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August 3, 2010
Paul Krugman Gives Up
A marvelous thing happened over on Paul Krugman's blog at the New York Times last week. Krugman effectively conceded defeat on a range of economic debates. Who defeated him? People who posted comments on his New York Times blog. Mere commenters.
For those who do not know, Paul Krugman is one of the few who still claim that Keynesian progressivism is the answer to America's (and Europe's) problems, not their cause. He repeats that claim many times each month. Amid these repeated expressions of his "progressive" faith, he now also repeatedly expresses grim despair because his progressive policy prescriptions are being accepted less and less in the public square, even by the Obama administration.
Krugman is an academic. He has never run a company. He has never created a job. The closest contact he evidently ever had to "business" was as an adviser to Enron, where (in his own words) he was paid $50,000 to help build Enron's "image."
This, perhaps, explains the dozen or so points that Krugman makes over and over. Here are a few: Obama's stimulus was too small. Debt is good. Austerity is bad. Deflation is coming. Ken Rogoff, Greg Mankiw, Alberto Alesina (all at Harvard), and other serious economic scientists do not understand economics as well as he does. Those who do not agree with him are "mass delusional." And perhaps Krugman's favorite line: "I was right, of course."
Befitting his ideology, Krugman has only one policy to propose, regardless of topic: Transfer more resources from the discipline and dynamism of markets to the inefficiency and cronyism of government.
Government-run health care. Government-controlled banks. Government bailouts. High taxes. High spending. Krugman wants it all, just like in Europe (which, in 2008, he called "the comeback continent"). And Krugman has no problems denying economic science and current events to advocate it.
With the meltdown in Europe so obviously the consequence of too much Krugmanism and U.S. unemployment near 10% after a trillion dollars in stimulus, Krugman has attracted some criticism.
For example, Robert Barro, the distinguished Harvard economist, noted that Krugman "just says whatever is convenient for his political argument. He doesn't behave like an economist." The New York Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent observed that Paul Krugman has "the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults." James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal, after listing the falsities in Krugman's latest piece on climate last week, hazarded that perhaps "Krugman makes himself ridiculous merely to make our job easy."
But no matter how low Krugman's fallacious fruit hangs, Krugman has long been comfortable among the acolytes who frequently post on his blog. A representative post is: "Paul, you are a God-send for those of us who appreciate a superior intellect with common sense! Thanks for applying your brilliance." Or this: "Paul, dig deep dude. You are brilliant." It was hardly surprising that last January, Krugman declared, "I love my commenters."
No longer.
For just as Krugman was declaring his love for his blog commenters last January, people started posting serious rebuttals of Krugman's standard claims about economics. These commenters were not obviously Republican stooges. They were not obviously members of "the political class." They were not obvious ideologues.
Rather, the posters simply knew some economic science and how jobs are created and economies grow, perhaps because they were members of "the productive class." And they came prepared to support their rebuttals of Krugman's ideology and his singular policy prescription by facts and peer-reviewed economic science.
For six months, they made Krugman's blog one of the more informative and interesting places to hear economics debated. In part, this was because they gave Krugman a serious run. Their posts were long, near the 5,000-character limit set by the New York Times. They were reasoned. They were knowledgeable. They carried citations to economic science literature that one might expect in a Ph.D. dissertation.
And so their rebuttals were often decisive.
For example, when Krugman a month ago drew one of his famous "trend lines" based on a single point, a blogger named rjh immediately responded, "These trend lines you are drawing all over the place. Pardon my French, they are complete garbage." And nearly half of Krugman's commenters joined to point out that Krugman was arguing junk. Krugman was forced to make two defensive replies; both were immediately refuted.
Responding to Krugman's praise for the high taxes in Europe and his repeated denial that tax cuts might stimulate an economy enough to make up for revenues lost, a European posting under his initials jg pointed out that the low Reagan-Clinton tax rates made "being an entrepreneur interesting again. All those internet startups like eBay, Amazon or Netscape would probably never have been created if it weren't possible for the inventors to get rich." This anti-progressive notion that the "evil rich" might actually create growth if they were not taxed -- on his "personal" blog, no less -- must have made Paul spit up his morning coffee.
But things got worse for the professor. Matching Krugman's repeated claim that the "stimulus" was too small, Sean produced peer-reviewed economic science from Alesina, who examined 92 attempts at stimulus since 1970 in OECD countries and found that tax cuts, but not spending, stimulated. Krugman stammered a reply, but the damage was done; his acolytes had learned that economic science existed that contradicted Krugman's claim (central to Obama's "stimulus" legislation) that government's spending your money helps an economy.
Matching Krugman's claim that government can "create wealth by printing money," several posters cited the latest economic science showing that the "multipliers" that Keynesians use are wrong. They further noted that Krugman had used these wrong multipliers seventeen months ago to predict incorrectly that Obama's stimulus package would keep unemployment below 9%.
And so Krugman's blog presented the most unforgivable conclusion: Krugman had actually been wrong. As he had been when he advocated low interest rates and the creation of a housing price inflation in 2001, one of the causes of current economic difficulties.
Things then got still worse. When Krugman repeated his claim that Bush's tax cuts had "caused" the deficit and damaged the economy, commenters first taught Krugman how to count. They then cited two papers by the Romers showing that tax cuts help economies. Christina Romer is, of course, the chief economic advisor to President Obama.
When Krugman repeated one of his "debt is good" posts, posters linked to the economic science from Reinhardt and Rogoff showing that high debt is inimical to economic recovery.
Occasionally, Krugman attempted a reply. For example, he dissembled that Reinhardt and Rogoff had "highlighted" a single postwar American experience, which he dismissed as "spurious." The commenters did not let him get away with it. Within 24 hours, Sean had pointed out that Reinhardt and Rogoff had found similar effects of debt in six countries on three continents over four decades, including Canada, Japan, Greece, and Belgium. Krugman then struggled to find something "spurious" about each of these. Sean's rebuttal showed that Krugman was refusing to meet any burden of proof. Still worse, Samuel showed that Krugman's reasoning, if applied generally, would forever insulate Krugman's ideology from any refutation of any kind.
