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Despite the seemingly rushed nature of Sony Pictures' reboot of the Spider-Man franchise after dropping Sam Raimi's problematic Spider-Man 4, The Amazing Spider-Man - despite its flaws - successfully reintroduced Peter Parker in large part due to its roster of talent onscreen. For The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marc Webb looks to keep that magic flowing with inspired casting that already includes Jamie Foxx as the villainous Electro, Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) as Mary Jane and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) as Harry Osborn.
Today we've learned that Sony is looking to bolster the cast led by Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone even more by adding Paul Giamatti and Felicity Jones.
The scoop comes from THR who have it on good authority that Oscar-nominated Paul Giamatti is in negotiations to join The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the villainous Rhino, while Brit actress Felicity Jones (Like Crazy) is also in talks for another, unknown role. Could she play one-time love interests Betty Brant or Liz Allan, or is Webb pulling out all the stops and introducing Felicia Hardy AKA Black Cat?
The report confirms Sony's attempt at distancing itself from the Sam Raimi trilogy of Spider-Man films by taking advantage of a different set of villains. Both Electro and Rhino were mentioned among fan wishlists for inclusion in Raimi's ill-fated Spider-Man 4 and will finally get their chance in the Marc Webb universe.
Every character Giamatti touches is gold and to see him play the physically-dominant Rhino will be something unique for the superhero genre, especially given the track record of the franchise to successfully adapt the more "out there" characters like Sandman and The Lizard. So, expect to see a super-powered and gigantic Rhino on screen battling Spider-Man.
In Marvel Comics, Rhino (real name: Aleksei Sytsevich) was a member of the Russian mafia who, after undergoing a lengthy process genetic manipulation with chemicals and radiation, was given his superhuman abilities, but unfortunately no superhuman level of intelligence. His powers are further enhanced by a suit he wears on top of his thick armored skin.
As our own Kofi Outlaw brought up in chatting with Marc Webb last summer, it looks as if the end credits sequence of The Amazing Spider-Man and the plans for the sequel could be leading to the formation of the Sinister Six (read Webb's curious response here), where multiple Spidey villains (The Lizard, Electro and Rhino included in various incarnations) form together. Such a large-scale threat certainly boosts the blockbuster appeal of the franchise in a post-Avengers genre.
[Update: I made this. 9-foot Paul Giamatti running headfirst into walls. Think about it.]
For fans of The Amazing Spider-Man video game, I met with the producers behind it who spent many hours working with Sony to ensure the game fits within the plans for the film universe where Oscorp and their biological experimentation were the central point for all of the super-powered characters we know from years of Marvel Comics. Rhino (pictured up top) was re-imagined for the game.
Fun fact: The Oscorp tower from The Amazing Spider-Man almost made its way into The Avengers but digital effects on the New York skyline were already near completion.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 releases May 2, 2014.
Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes for more!
Source: THR


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Magento 2.X + Rocket.Chat Integrations
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subset: commoncrawl


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February 24, 2007-Inside the Elephant
Erawan Park, Samut Prakhan
Near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, some 30 kilometers down stream from Bangkok, lies the city of Samut Prakhan where Thai kings built forts on either bank to protect against invaders seeking access up the river into the heart of the kingdom.
We visited Samut Prakhan one Saturday and wandered for an hour around the old city and then through the wet market on the river front.
Hot and tired and dusty we found a coffee shop with air con and over a cup of espresso we looked at our map and tried to think of what to do next.
There was that museum with the big elephant, right? But it's not on the map! We got the name from the coffee shop owner after drawing a picture of the big elephant with three heads, and not knowing where it was, but armed with the name of the place (Erawan) in Thai, we caught a taxi. I waved the piece of paper with the Thai words at the driver and off we went. Soon we were in the shadow of the biggest elephant we've ever seen.
Of course it is a fake elephant. They don't come with three heads and stand 50 meters tall. And what's more, the museum is inside of it.
wingssail image-fredrick roswold
Inside the Elephant
We had to go in of course, and we walked up the stairs inside the right rear leg to the belly of the elephant to the shrine inside.
In the quiet, dark, and ice cold (due to the heavy air conditioning) eerie space inside the elephant's belly we sat on the polished hardwood floor at the back and watched the tourists and give homage to the statues of Buddha. After all the tourists left we walked down slowly and looked at all the carvings on the walls, ceiling, and stairs of this interesting museum, and we were glad we came to Samut Prakhan and saw the giant elephant.
Click HERE and HERE to see more photos.
Fred & Judy, Bangkok
Labels: Thailand


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January 17, 2013 – Dow breaks through resistance, targets 13,900: Builders broke ground on more houses than forecast in December, capping the best year for the industry since 2008. In addition, U.S. jobless claims sunk to the lowest level in five years. These two items, alongside EBay's estimate-beating revenue results, are causing the U.S. equity markets to continue their bullish tone today, with the MAR13 E-mini S&P 500 trading up 8.75 points to 1475. 1500 is obviously not that far away, and we continue to believe that the market will touch that level in Q1. It will be very interesting to see how the market responds if it hits 1500. We foresee, if this occurs, a media deluge of headlines saying the bulls are back or something to that effect. This could in turn incite even more buying.
The U.S. bond futures are sliding down today, with the MAR 10-year note trading down 12 ticks to 131'30. We believe that the first half of the year may result in a large bond market down move, especially if labor numbers keep coming in very strong. The conventional wisdom is that markets take the stairs up but the elevator down. Thus we believe a potential bond market selloff could happen fairly rapidly if 2013 truly turns on to a full-fledged risk on environment for investors.
Gold futures have had interesting price action thus far this morning. With an initial dip to $1,666, gold buyers came in strong to cause a rally of more than $20 in just a couple of hours. Gold is approaching our resistance level of $1,690. We don't believe gold is due for a big rally and think that it will come back down if the stock markets of the world continue to rally.
We focus our technical analysis on the MAR-13 mini Dow futures for you. The Dow is breaking through some key resistance today, trading above the important level of 13,500. The Dow is well above our key pivot level of 13,000. According to our technical analysis, we believe the next upside target for the Dow stands at 13,900. We believe this level will be hit in Q1. (Credits – By Anthony Lazzara for Futures Magazine – DJIA Price Chart Courtesy Genesis Financial Technologies, Inc.).
The Master of Disaster


