7 Fish

<p>No we didn't eat 7 fish but we did visit <a href="http://www.7fish.com/">7 Fish</a> for dinner yesterday.</p><p>It is peak season here in Key West and VERY busy so we were only able to reserve a table at 9.15pm.</p><p>Everything we ordered was great but in particular the brownie we enjoyed for dessert along with Baby's Coffee was amazing!</p>

7 Fish

No we didn't eat 7 fish but we did visit 7 Fish for dinner yesterday. It is peak season here in Key West and VERY busy so we were only ...

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How a Simple Smartphone Can Turn Your Car, Home, or Medical Device into a Deadly Weapon | Vanity Fair

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span class="dc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 90px; margin: -4px 8px -18px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(224, 0, 0); font-family: ltc-bodoni-175-1, ltc-bodoni-175-2, 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia, serif; float: left; line-height: 90px; display: inline-block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">L</span>ast October at Melbourne's grand Intercontinental Hotel scores of technophiles watched a researcher for IOActive, a Seattle-based computer-security firm, demonstrate an ingenious new way to kill someone—a method that one can imagine providing a sensational plot twist in an episode of <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Homeland</i>.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The IOActive researcher, a man named Barnaby Jack, was so worried about the implications of his work that he intentionally obscured many of the details in his presentation. As a further precaution, he asked the attendees not to take any pictures—a tough request in a crowd full of smartphones and laptops.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Jack's work concerned pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (I.C.D.'s). More than three million American heart patients carry around these small, computerized devices, which monitor their heartbeat and deliver jolts of electricity to stabilize it when needed. To check and adjust these devices, many doctors use wand-like wireless programmers that they wave a few inches above patients' chests—a straightforward and seemingly safe procedure. But now, with a custom-built transmitter, Jack had discovered how to signal an I.C.D. from 30 feet away. It reacted as if the signal were in fact coming from the manufacturer's official I.C.D. programmer. Instructed by the counterfeit signal, the I.C.D. suddenly spat out 830 volts—an instantly lethal zap. Had the device been connected to an actual human heart, the fatal episode would likely have been blamed on a malfunction.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Let's face it: Barnaby Jack is a man who is quite literally looking for trouble. This is a guy who had demonstrated the year before how he could wirelessly direct an implantable insulin pump to deliver a lethal dose. The year before that, he hacked an ATM to make it spray out bills like a slot machine. But trouble-making is what he's paid to do at IOActive, and in that role he has developed a particular respect for the looming power of smartphones. Terrorists have already used cell phones to kill people in the crudest possible way: detonating explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan. But smartphones bring a new elegance to the endeavor and will bring new possibilities for mayhem into the most mundane areas of life.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The day is not far off, Jack says, when the manipulation of medical devices, for which he had needed to build special equipment, will be done routinely and remotely by punching keys on a smartphone. Indeed, in just a few minutes of online searching, I was able to find a dozen ventures developing smartphone apps for medical devices: pacemakers, defibrillators, cochlear implants, insulin pumps, cardiovascular monitors, artificial pancreases, and all the other electronic marvels doctors now are inserting into human bodies.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">To engineers, the advantages are clear. Smartphones can relay patients' data to hospital computers in a continuous stream. Doctors can alter treatment regimens remotely, instead of making patients come in for a visit. If something goes wrong, medical professionals can be alerted immediately and the devices can be rapidly adjusted over the air. Unfortunately, though, the disadvantages are equally obvious to people like Barnaby Jack: doctors will not be the only people dialing in. A smartphone links patients' bodies and doctors' computers, which in turn are connected to the Internet, which in turn is connected to any smartphone anywhere. The new devices could put the management of an individual's internal organs, in the hands of every hacker, online scammer, and digital vandal on Earth.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">I asked Jack if he thought anyone would actually use smartphones to try to fiddle with other people's pacemakers, or change the dosage of their medications, or compromise their eyesight, or take control of their prosthetic limbs, or raise the volume of their hearing aids to a paralyzing shriek. Will this become a tempting new way to settle a score or hurry up an inheritance? He said, "Has there ever been a box connected to the Internet that people haven't tried to break into?" He had a point: a few years ago, anonymous vandals inserted flashing animated images into an Epilepsy Foundation online forum, triggering migraines and seizure-like reactions in some unfortunate people who came across them. (The vandals were never found.) Jack was reluctant to go into detail about what he thinks the future may hold. "I'm not comfortable trying to predict exact scenarios," he said. But then he added, calm as a State Department spokesman, "I can say that I wouldn't want to discover a virus in my insulin pump."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span class="dc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 90px; margin: -4px 8px -18px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(224, 0, 0); font-family: ltc-bodoni-175-1, ltc-bodoni-175-2, 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia, serif; float: left; line-height: 90px; display: inline-block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">S</span>martphones taking control of medical devices: the tabloid headlines write themselves. But medical devices represent only one early and obvious target of opportunity. Major power and telephone grids have long been controlled by computer networks, but now similar systems are embedded in such mundane objects as electric meters, alarm clocks, home refrigerators and thermostats, video cameras, bathroom scales, and Christmas-tree lights—all of which are, or soon will be, accessible remotely. Every automobile on the market today has scores of built-in computers, many of which can be accessed from outside the vehicle. Not only are new homes connected to the Internet but their appliances are too. "Start your coffee machine with a text message!" says a video for Electric Imp, a device created by former Gmail and iPhone employees, whose stated goal is to "apply [Internet connectivity] to any device in the world." Even children's toys have Internet addresses: for instance, you can buy an add-on wi-fi kit for your Lego robot. The spread of networking technology into every aspect of life is sometimes called "the Internet of Things."