Sony Slave writes Kaz Hirai an open letter concerning Vita

A Letter to Kazuo Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment
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?12-22-2012 06:05 PM

Dear Mr. Hirai,

I have been a loyal supporter of Sony Gaming since 1995. I have owned and enjoyed all three consoles as well as the PSP and now PS Vita. In my eyes, you have always been the leaders in gaming and I count myself lucky to have been a part of that.

However, for the first time in my 18 years of gaming with Sony, I feel cheated. As husband and father of one, my gaming is now done on a PS Vita. I have owned the PS Vita for over 10 months now. For 10 months, I have still kept faith in Sony, even though it was hard. The handheld device I own is a remarkable piece of technology and when I don?t use it for gaming, just looking at it puts a smile on my face. As I said, I feel cheated; I have spent a fair bit of money on my 3G console, 16GB memory card, and a lot of games that can only be described as a joke.

For the last 10 months, I have still been loyal to Sony. Without me and 4 million others, you would have had a problem with the Vita?s sales. As Christmas is just around the corner now, wouldn?t it have been a nice gesture from Sony to thank us for our loyal support. Apart from a handful of AR games on the PSN store, there is not a single game given for free. Sony is trying to squeeze every possible penny out of our pockets. I know that being able to download a couple of PSP games on my Vita would certainly restore my faith in Sony as a company that cares for their customers and a company that value my support.

Almost a year after Uncharted: Golden Abyss was released it can still be bought on the PSN store for $80 (New Zealand). That is $65 USD. My local games store sells Uncharted for $35 NZ ($28 USD) You have a problem here Mr. Kazuo I get the impression that you don?t care about the PS Vita?s success.

In conclusion, I will still be devoted to my PS Vita, I will still keep faith in Sony. All I ask is that Sony treat me as a valuable customer and not just a wallet. I am worth more than that.

Yours faithfully,

Cobus

Source: http://slumz.boxden.com/f13/sony-slave-writes-kaz-hirai-open-letter-concerning-vita-1862369/

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Embodied Cognition: Our Inner Imaginings of the World Around Us Make Us Who We Are [Excerpt]

Editor's note: This excerpt of a chapter from Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning by Benjamin K. Bergen (Basic Books, 2012)? relates that our brain?s capacity to both perceive a pig and then imagine what the animal is like, even one that flies, points to an essential cognitive skill that makes humans different from all other species.

Excerpted from Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning?by Benjamin K. Bergen. Available from Basic Books, a member of The Perseus Books Group.? Copyright ? 2012.

Starting as early as the 1970s, some cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and linguists began to wonder whether meaning wasn?t something totally different from a language of thought [Call it Mentalese, whichtranslates words into actual concepts: a polar bear or speed limit, for instance]. They suggested that?instead of abstract symbols?meaning might really be something much more closely intertwined with our real experiences in the world, with the bodies that we have. As a self-conscious movement started to take form, it took on a name, embodiment, which started to stand for the idea that meaning might be something that isn?t distilled away from our bodily experiences but is instead tightly bound by them. For you, the word dog might have a deep and rich meaning that involves the ways you physically interact with dogs?how they look and smell and feel. But the meaning of polar bear will be totally different, because you likely don?t have those same experiences of direct interaction.

??? If meaning is based on our experiences in our particular bodies in the particular situations we?ve dragged them through, then meaning could be quite personal. This in turn would make it variable across people and across cultures. As embodiment developed into a truly interdisciplinary enterprise, it found footholds by the end of the twentieth century in linguistics, especially in the work of U.C. Berkeley linguist George Lakoff and others; in philosophy, especially in work by University of Oregon philosopher Mark Johnson, among others; and in cognitive psychology, where U.C. Berkeley psychologist Eleanor Rosch?s early work led the way.

???? The embodiment idea was appealing. But at the same time, it was missing something. Specifically, a mechanism. Mentalese is a specific claim about the machinery people might use for meaning. Embodiment was more of an idea, a principle. It might have been right in a general sense, but it was hard to tell because it didn?t necessarily translate into specific claims about exactly how meaning works in real people in real time. So it idled, and it didn?t supplant the language of thought hypothesis [Mentalese] as the leading idea in the cognitive science of meaning.

???? And then someone had an idea.
???? It?s not clear who had it first, but in the mid-1990s at least three groups converged upon the same thought. One was a cognitive psychologist, Larry Barsalou, and his students at Emory University, in Georgia. The second was a group of neuroscientists in Parma, Italy. And the third was a group of cognitive scientists at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, where I happened to be working as a graduate student. ?There was clearly something in the water, a zeitgeist. The idea was the embodied simulation hypothesis, a proposal that would make the idea of embodiment concrete enough to compete with Mentalese. Put simply:

• Maybe we understand language by simulating in our minds what it would be like to experience the things that the language describes.

???? Let?s unpack this idea a little bit?what it means to simulate something in your mind. We actually simulate all the time. You do it when you imagine your parents? faces, or fixate in your mind?s eye on that misplayed poker hand. You?re simulating when you imagine sounds in your head without any sound waves hitting your ears, whether it?s the bass line of the White Stripes? Seven Nation Army or the sound of screeching tires. And you can probably conjure up simulations of what strawberries taste like when covered with whipped cream or what fresh lavender smells like. You can also simulate actions. Think about the direction you turn the doorknob of your front door. You probably visually simulate what your hand would look like, but if you?re like most people, you do more than this. You are able to virtually feel what it?s like to move your hand in the appropriate way?to grasp the handle (with enough force to cause the friction required for it to move with your hand) and rotate your hand (clockwise, perhaps?) at the wrist. Or if you?re a skier, you can imagine not only what it looks like to go down a run, but also what it feels like to shift your weight back and forth as you link turns.

???? Now, in all these examples, you?re consciously and intentionally conjuring up simulations. That?s called mental imagery. The idea of simulation is something that goes much deeper. Simulation is an iceberg. By consciously reflecting, as you just have been doing, you can see the tip?the intentional, conscious imagery. But many of the same brain processes are engaged, invisibly and unbeknownst to you, beneath the surface during much of your waking and sleeping life.? Simulation is the creation of mental experiences of perception and action in the absence of their external manifestation. That is, it?s having the experience of seeing without the sights actually being there or having the experience of performing an action without actually moving.