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2004 Mazda Mazda3 Reviews and Ratings
Sedan 4D i
Expert Reviews
The all-new 2004 Mazda 3, or Mazda3, as Mazda calls its new line of compacts, replaces the tried-and-true Protege. The Mazda3, available as a four-door sedan or five-door hatchback, is bigger, more powerful, more fuel efficient, safer and better-looking than the Protege. There isn't much more that could be asked of a car beginning a new generation, especially a compact car. Oh yes, it's cheaper, too, when you compare content along with price.
The four-door and five-door models each offer their own styling. The sedan has a sweet, rounded shape and smooth, cohesive design. The five-door looks more aggressive and is available with a more powerful engine and bigger brakes. Its hatchback design and folding rear seats makes it suitable for a trip to Home Depot.
On twisty country roads the Mazda3 is a blast. Handling is quick and nimble and the available 2.3-liter engine delivers spirited performance. The five-speed manual shifts beautifully and there's an interesting automatic that has a manual-shift feature.
The Mazda3 four-door sedan comes with a 2.0-liter engine, while the five-door hatchback is available with either a 2.0-liter or 2.3-liter engine.
Mazda3i is the designation for the 2.0-liter, and it only comes in a four-door ($13,680), which doesn't include air conditioning, power windows, mirrors or door locks, cruise control, automatic transmission or ABS. Some good things it does include are a stainless steel exhaust system, halogen headlights, a great five-speed transmission, AM/FM/CD sound system, and two-stage front airbags, adjusted for appropriate deployment power by sensors.
The package you need for that base stripper ($1,190) includes the power controls, cruise control and remote entry, more adjustment for the driver's seat, and 16-inch alloy wheels. That still leaves out the optional air conditioning ($850) and automatic transmission ($900). Even more important is the safety package ($800), a deal you can't afford to pass up, which includes ABS with EBD (brake distribution electronically balanced front-rear), side-impact airbags for the front seats, and side air curtains for front and rear passengers. That would make a well-equipped Mazda3i more like $17,420 plus $520 destination.
The Mazda3s is available as a four-door ($16,405) or five-door ($16,895). Standard equipment includes all the power conveniences and air conditioning and foglights. Options include the automatic transmission and the safety package with ABS/side airbags/curtains; plus leather interior ($590), Sport Package with 17-inch wheels ($490), Moonroof and 6-CD package ($890), HID headlights and tire-pressure monitoring system ($700) and navigation system ($1750).
The Mazda3 is a wonderful car to walk around. Both of them. The four-door and the five-door share no body panels. This represents what Mazda is known for: innovation and the risk that comes with it. But when you look at the two cars, you can see that the styling of each nose would only work with its own tail. Grafting a hatchback onto the nubile nose of the four-door would never do. The five-door needed an edgy nose, which it got. It's uncommon for a manufacturer to go to the extra expense of making more of a second body than is mechanically necessary. Mazda had a high styling standard for this car.
The four-door sedan has a sweet rounded shape forward of the A-pillar, rising gently from the hood. The trademark wedge of a grille has horizontal bars, softer than the five-door's tough black mesh. The headlamps have a smooth and sexy shape, swept back like a cat and sparkling with three beams inside. The whole front bumper, including the dam at the bottom with foglights at the corner, is impressively one piece. There's a small seam on each fender between the headlights and the wheel opening, and between the headlights there's only the hood crack. Everything south of that is one smooth and effective piece.
The rear of the sedan is another smooth cohesive design with the integrated bumper, and again only small seams at the edge. The deck is short and high and nicely softened at the top edge. At all four corners, the wheelwells fit more tightly around the tires; there used to be a rule at Mazda that there had to be enough of a wheelwell gap to install tire chains without removing the tire, which the stylists hated and finally defeated with the Mazda3.
The stance of the five-door is no wider, but it appears wide-shouldered because of the aggressive nose; the fenders are dropped and sculpted to rise to the hood. The boxy top half also makes it look wider. There's less rake from the tops of the doors to the roof (affording more shoulder room), but the tail of the roof is gently rounded to the liftgate window, to soften the profile. There's a tidy spoiler above the window.
The rear fenders are aggressively defined over the wheels. There's a big notch on the rear bumper under the hatchback's liftgate for the back of your hand when you grab the latch. We thought the design was a bit exaggerated until we used it the first time and appreciated its excellent function.
The taillights chase after the twentysomething sport compact set. The glass is clear, and inside there are three bulbs: amber turn signal, white backup, and red brake. It's a style that has gone more or less mainstream, with manufacturers trying to appeal to trends that began with aftermarket and the young.
It's especially nice that there's no chrome trim. Black around the windows, body colored everywhere else.
Mazda3 is a global car, sharing technology and components with both the upcoming Volvo S40 and the European Ford Focus. It's like a talent co-op. People say component sharing makes cars all the same but it's not so. Mazda developed the engines and transmissions, Volvo did the chassis and safety, and Ford did the suspension design. The suspension tuning was back in Mazda's hands, worked out at their rolling Hiroshima test track. Each manufacturer did what it does best, and the result is the best of three worlds.
Mazda3 is a couple inches longer, wider and taller than the old Protege. A lot of work went into the new unibody chassis, which is 40 percent more rigid than the Protege's. Mazda had a bare chassis on display at the vehicle's introduction, painted different colors to designate features pertaining to safety and beefy structure. In a head-on collision the front of the chassis is designed to redirect energy to the outside rails, and not down the center toward the front seats. The steering column is crushable and the pedals are designed to retract away from the driver's feet.
The standard cloth interior is sturdy, in blue or red check with leather at the edges. The leather is smooth and black and a well-priced option compared to other cars.
The seats have adequate bolstering, but when Mazda's performance arm, Mazdaspeed, makes a version of the Mazda3 it should have racier seats. Power seats aren't available, but who needs them in a car this small? There is adjustable lumbar support, and the hip position is elevated, reducing front legroom a touch, but providing excellent forward visibility as well as a very tidy relationship with the pedals and especially the short shift lever. There's no dead pedal, but the outside of the driver's right shin rests comfortably on the edge of the center stack.
In the rearview mirror of the five-door, the two rear headrests and the center brake light (CHMSL) intrude a little bit into window space.
The three-spoke leather steering wheel feels great in the hands, and the control buttons (cruise control, sound system) have a positive feel. There's an attractive faux carbon fiber horizontal strip on the panel, while the dashboard shelf is golf ball grainy, not unlike the new Cadillacs, although Mazda says it was the Porsche Boxster they were trying to copy.
The glovebox is not only huge (9 quarts), but the door is dampened and it has its own light. There's a deep but not long console under the driver's right elbow, and between the seats are two built-in cupholders with a neatly hinged cover in black plastic. The cupholders have a canal between them so other things such as a cellphone can be stored and easily reached there.
Cargo space with the seats folded flat in the five-door is 31.2 cubic feet. We came out of an Ikea store with an unassembled table in a flat box measuring 48 inches long and 30 inches wide, and it slid neatly in the back of the five-door with the 60/40 fold-down rear seat flattened. Flipping the seats down is easy. We reached in from behind, pressed down on one small square button on each side, and an easy shove forward dropped each seat flat. A separate compartment is hidden under the floor.
The three big gauges are dead ahead for the driver, but they're awfully busy down in the tunnels where they effectively hide from the glare of the sun. They are electroluminescent, which means day or night the numbers are lit in reddish-orange. Even without the color the 140-mph speedometer is busy, with hash marks and a smaller kilometer measure with more hash marks inside the mph numbers. The dash panel looks better at night than day, with the reddish-orange lighting having its chance to be seen. There are glowing rings around most of the dials including the cigarette lighter, in kind of a dull maroon.
There are 12 new colors, some of which look almost metalflake, for example the new Solar Yellow Mica, probably just as bright but not quite as bold as the Protege5 yellow.
The larger, more powerful 2.3-liter engine that comes with the Mazda3s has plenty of spirit. It makes 160 horsepower, but it is after all a non-turbocharged four-cylinder, so there's not a ton of torque. At 1000 rpm there's only 120 pounds-feet and it climbs to 140 at 3000 and peaks at 150 at a relatively high 4500 rpm. Be prepared to downshift to accelerate suddenly, either with the manual five-speed gearbox or the four-speed automatic.
Redline is 6500 rpm but the engine is happy zooming to 7000. The 16-valve engine is quite sophisticated, with variable valve timing and a variable induction system which optimizes intake efficiency and torque. The block is aluminum, there's a cam chain rather than a belt, and the exhaust manifold is stainless steel. It's very smooth and quiet at consistent freeway speeds, and has a nice sporty sound when the engine's revving under acceleration. The 2.3-liter engine with the manual transmission gets 25/32 miles per gallon, and the 148-horsepower 2.0-liter gets 28/35.
The standard five-speed manual shifts beautifully, especially the upshifts, which were almost as smooth as an automatic, with no real driver effort. This is the result of the redesigned synchronizers and cable linkage for reduced friction.
Mazda calls the optional automatic transmission Activematic. You can just put it in Drive and go, but it features a manual mode programmed for quick shifting, making the Mazda3 the only car in its class offering such a transmission. It's also programmed to maintain its gear going downhill for slope control (engine braking), and uphill to reduce hunting.
Handling is quick and nimble, making the Mazda3 fun to drive. On twisty country roads, the Mazda3 is a blast and it's sharp, true and steady in emergency lane-change maneuvers. The Ford group in England designed the suspension, but it was tuned by Mazda at its long, rolling test track at Hiroshima.
The five-door with the 2.3-liter engine comes with slighter larger brakes than those on the 2.0-liter Mazda3i. We found the brakes to be quite effective and sensitive; a mere light touch on the brake pedal around town is nice. In fact, the whole braking system has been upgraded with better hoses, master cylinder and pads, plus wider tires.
Mazda is rightly boastful about its new entry level car, because it offers far more than anyone might expect in this price class. It's solidly executed, with no flaws, at least not at first blush: strong engine, transmission, handling, brakes, comfort, packaging and looks. The five-door should be the shape of things to come with its versatility.
The old econobox ain't what it used to be. This is what it has become. Is this a great world or what?


