Guerlain Météorites Cruel Gardenia:15% OFF at Izzy's for Lola's Readers Ends August 19, 2013!

The Guerlain Météorites Cruel Gardenia is 15% OFF at Izzy's Perfume & Beauty Shoppe- an EXCLUSIVE for Lola's Secret Beauty Blog readers! Ends August 19, 2013! Read my full review here. (Unaffiliated links provided for your convenience).

Thirty-nine Lions on Atlanta's Glenn Building

The Atlanta lion count continues with the Glenn Building, 1923, designed by Waddy B. Wood.


The lions are way up in the elaborate cornice.

 
As long as I've been here, it was dumpy, frumpy, and seedy. The 2006 redevelopment into the Glenn Hotel deserves high praise.


It's the last classy, classical building on the west side of downtown.

There's nothing nearby left from it's era. The Omni, (now CNN Center), the former Federal Reserve, 101 Marietta (now Centennial Tower), the digital billboard with the giant clock, the Centennial Park light towers, are practical, impressive, modern, "activated" pop.

It's a vibrant area but my eye prefers the Glenn.

Let's count lions.


There is one lion on the rear of the building which faces southwest.


Eighteen lions on the Spring Street side.


There are nineteen lions on the front which faces Marietta Street.


Lion thirty-nine flies solo over the northwest side.

More lions:

• Candler Building Lions: 31 in the Cornice and 4 at the doors.
• Sixty Lions on the Ellis Hotel's Cornice - Really - I Counted Them

Please submit your lion count request in the comments.

Bonus lions:


The Ponce Apartments (now Ponce Condominiums) lions guard Midtown

Lola's Secret Beauty Blog is Featured on the iFabbo Blogger Spotlight!!!!

I am very pleased to tell you that Lola's Secret Beauty Blog is featured on the iFabbo Blogger Spotlight here! I am delighted and honored to have been chosen!

The Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup: August 18, 2013 Edition

The Convenient Beauty: Shiseido and Cle de Peau cotton pads face-off: which one's superior even better priced than drugstore brands?
Mama Fashionista: Quinn shares a beauty on a budget find, great for makeup beginners and pros alike!
Adore A Polish: Kristina's husband takes over the blog with his review of the HYD For Men shaving kit.
Glamorable!: Do you like flowers? What about nail art? If

Daily Blog #56: Sunday Funday 8/18/13

Hello Reader,
           It's that time again, Sunday Funday time! For those not familiar every Sunday I throw down the forensic gauntlet by asking a tough question. To the winner go the accolades of their peers and prizes hopefully worth the time they put into their answer. This week I am changing things up and letting the winner pick their choice of prizes!

The Prize:

• Winner's Choice A year license of Accessdata Triage or a Conference ticket to PFIC

The Rules:

1. You must post your answer before Midnight PST (GMT -7)
2. The most complete answer wins
3. You are allowed to edit your answer after posting
4. If two answers are too similar for one to win, the one with the earlier posting time wins
5. Be specific and be thoughtful 
6. Anonymous entries are allowed, please email them to dcowen@g-cpartners.com
7. In order for an anonymous winner to receive a prize they must give their name to me, but i will not release it in a blog post

The Challenge:

The suspect is believed to have taken source code from his past employer and made use of it in the development of a new product. For a  Ubuntu Linux system (any modern version 11 forward) where the user is using Gnome and CVS answer the following:

1. Where would you look to see what devices had been connected

2. Where would you look to see what files/directories had been accessed

3. Where would you look for user activity related to source code development

Good luck! I'm having fun switching up operating systems to expand the challenge to more participants! I'm looking to see who else out there is having fun with some mainly unknown Linux forensic artifacts.

The Organic Pharmacy Virgin Cold Pressed Rose Hip Oil Review

Purchased by me (Affiliate link)

At this point it is barely worthy of mention that I am thoroughly smitten with The Organic Pharmacy. Their products have made an unprecedented difference in the condition of my skin, and with each new product that I try I find myself further and further down The Organic Pharmacy rabbit hole. Their anti-aging line has hands down beat every other line that I

The Beauty Spotlight Team Weekly Roundup: August 17, 2013 Edition

If you love anti-aging face oils and roses- then Lola's Secret Beauty Blog highly recommends Aftelier Perfumes Rose Face Elixir with Sandalwood and Frankincense: This is No Ordinary Rose!

Beauty Info Zone has been raving about Wantable subscription boxes for quite a while. They have a bigger rave now with the new jewelry subscription. You'll want to read about this.

