He was the posthumous child of Sir Henry Thrale, 1st Baronet, his mother was the sister of the brewer John Lade.<|endoftext|> to meet.

CONAN: Let's see if we'd get another caller in. This is Joe(ph). Joe is on the line from Cincinnati.

JOE: Hi there. Great show. I love it.

CONAN: Thank you.

JOE: I'm just wondering what kind of strings they use on the sitar. I play a guitar myself. Does he have nylon strings, plain strings, they use gut strings?

CONAN: What kind of string is on a sitar?

SILVER: That's a wonderful, precise question. Basically, the closest thing I can say is harpsichord wire or piano wire. When they played the sitar - even though it's allegedly several hundred years old, as far as I could tell, it's not more than 150 years old, and every sitar I've seen uses steel strings. If you're playing a deep - the deepest bass string that Ravi Shankar played - I'm not certain because I don't play that style - might have been a wound string. But otherwise, it's piano wire. It's 11 thousandths, 10 thousandths, 12 thousandths and brass wire for the lower string or lower strings.

JOE: Great. Thank you.

CONAN: Thanks for the call, Joe. And we were hearing about a technician. Do you need a technician to maintain your sitar?

SILVER: Well, yes. I mean, when I first learned, starting back in 1964, a year before George Harrison, I must say...

SILVER: ...when I came back, I had to maintain the instrument myself and I learned by watching the craftsman. It's mainly filing the bridge. The distinctive sound of a sitar is the twang, or as one of my students once said, sort of the dental drill effect. And that's because the string comes off the bridge at an angle as opposed to a guitar bridge where it's a straight string on the bridge which gives it that distinctive high-overtone sound. Well, you have to file the bridge so that on every note on the 22 frets or the notes pulled to the side has to have basically the same sound quality.

So you have to file that yourself. But you get old and you get a little lazy and if Tony Karasek is down there in North Carolina and comes to Washington and can do - redo the bridge for you, we appreciate that.

CONAN: And obviously the accompanying instrument most often associated with the sitar is tabla, a kind of drum.

Exactly. The tabla is a pair of drums. I mean, we're sitting here in a studio where nobody can see, but the right-hand drum, very uniquely, is tuned to the tonic that either the vocalists is singing or the instrument is - instrumentalist is playing, and the left-hand drum is kind of loose and by a variance of boom, boom. The heel of the left hand, unless you're a left-handed player...

Left-handed player, yes.

SILVER: a different pitch, and a deep bass effect. And that is the common accompanying instrument for the sitar.

CONAN: We're talking with sitar player Brian Q. Silver about the great Ravi Shankar who died yesterday. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. And we were listening earlier to parts of Shankar's "Raga Jog." Let's go back..

SILVER: They pronounce it "Raga Jog."

CONAN: Jog, oh...

SILVER: It's spelled jog, but it's pronounced jog.

CONAN: Jog. Well, thank you for correcting me. This I wanted to play because I think we're going to get some rhythmic changes here. Tell us what's going on.

SILVER: Right now, actually, he's still playing solo sitar, but he's playing a section called jala, where you hit the melodic strings in fast interaction with the upper-drawn strings. So the - technically, we call it ching-ching so you hear this. Now, those are the sympathetic strings which he just played with his little finger of his right hand. Now he's getting into the rhythmic composition known as the gut. And since the tabla player has been sitting there very patiently for a long time, he does a fancy solo.

And coming down to the first beat: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1. And I changed the pitch there because on those four beats, the left-hand drum isn't played.

CONAN: Let's listen.

SILVER: Eleven, 12, 13...

CONAN: And forgive me, that sounds like a little jazz rift there.

SILVER: ...14, 15, 16, 1. Again, it's improvised. The comparison with jazz is apt in some ways because it is improvised. As jazz, in different styles, is governed by certain harmonic rules, in Indian music, the improvisation is governed by rules of scale and as you heard of rhythm.

CONAN: You mentioned another sitar player. Who right now would be in Ravi Shankar's class?

SILVER: That's a rough question. Who's the best cellist in the world? I mean, there are many, many fine musicians. Of the senior musicians (unintelligible), who happens to be my wife's teacher but is one of the senior sitarists, is there. Shahid Parvez is fantastic. He is extraordinary. There are a number of fine sitarists, and I could go on and on.

CONAN: Well, Brian Q. Silver, thank you so much for lending us your expertise today.

SILVER: Well, I'm very honored to say whatever I can in praise of the late Ravi Shankar, who was the man who basically established world music.

CONAN: Brian Q. Silver has played sitar for more than 40 years. He joined us here in Studio 3A. Tomorrow, we'll talk about the ongoing drought and shallow waters on the Mississippi. Join us for that. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.<|endoftext|>Tons of Sobs

Tons of Sobs

Click for Lyrics

Free were a new band when they recorded Tons of Sobs, and they were extremely young; none of them were yet twenty and the youngest, Andy Fraser, was just sixteen years old. They had achieved a following through constant touring, and their debut album consisted for the most part of their live set-list.

With the band signed to Chris Blackwell‘s Island RecordsGuy Stevens was hired to produce the album (he later became notable for producing early albums for Mott the Hoople and The Clash‘s legendary album London Calling [1979]). He opted for a minimalist attitude to production, due to the extremely low budget of about £800, creating a very raw and raucous sound – although it may have been that the relative inexperience of the band was also a contributing factor to this. As such the album is a marked contrast in production terms from the band’s later albums. The simple nature of the recording meant that many tracks translated well into a live setting and several songs from this album were still performed even when the band had written and recorded many more for subsequent records.

The majority of the album was recorded over the course of a few days in October 1968. Originally slated for a November release, the album was delayed to early 1969 due to the late addition of their cover of “The Hunter”. This track was a mainstay in their live sets and was recorded in a December 1968 session at Stevens’ insistence.

© 1968 - 1973. All Rights reserved<|endoftext|>Greek chicken and potatoesEXPAND
Greek chicken and potatoes
Alex Gonzalez

How Foxtrot Market Can Be a Frugal Instagram Fantasy

Don’t be fooled by the bright, Instagram-friendly lighting, the ivory aesthetic and the shelves of wine. The new Foxtrot Market locations you’ve seen in Uptown and University Park are very much approachable. Sure, the idea of an “elevated” bodega may elicit a few eye-rolls, but Chicago-based Foxtrot, surprisingly, is an affordable one-stop shop.

Nearly everything on Foxtrot’s menu is $10 or less, including the chicken biscuit, which includes a boneless slab of Panko-crusted chicken, bread and butter pickles, and side of a spicy honey sauce ($6).

A smoothie bowl is a fine, sweet start to the morning.EXPAND
A smoothie bowl is a fine, sweet start to the morning.
Alex Gonzalez

Lighter, vegetarian options include the farro grain bowl, which is a zesty plate of chickpeas, brown rice, sprouts and avocado ($10). Need a sweet start to the day? Try the smoothie bowl, a blend of acai topped with dragonfruit, lychee, blueberries and granola ($10).

If you’re stopping in for lunch or dinner, try one of the box

 to meet.

CONAN: Let's see if we'd get another caller in. This is Joe(ph). Joe is on the line from Cincinnati.

JOE: Hi there. Great show. I love it.

CONAN: Thank you.

JOE: I'm just wondering what kind of strings they use on the sitar. I play a guitar myself. Does he have nylon strings, plain strings, they use gut strings?

CONAN: What kind of string is on a sitar?

SILVER: That's a wonderful, precise question. Basically, the closest thing I can say is harpsichord wire or piano wire. When they played the sitar - even though it's allegedly several hundred years old, as far as I could tell, it's not more than 150 years old, and every sitar I've seen uses steel strings. If you're playing a deep - the deepest bass string that Ravi Shankar played - I'm not certain because I don't play that style - might have been a wound string. But otherwise, it's piano wire. It's 11 thousandths, 10 thousandths, 12 thousandths and brass wire for the lower string or lower strings.

JOE: Great. Thank you.

CONAN: Thanks for the call, Joe. And we were hearing about a technician. Do you need a technician to maintain your sitar?

SILVER: Well, yes. I mean, when I first learned, starting back in 1964, a year before George Harrison, I must say...

SILVER: ...when I came back, I had to maintain the instrument myself and I learned by watching the craftsman. It's mainly filing the bridge. The distinctive sound of a sitar is the twang, or as one of my students once said, sort of the dental drill effect. And that's because the string comes off the bridge at an angle as opposed to a guitar bridge where it's a straight string on the bridge which gives it that distinctive high-overtone sound. Well, you have to file the bridge so that on every note on the 22 frets or the notes pulled to the side has to have basically the same sound quality.

So you have to file that yourself. But you get old and you get a little lazy and if Tony Karasek is down there in North Carolina and comes to Washington and can do - redo the bridge for you, we appreciate that.

CONAN: And obviously the accompanying instrument most often associated with the sitar is tabla, a kind of drum.