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Yani Tseng missed a chance to tie the record she shares at 8 under for the best nine-hole score in LPGA Tour history. She also missed out on the outright lead in the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup when her short birdie try slid left on the final hole.
The top-ranked Taiwanese star made about everything else on the back nine Thursday at Wildfire Golf Club, playing a seven-hole stretch in 7 under and finishing with a 7-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead with Hee Young Park.
The LPGA Tour begins its U.S. schedule with the second edition of the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, which now features a $1.5 million purse and a four-day, 72-hole format.
"Yesterday, I was reading the player guide and I look at all the records and I see lowest nine holes was me. I was 8 under," Tseng said. "I didn't pay attention about that until after I missed the putt the last hole."
Tseng birdied the 11th, 13th and 14th holes, eagled the par-5 15th, and birdied the 16th and 17th. On the 18th, she hit a 7-iron from 168 yards to 4 feet, then pulled her birdie putt just wide.
"I tried too hard on the last hole," Tseng said. "I think it's harder at the end because you are trying, you're saying, `Oh, I have three, I have four.' And you want to go five, six, seven, and every hole is harder. You're just trying harder and harder."
Park closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth for her 65.
"Most of the shots were perfect," the South Korean player said.
Jiyai Shin opened with a 66, and second-ranked Na Yeon Choi was another shot back along with Karen Stupples, Pernilla Lindberg and Hee Kyung Seo in the LPGA Tour's first U.S. event of the year after stops in Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
Tseng successfully defended her Honda LPGA Thailand title in February for her 13th LPGA Tour victory. She led the tour last season with seven victories -- including major victories in the LPGA Championship and Women's British Open -- and finished the year with 12 worldwide titles.
Playing in the late afternoon with the temperature in the low 80s in perfect conditions, Tseng holed a 9-foot putt on the 485-yard 15th after fading her 219-yard approach with a rescue club to the middle pin placement.
"It was a little fade, a little cut there," Tseng said. "It was just a little crowd, so I didn't know if my ball was close or not. But I had a good shot, and it was like 9 feet, and a pretty straight putt."
On the par-4 16th, her short iron shot to the elevated green spun back to 8 feet to set up a birdie. She then hit to 3 feet on the par-3 17th for her final birdie.
"I just hit it one shot at a time, because I don't even know what hole I am on," Tseng said. "I just really focus on one shot at a time, try to hit a good drive, get a good second shot and make good putt."
She played the first 10 holes in even par, countering a bogey on the fourth with a birdie on the par-5 fifth.
"I was missing a few putts," Tseng said. "But I kept telling myself, `Just be patient.'"
Park won the season-ending Titleholders last year for her first LPGA Tour victory. She birdied all four par-5 holes, and holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 eighth -- her 17th hole -- to get to 8 under.
"I played really good on the fairway," Park said. "I hit the fairway and then green. Lucky thing was most putts, birdie putts, were uphill. So, that's why I just hit it aggressive."
Shin birdied three of her final five holes in her bogey-free round.
"The weather was perfect this morning, no wind, and the greens were soft," Shin said. "I know this course is pretty tough. Desert course is always tough because the bounce, and the rough is pretty tough. I just more focus to the accuracy with my shot."
After winning eight LPGA Tour titles in a three-year stretch, Shin failed to win last season. In a bid to shake things up, she has a new blonde hairdo.
"A lot of Asian players play here. They're black or dark brown, so I wanted to make like fresh," the straight-hitting South Korean said,
Defending champion Karrie Webb was in a group at 68 that included Kraft Nabisco winner Stacy Lewis, U.S. Women's Open champion So Yeon Ryu, Cristie Kerr and Ai Miyazato. Lewis birdied the par-5 fifth -- her 14th -- to top the leaderboard at 6 under late in the morning session, but had a double-bogey 6 on No. 8.
Stupples had surgery last week to remove an ovarian cyst and polyps. She withdrew from the pro-am Wednesday and was worried about being able to play Thursday.
"I went through the warmup," the English player said. "Everything felt great on the warmup and I said, `Let's give it a go.' So, here we are."
She lost 21 pounds before the start of the season.
"It got to the point last year where I was over in Malaysia and really struggling playing in the hot weather and the temperatures," Stupples said. "We play so much overseas and a lot of high temperatures, and I really felt like the weight I was at was holding me back from achieving what I wanted to do. ... If you're not carrying an extra 20 pounds around, it has to make a huge difference."
DIVOTS: Tseng shot an 8-under 28 on the front nine in a third-round 62 in her 2009 Corning Classic victory. Eight other players have shot 28 in LPGA Tour play. ... The winner will receive $225,000 from the $1.5 million purse. Last year in the inaugural event, the players competed for a mock purse and charity donations. ... Angela Stanford, coming off a playoff victory Feb. 26 in Singapore in the HSBC Women's Champions, opened with a 75. ... The tour will be in California the next two weeks for the Kia Classic and Kraft Nabisco.


