Rode through a blizzard Wednesday so I had the jacket cranked up, that night I had a HUGE blister. When I got back home yesterday I discovered the recall - they said they will be replacing it. PO# 3796

There is a link to the recall, and it has a place to report additional problems. Please use it!

this is not good that jackets outside of recall are causing blisters. there's a new style Gerbing jacket for sale on flea right now that's not part of recall. sure don't want to see someone get burned ...

Was your burn in the area where the cord plugs into jacket? My wife got burnt in the same area with a microwire jacket worn inside a aerostitch 2 piece. She thought it was layers of clothing bunched up causing the discomfort. When I finally got a response from tech support they told me it was due to a poor connection where the cord plugs into the jacket. My feelings with Gerbings are "Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me." I do not know if things have gotten any better with the new factory, but I do know they will never see another dime from me.
Her jacket does not fall under the recall.

I finally got burned in this area, which has always been a little bit of a hot spot in my Gerbing's jacket liner (#3279). But I did a very stupid thing: rode 15 hours (heading home a few weeks ago from The Dragon) and let myself get tired, wet, cold, & hungry. Goodbye judgment, so when I felt some discomfort on my belly, I ignored it. Result: two big blisters.

I've decided to attack the problem at its source by wrapping the wire bundle near the power connectors (inside the liner) in Roxul insulation (fire- and melt-proof). I haven't tested this yet.

UPDATE: I've learned that one common source of overheating is the connector. Poor contact where it plugs into the jacket can cause the connection to heat up, a lot, and the fix is to spread the male contact pin so it makes a tighter fit in the socket.

I have done this but have not been that keen on testing it in 90-degree weather ;-)

This is all very interesting. Several years ago I bought a Gerbing jacket for my wife and was surprised to find that the power connections were through a 5.5mm x 2.5mm coax (barrel) jack & plug. These connector sets are typically rated to 5A max. If you add up a jacket (6.4A), pants (3.6A) & gloves (2.2A) 12.2A total, you are carrying a lot of current through that barrel set.
I questioned the ability to carry the 15A that they claimed at the time and called the Gerbing people to see what they had to say. They claimed that their connector parts were specifically manufactured to their specs and they warned users not to use any other manufacturers parts in their place. It is interesting to note that they no longer list any specifications for their controllers, cables & wiring or connectors that I can find. In fact their website sucks big time. It is some horrible book thing with NO controllers or cables listed.

A few years ago we looked for a similar barrel connector set for some military electronics and the highest current capability we could find was 5A. More recently, when we went looking for a barrel connector set for our Baryl product line we were able to find a 7.5A jack and plug pair. This is still a long way from 15A. We specifically warn our users that they cannot power heated clothing with our Baryl jacks and plugs.

I'm now wondering if they did indeed have some special high current barrel connector sets at one time but tried to go cheap and dirty with some catalog items that wouldn't carry the current. It would interesting to know what changed in their manufacturing process and materials.
Cheers,
-Shov

This is all very interesting. Several years ago I bought a Gerbing jacket for my wife and was surprised to find that the power connections were through a 5.5mm x 2.5mm coax (barrel) jack & plug. These connector sets are typically rated to 5A max. If you add up a jacket (6.4A), pants (3.6A) & gloves (2.2A) 12.2A total, you are carrying a lot of current through that barrel set.
I questioned the ability to carry the 15A that they claimed at the time and called the Gerbing people to see what they had to say. They claimed that their connector parts were specifically manufactured to their specs and they warned users not to use any other manufacturers parts in their place. It is interesting to note that they no longer list any specifications for their controllers, cables & wiring or connectors that I can find. In fact their website sucks big time. It is some horrible book thing with NO controllers or cables listed.

A few years ago we looked for a similar barrel connector set for some military electronics and the highest current capability we could find was 5A. More recently, when we went looking for a barrel connector set for our Baryl product line we were able to find a 7.5A jack and plug pair. This is still a long way from 15A. We specifically warn our users that they cannot power heated clothing with our Baryl jacks and plugs.

I'm now wondering if they did indeed have some special high current barrel connector sets at one time but tried to go cheap and dirty with some catalog items that wouldn't carry the current. It would interesting to know what changed in their manufacturing process and materials.
Cheers,
-Shov

Very, very interesting. Thanks! I'm more and more convinced the burn I got was not from the jacket wiring, but from the connectors overheating.

Maybe Gerbing thinks that the control will keep things down to a dull roar via pulsing? The only time I had trouble was on a cold, wet 15-hour ride (!).

This is all very interesting. Several years ago I bought a Gerbing jacket for my wife and was surprised to find that the power connections were through a 5.5mm x 2.5mm coax (barrel) jack & plug. These connector sets are typically rated to 5A max. If you add up a jacket (6.4A), pants (3.6A) & gloves (2.2A) 12.2A total, you are carrying a lot of current through that barrel set.
I questioned the ability to carry the 15A that they claimed at the time and called the Gerbing people to see what they had to say. They claimed that their connector parts were specifically manufactured to their specs and they warned users not to use any other manufacturers parts in their place. It is interesting to note that they no longer list any specifications for their controllers, cables & wiring or connectors that I can find. In fact their website sucks big time. It is some horrible book thing with NO controllers or cables listed.

A few years ago we looked for a similar barrel connector set for some military electronics and the highest current capability we could find was 5A. More recently, when we went looking for a barrel connector set for our Baryl product line we were able to find a 7.5A jack and plug pair. This is still a long way from 15A. We specifically warn our users that they cannot power heated clothing with our Baryl jacks and plugs.

I'm now wondering if they did indeed have some special high current barrel connector sets at one time but tried to go cheap and dirty with some catalog items that wouldn't carry the current. It would interesting to know what changed in their manufacturing process and materials.
Cheers,
-Shov

your analysis misses one very important point. which is rarely does anyone leave their heated clothing on high for very long. note I'm basing my comments on my old style insulated Gerbings using wired dual controller.

have not used new style Gerbings jacket without insulation. so more heat may be needed due to lack of insulation. also lack of insulation would exacerbate burn problems. having insulation between your skin and heating elements cannot be a bad thing.

pulse width modulation is how output going to heated jacket/pants/gloves are controlled. I've ran my old style Gerbing insulated gear down to 15f with a one piece Aerostich RC and ran it about half way on dial. jacket/pants/gloves combo... have only used heated socks one time. stuck with heavy wool socks.

just upgraded to wireless dual controllers .. we'll see how that goes. sure is nice to reduce clutter of wires. hard to test much at 95f


Lululemon drama, Larry Brown and doughnuts: Hot stories satisfy

For news hounds, keeping up with today's trending topics can feel like a full-time job. (We would know.) It isn't easy being an informed citizen in today's fast-paced world.

