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Today I want to talk to you about real life. Not the pretty, serene ideal I usually try to depict here, but my real real life. Here's the thing: my real life can be messy. Harried. Way less than perfect. My real life almost always includes few dirty dishes, a half-finished to-do list, and an open bottle of red wine. My real life involves a purse full of crumpled up receipts, several stray tubes of lip gloss, and a lingering fear that I forgot to unplug the curling iron. My real life means getting a run in my tights, missing my train and bumping into my cute neighbor when I haven't washed my hair in days. Sometimes my real life means dropping buttercream on my new shoes. Baking my coworker a birthday cake at midnight. Taking pictures of said cake in a conference room at the office and hoping a partner doesn't walk in while I'm standing on a chair trying to get the perfect shot. Thankfully, my real life also means chocolate almond cake, chocolate coconut ganache, and coconut almond buttercream--otherwise known as this almond joy cake. My real life may not always be perfectly styled or well lit, but it's still pretty sweet. And today it includes chocolate. I think yours should too.
Almond Joy Cake
For the Chocolate Cake Layers (Adapted from Martha Stewart):
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 3 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, water and almond extract and whisk or beat in a stand mixer on low speed until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans. Bake for around 25-30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Place the cake pans on wire racks and let them cool there for about 1o minutes. Turn the cakes out of their pans, and allow them to finish cooling directly on the racks.
For the Ganache
6 oz (about 3/4 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup light coconut milk
Place the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Pour the hot coconut milk over the chocolate chips and let stand for about five minutes. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate the ganache, stirring occasionally, until it's a spreadable consistency.
For the Almond Buttercream
2 sticks unsalted butter4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup c0c0nut milk
pinch salt
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
Beat the butter in a stand mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, the coconut milk, the salt and the almond extract. Beat for another 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar until the frosting is the flavor and texture that you want. The buttercream should be light, fluffy, and thick enough to spread. You may not need all of the powdered sugar.
To Assemble the Cake
1 bag (about 2 cups) sweetened shredded coconut
chocolate covered almonds (optional)
To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cake board or large platter. Top with 1/2 of the coconut chocolate ganache. Sprinkle about 1/3 cup shredded coconut over the top of the ganache. Repeat with the next cake layer, the rest of the ganache, and another 1/3 cup of shredded coconut. Top with the final cake layer. Spread a very thin layer of buttercream over the top and sides of the cake using an offset spatula if you have one. This is your crumb coating. Don't worry if there are crumbs of cake visible in your frosting--that's the purpose of the crumb coating. All of the cake crumbs will be suspended in this bottom layer of icing, and will not be visible once you apply the rest of the buttercream. At this point, I like to pop the cake in the refrigerator or even the freezer for a few minutes to allow the crumb coating to harden. The icing should be dry to the touch. Once your crumb coating has set, apply the rest of the buttercream in a thick layer. Press the remainder of the shredded coconut into the sides and top of the cake. Top the cake with chocolate covered almonds, if desired.


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The Department for Infrastructure has urged road users to exercise caution with icy conditions predicted overnight in Northern Ireland.
The DFI issued the following statement this evening: "Road temperatures are forecast to fall close to or below zero early tomorrow morning.
"Salting of those roads on the scheduled salting network considered to be at risk is planned.
"Road users are advised to exercise caution when travelling especially on untreated roads."

subset: commoncrawl


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The haulers should be rolling into Daytona anytime now. NASCAR's short respite is over, and it's time to welcome in the 2013 season.
Sure everyone is "excited" about their prospects going into the new season, but we are here to separate fact from fiction. That said, we know that drivers such as Aric Almirola, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Burton are long-shots — as in 300-to-1 — to win a Sprint Cup championship. The smart money will ride on guys such as Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.
But the more compelling storylines this season involve something more challenging than handicapping odds. Here's a look at our Top Five Sprint Cup topics of interest in 2013:
1.The new car. NASCAR is all in when it comes to the Gen 6 model. It's universally touted as a car that will engage the paying customers with the longtime NASCAR adage — "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday." The Chevys, Toyotas and Fords look very cool, but there is still the practical application. Will racing these new machines bring more excitement to the season, or are we in for some of the same long monotonous grinds? We shall see what transpires in the Great American Race on Feb. 24.
2.Danica and Ricky. It's impossible to ignore the gossipy pillow talk involving Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse, aka "Danicky." They are dating. They are also competing full-time in the Sprint Cup series this season on opposing teams. Will Ricky come to Danica's aid if there is a dustup with another driver? What if they break up? What if they get married? It's a soap opera of unprecedented proportions in the NASCAR garage.
3.Clint and Jeff. Here is yet another relationship that merits our attention. But it's hardly lovey-dovey. Clint Bowyer made a frantic bee-line at Jeff Gordon in the pits after Gordon purposely wrecked Bowyer in Phoenix last November. I am fairly certain that the grudge match isn't over, even though they did spend a few minutes on P Diddy's yacht on New Year's Eve. They may have chatted briefly but they won't be making any beautiful music together anytime soon. Stay tuned.
4.Is Joe Gibbs ready to challenge Hendrick Motorsports as NASCAR's top dog? Hendrick has four drivers who made the Chase last season, but Gibbs has three guys who should contend for a title — Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Hamlin. Busch just missed qualifying for the Chase after he was edged out by Gordon (a Hendrick guy) in Richmond. Kenseth is the new/old guy who crosses over from Roush Fenway Racing. Both teams are stacked. Should be fun to watch.
5.Brad Keselowski. He's the perfect guy for the next generation of NASCAR drivers — talented, brash and big on Twitter. It will be great for the NASCAR business model if he makes a solid run at defending his 2012 Cup title, even though he has switched over from Dodge to Ford this season. You'll probably get daily updates at @keselowski.
Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego or e-mail him at email@example.com
Rusty Wallace in Hall of Fame
Rusty Wallace was the marquee name in NASCAR's fourth Hall of Fame class, and that deserves a toast of course.
So who better to raise a glass in Rusty's honor than the current driver of the famed "Blue Deuce," 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski?
Keselowski introduced Wallace at the awards ceremony last weekend in Charlotte, and did so properly.
"Tonight I salute Rusty Wallace and the original Blue Deuce and Miller Lite in his honor," he said. "Congratulations, Rusty, and I encourage everyone here, cheers to Rusty. This one's for you, Rusty."
He then pulled a Miller Lite out of his coat.
Classic. And classy.
Wallace, who along with mechanic and crew chief Leonard Wood are the only living members of this year's class, won 55 races and the 1989 Cup championship.
"The thing I learned, and I said it at the driver meeting in 2005 the day I retired and walked out, I said: 'This is a privilege. This is a privilege to race in NASCAR. You don't have to do it. We're not making you do it. It's a privilege to race in NASCAR, and it's a blessing for me to be in this sport and do what I've done,' " Wallace said at the ceremony Friday night. "I just hope all the young drivers respect NASCAR as much as I respect it and go out there and say nice things about NASCAR and help build this sport."
The class also included former series champions Herb Thomas and Buck Baker and former car owner Cotton Owens.
NFL zone
Joe Gibbs is going to have some company in the NASCAR garage when it comes to NFL street cred.
Former NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski has joined Swan Racing as a minority owner. Romanowski will be a partner with founder Brandon Davis, who has enlisted two-time Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip to make another run at a victory on Feb. 24.
David Stremme will then take over for Waltrip, driving the No. 30 Toyota the following week at Phoenix.
Romanowski has a resume as a true-grit kind of player, competing for 16 seasons for San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver and Oakland. He played in five Super Bowls and was selected to two Pro Bowls.
"I am thrilled to jump into the NASCAR world as a part owner and as a sponsor," Romanowski said in a statement. . "Brandon has a vision for how to build a championship contender and I'm eager to be part of it."
Dinger is back
Looks like AJ Allmendinger may have found a ride for 2013. Only it's not in a Cup car.
Allmendinger, who was suspended from NASCAR for using a banned drug last season, is set to test an IndyCar for Penske Racing at Sebring, on Feb. 19, and has the possibility of running the Indianapolis 500 for the famed Penske group.
"Roger [Penske] is one of the most loyal owners you will ever know, and I think his loyalty has come into play in this case," Penske president Tim Cindric told the Associated Press. "AJ is obviously talented and when you look at the circumstances and how he handled the circumstances, well, he made a mistake. But he's a talented guy and someone who has shown what he can do in an IndyCar.
"We are in the racing business, and AJ has gone through the process required for him and as far as we are concerned the slate is wiped clean."