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The April 24 collapse of the Rana Plaza building, just outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city, killed over 1,100 garment workers toiling in the country's growing export sector.
The horrors of the Rana Plaza disaster, the worst ever in the garment industry, sent shockwaves across the globe. In the United States, the largest single destination for clothes made in Bangladesh, newspaper editors called on retailers whose wares are made in the country's export factories to sign the legally binding fire-and-safety accord already negotiated by mostly European major retailers. Even some of the business press chimed in. The editors of Bloomberg Businessweek admonished global brand-name retailers that safe factories are "not only right but also smart." But just two U.S. retailers signed on, while most opted to sign a non-legally binding ersatz accord.
The business press, however, also turned their pages over to sweatshop defenders, contrarians who refuse to let the catastrophic loss of life in Bangladesh's export factories shake their faith in neoliberal globalization. Tim Worstall, a fellow at London's free-market Adam Smith Institute, told Forbes readers that "Bangladesh simply cannot afford rich world safety and working standards." Economist Benjamin Powell, meanwhile, took the argument that sweatshops "improve the lives of their workers and boost growth" out for a spin on the Forbes op-ed pages.
The sweatshop defenders are twisting Bangladesh workers' need for more and better jobs into a case for low wages and bad working conditions. Their misleading arguments, moreover, are no excuse for major U.S. retailers to refuse to sign onto the European-initiated safety agreement, a truly positive development in the fight against sweatshops.
More Jobs, Not More Sweatshops
Bangladesh is "dirt poor," as Worstall puts it. The country is on the United Nations' list of 46 Least Developed Countries. Its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the most common measure of economic development, is about one-fiftieth that of the United States.
The garment industry is the leading sector of the Bangladeshi economy, responsible for some 80% of total exports by value. Bangladesh's garment exports tripled between 2005 and 2010, boosting the nation's growth rate. By 2011, Bangladesh was the third-largest exporter of clothes in the world, after China and Italy.
On top of that, the garment industry has provided much-needed jobs. Bangladesh has about 5,000 garment factories that employ 3.6 million workers, the vast majority of them women. Wages for women in the garment industry were 13.7% higher than wages for women with similar years of education and experience in other industries in Bangladesh, according to a 2012 study. And the most common alternative employments for women, such as domestic service and agriculture labor, pay far less than factory jobs.
Still, none of that is a good reason to endorse sweatshops.
While Bangladesh's garment industry boosted economic growth and added to employment, neither its horrific working conditions nor its dismally low wages improved without government intervention.
Rana Plaza was a deathtrap. But it was only the latest tragedy to have struck Bangladeshi workers sewing garments for major U.S. and European retailers. Less than five months earlier, a devastating fire at Tazreen Fashions, a garment factory not far from Rana Plaza, killed 117 workers. In addition to the 1,129 workers killed at Rana Plaza, more than 600 garment workers have died in factory fires in Bangladesh since 2005, according to Fatal Fashion, a 2013 report published by SOMO Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations. From 2000 to 2010, wages in the garment industry remained flat, according to a survey conducted by War on Want, a British nonprofit. Even after the minimum wage in the garment industry nearly doubled in 2010, itself part of the fight against sweatshop conditions, wages remained among the lowest in the world. A seamstress in Bangladesh earns less than $50 a month, versus $100 in Vietnam and $235 in China, according to World Bank data. The bottom line, as Businessweek puts it, is that "Bangladesh's $18 billion garment industry relies on super-low wages and women desperate for work."
This does not mean that trying to improve these conditions is a futile undertaking. Safer working conditions and higher wages are unlikely to stand in the way of investment in Bangladesh's garment industry and job creation.
Factory costs, including wages, make up only a small portion of the overall cost of most garments. Leading Bangladesh garment makers told Businessweek that their total factory costs for a $22 pair of jeans was just 90 cents. That's just 4% of the price paid by consumers. On the other hand, a 2009 study of the sales in a major New York retail store found that the company could use "social labeling" to charge up to 20% more and still expect sales revenues to rise. In other words, doubling the wages paid to Bangladeshi garment workers and at the same time improving working conditions would not have to diminish retailer revenues.
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Nor does improving worker safety have to be that expensive. The Worker Rights Consortium, an independent labor-rights monitoring group, estimates that it would cost an average of $600,000 to elevate each of Bangladesh's 5,000 factories to Western safety standards, for a total of $3 billion. If the $3 billion were spread over five years, it would add an average of less than 10 cents to the price paid by retail companies for each of the 7 billion garments that Bangladesh sells each year to Western brands.
How to Stop Sweatshop Abuse
For sweatshop apologists like Worstall and Powell, yet more export-led growth is the key to improving working and safety conditions in Bangladesh. "Economic development, rather than legal mandates," Powell argues, "drives safety improvements." Along the same lines, Worstall claims that rapid economic growth and increasing wealth are what improved working conditions in the United States a century ago and that those same forces, if given a chance, will do the same in Bangladesh.
But their arguments distort the historical record and misrepresent the role of economic development in bringing about social improvement. Working conditions have not improved because of market-led forces alone, but due to economic growth combined with the very kind of social action that sweatshops defenders find objectionable.
U.S. economic history makes that much clear. It was the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which cost 146 garment workers their lives, along with the hardships of the Great Depression, that inspired the unionization of garment workers and led to the imposition of government regulations to improve workplace safety. Those reforms, combined with the post-World War II economic boom, nearly eliminated U.S. sweatshops.
Since then, declining economic opportunity, severe cutbacks in inspectors, and declining union representation have paved the way for the return of sweatshops to the United States. This trend further confirms that economic development, by itself, will not eliminate inhuman working conditions.
In contrast, a combination of forces that could eliminate sweatshops is forming in Bangladesh today. Despite the government's record of repressing labor protest and detaining labor leaders, the horror of the Rana Plaza collapse has sparked massive protests and calls for unionization in Bangladesh. In reaction, the government has amended its labor laws to remove some of the obstacles to workers forming unions, although formidible obstacles remain (including the requirement that at least 30% of the workers at an entire company—not at a single workplace as in the United States—be members of a union before the government will grant recognition).
Meanwhile, 80 mostly European retail chains that sell Bangladesh-made garments have signed the legally binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. For the first time, apparel manufacturers and retailers will be held accountable for the conditions in the factories that make their clothes. This "joint liability" aspect, a long-held goal of labor-rights advocates, is precisely what makes this international accord so important.
Negotiated with worker-safety groups and labor unions, the five-year accord sets up a governing board with equal numbers of labor and retail representatives, and a chair chosen by the International Labor Organization (ILO). An independent inspector will conduct audits of factory hazards and make the results public. Corrective actions recommended by the inspector will be mandatory and retailers will be forbidden from doing business with noncompliant facilities. Each retailer will contribute to the cost of implementing the accord based on how much they produce in Bangladesh, up to a maximum of $2.5 million over five years to pay for administering the safety plan and pick up the tab for factory repairs and renovations. The accord subjects disputes between retailers and union representatives to arbitration, with decisions enforceable by a court of law in the retailer's home country.
The signatories include Swedish retailer Hennes and Mauritz, which has more of its clothes made in Bangladesh than any other company; Benetton Group S.p.A., the Italian retailer whose order forms were famously found in the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza factory; and Canada's Loblow Companies, whose Joe Fresh clothing was also found at Rana Plaza. Together, their clothes are made in over 1,000 of Bangladesh's 5,000 factories.
However, only two U.S. companies, Abercrombie & Fitch and PVH (parent of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein), have signed the accord. Walmart, The Gap, J.C. Penney, Sears, and the rest of the major U.S. retailers doing business in Bangladesh have refused. The industry trade group, the National Retail Federation, objected to the accord's "one-size-fits-all approach" and its "legally questionable binding arbitration provision" that could bring disputes to court in the highly litigious United States. Several of those retailers cobbled together an alternative agreement signed so far by 17 mostly U.S. retailers.
But their "company-developed and company-controlled" plan, as a coalition of labor-rights groups described it, falls well short of the European-initiated plan. It is not legally binding and lacks labor organization representatives. Moreover, while retailers contribute to the implementation of their safety plan, they will face no binding commitment to pay for improving conditions. An AFL-CIO spokesperson put it most succinctly, "This is a matter of life or death. Quite simply, non-binding is just not good enough."


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Last night, the Associated Press reported that Mark Sanford is due in court — a mere two days after the May 7th special election for now-Sen. Tim Scott's vacated House seat — to explain precisely why Jenny Sanford found him at her home in February, in violation of their divorce agreement. (…Oof.) Now, of course, comes the "but I had a good, fatherly reason for knowingly breaking the settlement rules while I was preparing to mount a political comeback after a disastrous judgment lapse and subsequent fall from grace"-excuse:
It's an unfortunate reality that divorced couples sometimes have disagreements that spill over into family court. I did indeed watch the second half of the Super Bowl at the beach house with our 14 year old son because as a father I didn't think he should watch it alone. Given she was out of town I tried to reach her beforehand to tell her of the situation that had arisen, and met her at the back steps under the light of my cell phone when she returned and told her what had happened.
There is always another side to every story, and while I am particularly curious how records that were sealed to avoid the boys dealing with embarrassment are now somehow exposed less than three weeks before this election, I agree with Jenny that the media is no place to debate what is ultimately a family court matter, and out of respect for Jenny and the boys, I'm not going to have any further comment at this time.
Uh huh. Jenny Sanford said last night that the document leak wasn't her doing, which does beg the question of how whomever it was happened to obtain them. The Colbert Busch campaign has yet to comment.
At the hearing, Sanford will have to show why he should not be held in contempt for violating the couple's divorce settlement.
"I am doing my best not to get in the way of his race," Jenny Sanford, who for a time considered running herself, told the AP. "I want him to sink or swim on his own. For the sake of my children I'm trying my best not to get in the way, but he makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing."
The campaign of Sanford's opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, has not commented on the development.
The complaint filed by Jenny Sanford's lawyer, Deena Smith McRackan, said Mark Sanford has "entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court's order and has demanded that it not occur again."
I don't even know. There's a possibility this mightn't end up being that bad, depending on how the Colbert Busch camp handles it, and I understand it's a family matter that they probably want to resolve privately — but the point is, it could easily look bad. He knew he was going to be running this race-for-redemption on his family values and aptitude for good decision-making. Why even think about doing anything that could tempt fate?
Aaand, it looks like the National Republican Congressional Committee is unhitching their wagon from this hot mess. They hadn't done too much on his behalf yet, perhaps considering the deeply crimson nature of the district, but it sounds like Sanford is on his own from here on out (although, granted, the NRCC said the same of Todd Akin and did spend money on him at the eleventh hour):
National Republicans are pulling the plug on Mark Sanford's suddenly besieged congressional campaign, POLITICO has learned — a potentially fatal blow to the former South Carolina governor's dramatic comeback bid. …
"Mark Sanford has proven he knows what it takes to win elections. At this time, the NRCC will not be engaged in this special election," said Andrea Bozek, an NRCC spokeswoman.
And now this conspicuously withheld endorsement.
Asked whether he still backed Sanford, Tim Scott tells me: "No comment."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 17, 2013


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Meet Thomas Scholes. Well, meet his art. An illustrator and concept artist who has worked at 343 Studios, ArenaNet and Disney, he's now a freelancer who can draw some of the nicest pieces of environment art around.
In the gallery below you'll see examples of his work on games like Halo 4 and Guild Wars 2 (bizarrely, the second day in a row we've featured an artist who has worked on both games), along with newer projects and some personal pieces as well.
You can check out more of Tom's work at his blog. Or his other blog.
To see something really cool, take a look at this concept he's made up for a touch-based adventure game.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".