Prime Beauty has the 411

Designer Hostels

If you're anything like me, I travel on a budget but hostels aren't exactly my first choice of a place to stay when I go on vacation. They can have somewhat of a negative connotation when they're thought of. Dirty, cramped, dangerous. These are just a few of the thoughts that come to mind. But Hostelbookers is changing the name of the game with their selection of design hostels. Traveling is expensive already, not to mention the cost of hotels. With these hostels, you get high end, clean, modern rooms at a fraction of the cost!

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If you like the idea of staying in a luxury hotel but don’t like paying the hefty price tag, consider the new designer hotels and hostels from Hostelbookers where you can Stay in Style for a fraction of cost while having a blast! Check out these cheap-chic, budget-boutique accommodations where classy comfort is just the beginning!

 The Cat’s Pajamas Hostel – Berlin, Germany

Berlin’s playful sense of humor pervades this “alternative hostel experience” where the halls – intentionally painted in eye-popping graffiti -- lead to sunny rooms outfitted with designer furniture. Spacious ensuite facilities including make-up stations framed with lighted mirrors and equipped with hair dryers. The helpful staff takes immaculate care of the well-equipped, expansive communal kitchen with big tables that encourage patrons to dine together and get acquainted. Located in Berlin’s multi-cultural Kreuzkoelln district on a tree-lined boulevard, the neighborhood’s dining experiences run the gambit -- from Katie’s Blue Cat British bakery to Paleolithic cuisine at the Sauvage restaurant. Walk to Hermannplatz to catch a train to Berlin’s historic city center or experience Karstadt, Germany’s favorite department store that carries everything from tools to groceries to furs.

Sleepbox Hotel -Moscow, Russia

Despite the rather intimidating futuristic layout, the “sleepboxes” in this designer hotel offer a level of comfort and privacy hitherto unknown at such affordable prices. Available with single or double beds dressed in luxury sheets, the “sleepboxes” are soundproofed, well-ventilated and have a compact “nano” layout that includes a closet, shelves, hooks, sockets, an LED TV and, of course, free Wi-Fi. Each floor has spacious, clean communal bathrooms (a towel set is provided) and there’s a laundry and bicycle rental desk. Dine out at the neighborhood Botanika restaurant, a local favorite featuring a homey atmosphere and fresh Asian cuisine, then kick up your heels at the Help! Bar, famous for award-winning cocktails but renowned for a strict security policy discouraging coarse behavior. Walk to the nearby Belorusskiy station to catch aero express trains to the Sheremetyevo airport or ride the Paveletskiy Train to access the Domodedovo Airport.

Tattva Design Hostel – Porto, Portugal

Some claim staying at this hostel is practically a spiritual experience, which seems to be what the designers had in mind when they incorporated the power of the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky) in every aspect of their facility. The result is a harmonious blend of public and private spaces dressed up in chakra-spinning colors and mind-soothing contours. The building is a World Heritage site with a commanding view of Porto from the outdoor terrace and the bedrooms’ windows and balconies. Breakfast is free at the spacious restaurant and there’s a fully-equipped communal kitchen for self-prepared meals. Relax in the reading room or dive into the Aquarium Lounge (yes, there are fish tanks) for refreshing cocktails. The tour desk organizes fun events like pub crawls and walking tours to the impressive Porto Cathedral and across the Douro River on the pedestrian deck above the Dom Luís Bridge.

Interlaken Youth Hostel – Interlaken, Switzerland

The keystone of this sparkling new facility is the cozy lounge that invites guests to mingle around a welcoming fireplace. Precisely arranged bedrooms are hygienically clean and maximize space with auto lockers big enough for backpacks. Their in-house restaurant serves up free breakfasts, healthy meals and supplies snacks to take into the game room to enjoy during a round of pool or internet surfing. Right next door to the Interlaken-Ost Railway Station, the hostel sits at the base of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains, site of one of the most spectacular sightseeing trains in the world and a playground for hikers, skiers and nature lovers.

**This is a sponsored post but all opinions stated are my own

手拉手京华小馆 | 小笼包!

3rd August 2013.
Shou La Shou Beijing Restaurant is located just next to Swee Choon, the famous dim-sum restaurant which is a pity because Swee Choon’s fame overshadowed the good food Shou La Shou has to offer.
This Chinese restaurant serves up some pretty good and I mean really good xiaolongbao that is on par with Din Tai Fung (when it used to be good).Their xiaolongbao’s pastry was delicate but firm enough to hold the rich, flavoursome broth within. 8 小笼汤包 goes for 6.80 SGD.

Besides Chinese dim sum, Shou La Shou is above all a Chinese restaurant serving all sorts of dishes for a communal setting. For appetizers, one could start off with some fine line cuts of 酱香牛肉.