...Which is perhaps what Paul Krugman wants, but it is not economic science.
Krugman's blog commenters were especially relentless in pointing out his inconsistencies. In one post, Krugman admitted that "politicians will always find ways to shield the powerful." Posters piled on, pointing out that Krugman's universal policy prescription gave politicians more power under the assumption that they would defend "the proletariat." Krugman replied that he was "sure that there's a large literature" on government cronyism and corruption. Secure in his big-government ideology, he admitted that he had never read that literature. But like the ideologue that he is, Krugman then expressed his faith (the only word appropriate) that "bureaucracy will do a heckuva job" if it is not "downgraded and devalued." Bloggers responded by citing the latest economic science showing the impossibility of Krugman's "utopian dictatorship-by-bureaucracy."
Paul Krugman has spent his career as a pundit advocating that government bureaucrats and political process replace markets. He knows that there is a large literature that says that this is a bad idea. That literature is transparently relevant to Krugman's only policy proposal. And yet Krugman has not read it...and admits that he has not read it, without embarrassment.
By July, Krugman had lost his "Battle of the Blog." On July 23, Latrina commented, "Who is this Sean from Florida? He takes everything that [the] Professor [says] and shreds it, piece by piece. He shouldn't be allowed to post his comments on this blog since he seems to be winning all the debates. We progressives need to stick together and embellish our talking points without someone from the outside pointing out fallacies in our ideology."
Krugman had also had enough. On July 23, Krugman showed that he was clearly no longer "in love" with his commenters. Now he called them "ranters" and "trolls." On July 28, Krugman changed his comment moderation policy. Claiming that "ranters ... say the same thing every time," Krugman announced that he was going to throw away posts longer than "three inches." His thinking must have been thus: Three inches are sufficient to write "Krugman is brilliant," but not sufficient to present a documented and persuasive rebuttal to whichever of Krugman's standard arguments he was peddling that day.
Within 24 hours, those outside the Times had taken notice. Stephen Spruiell at the NRO noted the absurdity of Krugman's complaint that bloggers might use the same responses to rebut Krugman's repeated statements of the same ideology. Wrote Spruiell:
This [is] from the guy who has spent the entire summer rewriting the same blog post", Spruiell went on to point out that "Krugman's sycophants ... also say the same thing every time." "Krugman's policy seems geared to limit comments to "Yay Dr. K!" "Way to go!" "Keynes was right!" etc.
As indeed it has. Krugman's blog the day after the policy change had just six comments the last time I looked. "Hurray," said one. "Awesome!!" said another.
In his appearance on Sunday on "This Week," Krugman repeated his attack on Rogoff. He repeated his claim that he, a deflationista, "was right." Regulars could go to Krugman's blog and download the economic science that showed that Krugman was blowing smoke on "This Week," a gig that may pay Krugman more than even Enron.
And so after his ride back to Princeton, Krugman pulled the plug. He twice scolded "whiners," claiming that this blog under the New York Times masthead was "a personal not-for-pay venture." He claimed that he was burdened by needing to see if posts contained "obscenities" (none had, other than the "French" cited above). And he declared that he has "no obligation to provide" space for "ranters" and "whiners" who might rebut the ideology that he routinely markets.
Of course not. It is his blog. But it is newsworthy that after years of allowing 5,000-character responses consistent with Times policy, Krugman pulled the plug just as he was so obviously losing the debate. The academic world and the business world share something: They both view this as an admission of defeat.
Krugman is also "losing the audience." Eighteen months ago, Krugman's progressive ideology that was the consensus of the president, the House, the Senate, and not a few Republicans. Now, the Obama administration is evidently worried that it bought economic snake oil from Keynesians like Krugman. Even Ezra Klein is beginning to question the Keynesian economic models of Blinder and Zandi that "got it so wrong."
And so a six-month episode of enlightening economic debate has come to a close. Will Krugman respond to posts on other blogs? We do not know, but routinely in the past, he simply refuses to do so. He is clearly unable to do so, and, surrounded now sycophants and acolytes who tell him how brilliant he is, why should he even bother to try?
Fred Douglass welcomes correspondence at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Historic rainfall breaks Nov. record
Falling rains and heavy winds wreaked havoc once again across the Eastern Upper Peninsula — flooding roads, cutting power and interrupting communications to varying degrees throughout the region.
At the National Weather Service in Gaylord, official records show 4.75 inches of rain fell at the Raber station between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. today. At the station 4 miles north of Rudyard, 3.17 inches fell during that same time frame, while 2.91 inches fell on the Raco station.
The Sault Ste. Marie numbers were incomplete after phones went haywire Sunday evening.
"Up to 8:55 p.m. we had 2.54 inches," said Meteorologist Tim Locker.
Even without the final 3 hours and 5 minutes, the Sault had its wettest November 17 on record — according to Locker — breaking the 1.02 inch mark recorded back in 1931.
"It was also the wettest day ever in November," said Locker as the abbreviated measurement of 2.54 inches surpassed the 2.33 recorded on Nov. 5 in 1988.
Sunday was the eighth wettest day in the Sault's history even with the lost three hours, Locker added, noting the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit in a 24-hour period was 5.92 inches on Aug. 3, 1974.
In his official measurement, John Wallis of the Sault recorded 2.89 inches of rain between 8 a.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. today.
The weekend rains are part of year-long trend set to propel 2013 as the wettest year on record. Locker said 1995 currently has the high-water mark with 45.84 inches, with 45.13 inches already recorded in 2013.
Providing some insight into the most recent rainfall, Locker said it was a strong November low pressure system from the Gulf of Mexico.
The rain wasn't the only thing causing problems as this low pressure slid across our region as heavy winds downed trees, cut power and interfered with phone communication including Chippewa County Central Dispatch. Reports indicate the 911 system was re-routed through the Negaunee in the wake of the storm as repairs were made to the local system.
Traffic on the Mackinac Bridge was also being affected by the high winds, preventing semi-trucks and other high-profile vehicles from crossing the 5-mile span.
A preliminary report from the Cloverland Cooperative Website shows that widespread outages were reported early today with more than 1,500 members in Barbeau, Brimley, Drummond Island, Curtis, Eckerman, Germfask, Hessel, Naubinway, Paradise, Pickford, Sault Ste. Marie, Sugar Island and Trout Lake experiencing a loss of electricity.