???? When we?re consciously aware of them, these simulation experiences feel qualitatively like actual perception; colors appear as they appear when directly perceived, and actions feel like they feel when we perform them. The theory proposes that embodied simulation makes use of the same parts of the brain that are dedicated to directly interacting with the world. When we simulate seeing, we use the parts of the brain that allow us to see the world; when we simulate performing actions, the parts of the brain that direct physical action light up. The idea is that simulation creates echoes in our brains of previous experiences, attenuated resonances of brain patterns that were active during previous perceptual and motor experiences. We use our brains to simulate percepts and actions without actually perceiving or acting.

??? Outside of the study of language, people use simulation when they perform lots of different tasks, from remembering facts to listing properties of objects to choreographing a dance. These behaviors make use of embodied simulation for good reason. It?s easier to remember where we left our keys when we imagine the last place we saw them. It?s easier to determine what side of the car the gas tank is on by imagining filling it up. It?s easier to create a new series of movements by first imagining performing them ourselves. Using embodied simulation for rehearsal even helps people improve at repetitive tasks, like shooting free throws and bowling strikes. People are simulating constantly.

??? In this context, the embodied simulation hypothesis doesn?t seem like too much of a leap. It hypothesizes that language is like these other cognitive functions in that it, too, depends on embodied simulation. While we listen to or read sentences, we simulate seeing the scenes and performing the actions that are described. We do so using our motor and perceptual systems, and possibly other brain systems, like those dedicated to emotion. For example, consider what you might have simulated when you read the following sentence... :

• When hunting on land, the polar bear will often stalk its prey almost like a cat would, scooting along its belly to get right up close, and then pounce, claws first, jaws agape.

???To understand what this means, according to the embodied simulation hypothesis, you actually activate the vision system in your brain to create a virtual visual experience of what a hunting polar bear would look like. You could use your auditory system to virtually hear what it would be like for a polar bear to slide along ice and snow. And you might even use your brain?s motor system, which controls action, to simulate what it would feel like to scoot, pounce, extend your arms, and drop your jaw. The idea is that you make meaning by creating experiences for yourself that?if you?re successful?reflect the experiences that the speaker, or in this case the writer, intended to describe. Meaning, according to the embodied simulation hypothesis, isn?t just abstract mental symbols; it?s a creative process, in which people construct virtual experiences?embodied simulations?in their mind?s eye.

{break]

??? If this is right, then meaning is something totally different from [a given] definitional model ... If meaning is based on experience with the world?the specific actions and percepts an individual has had?then it may vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture. And meaning will also be deeply personal?what polar bear or dog means to me might be totally different from what it means to you. Moreover, if we use our brain systems for perception and action to understand, then the processes of meaning are dynamic and constructive. It?s not about activating the right symbol; it?s about dynamically constructing the right mental experience of the scene.

??? Furthermore, if we indeed make meaning through simulating sights, sounds, and actions, that would mean that our capacity for meaning is built upon other systems, ones evolved more directly for perception and action. And that in turn would mean that our species-specific ability for language is built up from systems that we actually share in large part with other species.

??? Of course, we use these perception and action systems in new ways. We know this because other animals don?t share our facility with simulation?The capacity for open-ended simulation is something much more human than ursine, not just in language, but pervasively throughout what we do with our minds. You can simulate what you would look like if you covered your nose with your hand, just as easily as you can simulate what you?d look like if you had two heads or if you had a pogo stick in place of your right leg. If simulation is what makes our capacity for language special, then figuring out how we use it will tell us a lot about what makes us unique as humans, about what kind of animal we are, and how we came to be this way.

??? One of the important innovations of the embodied simulation hypothesis?and one way in which it differs from the language of thought hypothesis [Mentalese]?is that it claims that meaning is something that you construct in your mind, based on your own experiences. If meaning is really generated in your mind, then you should be able to make sense of language about not only things that exist in the real world, like polar bears, but also things that don?t actually exist, like, say, flying pigs. So how we understand language about nonexistent things can actually tell us a lot about how meaning works.

??? Let?s consider the case of the words flying pigs. I?d wager that flying pigs actually means a lot to you, even without thinking too hard about it. Over the years, I?ve asked a lot of people what flying pigs means to them, informally. (One of the luxuries of being a university professor is that people tend to be totally unsurprised when you ask questions like How many wings does a flying pig have?) According to my totally unscientific survey, conducted primarily with the population of individuals with time on their hands and a beverage in their glass, when most people hear or read the words flying pigs, they think of an animal that looks for all intents and purposes like a pig but has wings. The writer John Steinbeck imagined such a winged pig and named it Pigasus. He even used it as his personal stamp. What do you know about your own personal Pigasus? It probably has two wings (not three or seven or twelve) that are shaped very much like bird wings. Without having to reflect on it, you also know where they appear on Pigasus? body?they?re attached symmetrically to the shoulder blades. And although it has wings like a bird, most people think that Pigasus also displays a number of pig features; it has a snout, not a beak, and it has hooves, rather than talons.

??? There are a couple things to draw from this example. First, flying pigs seems to mean something to everyone. And that?s important because there?s no such thing as an actual flying pig in the world. In fact, part of the meaning of flying pigs is precisely that flying pigs don?t exist. What all of this means, not to be too cute about it, is that the Mentalese theory that meaning is about the relation of definitions to real things in the world will only work when pigs fly.

??? Second, if you?re like most people, what you did when you understood flying pigs probably felt a lot like mental imagery. You might ask yourself, did you experience visual images of a flying pig in your mind? Were they vivid? Were they replete with detail? Of course, consciously experiencing visual imagery is just one way to use simulation?you can also simulate without having conscious access to images. But where there?s imagined smoke, there may be simulated fire. If you?re like most people, when you simulate a flying pig, you probably see the snout and the wings in your mind?s eye. You may see details like color or texture; you might even see the pig in motion through the air. The words flying pigs are not unique in evoking consciously accessible visual detail. The same is true for lots of language, whether the things it describes are impossible like flying pigs or totally mundane like buying figs or somewhere in between, like the polar bear?s nose.

??? Third, and I don?t expect that this occurred to you because it only became clear to me through my extensive research?flying pigs doesn?t actually evoke something of the genus Pigasus for everyone. For some people, flying pigs don?t use wings to propel themselves, but instead conscript superpowers. If your flying pig is of this variety?let?s call it Superswine?then it probably wears a cape. Maybe a brightly colored spandex unitard, too, with some symbol on the chest, like a stylized curly pig tail or, better yet, a slice of fried bacon. And what?s more, when it flies, Superswine?s posture and motion are different from those of winged flying pigs. Whereas winged flying pigs hold their legs beneath their body, tucked up to their bellies or hanging below them, Superswine tend to stretch their front legs out in front of themselves, ? la Superman.