Exactly. The tabla is a pair of drums. I mean, we're sitting here in a studio where nobody can see, but the right-hand drum, very uniquely, is tuned to the tonic that either the vocalists is singing or the instrument is - instrumentalist is playing, and the left-hand drum is kind of loose and by a variance of boom, boom. The heel of the left hand, unless you're a left-handed player...

Left-handed player, yes.

SILVER: a different pitch, and a deep bass effect. And that is the common accompanying instrument for the sitar.

CONAN: We're talking with sitar player Brian Q. Silver about the great Ravi Shankar who died yesterday. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. And we were listening earlier to parts of Shankar's "Raga Jog." Let's go back..

SILVER: They pronounce it "Raga Jog."

CONAN: Jog, oh...

SILVER: It's spelled jog, but it's pronounced jog.

CONAN: Jog. Well, thank you for correcting me. This I wanted to play because I think we're going to get some rhythmic changes here. Tell us what's going on.

SILVER: Right now, actually, he's still playing solo sitar, but he's playing a section called jala, where you hit the melodic strings in fast interaction with the upper-drawn strings. So the - technically, we call it ching-ching so you hear this. Now, those are the sympathetic strings which he just played with his little finger of his right hand. Now he's getting into the rhythmic composition known as the gut. And since the tabla player has been sitting there very patiently for a long time, he does a fancy solo.

And coming down to the first beat: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1. And I changed the pitch there because on those four beats, the left-hand drum isn't played.

CONAN: Let's listen.

SILVER: Eleven, 12, 13...

CONAN: And forgive me, that sounds like a little jazz rift there.

SILVER: ...14, 15, 16, 1. Again, it's improvised. The comparison with jazz is apt in some ways because it is improvised. As jazz, in different styles, is governed by certain harmonic rules, in Indian music, the improvisation is governed by rules of scale and as you heard of rhythm.

CONAN: You mentioned another sitar player. Who right now would be in Ravi Shankar's class?

SILVER: That's a rough question. Who's the best cellist in the world? I mean, there are many, many fine musicians. Of the senior musicians (unintelligible), who happens to be my wife's teacher but is one of the senior sitarists, is there. Shahid Parvez is fantastic. He is extraordinary. There are a number of fine sitarists, and I could go on and on.

CONAN: Well, Brian Q. Silver, thank you so much for lending us your expertise today.

SILVER: Well, I'm very honored to say whatever I can in praise of the late Ravi Shankar, who was the man who basically established world music.

CONAN: Brian Q. Silver has played sitar for more than 40 years. He joined us here in Studio 3A. Tomorrow, we'll talk about the ongoing drought and shallow waters on the Mississippi. Join us for that. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.<|endoftext|>Tons of Sobs

Tons of Sobs

Click for Lyrics

Free were a new band when they recorded Tons of Sobs, and they were extremely young; none of them were yet twenty and the youngest, Andy Fraser, was just sixteen years old. They had achieved a following through constant touring, and their debut album consisted for the most part of their live set-list.

With the band signed to Chris Blackwell‘s Island RecordsGuy Stevens was hired to produce the album (he later became notable for producing early albums for Mott the Hoople and The Clash‘s legendary album London Calling [1979]). He opted for a minimalist attitude to production, due to the extremely low budget of about £800, creating a very raw and raucous sound – although it may have been that the relative inexperience of the band was also a contributing factor to this. As such the album is a marked contrast in production terms from the band’s later albums. The simple nature of the recording meant that many tracks translated well into a live setting and several songs from this album were still performed even when the band had written and recorded many more for subsequent records.

The majority of the album was recorded over the course of a few days in October 1968. Originally slated for a November release, the album was delayed to early 1969 due to the late addition of their cover of “The Hunter”. This track was a mainstay in their live sets and was recorded in a December 1968 session at Stevens’ insistence.

© 1968 - 1973. All Rights reserved<|endoftext|>Greek chicken and potatoesEXPAND
Greek chicken and potatoes
Alex Gonzalez

How Foxtrot Market Can Be a Frugal Instagram Fantasy

Don’t be fooled by the bright, Instagram-friendly lighting, the ivory aesthetic and the shelves of wine. The new Foxtrot Market locations you’ve seen in Uptown and University Park are very much approachable. Sure, the idea of an “elevated” bodega may elicit a few eye-rolls, but Chicago-based Foxtrot, surprisingly, is an affordable one-stop shop.

Nearly everything on Foxtrot’s menu is $10 or less, including the chicken biscuit, which includes a boneless slab of Panko-crusted chicken, bread and butter pickles, and side of a spicy honey sauce ($6).

A smoothie bowl is a fine, sweet start to the morning.EXPAND
A smoothie bowl is a fine, sweet start to the morning.
Alex Gonzalez

Lighter, vegetarian options include the farro grain bowl, which is a zesty plate of chickpeas, brown rice, sprouts and avocado ($10). Need a sweet start to the day? Try the smoothie bowl, a blend of acai topped with dragonfruit, lychee, blueberries and granola ($10).

If you’re stopping in for lunch or dinner, try one of the boxed meals, such as the Greek chicken and potatoes, which come with a feta and artichoke salad topped with a Greek jus ($10).


 provide tactical and essential steps to overcome the barriers women face in the workplace, and offers solutions to assertively communicate your decisions, effectively demonstrate your authority, negotiate with confidence, and achieve your goals.
<|endoftext|>The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Donald Grant Millard, Captain Gerald K. Hannaford and Captain John F. Lorraine.<|endoftext|>How cryptocurrencies enable ransomware and how regtech can help counter it

Imagine for a moment that Alice, a hacker, was looking at various means for receiving payment for an illicit activity she just undertook.  She has two options to do so, which would she choose?

(1)  Bob built a payment network which was identity-free; it used pseudonyms so no legal identities were required to send transactions between its participants.  And that trying to stop or prevent payments was difficult because the computers running the payment network were widely distributed and run by multiple known and unknown participants across dozens of jurisdictions that were sometimes hard to track down.  Recourse is difficult and sometimes impossible.  Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are examples of such a network.

(2) Carol built a payment network which requires all users to provide a proof-of-identity, usually by scanning and storing of government-issued IDs or utility bills.  And that stopping, preventing, or even rolling back payments was possible because the computers running the payment network were run by legally identifiable participants who were often located in easy-to-find offices.  Recourse could be cumbersome, but almost always possible.  Wire transfer methods like ACH are examples of such a network.

Alice would probably choose number one and later try use some conversion tool or exchange to move her payment into number two.  How is this done?  See the (dated) flow-of-funds chart below.

While some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, were probably not designed to serve as get-away vehicles – because of key design choices that make legal recourse difficult – they are increasingly used to shuffle ill-gotten gains around.1

For example, data kidnapping – commonly referred to as ransomware – has existed in some form for more than two decades.  But the current plight surrounding ransomware, and the white washing of the role cryptocurrencies have in this plight, have gone hand in hand over the past several years.

The core characteristics of cryptocurrencies – censorship resistance and pseudonymity – are some of the main reasons why ransomware has become increasingly commonplace.  And these cryptocurrencies need liquidity.

Liquidity into-and-out of fiat has fluctuated over time, with some exchanges being debanked and sometimes rebanked, but as an aggregate it has increased overall.  Liquidity is often done through venture-backed gateways and exchanges.

As explored in my previous post, as well as others, many of these gateways and platforms have inadequate and typically non-existent KYC and AML gathering processes.  This post won’t go into the details surrounding some of the investors and promoters of these platforms, but further research could dive deeper into that industry as well as the white washing that goes on to distract investigations.

We see this empirically: attackers do not ask for fiat or credit cards because these would be easily tracked and/or transactions would be halted.  Instead, they ask to be paid in some kind of cryptocurrency because they know the likelihood of getting caught and reprimanded is significantly lower.

This past Friday, WannaCry, a ransomware package, wreaked havoc on more than 200,000 victims across all times of organizations located in over 150 countries.  This included government services including NHS in the UK and the Interior Ministry in Russia.

Source: Twitter

The first-order of victims ranged from small startups that could quickly patch and restart their computers all the way to large hospital systems that were unable to access patient records and had to turn away patients.

This then leads to the second-order of victims: patients and customers of these institutions.  According to the Associated Press, the “cyberattack hit almost 20 percent of UK’s 248 public health trusts.”

While all of the impacted organizations already should have had a formal plan to upgrade and patch these types of vulnerabilities (e.g., create regular back-ups off-site), based on several news stories, many of them did not.

Will they all learn from this lesson?  Probably not.

Either way: none of the victims have a formal means of recourse against the hacker(s) involved in WannaCry because we do not know the identities of the hackers.  Some victims have even paid the ransom of ~$300, denominated in bitcoin, to have their files unlocked.  The hacker is using multiple (4+) bitcoin addresses to receive the ransom and as of this writing, has received more than $50,0002

Last year the FBI estimated that around $1 billion was paid to unlock ransomware and cyber extortion.  Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, were usually the preferred method of payment.

