Elf Ears

Look as cute as one of Santa's little helpers or those incredibly regal beings in The Hobbit. Forget the traditional earrings. Ear cuffs are totally in right now. You might have seen some fashion heavyweights sporting them at fashion week and thought "that's cool, but I could never wear it." Au contraire, mon cheri. Ear cuffs can work for anybody. They're especially sexy when you've got short hair or you're when you're wearing your hair in a messy bun. They even look cool when your hair is down and just tucked behind one ear.

I got my first serious ear cuff as a gift last year. Although I like to take risks, I was initally a little hesitant about wearing it. I enjoy big, bold jewelry so why should this be any different? My next ear cuff was this jeweled chain one from Topshop. It was on super sale, so it's not like I spent an arm and a leg on something that's trendy. Do you like it? I absolutely love the way it hugs my ear, and it's really comfy. See how it shines. Who knew that my ear could look so good.

Finding the right cuff for you really depends on your own personal style. Try these babies on. You can opt for a sleek gold design like this one by PL by Peter Lang. If rhinestones are your thing, add some sparkle with this floral cuff by BCBG or even this crystal and amber cuff from ASOS. For the girls who's all about Ice, Ice baby this geometric ear cuff is perfect for you. And if you're still a little nervous about the style, try this single jewel cuff by OKA Jewelry. I promise you'll look edgy or elegant regardless of which one you choose. So get an ear cuff now. Legolas will love it on you!

CLICK TO SHOP

Dear Fairy Model Mother: Can I Really Have It All?

Last night I was watching television and happened to stop on the new Sarah Silverman comedy special We Are All Miracles. Normally, she doesn't exactly do it for me but I admire her talent and hutzpah. Sarah said something that really struck a chord. "Stop telling girls they can be anything they want when they grow up." Huh? I thought about it for a second and instantly thought of the Instagram photo of Gisele taken earlier this week. She's fresh off a flight, getting prepped for a shoot, and breastfeeding at the same time. What a multitasker. Gisele caught some flack for the photo. Honestly when I saw it I was mad too. Damn her for looking so good! People were appauled that Gisele dare show herself breastfeeding her child. But why the heck not? Anyway, it got me to think about what an image like this symbolizes...The American Dream.

Society sells us the idea of being able to achieve your hearts desire, but rarely does it believe it's possible, especially for women. We are often forced to choose between family and career, responsibility and free will, and beauty versus intelligence. Let's not forget that time is also against us. Popular culture glorifies the carefree party girl who only lives for today, not the witty 30-something known for her smarts and ability to juggle work and family life.

Getting back to Sarah Silverman's joke about telling little girls they can do anything they want when they get older. "I think it’s a mistake,” she continues, “not because they can’t, but because it would’ve never occurred to them they couldn’t." I get it. Instead of the statement inspiring little women to aim higher, it puts that ounce of doubt in their minds that maybe the dream isn't possible to achieve. If some long, lanky awkard teen told you that she wanted to be a supermodel, a successful business woman, marry a football player and have a family, you'd probably laugh. You'd pat her on the shoulder and say "you can do whatever you want, sweetheart." Well guess what? That's Gisele's life. That's real.

Well I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. You shouldn't have to choose between the things you love. You should never think that it's too late to try something new. In your busy schedule, you can fit in whatever you want. Be a great working mom and still have time for yourself. Go back to school and get your law degree. After getting fired from your previous job because your co-workers were jealous of your talent, start your own consulting business. You can even get signed to a major modeling agency when the naysayers are saying you're too old or you need to lose weight. IMG Models is signing people like you right now. So stop questioning, doubting, and waiting and start doing. You really can have it all if you just believe.

Hot Chocolät Hair

The cooler temperatures are totally messing with my hair routine. I'm normally a "co-wash and go" kind of girl allowing my curls to air-dry. But for the past week it's been so cold in the morning that I barely want to shower. You can't forgo that. Wetting my hair just wasn't happening. Did I mention that I'm fighting a cold? To get through the hump, I've been hiding my short hair under a big curly wig for some days. It was super cute, but then I got a call for an audition that required me to go back to my usual do. What a predicament. I needed a great shampoo and conditioner that could fight frizz, work with my texture, and protect my hair from blow- drying damage. Thank goodness for Carol's Daughter Chocolät.