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i-mate Ultimate 5150 Pictures
i-mate 5150 is a quad-band Pocket PC with tri-band UMTS and HSDPA support. It features 262k Color VGA touch screen, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, Direct Video Out, FM Radio and microSD slot for memory. It runs Windows Mobile 6 and is powered by Intel Bulverde 520MHz processor.


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GCT at the Common Criteria Development Board bi-annual Session
Today I am happy to have a guest Post from Jennifer Gilbert. Jennifer functions as the Global Certification Team (GCT) lead for Strategy and Policy. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com
During the course of March 20 to March 22nd, the Common Criteria Development Board (CCDB) held its bi-annual session in Tokyo, Japan.
A precedent setting Industry invitation resulted in the 1st Joint CCDB and Industry Workshop – representatives from Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, SafeNet, Ricoh, EWA, SiVenture, Corsec, Aerospace, and Epoche & Espri participated in this first ever Joint Workshop. While several indepth discussions took place, a draft of the Terms of Reference (ToR) for Technical Communities was well received by the CCDB. The ToR is currently out for review within the broader Common Criteria Forum (CCF) to assure those who were unable to participate from Industry in Tokyo are able to provide input and comment further. Cisco anticipates that the CCDB will instantiate the Terms of Reference within the next 3 months. For those who would like to follow more closely, you can apply to be a part of the CCF here.
The 1st Joint CCDB and Industry Workshop was rendered a success and encouraged for future ICCC events; the 2nd Joint CCDB and Industry Workshop will be held in September, one week in advance of the ICCC Paris.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.
2 Comments
Joshua Brickman
What else was discussed at the Workshop? Did they talk about Supply Chain? What about mutual recognition? The NIAP PP's? Are there official minutes out there?


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Williams Sonoma Burger Bomb Sauce
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- Mayonnaise (soybean oil, eggs, vinegar, water, salt, sugar, spice, lemon juice), dill pickles (cucumbers, vinegar, salt, spices, garlic), ketchup (tomato concentrate, vinegar, sugar, water, salt, onion, spice), spicy brown mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, spice), Worcestershire sauce (vinegar, water, molasses, corn syrup, caramel color, garlic, sugar, spices, tamarind), purees of cayenne pepper and jalapeño, soybean oil, black pepper, garlic, xanthan gum, guar gum. Contains eggs. This product is prepared and packaged using machines that may come in contact with milk, soy.
Shipping Information
UPS can deliver most in-stock items within 3–5 business days. UPS is unable to deliver to P.O. boxes.
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At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
If within 30 days, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required for all returns and exchanges. Returns with a gift receipt will be refunded in the form of a Merchandise Credit for the amount indicated on the gift receipt. Returns with original receipt will be refunded in the original form of payment, cash and check refunds over $100 will be issued as a company check (may take 14 business days from time of request).
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Williams Sonoma Burger Bomb Sauce
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SCO's stock rose 44 percent on Wednesday, to 72 cents, after it filed an appeal that challenged Novell's recent win. The drama continues, however, as the question of whether the $25 million in licensing fees collected by SCO must be turned over to Novell still remains. That is a problem for SCO, as they only have $19.8 million in assets as of their last quarterly filing.
In some kind of bizarre dead-man twitch, SCO is attempting to diversify their product portfolio by selling what their CEO calls a "survival tool set" of software services — such as applications to enable meeting coordination on mobile devices. Darl McBride, CEO of SCO, told Marketwatch that, "We don't have $25 million... but we have more than $25 million in value." He also said, with respect to SCO paying Novell the $25 million in licensing revenue, "We don't believe we owe them anything."
After demonstrating one of its new mobile technologies, which businesses can use to enable iPhones to do CRM and sales functions, McBride said "We're not dead. It's just one of those situations where if you're knocked down seven times, you have to get up eight."


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Soft-spoken yet extremely hard-hitting, Deanna Spingola is one of the most popular independent voices in the alternative media today. Her radio broadcasts have been "must" listening for truth seekers around the world, and her books in the "Ruling Elite" series have captivated readers with their amazing revelations of many heretofore untold "hidden" facts of history.
Deanna's guest today is Zander C. Fuerza, the author of many articles and the book, Masters of Deception: Zionism, 9/11 and the War on Terror Hoax.


text: Browse our complete selection of Officially Licensed Georgia Apparel and Merchandise at the Georgia Athletics Store. Men, women and youth can all shop Georgia Gear from the Official Georgia Shop, with everything from gameday clothing to home and office decorations. Check out our Bulldogs Clothing, Gear, Accessories and Tailgate Supplies to make sure you're ready to cheer on UGA in any season. You're sure to find the officially licensed Georgia Athletics Gear you want at the official Georgia Shop. Go Dawgs!


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Liberty News
Liberty University represented at Third Lausanne Congress
Johnnie Moore, Liberty University campus pastor and vice president of media relations, is participating in the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa, which began Sunday, Oct. 17. He is joining more than 4,000 evangelical Christian missions leaders from more than 200 countries.
Started by the Rev. Billy Graham, the previous Congresses were held in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in 1989 in Manila, Philippines. According to Lausanne Movement Executive Chairman Doug Birdsall, the event is "the most diverse and representative gathering of Christian leaders … since Christ."
Over the next week, the 4,000 delegates, whom Birdsall referred to as some of the "brightest minds in Christianity today," will address the unique challenges Christians encounter as they are entering in the third millennium after Christ's death, burial and resurrection.
The Congress will be viewed online by more than 100,000 believers around the world.
"Standing in this gathering of thousands of evangelical leaders, representing in excess of 1 billion Christians, feels a bit like crawling into the pages of a Church History textbook," said Moore. "Nearly everyone here anticipates that this meeting could be the lynchpin to get the Gospel to the ends of the earth in this living generation — it is historical."


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Dacowny necesitaba un nuevo diseño de impreso o envases y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 46 diseños de 9 diseñadores freelance.
Kaine Homes (http://www.kainehomes.com)
We're a small home building company that's being building communities in the Washingtion DC burbs for over 50 years.
This is designed for real estate agents.
Home buyers are using agents more than ever in our area and we find ourselves competing against previously owned homes (resales) because they offer a quicker turn around time for the agents commission as the agent doesn't have to wait for the house to be built and settlement to take place.
We're changing that paradigm with the following program:
More = we're offering a quarter point more on the buyers commission for a total of 3.25%
MONEY = We will pay a $2,000 bonus for the second buyer an agent brings to us within a year of the first contract signing, and another $10,000 for the third buyer an agent brings to us within a year of the first contract signing.
NOW = The agent now gets their money when we break ground to start building the house.
Broacher/Flyer should:
Match our website's theme http://www.kainehomes.com
Have our logo
Or model location: 500 Sonoma LanePrince Frederick, MD 20678
Or telephone number: 410-474-7152
Have a text like logo for "More Money Now" so that phrase can be branded
Clearly outline the more money now details
Be clear to understand


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AUBURN � Police are investigating the armed robbery of Golden Pizza early this morning.
Two employees were confronted about 1 a.m. by a masked man wielding a semi-automatic gun, according to police Lt. Jeffrey Lourie. One of the workers was ordered to the ground and the second was told to open the cash register, the lieutenant said.
The robber took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the store, at 20 Auburn St. Police scoured the area, with help from a state police dog, but the man got away. Lt. Lourie said some evidence was found.
He said the robber wore a yellow ski mask.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Auburn Police Department at (508) 832-7738.


