A method and system of enforcing a computer policy uses a central server to manage user profiles, policies and encryption keys. The server securely supplies the keys to client devices only after checking that the policy has been complied with. The checks include both the identity of the user and the machine identity of the client device. The keys are held in a secure environment of the client device, for example in a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and remain inaccessible at all times to the end user. Theft or loss of a portable client device does not result in any encrypted data being compromised since the keys needed to decrypt that data are not extractable from the secure environment.
This application is entitled to the benefit of, and incorporates by reference essential subject matter disclosed in PCT Application No. PCT/GB2011/050033 filed on Jan. 11, 2011, which claims priority to Great Britain Application No. 1000288.9 filed Jan. 11, 2010.
The present invention relates to a system and method of enforcing a computer policy.
Corporate Security Policies (SPs) are a vital part of corporate security governance. Such policies are put at serious risk when employees are allowed to roam with an organization's most vital asset—information. This is an extremely important problem that is also very difficult to satisfactorily address.
For example corporate policy might require any corporate laptop to protect any data stored on it even it is stolen, i.e. even if an adversary has physical access to the laptop and it is taken outside the corporate boundary (within which policy is typically enforced). Similarly, corporate laptops taken home in an authorized way by employees should still be governed by corporate policy, even though the laptop is outside the corporate premises.
Existing Security Policies are typically complex and time-consuming to manage due to the need to replicate encryption keys as employees move between offices and work on a variety of different computing devices both within and outside the corporate boundary. When an employee leaves employment, all of the corresponding encryption keys need to be revoked. These issues of key-management represent significant costs to companies attempting to enforce security policies on a mobile and ever-changing workforce.
It is an object of the present invention at least to alleviate these difficulties.
(e) providing the user with access to the sensitive data without disclosing to the user the cryptographic key.
(d) means for securely transmitting the cryptographic key from the server to the secure environment of the client device when permitted by the policy.
using the cryptographic key to perform a cryptographic operation without disclosing the cryptographic key to the user.
Such a method may be used to control user access to data stored in encrypted form on the client device. The cryptographic operation may then comprise decrypting the data. The method may further comprise providing the user with access to the decrypted data without disclosing the cryptographic key to the user.
use the cryptographic key to perform a cryptographic operation without disclosing the cryptographic key to a user.
Data may be stored on the client device in encrypted form, with the device being configured to use the cryptographic key to decrypt the data and to provide a user with access to the decrypted data.
transmit the cryptographic key securely to the client device when the access condition is satisfied.
The access condition may relate to the cryptographic key and/or to data stored in encrypted form on the client device.
In addition to and separate from the notion of user identity, a machine identity is used to enable complex and more expressive policies to be defined and enforced. This allows system administrators to specify what a particular user can do, and also what a user may do when using a particular machine.
Preferably the client device comprises a secure cryptoprocessor or hardware security module. In this way a secure environment can be provided (e.g. a Trusted Platform Module). Preferably the device is configured to use a secure cryptoprocessor to allow the device's identity to be cryptographically validated. Preferably the device is configured to use a secure cryptoprocessor to perform the cryptographic operation, such as using the cryptographic key to decrypt data stored on the device.
However a dedicated hardware secure environment is not essential and, in some embodiments, the client device may use software executing on a microcontroller or central processing unit (CPU) to create a secure environment. Such means may be used to perform the cryptographic operation and/or to allow the device's identity to be cryptographically verified.
The client device is preferably configured to hold the cryptographic key in volatile memory (e.g. RAM) and to clear the cryptographic key from the memory after performing the cryptographic operation.
Preferably the server is configured to validate the identity of the client device.
The identity of the user may be verified by the client device and/or the remote server.
The client device may be configured to validate the identity of the server.
All cryptographic keys used to protect sensitive data on the client devices are preferably stored on a central server and are preferably never stored on the local disks of client machines. This reduces the impact of theft of a portable client device—any encrypted data stored on such a device cannot be recovered, since the necessary decryption keys will not be available.
Data to be decrypted may be any type; for example, they may comprise all or part of an email message.
The cryptographic key might be used to by the client device for any of a variety of purposes; e.g. to decrypt data, to encrypt data, to sign data, or to establish a secure session with a remote device.
The access condition may constitute a security policy.
the system can control whether client keys are made available to client devices (thus enforcing policy) because of its ability to identify remotely both devices and users, and to verify the integrity of remote devices.
This allows server-centric policy enforcement even on remote devices. This policy enforcement can take place across any distributed environment such as the Cloud.
The cryptographic key may be specific to the user.
The remote server may transmit one or more certificates along with the cryptographic key. It may transmit a plurality of cryptographic keys to the client device.
In some embodiments, Trusted Computing is used for the enforcement of policy covering the download of user profile containing user-specific secret keys.
policy-based control of a user profile enables many other possible applications, since it gives flexible access to cryptographic keys (which can themselves be used to control access to further services and/or information).
Any optional feature of one aspect may be an optional feature of any other aspect, wherever appropriate.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system embodiment of the invention.
Certain preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only.
2. a user-agent client device which is equipped with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) conforming to the Trusted Computing Group specifications (or any other device or system offering similar security services).
Each user-agent's TPM is equipped with a public/private cryptographic key pair, providing the foundation for a unique user-agent (machine) identity. Because of the way it is designed, and given its tamper-resistant properties, the TPM private key is never made available outside the TPM, making identity theft of the client device extremely difficult.
1. The user-agent/client device verifies the server. This is done by verifying a signature produced by the server and checking the server's public key (programmed in the user-agent).
2. The server verifies the user-agent by interrogating the TPM. The server challenges the TPM, requesting the TPM to compute a signature using a private key belonging to the TPM. Note that the TPM's private key never leaves the TPM in unencrypted form, and thus cannot be stolen (e.g. via malicious software running on the client platform).
Once the identity of the user-agent's physical device has been authenticated, user verification is performed via an appropriate user authentication mechanism, e.g. involving passwords, cryptographic key pairs, and/or biometrics. The system allows the identification of arbitrary combinations of devices and users, i.e. a single user can employ multiple devices, and a single device can be employed by multiple users. Policy can then be enforced accordingly.
Policy can limit system functionality, for example by disabling uncontrolled internet connectivity when connected to a corporate VPN in order to avoid data leakage via the (insecure) internet. The user-agent can be programmed to enforce such policies.
However, through the use of the combination of server control of keys and the TPM on the client platform, the solution we describe can also provide assurance to the server that the policy is actually being enforced. Suppose that a malicious, modified, user-agent reports to the server that it is enforcing policy, when in reality it will not. The server can verify the integrity of the remote system via its TPM, and hence detect the presence of a modified user-agent, using the following procedure.
1. At boot time, the TPM verifies the integrity of the operating system, and securely records measurements characterizing the software that has been loaded.
2. The operating system, whose integrity is guaranteed by the TPM measurements made at boot time, verifies the integrity of the user-agent. The results of this measurement are also stored internally to the TPM.
3. When the server authenticates the identity of the remote device, it also confirms its integrity. That is, the authentication process involves the transfer from the TPM to the server of the integrity measurements referred to in steps 1 and 2; this transfer takes place in such a way that the server can verify that the measurements indeed come from a genuine TPM embedded in the platform with which it is communicating. This is achieved by the TPM digitally signing the integrity measurements using a private key verifiably unique to that TPM. This process is known as attestation.
4. The server processes the integrity measurements for the client platform, and decides whether or not these are indicative of a processing environment consistent with the security policy in force.
5. If the policy requirements are met, then the server transfers the cryptographic keys to the device in such a way that the client platform will only be able to decrypt them if the integrity measurements sent in message 3 are still valid. This uses functionality known as sealed storage (as described for example in the paper The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and Sealed Storage, Bryan Parno, 21 Jun. 2007, available at www.rsa.com/rsalabs/technotes/tpm/sealedstorage.pdf). This effectively binds the security policy to the set of keys downloaded to the client platform, i.e. so that the keys are only available to client platforms meeting the policy requirements.
This procedure shows the importance of the notion of machine identity for ensuring that policy is being enforced in a remote setting. The combination of server-centric key management and the use of TPM-based integrity measurements (including attestation and sealed storage) is believed to be unique to the present embodiment.
Policy can and usually does limit access to sensitive data held on the client device. Encrypted data can be disclosed freely, assuming that the keys necessary for decryption are kept secret. Thus, the problem of limiting access to data can be transformed to a key management problem; by denying a user access to keys, the user cannot access (encrypted) data.
Performing policy control in this way provides significant advantages, especially with remote devices. If a remote device held data in cleartext and was stolen, data could be read by analyzing the contents of the hard disk directly, regardless of any operating system enforced access restrictions or the presence of a TPM. This is impossible if the data is encrypted and the necessary decryption keys are not stored on the client device.
1. Data is encrypted with a key generated and kept on the server.
2. If a user is allowed access to data by the policy in force, the server discloses the necessary decryption key(s) to the user-agent, only after the user-agent's host machine and the user have been authenticated. The end user never learns the key from the user-agent as the key is never stored (in cleartext) on the client machine's hard disk, and is stored only in protected memory, inaccessible from (say) debuggers. These properties are enforced because the system's integrity has been verified by the server, for example, using a TPM attestation procedure. Because the end user never learns the decryption keys, it is possible to revoke such keys and hence revoke access to data, by simply eliminating keys from the user-agent's memory.
3. To allow offline data access, the user-agent may (subject to policy) store the data encryption key on disk in encrypted form. The key used to encrypt the data key is protected using the TPM's sealed storage function, thus making recovery in unauthorized ways impractical because of the tamper-resistant properties of the TPM. Only when the client system is running the appropriate set of software (including the valid user-agent) will the TPM permit the key encrypting key to be decrypted—using the sealed storage functionality.
The novel combination of server-centricity to manage policies (and keys), and the use of a secure environment such as TPM to verify policy enforcement and allow off-line data use, enables robust server-based corporate policy management and enforcement on remote devices.
We now turn to a detailed explanation of the transfer of user profiles from a server to a client device.
The word 'profile' is used here to mean a set of user-specific data stored on a central server. This profile includes such things as cryptographic keys and policy information relating to that individual, e.g. which applications he/she is authorised to use, and in what circumstances the keys should be downloaded to a client. The term profile is used loosely—it may well be appropriate to only download parts of the profile information to a client machine, with the choice of elements depending on the type of client being used, and/or the specific user requirements at the time of download.
We divide the description of the profile transfer protocol into three phases: a preliminary (set-up) phase, and two main phases. Whilst the set-up phase will only be performed once for each relevant entity, the other two phases will be performed every time a user wishes to make use of a client machine, i.e. for every session. The main phases (Phases I and II) are described separately here to simplify the explanation; however, in practice, the implementations could overlap—for example, messages implementing Phase I could be sent at the same time as some of the messages implementing Phase II.
Every user and every server must perform the set-up phase prior to engaging in the protocol. This phase will establish all the necessary long-term keys and user profiles. Once performed, it will not normally be necessary to perform the set-up phase again, unless a security compromise has occurred or the user status has changed.
Phase I is intended to enable the client platform and the server to share a secret session key, which can then be used both to protect the transfer of the user profile in Phase II.
In Phase II, the client (securely) requests the profile from the server—the request can be authenticated using the session key established in Phase I. The request could, for example, indicate which types of key are required. The server then selects the relevant parts of the profile to send to the user, generates any necessary short-term key pairs and/or secret keys, generates any necessary short-term public key certificates, and assembles the material to be sent to the user. This package of profile data is then encrypted and integrity-protected using the session key established in Phase I, and the package is sent to the client. On receipt of the profile data from the server, the client verifies and decrypts it, and processes the information ready for use.
The objectives of this preliminary phase are to equip the parties involved in the scheme with the resources they need to participate in the protocol. We divide this discussion into three parts, covering the set-up requirements for the server, user and client.
1. The necessary software is installed.
2. Provision is made to enable the secure storage of user profiles and user passwords.
1. The user establishes a relationship with a server. This could, for example, be a fee-paying contractual relationship (where the server is providing a service to the user), or a relationship which arises 'by default' with the user's employment where the server is run by, or on behalf of, the employer.
2. The user selects one or more Certificate Authorities (CAs) who will be responsible for generating certificates for user public keys. Of course, depending on the server-user relationship, this may be done automatically for the user by the server.
3. The user establishes a shared secret password with the server.
5. The server will then securely store the profile (containing, for example, secret keys, asymmetric key pairs and accompanying public key certificates) along with the user password or other user identification details. Note that each key has certain information associated with it, including an identifier for the algorithm with which it is to be used, the intended use (e.g. encryption, MAC generation, signature generation, etc.), and a validity period.
1. Appropriate software is installed on the client (however, this could be performed dynamically by downloading it from the server, e.g. as a Java applet, at the time of use).
2. The client machine's TPM is initialized, and the server made capable of dealing with a platform containing the type of TPM or other security environment in use on the client machine.
The main objective of this phase is to establish a short-lived secret session key between the client machine and the server. We now discuss possible ways of realizing this phase of the protocol.
