Month: June 2016

We already knew that Hillary Clinton’s e-mail and mobile device issues were likely a pain for State Department employees—and some foreign governments as well. But new testimony recorded on Tuesday by one of Clinton’s top aides illuminates the extent of those headaches.

Huma Abedin is the vice-chair of Clinton’s presidential campaign and the former deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to Clinton during her stint as Secretary of State. She was deposed on June 28 by an attorney representing the conservative action group Judicial Watch as part of discovery for a lawsuit being brought against Clinton. Judicial Watch published the transcript of that deposition yesterday, and Abedin revealed what she knew about Clinton’s use of the mail server and how she was "frustrated" with the technical glitches caused by Clinton’s mobile device and e-mail travails. 

Both Clinton and Abedin had accounts on the clintonemail.com server, which was originally set up at the Clinton residence by staffers of former president Bill Clinton prior to the family’s arrival at the State Department. (The server would later be managed by Platte River Networks, a managed IT services firm, with security provided by Datto.) Clinton had been using a BlackBerry mail account through AT&T during the 2008 presidential campaign, and she had been having "technical issues" with the account, according to Abedin. Clinton switched to the private server when she got a new device, and Abedin was given an account on the server after she lost access to her Senate e-mail account. Abedin said she used it primarily for personal business in addition to a personal Yahoo e-mail account (where she would later forward press clippings received from a State Department clipping service, she said).

But Abedin said that once she arrived at the State Department, she primarily used a State.gov e-mail account for business while Clinton continued to use her clintonemail.com account. On occasion when traveling, Abedin would use her clintonmail.com account. Abedin testified that she also used that account when State’s e-mail service was down—which apparently happened with some regularity. As for Clinton, "most of her State Department business was done in person, in meetings at the State Department or when she traveled, or by phone," Abedin testified. "When she used e-mail off-hours and when we were on the road, she did use Clintonemail.com." Clinton never used a State.gov account, according to the deposition.

This situation created some issues while Clinton was traveling. Since she was never issued a device for secure e-mail, Clinton used her personal BlackBerry for communications. And as Ars previously reported, mail filtering problems often prevented her e-mails from getting through.

During the deposition, Abedin discussed an e-mail exchange with Clinton in which Abedin encouraged the Secretary to either get and use a State.gov e-mail address or to have her clintonemail.com address added to the State Department’s e-mail directory. The thread began with Clinton reacting to missing a phone call with another nation’s foreign minister because Abedin and State Department’s operations department had never gotten her e-mail signing off on the call (because, again, the e-mail was blocked by State’s spam filter).

"She missed the call because… I never got her e-mail giving us the sign-off to do it," Abedin recounted. "So she wasn’t able to do her job, do what she needed to do. My response would have been, ‘Here are some suggestions.’ I cannot tell you if I called somebody else. I don’t remember calling anybody else, or if I on my own said, ‘Here are some solutions so that your e-mails get through to us so that we can place calls to foreign officials.’ And, you know, she clearly missed the window in this exchange."

Judicial Watch asked what Abedin meant in her message to Clinton about "releasing your e-mail address to the department." The aide responded with uncertainty, saying, "I’m not sure I would know how to define that then or define that now. It might have also just been my… being frustrated back at the fact that I wasn’t getting her messages. Just reading the exchange, she seems frustrated because she’s not able to do her job. I seem frustrated back."

In the same e-mail thread, Clinton agreed to getting a State department account or mobile device, "but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible." Abedin told Judicial Watch that she understood that as a reference to Clinton’s personal e-mails, not her address. Clinton didn’t want her personal e-mails being stored in the State Department’s servers and becoming public. Shortly after the exchange, Abedin said, Clinton’s e-mails started coming through again. "The matter resolved itself, or was resolved, and we went back to the prior practice," Abedin explained—the practice of Clinton continuing to use her personal e-mail account for State Department business.

When questioned about how things were resolved, Abedin again responded with uncertainty. "I couldn’t define to you exactly what [happened]—I don’t recall any response other than once the system was back up and running, that it was… we just proceeded with business the way it was before."

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Mac: You can do just about anything from the command line on a Mac, but with so many utilities, it’s hard to remember what commands do what. Mac CLI is a set of utilities that simplifies that.

Mac CLI is basically a set of developer-friendly utilities in one package with easy-to-remember commands. Mac CLI can handle basic stuff like closing and opening apps alongside a set of network commands, LAMP utilities, SSH utilities, and tons more. Every command has a sensible name, like mac php:info or mac find:biggest-files so once you get used to using Mac CLI, it’s a heck of lot easier to remember how to do everything. You can find the whole list of commands and utilities included here over on GitHub.

Mac CLI | GitHub

I’ve been using a standing desk for a few months now and I love it. It makes me feel more productive, keeps me active, and cost me next to nothing to set up. Still, I had some growing pains. If you’re thinking about setting up a standing desk, here’s what I learned so you don’t have to.

