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The problem is that men are intimidated by the presence of women, according to the article. But in my experience, men are afraid to be in a "women's profession" because it makes them look feminine. Those are different issues, but it happened with nurses and teachers before.

Any male who is foolish enough to be a teacher today is considered a pedophile. You mean that kind of scaring away? These are not the male pigs saying this stuff: http://www.mamapedia.com/artic...

Read this stuff, including the links. These are women who are pre-declaring all males to be pedophiles Ther are women who are really concerned that their babysitter has teenage sons. And you say its because Men, find aspects of jobs too feminine? This is just as bigoted, as declaring you down't want to leave any white women around black males because you know, they'll all be raped. Bigotry knows no specific gender.

But oddly enough, this blatant in your face hatred of men and assumption that all males are pedos is just "smart mommying". We've been trained that way.

http://online.wsj.com/articles...

Dude was attacked by a women for rescuing two children from a burning car. A guy who was stalked and acosted by a woman for restocking little girls underwear. A guy who won't have contact with children not his own because of the presumption he is a pedo.

http://www.boston.com/communit... Just for general reading of the bigoted stereotyping and hatred directed towards males.

Once women are "allowed" in large numbers, the men run off.

Reading the above links perhaps it is not "feminine" jobs they are concerned about.. Who wants a job where so many women assume without any good reason, that you are a criminal? I suspect before too long that many women will be just as concerned about taking their dog to a male veternarian because.... well.... you know.

The new demands are leading some officials, both inside and outside the agency, to raise the possibility of the service curtailing or dropping its role in fighting financial crime to focus more on protecting leaders and their families from assassination attempts and thwarting terrorist plots aimed at high-profile events.

“If there were an evaluation of the service’s two missions, it might be determined that it is ineffective . . . to conduct its protection mission and investigate financial crimes,’’ according to a inter nal report issued in August by the Congressional Research Service.

***
The Secret Service, long under the Treasury Department but now part of the Department of Homeland Security, was established in 1865 to thwart counterfeiting, a focus that has expanded to include a host of electronic and financial crimes.

Its mission soon expanded to investigating the Ku Klux Klan and conducting counterespionage operations during the Spanish-American War and World War I.

The job of protecting presidents started in 1894 with Grover Cleveland, who was guarded part time. That role expanded after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, and it became a crime to threaten the president in 1917. Today, guarding the president and other top officials accounts for most of the Secret Service’s budget, which totals about $1.4 billion per year and continues to grow.

Are you sure? the only info I can find comes from one woman making a claim. and most of that article was paywalled.

It smells of typical soda conspiracy nonsense.
References I found all link to here:
http://www.boston.com/news/loc...

I doubt there's some grand conspiracy to prevent men from becoming kindergarten teachers

Oh there most certainly is, only it's not women or feminists behind it but other men.

To be fair, I think it also has to do with mothers' fears as well.

It's the patriarchal stereotype that men cannot be nurturing which means any man who shows affection to children gets branded a paedophile - and that means getting hired in preschool or kindergarten teaching jobs become virtually impossible as too many parents will harbour such unfounded suspicions.

THIS. I never really thought much of this until I became a dad and had to take my small child to the park or something. Where I lived before, it was a community where stay-at-home dads and such were fairly common, so I don't think it was too out of place. But I moved to somewhere where it was almost always women who took their kids out (whether moms or nannies or whatever), not the dads.

It's really disconcerting to have to worry about what other people around you might be thinking. When I would walk my son to the park or to other nearby stores or whatever, I have occasionally been stopped by passers-by, asking if everything is "okay." One day when I was walking down the street with my 3-year-old kid, he got a little tired walking, so I picked him up for a while and starting walking a little faster and bouncing up and down a bit (which he loves). Soon, a car pulled over and an obviously concerned woman asked, "Are you okay? Do you need any help?" It wasn't clear whether the question was directed toward me or toward my son. (Obviously a man walking down a sidewalk quickly with a kid who was bouncing around a bit must be abducting him?)

After a few things like this, I started poking around on the internet and reading similar stories. I also happened upon discussions where various people were voicing concern about the very idea of a male teacher at an elementary school or at a daycare center. (Here's a representative discussion.)

