President Biden and his family, including disgraced first son Hunter, are spending their summer vacation at a $20 million beachfront mansion in South Carolina, The Post has learned — and they’re not paying a dime.
The president recently asked prominent Democratic donor Maria Allwin — the widow of hedge fund founder James Allwin — if he could stay at her nine-bedroom Kiawah Island estate, a source close to the family told The Post.
“They stayed here before and they’re not paying,” the source said. “They’ve never paid. They’re just friends.”
The property features a large swimming pool on two acres and is surrounded by palm trees and other lush vegetation for privacy.
The White House frustrated reporters by offering little transparency about Biden’s South Carolina trip, which is expected to last through early next week.
Associated Press emphasized Wednesday that the White House “did not respond to requests to provide details on Biden’s vacation schedule, activities or when he planned to return to Washington, nor did it provide information on the residence where he was staying.”
The property is surrounded by lush vegetation for privacy.Charleston Trident MLS
However, the Federal Aviation Administration’s website indicates “temporary flight restrictions for VIP Movement” will be in place over Kiawah until 9:15 pm Tuesday.
The Bidens have often stayed at Allwin’s mansion, which was listed for sale earlier this year — including as early as 2009, while Joe Biden was vice president.
Maria Allwin has contributed to an array of mostly Democratic political campaigns, but her most recent donations are to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and a PAC supporting her effort to beat back a primary challenge by Donald Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman.
Ahead of the 2020 election, Allwin generously supported Biden, sending a $35,000 check that September to the Biden Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The excursion is a Biden family getaway, with son Hunter Biden joining as well. Susan Walsh/APThe homeowner, Maria Allwin, is a big-time contributor to an array of political campaigns, supporting Biden in 2020. Charleston Trident MLS
The source said, however, that the Allwins and the Bidens are not engaged in business dealings together — and added the family is not directly linked to Hunter Biden, whose foreign business deals are under federal investigation. The first sons recently paid about $2 million to the IRS in a bid to avoid tax fraud charges.
Maria Allwin has known Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden socially for more than a decade, according to the source.
The Allwin family’s firm, Aetos Capital, is currently run by Maria Allwin’s son, Chris. The firm’s holdings include California-issued carbon credits.
Biden has stayed at the homes of other wealthy benefactors before. In November, his family spent Thanksgiving at billionaire private equity investor David Rubenstein’s compound on Nantucket, drawing raised eyebrows from ethics experts.
“Just a friendly reminder, [Biden] will have to pay fair market value for the stay on Nantucket or disclose the gift of free lodging in his annual disclosure in May 2022. I’m not suggesting he wouldn’t, just reminding not to let it slip through the cracks,” Walter Shaub, director of the US Office of Government Ethics under former President Barack Obama, tweeted at the time.
Shaub added regarding that stay, “There’s a disclosure exception for personal hospitality, but that only applies if the head of the Carlyle Group is staying there with the Bidens. I suspect the WH is all over compliance with the rule — and oblivious to the ethical optics.”
A source told The Post that the Biden family has never paid for their stay in the home because they are friends with the owner. Joshua Roberts/REUTERSThe home features nine bedrooms on two acres of Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Charleston Trident MLS
The Allwin family declined to comment and the White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s inquiry.
Biden also has yet to comment on the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which reportedly dealt with the ex-president’s possession of records that may contain classified information. White House aides say Biden had no advance knowledge of the raid, which Republicans say demonstrates a double standard compared to the FBI’s investigation of the Biden family finances.
IGA and Foodland supermarket owners have been told by Metcash, the company that runs the network, not to increase shelf prices as inflation soars because it will actually make them less money.
It is concerned pushing up prices will see customers ditch the independent retailers for Coles and Woolworths after fading IGA sales made a comeback during the pandemic.
Metcash told news.com.au the plan is for its supermarket retailers to grow their gross profit through volume growth by providing customers a “differentiated offer”, which includes competitive prices.
“That is, if prices are not competitive they could lose sales and gross profit,” a spokesman said.
He said the differentiated offer of the IGA network was “the convenience of local shopping, wide ranges tailored to the local community and with the brands they want, together with friendly local service”.
The direction to supermarket operators was more blunt, with a slide in a presentation at their national conference last month stating: “Don’t increase shelf prices – this will reduce gross profit dollars”.
In the presentation, obtained by Australiansupermarket owners were told there were “lots of ways to improve margin and bank more gross profit dollars but none of them involve putting prices up”.
At a grocery and food suppliers forum on Wednesday suppliers were told if the supermarkets lifted shelf prices their gains in improving competitiveness in recent years would be put at risk, reported Australian.
According to Metcash’s FY22 full year results, supermarket food sales over the past two years rose 13.8 per cent.