Two weeks ago, James Comey, former Director of FBI spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee and noted that:

For Bitcoin, there are ways to remain fairly anonymous, like using mixers, however it requires a lot more work to.  But relatively few people are investigating, so the chance of getting caught is likely low.  Newer cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Zcash are designed to be anonymous which makes them harder to track.  Monero has been spotted in the wild alongside the Kirk Ransomware as well as research from Sophos (pdf).3  And Zcash has been used by a botnet to mine more Zcash on devices such as your phone.

And then there is Tor, a software program that enables anonymous communication by passing network traffic through various relays nodes that help conceal the location of the user.  WannaCry used Tor to preserve its “anonymity by proxying their traffic through the Tor network.”

How to bring some light into the darkness?

I reached out to Adam Young who co-created “cryptoviral extortion” (what we call ransomware today).  In his view:4

In terms of the ransomware attack, people/organizations need to do a better job at patching and removing end-of-life systems, clearly. My larger concern is that cryptoviral extortion is the only cryptovirology attack that anyone seems to be paying attention to and there are many, many others.

I also spoke to Danny Yang, CEO of Blockseer who advised everyone to, “update your software, make sure you have latest security patches – that ransomware worked because  people didn’t update their Windows since March when that particular security vulnerability was patched.”5

My recent post looking at Bitfinex and regtech was quite popular.  It was viewed several thousand times and I received a number of calls from reporters looking to investigate some of the points raised.

Some people pointed out that the behavior by Bitfinex and other cryptocurrency exchanges is one of the reasons why a few banks in emerging markets have lost correspondent banking access: that they were de-risked because of what others perceive is a high-risk customer base.

According to research by Accuity, a global financial crime compliance, payments and KYC solutions provider:

Between 2009 and 2016, correspondent banking relationships, where one financial institution provides services on behalf of another in a different location to facilitate cross-border payments, have reduced globally by 25%.

Earlier this year, the People’s Bank of China, SAFE and other government bodies in China, investigated and froze cryptocurrency withdrawals at many, if not all, the cryptocurrency exchanges operating on the mainland.

Why?  Among other reasons: inadequate KYC and AML gathering and sharing processes.

According to Caixin, a notice of administrative punishment may be released in June that details the punishment and fines of these China-based exchange operators.

In addition to freezing and de-banking, what are some other solutions as well?

Companies such as Blockseer and Chainalysis provide tools for law enforcement, regulators, entrepreneurs and compliance teams to trace and track the flow-of-funds on cryptocurrency networks. I have written about them numerous times.

Angel List is tracking 96 startups involved in providing compliance-related software for SMB, hospitals, cloud providers, social media platforms and a handful of other verticals.  It also has job listings for 11 regulatory compliance startups.  There is an additional 2,878 startups listed under the broader category of big data analytics, some of whom who are also working in the regtech space.

While technology can help play a role in identifying participants on these types of networks (blockchains and distributed ledgers), it is also worth exploring the proposed strawman for setting up a Kimberley Process for cryptocurrencies.  Identity systems are critical to all property rights and financial networks.  Creating applications around data lineage, data provenance, KYC management, and standardized digital identities will help provide transparency into all markets.

If you’re interested in learning more about these tools and mechanisms, feel free to reach out or leave a comment below.

Send to Kindle
  1. In the original white paper, Nakamoto explained ways to route around trusted third parties, such as governments. []
  2. If you’re interested in learning more about how malware researchers identified and stopped it, Malware Tech has a detailed story as well as one from Brian Krebs. []
  3. AlphaBay, the largest darknet market by volume, announced that it was accepting Monero as a form of payment in August 2016. []
  4. Private correspondence, May 14, 2017.  Published with his permission.

 provide tactical and essential steps to overcome the barriers women face in the workplace, and offers solutions to assertively communicate your decisions, effectively demonstrate your authority, negotiate with confidence, and achieve your goals.
<|endoftext|>How cryptocurrencies enable ransomware and how regtech can help counter it

Imagine for a moment that Alice, a hacker, was looking at various means for receiving payment for an illicit activity she just undertook.  She has two options to do so, which would she choose?

(1)  Bob built a payment network which was identity-free; it used pseudonyms so no legal identities were required to send transactions between its participants.  And that trying to stop or prevent payments was difficult because the computers running the payment network were widely distributed and run by multiple known and unknown participants across dozens of jurisdictions that were sometimes hard to track down.  Recourse is difficult and sometimes impossible.  Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are examples of such a network.

(2) Carol built a payment network which requires all users to provide a proof-of-identity, usually by scanning and storing of government-issued IDs or utility bills.  And that stopping, preventing, or even rolling back payments was possible because the computers running the payment network were run by legally identifiable participants who were often located in easy-to-find offices.  Recourse could be cumbersome, but almost always possible.  Wire transfer methods like ACH are examples of such a network.

Alice would probably choose number one and later try use some conversion tool or exchange to move her payment into number two.  How is this done?  See the (dated) flow-of-funds chart below.

While some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, were probably not designed to serve as get-away vehicles – because of key design choices that make legal recourse difficult – they are increasingly used to shuffle ill-gotten gains around.1

For example, data kidnapping – commonly referred to as ransomware – has existed in some form for more than two decades.  But the current plight surrounding ransomware, and the white washing of the role cryptocurrencies have in this plight, have gone hand in hand over the past several years.

The core characteristics of cryptocurrencies – censorship resistance and pseudonymity – are some of the main reasons why ransomware has become increasingly commonplace.  And these cryptocurrencies need liquidity.

Liquidity into-and-out of fiat has fluctuated over time, with some exchanges being debanked and sometimes rebanked, but as an aggregate it has increased overall.  Liquidity is often done through venture-backed gateways and exchanges.

As explored in my previous post, as well as others, many of these gateways and platforms have inadequate and typically non-existent KYC and AML gathering processes.  This post won’t go into the details surrounding some of the investors and promoters of these platforms, but further research could dive deeper into that industry as well as the white washing that goes on to distract investigations.

We see this empirically: attackers do not ask for fiat or credit cards because these would be easily tracked and/or transactions would be halted.  Instead, they ask to be paid in some kind of cryptocurrency because they know the likelihood of getting caught and reprimanded is significantly lower.

This past Friday, WannaCry, a ransomware package, wreaked havoc on more than 200,000 victims across all times of organizations located in over 150 countries.  This included government services including NHS in the UK and the Interior Ministry in Russia.

Source: Twitter

The first-order of victims ranged from small startups that could quickly patch and restart their computers all the way to large hospital systems that were unable to access patient records and had to turn away patients.

This then leads to the second-order of victims: patients and customers of these institutions.  According to the Associated Press, the “cyberattack hit almost 20 percent of UK’s 248 public health trusts.”

While all of the impacted organizations already should have had a formal plan to upgrade and patch these types of vulnerabilities (e.g., create regular back-ups off-site), based on several news stories, many of them did not.

Will they all learn from this lesson?  Probably not.

Either way: none of the victims have a formal means of recourse against the hacker(s) involved in WannaCry because we do not know the identities of the hackers.  Some victims have even paid the ransom of ~$300, denominated in bitcoin, to have their files unlocked.  The hacker is using multiple (4+) bitcoin addresses to receive the ransom and as of this writing, has received more than $50,0002

Last year the FBI estimated that around $1 billion was paid to unlock ransomware and cyber extortion.  Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, were usually the preferred method of payment.

Two weeks ago, James Comey, former Director of FBI spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee and noted that:

For Bitcoin, there are ways to remain fairly anonymous, like using mixers, however it requires a lot more work to.  But relatively few people are investigating, so the chance of getting caught is likely low.  Newer cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Zcash are designed to be anonymous which makes them harder to track.  Monero has been spotted in the wild alongside the Kirk Ransomware as well as research from Sophos (pdf).3  And Zcash has been used by a botnet to mine more Zcash on devices such as your phone.

And then there is Tor, a software program that enables anonymous communication by passing network traffic through various relays nodes that help conceal the location of the user.  WannaCry used Tor to preserve its “anonymity by proxying their traffic through the Tor network.”

How to bring some light into the darkness?

I reached out to Adam Young who co-created “cryptoviral extortion” (what we call ransomware today).  In his view:4

In terms of the ransomware attack, people/organizations need to do a better job at patching and removing end-of-life systems, clearly. My larger concern is that cryptoviral extortion is the only cryptovirology attack that anyone seems to be paying attention to and there are many, many others.

I also spoke to Danny Yang, CEO of Blockseer who advised everyone to, “update your software, make sure you have latest security patches – that ransomware worked because  people didn’t update their Windows since March when that particular security vulnerability was patched.”5

My recent post looking at Bitfinex and regtech was quite popular.  It was viewed several thousand times and I received a number of calls from reporters looking to investigate some of the points raised.

