text:
The Data Driver
Cryptominers Hit 10x More Orgs than Ransomware in 2018, but Only 1 in 5 IT Pros Are Aware of Infections: Study
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.has published the second instalment of its 2019 Security Report. It highlights how the tools and services used to commit cyber-crime have become democratized, with advanced attack methods now available to anyone willing to pay for them, as part of the growing 'malware-as-a-service' industry.
The second instalment of the 2019 Security Report reveals the key cyber-attack trends observed by Check Point researchers during 2018, and shows the significant growth in stealthy, complex attacks designed to stay below the radar of enterprise security teams. It also shows the types of cyberattacks which enterprise IT and security teams rate as the biggest threats to their organizations. Highlights include:
Cryptominers digging undetected on networks: cryptominers infected 10x more organizations than ransomware in 2018, but only one in five IT security professionals were aware their company's networks had been infected by mining malware. 37% of organizations globally were hit by cryptominers in 2018, and 20% of companies continue to be hit every week despite an 80% fall in cryptocurrency values.
· Threat risk of cryptominers underrated by organizations: when asked what they rated as the biggest threats to their organization, just 16% stated cryptomining, compared with DDoS attacks (34%), data breaches (53%), ransomware (54%) and phishing (66%). This is concerning, as cryptominers can easily act as stealth backdoors to download and launch other types of malware.
· Malware-as-a-service rises: the GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service affiliate program shows how amateurs can now profit from the ransomware extortion business as well. Users keep up to 60% of the ransoms collected from victims, and its developers keep up to 40%. GandCrab has over 80 active affiliates, and within two months in 2018 had infected over 50,000 victims and claimed between $300,000 and $600,000 in ransoms.
"The second instalment of our 2019 Security Report shows how cyber-criminals are successfully exploring stealthy new approaches and business models, such as malware affiliate programs, to maximize their illegal revenues while reducing their risk of detection. But out-of-sight shouldn't mean out-of-mind: even though cyberattacks during 2018 have been lower-profile, they are still damaging and dangerous," said Peter Alexander, Chief Marketing Officer of Check Point Software Technologies. "By reviewing and highlighting these developments in the Report, organizations can get a better understanding of the threats they face, and how they prevent them impacting on their business."
Check Point's 2019 Security Report is based on data from Check Point's ThreatCloud intelligence, the largest collaborative network for fighting cybercrime which delivers threat data and attack trends from a global network of threat sensors; from Check Point's research investigations over the last 12 months; and on a brand new survey of IT professionals and C-level executives that assesses their preparedness for today's threats. The report examines the latest emerging threats against various industry sectors, and gives a comprehensive overview of the trends observed in the malware landscape, in emerging data breach vectors, and in nation-state cyber-attacks. It also includes expert analysis from Check Point's thought leaders, to help organizations understand and prepare themselves for today's and tomorrow's complex fifth-generation cyber-attacks and threats.
checkpoint cryptomining Cybersecurity
What does OPPO's new F11 Pro have in store for Indian customers? A 48 MP dual rear camera!
OPPO, a leading global smartphone brand, has yet another surprise for Indian customers. It continues to push the envelope, working hard to bring its breakthroughs that claim to offer exceptional user experience. There is news doing rounds that OPPO will introduce its upcoming smartphone OPPO F11 Pro in India. Interestingly its camera is going to be one of the biggest surprise factor. OPPO's new F11 Pro will be coming with a 48 MP dual rear camera, reaching a level of overall performance that exceeds the expectations of even the most demanding consumers. The new generation of a high-definition camera will provide the users with an impressive photo quality and viewing experience. It opens a window to limitless creativity - from shooting photos to getting clear images in low light with the help of its Super Night Mode feature. It will bring the flawless everyday usability which consumers expects in their smartphones. The Super Night Mode of the OPPO F11 Pro functions with OPPO's ex
Snap Tube can download any video in your regional language
Snap Tube is an Internet Company founded in 2016 with the objective in providing services in the mobile related products and services. Within a span of 18 months, Snap Tube gained lead place in the global market by its satisfactory service to its esteemed consumers. Snap Tube started new feature in India where the user can use the app in his mother tongue, where Snap tube is coming up with the introduction of Indian Regional languages. Namely Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Urdu and Kannada. Snap Tube is now operated and available in more than 100 countries and recognized as trust worthy around the globe. Now there are more than 40 million downloads across the world and everyday more than 10 million users are getting the benefits of the application. Snap Tube is a tool designed to download videos in a simple, fast, and convenient way from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is a user friendly and with this application user can download
Kan Ltd Selects Vissensa for Cloud Computing
Kan Ltd approached Vissensa when their trusted onsite physical server, hosted in their Hampshire office, reached the limits of its ability to reliably support the demands of the business. The challenge was to migrate an important legacy application from the older technology to a modern operating environment without disrupting the company's external website ordering systems that was linked to the application. As part of the migration, Kan wanted to improve their business continuity by ensuring that the critical business information contained on these systems was backed up and could be recovered quickly when necessary. Physical to Virtual Migration Vissensa initially reviewed the platform and advised that the one server Kan operated was a single point of failure and should be migrated to a virtual platform where resilience can be guaranteed. Vissensa performed a physical to virtual migration of the server and took over the management of it, relieving the Kan staff from the pr
© Copyright © The Data Driver (All rights reserved)


This report provides a summary of the International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program's (ITVERP) activities from October 1, 2012, through September 30, 2013. It covers two critical areas of ITVERP assistance—application processing and claims payment, and public awareness activities undertaken to reach out to potential claimants—and concludes with a discussion of future program needs and suggested improvements.
ITVERP launched a new website with revised materials.
The Office for Management and Budget approved the new ITVERP Claimant Feedback Tool.
ITVERP began planning and development of its Data Management System.
ITVERP increased outreach to military and international nongovernmental organizations.
ITVERP increased collaboration with other federal agencies that provide support to victims and surviving family members.
During this reporting period, ITVERP received 38 new applications for reimbursement. The applications reflect terrorist incidents dating from November 24, 1992, to August 21, 2013. Exhibit 5 illustrates the number of applications received during each ITVERP reporting period since the program's inception in 2006.
Active. Claims may be in process while OVC verifies eligibility and expenses and gathers additional information, or active pending designation by the National Security Division (NSD).
At the end of this reporting period, there were 21 active claims: 19 claims in process and 2 claims pending designation by NSD. One of the claims pending NSD designation is inactive due to an unresponsive claimant. ITVERP has paid 200 claims, denied 50 claims, and designated 29 claims as inactive/unresponsive since the implementation of the program in 2006. Exhibit 6 presents the status of all ITVERP claims.
During this reporting period, ITVERP completed eight claims received from Foreign Service Nationals (FSN) (also known as locally employed staff). Seven of the claimants were FSNs victimized in the bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998. The remaining claim was submitted on behalf of a deceased FSN killed in Sana'a, Yemen. The total amount reimbursed to FSNs during this reporting period was $53,034.
To process claims, ITVERP requires verification of the claimant's eligibility and confirmation that the expenses submitted have been processed in compliance with ITVERP regulations. Generally, claims that are denied because of claimant ineligibility require less time to process because ITVERP's designation of the claim is not contingent upon completion of the application or verification of the expenses. However, depending on the reason for the denial, claims may undergo victim verification and the incident designation process before being denied. For example, if victim verification requires coordination with an investigating agency other than the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it may take time to identify the agency responsible for verification. Also, if an incident is submitted to NSD for a designation of terrorism, it may take time for NSD to determine whether the event qualifies as a terrorist incident for the purpose of ITVERP. Each of the scenarios described above may affect review time. Exhibit 7 shows the average length of time it took to process the 28 paid claims* and 11 denied claims completed during this reporting period.
Exhibits 8 and 9 show the average number of days it took for paid and denied claims to move through different steps in the claims process.
Potential claimants who incurred multiple expenses as a result of their victimization may apply for reimbursement in more than one expense category. ITVERP case managers work closely with claimants and potential claimants to assess and fully identify their needs to ensure they receive the maximum reimbursement allowable. Exhibit 10 shows the dollar amount of reimbursements requested in the 38 new applications received during this reporting period, by expense category. Many claimants applied for reimbursement under multiple expense categories.
During this reporting period, ITVERP paid a total of $123,185 in reimbursement requests. Exhibit 11 shows the amount of reimbursements paid out by each expense category during the reporting period. Many claimants were reimbursed under multiple expense categories.
Under ITVERP regulations, claimants may file an appeal within 30 days of receipt of the OVC Director's final determination of their claim. In April 2013, ITVERP received and processed its first appeal. The appeal was specific to NSD's decision not to designate the event as a terrorist incident for the purposes of ITVERP. The final determination affirmed the OVC Director's dismissal of the claim, and the claimant was informed of this by letter, dated May 31, 2013.