Like-for-like sales in the IGA network increased 14.6 per cent over the two years, with Metcash attributing the growth to “continued support from shoppers rediscovering the convenience of local neighborhood shopping and the improved competitiveness of the network”.
The pandemic helped IGA make a comeback, with figures showing sales had actually declined in the two years before 2020.
A Metcash spokesman told news.com.au as a wholesaler the company accepted price increases.
“Our position has always been consistent: where suppliers put forward legitimate reasons for increases we accept them,” he said. “However, our focus continues to be on keeping our retailers at least as competitive in the market, even after the change takes effect.”
Metcash’s advice to not increase shelf prices comes as many retailers, including the major supermarkets, hike up prices.
A fortnight ago Aldi, famous for having low grocery prices, warned price increases were inevitable.
Aldi customer interactions director Adrian Christie told the Australian Financial Review: “Some grocery prices will inevitably increase in the months ahead, but we want to reinforce our commitment to customers that we will maintain our price leadership relative to our competitors.”
The comments came as Australia’s inflation rate hit 6.1 per cent – the highest since December 1990.
The new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the June quarter showed the cost of fruit and vegetables was up to a whopping 7.3 per cent from last year and 5.8 per cent from the previous quarter.
The price of meat, seafood, bread and cereal products rose 6.3 per cent, while the cost of non-alcoholic beverages rose 7.9 per cent.
The ABS said these changes reflect “a range of price pressures including supply chain disruptions and increased transport and input costs.”
The popular messaging service WhatsApp has introduced three new features that aim to enhance privacy and security for users.
“Your privacy deserves more protection,” said the Meta-owned platform in a post shared on social media.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, shared the announcement on his Facebook page as well.
“New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you’re online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages. We’ll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations,” the post said.
Here is a dive into what each of the new features mean:
1. Exit group chats without notifying anyone
WhatsApp users are no strangers to group chats. The platform is widely used for group texting. With this new feature, WhatsApp aims to give people a quiet way to exit groups, without drawing the attention of other group members.
Previously when a member of a WhatsApp group exits the chat, all members are notified. After the privacy update, only the group admin will be notified of the departure, while the rest of the members remain unaware.
2. Control who can see you when you’re online
WhatsApp users will be able to pick the contacts that can see them online. If a user does not want a few (or most) of their contacts to know that they are currently using a platform, they can block them from seeing the ‘online’ indicator that appears on the chat.
3. Prevent screenshots on ‘view-once’ messages
View-once messages are texts you can send on WhatsApp that get deleted after they are viewed by the receiver.
With this privacy update, receivers will not be able to take screenshots of videos or photos sent using the view-once feature. Whatsapp says that this new development will be available to users soon.
Earlier this week, WhatsApp announced that users can now delete messages up to 2 days after they are sent – an upgrade from the previous limit. Before the update, users could delete messages for everyone in the chat up to 24 hours after they had been sent. After that, they could only delete messages for themselves but they would still be visible to everyone else in the chat.
You’ll NEVER guess what TLC looks like now! Chilli, 51, and T-Boz, 52, have hardly aged as they make rare TV appearance ahead of national RnB Live tour in Australia
By Mary Mrad For Daily Mail Australia
Published: | Updated:
They skyrocketed to fame in the 1990s and went on to become one of the most iconic R&B groups in history.
And on Friday, Rozonda Chilli Thomas, 51, and Tionne T-Boz Watkins, 52, made a rare TV appearance on Channel Nine’s Today show.
The girl group, who appear to have hardly aged a day in two decades, celebrated their 30-year anniversary.
You’ll NEVER guess what TLC looks like now! Chilli, 51, and T-Boz, 52, have hardly aged as they made a rare TV appearance ahead of a national RnB Live tour in Australia. pictured
‘To still be able to be here, selling out and doing tours and living life the way we are, it’s a blessing,’ T-Boz said.
Chilli also said she loves seeing younger generations singing their songs at concerts.
‘I absolutely love people singing our songs. It touches both of us in a way that is hard to explain to see little ones who weren’t born singing our songs,’ she said.
The girl group, who appear to have hardly aged a day in two decades, celebrated their 30-year anniversary during an appearance on Channel Nine’s Today show
TLC will be performing at the Australian RnB Fridayz Live tour in November.
Thrift Shop hitmaker Macklemore, who performed at the 2017 NRL Grand Final in Sydney, is headlining the event and will perform alongside a bevy of other stars.
The huge line-up also includes international superstars like Ashanti and Shaggy and Australia’s own DJ Havana Brown.
TLC were best known as a trio, however third member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes tragically died aged 30 in a road collision in 2002
American hip hop trio TLC were formed in Atlanta in 1991, and went on to have a string of hits including Waterfalls, No Scrubs and Unpretty.
TLC were best known as a trio, however third member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes tragically died aged 30 in a road collision in 2002.