??? I?ll be the first to admit that the respective features of Pigasus and Superswine are not of great scientific value or vital public interest in and of themselves. But they do tell us something about how people understand the meanings of words. People simulate in response to language, but their simulations appear to vary substantially. You might be the type of person to automatically envision Superswine, or you might have a strong preference for the more common Pigasus. We observe individual variation like this not only for flying pigs, but equally for any bits of language. Your first image of a barking dog might be a big, ferocious Doberman, or it might be a tiny, yappy Chihuahua. When you read torture devices, you might think of the Iron Maiden or you might think of a new Stairmaster at your gym. Variation in the things people think words refer to is important because it means that people use their idiosyncratic mental resources to construct meaning. We all have different experiences, expectations, and interests, so we paint the meanings we create for the language we hear in our own idiosyncratic color.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=18ad24f45b774dd1f7add1ac31a25990

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IRS restricts deductions for diet foods - Business Management Daily

Q. Can I deduct the cost of Jenny Craig food if my doctor told me to go on a diet? Anonymous, Jupiter, Fla.

A. Not if it is just to benefit your overall health. Generally, for expenses to qualify as deductible medical expenses, they must be incurred for the prevention or alleviation of a specific physical or mental defect or illness. Special diet foods and beverages associated with a weight loss program may qualify for a deduction if the items have been prescribed by a physician for the alleviation or treatment of a specific illness like hypertension or heart disease.

Tip: For 2012, you can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI). The threshold increases to 10% of AGI in 2013 for those under age 65.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/33845/irs-restricts-deductions-for-diet-foods

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iPad App Video Review: Anomaly Korea

The tower offense pioneers over at 11 Bit Studios finally released the sequel to their smash hit, Anomaly Warzone Earth. They branched out a bit, releasing the amusing Funky Smugglers and the dreamlike puzzler, Sleepwalker's Journey, but now they're back, and as this game will remind you a few times, Baghdad was just the beginning. The battle against a mysterious alien tower menace continues with new visuals, units, modes, and an awesome but sometimes hilarious Korean undertone.

The core game here is still the same, with you planning convoy routes through enemy infested streets, able to change your route on the fly. You technically continue to play as the invisible but ever-present commando unit, with your various power-ups, such as smoke screen, repair field, and others, activating and placing them with a simple tap or two. New units like the Horangi tank join your ranks, with unique unit abilities, like the aforementioned tank's area of effect blast. As you make your way through the world, you'll collect resources and upgrade units as well.

It's not just new unit and enemy types mixing things up. For example, there are now artillery zones that will automatically be targeted and be fired upon as you pass through them, but only after a short countdown. Subtle additions like this are quite elegant, adding more dimensions of strategy without changing anything from previous games. Another great new addition is the Art of War trials. As you play and do well, you'll unlock these brief but brutal challenges, and they are very satisfying to complete.

The visuals have received an upgrade, as has the voice acting. Still, there's something kind of funny about all the Korean accented English speaking, along with the still excellent Asian-styled soundtrack. It's not bad at all, but can feel out of place at first. All in all, Anomaly Korea offers more of the same, but improved, building upon the last game in all the right ways. You don't even need to have played the first game to enjoy this one, so go ahead and download it for the current price of three dollars. I can't wait to see where in the world this anomaly pops up next.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.appolicious.com/games/articles/13091-ipad-app-video-review-anomaly-korea

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Clippers, Celtics Blowout: LA Beats Boston 106-77, Increases Winning Streak To 15 In A Row

LOS ANGELES ? The Clippers came roaring out of the opening tip and kept on going to their 15th consecutive victory.

Boosted by an early 24-9 lead their starters provided, Los Angeles beat Boston 106-77 on Thursday night to become the first team to win that many in a row since the Celtics four years ago.

Matt Barnes tied his season high with 21 points off the bench, fellow reserve Jamal Crawford added 17 points and Chris Paul had 11 assists as the Clippers scored their sixth straight blowout victory. They haven't had a close win during the streak since Nov. 28, when they beat Minnesota by six points.

"Shows we have a lot of depth. I've probably sat out more fourth quarters this season than any of my previous seven seasons," Paul said. "It's a really good feeling now, a good vibe because everyone is enjoying it."

Blake Griffin had 15 points, Caron Butler added 14 and Lamar Odom 13 rebounds to help the Clippers improve the NBA's best record to 23-6.

"Some people may be impressed by the record, but we can't be," Paul said. "We're not measured by our regular-season wins."

Griffin agreed, saying, "We want to be winning in April, May and June."

Kevin Garnett scored 16 points for Boston, which committed 18 turnovers and never led in dropping to .500 at 14-14 with its fifth loss in seven games. Paul Pierce and Jeff Green added 12 points each to go with 10 apiece from Jason Terry and Rajon Rondo.

Boston's winning streak extended to 19 games in 2008-09.

"Every individual on our team wanted to beat them and every individual tried to do it by themselves instead of just playing our game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

It was the Clippers' largest-ever win against Boston, coming six years to the day of their previous largest, a 100-77 win on Dec. 27, 2006.

"I thought we came out with too much respect. We wanted to back off some of their bigs and Blake hit some shots that he doesn't usually hit," Garnett said. "They came out with a lot of confidence and they packed the paint and that is the reason why have won 15 in a row. They had us on our heels all night."

Barnes had the Clippers' first five points in a 9-0 run that opened the fourth quarter and boosted their lead to 90-67. Willie Green briefly played; otherwise the Clippers' other starters rested to close out the game.

The Celtics were held to 10 points in the final 12 minutes.

"We just want to continue to build good habits," Barnes said. "We jumped on them early and didn't let them have any breathing room."

The Clippers' starters and their bench played to a draw, scoring 53 points each one game after the reserves outscored the starters in a win over Denver on Christmas.

"It still feels like we can get better," said Ronny Turiaf, who had four points and five rebounds. "We're just having fun. We're in the now. We're just trying to ride the wave."

Garnett had six points in the third when the Celtics were narrowly outscored 22-20, but still trailed 82-67. The Clippers' 9-0 run pushed their lead to 21 points before Boston went on a 10-4 run, including 3-pointers by Courtney Lee and Rondo to end the quarter.

The game got chippy at times. In the third, Jared Sullinger was called for a flagrant-1 foul for grabbing the front of Griffin on his way up to dunk. Then Butler and Pierce emerged from a big mass both holding onto the ball, leading to a jump ball. In the first, Rondo was lying on the ball and Paul tried to take it out from under him on the sideline, leading to a testy moment.