Claims that are in process represent an estimate of ITVERP's potential future liability. If all the claims that are in process are paid in the amounts requested, ITVERP's potential future liability is $164,588. Exhibit 12 shows ITVERP's estimated future liability by type of expense reimbursement category.
The OVC Director is authorized to use discretion in extending the filing deadline for ITVERP applications based on a showing of good cause. Of the 38 new applications received during this reporting period, 14 requested—and were granted upon a showing of good cause—an extension to the 3-year filing deadline.
In addition to the 38 new claims received during the reporting period, ITVERP received 8 supplemental applications from 5 claimants.
ITVERP's outreach efforts focus on victims of international acts of terrorism and their family members who may be eligible for reimbursement under the program. OVC coordinates with the Office for Victim Assistance (OVA) within the FBI and with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to identify potential claimants. When a terrorist incident occurs outside the United States, DOS is the first agency to respond, locating and identifying U.S. citizens. When appropriate, OVA then provides victims or their families with information about ITVERP as a potential source of financial support. For the victims and family members who choose to apply for benefits, ITVERP case managers verify eligibility and deliver support and assistance throughout the application intake and claims verification process. During this reporting period, ITVERP sent individual outreach letters to 163 potential claimants.
When a terrorism incident results in a large number of victims, the survivors of the event and their families may become the best source of outreach for the program. For example, an ITVERP claimant who was victimized in the 1998 attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, offered to distribute outreach materials, translated into Swahili, on a Kenyan listserv dedicated to victims of the bombing to help increase outreach. ITVERP worked closely with the claimant and hopes to work with other claimants in a similar capacity.
Another goal of OVC's outreach efforts is to educate the victim assistance community, including collaborating agencies and potential partners, about ITVERP. By reaching out to branches of the military and international nongovernmental organizations (NGO), as well as individuals who may come into contact with victims of international terrorism, OVC increases awareness about ITVERP and the financial support available.
During this reporting period, ITVERP provided direct outreach and program materials to 10 international NGOs: Africare, American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, Doctors Without Borders, International Committee for the Red Cross, Care International, Lutheran World Relief, Mercy Corps International, Oxfam America, and Save the Children.
ITVERP also has increased its outreach to various branches of the military. During this reporting period, ITVERP provided information and assistance to the U.S. Army Survivor Outreach Services Program in Fort Lee, Virginia; the U.S. Army Training Center and Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky; the Marine Corps Casualty Section in Quantico, Virginia; the Air Force Headquarters, Mortuary Affairs Entitlements, Entitlements Branch, Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware; the U.S. Marine Corps Headquarters, Casualty Assistance, Benefits and Entitlements office in Arlington, Virginia; and the Office of the Chief Prosecutor at the Office of Military Commissions in Alexandria, Virginia.
In Fiscal Year 2013, ITVERP distributed 200 program brochures to the U.S. Army Training Center, 200 program brochures to the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, and 100 program brochures to the U.S. Marine Corps.
ITVERP also conducted targeted outreach to the DOS Legal Claims Office, Office of Logistics Management, Bureau of Administration, Under Secretary for Management on behalf of ITVERP claimants, and the Peace Corps Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Global Partnerships, Office of Safety and Security, and Office of Counseling and Outreach.
To further identify victims of previous terrorist attacks during this reporting period, ITVERP conducted outreach to the Ambassador to Pakistan, 2001–2002; the former Regional Affairs Officer in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1997; the Deputy Justice Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan; the DOS Legal Attaché in Pakistan; and the DOS Director of Human Resources at the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen.
The ITVERP Resource Center responds to questions and requests made through its dedicated toll-free helpline and email address. Program staff are available to respond to inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. eastern time. Federal, state, and local government agency staff and NGOs often contact the Resource Center for information about program eligibility requirements on behalf of specific individuals, and to provide information about potential claimants who may qualify for ITVERP reimbursement.
ITVERP Hotline Calls: ITVERP received 540 calls.
E-mails: ITVERP received 710 e-mails.
Similarly, ITVERP staff respond directly to victims who call the helpline for assistance with their applications or with inquiries about the types of expenses the program covers and the program's eligibility requirements. For non-English speakers, the program provides translation support. ITVERP staff use their individual language capacity for callers who speak Spanish, Farsi, or Romanian. For callers who speak other languages, the staff access the language line for assistance communicating effectively with any caller or claimant. This allows for real-time communication with the caller. During this reporting period, ITVERP accessed the language line to assist a claimant who spoke only Arabic.
During this reporting period, ITVERP launched its new website, with comprehensive updates to its content, including a program fact sheet, answers to frequently asked questions, various menu selections, and updated resource links. Claimants and potential claimants can obtain information from the ITVERP web page about the program, including eligibility criteria, reimbursement categories and types of expenses covered, and the claims process. Individuals who want to apply to the program can download the updated ITVERP application with integrated instructions, an updated application checklist, and supporting materials directly from the site. A current list of NSD-designated terrorist incident is also available.
Enhancing customer service and communicating with claimants are continuing program priorities. OVC's focus on customer service will include reviewing the mechanisms available to ITVERP for improving claims processing times and staff communication with victims and families applying for reimbursement. During this reporting period, ITVERP introduced the Claimant Feedback Tool, which was approved by the Office for Management and Budget in September 2013. The Claimant Feedback Tool is designed to obtain information about the application and claim review process from claimants. Once a claimant receives a decision on their claim, they are asked about their experience so that ITVERP staff can improve and enhance program delivery.
OVC continues to ensure that resources are readily and easily accessible to victims and their families. During this reporting period, OVC and the Office of Justice Programs' Office of the Chief Information Officer entered into an agreement to develop a more comprehensive case management system. The new system will enhance service delivery to applicants by providing greater transparency in the ITVERP claims process and allowing victims to submit applications and track their claims online. The system will also increase the program staff's capacity to enhance customer service delivery.
As a reimbursement program, ITVERP is not a typical claims or compensation program. ITVERP is unique because it requires significant due diligence and review of each expense before reimbursement can occur. This adds complexity to the program and requires continual navigation of new issues arising from uncommon and sensitive reimbursement requests. In this way, ITVERP is a program where the quality of the analysis and resulting claim determination is paramount and swift processing is not always possible. As new claims continue to be submitted, the program will continue to develop, as will the resulting policy decisions.
ITVERP is continually conducting outreach to ensure potential claimants are aware of this unique program. ITVERP must promote the program among governmental and nongovernmental agencies on an ongoing basis and conduct consistent outreach by attending conferences and meetings and building relationships with other organizations. Such exposure is essential to ensuring that organizations that come into contact with victims are aware of the financial support services available through ITVERP and can refer potential claimants to the program.


text:
$1.8 billion disappears in Russian space program
by Ivana Kottasova @ivanakottasova May 25, 2015: 10:32 AM ET
Russia relies on the Soviet-era launch site in Kazakhstan.
Russia's space industry is in crisis caused by funding cuts, corruption and "moral decay," government officials said.
Billions of rubles have been lost in shady transactions. Construction projects are languishing. And important launches are failing.
In 2014 alone, federal space agency Roscosmos committed 92 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) worth of financial violations, according to Russia's public spending watchdog agency.
The head of the the audit office, Tatyana Golikova, said the amount of money allegedly misused initially shocked her.
"At first I could not believe my inspectors," Golikova told the Russian parliament during her annual presentation on Friday.
At the center of Roscosmos' problems is the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The new space launch site in the eastern part of the country was originally set to open by the end of this year, and its first manned missions were planned for 2018.
But the project has suffered a series of setbacks because of funding problems and alleged corruption. Golikova, the audit chief, said construction costs have ballooned by 20%. Several criminal cases are under way over corruption allegations.
The cosmodrome is crucial for Russia's ability to launch rockets. The country still relies on the Soviet-era Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for its space travel.
Related: Economic crisis hits at heart of Russia's pride
To add to the misery, Russia has lost two spacecraft in the last month. A crewless cargo space ship burned up in the Earth's atmosphere after a communication failure, and a Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a Mexican satellite crashed in Siberia.
Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, blamed the accident on chronic corruption in the space industry.
"With such a level of moral decay, one should not be surprised at the high accident rate," Rogozin, who is in charge of the aerospace sector, said in a statement.
The Russian space program has suffered deep cuts because of the economic crisis. The Federal Space Agency's budget for the next decade was slashed by 35% to 2 trillion rubles ($37 billion) in March.
Russia's space industry has suffered cuts due to the economic crisis.