That's why we are trying something new — on camera.

"Getting you up to speed," a video series sponsored by Cadillac, gathers the trending stories and presents them in a short, two-minute(ish) segment so you can stay abreast of what's happening in Dallas. Hosted by friendly personalities who report and offer entertaining commentary, this web series is your ticket to zapping through the talk of the town.

To kick off the program, CultureMap welcomes Nicole Hickl to the team. A graduate of Houston's University of St. Thomas with a degree in communications and a minor in psychology and a former Houston Texans cheerleader, Hickl had been with KAVU Newscenter 25 and 104-7 KVIC radio in Victoria before joining our digital news crew. We're sure you'll find her — plus her co-host Maggie Flecknoe, whom you'll meet in future episodes — charming, savvy and sassy.

Watch the video above and follow along. We've included links to the trending stories below so you can get more in-depth coverage:


Tim Cook's India Visit May Bring Cheers To Apple Lovers

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s maiden visit to India and his Bollywood and cricket camaraderie have already made news in the last 48 hours. This is Cook’s first visit to the country after taking over as CEO at the tech giant in 2011, succeeding its legendary founder Steve Jobs, who came to India way back in 1970s in search of ‘answers’. However, Cook’s visit certainly has a different objective.

The tech major has already made two announcements. First, Apple will get its first India development center in Hyderabad that will ramp up to 4,000 employees over the next few quarters, and then the setup of the app accelerator in Bengaluru, which is about encouraging developers and entrepreneurs. Cook said in an interview, the facilities announced for Bengaluru and Hyderabad were only the beginning of what’s to come.

Reportedly on the cards is his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is keen to have business leaders from around the world invest in the country and bring more manufacturing jobs to India. Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn has reported investments worth some $5 billion to set up a facility in India.

Clearly then, Apple is looking at India as an investment destination, besides pushing the sales of its products in the country.

India commitment

Cook showed a strong commitment to the India market. “While we have been in India for a while, this seems like a great time to scale up when the priorities of the country and the company are in line; and I don’t mean only in terms of it being a market; yes, we would like to sell our products, but we see India as a significant source of talent. Not just for us but also for the ecosystem,” Cook said in an interview with The Hindu.

Across India, Apple supports over 640,000 iOS app developer jobs and other positions related to the iOS ecosystem. According to Cook, Apple has hundreds and thousands of developers in India but that number should be in millions. India is also home to content creation, and this is where Apple sees huge potential.

Fact is, as sales growth has stagnated in mature markets, Apple is increasingly giving more attention to India. In January, Apple had applied to open its own stores in the country. And now the company has confirmed that it will open the stores in India by 2017-end.

Overcoming barriers

While Apple is betting big on India market, recently, it faced a setback in the country after the telecom ministry rejected its application to import and sell refurbished phones in the country. This was Apple’s bid to gain some market share by selling used phones at a discounted rate. Needless to say, most of the phones sold in the price-sensitive India market are under Rs. 25,000 and most Apple models are priced much higher.

However, Cook seemed to be unperturbed. He said he has often expressed the importance of India for Apple. Even amidst company’s first quarter of setback in years, India has shown a year-on-year growth of 56 percent.

I see a lot of positive things happen in the country and there’s more to happen, said Cook, adding that “The talent here is incredible and we are looking forward to expanding our relationships and introducing more universities and partners to our platforms as we scale our operations,” he said.

It needs to be seen now whether Cook’s India bonding may bring some cheers to Apple lovers.

While many believe CIO's role is evolving and that he's occupying a key place in the boardroom, a recent study brings to light that more than half of the CIO, CTO or IT admin staff (55%) are not thanked by colleagues for carrying out essential IT tasks on their behalf.


type: bundle

type: course-of-action

description: Use resource-limiting settings, if possible.


Tong Yang is a Shabu-Shabu Restaurant that features a buffet aisle of raw cuts of meat, fish, vegetables, noodles that diners can choose from and cook on their own using a hot plate placed on the diners' table. They also offer a drink refilling station, cooked food area (with rice, pot stickers, etc.) and dessert station.

*I am actually confused now between the terms 'shabu-shabu' and 'hot-pot' as I often use them interchangeably. After a few clicks here and there, I found out that Hot Pot is the Chinese version while Shabu-Shabu is the Japanese variation.*

Tong Yang charges Php485.00 for weekday lunch buffet (Monday-Saturday, 11:00am until 2:00pm). The weekday dinner buffet (Monday-Saturday 5:30pm until 10:00pm), Sunday lunch buffet (11:00am to 2:00pm) and Sunday dinner buffet (5:30 to 10:00pm) costs Php585.00.
Do come with a big appetite and a not-so-super hungry stomach (as you will still cook your food haha!) because they charge an additional Php500.00 for leftovers.

Once seated, the waiter asks for the soup that you prefer - choices usually are: chicken, sinigang, spicy soup - and they are going to pour it on the pot(s) on your table. Depending on how many you are in your group and how many pots there are in your table, you can choose to have different soups on each pots.

Head on to the buffet aisle and get your own selections.

(***Don't leave your things unattended.
We usually go by batches so there are people left to watch over our bags.***)

This is the raw goods buffet station. Diners can get anything and as much as they want. They can then bring their plates on their table and start cooking using the hot pot/plate.

This is Tong Yang's hot pot/plate. (Photo taken after we cooked so it looks greasy.)
Ask for butter from the servers and start frying/cooking your food. You can also add meat, noodles and vegetables on the pot with soup to make it more tasty (or simply cook your food via boiling).I read in a table standee they have in their Quezon Avenue branch before that they recommend cooking the meat cuts for about 2minutes (or more if you want it crispy or toasted) to keep them from drying out as they already cut the goodies in thin portions.

I suggest you refrain from eating too much rice to maximize the buffet experience. But I know that 'we're Pinoy this way' so fine - you may head to the 'cooked food' area for fried rice and dumplings. If you come on a dinner buffet, you may be lucky to chance upon steamed crabs and lobsters.
I believe plain steamed rice comes in bowls and they charge extra for that.

They also have this meat slicing section for really freshly cut meat. I love the beef and pork belly cut, reminds me of bacon and sukiyaki-cut beef from the grocery. I go back to this area a lot of times. =)

Once you're full and all-stuffed but still have space for desserts, head to the dessert station. Ice cream is always available and there are ingredients to make yourself your own Halo-halo or mais con hielo.
They store their bowls and plates on the lower rack of the table for easy access. Be careful though and choose your plates well as some are dusty and dirty since it is an open shelf.