Some people pointed out that the behavior by Bitfinex and other cryptocurrency exchanges is one of the reasons why a few banks in emerging markets have lost correspondent banking access: that they were de-risked because of what others perceive is a high-risk customer base.

According to research by Accuity, a global financial crime compliance, payments and KYC solutions provider:

Between 2009 and 2016, correspondent banking relationships, where one financial institution provides services on behalf of another in a different location to facilitate cross-border payments, have reduced globally by 25%.

Earlier this year, the People’s Bank of China, SAFE and other government bodies in China, investigated and froze cryptocurrency withdrawals at many, if not all, the cryptocurrency exchanges operating on the mainland.

Why?  Among other reasons: inadequate KYC and AML gathering and sharing processes.

According to Caixin, a notice of administrative punishment may be released in June that details the punishment and fines of these China-based exchange operators.

In addition to freezing and de-banking, what are some other solutions as well?

Companies such as Blockseer and Chainalysis provide tools for law enforcement, regulators, entrepreneurs and compliance teams to trace and track the flow-of-funds on cryptocurrency networks. I have written about them numerous times.

Angel List is tracking 96 startups involved in providing compliance-related software for SMB, hospitals, cloud providers, social media platforms and a handful of other verticals.  It also has job listings for 11 regulatory compliance startups.  There is an additional 2,878 startups listed under the broader category of big data analytics, some of whom who are also working in the regtech space.

While technology can help play a role in identifying participants on these types of networks (blockchains and distributed ledgers), it is also worth exploring the proposed strawman for setting up a Kimberley Process for cryptocurrencies.  Identity systems are critical to all property rights and financial networks.  Creating applications around data lineage, data provenance, KYC management, and standardized digital identities will help provide transparency into all markets.

If you’re interested in learning more about these tools and mechanisms, feel free to reach out or leave a comment below.

Send to Kindle
  1. In the original white paper, Nakamoto explained ways to route around trusted third parties, such as governments. []
  2. If you’re interested in learning more about how malware researchers identified and stopped it, Malware Tech has a detailed story as well as one from Brian Krebs. []
  3. AlphaBay, the largest darknet market by volume, announced that it was accepting Monero as a form of payment in August 2016. []
  4. Private correspondence, May 14, 2017.  Published with his permission. []
  5. Private conversation reused with permission.  May 13, 2017 []

How newer regtech could be used to help


 was surprised.
Shortly after Blackberry was done with school, he earned enough money to move to Manehatten, where he hoped to become the 'next big thing' and become a famous artist. Money goes quick when you're in the big city without a job, and Blackberry learned this the hard way. It was not long before he was living with two other ponys in the slums of Manehatten just managing to scrape by. His art was beautiful, but the critics did not care, he was not 'it'.
Battered and Broken, Blackberry reluctantly returns to Ponyville, broke, likely without a home, hoping that a second chance might just be right around the corner.
Blackberry, along with the standard unicorn magic allowing him to move objects, has the ability to summon various colors of paint and use this to paint the most amazing of details. When summoning paint, his horn will glow and a small glob of paint will materialize just at the tip of his horn. It'll then float to the canvas and begin to apply itself as if Blackberry were using a brush himself.

Last edited by Raynie on Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostSubject: Re: Blackberry   Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:16 am

Approved! Very interesting character!

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My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic OC RP :: Creations :: Submitted Creations :: Unicorns-
Jump to:<|endoftext|>At the time, it comprised ships of Italy, France, Germany, Pakistan, Canada, the United Kingdom and United States.<|endoftext|>This Is How You Turn A Social Equity Grant Into A Thriving Business

Jessie Grundy, CEO of Peakz, saw a big opportunity in the Oakland cannabis market and seized it.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Growing up in Oakland, Calif., Jessie Grundy got his start in the cannabis industry as a high schooler selling weed from his puffy coat at lunch. Today, he’s the CEO of Peakz, one of the biggest social equity brands in the country. He’s also a mentor to aspiring minority business owners in the Bay Area.

Related: A Social Equity Success Story in Oakland

Grundy was able to make the jump to the legal market thanks, in part, to Oakland’s social equity program. As a safeguard to corporations squeezing out small-business owners who’ve had no choice but to operate illicitly for years under cannabis prohibition, social equity programs ensure that a percentage of local business permits are received by individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. In Oakland, equity permit applicants must live in the city, earn less than 80 percent of the average city income, and meet one of two requirements related to either living in a heavily policed area or being convicted of a cannabis crime in the past 20 years.

Among Grundy’s keys to success are his hands-on approach to product packaging and design, and emulating the hype marketing strategies of famous streetwear brands in order to keep his strains in high demand. Here are some lessons learned in his journey from hustling through the shade of the illicit market to running a million-dollar company for the long run.

You went through the Bay Area’s social equity program. How did you qualify?

In Oakland, you have to either have a cannabis conviction or have lived in places that are earmarked for having been most affected by the War on Drugs. I lived in the affected areas for 10 years—and I was working in the cannabis black market, just reselling stuff. I was on the street, so I didn’t have any money on the books and I wasn’t paying taxes.

What was that life like, working in the black market in Oakland?

Back in high school, my friends and I were kind of like the iron fist, so people left us alone. They knew we wasn’t playing. We sold at school up in Oakland Hills. If you wanted to smoke at lunch or after school, you would come find us. I would have this big old baby-blue puff coat, and everybody would just look for the coat.

Once I started getting older and I was in the black market, that’s when it got a little scary because I was dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes you’re dealing with strangers, and all you’re going off of is somebody’s word that this person is cool.

Were you ever arrested?

I have been arrested for smoking, but the police would always just let me go, luckily. I definitely got arrested a couple of times and placed in the back of a police car and got talked to about smoking weed. But it never really hindered me from smoking.

What’s your take on the black market now?

They’ve got to make a living for themselves, but everybody’s just thinking about getting quick money; they’re not thinking for the long term. Now that I’m running a legitimate business, I get propositions for big-time funding, millions of dollars, but on the black market, you can’t do that. It’s just everything that’s in your pocket.

Everybody’s just so cash consumed, but it’s really about growing something that’s going to live long and continue to make you money. The black market is the black market, but I think eventually it’s going to downsize.

Related: How The Black Market Is Threatening The Legal Cannabis Market

What caused you to decide to go into the legal market?

Just shady business. You hear stories of things going wrong—deaths, robberies, stuff like that. I have a daughter. At the time, she was about 3 years old. So I thought, I’ve got to do something different. I was always into trying to do things legally. I would always put my money into legal investments and entrepreneurship.

But on the streets, you really can only work with what’s in your pocket, and I knew that from being around it for so long. You get money, you buy some nice things to prove to people you’ve got money, then you go broke, and then you do it again. I was just tired of that cycle.

So you got accepted for the social equity program. What was that process like?

In the beginning, it was way easier than it is now because there weren’t as many people applying. Oakland has a law that states that for every general cannabis business application, there has to be one equity application. So none of the general population could do anything unless they had equity partners.

I found an incubator who supplied space for me for three years, and we have a really close relationship. He just showed me how to do my taxes, gave me advice when I didn’t really have anybody in the legal market to turn to. I couldn’t ask for a better incubator, the things that he did for me. He’s like a father figure.

How did you decide how to position your product for success?

I modeled myself after Supreme and Bait because I only distribute the product myself like they do. I’m really logo-based, I never change the look, but it’s always different colors. I make sure my product is at a price point where everybody can get it, but it’s still considered top-shelf. I like being exclusive. I learned all that from studying streetwear brands that have a long, cultlike following. I just want to be that niche brand that people are loyal to.

What do friends who are working in the black market make of your new, aboveboard venture?

They pretty much love it. I think I’m inspiring the hood, if anything, because I get people all the time telling me, “I can’t believe you’re doing this. How do you do this? I’m trying to go legal. Help me. What can I do to be like you?” These are people really in the streets asking about the equity program and probably would never even think about this if they didn’t see me doing it.

What are your company’s financials?

I have brand, which is The Peakz Company, and we’ve already done over $500,000 in sales, and we started in April. Then the distribution side, which is you’re buying other brands and you’re selling them back to dispensaries, we did over half a million dollars. So I would say a rough estimate is $1.2 million generated in revenue. We’re in 40 different dispensaries, in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Oxnard, Sacramento, Modesto. We’re in 11 out of the top 15 counties in California.

What’s next for you?