CNNMoney (London) First published May 25, 2015: 10:32 AM ET
CNNMoney Sponsors
SmartAsset
Paid Partner
These are your 3 financial advisors near you
This site finds and compares 3 financial advisors in your area
Check this off your list before retirement: talk to an advisor
Answer these questions to find the right financial advisor for you
Find CFPs in your area in 5 minutes
NextAdvisor
An Insane Card Offering 0% Interest Until Nearly 2020
Transferring Your Balance to a 14-Month 0% APR is Ingenious
The Top 7 Balance Transfer Credit Cards On The Market Today
Get $300 Back With This Outrageous New Credit Card

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
#SharksNewsToday – March 4
Wed 4 Mar 2015, 05:40 PM
Four more sleeps!!
Just four more sleeps until the Sharks get their 2015 NRL season underway when they take on the Raiders at Remondis Stadium.
Coach Shane Flanagan has named a 19-man squad, with all players fit and decisions on the final make-up of his team still to be made.
The match will feature the debut in Sharks colours of Ben Barba, Gerard Beale and Michael Ennis, with the experienced trio adding to the quality of the Cronulla roster for the season ahead.
The NRL clash is scheduled for a 6.30pm kick off on Sunday, with the NYC getting underway at 4.15pm.
For all game day details, click on the following link – http://www.sharks.com.au/rnd_01_nrlsharksraid.html
NOTE: Please check out transport information, as with parking limited, members and fans are encouraged to take advantage of the Transport NSW integrated ticketing offer and the free shuttle service from Cronulla, Woolooware, Miranda and Sutherland railway stations direct to Remondis Stadium.
To see the Sharks team list to play the Raiders, click here - http://www.sharks.com.au/news/2015/03/03/nrl_team_list_sharks.html
Memberships now arriving
Despite some mailhouse challenges resulting in a delay in getting membership tickets out prior to round one, the Sharks are pleased to report the majority of members have now received their 2015 season tickets and passes.
All members who purchased memberships prior to February 26 have had their passes mailed out and if you have not yet received, the Sharks are confident they will arrive before the weekend.
For those who do not receive by last mail Friday, please contact the Sharks Membership and arrangements will be made for the opening game of the season on Sunday.
Harvey Norman Man of the Match
Once fulltime is blown on Sunday, don't rush out of Remondis Stadium, with members and fans encouraged to hang around for the naming of the Harvey Norman Man of the Match.
A new initiative in 2015, Sharks coaching staff will select a player of the match, with Harvey Norman to award a television for that player to then donate to his charity/not-for-profit organisation of choice.
Harvey Norman have also joined SBA (Salmon Buckets) as major sponsor of the Sharks Junior Reps and Junior Development/Academy programs.
The Harvey Norman Man of the Match will speak to Sharks Ground Announcers Sonia Lewis and Mark Warren when collecting his prize.
Summertime Bar is back on Sunday
Another reason not to rush off on Sunday and why members and fans should arrive early on Sunday is the reintroduction of the Sharkies Summertime Bar as a game day option starting this weekend.
The Summertime Bar will open two hours prior to NRL kick off, with entertainment, activities for the kids and full bar facilities operating.
Then on full time what better place to go over all the best bits from the Sharks v Raiders game, with the Summertime Bar to remain open for 90 minutes after fulltime.
Members and those with tickets can also enter the stadium via the Summertime Bar without having to go out and re-enter through the main gates on Captain Cook Drive.
Flanagan on 2SM
Shane Flanagan has been doing the rounds of the media in the lead up to the start of the season, with Sydney radio station 2SM (AM1269) catching up with the Sharks coach for an interview last Friday afternoon.
In case you missed it, CLICK HERE to listen to what he had to say.
Raiders will be ready
Ricky Stuart would like nothing more than to spoil the Sharks opening day party and for his Raiders to cause an upset at Remondis on Sunday.
And as Sharks coach Shane Flanagan ha said during this week in the lead-up to the game, he expects to face nothing less than a well-prepared and desperate Raiders side.
The Raiders team contained few surprises, with new recruit Blake Austin to partner youngster Mitch Cornish in the halves.
The Canberra team is as follows: Jack Wighton, Sisa Waqa, Jarrod Croker (capt), Edrick Lee, Jordan Rapana, Blake Austin, Mitchell Cornish, David Shillington, Josh Hodgson, Dane Tilse, Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola, Shaun Fensom. Interchange: Josh McCrone, Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Paul Vaughan, Shannon Boyd.
ET Shield for Primary Schools
The first primary school rugby league gala day for 2015 is the seven-a-side ET Shield for both boys and girls in years 3 to 6.
This year to be conducted at The Ridge playing fields, the ET Shield is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18.
Schools interested in competing need to nominate their teams by Monday, March 9, with all nominations to be emailed back to mtope@nrl.com.au.
Nominations MUST be emailed and MUST be sent in from a teacher at the participating school.
For more information please contact the gala day convenor Matt Tope at mtope@nrl.com.au.
Bringing Touch back to the Shire
Register now for a Shire League Pre-Season Junior Rugby League Touch Competition.
To sign on or to find out more, go to www.shiretouchleague.sportingpulse.net, www.facebook.com/shiretouchleague, or call 0499 222 564.
Touch footy is coming back to the Shire, take part in 2015.


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Neptune, the Roman god of water and the sea, is the majestic poster boy for an annual festival that draws 500,000 visitors to Virginia Beach and its storied boardwalk each September. So naturally, a trip with my daughters over spring break to this city on the Atlantic Ocean begins by paying homage.
A half-hour after checking into our oceanfront room at the Best Western, we're standing in front of a 34-foot-tall bronze statue of the merman at the corner of 31st Street and the beach, oohing and aahing over his giant trident and girly-girl curls. To cast the figure in 2005, sculptor Paul DiPasquale went through 80 tons of clay, 25 tons of plaster and a whopping 1 ton of glue. Photos of us mugging for Mom's smartphone immediately are posted on Facebook.
Turns out, snapping pics with Neptune is as much a tradition for vacationers as standing in line for frozen yogurt at Kohr Brothers, angling for spot off the fishing pier at 15th Street, or shopping for $5 T-shirts and hermit crabs on Atlantic Avenue. That's because in Virginia Beach, unlike other high-rise, high-traffic beach towns on the East Coast, the focus is very much on simple family pleasures.
For more than 100 years, the town's main attraction has been its pretty boardwalk, which today stretches 3 miles along the ocean, and its even more picturesque beaches, which are wide and clean and don't require a beach tag for entry. In all, there's more than 30 miles of coastline, divided into three beaches with distinct personalities.
Gentler waves can be found in the quiet waters of Chesapeake Bay Beach to the north of the main resort area, while on more secluded Sandbridge Beach, the focus is on the pristine sand dunes and fluttering sea oats that make you feel as if you've (finally!) managed to get off the grid. Depending on budget, vacationers here can rent quiet beach bungalows or oceanside palaces that sleep 20.
It's a little more commercial on Resort Beach, with runs from the designated surfing area at Rudee Inlet to 40th Street, but charmingly so: The dozens of souvenir stores, pizzerias, arcades, ice cream and candy shops and boutiques offering henna tattoos lining Atlantic Avenue feel very old-fashioned.
Got a yen for saltwater taffy or fudge? Forbes Candies has been making it since 1930. Rather put butterflies in your stomach? There's a Ferris wheel among the kiddie rides at the beachside amusement park on the boardwalk at 15th Street. Or maybe, like so many families who gather on the beach as the sun goes down, you'd rather take advantage of the wonderful ocean breezes and fly a kite. The twilight sky is full of 'em.
Sadly, my daughters and I aren't coordinated enough to maneuver kite strings, so instead we spent our evenings strolling the boardwalk. We had plenty of company. Paved and lighted, this 28-foot-wide concrete promenade is where most of the off-sand action unfolds: parents pushing baby strollers, locals walking dogs, joggers, cyclists, inline skaters.
Virginia Beach also draws its fair share of surfers, hosting the East Coast's longest-running surfing competition each year. The 50th anniversary of the East Coast Surfing Championship runs Aug. 20-26, and is expected to draw 100,000 people with its free concerts on the beach, volleyball and skimboard contests and skateboarding demos.
Little could Jamestown colonist Capt. John Smith have imagined how busy this stretch of sand would become when he and his crew first set foot on Virginia Beach in 1607, after a long and arduous voyage from England to what would become the Jamestown colony. Even after a lighthouse was built on nearby Cape Henry in 1792 to help guide ships in and out of the Chesapeake Bay, visitors were relatively few. Then in the early 1880s, a railroad made it easy to travel to the coast from the busy port of Norfolk (the 18-mile trip took just 40 minutes). And when the area's first "luxury" hotel opened in 1890, the East Coast's gilded elite quickly followed.
"Surf and still water bathing, crabbing, bowling, billiards, tennis, horseback riding, and charming drives through the towering pine forest, may be indulged in," read a promotional booklet put out at the time by the Norfolk & Virginia Beach Railroad Co. about The Princess Anne Hotel, an elaborate hotel that occupied two oceanfront blocks.