Yes, there are pedophiles out there, but the media has mischaracterized things so much that people have completely irrational fears. Most of the "pedophiles" we hear about in statistics are adults who have abused teenagers, not little kids. If we want to look for abuse, we should be more afraid of the high-school coach or the high-school Spanish teacher with our daughters (or sons) than a guy in a daycare center. Actual pedophiles are quite rare, and even among those rare people, women have also been known to abuse young children too.

But nevertheless many people -- both men and women -- have this strong fear of men around small children, which didn't exist at the same level before the child abduction scares of the 1970s and 1980s. So, just at the time that women were seriously starting to take on different roles in the workforce, we had a social perception shift that took the idea of a male caregiver for young children from the "unusual" category to the "scary" category.

Frankly, I think it's sad. I personally couldn't imagine myself taking care of a bunch of young kids, but there are lots of guys out there who seem to be interested -- and we shouldn't just assume because they can care for kids that they are likely to be pedophiles.

lololololololol, were you expecting anything else?

Certainly a link to ice measures from various places on Earth and a discussion of how various models have held up to measurement over the past decade, regarding their predictive value.

Oh, nevermind - shut up and pay your carbon tax.

Maybe we could just work together on that and then most of these abortions need never happen.

Good idea, but you need to get conservatives on board with embracing contraceptives. For many of them, it isn't just about eliminating abortion, it's also about eliminating non-martial sex and boosting the pregnancy rate after marriage. To get there, they are willing to (1) withhold medically pertinent information, (2) cultivate sexual fears and stigmas, (3) encourage premature marriage, and (4) prescribe rigid/misogynistic gender roles. (Source: grew up in a christian school.) A lot of this just naturally flows from the fundamentalist/authoritarian worldview... other christian subcultures may be different.

The number of unplanned pregnancies in the US every year is Insane.

Actually, the rate of teen pregnancies has hit an historic low.

manufacturers continue to trash their customer base by doing this. It has to be profitable, right? Which means that it's worth the risk, which means that some bean counter figured that the potential loss is outweighed by the gain.

It should not surprise anyone seeing how many times over now an auto maker has put profits over its consumer's safety.

Sorry, wrong URL. Meant to include this one:

http://www.boston.com/communit...

Consumer Reports buys cars right off the lot, that's the right way to do it.

...they can't even access their local jobs website...

False.

Meanwhile, it would be better for the environment if rural people moved to the cities. Therefore, it's counterproductive to try to protect people from the consequences of their lifestyle choices, as the FCC is attempting to do by subsidizing broadband for rural residents.

According to the Boston Globe, police pay in Massachusetts can exceed $250k, not including benefits.

In other news, Comcast announced record profits today. First-quarter earnings up thirty percent.

Who says that government is inefficient?

What's worse is we push profitable drugs. I put myself on phenotropil (a high dose--people recognize the stimulant effect at 100mg, but reading ADHD

The "push" for any ADHD drugs comes from the medical community's belief that they may provide the opportunity for ADHD patients to lead a better life. The reality though, is that it's easier to push pills than accept the fact that someone with ADHD will learn differently, socialize differently and may not have the same range of employment opportunities as the majority of people in the first world. Of course, no one wants to hear something along the lines of "You're not cut out for college and should just take up a trade.", so the pills start a'popping.

Interestingly, some long term studies have shown that ADHD meds aren't exactly Felix Felicis. It seems your likelihood of being successful with ADHD is roughly the same, regardless of whether or not you take medication. Link

You might want to give some thought to what's wrong with a society that expects you to overclock your brain to keep up with it. Not everyone lives this way.

Presumably after paying a vendor $15 to sit in a dark room for two hours, one would assume he would "point" his face at the very thing he paid for. Gee, can't wait for your argument here when Glass comes in prescription form. I suppose all those with bad eyesight will be assumed criminals.

The theater (presumably) has a clearly stated "No Cameras" policy, and he choose to wear a camera into the theater.

His glasses ARE prescription glasses, but by his own account, he would have simply moved up a few rows if he were asked to take off his google glasses/camera.

He was profiled NOT for wearing prescription glasses, he was profiled for wearing a camera on his face.

This reminds me of the MIT student who had a shirt with wires and electronic components on it that was stopped by TSA - many here mocked the TSA for their foolishness, but to the untrained eye she looked like a disheveled suicide bomber. Similarly, how is an observer to know if the person wearing google glasses is filming them or not?