In 2020 – almost 18 years after the loss of the rapper – TLC singer Chilli told how there was ‘never ever a thought’ to replace the late star in the group.
Speaking on GMB, she said: ‘We heard from so many people, in the business, that surprised us more than anything. The fans, not so much.
It was never ever a thought to replace her, no one in TLC can be replaced. Nobody can fill those shoes.’
She went on to explain that while she and T-Boz were adament that there would be no new members, it took some time for others to see their point of view.
Chilli added: ‘It took a while for people to get it. But through touring it keeps her memory of her alive, we never mute out her raps of her or anything.’
TLC will be performing at the Australian RnB Fridayz Live tour in November. Thrift Shop hitmaker Macklemore (pictured) is headlining the event and will perform alongside a bevy of other stars
Not that this portends any kind of ‘victory’, moral or otherwise, for the Shark and his Sheikhs. Their claims of reinvigorating golf with a 54-hole format, shotgun starts and team scoring are fatuous.
The Studio 54 tour will gradually gain acceptance and attention, as all past professional breakaways have done over time, but none ever gained the legitimacy that professionals crave and this won’t either. It is simply a cash grab by the players, no different from billions of dollars’ worth of deals Australia and other high-minded countries do with the Saudi devil. As Kim Hughes says, and once did, they are merely gig economy workers taking a job.
Credit:Illustration: Simon Letch
The Shark’s claims of doing this to ‘grow golf’ will fail every conceivable pub test, unless the players get together and pool their sign-on fees to grow the game themselves. Or do something really good with their fabulous riches such as funding medical research or ending world hunger. Please don’t build any of them a spaceship; now that they’re zillionaires, they’ve got to be better than Jeff Bezos.
The shallowness of the exercise is underscored by the lack of explanation of the ’cause’ it is championing. It bears no resemblance to the World Series Cricket or professional tennis breakaways, which were gambits for compensation to justly reflect the income those performers brought to their sports. The golfers mutter darkly about the control the PGA holds over them, its America-first focus, restrictions of trade and the insufficient provision of courtesy cars and off-course snacks, and Norman himself has a historic grudge against the tour.
But then, Norman was once described as a guy who, when he walks into a zoo, will within five minutes be telling them they’re feeding the elephants the wrong kind of peanut. That’s just Norman.
He and his rebels are without a cause that can be easily communicated to anyone outside the private jet they fly around in. Instead of having a real just cause, the jet seems, with people like Reed, Johnson, Koepka, DeChambeau and Garcia aboard, like a flight of the disgruntled, all gathered in one plane to mutter darkly together. Among that bunch, you wouldn’t want to try claiming the window seat with the most legroom.
Smith breaks the mould, and if he joins the breakaway tour it gains not only competitive credibility with the world No.2, aged 28 and still to reach his prime, but also a strong likeability quotient. In the pub, there are increasing murmurs of ‘Well, wouldn’t you take that kind of money? And don’t our cars run on Saudi oil?’
Australian golf spectators, who have been done no great favors by the American PGA tour, would love to see Smith and Sharkie’s crew on our shores. As the outrage wears off, instead of being consigned to the dustbin of history, the rebel players will be essential to a reunited and reformed world tour. The pub may not like it, but history suggests that that is how it will play out.
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Whoever wins, there will be one sure loser, and that is the Saudis, fools who were easily parted from their money. They won’t notice the millions they have pissed away, but at some point, even in that solipsistic world that exists in Riyadh and London, someone will realize that they have not ‘sportswashed’ their reputation but only drawn global attention to their crimes and abuse.
Even when the golf breakaway gains enough leverage to win compromises from the PGA, the Saudis themselves gain nothing. That’s the puzzling thing about it all. There are understandable and even defensible motivations for every actor in this drama except for the rich dopes writing the checks. It is the world’s most futile vanity project. Smith and the rest will eventually be forgiven and pass the pub test again, but their Sheikhs will never be welcome in any pub, anywhere. Shame they don’t drink.
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The attorney of the Irvine dermatologist accused of poisoning her husband with drain cleaner claimed she was pouring Drano into a cup to fix plumbing issues.
Dr. Yue Emily Yu, a 45-year-old Southern Californian dermatologist, was arrested on Aug. 4 on suspicion of poisoning her radiologist husband, Dr. Jack Chen.
Chen submitted three videos captured by a hidden camera in July that allegedly support his claim that his wife had been poisoning him. Screenshots, which were shared with news outlets, show Yu pouring Drano brand drain cleaner into a cup.
However, David Wohl, Yu’s attorney, claimed that she was using Drano for their kitchen’s plumbing issues. Wohl said Yu would pour the drain cleaner into a cup to avoid splashing.
