of symlinks, with date-based names, which point to the appropriate backups. Listing the resulting directory shows which backups are available:
myserver:/backup/auto/date# ls
2009-06-23 2009-08-04 2009-08-12 2009-08-20 2009-08-28
2009-06-29 2009-08-05 2009-08-13 2009-08-21 2009-08-29
2009-07-08 2009-08-06 2009-08-14 2009-08-22 2009-08-30
2009-07-17 2009-08-07 2009-08-15 2009-08-23 2009-08-31
2009-07-25 2009-08-08 2009-08-16 2009-08-24
2009-08-01 2009-08-09 2009-08-17 2009-08-25
2009-08-02 2009-08-10 2009-08-18 2009-08-26
2009-08-03 2009-08-11 2009-08-19 2009-08-27
An abbreviated long listing shows more explicitly how the symlinks relate to the actual directories created by
myserver:/backup/auto/date# ls -l
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-06-23 -> /backup/auto/weekly.5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-06-29 -> /backup/auto/weekly.4
. . .
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-08-28 -> /backup/auto/daily.3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-08-29 -> /backup/auto/daily.2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-08-30 -> /backup/auto/daily.1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2009-08-31 05:00 2009-08-31 -> /backup/auto/daily.0
Note that this script doesn't interfere with the function of
rsnapshot at all. It simply creates a new directory of symbolic links which refer to the directories
rsnapshot makes.
Making the backups available for recovery
In order for users to make use of the backup volume, it's a good idea to mount it as a read-only NFS filesystem. It's important to limit the ability to write to the system, because, due to the nature of hardlinks, it would be very easy to create unexpected problems (editing one version of a file which appears in many backup sets would edit them all!).
I simply made
/backup available in this way. So anyone on the LAN who wants to fix a missing or corrupted file, can simply visit
/backup/auto/date/ and look for an appropriate date to find a saved copy of the file. Just like the "Wayback Machine" does for the internet.
How the magic works
This technique is originally due to Mike Rubel who suggested using the
rsync mirroring tool and hardlinks to create incremental backups with a minimum of space used. The magic here is that only files which have changed are stored in each backup, and yet from the users' point of view, it's exactly like browsing complete independent file systems for each backup.
rsync program was designed to save bandwidth when making a mirror of a remote site. As such, it attempts to complete the copy while making (and communicating) the minimum amount of information. The client asks the server first for verification that files aren't changed (filesizes and checksums are compared to determine this). When files have changed, they are copied from the source to the target for the mirror.
That's the first part of the trick.
The second part is the use of "hardlinks". When you initially create a file on a Unix or Linux filesystem, you are storing data, but also a directory entry which links to that data. There is, however, no fundamental reason why there can't be more than one such link, possibly appearing in multiple directories.
Each of these links has equal claim to the file data. The filesystem software will keep the data as long as at least one link still points to it (when the last link is removed, the system will "garbage collect" the data blocks on disk, adding them to the available free space).
rsnapshot does on each backup is to first create an entire directory system, entirely using such links to the previous backup data. At the beginning of the back up, there are therefore two directory structures pointing to the same data.
Then it runs
rsync on the copied directory. Every time a file is encountered which has changed on the source filesystem (the directory you are backing up), a new data block will be created replacing the old data. Similarly, any new file appearing on the source system will be created in the new backup. However, any unchanged files will be unaffected (because of the lazy way that
rsync conducts its backup), and as a result, will still be hardlinked to the original data.
In the end, you wind up with two directory systems which appear to be independent copies of the source at different times. In fact, however, you are only using the space of a single copy, plus the space taken up by the files that have changed. In practice, this is usually only a few percent more than the size of the single copy.
Of course, all of this would break down if you needed to write to the system (you'd appear to change both files at once, because actually they are the same file). However, when accessing a backup system, we aren't interested in writing, just reading. And for that, the
rsnapshot approach is perfect!
Your own Wayback Machine
This is a capability I've been wanting to set up ever since I read Mike Rubel's original paper on the idea. The
rsnapshot package took care of everything except the date index, and that wasn't that hard to script.
I've been running this system for about six weeks now, without a hitch, so I think it's pretty solid. It should work on just about any GNU/Linux system, although I've only provided instructions for Debian derived systems (Including Ubuntu, for example).
I hope it improves your peace of mind as much as it did mine!
Licensing Notice
This work may be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0, with attribution to "Terry Hancock, first published in Free Software Magazine".


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
As Rent Soars, Longtime San Francisco Tenants Fight To Stay
San Francisco has long been a desirable place to live — and that's even more true today as the city is basking in the glow of another tech boom. But the influx of new money and new residents is putting a strain on the city's housing market.
The city has the highest median rent in the nation, and evictions of longtime residents are skyrocketing.
Ground zero for San Francisco's eviction crisis is the Inner Mission District. Until recently, this edgy neighborhood was home to a mix of working-class Latinos, artists and activists.
Tom Rapp, an airport building maintenance worker, rents a modest second-story flat that he has called home for 15 years. He says a lot of his neighbors have been evicted over the past couple of years. Then bad news came knocking on his door, too.
"We received an eviction notice at the end of August," he says.
"But we've gotten like three different ones, right?" adds his roommate, Patricia Kerman.
Kerman, a senior on a fixed income, has lived in this flat for 27 years.
The two are fighting to stay in their rent-controlled apartment as their landlord tries to evict them under what's known as the Ellis Act. It's a state law that allows an eviction if the landlord wants to pull the building out of the rental market, usually with a plan to sell the units.
"They found this loophole where they're now able to get people out of their rent-controlled apartments, and it's just becoming an epidemic," Rapp says.
Rapp's landlord was not available for comment.
A recent city report finds that Ellis Act evictions have increased 170 percent over the past three years. Low- and middle-income tenants are unlikely to find another affordable apartment in San Francisco, where the median monthly rent has risen to about $3,400.
Fighting Back
At the steps of San Francisco City Hall, a small group of tenants and community organizers recently demanded that the city do something to prevent more evictions.
Inside City Hall, at a packed hearing of the Board of Supervisors, landlord Andrew Long blamed the evictions on the city's rent-control policies.
"This has caused rents for long-term tenants to be quite low, which is great for them, but it doesn't keep a building up," Long said.
Long said rent control drives small property landlords into the hands of big-money speculators who profit from converting rentals to condos.
But the hearing was dominated by scores of long-time residents who talked about their fears of getting pushed out of San Francisco.
Beverly Upton, director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, is facing eviction from a building where she has lived for 25 years.
"Once the advocates and the organizers and the artists are gone, who will be left to care about our city?" she said.
That's a big concern in San Francisco, where traditionally there's always been a balance between the comfortable and the nonconformists, says former Mayor Art Agnos.
"The struggle to keep people who make between $60,000 and $150,000 a year is what we're facing in San Francisco. That's who the struggle is for today," Agnos says. "Frankly, it's all but over for the poor in this city."
More Development To Come
The evictions and the fear they engender come as the city is booming. Construction cranes crowd the downtown horizon. Pricey new restaurants serve the well-heeled tech crowd. Million-dollar condos sell for cash as soon as they come on the market.
So in a city that takes pride in its quirky diversity, there's a palpable sense that the bohemian days of live and let live are slipping away, Agnos says.
"We're not saying wealthy people shouldn't live here," he says. "What we're saying is we're losing the balance and the opportunity that has always been the promise of San Francisco."
San Francisco has endured similar periods when its housing supply has been squeezed, like during the last dot-com boom.
And each time, Agnos says, the city has become that much less affordable.
You care.
You want to know what is really going on these days, especially in Colorado. We can help you keep up. The Lookout is a free, daily email newsletter with news and happenings from all over Colorado. Sign up here and we will see you in the morning!