Refillable drinks are included in the buffet. You may choose from a variety of Coca-Cola products. iced tea, fruit juices and even draft beer (SMB)! Some people stay in for a while because of the beer-unli pulutan factor so to friends who are looking for an alternative place to enjoy, this might be the place to go.

The last Tong Yang venue we went to was in SM Fairview (632) 332-5236, 351-838.
Other branches are in:
Jupiter St., Makati (632) 899-3388, 897-4148,
Quezon Avenue (632) 373-3860 to 61,
Adriatico, Malate (632) 536-8392, 536-8393,
and
SM Megamall Atrium (632) 631-3637, 470-3638.
We usually call ahead of time for seat reservations as the restaurant is crowded during peak hours.

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All content seen in this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

About Me

maan

They say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. I guess that summarizes my journey in life.


Q:

Creating bash script of a complex linux command

I have few long commands that I will be using on a day to day basis. So I though it would be better to have a bash script where I could pass arguments, thus saving typing. I guess this is the norm in Linux but I am kind of new to it. Could someone show me how to do it. A example is the following command
cut -f <column_number> <filename> | sort | uniq -c |
sort -r -k1 -n | awk '{printf "%-15s %-10d\n", $2,$1}'

so i want this in a script where i can pass the filename and column number (preferably in any order) and get the desired ouput instead of having to type the whole thing everytime.

A:

Create a file say myscript.sh -
#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
echo Usage: myscript.sh column_number file_path
exit
fi

if ! [ -f $2 ]; then
echo File doesnt exist
exit
fi

if [ `echo $1 | grep -E ^[0-9]+$ | wc -l` -ne 1 ]; then
echo First argument must be a number
exit
fi

cut -f 10  $1 $2 | sort | uniq -c |
sort -r -k1 -n | awk '{printf "%-15s %-10d\n", $2,$1}'

Make sure this file is executable using command chmod +x mytask.sh
You can invoke it like sh myscript.sh 30 myfile.sh or ./myscript.sh 30 myfile.sh
The first line of above script specifies the shell you would like your script to be executed in. $1 and $2 refer to the first and second command line arguments.
About argument validity checks:

First check ensures that there are exactly two arguments passed to the script.
Second check ensures the file pointed by the argument two is existing
Third check ensures that the number passed as first argument is really a number. It uses regular expression for that purpose. May be someone provide a better replacement for this check but this is what came to my mind instantly.


A model of the role of natural killer cells in immune surveillance--I.
The theory of immune surveillance of Thomas and Burnet stated in part that antigenic differences between neoplastic and normal cells provide the stimulus for their destruction by cells of the immune system. Burnet pointed to the T lymphocyte as the cell which mediated this surveillance. The existence of some form of surveillance in cases of no T lymphocyte functioning presents the possibility that surveillance, if present at all, is mediated by non T cells. Cells identified as naturally cytotoxic killer (NK) cells appear to have properties required of a surveillance effector population. This paper utilizes properties of NK cells and the effects of interferon on this population to construct a mathematical model of the characteristics that an NK cell surveillance would have. A two level theory of immune surveillance is proposed.


The chicks were due on Tuesday, but there was absolutely no sign of any eggs hatching, in fact, they didn't even pip. I felt quite low, storm Doris was starting to arrive at our smallholding and it was too cold, wet and windy to do much outside. I was getting a heavy cold and a lack of chicks just added to my feeling fed-up.

On Wednesday morning I was feeling a little despondent and as though I had done something or not done something that had caused the eggs a problem, as it turns out it was quite the opposite.

By nine in the morning one egg had pipped and by mid-morning that a little chick hatched.

It was early afternoon before a second chick hatched, a bonny little white Jersey Giant.

Then, in late afternoon, the incubator seemed to come alive, it started looking like a popcorn maker with chicks hatching one after another and by the time we went to bed there were nine chicks jostling about in the confines of the incubator. When I got up briefly at 3am, there were twelve chicks and when I got up for the day at 6am, I found what I think is fourteen chicks.

It's become quite difficult to count how many chicks there are, partly because of they are all similar colours, but also because they keep moving around. In the moments that they are all resting or asleep I start counting and then suddenly one pops up from under a little heap of baby birds and they all move around again and so, I lose count. This is a good problem to have, I am delighted with the hatch so far.

As I type there are six eggs that haven't hatched, at least two of them have pipped, but a pipping is no guarantee of a chick. They sometimes pip and then become exhausted by the effort required to do that, so die. Sometimes they get much further into the hatching process and then die. Hatching seems an incredible process and I am fascinated by it.

I filmed one little bird emerging from its shell and included it in yesterday's vlog.

It is much too windy to work outside today (unless of course you absolutely have to), so I have the perfect excuse to sit and watch these little bundles of fluff as they dry their first feathers and learn to use their legs. And of course, first of all, I'll make a nice cuppa!