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The embrace of a new technology by ordinary people leads inevitably to its embrace by people of malign intent. Up to now, the stakes when it comes to Internet crime have been largely financial and reputational—online crooks steal money and identities but rarely can inflict physical harm. The new wave of embedded devices promises to make crime much more personal.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Consider the automobile. Surely nobody involved in the 2000 Bridgestone/Firestone scandal—a series of deadly rollovers in Ford Explorers, linked to disintegrating tires—realized that they were laying the groundwork for a possible new form of crime: carjacking-by-tire. In the aftermath of the accidents, Congress quickly toughened tire-safety regulations. Since 2007, every new car in the United States has been equipped with a tire-pressure-monitoring system, or T.P.M.S. Electronic sensors in the wheels report tire problems to an onboard computer, which flashes a warning icon on the dashboard.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">By itself, the T.P.M.S. represents no great leap. Modern cars are one of the most obvious examples of the Internet of Things. It is a rare new vehicle today that contains fewer than 100 of the computers, called electronic control units, which direct and monitor every aspect of the vehicle. When drivers screech to a sudden stop, for instance, sensors in the wheels detect the slowdown and send the information to an E.C.U. If one wheel is rotating more slowly than the others—an indicator of brake lock—the E.C.U. overrides the brake and the accelerator, preventing the skid. Even as it fights the skid, the computer reaches into the seatbelt controls, tightening the straps to prevent passengers from slipping under them in case of an accident. The software for these complex, overlapping functions is formidable: as much as 100 million lines of computer code. (By contrast, Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner makes do with about 18 million lines of code.)</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Many of these functions can be activated from outside. Door locks are opened by radio pulses from key fobs. G.P.S. systems are upgraded by special C.D.'s. Ignitions can be disabled by remote-controlled "immobilizers" in case of theft or repossession. Cars increasingly offer "telematics" services, such as OnStar (from General Motors), BMW Assist, MyFord Touch, and Lexus Link, that remotely diagnose engine problems, disable stolen cars, transmit text messages and phone calls, and open doors for drivers who have locked themselves out. As cars grow more sophisticated, their owners will, like computer owners, receive routine, annoying updates for the code that runs these features; Tesla, the electric-vehicle manufacturer, announced the planet's first over-the-air car-software patch in September. A security-research team from InterTrust Technologies, a company that makes protected computer systems for businesses, describes today's automobiles as full-time residents of cyberspace, scarcely distinguishable from "any other computational node, P.C., tablet, or smartphone."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The tire-pressure-monitoring system is an example. As a rule, it consists of four battery-operated sensors, one attached to the base of each tire valve. The sensors "wake up" when the wheels begin rotating. Typically, they send out minute-by-minute reports—the digital equivalent of messages like "I'm the right front tire; my pressure is 35 p.s.i."—to an E.C.U. To make sure the E.C.U. knows which tire is reporting, each sensor includes an identification number with its report. The ID is specific to that one tire. In 2010, researchers from Rutgers and the University of South Carolina discovered that they could read a tire's ID from as far away as 130 feet. This means that every car tire is, in effect, a homing device and that people 130 feet from an automobile can talk to it through its tires.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Schrader Electronics, the biggest T.P.M.S. manufacturer, publicly scoffed at the Rutgers–South Carolina report. Tracking cars by tire, it said, is "not only impractical but nearly impossible." T.P.M.S. systems, it maintained, are reliable and safe.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">This is the kind of statement that security analysts regard as an invitation. A year after Schrader's sneering response, researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California–San Diego were able to "spoof" (fake) the signals from a tire-pressure E.C.U. by hacking an adjacent but entirely different system—the OnStar-type network that monitors the T.P.M.S. for roadside assistance. In a scenario from a techno-thriller, the researchers called the cell phone built into the car network with a message supposedly sent from the tires. "It told the car that the tires had 10 p.s.i. when they in fact had 30 p.s.i.," team co-leader Tadayoshi Kohno told me—a message equivalent to "Stop the car immediately." He added, "In theory, you could reprogram the car while it is parked, then initiate the program with a transmitter by the freeway. The car drives by, you call the transmitter with your smartphone, it sends the initiation code—bang! The car locks up at 70 miles per hour. You've crashed their car without touching it."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Systematically probing a "moderately priced late-model sedan with the standard options," the Washington–San Diego researchers decided to see what else they could do. They took control of the vehicle by contacting the hands-free system through the built-in cellphone and playing a special audio file. They compromised the hands-free microphone and recorded conversations in the car as it moved. They reprogrammed a mechanics' diagnostic computer to let them take over the sedan's operation remotely, at a time of their choosing. They used Bluetooth signals to start cars that were parked, locked, and alarmed. They did all this with instructions sent from a smartphone.