As the beach grew in popularity, more hotels and guest cottages popped up, and by the early 1900s, the place was booming. In the '40s and '50s, some of the biggest acts in the country — Glenn Miller, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby — performed on the bandstand at the Cavalier Beach Club, which opened in 1929 and is still in business. Today, live music and stage shows can be enjoyed at several locations close to the beach, including Broadway at the Center, Little Theatre of Virginia Beach and Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. During the summer season, there's an array of street performances on Atlantic Avenue between 17th and 25th streets, and local and national artists crooning on small stages set up along the boardwalk.
Not every beach town has a playground right on the sand, but Virginia Beach has two: one at 10th Street and another at 31st, just beyond the Neptune statue. At Second Street lies JT's Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground, believed to be the nation's first wheelchair-accessible beachfront playground. Opened last year, the 15,000-square-foot park features adapted slides and monkey bars, and raised sand tables for building sandcastles.
Other fun activities for kids include a trip to the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center (the sharks are amazing and scary) and playing goofy golf under the stars.
If you're more into history, there's plenty to be found in the form of two period house museums (the 18th century Adam Thoroughgood House is one of the oldest brick homes in America), monuments, a Coast Guard museum that's tucked inside a 1903 station at 24th Street and a historic village that pays tribute to the first English explorers and American Indians of the Chesapeake region. Determined to squeeze at least one educational activity into our va-ca, I dragged my daughters into the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum (1113 Atlantic Ave.) located in DeWitt Cottage, which was built in 1895 and is the oldest beach house still standing along the Virginia Beach oceanfront. I quickly learned that 16-year-old girls don't give a hoot about antique duck decoys, though they did find sepia pictures of the beach from the early 1900s vaguely interesting.
Sigh. At least it was free, which can't be said of the henna tattoos they somehow talked me into letting them get afterward, in exchange for spending 15 minutes "having to use their brains" while on vacation.
What all three of us enjoyed was everything else the beach had to offer. During our visit in early April it was too cold to go in the water, but the sand was soft and warm on our toes as we sunbathed, and the local seafood I'd read so much about, happily didn't disappoint. Among the delicious dishes we sampled were the crabcakes at Waterman's Surfside Grille, the bronzed mahi mahi at Mahi Mah's and fried shrimp at Catch 31 Fish House and Bar, an upscale oceanfront restaurant within spitting distance of King Neptune.
We also had one of the best breakfasts ever at the quaint Doc Taylor's on 23rd Street (it's in a vintage beach cottage that once housed a doctor's office), and terrific pancakes (short stack, with lots of chocolate chips) at Pocahontas Pancakes at the corner of 34th and Atlantic.
Getting there: Virginia Beach is an eight-hour drive from Pittsburgh (482 miles) via Route 522 South toward Winchester, Va. Otherwise, you're sure to get stuck, possibly for hours, in traffic on Interstate 495. You also can fly into Norfolk, Va., on several airlines (none offer direct service), then rent a car or take the airport shuttle for the 17-mile drive to the beach. Shuttle: $45, plus $5 for each additional person (jamesrivertrans.com, 1-866-823-4626).
Sweet dreams: There are more than 12,000 hotel/motel rooms in Virginia Beach's resort area, including most of the major chains. Our room at the 3-star Best Western Oceanfront ($138 and up during the summer season) was small but perfectly comfortable, and included a continental breakfast plus free Internet access; it also had a private balcony overlooking the beach and easy boardwalk access. For more luxurious accommodations, head to the oceanfront Hilton, Sheraton or Ocean Beach Club Resort hotels.
Large groups may find it cheaper to rent a vacation home or condo on the quieter Chesapeake Bay Beach, just north of the resort area, or Sandbridge, south of the boardwalk known as the "Outer Banks of Virginia." Rates start at about $2,000/week for a two-bedroom home that sleeps six.
There also are several campgrounds with more than 1,800 tent and RV sites, and rustic cabin rentals at First Landing State Park ($831/week for non-Virginia residents from Memorial Day to Labor Day). You can camp right on the beach (tents only) at False Cape State Park, an isolated mile-wide barrier between Back Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in southern Virginia Beach, but it'll be pretty primitive digs. Access through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge is limited to hiking, bicycling or boating, so you'll have to carry everything in. Make reservations at virginiastateparks.gov or by calling 1-800-933-7275.
Good eats: You can't visit Virginia Beach without sampling seafood fished right out of the Atlantic or Chesapeake Bay: tuna, flounder, rockfish, crab, oysters. One popular seafood eatery is Waterman's Surfside Grille (415 Atlantic Ave.) — the lumpmeat crabcakes are amazing, as is its signature vodka drink, the Orange Crush. Expect to stand in line even on weeknights. For more casual dining, Virgina Beach has dozens of family restaurants. Pi-zzeria (3316 Atlantic Ave.) serves terrific gourmet pies, including one made with pudding for dessert.
When you've tired of sun and surf: It's hard to imagine a more pleasant venue for biking, rollerblading, pushing a stroller or going for a run than Virginia Beach's 28-foot-wide concrete boardwalk. Active types also can rent jet skis, surfboards and stand-up paddle boards; angle for croaker, mackerel and other fish on the oceanfront Virginia Beach Fishing Pier between 14th and 15th streets ($2 to walk, $8 to fish); take an eco-tour via a kayak through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge; go dolphin watching; or ride horses on the beach.
Just across the Rudee Inlet Bridge, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center ($21 adults/$11 ages 3 to 11) boasts 800,000 gallons of aquariums, an outdoor aviary, more than 300 hands-on exhibits and a walking trail.
Other beachy delights don't cost a penny. From mid-June to Labor Day weekend, there's free entertainment most nights — magicians, jugglers, musicians. Summer also brings the famed Mid-Atlantic Hermit Crab Challenge, this year on July 21.
More info: www.visitvirginiabeach.com(1-800-822-3224) or www.vabeach.com.
This time of year when so many are obsessing about eating less in an effort to fit into warm-weather shorts and bathing suits, it's all I can do not to think about food and how much of it I can possibly stuff in my mouth. Spring ushers in the start of racing season — the city's biggest running event, the Pittsburgh Marathon, is May 6 — and with it, the long weekend training runs that make my fellow distance runners and me feel so very hungry.
This year, a record-breaking 25,000 have signed up for the city's full and half marathons, the majority of them (56 percent) women. That means there's a whole bunch of people rooting around in their refrigerators and pantries looking for something tasty with which to fuel and refuel their hard-working bodies.
Pasta and other high-carb foods are obvious choices in the weeks leading up to an endurance event such as a marathon to assure adequate stores of glycogen, the muscle's primary fuel source during exercise. But runners need protein, too, to help build and repair muscles, along with fat and fiber to keep them regular during training. And don't forget lots (and lots) of water.
In other words, that power bar that hits the spot so perfectly after a morning on the trails ain't gonna cut it over the long run.
It's time to get your game on with a one-stop food that's not just super delicious, but also super nutritious: quinoa.
A member of the goosefoot family, which include beets, spinach and chard, quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") has been nourishing people for thousands of years. It was particularly revered by the ancient Incas, who considered the sacred seed grown in South America's Andean mountain region chisaya mama, or the "mother of all grains." It was so prized, in fact, that leaders planted the first seeds each season using a golden shovel and planned celebrations around the harvest, write Jessica Harlan and Kelley Sparwasser in "Quinoa Cuisine" (Ulysses, March 2012, $16.95).
Spanish explorers who conquered the Incas in the 16th century destroyed the fields in which the plant was grown along with the rest of their civilization, and as a result, quinoa — declared illegal — almost disappeared from Andean dinner tables. Even after those South American countries won their independence in the 1820s, and the plant again could be freely grown, its comeback was slow. Only the poor and provincial fed it to their families.
Introduced commercially to Americans in the 1980s, quinoa is still relatively unknown in many home kitchens. Which is unfortunate, because few foods can match the seed's nutritional profile.
You name it, quinoa's got it. It's a complete protein that contains all eight essential amino acids, it also is rich in calcium, iron, fiber and potassium, and is an excellent source of folate, magnesium, vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, potassium, and riboflavin. And all for 222 calories a cup.
Quinoa also is gluten-free, so it's a good choice for people with celiac disease or those who are sensitive to gluten, wheat and other grass-based food products.
Because it's higher in protein and fiber than corn or wheat (the germ in its seeds makes up about 60 percent of the grain), quinoa will help you feel fuller longer. So you may actually end up eating less. Well, theoretically, at least, because once you try it, you're going to find that you like it, even in recipes as disparate as chili, lasagna and cookies, as my family discovered.