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Protecting your LinkedIn Account with Two-Step Verification
May 31, 2013
At LinkedIn, we are constantly looking for ways to improve the security of our members' accounts. All LinkedIn accounts are already protected by a series of automatic checks that are designed to thwart unauthorized sign-in attempts. Now, we are introducing a new optional feature that adds another layer of security to your LinkedIn sign-in: two-step verification.
Most internet accounts that become compromised are illegitimately accessed from a new or unknown computer (or device). Two-step verification helps address this problem by requiring you to type a numeric code when logging in from an unrecognized device for the first time. This code will be sent to your phone via SMS. When enabled, two-step verification makes it more difficult for unauthorized users to access your account, requiring them to have both your password and access to your mobile phone.
Turn on Two-step verification for your account now by going to Settings, selecting the Account tab and clicking Manage security settings option. Step-by-step instructions below:
You can learn more about about how to stay safe online by visiting the LinkedIn Safety Center."


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Terms, Privacy, Contact
Build Reports
Category Browser
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The search compares the search term with the contents of the category data by
exact match
for the catgories and partial match for the name and textual descriptions. Attention: Spaces may lead to different result, e.g. "Me 109" provides another result than "Me109".
(you may combine several search terms, delimited by | )
Search term:
Search results for http://warshipsww2.eu/lode.php?language=e&period=&idtrida=325
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Story highlights
In 2012 alone, more than 166,000 Afghans have fled their homes, a new report says
The Norwegian Refugee Council found most are "living in appalling conditions"
The internally displace people lack access to health and education resources, it says
The Afghan government's response has been inadequate, the report adds
The number of people forced to flee their homes in Afghanistan is increasing and the conditions for the displaced are falling well below international standards, a new study by the Norwegian Refugee Council found.
In 2012 alone, spreading conflict in Afghanistan has forced more than 166,000 Afghans to flee their homes, bringing the total number of people internally displaced by conflict to at least 460,000 since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, according to the council's report.
The numbers alone don't tell the full story, it says. Most of the internally displaced people "are living in appalling conditions and in situations of extreme poverty," Dan Tyler, protection and advocacy manager at NRC Afghanistan, told CNN.
India-Pakistan dynamic holds key to Afghanistan's future
Lack of employment, insufficient food and water supplies, and poor quality housing or shelters – typically tents or unsubstantial mud homes – are among the problems internally displaced people are facing, especially during the winter, when their shelters can not offer enough protection against the cold, the report says.
Last winter brought Afghanistan's displacement crisis into sharp focus, and revealed the scale of suffering facing displaced people, with reports of "at least 100 confirmed deaths, mostly of children, who died from the cold or illness in Kabul alone," Tyler said.
One of the displaced people, Mohammad Ibrahim, 42, fled his home in Greshk district of southern Helmand province almost three years ago with his wife and five children. Now he lives under a mud hut in a makeshift camp in the eastern part of Kabul, the capital city.
"I am really worried about what will happen to our children this winter," Ibrahim told CNN. "Last winter more than 10 children died just in our makeshift camp due to cold, and I don't know how many more would die this winter, which has already started."
Ibrahim added that last year he thought that he would be in a better situation by this year's winter, "but I was wrong."
The study also says that displaced families report facing obstacles to find health services and to access education for their children, with over a third of the displaced children lacking access to schools.
According to Tyler, very few provinces are immune from either receiving or creating internally displace people, but the southern and southeastern regions are the main origination areas, and the majority of people go to big cities, especially Kabul, where security and livelihood opportunities, as well as access to services, is perceived to be greater.
Afghan bank fraud siphoned out savers' money, independent report says
The report adds that more than half of the people surveyed identified the Taliban and other anti-government groups as the key causes of insecurity in their homes communities and the primary drivers of their displacement.
The Norwegian Refugee Council's study reveals worrying gaps in protection and assistance because of the challenges of collecting information and coordinating responses amid increasing insecurity. Many humanitarian actors tasked with collecting data on displacement have limited access to those most in need, it says.
The Afghan government's response to the displacement crisis has also been inadequate, the report says. Insufficient funding, capacity and lack of expertise on the part of central and local authorities means conditions for the displaced, both during the period of their displacement and during the course of their return have fallen well below international standards, according to the study.
"There is also concern that, as international troops withdraw from Afghanistan (by 2014), there will be less funding available to meet the humanitarian needs" of internally displaced people, Tyler said.
There is growing awareness that during and beyond the security transition, more would need to be done to profile the needs of displaced people. "But whether the humanitarian community will have time to prepare (for), or the funding to respond to a deepening displacement crisis is far from certain," he warned.