The organ theft urban legend has been around for a long time, but organ transplant isn't just something any unethical surgeon can do in the back of a fan.

Unethical surgeons aided by criminal enterprises (which is sometimes the state) seem to be available.

Kidney Thefts Shock India

GURGAON, India — As the anesthetic wore off, Naseem Mohammed said, he felt an acute pain in the lower left side of his abdomen. Fighting drowsiness, he fumbled beneath the unfamiliar folds of a green medical gown and traced his fingers over a bandage attached with surgical tape. An armed guard by the door told him that his kidney had been removed.

Mr. Mohammed was the last of about 500 Indians whose kidneys were removed by a team of doctors running an illegal transplant operation, supplying kidneys to rich Indians and foreigners, police officials said. A few hours after his operation last Thursday, the police raided the clinic and moved him to a government hospital.

Many of the donors were day laborers, like Mr. Mohammed, picked up from the streets with the offer of work, driven to a well-equipped private clinic, and duped or forced at gunpoint to undergo operations.

Illegal kidney trade booms as new organ is 'sold every hour'
China Admits Selling Prisoners’ Organs

Stolen baby is found alive - Woman arrested in grisly case

The baby who had been ripped from her slain mother’s womb was found alive and well in New Hampshire last night, and a woman was arrested in the grisly killing and kidnapping

Social workers 'seize unborn baby from the WOMB' after mother has panic attack

As I'm sure you're aware there is a disagreement about the facts of the matter.

Shots were fired before Kent State shootings, forensic expert says

Former WKYC television reporter Fred DeBrine and sound man Joe Butano have said repeatedly that they heard a Kent State police detective open the cylinder of Norman’s gun and say: “Oh my god, he fired four times.’’ The police detective later denied making the remark, and a campus patrolman’s report said the gun was fully loaded with no smell of burnt powder.

Clearly they need to expand the the scope of their data harvesting programs. An example of why is that they didn't stop the Boston bombers (even after Russia warned the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011).

As a general rule, to prevent further attempts. That counts as preventing harm!

(Although note my other post, which expands the definition to include redressal as well.)

There was a story a few years ago of an elderly lady with dementia who strangled another nursing home resident. Despite being an actual murder, it wasn't clear whether or not she'd actually be sentenced to any punishments.

Results among the states varies a lot. For example Massachusetts is fully competitive with the Asian countries. On the TIMSS exam (generally thought to be more difficult than the PISA test) Massachusetts finished sixth in the world in mathematics, and second in the sciences for it's 8th grade students.

High levels of achievement ARE attainable in the US. It isn't a matter of cultural problems, or the society we live in. It's a matter of politicians and parents adopting the attitude that it can be done, and sticking to that idea. Effective reform though is not something that can be done overnight. Massachusetts has been at it for 20 years.

http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/12/massachusetts_aces_internation.html

Massachusetts has shown how to do it. Now all it takes is realization of what can be done and applying it elsewhere.

That's fine as far as it goes, but it seems like there has been a lot of volcanic activity over the last couple of years, and little of that can be explained by changes in the thickness of ice. In some cases it involves volcanos that have been quiet for decades or longer. There has been eruptions or activity on Mount Etna in Italy, Mount Sinabung in Sumatra, Sakurajima in Japan, Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, Popocatepetl in Mexico, Puyehue in Chile, Fuego in Guatemala, Tungurahua in Ecuador, Shiveluch in Russia, Cleveland Volcano in Alaska, Mayon in the Philippines, and plenty more.

Volcanoes that erupted in April 2013

Didn't I see the first picture here in Lord of the Rings?

As a moderate, the thing I "stand for" is "no fucking bullshit". Paul and Kucinich are both full of fucking bullshit.

But if I had to choose between them I would choose Kucinich because of this.

We look forward to you sharing your "evidence", thanks.

I tend to ignore people who can't be bothered to use google on their own, and instead ask for everything to be handed to them...

We're talking about half a century of gun control laws and increasing crime rates. There's no single link to ALL that information.