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- Premier League
Wilshere says sorry for smoking on holiday
Jack Wilshere admits it was "unacceptable" for him to smoke on holiday in Las Vegas after reportedly being warned by Arsene Wenger that he risks throwing away his career.
The Arsenal midfielder received heavy criticism after being photographed smoking and drinking in a hotel swimming pool earlier this month following England's early exit at the World Cup.
"The smoking? Of course I regret it," Wilshere said. "I've been seen before doing it. I said then I made a mistake and I have made a mistake again. People make mistakes.
"I'm young and I'll learn from it. I realise the consequences it has and the effect on kids growing up. I have kids myself and I don't want them growing up to think their dad smokes and it's OK for a footballer to smoke because it's not. It's unacceptable and I will accept the consequences and I will move on."
Wilshere returned to pre-season training three days early after the incident and has since held talks with Wenger at London Colney.
The Daily Mirror report that Wenger told Wilshere, 22, he could fail to fulfill his potential if he doesn't change his habits, having expressed his disappointment last season when Wilshere was pictured smoking outside a London nightclub.
Having seen his Arsenal career stalled by a series of injury setbacks in recent years, Wilshere admits he will have to prove himself in the coming season.
"It does motivate me to try harder in training and not just in training," Wilshere, speaking after coaching some New York children in an Arsenal clinic on their pre-season trip to America, added.
"It motivates me to improve because a lot of people have started to talk [about me] - people who don't know me but want to have an opinion. Now and it is down to me.
"This is a big season for me. I came back early to pre-season to show people my commitment. I am fully committed to the club and to my job and I want to show everyone that.
"Over the past few seasons I've had a few injuries. This season I'm looking to have a really great pre-season and get a really good base of fitness and take that into the season."


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How to Make a Beaded Stretchy Ring
Stretchy rings are a quick and easy accessory to make. All you need is a bold slider bead (a bead with more than one stringing hole) and stretchy cord, and you're on your way to awesome.
You may find it easier to tie knots with longer strands of cord, which is why the materials list suggests starting with 18 inches of stretch cord. This ring has about 6 inches of cord in the finished piece, so if you can tie knots with shorter strands, feel free.
Tools and Materials
1 22mm metal and resin two-hole slider bead
18 inches of 5mm-diameter stretch cord, clear
Flexible beading needle
30 11/0 seed beads, gold
Hypo Cement
String both loops of one side of the slider bead on the stretch cord. Situate the slider bead in the center of the cord.
Using the beading needle, string 5 beads onto each tail.
Rethread the beading needle onto both tails. Slide a single seed bead onto both strands to join the strands together.
The two strands of beads connect to make a V.
Continue stringing seed beads onto the doubled strand until you have 15 beads.
Remove the beading needle and rethread it onto one tail. String on 5 beads. Repeat with the other tail.
Thread each tail through the corresponding loop on the open side of the slider, stringing the tails from the outside toward the inside.
Pull the strands taut to remove any slack.
Don't stretch the cord, though, because you want to leave elasticity in the finished ring. (This way, you can wear the ring easily on your pointer, middle, or ring finger.)
Tie several square knots to secure the strands and apply a bit of Hypo Cement to the knots.
Trim the tails to the knots.
Allow the glue to dry for about an hour before wearing the finished project.


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OWASP 2009 Q3 Update
I would like to provide a 2009 Q3 update about the OWASP Foundation on a couple of high-level items.
#0 - OWASP @ Blackhat 2009 - If you will making the trip to #Blackhat (that's twitter speak) be sure to join us for the OWASP breakout briefing about Critical Infrastructures July 29, 16:45 in Genoa room this is the OFFICIAL meet-up.
#1 - OWASP EU Poland Videos are now online (thanks Seba) and people can quickly get to them by going to http://www.owasp.tv or http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_AppSec_Europe_2009_-_Poland see OWASP blip videos share any of them with your teams = free SDLC training
#2 - OWASP board meetings have been happening every month for sometime now. One of the most common questions I get personally is "what happened at the last meeting..." well its not a secret ivory tower actually - we keep agenda's and results of each monthly meeting ensuring that the OWASP ethics and principals are being adhered to. So you can find this information both historic and future meetings online see: http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Board_Meetings - should you have a topic that you feel is critical for OWASP Foundation we request that you communicate first with the appropriate Global Committee as the purpose of these groups is to be a VOICE for each region in the world and then focus on a defined mission with a team of energy filled persons see:
http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Global_Committee_Pages note each committee is led by a board member as well.
Questions about money, tax returns etc., are all located online as well see: http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Foundation and managed by Alison, what other professional technology group do you belong to that is this transparent?
#3 - Global Committee's brings out another point - if you would like to help OWASP continue to grow and have some cycles for selflessness volunteerism or simply a suggestion based on your experiences - join the mailing list and or contact the Global Committee http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Global_Committee_Pages the best way to change the world is to start with your local chapter, then region the globally.
#4 - OWASP Podcasts http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Podcast got questions, comments or feedback for Jim Manico and team that have been working very hard to bring you interviews with AppSec folks globally, let them know send a email to email@example.com with your comments and favorite episode and why.
#5 - OWASP Projects have been updated. Have a review of the existing ones as well as detailed how-to on new projects see:
#6 - HELP WANTED - The OWASP Job Board has lots of active postings of firms looking for the best in the industry, if you are looking for employment or if it is time to change gears and accelerate your career visit http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Jobs to have a look around
#7 - OWASP Conferences -
http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Category:OWASP_AppSec_Conference the USA, DC OWASP event is going to be a BIG event plan now to attend it lock in your hotels and travel early. If you would like to host a conference in 2010 be sure to contact Kate Hartmann with your proposal for consideration for 2010.
#8 - OWASP GRANTS/SoC want to work on a OWASP project? Want to sponsor a OWASP project take the time to review the following:
There is so much energy and passion with the OWASP Foundation, thank you for being a member of our mailing lists and if you are an Individual Member (a $50.00 annual donation) or a Organization Supporter (a $5000.00 annual donation) and Accredited University Supporters are FREE so talk to your University if they are not on the list already.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT TO ALLOW US TO CONTINUE ON THE MISSION of "to make application security visible, so that people and organizations can make informed decisions about true application security risks"
Tom Brennan
Volunteer Board Member
OWASP Foundation
Direct: 973-202-0122


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Edward Vielmetti is Superpatron.
Edward Vielmetti is a patron of the Ann Arbor District Library and a member of its Technology Advisory Board. He organized the first Library Camp and has spoken to audiences of librarians and technologists around the world. He has been a library patron for over 35 years. Edward's Superpatron weblog is read widely by librarians, library board members, and patrons of the Ann Arbor libraries and libraries around the world.
Ed is a board member of Assistive Media. Assistive Media provides audio recordings for the visually impaired, delivered over the net to listeners around the world. It's been running since 1996, with hundreds of hours of readings online.
some notes
google search for "library diversity" turns up an ARL site as the #1 hit, and the first two links on the first page of that give 404 errors. (not ALA, but ARL, but still...) ALA page on the "Office for Diversity" is #4 hit.
some notes on the agenda
What is a national agenda for libraries and why do we need one?
What are the trends and issues that are prevalent in the development of communities?
What are emerging community needs and how might libraries meet them?
What can libraries do to transform communities given the trends and issues we have identified?
What Are the Key Points of the National Library Agenda?
What is a transformed community look like and how will libraries know they have been successful?
What needs to be done as a result of this meeting?


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Oxnard is one of the 20 most populous cities in the state of California. It's located in southwest California, with a population of over 200,000 people. It is considered part of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, and it is consistently ranked one of the safest cities in the entire country, with extremely low rates of crime. As a suburb of Los Angeles, Oxnard is a very appealing place to live for those who don't want the hustle and bustle of a big city
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At the main menu, select the "Top Secret" option. Enter one of the following codes, represented by the Numbuh of the kids to activate the corresponding cheat function:
Enter 432513 as a code.
When you see a soccer ball goal, kick the soccer ball into it to get a Super Special.Super Secret in Yatta Yatta Yatta stage
While playing as Numbuh 5 on the Yatta Yatta Yatta stage, get to the part with the disco ball. Note: When you step under the disco light, robots will appear. When you get the first intermission sequence, you will see you are entirely surrounded. Near the left in the far distance should be a pool table. Go over to it. Once there, notice the pool balls on the table. Use your character to push the balls into the nearby fireplace. Once you get one in, you should hear the same sound that plays when you get a rainbow monkey. Keep track of all the pool balls. If you lose one and cannot find it, you cannot get the Super Secret. When you get all the pool balls in the fireplace, an icon will drop from it. Run into it and you should get a Super Secret unlocked message.