Lather it! The oil and dirt was really starting to weigh down my curls. But one wash with Chocolät sulfate-free Shampoo knocked all that out. My curls just sprung right back. My hair is super thick and coarse, so I'm really surprised the shampoo was able to clean without stripping my coils. After my wash in the sink, I applied the creamy Smoothing Conditioner, put on a shower cap, and then wrapped my hair in a towel. I needed to do a few things before actually showering. Wrapping your hair in a towel allows for deep conditioning just like if you were sitting under the dryer. Your own body heat can work wonders. After 10 minutes, ready to rinse. Chocolät includes ingredients that clean, nourish and train your hair to be more manageable. Keravis and sunflower seed extract latch on to every strand of your hair and tame it for you. No misbehaving.
Blow it out! This is the part that makes me nervous. My hair responds so differently after heat styling. It always ends up feeling fried and crunchy. But I needed it to be soft, touchable, and not all over the place. You know what I mean. Blow dry cream to the rescue. Carol's Daughter Chocolät actually contains cacao extract which helps to smoothes the frizz. This line is designed for curly girls who want to wear straight styles, but I figured it would work on my kinky cut too. I applied a small amount to my damp hair and used the "scrunch and lift" method while blow drying.

Style it up! My hair is still short enough that I can finger comb and style without using extra tools. That Chocolät really worked some magic, because I barely needed to style it after blow drying. A little Macadamia Finishing Shine Mist and I'm done. Now my hair looks fantastic without air-drying. And the process was actually more painless than I thought. No heat damage, no fried hair just pretty, springy healthy curls. Sweetness.

Get the three-piece Chocolät starter kit here. Enjoy!

Bras, Wings, and Sparkly Things

Did you watch it? Did you tune in for the sexiest night of television? Nearly 19 million people sat at home on Tuesday night to watch the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show. For weeks we've been impatiently waiting to see the long-legged angels strut down the runway. We've all seen the behind-the-scenes photos and had fun with the little online videos, but enough with the teasing. Let's get to the real stuff. Ok, I have a confession to make. I actually didn't watch the darn thing. Unlike the golden days of yore, the show doesn't do anything for me anymore. The over-the-top costumes, the abundance of push-up bras, all the feathers and jewels. It's just too much, but it's still missing the mark. I've come to realize that Victoria's Secret and I don't have the same relationship we used to. Gosh, this feels like we're breaking up. Don't worry, Vicky it's me not you.

Over the years I've come to expect more from the brand but accepted less. VS once dazzled us with amazonian women like Tyra and Heidi Klum who had curves and pizzazz. Now we're supposed to be entertained by crazy party girl Cara Delevigne. She's no angel. In fact, Cara reminds me of this one friend I had back in college. She was a riot, but so unpredicatable that you didn't want her showing up when your parents came to visit. Geez. Anyway, the gigantic angel wings used to be a favorite of mine. Oh how they bounce and add such drama as the models walk down the runway, but now they look ridiculous. You can't strap a bunch of emoticons to a girl's shoulders and call those wings. Are you crazy?! Obviously that whole section of the show was not intended for my demographic. Neither were the musical performances. Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy are definitely not on my sexytime playlist. After hearing all the hype and seeing way too many sneak peeks before the show even aired, I opted to sit this one out. If you think you missed out, here are some highlights.

Vicky, we've got to fix our relationship. I've got a few ideas. Stop trying so hard. To hold my attention all you've got to do is keep it simple and classy. I don't want to see little skinny girls pretending to be sexy, give me the real thing. I want real curves, real personality, variety, and music that I actually like. Also in the words of Tupac "I don't want it if it's that easy." We've seen so many photos and teasers from the show, that I don't even need to watch the actual show. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? I'm not saying that the fashion show wasn't a bit fun. It definitely had its moments. All I'm saying is that it could be better... way better. Stop selling yourself short.

What did you think of the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show?

HOWTO : Highest secured Hiawatha Web Server 9.3 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server

*** This update fix some browsers error and enhanced the Hiawatha security ***

Hiawatha is a very secure and fast web server in the market. It supports PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby. It is also very lightweight, easy to configure and setup too. How secure? Please refer to the features of Hiawatha.

For the performance, please refer to the study of SaltwaterC at here.

This tutorial is writing for setting up the highest secured web server. Please also to apply the "Optional" steps mentioned below for making the highest secured web server.

Prerequisite

Select OpenSSH and Mail Server when installing Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS.

Update the fresh install system to the latest status.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get --purge autoclean
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Select unattendance update to your system. It will push all the updates to your system when there is some. Or, you can create a cron job later to update your system in a certain of time if you prefer.

If the kernel or kernel modules have been updated, you are required to reboot your system before going further.