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“The idea that my client, who is a 45-year-old well-respected dermatologist in Orange County, would destroy her life, destroy her children’s lives and try to kill her husband is just completely absurd and untrue — and for that matter defamatory ,” Wohl told CBSNews.
“Anytime she poured Drano into a cup it was completely empty,” Wohl added. “It was for facilitating use in the sink or any other part of the house that was clogged as far as the drainage goes, but she never poured any Drano or any chemical into any drink that her husband used or was drinking ever. That’s completely untrue.”
Steven Hittelman, Chen’s lawyer, disputed Wohl’s claim. He said that Yu can be seen pouring Drano into Chen’s lemonade once he leaves the room in the videos captured by a hidden camera.
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The videos have not been released to news outlets.
Chen told police that he had been observing a chemical taste in his lemonade. Hittelman said that his client of him was diagnosed with physical issues, including gastritis, stomach ulcers and an inflammation of the esophagus, in March and April.
Yu, who has not been charged, was released on Aug. 5 after posting her bond of $30,000. Chen previously filed for an emergency restraining order, claiming that he and their two children are victims of physical and emotional abuse. He also filed for divorce and is seeking sole custody of their children.
More from NextShark: Man detained for 9 days by Chinese police for sharing ‘insulting’ meme of dog wearing a police hat
“He was desperate to have reasons to gain custody of the children,” Wohl told CBS News. “We completely believe that these claims he made are all part and parcel of that effort.”
Featured Image via CBS Los Angeles
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As for the cyclical-versus-structural distinction, it’s relevant because, as Lowe never tires of reminding us, monetary policy is capable of dealing only with cyclical problems. Its role is to smooth the ups and downs in demand as the economy moves through the business cycle.
But here’s the problem:
In particular, employees and their unions now have less power to insist on wage rises sufficient to keep up with price rises than they did when last we had a big inflation problem. But big business now has more power to raise its prices.
Credit:Illustration: Matt Davidson
Partly because globalization has moved much manufacturing from the high-wage advanced economies to China and other low-wage economies, and partly because of the decentralization and deregulation of wage-fixing and the decline in union membership, most workers pretty much have to accept whatever inadequate pay rise their chief executive (or premier) chooses to give them.
This is why all the concern about inflation expectations becoming “unanchored” is so silly. Businesses have the power to act on their expectations of higher inflation, but workers no longer do.
This is why the rate of unemployment can fall far below what economists, using data going back decades, estimate to be the NAIRU – “non-accelerating-inflation” rate of unemployment – without wage inflation accelerating.
In concentrated markets, firms can also easily see the effects on their few competitors, and they can watch and follow each other’s behaviour. They are confident that none will break ranks on price rises because there are benefits to be had by all.
When thinking about inflation, macroeconomists – including Lowe, I suspect – often assume our markets are competitive, and that the markets for all goods and services are equally competitive.
But as Rod Sims, former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and now a professor at the Australian National University, has written, markets in Australia are generally far from strongly competitive.
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“Many sectors … are dominated by just a few firms – think beer, groceries, energy and telecommunications retailing, resources, elements of the digital economy, banking and many others,” Sims says.
“This means the dominant firms have some degree of market power. That is, they can set prices at higher levels knowing competitors are unlikely to undercut them and take market share from them.
“When there is high inflation, dominant firms often realize they can increase prices above any cost rises because consumers will be more accepting of this. They will often do this subtly over time.”
In concentrated markets, firms can also easily see the effects on their few competitors, and they can watch and follow each other’s behaviour. They are confident that none will break ranks on price rises because there are benefits to be had by all.
Firms with market and pricing power are also less likely to restrain prices in response to interest rate rises, Sims says. This is because it’s not competition, but dominant-firm behaviour, that’s driving pricing decisions.
As well, market power is usually associated with reduced production capacity. How often do we see reductions in combined capacity following a merger of two competitors? When demand increases, there’s then less capacity available to serve it, so we see prices rise more than they otherwise would have.
Interest rates can only do so much to fight against inflation. Credit:Louie Douvis
What all this means is that it may take longer for interest rates to work to slow inflation, so patience may be needed rather than further increases. And, Sims says, there could be a role for publicly exposing high margins, to put pressure on to reduce them.
Another point he makes is this inflation owes much to price shocks in the key, highly regulated gas and electricity industries. In these cases, the best answer is to make their regulations more anti-inflationary, not just jack up interest rates further.
The micro-economic reforms of the Hawke-Keating government have made our economy much less inflation-prone than it was in the days when inflation was last a major problem.
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Meanwhile, however, we’ve allowed the pricing power of big firms to grow as successive governments of both colors have resisted pressure from people like Sims to tighten our merger law, and state governments have maximized the sale price of their electricity businesses by selling them to business interests intent on turning the national electricity market into a three-firm vertically integrated oligopoly. Well done, guys.