People have been asking me about licensing my name to a dispensary, maybe licensing to different cultivators, providing them genetics that we’re using out here so they could use the Peakz brand in other states. Because we’re getting so popular, celebrities, athletes, everybody’s reaching out to me. It’s a pretty humbling experience. I

 all his focus into painting made his painting palette cutie mark quickly appear, and no one was surprised.
Shortly after Blackberry was done with school, he earned enough money to move to Manehatten, where he hoped to become the 'next big thing' and become a famous artist. Money goes quick when you're in the big city without a job, and Blackberry learned this the hard way. It was not long before he was living with two other ponys in the slums of Manehatten just managing to scrape by. His art was beautiful, but the critics did not care, he was not 'it'.
Battered and Broken, Blackberry reluctantly returns to Ponyville, broke, likely without a home, hoping that a second chance might just be right around the corner.
Blackberry, along with the standard unicorn magic allowing him to move objects, has the ability to summon various colors of paint and use this to paint the most amazing of details. When summoning paint, his horn will glow and a small glob of paint will materialize just at the tip of his horn. It'll then float to the canvas and begin to apply itself as if Blackberry were using a brush himself.

Last edited by Raynie on Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:40 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top Go down
View user profile
Team Coordinator

Posts : 2470
Join date : 2011-11-21

PostSubject: Re: Blackberry   Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:16 am

Approved! Very interesting character!

Back to top Go down
View user profile
View previous topic View next topic Back to top
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Permissions in this forum:You cannot reply to topics in this forum
My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic OC RP :: Creations :: Submitted Creations :: Unicorns-
Jump to:<|endoftext|>This Is How You Turn A Social Equity Grant Into A Thriving Business

Jessie Grundy, CEO of Peakz, saw a big opportunity in the Oakland cannabis market and seized it.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Growing up in Oakland, Calif., Jessie Grundy got his start in the cannabis industry as a high schooler selling weed from his puffy coat at lunch. Today, he’s the CEO of Peakz, one of the biggest social equity brands in the country. He’s also a mentor to aspiring minority business owners in the Bay Area.

Related: A Social Equity Success Story in Oakland

Grundy was able to make the jump to the legal market thanks, in part, to Oakland’s social equity program. As a safeguard to corporations squeezing out small-business owners who’ve had no choice but to operate illicitly for years under cannabis prohibition, social equity programs ensure that a percentage of local business permits are received by individuals who have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. In Oakland, equity permit applicants must live in the city, earn less than 80 percent of the average city income, and meet one of two requirements related to either living in a heavily policed area or being convicted of a cannabis crime in the past 20 years.

Among Grundy’s keys to success are his hands-on approach to product packaging and design, and emulating the hype marketing strategies of famous streetwear brands in order to keep his strains in high demand. Here are some lessons learned in his journey from hustling through the shade of the illicit market to running a million-dollar company for the long run.

You went through the Bay Area’s social equity program. How did you qualify?

In Oakland, you have to either have a cannabis conviction or have lived in places that are earmarked for having been most affected by the War on Drugs. I lived in the affected areas for 10 years—and I was working in the cannabis black market, just reselling stuff. I was on the street, so I didn’t have any money on the books and I wasn’t paying taxes.

What was that life like, working in the black market in Oakland?

Back in high school, my friends and I were kind of like the iron fist, so people left us alone. They knew we wasn’t playing. We sold at school up in Oakland Hills. If you wanted to smoke at lunch or after school, you would come find us. I would have this big old baby-blue puff coat, and everybody would just look for the coat.

Once I started getting older and I was in the black market, that’s when it got a little scary because I was dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes you’re dealing with strangers, and all you’re going off of is somebody’s word that this person is cool.

Were you ever arrested?

I have been arrested for smoking, but the police would always just let me go, luckily. I definitely got arrested a couple of times and placed in the back of a police car and got talked to about smoking weed. But it never really hindered me from smoking.

What’s your take on the black market now?

They’ve got to make a living for themselves, but everybody’s just thinking about getting quick money; they’re not thinking for the long term. Now that I’m running a legitimate business, I get propositions for big-time funding, millions of dollars, but on the black market, you can’t do that. It’s just everything that’s in your pocket.

Everybody’s just so cash consumed, but it’s really about growing something that’s going to live long and continue to make you money. The black market is the black market, but I think eventually it’s going to downsize.

Related: How The Black Market Is Threatening The Legal Cannabis Market

What caused you to decide to go into the legal market?

Just shady business. You hear stories of things going wrong—deaths, robberies, stuff like that. I have a daughter. At the time, she was about 3 years old. So I thought, I’ve got to do something different. I was always into trying to do things legally. I would always put my money into legal investments and entrepreneurship.

But on the streets, you really can only work with what’s in your pocket, and I knew that from being around it for so long. You get money, you buy some nice things to prove to people you’ve got money, then you go broke, and then you do it again. I was just tired of that cycle.

So you got accepted for the social equity program. What was that process like?

In the beginning, it was way easier than it is now because there weren’t as many people applying. Oakland has a law that states that for every general cannabis business application, there has to be one equity application. So none of the general population could do anything unless they had equity partners.

I found an incubator who supplied space for me for three years, and we have a really close relationship. He just showed me how to do my taxes, gave me advice when I didn’t really have anybody in the legal market to turn to. I couldn’t ask for a better incubator, the things that he did for me. He’s like a father figure.

How did you decide how to position your product for success?

I modeled myself after Supreme and Bait because I only distribute the product myself like they do. I’m really logo-based, I never change the look, but it’s always different colors. I make sure my product is at a price point where everybody can get it, but it’s still considered top-shelf. I like being exclusive. I learned all that from studying streetwear brands that have a long, cultlike following. I just want to be that niche brand that people are loyal to.

What do friends who are working in the black market make of your new, aboveboard venture?

They pretty much love it. I think I’m inspiring the hood, if anything, because I get people all the time telling me, “I can’t believe you’re doing this. How do you do this? I’m trying to go legal. Help me. What can I do to be like you?” These are people really in the streets asking about the equity program and probably would never even think about this if they didn’t see me doing it.

What are your company’s financials?

I have brand, which is The Peakz Company, and we’ve already done over $500,000 in sales, and we started in April. Then the distribution side, which is you’re buying other brands and you’re selling them back to dispensaries, we did over half a million dollars. So I would say a rough estimate is $1.2 million generated in revenue. We’re in 40 different dispensaries, in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Oxnard, Sacramento, Modesto. We’re in 11 out of the top 15 counties in California.

What’s next for you?

People have been asking me about licensing my name to a dispensary, maybe licensing to different cultivators, providing them genetics that we’re using out here so they could use the Peakz brand in other states. Because we’re getting so popular, celebrities, athletes, everybody’s reaching out to me. It’s a pretty humbling experience. I didn’t think I would get all


Sure, the sample size could be ten people — yes, a popular skincare brand actually published statistics on their packaging citing this minuscule sample size.

Sure, the results may be atypical. The person photographed could be one out of 1,000 who had such an extreme and favorable outcome.

Sure, there could have been many other factors besides the product in question that contributed to why this person now looks like version 2.0 of themselves.

These are rational, logical points. When it comes to stories, though, they play on a whole other level. They tap into our emotions, insecurities, aspirations. Knowing the psychology behind before-and-afters helps, but we’ll likely still continue to be drawn to them, to imagine what our lives would be like if we were the ‘after’ version of ourselves.<|endoftext|>Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals

Edited by Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella II

The first anthology of writings on the history, ethics, politics and tactics of the Animal Liberation Front, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? features both academic and activist perspectives and offers powerful insights into this international organization and its position within the animal rights movement. Calling on sources as venerable as Thomas Aquinas and as current as the Patriot Act—and, in some cases, personal experience—the contributors explore the history of civil disobedience and sabotage, and examine the philosophical and cultural meanings of words like “terrorism,” “democracy” and “freedom,” in a book that ultimately challenges the values and assumptions that pervade our culture. Contributors include Robin Webb, Rod Coronado, Ingrid Newkirk, Paul Watson, Karen Davis, Bruce Friedrich, pattrice jones and others.<|endoftext|>Should I get my wisdom tooth removed?

impacted wisdom tooth

There are several reasons why you tooth has to be removed. An impacted Wisdom tooth is one such reason. What is an Impacted Wisdom Tooth? The Wisdom tooth or the third molar is the last tooth to erupt in the permanent teeth set. This tooth generally comes into the mouth between the ages of 18 and 21. In the earlier…

Read More<|endoftext|>Chapter 744 within Florida’s statutes gives the circuit courts permission to establish guardianship for incapacitated people, including elderly individuals. Guardianship is a legal proceeding that involves selecting someone who can manage daily activities and personal affairs when you are not able to.

The Florida Bar identifies a guardian as either a person or an institution (e.g. a non-profit organization). A guardian is court appointed to take care of you if you become incapacitated. In other words, a judge must determine that you are not capable of maintaining your health, safety or property on your own. If this is the case, you get classified as a ward whose affairs must be overseen by a guardian.

A guardian can be an adult living in or outside of Florida. However, anyone who has a felony cannot serve in this capacity. Additionally, a guardian may or may not be your relative. In the event that you do not have a relative who can serve in this role, there are professional guardians who get trained to look after your best interest.