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ppose -4*y = 3*t - 62, -3*t + 7*t - 3*y = 116. Suppose 8 = -t*l + 22*l. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) 0  (b) l  (c) -5/3
b
Let v = -8 + -4. Let p = v - -17. Let z = -4.9 + p. What is the third smallest value in 1/8, -1/4, z?
1/8
Let v = -116 + 111. Let m = 0.9 + -0.6. Let p = -0.1 + 0.3. Which is the second biggest value?  (a) m  (b) v  (c) p
c
Suppose 0 = 4*w - 9*w. Suppose w = 2*f + 4*s + 4, -2*s - 32 = -f - 3*f. Let l = 3 - f. Which is the smallest value?  (a) l  (b) 0.2  (c) 0.1
a
Let i = 203/792 - 3/88. Let g = 6 + 2. Let q be g*(2 - 5/2). Which is the third smallest value?  (a) i  (b) q  (c) -0.5
a
Let a = 13.1 + -20.2. Let n = a - -7. What is the second biggest value in -0.3, -2, n?
-0.3
Let q = 8 - 2. Let l = -2 - q. Let o = -13 - l. Which is the biggest value?  (a) o  (b) 1/10  (c) -0.4
b
Let h = -69.1 + 69. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) 0  (b) h  (c) -0.4  (d) 1/7
b
Let d be (-60)/70 - (-16)/28. Let q = -3 - -5. Let v = q + -2. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) v  (b) d  (c) 0.4
a
Let v(o) = -3*o**3 - 2*o**2 - 3*o - 2. Let z be v(-1). Which is the fourth biggest value?  (a) 1/5  (b) z  (c) -0.8  (d) -2/7
c
Let y be (0 - 60/52) + 1. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) -1/7  (b) 5  (c) y
b
Let v = -4 - -8. Suppose -3*k + 3*u + u + 10 = 0, -v*k + 9 = -u. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) -0.5  (b) k  (c) -2
a
Let l be 645/468*(-2)/20. Let y = -7/24 - l. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) y  (b) 4  (c) -5
b
Let m = 0.148 - 0.248. Let n = -411/35 - -78/7. Which is the biggest value?  (a) 0.5  (b) n  (c) m
a
Let t = 11.2 + -11. Which is the biggest value?  (a) -4/5  (b) t  (c) -2
b
Suppose -l + 230 = 4*k, 3*l + 2*l + 126 = 2*k. Which is the biggest value?  (a) -0.2  (b) -5  (c) k  (d) 2
c
Let g be (-4)/(-5)*(-90)/(-12). What is the second smallest value in 4, 2, g?
4
Let y = 56 + -58. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) 0  (b) y  (c) 0.1
c
Let q = 17 + -16.9. What is the second biggest value in 7, -1, q?
q
Let q = 5.9 - 5.5. What is the biggest value in -2, -0.3, q, 5?
5
Let p be 6/4*(-24)/(-198). Suppose -5*m = -3*g + 19, 5 + 6 = 2*g - 3*m. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) g  (b) p  (c) 5
c
Let l = -597 + 11337/19. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) 0.4  (b) l  (c) 0
b
Let g be (-212)/40 - (-1 - 1). Let o = g + 14/5. Let d be 1/(-6) + (-1)/(-3). Which is the second smallest value?  (a) 3/5  (b) o  (c) d
c
Let t = 0.7 - 0.5. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) 4  (b) t  (c) -2
c
Suppose -4*c + 2*i - 6 = 0, 3*c + 4*i + 16 = -5. Let a be (-3)/5*4/c. Let r = -25 - -25.3. What is the biggest value in r, a, -1?
a
Let s = 182 + -178. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) 0.2  (b) 0.6  (c) s
b
Suppose v = -a - 9, -9 = 3*a + 3. What is the third biggest value in v, -1, 1, 3?
-1
Let t = -0.66 - -0.16. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) t  (b) -1  (c) 3/2
c
Let l = 3.3 - 2.9. What is the second biggest value in 0.24, -1, l?
0.24
Suppose 0 = 2*k - 4 - 6. Suppose 4*o - u = 2 - 3, -k = 4*o - 5*u. Let f = -0.09 - -2.09. What is the third smallest value in f, 1, o?
f
Let z = -40.5 - -41. Which is the biggest value?  (a) z  (b) 8  (c) -0.3
b
Let t = 2 - 4. Let i be (-2)/8*(-4)/(-6). Which is the smallest value?  (a) i  (b) t  (c) 2/9
b
Let l = -0.17 + 0.37. Let s = -16 + 10. Let r be s*1*(-1)/(-4). Which is the smallest value?  (a) l  (b) r  (c) 1/2
b
Let n = -1.37 + 1.67. What is the second smallest value in n, 0, 2/7?
2/7
Let o = 1.1 + -0.9. Which is the fourth smallest value?  (a) 0.4  (b) o  (c) 2/13  (d) -3
a
Let r = 1.02 + -1.12. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) 3/10  (b) -0.5  (c) r
c
Let h = 5.6 - 6. Suppose g - 15 + 4 = 0. Let i be (-265)/(-55) + 2/g. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) h  (b) i  (c) 0.3
c
Suppose -3*y = y + 264. Let s be 2 + y/15 + 2. Let l be ((-1)/3)/(1/(-3)). Which is the second biggest value?  (a) s  (b) l  (c) 0.5
c
Let s be ((-8)/70)/((-6)/(-15)). Which is the smallest value?  (a) 0  (b) 2/7  (c) s
c
Let r = -1 - -7. Let t be (2/(-10))/(2/r). Let l = -121/4 + 30. What is the second smallest value in l, t, -2/9?
l
Suppose 0 = 3*b - 5*b - 6. Let n = -0.1 - 0. Let k = -29 - -34. What is the biggest value in n, k, b?
k
Let h = -302/1903 - 4/173. What is the biggest value in -2/9, 5, -4/7, h?
5
Let l = -2.79 + -1.26. Let f = 0.05 + l. Let j = -3 + 2. What is the smallest value in j, -1/4, f?
f
Let o be 2/(-3)*27/126. What is the smallest value in -7, -2, o?
-7
Let b = 0.1 + -0.2. Let p = -2.9 - -3. Let v = b + p. What is the biggest value in -1/5, -2/3, v?
v
Let g = -5.15 + 1.15. Which is the biggest value?  (a) -2/5  (b) -0.3  (c) 2/7  (d) g
c
Let j = -0.09 + 8.09. Let r = -5 + j. Which is the biggest value?  (a) -0.3  (b) -1/6  (c) r
c
Let i = -1.9 + 2.6. Let b = i + 3.3. What is the third smallest value in -2/5, b, -5/3?
b
Let x be 12/1 + -2 + 3. Let c = x + -17. What is the second smallest value in c, 4, -0.5?
-0.5
Let u = -593.09 + 598. Let w = u - -0.09. Which is the second biggest value?  (a) -5  (b) w  (c) 0.2
c
Let x be -1 + (-303)/27 + (-14)/(-63). What is the second smallest value in 2/5, 4, x?
2/5
Let l = -6 + 4. Let t = l + 2. Let u = t + 5. Which is the second biggest value?  (a) u  (b) -4  (c) 0.5
c
Let v = 0.3 - 0.4. Let l = 3 + -4. Let j = 6 + -5. What is the second biggest value in l, j, v?
v
Let h be 11*3*14/(-21). Let x be (-4)/h + (-9)/(-11). What is the third smallest value in x, 3/7, -0.3?
x
Let g = -5.5 - -6. Which is the smallest value?  (a) g  (b) -0.5  (c) 0.2
b
Suppose y + 3*y = -p - 36, -5*y - 5*p - 45 = 0. Let n be (y/(-6))/(1/20). Let w be 64/n + (-8)/4. Which is the second biggest value?  (a) w  (b) 2  (c) 4
b
Let k = -0.4 - -2.4. What is the second smallest value in 3, k, 0.5?
k
Let s = -51.6 - -52. Which is the biggest value?  (a) 7  (b) -4  (c) s
a
Let l = 22 - 109/5. Let w = 157 - 466/3. Let n be (-4)/(-14) + (-72)/105. What is the third smallest value in n, l, w?
w
Let t be -4 + (-40)/(-6) + -4. What is the second smallest value in -0.5, t, 0.5, -3/4?
-3/4
Suppose 0*n = -2*z - n - 3, 4*z = -3*n - 1. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) -0.3  (b) z  (c) -2
a
Suppose 0 = r + 27 - 22. Let d be 13/r - (-12)/20. What is the third biggest value in 0, 2, d?
d
Let v = -0.33 - -0.23. Let w = 5 - 2. Let f = -0.1 + 0.1. What is the third smallest value in w, f, v?
w
Let f = -4.7 - -21.7. Which is the third smallest value?  (a) f  (b) -0.4  (c) 1
a
Let z = 0.04 + 3.96. Let i = -428/569 - -186567/294173. Let d = -3/47 + i. Which is the biggest value?  (a) z  (b) d  (c) 0.4
a
Let f = 8 - 13. Let v = 2 + 0. Suppose -15 = z + 4*z, x = v*z + 8. Which is the second smallest value?  (a) 0  (b) f  (c) x
a
Let y = -0.45 + 0.25. Which is the biggest value?  (a) 0.1  (b) -1/3  (c) y  (d) -4
a
Let s = 52 - 52.5. Which is the fourth smallest value?  (a) 5/6  (b) -5  (c) 4  (d) s
c
Let b = -0.06 + -4.94. Let h = b - -3. What is the second biggest value in 2, h, -0.2?
-0.2
Let i = -3 + 2.9. Let g = i - -0.3. Let l = -0.77 - 1.23. What is the second biggest value in 2, g, l?
g
Let l = 1.5 + -2. Which is the smallest value?  (a) -1/3  (b) -0.2  (c) l
c
Let f be (-24)/16*(-1)/(-3). What is the second smallest value in f, 3, -5?
f
Let s = -7 - -8. Let z be (1 - -1) + (-3 - 0). Which is the second biggest value?  (a) z  (b) -4  (c) s
a
Let o = 5 - 3. Let v be (2/(-2))/(o/(-6)). Let n = 78 - 78.2. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) n  (b) 1/2  (c) v
a
Let z = -10 + 7. Let q = z + 2. Which is the second biggest value?  (a) 1/6  (b) -1/4  (c) q
b
Suppose 0 = -5*s - 2*k - 9, -s - 5*k + 12 = -0*s. Let p = s - -3. Let h be (1/22)/(1/(-4)). What is the third biggest value in h, p, -4/5?
-4/5
Let t = 25 + -30. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) t  (b) 1  (c) 3/4
a
Let m = -22.1 + 22. Let t = -10 - -7. Let l be -1*(6/17)/t. Which is the third biggest value?  (a) -3  (b) m  (c) l
a
Let z be ((-1)/4)/(30/256). Let j = z - -7/3. Let d = 2 - 6. What is the second biggest value in d, j, 0.3?
j
Let q = -7 - -6.5. What is the third biggest value in 0.5, -4, q?
-4
Let y(o) = o**3 + 7*o**2 + 5*o - 3. Let k be y(-6). Suppose -484 = -k*g - g. Let x = -487/4 + g. Which is the biggest value?  (a) x  (b) 5  (c) 3
b
Let h = 1.2 - 5.2. Let j = -2 - -1