Quinoa is prepared much like rice or pearled barley in about 15 minutes — you can boil it, cook it in a rice cooker, bake or microwave it, using one part grain to two parts liquid — but the results are crunchier and nuttier tasting. It comes in four colors with varying flavors — white, which is the most common, mildest and cheapest; slightly nuttier-tasting red; black, which has the earthiest flavor and a seedlike crunchiness; and tri-color (also called rainbow), which is a mix of all three.
It's not your cheapest grain — I paid $3.99 per pound for bulk white quinoa at Giant Eagle Market District Robinson, and $8.99 for a 16-ounce bag of Eden organic red quinoa — but keep in mind that it triples in volume when cooked. Though it's harder to find, some stores also carry quinoa flakes — good as a substitute for oatmeal or breadcrumbs — and quinoa flour.
Often served as a side dish (it makes for a wonderful pilaf, especially when paired with fruit and nuts), cooked quinoa also can headline a meal in soups, chili, stir-fries, casseroles, stews and salads. Surprisingly, it's also a great addition to baked goods and desserts. For instance, I subbed cooked red quinoa for dried cranberries in a batch of chocolate chip cookies with pretty good results.
Whatever you plan on stirring quinoa into, make sure you rinse the seeds under cool running water before cooking them, to remove any traces of a bitter coating called saponin that might have escaped manufacturers' pre-washing. Store quinoa like other grains, in a tightly closed container in a dry, cool place.
The following dishes will help you fuel up for your long training runs, or bring your weary body back to life after you've put in the miles.
I couldn't find black quinoa so substituted red.
In a small saucepan over high heat, bring quinoa and water to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook until water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let quinoa sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork, cover and keep warm.
In a large heavy pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until transluscent and beginning to brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic and saute, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add turkey or chicken and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat into small chunks, until meat is cooked, about 5 minutes.
Add tomaotes and their juices, kidney beans, black beans, cumin, chili powder, salt and oregano. Bring to simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
Stir in cooked quinoa and simmer until quinoa is heated through, about 5 minutes longer. Serve hot in bowls, letting each person garnish their chili with the fixings of their choice. Serves 6.
This creamy pasta dish is made with bechamel, a white sauce of cream and butter, so it's not necessarily low-cal. But it tasted great.
Set aside cooked lasagna noodles and cooked quinoa.
Heat vegetable oil in a medium saucepan and saute onion, carrot and celery until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the ground chicken and brown, stirring, breaking it up into chunks. Add tomatoes and sugar, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 25 minutes, or until meat is cooked through.
In the meantime, make a quick bechamel sauce by making a roux with the butter and flour. Cook for 2 minutes and whisk in cream. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
When the meat sauce is cooked, fold in the cooked quinoa.
To assemble, grease a loaf pan with butter or oil. Cover bottom of the pan with 2 tablespoons of bechamel sauce. Layer with a strip of pasta noodle and then top with meat-quinoa sauce. Drizzle bechamel over meat-quinoa sauce, and repeat layer(s) of pasta and sauce. Finish with bechamel sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cheese and bechamel sauce are browned. Serve with a salad of greens and crusty bread.
This easy salad would be delicious with a variety of fresh fruits, too.
In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off heat and let quinoa sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and allow to cool.
Place orange segments in a medium bowl and the orange juice in a small bowl (you should have about 1 tablespoon). To the orange segments add cooked quinoa, dried appricots, raisins, dates, dried pineapple, hazelnuts, jicama and banana, and stir to combine.
To the bowl with orange juice add the pineapple juice concentrate, honey, spiced rum (if using) and chili powder, and whisk to combine. Slowly add olive oil while continually whisking to emulsify the dressing. Add dressing to quinoa-fruit mixture, stirring to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until cold. Just before serving, garnish with fresh herbs.
Who knew you could fold quinoa into cookies, and not have your family gag? I'm guessing it's because I substiuted chocolate chips for the craisins in the original recipe.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, both sugars and honey in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and extracts; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 mintues. Beat in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. Stir in quinoa, oats, chocolate chips and almonds. Spoon dough in 2-tablespoon portions onto prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
Bake cookies until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day or freeze for up to 1 month.
Joe and Mary Battaglia in their home in Koppel. The couple started the tradition of making Easter bread at Queen of Heaven Parish in Koppel. Joe is 93; Mary is 89.


During these trying and difficult days, it's hard to imagine some proud moments arising from the sadness.
I am proud of my 6 year old daughter. I was so proud of Amara, a child, wiping away her mother's tears. But during the wake of my Mom, her grandmother, Amara did something so touching that I again began to cry.
Amara noticed many mourners placing envelopes in a box near the guest book. She questioned the peculiar practice. And I proceeded to explain the generosity of my family's friends. I reiterated how each dollar donated went towards fulfilling the wishes of her grandparents, particularly that of my Mom.
My daughter went about her business. But later in the evening, Amara asked Dad2Amara for $20. She had been given the money as a Christmas present. Amara planned to buy a Webkinz with the cash. So I expected Amara to put the crisp bill in her coat pocket.
As my Dad and I went through the donations, I found a white envelope signed in a child's writing.
The writing was familiar but the envelope's contents surprised me.
Amara had meticulously filled out each line with her name and address. She then checked the "FOR" box and wrote Lolo after it.
My daughter donated her $20 to her grandparents.
This selfless act moved me.
I asked Amara why she did it. And she answered that it was more important to help her grandfather remember her grandmother than it was for her to have her new toy.
Was this really my daughter? The girl I know fights to have McDonald's for dinner. The daughter I have pouts when she cannot buy the latest gadget.
Could Amara really have done such a great deed without prodding?
The answer is yes. And she did. And I am so terribly proud to call her my daughter.
Since my diagnosis with RA and Fibromaylgia, I have noticed a different side to my nine year old. Sometimes, I hate that my condition has forced him to change and other times, I am so very proud of him. He has changed and not in a bad way either. I don't even know how to describe it, but all I can say he is different.
Our children, they know us better than anyone else and they know what makes us sad and what makes us happy. The older Amara gets, the more of this kindness you will see.
That touched my heart. Sometimes you wonder if our young ones will ever get thinking of others but they do. What a proud moment.
I'm not sure where Amara learned it, but her heart is big. And I am truly so proud of her!
Oh, Mo! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Amara gets her caring heart naturally...especially from her mom!


text:
Breaking: Sami Zayn | gunn | The Pegasus Expedition | Scorchlands | arrowverse | Silver Surfer: Ghost Light #1 | Marvel Villainous | Cody Rhodes | How I Met Your Father | Journey To The Savage Planet | Archie's Valentine's Day Spectacular 2023 | Royal Rumble | mayor of kingstown | Sleight Of Hand: Dominion
Owlcat Games Archives
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Receives New Developer Diary
Owlcat Games has released a new video for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, as the latest developer diary explores the creation of the game's enemies The nearly five-minute video goes into a bit of death about the various enemies you'll come across in the game, along with some character design work and a little explanation of[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Reveals Season 2 Pass Details
Owlcat Games released full details this week for their plans for the Second Season content for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous The current details are that players who purchase the pass will be getting three brand-new DLCs, which have yet to be named However, as you can see from their notes below, they already have[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Is Releasing A Physical Edition
Owlcat Games and Prime Matter announced this week that Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous will be getting a physical release The game has already been a minor hit with fans of the franchise, as well as RPG players who have enjoyed this slightly different take on the RPG genre that incorporates a lot of the[...]
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Receives First Dev Diary
Owlcat Games have released a new video today for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, showing off more of the game in a new dev diary This particular diary features the game's Lead Narrative Designer, Olga Kellner, as she takes viewers on a tour through the fringes of Imperial space This is one of the best viewings[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Will Come To Consoles In September
Owlcat Games and Prime Matter finally have a release date for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous on consoles as it will drop in September The RPG title will be released as both a physical and digital title, which you'll be able to get on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles (with backward compatibility on next-gen), as[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Receives Inevitable Excess DLC
Owlcat Games has released a new DLC for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous as players can now experience Inevitable Excess The DLC has been rolled out with the latest update to the game (Patch 1.2) as it will bring about the first new storyline not already built into the title It will set you off[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Will Come To Consoles This Fall
Owlcat Games and META Publishing revealed today that we'll need to wait a little longer for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous on consoles The team revealed that the game won't be ready to come to PlayStation and Xbox until sometime this Fall Meanwhile, PC players will soon be getting their hands on a new DLC[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Releases Two Free DLCs
Paizo and Owlcat Games announced that they have released two free DLC packs for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous In what is one of many sales going on over the holidays, the company marked the game down on all its platforms with a discount as you can get the game at 15% off this weekend[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Will Hit Consoles Q1 2022
Owlcat Games announced today that they will officially release Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous on consoles in 2022 While an official release date wasn't attached to it, we do know it will be coming out in Q1 2022, most likely in March But considering how many video games have been pushed back over the past[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Will Drop Onto Consoles Ian 2021
Owlcat Games and Paizo revealed today that Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous is set for a console release later this year The game was originally set to be released on PC through Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store Now they're bringing the experience to Xbox and PlayStation consoles for both current and next-gen Right[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Releases On September 2nd
Owlcat Games, the video game developer behind Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, has announced that the game's finalized iteration will launch on September 2nd of this year! At present, the second beta for Wrath of the Righteous is out and available for backers of the game's Kickstarter and Slacker Backer campaigns. A screenshot from the second Beta for[...]
Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous Launches First Beta Build
Owlcat Games revealed this week that they have launched the first beta build for the isometric CRPG, Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous There's a little bit of a catch to it, however, as it is available to backers who contributed to the title's Kickstarter or Slacker Backer campaigns in the relevant tiers Those who are[...]
"Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous" Ends Kickstarter With $2M+
This week, Owlcat Games ended their Kickstarter for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous, and earned well past their target goal to develop the game The original set goal from the developers for this one was $300k But backers who wanted to see it made outdid themselves by raising $2,054,339 as it ended After the kickstarter[...]
"Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous" Will Launch A Kickstarter In February
Owlcat Games along with Paizo announced that they will be launching a Kickstarter for Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous next month The campaign will kick off on February 4th at 8am PDT and run for a full month The game will be taking on adventure path of the same name and turning it into a[...]
Owlcat Games Announces "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous" CRPG
Today, Owlcat Games, a developer based in Moscow, Russia, has announced its next team-up with Paizo Games to bring Pathfinder further into the CRPG world with Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous It is not a true sequel to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but it does expand on what made that game so popular. This new computer game will elaborate[...]
An Enhanced Version Of Pathfinder: Kingmaker Is On The Way
Last week, Owlcat Games took to the Steam page of Pathfinder: Kingmaker to let players know an Enhanced Edition would be coming in June The Enhanced version will be a free upgrade for existing players and have a number of additions made to the game including new abilities, a new Slayer class, new items and[...]
Owlcat Games Is Currently Raising Funds For 'Pathfinder: Kingmaker Video Game
I friggin' Android! credit//Owlcat Games So the news of a proper video game should come as great news to fans of the game as Paizo Publishing has teamed with Owlcat Games to make Pathfinder: Kingmaker The company are currently seeking funds for the title on Kickstarter, and as of when this article was written, they're getting pretty close to[...]
Scorchlands Receives February Early Access Release Date


To be performed during the waning moon. --heatproof container or cauldron --black or white candle --basil and garlic (for uncrossing, protection) --paper/black pen Cast the circle Invocation of the God and Goddess Statement of purpose I am here to banish negative influences from my life. Right now, (name) is exerting an extremely negative force upon me. I ask for the God and Goddess to assist me in banishing these forces and eliminating his/her destructiveness. Consecrate the cauldron as follows sprinkle with salt-water recite: In the name of the Lord and Lady I charge you to serve me within this circle. I clear you of all former influences and energies that you may be fit for the workings of Magic herein. Do the same with the candle. On a piece of paper, write full name of person to be banished. Roll up and tie with black string. Sprinkle with salt water and recite Thou creature of paper. By paper made, by paper changed. Thou art not paper, but thou art negative influences in (person to be bound). So mote it be! Light the black candle. Burn the paper in the candle, visualizing all negative power over you vanishing in the flames and rising out of your world with the smoke Sprinkle basil and garlic over the flames and recite: Blazing force of cleansing fire Help me in this rite. By air and earth, water and fire So be you bound With this rite, Your power takes flight Sky and sea, Keep harm from me Cord go round, Power be bound Your negativity will no longer come my way. From henceforth, your power over me is banished. So Mote it Be! Let paper burn itself out while visualizing a healthy, positive relationship with the person. Cakes and Ale Thanking the God and Goddess Close the circle, thank the watchtowers for their protection.


AutoDryCenter is a car center devoted to provide a wide range of services and solutions in automobile care that respects the environment.
They were a new business with a innovative business model and they needed a brand and communication material to properly reflect their ideals and promote their business.
We developed their brand and digital identity from the ground up, focusing on future franchises and exponential growth. We also created pixel perfect communication material that was used to promote awareness to their new business.


For tax preparation in Moline IL, you can count on Pennie Tebockhorst at Tebockhorst Accounting. Pennie Tebockhorst assists taxpayers and small businesses with taxes in Moline IL and the surrounding communities. Whether you are an individual or a local business in or around Moline IL, Pennie Tebockhorst has years of valuable experience as an IRS registered tax preparer. Contact Pennie Tebockhorst, tax filing specialist in Moline IL, for help with your taxes.
Pennie Tebockhorst is a local tax preparer at Tebockhorst Accounting located in Moline IL. Pennie Tebockhorst and other tax preparers located in Moline IL will help you with tax preparation, tax planning, bookkeeping, estate and trust taxes, and so much more.
Are you Pennie Tebockhorst, a tax preparer from Moline IL?


Below is an essay on "Assessment for Learning" from Anti Essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples.
In this assignment, I am aiming to identify a range of theoretical and practical approaches in assessment in my chosen specialism of Electrical installation and electrical Principles. I will look to examine different types of assessment methods and also types of feedback given to the learners in conjunction with the assessment methods that are carried out. I will also look to identify the need to guarantee equality and diversity is adhered too as far as possible throughout any assessment method that is used by my students.
Assessment is a method of evaluating a person's achievement throughout the given course and is focused primarily on measuring an understanding of knowledge and skills acquired by the learner and to be able to evaluate if the learner has gained enough to gain the desired qualification. Gravells (2007,P75) has the same opinion in that assessment is vitally important in order to determine whether the learners have gained the knowledge and skills needed to become competent and capable of passing particular aspects of the course.
There are many ways in which assessment can be carried out; some good examples of this are multiple choice questions, Verbal questioning, Practical demonstrations, Presentations and finally written work.
In this assignment I shall be looking at the 3 main types of assessment which are initial/diagnostic, formative or on-going and finally summative.


text:
Orla Foster
2021 – How was it for you? #2: Emily Speed, artist exploring the body and its relationship to architecture
by Orla Foster
Liverpool based artist Emily Speed's work explores the relationship between people and buildings and in particular the body and its relationship to architecture. She discusses what she has achieved over the last 12 months, including her first major solo exhibition […]
A Q&A with… Hannah Wallis, artist and curator, DASH Curatorial Commission
a-n member Hannah Wallis discusses her DASH Curatorial Commission residency at Wysing Arts Centre, and the resulting exhibition by Ain Bailey. Interview by Orla Foster.
2020 – How was it for you? #7: Sarah Gillespie, artist and printmaker
Devon based artist and printmaker, whose work is currently on show at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer/Winter Exhibition, discusses what she has achieved over the last 12 months, the impact of Artist Support Pledge, and her plans for 2021.


text:
Dixie Vodka
By John T. Edge | June 12, 2018
"Last Flag #2" (2014), by Leo Twiggs. Courtesy of the artist and Hampton III Gallery, Taylors, SC
Driving north out of Oxford a couple of years back, I passed the Snow White Tavern on the outskirts of Medon, just south of Jackson, Tennessee. In the rearview, I glimpsed a bright red-and-white-and-blue Confederate flag. Tethered high on a pole, it lolled in the breeze. I occasionally see stars and bars on that stretch, nailed to barn broadsides or flapping beneath porch eaves. This was different.
That flag wasn't a tattered cotton vestige of the past. It was new. An old and divisive symbol, rendered in weather-resistant nylon, it had been recently deployed by a bar that seemed to signal, in at least two ways, that retrograde whiteness was the proper default. That bold flag bothered me. In ways that were quickly evident. And in ways that I began to better understand when, in March of this year, I traveled to South Carolina for the annual Charleston Wine + Food Festival.
In addition to screening a new barbecue documentary produced by a colleague, I was booked for a few speaking gigs. On Friday afternoon, I spoke to a book club that drew members from Grace Cathedral, Mount Zion AME, and Mother Emanuel AME churches. They had been reading and discussing my book The Potlikker Papers for the past couple of months. On the day I joined them, we ate okra soup with saltines and shared stories.
One black woman stood to talk of the shoebox lunches that her forebears carried when they traveled the Jim Crow South. A black man stood to tell me that he liked the way I wrote about a civil rights movement–era cook and activist. As we adjourned, a white woman took me aside to talk about the chapter that focuses on restaurant desegregation struggles of the early 1960s and on the sometimes violent white resistance to black requests for apple pie, coffee, and a seat at a lunch counter. "No one told me about this growing up," she said, her slow untangling of words tinged with regret. "I just didn't know this was happening."