Step 1 - Installation of PHP5

sudo apt-get install php5-cgi php5 php5-cli php5-mysql php5-curl php5-gd php5-intl php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-ming php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl php5-xcache php5-suhosin php5-ffmpeg apache2-utils php5-fpm

Step 1a - Installation of Percona Server (MySQL Alternative)

To use Percona Server instead of MySQL is due to the performance.

gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
gpg -a --export CD2EFD2A | sudo apt-key add -

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list

deb http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main
deb-src http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install percona-server-server-5.5 percona-server-client-5.5

Step 2 - Installation of Hiawatha

Install required dependenices for Hiawatha.

sudo apt-get install libc6-dev libssl-dev dpkg-dev debhelper fakeroot libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev

Download the latest version of CMake at http://www.cmake.org/

wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.8/cmake-2.8.12.1.tar.gz
tar -xvzf cmake-2.8.12.1.tar.gz
cd cmake-2.8.12.1
./configure
make
sudo make install

Download the latest version of Hiawatha (the current version at this writing is 9.3).

wget http://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/files/hiawatha-9.3.tar.gz
tar -xzvf hiawatha-9.3.tar.gz
cd hiawatha-9.3/extra

./make_debian_package

cd ..

sudo dpkg -i hiawatha_9.3_amd64.deb

or

sudo dpkg -i hiawatha_9.3_i386.deb

Step 3 - Configure PHP5

The following settings are for making PHP5 more secure.

sudo nano /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini

Make changes as is.

cgi.rfc2616_headers = 1

zlib.output_compression = On
zlib.output_compression_level = 6

Step 3a - Configure PHP5 (Optional for security purpose)

display_errors = Off
log_errors = On
allow_url_fopen = Off
safe_mode = On
expose_php = Off
enable_dl = Off
session.cookie_httponly = 1
disable_functions = system, show_source, symlink, exec, dl, shell_exec, passthru, phpinfo, escapeshellarg, escapeshellcmd
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0

*** According to the author of Hiawatha, the cgi.fix_pathinfo should be set to 0 at this moment.

*** There will be something at the end of "disable_functions" at Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, you just append the captioned list to the end of the previous list.

*** some PHP applications may require safe_mode = off

Step 4 - Configure php-fpm

Append the following to the php-fpm.conf.

sudo nano /etc/php5/fpm/php-fpm.conf

[www]
user = www-data
group = www-data
listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
pm = static
pm.max_children = 100
chroot = /var/www/
chdir = /

Step 5 - Configure Hiawatha (Part 1)

sudo nano /etc/hiawatha/hiawatha.conf



*** If you encounter Chrome browser being banned, you may consider to change the setting of "BanOnFlooding" to "90/1:300".

Step 5a :

Add the following line at VIRTUAL HOSTS.

Include /etc/hiawatha/enable-sites/

*Make sure the make a directory enable-sites and disable-sites under /etc/hiawatha.

sudo mkdir /etc/hiawatha/enable-sites
sudo mkdir /etc/hiawatha/disable-sites

Step 6 - Configure Hiawatha (Part 2)

If your domain is mysite.com, you are required to create a file namely mysite.com and place it under /etc/hiawatha/enable-sites/mysite.com.



*** If you do not implement "Step 7" below, please do not add "WrapCGI = Jail_mysite".

Furthermore, if you want to disable this virtual site, you can move the "mysite.com" to /etc/hiawatha/disable-sites/ and then restart hiawatha server.

sudo mv /etc/hiawatha/enable-sites/mysite.com /etc/hiawatha/disable-sites/
sudo /etc/init.d/hiawatha restart

Step 7 - Configure Hiawatha (Part 3) (Optional for security purpose)

sudo nano /etc/hiawatha/cgi-wrapper.conf

CGIhandler = /usr/bin/perl
CGIhandler = /usr/bin/php5-cgi
CGIhandler = /usr/bin/python
CGIhandler = /usr/bin/ruby
CGIhandler = /usr/bin/ssi-cgi

Wrap = jail_mysite ; /var/www/mysite ; www-data:www-data

Step 8 - Configure Apparmor (Optional for security purpose)

Install the following packages :

sudo apt-get install apparmor-profiles apparmor-utils

Execute the following command and then let the web site running for a while, maybe a week or so.

sudo aa-genprof hiawatha

About one week later or the web page/site is misbehaving, issue the following command to update the profile. Remember to reload the profile after the command has been issued.

sudo aa-logprof

Or, if you are impatient, you can edit the following file instead.

sudo nano /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.hiawatha

The content of usr.sbin.hiawatha should look like this or make it look like this.