deviceVendor: Microsoft

deviceName: SideWinder Precision 2 (raw driver)

author: Georgiy Frolov <georgiy@sensics.com>

/controller: semantic/*


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In this opinion piece, a cybersecurity researcher argues that loopholes in a new data retention bill push those wanting to use the 'Net anonymously into cafes, libraries, and fast food restaurants. The following op-ed does not necessarily represent the opinions of Ars Technica.

On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing in support of mandatory data retention legislation. The bill that they have proposed requires that Internet Service Providers, such as Comcast and Time Warner, save records of the IP addresses they assign to their customers for a period of 18 months.

As a thought experiment, let us give the bill's authors the benefit of the doubt. Let us assume, for a moment, that this additional data is not sought as part of the war on filesharing, but is in fact necessary to catch those who commit one of the most horrible, indefensible crimes. With this in mind, let's ask the question: will this bill be effective at catching sexual predators?

The wireless loophole

The bill includes a curious exception to the retention requirements: it doesn't apply to wireless data providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, or operators of public WiFi networks, such as Starbucks and McDonalds.

When questioned about this, a Republican committee staffer told CNET in May that the wireless loophole was added because wireless networks are designed in such a way that IP addresses are assigned to multiple users or accounts and they are "not technologically capable of retaining the type of data that law enforcement needs because that's not how their system works."

This explanation is completely bogus. Wireless providers, like wireline broadband providers, are quite capable of retaining logs of the IP addresses they temporarily issue to their customers. Many wireless providers, such as Sprint and Verizon, already retain IP logs for at least a year.

The true explanation for the loophole is, I believe, that the wireless carriers have powerful and remarkably effective lobbyists.

McDonalds: last refuge for the anonymous

If this legislation passes with the wireless loophole intact, residential broadband providers will be forced to retain identifying records that can be used to link users' online activities to their authenticated identities. Mobile phone carriers will continue to retain data voluntarily, and public WiFi networks will remain one of the last places where people, whether angels or devils, can browse the Internet anonymously.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Of course, McDonalds aren't the only places with free, public, anonymous WiFi access. There are also public libraries, schools, and parks.

Christopher Soghoian is a Graduate Fellow at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

and trading said files at McD's doesn't require viewing them there. It's quite easy to upload or download something while there and view it later. With that said I do think it is silly to exempt wireless providers and open wireless networks especially since they are two completely different things. A wireless network provider like sprint or at&t are really no different than Comcast or AT&T providing home internet service. They can, just as easily, log the ips they hand out. An open wireless, like at a McDonalds or library is a completely different story and collecting logs would be technically challenging and virtually impossible to verify that the information is accurate.

This bill is going through in a vein attempt to quash the now inevitable upraising that any idiot (myself included) can see is brewing. And the fact that they left the cellular loopholes won't be the reason this won't stop it. Politicians are going to lose their "jobs" and cushy benefits.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

I automatically assume anyone I see using public wifi is a pedo-communist who hates capitalism and freedom as much as they love touching kids. Why don't they just pay for internet so the government/ISPs/Big Content can keep an eye on them?

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

This is a wonderful example of a knee-jerk reaction full of very poor reasoning. I can only assume that you believe wifi is unavailable to anyone not using a 17" laptop set up in the middle of the restaurant.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

You can actually download porn in one place, and watch it in another.

