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Archive for the ‘Software Security’ Category

Heartbleed – A High-level Look

Saturday, April 12th, 2014

HeartbleedThere has been a lot of information flying about on the Internet concerning the Heartbleed vulnerability in the OpenSSL library. Among system administrators and software developers there is a good understanding of exactly what happened, the potential data losses and proper mitigation processes. However, I’ve seen some inaccurate descriptions and discussion in less technical settings.

I thought I would attempt to explain the Heartbleed issue at a high level without focusing on the implementation details. My goal is to help IT and business leaders understand a little bit about how the vulnerability is exploited, why it puts sensitive information at risk and how this relates to their own software development shops.

Heartbleed is a good case study for developers who don’t always worry about data security, feeling that attacks are hard and vulnerabilities are rare. This should serve as a wake-up-call that programs need to be tested in two ways – for use cases and misuse cases. We often focus on use cases, “does the program do what we want it to do?” Less frequently do we test for misuse cases, “does the program do things we don’t want it to do?” We need to do more of the latter.

BusinessSecurityBrief: Heartbleed - TitleSlideI’ve created a 10 minute video to walk through Heartbleed. It includes the parable of a “trusting change machine.” The parable is meant to explain the Heartbleed mechanics without requiring that the viewer be an expert in programming or data encryption.

If you have thoughts about ways to clarify concepts like Heartbleed to a wider audience, please feel free to comment. Data security requires cooperation throughout an organization. Effective and accurate communication is vital to achieving that cooperation.

Here are the links mentioned in the video:

Fuzzing – A Powerful Technique for Software Security Testing

Friday, January 21st, 2011

I was participating in a code review today and was reminded by a senior architect, who started working as an intern for me years ago, of a testing technique I had used with one of his first programs.  He had been assigned to create a basic web application that collected some data from a user and wrote it to a database.  He came into my office, announced it was done and proudly showed it to me.  I walked over to the keyboard, entered a bunch of junk and got a segmentation fault in response.

Although I didn’t have a name for it, that was a standard technique I used when evaluating applications.  After all, the tried and true paths, expected inputs and easy errors will be tested early and often as the developer exercises the application using the basic use cases.  As Boris Beizer said, “The high-probability paths are always tested if only to demonstrate that the system works properly.” (Beizer, Boris. Software Testing Techniques. Boston, MA: Thomson Computer Press, 1990: 76.)

It is unexpected input that is useful when looking to find untested paths through the code. If someone shows me an application for evaluation the last thing I need to worry about is using it in an expected fashion, everyone else will do that.  In fact, I default to entering data outside the specification when looking at a new application.  I don’t know that my team always appreciates the approach.  They’d probably like to see the application work at least once while I’m in the room.

These days there is a formal name for testing of this type, fuzzing.  A few years ago I preferred calling it “gorilla testing” since I liked the mental picture of beating on the application. (Remember the American Tourister luggage ad in the 1970s?)  But alas, it appears that fuzzing has become the accepted term.

Fuzzing involves passing input that breaks the expected input “rules”.  Those rules could come from some formal requirements, such as a RFC, or informal requirements, such as the set of parameters accepted by an application.  Fuzzing tools can use formal standards, extracted patterns and even randomly generated inputs to test an application’s resilience against unexpected or illegal input.

SQL Injection – Why Does Our Profession Continue to Build Applications that Support It?

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

SQL Injection is commonly given as a  root cause when news sites report about stolen data. Here are a few recent headlines for articles describing data loss related to SQL injection: Hackers steal customer data by accessing supermarket database1, Hacker swipes details of 4m Pirate Bay users2, and Mass Web Attack Hits Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post3. I understand that SQL injection is prevalent; I just don’t understand why developers continue to write code that offers this avenue to attackers.

From my point of view SQL injection is very well understood and has been for many years. There is no excuse for a programmer to create code that allows for such an attack to succeed. For me this issue falls squarely on the shoulders of people writing applications. If you do not understand the mechanics of SQL injection and don’t know how to effectively prevent it then you shouldn’t be writing software.

The mechanics of SQL injection are very simple. If input from outside an application is incorporated into a SQL statement as literal text, a potential SQL injection vulnerability is created. Specifically, if a parameter value is retrieved from user input and appended into a SQL statement which is then passed on to the RDBMS, the parameter’s value can be set by an attacker to alter the meaning of the original SQL statement.

Note that this attack is not difficult to engineer, complicated to execute or a risk only with web-based applications. There are tools to quickly locate and attack vulnerable applications. Also note that using encrypted channels (e.g. HTTPS) does nothing to prevent this attack. The issue is not related to encrypting the data in transit, rather, it is about keeping the untrusted data away from the backend RDMBS’ interpretation environment.

Here is a simple example of how SQL injection works. Assume we have an application that accepts a last name which will be used to search a database for contact information. The program takes the input, stores it in a variable called lastName, and creates a query:

String sql = "select * from contact_info where lname = '" + lastName + "'";

Now, if an attacker tries the input of: ‘ or 1=1 or ’2′=’

It will create a SQL statement of:

select * from contact_info where lname = '' or 1=1 or '2'=''

This is a legal SQL statement and will retrieve all the rows from the contact_info table. This might expose a lot of data or possibly crash the environment (a denial of service attack). In any case, using other SQL keywords, particularly UNION, the attacker can now explore the database, including other tables and schemas.

Destination Reached: CISSP

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

CISSP logoI am happy to report that I have been awarded the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium [(ISC)2]a.

I started pursuing the certification in mid-2009, got serious about studying early this year (2010), took the exam in late April, was notified that I passed and had my background endorsed in May, had to update my resume for an auditor in early June and was awarded the CISSP designation at the end of June.

I felt that this certification was important both professionally and personally.

Professionally, the certification serves as a validation that I have a solid and broad understanding of information systems’ security.  People who have worked with me know that I have been focused on IS security for many years.

Whether performing security-centered code reviews, fixing flawed implementations or teaching designers and developers how to improve the security of their systems, I have been on a mission to mentor and train people to observe effective security practices and principles.  I’ve also had operational responsibility for system infrastructures.  With that experience I was able to pass GIAC’s GSEC and Red Hat’s RHCE exams several years ago.

Personally, the process of studying and passing the exam allowed me to pursue and attain a non-trivial goal.  I am enrolled and taking classes toward my master’s degree, but completing that work will require several more years of part time attendance.  Setting and achieving intermediate goals helps to keep me focused and learning.

If you are wondering what the CISSP is all about, please read on.

At Last, My Web Applications Will Be Totally Secure!?

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Yet another vendor attempts to reduce application security to something that can be purchased.

How to Hacker-Proof Your Web Applications,” was the amusing subject of an email I received recently.  I’m sure that it wasn’t meant to be amusing.  I suppose I just have a strange sense of humor.

The source of the email was a company that I consider to be reputable, though this could lead me to reconsider that opinion.  I won’t single out the organization since hyperbole apparently continues to be a requirement to sell most anything.

I have to wonder though, does anyone actually read a subject line like that and then open the email fully expecting to be presented with a product or service that does what the subject states?  I certainly hope not.  Let’s explore the meaning of the message and then we’ll see if the email content led me to such a nirvana.

Your Web Applications” covers every piece of software I have that presents a web interface.  This includes my traditional HTTP/HTML-based applications as well as web services.  These applications may be based on a variety of technologies such as .NET, Java, PERL and Ruby.  They include third-party libraries and frameworks.  Further, they are hosted on some form of hardware running some operating system.  Clearly this claim applies to a wide and deep world of application infrastructures and architectures.