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The driver of a car that overturned into the marshy waters near John F. Kennedy International Airport early Sunday morning, killing a 25-year-old woman, has been arrested.
Denise Finley, 32, was charged Sunday with driving while intoxicated and without a license.
Police said six people were in the car Finley was driving, when she lost control near Brookville Boulevard and Rockaway Boulevard in Rosedale, Queens and flipped over into approximately 3 feet of water off Jamaica Bay at around 4:30 a.m.
First responders rescued four people from the submerged car alive. They were taken to Jamaica Hospital where a female passenger, identifiied as Dominique Jamison of Queens, later died, authorities said. The other three suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Officials said two people escaped the vehicle before help arrived and left the scene of the accident on foot.
Six first responders had to be treated for hypothermia after the rescue.


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S7 E01 With You I'm Born Again
How do you come back from one of the most gripping, harrowing, unsettling Grey's Anatomy season finales ever? Well, you call in a psychiatrist. Yes, most of our favorite docs must be evaluated and cleared before they can return to surgery. Makes sense. They are all dealing with varying degrees of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following the mass murder at the hospital. Things are different now and more change is headed our way.
After recovering from near fatal gunshot wounds, Derek Shepherd is back! He's greeted by applause coming from all those in his charge. Derek launches into a by-the-book "it's great to be back" speech then abruptly quits his position as top dog at Seattle Grace. Looks like Richard, who was serving as interim Chief, has his old job back fulltime. Told ya change was coming.
Cristina and Owen are getting married! But the bride will not be wearing white. Cristina says it's "sexist and vaguely racist." There will also be no chicken dance or conga line at the reception. Bummer. Owen asks Derek to be his best man. The groom-to-be feels this is a logical choice since he's married to the other twisted sister. You do know we mean Meredith, right?
Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening with some of the other folks at the hospital:
- Bailey took her son to her parents' place for a month to get away from Seattle. She left Ben by the sidewalk as the cab pulled away. When Bailey returns, she tells Ben he's a good man. But she's "busy holding herself together with tape and glue." He's too much for her right now, so Ben walks away.
- Arizona is worried that Callie may pop the question or she'll bring up some baby talk again. But all Callie wants to do is ask Arizona to move in. Whew!
- Teddy has a new man in her life and it happens to be Dr. Perkins, the shrink analyzing her coworkers.
- Alex opts to keep the bullet in his chest right where it is because, well, chicks dig it.
- Lexie has a bit of a breakdown and is admitted to the psych ward for a spell. Her brief stay there is most helpful and is actually one of the reasons she gets cleared for surgery.
Derek has been getting arrested from time to time since the shootings for things like speeding and reckless endangerment. Must be the adrenaline he gets from his current "life is short" mentality. The new ex-Chief wants to operate on a man who has a massive tumor surrounding his brain stem. In order to save this guy, Derek needs help from Callie and Mark. Basically, they need to split the patient's entire face open. It's all pretty darn raw.
Meredith worries that Derek is driving pretty fast without a seatbelt. She also hopes Cristina isn't rushing into this wedding with Owen. Meredith further worries that she and Cristina are going to be the only two who don't get cleared for surgery which could lead to a new career of selling Slushees at the multiplex.
The psychiatrist feels Meredith isn't being completely honest. The guy's onto something. See, Meredith has yet to tell Derek she had a miscarriage. When Meredith catches Cristina flipping through a magazine during Derek's impossible tumor surgery, she realizes they're not better yet. During her therapy session, Cristina says, "I think you're either born simple or you're born me." She longs to be simple because no one holds a gun to the head of a simple girl.
Derek's tumor patient experiences massive postoperative pain. He says this is where the fight begins. This is healing pain. This is victory pain. Later, Derek is caught speeding down the highway and tossed in jail again. Meredith pops by, but doesn't bail him out. Derek needs to learn a lesson and she needs the ring he's holding so her best friend can get married.
Yes, the Cristina and Owen wedding in on! The happy couple walks down an aisle created by a line of all their friends (except for the incarcerated ones). Rings are exchanged and tears of happiness flow. Yes, things change. But sometimes change is good.


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Which is why I always say Walsh should be more culpable and get more shit than he does. His job is to give the manager the tools to do the job.
I doubt it was Walsh insisting that we must get Sigurdsson at all costs.
Weve got some massively overhyped youngsters. Holgate and DCL.... Both a bit shit. Weve talked about them as if they are gonna be worldbeaters
Thought we were utter garbage again, with no real positives.
Klaassen isn't concerned with getting on the ball. His game is all about off-the-ball movement and creating space, either for himself or for his teammates (see Rooney's goal against Stoke for a prime example). There's a time and place for that but unfortunately, it's not tonight.Missed opportunity not starting Sigurdsson, especially since his best performance for us came in the second half against Limassol where he played more of a central box-to-box role. Tough choice between Rooney/Sigurdsson to replace Klaassen in the second half.
Wait...DCL broke up with the girl in the pics? Poor boy.
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STOCKTON - The City Council on Tuesday adopted a new policy laying out how Stockton's elected officials can formally censure one another for breaking their own rules of order.
STOCKTON - The City Council on Tuesday adopted a new policy laying out how Stockton's elected officials can formally censure one another for breaking their own rules of order.
The extra measure came in the final meeting of 2013, a year council members admitted had been rocky and filled with drama - most of it centered around Mayor Anthony Silva.
While council members behind the censure language said the city wanted the policy - just in case it became necessary - not everybody agreed that their motives were wholesome.
"This policy is nothing more than something you want to do for this mayor," resident Gary Malloy told the council. "I guarantee you, if (former) Mayor Ann Johnston was here, this would not be happening."
The new policy and others on using electronic devices during meetings won passage 5-1, with Silva casting the lone vote in opposition. Councilwoman Kathy Miller missed the meeting due to a family illness.
Councilman Moses Zapien, who chairs a legislative committee that recommended the changes, defended them, saying that cities throughout the state have already adopted similar measures.
Another newly adopted policy allows the vice mayor to enforce order amid unruly meetings if the other council members agree that the mayor isn't doing his or her job.
Malloy told the council that he objected because they were adopting policy to take away mayoral powers granted by the city charter.
"I'm not defending this mayor," Malloy said. "I'm defending the office of the mayor."
Since taking office in January, Silva has been politically isolated from the other six council members. Earlier this month, the council voted to admonish him for violating the rules on confidential closed meetings.
In that violation, which was sent to the civil grand jury, the council accused Silva of releasing the name of a city manager candidate via his cellphone during a closed session, spoiling the deal.
Silva said he wasn't going to whine about the changes, but he felt it was a waste of time. He called it "silly."
"I would love if the council would put as much effort and initiative into reducing red tape at City Hall so people can open businesses," Silva said.
Included in the vote was a move to limit electronic devices, prompting debate that entered some gray area, because council members use city-issued iPads to read their agendas, saving the city the cost of printing hundreds of pages each week for each council member.
The new policy allows them to access their agendas in open meetings, but they're not to communicate by text, Twitter or Facebook. Electronic devices are banned from closed meetings.
A concern was that the elected leaders appeared disengaged if they spent too much time looking down at their devices.
Vice Mayor Paul Canepa said he knew some in the public objected, but his tablet is a useful tool for him. Councilman Elbert Holman said that in meetings, his cellphone goes into his pocket.
Councilman Michael Tubbs has fallen under public criticism for spending too much time during meetings looking at his cellphone. This can be dangerous in many ways, one resident said.
"Texting is not allowed when you're driving, and we see the results ... every day on the streets," resident Ted Gonzales said. "Please turn your cellphones off. No texting in closed session."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/smithblog and on Twitter @ssmithatrecord.