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">There was nothing to stop them. "Except for medical devices," Stuart McClure, chief technical officer of the anti-virus company McAfee, told me, "nobody regulates any of this stuff." And medical devices are regulated for safety, not security. Because government isn't wielding a cudgel, security is entirely up to the manufacturers. In McClure's view, "maybe 90 percent" of the vendors don't see security as critical. The same thing was true of computer-software companies, he pointed out. Not until credit-card numbers by the millions began to be stolen did they begin to pay attention. "We live in a reactive society," McClure went on, "and something bad has to happen before we take problems seriously. Only when these embedded computers start to kill a few people—one death won't do it—will we take it seriously."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span class="dc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 90px; margin: -4px 8px -18px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(224, 0, 0); font-family: ltc-bodoni-175-1, ltc-bodoni-175-2, 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia, serif; float: left; line-height: 90px; display: inline-block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">I</span>t is a commonplace that most murders occur at home, which leads (solely for the purposes of illustration) to my own. My wife is an architect, so when we recently built a house we built one to her design. Late last spring, we moved in, hauling boxes as workers hurried to finish the last details. One day I walked into the basement to find the plumber peering in puzzlement at a device installed next to the circuit breakers. It was a white, lozenge-shaped object with a small L.E.D. panel on its face that showed a "dotted quad"—an Internet address in the form of four numbers separated by periods. "What's that?" asked the plumber. "It looks like your house is connected to the Internet."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">I didn't know. The contractor didn't know, either. Nor did the cable guy or the house-alarm guy. After a few phone calls, I learned that our electric company had installed the mystery box to monitor the new solar panels on the roof. Our house—or at least our roof—was part of the Internet of Things.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The white lozenge, it turned out, was part of a "smart meter," one of the most common among a wave of new devices that will, developers hope, produce the domestic dream of a "smart home." In smart homes, residents can control their lighting, heating, air-conditioning, fire and burglar alarms, lawn sprinklers, and kitchen appliances with the touch of a button. Increasingly, that button is on a computer or smartphone. These systems can help make homes more convenient, energy efficient, and safe. They are also a point of entry for online intruders—no different, really, from an open window or an unlocked door.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Computer-security researchers are focusing attention on smart meters in part because utilities have been installing them by the millions. (The Obama stimulus bill provided $4.5 billion for "smart grid" projects; the European Union has mandated a switch-over to smart meters by 2022.) Instead of learning about energy consumption inside a home or building from meter readers in white vans, electric companies now know about power usage in real time, from streaming data provided over the Internet, letting them avoid the cascading failures that lead to blackouts. Utilities talk up the environmental benefits of smart meters—no more wasted power! Utilities are quieter about "remote disconnect"—the possibility, created by smart meters, of cutting power to nonpaying customers with the flick of a switch or the punch of a phone key.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Because smart meters register every tiny up and down in energy use, they are, in effect, monitoring every activity in the home. By studying three homes' smart-meter records, researchers at the University of Massachusetts were able to deduce not only how many people were in each dwelling at any given time but also when they were using their computers, coffee machines, and toasters. Incredibly, Kohno's group at the University of Washington was able to use tiny fluctuations in power usage to figure out exactly what movies people were watching on their TVs. (The play of imagery on the monitor creates a unique fingerprint of electromagnetic interference that can be matched to a database of such fingerprints.)</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Like the computer on my home-office desk, the smart-meter computer in my basement is vulnerable to viruses, worms, and other Internet perils. As long ago as 2009, Mike Davis of IOActive was able to infect smart meters with virus-like code. The infected meters could then spread the malware to other, nearby meters. In theory, smart-meter viruses could black out entire neighborhoods at a stroke. They could also ripple back and infect the central controls at utility companies. Because those utility networks are usually decades old, they often lack basic security features, such as firewalls and anti-virus protection. "If I'm a bad guy, I'll wait till there's a major snowstorm or heat wave," said McClure. "Then kill the heat or A/C." Under such circumstances, he observed, "the elderly die very easily."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">For average homeowners like me, smart meters are almost as invisible as their risks. We're much more aware of the new temperature, security, and lighting controls operated by smartphones or tablets. (In September, the big real-estate developer Taylor Morrison announced a nationwide rollout of "interactive home" that include front-door video monitoring, whole-house Internet audio integrated with iTunes, and remotely programmable lighting and appliances.) Just around the corner, according to tech analysts, are refrigerators that alert families when they've run out of milk, ovens that can be turned on from the office, counters that double as video displays for recipes, videos, or Skype chats, and sensors that detect when residents are ill or hurt and that automatically call 911.