Note that, in order to ensure that the profile is only made available to a platform running trustworthy software, trusted computing functionality can be used to verify the software environment on the recipient (client) platform. This should be done in such a way that only a trustworthy platform will have access to the short-lived session key. Without this key, the profile sent from the server to the client cannot be decrypted, and hence will not be available to the client. that is, policy control is exerted through access to the short-lived session key.
Possible means of establishing the short-lived key are discussed below. Ways in which this process can be made dependent on trusted computing are discussed later.
A very simple approach is for both parties to simply derive a key from the shared secret password. In order to ensure that a different key is used for each session, one of the two parties could first generate a random number r, e.g. of 128 bits, and send it to the other party. Both server and client could then generate the session key as K=h(p∥r), where h is a cryptographic hash-function (e.g. SHA-256; ISO/IEC 10118-3:2003, Information technology—Security techniques—Hash-functions: Part 3: Dedicated hash-functions. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2003.), p is the user's secret password, and ∥ denotes concatenation of strings of bits.
The attacker works through the set of all possible passwords one at a time, eliminating incorrect 'guesses' in the following simple way. Suppose p* is a candidate value for the password. The attacker computes the corresponding candidate session key K*=h(p*∥r), using the intercepted value of r. The attacker then tries decrypting the intercepted ciphertext using K*, if the result does not yield meaningful plaintext then the candidate password can be eliminated.
In fact, it is somewhat difficult to readily memorize passwords which are taken from a sufficiently large set to prevent such attacks. Even if we suppose that users choose 8-character passwords, with each character being either a letter or a numeral, then the number of possible passwords is only 368≈2.8×1012. Working through a set of this size is not infeasible (although non-trivial).
It is thus desirable to use a more robust approach, e.g. along the lines proposed below.
Another relatively simple approach is to require the server to first set up a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) session with the client machine. The client machine needs to have a means to verify that the session has been set up with the appropriate server. This could, for example, involve the software downloaded to the client being pre-equipped with a trusted copy of the public key of the server.
Once the SSL session is in place, the client software could then prompt the user to enter his/her password, which can then be sent to the server (via the SSL channel) for verification. Since the password is communicated over an encrypted channel (as provided by SSL), it is protected against compromise by an interceptor.
The SSL channel could also be employed in Phase II to provide a secure means of transfer for the profile.
There is one major disadvantage of such an approach. The client must have the means to verify that it is talking to the correct server, or otherwise man-in-the-middle attacks can be launched. If the software that is used by the client contains the public key of the server, then this problem is avoided—however, it does mean that the software to be used on a client machine must be personalized to include the public key of the particular server with which the user has a trust relationship.
There may be scenarios where this may be difficult to arrange. The above problem is avoided by the solution described immediately below.
There are a number of well-established protocols which are designed to enable a secret session key to be established using a user-memorable password in such a way that offline dictionary attacks are not possible. Moreover, such protocols can also be designed to foil more active attacks (as long as some measure is in place to count unsuccessful authentication attempts and take appropriate countermeasures).
Three such protocols are specified in clause 6 of ISO/IEC 11770-4:2006, Information technology—Security techniques—Key management: Part 4: Mechanisms based on weak secrets. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2006, there Key Agreement Mechanisms 1, 2 and 3. All these mechanisms are believed to be secure, and any of them would be appropriate for use in the scheme. Next we consider their relative advantages and disadvantages.
All three of the mechanisms in ISO/IEC 11770-4 have very similar security characteristics. The only significant difference (with current knowledge) is that mechanism 1 requires the server to know the password, whereas the other two mechanisms only require the server to store the hash of a password. This latter property may have some (small) practical advantages.
all three mechanisms are believed to have similar computation costs, although the differences have not been checked in detail.
To clarify the above discussion, we give a simplified description of Phase I in the case where Mechanism 1 from ISO/IEC 11770-4 is used.
1. Provide user name and password. The user will need to run the client software and equip it with the user's name and password. It may be appropriate for the user to provide additional information at this stage, such as the types of keys the user would like to have downloaded from the server (such information would be used in phase II).
2. Request profile (phase I). The client software will then send a message to the server to request the initiation of the profile download process.
3. Establish session key (phase I). The server and client now use the SPEKE protocol, as specified in clause 6.1 of ISO/IEC 11770-4 , to establish a shared secret key.
We now explain in a little more detail how steps 2 and 3 could be implemented. References are made to the descriptions in clause 6.1 of ISO/IEC 11770-4 . We suppose that the client corresponds to A in 11770-4 and the server corresponds to B.
1. The client software performs the key token construction step (A1) specified in clause 6.1.3 using the user-provided password π.
2. The client software sends wA to B, along the user name and a request to inaugurate profile download.
3. On receipt of the message from the client, the server recovers the user password π from the user profile (indexed by the user name) and performs the key token construction step (B1) specified in clause 6.1.3 using π.
4. The server send wB to A.
5. The server uses the received value of wA in step B2 to obtain the shared secret key Ki.
6. On receipt of the message from the server, the client uses the received value of wB in step A2 to also obtain the shared secret key Ki.
Note that the key confirmation steps are omitted, as phase II provides a degree of (one way) key confirmation. Note also that it may be helpful for the client (A) to generate a random session identifier and sent it to the server (B) in step 2 above. The server should then send this back to the client in step 4, enabling the client to match responses to requests.
The main objective of this phase is to securely download user profile data from the server to the client machine.
There are a variety of ways in which this could be implemented. We give one option.
The transfer protocol takes the following general form.
This request message specifies which types of key are needed by the client machine. For example, if the user only needs to perform signature operations, then the profile information to be provided to the user only needs to include a signature private key (and certificate for the corresponding public key).
Note that this message could be sent at the same time as one of the messages in Phase I. However, it may be necessary to integrity protect and, possibly, to encrypt this message. If so, then it can only be sent after the client machine has obtained a copy of the session key.
All the necessary keys and certificates are then put into a formatted profile, ready to be downloaded to the client.
Once the profile data has been assembled by the server, including keys and certificates, it can be sent to the client. Prior to transmission it should be encrypted by the server using the session key. The method of encryption should provide both confidentiality and integrity protection, and one of the techniques contained in ISO/IEC 19772:2009, Information technology—Security techniques—Authenticated encryption. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2009, is highly recommended.
Note that this message could be sent at the same time as one of the messages in Phase I, as long as the necessary session key is available to the server.
Finally, on receipt of the encrypted profile, the client can verify and decrypt it using the secret session key.
As discussed above, a profile will normally be generated for every user. A user profile will contain a range of keys and certificates. Some or all of these keys and certificates can then be sent to the client machine whenever a session is established.
This approach has the advantage that the server will not need to generate any new keys or certificates when a client requests a profile, since all the necessary keys are generated in advance. Also, each public key will have a single certificate associated with it, signed by a trusted CA.
However, this approach has the disadvantage that, if a client machine is ever compromised, then the long-term private keys of the user are also compromised. Moreover, whilst key revocation is possible, this will only occur if the compromise is detected, and this will not always be the case.
Finally note that there may be a need to 'unpack' the profile to provide keys and/or certificates to other applications on the client host. If the private keys are then outside the direct control of the system of the invention, it may be difficult to ensure that these keys are deleted at the end of a session.
The fact that the client device may not be trustworthy brings with it significant security risks. If the server can verify that the correct software is running on a client (and that the client operating system environment is secure) prior to downloading the profile to the client, then profile security can be significantly improved.
Such a capability is offered by trusted computing (see, for example, C. Mitchell (ed.), Trusted Computing. IEE Press, London 2005). This technology is now present in a significant proportion of new PCs, in the form a special purpose security chip known as a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The technology allows one device to remotely verify the nature of the software running on another platform, and to restrict access to secrets to specific software configurations. These properties would appear to be ideally suited to the operational model described above.
We now consider the trusted computing functions which can be used to make the profile transfer process policy controlled. As discussed above, this involves making access to the short-lived session key conditional on the server being content with the state of the remote client platform.
The general notion of only allowing certain things to occur if a remote platform is in a certain state (as tested using trusted computing functionality) is a well-established one. The Trusted Network Connect (TNC) protocol uses trusted computing to decide whether or not to admit a client PC to a network. A server requires the client to provide evidence of its software configuration before deciding whether or not to admit the client to the network. TNC has been standardized by the trusted computing group http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/)—for a simple description of its operation see, for example, S. Rehbock and R. Hunt, 'Trustworthy clients: Extending TNC to web-based environments'. Computer Communications 32 (2009) 1006-1013.
This general idea has also been proposed as a means of protecting sensitive software by only downloading this software to a platform verifiably in a trusted state. This idea has been described by E. Gallery and A. Tomlinson, 'Secure delivery of conditional access applications to mobile receivers', in: C. J. Mitchell (ed.), Trusted Computing, IEE Press, 2005, pp. 195-237; E. Gallery and A. Tomlinson, 'Protection of Downloadable Software on SDR Devices', in: Software Defined Radio Technical Conference SDR 05, November 2005; E. Gallery, A. Tomlinson and R. Delicata, 'Application of Trusted Computing to Secure Video Broadcasts to Mobile Receivers', Technical Report RHUL-MA-2005-11, Department of Mathematics, Royal Holloway, University of London, June 2005; E. M. Gallery and C. J. Mitchell, 'Trusted computing technologies and their use in the provision of high assurance SDR platforms', in: Proc. of 2006 Software Defined Radio Technical Conference, Orlando, Fla., November 2006.
The simplest approach is for the server to require the trusted platform to attest to its current software configuration immediately prior to starting the process of agreeing a secret key. This assumes that the client platform has a TPM, and the software on the client is capable of using the TPM to store measurements indicative of the current state of the client platform in the PCRs (Platform Configuration Registers) within the TPM. The attestation process then operates along the following lines.
1. The server sends a random challenge to the client, together with the serial numbers of the PCRs whose values it wishes to have assurance of.
2. The client passes this information to its TPM, which digitally signs a string containing the random challenge and the current values of the requested PCRs (together with their indexes).
3. This signature is then passed back to the server which can verify the signature (and check the random challenge for freshness) and thereby verify that these PCR values are an accurate record of the current software state of the client platform.
The signature is computed using an attestation identity key, a signature key the private value of which is available only to the TPM. The validity of the associated public key (used to verify the signature) can be verified by the server checking a public key certificate also supplied by the client.
The server can then verify that the PCR values match a software configuration deemed acceptable by the policy statement associated with the relevant user profile. If (and only if) the policy deems this configuration acceptable, the server then proceeds to establish a shared secret key, as described above.
One problem with the approach described immediately above is the possibility that the software state of the client might change between the time that the measurement takes place and the time (shortly afterwards) when the shared secret is established. This problem can be removed by combining the process of attestation with the establishment of the shared secret key. Methods to achieve this have been described in the literature—see, for example, Gallery, Tomlinson, Delicata and Mitchell.
Although this invention has been shown and described with respect to the detailed embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.
transmit the stored first user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key securely to the client device when the access condition is satisfied.
2. The server of claim 1, further configured to verify the identity of the user.
3. The server of claim 1, further configured to transmit one or more certificates along with the stored first user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key.
4. The server of claim 1, wherein the store further stores a policy for controlling access to sensitive data on the client device, and stores a cryptographic key associated with the policy.
5. The server of claim 1, wherein the server is a web server.
6. The server of claim 1, configured to authenticate the identity of the client device by requesting a hardware security module on the client device to compute a signature using a private key belonging to the hardware security module.
7. The server of claim 1, configured to verify the integrity of the client device.
8. The server of claim 1, configured to receive, from the client device, the password received by the client device from the user.
9. The server of claim 1, further configured to receive a communication from the client device for determining the validity of the user-password.
the client device generating a digital signature by signing data with the user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key, without disclosing the user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key to the user of the client device.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the client device comprises a hardware security module and is arranged to use the hardware security module to allow the server to cryptographically validate the identity of the client device.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the hardware security module is a Trusted Platform Module.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the client device is arranged to use the hardware security module to sign the data.
14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the client device holding the user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key in volatile memory and clearing the user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key from the volatile memory after signing the data.
15. The method of claim 10, further comprising the remote server validating the identity of the client device.
16. The method of claim 10, further comprising the remote server verifying the identity of the user.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein the remote server has an identity, the method further comprising the client device validating the identity of the remote server.
18. The method of claim 10, further comprising the remote server transmitting one or more certificates along with the user-specific asymmetric cryptographic signature private key.
CN office action for CN 201180012382.4 dated May 26, 2014.
JP office action for JP 2012-547550 dated Oct. 7, 2014.
Peilin, "Design and Achievement of Security Protocol Based on a Trusted Platform Module", IT Collection of China Outstanding Master Degree's Paper Full-text Data-Base , pp. 1136-1193, Feb. 15, 2009.
Stamm et al. "Implementing Trusted Terminals with a TPM and SITDRM", Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, vol. 197, No. 1, Feb. 20, 2008.