There's a few quick ones:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2012/02/21/disarming-the-myths-promoted-by-the-gun-control-lobby/2/

http://people.duke.edu/~gnsmith/articles/myths.htm (See #10)

http://www.liveandlocalenc.com/proof-gun-control-increases-crime/

http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig7/lemieux1.html

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/22/do-strict-gun-laws-really-stop-gun-crime/

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp#right-to-carry

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/weekinreview/29liptak.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/02/04/gun-crimes-increase-massachusetts-despite-tough-gun-laws/XjlDQLZlUDvsf3KS8PqyGK/story.html

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2010/06/25/stossel-argues-gun-control-increases-crime-i-was-once-clueless-senator-schumer

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/02/17/the-nation-toughest-gun-control-law-made-massachusetts-less-safe/3845k7xHzkwTrBWy4KpkEM/story.html

Maybe you were hinting about smaller seats or more closely spaced?

No, he means fewer seats.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/12/mbta_to_experim.html

Studies have found that kids with ADHD are much more likely to become addicted to video games. Does this count as an addiction to prescription medicine? Hmm....

Not all people over 65 are rich, you know; fact is, most are quite the opposite.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35. This wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago.

There is this platonician belief that numbers have a live in an of itself. And that mathematics are the language of the universe. Here is an interresting article about it : http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/02/08/a_talk_with_mario_livio/?page=1 Mathematics are a way to describe the universe, to make a (conceptual) model. The thing is some scientists seem to confuse the model with the reality it is trying to portray. This can be called platonicism, and it seems most physicist are, as opposed to engineers.

Actually, presenting facts to people opposed to them only seems to harden their opinion further in that direction. People are so invested in being right that they dig in deeper when their beliefs are "under attack" by facts that don't agree with what they believe.

Amusingly, you know what makes partisanship disappear? Money. If you give a financial incentive for correct answers or for admitting ignorance, people of different political strips start giving much more similar answers rather than just spouting off whatever sound bite they've heard from their own party members.

Bill Gates: " If they [my children] had to go to a general inner-city school, I would do anything I could to avoid that being the case, because as a parent, I particularly see the potential in my kids that that wouldn't unleash," Gates said.

President Obama: President Obama reopened Monday what is often a sore subject in Washington, saying that his daughters could not obtain from D.C. public schools the academic experience they receive at the private Sidwell Friends School.

Matt Damon: Damon told the Guardian there were no longer public schools progressive enough for his family so private was the only choice in their new home of Los Angeles.

What are the proposals, what do they cost, what are the risks, the benefits, etc, etc? Also where are the green groups pushing for them, advocating for it?

Here's one: Carbon tax and dividend.
I don't know how you missed it, it was all over NPR for several minutes a couple of years ago.

As a victim of police brutality and the inevitable frame-up cover charges that followed and the violent criminal record to show for it, I definitely endorse this idea.

What's more I think any of the typical contempt of cop charges or even more ambitious/serious cover charges like assault and battery with a deadly weapon or drug/firearm possession should be automatically thrown out if the officer does not have 100% video coverage of the event. Cops, especially American ones, have proven again and again that they cannot be trusted and that they are no more immune from the corruption of arbitrary power than the guards in the Stanford Prison Experiment. If anything the kind of people who become police officers in the US, who grew up idealizing violent, out of control TV cops like Dirty Harry or the character in The Wire are less likely to resist the temptation to take out their anger on all non-cops they come into contact with.

While this may not stop them from tazing 14 year old girls in the head it would at least discourage or eliminate some of the inevitable false charges that often follow, literally adding insult to injury. No, this won't directly stop all police brutality because they will usually remove or turn off or even break whatever recording device they are issued before beating anyone, but it may prevent their excuses, the false charges which led them to having to violently 'defend themselves' from whatever unarmed 10 year old girl/ninja that was attacking him. Without the comfort of the always reliable cover charges, lawsuits start to become more of a concern and certain cops may think twice about beating or killing people when they cannot just make up a story about having to defend themselves from a violent and out of control attacker.

You know what's a more interesting site?

English Russia. Mostly photo-essay / slideshow style, but with really high quality, large images. Tons of urban exploration themed stories, for example. Very neat.

One of the reasons that I think the mainstream press has been biting it online is that many of them still think 300-pixel-wide images are acceptable for covering a story. I have a camera where I can shoot someone's photo from a block away and practically see their nosehairs, news photographers are shooting with the same or better, and they're posting crappy, overcompressed, over-contrasted, tiny garbage.

The Boston Globe's Big Picture posts images 990x660, and they're so much better it's astounding. They're standard newswire photos - just not compressed to hell and shrunk to the size of a postage stamp like they are almost everywhere else!