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">In the rush to put computers into everything, neither manufacturers nor consumers think about the possible threats. "I would be shocked if a random parent at Toys R Us picked up a toy with a wireless connection and thought, I wonder if there are any security problems here." Kohno said to me. As he has himself demonstrated, children's Erector Sets with Web cams can be taken over remotely and used for surveillance. Kohno added, "I just hope you can't use them to turn on the broiler and set the house on fire." It was meant as joking hyperbole. But you won't need an Erector Set to physically turn on the broiler. Smartphone apps will do that for you. And when that's done—what the heck—you can kill the power, disable the fire alarm, suppress the call to 911, and for good measure start the car and leave it running in the garage.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Today, of course, these threats are remote. Only experts like Kohno can digitally hijack a house. But it is the nature of software to get easier to use and more widely available. Creating the first Internet worm required months of work in the late 1980s by a brilliant computer-science student, Robert T. Morris, who is now a professor at M.I.T. Today "virus construction kits" are readily downloadable on the Web, intended for teenaged miscreants with little programming ability. The expertise and time required for this type of vandalism have steadily declined. As a result, Internet threats have steadily risen. As I researched this article, every single computer-security expert I spoke with said they expected precisely the same pattern—obscure and rare to common and ubiquitous—to hold for the Internet of Things.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span class="dc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 90px; margin: -4px 8px -18px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(224, 0, 0); font-family: ltc-bodoni-175-1, ltc-bodoni-175-2, 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia, serif; float: left; line-height: 90px; display: inline-block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">M</span>ore than 1.5 million external defibrillators—flat, plastic devices that deliver shocks to people in cardiac arrest—have been installed in American offices, malls, airports, restaurants, hotels, stadiums, schools, health clubs, and, of course, hospital wards. (Usually bright red or yellow, they are typically mounted in boxes that look a bit like big fire alarms.) A.E.D.'s, as they are called, administer shocks through two pads taped to patients' chests that also monitor their heartbeats. Many have the ability to simultaneously call 911 when they are used. A.E.D.'s are, in fact, computers, and most of them are updated with Windows-based software on a U.S.B. stick.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Last year, Kevin Fu of the University of Massachusetts and five other researchers decided to find out whether an A.E.D. could be hacked. They discovered four separate methods for subverting the apparatus, two of which would allow the A.E.D.'s to be used as a portal for taking over nearby hospital computers.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">In a way, Fu told me, using A.E.D.'s to hijack hospital computers was "irrelevant," because computers are often already compromised by other means. Critically important devices like the fetal monitors for women with high-risk pregnancies can be so burdened with malware they no longer function. "I remember one computer in a radiology room that was absolutely riddled with viruses because the surgeons and nurses checked their e-mail on it," Fu said. "And it was the computer that ran the radiology equipment." Why didn't people check e-mail on a separate computer? "They said there wasn't enough room on the table for two machines," he said.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Even when staffers aren't careless, hospital-security problems can be difficult to fix. Medical manufacturers, Fu said, frequently will not allow hospitals to modify their software—even just to add anti-virus protection—because they fear that the changes would have to be reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a complex and expensive process. The fear is wholly justified; according to the F.D.A., most medical-device software problems are linked to updates, patches, and revisions.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Hospital equipment like external defibrillators and fetal monitors can at least be picked up, taken apart, or carted away. Implanted devices—equipment surgically implanted into the body—are vastly more difficult to remove but not all that much harder to attack.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">You don't even have to know anything about medical devices' software to attack them remotely, Fu says. You simply have to call them repeatedly, waking them up so many times that they exhaust their batteries—a medical version of the online "denial of service" attack, in which botnets overwhelm Web sites with millions of phony messages. On a more complex level, pacemaker-subverter Barnaby Jack has been developing Electric Feel, software that scans for medical devices in crowds, compromising all within range. Although Jack emphasizes that Electric Feel "was created for research purposes, in the wrong hands it could have deadly consequences." (A General Accounting Office report noted in August that Uncle Sam had never systematically analyzed medical devices for their hackability, and recommended that the F.D.A. take action.)</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Some 20 million Americans today carry implanted medical devices of some kind. As the population ages, that number will only grow, as will the percentage of those devices that are accessible by smartphone. So will the number of connected smart homes. Possibly people will own versions of Google's driverless car, in which all navigation is controlled by computers and sensors—devices that a hacker with a smartphone can adjust with satisfactorily grim results. If Ridley Scott, say, were to attempt a remake of <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Dial M for Murder,</i> I'm not sure he'd know where to begin.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12pt; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; position: static; z-index: auto; ">"In 10 years," Kohno told me, "computers will be everywhere we look, and they'll all have wireless. Will you be able to compromise someone's insulin pump through their car? Will you be able to induce seizures by subverting their house lights? Will you be able to run these exploits by cell phone? What's possible? It's more like 'What <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">won't</i> be possible?'"</p></div><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/microcomputers-weapons-smartphone.print">http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/microcomputers-weapons-smartphone.print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