I was buoyant. Here was my book—which in its last movement entwines and indicts Charleston terrorist Dylann Roof and Savannah television personality Paula Deen—brought to life. Here was my audience, brought to reckoning. I was full of myself, and full of that moment, when I returned to the hotel and unpacked a crate of gifts that festival organizers had kindly left in my room. A chocolate bar, flavored popcorn, a tin of spices, and a bottle of cocktail mix: typical swag.
Also tucked amid the environmentally correct packing shred was something atypical: an airplane bottle of Beauregard Dixie Vodka, tagged with Old South iconography. Stars that look like they were borrowed from a Confederate flag embossed the label. Positioned at the top was a maidenhead cameo of a whiskered man I assumed to be General P. G. T. Beauregard, who directed the Confederate attack at Fort Sumter in 1861, returned in 1863 to defend the city from Union attack, and popularized the Confederate flag that we generally refer to today as the stars and bars.
I would soon learn that though Dixie Vodka, like the flag I saw on the roadside, trafficked in old ideas, the brand itself was new, introduced by a Charleston company in 2013 as General Beauregard Dixie Vodka. Over the next few months, in conversation with friends and colleagues, I would try to make sense of why that newness annoyed me so much. And I would try to reckon whether the bother I felt mattered.
On the evening after my church supper, I delivered a Pecha Kucha talk on word choice. (Pecha Kucha is a Japanese-inspired presentation mode in which twenty slides flash before your audience and you speak twenty seconds per image to make your point and win the crowd.) I opened with a Rebecca Solnit quote: "The revolt against brutality begins with a revolt against the language that hides that brutality." The words we use shape our realities, I told the crowd. And then, as a magazine advertisement for Monticello projected on the screen, I laid it on them.
The ad text I read encouraged visitors to explore the hallowed spaces where Jefferson designed the University of Virginia, met with the leaders of his age, and "managed his plantation." When I spoke, I emphasized the word plantation. Instead of using that term, I suggested a more honest phrase—slave labor camp. The crowd went quiet; if I had won them, they were not letting anyone know.
I figured that challenge might rankle in Charleston, where Lowcountry developers have long marketed and sold planation allure as if it were a finial or balustrade. Typical is Heritage Plantation, established circa 1997, a gated community of nearly five hundred homes and a golf course, developed at Pawleys Island from antebellum Midway Plantation and True Blue Plantation. Enslaved people worked those lands under threat of harm or death to plant and harvest the rice that made white, landholding Charleston wealthy.
Cane Bay Plantation, which promises homebuyers a "comfortable sense of belonging" and a "feeling that things are taken care of, and in their proper place," traffics in similar lore. Taking care of land and people: It's a tragic point of fact. That is what people of color did under duress and on behalf of so-called planters while living and working in slave labor camps.
I was pleased with my brickbat toss. But unsettled, too. By slide twelve I had fallen three seconds behind on my script. That may not sound like a lot. But in the Pecha Kucha world, it's an eternity. I was so laggard that, as the final slides projected, all I could really do was blurt out my closing lines before the screen went black. A replay of the video shows me rushing through my talk, galloping toward a conclusion, making leaps of logic to land my points.
When I began reading and thinking about Dixie Vodka, I didn't want to gallop toward a conclusion. I aimed to plod, to listen, to map the paper trail of the brand since its 2013 inception. That proved tough, for the affronts came quickly. "General Beauregard Dixie Vodka Set to March Across South" announced a September 25, 2013, press release. One hundred and fifty years prior, when P. G. T. Beauregard marched toward Charleston, he fought to preserve the economic system that shackled black Southerners and made possible extraordinary white Lowcountry wealth. This press release raised the question: Why march now?
It might be about gender. Sold in a faceted bottle with a cork stopper, the first Dixie bottles, which hit the market during the Civil War sesquicentennial, featured a caricature of a general clad in a hat and a high-button dress coat, typical of Confederate officers. Text on the side panel explained the ethos: "Feared on the battlefield, admired in the ballroom & loved in the bedroom, General Beauregard Dixie. Man amongst boys. Stand with the General."
At a moment when righteous social critics are stripping white men of their gendered privilege and birthright power, Dixie Vodka plays like a dose of virility. White men were once bourbon, the Dixie script suggests. They were once brave and bold, like the frontier spirit they drank. Now they are flavorless and odorless and anemic. Accepting that, Grain & Barrel Spirits of Charleston, South Carolina, seems to say, Here's a vodka that will, should you march in lockstep, restore your masculinity.
When I talked to Matti Anttila, the founder of Grain & Barrel, he patiently tracked the evolution of the brand from General Beauregard Dixie Vodka to Beauregard Dixie Vodka. "We wanted to soften the name," he said, explaining why his team had removed the military dress and hat and remade the Beauregard caricature into a late-nineteenth-century dandy. (They also changed "Feared on the battlefield" to "Praised in the field," a comparatively inscrutable phrase.)
Consumers had responded too literally to the brand, he said. His Beauregard was not a specific general who served the white slaveholding South, but a mythic figure, a man of gallantry and chivalry. Going forward, Anttila told me, they may sample Captain Morgan, the rum mascot, and the current Dos Equis television advertisements, rendering Beauregard a Deep South cartoon version of The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Anttila's talk of what happens when you soften and obscure a core message reminded me of the time I returned home from a reporting trip to Charleston with a fleece vest. I had traveled to South Carolina to write for this magazine about Nu South Apparel, a black-owned boutique selling clothes embroidered with a new sort of Confederate battle flag, rendered in the colors of the African Liberation Movement. Their intent was to co-opt and subvert. And I bought in. But when I arrived home, wearing a vest with a Nu South flag on the left breast, my wife, Blair, squinted and said, "That's a little subtle." If you toy with Confederate symbols, she implied, you have to clearly declare your intents.
The word Dixie is not necessarily malign. Black-power activist Robert Williams called his 1960s radio broadcast from Havana "Radio Free Dixie." More recently, the University of North Carolina Press published Dixie Dharma, a book about Buddhism in the region. (A vegan restaurant in Orlando uses the same name.) Julie Weiss, who wrote an expansive book about the influence and impact of Mexican migrations on the American South, chose the title Corazón de Dixie. Those Dixie usages subvert the Old South narrative. But if Beauregard Dixie Vodka is a purposefully inclusive brand, its makers telegraph that intent in ways that are too subtle. Syntax and context, that's the rub.
A couple of years back, Kathleen Purvis, a longtime friend and colleague, wrote an essay about the state of food writing in which she criticized the organization I direct for male bias. Her concept was bold and righteous. The critique was well intentioned. But I kept puzzling through her lexicon, scratching my head. To make a contemporary argument about gender and power, she referred to male food writers like me, whom she said were crowding out female food writers, as carpetbaggers. (The term refers to Northerners who traveled south after the Civil War to profit off a distressed region.) To further her point, she quoted Gone with the Wind.
Her argument rendered the South a place where Yankee–Rebel schisms still fester. Extend her argument and you get the white South as sleeper cell, listening for the next Confederate dog whistle, forever on guard to defend Dixie from privateers. Pitting the South against the North distracts from the real struggles of today. I'm not looking at you, Scalawag magazine. I see your tongue planted in your cheek. But I can't look away from you, Beauregard.
Grain & Barrel founder Anttila, who says his mother's family first settled in Charleston around 1680, just after South Carolina was founded, believes that those old terms are benign. Dixie, he says, is merely a synonym for the South. "We wanted a super-regional brand that everyone in the South could identify with," he told me. "We can tell a very positive story around the term Dixie."
There are a range of ways to parse the word Dixie and the song to which it's closely related. A white man born in Ohio who performed in blackface wrote the song "Dixie." Not a fire-breathing Southern secessionist. By some reckonings the word Dixie has partial roots in Diddie Wah Diddy, a mythical place of bounty and leisure in black folklore, a land of milk and honey where, as the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" would have it, the hens lay soft-boiled eggs. In some tellings, a South Carolina island was the locus of that black Dixie.
My issue here was Anttila's contemporary reference to "everyone." I didn't take issue on behalf of black Southerners, who can speak for themselves. My plaint came on behalf of thinking Southerners of all hues who reject contemporary normalization of the Old South and what it represents. Especially when we still reel from the horrors of what obeisance to that belief system inspired in Charleston in 2015 and Charlottesville in 2017.
When I climbed off my high horse, I recognized that his promise of redemption for old ideas spoke, too, of the gospel I often preach. During our short conversation, Anttila made three references to the rise of Southern craft brands, and his want to tap that same narrative. He talked about the ways that new interest in Southern food and drink culture has buoyed the region, and about how brands that leverage that rekindled pride will, in the years to come, succeed with consumers.
I had made comparable arguments about what this renaissance portends. My message was intended for liberals and progressives. But what if retrograde or unawares folk leverage this same moment? Or was Dixie Vodka doing nothing more malicious than identifying a market segment and satisfying that segment?