The Celtics cut their deficit to four points early in the second quarter ? the closest they came after the opening quarter ? with consecutive 3-pointers by Terry and Lee before the Clippers' second unit rebuilt the double-digit lead the starters had created. Crawford scored 13 points for Los Angeles, highlighted by a fast-break floater and a rainbow 3. He scored the final four points to keep the Clippers ahead 60-47 heading into halftime.

NOTES: The Clippers are assured of finishing December as their best month ever with two games remaining, including the second half of a back-to-back at Utah. They've already surpassed the franchise record for most wins in a month, bettering the old mark of 12 shared by the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves and the 1991-92 Clippers (which included Celtics coach Doc Rivers). ... Boston fell to 5-9 on the road. ... The Clippers' last loss was on Nov. 26 at home against New Orleans. ... Justin Bieber (who had Paul's young son sitting on his lap), Billy Crystal and Olympic 200 sprint champion Allyson Felix were among the Clippers' 67th consecutive sellout crowd.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/clippers-celtics-blowout-106-77_n_2373554.html

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Computers: It's Time to Start Over - IEEE Spectrum

Steven Cherry: Hi, this is Steven Cherry for IEEE Spectrum?s ?Techwise Conversations.?

If you think about it, it?s weird. Everything about computer security has changed in the past 20 years, but computers themselves haven?t. It?s the world around them that has. An article to be published in the February 2013 issue of Communications of the ACM sums up the situation pretty succinctly: ????

?The role of operating system security has shifted from protecting multiple users from each other toward protecting a single?user from untrustworthy applications.?Embedded devices, mobile phones, and tablets are a point of confluence: The interests of many different parties?must be mediated with the help of operating systems that were designed for another place and time.?

The author of that article is Robert Watson. He advocates taking a fresh start to computing, what he calls a ?clean slate.? He?s a senior research associate in the Security Research Group at the University of Cambridge, and a research fellow at St John's College, also at Cambridge. He?s also a member of the board of directors of the FreeBSD Foundation, and he?s my guest today by phone.

Robert, welcome to the podcast.

Robert Watson: Hi, Steven. It?s great to be with you.

Steven Cherry: Robert, computer security meant something very different before the Internet, and in your view, we aren?t winning the war. What?s changed?

Robert Watson: Right. I think that?s an excellent question. I think we have to see this in a historic context.

So in the 1970s and 1980s, the Internet was this brave new world largely populated by academic researchers. It was used by the U.S. Department of Defense, it was used by U.S. corporations, but it was a very small world, and today we put everyone and their grandmother on the Internet. Certainly the systems that we designed for those research environments, to try and solve really fundamental problems in communications, weren?t designed to resist adversaries. And when we talk about adversaries, we have to be careful, but, you know, I think it?s fair to say that there were, you know, very poor incentives from the perspective of the end user. As we moved to banking and purchasing online, we produced a target, and that target didn?t exist in the 1990s. It does exist today.

Steven Cherry: Your research is focused on the operating system. But how much of computing security is built into the operating system currently?

Robert Watson: We?ve always taken the view that operating system security was really central to how applications themselves experience security. And in historic systems, large multiuser computer systems, you know, we had these central servers or central mainframes, lots of end users on individual terminals. The role of the OS was to help separate these users from each other, to prevent accidents, perhaps to control the flow of information. You didn?t want trade secrets leaking from, perhaps, one account on a system to another one. And when we had large time-sharing systems, we were forced to share computers among many different users. Operating systems have historically provided something called access control. So you allow users to say this file can?t be accessed by this user. This is a very powerful primitive. It allows us to structure the work we do into groups, interact with each other. Users are at their own discretion to decide what they?re going to share and what they won?t.

So the observation we make on these new end-user systems like phones is that what we?re trying to control is very different. The phone is a place where lots of different applications meet. But I?m downloading software off the Internet, and this is something we?ve always, you know, encouraged users to be very cautious about. We said, ?Don?t just download random programs through the Internet. You never know where it will have come from.? You know, you have no information on the provenance of the software. And on phones today, we encourage users to download things all the time. So what has changed now? Well, we?ve deployed something called sandboxing inside of these phones so that every application you download runs inside its own sandbox. And that is a very different use of security. And it is provided by the operating system, so it?s still a function of the operating system. So a phone is trying to mediate between these applications, prevent them from doing what people sort of rather vividly describe as ?bricking? the phone. So you have integrity guarantees that you want. You don?t want to damage the operation of the phone. But you also don?t want information to spread between applications in ways that you don?t want.

Steven Cherry: Now, let?s talk about Clean Slate. This is research you?re conducting for the Department of Defense in the U.S., along with noted computer scientist Peter Neumann. Neumann was recently profiled in The New York Times, and he was quoted as saying that the only workable and complete solution to the computer security crisis is to study the past half-century?s research, cherry-pick the best ideas, and then build something new from the bottom up. What does that mean?

Robert Watson: That?s a great question. I mean it is an interesting problem. You know, the market is controlled by what people are willing to pay for a product. And one of the things we know about the computer industry is that it?s very driven by this concept of ?time to market.? You want to get things to the consumer as soon as possible. You don?t do everything 100 percent right. You do it 90 percent right or 70 percent right, because you can always issue updates later, or once you?re doing a bit better in the marketplace, replace the parts, and your second-generation users will expect something a little bit better than what we call early adopters, who are willing to take risks as they adopt technology. So there?s a cycle there that means that we?re willing to put things out that aren?t quite ready. So when we look at algorithms to search for desired values in some large space?and we have this term which is called hill climbing, and the idea of hill climbing is that wherever you are, you look around your set of strategic choices. Do you adjust this parameter? Do you adjust that parameter? And you pick the one that seems to take you closest to the goal that you?re getting to. And you just repeat this process over time, and eventually you get to the top of the hill. So there?s a risk in this strategy. It?s not a bad strategy. It does get you to the top of a hill, but it might get you to the top of the wrong hill.

So what the Clean Slate approach advocates is not throwing the whole world away, but instead taking a step back and asking, Have we been chasing, you know, the wrong goals all along? Or have we made the right choice at every given moment given where we were, but we ended up at the top of the wrong hill? And that?s really what it?s all about. Peter talks about a crisis, and I think it is a crisis. We can see what is effectively an arms race between the people building systems and the people who are attacking systems on a daily basis. Every time you get a critical security update from your vendor or a new antivirus update?these things happen daily or weekly?they reflect the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities in the software that we rely on to do our jobs. So we?re clearly, as the defenders, at something of a disadvantage.