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The Still Point holistic spa is a little haven of tranquility just 15 minutes from downtown DC in Takoma, Maryland. I hadn't had a facial in over a year so I decided to go with their most "basic" signature facial ($90), which isn't really basic at all. It involved black algae, a hydrating mask of local honey, extractions, as well as sonic dermabrasion (there was more, but these were my favorite aspects).
Wondering what sonic dermabrasion is? Unlike harsher micro dermabrasion, sonic dermabrasion consists of a 100% painless pulsating tool that gently glides across the surface of the face, using ultrasound to exfoliate, hydrate and lift the skin. It removed all of the dead skin and left my face so, so smooth. I think I am now obsessed. I wish I had opened my eyes because I'm curious what the tool looked like exactly, but it was definitely very gentle and I loved the results.
As you can see from the pictures, the outside of the spa is just adorable while the inside is perfectly serene. Aside from all of the services offered, they also have a boutique with an array of natural products from many unique and harder-to-find lines. Another cool aspect of the spa – they are 100% wind powered!
If you live anywhere in the DC metro area, The Still Point is definitely worth the short trip. I really want to go back for another facial and to try out acupuncture for the first time!


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Raising retirement to 62 for Central Govt. Employees ? May be announced on Independence day
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen on extending the retirement age of civil servants to 62, one of his aides told this columnist in Delhi recently. He had apparently been keen to do so earlier this year, but such a change was thought politically risky at a time when the Congress party was using Rahul Gandhi's youth as its electoral strategy (how do you convince voters that the party is going to harness the energy of the youth if you propose to keep all the old babus for another two years?). It may seem unreal now, but back then many in government feared that the Congress might lose power (even national security advisor M K Narayanan apparently threw a farewell party!), so the PM's plan was shelved. It is being revived again, with the PM himself taking great interest.This proposal has two justifications. First and foremost is fiscal. As had happened when the retirement age was raised from 58 to 60 in 1998, the expenditure on pensions would be curbed. In this year's budget, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee earmarked non-Plan expenditure for pensions at Rs 25,085.49 crore. That is a growth of almost 40 per cent (39.4 per cent). It is a major contributor to the total spending that was announced by Pranab, a little over Rs 10 trillion, a hike of around 36 per cent from last year. Of course, coming at the time of a global economic slowdown this massive expenditure is possibly a good risk to take; but the prime minister is obviously looking for ways to keep costs from running away.Of course, worse than the central finances are those of many of the States; their governments are far more reckless than the Centre's. In the decade after New Delhi raised the age of superannuation to 60, the States slowly but surely followed suit. The States would likely follow the Centre's lead again and that would help them manage their fiscal problems.The other reason the PM wants to push retirement back another two years is that he wants to make tap the valuable human resource that bureaucrats represent. For one thing, life expectancy in India has gone up. According to UNICEF, in 2007 it was 64 years, and this is a figure that the average bureaucrat would have pulled upwards. Thus, when a civil servant retires at 60, she or he is still at their mental peak, and each acts as an institutional storehouse of government policy and programme implementation. Retaining them for another two years would possibly enrich functioning of the government. At the very least, it would keep some of the hypocrites off the boob tube — it's very bizarre that the same bureaucrats who set government policy for 30 years or so, start abusing the government at the nearest TV station studio the moment they find themselves jobless. (Maybe it's their pique at not getting a post-retirement sinecure).The PM is not the first person to have such a brainwave. Almost a year ago, the University Grants Commission appointed a committee under G K Chadha to study pay revision, and he made a suggestion that teachers' retirement age be raised to 65. This is timely advice considering that India is currently set to expand education in a major way under the stewardship of the dynamic Kapil Sibal. It is not just a matter of filling the ranks of teachers, but imparting quality teaching to India's children.If the PM wants to extend the retirement age then he would only be following a global trend. The retirement age in the US is 65; in Japan it is 60 and the government is gradually raising it to 65 by 2013, but people anyway continue working till 65 on reduced wages. By 2033, Austria's retirement age will be 65. In Denmark it will be 67 years by 2027. Hungary plans to make it 69 years by 2050. Israel is already raising it to 67 years for men. All these countries and many others are increasing the retirement age because of an increasingly alarming problem — their ageing populations. By 2020, a quarter of Japan's population will be 65 and over. Life expectancy in the US is about 77, and by 2050 is expected to go up to 83. Japan's is already 82.4 years. Indeed, the life expectancy in some of the advanced countries, according to 2009 OECD data, are: France 80.9 years, Canada 80.4 years, Sweden 80.8 years, Italy 80.9 years and Spain 81.1 years. You would have to think that as India gets wealthier — which it undoubtedly is — our population's life expectancy will similarly increase.Imagine a person retiring at 60, but living till at least 80 (if not more), perhaps physically weakened as she or he passes 75, but still mentally at the top of his or her game. What do they do with such a long retirement? And besides the fact that the increase in life expectancy leaves retirees with too much time on their hands and their skills unutilised, it also places a great burden on the working population, which has to finance the social security and health benefits that the elderly need. In the West it costs much more to maintain an elderly person than it does to raise a child; and health care costs in the rich world are projected to be those countries' biggest finance headache (much more than the costs of the stimulus to end the current economic crisis). Thus it is not surprising that there are an increasing number of voices in the West and Japan who are talking of increasing the retirement age to 75. Doing so would engage the older citizens, contribute to the state exchequer in terms of taxes from older workers, and reduce the social security burden on the young. It is a surprisingly obvious solution.With the PM politically on the defensive after the all-round criticism of his joint statement with his Pakistani counterpart at Sharm-el-Sheikh, it is unclear when he may undertake the change in retirement age, though he is said to be very enthusiastic about it. Sharm-el-Sheikh will pass however; party boss Sonia Gandhi can manage the naysayers in the Congress, and the BJP is still shell-shocked from its electoral defeat to do serious damage to the government. And even within the BJP it is thought that currently the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra favour the Congress. Manmohan Singh will soon enough have the political wind at his back to make this proposal. Good thing, for it is an eminently sensible one.
Source : Column of Sri Aditya Sinha for express buzz.
Announcement on Independence Day ?
The government is actively considering raising the retirement age of all central government employees, including those in the armed forces, from the present 60 to 62 years.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has submitted a report to the prime minister outlining all the pros and cons of the move, including the "cascading effects" on government employment and the huge savings, at least for two years, on account of retirement payouts.
If the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the prime minister find the arguments forwarded by the finance ministry credible and convincing, the announcement may come as early as August 15, as part of Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech.
The Cabinet may discuss the matter tomorrow.
Although the finance ministry is making a strong case for the move, the DoPT is taking time to make up its mind, possibly out of consideration for the 1979 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and other central services. Officers of the 1979 batch have been empanelled for promotion to the ranks of additional secretary and secretary but can take up their posts only after the present incumbents retire. If an announcement extending the retirement age comes before November, a batch of empanelled joint secretaries stand to lose their future ranks. In turn, this will also affect those who joined the central administrative services in 1980. The DoPT also says that the age profile of Indian bureaucrats, instead of becoming younger, will become older, out of tune with the rest of the world.
For the finance ministry, the gains from the move are clear. The pension payout of all armed forces personnel of the rank of Lieutenant General and equivalent who were to retire this year will be postponed by 24 months; the government will also defer by two years the liability of paying pension to more than 100,000 employees. While salaries will have to continue to be paid, this will be cheaper than paying upfront benefits like gratuity.
This is all the more important given the government's other financial liabilities on account of stimulus spending and one drought, though the effects of the latter will kick in only in the next fiscal year. The fiscal deficit is 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product this year and a two-year lag in paying pensions will help in bridging this.
In 1998, the National Democratic Alliance government had raised the retirement age from 58 to 60, a move that benefitted 90,000 government servants and 50,000 defence personnel. At the time, the logic was: the retirement of 140,000 employees would have cost Rs 5,200 crore whereas paying salaries cost only Rs 1,493 crore.
That move came in the wake of the 5th Pay Commission report which had just been implemented by the then United Front government. In 2003, the government also right-sized the central government employee workforce by 30 per cent.
Every time the Centre announces an increase or concession on pay packages, both public-sector units and state governments follow suit. If the prime minister does decide to raise the retirement age, state governments and Public Sector Units (PSUs) will mirror this action. This has its own implications for many cash-strapped states like Punjab.
If the decision is finally taken, it will only be the third time the government will have raised the retirement age. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister to have increased the age of superannuation from 55 to 58 following the 1962 war with China. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government did it a second time in 1998.