Hacker-Proof” means that no attacker will be able to successfully exploit the applications.  That is quite a promise.  By opening this email I’m going to find out what is necessary to prevent all successful exploits for my entire set of web facing applications?  This is great news! (more…)

Man in the Middle? No, Just Your Carrier

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

As you may be aware, several individuals using AT&T-based cellular phones recently reported being logged into the wrong Facebook account when accessing the Facebook site from their phones.  Current reports indicate that the root cause is AT&T’s network, which misdirected Facebook cookies.  These cookies, set to reflect that an individual has logged in, are to be stored on each user’s device.  Is this issue a cause for concern?  Is the issue likely limited to Facebook?  Does Facebook bear any responsibility?

In terms of concern, I’d say there is cause for major concern. We implicitly trust that the single request/response interaction between the browser and the server must be represented by a single network connection.  Unless an attacker inserts him or her self into the virtual connection circuit, the server’s response to the browser (containing the cookie) must be the same connection that sent the original credentials.

In this case that trust appears to be misplaced.  It is easy to understand how this is possible.  The carriers are free to manage connections however they choose.  In reality the carrier is likely proxying between the cellular network and the Internet, like any NAT-based approach.  A little coding error, such as an improperly shared resource, and results destined for one phone are returned to another.

Classically this seems like a race condition.  Certainly in the latest incident that explanation seems consistent with the facts since the two people who ended up on each other’s Facebook accounts were on-line at the same time.  Nothing particularly interesting about multi-threaded code containing a race condition.  It has happened before and will happen again.

This leads me to my second question, is this likely limited to Facebook users on the AT&T network? That seems doubtful.  It is hard to imagine that the carrier’s infrastructure that proxies requests includes specialized instructions just for Facebook.  it seems very likely that any connection-related flaw can occur for any web interaction.

Applying “Security in Depth” Requires Documentation and Cooperation

Monday, August 11th, 2008

When applied to software, the principle of Security in Depth helps us mitigate the fact that we will always produce flawed applications. In this case the flaws of which I am writing relate to the security of the application. Although we should always strive to create secure code, the fact is that exploitable vulnerabilities will eventually be discovered in our programs.

Certainly the odds of an exploit being discovered are based on the complexity of the application, the value of the data accessible through the exploited application and the quality of the security-related focus given to the application during the SDLC. Note that the value of the data accessible through the exploited application is not necessarily limited to what the application is supposed to access, but rather what is exposed by the exploit.

Since we know that we cannot produce “perfect” code, we need to plan for minimizing the impact of a successful exploit. In other words, we strive to make the value of the data accessible through the exploited application no greater than the value of the data the application is intended to access by an authenticated and authorized user. Security in Depth is a powerful approach to meeting this objective.

Security in Depth requires that each tier in our application enforce the same restrictions on information flow as the other tiers. For example, if our front-end is restricting input to a maximum length and escaping HTML and JavaScript strings, then the object and the persistence layers should do likewise. If a user is restricted to accessing certain data as part of the application’s operation, the database management software should enforce the same limitations.

Making the Composition of Secure Software Second Nature

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

For all the publicity surrounding software vulnerabilities and successful exploits, we as an industry don’t seem to be rigorously incorporating effective approaches for making software more secure. Many resources are available to educate people involved in software creation regarding security. Further, tools and libraries exist which simplify the redundant aspects of secure software composition.

There are also well-known concepts that have been applied to physical and network security for many years which are equally effective when designing and implementing software. Concepts such as Security in Depth, Least Privilege, Segregation of Duties and Audit Trails serve us well when applied to programming. Tools such as the OWASP and Apache libraries simplify the process of sanitizing and normalizing data received from users and external systems. Automated inspection tools, static and dynamic, help us to identify and remove vulnerabilities in our implementations.

Those who architect, design, implement and test software must understand the typical risks created by different aspects of an application’s architecture in order to leverage appropriate techniques to reduce the likelihood of a vulnerability being released. Further, we should assume vulnerabilities will be found and exploited. Our designs must include features to limit the extent of damage such an exploit would create.

In this category’s posts I will concentrate on the classifications of vulnerabilities and effective techniques that we should apply when creating software. Hopefully this will help to raise awareness surrounding security-centric due diligence that is expected from those of us who participate in the process of authoring software.


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Posts Tagged ‘Public Data’

Medicaid Managed Care Congress Conversations Highlight the Value of Data Federation

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

Photo of Scott, Chris and Dave at MMCC 2014

This week I had the opportunity to attend the Medicaid Managed Care Congress (MMCC) in Baltimore, MD and the privilege of speaking with a variety of leaders from provider, payer, and services organizations. With me from Blue Slate Solutions were Scott Van Buren and Chris Garber. A common theme we heard as we spoke with the attendees was the challenge of bringing data together from multiple sources and making sense of that information.

Medicaid is potentially the most complex government program that exists in the United States. There are federal and state aspects as well as portions that are handled at a local level. Some funding and services are defined as required while others are optional. The financial models’ formulas involve many variables. In short, there are numerous challenges in Medicaid, including the dual eligible changes that seek to address the services disconnects that often exist when a person is eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.

Combining data from providers, payers, patients, government entities and the community are all necessary in order to optimize the quality of care that is provided to each patient. The definition of provider continues to expand, covering not just the medical needs of a person but incorporating the various social services, so important to the holistic care of an individual, under the umbrella of “provider.”

As we listened to people and talked about their data challenges we were also able to walk them through the Data Unleashed™ approach. The iterative learn-as-you-go process resonated across the board, whether people represented patient advocacy groups, provider organizations or healthcare plans. The capability to start small, obtain value quickly and adapt rapidly to changing environments fits the Medicaid complexities well.

Data Unleashed Front End Screenshot

If you would like to learn more about our agile and lightweight approach to accessing data from across your enterprise in order to quickly begin creating meaningful reporting and analytics, please check out dataunleashed.com for descriptions, videos and case studies. We’d also appreciate the opportunity to host a webinar with your team where we can explore Data Unleashed™ in more depth and discuss your specific data challenges.

Business Ontologies and Semantic Technologies Class

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Semantic Arts’ training class entitled, “Designing and Building Business Ontologies.”  The course, led by Dave McComb and Simon Robe, provided an excellent introduction to semantic technologies and tools as well as coverage of ontological best practices.  I thoroughly enjoyed the 4-day class and achieved my principle goals in attending; namely to understand the semantic web landscape, including technologies such as RDF, RDFS, OWL, SPARQL, as well as the current state of tools and products in this space.

Both Dave and Simon have a deep understanding of this subject area.  They also work with clients using this technology so they bring real-world examples of where the technology shines and where it has limitations.  I recommend this class to anyone who is seeking to reach a baseline understanding of semantic technologies and ontology strategies.

Why am I so interested in semantic web technology?  I am convinced that structuring information such that it can be consumed by systems, in ways more automated than current data storage and association techniques allow, is required in order to achieve any meaningful advancement in the field of information technology (IT). Whether wiring together web services or setting up ETL jobs to create data marts, too much IT energy is wasted on repeatedly integrating data sources; essentially manually wiring together related information in the absence of the computer being able to wire it together autonomously!

Project H.M.

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

I have been following the work being done by The Brain Observatory at UCSD to carefully section the brain of patient H.M. The patient, whose identity was protected while he was living, is known as the most studied amnesiac.  His amnesia was caused by brain surgery he underwent when he was 27 years old.