subset: commoncrawl


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Notification Center
The upper-right corner of the screen is prime real estate in any desktop operating system, but particularly on the Mac, with its system-wide menu bar spanning the top of the screen. In the days of classic Mac OS, it was home to an application switcher menu. Mac OS X was introduced with no permanent resident in the upper-right corner, allowing the first menu extra loaded to claim that coveted spot. Apple seemed to put its foot down in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger when Spotlight ascended to the corner throne. There it has stayed for seven long years.
In Mountain Lion, Spotlight's reign has ended. Shoving the familiar magnifying glass icon aside is a new monochrome glyph resembling a bulleted list. This is Notification Center, Apple's new system-wide notification interface. Click the icon or swipe to the left with two fingers (starting from the right edge of the trackpad only, which is kind of neat), and everything on the screen except for the menu bar and the Dock slides left a few inches, revealing a gray linen (what else?) strip that contains a vertical list of notifications from various applications.
A new Notifications preference pane controls the kinds of notifications each application is allowed to produce, and where and how they should appear. Notification Center has a public API that third-party applications can use. Only those sold through the Mac App Store can send notifications using iCloud's distributed push notification service, however.
Both the look of the Notification Center sidebar and the kinds of options available in the preference pane should remind iOS users of the notifications feature introduced in iOS 5.
The "banner" style of alert folds down from the top-right of the screen, displaying a thin gray box containing the text of the notification—which automatically slides off the right edge of the screen after a few moments. The "alert" style is a dialog box with buttons that slides down from top-right. A "Snooze" button causes the alert to simultaneously fade away and race off the right edge of the screen. A "Close" button causes the box to disappear in a puff of smoke, one more realistic and less cartoony than the Dock's "poof" animation.
After a decade of such cutesy animations, you'd think they would grow tiresome. Indeed, some have. But I'll be damned if I didn't smile a little the first time I saw an alert notification disappear in a puff of smoke. Given the extensive controls on the number and types of alerts that appear in Mountain Lion, the associated animations are less likely to wear out their welcome than, say, the "new window" animation in Lion.
If you need some peace and quiet beyond the per-application settings you've set, just scroll the Notification Center sidebar downward a bit to reveal a global on/off switch that will disable notifications entirely. (Option-clicking the menu bar icon also acts as a toggle.)
When in the off position, the Notification Center icon in the upper right corner dims slightly. This switch will turn itself on again automatically the next day, preventing users from accidentally missing important notifications. (Users who want notifications off permanently can simply disable them for all applications using the preference pane.) Notification Center also automatically disables itself when a projector is plugged in.
Tidbits of information that might be considered notifications (if you squint a little bit) can also be created directly in Notification Center. Right now, the elite group of supported services includes only Twitter. Click the button-shaped region labeled "Twitter" at the top of the sidebar and a tiny tweet submission interface appears.
In the fall, Facebook integration is promised. I'm sure third-party applications would love to present similar interfaces, but alas, this aspect of Notification Center is an exclusive club with Apple as the bouncer. Founding your own company and getting a few hundred million users to use your product seems to be the only way to gain admittance, for now.
Finally, the bottom-right corner of the Notification Center sidebar contains a small "gears" icon that will open the Notifications preference pane when clicked.
This is noteworthy mostly because of the interface concessions made to ensure that this icon is always visible. In Mountain Lion, the Dock is not allowed to span the full width of the bottom of the screen. Space is always reserved for this icon on the right edge (and on the left edge, as well, when the Dock is in its default centered position). In this situation, it seems to me that the Dock could just briefly shrink and then restore itself to its previous size when the Notification Center sidebar appears and disappears. Since when is Apple above a little animation? Strange.


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The recent events that have filled the Christian World and the Christian Blogosphere are revealing that the Church is at a crossroad. Many of the Generals of the Faith are passing on or adavanced in age, and many of us were not ready, nor in position to catch the mantles that they could or could have passed on. We now have any number of our prominent younger leaders in The Body of Christ who are dealing with issues that have made the news in ways that are not flattering. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus because it is apparent that many in The Body of Christ have had our eyes on our leaders and not on Jesus Christ. What can we do to take advantage of this moment in The Body of Christ?
Pastor Stephen F. Smith
Filed under: Body of Christ, Christian Blogosphere, Christian World, Generals of the Faith, Smith, Stephen, Steve | 2 Comments »


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Since the "About Me" portion is getting more hits than my actual blog, I may as well not waste an opportunity. My snakes outnumber my kids. I am a zookeeper. No, really! I work in the Herpetology department of my local zoo. My pet peeves include wet clothing buried in the hamper and little popcorn kernels that get stuck in my teeth. Most days, I have the attention span of a gnat.
I am owned by a PBGV (that's a wire-haired basset, if you're not down with dog lingo) who spends an annoying percentage of the time thinking she has puppies, and several cats who would eat them if she did.
My greatest accomplishment is conquering my fear of my pressure cooker. My new biggest fear is that my butt will always be this big.
I blog a couple of times a week now. Comments are welcome, but keep 'em clean. My kids read this blog.
Please take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I recommend kosher non-iodized.
And before you launch on your adventures, be sure to read my very first post. It explains where I'm coming from. I Have Nothing Against My Mother.
Occasionally Becoming Cliche occasionally receives vendor/brand sponsorships for mentioning their products and services. If your company would like to sponsor a post, please contact me.
I can be reached at zooheatheroneATgmailDOTCOM and by carrier pigeon. They all know my name.


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Park ranger finds body wrapped in bed linens
Staff Writer
Athens Banner-Herald
PERRY, Ga. - State law enforcement officers are investigating after a decomposed body wrapped in bed linens was found at a Boy Scout camp.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a park ranger patrolling the Camp Benjamin Hawkins Boy Scout reservation in Crawford County discovered the body on Saturday.
The body was that of a white male. Authorities say an autopsy and forensic tests were planned to identify the body and determine the cause of death.


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Jump for July!
It's July. It's summer. I mean it is actually hot in the UK!
I'm not sure how this month crept up on me but I'm glad it is here, I think it is going to be a good one. We are not going away for a holiday owing to our new addition and a fairly tight budget but we have other things lined up to look forward to.
First and foremost being able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air is top of my list. Mainly because we can finally use our garden again (the lovely husband has retaken control from the weeds and the cats!). Despite being a small space with no grass, it is serving us wonderfully so far this year. All the photos in this post are from the garden 😉
In the next week my wonderful nan turns 80! Naturally this means a big family get together which I am so looking forward to. I don't often get to see my cousins, aunts & uncles as we live away from our family and of course everyone has their own families and busy lives now but it is always a fab day when we all come together. This time it is such a special occasion that even my uncle who lives in Oz has made the trip!
Vince has some holiday time coming up so we have some little family day trips planned – the beach, the zoo, etc.. We also have our niece turning 2 at the end of that week so it will be lovely to see Vince's side of the family as well. The following week my sister in law will be staying with us which is always fun – and a great help! 😉
That will most likely see us through till August although I'm sure we will have plenty of other fun things pop up along the way (like the church summer barbecue tomorrow!). I am quite ready for a fun month before I have to start planning and getting ready for the autumn and thinking about December!
I hope you are all jumping for July too! How will you be spending this summer? I'd love to hear!