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Playa del Carmen is a coastal resort town right at the heart of the Mayan Riviera on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. About 50 miles south of Cancún, it offers a more relaxed, almost European atmosphere, and as the centre of town is small enough to walk around and very pedestrian friendly, it's a great place for a family holiday with a combination of great beaches, adventure activities and theme parks and other tourist attractions. And with a huge selection of condos, apartments and villas available as rental homes, it can be a surprisingly low cost trip for you and your family.
Although the beach will be the first thing many tourists think of, there is far more to do in Playa del Carmen than just working on a tan. Around the beaches are plenty of opportunities for snorkelling and scuba diving, and you can also try your hand at diving in cenotes (freshwater sinkholes which can be found throughout the Yucatan Peninsula). There are three major attraction sites in the area - Xcaret to the south is probably the most exciting - a celebration of the Yucatan Peninsula's Mayan heritage. It contains an archaeological site as well as orchid greenhouses, underground rivers and a jaguar island, and you can even experience the wonder of going swimming with dolphins. After all this excitement, the laidback European flavour of Playa del Carmen itself is great for unwinding after a hard day's enjoyment.
There are apartment rentals and villas to suit every budget in Playa del Carmen. A typical apartment large enough to accommodate a family of four or more costs around £740 for a week, which compares well with the cost of booking hotel rooms for the whole family, particularly when you take into account the extra money saving potential of preparing some of your own meals in the self-catering facilities rather than eating out three times a day or relying on a hotel restaurant's opening times. The vast majority of Playa del Carmen rental homes are also equipped with all modern comforts, often including flatscreen TVs and wireless internet access, so you can relax completely with extra privacy and much more space, which is great for kids. The youngest members of your family can run around and let off steam without you needing to worry that they might be disturbing other guests!


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SEC599: Defeating Advanced Adversaries - Implementing Kill Chain Defenses New
Tue, April 3 - Sun, April 8, 2018
Applicable to my day-to-day. The labs are invaluable to cementing the methodologies.
Course content and labs were fantastic! Very good in identifying malicious actions taken and what to look out for -- great blue team related material.
You just got hired to help our virtual organization "SyncTechLabs" build out a cyber security capability. On your first day, your manager tells you: "We really don't know where to start! We looked at some recent cyber security trend reports and we feel like we've lost the plot. Advanced persistent threats, ransomware, denial of service...We're not even sure where to start!"
Cyber threats are on the rise: ransomware is affecting small, medium and large enterprises alike, while state-sponsored adversaries are attempting to obtain access to your most precious crown jewels. SEC599: Defeating Advanced Adversaries - Implementing Kill Chain Defenses will arm you with the knowledge and expertise you need to detect and respond to today's threats. Recognizing that a prevent-only strategy is not sufficient, we will introduce security controls designed to stop advanced adversaries
Course authors Erik Van Buggenhout & Stephen Sims (both certified as GIAC Security Experts) are hands-on practitioners who have achieved a deep understanding of how cyber attacks work through penetration testing and incident response. While teaching penetration testing courses, they were often asked "But how do I prevent this type of attack?" With more than 20 labs plus a full-day "Defend-The-Flag" exercise during which students attempt to defend our virtual organization from different waves of attacks against its environment, SEC599 gives students real world examples of how to prevent attacks.
Our six-day journey will start with an analysis of recent attacks through in-depth case studies. We will explain what types of attacks are occurring and introduce the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Attack Cycle as a structured approach to describing attacks. In order to understand how attacks work, you will also compromise our virtual organization "SyncTechLabs" in our Day 1 exercises.
Throughout days two through five we will discuss how effective security controls can be implemented to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber attacks. Some of the topics we will address include:
- Building your own mail sandbox solution to detect spear phishing
- Developing effective group policies to stop malicious code execution
- Stopping 0-day exploits using exploit mitigation techniques and application whitelisting
- Detecting and avoiding malware persistence
- Detecting and preventing lateral movement through sysmon, Windows event monitoring, and group policies
- Blocking and detecting command and control through network traffic analysis
- Leveraging threat intelligence to improve your security posture
In designing the course and its exercises, the authors went the extra mile to ensure that attendees "build" something that can be used later on. For this reason, the different technologies illustrated throughout the course (e.g., IDS systems, web proxies, sandboxes, visualization dashboards, etc.) will be provided as usable virtual machines on the course USB.
SEC599 will finish with a bang. During the "Defend-the-Flag" challenge on the final course day you will be pitted against advanced adversaries in an attempt to keep your network secure. Can you protect the environment against the different waves of attacks? The adversaries aren't slowing down, so what are you waiting for?
This Course Will Prepare You To:
- Understand how recent high-profile attacks were delivered and how they could have been stopped
- Implement security controls throughout the different phases in the APT Attack Cycle to prevent, detect, and respond to attacks. We will define the following stages in the APT Attack Cycle:
- Reconnaissance
- Weaponization
- Delivery
- Exploitation
- Installation
- Command and control
- Action on objectives
- Carry out a series of practical exercises:
- Compromise a virtual organization to understand how attackers operate
- Build your own mail sandbox solution to detect spear phishing
- Develop effective group policies to stop malicious code execution
- Stop 0-day exploits using exploit mitigation techniques and application whitelisting
- Detect and avoid malware persistence using host-based IDS techniques
- Detect and prevent lateral movement through sysmon, Windows event monitoring, and group policies
- Block and detect command and control through network analysis
- Leverage threat intelligence in the APT Attack cycle
Course Syllabus
SEC599.1: Knowing the Adversary, Knowing Yourself
Erik Van Buggenhout
Tue Apr 3rd, 2018
Our six-day journey will start with an analysis of recent attacks through in-depth case studies. We will explain what's happening out there and introduce the APT Attack Cycle as a structured approach to describing attacks. In order to understand how attacks work, you will also compromise our virtual organization "SyncTechLabs" during the day's exercises.
- One click is all it takes...You will compromise our virtual organization through a series of offensive tasks to mimic that of an adversary or red team, including gaining an initial foothold, performing lateral movement, maintaining persistence, all while remaining stealthy.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Course outline and lab set-up
- Current threat and attack landscape
- Introducing the APT Attack Cycle
- Recent attacks - case studies
- Knowing yourself - Understanding your own environment
- Understanding and limiting your organization's footprint
SEC599.2: Hindering Reconnaissance and Stopping Delivery
Erik Van Buggenhout
Wed Apr 4th, 2018
Day 2 will cover how attackers take their first steps. How do they perform reconnaissance and what can we do to hinder it? The courseware will cover technical controls, but will also touch upon "soft topics" such as security awareness.
After reconnaissance is performed and vulnerabilities are spotted, the adversary will weaponize the payload and deliver it to the target. We will analyze how delivery of the payload can be detected and blocked. We will cover a variety of techniques, including mail-based controls (e.g., SMTP file and URL carving, sandboxing, etc.) and web-based controls (access controls using web proxies).
- Building our a sandbox using Suricata and Cuckoo
- Finding the needle in the haystack using YARA
- Deploying PfSense firewall with Squid and ClamAV
- Developing eye-candy using Kibana
- Controlling scripting with GPOs
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Strategies for preventing/detecting payload delivery
- End-user security awareness
- Leveraging Suricata IDS / IPS
- Mail security controls (AV, SMTP file, and URL carving)
- Mail attachment sandboxing
- Zooming in on YARA rules
- Controlling scripts in the enterprise
- Web proxy configuration to defeat drive-by downloads
SEC599.3: Preventing Exploitation
Erik Van Buggenhout
Thu Apr 5th, 2018
Day 3 will explain how exploitation can be prevented. Attendees will gain an in-depth understanding of current exploitation tactics. We will introduce effective security controls to stop exploitation attempts dead in their tracks. We will assess tools and techniques aimed at protecting both your network and your hosts and applications. Typical items that will be discussed include network authentication, OS hardening, application threat modeling, client and OS patch management, and exploit mitigation techniques.
- Hardening your Windows environment using GPOs
- Hands-on exploitation mitigation with EMET
- Configuring AppLocker to stop malicious payload execution
- End-point monitoring using sysmon and YARA rules
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Protecting the network
- Network access control and 802.1X
- Protecting your hosts
- OS hardening and best practices and policies
- Client and OS patch management
- End-point protection solutions
- Exploit mitigation techniques
- Protecting your own software
- Security in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDL)
- Security assessments and bug bounties
- Application threat modeling
- Protecting other software
SEC599.4: Preventing Exploitation (continued): Avoiding Installation and Foiling Command and Control
Erik Van Buggenhout
Fri Apr 6th, 2018
Day 4 will continue with discussion about exploit prevention techniques, but we'll also zoom in on persistence techniques typically employed by advanced adversaries and how command and control is established. If adversaries successfully exploit a vulnerability, their next step is to attempt to maintain their access, escalate privileges, and set up a command and control channel.
- Implementing OSSEC to detect persistence
- Implementing VLANs using PfSense
- Detecting AD attacks (pass-the-hash, Mimikatz, etc.) using sysmon and Windows event logs
- Limiting outbound network traffic using PfSense
- Using Suricata to detect network anomalies
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Network architecture and segmentation recommendations
- Monitoring the Active Directory environment for suspicious behavior
- Typical persistence strategies and approaches
- Detecting and avoiding persistence in the enterprise
- Full packet capture and IDS strategies
- Traffic profiling
- NetFlow analysis and recommendations
- Identifying command and control
SEC599.5: Thwarting Exfiltration, Cyber Deception, and Incident Response
Erik Van Buggenhout
Sat Apr 7th, 2018
Day 5 focuses on stopping the adversary during the final stages of the attack:
- How can data exfiltration be detected and stopped?
- How can cyber deception be used to slow down and stop advanced adversaries?
- How can threat intelligence aid defenders in the APT Attack Cycle?
- How can defenders perform effective incident response?
As always, theoretical concepts will be illustrated during the different exercises performed throughout the day.
- Preparing and planting canaries with CanaryTokens
- Detecting data exfiltration using Suricata
- Making your honeypot irresistibly sweet
- Installing MISP and obtaining threat intelligence
- Incident response using GRR
- Querying your hosts using OSQuery
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Data exfiltration
- Planting canaries with Canarytokens
- Detecting exfiltration on the network
- Vector-oriented defenses
- Ransomware
- Hacktivists
- Cyber espionage
- Cyber deception strategies
- Honeypots
- Leveraging threat intelligence
- Patrolling the neighborhood
- Monitoring your endpoints using OSQuery
- Incident response
- Leveraging GRR to respond to incidents in your environment
SEC599.6: Advanced Persistent Threat Defender Capstone
Erik Van Buggenhout
Sun Apr 8th, 2018
The course culminates in a team-based Defend the Flag competition. Day six provides a full day of hands-on work applying the principles taught throughout the week. Your team will progress through multiple levels and missions designed to ensure mastery of the modern cyber security controls taught all week long. This challenging exercise will reinforce key principles in a fun challenge that will put your new skills to the test in an environment just like the ones you'll be working in when you return to your jobs.
CPE/CMU Credits: 6
- Applying previously covered security controls in-depth
- Reconnaissance
- Weaponization
- Delivery
- Exploitation
- Installation
- Command and control
- Action on objectives
Additional Information
Laptop Required
As the course leverages the SANS OnDemand platform, the labs will be browser-based. The following are key requirements for optimal lab experience:
Operating System
Students must bring a laptop to class running any of the following OS families:
- Windows 7, 8.1 or 10
- MacOS Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan or Sierra:
- Linux-based distributions could work, but this will depend on your exact distribution
- For troubleshooting reasons, please ensure you have local administrator privileges to your laptop
An up to date version of the following browser families is supported:
- Microsoft Edge
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- x86-compatible or x64-compatible 2.0 GHz CPU minimum or higher
- 4 GB RAM minimum with 8 GB or higher recommended
- Ethernet adapter (a wired connection is required in class; if your laptop supports only wireless, please make sure to bring a USB Ethernet adapter with you)
- 10 GB available hard-drive space
During the course, you will be connecting to a network filled with security experts! As a best practice, do not have any sensitive data stored on the system. SANS is not responsible for your system if someone in the class attacks it during the course.
By bringing the right equipment and preparing in advance, you can maximize what you will see and learn, as well as have a lot of fun.
If you have additional questions about the laptop specifications, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
Who Should Attend
- Security Architects
- Security Engineers
- Technical Security Managers
- Security Operations Center Analysts, Engineers, and Managers
- IT Administrators
- Individuals looking to better understand how advanced persistent cyber adversaries operate and how the IT environment can be improved to better prevent, detect, and respond to incidents
- Experience with Linux and Windows from the command line
- Familiarity with Windows Active Directory concepts
- A solid understanding of TCP/IP and networking concepts
Other Courses People Have Taken
What You Will Receive
- MP3 audio files of the complete course lecture
- 32GB USB 3.0 stick that includes the key solutions built through the course
- A mail sandbox solution
- An open-source IDS/IPS system
- An ELK stack for data visualization and dashboarding
- An open-source firewall with built-in web proxy capabilities
Hands-on Training
SEC599 leverages the SANS OnDemand platform, where attendees will be able to complete more than 20 labs in the course using a full-fledged browser environment. This eliminates possible issues with hardware and software compatibility by spooling up a "per-instance" virtual environment for each exercise mimicking that of a real-world production environment. Each student will be sandboxed into a unique instance providing domain isolation and preventing other students from impacting their environment.
Author Statement
"After writing and teaching many advanced penetration testing and exploit development courses over the past 10 years, I started to see a trend developing. Often, over half of the students in each class were not actually penetration testers or those who would be writing 0-days. In fact, they most often worked in a defensive role and were coming to these courses to learn about the techniques used by attackers so that they could better defend their networks. This led to our idea to write a course that focused on teaching just enough of the offense to demonstrate the impact, and then focus the majority of the time on implementing controls to break the techniques used by adversaries and red team testers."
- Stephen Sims
"During my InfoSec career, I first focused on penetration testing for more than five years, then I shifted my focus more and more to the world of incident response. That's when I started observing the need for a structured approach to Cyber Defense. Single, stand-alone solutions, tools, and techniques will only get us so far. If we want to stop advanced adversaries effectively, we have to ensure we have a defense in-depth approach where we can implement security controls that counter each and every one of their attacking moves. SEC599 arms defenders with an in-depth understanding of how advanced adversaries are attempting to penetrate organizations. The APT Attack Cycle will provide in-depth technical insight into how attacks work from start to finish. Both Stephen Sims and I have extensive experience in penetration testing and incident response, which makes us ideally positioned to develop this course. I personally am VERY excited about this course, as I believe it fills a gap in the Cyber Defense curriculum. The course is ideal for IT professionals who want to understand how adversaries are currently compromising IT environments and how every one of their moves can be prevented, detected, and even responded to. I strongly believe in learning by applying, so the course is designed to be highly hands-on. Throughout the week, students will complete 20+ labs and exercises, culminating in a full-day 'Defend-The-Flag' exercise on Day 6."
- Erik Van Buggenhout