And there?s an asymmetric relationship, as we like to say. The attacker has to find just one flaw in order to gain control of our systems. And we, as defenders, have to close all flaws. We must make no mistakes, and we cannot build systems that way; it?s just not a reliable way of doing it. It doesn?t solve the problem. Antivirus is fundamentally responsive. It?s about detecting somebody?s broken into your machine and trying to clean up the mess that?s been left behind by poorly crafted malware that can?t defend itself against a knowledgeable adversary. It presupposes that they?ve gotten in, that they?ve gotten access to your data, they could have done anything they want with your computer, and it?s the wrong way to think about it. It?s not to say that we shouldn?t use antivirus in the meantime, but it can?t be the long-term answer, right? It means that somebody else has already succeeded in their goal.

Steven Cherry: Yeah, I guess what you want to do is compartmentalize our software, and I guess the New York Times article talked about software that shape-shifts to elude would-be attackers. How would that work?

Robert Watson: You know, we could try to interfere with the mechanisms used to exploit vulnerabilities. So, you know, a common past exploit mechanism, something called a buffer overflow attack. So the vulnerability is that the bounds are calculated incorrectly on a buffer inside of the software, and you overflow the buffer by sending more data than the original software author expected. And as you overflow the buffer, you manage to inject some code, or you manage to insert a new program that will get executed when the function that you?re attacking returns. So this allows the adversary to take control of your machine. So we could eliminate the bug that left a buffer overflow, but imagine for a moment that we?re unable to do that. Well, we could interfere with the way the buffer overflow exploit works. We could prevent it from successfully getting code into execution. So this is something we try to do: Many contemporary systems deploy mitigation techniques. It?s hard to get an operating system that doesn?t. If you use Windows or you use iOS, [or you] use Mac OS X, they all deploy lots of mitigation techniques that attack exploit techniques.

So the one that we?re particularly interested in is one called compartmentalization. And the principle is? fairly straightforward. We take a large piece of software, like a Web browser, and we begin to break it into pieces. And we run every one of those pieces in something called a sandbox. A sandbox is a container, if you will, and the software in the sandbox is only allowed to do certain things with respect to the system that runs outside the sandbox. So a nice example of this is actually in the Chrome Web browser. So in Chrome, every tab is rendered inside a separate sandbox. And the principle is that if a vulnerability is exploited by a particular Web page, it?s not able to interfere with the contents of other Web pages in the same Web browser.

So originally this functionality was about robustness. What you don?t want is a bug in the rendering of any one page to make all your other tabs close, right, crash the Web browser, require you to effectively, well you almost reboot your computer in some sense as you get started up in your Web sessions again. But Google noticed that they could align these sandboxes with the robust units that they were processing each tab in, try and prevent undesired interference between them. So that?s kind of a rudimentary example of compartmentalization. And it does work, but there were some problems with it.

What we?d really like to do, though, is align these sandboxes or compartments with every individual task that we?re trying to accomplish and the specific rights that are needed. And there?s an interesting principle called the principle of least privilege, which was an idea first really talked about in the mid-1970s, sort of proposed at MIT. And what the principle says is every individual piece of software should run with only the rights that it requires to execute. So if we run software that way, then we?re actually?we can be successful at mitigating attacks, because when you exploit a vulnerability in a piece of software, whether it?s a buffer overflow or maybe something more subtle or maybe something in the logic of the program itself, we just got the rules wrong, you now gain some rights. But you gain only the rights of that particular compartment.

For example, we?d really like not to be able to see what is going on in your online banking. It would seem natural to us as users that that should be the case. But it requires very granular sandboxing. This is part of where our Clean Slate research comes in. Current computer systems were not designed to provide that granularity of sandboxing.

Steven Cherry: You?ve used the word ?fundamental? a couple of times, and I think what you?re advocating is really fundamental. It?s in some ways changing the entire 60-year paradigm of computing, abandoning what?s sometimes called the von Neumann architecture. This is a different Neumann, John von Neumann, who coinvented game theory as well as the modern computer. According to, you know, basically we don?t even put code and data in separate sandboxes. Am I right in thinking it?s that fundamental, and do you think the discipline of computer science is really ready for such a fundamental change?

Robert Watson: Well, it?s an interesting question. So, you know, the von Neumann architecture, as you suggest, originally described in the paper in the mid 1940s on the heels of the success of systems like ENIAC and so on. And what John von Neumann says is if we store the program?you know, there are a number of aspects in the architecture?if we store the program in the same memory that we store data in, we gain enormous flexibility. Provides access to ideas like software compilers that allow us to describe software at a high level and have the computer itself write the code that it?s later going to run. It?s a, you know, pretty fundamental change in the nature of computing.

I don?t want to roll back that aspect of computing, but we have to understand that many of the vulnerabilities that we suffer today are a direct consequence of that design for computers. So I talked a moment ago about this idea of code injection attacks at the buffer overflow where I, as the attacker, can send you something that exploits a bug and injects code. This is a very powerful model for an attacker because, you know, suppose for a moment we couldn?t do that. I?d be looking for vulnerabilities that directly correspond to my goals as the attacker. So I have to find a logical bug that allows the leaking of information. You know, I could probably find one, perhaps. But it?s much more powerful for me to be able to send you new code that you?re going to run on the target machine directly, giving me complete flexibility.

So, yes, we want to revisit some of these ideas. I?d make the observation that the things that are really important to us, that we want to perform really well on computers, that have to scale extremely well, so there could be lots and lots of them, are the things that we put in low-level hardware. The reason we do that is that they often have aspects of their execution which perform best when they?re directly catered to by our processor design. A nice example of this is graphical processing. So, today, every computer, every mobile device, ships with something that just didn?t exist in computers 10 or 15 years ago, called a graphical processing unit, a graphics processing unit, a GPU. So today you don?t buy systems without them. They?re the thing that makes it possible to blend different images, you know, render animations at high speed and so on. Have the kind of snazzy, three-dimensional graphics we see on current systems. Hard to imagine life without it.

The reason that was sucked into our architecture design is that we could make it dramatically faster by supporting it directly in hardware. If we now think security is important to us, extremely important to us because of the costs and the consequences of getting it wrong, there?s a strong argument for pulling that into hardware if it provides us with dramatic improvement in scalability.