Not only that, also using obfuscated filenames ("pope.pius.4.jpg" instead of "4yo.mary.jane.jpg") OR winrar/winzip/7zip-archives (or even password protected?) OR file-dump sites OR using relays/VPN/shells even OR all of the above...possibilities are quite many...

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

They don't have to view the files at the open WiFi hotspot just send the files back and forth then view the files once they get home.

This explanation is completely bogus. Wireless providers, like wireline broadband providers, are quite capable of retaining logs of the IP addresses they temporarily issue to their customers

How did you get that from "not technologically capable of retaining the type of data that law enforcement needs because that's not how their system works?"I understand it as meaning that law enforcement cannot identify the actual Internet user from such public wireless networks. It does not mean wireless providers can't log data, just that this type of anonymous data is useless to law enforcement.

I agree with the rest of the article, though. Even without the wireless loophole, I'm pretty sure child pornographers are learning to stay anonymous even on residential Internet, so it's just another half-baked piece of legislation that just makes the Internet more complex and costly. I oppose CP, but data retention is not storing CP-specific logs, but all our activity, this will probably result in more people with no illicit Internet usage to move to proxies and TOR networks just because they are pissed off at the lack of privacy. What happened to privacy retention?

Honestly, I think this OpEd is a weak piece. Yeah there's a loophole. But it's just silly scaremongering saying it will force predators to go into public places where they'll probably be more likely to encounter young, tender innocents. It's sort of funny in an overly long set up for a pun kind of way. The entire premise relies on ignoring every other available option such as wardriving, VPNs, 7 proxies and the like. And even if the only option to do naughty things is by using public wi-fi, so what? So there's a loophole, is anyone surprised? An antenna will get you a connection without even needing to be on the premises. And free wi-fi is just as common at public locations that don't have lots of children like coffee shops, restaurants and hotels. This article is neatly summed up in three parts: background information, point out loophole and silly situation. There's not much meat.

And how exactly does keeping a log of IP address assignments protect children exactly? It seems to me that this bill, if it were actually intended to do what it claims, is set up to catch the bad guy after the fact, but does absolutely nothing to actually protect children.

Its like trying to protect a self-serve all you-can-eat buffet from theft and misuse by placing the security guard at the exit, but only the main exit, leaving several smaller side exits uncovered. Yeah sure, you might catch a few freeloading thieves, but only the dumb ones, all the smart ones, after getting their fill of all the free food they can eat, will use the side exits, and what does it really matter: The damage is already done. You might prevent the thief from ripping off other buffets in the future, but that cant bring back that foods innocence, or stop it from having nightmares.

What would be a truly useful bill is one that forced ISP's to create a political bullshit filter with automatic translator, so the next time we read a headline like "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011" It will be immediately and properly translated to its correct title: Yet another privacy eroding, Government snooping bill wrapped in a Save The Children wrapper - ACT of 2011

If the House Judiciary Committee is truly concerned about protecting children, why is it proposing legislation that will encourage sexual predators to visit McDonalds restaurants in order to share their illicit contraband online? These are, after all, restaurants packed with innocent children, who have convinced their parents to take them there in search of a Happy Meal.

Have you thought your argument through? It would be fairly difficult to get away with viewing porn of ANY sort in such a place without someone noticing and reporting you. If it were, in fact, the only place that child porn could be viewed, the problem would be cleaned up in a hurry.

The only one with a shortsighted view is you. The other comments here have already taken care of that.

------

Just another lurid day in Congress. The Thought Control Police is alive and well.

I don't know what disturbs me more:* the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire* or the socio-political trends underlying the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire

"...the wireless loophole was added because wireless networks are designed in such a way that IP addresses are assigned to multiple users or accounts and they are 'not technologically capable of retaining the type of data that law enforcement needs because that's not how their system works.'"

Hadn't heard about this bill before. Curious how it'll shake out given (1) wireline ISPs are looking at Carrier-Grade NAT to extend the life of IPv4, and that would seem to fall under this logic for an exception; and (2) the district court judge who recently ruled an IP address != a person, showing there's at least someone in the judicial system with some common sense.

I don't know what disturbs me more:* the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire* or the socio-political trends underlying the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire

I was just thinking that this piece does a good job of using the same scare tactics implied that bullshit name to draw light on how bullshit it really is. Bravos.

I don't know what disturbs me more:* the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire* or the socio-political trends underlying the fact that I'm having difficulty figuring out whether this is a serious opinion piece or a cleverly done piece of satire

Honestly, I think this OpEd is a weak piece. Yeah there's a loophole. But it's just silly scaremongering saying it will force predators to go into public places where they'll probably be more likely to encounter young, tender innocents. It's sort of funny in an overly long set up for a pun kind of way. The entire premise relies on ignoring every other available option such as wardriving, VPNs, 7 proxies and the like. And even if the only option to do naughty things is by using public wi-fi, so what? So there's a loophole, is anyone surprised? An antenna will get you a connection without even needing to be on the premises. And free wi-fi is just as common at public locations that don't have lots of children like coffee shops, restaurants and hotels. This article is neatly summed up in three parts: background information, point out loophole and silly situation. There's not much meat.

As others have pointed out, it very well may be a bit satirical in its tactics, but it does a pretty good job of showing that even if we are thinking of the children and only the children, this bill will do more harm than good (although the effects on 'predators' will probably be fairly small either way)

Both are pretty bad scare pieces. IP addresses probably aren't as useful for 'catching predators' as they are for everything else the government does, but thinking that the world will be a more dangerous place because a predator might leave his house an additional time in the day is also just thinking blindly.

Look, all of this IP logging and security breaching is just handwaving around the true problem. The only real way to get rid of child pornography is at the source -- the children.

If there aren't any children, there won't be any child porn. Just take the little ones to the government recycling centers, where they'll be painlessly turned into nutrient paste for livestock. At one stroke, the problems of child porn, education policy and funding, teacher pay, and child care availability will be solved. Health care costs will plummet as entire wings of hospitals will be freed up.

Oh, and we'll also have to sterilize all adults, to prevent the sad scourge of children from just reappearing again. But hey, surely all the benefits to be gained will be well worth the cost of millions of packages of frozen peas.

So please call your Congressthing and voice your support for the Kill The Damn Children and Be Done With It Already bill.

Look, all of this IP logging and security breaching is just handwaving around the true problem. The only real way to get rid of child pornography is at the source -- the children.

If there aren't any children, there won't be any child porn. Just take the little ones to the government recycling centers, where they'll be painlessly turned into nutrient paste for livestock. At one stroke, the problems of child porn, education policy and funding, teacher pay, and child care availability will be solved. Health care costs will plummet as entire wings of hospitals will be freed up.