Guardians perform a variety of duties on your behalf. One of their primary activities involves overseeing property and making financial decisions. However, certain financial transactions must be court-approved. They also have authority to make decisions related to your personal, medical and mental care services. Additionally, guardians must submit yearly reports to the court detailing the work they perform for the individuals left in their care.

Keep in mind that this is general information used for educational purposes only and is not legal advice.<|endoftext|>Bob Guiney

Bob Guiney, known as the funny guy from ABC's "The Bachelorette," may not have won the Bachelorette's hand, but he won America's heart. With five appearances in one month on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (a record for any guest in the history of the show), Bob will be the next Bachelor on ABC's hit series to air in October and November. He co-owns a branch of a mortgage company in Detroit, Michigan.<|endoftext|>It is a yellow solid with a low solubility in water, but good solubility in DMF.<|endoftext|>Daddy Day Camp

MPAA Rating: PG

Entertainment: +1

Content: +3

Cuba Gooding Jr., Paul Rae, Richard Gant, Lochlyn Munro, Tamala Jones. Comedy. Directed by Fred Savage (The Princess Bride, and TVs The Wonder Years).

FILM SYNOPSIS: The sequel to Daddy Day Care finds dads Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson in another kid-harried adventure as they take over running a summer day camp. Armed with no knowledge of the great outdoors, a dilapidated facility, and a motley group of campers, it doesnt take long before things get out of control. Up against threats of foreclosure and declining enrollment Charlie is forced to call on his estranged father, Col Buck Hinton (Richard Gant) to help bring the camp together and teach everyone about teamwork, perseverance and the power of forgiveness.

PREVIEW REVIEW: A reviewer has to keep kids in mind when critiquing movies aimed at that age groupI tried, I swear. But this film is truly witless and I can only assume that parents will send their offspring to this monstrosity because its near the end of summer and the little darlings are driving them nuts. Well, its harmless. Itll keep them out of the heat and adults will have about 85 minutes of peace and quiet. I guess its worth the money.

I think highly of the films director, Fred Savage, but for someone who grew up in The Wonder Years, youd think hed bring some inventiveness to the table. He doesnt. But then how can you expect a comedy to be funny when you dont cast comedians. Cuba Gooding Jr. proved in Jerry Maguire that he has acting chops, but never has an actor been so hampered by mediocre scripts post his Oscar win (Norbit, Boat Trip, Rat Race, etc). One after another, Gooding just keeps getting cast in movies that should have gone directly to a video store in Transylvania. And the performance he gives here makes one wonder if the Best Supporting Oscar of 1996 should have gone to William H. Macy (Fargo).

You know Im careful about saying anything too brutal about an actor, but who is Paul Rae? He plays Cubas buddy, Phil. Trouble is, Mr. Rae simply has no comic timing or whimsy. Ive had to delete several lines in reference to his performance. They just sounded too mean, and I dont want to be mean. I just hope Mr. Rae has invested well. Lets leave it at that.

I cant really think of a summer camp movie that is truly funny (without crudity). The first act of The Parent Trap took place in a summer camp. Its really not all that funny, either, but at least it had a clever concept, the Disney touch and Haley Mills. Daddy Day Camp has a backed-up sewer that blows up, flatulence jokes and, of course, food fights. What it doesnt have is laughs.

Video Alternative: Daddy Day Care. While there are a few crudities and some off-color language that garner it a PG rating, the warm-hearted Daddy Day Care has an expert cast and, though I hesitate to call it smart, compared to the sequel, its downright brilliant.

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Sony Pictures

Crude Language: Though one kid is disrespectful and several people use butthead to express their distain for one another, generally the filmmakers avoid offensive language.

Obscene Language: I caught no cussing.

Profanity: None

Violence: Slapstick situations such as an outhouse blowing up, the occupant walking out with a toilet seat around his neck. Ha, ha, ha.

Sex: One kid has a crush on a girl camper; his little brother gives him dating advice; but, again, the filmmakers use discretion.

Nudity: None

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: None

Drugs: None

Other: There are pee jokes, flatulence jokes, belching jokes, back-up sewer jokes, food fight jokes, vomit jokes several of them, and a hit to the groin visual joke ha, ha, ha.

Running Time: 85 minutes
Intended Audience: Family

Click HERE for a PRINTER-FRIENDLY version of this review.<|endoftext|>Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Do the North Carolina Legislature's Power-Stripping Laws Violate the Federal Constitution?

by Michael Dorf

My latest Verdict column discusses the two laws recently enacted by the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature stripping the Democratic Governor-elect of some of the key powers enjoyed by the departing Republican Governor. One of the new laws also limits the jurisdiction of the state supreme court, which--not coincidentally--is about to have a Democratic majority. I mostly focus on potential challenges under state law, noting also that the law could be vulnerable to a federal challenge under the Voting Rights Act. Here I want to consider possible federal constitutional challenges.

I'll begin by assuming arguendo that the "real" rule in North Carolina is that Democratic governors have fewer powers than Republican governors. Below I relax that assumption, but for now,

 because we want to believe.

Sure, the sample size could be ten people — yes, a popular skincare brand actually published statistics on their packaging citing this minuscule sample size.

Sure, the results may be atypical. The person photographed could be one out of 1,000 who had such an extreme and favorable outcome.

Sure, there could have been many other factors besides the product in question that contributed to why this person now looks like version 2.0 of themselves.

These are rational, logical points. When it comes to stories, though, they play on a whole other level. They tap into our emotions, insecurities, aspirations. Knowing the psychology behind before-and-afters helps, but we’ll likely still continue to be drawn to them, to imagine what our lives would be like if we were the ‘after’ version of ourselves.<|endoftext|>Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals

Edited by Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella II

The first anthology of writings on the history, ethics, politics and tactics of the Animal Liberation Front, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? features both academic and activist perspectives and offers powerful insights into this international organization and its position within the animal rights movement. Calling on sources as venerable as Thomas Aquinas and as current as the Patriot Act—and, in some cases, personal experience—the contributors explore the history of civil disobedience and sabotage, and examine the philosophical and cultural meanings of words like “terrorism,” “democracy” and “freedom,” in a book that ultimately challenges the values and assumptions that pervade our culture. Contributors include Robin Webb, Rod Coronado, Ingrid Newkirk, Paul Watson, Karen Davis, Bruce Friedrich, pattrice jones and others.<|endoftext|>Should I get my wisdom tooth removed?

impacted wisdom tooth

There are several reasons why you tooth has to be removed. An impacted Wisdom tooth is one such reason. What is an Impacted Wisdom Tooth? The Wisdom tooth or the third molar is the last tooth to erupt in the permanent teeth set. This tooth generally comes into the mouth between the ages of 18 and 21. In the earlier…

Read More<|endoftext|>Chapter 744 within Florida’s statutes gives the circuit courts permission to establish guardianship for incapacitated people, including elderly individuals. Guardianship is a legal proceeding that involves selecting someone who can manage daily activities and personal affairs when you are not able to.

The Florida Bar identifies a guardian as either a person or an institution (e.g. a non-profit organization). A guardian is court appointed to take care of you if you become incapacitated. In other words, a judge must determine that you are not capable of maintaining your health, safety or property on your own. If this is the case, you get classified as a ward whose affairs must be overseen by a guardian.

A guardian can be an adult living in or outside of Florida. However, anyone who has a felony cannot serve in this capacity. Additionally, a guardian may or may not be your relative. In the event that you do not have a relative who can serve in this role, there are professional guardians who get trained to look after your best interest.

Guardians perform a variety of duties on your behalf. One of their primary activities involves overseeing property and making financial decisions. However, certain financial transactions must be court-approved. They also have authority to make decisions related to your personal, medical and mental care services. Additionally, guardians must submit yearly reports to the court detailing the work they perform for the individuals left in their care.

Keep in mind that this is general information used for educational purposes only and is not legal advice.<|endoftext|>Bob Guiney

Bob Guiney, known as the funny guy from ABC's "The Bachelorette," may not have won the Bachelorette's hand, but he won America's heart. With five appearances in one month on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (a record for any guest in the history of the show), Bob will be the next Bachelor on ABC's hit series to air in October and November. He co-owns a branch of a mortgage company in Detroit, Michigan.<|endoftext|>Daddy Day Camp

MPAA Rating: PG

Entertainment: +1

Content: +3

Cuba Gooding Jr., Paul Rae, Richard Gant, Lochlyn Munro, Tamala Jones. Comedy. Directed by Fred Savage (The Princess Bride, and TVs The Wonder Years).

FILM SYNOPSIS: The sequel to Daddy Day Care finds dads Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson in another kid-harried adventure as they take over running a summer day camp. Armed with no knowledge of the great outdoors, a dilapidated facility, and a motley group of campers, it doesnt take long before things get out of control. Up against threats of foreclosure and declining enrollment Charlie is forced to call on his estranged father, Col Buck Hinton (Richard Gant) to help bring the camp together and teach everyone about teamwork, perseverance and the power of forgiveness.