How a Simple Smartphone Can Turn Your Car, Home, or Medical Device into a Deadly Weapon | Vanity Fair

L ast October at Melbourne's grand Intercontinental Hotel scores of technophiles watched a researcher for IOActive, a Seattle-based comp...

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USA HAS BECOME AN ORWELLIAN STATE

<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/40EWgNV6DrE?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

USA HAS BECOME AN ORWELLIAN STATE

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WOW Baking Company

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3CUXuF8vorQ/UN85FiIwg2I/AAAAAAAAEJk/VPGXk1mUcOo/s1600/WOW+Baking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3CUXuF8vorQ/UN85FiIwg2I/AAAAAAAAEJk/VPGXk1mUcOo/s320/WOW+Baking.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't you just love a good cookie that is made from the heart and baked with the finest ingredients?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't know about anyone else but I love a good cookie that taste like it just came fresh out of the oven. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well these cookies over at <a href="http://www.wowbaking.com/">WOW </a>have just that!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are made from all natural ingredients giving the cookies/ brownies the fresh out of the oven taste.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are also wheat and gluten free too!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feel like making your own?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They also carry cookie dough that is ready for you to bake and cake mixes!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How awesome and delicious is that!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know it's amazing right?!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love how they don't have those added fillers in the ingredients such as artificial flavors, sugars that our bodies just don't need.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H1RDLIR5Zvs/UN8_qqAYJbI/AAAAAAAAEKI/Oj8goYDSXbs/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H1RDLIR5Zvs/UN8_qqAYJbI/AAAAAAAAEKI/Oj8goYDSXbs/s320/photo+(3).JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b>White Chocolate Cranberry</b></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This cookie has Christmas written all over it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I love the tartness of the cranberries and the sweetness of the white chocolate chips inside every bite.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Super moist and has that homemade taste, you can tell they bake their cookies with love.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All I have to say is this is my new holiday favorite treat!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am wowed at how great they are!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Chocolate Brownies-</u></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUp498eQZq0/UOOhta-4kjI/AAAAAAAAEQo/T0vgnrZElec/s1600/brownieswow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUp498eQZq0/UOOhta-4kjI/AAAAAAAAEQo/T0vgnrZElec/s320/brownieswow.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love a good sweet treat especially when it comes down to something chocolate.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These brownies are amazingly delicious.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Made from all natural products.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love the chocolate chips baked inside of the brownies making them sweet and delicious and not hard like other brownies I've tried in the past.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another great thing is they are bite sized so you can just pop one into your mouth or add to your favorite go to ice cream!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b>Snicker doodle Cookie-</b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great taste.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chewy and not crumbly.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b>Peanut Butter Cookie-</b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love the taste of this cookie.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sweet, chewy, delicious with chips of ooey gooey peanut butter baked to perfection.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Oregon Oatmeal Cookie-</u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a wonderful cookie and doesn't leave you feeling like you over did it with sweets at all.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Made with oatmeal and has chunks of cranberries and apricots baked right in for natural sweetness.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This cookie was too good and forgot to take a picture of it! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you too would like to learn more about this wonderful company and check out their products</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then you can find them at.</span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wowbaking.com/products/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.wowbaking.com/products/</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/WOW-Baking-Company/176833292346153?fref=ts"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Face Book </span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

WOW Baking Company

Don't you just love a good cookie that is made from the heart and baked with the finest ingredients? I don't know about anyone else ...