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Since ABC has decided to stop airing Day Break for some undisclosed and unfathomable reason, and doesn't say when it will come back, I spent the hour from 10pm-11pm on Wednesday watching Just a Kiss, the indy film starring Day Break's Taye Diggs along with Marissa Tomei, Kyra Sedgewick, and...well, it really drops down from there.
As you watch the opening credits, you're left admiring the styled artwork-over-video trick used in the cab windows. As the trick continues ad nauseum for the next 5 minutes of the story, you're left waiting for it to end (which it mercifulously does, only to appear later in the film).
We learn all about Dag, a son of some hippies who has a small infidelity problem. Fortunately, he's a sympathetic character because the "other woman" is always equally guilty. Having slept with a mysterious woman with glowing eyes (who I suppose was responsible for the end of the movie) and memory problems, Dag and his woman are out with their friend Peter when an intentionally-hilarious scene of swapping cell phones falls flat and ultimately results in Peter's dancing girlfriend admitting that Dag slept with her in Europe. At least one of the two couples appear to break up, and Peter's small acting gig in a commercial attracts the attention of hot bowling alley bartender Paula who seems to be just a little obsessed and likely crazy. But so was Peter's ex, so maybe this is his type. Except that when Dag and Peter split in a fight, Paula has sex with Dag. Maybe. Meanwhile, Dag's girlfriend Halley (Kyra Sedgewick looks about 25 years too old to play a 30something for some bizarre reason) hooks up with Taye Digg's artsy cellist Andre. Throughout this all, Peter ends up at the airport where a beautiful woman invites him to L.A. to have sex in the first class bathroom. Somewhere in all of this, the pieces start coming together in a wholistically unrealistic way. My own "everybody meets each other in NYC" story notwithstanding, these people all seem one Kevin Bacon degree of separation from knowing everybody else. Peter's mile high club girl is Andre's wife. Peter's ex Becky sleeps with Andre. Halley ends up sleeping with Andre. Dag (apparently) sleeps with Paula, who also used to sleep with Andre. And of course this all comes together after Dag cheated on Halley with Becky. Did we mention Becky was crazy? It will become important soon.
Peter calls Becky after the in-flight sex to tell her he loves her. The cell phone (unrealistically) causes the plane to crash, killing everyone on board. Well, except for first class, which miraculously survives. As Peter walks around in a daze on storefront TV monitors, Rebecca obliviously in front of the store listens to Peter's message from the plane and slits her wrists in a suicide attempt (her first of the film and second of all time). Dag comes across her in a bloody pulp, having been mugged. Paula in her underwear watches this all while tied to a chain. In the hospital Peter, Dag, and Becky are all undergoing treatment, as is Andre's wife who in another "supposed to be funny but wasn't" moment is killed by a catering truck on camera as she wandered in a daze after the plane crash. Seriously.
Anyways, Paula assaults a nurse to steal her uniform, and under her nursing guise convinces Halley to give up all the room numbers. Dag is tragically killed when Paula scares him with a hammer, the "unlikely brain aneurism" scenario the script drills into us four or five times in the Halley scene. She then goes to Becky, convinces her to commit suicide again (the alternative is lesbian sex with Paula), and helps her out by loading her with sleeping pills. Finally, Paula goes to hit on Peter.
In the subsequent scenes, Dag dies from his aneurism. Andre's wife succumbs to her coma. Becky succumbs to hers. Peter/Halley/Andre fight/embrace at various points of the scenes. Finally, as Peter is alone with Becky, Paula comes in. Peter is about to succumb to temptation when, as I promised earlier, the neato effects pop in. Becky briefly comes to life, kisses Peter, and glares angrily at Paula. As Becky falls back to sleep, Peter has a realization that this girl is bad news, and demands she no longer talk to him.
As Peter forlornly looks on his girlfriend's body, he wishes they could do everything over again. So they do.
Relax. The movie is not about to double in length.
So now Becky still came onto Dag in Europe, but after some lip-locking Dag leaves with his honour intact. The couples still fight over it. Peter, who was cool with Becky screwing his best friend, becomes livid over some tonuge and ends the relationship. Halley gets over her anger by "getting even" in the form of kissing this black cellist (Andre). Andre's wife/girlfriend (timelines aren't clear here) sees this, and throws flowers in his face. Dag and Halley, happy again, accidently bump into Paula, who turns and angrily calls Dag an asshole...before shooting him and Halley in the back. Well, there's one last twist in the film, and I'll spoil it for you: she was imagining the gun.
Diggs looks about 5,000 years younger in this 2002 film than he looks now, and reminded me a lot of another black artsy cello player from New York. The movie also had some unanswered questions, namely:
- Why did the Ferrari girl's eyes light up? Was she responsible for the time-shift at the end of the movie?
- Did Dag sleep with Paula? Did she arrange his "mugging"?
Reason not to see this film: It makes little sense.
Reason to see this film: Marissa Tomei is hot.


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Experience the real Middle-earth with a visit to the Hobbiton Movie Set, featured in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films.
Your guided tour starts with a drive through our picturesque 1,250 acre sheep farm with spectacular views across to the Kaimai Ranges.
Take a look at Bag End, where Frodo and Bilbo's adventures began. Get lost among the hobbit holes and visit the Green Dragon Inn, the mill and the Party Tree. Listen to spell-binding tales of how Hobbiton came to be.
Tours depart daily from the Shire's Rest Cafe, 501 Buckland Road Matamata.


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Modern Hebrew Complete (with audio)
This course aims to teach both vocabulary and grammar for modern Hebrew. The course will start at the most basic level and move up to advanced. This course does not utilize the nikkud (vowels markers) as the aim is to be able to read and speak modern hebrew. Note: This course is sti… Plus »
29k étudiant durée moyenne de 14h


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The Message of the UN Secretary-General
The pursuit of happiness lies at the core of human endeavours. People around the world aspire to lead happy and fulfilling lives free from fear and want, and in harmony with nature.
Yet, basic material well-being is still elusive for far too many living in extreme poverty. For many more, recurring socio-economic crises, violence and crime, environmental degradation and increasing threats of climate change are an ever-present threat.
At last year's Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, United Nations Member States agreed on the need for a balanced approach to sustainable development by integrating its three pillars – economic growth, social development and environmental protection. They recognized that in order to better inform policy decisions, broader measures of progress should complement Gross Domestic Product.
I am encouraged by the efforts of some Governments to design policies based on comprehensive well-being indicators. I encourage others to follow suit.
On this first International Day of Happiness, let us reinforce our commitment to inclusive and sustainable human development and renew our pledge to help others. When we contribute to the common good, we ourselves are enriched. Compassion promotes happiness and will help build the future we want.


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By Joshua Brickman, CA Technologies
I have a great job at CA Technologies, I can't deny it. Working in CA Technologies Federal Certification Program Office, I have the responsibility of knowing what certifications, accreditations, mandates, etc. are relevant and then helping them get implemented.
One of the responsibilities (and benefits) of my job is getting to go to great conferences like the RSA Security Conference which just wrapped last week. This year I was honored to be selected by the Program Committee to speak twice at the event. Both talks fit well to the Policy and Government track at the show.
First I was on a panel with a distinguished group of senior leaders from both industry and government. The title of the session was, Certification of Products or Accreditation of Organizations: Which to Do? The idea was to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of individual product certifications vs. looking at an entire company or business unit. Since I've led CA through many product certifications (certs) and have been involved in accreditation programs as well, my position was to be able to bring real-world industry perspective to the panel. The point I tried to make was that product certs (like Common Criteria – CC) add value, but only for the specific purpose that they are designed for (security functions). We've seen CC expanding beyond just security enforcing products and that's concerning. Product certs are expensive, time consuming and take away from time that could be spent on innovation. We want to do CC when it will be long lasting and add value.
On the idea of accreditation of organizations, I first talked about CMMI and my views on its challenges. I then shifted to the Open Trusted Technology Forum (OTTF), a forum of The Open Group, as I've written about before and said that the accreditation program that group is building is more focused than CMMI. OTTF is building something that – when adopted by industry and THEIR suppliers – will provide assurance that technology is being built the right way (best practices) and will give acquirers confidence that products bought from vendors that have the OTTF mark can be trusted. The overall conclusion of the panel was that accreditation of organizations and certifications of products both had a place, and that it is important that the value was understood by buyers and vendors.
A couple of days later, I presented with Mary Ann Davidson, CSO of Oracle. The main point of the talk was to try and give the industry perspective on mandates, legislation and regulations – which all seemed to be focused on technology providers – to solve the cyber security issues which we see every day. We agreed that sometimes regulations make sense but having a clear problem definition, language and limited scope was the path to success and acceptance. We also encouraged government to get involved with industry via public/private partnerships, like The Open Group Trusted Technology Forum.
Collaboration is the key to fighting the cyber security battle. If you are interested in hearing more about ways to get involved in building a safer and more productive computing environment, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this blog. Cybersecurity is a complicated issue and there were well over 20,000 security professionals discussing it at RSA Conference. We'd love to hear your views as well.
This blog post was originally published on the CA Technologies blog.
Joshua Brickman, PMP (Project Management Professional), runs CA Technologies Federal Certifications Program. He has led CA through the successful evaluation of sixteen products through the Common Criteria over the last six years (in both the U.S. and Canada). He is also a Steering Committee member on The Open Group consortium focused on Supply Chain Integrity and Security, The Open Group Trusted Technology Forum (OTTF). He also runs CA Technologies Accessibility Program.