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My setup is pretty basic, but it gets the job done. I have a plain desk/table that my roommate was going to get rid of, and on top of that I have an Oristand where my Apple Magic Keyboard, Logitech M510 wireless mouse, and Dell XPS 13 rest comfortably. The Oristand, which costs $25 plus shipping, is made out of thick cardboard and can easily fold up for travel. Beyond that, I have a small desk organizer, some writer’s juice, and a couple cigars that like to tease me all day.

Always Wear Shoes, and Invest in Foot and Knee-Saving Gear

After only a few days of standing, I noticed my feet really fucking hurt. I was working from the comfort and privacy of my home, and standing on cushy carpet, so I was barefoot. Why not? This is a huge mistake: No matter how soft your carpet is, you should always wear shoes, and preferably shoes that have some arch support in them.

I have a couple of footwear options for my standing desk. The first is a nice pair of running shoes, my New Balance Fresh Foam Vongos. They provide a ton of cushion for my feet and stability for my knees when I run in the city, and they’re great for long bouts of standing as well. If you have a decent pair of running shoes, go with those. Otherwise, make sure your shoes have decent cushion, support, and maybe a special insole. My other option is a pair of fuzzy house slippers my grandma never used. They’ve got nice foam insoles and I feel funky fresh wearing them—which is sometimes more important than being comfortable.

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It’s also a good idea to increase the padding of your standing area. Even with shoes on, the softer you can make your standing zone the better. I use an extra-thick Spoga Exercise Yoga Mat with Comfort Foam ($25). It provides some padding and it’s nice for doing my workouts. Two birds? Meet this super-soft stone. Mark Sisson at Mark’s Daily Apple also recommends elevating one foot periodically while you stand. It can help keep your back from getting stiff and give your legs a little break. I use a small cardboard box for this (not pictured), but there are plenty of step stool options online if you want something that looks nicer.

Stretch and Move Regularly

Working at a standing desk fatigues you a lot faster than when you’re sitting, but it also does a number on your joints and muscles. While it’s good to take breaks from standing (more on that later) there are a few extra things you can do to keep your back, shoulders, arms, and legs from getting stiff and sore. The video above from the Focal Upright YouTube channel demonstrates some “standing desk yoga,” or simple stretches and exercises that will keep your back loose and help you avoid any chronic pain in your legs.

In this second video from the same channel, you’ll see some great stretches that specifically target your arms and shoulders. I do a selection of these regularly and they help a lot. I also try to incorporate exercise into my long days of standing. I’m a practitioner of “grease the groove” training, a concept developed by former Soviet Special Forces instructor Pavel Tsatsouline, where you get stronger by regularly doing strength exercises with lighter reps and weight, but do them more often than you would a regular workout. So I take a break to lift and exercise every hour or two. I also take a few minutes to practice my basketball skills or play guitar when I have a few minutes.

You may not be able to do all of those things, especially if you’re in an office, but taking a break to move around is the important part. Go for a walk around your office building, do some stretches, get a few push-ups or squats in, and whatever else it takes to keep your blood flowing.

Don’t Forget Basic Ergonomics

You may be standing while you work, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about your posture. In fact, it’s more important you practice good posture because you’re standing. Unless you’re a soldier or bionic man, you only know how to stand properly and comfortably for short time spans, and even then, you probably slouch like I do. In the video above, from the GuerillaZen Fitness YouTube channel, certified personal trainer Blake Bowman explains the basics of standing right.

Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart, but pay attention to how your positioning feels in your hips and go with whatever is the most comfortable. Once your feet are planted, do what Bowman calls “screwing your feet into the ground,” which involves slightly rotating your feet outward to give you better arch support for your feet. Now flex your abs as if you’re anticipating a punch, engage your glutes, give a little arch to your lower back, stick your sternum out slightly, and roll your shoulders back.

You should also have your keyboard comfortably in reach so your elbows make a 90 degree angle, and your computer screen should be up high enough that you can read it without tilting your neck at all—just like when you’re sitting. I had to stack a few boxes underneath my laptop to achieve this, but it’s worth it, even if it doesn’t look as nice.

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Take Plenty of Sitting Breaks

Taking regular breaks to sit is essential to working at a standing desk. I tried to go full days standing at first, and it was a huge mistake. My feet, legs, and back would hurt up through the following morning, and I would lose interest in standing again. Part of that was building up my lazy muscles, but it was too much too fast, and I realized that if I didn’t break to sit down, I was going to burn out quick. You should go back and forth regularly so you’re not doing any damage to yourself either way. But for how long? A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that around half your work day, or four hours, is the magic number. Use a timer on your phone, or even a web app like Standing Clock, keep switching back and forth.

In fact, while I’ve become a huge fan of working on my feet, I don’t recommend having only a standing desk. No matter where you stand (yep) on the health debate surrounding standing desks, standing for too long is just as bad as sitting for too long. And if you can’t easily convert your workspace back and forth, do what I do and have two desks, or use a kitchen table as your standing desk space (or your couch as your sitting desk space). It might seem redundant, but it keeps me fresh and productive.

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When even your fridge is spewing data, someone needs to manage things. (credit: Ron Amadeo)