Ross Gittins is the economics editor
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How is a physical access attack conducted? You’d see one happen — right?
“An attacker could walk into an organization, plug a flash drive with an advanced strain of ransomware into a computer and then walk around pretending to be a phone repairman or someone working with pest control,” said Bryson Payne, author of Go H*ck Yourself.
Such attacks are not always as easy to detect as one might think — nor as easy to defend against. Organizations need to converge cybersecurity and physical security to fully protect their assets. But, before trying to improve the relationship between the two, it’s important to understand how weak physical security affects cybersecurity and puts an organization’s sensitive data at risk.
Physical security, as the name suggests, is the protection of networks, systems or data from physical actions or events. The threat of physical cybersecurity attacks has increased with remote and hybrid work models that have employees working outside the office and on noncompany-sanctioned devices and networks.
“An employee could be working on their laptop in a coffee shop, and a threat actor could be listening for unencrypted traffic on the free Wi-Fi,” said Payne, a professor and founding director of the Center for Cyber Operations Education (now the Institute for Cyber Operations) at the University of North Georgia. “The employee could get up to order another coffee, and the hacker could sit down at the employee’s computer and, in five seconds, gain access to saved passwords on the device’s browser.”
To better help readers understand the dangers of physical cybersecurity attacks, Payne teaches readers how to hack their own devices in his book. These ethical hacker techniques give readers greater insight into cybersecurity and enable them to better protect themselves from threat actors.
In this excerpt from Chapter 2, “Physical Access Hacks,” Payne explains how to conduct a Sticky Keys hack. This walkthrough demonstrates a hack that involves both cybersecurity and physical security vulnerabilities.
Physical access hacks may sound scary because they can be used maliciously by attackers on stolen or unattended computers. However, they also have constructive applications. Ethical hackers at home and at IT help desks use techniques like the Sticky Keys hack or the Mac root hack to recover files that would otherwise be lost due to a forgotten password. If you have an old computer in the garage or attic with family photos or other important documents that you can’t access because no one remembers the computer’s password, these hacks can help.
Warning: do not perform either of these hacks on your main computer, because they could leave your machine vulnerable to attack. You can usually find an old desktop or laptop if you ask around. Get creative, but stay ethical; be sure to get the owner’s permission before trying out these hacks on someone else’s computer. If you can’t find an extra Windows or Mac computer to practice on, you can still read this chapter to understand the dangers of physical access attacks.
The Sticky Keys Hack
Sticky Keys is a Windows feature that makes it easier to issue certain keyboard commands, like CTRL-C to copy or CTRL-V to paste, by allowing you to press the keys one after another instead of all at once. Sticky Keys is triggered by pressing SHIFT five times and can even be turned on from the Windows login screen, before a username or password has been entered.
For this hack, we’ll replace the Sticky Keys program file with another file, cmd.exe. That way, instead of launching the usual Sticky Keys assistant, pressing SHIFT five times will launch a command prompt. This is a text-based program that lets us enter commands directly into Windows. By launching a command prompt at the login screen (see Figure 2-1), you’ll be able to add a new username and password, give yourself administrator-level access to the computer, and access the computer’s files, all without knowing the login information on that computer!
Since Windows 10 computers that have been updated in 2019 or later are safe from the Sticky Keys hack, you’ll need an older Windows computer to try out the hack for yourself. You’ll also need a Windows 10 installation disc or USB drive. To create one, follow the instructions in Appendix A.
Figure 2-1: The Sticky Keys hack brings up a command prompt window instead of the Sticky Keys assistant.
Booting from a Windows 10 Installation Disc
To replace the Sticky Keys program with the command prompt program, we need to access the hard drive that contains those program files using a Windows 10 installation disc or USB drive. Once you’ve created an installation disc, as described in Appendix A, insert the disc and then restart the computer.
We need to tell the computer to load the operating system (OS) from the disk or USB drive instead of from the computer’s hard drive. To do this, we’ll access either the boot menu or the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), which contains basic settings that control your computer when it starts up. Different PC manufacturers and different versions of Windows cause the instructions to vary a bit, but the following steps combined with a little web searching will get you into most older Windows computers:
On Windows computers, you press a special key to access the boot menu or BIOS. If your startup screen doesn’t show you which key to press just before the Windows startup logo appears, reboot your computer and quickly press ESC, DELETE, F8, F9, F10, F11, or F12 right as it begins to start up. Search online for “boot menu” and the specific make and model of your computer to find the right key.
If the boot menu appears, select the Boot from DVD or Boot from USB option to boot from the Windows installation disc you inserted, then move on to step 5.
If the boot menu doesn’t appear after a few restarts, try entering the BIOS menu instead: turn the computer off and on again, and press DELETE, F2, F9, F10, F12, or ESC. Search online for “BIOS” and your computer model to find the right key.