We all love some decent lighting at home. However, most homes have a few dark corners and nooks that can add gloom to a space. A poorly lit home can cause an unpleasant space indoors and make being at home less desirable. Although there are a variety of artificial light options, the key is to find the best way to light up the home naturally. Natural light is excellent for daytime hours, as it saves energy and makes a space look more welcoming. Below are 5 ways to add more light to a home naturally.
Make the most of your windows!
The most obvious idea is having lots of windows. Ensure every room in the home has a natural light so no artificial light is required to be on during the day! Let light seep in thru the windows in the daylight hours to make a space feel more alive. In having a lot of windows, there are a variety of options: There are the conventional windows; there are clerestory windows, which sit above the eye level, high on the wall-yet still brighten interiors; skylights which are windows that bring in light from the sky!
Going with a lot of windows in the home, the next step is choosing the right window covering because that can make all the difference in how much light the windows give off. Drapes can be heavy or light depending on preference. However, lighter colored drapes allow light to reflect through when it is daylight, without being too interfering or disturbing any sleep. In more public areas of the home, sheer drapes are an excellent solution. They also provide the same, natural light without being blinding.
In naturally lighting a home, colors matter a lot. While choosing the general color scheme for a particular room or a home, lighter colors, especially white work very well in adding instant light to a space. White walls make a space look open and airy, and it brings in extra light without adding an extra light bulb!. Also ensure your ceiling is lighter than your walls. Go with white if your walls are white — it's our personal favourite! Matte finish paints are also great for reflecting light.
Whether it is the cabinets or flooring, gloss finish is brilliant for bouncing light around the room. As a finish, it is reflective, instantly brightening up a space and giving the illusion that there is more light than their actually is. Therefore, in adding more light to your home interior, consider a gloss finish for the kitchen, wardrobe, or even the floor.
Natural light in any interior is a definite must have. It creates a more welcoming space and adds some beauty indoors. While considering the interiors for your home, find a way to bring in the light….naturally!