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A Circus of Pain - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="piercing" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">A THROBBING HEADACHE</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">It was a cool fall day, but the sun seemed extremely bright as the young man helped guide nine circus elephants to their new pens. Even though the man was wearing sunglasses, the morning sun reflecting off the metal equipment felt like a knife cutting into his right eye. His head throbbed behind the eye, and an occasional tear rolled down his cheek. When the animals were finally secured, he returned to his trailer. ''O.K., I do need a doctor,'' he said to his girlfriend. His hand was cupped over the side of his face. ''Right now.''</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="unlike" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_image" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqcsWWyB2PmauMl4vjBB_ynJZ2rBSwl-NlIQJxALku1dS7CQHEdHsWHubw3me0PRpG9GmZtsguhmeFV49QzyakIEOVl-6827TqvXbBb6ifyZXpAetEWeISQPTKWwv8yCuywIPKiQkb5vA/s1600/465-720395.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5827437057417856802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqcsWWyB2PmauMl4vjBB_ynJZ2rBSwl-NlIQJxALku1dS7CQHEdHsWHubw3me0PRpG9GmZtsguhmeFV49QzyakIEOVl-6827TqvXbBb6ifyZXpAetEWeISQPTKWwv8yCuywIPKiQkb5vA/s320/465-720395.jpg" /></a><div class="credit" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; text-align: right; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); margin-bottom: 3px; ">Ken Orvidas</div><div class="caption" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; font-style: italic; "></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">It was the worst headache of his life, the 25-year-old patient told the doctor in the emergency room of Highland Hospital in Rochester. It started five days earlier when the circus was in Connecticut. At first it wasn't a big deal. He would take a couple of aspirin, and it would disappear. But when the medicine wore off, the headache was still there. In fact, each time it seemed just a little worse. That morning, when he got out of bed, the pain was unbearable. He took aspirin, Advil, Tylenol. Nothing put a dent in it.The pain was sharp and on the right. It felt as if someone were slamming a door inside his head. He'd had the occasional headache but never something like this.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">He didn't smoke, rarely drank and took no medications. He had no recent head trauma, though he was head-butted by a zebra a few years ago. That hurt — it broke his glasses — but not this much. His mother had migraines, and perhaps that's what this was. Maybe, the doctor said, though a week was a long time for a migraine.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="cursed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">FIRST, WORST OR CURSED</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">For doctors, a description of a headache as the worst is a red flag. We worry about headaches described as the first (for someone who doesn't have headaches) or the worst (for someone who does) or those that are ''cursed'' by the presence of other symptoms like weakness or confusion. He didn't have other symptoms, but the doctor was concerned because he called it the worst.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="abnormalities" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">ABNORMALITIES</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The doctor ordered a painkiller and blood tests to look for signs of infection or inflammation. She also ordered a CT scan of the head to look for a tumor or evidence of blood. The blood tests were normal. The CT was not.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Within the brain, there are compartments where spinal fluid is made. The fluid then circulates around the brain and spinal cord and is reabsorbed. Two of these compartments, known as the lateral ventricles, are usually mirror images of each other. But in this patient, the ventricle on the right, where his headache was located, was much larger than the one on the left. That suggested there might be a blockage in the circulation of the spinal fluid on the right side, which was causing pressure to build.That could certainly cause a headache — and permanent damage if not addressed quickly.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="pressure" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">PRESSURE</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_image left" style="margin-bottom: 10px; float: left; margin-right: 15px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuScV18EfTE3QgRhne89mll9B7GyOcOFB8oNLCSNUJty46ZtTKlpHdfI0t00NpbHEZPc5WkbXxYEidXb2bx0TfrGitiwwSxe2A9QRkVKkguZsrUjQHFTK_Z2Sh0yILFdd0yFHYY6OJrnI/s1600/28tlad_scan-articleInline-722328.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5827437063713307874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuScV18EfTE3QgRhne89mll9B7GyOcOFB8oNLCSNUJty46ZtTKlpHdfI0t00NpbHEZPc5WkbXxYEidXb2bx0TfrGitiwwSxe2A9QRkVKkguZsrUjQHFTK_Z2Sh0yILFdd0yFHYY6OJrnI/s320/28tlad_scan-articleInline-722328.jpg" /></a><div class="credit" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; text-align: right; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); margin-bottom: 3px; "></div><div class="caption" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; font-style: italic; ">A slide from the CT scan of the patient's head.</div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Even before the E.R. doctor saw the CT scan, she called neurology for help in figuring out this patient's terrible headache. The neurology resident examined the patient and his CT scan, but it wasn't clear to him how the pieces fit together. If the asymmetry were caused by an obstruction, the patient should have symptoms associated with increased brain pressure — like nausea — but he didn't. The resident knew that he didn't have enough data to make a diagnosis. Watching the patient over time would give him more. If there was a blockage in his brain, he should begin to feel nauseated and weak. If he didn't, it was very unlikely that the asymmetry reflected a blockage. The patient was admitted to the hospital, where nurses were to examine him every four hours to look for any change.