Screenshot from the live broadcast of Project H.M.'s brain slicing process

Screenshot from the live broadcast of Project H.M.'s brain slicing process

I won’t redocument his history, it is widely available on various websites, a few of which I’ll list at the end of this posting.  For me, this study is fascinating in terms of the completely open way the work is being done.  The process of sectioning the brain was broadcast in real time on UCSD’s website.  The entire process that is being followed is being discussed in an open forum.  The data being collected will be freely available.  For me this shows the positive way that the web can be leveraged.

I spend so much time in the world of commercial and proprietary software solutions that I sometimes end up with a distorted view of how the web is used.  Most of my interactions on the web are in the creation of applications that are owned and controlled by companies whose content is only available to individuals with some sort of financial relationship with the web site owner.

Clearly sites like Wikipedia make meaningful content available at no cost to the user.  However, in the case of this work at UCSD, there is an enormous expense in terms of equipment and people in order to collect, store, refine and publish this data.  This is truly a gift being offered to those with an interest in this field.  I’m sure that other examples exist and perhaps a valuable service would be one that helps to organize such informational sites.

If you are interested in more information about H.M. and the project at UCSD, here are some relevant websites:

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Aqua and Brown Croc IWB Holster

Rugged beauty inspired by deep rusty brown and antique turquoise embossed crocodile Italian leather. Our Aqua and Brown Croc IWB Holster provides exceptional concealment. Super strong belt clip ensures holster and gun stay in place, while the conforming leather provides all day comfort.

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Aqua and Brown Croc IWB Holster by MoonStruck Leather. Luxury leather, like all MoonStruck Leather products, provides the backdrop to this comfortable, conforming IWB Holster. Made to fit a variety of gun sizes and leather conforms to body and gun quickly. If you have a special gun size, or a particular gun, contact us to order a custom fitted holster.

All IWB Holsters come in left or right hand draw.

Handcrafted with only the finest Italian leather, our Aqua and Brown Croc IWB Holster is the perfect partner for women and men who prefer to carry on body. Snapped snuggly on belt or waistband, the MoonStruck IWB holster stays secure for all day long comfort.

For more IWB Holster options, see our entire IWB Collection.

If you prefer a high shield version of the Aqua and Brown Croc IWB Holstercontact Beckie Moon to custom order.

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Heart in Soil

Heart in Soil

A farmer at work with his carabao or water buffalo as the dusk sets in! I gazed at this awesome sight , wandering in my wistful thoughts. A farmer lives a simple but beautiful life. He works with the earth, heart in the soil. The fruits of his labor are the food on our table.

A country’s geography says a lot about its history, development and character. The Philippines is blessed with a fertile soil. It has more than 9 million hectares of agricultural land, which is 32% of the total land area, planted mainly with rice, sugarcane, corn, and coconut. Around 12 million people depend their livelihood in agriculture.

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Songs I Love: Born in the Right Country by River Whyless

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about any songs I love here. It’s not because there haven’t been many songs entering my world that are worthy of being written about but as I’ve said before that my mental energy to write has been almost non-existent hence the few and far between posts around these parts. But I’ve been on a vacation from work, Twitter, and Baltimore and have restored my energy for a few days at least.

River Whyless is a band that I should really listen to more but for some reason just don’t. I like their music and I loved seeing them perform at the Newport Folk Festival a few years ago, so I’m not sure why they haven’t been a band I pay more attention to. Their newest song may just change that. “Born in the Right Country” is the first single off the forthcoming new album Kindness, A Rebel. I would completely dig this song based on the beat and guitar work no matter what lyrics went along with the music. In a time when it becomes more clear every day that the idea of the American dream is a lie this song speaks to the fact that where you end up in life is very much determined by where you are born in life and the systems that are in place are designed to keep people who are already in power in power. Not exactly a cheery song, but one that speaks the truth and to a great tune.

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text: Faucetdude is a living water tap. Expressing a grudge for the Wikia Heroes for no particular reason, Faucetdude tried to kill them by cutting off the water supply to their houses. He cried when he realised it didn't work because everyone just got bottled water instead. Fairly incompetent in battle, he died at the hands of Logan Leslie and Redman, with the latter dealing the killing blow with the Red Fall technique.


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Generate More Natural Traffic With website positioning Services London

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Screen scene: Local film news

FAMILY TIES: Brooklyn-based filmmaker Dave Chan poses with his parents, whom he only recently found out adopted him as a child. "The Secret of B," a documentary chronicling Chan's search for his birth parents, will be directed by his longtime friend, Asheville-based filmmaker Jill Boniske. Photo courtesy of Navy Yard Films

• Designed to allow viewers to use film as their window into the minds and culture of Israel, the monthly Israeli Film Series — a collaboration between Grail Moviehouse, 45 S. French Broad Ave., and the Asheville Jewish Community Center — continues Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. with Ben-Gurion, Epilogue. The 2016 documentary uses six hours of never-before-seen footage from 1968, in which then 82-year-old former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion reflects on his personal and professional lives and hopes for peace in the Middle East. A discussion will follow the film. Tickets are $8 and available online or at the Grail box office.

• On Monday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m., Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St., kicks off its “Janeane Garofathon” with a screening of Reality Bites. According to the event description, “If you’re the type of person who likes to get things done while watching a movie, we’ll have sewing supplies available and tables set up. Bring clothes to mend, your sewing supplies if you have some, fix your clothes and watch our girl Janeane Garofalo.” The series will continue one Monday night each month and feature other films starring Garofalo. Free.

The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave., hosts a screening of Old School on Monday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. Free to attend.

• The Kickstarter campaign for The Secret of B, directed by Asheville-based filmmaker and critic Jill Boniske, was launched on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The documentary centers on her longtime friend, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Dave Chan, who, within the last few years, learned he was adopted as a child. The project will chronicle Chan’s search for his biological parents and involve the subject and director traveling to Hong Kong, where Chan was born. The crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise money for travel, film and DNA test expenses, as well as hiring private investigators. It’s an “all or nothing” campaign, meaning that the project will only be funded if it reaches its $10,000 goal by Thursday, Feb. 28. Backer rewards include a private link to view the finished film and an invitation to its theatrical premiere, which the filmmakers estimate will be March 2023.

• Tickets are on sale for the Women’s Adventure Film Tour, which stops at Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Highway, Suite 200, on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. The program is composed of inspirational short films featuring women in stories about climbing, diving, mountaineering, mountain biking, skiing, surfing and other sports. The tour launched in Australia in 2017, then played select locations in Asia and the United Kingdom. It’s making its U.S. debut in 2019. Tickets are $18 and available online.

About Edwin Arnaudin
Edwin Arnaudin is a staff writer for Mountain Xpress. He also reviews films for and is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Follow me @EdwinArnaudin

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The Grinch

Posted on February 3, 2019 at 4:18 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for brief rude humor
Profanity: Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Mild peril
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: November 9, 2018
Date Released to DVD: February 4, 2019

Copyright Illumination 2018
My DVD pick of the week is “The Grinch,” which I reviewed for

An excerpt:

The visuals are delightfully Seussian, all curves and slants. I loved the mitten-shaped windows on one of the houses and the way that Whoville’s Christmas decorations make it look like a captivatingly intricate gingerbread village. In contrast, the Grinch’s mountain top lair is bare and cavernous, empty and solitary, far from the warmth of the Whovian homes.