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FBI releases documents on former NYC Mayor Koch
Documents released for the first time Tuesday from the FBI file on former New York City Mayor Edward Koch detail one of the more obscure chapters of his storied political career: an unsolved plot to paint the then-congressman as a racist by circulating a forged letter, warning the city would become a "ghost town" if voters elected a black mayor.
The documents were posted on an FBI website in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests made since Koch died earlier this year at 88.
While the letter episode may not be embedded in public memory, "it's a window onto the period," Koch's longtime spokesman, George Arzt, said Tuesday.
According to the FBI documents, the scheme unfolded in January 1977 in the lead up to a fiercely contested mayor's race that ultimately unseated Mayor Abe Beame. Besides Koch, Democratic candidates also included future Gov. Mario Cuomo, Rep. Bella Abzug, Rep. Herman Badillo and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, who was black.
Numerous local politicians got copies of what looked to be a racially inflammatory letter from Koch to Badillo. The letter claimed Beame's administration had discriminated against Hispanics while allowing "Black Power groups in the city to run part of his administration."
"We are now faced with a crisis should the City Administration suddenly, fall in the hands of a Black Mayor," it said, adding that "all of my white constituents" would leave the city, "taking the money with them and New York City will become a ghost city."
Koch and Badillo held a press conference to disavow any connection to the letters — and Koch contacted the FBI, suggesting the missives were retaliation for his efforts to increase scrutiny of drug rehabilitation clinics, particularly a Bronx group called the Hispanic Association for a Drug Free Society, or SERA. Koch had written letters urging city agencies to stop subsidizing the group after its director was convicted of conspiring to extort money from building contractors by putting pipe bombs at construction sites, and the city and state cut off their payments to the clinic in spring 1977, according to news reports at the time.
Koch told the FBI he'd heard indirectly about death threats directed against him because of his probe of the drug clinics and had previously contacted police and then-U.S. Attorney General Edward Levi about his safety. Koch told FBI agents in late January 1977 that "he does not have serious reservations as per his personal safety, but he is concerned," they wrote.
FBI agents interviewed a man at the Bronx drug clinic — his name is redacted — who said he didn't know who sent the letters. But he made it colorfully clear that he hated Koch, vowing that, as soon as he was off federal parole, he'd beat the congressman up in public in Washington.
"I hate him. Any enemy of Koch is a friend of mine, no matter what he does. I'm going to beat (him), and I don't care if I go to jail," the interviewee said, according to FBI notes of the March 1977 interview.
Meanwhile, other strange episodes ensued. Two people turned up at Koch's Manhattan congressional office in February 1977, circulating pamphlets calling for his impeachment and accusing him of bigotry and various misdeeds; the FBI approached two men leaving the building with a stack of the fliers, but they wouldn't say who provided them, the files show.
The next month, a Koch aide told FBI agents he'd been followed home from Koch's office, recounting a scene that could have been in a spy movie as he sped up the FDR Drive to shake the apparent pursuer. The next day, the aide found bullets near his car, and someone had apparently tried to open its hood during the night, he told authorities.


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On Valentine's Day, say #IDONT
- 10 February 2017
UNITED NATIONS, New York/KAPILVASTU, Nepal/ERBIL, Iraq – "I've been married for five years – since I was 12 – but I haven't gone to live with my husband yet," said Rupali Kurmi, from Kapilvastu district, in Nepal. "That's happening in about three weeks' time."
This Valentine's Day, for its annual #IDONT campaign, UNFPA is partnering with artists to raise awareness about child marriage, which ensnares tens of thousands of girls around the world every single day. If nothing is done to stop these human rights violations, an estimated 70 million girls will be married, while still children, over the next five years.
These girls have no choice over whether or when to marry – or to whom. They are typically pulled out of school, and are often forced into motherhood before they are emotionally or physically ready.
"I was so young when we were first engaged, and now I have to go and live with a completely new family, even though I've never met them before," Rupali said. "I haven't told my parents this, but I'm very, very scared."
Acclaimed photographer Vincent Tremeau visited UNFPA programmes in Nepal and Iraq, where girls face a heightened risk of child marriage. He asked these children to dream of the future they want, and to create costumes depicting that future.
In rural Nepal, poverty and gender inequality mean that girls are often married off before their 18th birthdays. But dozens of girls showed up dressed as doctors, civil engineers, teachers, dancers, accountants and more – a testament to what they can achieve if they are allowed to fulfil their potential.
"I'm going to own a shop that sells nothing but noodles," said 14-year-old Maya. "There will be queues of people out the door, and nobody will ever complain about any of our products – service with a smile will be my motto."
In Iraqi displacement camps, Mr. Tremeau met child survivors of the bloody conflicts in both Iraq and Syria. They, too, had big dreams.
"I love making things the most, so when I grow up I'm going to crochet and sew things all the time," said Nufa, 12, from Abali, Iraq. Others came dressed as actors, sailors, artists or engineers.
The images were collected under the theme "This Valentine's Day, I don't want flowers. I want a future." They are the latest instalment of Mr. Tremeau's ongoing photo series One Day I Will.
All of the young participants were aware of child marriage – and some had seen its worst consequences.
"My best friend was married at 16, and died while she was giving birth the year after," explained 18-year-old Sirjana, in Nepal, who wants to be a social worker. "We'd grown up together, and she didn't want to get married – but she didn't have a choice. When her father told me that she'd died, I felt my heart fall out."
Globally, complications of pregnancy are the second leading killer of girls aged 15-19. And in developing countries, nine out of 10 births to adolescent girls take place within a marriage or union.
In Nepal, more than 48 per cent of adult women report that they were married before reaching age 18. And in Iraq, more than a fifth of girls aged 15 to 19 are married, according to 2011 data. Conflict and displacement could be making things worse.
For one girl's family, child marriage seemed to be just one of several terrible choices.
Malak, 11, endured life under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh). "My sisters were 13 and 14, but my father said that they had to get married because otherwise they risked being taken by Daesh and forced to marry their soldiers instead," Malak said. "They didn't believe him, but it turned out that he was right: The day after the wedding, Daesh turned up at the house and beat our father as punishment."
But in many cases, practical measures can help girls escape child marriage. Empowering girls to know and advocate for their rights is a critical first step.
Heba, 11, learned about her rights from a UNFPA-supported programme in her Iraqi displacement camp. "I see sometimes here in the camp the parents of some girls talking about marriage and some of them want to do it, but I always tell them that it's a bad thing for them," she said.
Fourteen-year-old Punita, in Nepal, learned about the harms of child marriage from a programme supported by UNFPA and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development. She wants to break the cycle by staying in school and becoming a teacher. "All of my sisters had to leave school by year seven to get married," she said, "so I'm determined to keep studying for as long as possible and get a great job – just to show the world that one of us could do it."
In a separate project, Palestinian artist Rand Jarallah used makeup to spread the word about child marriage. Five school-aged girls in New York volunteered to act as a canvas for Ms. Jarallah, a UNFPA Innovation Fellow.
Ms. Jarallah applied deliberately excessive cosmetics to the volunteers, who were dressed in wedding attire.
The project is meant to emphasize that marriage is not a good look on a girl.
Reporting by Corinne Redfern, Mohamed Megahed and Santosh Chhetri