text:
Civil Rights Organizations Contest Finding of Non-Discrimination in Maryland Census Ruling
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
Michelle Boykins: 202-296-2300 x. 0144
mboykins@advancingjustice-aajc.org
Sandra Hernandez: (213) 629-2512 x. 129
shernandez@maldef.org
Washington, D.C. – Civil rights groups filed a notice of cross-appeal today in their lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The filing follows an appeal by the Trump administration of the ruling against the citizenship question.
A federal court in Maryland ruled in April that the addition of the citizenship question violates the Administrative Procedures Act and the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution, but fell short of ruling that the White House purposefully sought to exclude non-citizens, particularly immigrants of color, from the decennial Census in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The Trump administration recently appealed the court's order prohibiting the addition of the citizenship question to the Census.
Attorneys with MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (Advancing Justice | AAJC) filed a cross-appeal on the sole question of whether the Administration's motive for the question was racially discriminatory.
"The American people have the right to know when their government engages in unconstitutional discrimination, particularly when it does so in order to undermine the Census," said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. "Wilbur Ross should long ago have resigned in disgrace; the evidence and court findings in this case plainly demonstrate that he engaged in despicable and unlawful racial discrimination."
MALDEF and Advancing Justice | AAJC filed the notice in the U.S. District Court in Maryland; the Trump administration appeal and the plaintiffs' cross-appeal will be considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
"The court recognized the racial discrimination that immigrants have faced from this president and this administration, including the actions taken by Secretary Wilbur Ross," said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. "Secretary Wilbur Ross blatantly disregarded the advice from experts within his department, former census directors, and experts from leading organizations — including Advancing Justice | AAJC — who advised him against adding the citizenship question because it would result in less participation from immigrants, non-citizens, and communities of color. The evidence shows a pattern and clear intent by Secretary Ross to carry out the racial animus designs of this administration."
U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel's ruling found that President Trump and Kris Kobach "harbored discriminatory animus towards non-citizens," and that at the urging of Trump advisors "the Secretary considered the impact of counting illegal immigrants in the Census." But the court concluded that although the Secretary's stated rationale was pure pretext, ultimately "Secretary Ross's original rationale remains, to some extent, a mystery."
Attorneys with MALDEF and Advancing Justice |AAJC contend that the Court erred because its own findings of fact as a matter of law compel the conclusion that the Administration engaged in intentional discrimination.
"Supreme Court law recognizes that legislators and administrators rarely, if ever, admit racially discriminatory motives, and that they, like Secretary Ross, hide behind executive and legislative privilege," said Denise Hulett, national senior counsel at MALDEF. "A finding of governmental intentional discrimination therefore properly rests on evidence of the kind that the District Court already found. That evidence places the gun in Secretary Ross's hand, identifies the discriminatory sources of the bullets, and describes the smoke that will obscure and distort the census count."
MALDEF and Advancing Justice | AAJC sued Trump administration last May. The lawsuit, LUPE v. Ross, was later consolidated with Kravitz v. U.S. Department of Commerce, another challenge to the citizenship question filed with the Maryland court.
Attorneys for both groups represent Latino and Asian American individuals, Native Americans, social service non-profits, state legislative associations, civil rights groups, voters' rights organizations, and community partnerships that would be forced to divert resources to combat a potential severe undercount in their respective communities.
"More than 90% of Asian Americans are either immigrants or children of immigrants, so the proposed citizenship question has significant relevance to our community," said Niyati Shah, assistant director of legal advocacy for Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. "It should not be a surprise that the Census Bureau staff repeatedly advised Secretary Wilbur Ross that a citizenship question would cause harm to non-citizens and historically hard-to-count populations, including the Asian American community. We hope that the fourth circuit will vindicate the rights of our communities and agree that racial animus played a role in the administration's attempt to add this question."
Two other courts in New York and California have also moved to block the addition of a citizenship question because it violates the APA and Enumeration Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has granted review of the New York case, and has scheduled oral argument for April 23.
Census data are crucial to allocating seats in Congress, drawing accurate election districts and ensuring equitable distribution of federal funds for a wide range of vital programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Section 8 housing vouchers, transportation funds, and special education grants.
Read the notice to appeal HERE.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Established in 2016, Linden Staub Founders Tara Davies & Esther Kinnear Derungs are looking to challenge the industry by creating a company where the mantra is 'Empowering Women'. Their focus will be on very close personal management, working on their talents' objectives & goals – empowering them every step of the way.
Uniquely, Linden Staub is Mother Agency to all their talent, and will represent & book them in London, whilst placing them in other markets.
In addition to its office in London, Linden Staub also maintains an office in Russia.