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Transport Canada toughens CBR safety regsWritten by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
Unmodified older DOT-111 (pre-CPC-1232) tank cars will be banned from Canadian rails after May 1, 2017. The industry's so-far voluntary CPC-1232 specification that has governed tank car fabrication since 2011 is being adopted as regulatory law, though that will be eventually superseded by whatever new standard emerges from an ongoing U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)/Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rulemaking process.
Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt also announced that the country's established Emergency Response Assistance Plans (ERAP) will be extended to cover trains with just a single carload of crude oil, ethanol, gasoline, diesel, or aviation fuel. Such ERAPs imply the pre-positioning of emergency response assets and trained personnel along the entire route and require the level of cooperation with emergency responders that municipalities in both Canada and the U.S. are demanding.
The new regulations are a response to interim recommendations emerging from the investigation into the July 2013 calamity at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Forty-seven people died when a runaway train carrying crude oil exploded upon derailment in the town's center. Canada's Transportation Safety Board has yet to publish its final report on the event that disrupted the unfettered growth of crude-by-rail since 2011.
The new regulations were detailed in an Emergency Directive and a companion Ministerial Order. Raitt said Canada's simpler regulatory process allows the country to act immediately with respect to tank car standards while waiting for the FRA and PHMSA to complete the consultations and deliberations required by U.S. regulatory practice.
The Emergency Directive expires in six months and will be replaced by what emerges from the parallel Ministerial Order, which directs railways to devise permanent operating rules for hazmat cargo. Notably, the Ministerial Order goes further than the Emergency Directive by demanding that a speed restriction of just 40 mph must apply to any train in which even a single unmodified DOT-111 is carrying high-risk cargo. The interim Emergency Directive applies only to trains including 20 or more cars of any type loaded with hazardous materials.
Disparities between Canada's regulatory system—essentially an extension of the government's executive power—and the more consultative process required of the FRA and PHMSA, have disrupted the usual synchronicity of rail regulation across North America. Historical practice has been for Transport Canada to await FRA regulation and endorse it with matching rules. This time, Canada acted first, partly because Lac-Mégantic was a domestic disaster and because the country's accident investigation legislation requires a government response within 90 days of any recommendation by the autonomous Transportation Safety Board.
Consequently, Canada chose as an interim measure to absorb into regulation the industry's voluntary CPC-1232 specification for tank cars built since October 2011, and to impose by law the voluntary speed restrictions urged upon U.S. railroads by the FRA. Transport Canada said the route selection measures included in the U.S. voluntary action are impractical in Canada, where there are few alternatives to the linear main lines that almost invariably run through the centers of the country's towns and cities.
Raitt said the tank car phase-out is faster than oil shippers wanted (though slower than Canada's Class I railways would like). She said she was confident that railcar builders can achieve the objective of providing sufficient new and upgraded cars to meet demand. Regardless of the pace of fleet renewal in the U.S., Canada will bar any tank car not meeting the CPC-1232 standard from Canadian rails after the May 2017 deadline.
The most significant divergence from U.S. practice is the requirement for Emergency Response Assistance Plans covering trains carrying dangerous goods. ERAPs are a Canadian innovation implemented following the 1979 derailment and explosion of a train carrying chlorine and propane in a heavily populated corridor west of Toronto. The new regulations extend the requirement for ERAPs to crude oil and ethanol and to trains hauling just one car of such cargo instead of the multi-car consists previously targeted by ERAP regulations. Also, the vast majority of tank cars are owned by shippers or railcar leasing companies, and the new ERAP protective direction is primarily directed at shippers.
The government has delegated development of ERAPs to an industry task force that will have 150 days to produce plans for Canada's crude oil and ethanol routes. The task force will include national firefighter organizations, municipalities, shippers, and industry associations, thus going some distance to appease the country's anxious first responders and municipal councils.
The measures may inspire similarly concerned first responders and local governments in the U.S. who must often react to incidents without adequate information, equipment, or training. If Canada does set the model for emergency response planning, this particular disruption of the continent's lockstep regulatory tradition may lead to a more socially sustainable regime for the transport of dangerous goods by rail.
CN response from President and CEO Claude Mongeau:
"CN supports and will implement relevant railway measures called for by Transport Canada's rail safety plan announced today. CN believes the plan will broadly help to advance rail and public safety with new requirements for all participants in the dangerous goods supply chain, including shippers, tank car owners, and railways. CN is studying the details of the government's plan but sees that it is generally in line with CN's views on improved tank car safety and the company's new operating practices for dangerous goods trains."
Canadian Pacific response from CEO E. Hunter Harrison:
"We welcome Transport Canada's announcement, but are disappointed with the [Canadian] federal government's incomplete actions around addressing human behavior factors affecting rail safety in Canada. CP has been a vocal proponent of increased tank car safety standards and we applaud the Minister of Transport's direction to eliminate the use of older DOT 111 tank cars. While we will comply with all the orders, and have started the process of implementing the various aspects within the timelines required, I must again reiterate that reducing train speeds does not address the causes of railway accidents, nor is it a solution to rail safety. Human behaviors are a significant factor and should be the focus if the goal is to truly improve safety. We believe that regulatory changes that would support the use of inward facing cameras in locomotives to allow for compliance monitoring and instituting a program to reduce grade crossings to decrease the incidence of crossing accidents would be key contributors in further advancing rail safety in Canada."
U.S. responses to Transport Canada's ruling:
"We are pleased that Transport Canada has recognized the safety benefits of the voluntary action items already implemented by railroads in the U.S.," said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. "Railroads also have been in the vanguard of those calling for the aggressive retrofit or phase-out of older tank cars currently in service moving flammable liquids, including crude and ethanol. Transport Canada has indeed recommended an aggressive timeline and we are confident that the industry will do all it can to meet it."
"We have been working closely with Canada on improving the safe transport of crude oil by rail for some time and applaud their efforts today," said Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo. "Their announcement is consistent with much of the work we've already begun in the United States, including voluntary agreements on routing and speeds that we have already secured. As Canada begins its rulemaking process on tank cars, we will continue working closely with them based on our existing work, including the possibility of an even more advanced tank car than is currently in use. Our countries have different processes, but we have the same goal—the safe transport of goods and people on the rails. DOT is committed to ensuring the safe transport of crude oil by rail and has already taken action on multiple fronts, including issuing emergency orders, conducting special inspections, and reaching immediate agreements with rail companies on reducing speeds, increasing inspections, using new brake technology, and investing in first-responder training."
"We share Transport Canada's commitment to improving the safety of transporting flammable liquids by rail," said RSI President Tom Simpson. "For the past three years, the railway tank car manufacturers and lessors have been working toward stronger standards for rail tank cars. In 2011, we began to voluntarily implement a new, stronger, standard for tank cars that was developed in conjunction with the Association of American Railroads. Already, we have committed to invest more than $7 billion to put 55,000 enhanced cars into service by 2015. Harmonization between Canadian and U.S. regulations is critical to maintaining a viable North American transportation system. We will review the full details of Transport Canada's regulations as soon as they are released and will work closely with both the railroad industry and the government to improve tank car safety."
Tank car manufacturer The Greenbrier Companies also responded. From Chairman and CEO William A. Furman:
"We are encouraged that Transport Canada has taken critical next steps to support the safe passage of dangerous goods. These are important standards for North America and we applaud the Government of Canada for its leadership in implementing them. In February 2014, Greenbrier announced its 'Tank Car of the Future,' a safer design for crude oil and ethanol service and the transport of other hazardous materials. This new design will address safety concerns from the existing legacy fleet of older DOT-111 cars and meet new industry and government standards for the transport of hazardous materials. Safety is paramount to our customers and within the rail industry. Our recent announcement that we are doubling Greenbrier's tank car production capacity will help the rail industry as we move toward greater regulatory certainty on tank car standards and address the measures announced by Minister Raitt."