Make the profile in enforce mode (activate the above settings).

sudo aa-enforce hiawatha

If you have change some settings, you should reload the profile.

sudo apparmor_parser -r < /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.hiawatha

If you want to disable this profile.

sudo ln -s /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.hiawatha /etc/apparmor.d/disable/
sudo apparmor_parser -R < /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.hiawatha

If you want to re-enable this profile after it has been disabled.

sudo rm /etc/apparmor.d/disable/usr.sbin.hiawatha
sudo apparmor_parser -r < /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.hiawatha

Step 9 - Enhance the security of cgi-wrapper (Optional for security purpose)

Now, your hiawatha is very secure but I would like to make it more secure.

sudo apt-get install libcap2-bin

Apply Capabilities on cgi-wrapper.

sudo chmod u-s /usr/sbin/cgi-wrapper
sudo setcap cap_setgid,cap_setuid+ep /usr/sbin/cgi-wrapper

The result of getcap :

sudo getcap /usr/sbin/cgi-wrapper

It will display :
/usr/sbin/cgi-wrapper = cap_setgid,cap_setuid+ep

Step 10 - Configure logwatch (Optional)

Please refer to this link to make the LogWatch to know your Hiawatha webserver's log files.

Please make sure to re-do this step when the logwatch is updated or upgraded as it will overwrite the configure file.

Step 11 - Change the ownership of the log files

cd /var/log/hiawatha
sudo chown www-data:www-data access.log
sudo chown www-data:www-data error.log
sudo chown www-data:www-data exploit.log
sudo chown www-data:www-data garbage.log
sudo chown root:root system.log

* "php-fcgi.log" and "system.log" leave them untouched (root:root).

Step 11a - Change ownership of all directories and files at the /var/www/mysite

Put the web application files to /var/www/mysite and then change the ownership of all directories and files under /var/www/mysite to root:root.

cd /var/www/mysite
sudo chown -R root:root *

Step 12 - Start, Stop and Restart Hiawatha

sudo /etc/init.d/hiawatha start
sudo /etc/init.d/hiawatha stop
suod /etc/init.d/hiawatha restart

Step 13 - Performance tuning for MySQL or Percona Server (Optional)

You can fine tune the MySQL as per this link.

Step 14 - Secure your Ubuntu Server in a passive way (Optional)

Please refer to this link to secure your server in a passive way.

Step 15 - Setup a FTP server on Ubuntu Server (Optional)

This link shows you how to setup a vsFTPd server.

Step 16 - URL Rewrite rules (Optional)

For the url rewrite rules for your PHP applications, please refer to this link

Make sure you add "UseToolkit" at the VirtualHost section.

Step 17 - Send email to GMail via Postfix (Optional)

Please refer to this link

Step 18 - Create normal user for MySQL or MariaDB as well as Percona Server (Optional)

Please refer to this link

Step 19 - Linux Malware Detect (Optional)

Please refer to this link

Remarks :

If you encounter "500 Internal Server Error", you may consider to make the Apparmor to "Complain mode".

sudo aa-complain hiawatha

After several days browsing the website, you may consider to turn the Apparmor to "Enforce mode".

sudo aa-logprof

sudo aa-enforce hiawatha

It is because the captioned usr.sbin.hiawatha may not 100% work for you.

In order to further hardened your Hiawatha web server, please consider the following options :

Optional #1 :

For SSH connection security, you also may consider to implement the Port Knocking feature.

sudo apt-get install knockd

Optional #2 :

You may also consider to enable your firewall at your router or on the Hiawatha Web Server with UFW.

If ufw does not exist in your server, you can install it :

sudo apt-get install ufw

Optional #3 :

Consider to install Suricata IPS on your server.

That's all! See you.

What Makes Him Sexy?

"Hallelujah! It's raining men!" By now we've heard that Adam Levine has been declared the Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine. I'm not denying the guy's appeal at all. He's got the look. But to say that Adam is the hottest of the hot is going a little far. Are you really telling me that he's sexier than Idris Elba or Superman himself Henry Cavill?! I'm not buying it. People Mag, you obviously didn't tally my vote. Anyway, this got me to thinking... What really makes a man sexy? Is it his biceps? His clothes? His perfect hair? Well it can be all or none of the above.

When you think sexy, of course the first thing you notice is physical appearance. Those eyes. That smile. Oooo girl, look at that body! Phew. Ok, wipe the drool from your mouth. Science tells us that we are attracted to a man due to the need to procreate. We want someone who looks strong and can go out hunting and bring home the bacon. Women are drawn to a protector and a provider. While this may be true, we don't want a guy with all brawn and no brains. If we did, then I'd hope the world would only be populated by super buff male models. Those days of "me Tarzan, you Jane" just aren't cutting it anymore. Give me a guy with intellect and drive. Ever wonder why those New York fast-talking business guys get girls. They're motivated... by money and power, but still motivated. But then the problem with those boys is they are all ego. Yes Don Draper is charming, sucessful and super handsome, but he's really only thinking of himself.