Once you’re inside the BIOS, find the boot options and change the order or priority of your boot devices (often by using your arrow keys) to make the USB or DVD the top option. Then save the changes and exit the BIOS.
Reboot the computer again. You should briefly see the message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD or Press any key to boot from USB device. Press any key (such as the spacebar) immediately to boot from your DVD or USB.
When the Windows installation disc starts up, click Next>Repair your computer>Troubleshoot>Command Prompt, as shown in Figure 2-2. The menu order or the option names might look different, but look for the Windows command prompt.
Warning:make sure you don’t install Windows 10 — that would wipe out all the files from the PC you’re trying to recover!
Figure 2-2: Use the Windows installation disc to access the command prompt.
Once you’ve reached the Windows command prompt (usually a black, text-based window), type c: and press ENTER to change to the C: drive, as shown here:
X:> c:
Enter the command say to see a list of files and folders on the C: drive. Look for a folder called Windows (it will be marked , short for directory).
C:> dir Volume in drive C is Windows 10 Volume Serial Number is B4EF-FAC7 Directory of C: --snip-- 03/15/2018 02:51 AM <DIR> Users 05/19/2019 10:09 AM <DIR> Windows *1 --snip--
This folder (*1) contains the operating system files, including the command prompt application and the Sticky Keys program file that we need to swap out to perform this hack.
If there’s no Windows directory on the C: drive, try the same process in the D: drive by entering D: and then say. If the D: drive doesn’t have the Windows directory either, keep going through the alphabet (E:, F:, G:, and so on) until you find a drive containing Windows in its listing.
Gaining Administrator-Level Access
Now to replace the sethc.exe Sticky Keys program with the cmd.exe command prompt program. Then we’ll be able to create a new administrator account on the computer.
Enter the following three commands:
C:> cd WindowsSystem32 C:WindowsSystem32> copy sethc.exe sethc.bak C:WindowsSystem32>copy cmd.exe sethc.exe
These commands enter the directory where we can find both sethc.exe and cmd.exe, create a backup copy of the Sticky Keys program, and replace the original Sticky Keys program file with a copy of the command prompt program file. This way, whenever the computer runs sethc.exeit will open a command prompt window in place of the Sticky Keys program.
Figure 2-3: Opening a command prompt window
After the third command, Windows will ask you if you want to overwrite exe. Enter Y to proceed.
Remove the Windows 10 installation DVD or USB and reboot the computer.
When the PC boots to the login screen, press SHIFT five times. Instead of the usual Sticky Keys program, you should see a command prompt window pop up in front of the login screen, as shown in Figure 2-3.
Enter the following two commands into the command prompt window:
C:WindowsSystem32> net user ironman Jarvis /add C:WindowsSystem32> net localgroup administrators ironman /add
The first command adds a user account named Hombre de Hierro with the password Jarvis to the Windows computer. The second command adds the Hombre de Hierro user to the list of local administrators. This means that when we log in as Hombre de Hierrowe’ll have administrator-level access to all the files on the computer.
Figure 2-4: We’ve successfully added a user named ironman as an administrator on this computer.
When you see a success message like the one in Figure 2-4, close the command prompt.
In addition to creating a new user account, you can also reset the password of an existing user from the command prompt window by entering net user followed by the existing username and the new password you want to set — for example, net user bryson Thisisyournewpassword!. However, you should never reset another person’s password without their permission and the permission of the computer’s owner.
Figure 2-5: You can now use the ironman user to log in to this Windows PC
Now You’re an Administrator. Log In!
Congratulations! You now have access to the machine as an administrator. Go ahead and log in. Enter .Hombre de Hierro as the username (or select Hombre de Hierro from the list of accounts, as shown in Figure 2-5). The dot and backslash before ironman tell Windows the account is local to the computer and not stored on a network server. After entering the username, enter the password, Jarvis.
Figure 2-6: As an administrator-level user, you can see all users’ files, not just your own.
Since we made the Hombre de Hierro user a member of the local administrators group, you should have administrator-level access to there files and folders, including all users and documents in C:Usersas shown in Figure 2-6.
When you click into another user’s folder for the first time, you’ll see a pop-up message saying you need permission to open another user’s files, as shown in Figure 2-7. Since you’re an administrator, click Continue to grant yourself permanent access!
The Sticky Keys hack works only on Windows machines. However, computers running macOS are vulnerable to physical access hacks as well.
Figure 2-7: Administrators can give themselves permission to access anyone’s files on the same computer.