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There is no shortage of advice out there on how to make a good impression — an impression good enough to land you a new job, score a promotion, or bring in that lucrative sales lead. Practice your pitch. Speak confidently, but not too quickly. Make eye contact. And for the love of Pete, don't be modest — highlight your accomplishments. After all, a person's track record of success (or a company's, for that matter) is the single most important factor in determining whether or not they get hired. Or is it?
As it happens, it isn't. Because when we are deciding who to hire, promote, or do business with, it turns out that we don't like the Big Thing nearly as much as we like the Next Big Thing. We have a bias — one that operates below our conscious awareness — leading us to prefer the potential for greatness over someone who has already achieved it.
A set of ingenious studies conducted by Stanford's Zakary Tormala and Jayson Jia, and Harvard Business School's Michael Norton paint a very clear picture of our unconscious preference for potential over actual success.
In one study, they asked participants to play the role of an NBA team manager who had the option of offering a contract to a particular player. To evaluate the player, they were given five years of excellent statistics (points scored, rebounds, assists, etc.) These statistics were described either as ones that the player had actually earned in five years of professional play, or as projections of how he was capable of playing (i.e., his potential) in his first five years.
Then the "managers" were asked, "What would you pay him in his sixth year?" Those who evaluated the player with potential for greatness said they would pay him nearly a million dollars more in annual salary ($5.25 vs. $4.26 million) than those who evaluated the player with a record of actual greatness. Potential evaluators also believed their player would score more, and would be more likely to make the All-Star team.
Tormala, Jia, and Norton found the same pattern when they looked at evaluations of job candidates. In this case, they compared perceptions of someone with two years of relevant experience who scored highly on a test of leadership achievement, versus someone with no relevant experience who scored highly on a test of leadership potential. (Both candidates had equally impressive backgrounds in every other way). Evaluators believed the candidate with leadership potential would be more successful at the new company than the candidate with a proven record of leadership ability. (Incidentally, if you ask the evaluators to tell you whose resume is more impressive, they agree that it's the one with experience. They still prefer the other guy anyway.)
In other studies, the researchers showed how we prefer artwork and artists with potential to win awards over those that actually have, and prefer restaurants and chefs with the potential to be the next big thing in dining over the ones who have already made their name. In a particularly clever study, they compared two versions of Facebook ads for a real stand-up comedian. In the first version, critics said "he is the next big thing" and "everybody's talking about him." In the second version, critics said he "could be the next big thing," and that "in a year, everybody could be talking about him." The ad that focused on his potential got significantly more clicks and likes.
And this is not, incidentally, a pro-youth bias in disguise. It's true that the person with potential, rather than a proven record, is sometimes also the younger candidate — but the researchers were careful to control for age in their studies and found that it wasn't a factor.
So, since preferring potential over a proven record is both risky and inherently irrational, why do we do it? According to these findings, the potential for success, as opposed to actual success, is more interesting because it is less certain. When human brains come across uncertainty, they tend to pay attention to information more because they want to figure it out, which leads to longer and more in-depth processing. High-potential candidates make us think harder than proven ones do. So long as the information available about the high-potential candidate is favorable, all this extra processing can lead (unconsciously) to an overall more positive view of the candidate (or company). (That part about the information available being favorable is important. In another study, when the candidate was described as having great potential, but there was little evidence to back that up, people liked him far less than the proven achiever.)
All this suggests that you need a very different approach to selling yourself than the one you intuitively take, because your intuitions are probably wrong. People are much more impressed, whether they realize it or not, by your potential than by your track record. It would be wise to start focusing your pitch on your future, as an individual or as a company, rather than on your past — even if that past is very impressive indeed. It's what you could be that makes people sit up and take notice — learn to use the power of potential to your advantage.


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Recombinant protein
Total 243 AA. MW: 27.2 kDa (calculated). UniProtKB acc. no. O60667 (Arg18-Ala250). N-terminal His-tag (10 extra AA). Protein identity confirmed by LC-MS/MS.
Amino Acid Sequence
E. coli
Purity as determined by densitometric image analysis: > 95%
SDS-PAGE Gel
12 % SDS-PAGE separation of Human FAIM3 (E.coli):
- M.W. marker – 14, 21, 31, 45, 66, 97 kDa
- Reduced and boiled sample, 2.5 μg/lane
- Non-reduced and non-boiled sample, 2.5 μg/lane
< 0.1 EU/μg
Filtered (0.4 μm) and lyophilized from 0.5 mg/ml solution in 50 mM acetate buffer, pH 4.
Add 0.1 M acetate buffer pH 4.0 to prepare a working stock solution of 0.5 mg/ml and let the lyophilized pellet dissolve completely. For conversion into higher pH value, we recommend intensive dilution by relevant buffer to a concentration of 10 μg/ml. In higher concentrations the solubility of this antigen is limited.
Western blotting, ELISA
At ambient temperature. Upon receipt, store the product at the temperature recommended below.
Store lyophilized protein at -80°C. Lyophilized protein remains stable until the expiry date when stored at -80°C. Aliquot reconstituted protein to avoid repeated freezing/thawing cycles and store at -80°C for long term storage. Reconstituted protein can be stored at 4°C for a week.
Quality Control Test
BCA to determine quantity of the protein.
SDS PAGE to determine purity of the protein.
LAL to determine quantity of endotoxin.
This product is intended for research use only.


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I swear, sometime this month I will have the kind of lazy, do-nothing day that should be the right of every Washingtonian who doesn't skip town in August.
8/21/2013: Cloak Your IP Address, Expose Yourself To Legal Jeopardy?, Disruptive Competition Project
I'd meant to write a post denouncing the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in January–when Internet activist Aaron Swartz, facing the potential of a long CFAA sentence, committed suicide. I remedied that oversight when a judge's opinion stated that using a proxy server to change your computer's Internet Protocol address could be a CFAA violation.
8/21/2013: Deciphering the tricks of the Twitter spammers, Ars Technica
After seeing a fascinating study of the Twitter spam market presented at the Usenix Security Symposium last week, I did a little more digging to write this recap.
8/23/2013: New Nexus 7 Makes Android Tablets Look Sharper, Discovery News
This review already looks problematic–not even two days after it ran, the backlight on my loaner Nexus 7 seems to have died. Until I can figure out what happened (which will probably require Google to autopsy the device), don't give my kind words about this Android tablet too much credence.
8/24/2013: Privacy Vulnerabilities and the Media, iOSDevCampDC
I gave a talk about how privacy issues get covered–often badly–by the tech and traditional media at this gathering of Washington-area iOS developers. This was not my best public speaking ever; I lost my place halfway through the talk and had to improvise for a bit. (My audience didn't seem to mind, but things could have been much worse.)
8/25/2013: Will an 8 GB smartphone have enough storage space?, USA Today
This question seemed simple enough when a reader asked it several weeks ago, but then I realized it would give me a chance to discuss a few interesting, related topics. But in retrospect, I missed a chance here to call out phone vendors for charging too much for extra memory. There's also a tip about Google's new Android Device Manager lost-phone service.
My most important Sulia post this week reported the bizarre failure of the Nexus 7. Besides that, I critiqued Samsung's announcement of a new Android phone with a 6.3-inch screen, called out Amazon's lack of a system-status page that might have better explained its brief outage this week, suggested a new Google patent application may have prior-art and obviousness issues, and complimented the new "Digital Commons" space at the District's Martin Luther King, Jr., Library.