While this is not especially inventive, there are some clever parallels as the Grinch and Cindy Lou each have to come up with a plan for Christmas Eve. They write out their schemes with the same two words alone on a huge surface: “Santa Claus.” And both must assemble helpers and equipment without anyone finding out.

The smaller details are the most fun, especially when the Grinch brings on an enormous, yak-looking reindeer named Fred to pull his fake Santa sleigh. Or when a relentlessly cheery Whovian (Kenan Thompson) with the fanciest Christmas decorations in town keeps insisting that he and the Grinch are best friends.

Related Tags:

Animation Based on a book DVD/Blu-Ray Fantasy For the Whole Family Holidays Remake

Miss Bala

Posted on January 31, 2019 at 5:33 pm

Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of gun violence, sexual and drug content, thematic material, and language
Profanity: Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drugs and drug dealing, alcohol
Violence/ Scariness: Extended crime and law enforcement-related peril and violence, guns and shoot-outs, knives, bombs, rape, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: January 31, 2019

Copyright 2018 Columbia Pictures
“Miss Bala” is a serviceable action thriller but very much the Hollywood version. In real life, a beauty queen named Laura Zúñiga (her title was “Our Sinaloa Beauty”) was arrested with seven members of a Mexican drug and weapons crime operation. Her story became a Mexican film, also called Miss Bala, which portrayed her as a kidnap victim, forced to work with the La Estrella gang to protect her family.

The American remake is closer to Pam Grier’s “Foxy Brown” or Tarantino’s “Death Proof” than to the real story, where the beauty queen did not fire a gun in stilettos and a red evening gown with a slit up the leg. The woman in the dress is “Jane the Virgin‘s” stars Gina Rodriguez as Gloria, a makeup artist from California, an American citizen who returns to her original home in Tijuana to help her best friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) look her best in the Miss Baja California beauty pageant. Gloria loves Suzu and her little brother Chava (Sebastián Cano), who are the closest she has to a family. And Suzu seems to be missing some red flags about the pageant, unconcerned about rumors that the local sheriff insists on droit de seigneur privileges with each year’s winner. A pre-competition party is interrupted by a shoot-out. Gloria is almost killed, but won’t take her opportunity to get away because she stays to look for Suzu. She tells a man in uniform that she can identify the killers, but he turns out to be working for them. He takes her to the leader of the group, Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova), who tells her that if she helps them, he will find Suzu for her.

So Gloria finds herself getting more and more caught up in the terrifying world of warring drug dealers. At first, she is a numb patsy who follows Lino’s directions to park a car by a building, but then it turns out it was packed with a bomb and used to blow up a safe house operated by the US DEA. Desperate to find Suzu and protect Chava, the follows his orders, transporting drugs and cash across the border into California and bringing back guns. The DEA brings her in and threatens her with prison or worse if she does not cooperate. The pressure is intense and the consequences are immeasurably tragic. Lino is suspicious, but also drawn to Gloria, because he, too, has been considered too Mexican to be American and too American to be Mexican. Gloria has to try to navigate between fear and something approaching loyalty while keeping in mind the single driving force of her commitment to rescuing Suzu.

Rodriguez has said in interviews that she insisted on giving Gloria more agency, making her more active, doing whatever a male character in those situations would do, all of which is salutary, but it goes so far it becomes cartoonish.

Almost everyone who worked on this film on screen and off is Latinx, which is also salutary, though the fact that the first major studio film to make that a goal has to be about the most obvious possible stereotype of Latinx characters.

Parents should know that this is a close-to-R PG-13, with themes of sex and drug trafficking, intense peril and violence, guns, knives, bombs, shoot-outs, many characters injured and killed, rape (off-camera), and some strong language.

Family discussion: How did Gloria decide what to do in the parking lot? What do you think she will do next?

If you like this, try: the original Spanish-language version of the story with the same title, and “2 Fast 2 Furious”

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Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

Posted on November 29, 2018 at 5:25 pm

Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence including bloody images, and some thematic elements
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness: Intense peril from animals and human hunter, characters injured and killed, some graphic and disturbing images
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: November 30, 2018
Copyright Netflix 2018

“Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” is not the “Bear Necessities” Disney version of Rudyard Kipling’s story about the boy raised by wolves and befriended by a cuddly bear and an elegant panther. This is more like Tennyson’s vision of nature as red in tooth and claw. Andy Serkis, master of the art of motion capture acting, has directed this much darker version of the story, with simultaneous release this week in theaters and on Netflix. The motion capture performances are striking. Parents need to know, however, although this is the story of a young boy befriended by talking animals, this is not for young children or for the faint of heart of any age.

Serkis brought along some of his “Hobbit” co-stars, and the movie opens with an introduction from Kaa the snake, voiced by Cate Blanchett telling us that the jungle traditions are being challenged, presumably from the incursion of humans. When a couple are killed by the tiger Shere Kahn (Benedict Cumberbatch), a baby is abandoned. The death of the parents is off-camera, discreetly shown by an overturned, single shoe. But the baby is smeared with blood. Like Harry Potter, he is the Boy Who Lived, and he is special.

A wolf pack wants to adopt the boy they call Mowgli, and that means a meeting of the council of animals. It is agreed that he can stay and we will learn that is only in part because it is in the nature of the wolf mother to feel tenderness toward a helpless baby of any species. While some of the animals fear that keeping Mowgli will bring man into the jungle looking for him, others think that he will help keep them safe from humans. And all of them know that Shere Kahn will be back for Mowgli, and that it will take the full force of the pack to keep him safe.

Mowgli grows up (Rohan Chan), very much at home in the jungle, though painfully aware that he does not have the natural abilities of his wolf brothers. They are being coached by Baloo the bear (Serkis) to pass a racing test to qualify them to become full members of the pack. Mowgli cannot keep up with them if he races on all fours, as they do.

The motion capture work is excellent, as expected from Serkis and the images and camera work are striking, worth seeing on a big screen. But the storyline never fully escapes its colonialist origins. There’s a reason we refer to “the law of the jungle” and no simple way to make that into a workable metaphor about the human world. Think of “The Lion King,” for example (with a live-action version coming next year). It’s fine to sing about the circle of life if you’re at the top of the food chain. Bagheera the panther (Christian Bale) explains to Mowgli that animals who kill must look their prey in the eye as they are dying “so that the soul does not depart alone.” Not much comfort to the departing soul. Mowgli finds appropriate ambivalence in the human world, where the native community has brought in a white hunter (Matthew Rhys) who is kind to Mowgli but will never appreciate the animals like the boy who lived with them. Like the boy himself, the movie is not able to resolve its conflicting dualities.

Parents should know that this film includes animal and human peril and violence, with characters injured and killed, some disturbing and graphic images, guns, fire, animal attacks, sad death of parents (off-screen), drinking and drunkenness.

Family discussion: How are the wolves different from the other animals? What kinds of tests do humans try to pass? Do you agree with Mowgli’s choice about where to live?

If you like this, try: Disney’s animated and live-action “Jungle Book” movies

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Robin Hood

Posted on November 20, 2018 at 5:45 pm

Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive references
Profanity: Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Extended wartime and action-style peril and violence, arrows, fire, knives, beheading, references to torture, horrific child abuse
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: November 21, 2018

Copyright 2018 Lionsgate
There have been so so so so so many Robin Hoods over the years and a couple of them are as good as movies get, starting with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, and Eugene Pallette as Robin, Marian, Gisbourne, Prince John, and Friar Tuck. Then there’s the Disney animated version with music by Roger Miller, and the parody version from Mel Brooks with Robin played by “The Princess Bride’s” Cary Elwes. We’ve also had genuinely terrible Robin Hoods, perhaps most regrettably Kevin Costner with a California accent. And now we have the international co-production version, clearly geared to the non-US market, with clunky, exposition-weighted dialogue, a drumbeat-heavy score and action sequences juiced with bullet-time and slo-mo. Can’t we talk about the Errol Flynn version instead? Directed by the guy who did “Casablanaca?” With one of the all-time best movie scores, composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold? No? Sigh. Well, all right.