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text:
Nokia to sell new Lumia phone through Verizon Wireless
Nokia will sell a new high-end smartphone through U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless, it said on Friday, aiming to expand its share in the high-margin premium market after years of falling behind Samsung and Apple Inc.
The new Lumia 928, priced at $99 if customers mail-in a $50 rebate and agree to a two-year deal with Verizon Wireless, is similar to the 920 model currently sold through AT&T, but is lighter and slightly different in appearance.
It weighs 162 grams compared with 185 grams for the 920, which some critics had said was too heavy.
The 928's 4.5-inch screen also extends to the edge of the phone, giving a sharper impression than the curved edges of the 920. The new models also come in black and white compared with the colorful options of the earlier Lumia range.
Most other features, such as a 8.7 megapixel camera and 1.5-gigahertz dual core processor by Qualcomm, are the same as the 920's.
The 928 is the latest in Nokia's Lumia range of smartphones which use Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software.
Nokia switched to Windows in 2011, aiming to compete with Apple's iPhones and rivals using Google's Android system. Sales of Lumia phones have grown in recent quarters, but at 5.6 million in first quarter, they still account for only around 5 percent of the market.
The company has recently launched new products in the lower and mid-tier range to protect its position in emerging markets, but analysts have said its success in the high-margin smartphone market will be crucial for its long-term survival.
Nokia is due to unveil its new Lumia strategy at an event in London next Tuesday.


text:
I love cherries. They are like fresh, juicy sweets that make my mouth smile. I also love banana bread so why not combine the best of both worlds with a sprinkling of chocolate as a bonus?
- 3 ripe bananas
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp butter softened
- 1/4 cup Black Cherry Greek Yogurt
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3/4 dark chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups halved cherries
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Peel and mash bananas
- Stir in egg, butter, yogurt, sugar and vanilla. Mix until combined.
- Combine 1 cup flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Do not overmix.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Toss cherries with 2 tablespoons of flour and fold into batter.
- Spray PAM into a loaf pan and then pour the batter in.
- Bake for 65 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).
- Cool and then enjoy!
Do you like cherries? What are some of your favorite recipes?


text: Keep the wind off your feet with a pair of Bontrager's RXL Windshell Shoe Covers on. Perfect for the shoulder seasons, they're windproof, lightweight, and water resistant. The wide cleat opening stretches to fit any pedal system. Plus, there are zippers on the back for easy on/off, and reflective accents for safety.