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What lie has Satan planted in the Body of Christ that attempts to silence half of God's army? In contrast, what is Jesus' heart, and the focus of His administration? And what is the real-life action that God is calling you to today that will overcome the strategies of the enemy?
Join Monica Dennington as she goes straight to the Word of God for a prophetic proclamation of God's direction for the church in these end-times.Continue reading


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The Dümmer See, a lake in Germany's Lower Saxony close to where I was born, suffers from heavy nutrient pollution. During spring and summer, the lake is full of blue-green algae or cyanobacteria and it is frequently forbidden to swim in the waters. This is caused mainly by two factors: to prevent floodings the lake is surrounded by dykes which takes the possibility to filter the shallow waters and results in silting. The second factor is massive cattle farming in the area around the lake, one of the most extensive in Central Europe. The liquid manure accruing from this is distributed on the farming land to grow crops and large amounts of it eventually ends in the Dümmer See. It is estimated that 30 tons of phosphorus every year is spilled into the lake depriving fish and other organisms of oxygen.
Last year I dunked my hydrophone into the green, muddy water of the lake to see if I can hear anything at all. Surprisingly I found a constant chirping that was onmipresent in the lake, I heard it everywhere I put my underwater microphone in the waters, even in ditches around the lake. I have no idea what species this is, I guess it must be a small water bug that seems to find perfect conditions in the polluted lake. This example is a close-up of one bug I recorded from a jetty in Lembruch. The other sounds come from the waves lapping against the jetty.


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Henry Winkler Heads to Parks and Recreation
TV Guide
Henry Winkler will guest-star on the upcoming sixth season of Parks and Recreation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Winkler will play the father of Jean-Ralphio (Ben Schwartz). There's no word on whether Jenny Slate, who played Jean-Ralphio's twin sister Mona Lisa, will also be returning.
Never miss an episode! Add new fall shows to your Watchlist
The Happy Days and Arrested Development alum will appear in the Season 6 premiere, and will possibly recur throughout the season, THR reports.
Parks and Recreation returns on Thurs., Sept. 26 at 8/7c on NBC. Are you looking forward to seeing Winkler on the show?
View original Henry Winkler Heads to Parks and Recreation at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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The tour benefited from an unexpectedly breezy weather for this period of the year, which energized even more the enthusiasm of the participants in discovering the architectural intricacies of the edifices that make up the "Acropolis" of Bucharest and its surrounding maize of streets. The Patriarchy Hill contains the oldest buildings in use of Romania's capital, with fragments datable from the c16th, making up the religious centre and administrative complex of the Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarchate, the institution that heads the main faith of this country. The small private residences sprinkled around the hill are in general in the Little Paris style, popular in the second half of the c19th, when the area was the very heart of the city and of entire Romania, hosting its secular (the Parliament) and temporal centres. The high prestige associated with the buildings in and around the Patriarchy Hill made them architectural models followed by craftsmen and architects in designs implemented in other quarters of Bucharest. We thus had an excellent opportunity to do some interesting "architectural archaeology" reviewing many of the surviving remains of this once illustrious part of the city, now in noticeable decline as in the last one hundred years, Bucharest's economic, political and cultural centre has slowly moved toward the north. I trust that the participants enjoyed this nostalgic and also intellectual encounter with buildings that in many aspects comprise the essence of what once named the Little Paris of the Balkans!
Tour participants and guide admiring and photographing some of the exquisite Barncovan style architectural details, some dating from the mid-c17th, used as archetype by the modern era Neo-Romanian style designers, which embellish the Patriarch's Palace.
The undersigned giving explanations to tour participants about the picturesque Little Paris style dwellings located on United Principalities street, one of the former high prestige address areas of Bucharest in the c19th, before the centre of government and industry shifted to the north outskirts once the city developed strong trade links with Central and Western Europe, diminishing those with the former Ottoman world to the south.
Valentin Mandache, expert in Romania's historic houses
!!! The next Sunday (24 July '11, 9am-12.00) architectural history and photography tour will take place in Gara de Nord historic quarter, north-west-central Bucharest (see a map at this link); meeting point: Gara de Nord tube station (in front of the exit that faces, is closest to, the Railway Workers Monument). I look forward to seeing you there !!!
I endeavour through this series of periodic articles to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural history and heritage.
If you plan acquiring or selling a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in sourcing and transacting the property, specialist research, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contactpage of this weblog.


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I thought I had filled this part out, but apparently I haven't. All these people have been wondering what I'm all about. What's my deal? Who is this guy? And why should I believe anything he has to say? For that I can think of no good arguments as to why you would, but I hope you visit my blog anyway. 🙂
I am a Canadian. I am biracial. I live in the U.S. I am a professor of atmospheric and earth science. I am an atheist, a humanist, and I love having discussions about the common experiences we all share in life. I love to learn, I love to grow. The power of the internet can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword but I believe it to be ultimately a powerful tool that can allow us to see the world through the eyes of others like never before. As we all journey through life, the internet allows us to intersect with so many more paths and since we learn so much from others in our world, I believe that we can only benefit from anything that makes the world smaller and more accessible.
So I'm putting myself out there in the internet to see who I intersect with, and where else I can possibly go. 🙂
Pay attention to the journey folks, in case it only happens once. 🙂


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… but you can't take Disney out of the girl.
- Rides that got multiple visits – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (3), Buzz Lightyear (3), Test Track (4), Tomorrowland Speedway (5), Space Mountain (6)
- Miles walked – 40 (approximately)
- Modes of transportation taken – car, bus, boat, train, monorail, gondola, spaceship, time machine, faulty elevator, etc.
- Things lost – sunglasses in the vast expanse of Space Mountain
- Illnesses – my kids and I all down with colds I brought on the trip
- Fevers – my girl (poor baby)
- Braces malfunction – my girl (when it rains, it pours)
And speaking of rain ….
- Inclement weather – only once when we went to dinner on Tuesday night. Here's hoping for a decent ride home.
My kids are already planning the next trip. I wonder how much the $12 balloon will cost then. Oh, and you only have a little over one day left to "burgle" my house. (It's a word. I checked.)