PREVIEW REVIEW: A reviewer has to keep kids in mind when critiquing movies aimed at that age groupI tried, I swear. But this film is truly witless and I can only assume that parents will send their offspring to this monstrosity because its near the end of summer and the little darlings are driving them nuts. Well, its harmless. Itll keep them out of the heat and adults will have about 85 minutes of peace and quiet. I guess its worth the money.

I think highly of the films director, Fred Savage, but for someone who grew up in The Wonder Years, youd think hed bring some inventiveness to the table. He doesnt. But then how can you expect a comedy to be funny when you dont cast comedians. Cuba Gooding Jr. proved in Jerry Maguire that he has acting chops, but never has an actor been so hampered by mediocre scripts post his Oscar win (Norbit, Boat Trip, Rat Race, etc). One after another, Gooding just keeps getting cast in movies that should have gone directly to a video store in Transylvania. And the performance he gives here makes one wonder if the Best Supporting Oscar of 1996 should have gone to William H. Macy (Fargo).

You know Im careful about saying anything too brutal about an actor, but who is Paul Rae? He plays Cubas buddy, Phil. Trouble is, Mr. Rae simply has no comic timing or whimsy. Ive had to delete several lines in reference to his performance. They just sounded too mean, and I dont want to be mean. I just hope Mr. Rae has invested well. Lets leave it at that.

I cant really think of a summer camp movie that is truly funny (without crudity). The first act of The Parent Trap took place in a summer camp. Its really not all that funny, either, but at least it had a clever concept, the Disney touch and Haley Mills. Daddy Day Camp has a backed-up sewer that blows up, flatulence jokes and, of course, food fights. What it doesnt have is laughs.

Video Alternative: Daddy Day Care. While there are a few crudities and some off-color language that garner it a PG rating, the warm-hearted Daddy Day Care has an expert cast and, though I hesitate to call it smart, compared to the sequel, its downright brilliant.

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Sony Pictures

Crude Language: Though one kid is disrespectful and several people use butthead to express their distain for one another, generally the filmmakers avoid offensive language.

Obscene Language: I caught no cussing.

Profanity: None

Violence: Slapstick situations such as an outhouse blowing up, the occupant walking out with a toilet seat around his neck. Ha, ha, ha.

Sex: One kid has a crush on a girl camper; his little brother gives him dating advice; but, again, the filmmakers use discretion.

Nudity: None

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: None

Drugs: None

Other: There are pee jokes, flatulence jokes, belching jokes, back-up sewer jokes, food fight jokes, vomit jokes several of them, and a hit to the groin visual joke ha, ha, ha.

Running Time: 85 minutes
Intended Audience: Family

Click HERE for a PRINTER-FRIENDLY version of this review.<|endoftext|>Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Do the North Carolina Legislature's Power-Stripping Laws Violate the Federal Constitution?

by Michael Dorf

My latest Verdict column discusses the two laws recently enacted by the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature stripping the Democratic Governor-elect of some of the key powers enjoyed by the departing Republican Governor. One of the new laws also limits the jurisdiction of the state supreme court, which--not coincidentally--is about to have a Democratic majority. I mostly focus on potential challenges under state law, noting also that the law could be vulnerable to a federal challenge under the Voting Rights Act. Here I want to consider possible federal constitutional challenges.

I'll begin by assuming arguendo that the "real" rule in North Carolina is that Democratic governors have fewer powers than Republican governors. Below I relax that assumption, but for now, it will simplify the analysis to imagine that the law in North


 actually pulls less current than the OE 4W incandescent bulb–even though it has a higher wattage.
      The only way to be sure though, is to test your LED’s current draw using a multimeter. Its a relatively easy process. If you’re unsure how to do it, we found this handy tutorial here. Don’t have a mulitmeter? They’re relatively cheap and a must-have if you’re doing any electrical work.
      If you’re hesitant to cut up your original wire harness, companies make LEDs with traditional bulb sockets (194, bayonet, etc.) that will install just like the original incandescent.

  5. I kind of have a complicating situation. So the easiest way to go about this is to start at the beginning. I’ll make this as short as possible. Boyfriend was driving my 2001 Infiniti QX4 on the freeway, notices lights start blinking and truck is overheating. He pulls over at a convenience store. Waits a bit, Puts water in. Tries driving again and ends up having to park it on side of road cause he noticed the fan has completely come off the pulley bracket. Belt is off. Blew a hole in radiator. I have it towed home next day, get in contact with a mobile mechanic he comes out and diagnoses it. $50. Tells me what I need to get, so I purchase a new radiator, an electric fan, a new bracket, and a wiring kit to engage the electric fan. Pay the mechanic $300 to come install it all. Does it all in about an hour. Calls me at work, tells me it all works, everything is good. But thing is, is that my truck battery was dead from having everything disconnected. He never drove it afterwards or anything. I drive my truck next day everythings fine. Next day, I get on freeway and it starts getting hot. And rising. My neighbor takes a look at it cause it’s no longer starting right, starts rigging shit, cutting all the wires on the fan wiring kit, electrical taping shit, next thing I know it’s all ghetto. After all this I take a look under the hood, notice the battery wires are connected super bad, if barely at all. I get new 2 way battery cable connector things for both + and -, have to cut the cables and twist the thick gauged wires as much as I can in order for them to fit in the metal connector things. Then I notice that 2 wires that are striped red and white wrapped and connected into one (which I’m guessing are + and – which I also think are the acc wires but I’m not too too sure,) have been exposed and the red plastic connector has been completely taken off which was connecting those wires to the + battery cable. So now I had to souder those 2 wires (which were just stubs and couldn’t be held by the cable wire connector into the cable connector) in order for me to complete the connection to the + battery cable. But now it seems like the whole battery issues is worse. The jump starter I bought to jump it every time I have to start my vehicle gets drained now and sometimes it struggles to turn over. At times it doesn’t at all. I am waiting for my paycheck to purchase anything I need to get cause I’ve kind of lacked the proper things I need and I’ve put a lot of money into this already. I don’t trust anybody else to screw with it. If I can do this myself I will. I’m pretty knowledgeable of vehicles. I’m not a pro or anything but I know a little more than basic common stuff regarding vehicles and I’m usually a good troubleshooter for a girl. Please tell me what’s wrong and what to do!! And why I’m having such battery issues. Another couple things to help with what you think it could be, when I start my truck I can smell the sulfuric acid when I’m outside and through the a/c vents. Also, when my truck is idling or at a stop my a/c goes warm instantly and it’s only cold when I’m actually in motion. And as of the past few days all the dash lights and the battery light stay on while driving and at night when I’m using my headlights they go haywire and flicker on and off. Sometimes I have to physically go hit the front head light for it to kick on but then the other one goes out. Please help!! I’m about to sell this thing or start breaking it with a hammer. I’m fed up.

    • It appears there are a few things that may be going on here, you likely need a new battery and im betting there is an alternator issue.

  6. Gentlemen,

    My fuse block has the barrel glass fuses. I want to add a voltage gauge. I’ve grounded the gauge and its light ok,but my fuse panel is full- thus nowhere to plug the other two wires (light and power). How can I do it?
    I remember decades ago, there was a connection available that saddled one end of the fuse and had a spade on its top side that one simply plugged in the wire for the power. I can’t find them anywhere. Thanks for your help. John

  7. Hope VanHorn says:

    I have a unique situation. The key is stuck in the vehicle steering wheel. Got damaged when the children were playing and knocked the key crooked. I’m old school and tired of having to unplug the car after driving and plugging it up on cold days. I live in Michigan. I want to know how to put an old school toggle switch or a relay in the impala to cut the power from the battery to everything else without going under the hood. Thanks for any help given.

  8. Don Davis says:

    May I use a batt operated auto jumper on me car batt cables to test wiring???

  9. It was interesting to read that relays handle high-intensity parts of cars like HID headlights. My uncle has been wanting to rebuild a car but he’s got no clue as to what he’s doing with the electrical side. I’ll suggest he go talk to a professional for some help.

  10. Pingback: Wire Harness Technician Job Description - free wiring diagrams

  11. Hi

    I want to run wire for my auto stereo install under my truck, I have a 2010 f150.

    I will be running a piece of 0/1 guage wire, 3 sets of rca interconnects, a blue wire to turn my amps on, 4 set of speaker wire.

    I also want to run a 4 guage power wire to my box as well as the video wire for my back up camera.

    How hard is it to remove the rocker panel covers where the wires are usually installed and replace the covers. One guy I talked to said he had a tough time getting them back on and they are still not right.

    What are the best products to run the wires in when running them under the vehicle.

    Thanks in advance

    • Is there a reason you want to run them under the vehicle the back up cam I understand but not so much the amp and radio stuff, you can do a clean professional install running such wiring under the carpet.