text:
Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
|If all goes according to plan, next week a rocket will launch carrying a commercial imaging satellite capable of making out details on Earth just 16 inches across. The satellite, known as GeoEye-1, will be the highest resolution satellite run by a private company. The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has first dibs on imaging time on GeoEye-1 for the first 18 months after its launch. However, GeoEye plans to market images from the satellite to a range of governments and private customers for applications such as high-resolution mapping. We'll talk with one of the people behind the GeoEye-1 launch about the satellite and its capabilities.


text:
|Version 111 (modified by RayPlante, 8 years ago) (diff)
|My Outstanding Ticket Count: 0; select Ticket Report {45} for more details.
Table of Contents
LSST Software Development
This site serves as a collaboration portal for software development across the LSST project. It provides integrated access to the software repository, the issues-ticket database (i.e. bug reports and development milestone assignments), and design documents and discussion. It currently serves primarily the Data Management System; however, we are beginning to also support the Camera, Observatory, and Simulation teams. LSST Data Management links are found below, for other project efforts, see these links for their "home pages":
- Camera Control System
- TelescopeAndSite?
- Simulations?
- A list of active Trac users, their email addresses, and links to their personal wiki pages and blogs.
- New LSST User Account Setup.
LSST Data Management (DM)
- Presentation of DM organization: Document-4688
- Project Management Council (PMC)
- DM Technical Control Team (TCT), formerly known as the DM Configuration Control Board
- System Architecture Team (SAT)
- Science Steering Team (SST)
Working Groups
- Infrastructure Working Group
- Applications Working Group
- DC3b Weekly Telecon
- Data Access and Database
- The LSST DM Software Stack
- Installing LSST Software on your local machine
- Running LSST Software in a virtual machine, an alternative to installing the software
- The LSST software's documentation --- a work in progress
- Automated Builds that test the software stack regularly
- The list of "project-recommended" (stable) versions of products (and beta versions)
- The list of products currently under active development
- Software Design documentation - including the EA UML model and the DB schema
- Applications and Algorithms
- Database - Documents related to the LSST Database
- Tools - Our software tools and how to use them
Standards and Policies
- Software Development Plan
- Coding, documentation, and review standards
- Common Vocabulary
- Fault Tolerance
- Security
Data Challenges
- Final reports: DC1, DC2, DC3a
- DC2 management & execution
- DC3 management & execution
- capture DC4 to-be-done's
Science Data Quality Analysis
Reference and Background Material
- Papers on the LSST Data Management architecture and implementation
- Glossary
- FAQs - Index of this wiki's FAQ pages
- External documents - Links to other useful document collections, including the LSST Data email archives.
Reports and Reviews
- Monthly Reports
- CoDR - Documents related to the management and execution of the Conceptual Design Review.
- PDR - Documents related to the management and execution of the Preliminary Design Review.
How to use Trac
- TracGuide -- Built-in Documentation
- TracIntro -- The original version of this page
- TracSupport -- Trac Support
- LsstTracEnvironment - Tuning Trac for the LSST environment
For a complete list of local wiki pages, see TitleIndex.


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First off, big thanks to Findinglisp for updating phpbb to the latest version. Spam levels are *way* down.
Also nice: The site now has Atom feeds; so you can check for updates without actually visiting the site.
You can subscribe to feeds for the whole site or for individual forums. These do not require an account login. In most browsers, an RSS indicator will appear on pages with an associated feed. The Moz team, in their infinite wisdom, removed this indicator after Firefox 4; but there are many RSS add-ons for those of us stuck in the mud. (Firefox 10 does have feed subscription under the Bookmarks menu.)
The top-level feed is http://lispforum.com/feed.php
The CL feed is http://lispforum.com/feed.php?f=2
The Scheme feed is http://lispforum.com/feed.php?f=22
Site updates
Whatever is on your mind, whether Lisp related or not.
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1


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Quote:there are techniques that exist in both, and sometimes the overlap may seem quite large, but the intention is different. in judo, they are used to score points. in jujutsu, they are used to hurt. that is why strikes are VERBOTEN in judo, because they are too dangerous for sport.
Quote:not taking away from judo at all! its great, and builds great exponents. but it is still a combat sport in which you score points. jujutsu is a martial art.
Quote:Aren't strikes verboten in jiu-jitsu training as well?
Quote:Quote:Aren't strikes verboten in jiu-jitsu training as well?Eh no. Strikes are done in a controlled manner to avoid injury. Hard enough to have a small effect, but soft enough to avoid lasting damage.
Quote:And any judo i have trained in or seen, it has all been geared towards competition. i was told i couldn't do things i could do in jujutsu because it was "unsafe" and a real gem: "unsportsmanlike".
Quote:So in my experience, judo is primarily nowadays geared towards sport. which is a shame, because it was once so much more than this. I agree that if it taught with the intention of teaching self defense, then it is useful. all i meant was that a lot of schools teach it as a sport.
Quote:Quote:Quote:Aren't strikes verboten in jiu-jitsu training as well?Eh no. Strikes are done in a controlled manner to avoid injury. Hard enough to have a small effect, but soft enough to avoid lasting damage. Seen that done in Judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well. Dont see how Japanese jiu-jitsu is any different. Its called vale tudo.Besides, its still all pretend isnt it?
Quote:Whats so wrong with judo being sport? Everybody loves sports.Still i dont know whats better for a begginer like me?
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text:
My Article Got Reprinted!
A large organization by the name of Rest Ministries has chosen to reprint my post called "Self Consciousness and Other Thieves of Peace". Rest Ministries has about 600 websites and webpages, and is the instituter of Invisible Illness Week, which is going on now. I was tickled that they thought something I wrote was up to their quality. Lisa Copen is the President of Rest Ministries. To see the reprint, go to: http://ow.ly/oQ0l.


text:
For Immediate Release, May 22, 2012
Contacts: Collette Adkins Giese, (651) 955-3821
Lawsuit Launched to Speed Protection for Dozens of Rare and Vanishing
Amphibians and Reptiles in Southeast
ATLANTA— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for the agency's failure to decide whether to give Endangered Species Act protection to 25 amphibian and reptile species found in the southeastern United States. Nine turtles, two snakes, one skink and 13 salamanders are named in today's notice.
"Endangered Species Act protection is the only hope for saving these amphibians and reptiles, which are being driven to extinction by habitat loss, pollution and other threats," said Collette Adkins Giese, a Center lawyer and biologist who works to save imperiled amphibians and reptiles. "Saving these animals will also protect rivers and streams that are a source of drinking water and recreation for millions of people in the Southeast."
In 2010 the Center and its allies petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for dozens of amphibians and reptiles, as well as hundreds of other aquatic species, in the Southeast. In 2011 the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that 25 of these amphibians and reptiles "may warrant" protection as endangered species but has failed to make required 12-month findings to decide whether to give them federal protection.
"Amphibians and reptiles are facing an extinction crisis in the Southeast and across the globe," said Adkins Giese. "These animals simply cannot afford any more bureaucratic delays."
In the United States, scores of amphibian and reptile species are at risk of extinction. Yet reptiles and amphibians make up just 58 of the 1,400 species protected under the Endangered Species Act, the country's most powerful law for saving species from extinction and putting them on the road to recovery.
For more information about the Center's campaign to stop the amphibian and reptile extinction crisis, visit: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/amphibian_conservation/index.html.
Species Highlights
The Barbour's map turtle is found in wide, clear streams with swift currents and snags for basking in the Apalachicola River system of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. This turtle preys mainly on mollusks and insects such as caddisfly larvae; it can only survive in waters clean enough to support its prey base. Barbour's map turtles are threatened by commercial collection, dredging, pollution and disease.
The eastern ribbon snake (Lower Florida Keys population) is found on only a few of the mainline islands of the Lower Keys in Monroe County, Fla. Its freshwater wetland habitat is extremely limited and threatened by residential and urban development. The ribbon snake is black, with three yellow stripes, and gets its name from its very thin body.
The Florida Keys mole skink is a tiny lizard found only on sandhills and scrub of some of the Florida Keys. It usually occurs near the shoreline in sandy areas where it burrows into soil. Its populations are declining primarily due to habitat destruction and overcollection.
The hellbender salamander can grow to almost 2 feet long and is North America's largest amphibian. Many populations across the eastern United States are extirpated, but hellbender are still believed to occur in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. They live in rocky, clear creeks and rivers, where they use large rocks for shelter. These salamanders face many threats, including dams and pollution from mining, logging, agricultural runoff and other sources.
The seepage salamander is tiny, reaching only 1-2 inches in length, and is named for the seepages around which it lives in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Its population size has been cut in half over the past several decades, primarily by logging and other forces driving habitat loss.
Go back