This time, Robin is played by Welsh actor Taron Egerton, best known for the “Kingsmen” movies and “Eddie the Eagle.” This is not his fault. He is a fine actor and can handle action scenes and love scenes capably. It is also not the fault of Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and F. Murray Abraham, who do their best. Possibly, it is not the fault of Leonardo diCaprio, who shows up in the credits as producer. It is most likely this big, dumb movie is the fault of the big, dumb ways that movies get made these days. The more they cost, the more dumbed-down they have to be to make money overseas, and this one apparently cost a lot.

We’re there because the story of the dashing nobleman who stole from the rich to give to the poor and was the world’s greatest archer and hundreds of years later is still a symbol of gallantry and heroism. But this movie begins by telling us to forget everything we think we know about the story and many of its most familiar and beloved elements are missing. No archery contest, no ransom for the king, no plotting Prince John. Which would be fine if what it has instead was of equal interest, but it really isn’t. It’s just a first-person shooter game with live action.

In this version, as in most others, Robin of Loxley is a nobleman. As he tells us in the opening narration, his story begins with a thief but it is not him. He discovers a veiled young woman (Eve Hewson as Marian) stealing one of his horses. Moved by her pluck, her generosity (it is for a poor member of the community) and her lovely blue eyes, he allows her to take the horse and soon, well, let Robin tell you himself: “They were young and in love until the cold hand of fate reached out.” See what I mean? Robin is drafted to fight in the Crusades, where the British have arrows and the “infidels” have a sort of gatling gun for arrows. Robin is wounded trying to save the son of the captured “infidel” who tried to kill him. Robin objects to murdering prisoners. He is sent back to England, where he finds that both his home and Marian are gone. His home has been taken by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) and Marian, who was told that he had been killed, is now with Will (Jamie Dornan). Furthermore, the man whose son he tried to save stowed away on the boat to devote his life to vengeance. The English version of his name is John, and he wants to help Robin fight the people responsible for his son’s death. Cue the training montage. And the beating drums.

It’s not that it’s dumb. It’s that it is so much dumber than it needed to be. I do not expect the characters to speak the way people did in the 12th century, but Robin should not be asking someone “You okay?” of “I want to go big.” It isn’t just the drumbeats that are headache-inducing. It is the clunkiness of the expository dialogue, hammering contemporary parallels like the Sheriff’s “They hate us, our freedom, our culture, our religion.” I expected him to talk about sending troops to stop the caravans. “This thief is making you look like a damned fool!” That’s the kind of writing Mel Brooks wrote a whole movie to make fun of. I don’t know what’s worse, the dumb slang or the dumb pretentious/portentous pronouncements:”Fear is the greatest weapon in the church’s arsenal. It is why the church created Hell.”

It’s too loud, too long, and too dumb. What they’re stealing here is our money, our time, and our goodwill.

Parents should know that this film has pervasive near-R peril and violence with battle scenes, arrows, fire, explosions, chases, knives, beheading (offscreen) and many characters injured and killed, and brief strong language, and references to horrific child abuse and torture.

Family discussion: Why was Robin different from the other lords? What issues in this movie are still important today?

If you like this, try: “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”

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A Star is Born

Posted on October 3, 2018 at 5:52 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout, some sexuality/nudity and substance abuse
Profanity: Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Alcohol and drug abuse
Violence/ Scariness: Some fights, medical issues, suicide
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: October 5, 2018
Copyright 2018 Warner Brothers

There are movies like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” that are periodically remade to reflect changing times. And then there is “A Star is Born,” with its fifth version in just under 90 years, where the difference is in the details of the characters and performances but the theme remains the same. Going back to 1932, with “What Price Hollywood,” and then the Janet Gaynor/Judy Garland/Barbra Streisand versions of this same name, it remains the story of a fading male performer with substance abuse problems who falls in love with a young, talented female, helps her become a star, and then realizes he is in her way.

It is perhaps surprising that this story still carries so much power to move us. It could be corny and dated. After all, stars these days go to rehab and then come out to tell their stories of redemption and healthy habits on the cover of People Magazine. The credit for this latest version’s compelling power goes to its director/co-writer/star, Bradley Cooper, who has told the story with verve, specificity, and conviction, and who wisely selected pop superstar Lady Gaga to play the part of the young singer. Life imitates art for the performer originally as famous for her transgressive videos and wild attire (who can forget the meat dress, now at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum?) as for her music. Reportedly, when Cooper met the artist originally known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, he wiped the makeup off her face and told her that was how he wanted her to be seen in the film. Her character, Ally, would not be the highly burnished, defiantly confident, even brazen pop performer in grotesque haute couture, but the real girl underneath. That girl is a revelation. The emotions we see on her face as he tries to pull her onstage for the first time, and then her resolve as she steps out from the wings are achingly honest.

Writer/director/co-star Bradley Cooper shows as much evident pride and pleasure in showing her to us as his character, Jackson Maine, does in pulling Ally onstage to introduce her to the audience by making her sing, for the first time, her own songs. His careful attention to every detail is evident in every moment and he has a true musician’s sense of pace and timing. The songs are not just lovely; each of them is meaningful in revealing character and helps to tell the story. The two most recent “Star is Born” movies had their songs nominated for Oscars. One was a winner; the other should have been. This follows in that tradition and I hereby predict that “Shallow” will win this year’s Best Song and that Lady Gaga will be nominated as well.

Cooper’s script reflects the intensive textual analysis he learned in his studies at the Actors Studio and his direction reflects his deep understanding of the importance of creating a safe space for actors to take risks and be completely vulnerable on screen. His own performance is meticulously considered. We see his struggle, his pain, and his passion for music. But like his character, it is very much in service to Lady Gaga as Ally. Cooper says that the idea for the film came to him when he was backstage at a Metallica concert, where he could see the intimacy of the experience of the musicians working together on stage at the same time he saw the immensity of the crowd caught up in the experience. He creates that for us here, and one of the movie’s best images is the small, private smile we see when Jackson begins his signature song. For a moment, the agony of his world disappears and all that is left is the music and the connection it makes to the audience.

Ally gives him that feeling, too. Helping her pulls him out of himself, at least for a while. But his past and dark thoughts about his future are too much to bear.

Cooper also has some small but lovely tributes to the earlier versions of the story, to James Mason wiping off Judy Garland’s garish make-up and to the bathtub scene with Streisand and Kristofferson. But this is very much a stand-alone, a timeless story of love and loss, and a stunning debut from a director who arrives fully present, utterly committed, and astonishingly in control of a vision that is a work of art and completely heartfelt.

SPOILER ALERT: All of the other versions of this story end with a suicide that is portrayed as tragic but also noble, a sacrifice to make it possible for another person to succeed. I was very concerned going into this film that it would perpetuate this toxic romanticized notion. Cooper finds a way to mitigate that to some extent, but viewers should know that it remains a very troubling issue and is the reason I did not give the film a higher grade.