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When Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., met with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board last week, she said reasonable people could pass a bill to apply $85 billion in sequester cuts more surgically. Too bad she's a member of Congress.
When Editorial Page Editor John Diaz asked whether she considers the scale of the cuts to be "reasonable and doable," she answered, "Yes, I do."
Alas, the Democrats' top budget man, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., believes that cutting $85 billion out of a $3.6 trillion budget is unthinkable, even to slow the growth of the $16 trillion national debt. Asked about proposals to redo the cuts so they target waste, he told CNN, "Rearranging cuts is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic."
President Barack Obama wants the cuts to be as painful as possible. In Newport News, Va., on Tuesday to speak before defense workers who might be laid off or furloughed, the president said, "Instead of cutting out the government spending we don't need — wasteful programs that don't work, special interest tax loopholes and tax breaks — what the sequester does is it uses a meat cleaver approach to gut critical investments in things like education and national security and lifesaving medical research." Yet he doesn't want the authority to target wasteful programs.
In Washington, Speier said, "Russian roulette is a favored pastime."
Then there's finger-pointing. House Speaker John Boehner likes to blame the Senate for not passing an alternative measure after the GOP House passed two bills to replace the across-the-board sequester cuts last year. But those bills included a poison pill; with their focus on cutting discretionary spending, they didn't have a prayer of passing the Democratic-led Senate.
Senate Democrats have a bill that smartly goes after farm subsidies but wrongly includes the "Buffett rule" to impose a minimum 30 percent tax rate on top investors. That bill won't pass both houses, either.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., told me he is a co-sponsor of the House version of the Senate bill because Republicans have to meet Democrats "halfway." The 2012 election, the former prosecutor explained, was like a jury trial. Obama ran on the "Buffett rule." Obama won, so Democrats should go for it.
But that bill won't fly. And the president also ran on deficit reduction. Here's his chance.
Senate Republicans are expected to introduce legislation Thursday to give the president the authority to make smarter sequester cuts — whether Obama wants it or not. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he won't vote for such a bill. Reid, too, invoked the Titanic's deck chairs. To D.C. Dems, smart cuts are analogous to hitting an iceberg.
That's why Republicans will let the bad cuts happen if they must. They know that if Washington cannot pull off these modest cuts — already included in the Budget Control Act — they must abandon any notion of fiscal discipline.
Timing worked against Republicans during the fiscal cliff negotiations; they could agree to Obama's tax increases or to bigger automatic increases slated to begin Jan. 1, so they took the better deal.
The March 1 sequester start date works for the GOP. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, told me: "We are going to make these cuts. We can do it (Obama's way), or we can do it a smarter way."
Email Debra J. Saunders at: [email protected].


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Stocks surge after Congress passes budget deal
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks roared higher on Wall Street and around the world after Congress passed a last-minute budget deal to avert sweeping tax hikes and government spending cuts.
The Dow Jones industrial jumped 308 points to close at 13,412 Wednesday, the first trading day of the year. That's the biggest gain the Dow has had since December 2011.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 36 points to 1,462. The Nasdaq composite rose almost 93 points to 3,112.
The gains were broad. Ten stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
Technology and bank stocks had the biggest gains.
Car-sharing company Zipcar surged 48 percent after agreeing to be bought by Avis for nearly $500 million.
Volume was heavier than the recent average at 4.1 billion shares.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


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Jackie the Hitler Saluting Dog Really Pissed Off the Nazis
A researcher in the German Foreign Office recently found documents concerning a Finnish dog named Jackie who, during WW2, was trained by its owner to give a Nazi salute on command. The Fuehrer-mocking dog made the Germans very angry.
The documents reveal that three German ministries became involved in the investigation of a Finnish pharmaceutical magnate, Tor Borg, and his dog Jackie, over reports that the dog was trained to mock Hitler. Diplomats in the Helsinki embassy told Berlin that "a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg's dog reacted to the command 'Hitler' by raising its paw."
The Germans toyed with the idea of running a smear campaign to ruin Borg's business, and even bringing him to trial, but the case never got that far. After questioning, German diplomats relayed to Berlin that "Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth." Hitler's Chancellory eventually decided that it wasn't worth it, and perhaps that handling a world war was more important than prosecuting a dog and its owner. While nothing came of the investigation, it should be noted that Jackie was lucky just to avoid assassination.
[Jackie wearing shades via AP]


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Pave Key Studs
Moondance Collection
14k Yellow, Rose or White gold post and friction back key studs with pave Diamonds.
Unless this item is currently in stock, it will be made to order for you and may take up to 6-8 weeks to ship. If you need it by a specific date, please email us at [email protected].