Bryson Payne
About the author Bryson Payne is an award-winning cyber coach, author, TEDx speaker and founding director of the Center for Cyber Operations Education(now the Institute for Cyber Operations) at the University of North Georgia (UNG.) He is a tenured professor of computer science at UNG, where he has taught aspiring coders and cyber professionals. In 2017, I have received the University System of Georgia Chancellor’s Service Excellence Leader of the Year Award. He has also been awarded the Department of the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service medal from US Army Cadet Command and the Order of Thor medal from the Military Cyber Professionals Association. Payne holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia State University. He is also the author of Teach Your Kids to Code and Learn Java the Easy Waypublished by No Starch Press.
Somewhere between the carpaccio of kingfish and the squid-ink spaghetti, Emma Thompson tucks into the female orgasm.
“Women have to perform orgasms all the time,” she says. “Maybe you don’t want to make loud noises and thrash about like a f—ing electric eel.”
Her mother, and mine and yours, might have advised against discussing such matters at the dining table, but that’s just because “we’re ashamed of it, we’re deeply disrespectful about sex”, she insists.
“Here we are having a meal, and we’ll talk about the food until the kingdom come, but we don’t talk about sex, or at least we don’t talk about pleasure. And I feel it’s a big mistake to cut it so entirely out of our life. I think it leads to a great deal of unhappiness, mental illness, and indeed is part of the problem of violence.”
Thompson first came to Australia in the early 1980s with the Cambridge Footlights comedy revue, and her husband briefly went to school in Sydney, but this is her first visit to Melbourne. “I love it here,” she says.Credit:Justin McManus
Forthright as she is, I suspect not every meal with Dame Emma Thompson, the first and, so far, the only person to win Oscars for both acting and writing, gets so fleshy so fast. And much as I might like to think it owes something to my, ahem, stimulating company, in truth it’s been the topic du jour for the past week and a half, as she has toured the country, done endless media interviews and answered a vast range of questions at Q&A screenings to support her new film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Thompson doesn’t need to traipse across the world to spruk an English indie comedy-drama, no matter how charming it is. She’s here because she thinks its Australian director, Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays, AnimalsSBSseries The Hunting), is an “extraordinary” talent who handled the intimate and very challenging material with great finesse.
“This film could have been so many different things, but I think the reason it’s doing what it’s doing is because of Sophie. She’s just so delicate.”
Thompson plays Nancy in Big Leoa widowed former teacher of religious education who hires a male escort to help tackle a long-standing regret: she’s never had an orgasm.
In fact, it’s just one of the many sex-related things she didn’t experience in her otherwise happy-enough marriage. But with the help of Leo (young Irish actor Daryl McCormack), she sets about tackling the list with a good deal of “will this be on the exam Miss” gusto. Tick it off, move along.
Gnocchi with ragu of pork neck, fennel seeds and leek.Credit:Justin McManus
What she’s really been missing, though, is a sense of ease in her own skin, and that’s where Hyde and screenwriter Katy Brand’s body- and sex-positive arc is leading her, literally. The film ends with the 63-year-old Thompson fully naked, appraising her own body de ella with a hard-won sense of acceptance and, yes, pleasure.
“I felt like I knew exactly who she was,” says Thompson of Nancy. “I think she’s everywhere. She’s in every woman. ”
Is she even in you?
“Nope. I couldn’t do it if it was me. Nancy is so different to me.”
The exciting thing about acting, she says, “is playing someone who’s not like you at all. Sometimes there’s a little bit of cross-hatching, a little bit of a palimpsest, but generally the thrill is to get as far away from yourself as possible.”
Nancy is a pleaser, she says. The real Emma Thompson has more in common with the talk show host she played in the 2019 comedy late night, written by Mindy Kaling. “Independent, interested, a bit irritable, did n’t suffer fools, she said what she meant.”
Thompson with her Leo Grande co-star Daryl McCormack in Sydney last week.Credit:Oscar Coleman
I was told by her publicist that Thompson is exactly as you’d expect, and it’s true. She’s warm, smart, fierce, funny. The discreet-but-unmissable glances from other diners reinforce the fact she’s also a bit of a legend, but her down-to-earth manner de ella, and her earthy sense of humor de ella, make it easy to forget that.
Our lunch date is Thompson’s last interview of an eight-day Australian tour, with just the evening’s screening to follow, and she’s ready to unwind. “I wish I didn’t have to work tonight,” she says as the first sip of a very easy-to-drink drink slides down. “I’d be here for hours.”
Even so, there’s a brief moment when I fear I’ve made a terrible mistake in booking Caterina’s for lunch. It’s not that this gorgeous cellar restaurant in the heart of Melbourne’s legal district isn’t classy enough. It’s just that it specializes in Venetian cuisine – and Thompson and her actor husband Greg Wise have an apartment in Venice, so I fear I’ve accidentally invited her on a busman’s holiday.