text:
Questions? Email Us
The 1/4" x 3-1/4" Red Head Trubolt (three one six) 316 Stainless Steel Wedge Anchor (100 pcs per box) are designed for attaching to concrete. Each order is shipped complete the same day that it is received, and will arrive in 1 to 3 days.
* The figures above indicate average ultimate tension and shear failure values. A safety factor of 4:1 or 25% of ultimate value is generally accepted as a safe working load. Reference should always be made to applicable codes.
* The bits are recommended by diameter and may not necessarily be the length needed for your application. Please make sure the usable length will work for your application. *


text:
Apple's iPad Offers Salvation to Beleaguered Media Publishers
While the chorus of hand-picked pre-release iPad reviewers has pretty roundly declared it just as magical as Steve Jobs told us it would be, and how the interface sweetly beckons the user into it's experience before gently disappearing to reveal some new oddly-posthuman machine love affair, not a whole lot is being said about what this device means to content publishers. The naysayers deride, among oh so many niggling things, it's flat file system, lack of HDMI output, no USB, no Flash support, and virtual uselessness as an authoring platform but, clearly, that's not what it's really meant for. As many have noted, the iPad is a device designed primarily for consumption.
More specifically (and more importantly to the publishing & distribution biz), the iPad is a shiny, friendly, closed & gated, DRM'd device for finding, purchasing, and consuming new media, all managed by the secure & reliable iTunes Store. The user gets what is arguably a faster, more intuitive, and compelling experience that will probably have them throwing gobs of money at the next generation of digital media. Publishers get a delivery target that is a de facto store with all the innate moral understanding about payment and value and theft that comes with that context. And consumers get the ability to search, find, purchase, and consume media in one single, engaging mobile device.
In the iPad frontier, it's explicitly OK for publishers to charge users for content. They have a whole new platform in which to innovate experiences that upsell users from the last generation's content. You loved The Beatles remasters? Well now you can get The Beatles remasters with HD multimedia interactive album copy & studio videos for only $22.95 an album!
It's no wonder that Disney, ABC, the Wall Street Journal, Netflix, Conde Nast, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Marvel, and many, many others have rushed to the new platform to plant their flags and set up shop. Marvel basically set up it's own comic store on the device, as Netflix has done with video. The Wall Street Journal has the perfect premium gateway for their subscription model. News & magazine publishers barely breathing after the beating they've taken since the web forced them to give away all their content for free must be droooooling over the opportunity to create the next generation of news experiences in a gated platform. Likewise for the book publishers finally reaching the new frontier of interactive digital content more compelling than paper books now lining so many remainder shelves like dusty word bricks. And arguably, the planet may be at least partially relieved of some of the paper and ink waste bloating landfills (we'll overlook the as-of-yet unresolved energetic/carbon burden of dematerializing into electronic containers…).
While many of us have been beckoning the new era of open content, the major media publishers have been begging for the lockdown offered by the iPad. To them, the device promises both a new platform for innovating compelling content, extending their business opportunities into the future landscape at a time when they've been so stuck in the past, and it offers the security of a trusted gate for managing purchases and IP protection. It's more of a nightmare for a lot of people but for the majors it has to be a dream come true. I can only assume that Steve et al worked closely with these interests to make sure they help build an impressive content catalog and a massive hype machine to drive as many new buyers to the iPad as they can. Apple knows that it sells a lot more product when it has the major distributors on it's side and, at this point, the Old Media houses are pretty much powerless in Steve's patented Reality Distortion Field.
Questions remain, of course. They've already sold over a million units in pre-sale but will the price point hold enough momentum to herald the new age of digital content consumption? Fanboys and early adopters are not enough to sustain a publishing revolution. Apple will probably drop the entry level price in another year or so after it's stacked up a solid catalog of content. Will the content be good enough to merit the costs? The Wall Street Journal thinks people will pay $17 a month for their service. I wonder if more news sites will follow the lead of the Wall Street Journal and start locking down their web content..? And how long until all the content houses push back and want to extend distribution to the next gen of iPad competitors? Well, it hasn't been much of a problem for iTunes & the iPod so far. That ecosystem, with plenty of would-be competitors, has kept music publishers pretty happy in a time of otherwise dismal CD returns. Will Apple's DRM solution be enough to stem the blood loss from file sharing? Face it kids, piracy is a problem for the industry. And face it, industry: your recycled, top-40, tent pole, hedge fund, bloated, over-managed content production models are done. Get used to the long tail of compelling new media niche content that costs half as much as it used to.
Whatever you think about Apple, however much you hate them for being so good at manipulating the public narrative in their favor, however much you detest-and-secretly-admire their obsessive design principles, their ability to dismiss seemingly obvious functionality, their iron-fisted distribution mamagement, and their cavalier "we don't really worry about the business side" attitude towards their shareholders… Whatever. Apple has lined up pretty much the entire content industry, pointed them at a new playground, and guaranteed them a financial return on their efforts. Will it be enough to save their business in the face of the democratized world of free user content? The industry will abide and do it's best to make compelling new content that's only available on this very compelling new device.
[For a much more user-centered take, see Cory Doctorow's impassioned piece, Why I Won't Buy an iPad and Think You Shouldn't Either. Also see Joel Johnson's similarly impassioned counterpoint.]
[Andrew Keen summed it up nicely in this tweet: "my prediction: iPad will formalize chasm between Apple's high-end paid content model & Google's low-end free model. Adieu to mass media."]
[Quinn Norton discusses the Elephant in the room: the iPad is simply too expensive for most people.]
[Investor Howard Lindzon shows off the NASDAQ app w/ StockTwits support. Lovely UI!]
[Round-up of media brands currently on the iPad.]


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About microformats
Microformats are simple conventions (known as entities) used on web pages to describe a specific type of information —for example, a review, an event, a product, a business, or a person. Each entity has its own properties. For example, a Person has the properties name, address, job title, company, and email address.
In general, microformats use the
class attribute in HTML tags (often
 or

) to assign brief and descriptive names to entities and their properties. Here's an example of a short HTML block showing basic contact information for Bob Smith.

  Bob Smith Senior editor at ACME Reviews 200 Main St Desertville, AZ 12345

Here is the same HTML marked up with the hCard (Person) microformat.

  Bob Smith Senior editor at ACME Reviews  200 Main St Desertville, AZ 12345

Here's how this sample works.
- In the first line,
class="vcard"indicates that the HTML enclosed in the

describes a Person. (The microformat used to describe people is called hCard and is referred to in HTML as
vcard. This isn't a typo.)
- The sample describes properties of the Person item, such as a photo, name, title, organization, and address. To label properties about the person described by the vcard, each element containing one of these properties (such as
, or
<title>) is assigned a
classattribute indicating a property. For example,
fndescribes a person's name;
titledescribes job title. (The Help article for each information type includes a full list of recognized properties.)
- Properties can contain other properties. In the example above, the property
adrdescribes the address of the person, and includes the subproperties
Nested microformats
It's common for one microformat (for example, a Review) to contain another (for example, contact information about the reviewer). The sample review below includes information about Bob Smith's job title and employer.

 Blast 'Em Up Review By Bob Smith, Senior Editor at ACME Reviews Rating: 4.5 out of 5 This is a great game. I enjoyed it from the opening battle to the final showdown with the evil aliens.

Here is the same HTML marked up with the hReview (review) and hCard (person) microformats. To represent the information about Bob the reviewer, hCard (Person) microformat is nested inside the hReview (Review) microformat.

  Blast 'Em Up Review   By Bob Smith, Senior Editor at ACME Reviews  Rating: 4.5 out of 5. This is a great game. I enjoyed it from the opening battle to the final showdown with the evil aliens.