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So, after a terribly tumultuous time you have discovered that your partner is a narcissist. Yes, it is good to know that you are not going crazy. It is comforting to realize that you were not the source of all of the problems; you were simply the victim of a pathology masked as a lover. But, as the first wave of relief hits you, you begin to wonder, why did I pick a narcissist? This is a good question to ask, because it speaks to a deeper, often painful truth. A truth that you must understand before you pick another one.
Consider the following statements:
- You had been lonely for a long time.
- You are a gentle and open-minded person that is not quick to judge or jump to conclusions.
- You are unable to distinguish the difference between someone who truly loves you and someone that pretends to love you.
- You are highly independent and have learned to take care of yourself and those around you.
- You knew that you could help this person achieve their full potential.
- You thought that this person would make your life easier (more money, more support, more companionship).
Do any of these statements resonate with you? At first glance, the list above does not seem that remarkable. A lot of people are lonely. Being open-minded and self-sufficient are both good things. Knowing that you can help someone attain a better life, or hoping that someone can help you, both seem like reasonable things.
The alarming one is that you may be unable to distinguish between someone who truly loves you and someone who pretends to love you. When you combine that with one of the other things on the list, you can be exactly what the narcissist desires. There are three categories of narcissistic needs: the necessities of life, nourishment and a receptacle for their anger.
If you are willing to help this person achieve their full potential, or you are highly independent and can take care of yourself and those around you, the necessities of life may be what you can provide for the narcissist.
An individual that is looking for someone to take care of them, or is tired of being lonely is a sure bet for a narcissist. It is much more difficult for a person like this to leave an abusive relationship. Lonely or dependent individuals can swing between being a source of nourishment and a receptacle for the narcissist.
A gentle, open-minded person is easy to deceive. They are the type of individual that will give the narcissist "the benefit of the doubt" when the narcissist starts to show their true colours and this can lengthen the relationship considerably.
So these are some of the reasons that you may have been a target for the narcissist, but they do not speak to the larger problem, your ability to pick a partner might not be well developed. For many of us, we did not learn the basics of partner selection because we were brought up under less than ideal conditions. This is not to say that our families were not doing the best that they could, it just means that they were not equipped to help us to make good choices in the partner department. More on that in Part 2.


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We begin in the heart of the darkness. Winter is full upon the Earth; snow veils the landscape, thin trees are brittle with ice, and stars shatter the black mirror of the sky.
The air is cold, metallic, sharp to breathe; scarves of woodsmoke drift in the sky over rooftops outlined with twinkling lights, and porch lamps gleam from early in the afternoon until long into the night.
-Michele Morgan "Simple Wicca"
Merry Meet my friends! I have been so busy (as I know all of you have been too) that I haven't had the time or the energy (maybe more the energy lol) to write in my blog. Yule is the day after tomorrow!! I'm ready though. How about you? This year my immediate family…hubby, daughters, son-in-law and grandkids are gathering on Yule Sunday for brunch and our opening of gifts. About 5 years ago we decided to meet as a family on a day other than Christmas Day. This year we opted for Yule as the date. Christmas is then spent with more extended family…grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. Other than a few packages yet to wrap and some baking to do tomorrow, I'm ready. How are you doing with your preparations? Do you have a feast planned? Family coming over? A more private, solitary day? Whatever way you celebrate it, I hope that you've taken time in the all the busyness to BREATHE!
The Solstice for me…and many Pagans and Witches…is more about a time of quiet contemplation. Though the Solstice is the first day of Winter, the longest night of the year, it's also the start of the nights shortening and the days lengthening. Though we have a lot of Winter left, we know that the Wheel turns, the Sun will return and strengthen, and Mother Earth will green and awaken again soon. But in the meantime, the dark time of the year is such a great time for nesting. To me, nesting is relaxing more, reading more, taking on projects around the house, perhaps writing, painting, working on your book of shadows, crafts, learning something new, and of course hanging by a fire and again….relaxing more. I just seem to have more time (well after the New Year especially) to work on myself a bit too. To look within, to be silent, to meditate better. Feeling like I've accomplished something over the Winter is always a good thing for me.
My altar is done…I kept it really simple this year and I think quite elegant. I'll add more greens tomorrow and of course wine and cakes. After all my family goes home on Sunday, that evening I'll have time to spend at my altar. I'll be expressing my gratitude for the past year, throwing out what no longer serves or makes me happy, adjusting in my mind attitudes, angers, hurts, and putting out to the Universe (and myself) what I'd like to have happen in my life in the coming New Year. Now as a Witch, I did some of this at Samhain, the Witches' New Year. But the New Year calendar- wise…well, it doesn't hurt to reinforce it. Sometimes I take time to re-dedicate myself to my Path as well. It's a quiet, solitary ritual that I enjoy very much. Especially in the middle of all the hoopla, chaos, drama, fatigue, over-eating, over-drinking, busyness that is the holidays!!!
On Yule night…light lots of candles and bring in the greens! Sweep out the old, usher in the new, spend quiet time, contemplate, read, relax….and know that you'll have time to do this more over the next few months. Maybe a good snow will come and force you to stay in and that's even better! In a few days, if you celebrate it, Christmas will be here and gone as well…then the New Year. Then Winter will be here in all it's cold, stark beauty, and you can take a deep breath and say…..AAAAHHHHH!!! I know for many, seasonal depression can set in. Try to find something that interests you, makes you happy. Be alone when you need it and with friends and family when you need that. Be kind to yourself. Find the good things in your Life and hold on to them. Spring will come again..it always does.
Have a very Blessed Yule my friends. May the Mighty Ones bestow you with Peace, Love and Joy this Yuletide Season.
Blessings and Love, Autumn