I'm really pleased to share that I'll be exhibiting at the Bluecoat this spring as part of their 'Public View' exhibition, celebrating the Bluecoat's 300th anniversary. The list of artists exhibiting is really amazing and I'm humbled to have been invited to exhibit as part of this show as an artist who has exhibited there in the past. The exhibition will feature works that have been shown throughout the Bluecoat's history, some that were made at the same time as the artist exhibited there, or as a completely new artwork.
My history with the Bluecoat stretches back to around 2003 when I volunteered in the gallery whilst at University, then exhibited my degree show work 'Sit and Draw' in the old windowbox space in 2004. The Bluecoat have been brilliant at supporting artists as they develop their practice and invited me to exhibit in 2008 as part of Next Up and to create 'Passing, Watching, Waiting, Following' in the College Street space. Sara-Jayne Parsons invited POST Liverpool to exhibit as part of Global Studio and supported me to create 'Two installations' in the Vide in 2013 following my residency in Shanghai.
It is work from that latter exhibition that I will be representing in Public View, showing one of my pinned collages that acted as a study for the interactive projection work that featured in the Vide. I'm really thankful of Sara-Jayne Parsons and Bryan Biggs support over the past 13 years, and am really happy to join in the celebrations of a brilliant Liverpool institution.
For more information about Public View, go here.


text:
Documentary Border States of America Reveals TRUTH About U.S. Borders
Ann-Marie Murrell Send an email October 15, 2014
Thursday, October 16, an explosive new movie entitled Border States of America will premier across the country. This is perhaps one of the most important documentaries you'll see this year, showing the firsthand, eyewitness, boots-on-the-ground truth about what's really happening on our U.S. borders.
Tea Party Patriots founder Jennybeth Martin writes,
The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is the breach point for the largest invasion of American territory since the British occupied and burned Washington, DC during the War of 1812.
I saw the effects of this invasion for myself earlier this year, spending time talking to local sheriffs and residents, hearing directly from those on the front lines, and learning first-hand about the problems on the southern border.
Local residents talk about the flood of illegal immigrants pouring into their cities over the last two years and how crimes against persons and property have spiked. They tell stories about the "Coyotes" – evil people smuggling human beings across the border for profit – who ply their trade with impunity, and local sheriffs explain that the drug cartels are now running the show on both sides of the border.
Few Americans have the opportunity to see what I saw along our border but it's critically important for people to see the disastrous effects of the Obama Administration's illegal immigration policy. The establishment media refuses to tell America the truth about illegal immigration so Tea Party Patriots made the investment of producing a soon-to-be-released documentary about the problem.
Illegal immigration is not just a problem for states that share a border with Mexico or Canada. Because of Obama's lawless approach to illegal immigration, we ALL live in border states today.
The Border States of America, the new documentary from Tea Party Patriots, shows in graphic detail the problems caused by open borders and Obama's refusal to enforce our immigration laws.
Crime. Drugs. Financial strains on our local schools and hospitals. Fewer jobs for American citizens. Terrorism. Contempt for the rule of law. Lawlessness from the very pinnacle of American government. This is the legacy of President Obama's illegal immigration policy and it is absolutely imperative that every American see with their own eyes what's going on along our border.
I was shocked by what I saw and The Border States of America will shock others once they see for themselves what our nation is facing.
And from the Tea Party Patriots press release:
An unprecedented wave of illegal immigration is washing over America, threatening the fabric of our nation. But the Obama Administration refuses to enforce our immigration laws, resulting in tens of thousands of people illegally entering the US. Now, our new film reveals the full scope of this crisis.
The Border States of America takes viewers from the Rio Grande Valley to towns across the country, telling the story of human smugglers and drug cartels who profit from Obama's policies; of American citizens whose lives are put at risk; and the social and economic toll on our communities. We cut through the fog to bring you the truth about what is really happening with the border crisis.
Television and film star Nick Searcy has come on board to narrate The Border States of America. He is an accomplished actor, director, and producer with a career spanning more than 30 years in cinema, television, and on the stage. With dozens of starring and supporting roles across a wide range of feature films and TV shows under his belt, we couldn't be more excited to have him help tell this story.
PolitiChicks is honored to be covering the red carpet premier in Los Angeles this Thursday, interviewing the stars of the film including actor Nick Searcy.
For more ticket information about the Los Angeles premier, click here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-border-states-of-america-nationwide-premiere-tickets-13607160383
Here's a preview:
This Californian is Standing Up to Jim Brulte & the CA GOP
Mr. Wade Wants To Go To Washington