Here's how this sample works.
- Reviews are described by the hReview microformat, written as
class="hreview". Since this is a review, the entire HTML block is included in a
divwith the
- To identify the reviewer, you can use
span class="reviewer". However, in this case we want to provide additional information about the reviewer using the
vcard(person) microformat. You can do this by putting
vcardon the same line, separated by a space, like this:
. The
title, and
orgdescribe Bob's name, his job title, and the organization he works for.
For more examples, see Nested entities.
Non-visible content
In general, Google won't display content that is not visible to the user. In other words, don't show content to users in one way, and use hidden text to mark up information separately for search engines and web applications. You should mark up the text that actually appears to your users when they visit your web pages.
However, in some situations it can be valuable to provide search engines with more detailed information, even if you don't want that information to be seen by visitors to your page. For example, providing the latitude and longitude of a venue can help Google ensure that it is correctly mapped; providing the date of an event in ISO date format can help ensure that it appears correctly in search results. In this case you can use the microformats value class pattern. Consider this example:
  15 October, 7PM
By including
 inside the block labeled with
class="dtstart", you indicate that the rich snippets parser should use the value in the
title attribute to find the start date of the event. The date in the
title attribute can be represented using ISO date format without affecting the way the date is shown to users.
For specific vocabulary and examples, see:
- Reviews
- People
- Products
- Businesses and organizations
- Recipes
- Events
- Video (note that while Google supports video markup, we currently use it only to improve our video search results).
To check your markup, use the structured data testing tool.


text:
Fill out and submit the form below and then checkout to complete your order!
Fill out my online form.
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These posters will only be available until we run out, and we sell 'em fast - Get yours while they last!
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text: Harassing Communications (Phone Calls) With this system, you will be able to file an online police report without waiting, as well as print a copy of the report free of charge. Harassing phone calls are unwanted phone calls of an annoying, harassing, or threatening nature. In order to file a harassing communications report online, the suspect must be unknown. If the suspect's identity is known, the victim should instead contact the Fayetteville Police Department at (479) 587-3555 to file the report. After completing your report, please contact your phone service provider, as noted on your telephone bill, with the report number you received at the end of this process. Follow your phone service provider's instructions and keep track of when calls occur and the number from which it appears the call is coming (if applicable). Examples of qualifying phone calls that may be reported online are repeated hang-ups, obscene language, prank calls with no suspect information, etc. After completing your report, you will receive a report number to be used for future reference. Only information with the red asterisk (*) is mandatory. If you have an email address, please enter it so you can get the status of your report and/or we can contact you for follow up if deemed necessary.


text:
Welcome to Little Valley Animal Shelter
Little Valley Animal Shelter is owned and run by the South, East and West Devon Branch of the RSPCA, a separately registered charity responsible for raising funds locally to support the work of the Branch and the Shelter.
We are open to the public if you are interested in adopting an animal from us or you need any animal advice. Unfortunately, we are not open just for the public to have a look around as the Shelter is very busy.


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by Helen Aldous
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Even though cheese prices are low, it is encouraging to see the increase that cheese prices have shown over the past few weeks. The market will continue to chop up and down, but the fact that a lot of cheese has come to the market over the past few weeks and buyers continue to purchase steadily, is a very positive sign.
Cheese prices are above support, which should make the February milk price the lowest of the year. This is certainly something to cheer about, but it does not help our present situation. The February Class III price is $9.31 and the lowest since March 2003. This is $1.47/cwt lower than January. The Class II price is $10.25, down 16 cents and the Class IV price is $9.43, down 16 cents.
There is one aspect of the steady buying of cheese that could turn out to be a detriment later in the year. Buyers see plenty of cheese available and coming to the market. They are not standing back waiting for it to bottom as they do many times, but feel that prices may not decrease much further. This is causing them to stand in and purchase cheese to build inventory and provide a cushion. The longer duration with prices remaining low, the more they may purchase and avoid having to chase the market later in the year.
If milk supply tightens and cheese supplies become tight, price could escalate as buyers will need to outbid each other to get what they want. If the buyers have a greater cushion of product already on hand, they will not have to aggressively bid the price higher to get it. This would limit a price rally later in the year. We have seen this a few times in the past when cheese prices just did not increase very much in the late summer and fall time periods.
Buyers are justified in their fear of higher cheese prices later in the year. The January Livestock Slaughter report showed a large increase in dairy cattle slaughter. There were 281,100 dairy cattle slaughtered, the most since January 1997. There were 52,200 more slaughtered than December and 45,400 more than a year ago. Some of the cows were removed as a result of the latest round of the CWT program. Others were removed as a result of low milk prices. It is a matter of survival. Expenses have to be cut and lower producing cows are moving out of the herds. If they are not paying their way, they are not being kept around.
This report is one of the keys to milk price potential. It is a barometer of the state of the industry on the farm level. It will take a few months of heavy culling to begin to tighten the nation's milk supply, so do not look for a quick turn in milk prices.
CWT is expected to implement another herd reduction round sometime this year. There have been a lot of numbers tossed around as to how many cows they would purchase. CWT is tight-lipped about it, and we will not know for sure until they announce it. Then we may not even know for sure until it is finalized. The last round resulted in them purchasing 10,000 less cows than they initially indicated. A large scale reduction from another buyout will certainly have a significant impact on milk supply.
My current recommendation is to purchase put options for closer months if Class III futures jump. The March and April contracts jumped earlier on the cheese price increase, but have since eroded lower than where they were when cheese was $1.07. Purchase May and June put options on another bounce. Later months will likely remain steady while waiting for continued price direction from the underlying cash market.
Upcoming reports to watch for are the Dairy Products report on March 4; the Annual Livestock Slaughter report on March 6; the California Class I price on March 10; Fluid milk sales report on March 13.
--Robin Schmahl is a commodity broker and owner of AgDairy LLC, a full-service commodity brokerage firm located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He can be reached at 877-256-3253 or through their Web site at www.agdairy.com.
The thoughts expressed and the data from which they are drawn are believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. There is risk of loss in trading and may not be suitable for everyone. Those acting on this information are responsible for their own actions.
|This column is part of the Dairy Today eUpdate newsletter, which is delivered to subscribers biweekly and includes dairy industry analysis, dairy nutrition information as well as the latest dairy headline news. Click here to subscribe.


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Pepperell HS (PHS) Class of 2003 Alumni List
Help us Update the Pepperell HS 2003 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
Registered Alumni
2003 Class List
- Brittany Eastman
- Breon Ford
- Josh Gresham
- Jennifer Henley
- Zsck Hunt
- Amy Pilcher
- Richard Poole
- Stephanie Self
- Jamie Studdard
Know Pepperell HS Class of 2003 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 2003 Class List by adding missing names.
The top movie in theaters during 2003 was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, grossing over $377,845,905 in its lifetime. The most popular television series for 2003 was CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Reunions and Pepperell High School News
More 2003 alumni from Pepperell HS have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 2003 alumni.
Missing some friends from Pepperell High that graduated with you in 2003? Check the list below that shows the Pepperell class of '03.
If you haven't already, we also encourage you to register for free on this site. You may also want to check out the latest news and school memories.


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Wire Weaving Division
The Haver & Boecker Wire Weavers produce woven wire cloth and process it into engineered woven wire products. They are used as customised solutions in a large range of applications. Our work is based upon experience, continuous research and development of our products, along with the knowledge and ability of our staff. The combination of tradition and innovation allows us to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers.
Woven Media and Post Weaving Process
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Filters and Fabricated Parts
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Laminated Media
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Industrial Wire Screens
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Particle Analysis
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Screen Printing Mesh
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Do it yourself – Hardware Cloth
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Architectural Mesh
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HAVER Particle Analysis - The New EML
Architectural Mesh
for designing façades, ceilings, space for both interior and exterior use
Products A-Z
Modern production methods, skilled employees and differentiated quality control guarantee the uniformly high level of quality of our products - from A to Z.
Learn more
Where conventional filter cloths have reached their limits, MINIMESH® RPD HIFLO-S opens up new dimensions for filtration.
Virtual Mesh Design
The specific properties of a wire cloth can be precisely described and defined geometrically by the type of weave, wire diameter and mesh counts.


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Dan Seal, MathWorks
Connecting to sensors and instruments is an increasingly important task in today's world as more and more devices can generate data for us to interpret. In this webinar, we will discuss the latest hardware connectivity capabilities available in MATLAB and related toolboxes. With these tools, you can collect and analyze data from a range of hardware platforms including low-cost devices like Arduino boards and commercial hardware such as DAQ devices and test instruments.
Through discussion and product demonstrations, you will see how you can use the data acquisition products to:
Recorded: 13 Oct 2016


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Sold Out
Daily Shower Spray, Ylang Ylang, 28 oz.
Brand: Method
This product is unavailable
See more: Housekeeping
Using Daily Shower Spray means youll never have to wipe or scrub shower surfaces again. The easy to use spray frees shower of toxins and chemical residue while protecting against soap scum buildup. Method Cleanings' naturally derived products give you a clean feeling thats safe for you and safe for the environment. Products are non-toxic and made from renewable and/or abundant natural resources. Great ylang-ylang scent!