Then whet your appetite with an awesome bowl of 咸菜鱼.

Their 自创家乡豆腐 (10.80 – 20.00 SGD) is highly recommended too. Beancurd topped with a mash of seaweed, minced pork and sprinkled with shaved carrots and spring onions served with a savoury gravy was pure delish.

The 广东脆皮鸡 (13.80 – 27.00 depending on serving) was pretty good too. The skin was very crispy and the meat was adequately moist. What makes this chicken stood out however is its spice dip with has strong hints of cumin. Otherwise, I think it is just a decent deep fried chicken.

The 灯笼茄子 was an unintentional order but turned out to be rather delicious! Its eggplant deep fried with a crispy batter like a tempura and stuffed inside the eggplant were prawns and it was really quite delicious but also very oily.

Lastly, we ended off with some 豆沙锅饼, not bad. I find the batter a little thick for my liking though

.

We also ordered the seaweed and dou miao here. There were okay too.

手拉手京华小馆
Hand in Hand Beijing Restaurant
141 - 143 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208859

Daily: 11:30 - 00:00

Daily Blog #55: Saturday Reading 8/16/13

Hello Reader,
      Wait, It's Saturday? Where did the week go? It's time for another Saturday Reading where I list out what I've been reading this week and what tools we've been trying out. Let's get started.

1. We had another Forensic Lunch yesterday, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOHG_pwHyRo, Brian Lockery came on to talk about the crimes against children conference and his products. We talked about our efforts to get TSK's api to bind to perl and Matthew talked about his formal education towards a bachelor in computer forensics.

2. If you watched the forensic lunch you heard me talk about SWIG, http://swig.org/, which is a pretty neat project. If you want to bind a C/C++ API to your choice of language (C#, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, etc..) it will auto generate code to wrap the functions and make them available. It takes some work to learn but it does work!

3. I finally got the website for the book done , http://www.learndfir.com, and the links are all up for the new book. Just click on the cover to be taken to it! Next we need to upload the images we made for the analysis chapters so you can solve the cases at home.

4. Are you a perl monk like I am? If so you should check out Inline C, http://search.cpan.org/~sisyphus/Inline-0.53/C/C-Cookbook.pod#The_Main_Course, which allows you to embed C and call out to C libraries within perl. The code gets compiled at run time and then cached allowing for C speed with perl execution.

5. For those of you who heard Matthew talking about his college experience getting a degree in computer forensics here are the programs he is graduating from. He is getting his Bacehlors in Information Assurance and Forensics from OSU IT http://www.osuit.edu/academics/information_technologies/ba_about.html and got his associates in forensics from Richland https://www1.dcccd.edu/catalog/programs/degree.cfm?degree=digi_forensics_aas&loc=8

6. James Webb has proferred a maturity model for organizations to measure their incident reponse capabiltiies against, I thought it was a good write up, http://blog.jameswebb.me/2013/08/modeling-ir-program-maturity.html

7. Over on the SANS blog Ira Victor has a nice writeup on his experience at Blackhat and Defcon, http://computer-forensics.sans.org/blog/2013/08/11/case-leads-a-forensicators-take-on-blackhatdefconbsides. These are traditionally very infosec focused conferences so Ira has found those takeaways that are most relevant to forensics.

8. If you watched last week's forensic lunch we talked about extended mapi parsing in Outlook. David Nides was nice enough to share a free package that parses this data, http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/home.htm, called Outlook Redemption. Check it out!

That's all this week, make sure you come back tomorrow for Sunday Funday! Another challenge and another prize for those that are ready to flex their forensic mental muscles!

Candler Building Lions: 31 in the Cornice and 4 at the doors.

Atlanta's Candler Building opened in 1906 with a full complement of Lions. Two things first. One, if you aren't from Atlanta: The Candlers were Coca-Cola. Two, if you are in downtown Atlanta: Walk into the lobby, thank me later.

 
I'm on a hunt. My last post was "Sixty Lions on the Ellis Hotel's Cornice - Really - I Counted Them." A kind reader wondered about the Candler lions. Here we go.


The south cornice has four lions.


The east cornice has eleven lions.


The north cornice has six lions.


The west cornice has ten lions.


The other "south cornice" doesn't have a cornice or lions.

That's 31 lions in cornice.


The east entrance has two Lions.


The west entrance has two lions.

That's 35 lions in all. Have I missed any? Let me know.

Next?


The lion count on the Glenn Hotel.

Daily Blog #54: Forensic Lunch 8/16/13

Hello Reader!,
    It's Friday and time for another forensic lunch! You can watch it live and ask us questions or the recording later.

See you tomorrow for Saturday Reading!