Parents should know that this film has very strong language, alcohol and drug abuse, some fighting, sexual references and situations, some nudity, and suicide.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Jackson tell Ally the truth about what was happening to him? What will Ally do next? How is this version of the story different from the previous films?

If you like this, try: the earlier versions of the story, with Frederic March and Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland and James Mason, and Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson

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Thank you to Red Door Publishing for my ARC copy. I was thrilled to be invited to take part in the blog tour.

The Blurb

Meet Simon Haines.

For a decade he’s been chasing his dream: partnership at the legendary, family-run law firm of Fiennes & Plunkett. The gruelling hours and manic intensity of his job have come close to breaking him, but he has made it through the years and is now within a whisker of his millions: in less than two weeks, he will know the outcome of the partnership vote. He decides to spend the wait in Cuba in an attempt to rediscover his youthful enthusiasm and curiosity, and to clear his mind before the arrival of the news that might change his life forever. But alone in Havana he becomes lost in nostalgia and begins to relive his past…

Set against the backdrop of an uncertain world, and charged with emotion, Being Simon Haines is a searching story about contemporary London and aspiration, values and love. Painting a picture of a generation of young professionals, it asks the most universal of questions: are we strong enough to know who we are?

Quite a unique book in a way and one that would normally be way out of my usual comfort zone. Reminds me of the worthy and rather wordy intelligent books I would read earnestly back in the 1970’s and leave prominently on a bookshelf in order to impress.

A fascinating read nevertheless about an upwardly mobile workaholic young lawyer from a high profile firm of London lawyers who goes on a journey of self discovery.
Simon Haines is a very driven young man who has sacrificed many things on his relentless road to success – interests, relationships and time spent chasing something he isn’t even sure that he really wants. While waiting to hear if he has been given a partnership in the law firm of Fiennes & Plunkett he takes himself off for a trip to Havana where he has some interesting and humorous encounters with the locals, has some sort of epiphany and finds himself
 It took me a while to warm to the character because he is portrayed at first as a very self-centred one-dimensional person but as snippets of his past are revealed and his story progresses it explains a lot of his decisions, his awareness of his failings and it becomes a bit clearer that he his actually wiser than he first appears to be. Reads like an autobiography, is an easy and compulsive read that was hard to put down. I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about this author.

When I put the book down I stroked the cover (always a good sign) and announced to my other half and the dog “I enjoyed that one”

To Purchase from Amazon UK
About The Author

Tom Vaughan MacAulay was born in Chester in 1980. Tom is a solicitor and has worked both in London and Milan during his career. He currently lives in North London and is in the process of completing his second novel.

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Live the Life You Love At Magnolia Springs Loveland

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Scott Gibson, Executive Director interviewed by Karl Schultz about the opening of Magnolia Springs Loveland.

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Cover Reveal: Only You (A Second Chance Novel) by Stephanie Rose

only you cover

Title: Only You (A Second Chance Novel)
Author: Stephanie Rose
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 14, 2015
Cover Design: Najla Qamber at Najla Qamber Designs

Only You is a STANDALONE novel in the Second Chances Series.
I spent my life searching for love, but Evan was right there all along. As gorgeous on the inside as he was on the outside, I never had to wonder if he loved me. He showed me with every glance, every sweet touch, every scorching kiss. I wanted nothing more than to give him my forever—until I found out I may not have one. Paige was the girl of my dreams. So beautiful in every way; no one would ever compare. I feared she would never be mine, and then she became my everything. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I wanted her to be my forever. But love may not be enough. Why do I have to say good-bye to the love of my life? How can I let you go—when it’s always been only you? PLEASE NOTE: Only You is a Contemporary Romance with intense language and sexual situations meant for readers 18 and up.

Paige My eyelids were weak and heavy. All I did now was sleep, but I was still too tired to wake up. I didn’t even remember how I got here. It took a pathetic amount of strength to lift my head and glance over the tray of food. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but pretty sure it was late. Why they thought I wanted crackers now was beyond me. They can’t really expect me to eat, can they? Swallowing anything was torturous thanks to the deep open sores that trailed down my throat. Water burned, so the thought of eating anything was as appealing as chowing down on sandpaper—and would probably feel the same going down. I curled into the fetal position as I shivered and rubbed at my skin to get warm and felt the pointy bone through the flesh of my arms. I reached for the covers and winced at the pain fingers as I gathered up the scratchy fabric and pulled it over my aching shoulders. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. Most of all, it hurt to think. The life I wanted, with the man I wanted, haunted my dreams. You own me. Can’t you see that? You’re mine. You’re everything. I…can’t see my future with anyone else but you. I finally found what I’d been looking for my entire life, but I couldn’t keep it. The sound of voices yelling outside my hospital room snatched me out of my thoughts. I pushed myself up, panting at the exertion it took to sit upright. I leaned back on my elbows and my weak heart leaped in my chest when I recognized the voice causing all the commotion outside—the voice I’d know anywhere. “I need to see her, please.” Evan? No, no, no. I didn’t want him to see me like this. How did he find out I was here? “I’m sorry, sir. Immediate family only. This is the ICU.” “I’m not leaving. Paige? Daisy, it’s me!” My heavy head dropped to my hands. The sobs that ran through me made it difficult to breathe thanks to the oxygen tubes filtering through my nose. Pushing him away was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I did it for him. I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted him to hold me, tell me he loved me and know he would never leave me. I wanted that so fucking much it ached. “Sir, please. She’s a very sick girl.” In time, he’d see. He deserved someone who could give him a life, children, and a future. All things I can’t offer him, no matter how much I wished things were different. He deserved better than this, better than me. The door was half closed but opened with such force that it banged into the wall and made me jump. Evan marched up to my bed and took my face in his hands. His hay colored eyes filled with tears as his hands shook. “I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.” His voice quivered with emotion, but I wasn’t sure if it was sadness, rage, or a combination of the two. “Now, you’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on. And why you lied to me—”

Stephanie author pic

Stephanie lives in the Bronx, New York with her superhero-obsessed husband and son. Her day job is marketing, but she always has a story in her head. This lifelong New Yorker lives for Starbucks, book boyfriends, and 80s rock After spending most of her youth watching soaps, Stephanie has an obsession with angsty drama and hot romance. She's excited to finally bring the characters she's been dreaming about to life!

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Timeline to PhD Degree Progress

First Year

  • MTL 334A: Concepts of Modernity I
  • MTL 334B: Concepts of Modernity II
  • MTL 334C: Intro to Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Coursework over next 2 years includes 8 courses in modern literary studies, 8 in non-literature departments
  • Competency in first language certified
  • Submit Preliminary Interdisciplinary Statement
  • Begin work on Qualifying Paper

Second Year

  • Coursework continues
  • English 396L, Laboratory in Pedagogy
  • One quarter Teaching Assistantship (TA) in English
  • Qualifying Paper completed and presented
  • Application for Ph.D. Minor, if appropriate
  • File for Ph.D. candidacy / file Interdisciplinary Statement
  • Form Orals Committee and begin reading

Third Year

  • Required coursework completed (all incompletes cleared)
  • One quarter as TA in English or other department
  • Competency in 2nd language certified
  • Oral Exam passed
  • Form dissertation Committee and develop dissertation topic
  • Students with prior MA file for Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status (student no longer enrolled in courses)

Fourth Year

  • Dissertation research and writing
  • Students without prior MA file for TGR status
  • Apply for dissertation fellowships

  • Dissertation Colloquium after first chapter
  • Dissertation research and writing
  • Teach PWR if offered position; apply to teach PWR
  • Apply for fellowships
  • Defense of dissertation
  • File dissertation
  • Apply for research and teaching positions

Click Here for A Resource for Advisors and Students (PDF)


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Written By Josh (muscleroids)
Medically Reviewed by Dr. C Mikulovic

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Welcome to Music Together of Conway!