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="relief" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">NO RELIEF</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Overnight the headache became worse, despite the use of several powerful painkillers. By morning the patient was exhausted from the pain and nearly incoherent from the narcotics. He never, however, developed symptoms of increased pressure in his brain.The neurologist speculated that this was a migraine and recommended he go home and follow up as an outpatient.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">The neurosurgeons weren't so sure there wasn't an obstruction.The patient's worsening pain was worrisome. They recommended an M.R.I. If there was a change in the size of the ventricle, when compared with the CT, they could drill a small hole into his skull and relieve the pressure.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-left: 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); z-index: auto; "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="tincture" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">THE TINCTURE OF TIME</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Dr. Bilal Ahmed, the internist taking over the patient's care that morning, first heard about the new patient from his team of residents outside the patient's door. They told him that he was a young circus worker who had been hit in the head by a zebra, had an abnormal CT and was probably going to surgery later in the day.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">As they stood there, a nurse hurried out of the patient's room. ''He's got a rash,'' she told the doctors. The team went into the room, and Dr. Ahmed glanced at the patient now hidden beneath a pile of blankets. He introduced himself to the patient's girlfriend. As she started to speak, Dr. Ahmed held a finger to his lips. ''Don't say anything,'' he told her. ''I want to see for myself.''</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">''May I look?'' he asked the young man. A matted head of dark curls slowly emerged from beneath the mound of blankets. The patient sat up slowly, blinking in the dim light. His right eyelid was swollen and drooped drunkenly over the pupil so that only the lower ridge of the greenish brown iris was visible. The right side of his forehead was red, as if he had a sunburn on that half of his face. And there was a sprinkling of bumps over his eye and forehead.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Was this zoster? Dr. Ahmed wondered out loud. He touched the reddened skin around the lesions.The young man winced.That part of his forehead had been intensely sensitive ever since this headache started.</div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_button_container" style="margin-top: 10px; width: 465px; "></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-left: 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); z-index: auto; "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="diagnosis" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">THE DIAGNOSIS</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Herpes zoster — or shingles — is the re-emergence of the herpes virus that causes chickenpox. The word ''shingles'' comes from the Latin ''cingulum,'' which means ''belt'' or ''girdle''; the rash of herpes zoster often appears in a band, usually on the trunk or chest. When a chickenpox infection resolves, the virus takes refuge in branches of the nerves just outside the spinal cord, where it usually resides for decades. Sometimes the virus re-emerges, but the reasons are unclear. Most of these outbreaks are painful but not dangerous — except when the virus emerges in the nerves near the eyes.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin: 20px 0px 50px 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="shingles" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">SHINGLES VS. OBSTRUCTION</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">Dr. Ahmed called the neurosurgeon. Was there a link between this patient's shingles and the asymmetric ventricles? No, he was told. If this guy has shingles — and it sounded as if he did — then the asymmetry was probably something he was born with.The M.R.I., done later that day, confirmed that there was no obstruction. In the meantime, the patient was started on an antiviral medication. Despite the treatment, his vision began to blur. The bumps on his face, which led to the diagnosis, had spread to his eye as well. Two years later, his vision is still impaired on that side.</div></div></div></div><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-left: 18px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); position: relative; min-height: 700px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); z-index: auto; "><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.1em; position: absolute; display: block; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 2px 10px; top: -8px; left: 30px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a name="zebras" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">OF HORSES AND ZEBRAS</a></h2><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_content" style="margin-top: 20px; width: 465px; "><div class="nytmm_diagnosiscolumn_section_text"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">In this case, as in so many, time is a powerful and frequently undervalued diagnostic tool. The rash appeared days after the symptoms began; that is common in zoster. But without the telltale rash, there was only the pain and the abnormal CT, and that led his doctors to worry that his pain was the result of pressure building up in his brain. A truism in medicine is that when we hear hoof beats we should think of ordinary horses as the cause rather than the rare zebra. In this case, time revealed that what looked likely to be zebra — an obstruction on the right side of the brain — was actually the everyday horse of herpes zoster.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/09/magazine/diagnosis-circus-of-pain.html?ref=magazine#/#piercing">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/09/magazine/diagnosis-circus-of-pain.html?ref=magazine#/#piercing</a></span></div></div></div></div></div>