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HOUSTON – Finally, the Houston Dynamo can start seeing the fruits of their labor. Wednesday marked the beginning of construction on the club's downtown soccer-specific stadium. It started a process the club has been waiting six years to kick off.
Drive by the stadium site today and it may not look like much is happening, but construction companies are starting the process. Streets are being closed off, material is scheduled to be delivered and a perimeter is starting to be established. While it may not be exciting, it is the necessary first step in a long process.
"Next week you'll see dozers out there clearing the land, picking up debris and getting ready to excavate," Dynamo president of business operations Chris Canetti told MLSsoccer.com.
While fans and observers are eager to see progress, Canetti ensures that the early stages are something to get excited about. Like neighboring Minute Maid Park, the Dynamo's playing field will sit below ground level. Therefore, before things can go up, construction crews will have to dig out the land for the field.
"It's going to be a lot of below ground work at first, laying pipes and getting the land ready," said Canetti. "It's likely going to be months, probably the summer, before you start seeing steel coming out of the ground."
Canetti and the Dynamo will work with ICON Venue Management Group to oversee the construction project. ICON will work directly with the contractors, architects and the City of Houston to execute construction plans.
"I'm not an expert in the construction business but we are participants, with ICON, in the project," said Canetti. "ICON will oversee the project for us and they'll deal with [architectural firm] Populous and the contractors and work on day to day operations."
In addition to the start of construction on the downtown stadium, construction on the club's new practice facility is well underway. Two of the seven fields are ready for use, including the field that will house the Dynamo. Canetti said the team will be ready to move to the new facility when the club receives city permits in April.
"It's [head coach Dominic Kinnear's] decision on whether we move out there, and we've had a number of conversations about moving," said Canetti. "The unfortunate thing is the locker rooms won't be completed until after the season. But if the field is in the kind of condition we expect him and the team could elect to move out there."
While the club could move to their new practice facility this April, Canetti remains confident the new stadium will be ready for the Dynamo home opener in 2012.
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com. You can follow him on twitter @Dynamoexaminer.
Think you know the game? Test your powers of prediction with MLSsoccer.com's fantasy game, Pro Soccer Picks. Play NOW!


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Rooms+Rates | Gallery | Contact us | Find us | Explore
9 Prince's Buildings
Bristol Bed & Breakfast
Number 9 Prince's Buildings is a Grade 2 listed town house in the heart of Georgian Clifton. It sits on the edge of the Avon Gorge with splendid views over the river Avon and the North Somerset countryside. The world famous Clifton Suspension Bridge can be seen from some of the rooms.
Simon and Joanna have lived in 9 Prince's Buildings for over thirty years, and have taken great pride in maintaining the Georgian features of their family home.
9 Princes Buildings has a quiet relaxing atmosphere within its elegant rooms, and is ideally situated for visitors to Bristol. There are many restaurants, wine bars, and boutique shops on its doorstep.


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We've received two dispatches from reader Al G. concerning the undercover police presence at Electric Zoo. Electric Zoo, by the way is a festival for music made by computers or something.
Anyway, Al informs that the individual pictured above is an undercover cop, photographed on successive days (Saturday and Sunday) attempting to blend in. "Hey, you scamps, I'm just a 40 year old dude hanging out at a music festival in a Joe Montana jersey—just like you guys! Say, got any drugs?"
Which reminded me: Undercover cops fucking love wearing old NFL jerseys. Do you have a story of running into an undercover cop wearing an old NFL jersey? Lets Kinja this thing.


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TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn't joining the GOP field running for president in 2012, but he may have a hand in shaping the race from the sidelines.
His network of admirers and big-money donors and his continued popularity would make his endorsement a coveted campaign contribution, operatives say.
"Christie's endorsement will be aggressively sought after," said Phil Musser, a senior adviser for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign this year and former executive director of the Republican Governors Association.
"First, he's now got a national following at the grass-roots and establishment level," Musser said. "Second, the financial network in New Jersey, if corralled, can produce millions. And, finally, he'd be a terrific surrogate for any campaign."
Other political news of note
Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
House Speaker John Boehner became animated Tuesday over the proposed Keystone Pipeline, castigating the Obama administration for not having approved the project yet.
- Budget deficits shrinking but set to grow after 2015
- Senate readies another volley on unemployment aid
- Obama faces Syria standstill
- Fluke files to run in California
- Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
If some candidates were annoyed that Christie sucked up the media spotlight for a week as he reconsidered, Christie said they weren't telling him so.
"I think of bunch of the people who are candidates wouldn't say something like that because they want me to think kindly of them," Christie said Tuesday. "Even if they were annoyed, I think they withheld their fire."
"This was not something I stoked," he said of speculation about a possible presidential campaign. "This was something I kept trying to push off, but eventually it became something more than I could push off."
Ultimately, Christie decided it wasn't his time. But he said he would use his role as vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association to work with governors across the country in the coming years and would work to support whoever becomes the 2012 GOP nominee.Story: Christie says he's not running for president
The line of compliments from candidates had already begun to form Tuesday.
"We should all learn from the model of fiscal discipline and reform Gov. Christie has put in place in New Jersey," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachman said.
Christie's star rose quickly after he defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in 2009 in liberal-learning New Jersey. He won praise in his party for his budget cutting and employee benefit reforms, and for taking on the powerful teachers unions and shaking up the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
His brash tell-it-like-it-is style also made him a YouTube hit and a campaign trail favorite.
Besides those attributes, candidates also know that where Christie goes, cameras follow. The media scrum that arrived for his announcement Tuesday was so large that the line to get into his office stretched outside the front doors of the Statehouse and some were turned away because there was no room left. On-air personalities from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" were among the throng.Video: Chris Christie: 'Now is not my time' (on this page)
The last time that many media members packed into the New Jersey governor's office was for then-Gov. Jim McGreevey's "I'm a gay American" speech.
A charismatic speaker, Christie has spent the last two election cycles campaigning for Republicans around the country, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who won a close race against incumbent Ted Strickland, and Meg Whitman, who lost the California governor's race. He has also spent time working donors, many of whom were so enamored they publicly encouraged him to run for the White House.
Whitman, the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., is among those with deep pockets and an affection for Christie, whom she hosted at her home last week for a fundraiser.Don't count Perry out just yet
Billionaire oil tycoons Charles and David Koch invited Christie to give the keynote speech at their annual invitation-only retreat in Colorado in June. A month before, energy company executive Bruce Rastetter traveled to New Jersey to try to persuade him to run because he had been impressed by Christie at a fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's campaign. Rastetter was Branstad's top fundraiser in 2010.
The Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone also tried to get Christie to run. Hours after Christie said he was out for 2012, Langone announced he was backing Mitt Romney.
Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Minnesota contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Artist description:
Mitt Romney wants to get rid of Bigbird and Pbs!!!! Help save Bigbird by Voting Barack Obama
Java Draw Created Oct 06, 2012 640 x 460px Unless noted Copyright 2012 santacruiser.
We encourage you to submit a comment and let the artist know what you think of this drawing. Please log in or join to post a comment.
Post a comment
Clever concept, good drawing!
Too funny! Faves 5 hearts
I love your cartoons!! collection
You just are politically correct! LOLOL!!! Love this,,, what a gut buster in the morning with my coffee,,, your art work is wonderful and the details are right on,, afun piece,,, SAVE BIGBIRD!!!!!!
LMAO just seen this on tv, and was hoping they were joking, don't follow this crap hate elections days so...yeah anyways this is funny and great work
aww bigbird!!!
Awesome!!! I love big bird!!!! I saw that on the debate!!! WE WILL SAVE YOU BIG BIRD!!!
nice :)
Cool draw!


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A's Announce Coaching Staff for 2013
Darren Bush Named Bullpen Coach; Remainder of Staff Return
The Oakland A's named Darren Bush as the bullpen coach on manager Bob Melvin's coaching staff for the 2013 season, the club announced today. The rest of the coaching staff for the defending American League West Division Champions will return next season.
Bush has managed in the A's farm system the last six years, including back-to-back division titles with Triple-A Sacramento the past two seasons. He also led Double-A Midland to playoff appearances in each of his two seasons with the RockHounds in 2009 and 2010, including a Texas League Championship in 2009. Bush guided Single-A Stockton to the California League Championship in his second year as a manager in 2008. The 38-year-old Dunedin, Fla. resident joined the Athletics in 2005 as hitting coach at Stockton and spent two seasons in that capacity before taking over as manager for the Ports in 2007. He has a 462-386 record in six seasons as a manager.
Tye Waller returns for his seventh season on the A's coaching staff, his third straight at first base, while Mike Gallego will be in his fifth season as third base coach. Curt Young also returns for the second consecutive year as A's pitching coach and his ninth overall as he also served in that role from 2004-10. Hitting coach Chili Davis, bench coach Chip Hale and Major League coach Ariel Prieto return for their second consecutive season in those capacities.
Rick Rodriguez, who was the A's bullpen coach in 2011 and 2012, has been offered a minor league assignment in the A's organization.