text:
5 Ways to Ruin Pasta
By Lawrence Marcus
© Melissa Hom
Missy Robbins.Next week, some of the world's greatest chefs will converge on New York City's Eataly for Identità New York, a massive celebration of Italian cooking. The event will pair six of Italy's best chefs with six of New York's biggest names (among them, Mario Batali, Jonathan Benno and Michael White) to talk about trends and teach cooking classes. For A Voce's Missy Robbins (an F&W Best New Chef 2010), this means a reunion with Emanuele Scarello, who was briefly a mentor to Robbins when she apprenticed at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Agli Amici, in Friuli.
Robbins was just beginning to learn about Italian food when she worked with Scarello and his family. "Mama [Scarello's mother] made pasta every morning," she says. "Every day, I would try to beat her down there, and she would already be halfway done at 8 a.m." More than a decade later, Robbins is a pasta master with her own Michelin star. Here, she shares five mistakes for home cooks to avoid.
1. Overcooking it. This might seem basic, but it's the surest way to ruin pasta. For dried pasta, you want some firmness at the center, but you can also tell by color if you're heading for trouble. "If you get to that really white color, it's totally overcooked." Your pasta should exit the water slightly undercooked, so it can finish cooking in sauce.
2. Not salting the water properly. "This is a really big one," says Robbins. To get it right, here's the procedure: Boil the water, add the salt, let the water come back up to a boil and then taste it. "It should be a little less salty than seawater." This is actually much easier at home—where you'll typically only be making one pot of pasta—than in a restaurant kitchen, where the water boils down and needs adjustment throughout the night.
3. Choosing the wrong sauce. Think about where you want the flavor in your dish to come from. "If you want to highlight the filling of a ravioli," says Robbins, "you might not want to use a super-strong sauce." On the other hand, orecchiette, with its tiny, sauce-catching pockets, is perfect for an intense ragù.
4. Not sweating the details. When making fresh pasta, little differences can have a big effect on the finished product. Robbins advocates using extra-fine, double-zero flour ("really, really important"), being careful not to overwork the dough, and letting it rest. As for eggs, Robbins uses only the yolks, which creates incredibly tender pasta.
5. Pouring the cooking water down the drain. "You really want that starchy water," says Robbins. "Even if you drain the pasta in the sink, you should save the water." A bit of pasta water will aid just about any sauce, improving its consistency and lending a little salty flavor.
Related: Fresh Pasta Recipes
Fast Weeknight Pastas


text:
Bayou Teche NWR Trashing Is Despicable
John K. Flores
Turning right off of La. 317 in Centerville and onto Alice C Road this past weekend I noticed the air suddenly filled with the putrid smell of rotting carcasses. Approaching the Yellow Bayou canal on the Garden City Unit of Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge property, black vultures told the story of this disgusting scene. Someone deliberately dumped three dead hogs along the levee next to the bayou.
They literally took the time to load them into a truck from wherever they killed them, traveled to the refuge levee and got rid of them in the most distasteful way.
Earlier that morning I was on the Centerville Unit of the refuge. What was pitiful was a blatant act of vandalism, where someone had taken a shotgun and blasted holes in one of the kiosk signs on the refuge, apparently using it for target practice.
Basically, they used the sign for sick sport. If you're unfamiliar with National Wildlife Refuge signage, they all have the iconic Canada goose symbol. The guys who did this didn't have to lead, because it's quite obvious they were aiming at the head of the goose.
First and foremost, I don't consider whoever did these things to be hunters. They might be guys who like to kill and shoot guns, but they are not Louisiana sportsmen. Their behavior is inappropriate and inexcusable.
Signs aren't cheap. Typically, all government entities must go through the public bid process when making high dollar purchases. Moreover, there are Federal standards for signage used on refuges that must be met by suppliers, so they tend to cost more.
In this era of government budget cuts, the refuge system has been taking huge hits where spending is concerned. So, when you think of the vandals, remember it's your tax dollars they are messing with.
If it sounds like I have a real problem with this, I do. There is a pile of reasons this behavior is tasteless.
It's bad optics. In other words, it's a reflection on the hunting community as a whole of which I am one. There are a lot of people who participate in non-consumptive outdoor activities such as hiking, birdwatching, canoeing, and photography, who choose not to hunt. But, they are no less outdoor people. You'll never win these people over with poor behavior, when it comes down to a policy decision that impacts public land use.
You're also breaking the law.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agent Corporal Jake Darden, is assigned to St. Mary Parish.
Darden said, "Litter and destruction of property are both violations you can be charged with. And, there are multiple other violations stated in the refuge pamphlet you could be in violation of. But, you can be charged with either Federal or State offences on refuge property that are punishable by fines or jail time."
LDWF Enforcement Division Media Relations Officer, Adam Einck, says there are three categories for littering; simple, intentional, and gross littering. Those convicted of litter violations face between $175 and $1000 in fines and up to eight hours in a litter abatement work program. Dumping violations can carry even more penalties and higher fines depending on the severity of the dumpsite and the damage to the environment.
"Examples of simple littering can be trash flying out of the back of a pickup bed," Einck said. "Intentional littering can be someone deliberately throwing trash out of a window onto the roadway and brings up to a $250 fine. Gross littering can be someone depositing large amounts of trash into a ditch or having an illegal dumpsite and carries $500 to $1,000 in fines."
Criminal damage to property is found in Louisiana R.S. 14:56. Under this law, point B.(1) reads, "Whomever, commits the crime of simple criminal damage to property where the damage is less than one thousand dollars, the offender shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both."
Point (4) says, in addition to the foregoing penalties, a person convicted under the provision of R.S. 14:56 may be ordered to make full restitution to the owner of the property.
Bayou Teche NWR is really a jewel of a place to visit and St. Mary Parish is lucky to have the refuge in our backyard. It's never going to be a J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, like they have on Florida's Sanibel Island. It may not even be as popular as perhaps Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge located in southwest Louisiana. But, Bayou Teche NWR's 9,028 acres, with hiking trails, canoe/kayak paddling, and biking trails, may have some things these others do not offer.
One of the refuge's management goals is to provide critical habitat for the Louisiana black bear, but it's also important for other wildlife and migratory birds. The latter is what draws me to Bayou Teche each spring.
It's difficult to determine and know what the economic impact of Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge is to our parish, but one thing for sure, it won't provide any economic or intrinsic reward if people continue to trash it.
Subscribe and see the e-Edition of the St. Mary Now for the complete story.