Amber Alert seems like a really good idea, until you look at it closely. The root problem is false positives. Not false reports of sightings of abducted children, those can be weeded through pretty effectively. False Amber Alerts.

The basic concept behind the system is that since many abducted children are killed in the first three hours, it's necessary to get the alert out there fast. But, it's also really important that there not be a flood of Amber alerts issued about kids who just wandered off to a friend's house or something, so the process of verifying that a particular case meets all of the criteria for issuing an alert pretty much guarantees that by the time the alert is issued it's too late for kids who were victims of the most frightening form of child abduction, the sort for which the alert system was created.

Research backs this logic up. Multiple studies have been done, and none have demonstrated that Amber alerts do much at all that's useful. They're most effective at finding family abduction cases, but those almost never harm the kids and almost always get resolved anyway, without the alert.

All of the actual research papers I can find are paywalled, but here's a Boston Globe article that discusses the results of one of the earliest studies. Several more have reaffirmed and even strengthened the findings of the first.

So, it really doesn't matter much if the alert delivery system is broken. The alert issuance system is fundamentally and likely irreparably flawed.

Sapient hired about 2,000 staff in India last year too. The Boston-based company has 65% of its total workforce of more than 10,100 based in India.

"About 35% of our people are hired locally [in markets the company operates]," Mr. Endow said. "That's a very healthy mix."

However: Sapient has only about 1,500 US employees, and at least one-third to one-half of those are here b/c of visa sponsorship. (Consider that an H1-B lasts for 3 years -- extendable up to 6 -- and 2013 isn't even over, yet.) So:

1. Are companies like Sapient just going through the motions to make it *look* like they're trying to fill some position with a U.S. worker -- as some sort of legal workaround? -- when their actual goal is to import yet another H1-B, all along?
2. Does any U.S. government agency keep an accurate, publicly-accessible record of all accepted/denied H1B requests? ...including the name of the company, with the date, location, and public-job posting for the position they were allegedly trying to fill?

their site is home to the Big Picture, a blog with photographs from around the world regarding various events, celebrations etc..it gets updated with a new entry every couple of days, totally worth the time if you have an interest in photography

Well, he's had his passport revoked, is being hunted around the world, and is being vilified in almost all public media.

Snowden isn't being hunted around the world because his passport is revoked. He is in Russia. Snowden isn't being vilified in "almost all public media." It is quite the reverse - he is being hailed as a hero by Chinese, Russians, many Europeans, and others across the world.

Well, at least he took refuge in Russia. What use do they have for four laptops full of NSA secrets?

Russia warns Ireland it will retaliate in spy row
Ireland Is Training Base for Russian Spies
As many Russian spies in UK today as in Cold War: Soviet defector
Canadian navy officer sentenced to 20 years for being Russian spy
10 in US held as spies for Russia
Russian spies in Australia at 'near Cold War level'
Germany jails Russian spy couple
Belgian diplomat suspected of being Russian spy
Finnish academic charged of aiding Russian spies
Spies in Sweden mostly from China, Russia, Iran
Estonia shaken by new Russian spy scandal
Georgia: Russian Spy Ring Smashed in Tbilisi -- Officials
Spain-Russia spy row leads to diplomats' expulsion

Russian warplanes breach NATO airspace - British and Norwegian jets intercepted Russian military aircraft ... close to the U.K. and Finland
Russian spy plane flies by Swedish military drill

This report comes after the newspaper wrote on 22 April, 2013 that Russian fighters had made dummy attacks close to Swedish territory during the Easter weekend.

RAF catches Russian bombers in UK airspace
UK jets shadow Russian bombers
Russian bombers’ secret UK missions ‘not a friendly act’
Russian subs stalk Trident in echo of Cold War - ... hunting down British Vanguard boats in a return to Cold War tactics
Russian around - A DESPERATE hunt was on last night for a Russian nuclear submarine lurking off the coast of Britain.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong (and that's okay with me, making the world a better place)... but TiVo currently does do a search through various databases as opposed to only looking at current broadcast options, and I believe the recently announced but not yet rolled out Comcast X2 does the same thing. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2013/06/11/comcast-new-platform-saves-shows-online/dQ5HkfFJ39IlkrMUBhZ1FO/story.html

So yeah, this suggestion is already being done or in various stages of implementation by TiVo and others.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/ss-130415-boston-bombing-tease.photoblog600.jpg

Yeah, that guy didn't die, because people saved his life (and many others) it wasn't because of lack of trying by the terrorists.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/specials/boston_marathon_bombing_victim_list/

There is nothing like trying to minimalize tragedy to make a political point. You make me sick.