Steven Cherry: Well, Robert, it sounds like we?re still in the early days of computing. I guess in car terms we?re still in maybe the 1950s. I guess the MacBook Pro is maybe a Studebaker or Starliner, and the Air is a 1953 Corvette. And it?s up to folks like you to lay the groundwork for the safe Volvos and Subarus of tomorrow. In fact, also for making our cars safe from hackers, I guess, but that?s a whole other show. Thanks, and thanks for joining us today.

Robert Watson: Absolutely. No, I think your comparison is good, right. The computer world is still very much a fast-moving industry. We don?t know what systems will look like when we?re done. I think the only mistake we could make is to think that we are done, that we have to live with the status quo that we have. There is still the opportunity to revise fundamental thinking here while maintaining some of the compatibility we want. You know, we can still drive on the same roads, but we can change the vehicles that we drive on them. Thanks very much.

Steven Cherry: Very good. Thanks again.

We?ve been speaking with Robert Watson about finally making computers more secure, instead of less.

For IEEE Spectrum?s ?Techwise Conversations,? I?m Steven Cherry.

This interview was recorded 5 December 2012.
Segment producer: Barbara Finkelstein; audio engineer: Francesco Ferorelli
Read more ?Techwise Conversations? or follow us on Twitter.

NOTE: Transcripts are created for the convenience of our readers and listeners and may not perfectly match their associated interviews and narratives. The authoritative record of IEEE Spectrum?s audio programming is the audio version.

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Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/computing/software/computers-its-time-to-start-over

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US household debt burden hits 29-year low

1 hr.

Reuters

WASHINGTON --?A measure of the burden of U.S. household debt tumbled in the third quarter to its lowest level in 29 years, which should help free up money for consumer spending and support the economy.

The household debt service ratio -- an estimate of the share of debt payments to disposable personal income -- fell to 10.61 percent from 10.72 percent in the second quarter, the Federal Reserve said on Thursday.

It was the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1983.

"Consumers have more money in their pockets to spend, which should be positive for the economic recovery going forward," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York.

U.S. households built up a massive debt load as the housing bubble expanded and efforts to pay down those debts have been a restraint on spending and the economy's recovery.

The debt service ratio, which takes into account outstanding mortgage and consumer debt, peaked in the third quarter of 2007, shortly before the economy tipped into recession.

The Fed has sought to help consumers dig out by keeping interest rates near record lows. It has held overnight rates near zero since December 2008 and has bought around $2.4 trillion in bonds to further lower borrowing costs.

Even though households are now in better shape, analysts caution that consumer spending could stall if Congress fails to prevent higher taxes from taking hold next year.

An even broader measure of financial obligations that includes automobile lease payments and the cost of renting a home also fell in the third quarter, dropping to 15.74 percent of disposable income -- the lowest level since the first quarter of 1984.

That drop reflected an easier burden for homeowners as mortgage debt payments dropped to 8.90 percent of disposable income in the third quarter, the lowest in 11 years.

Both the overall homeowners measure and separate mortgage gauge peaked in the third quarter of 2007.

"You have a lot of people refinancing their mortgages at lower rates," Goldberg said.

In contrast, the relative cost of rent rose to its highest level since the first quarter of 2010.

The weak housing market has led Americans away from home ownership and toward renting, pushing up rents. At the same time, a modest economic recovery has encouraged some people who had moved in with family and friends to seek their own lodgings, further strengthening the rental market.

While a lightening of household debt burden puts the recovery on firmer ground, it also highlights a hesitance to take on new debt, which could be an obstacle to spending.

"We all (would) like to see better growth in credit, banks being more willing to make more loans to consumers, demand for loans rising," said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut.

"That would push the ratio higher, but that's not necessarily a such a bad thing, especially if rates are so low and you are able to service that debt."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-household-debt-burden-hits-29-year-low-1C7753188

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Boehner's failure signals marginalization of GOP

If House Speaker John Boehner can't get Republicans to back a tax increase for the richest 0.3 percent of Americans, it has lost its claim to mainstream status.

By Robert Reich,?Guest blogger / December 22, 2012

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) of Ohio speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations at the Capitol in Washington, Friday. Hopes for avoiding the 'fiscal cliff' that threatens the US economy fell Friday after fighting among congressional Republicans cast doubt on whether any deal reached with President Obama could win approval ahead of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts, which kick in Jan. 1.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Enlarge

Remarkably, John Boehner couldn?t get enough House Republicans to vote in favor of his proposal to keep the Bush tax cuts in place on the first million dollars of everyone?s income and?apply?the old Clinton rates only to dollars over and above a million.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Reich

Robert is chancellor?s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton. Time Magazine?named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written 13 books, including ?The Work of Nations,? his latest best-seller ?Aftershock: The Next Economy and America?s Future," and a new?e-book, ?Beyond Outrage.??He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.

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What? Even Grover Norquist blessed Boehner?s proposal, saying it wasn?t really a tax increase. Even Paul Ryan supported it.?

What does Boehner?s failure tell us about the modern Republican party?

That it has become a party of hypocrisy masquerading as principled ideology. The GOP talks endlessly about the importance of reducing the budget deficit. But it isn?t even willing to raise revenues from the richest three-tenths of one percent of Americans to help with the task. We?re talking about 400,000 people, for crying out loud.?

Legal Insurrection Video of the Year (Reader Poll) - Le?gal In?sur?rec ...

It?s getting towards that time of the year when we start selecting the Best Of.

2012 was the first year in which we started focusing on videos, thanks in large part to Anne joining us in June.? A couple of our videos changed the national dialogue, if only for a moment.

Hopefully original video production will increase dramatically next year. That?s part of the plan.

I have selected several videos, some original to LI some taken from elsewhere but edited to highlight certain important newsworthy content.? Many, but not all, concerned Elizabeth Warren. (added) These are videos run at LI and which were created by LI. This is not an all-around Video of the Year type award.

They are all available on the LI YouTube channel.

Please vote below. You can make up to three choices.

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How To Take Holiday Photos That Don't Suck

Holiday family gatherings are the ripest events of year for photo-documentation. Rather than leaving the task to Aunt Edna, take those reins yourself. You can capture the finest damn pictures this family has ever seen! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yGBoOuNC-To/how-to-take-holiday-photos-that-dont-suck

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On somber anniversary, Biden copes with a new loss (Los Angeles Times)

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Preventing inherited disorders in humans: New technology allows transfer of cell nuclei between human egg cells

Dec. 19, 2012 ? A joint team of scientists from The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has developed a technique that may prevent the inheritance of mitochondrial diseases in children.