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There is good evidence that parental psychiatric disorder has a deleterious effect on child development. Rutter has outlined a number of possible reasons for this.1 First, there may be a direct pernicious impact on the child of exposure to the parental disorder. Second, there may be an indirect impact via the effect of the parental disorder on interpersonal behaviour in general and parenting in particular. Finally, the impact may be via third factor variables, such as the social adversity commonly associated with psychiatric disorder, or genetic or constitutional factors. Depression arising in the postnatal period could have an impact on infant development via each of these causal pathways. The infant's extreme dependency on their caretaker, their sensitivity to interpersonal contacts,2 and the fact that, in the great majority of cases, the mother constitutes the infant's primary environment in the first postnatal months, make the question of the impact of depression occurring at this time one of particular importance. An account is given below of the evidence implicating postnatal depression in adverse infant outcome. This evidence is then examined in the light of the possible causal frameworks outlined above.
A number of studies have examined the 1 to 2 year old infants of mothers who have had a postnatal depression.3-8 These studies have generally found an association between early maternal depression and adverse cognitive and emotional infant development.
Cognitive development
Two studies have reported on the cognitive outcome of 12 to 18 month old infants of mothers who had had a postnatal depression. Lyons-Ruth et al, in a comparison of American mothers and infants who had been referred to an infant intervention service with matched community controls,3 found that increased levels of maternal depression were significantly related at 1 year to poorer infant mental and motor development as assessed by the Bayley scales.9 This association was still present when maternal IQ had been controlled. Similarly, Murray, in a comparison of the development of a British community sample of full term healthy infants of primiparous women who had either remained well or who had been depressed postnatally, found a significant difference between the two groups of infants in terms of a number of indices of cognitive development.5 6 Thus, at an 18 month follow up, compared with the infants of postnatally well mothers, infants of mothers who had had postnatal depression were significantly more likely to fail on stage V of Piaget's object permanence task, a key measure of the infant's capacity for mental representation; and on the Bayley scales of mental development, an interaction was found between maternal mental state and infant gender: the boys of mothers who had had postpartum depression performed particularly poorly.
Emotional development
The impact of postnatal depression on the emotional development of infants has been studied in three ways.
(1) An examination has been made of the quality of the infant's interpersonal functioning when in direct communicative engagement with the mother. Stein and colleagues made standardised ratings of the quality of mother-infant interactions in free and structured play in the home in a community sample of mothers who had had a postnatal depression and their 19 months old infants, together with well controls.4 Compared with the latter group, the children of the index mothers showed less affective sharing, a lower rate of overall interactive behaviour, less concentration, and more negative responses. These infants also showed less sociability to a stranger.
(2) Assessments have been made of the quality of infant attachment (assessed by means of the Ainsworth strange situation procedure10 ). Four longitudinal studies have been carried out on postpartum samples where systematic assessment of infant attachment has been made. Lyons-Ruth and colleagues found an association between insecure attachment at 12 months and high levels of maternal depression.3 Similarly, Murray found a significant association between the occurrence of depression in the postnatal period and insecurity of attachment at 18 months postpartum, with avoidance being the prominent insecure attachment profile.5 This association between the postnatal mood disorder and insecure infant attachment to the mother was also found in a study conducted by Teti and colleagues in which clinically referred mothers with depression and their infants were compared with a non-depressed control group.7 In contrast to these three reports, Campbell and Cohn, in a low risk community sample, found no association between attachment status and maternal depression.8 However, some caution is required when considering this last result as the rate of follow up was low, and high rates of insecurity were present in both case and control groups. Finally, although Stein and colleagues made no formal assessment of attachment, they did make observations of the infant's reaction to being separated from the mother when in the presence of a stranger: distress was evidenced by significantly fewer of the children of the mothers who had had a postnatal depression, possibly indicative of a higher rate of avoidant attachments.4
(3) Finally, account has been taken of the level of behavioural problems. Murray interviewed mothers when their children were 18 months of age using a modified version of the behavioural screening questionnaire11 and found that, compared with women who had been well in the postnatal period, those who had experienced postnatal depression were more likely to report behavioural difficulties in the child.5 These principally concerned sleeping and eating problems, temper tantrums, and separation difficulties.
Taken together these studies attest to a significantly raised level of emotional disturbance in late infancy in the children of mothers who have had a postnatal depression.
Mediating mechanisms
As noted above, a number of mechanisms may mediate the association between the occurrence of postnatal depression and adverse infant outcome.
(1) The most direct environmental route to be considered is the child's exposure to the mother's depressive symptoms. It is certainly the case that, in the study of Lyons-Ruth and colleagues, infant outcome in terms of both cognitive development and attachment security was more compromised in the context of severe, rather than mild, maternal depression.3 In addition, Campbell et al found poor infant behaviour to occur in the context of interactions with the mother where the mother was chronically, but not more briefly, depressed.12 In contrast, other studies have found adverse infant outcome to obtain in spite of maternal remission from depression some months before the infant assessment. Thus, Steinet al found poor infant behaviour at 19 months to obtain in cases where the mother had been depressed postnatally, whether or not she had recovered by the time of the infant assessment.4 Similarly, Murray found the insecure attachment, behaviour problems, and poorer cognitive outcome associated with the occurrence of postnatal depression to obtain in infants of 18 months even though, in the great majority of cases, the mother's depression had remitted by around six to eight months postpartum.5 In this study, moreover, there was no association between infant outcome and the severity of the mother's postpartum depressive episode. These latter findings indicate, therefore, that although the infant's exposure to severe and prolonged depressive symptoms may contribute to poor outcome, other aspects of the infant's environment may also be important.
(2) The second causal route is via parenting difficulties associated with the occurrence of maternal depression. It is well established that depression is associated with a range of persistent difficulties in interpersonal functioning. Weissman and Paykel described, for example, how women who had experienced depression, but remitted, continued to show raised levels of irritability or withdrawn behaviour in the context of their close family relationships.13 It may be the case, therefore, that the experience of postpartum depression sets in train a pattern of relating to the infant that remains compromised in the longer term, in spite of the relatively brief duration of the initial episode. Support for this hypothesis comes from the study of Stein et al, who found the quality of maternal interactions with the infant to differ between well control group mothers and index mothers who had recovered from depression by the time of the assessment.4
In the study of Murray and colleagues, assessments were made of the quality of the maternal interactions with the infant at two months postpartum. As expected, the responsiveness of the depressed mothers was generally poorer than that of the well controls; and when the nature of this early maternal interactive behaviour was considered, it was found to account for the differences in the cognitive outcome at 9 and 18 months of the depressed and well mothers' infants.6 14 The interactive style associated with the occurrence of depression, therefore, rather than exposure to depressive symptoms per se, carries the major explanatory force. This conclusion is supported by studies of mother-infant interactions conducted in the US. Cohn and colleagues, for example, found that, within a postpartum depressed group, the form of the infant's response was systematically related to the particular quality of maternal behaviour: those with disengaged mothers showed high rates of protest behaviour, while those whose mothers were intrusive were avoidant.15 Such specificity in the associations between maternal and infant behaviours has been confirmed by Field et al.16 Finally, the study of Teti and Gelfand showed that maternal cognitions associated with depression were more important in explaining the quality of the mother-infant relationship than the occurrence of depression itself.17 Together these studies indicate that the primary determinant of the infant behaviour and outcome is the particular form of maternal responsiveness rather than the presence of depression per se.
(3) The third possible causal route is via third factor variables:
(A) Environmental adversity: as noted by Cooper and Murray, postnatal depression often occurs in the context of social and personal adversity.18 Since there is good evidence that such factors in themselves are associated with poor child outcome,19 it is possible that any association between postpartum depression and adverse infant development arises as a function of factors such as overcrowding, poverty, or marital discord, independent of the maternal mood disorder. Comparison of populations of depressed mothers in very differing social circumstances lends support to the idea that social adversity may well be of significance in understanding the adverse outcome of the offspring of postnatally depressed women. Thus, a number of studies conducted with very disadvantaged groups by Field and Cohn and colleagues have found depressed mothers' interactions with their infants to evidence high rates of marked disturbance.15 16 20 21 In contrast, those conducted with low risk samples found the interaction difficulties of depressed mothers to be less extreme.6 12 14 22 The impact of adversity has also been discernible within samples. Thus, Teti and colleagues found that, within a sample of postnatally depressed women, deficits in maternal feeding and play with the infant were significantly related to the presence of adversity.23 Similarly, Murray et al found that non-depressed women experiencing significant adversity showed similar interaction deficits to depressed women6 ; nevertheless, it remained the case that depressed women experiencing no adversity still showed significant interaction deficits compared with controls. In sum, while it is certainly the case that adversity is associated with more adverse mother-child relationships, and that adversity tends to stack up in depressed samples, the occurrence of depression itself is pernicious.
(B) Genetic/constitutional factors: while it has generally been assumed that associations between maternal depression and poor child outcome arise because of the impact of maternal factors on the child, recent research has highlighted the fact that relations between parents and their children are bidirectional in their influence.24 The possibility therefore needs to be addressed that poor child outcome, parenting difficulties, and even maternal depression itself may all be influenced by infant factors.
This question is difficult to address since it requires prospective investigation of the infant, independent of maternal functioning. However, Cutrona and Troutman found that the presence of irritable behaviour in the infant contributed to the persistence of depression.25 Similarly, Murray and colleagues found that certain infant characteristics (irritability and poor motor control), measured before the onset of any maternal depression at 10 days postpartum, significantly increased the risk that the mother would become depressed.26 Nevertheless, there was no evidence from the study of Murray and colleagues that infant factors had an independent impact on the quality of the mother-infant relationship at two months, and nor was there evidence for an impact of early infant characteristics on the longer term cognitive and emotional outcome of the child. Both the quality of maternal responsiveness and child outcome were, as noted above, principally affected by the presence of depression and social adversity.
It is evident that postnatal depression poses a risk for the mother-infant relationship and infant developmental outcome. The adverse effects of postnatal depression appear to be mediated through its association with maternal cognitions and parenting. The impact is likely to be more pernicious where the depressive episode is severe and prolonged, and where it occurs in the context of personal and social adversity.