A Circus of Pain - NYTimes.com

A THROBBING HEADACHE It was a cool fall day, but the sun seemed extremely bright as the young man helped guide nine circus elephants to thei...

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Neuroscience - Under Attack - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="articleBody" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.7em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><br><nyt_text><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">This fall, science writers have made sport of yet another instance of bad neuroscience. The culprit this time is Naomi Wolf; her new book, "Vagina," has been roundly drubbed for misrepresenting the brain and neurochemicals like dopamine and oxytocin.</div></nyt_text></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="float: left; clear: left; display: inline; margin-top: 6px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; width: 190px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div class="inlineImage module" style="margin-bottom: 12px; clear: both; width: 190px; "><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 2px; "><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/neuroscience-under-attack.html?_r=0" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; display: block; "><span itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/25/sunday-review/25GRAY/25GRAY-articleInline.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAdWXHeV-ZXjjMRvpRlFXiVXanDPkG6V5LIlXCFXgKvVuILicERzhpBNq9KyPNyVBt_NExonPKnEoFdyssF2l-NyRphcdJx4ScwXke2RNfMtjTFMQZaFtB8azJ7zV51ICzYkMKAMgMgM/s1600/25GRAY-articleInline-723335.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5827428049544730626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAdWXHeV-ZXjjMRvpRlFXiVXanDPkG6V5LIlXCFXgKvVuILicERzhpBNq9KyPNyVBt_NExonPKnEoFdyssF2l-NyRphcdJx4ScwXke2RNfMtjTFMQZaFtB8azJ7zV51ICzYkMKAMgMgM/s320/25GRAY-articleInline-723335.jpg" /></a></span></a></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; "></p></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.7em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Earlier in the year, Chris Mooney raised similar ire with the book "The Republican Brain," which claims that Republicans are genetically different from — and, many readers deduced, lesser to — Democrats. "If Mooney's argument sounds familiar to you, it should," scoffed two science writers. "It's called 'eugenics,' and it was based on the belief that some humans are genetically inferior."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Sharp words from disapproving science writers are but the tip of the hippocampus: today's pop neuroscience, coarsened for mass audiences, is under a much larger attack.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Meet the "neuro doubters." The neuro doubter may like neuroscience but does not like what he or she considers its bastardization by glib, sometimes ill-informed, popularizers.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">A gaggle of energetic and amusing, mostly anonymous, neuroscience bloggers — including Neurocritic, Neuroskeptic, Neurobonkers and Mind Hacks — now regularly point out the lapses and folly contained in mainstream neuroscientific discourse. This group, for example, slammed a recent Newsweek article in which a neurosurgeon claimed to have discovered that "heaven is real" after his cortex "shut down." Such journalism, these critics contend, is "shoddy," nothing more than "simplified pop." Additionally, publications from The Guardian to the New Statesman have published pieces blasting popular neuroscience-dependent writers like Jonah Lehrer and Malcolm Gladwell. The Oxford neuropsychologist Dorothy Bishop's scolding lecture on the science of bad neuroscience was an online sensation last summer.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">As a journalist and cultural critic, I applaud the backlash against what is sometimes called brain porn, which raises important questions about this reductionist, sloppy thinking and our willingness to accept seemingly neuroscientific explanations for, well, nearly everything.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Voting Republican? <em>Oh, that's brain chemistry.</em> Success on the job? <em>Fortuitous neurochemistry!</em> Neuroscience has joined company with other totalizing worldviews — Marxism, Freudianism, critical theory — that have been victim to overuse and misapplication.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">A team of British scientists recently analyzed nearly 3,000 neuroscientific articles published in the British press between 2000 and 2010 and found that the media regularly distorts and embellishes the findings of scientific studies. Writing in the journal Neuron, the researchers concluded that "logically irrelevant neuroscience information imbues an argument with authoritative, scientific credibility." Another way of saying this is that bogus science gives vague, undisciplined thinking the look of seriousness and truth.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">The problem isn't solely that self-appointed scientists often jump to faulty conclusions about neuroscience. It's also that they are part of a larger cultural tendency, in which neuroscientific explanations eclipse historical, political, economic, literary and journalistic interpretations of experience. A number of the neuro doubters are also humanities scholars who question the way that neuroscience has seeped into their disciplines, creating phenomena like neuro law, which, in part, uses the evidence of damaged brains as the basis for legal defense of people accused of heinous crimes, or neuroaesthetics, a trendy blend of art history and neuroscience.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">It's not hard to understand why neuroscience is so appealing. We all seek shortcuts to enlightenment. It's reassuring to believe that brain images and machine analysis will reveal the fundamental truth about our minds and their contents. But as the neuro doubters make plain, we may be asking too much of neuroscience, expecting that its explanations will be definitive. Yet it's hard to imagine that any functional magnetic resonance imaging or chemical map will ever explain "The Golden Bowl" or heaven. Or that brain imaging, no matter how sophisticated and precise, will ever tell us what women really want.</p><nyt_author_id><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; ">Alissa Quart is <a href="http://www.alissaquart.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; ">the author</a> of "Branded" and "Hothouse Kids."</div></div></nyt_author_id></div></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/neuroscience-under-attack.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/neuroscience-under-attack.html?_r=0</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Neuroscience - Under Attack - NYTimes.com

This fall, science writers have made sport of yet another instance of bad neuroscience. The culprit this time is Naomi Wolf; her new book, &...

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