The study is published online December 19 in Nature.

Dieter Egli, PhD, and Daniel Paull, PhD, of the NYSCF Laboratory with Mark Sauer, MD, and Michio Hirano, MD, of CUMC demonstrated how the nucleus of a cell can be successfully transferred between human egg cells. This landmark achievement carries significant implications for those children who have the potential to inherit mitochondrial diseases.

Mitochondria are cellular organelles responsible for the maintenance and growth of a cell. They contain their own set of genes, passed from mother to child, and are inherited independently from the cell's nucleus. Although mitochondrial DNA accounts for only 37 out of more than 20,000 genes in an individual, mutations to mitochondrial genes carry harmful effects.

Mitochondrial disorders, due to mutations in mitochondrial DNA, affect approximately 1 in 10,000 people, while nearly 1 in 200 individuals carries mutant mitochondrial DNA. Symptoms, manifesting most often in childhood, may lead to stunted growth, kidney disease, muscle weakness, neurological disorders, loss of vision and hearing, and respiratory problems, among others. Worldwide, a child is born with a mitochondrial disease approximately every 30 minutes, and there are currently no cures for these devastating diseases.

"Through this study, we have shown that it should be possible to prevent the inheritance of mitochondrial disorders," said Egli, PhD, co-author of the study and an Senior Researcher in the NYSCF Laboratory. "We hope that this technique can be advanced quickly toward the clinic where studies in humans can show how the use of this process could help to prevent mitochondrial disease."

In this study, the researchers removed the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell and replaced it with the nucleus of another donor's egg cell. The resultant egg cell contained the genome of the donor but not her mitochondrial DNA. The researchers demonstrated that the transfer did not have detectable adverse effects on the egg cell, a prerequisite for clinical translation. They achieved this by lowering the temperature of the egg before nuclear transfer, a novel technique. Previous studies report adverse consequences in approximately 50% of the egg cells.

The researchers then artificially activated the egg cell through a technique called parthenogenesis and derived stem cell lines from the blastocyst that developed. These cell lines were grown for more than a year and generated adult cell types such as neurons, heart cells and pancreatic beta cells that are affected by mutant mitochondrial DNA. They found the levels of the donated genome's original mitochondria to be undetectable, demonstrating that this would permanently eliminate the mitochondrial DNA and prevent a family's future generations from developing these diseases.

Current treatment options to prevent mitochondrial disease are limited. A woman with a family history of mitochondrial disease may abstain from having children. She may alternatively elect to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) with donor eggs; however, this means the child will be genetically unrelated to her. As another option, patients can undergo IVF treatment and, through prenatal screening, to allow clinicians to select from a mother's eggs those that have the least likelihood of carrying mitochondrial DNA defects. This is not, however, a fully effective screening process, and her children may still be affected by mitochondrial disorders.

"Women who carry mutant mitochondrial DNA may no longer have to worry that their children will become sick. This technique may allow us to provide women with a therapeutic option that will prevent these disorders," said Sauer, MD, a co-author on the paper and Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chief of Reproductive Endocrinology at Columbia University Medical Center. Sauer is also Program Director of Assisted Reproduction at the Center for Women's Reproductive Care.

"We often know too late that a patient runs the risk of passing on defective mitochondria to her children. It is absolutely devastating to a patient and her family," said Hirano, MD, Professor of Neurology and Co-Director of the Adult Muscular Dystrophy Association clinic at Columbia University Medical Center, where he sees patients with mitochondrial disease. "This new technique offers an effective solution by ensuring only healthy mitochondria are present in the egg cells."

The scientists plan to move toward clinical application using this technique. Next steps include the production of more mitochondrial disease-free egg cells and the generation of healthy progeny in an animal model.

The research was conducted in the New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory in Manhattan and in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center clinicians and researchers.

Funding for this research was provided by private sources and New York State. The oocyte donations required for the research adhered to ethical guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the International Society for Stem Cell Research as well as protocols reviewed and approved by the institutional review board and stem cell committees of Columbia University Medical Center. Additionally, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a British organization, has endorsed this line of research to prevent mitochondrial disease.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Columbia University Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Daniel Paull, Valentina Emmanuele, Keren A. Weiss, Nathan Treff, Latoya Stewart, Haiqing Hua, Matthew Zimmer, David J. Kahler, Robin S. Goland, Scott A. Noggle, Robert Prosser, Michio Hirano, Mark V. Sauer, Dieter Egli. Nuclear genome transfer in human oocytes eliminates mitochondrial DNA variants. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11800

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/iP9GSdtlyEI/121219132729.htm

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McDaniel admits to inappropriate relationship

LITTLE ROCK ? Arkansas Attorney General and 2014 gubernatorial candidate Dustin McDaniel has admitted he had an inappropriate relationship with an attorney last year.

McDaniel said in a statement that he had "limited interaction" that was "inappropriate" with attorney Andrea Davis after meeting her during the 2010 campaign for attorney general. A spokesman for his campaign said the revelation does not affect McDaniel's decision to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.

"My wife Bobbi and I love each other very much," McDaniel said. "I have been candid with her about this matter, and with much prayer, we have moved on with our life together. I hope the people of Arkansas will also accept my apology and know how honored I am to work for them every day.?

The allegation came up originally in a custody suit in Garland County in which Davis' ex-husband accused her of cheating on him with McDaniel, Talk Business reported. The publication was the first to report news of McDaniel acknowledging the inappropriate relationship.

In a document filed earlier this month in Garland County Circuit Court in Davis' custody case with ex-husband Dr. Fred Day, Davis is asked to admit she had sexual relations with McDaniel in 2011 or 2012.

"Objection," her response reads. "The question asks for information irrelevant to the issues before the court and is asked solely to harass and annoy."

No details on the relationship were included in McDaniel's brief statement.

?I had limited interaction with her in 2011, some of which I regret to say was inappropriate," McDaniel said in the statement. "I have no knowledge of the other allegations contained in this pleading."

Tricia Wallace, a spokesman for McDaniel, said McDaniel has not been asked to testify in the custody case and is not expected to do so. She said no further specifics on the relationship would be released.

"We're not going to get into that level of detail," she said.

Wallace said the affair does not alter McDaniel's announced political plans.

"No, it doesn't," she said. "He is running for governor."

A message left with Davis' Hot Springs' office was not immediately returned late Tuesday morning.

McDaniel was the first candidate to formally announce he is running for governor.