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Sooo… this is kind of awkward. And I'm sure my non-Pakistani friends were like what does "No Boxed Gifts" mean when they opened up the card (and by card I mean in the insert, because I didn't want to write in ON THE CARD!).. it's so normal to us as Pakistanis/Indians because it's what's expected at our weddings. We say "no boxed gifts" because it's the norm in our cultures to walk in with an envelope because we see it as a way to set the couple up for their financial future, to help towards say the down payment towards their home, or just to help them getting started. They also tend to give gold jewelry if they are close members of the family, but wedding gifts in our culture aren't seen as items for the home, but things to get the home started. It's extremely common at our weddings to do this.
It's a wedding, people don't come empty-handed but then again it's so awkward bringing it up. Etiquette says don't mention the place you are registered on the card (have the bridal party spread the word), so etiquette masters would probably say do not even say "no boxed gifts" on the card because it's just rude. It's a Pakistani/Indian cultural thing, they tend to give cash at weddings.
I myself thought it may be conceived as tacky to request "no boxed gifts" but it's normal in Pakistani culture. Also, South Asians (in general) cannot be trusted with a gift registry. If a couple is registered at, say, Macy's, and are registered for a Ninja blender the Desi aunty or uncle might go and get the Cuisinart blender because it's on sale and it's more in their budget, and reason "well they need a blender" and completely disregard the fact that Ninja blender might just match the couple's taste & color scheme better.
We tend to invite 400 people and that would just result in an outrageous amount of gifts…. most of which you don't need. How many different knives sets can you accumulate? Also, my family has been stockpiling things for my wedding for years — rug, check; flatware, check; dishes, check; pots & pans, check.. you get the idea. I also already have the Kitchenaid stand mixer I need because I lived on my own for a while. It just made more sense for the no-boxed gifts request.
I still think it's awkward to ask for it, it's awkward that I'm writing about it, but I feel I have to defend it and explain it to my non-Desi friends. It's not because we want money or because we are greedy, it's because it's typical in my culture, and we knew if we did register to appease our friends, we would get way too many gifts.
I think there's a proper way to do this and to write this on your invitations. I've seen a couple explain it as "we intend on moving to the East coast so we kindly request no boxed gifts" and some others just plain ask "we kindly request no boxed gifts" yet others have rudely said "NO boxed gifts" without even a please. So, it's all in how you word it… I personally don't really see how it's more different than putting the Macy's registry insert (that Macy's provides!!) in one's invitation ensemble, though.
and… I think in a day and age were most couples live together before getting married, I wonder HOW you even register for a wedding when you more than likely have all the stuff you need. I wouldn't register for fine china (because I don't want it) and we only added stemware to the registry for the Macedonian event because my sister-in-law encouraged it… but do I want fancy crystal glasses, not really. (so yes, we have a registry for our Macedonian event because Macedonian people aren't used to the "no boxed gifts").
So this is just a little explanation of the Pakistani culture of "no boxed gifts" for those who don't know what this means and might accuse me of being tacky, because I'm not!!!
ALSO as a cute funny note, my dad invited my neighbor (a Asian couple in their 70s) and they sent over a gift… they sent us a beautiful jug that was not in a box but in a gift bag, because that was their interpretation of the request. SO CUTE!! This jug is adorable and we absolutely love it!
(UPDATE 6/4/2013: bringing a "boxed gift" to the wedding wouldn't come off as rude of the guest if you wished to do so; cash/gift cards are just preferred and you should do what works for your situation. I loved the floral vase we got from my neighbor! I have to admit it's not been used yet, but neither has our cash – we are saving that to put towards down payment on our home – which in this horrid real estate market is a huge blessing to have been gifted from our wedding guests two years ago).


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Missouri tightens boating-while-intoxicated law
The governor has chosen July 3 at Lake of the Ozarks to sign the bill sponsored by a lake area representative that lowers the legal limit for boating while intoxicated on all lakes of the state and the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
Gov. Matt Blunt has scheduled a visit to Lake of the Ozarks State Park on July 3 for the bill signing ceremony. The public is invited to attend the 5 p.m. ceremony at Pa He Tsi, located in the state park near Public Beach No. 2.
The legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Rodney Schad, R-Versailles. The bill will not go into effect until Aug. 28. When it does, the legal limit for BWI will drop from .10 to .08 blood alcohol content. That will make the legal limit on the lake the same as on the highways.
The legislation lowering the legal limit for boating while intoxicated bounced back and forth between the Missouri House and Senate during this year's legislative session.
Its fate overcame one last hurdle in the final days of the session before being passed and sent to the governor.
In 2007, Schad filed a similar version of this session's legislation. It went down to defeat when it made it to the floor of the House for debate.
The bill was a priority for the Missouri Water Patrol, whose leadership says the lower BAC level will help deter the number of boaters driving drunk on the state's waterways.
Missouri consistently leads the nation in boating while intoxicated arrests, with the majority of those arrests made on Lake of the Ozarks. Under state law, the legal limit on water is .10 blood alcohol level compared to .08 on Missouri roads.
Despite an aggressive crackdown on BWIs and ongoing educational efforts to encourage designated drivers, alcohol use continues to be a major issue on Lake of the Ozarks.
Statistically, alcohol is estimated to be a contributing factor in more than 50 percent of fatalities and 30 percent of injuries related to boating activities that are caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol.
Based on prior year's statistics, Water Patrol estimates that the average blood alcohol level among those taken into custody for BWI on Lake of the Ozarks runs about .14, four-tenths of a percent higher than the legal limit on water.
That means the average drunken boater could come off the water, get behind the wheel of a car and be nearly double the legal limit.
According to the Water Patrol, trying to estimate how many drinks a person can consume before being considered legally drunk depends on a number of factors.
Body weight, mass, gender, fluid levels and whether or not a person has eaten all play a role. Sun and physical activity associated with boating cause dehydration, so people drink more. If the drink of choice is alcohol, judgment and coordination can quickly become impaired.
There are also major differences that have to be taken into consideration when looking at boating as opposed to driving a motor vehicle.
Boats have no brakes or turn signals, there are no designated traffic lanes, signs or other markers to direct boaters like those found on highways.
With the exception of boaters who fall under the mandatory boater education law, there is no required testing or licensing.
So far this year, the Water Patrol has made 91 BWI arrests statewide. Of those, 74 have been on Lake of the Ozarks.
Contact this reporter at email@example.com


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Installing The Java Runtime
We recommend these:
Building E
Unpack this into a directory, cd into "e/src" and say "make". Then proceed to the installation instructions, treating <directory>/export/dist as the EHOME.
This will not remake the parsers. If you wish to do so, set the environment variable "MAKE_PARSERS" to "true" and before running make. If this doesn't work, see BYacc/Java Dependencies.
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Mobile Security | News
A new piece of malware discovered by Kapersky Lab uses smart phones to install malware onto Windows-based PCs.
According to a blog post on SecureList last week, the Android-based malware was embedded in apps distributed through the Play Store. The apps, which are no longer available for download, purported to be Android system optimizers. Once executed, they downloaded three files from a specified URL containing the malware designed to execute on Windows-based systems when the phone was connected to the PC via USB.
Its purpose seems to have been to record, encrypt, and upload audio when the infected PC's mic detected sounds.
While the malware, Backdoor.MSIL.Ssucl.a, may not be not terribly sophisticated in and of itself, the approach to infecting the PC is novel, representing "a new attack vector" for Windows malware, as Kapersky's Victor Chebyshev noted in his SecureList post.
The software also contained features that affected the Android devices themselves. For example, the software could open URLs in a Web browser, upload the entire contents of the user's SD card, and steal contacts and messages, among many other capabilities, Chebyshev explained.
Complete details about the malware, including screen shots and samples of the offending code, can be found on SecureList.
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 29-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEDavidNagel (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).
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