Bet she won't be wearing those into an airport anytime soon!

The exact phrase I used was: "would be genocidal Iranian regime"

Evidence?

UN chief denounces Iran to its face over calls to destroy Israel
Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

At present they lack the means, such as working nuclear weapons, not the desire. I have to say that I find it astonishing that this might somehow be news to you. It is a fairly widely held goal in the region.

The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the Great Massacre
Hamas video: Killing Jews is 'worship that draws us close to Allah'
Judgment Day - When the Muslims Kill the Jews

After all, the book by you-know-who is disgustingly popular in certain circles among kindred spirits.

Cut-rate 'Mein Kampf' sells well in Turkey, spurring concerns
Mein Kampf in pride of place on bookshop shelves
Their Kampf - Hitler’s book in Arab hands

Unrelated, but since I have your attention - I expect these topics percolate at the back of your mind:

Jenin: Palestinian Myth Machine
Goldstone: Fighting the Lies Harder Than Fighting the War

You also realize that Israel continues to be one of the most negatively viewed countries in the world according to a BBC World Service poll [bbc.co.uk], so you can cry all you want but when so many people dislike a country over so many years, something's wrong with that country and not the people.

The problem in those people's eyes is easy to identify: Israel is full of Jews. That is a huge problem for some people. It is sort of like the problem that many Germans had with Jews in the 1920s-1940s.

And don't overlook the fact that the reading tastes are similar:

Cut-rate 'Mein Kampf' sells well in Turkey, spurring concerns
Mein Kampf in pride of place on bookshop shelves
Their Kampf - Hitler’s book in Arab hands.

Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation's population grew. The victimization rate for other violent crimes with a firearm -- assaults, robberies and sex crimes -- was 75% lower in 2011 than in 1993. Violent non-fatal crime victimization overall (with or without a firearm) also is down markedly (72%) over two decades.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/

Looks like the cops are trying to take up the slack

I'm going to start making shirts with IR LEDs sewn into them.

Remember not to wear one to the airport. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html

Just to be clear, "text book correct police work" is to chase a suspect through the night in a car, have them escape, lock down an entire city (not just the area they escaped, the entire city including public transport and air travel) except for dunkin donuts, conduct completely fruitless door to door searches all day long, finally admit you aren't getting anywhere and then let the citizens find your suspect for you?

Cell phone conversations are more annoying to people because our brains keeps trying to figure out the other end of the conversation, and make the conversation seem louder. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2013/03/18/study-proves-that-overhearing-others-phone-conversations-annoying/tmCr9o4wDLm7dmGfdybnYN/story.html

http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?%2Fservices%2Fplayer%2Fbcpid2080955193001&bckey=AQ~~%2CAAAAAA6piHY~%2CDqRT40XOAr8XmRt9Lw9Lza1eXkXEagX8&bctid=2303076923001 from http://boingboing.net/2013/04/15/boston-marathon-bombed.html is better IMO. :(

The Boston Globe talked to the major carriers, and they all report heavy calling but not an outage. AT&T mentions that their temporary WiFi set up for the event is up and will be kept up for "an extended timeframe".

From Boston.com.

Many would argue that gun violence has become more pervasive, and I'd have a hard time arguing against that statement.

Why? It's quite easy to argue against such a statement: according to FBI crime statistics gun-related homicide rates are at their lowest level since 1964 (scroll down to get the normalized rate-per-100,000 people) and have been declining for years. You can get the raw data from the FBI directly, if you prefer.

By any objective measure, gun-related homicide in the US has decreased significantly even as the number of legally-owned guns in the country has increased. People may perceive that gun violence is increasing (and it may well be true in certain localities in the country), but overall that's not the case.

According to crime records, while there's been some year-by-year variation in the number of mass shootings and victims, overall the trend has been constant since at least 1980. Despite the enormous media attention they get, they are statistically very rare. Are there too many? Absolutely.

Three,four or six months is not a lengthy jail sentence.