text:
Mystery Monday – Die Buying
Die Buying by Laura DiSilverio
Review by reacherfan1909
Allow me to say that Amazon has seriously profited from my membership in PBS. I have found lots of new authors and books just looking at the wish lists of friends with similar taste. Mystery swaps always find me adding new authors and books.
That said, cozies run hot and cold for me. I almost hate trying new authors, because I get 50 pages in and end up disliking the characters so much, I quit reading. That happened with Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder by Chris Cavender, book two of the Pizza Lover's mystery. Never read book 1, and now I never will. I was so bored and irritated, I quit at page 35 because I wanted to smack the irritating Eleanor Swift for excessive wallowing in post death depression and immature selfishness (10 years of marriage and 3 years of wallowing?) and spit on the 'pizza' – any North Jersey/NYC native would do the same. It was with some trepidation that I picked up Die Buying by Laura DiSilverio. The cutesie title was a bit off-putting, and the book was a debut novel for the author and the series, so it was a dark horse. But with Amazon's 4-for-3 sale, I went nuts and got a bunch of new authors all of whom are wish listed on PBS. More books for swaps! Luckily for me, Die Buying was a winner.
EJ Ferris was a veteran MP and investigator in the USAF until an IED ruined her knee and lower leg and ended her military career. At lose ends in Walter Reed rehab, she couldn't see going back to live the Hollywood elite high life with her parents, despite loving them both. But Grandpa Atherton, a long retired CIA operative living in Virginia, needed someone to keep and eye on him and that helped EJ too. Her disability kept her off police forces, so the only job she could find was as a mall security. Not the excitement or challenge of her former job, but it paid the bills. Her childhood friend, Kayla, a former silver medal Olympic athlete and current roller derby player, owned a shop in the Fernglen Galleria, and having an old friend around helped.
The story opens with animal activists breaking into the Herpetology Hut and setting loose the snakes, lizards, and tortoises. A cleaning man ends up with one leaping on his head, and the hunt is on for the other scaly denizens. Grandpa Atherton needs to stop playing spy and alarming customers, so EJ has him find some equipment that will help locate the coldblooded animals before any more shoppers attack the critters. Then a woman starts screaming. Imaging a corn snake or iguana was the problem, EJ aims her Segway toward the screams and finds a young woman with a stroller having hysterics. But it's no snake or lizard. It's a dead man in the window of an upscale woman's clothing store posed in a beach chair stark naked. The cop in her wants to investigate, but she knows better and calls the cops.
EJ is a serious irritation to her boss, Captain Woskowicz, a man with no police or security background who drinks too much and thinks he's a ladies man. He dislikes having having an experienced investigator on his staff. She's a threat. Barely getting along, EJ does her level best to avoid him. Right now, she just has to point him to a camera crew looking for an interview and he's a happy camper and she's, temporarily, off the hook. But Detective Anders Helland has a low opinion of 'mall cops' and won't even listen as EJ tries to explain her background. This is police business. A part of EJ understands, but resents his attitude. Another even bigger part hates being on the sidelines. It's frustrating.
Jackson Porter was not a loved man. He was a developer, a womanizer despite being married, and a future threat to Ferglen with his new resort/golf course/mall development right next door. But he's not EJ's only problem. There's been a rash of tagging on cars parked in the mall lot, all of them with biblical verses. EJ sics her grandfather and his spy toys on them when the mall manager has his beloved Karmann Ghia tagged. But the suicide of a planning board member shuts down the investigation as 'solved'. Too many loose ends for EJ.
The rude Det Helland and EJ cross paths again and again – including over a dead body of another mall guard. He's infuriating and shuts her out completely, though he does have the grace to apologize when he learns of her service and experience as an investigator. But that's all she gets, no info or inside track, just another firm rejection putting her in her place. Then there's the gun toting new owner of the food court cookie concession. He keeps showing up at odd times and ducks her every question about his background in law enforcement. Whatever he is, he isn't some simple baker looking to date Kayla.
The story is told in a no nonsense fashion and Ms DiSilverio does a terrific job with her lead characters. EJ was three dimensions without ever playing for cheap emotions or angst. When her leg gives out in a chase, her frustration and anger at her injury ring true, as does the way she chafes at not doing 'real' police work. I like, too, that there was no angsty, emotionally battered childhood. Her dad might be a famous movie star, but he's still happily married to her mom and they love both of their children – the daughter the cop and the son, the globe trotting investigative reporter. Her Grandpa Atherton might be a bit contrived, but he's well done and likeable without being over the top. Her friend Kayla also feels right, including the rough spots in their relationship. Det Helland will likely get fleshed out, as will Jay Callahan, the cookie man, though both needed a bit more attention and slightly bigger roles in the story.
The plot and story flows well, neither breakneck, nor dragged out. The prose is a bit more spare than most cozies, but it works in favor of the character EJ. Ms DiSilverio is herself a former USAF Intelligence Officer, so spare prose is likely natural. Any cop, civilian or military, would be direct. The mystery itself ended up being a good one with a clever solution. It did lack some of the excitement and originality than Karen E Olsen's Tattoo Shop mysteries have, but that was mostly balanced by greater realism. What impressed me most was the way EJ's injury and subsequent forced retirement was played. No bitterness, no resentment, except for her own frail flesh, and a believable sadness and almost desperation to be a real cop again. It was all there and felt more real for the low key way it was handled. I am impressed with this first time author. Overall, this is a cozy that's more than worth the time and money.
Die Buying, despite its cutesie title, gets a solid B+ to A- (4.3*) from me and is recommended to those who like the Tattoo Shop mysteries.
Fiction Review – The Year of Fog
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
Review by Vicky T. (VickyJo)
"There was a girl. Her name was Emma." And so begins Michelle Redmond's haunting novel, "The Year of Fog." This is a story about love and loss, blame and forgiveness. It explores memory and all the ways we try to remember important events in our lives, and all the ways we try to forget.
Abby Mason has a good life. She is a free lance photographer with a thriving business; she is engaged to a wonderful man named Jake, a high school teacher; and she is getting closer and closer to Jake's six-year-old daughter Emma, who officially will be her stepdaughter in just a few months. Emma loves Abby; she's the only mother the little girl has known, since her biological mother left when Emma was only three.
Jake takes a weekend trip and leaves Emma in Abby's care. They are walking on San Francisco's Ocean Beach one foggy morning when Abby stops to photograph a dead seal. After only a few seconds, she looks up and realizes that Emma is gone.
The frantic, panicked search begins. There is no one else on the beach, and only a few people back in the parking lot. Abby finally must face the facts: Emma is really, truly gone. She calls the police…and then makes the worst call of her life, to tell Jake.
Imagine the horror of losing a child; now, imagine the crushing guilt of losing someone else's child. Abby and Jake each deal with Emma's disappearance in their own way. As the days turn into weeks, and the odds get worse and worse, Jake eventually comes around to the police's theory: that Emma wandered into the ocean and got caught in the powerful undertow, and drowned. He eventually holds a mock funeral for Emma, burying an empty coffin and (he hopes) his grief in a small plot. Abby refuses to accept this idea. She knows Emma was afraid of the water, and would never have gone near it. She believes that Emma was kidnapped. Abby is certain that if she keeps searching, and never loses hope, that she will find Emma and everything will be right once again. But how can anything ever be the same? Jake can't even make eye contact with Abby; she isn't surprised at all when he suggests they postpone the wedding…indefinitely. And a month into Emma's disappearance, when Jake's ex-wife Lisbeth suddenly appears to hold a news conference and play the grieving mother, the tension between Jake and Abby only gets worse, if that's possible.
A potential break comes when Abby is hypnotized by a therapist, and remembers a new detail about that morning on Ocean Beach. Armed with a new clue, she takes off in a new direction, hoping against hope that she can find Emma for everyone's sake. Is she wasting her time, chasing a ghost through the fog? Is she too late? Or do miracles really happen?
This story is so compelling; it's hard to put it down. The author lets you feel Abby's grief, her determination, her despair. I kept putting myself in Abby's shoes: what would I do in such an awful situation? I also kept thinking, "This author better solve this mystery and tell me what happened to Emma!" but then I realized that there are people whose children have disappeared that have to live with that uncertainty every day, who have to live with never knowing the end of the story. I can't imagine how hard that must be. And so, I'm not going to say whether or not the author reveals Emma's fate; you'll just have to read the book to find out.
The Places Where We Live – New Jersey
by Brenna B. (demiducky25)
Lately the first thing that people tend to think of when they hear the words "New Jersey" is the MTV show Jersey Shore. Personally, I've never seen more than 5 seconds of the show so I cannot attest to the accuracy of how they present life in the Garden State (heck, I'm not a beach person and I've only been "down the shore," as we say, a handful of times so I really cannot speak to life along the actual Jersey Shore at all). Whether you love or loathe Jersey Shore, I hope that reading my entry about my home state will give you new insight and perhaps bring new images to mind besides Snooki going crazy. 🙂
In terms of size, New Jersey can be described a number of ways. It is one of the smallest states in terms of land area (only Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware are smaller). In terms of total population, New Jersey is currently the 11th most populous state, and for as long as I can remember it is the most densely populated state (my 4th grade social studies textbook had a map of the United States showing the size of each state in terms of population density, and I recall being amazed at how little NJ was suddenly the largest one on that type of map projection). Yet what it lacks in size, New Jersey makes up for with presence and style!
Nicknamed "The Garden State," New Jersey has had a very interesting and colorful history. Prior to the American Revolution, the area that would later become New Jersey was originally a Dutch colony and was later acquired by the British, making it one of the original 13 colonies. As with New York and Pennsylvania, the colony of New Jersey became a popular location for immigrants, making it a fairly ethnically and religiously diverse colony. During the Revolutionary War, New Jersey was the site of several battles and winter encampments, earning it the nickname "The Crossroads of the Revolution." In fact, the commemorative state quarter for NJ showcases George Washington crossing the Delaware River to surprise the Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Trenton (though the image on the quarter, as well as the original painting, isn't exactly accurate, but that's a story for another time).
Fast-forward past the Revolutionary War and New Jersey kept its pulse on the changing landscape of American culture. Despite the "Garden State" moniker, NJ became a booming center of factories and production during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Although the silk mills are no more, I grew up hearing stories about them and how nearby Paterson was once one of the biggest silk producers in the world.
As with the Industrial Revolution, modern New Jersey is still doing its best to keep up with the times. The educational systems in New Jersey, from K-12 all the way to our many colleges and universities, are top-notch, thus preparing young minds for the future challenges our country will face. Other ways New Jersey stays current with the times is in terms of entertainment. Perhaps that has a bit to do with Thomas Edison (originally from Ohio, but I think NJ claims him anyway due to his work being done in Menlo Park, NJ) and his entertainment contributions of the motion picture projector and the phonograph (and of course the light bulb which would make our form of entertainment, reading, a bit more challenging without it). In terms of professional sports, New Jersey has the Devils (hockey), the Nets (basketball, but I've heard that they might be moving to New York), and both the New York Giants and the New York Jets football teams actually play in New Jersey even though they are considered New York teams (personally I never really considered that fair, but that's just me). We also have a number of minor league baseball teams as well. Besides sports, New Jersey is also home to other forms of entertainment. There have been a number of entertainers, past and present, who have been proud to call NJ home (in fact, some of them appear on the list at the end of this piece). How different the world would be without the impact of some of these great performers! New Jersey has also been the setting, filming location, or both for many TV shows and movies: The Sopranos, Ed, Jersey Shore, House, Cake Boss, and The Adventures of Pete & Pete are just a few shows that fall into those categories. Movies like Lean on Me, In & Out, Be Kind Rewind, Coneheads, and pretty much anything by Kevin Smith were all either about NJ, filmed scenes in NJ, or both. I'm sorry if the movie list consisted of films mostly about or filmed in northern NJ, but those are the ones I'm familiar with.
That last sentence about northern NJ reminds me of something else that seems fairly unique to New Jersey. Ever since I can remember, there has always been this strange rivalry between North NJ, South NJ, and the possible existence of Central NJ (some people argue that there is no Central NJ and that there is a clear dividing line between North and South, others see Central NJ as its own entity separate from North and South NJ). I never really thought much about it until college when I lived with roommates from other parts of the state. Apparently we all had a different dividing line depending on where we lived, and we also had different words for certain terms depending on where we lived. The two biggest examples are the night before Halloween (Goosey Night, Mischief Night, and Cabbage Night seemed to be the top ones, though I never knew it as anything other than Goosey Night. Our international roommate always found this argument hysterical because she never called the night before Halloween anything at all). Also for a very long sandwich the terms "sub," "hoagie," and "hero" were deemed equally acceptable depending on which part of the state you were from (as someone from north NJ I went to elementary school where we had "hoagie days" then moved a few towns over and suddenly they were "subs" so that might not even be a "North vs South" thing). For such a small state it is certainly strange that New Jersey has a number of different terms for the same thing!
One final set of quirks that I couldn't seem to fit anywhere else (and I really can't prove this one), but I feel like there are more malls (and sizable ones) and dinners (especially 24 hour ones or what is the point, hehe) in at least my little patch of New Jersey than anywhere else! From where I sit now, I could get into my car and drive to at least 3 different malls in 5 minutes, and there are two 24 hour dinners walking distance from my house. My international roommate, who has since moved back to her home country, has stated on Facebook before that the diners are probably one of the things she misses the most about New Jersey.
And that's what New Jersey is to me, a wonderfully strange yet cozy and comforting nook in the world. I don't pretend to be a traditional "Jersey Girl," whatever that really is, but I am certainly proud of my home state. It's hard for me to imagine living anywhere else. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other tidbits that should have been noted, but I did my best, and I hope you liked hearing about my corner of the universe, and feel free to check out some of the books below (I hope the links worked this time, it was giving me some difficulties so be warned):
Notable New Jerseyeans
Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)- only US president to serve non-consecutive terms (he was #22 and #24)
Thomas Edison (1847-1831)- inventor (from Ohio but did much of his world changing work in Menlo Park, NJ)
Bud Abbott (1895-1974)- actor/comedian
Lou Costello (1906-1959)- actor/comedian
Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)- singer/ actor
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (born 1930)- NASA, astronaut
Jack Nicholson (born 1937)- actor (born in New York City, grew up in Neptune City, NJ)
Debbie Harry (born 1945), singer/actress (born in Florida but raised in NJ)
Bruce Springsteen (born 1949), musician
Anthony Bourdain (born 1956) chef, author and television personality (born in New York City, grew up in Leonia, New Jersey)
Jon Bon Jovi (born 1962), musician
Kevin Smith (born 1970)- filmmaker
Lauryn Hill (born 1975), singer/rapper/songwriter
The Jonas Brothers (birth years vary depending on the brother)- boy band
1776 by David McCullough (provides a very detailed look at the American Revolution and highlights many of the events happening in NJ at that time)
It Came from New Jersey! My Life as an Artist by Tim Jacobus (the artist responsible for the covers of the Goosebumps books)
The Houseguest by Agnes Rossi (a novel about 1930s NJ)
The Lost Legends of New Jersey by Frederick Reiken (a novel about 1980s NJ)
Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman (highlights the wonderful and strange of the Garden State)
Tags: Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in The Places Where We Live | 7 Comments »
Fantasy Friday – A Game of Cages
A Game of Cages by Harry Connolly
Review By Bowden P. (Trey)
Ray Lilly is back, this time investigating an auction of a predator in a remote small town. The hope is that the auction can be stopped, and, well, if everything went according to plan, it would be a much shorter novel wouldn't it?
The tone in Game of Cages is different than Child of Fire. Washaway, the small town, is much more sympathetic than Hammer Bay, which makes what happens to it and its population that much more horrible as the predator gets loose near and then in it. We also get a look at the other players in the occult underground besides the Twenty Palaces. They range from Triads, to very nasty sorcerer and his helper, to snobby and very short sighted occult investigators. And, oh yes, then there is the family trying to sell off the predator. As a whole, I wouldn't want to meet them – ever.
Readers also get some more insight into the magic of the setting, and the Twenty Palace Society. Apparently, the closer a spell is to its original writing, the more powerful it is. So a Primary user is much more powerful than a Quaternary and so on. It also looks like the Twenty Palaces may be in some trouble…
Again, Connolly hits the horror and action buttons without necessarily bringing the gore. The action moves along quickly giving the sense of very high stakes and keeps the book from dragging. The horror comes in with what the predator (called a sapphire dog "a beautiful creature that destroyed anyone who saw it.") does. What it does is not gross or obvious and can even be hidden, but its still horrible. In contrast to this, Connolly plays up the positive aspects of small towns. Ray wouldn't have made it at all without the help of the constable and the genuine kindness and sacrifice of others.
Did I like it? 4 and half stars worth.
Likes: Well drawn minor characters; Ray's continuing development as a character; Seeing a bit more of Annalise that's not a sorcerous killing machine; Seeing more of the magic and the Twenty Palaces Society.
Dislikes: The fates of those well drawn minor characters.
Suggested for: Fans of the Dresden files, Stross' Laundry series (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum), Kadrey's Sandman Slim and horror fans in general.
PBS Cruise, Day 2 continued – Jeopardy PBS Style
How many did you know?
100. The number of candles on the PBS Birthday Cake in September 2011. What is 7?
200. Where ALL of your transaction details are stored. What is the Transaction Archive?
300. Your source for the latest and greatest PBS news. What is the PaperBackSwap NewsWire?
400. PBS calls this state home. Where is Georgia?
500. The name of the program which featured 27 schools with a total donation of over 25,000 books. What is the Books For Schools Program?
100. 200, Gold Key 300. What is the Wish List?
200. To add books to your Book's I've Read List, do this. What is give the book a Star Rating?
300. Start your day here for a thought provoking quote and picture. What is Message of the Day?
400. DAILY DOUBLE. Where our live feed of site activity is shown, including, books being swapped and posted, member registrations, etc. It updates every 15 seconds. What is Under The Hood?
500. Magazines, Comic Books, Coloring Books, Calendars, Blank Journals. What are Unpostable Items?
Acronyms & Icons
100. The entity used to get our books to and from other members. What is the USPS?
200. MoM. What is Member of the Month?
300. How books are queued at PBS. What is FIFO (First in, First out)?
400. TGL. What is Tour Guide Leader?
500. This is the unique number that identifies books in the PBS system (abbreviated ISBN). What is the International Standardized Book Number? (10 or 13 digits)
100.*No Missing, Torn, Loose or Chewed Pages. *Front and Back cover must present. *No Writing, Highlighting or Underlining. *Binding Intact. *No water damage, stains or mold. What is a Postable Book?
200. Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Large Print Only. What are Binding Types?
300. Author. Title. ISBN. Binding Type. What must match exactly to Post a Book?
400. 5 Million +. How many books are currently available to order at PBS? As of this morning there are 5,112,898
Under the Community Tab
100. Where you can find helpful members to assist you. What is the Questions About PaperBackSwap Discussion Forum?
200. Subscribable feature that lets you swap books for books with other members without credits. What is Box-O-Books?
300. See the most posted book, the most Wish Listed book, the most Requested book, the member who has the most referrals and the member who has swapped the most books. What is the Top 100?
400. Find Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Book Grab Giveaways, Member Musings and the Vostromoscope. What is the PBS Blog?
500. You can print a customized bookmark with the PBS logo here. What is Spread the Word?
100. Yellow and Blue. What are the PBS Colors?
200. The names of the PBS Sister Sites. What is SwapaCD and SwapADVD?
300. This feature allows members with public profiles to communicate with their PBS friends. What is the Bulletin Board?
400. New Member Questions. Lounge A. Lounge B. Over 45 and picking up speed. Games. What is Live Chat?
500. How to Swap Books, Browse the Help Docs, Ask the Librarian, Live Help. What is the Help Center?
Final Jeopardy
Who is the author with the most posted books in the history of PBS?
Who is Dan Brown?
With Angels and Demons, The DaVinci Code, Digital Fortress and Deception Point, Dan Brown is by far the author with the most posted books here at PBS. As of this morning there are 12,386 Dan Brown books available to order.
1st Annual Cruise for PBS Members – Day 2, Morning
On Sunday, February 5th, we had a full day at sea and a full day of PBS events
10AM: Our PBS Volunteers and Team Get-Together. This was the first time many of the Tour Guides and Team Members had gotten a chance to spend time together face-to-face.
Photo by Guy S.
11AM: PBS Jeopardy!
Photo by DK S. (dkstevenson1)
Our Emcee: Who is Mary (kilchurn)?
Photo by Guy
Our Contestants: Who are Judy, Lori and Gail?
Our PBS Team Contestant "Phone a Friend" Crew: Who are Josh, Len and Zack?
(Neither folded hands nor flamingos were requirements)
Our Exultant and very PBS Savvy Winner: Who is Lori S. (Ethelsmom)?
Lori is now our newest PBS Volunteer Tour Guide! We are so very lucky to have her!
Here are the PBS Jeopardy Answers. How many can you get right?
100. The number of candles on the PBS Birthday Cake in September 2011.
200. Where ALL of your transaction details are stored.
300. Your source for the latest and greatest PBS news.
400. PBS calls this state home.
500. The name of the program which featured 27 schools with a total donation of over 25,000 books.
100. 200, Gold Key 300.
200. To add books to your Book's I've Read List, do this.
300. Start your day here for a thought provoking quote and picture.
400. DAILY DOUBLE. Where our live feed of site activity is shown, including, books being swapped and posted, member registrations, etc. It updates every 15 seconds.
500. Magazines, Comic Books, Coloring Books, Calendars, Blank Journals
100. The entity used to get our books to and from other members.
200. MoM
300. How books are queued at PBS.
400. TGL
500. This is the unique number that identifies books in the PBS system (abbreviated ISBN).
100.*No Missing, Torn, Loose or Chewed Pages. *Front and Back cover must present. *No Writing, Highlighting or Underlining. *Binding Intact. *No water damage, stains or mold.
200. Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Large Print Only
300. Author. Title. ISBN. Binding Type.
400. 5 Million +
100. Where you can find helpful members to assist you.
200. Subscribable feature that lets you swap books for books with other members without credits.
300. See the most posted book, the most Wish Listed book, the most Requested book, the member who has the most referrals and the member who has swapped the most books.
400. Find Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Book Grab Giveaways, Member Musings and the Vostromoscope.
500. You can print a customized bookmark with the PBS logo here.
100. Yellow and Blue
200. The names of the PBS Sister Sites.
300. This feature allows members with public profiles to communicate with their PBS friends.
400. New Member Questions. Lounge A. Lounge B. Over 45 and picking up speed. Games
500. How to Swap Books, Browse the Help Docs, Ask the Librarian, Live Help
Tune in on Thursday!
Member Memories – Our Love of Books
by Cynthia F. (frazerc)
I loved books but I had trouble reading in school. They wanted me to do the whole "cat, bat, rat" thing when we were reading Swiss Family Robinson at home.
"The fat cat ate the rat" just didn't stand up against shipwrecks and pirates. Kind of like being forced to take Home Economics in 7th grade and they wanted to teach me to make cinnamon toast – when I was helping cook dinner every night. After awhile they figured out the lessons were annoying me…
Besides checking books out of the libraries [both school and public] I spent my $.25 allowance on comic books. They were 10 cents in that day [yeah, really showing my age there] so I could buy two comic books and some penny candy each week. Then they went to 12 cents – less candy but still two books. Then they went to 15 cents and my dad introduced me to thrift stores. I could get books for a dime [and sometimes he paid for them, a real win-win situation!] So over time I accumulated all the Louisa May Alcott books, the Anne of Green Gables books, and so many more wonderful [and re-readable] stories that dad had to build me more bookcases.
Both my parents read to me when I was little but Dad kept on with me as I discovered Andre Norton and Heinlein's juveniles, reading many of the same books so we could discuss them.
Since he had to do 'dad' things like earning a living and cutting the grass I read a lot more than he did, but we read Zane Grey and Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ernie Pyle and mysteries galore.
Mom would offer reading suggestions but was too busy doing 'mom' things to read much beyond the sales in the newspaper. [My grandmother lived with us and needed extra care so her time was limited.] But I told her about them and she listened in while Dad and I talked and she sewed.
So – do I love books? A definite yes. I grew up surrounded by them and people who read them. [But I sure wish I had kept the comic books, they'd have been worth a mint!]
Note from Blog Coord. Click on any cover image here to go to the book information page. At the time of publishing this blog, all the books referenced had copies available to order except Here is Your War by Ernie Pyle.