Oh, and we'll also have to sterilize all adults, to prevent the sad scourge of children from just reappearing again. But hey, surely all the benefits to be gained will be well worth the cost of millions of packages of frozen peas.

So please call your Congressthing and voice your support for the Kill The Damn Children and Be Done With It Already bill.

I tip my hat to you, sir! A more compelling and thought-provoking argument I have never had the pleasure of consuming.

Wandering Wastrel wrote:

Look, all of this IP logging and security breaching is just handwaving around the true problem. The only real way to get rid of child pornography is at the source -- the children.

If there aren't any children, there won't be any child porn. Just take the little ones to the government recycling centers, where they'll be painlessly turned into nutrient paste for livestock. At one stroke, the problems of child porn, education policy and funding, teacher pay, and child care availability will be solved. Health care costs will plummet as entire wings of hospitals will be freed up.

Oh, and we'll also have to sterilize all adults, to prevent the sad scourge of children from just reappearing again. But hey, surely all the benefits to be gained will be well worth the cost of millions of packages of frozen peas.

So please call your Congressthing and voice your support for the Kill The Damn Children and Be Done With It Already bill.

Look, all of this IP logging and security breaching is just handwaving around the true problem. The only real way to get rid of child pornography is at the source -- the children.

If there aren't any children, there won't be any child porn. Just take the little ones to the government recycling centers, where they'll be painlessly turned into nutrient paste for livestock. At one stroke, the problems of child porn, education policy and funding, teacher pay, and child care availability will be solved. Health care costs will plummet as entire wings of hospitals will be freed up.

Oh, and we'll also have to sterilize all adults, to prevent the sad scourge of children from just reappearing again. But hey, surely all the benefits to be gained will be well worth the cost of millions of packages of frozen peas.

So please call your Congressthing and voice your support for the Kill The Damn Children and Be Done With It Already bill.

The point this article is trying to make is moot because the IP addresses in question are recycled and in high traffic areas would be completely useless. Even in lower traffic areas, they would have to be used in tandem with security videos, timestamps, witnesses (good luck!) and/or receipts (if any available) in order to identify the perpetrator. Common sense says that a perp would feel safer in a crowd of people where his/her identity would be more obscured. This isn't about whether or not legislators care about children, but rather whether the data in question could actually be of any use to law enforcement.

We don't need those pesky "liberties" our past generation fought, killed, and died for. You know the ones who also took our wars over to other nations killed little kids, and raped women. All in the name of our liberties! I know we have some pinko commies in the closet, come on out. Let's have a parade, and let our government know, that we know, that they know, that we know, we don't care about what "America" really stands for. So line up, and let it be know how much we think of liberty! Every man has his price right?

I can't wait until some of these roving bands of internet hackers we've seen over the last couple of years start hacking into ISP retention data and broadbanding people's browsing history.

Perhaps, as a public service, ISPs could just go ahead and set up a poorly defended server -- perhaps they could let Sony administer it? -- containing retained access data from the IP addresses of the congresscritters working on this bill.


Government Integrity Project

NLPC “blows the whistle” on government officials and interest groups engaged in questionable activities. NLPC has filed formal Complaints with a variety of authorities and regulators, including the Federal Election Commission, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congressional Ethics Committees.

NLPC supports government integrity in two additional ways: by promoting the First Amendment as the basis for campaign finance reform, and by promoting use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng take note in the Daily Beast of the current star status of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) in certain circles despite her history as one of the most corrupt members of Congress:

Rep. Maxine Waters has been reborn at the age of 78, emerging as a folk hero to the anti-Trump resistance for her repeated torching of the president.

From the glowing coverage and partisan praise, you’d barely detect that just a few years ago the veteran California congresswoman was dubbed one of the nation’s “most corrupt” elected officials by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for her role in pushing a bailout for a bank tied to her family.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-net neutrality comments submitted in recent weeks to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website appear to be fake, according to a new analysis released today by the National Legal and Policy Center, a leading government watchdog.

An initial forensic analysis of the FCC’s 2.5 million comments shows:

More than 465,322 pro-net neutrality comment submissions (close to 20% of all pro-net neutrality comments filed) were made in which either the filers’ names were being submitted with the email address of an obviously different person or in which the same email address was used to file multiple comments – in some cases thousands of times.

Over 100,000 examples of identical comments used language from an Electronic Frontier Foundation letter desk campaign in which the email addresses were generated from a fake email generator program using as many as 10 different email domains. A check of hundreds of the

It’s not easy to stand in the shoes of a police officer in immediate danger. But an Oklahoma jury proved it was up to the task. Last Wednesday evening, following nine hours of deliberation, jurors acquitted Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby of first-degree manslaughter in the death last September of a PCP-fueled black male suspect, Terence Crutcher. That confrontation, caught on video, gained national attention following accusations that Shelby, who is white, was racially motivated. Yet evidence indicates that any cop, regardless of race, would have acted similarly. That hasn’t dissuaded “civil rights” brigades, from Al Sharpton to Black Lives Matter activists to Crutcher family members themselves, from insisting that a hate crime and cover-up were committed. Their accusations have no basis in fact.

As the Justice Department puts it, former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been tasked to “oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.”

No effort should be spared in getting to the bottom of what actually occurred, and whether Russia presently seeks to interfere with our political process.

No investigation will be complete or credible, however, if it does not include a review of the relationship between the Russian government and its favored business entities with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and political and business associates of the Clintons.

Unlike the inferences that have been made about President Trump and his campaign, many of which rely on rumor, innuendo, conspiracy theories and deliberate falsehoods, the Clintons’ extensive … Read More ➡

Will Breddeman reports in the Observer that Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) maintains a nonexistent office in the same building as his taxpayer-paid district Congressional office. From the story:

In 2010, the New York Post reported that Meeks’s Build America Political Action Committee paid $350 a month for Suite 535 at 153-01 Jamaica Avenue, in Jamaica, Queens. The problem, the tabloid noted, is that 153-01 Jamaica Avenue contains no Suite 535, and is in fact only three stories tall.

What the Post neglected to mention was that Meeks has reported the same phantom space as the headquarters of his two campaign committees, Friends for Gregory Meeks and Meeks for Congress, to the Federal Election Commission since late 2006. To this day, his periodic financial filings, his fundraiser invitations and his official campaign website all list this nonexistent office as the nexus and nerve-center of his political operations.

Former Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Florida was found guilty of 18 counts of fraud and tax evasion on Thursday. She was acquitted on four of the original 22 counts.