But the second she takes her first bite of the baccala – a creamy codfish spread atop a perfectly toasted oval of bread – any chance of that evaporates. “Oh my God, that’s so good,” she says, her whole face squinting in delight. “They’ve got that so right. That’s made me very happy.”
Kingfish Carpaccio with cream, blood orange, citrus oil and radish.Credit:Justin McManus
Thompson doesn’t like fussiness, but she does love food. My entree of gnocchi with a white ragu of pork neck, fennel and leek has her reaching over for a forkful, then later another spoonful, and as our host weaves her hospo magic over us, it’s clear there are two stars in the room. “She’s amazing, Caterina. She she’s super cool, ”Thompson observes. “Ella She’s someone who can really do this, who knows food and knows how to inhabit it but also make it feel light-hearted.”
Thompson’s daughter Gaia is 22 and studying drama, but she’s also a very good cook. “And I keep saying, ‘I know you like acting, but, you know, perhaps running a restaurant can be as exciting’. There’s something very theatrical about restaurants; when you get it right, you feel so happy and lucky to be in it.”
billCredit:Karl Quinn
For sure. But there’s something theatrical about … well, the theater and film and television too, right?
“Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I love my job so much, I’m so lucky to keep being given opportunities to do it. And I’m just about to go back and do theater.”
She’s been working on the stage musical adaptation of her 2005 film Nanny McPhee for about five years now, and can finally see what looks like the finishing line. “I think it’s about 18 months away,” she says. “I’ve done many, many drafts. The composer, Gary Clark, has written many, many songs.”
She gave him just two musical reference points: English cabaret rock band The Tiger Lillies and Tom Waits’ album SwordfishTrombones. “A sort of steampunk Victoriana, that’s what we’re going for,” she says. “Something really muscular and dark and a little bit sinister in that way that makes children very happy.”
Thompson has been developing Nanny McPhee for the stage for about five years, and hopes it will be ready in another 18 months.
With acting credits in more than 90 films and series and writing credits on seven movies – including the Oscar-winning Sense and Sensitivity, Nanny McPhee and its sequel, Bridget Jones’s Baby and Last Christmas – I wonder what it is that makes her most happy, career-wise.
“Acting is more fun,” she says. “You get energy from other people, whereas [with] writing you’re on your own. But I would say my favorites are the ones I’ve written. Because if you’ve started with a blank piece of paper and you’ve ended up in the Curzon [an English cinema chain] it’s just such a journey.
“You can’t really fathom it, but the satisfaction, the sense of purpose for starters, and then disbelief when it actually happens, is so enormous that the pleasure is out of all proportion to any other experience.”
Better than sex even?
“Different,” she says. “It lasts longer. I’m sure there’s other very good gags to be had out of this analogy, but right now I’m pissed, so I’m struggling to think of them.”
As much as it’s the sex, and her nudity, that have grabbed the headlines, Big Leo isn’t just about that. “It’s mostly words,” she says. “The really confronting thing was doing 12 to 15 pages of dialogue a day, so getting your kit off and standing in front of a mirror is quite easy after that.”
The nude scene was filmed at the end of the rapid-fire 19-day shoot, and she concedes it was quite confronting, “because I had made a very conscious decision to use my own body as it is, rather than preparing it in any way to make it fit an expectation that people might have”.
That fits both with the theme of the movie and with her take on the beauty myth, which she sees, per Naomi Wolf, as an oppressive tool that emerged in response to women’s emancipation. “As soon as women got the vote and started to earn money, everyone told them they should be smaller, thinner, take up less space,” she says. “Why not spend all your time and energy thinking about what’s wrong with your body, and spending money on ways to alter it?”
Big Leo won’t upend that construct on its own, but it might help a few people think differently about their bodies, about sex, and indeed about sex work. It might open up a space in which some people might be able to acknowledge that being a parent isn’t always the greatest gift, that fear is such a stifling force, that marriage can be hard work but still worthwhile.
Nancy doesn’t much like her body at the start of her four meetings with sex worker Leo Grande, but by the end she is able to accept and even appreciate it in its full naked glory.
“I always think that phrase ‘failed marriage’ is so cruel,” says Thompson, whose first to Kenneth Branagh lasted six years but whose second, to Greg Wise, is 27 years and counting. “We seem to think of it as some kind of achievable state, which is a bit unfair. Relationships have their time, don’t they, and then they come to an end.”
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So, too, do lunches, and after submitting cheerily to a few selfies she’s off for a post-prandial nap before the evening’s screening. After a couple of days to herself, she it’ll be back to England and whatever comes next.
Goodbye and good luck to you, Emma Thompson. It’s been a pleasure – not faking.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is in cinemas since August 18.
Email the author at [email protected], or follow him on Facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on Twitter @karlkwin.
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Figure 2-4: We’ve successfully added a user named ironman as an administrator on this computer.
Bryson Payne