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Malloy: Deal with Amazon wins taxes, jobs
Agreement brings money from Internet purchases to state
HARTFORD -- The days when consumers can dodge paying sales taxes on Internet transactions are drawing to a close.
Starting Nov. 1, hundreds of millions of dollars in purchases through merchandising giant Amazon will include Connecticut's 6.35 percent sales tax.
It's the tip of the iceberg in sales-tax revenue that state consumers are supposed to declare on all their Internet purchases, but which the vast majority fail to declare.
In a deal that means at least $15 million a year in new tax revenue for the state, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday said that over the next two years, Amazon will also build a $50 million distribution facility in the state and create 300 new jobs with no state incentives.
"I want to stress that I continue to believe that this issue of tax fairness and compliance needs to be addressed on a federal basis," Malloy said, adding that Amazon hasn't chosen a site yet.
Malloy is planning on $8 million in new revenue in the budget that starts July 1 and another $15 million in the full fiscal year that starts July 1, 2014.
But to get a larger tax piece of the state's multi-billion-dollar Internet sales, Malloy said it will most likely be up to Congress.
More Information
Amazon deal
at a glance
Here are some highlights from the agreement between Amazon and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy:
It will take effect Nov. 1 and may generate up to $8 million in new taxes in the state budget that starts July 1.
It will create about $15 million a year when fully enacted in the 2014-15 budget.
It will give brick-and-mortar retailers a chance to regain some sales.
It will force Connecticut consumers to pay sales taxes that many have dodged, even though state law requires reporting purchases to the state Department of Revenue Services.
It will lead to a $50 million commitment to build a new Amazon distribution facility near a major highway.
He cited a 2011 state law requiring online retailers who have facilities in the state to collect and transfer sales taxes to the Department of Revenue Services.
The $15 million revenue projection -- and the estimate of 300 new jobs in the distribution center -- might be high, said David Cadden, professor of management in the School of Business and Engineering at Quinnipiac University.
"They're not really telling us enough to get our teeth into what's going on," he said, adding that smaller online retailers will most likely continue to not collect Connecticut taxes and retain their edge with consumers.
"I am sure that the bricks-and-mortar operations will be happy with Malloy because of this," Cadden said, agreeing that it will be up to Congress to establish a national system for states to take a tax from consumers.
If Amazon does hire 300 in the state for the new distribution facility, it means the company is taking steps away from so-called megacenters, to smaller distribution operations, Cadden said.
During a morning news conference in the Capitol, Malloy and DRS Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan said that the agreement with Amazon would end a possibly expensive lawsuit over the collection of past sales taxes, while allowing Connecticut retailers to finally compete fairly with Amazon.
In recent years, the Internet megastore severed ties with state companies in order to avoid the sales-tax issue. "Ultimately we have reached an agreement by which legal claims will be solved and a very sizable investment in job creation will be made," Malloy said, adding that Amazon has re-established business with state companies with which it had previously cut off.
Sullivan said he has been in touch with Amazon on a continuing basis since the 2011 legislation that required Internet sellers with operations in the state to pay sales taxes.
"Amazon is the only major online retailer that is actively supporting the legislation that Gov. Malloy has just mentioned as so important to each of the states," Sullivan said, noting that although Amazon's facility won't be in operation for two years, it will start collecting state sales taxes in time for this holiday season.
Sullivan, in an interview Monday afternoon, said that Internet retailers generate about 40 percent of their annual income in November and December, so it was important to get the agreement to take effect at the start of the holiday sales season.
"Amazon is certainly the largest of the retailers," Sullivan said. "There are many, many, many more." He added that Amazon has also agreed to start paying Massachusetts sales taxes starting Nov. 1.
He said there is no good estimate on the full extent of Internet sales completed by Connecticut consumers, or how much tax revenue might be at stake, because the companies are not registered to pay taxes.
"We are aware of a large number of entities which conduct business in a very similar if not exactly the same way as Amazon had been conducting business, so the question remains very open for those companies as to whether or not they have obligations in the state of Connecticut," Sullivan said during the news conference.
"This gives us the opportunity to go after whoever the next one is," Sullivan said of the state effort to get more online retailers to collect Connecticut taxes.
Malloy described the current percentage of sales taxes reported by consumers to be "very small, tiny, minuscule."
Paul Misener, vice president for global public policy at Amazon, said in a statement that the new jobs will be well-paying, with good benefits.
"We are delighted to make this announcement today and look forward to working with Gov. Malloy toward passage of the legislation now being considered by Congress that would finally resolve the sales tax issue, level the playing field for all retailers, protect states' rights and allow states to collect the revenue owed," Misener said.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 860-549-4670; twitter.com/KenDixonCT; facebook.com/kendixonct.hearst; blog.ctnews.com/dixon


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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- President Obama pledged Friday to investigate a report that the United States spied on Brazilian and Mexican leaders.
Obama discussed the issue with presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico during a working dinner at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"I assured President Rousseff and President Pena Nieto is that I take these allegations very seriously," Obama said Friday during a news conference. "I understand their concerns. I understand the concerns of the Mexican and Brazilian people; and that we will work with their teams to resolve what is a source of tension."
Earlier this week, Brazil's O Globo reported that the U.S. National Security Agency monitored the emails, text messages and phone calls of Rousseff as president and Pena Nieto when he was a presidential candidate. The report was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia.
Brazilian lawmakers and leaders have called on Washington to give an explanation.
Because of technology's rapid changes and expanding capabilities, "it is important for us to step back and review what it is that we're doing," Obama said during the news conference. "Because just because we can get information doesn't necessarily always mean that we should. There may be costs and benefits to doing certain things, and we've got to weigh those."


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Grounded Literature: 5 Great Books About Coffee
Feet up, couch bound with a good book in one hand and a hot cup of coffee in the other is a reader's rite of passage. Those co-mingling aromas of parchment and fresh grounds are undeniably intoxicating. Any favorite book can be heightened by the pairing, but it being the Fortnight of Coffee and all, we decided to filter some new picks in a sort of meta-coffee vein: five first-rate reads to further your knowledge of one of the world's most popular drinks.


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About The Blade Vault
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This one is for JJ. Now Jesse always said that Hasbro will someday throw an Obi-Wan Pilot cloak on a clump of turd and people will buy it because it's shortpacked in case assortments. Well, here he is in all his one per case glory...RQ's 'Jedi Mas-turd.'
KAY-BEE STANDARD RESPONSE: "All we have is 1990's 'Robocop' toys."WHICH MEANS: "Holy ******* ****, please shoot m
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School District Income Tax Delinquency Collections,
Tax Year 2003
Table SD-4 shows delinquency collections for school district
income taxes. Delinquencies are the first step in the
collection process from non-filing of school district income
tax returns.
Each year, the Department of Taxation sends out delinquency
notices to any taxpayer that has been identified as being
required to file a school district income tax return but from
whom no return has been received. Table SD-4 shows
revenues received as a result of the delinquency
mailings. For each tax year, the report shown is for
the final month of collections prior to when assessment
notices were sent to taxpayers who did not respond to the
delinquency notices.


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Quartana GmbH is an independent German medical service and official representative of a number of organizations working in the fields of health care, medical management and information services.
Quartana GmbH offers our patients an optimal world standard program of medical service at competitive prices.
We are happy to help you!
Cooperation of all our departments allows us to maintain the services at the shortest time possible.
Quartana will take part at KIHE which will be held in Almaty for its 19th time in 2013
More than 155 companies from 18 countries will participate at this show.. Belgium, Hungary and Uzbekistan participated in the exhibition for the first time. In comparison with KIHE 2012 this year exhibition was increased by 30%. Traditionally, Kazakhstan companies accounted for almost half of the exhibition – 40% of all exhibitors. Other widely presented companies included Germany (26%), Russia (16%), China (7%), Czech Republic (7%) and Turkey (3%). Ministry for Economic Affairs of Bavaria, Chinese and Czech companies were presented with their national groups at the event.
Quartana is proud to serve to this market.
We work together over the last decade with many medical centres and clinics in Germany and Switzerland. It is important to us that we are independent and work as a representative of the patient and client. Our aim is to get the best possible treatment for our patient, therefore we always search for his needs the best clinic. On our website we show only a small choice of medical centres and clinics, mainly in the vicinity of 100 kilometres around airport Frankfurt/Main. Our job is to find the best department in a clinic or a doctor for you. For this one needs experience and also the know-how of long-standing work with international patients. Trust on our capacity and service – we are the lawyer and consultant of the patient.
The choise for accommodation and transport are as individually as our customers are.
With pleasure we make proposals to the travel agencies of our clients, for hotels or apartments in the area next to the place of treatment. The range we can offer is from five-star hotels up to very good boutique hotels – as desired by the client. To serve the client with transportation, we have a wide range of cars – from luxury till middle-class.
Our company and its patient mangers are ready to help you. The fist step is on your side to get in contact with us. Our friendly and trained staff will respond direct on e-mail or will give you any information at the phone. The more information you provide such as clinical reports, letter from your doctor e.g. we can achieve the best results and proposals.