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The primary concern of many males purchasing a vehicle (not us of course) is what type of member of the opposite sex it may lure. Here's ten cars and the corresponding women they attract.
Many guys hope their new car purchase will allow them to roll up to the line standing in the cold at their corner club on a Saturday night, and have the hottest woman waiting decide the car running its engine is the coziest place on earth for them. We here at Jalopnik know better. We know unless you're driving up in the hottest of hot supercars, the car you drive has less to do with attracting the girl you really want and more to do with attracting — well — other types of women. So instead of snagging Hottest Woman of 2008 Jennifer Connelly (seen to the left), you'll probably be swingin' with the following. Depending on which car you're driving, of course.
Click On The Photo To See The Woman Each Car Attracts
10.) 80's Era Muscle Car
9.) Late Model Euro Tuner
8.) Jacked-Up Offroader
7.) Rare Italian Exotic
6.) Clapped-Out Rice Rocket
5.) Classic VW Microbus
4.) Mack Daddy Pimp Cadillac
2.) Old School Hot Rod
1.) Sensible Japanese Import
[via Motive]


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SALISBURY — Just days after Wicomico officials expressed doubt about the availability of funding for a new James M. Bennett Middle School in the current year's budget, the county's Superintendent of Schools outlined several reasons why the money should be found for the new facility.
Last Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council voted to keep a new Bennett Middle School on the county's 2012 capital improvement "wish list," but expressed deep reservations about finding the estimated $15 million for the facility in this year's budget. Inclusion on the county's capital improvement plan does not commit the county to funding the project, but merely keeps it in the planning pipeline until funding becomes available. County Executive Rick Pollitt, Jr. all but acknowledged finding funding for the new middle school was a long shot, but urged the county council to keep it in Wicomico's long-range capital improvement plan.
"I agree we won't be able to do it, but we have to make an effort on behalf of those advocating for that school to move forward with it," he said. "I've never hidden my skepticism that we can afford it, but we don't need to make that decision today. I will not be irresponsible on this. I will not come forward to recommend this if we can't afford it."
This week, Wicomico County Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Fredericksen thanked the county elected officials for keeping the project alive on the long-range planning document and urged the county council to find a way to fund the new middle school. Fredericksen outlined several reasons for finding the $15 million needed for the new school.
"In fiscal year 2010, the County Council approved $5 million in construction for this project, but the sale of those bonds is still pending," he said in a statement. "It is critically important for the county to vote to fund this year's capital request of $15 million for a number of reasons."
Fredericksen then outlined dozens of reasons to move forward with the project, from the importance of its timing to the condition of the existing school along with several others. On the issue of timing, Fredericksen explained Wicomico has received state planning approval for a new Bennett Middle and is expected to receive state funding for construction this year, which could be in jeopardy if the county does not hold up its end of the equation.
"If county funding does not come through, it could mean that the state funding is not allocated," he said. "If Wicomico misses the state funding cycle for Bennett Middle construction this year, it would, in all likelihood, increase the projected cost of the project and delay it for several more years. While we understand and appreciate the tough economic conditions we are all in, we also realize that these same conditions are extremely favorable for construction."
A replacement Bennett Middle School has always been tied to a large phased-in project for the entire site, including a new James M. Bennett High School, which was completed last year. However, the entire Bennett High School complex cannot be finished until the existing Bennett Middle is demolished and rebuilt in a different location, according to Fredericksen.
In terms of instruction at the existing Berlin Middle School, Fredericksen said the facility's current condition and lack of up-to-date features could create a gap for many students before they get to the new Bennett High School.
"Students attending Bennett Middle come from several elementary schools, many of which use the latest instructional technologies," he said. "Many Bennett Middle students will go on to James M. Bennett High to experience its technology-rich instructional environment, but during their three years at Bennett Middle, access to instructional technology is severely limited by the facility."
Fredericksen also expressed deep concern about the current condition of the existing facility. He said the school does not include a fire suppression system, does not meet the new life safety building codes and does not meet the accessibility standards. In addition, the current facility does not have a full HVAC system.
"The school is deficient in many aspects, as was outlined in the feasibility study done in 2005," he said. "Bennett Middle is the only large school in Wicomico County without air conditioning."
Fredericksen also pointed out the current middle school has lost the after-school use of its grounds due to the construction of the new high school. For that and many other reasons, the middle school has lost its connection with the surrounding community.
"We are all aware of the funding issues government faces at all levels given the current revenue issues," he said. "The school system is developing its own budget for fiscal year 2012 and we face difficult decisions in trying to live up to our responsibility of providing a quality education even with shrinking resources. While this may not be an easy time for the county to vote on funding a major project like Bennett Middle, it is the right time."