In a recent New Yorker essay, Helen Rossner wrote about Bill Penzey, the founder of Penzeys Spices who, early in the Trump administration, took to his newsletter to pitch smoked paprika and declare that our current president is a racist. Old views about marketing said that was bad business. By taking a political side on a social issue, you risk alienating a large portion of your customer base, and, in turn, harm your business. But today, in an age of splintered audiences, selling to a tight segment is arguably the best path to success. New views, like the ones adopted by Penzey, say, Don't flinch. Tell them who you are. That sells.
Over breakfast recently, I laid out the Beauregard Dixie Vodka marketing scheme for Darren Grem, who teaches history at the University of Mississippi. When I asked whether the use of the word Dixie is inherently malign, he took a sip of coffee and smiled. "You can say it doesn't mean this or do that. But that's like wanting a hen not to lay an egg. At the end of a day, it's still a hen . . . and it's still going to lay an egg." They could have used any other Southern symbol, one of a thousand, Grem said, with a kind of sadness. "They could have called it Left Hind Tit Vodka," he said, using a slang farm term that dates to the previous century, "but they had to use Dixie."
Ethan Kytle and Blain Roberts, authors of the book Denmark Vesey's Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy, responded similarly via telephone. "Absent some of the other stuff on the label, that argument could be tenable," Kytle said. "If you didn't have the stars, if you didn't have Beauregard, then maybe Dixie could be inclusive." Roberts agreed: "They introduced this product during the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. To continue to market this product after Emanuel, that's hard to imagine." She trailed off, her voice tinged with the same regret I heard from Grem, a tone comparable to what I heard from the woman I met after my church lunch in Charleston.
The week after I talked to Grem, Charles Reagan Wilson, who taught me in graduate school, joined me at an Oxford taqueria for lunch. I brought along a bottle of Dixie the company had shipped my way. I asked him the question I had been asking colleagues, the question I had been asking myself: Is Dixie a malign word? Pulling the bottle from a cloth bag, I gestured toward the logo and asked if the usage could be inclusive. "It's a toxic word now," he said, referencing the terrorist attack on Mother Emanuel and the white nationalist attack in Charlottesville. "It wasn't always. But those current associations are hard to shake."
Companies have long leveraged the Old South to sell goods, Wilson said. They still do. Take that plantation house on the Southern Comfort bottle. That brand uses imagery and language to refer to antebellum plantations, where African Americans worked in bondage. Unlike Dixie Vodka, their marketing message dates back decades. The newness, we concluded, that's the other rub.
Wilson's mention of that plantation linkage got me thinking again about the ways that a word like Dixie signals the plantation South and, if you excise the euphemism, signals slave labor camps. Any brand that steeps itself in Charleston has to address that past. The smartest recognize that Southern history is not a play-pretty. Sampling symbols and slogans associated with this region comes with baggage. Steamer trunks full of it. So does the task of interpreting Southern food and drink.
The work I do for the Southern Foodways Alliance and the writing I do for this magazine benefit from that Old South frame. I intend my work to stand athwart it. Not affirm it. But would my work resonate if I didn't write against that narrative? Does every work that references the South beg suspicion?
I'm reminded of a Twitter exchange a couple of years back. Publicizing a presentation by Wilson, I tweeted the subject of his talk, "The Southern Way of Life." An academic in Canada, who writes about the region, shot back a response that implied we were both cozying up to the "Southern by the Grace of God" set. (For the record, Wilson's forthcoming book addresses how Southerners, broadly and inclusively defined, have expressed their relationship to this place over time.)
This is all to say that I know what it means to be misunderstood. More specifically, I know what it means for a member of the media to look my way with suspicion, based on the fact that I live and work in the South. Back in 1999, I met an NPR reporter on the front steps of Barnard Observatory, where I now work. If memory serves, he was there to report a racial incident on the University of Mississippi campus. When I handed over a brochure for our second Southern Foodways Symposium, he scanned quickly and asked, "What does this White Lily reference mean?"
As I explained that White Lily was a biscuit-flour company that then underwrote our work, I watched him disengage. Two weeks later, after puzzling through the exchange over and over again, I understood what had happened. He initially thought I was peddling Old South blather, the kind of moonlight and magnolias and white lilies bunk that I was, in truth, trying to subvert. When he realized I wasn't trafficking in those goods, he lost interest. Because his ideas about how Southerners like me express themselves didn't match my own, he dismissed me. I aimed to afford Anttila and his Beauregard Dixie Vodka more. But his professed vision for the brand proved hard to grasp.
ate on Sunday afternoon during my March trip, I wandered the Charleston Wine + Food Festival tents in Marion Square, pitched one block west of Mother Emanuel, thinking I might discover a stall where the Grain & Barrel folk were pouring Beauregard Dixie Vodka. I didn't have to look hard. Alongside booths for Republic Ice Cream and Edible Charleston, I found a clutch of boozed-up people, two in early season seersucker, queuing for free Southern Mary cocktails, made with Dixie's black pepper vodka and Natural Blonde Bloody Mary mix.
When I approached Donna Reeves, a black woman from nearby Summerville, South Carolina, standing two booths down nursing a rum drink, I asked what she thought of the Dixie name choice. Before I could awkwardly fumble through the rationale for my question, she asked her own: "Have you ever noticed how they keep building new housing developments around here and calling them plantations?" I smiled, not with pleasure, but with recognition and resignation.
"You say we can't let it go," she said, of enslavement and of the ways some white Southerners keep spackling new rouge on that old corpse. "You can't let it go. You're always holding on to slavery. You're always bringing it back up, always reminding everybody else about it, always trying to somehow revive it. If you want to talk about that time, be truthful about your Confederacy. It wasn't cute. It wasn't benign." She was on a roll.
"I love magnolia trees, ACC basketball, SEC football, and okra," Reeves said, her face brightening as she ticked off the litany. "I love the South. But we need to be honest about what the South is and the Confederacy was." We have to be honest about what it means when white Southerners introduce something new, after all this time, and name it Dixie, she said. "It's a new Confederate flag for a new time," I said. "It's a plantation by another name," Reeves said, her smile going flat and hard in the late afternoon sun.
See Ethan Payne's film companion to this column here.
Enjoy this story? Subscribe to the Oxford American.
Food writing
John T Edge
Local Fare
Points South
Old South
John T. Edge
John T. Edge has served as an Oxford American columnist since 1998. He directs the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, teaches in the MFA program in narrative nonfiction at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism, and hosts the television show TrueSouth on SEC/ESPN.
More from John T. Edge
Oaxaca Wreck
Folk Witness
The Question of Dinner


Here are the Driving Schools in Brackenfell, South Africa. We are here to help you find the driving school in Brackenfell that suits you best. Contact some driving instructors in Brackenfell and start your driving lessons today!.
Omega Driving School instructors are expertly trained to develop the pupil's confidence by teaching them the relevant procedures and techniques of the System Of vehicle Control (K53). All our instructors have passed the required instructor's tests and are registered with the Department of Transport.


text:
HOME > POP Hollywood > Diane Lane
Diane Lane Overview
Diane Lane Biography
Diane Lane News
Diane Lane Pictures
Diane Lane Brief Biography
Diane Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine and dubbed "the new Grace Kelly".
She has since appeared in several notable films, including the 2002 film Unfaithful, which earned her Satellite, New York Film Critics Circle, and National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama). Her performance in Unfaithful also garnered her Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Actress.
Full Diane Lane Biography
• The Almanac for January 22, the 22nd day of 2019
• 'House of Cards' Season 6: Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear join Robin Wright in new photos
• 'House of Cards' final season to be released on Netflix in November
• Robin Wright posts 'House of Cards' teaser photo as production ends
More Diane Lane News
This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Diane_Lane" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.
Meatballs III: Summer Job
Pecker
Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden
The Love Letter
The Replacement Killers
A Man Called Hawk
Bosom Buddies
Hank (1965)
I'm with Her
Miss Guided
PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton
The Amanda Show
The Howie Mandel Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Basil Ruysdael
Bryan Buckley
Dana Brunetti
Janey Gohl
Jimmy Bennett
Melanie Craft
Rian Murphy
Sabrina van der Donk
Siobhan Finneran
'The Bachelorette's Ali Fedotowsky reveals why she left 'Bachelor Happy Hour' podcast with Rachel Lindsay
'Married at First Sight' shocker! Brandon Reid files for annulment after Taylor Dunklin marriage reportedly combusts
'90 Day Fiance' star Tom Brooks briefly debuts new girlfriend on Instagram, suggests he's moving to New York to be with her
'Married at First Sight' Season 10 is "explosive" and "so unexpected," expert Dr. Viviana Coles teases
Peter Weber: Being 'The Bachelor' star was much harder than I expected
Page generated Fri Jan 17, 2020 13:39 pm in 0.94031190872192 seconds