Music and movement classes for children and the adults who love them!

"Mommy and Me" and SO MUCH MORE!

Did you know that all children are musical?

Come sing, play, dance, and make music with your child and with new friends!

Music Together® is a research-based, developmentally appropriate music class for newborn through age five children with a parent or caregiver (grandparent, babysitter, etc.).

Learn how to nurture the musical growth of your child, regardless of your own musical ability. Experience Music Together and find out how important -- and how fun -- your role can be!

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MVRDV - ResearchResearch

what's next? the city of the future!

what's next? the city of the future!

We are fascinated by data and create amazing datascapes which feed into our designs. Our work draws from the cutting-edge of architectural knowledge, incorporating research and thinking in urbanism, sustainability, sociology, materials development, and more. We therefore maintain close connections to academia, with our founding partners each holding a variety of academic positions. Our closest connection with architectural research comes in the form of The Why Factory, a global think-tank and research institute at the Delft University of Technology led by Winy Maas.

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Tag Archives: PLNs

Give and take and give: it’s the cycle of a healthy PLN

PLNing has been a bit of a lifestyle change for me, really. Prior to taking COETAIL, I took a 6 month break from social media use and news consumption. I didn’t recognise the power of connecting with others. COETAIL has … Continue reading

Posted in Course 5 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

As I embark on a new job with a new school, I’m in search for new questions, new ideas, and new challenges. I’m hopeful and optimistic that COETAIL will help me along in this continuing quest. So far, I’ve already … Continue reading

Posted on by Michael Leyland | 8 Comments


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Blog Información de Interés

How to behave with prostitutes without causing a scandal

Hace 10 meses

Except for an idiot, most people know how to behave from time to time. I know that you can't cross the line, tip or throw up on it.

Prostitution between legality and illegality

Hace 11 meses

Prostitution is considered the oldest craft worldwide, with or without legislation. So there are countries where prostitution is an offence...

Lo siento, pero no hay etiquetas!


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It is time to go

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Sweden is waiting for me. It is time to go to Malmö. Tomorrow I will leave and now my last task: prepare my suitcase. What to put inside for a short business trip with low temperatures? My experience can help you in the luggage preparation.

2015 10 12 10.12.55 1094021732080066493 1036698110 - It is time to go

Now I have to prepare the suitcase. It is time to go. My new trip has to start. Destination? Malmö is waiting for me. Everything is done. I have the flight ticket, the reservation in the hotel and so on. Only one thing is missing: the luggage. Luckily I have my list to follow…useuful to not forget the essential. Of course the checklist includes the general items, but I need to choose the clothes.

I have often doubts about the weather forecast, because when I check it in Italy most of the times it happens the opposite. Also checking different websites I always found many different options about the incoming hours or about the day after. Anyway I need some hints. This is what I found searching on internet:

Malmo weather - It is time to go

I know, it is autumn and the temperatures are quite low. So I am not sure if it will be only cloudy, but surely I need something to keep me warm and also to be ready for the rain. Who knows, it can happen. Fashion, or better to be elegant, it is as well important. I am an Italian and it is my task to keep the flag flying. Perople expect me to be fashionable. What to put in my suitcase?

My clothes

The reason of my trip is business, so I won’t have many casual clothes and also for few days I can’t carry so much. That means to take with me an overcoat, to be elegant. Of course I need one not so light to prevent the cold weather, with a good insulation. A suite with warm wool flannel trousers. Under the shirt I have to wear a singlet. To keep my feet safe I have to put in the suitcase long socks, I don’t like the short ones in any case.

READ MORE  Cheap flights: how to find them

Better to have ready to use gloves and scarf, maybe not to put them in the luggage because maybe I will need them at my arrival in the city. My plane will land in Copenhagen, then I have the train trip to Malmö. I don’t like so much hats, but it could be good to have one. Especially because in my spare time I will walk around the city to explore it.

IMG 3091 1440x1928 - It is time to go

The pajama has to be the one for winter time and inside my suitcase there will be a a wool sweater. In the night I will remove my tie. Of course the ties are important for my meetings, but they have to be used only during the meetings. I love to remove the tie, most than wear it 🙂

In my trolley I have to fill all the spaces, trying to keep safe the clothes. There is always the risk to crumple them. For this reason I roll and fold them loosely. It is necessary to put the clothes on the top of the bag to avoid pressure. Then I have to unpack as soon as possible at my arrival.

2015 10 12 10.05.23 1094017944439005047 1036698110 - It is time to go

Now it is time to go. I will write posts about my trip, sharing tips and pictures. I am already exctied.

See you!

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Showing posts from 2009

Coding java gui using Swing designing it with CSS

Building a GUI in java isn't complicated having netbeans as a great Swing gui builder.But what if we want to have some of the design left out of the code in a CSS file?As when building a java applet which should blend with a website, out best shot will be to use the same CSS file in the swing code as we use for the website.How can we design the GUI components using swing?We will use TK-UI's SwingCSSEngine (which is opensourced).Their documentation can be reached using the following link: is it done?Download the libraries: the jar files (also those in their "lib" directory [excluding the commons if you wish]) into your project's (the swing project) lib directory.In the code before initializing the swing components (a method which is actually called initComponents() in the netbeans IDE) add the follo…

Log All Your Web-method Calls

After a good deal of trial-and-error, and delving into the CXF code, I've found a way to get CXF to log every web-method call -- parameters and all.

Put the following into your Tomcat's log4j.xml:

<logger name="org.apache.cxf.service.invoker">
<level value="trace">

The level should be set to "trace" by default; you won't get ton's of output, just a line (maybe 2) every time a web method is called. Unfortunately, the line is a bit wordy, as in

Invoking method public boolean,java.lang.String,java.lang.String) throws on object with params [CLI, arg2, arg3].

but it was either use the built in log statement or write a whole interceptor and add it to the chain processing the call. If we get really annoyed we could always tweak the source and rebuild CXF, …

Java Swing Applet: HowTo

This post explains how to take an existing Java Swing application and wrap it as an applet which can then be used on any website.

This post assumes the java swing class file (which is run in the original application) to be: FileUploadClientGUIView.

Create the java applet wrapper as follows:

import javax.swing.JApplet;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

publicclassAppletStarterextends JApplet {
//Called when this applet is loaded into the browser.
publicvoid init() {
//Execute a job on the event-dispatching thread;
//creating this applet's GUI.
try {
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(new Runnable() {
publicvoid run() {
} catch (Exception e) {

Exceptions in JUnit Tests

When an exception is thrown in a unit test, the unit test will fail, giving a red bar - unless there is a try/catch that catches the exception and swallows it quietly.

Therefore, you should make sure that catching an exception in a unit test is indeed what you really mean to do.

Should the test really handle the error and continue, perhaps succeeding, or should the test fail, giving a visual indication that something went wrong?

I'd add that when the right behavior of a test case is a thrown Exception, one should add to the @TEST annotation one's expectation.
e.g. @Test(expected = NumberFormatException.class)

False condition comes true?

This is a really weird bug I found in my program.
I have an "if" condition, which takes a boolean variable as its condition, the variable's name is bMember.
When I saw unexpected behaviour in my code and decided to debug it I saw the above surprising and un-understandable thing, the debug enters a falsed condition!?
look at the picture above and see for yourselves.

by the way, if someone knows why, please post a comment.