The charges stem from Brown’s financial relationship with the One Door for Education Foundation, which falsely purported to be a charity that granted scholarships to students from low income families. In reality, the One Door for Education Foundation was not a registered 501(c) (3) charitable organization and throughout its existence only awarded two scholarships to two students worth a total $1,200. According to NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm:

“This is another example of a member of Congress using a charity as a conduit for personal gain. We saw it in the case of former Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) and in the case of Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). When a politician launches a so-called

It is now official: Puerto Rico is broke. Last Wednesday, on May 3, the island territorial government, unable to meet its commitments on more than $70 billion in bonds and nearly $50 billion in employee pensions, declared bankruptcy. As far as municipal bond defaults go, it is the largest in U.S. history. Mismanagement and corruption have had more than a little to do with this meltdown. Congress paved the way for receivership last June when it passed legislation granting Puerto Rico protection from certain bond creditors. As the island slides toward oblivion and its residents leave in droves, the emergency control board created by the law has begun to oversee budget restructuring. The long-run challenge ought to be weaning the island from its federal fiscal lifeline and ultimately from the United States itself.

NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm told LifeZette that people who claim that President Trump’s contacts with James Comey may constitute obstruction of justice or an impeachable offense don’t know what they are talking about.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told CNN just that on Wednesday night. From LifeZette:

Ken Boehm, who was a state prosecutor in Pennsylvania in the 1970s and now serves as chairman of the board of directors of the National Legal and Policy Center, said obstruction of justice usually refers to intimidating witnesses or destroying evidence. He said it would not apply to someone asking a law enforcement officer about an investigation unless, perhaps, an overt threat accompanied it.

“Obstruction of justice is a pretty high hurdle,” he said. “Any citizen is welcome to ask any law enforcement person — federal, state, local — ‘Am I the subject of an investigation?’ … Usually, it’s

Michael Gartland reports in the New York Post today that Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) pays his brother rent from his campaign fund. From the article:

Crowley has paid at least $69,700 since 2007 to Killean Enterprises LLC, which is controlled by his brother, lobbyist John “Sean” Crowley.

As chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Joseph Crowley is the fourth-highest ranking member of his party in the House.

House rules allow the campaigns of Members to rent office space from family members under certain circumstances, but Crowley rents space outside his Congressional district. Also from the story:

“It’s not physically in his district — that would be a key point,” said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center. “What he uses it for — it’s as old as politics — it’s called a slush fund. And what do you know? It goes to a family-connected entity.”

President Trump should have relieved FBI director James Comey of his duties on Inauguration Day. The country would have been spared more of Comey’s politically-motivated gyrations that began with his decision not to indict Hillary Clinton.

Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, bet incorrectly that Hillary Clinton would be elected President.

Once the FBI director acts on the basis of politics, he must keep acting on that basis. He cannot put the genie back in the bottle and pretend to be impartial or above the fray. That is why Comey played the role of both hero and villain at various times to different political factions.

We need independent, fair and swift investigations into the Clinton Foundation, Hillary’s handling of emails and Russian interference in the election.

We have brought to light several instances of Clinton Foundation “pay to play” yet no one has been prosecuted.


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export * from "./SignIn";


OUR ATHLETES

These athletes remind us that with passion and
perseverance, nothing is really impossible.

TATYANA MCFADDENWHEELCHAIR RACER

Tatyana is a 17-time Paralympic medallist – and she’s only 28. Born with spina bifida and starting her life in a Russian orphanage, Tatyana is challenging what’s possible one competition at a time.

RAMI ANISSWIMMER

As a swimmer for the Refugee Olympic Team, Rami Anis is training to achieve his Olympic goal in 2020. Even when war tore through his hometown of Aleppo, Syria, Rami still continued his Olympic journey, showing his resilience to the world.

TYRONE PILLAYSHOT-PUTTER

Hailing from Durban, South Africa, Tyrone is a Toyota technical specialist who doubles as a Paralympian shot-putting powerhouse.


Mcdonald's Promises Healthier Fries

CHICAGO — Under pressure to make its fast-food healthier, McDonald's said Tuesday it was reducing the amount of saturated fat and trans fatty acids in its french fries and other fried foods.

The company said that beginning in October, its more than 13,000 restaurants nationwide will use a new variety of cooking oil that significantly reduces saturated fats and trans fatty acids, which scientists believe raises cholesterol levels and increases the risk of heart disease.

The change will not affect the taste or the number of calories in any menu item, the company says. But by altering the cooking oil, McDonald's said it hoped to cut by nearly half the amount of trans fatty acids in french fries and reduce the amount of saturated fats by 16 percent.

McDonald's said the new variety of vegetable oil -- which will also be used to prepare Chicken McNuggets, Filet-O-Fish and hash browns -- will be significantly higher in polyunsaturated fats, which experts say tend to lower cholesterol levels.

"We're not afraid to do something different and something new to build on our track record of nutrition," said Walt Riker, a spokesman at McDonald's, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill. "We're reducing bad fats and increasing good fats."

Health and nutrition experts applauded the announcement.

"We're very pleased to see McDonald's take this step," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. "It will help reduce the risk of their customers getting heart disease, and because McDonald's is an industry leader the change should be followed by other fast-food chains and food processors."

Wendy's officials said Tuesday that the company made cooking oil improvements in 1995, and will continue to monitor new technologies. Burger King officials did not return telephone calls Tuesday.

Alice H. Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University, called the McDonald's announcement a step in the right direction but warned, "Since much of the public is overweight, they should not get the message that because these are better fries, it's good to eat them with abandon."


On the use of a micro freeze-dryer for the investigation of the primary drying stage of a freeze-drying process.
This paper deals with the use of a small-scale freeze-dryer, where very few vials are loaded (e.g. 19, each 10 mL, or 7, each 20 mL), for freeze-drying cycle investigation. The system has a metallic ring surrounding the batch of vials, in contact with the external ones, and its temperature is manipulated independently from that of the shelf on the basis of the temperature of the product measured by thermocouples in some vials of the batch. The experimental study was carried out using two sucrose solutions (5% and 10% w/w), aiming to verify the homogeneity of the batch. Both product temperature and the weight loss after 6 h from the onset of the primary drying stage were selected as key parameters. Experiments were carried out according to a 2 N design of experiments, with two values of chamber pressure (60 and 90 mTorr) and two values of shelf temperature (-20 and 0 °C). Satisfactory results may be obtained by selecting a ring temperature 5 °C lower than that of the monitored samples in case of both products investigated. Besides, the system appears to be useful for the estimation of the coefficient of heat transfer to the product (Kv) and of the resistance of the dried cake to vapour flux (Rp), thus enabling the use of mathematical modelling for process design and optimization.