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"30 Nights of StarPeace" Moves West
6 April 2010
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan Join the Celebration as the Event Arrives at 72-108 Degrees E Longitude
After the first three nights of StarPeace were celebrated at the same time by China, The Philippines and New Zealand, the celebration, organized by StarPeace in collaboration with Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) as part of "Global Astronomy Month" (GAM), moves 36 degrees toward the West. Between April 4 and 6, countries situated at 72-108 degrees E longitude are invited to observe the sky together and be "One People, One Sky."
So far, four countries have announced their participation: India with four groups, Pakistan with two groups, and Nepal and Sri Lanka with one group each.
In Delhi, Mila Mitra from S.P.A.C.E. India is holding stargazing sessions from the S.P.A.C.E. office during all the three days. On April 4, three other groups from India join in. Datta Deogaonkar from Ahmendnagar is organizing a stargazing program and giving a lecture on "Sky Watching and Astronomy" which is being broadcasted live at the "All India" radio station. On the morning of April 4, Manoj Pai from the Astronomy Club Ahmedabad is holding solar observations near Kankaria Lake simultaneously with Narendra Sagar Gor from the Kutch Amateur Astronomy Club.
At the same time, during the three nights of April 4-6, Suresh Bhattarai from the Nepal Astronomical Society is organizing star parties, while Thilina Heenatigala from the Sri Lanka Astronomical Association joins in with a sidewalk astronomy event on April 4. In Pakistan, a planetarium in Karachi is holding a special public event on April 4, while a group in Lahore holds events on April 5 and 6.
If your country is located at a longitude between 72 and 108 degrees E, you are invited to join the borderless celebration of the universe and become one people under the same sky.
More information about the "30 Nights of StarPeace" program taking place during April 2010, Global Astronomy Month, can be found on the "30 Nights of StarPeace" GAM web page.
Search IYA2009 Updates
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Featured Fashionista: Madison
31 comments
Yay! Madison is fabulous & gorgeous. I heart her!!ReplyDelete
She's a beauty, love her style, expecially that top look, gorgeous!! xxReplyDelete
Congrats babe! :) xxReplyDelete
Love here style. So unique and original.ReplyDelete
I love her!!! Madison is so lovely. :)ReplyDelete
OMG! Thank you so much Cheryl, I am overwhelmed with gratitude! Happy Monday love! -xxReplyDelete
She should already know that I am completely in love with her, but in case she didn't, I'm saying it here now. Again. Because it's true.ReplyDelete
I just love her.
Twitter: @GlamKitten88
Love her style!ReplyDelete
Great variety of looks!
- AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 11:16 AM
I love Madison! Great choice!ReplyDelete
love her look ! :DReplyDelete
I love the third look. Was surprise to find out her cover up could also be used as skirt. :)ReplyDelete
I love it when two of my favorite bloggers get together like this!ReplyDelete
What a fun style! So playful :)ReplyDelete
This girl has amazing style!ReplyDelete
I know and love Madison's style well. And her DIY pieces are truly original and uniqueReplyDelete
Hey Cheryl! Madison has a cute style. I love it. Very unique and original. Have a wonderful evening. :DReplyDelete
I am liking the second and the last one. She looks stunning in those two picsReplyDelete
I read Madison's blog :) Great stuff xxxReplyDelete
I have visited her blog quite a number of times. One fashionable lady.ReplyDelete
Thank you for visiting my blog by the way.
I enjoy reading her blog. So nice to see her featured here. xxReplyDelete
i like her style. so fierceReplyDelete
Hooray, hooray for Madison! I visit Fashion Tales a few times a week, and am always impressed by Madison's DIY's and stunning ensembles! :)ReplyDelete
such a cool sense of style.ReplyDelete
Love her style & blog!ReplyDelete
I loved her style.ReplyDelete
She looks gorgeous! Love the one with fedora hat especially :) -akikoReplyDelete
Ah my pretty Madison has been featured on your pretty blog!! What a beautiful and perfectly stylish combination!!!:)ReplyDelete
kisses to both of u!!!
Jelena (glamfabchameleon.blogspot.com)
One more day until the end of jewelry giveaway!!
aw nice feature! i love that her style always has a touch of 'fun'ReplyDelete
Oohhh wow pretty! She has a great style! Fab! :)ReplyDelete
OH Madd!!! She is literally one of my favorite people on the internet. So so so sweet, creative, crafty and obviously gorgeous with great style. Wonderful choice.ReplyDelete


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Developer Spotlight: Shortbreak Studios
As its latest title comes with the unique proposition of helping a children's charity, we thought it time to learn more about Polish iOS developer, Shortbreak Studios.
Who is Shortbreak Studios?
Part of Techland, one of the biggest Polish game developers out there thanks to its work on titles such as the Call of Juarez games, Shortbreak Studios is made up of a core team of 9 passionate developers. A mixture of programmers, designers, level designers, artists and a producer, the company benefits from relying on Techland to work out the finances and allowing the team to focus on the creative side of things. As explained by producer, Pawel Rohleder, it means the combination of "the flexibility and creativity of a small independent development studio with the experience and knowledge of an established player in the gaming industry!"
Why should I remember the Shortbreak Studios name?
There are a couple of good reasons, so far. First of all, they made Sugar High, a game that perhaps owed a little too much to Tiny Wings but still proved to be great fun. More importantly, Shortbreak Studios has worked in conjunction with the Cape of Hope Foundation in order to create oncology clinic for children with Cancer.
How did Heal Them All come about?
Pawel Rohleder explains, "We have been supporting Cape of Hope for some time and it was our mutual idea to create a game about defending the organisms for mobile devices. We thought that fighting microbes inside the human body would be [a] very nice setting for a tower defense game as this genre is very popular on mobile patforms. Another idea was the freemium business model as we wanted to reach as many users as possible by offering a part of our game for free." Notably, Heal Them All is entirely free to try out with the full campaign unlocked for $1.99.
What's next on the horizon?
The team has lofty plans, with Pawel happily declaring the ambition that many hold, "Our main goal is to conquer the whole world with our mobile games!" At the moment, though, the firm is mostly working on two different projects that they aren't able to discuss just yet, as well as porting to other devices. Possible updates for their current titles are also in the works and currently being brainstormed.
Anything else I should know about Shortbreak Studios?
Pawel was all too keen to tell us just what he and the rest of the team love about iOS development.
Pawel: Everything! We enjoy every aspect of mobile game development and we put a lot of effort and passion into every step of [the] production process. We believe this is the only way to make high quality games. One of the most important…[parts] in efficient mobile development is rapid prototyping. Each prototype must convince us that this could be a GREAT game. We cancel the project if we do not believe in its playable demo. And the sooner, the better. The development process itself is also very interesting because of tons of small decisions that the team needs to make in [terms] of hard negotiations or just [our] gut feeling ;). Personally, I love the final stage of the development where all individual assets turn into a working product and our vision materializes into a real game. This…shows us that it was all worth the effort but…it always makes us come up with a lot of new ideas and changes that we could make to improve the final quality.
Where can I find out more about Shortbreak Studios?
We'll be keeping an eye on the company's progress. There's also its website, Facebook page, Google+ page and Twitter account.
Heal Them All is available now, for free. But do consider paying towards the full unlock, given where the profits are going.