Source: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/dec/18/mcdaniel-admits-inappropriate-relationship/

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Dish.fm Consults Foursquare and Yelp to Help You Decide What to Order

What should you order for dinner? Dish.fm is a new iOS and web app that pulls from thousands of reviews on Yelp and Foursquare to help you decide specifically which dish is the best. More »

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WH: No Details on Gun Control

The day after President Obama pledged to "use whatever power this office holds" to prevent future tragedies like the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the White House offered few details on exactly what actions he plans to take to halt gun violence.

"It's a complex problem that will require a complex solution. No single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address the problem," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "I don't have a specific agenda to announce to you today. I would simply point you to what the president said last night about moving forward in coming weeks. And I would look for him to do that."

After taking the first few minutes of his appearance Sunday night at an interfaith service in Newtown, Conn., to offer prayers and remember the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Obama turned to a more grim, determined tone as he spoke of gun violence in the United States and the need to take action.

"We can't tolerate this anymore," Obama said. "These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law - no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this."

The president continues to support reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, but Carney offered no outline of a proposal or timeline going forward.

"I think that what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School has clearly shocked the entire nation and has laid bare the necessity of evaluating the various things that we can and must do as a nation to try to better protect our children," he said.

Carney reminded reporters that the president "didn't talk about months or years. He said 'coming weeks.'"

While addressing gun violence is part of the solution, Carney stressed that it is far from all of it.

"It's important to remember that this is about our gun laws and enforcing them, but it's also about a broader series of issues, including issues of mental health and education and the like," he said.

UPDATE: This afternoon, President Obama had discussions with White House senior staff, the Vice President, and some members of the Cabinet to begin looking at ways the country can respond to the tragedy in Newtown, according to a White House official. Cabinet members present included Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wh-no-details-gun-control-220907252--abc-news-politics.html

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Capitol Confidential ? OSC audit: SED blind to special ed fraud

As noted in today?s NYT, an audit of special education programs provided by contractors found lax oversight ? so lax, in fact, that the state Education Department hasn?t conducted an on-site audit of such a program since 2007.

From DiNapoli?s release:

DiNapoli?s office has uncovered widespread fraud and abuse by contractors providing services to children with physical, learning, developmental and other disabilities. The abuse has largely occurred because of lax oversight by SED due to inadequate resources, antiquated and complex processes and little follow-up. Auditors have found numerous irregularities and instances of contractors who have cheated the system by using taxpayer funds to hire relatives at excessive salaries and to pay for personal expenses such as vacation homes, home entertainment centers and landscaping.

?Children with disabilities and taxpayers are being ripped-off and it has to stop,? DiNapoli said. ?The State Education Department has much work to do to straighten out the special education program. A new and more effective system of oversight is urgently needed including the regular review and independent audit of these entities on a routine basis.?

SED oversees special education programs for students with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21. In addition to services provided by local school districts, these programs include services delivered to about 75,000 students by more than 300 for-profit and not-for-profit entities at an annual cost of $1.3 billion.

DiNapoli?s auditors have identified fraud and improper use of funds, resulting in $13.2 million of disallowances out of a total of $139.8 million paid for by state and local governments. There have been several criminal referrals, felony arrests and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution made as a result of the audits. Six providers so far have been referred to law enforcement. In total, 30 special education contractors have been or are being audited.

A comprehensive review of SED?s oversight of the sector by DiNapoli found that the department provided no financial audit oversight of individual providers over the last five years. In addition, SED performs just a limited number of program reviews of private special education providers and has no process in place to ensure all providers are reviewed periodically. Without this monitoring, there is a high risk that providers may spend state and local funds inappropriately, operate inefficiently and lack long-term financial viability.

SED?s fiscal oversight is limited to its rate-setting process, which uses self-reported information from each provider?s consolidated fiscal report (CFR) or financial statements to establish the amount each provider will be paid for services. The CFR preparation process is complex and difficult for providers to understand. It relies on self-reported financial information and manual processes that leave substantial room for human error, as well as possible willful misrepresentation. SED has less than 20 staff working with CFR data from more than 700 providers operating 1,400 programs, each of which can require several different calculations and adjustments. Although rate-setting staffers review reported CFR information to develop rates, this process was never intended to scrutinize the accuracy of the information and it affords only limited capability to prevent and detect fraud.

DiNapoli?s auditors also found that the required certified public accountant certifications of provider CFRs have not been reliable, and that SED?s process to refer suspected CPAs to its Office of the Professions for potential disciplinary action needs significant strengthening. Additionally, there is no formal process in place for tracking, reporting and issuing warnings to CPAs exhibiting simple negligence in the certification of CFRs. Further, there is inadequate communication and coordination between the Office of the Professions and other SED units to ensure rate-setting staff are made aware of the disposition of the disciplinary actions they initiate.

DiNapoli recommends SED:

• ? Develop and implement a strategy, including necessary resources, for providing adequate onsite fiscal and program monitoring of special education providers;
• ? Establish a formal process for identifying and reporting CPAs who appear negligent in their certification of CFRs to SED?s Office of the Professions;
• ? Coordinate with other state agencies to develop a system to ensure that CPAs certifying provider CFRs demonstrate appropriate training, competence and performance;
• ? Review the CFR and rate-setting processes to identify opportunities for streamlining operations, updating technology and reducing complexity and the occurrence of errors;
• ? Assess the feasibility of meaningful monetary penalties for providers failing to provide an accurate and timely CFR;
• ? Formalize policy and procedures for sharing identified provider problems with other state agencies that are also funding the provider; and
• ? Reevaluate and enhance provider training requirements, including frequency, content and requirements for attendance.

SED officials generally agreed with the report. A copy of the report, including SED?s response, can be found at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093013/12s103.pdf

SED has recently developed program reforms and sought approval from the state Board of Regents for increased funding in the 2013-14 fiscal year to improve oversight of special education providers and address many of the audit recommendations.

Other audits of special education providers audits can be found at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/auditAgencyList.htm#State Education Department

Here?s the full audit:

OSC: Special Ed audit

Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/173462/osc-audit-sed-blind-to-special-ed-fraud/

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Kelley Stoltz: Prank Calls

Kelley Stoltz is an American musician originally from Michigan who now lives in San Fransisco. In the 90s he worked as a fan-mail sorter for Jeff Buckley's management company, and in 2006 his first full-length album Below the Branches was released on the Sub Pop label. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/U4gEOpFcrAU/kelley-stoltz-prank-calls

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