So what do women really want? What makes a man attractive? To find my answer I conducted a poll of not-so randomly selected females between the ages of 22 to 40. In all honesty, I just sent out a mass text to some of my girlfriends. The results were what I expected. Most of the ladies think confidence, intelligence, and a sense of humor are sexy. These responses are a no-brainer, and in fact, when I asked a guy for his opinion on the answers, he called this generic. But unlike men, we require more than looks. And to be completely honest, these basic traits we see in a sexy man are hard to come by. So difficult that one of my friends said "personality, personal style and hygiene" are sexy. HYGIENE! There must be an abundance of dirty boys out there. An interesting thing that came up in my survey were the length and detail of the responses. The girls who are a bit younger and aren't seriously dating anyone tended to have answers that were short and sweet. While the ladies who are in a long-term relationship, have children, and are married or divorced were much more particular about what makes a man sexy.

Here are a few of the notable quotables:

"Intelligence and wit. Sense of humor. Creative. Pretty eyes. Lol. And an accent helps too."
"Humor and wit. Also a guy that actually takes interest in what I do."
"Intelligence, emotional maturity, a great smile, and nice abs. Unwavering confidence, but not haughty about it."
"Physically, the smile, nice teeth, confidence, a style that works for his body, well groomed. Additionally, cool personality, caring heart, and a protector. Don't forget a hug and a kiss that will make you melt."
"Emotional intelligence, empathy, and strong arms."
"His kindness and empathy for others, desire for knowledge as well as open to new things/different people, his sincere love for God, his drive, his ability to be focused and centered on his goals without desiring to tear people down in the process of getting what he wants out of life."
"Intelligence about worldly things, having an abundant passion for what ever it is they do in life. A man who genuinely cares about others and knows what being a MAN really means. If you find one can you please let me know!!"

When I was in college, a guy with nice teeth, pretty eyes, and strong shoulders were all I needed. But now I think humility, kindness, talent, and a passion for something or so sexy. I'll still stare at the guy with a chiseled face and kissable lips, but I'll be even more attracted to the skinny guy who looks up from his computer and smiles at me.

Chime in: What makes a man sexy to you? Who is your sexiext man alive?

Nail It (The Holiday Edition)

Bring out the decoration. Deck the halls. Trim the tree. String up the lights. December is the month when you can really pull out the bells and whistles for your nail game. Snowflakes on your fingers, little elves on your toes, reindeer on your pinky. Do it up! If you put jingle bells and all that stuff on your nails, I won't be mad you. It totally makes sense. Why not be festive. Want to get in the holiday spirit without spending too much money at the nail salon? I've got just the right things for you...

Keep up the tradition in red. It's definitely the color of the season and you can't go wrong with it. Red works for any holiday event whether it's an office party or a big dinner. By no means is red a boring color. Butter London has a sexy Come to Bed Red for the classy girl. It's one of the top contenders for the Stylelist Contributor Beauty Awards, and I can see why. Ooo la la. Then there's OPI that makes a gorgeous Red-y To Help that has a satiny shine to it. And if you're looking for something with even more sparkle, try e.l.f. 's Cranberry. Speaking of glitter...

These colors are like a party on your hands. Just look at all that glitter. Talk about spirit fingers. For those who enjoy big chunky glimmer, try Essie's Jazzy Jubilant. I think of it as birthday cake icing with hints of teal, purple, and silver flavors. If you're going for even more funfetti, there is Ciate's Its Haute In Here. The color reminds me of a chocolate peppermint milkshake. Oh so delicious. Last but not least, get the Midas touch with Milani's Jewel FX Gold glitter. The great thing about this one is that you can wear it over your favorite color or it can stand alone. Gold is always so versatile.

Ok, let's say you're horrible at painting your own nails. When you do it yourself, your fingers look like your 3 year-old niece got a hold of your nail polish and went crazy with it. No need to fret. That's why God created nail wraps. Dashing Diva's Glitz N'Glam is super easy to apply. I like this particular one because it looks like a winter wonderland. It even comes with french manicure tips. If you're already thinking ahead to New Year's Eve, try Nail Rock 3D. It's called Doodad Colour but I call it Disco Bubble Bath because that's exactly what it looks like. Nail wraps can last for 7 to 10 days through all your holiday festivities.

Reds, glitters, and wraps. All of these options are both naughty and nice. Spice things up this season by having a little fun with your nails. Enjoy!