  12. i request for explain me criteria of selecting wires,for automobile installation

  13. Thanks for pointing out that circuit breakers can reset manually and automatically depending on the type. I’m currently looking for a mobile truck repair service because I’ve been having problems with the electrical components of my truck and I’m afraid that if I try to troubleshoot it on my own, I might end up damaging it further. I hope I can find a repair service that will be able to diagnose and make repairs on the same day so I can save a good amount of time.

  14. Jay L Snider says:

    I have a 1989 E150 Ford Club Wagon. The wiring was trashed. I ran Positive Battery cable to solenoid. Negative batt cable to ground. One on body panel and one on engine block. I ran wire from solenoid to Ign switch (going through neutral safety switch) ran starter cable from neg side of sol straight to starter. When I short the sol I get the starter to turn. When I turn the key I get nothing. I have a new starter switch and key cylinder installed. Why can’t I get it to turn over?

  15. Pingback: Basic Wiring 101 - Wiring Guide

  16. Pingback: Tools Under $30 Gift Guide: Wire Strippers

  17. James Hewitt says:

    I’m doing a complete rewire on my ’66 MGB. An stock replacement harness has four glass fuse, total! A prefab performance harness is Megabucks. I want to use Weatherpak connectors but the Weatherpak crimping tool is really expensive. Is there a much less costly alternative?

  18. Mike black says:

    Where does BPube wire connect?

  19. Pingback: How to Assemble Weatherproof Deutsch DT Connectors

Leave a Reply to Jay L Snider Cancel

<|endoftext|>Ayurveda Eye Hospital is an Ayurvedic eye clinic and hospital in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala, India.<|endoftext|>

11 Debugging Optimized Code

Almost all compilers support optimization. With optimization disabled, the compiler generates assembly code that corresponds directly to your source code, in a simplistic way. As the

 however. LEDs can often require less current (amps) than a traditional incandescent bulb. It’s entirely possible that your 10W LED actually pulls less current than the OE 4W incandescent bulb–even though it has a higher wattage.
      The only way to be sure though, is to test your LED’s current draw using a multimeter. Its a relatively easy process. If you’re unsure how to do it, we found this handy tutorial here. Don’t have a mulitmeter? They’re relatively cheap and a must-have if you’re doing any electrical work.
      If you’re hesitant to cut up your original wire harness, companies make LEDs with traditional bulb sockets (194, bayonet, etc.) that will install just like the original incandescent.

  5. I kind of have a complicating situation. So the easiest way to go about this is to start at the beginning. I’ll make this as short as possible. Boyfriend was driving my 2001 Infiniti QX4 on the freeway, notices lights start blinking and truck is overheating. He pulls over at a convenience store. Waits a bit, Puts water in. Tries driving again and ends up having to park it on side of road cause he noticed the fan has completely come off the pulley bracket. Belt is off. Blew a hole in radiator. I have it towed home next day, get in contact with a mobile mechanic he comes out and diagnoses it. $50. Tells me what I need to get, so I purchase a new radiator, an electric fan, a new bracket, and a wiring kit to engage the electric fan. Pay the mechanic $300 to come install it all. Does it all in about an hour. Calls me at work, tells me it all works, everything is good. But thing is, is that my truck battery was dead from having everything disconnected. He never drove it afterwards or anything. I drive my truck next day everythings fine. Next day, I get on freeway and it starts getting hot. And rising. My neighbor takes a look at it cause it’s no longer starting right, starts rigging shit, cutting all the wires on the fan wiring kit, electrical taping shit, next thing I know it’s all ghetto. After all this I take a look under the hood, notice the battery wires are connected super bad, if barely at all. I get new 2 way battery cable connector things for both + and -, have to cut the cables and twist the thick gauged wires as much as I can in order for them to fit in the metal connector things. Then I notice that 2 wires that are striped red and white wrapped and connected into one (which I’m guessing are + and – which I also think are the acc wires but I’m not too too sure,) have been exposed and the red plastic connector has been completely taken off which was connecting those wires to the + battery cable. So now I had to souder those 2 wires (which were just stubs and couldn’t be held by the cable wire connector into the cable connector) in order for me to complete the connection to the + battery cable. But now it seems like the whole battery issues is worse. The jump starter I bought to jump it every time I have to start my vehicle gets drained now and sometimes it struggles to turn over. At times it doesn’t at all. I am waiting for my paycheck to purchase anything I need to get cause I’ve kind of lacked the proper things I need and I’ve put a lot of money into this already. I don’t trust anybody else to screw with it. If I can do this myself I will. I’m pretty knowledgeable of vehicles. I’m not a pro or anything but I know a little more than basic common stuff regarding vehicles and I’m usually a good troubleshooter for a girl. Please tell me what’s wrong and what to do!! And why I’m having such battery issues. Another couple things to help with what you think it could be, when I start my truck I can smell the sulfuric acid when I’m outside and through the a/c vents. Also, when my truck is idling or at a stop my a/c goes warm instantly and it’s only cold when I’m actually in motion. And as of the past few days all the dash lights and the battery light stay on while driving and at night when I’m using my headlights they go haywire and flicker on and off. Sometimes I have to physically go hit the front head light for it to kick on but then the other one goes out. Please help!! I’m about to sell this thing or start breaking it with a hammer. I’m fed up.

    • It appears there are a few things that may be going on here, you likely need a new battery and im betting there is an alternator issue.

  6. Gentlemen,

    My fuse block has the barrel glass fuses. I want to add a voltage gauge. I’ve grounded the gauge and its light ok,but my fuse panel is full- thus nowhere to plug the other two wires (light and power). How can I do it?
    I remember decades ago, there was a connection available that saddled one end of the fuse and had a spade on its top side that one simply plugged in the wire for the power. I can’t find them anywhere. Thanks for your help. John

  7. Hope VanHorn says:

    I have a unique situation. The key is stuck in the vehicle steering wheel. Got damaged when the children were playing and knocked the key crooked. I’m old school and tired of having to unplug the car after driving and plugging it up on cold days. I live in Michigan. I want to know how to put an old school toggle switch or a relay in the impala to cut the power from the battery to everything else without going under the hood. Thanks for any help given.

  8. Don Davis says:

    May I use a batt operated auto jumper on me car batt cables to test wiring???

  9. It was interesting to read that relays handle high-intensity parts of cars like HID headlights. My uncle has been wanting to rebuild a car but he’s got no clue as to what he’s doing with the electrical side. I’ll suggest he go talk to a professional for some help.

  10. Pingback: Wire Harness Technician Job Description - free wiring diagrams

  11. Hi

    I want to run wire for my auto stereo install under my truck, I have a 2010 f150.

    I will be running a piece of 0/1 guage wire, 3 sets of rca interconnects, a blue wire to turn my amps on, 4 set of speaker wire.

    I also want to run a 4 guage power wire to my box as well as the video wire for my back up camera.

    How hard is it to remove the rocker panel covers where the wires are usually installed and replace the covers. One guy I talked to said he had a tough time getting them back on and they are still not right.

    What are the best products to run the wires in when running them under the vehicle.

    Thanks in advance

    • Is there a reason you want to run them under the vehicle the back up cam I understand but not so much the amp and radio stuff, you can do a clean professional install running such wiring under the carpet.

  12. i request for explain me criteria of selecting wires,for automobile installation

  13. Thanks for pointing out that circuit breakers can reset manually and automatically depending on the type. I’m currently looking for a mobile truck repair service because I’ve been having problems with the electrical components of my truck and I’m afraid that if I try to troubleshoot it on my own, I might end up damaging it further. I hope I can find a repair service that will be able to diagnose and make repairs on the same day so I can save a good amount of time.

  14. Jay L Snider says:

    I have a 1989 E150 Ford Club Wagon. The wiring was trashed. I ran Positive Battery cable to solenoid. Negative batt cable to ground. One on body panel and one on engine block. I ran wire from solenoid to Ign switch (going through neutral safety switch) ran starter cable from neg side of sol straight to starter. When I short the sol I get the starter to turn. When I turn the key I get nothing. I have a new starter switch and key cylinder installed. Why can’t I get it to turn over?

  15. Pingback: Basic Wiring 101 - Wiring Guide

  16. Pingback: Tools Under $30 Gift Guide: Wire Strippers

  17. James Hewitt says:

    I’m doing a complete rewire on my ’66 MGB. An stock replacement harness has four glass fuse, total! A prefab performance harness is Megabucks. I want to use Weatherpak connectors but the Weatherpak crimping tool is really expensive. Is there a much less costly alternative?

  18. Mike black says:

    Where does BPube wire connect?

  19. Pingback: How to Assemble Weatherproof Deutsch DT Connectors

Leave a Reply to Jay L Snider Cancel

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11 Debugging Optimized Code

Almost all compilers support optimization. With optimization disabled, the compiler generates assembly code that corresponds directly to your source code, in a simplistic way. As the compiler applies more powerful optimizations,