Getting the file names of a given directory as plain text

At the beginning I searched the web for a freeware which does the job, I didn't even think of paying for this simple job to be done. But then I found the simplest of all solution. Just go to the command prompt (Windows button + R) type in cmd and press enter - you are in the command line view. Go to the directory from which you want a file list as text. Then type: dir /B
mark the text and press enter (used as copy in the console view) then paste the filelist from the clipboard anywhere you want. If you want the filelist to be in a text file you can shorten the process by executing the following command from the command line console window: dir /B > filename.txt
Now the file's list will be in the file you typed (filename.txt). A thought: Some functions just don't need any fancy tool for doing them...

What does: "Fault occurred while processing" in the client mean? and how do you reveal the real exception?

I have this CXF client which sometimes throws normal exceptions but some of the other times it throws me a "Fault occurred while processing", well, what does that mean?

When you get back a "Fault occurred while processing" it means that a web service threw an unchecked exception.  The CXF framework catches it and puts together a fault message which it sends back to the client.  The client’s stack trace at that point is pretty-much irrelevant.
There may be a way to get CXF to log the server stack trace, but I haven’t found it yet (feel free to comment on the post if you found one).  There may also be a way to stick a handler into the flow to get the exception before constructing the fault message, but I haven’t found that yet either (ditto).
If a checked-exception is thrown, then the exception – or at least its message – gets sent back to the client where it’s reconstructed and rethrown to be caught by the client.
Debugging a problem like this, once you can recreat…

Embed Nimbus's look and feel to your Java programs using Netbeans

This one gave me a little headache, cause it shouldn't really be an issue, but it turned out to be a non trivial tweak.
What's the story? I use Netbeans 6.5 and Java 1.6.0_11 and I wanted my gui programs to "wear" the nimbus look and feel.
How should I configure my netbeans gui builder to dress my program with the nimbus l&f?
First thing I needed to configure my current project to use the latest JDK, it used as a default a previous version (1.6.0_07) which doesn't support the nimbus l&f.
First thing was to add the latest jdk to the netbeans platform, go to Tools --> java platform and add the new jdk.
The next task is to add the new jdk to the specific project; project properties --> Libraries and under the Java platform pick the new JDK to run this program.
Now that the JDK issue is set, it's time to set the actual L&F:  Project properties --> Application --> Desktop app --> Look & Feel -->…

Ant Explorer graphical Ant build tool

Every serious java developer needs to create or edit some ant building script.

Eclipse offers nice ant handling features which make the task much easier, eclipse's plugin (which is embeded into eclipse since version 3.1 or so) understands the ant scripting language thus enables not only syntax coloring but also nice mouse hovering which reveals values of properties, variable names which enables finding the source of each variable and also some nice debugging features.

But, there is one field in which eclipse's ant handling lacks perfection, its in viewing the whole build file in one gaze graphically feature, that feature isn't supported by eclipse.

Luckily enough, it is supported by YWorks, which created a nice and free util which loads an ant script file and shows it in a beautiful and so very useful way.

I think that this util (which was released as a standalone as well as an eclipse and idea) is a must for any serious java developer.

Unluckily, YWorks have removed the u…

D-link DU-E100 Driver (USB to Lan)

Several years ago (at about 2002) I found this store which got stuck with a large amount of these usb to lan cards, so they sold the card for about 6$ a piece; it's not that I needed one, it was just the great price.

I bought with a friend of mine about 10-20 pieces and sold them for double the price.

Anyway, I kept one for myself of course, and of course - I didn't use it till... today.

My Ethernet card stopped working suddenly and I didn't have any access to the internet, I started looking for a solution, till I found this old card - old but useful (I'm writing this post using the same card).

The problem was finding the driver, although I had the original 1.44 inch disk, it is useless when you don't have any slot to insert it - and no, you can't insert a diskette into a USB port.
So I started looking in the internet, and I found out that D-Link doesn't have the driver on their site, and I couldn't find it anywhere else!

I didn't have any choice but to t…

Get a feel for what your computer can do

When examining performance with an eye to optimization, it's worth developing a feel for how fast typical software operations actually are on modern hardware. That sense will help you know when to look deeper for the real cause of a bottleneck, or when to look elsewhere, or when to mistrust the results that your profiling tools are giving you.For instance, I ran the following short bit of code:TreeSet tree = new TreeSet();int found = 0;long time = System.currentTimeMillis();System.out.println("add #'s to tree");for (int i = 0; i <>long time2 = System.currentTimeMillis();System.out.println("elapsed:  " + (time2 - time));System.out.println("find #'s in tree");for (int i = 0; i <>    if (tree.contains(Math.random())) found++;long time3 = System.currentTimeMillis();System.out.println("elapsed:  " + (time3 - time2));
Here's the output:
add #'s to treeelapsed: 8240find #'s in treeelapsed: 5476
We see that filling a Jav…

Use Parent/Interface types rather than implementation types

If you've got a method that returns, say, a TreeMap pointer, you can generally declare it to return a Map; you're unlikely to use a method ofTreeMap that isn't a method of Map (if there even are such things), so the calling code won't be affected.
This allows you, though, to change the implementation class to, say, HashMap without any other code being affected.The same goes for parameters passed into a method. In general, only explicitly use the implementation type when creating the instance [].
[NOTE: There's an issue peculiar to C++ where one must make sure that the implementation class' destructor is virtual, or it won't be executed when one deletes a pointer of the parent-class type.]

The use of Java Sets

The Set interface requires that the underlying implementation can tell whether two objects added to it are the same, so that the second can be rejected (a Set is defined as only containing one copy of any given object).  Ensuring adherence to this requirement involves both the Set implementation and the mechanism by which the objects can be distinguished from one-another.  The two basic implementations that i use in my code, TreeSet and HashSet, handle this in different ways:
TreeSets are ordered b-trees (or something very similar) of objects.  Because they’re ordered, the objects they contain must implement the Comparable interface, or alternatively the TreeSet itself may have a Comparator member; in either case, a compareTo() method is called to compare objects to one another.  compareTo() returns -1, 0 or 1, depending on whether the first argument is less than, equal to or greater than the second; this is how the nodes in the tree are ordered, and how the TreeSet code c…


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Tag Archives: Communication

The Things That Come Between Us

/ Adventure, Growing up, Marriage/ 0 comments

Change is a funny thing. It’s hard to get used to, even when it’s beneficial. Maybe the problem is that you never know if the change you’re facing is going to be 100% beneficial while you’re going through it. But change is a catalyst that keeps us alive, helps us find purpose and meaning, makes us new. It still sometimes

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A Bit of History, Repeated

/ Growing up, Marriage, Parenting, Real Life Mom/ 0 comments

There’s a stigma associated with being an only child. Think about it: what comes to mind when someone says they’re an only? Weird, spoiled, controlling, anti-social, moody – these all, at one time or another, described me. And not without good cause – I’m a f*cking weirdo. I talk to myself constantly, I don’t adapt well to sudden change, I

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(How to) Make Talking About Money More Sexy

/ Growing up, Marriage/ 0 comments

It’s no secret that Hollywood doesn’t really give us the whole story when it comes to real-life marriage and partnership. In the movies, you see spontaneous romance, serendipitous connection, and instantaneous love. You don’t see couples who have to work at their relationship. You don’t see main characters bickering over who has the right to the last few ounces of

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