Hotel guests were evacuated from a Best Western in North Haven when an air conditioning unit caught fire Tuesday evening, according to the fire department.
North Haven firefighters responded to the hotel on Washington Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A first-floor air conditioner had caught fire and smoke had begun to fill rooms on the first and second floor, fire officials said.
The fire had been snuffed out and guests were allowed back to their rooms within about an hour, according to the fire department.
The Fire Marshal's office is investigating to determine the cause of the fire.


I came home to take a nap.
I have gaming in an hour and a half.
Update: I slept all too well, right through gaming. Sigh.
Hey, are you folk free for board games on the weekend of the 16th (not this weekend, but the following)?
I'll be in Palenville that weekend. linuxspice might still be around, but she's not so much of a gamer.


Taskmedia.co.uk - Building your business web space with you, Cheshire WA6 - Why have a Website ?
In today's tough economy and competitive atmosphere, you need every advantage you can get, no matter how small.
To be competitive in promoting and marketing your business, you need to do what your competition is doing, as a bare minimum.
Geographical location is of major importance for customers wishing to find local services, so even at a basic level you need to be listed online with your business name and address, phone number, post code and map to find your location.
Customers routinely use search engines like Google or Yahoo to fully research products and services they wish to buy - instantly retrieving a detailed range of information before making their decision to purchase.
If your listing includes an active link to a bespoke website or social media page - this is your chance to inform and impress potential customers or clients, precisely at the moment when they are actively seeking out your information !
Consider this: if your potential customers retrieve Google or Yahoo search results for you and three other local competitors, which ones are they going to consider visiting first? More than likely, the ones that have websites or links associated with them.
Whilst your web presence isn't an advertising vehicle on it's own, it will provide a lot of added value by having all of your important information accessible to the customer in one place.
A website will save you money in other ways. Here is one example: putting your basics on a business card, with a link to your site, can send customers to your site for the information that they're looking for; if you've ever had to hand out brochures, flyers or catalogues in the past, your website or social media pages could replace most of these or at least reduce the number of expensive materials you need to have printed on a regular basis.
The bottom line of all marketing is this: make it easy for the customer to do business with you. A website will never cure everything, but it will certainly give your customers and clients many more reasons to do business with you.
You inspire confidence with a professional, well-designed site. Offering customers different ways to contact you makes it easy for them to learn more about your company and, most importantly, generate business.


text:
Eckersley And Canseco Nearly Fought After The World Series Earthquake
Grantland has a fantastic and extensive oral history of 1989's earthquake-interrupted World Series, which includes memories from players, fans, politicians, and reporters. But the single most terrifying anecdote comes from a poor stadium worker who had just climbed a ladder up to Candlestick Park's light towers when the quake hit:
Benjy Young, stagehand, Local 16: Me and one other guy, we were taking turns going up right before the World Series trying to untangle these [windsocks]. I was untangling the last one, and batting practice is going on. You wouldn't believe how cool it was to be up in the towers while the batting practice was happening. It was really hard to continue my work and not just sit there and watch. So I'm leaning out, untangling the last one. I had forgotten to put my safety belt on. I wasn't locked in. Then the earthquake hit, and I'm looking straight down. You're like watching this thing move, looking down from a pole bending like spaghetti, and thinking, Oh my god. I'm saying my good-byes. Then I vomit, and that was really strange because I felt like I was vomiting on everybody in the stadium. I'm waiting all these years for someone to tell me that "I had my favorite Hawaiian shirt on, and I know that was you." I go down the ladder as fast as I can.
After the earthquake, at a time it was unclear when, where, or if the World Series would continue, the A's decamped to Phoenix to stay sharp. That's the site of one of the best lighthearted anecdotes in this piece, and naturally it starred Jose Canseco (who did not participate in the oral history):
Dave Henderson: We all hated Eckersley because he was basically a dick on the mound. I'd faced the guy for 10 years and he was a dick before. The only reason we let him live was because he was on our team.
Sandy Alderson: During that game, I think Eckersley drilled Canseco. He took a free shot at him.
Dennis Eckersley: Jose comes up to bat and he's pointing to center like Babe Ruth. The first pitch, I drilled Canseco in the back. I dunno, I guess I just got jacked up and threw as hard as I could. Jose's coming to the mound and he's pissed. Finally, everything cools down. It was a strange moment.
Dave Henderson: After it was all over, Canseco comes to me and says, "Hey, Hendu, you think Eckersley hit me on purpose?" I'm like, "You idiot. He's only walked three guys the whole year!"
Go read the story. It's the rare oral history that deserves the format.
[Grantland]
BaseballMLB


For those interesting in shipping to Belgium, we have a range of freight services to Belgium. If you are shipping to Antwerp or you would like some additional advice in respect of shipping to Brussels, please don't hesitate to contact our team. We also offer a door to door road freight service to most European destinations.
Tudor International Freight has been shipping to Belgium for many years. If you have any specific queries or require some further advice, please contact us.
A fully completed Shippers Inventory in English is required if you are shipping to Belgium.
If you're interested in sending excess baggage to Belgium, you might be interested to know that we've been operating our excess baggage service to Belgium for over 25 years.
Find out how you can save money with our specialist excess baggage service.
If you're interested in shipping to Belgium via air freight, the transit time is approximately seven days from collection.
Road freight can take between seven and 12 days.


text:
package dh.command.io;

import java.util.Random;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import dh.command.AbstractCommand;
import dh.data.column.base.DoubleDataColumn;
import dh.data.column.base.IntegerDataColumn;
import dh.repository.Repository;
import dh.repository.Table;

public class GenerateRandomData extends AbstractCommand {

	private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(GenerateRandomData.class);

	public GenerateRandomData(Repository repository) {
		super(repository);
	}

	public void run(String outputTableName, int size, int doubleColumns, boolean addId, Random randomParameter) {

		Random random = randomParameter;
		if (random == null) {
			random = new Random();
		}

		if (repository.getTable(outputTableName) != null) {
			throw new RuntimeException("Repository has a table with name " + outputTableName + "...");
		}

		Table table = new Table();
		table.setName(outputTableName);
		table.setSize(size);
		repository.getTables().put(table.getName(), table);

		if (addId) {
			int[] idData = new int[size];
			boolean[] idNullData = new boolean[size];
			for (int i = 0; i < size; ++i) {
				idData[i] = i;
				idNullData[i] = false;
			}
			IntegerDataColumn idColumn = new IntegerDataColumn();
			idColumn.setName("id");
			idColumn.setData(idData);
			idColumn.setRole("id");
			idColumn.setNullElements(idNullData);
			table.getColumns().put(idColumn.getName(), idColumn);
		}

		for (int i = 0; i < doubleColumns; ++i) {
			double[] data = new double[size];
			boolean[] nullData = new boolean[size];
			for (int j = 0; j < size; ++j) {
				data[j] = random.nextDouble();
				nullData[j] = false;
			}
			DoubleDataColumn column = new DoubleDataColumn();
			column.setData(data);
			column.setNullElements(nullData);
			column.setName("data" + i);
			column.setRole("");
			table.getColumns().put(column.getName(), column);
		}

		logger.info("Table " + table.getName() + " is generated with " + size + " row(s)...");
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub