Malala Yousafzai: A 'Normal,' Yet Powerful Girl

"I think Malala is an average girl," Ziauddin Yousafzai says about the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who captured the world's attention after being shot by the Taliban, "but there's something extraordinary about her."

A teacher himself, he inspired his daughter's fight to be educated. At a special event with Malala in Washington, he tells NPR's Michel Martin that he is often asked what training he gave to his daughter. "I usually tell people, 'you should not ask me what I have done, rather you ask me, what I did not do,'" he explains. "I did not clip her wings to fly. I did not stop her from flying.'"

Yousafzai has this advice for parents of girls around the world: "Trust your daughters, they are faithful. Honor your daughters, they are honorable. And educate your daughters, they are amazing."

A year after being shot, Malala is clear about her goal. "I speak for education of every child, in every corner of the world," Malala says. "There has been a discrimination in our society," which she believes must be defeated. "We women are going to bring change. We are speaking up for girls' rights, but we must not behave like men, like they have done in the past."

Perhaps she has learned from her father's experience. When asked what gave him a passion for girls' education, Yousafzai points out that he was "born in a society where girls are ignored." Living with five sisters, he was sensitive to discrimination from an early age. "In the morning, I was used to milk and cream, and my sisters were given only tea," he remembers.

Yousafzai felt the injustice even more when Malala was born. He later opened a school that Malala attended in the Swat Valley. At the time, the Taliban's influence was gaining power and both Yousafzais were firmly on their radar. "But we thought that even terrorists might have some ethics," Yousafzai explains. "Because they destroyed some 1,500 schools but they never injured a child. And she was a child."

Malala says that the shooting has taken away her fear. "I have already seen death and I know that death is supporting me in my cause of education. Death does not want to kill me," she says. "Before this attack, I might have been a little bit afraid how death would be. Now I'm not, because I have experienced it."

When asked if she is having any fun now with all her campaigning, Malala laughs, "It's a very nice question. I miss those days." But she also says that there is another side to her than what is shown in the media. "Outside of my home, I look like a very obedient, very serious, very good kind of girl, but nobody knows what happens inside the house." There, she says she's not naughty, but she has to stand up to her brothers. "It's good to fight with your brothers and it's good to tease them to give them advice." She says her little brother doesn't really understand why his sister has so much attention. "He said, 'Malala...I can't understand why people are giving you prizes, and everywhere you go people say, 'This is Malala' and they give you awards, what have you done?'" she jokes.

Malala knows the Taliban would still like to kill her, but says she hopes to return to Pakistan one day. "First, I need to empower myself with knowledge, with education. I need to work hard," she explains. "And when I [am] powerful, then I will go back to Pakistan, Inshallah [God willing]."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/15/234730460/malala-yousafzai-a-normal-yet-powerful-girl?ft=1&f=1004
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Malala Yousafzai: A 'Normal,' Yet Powerful Girl

"I think Malala is an average girl," Ziauddin Yousafzai says about the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who captured the world's attention after being shot by the Taliban, "but there's something extraordinary about her."

A teacher himself, he inspired his daughter's fight to be educated. At a special event with Malala in Washington, he tells NPR's Michel Martin that he is often asked what training he gave to his daughter. "I usually tell people, 'you should not ask me what I have done, rather you ask me, what I did not do,'" he explains. "I did not clip her wings to fly. I did not stop her from flying.'"

Yousafzai has this advice for parents of girls around the world: "Trust your daughters, they are faithful. Honor your daughters, they are honorable. And educate your daughters, they are amazing."

A year after being shot, Malala is clear about her goal. "I speak for education of every child, in every corner of the world," Malala says. "There has been a discrimination in our society," which she believes must be defeated. "We women are going to bring change. We are speaking up for girls' rights, but we must not behave like men, like they have done in the past."

Perhaps she has learned from her father's experience. When asked what gave him a passion for girls' education, Yousafzai points out that he was "born in a society where girls are ignored." Living with five sisters, he was sensitive to discrimination from an early age. "In the morning, I was used to milk and cream, and my sisters were given only tea," he remembers.

Yousafzai felt the injustice even more when Malala was born. He later opened a school that Malala attended in the Swat Valley. At the time, the Taliban's influence was gaining power and both Yousafzais were firmly on their radar. "But we thought that even terrorists might have some ethics," Yousafzai explains. "Because they destroyed some 1,500 schools but they never injured a child. And she was a child."

Malala says that the shooting has taken away her fear. "I have already seen death and I know that death is supporting me in my cause of education. Death does not want to kill me," she says. "Before this attack, I might have been a little bit afraid how death would be. Now I'm not, because I have experienced it."

When asked if she is having any fun now with all her campaigning, Malala laughs, "It's a very nice question. I miss those days." But she also says that there is another side to her than what is shown in the media. "Outside of my home, I look like a very obedient, very serious, very good kind of girl, but nobody knows what happens inside the house." There, she says she's not naughty, but she has to stand up to her brothers. "It's good to fight with your brothers and it's good to tease them to give them advice." She says her little brother doesn't really understand why his sister has so much attention. "He said, 'Malala...I can't understand why people are giving you prizes, and everywhere you go people say, 'This is Malala' and they give you awards, what have you done?'" she jokes.

Malala knows the Taliban would still like to kill her, but says she hopes to return to Pakistan one day. "First, I need to empower myself with knowledge, with education. I need to work hard," she explains. "And when I [am] powerful, then I will go back to Pakistan, Inshallah [God willing]."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/15/234730460/malala-yousafzai-a-normal-yet-powerful-girl?ft=1&f=1004
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Obama, GOP talks leading back to deficit debate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Suddenly it's about the deficits. As a deal moves toward ending the partial government shutdown, raising the nation's line of credit, and abandoning the drive to upend the 3-year-old health care law, Washington's attention is turning to spending and the red ink side of the government's ledger.

Deja vu, as they say, all over again.

Deficits have been at the center of past fiscal confrontations. Taming them has proven to be a difficult task, particularly during a recession and a weak recovery. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have tried and either failed or ended up with consequences both sides abhor.

But at the center of a deal to reopen the government and temporarily increase the government borrowing limit is a promise for Republicans and Democrats, including the president, to engage in a new round of negotiations to tackle long term spending and lower deficits that, while falling now, are on a path to increase the government's debt to near record heights over the next two decades.

Here are some basic questions about the government's fiscal picture.

Q: So, what do the government's accounting books look like right now?

A: During the just completed fiscal year — Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 20113 — the government spent more than it received by somewhere between $650 and $700 billion. Typically deficits are measured as a percentage of the national economy, which would make the recent fiscal year's deficit about 4 percent of gross domestic product. That's sizable, but certainly less than the $1 trillion or more deficits early in Obama's presidency which exceeded 10 percent of the size of the economy. The accumulation of deficits are the national debt, which now stands at $16.7 trillion, about 73 percent of GDP,

Q: Why did it reach such heights?

A: When Obama became president, the country was in a recession. That meant companies and individuals weren't generating as much tax revenue for the government as before. What's more, the federal government spent hundreds of billions of dollars to shore up banks during the 2008 financial crisis and Obama ushered through an $800 billion "stimulus" package of spending and tax incentives designed to prime the economy. Deficits had already been increasing under President George W. Bush as Congress enacted two major tax cuts while the nation was fighting war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The result: the red ink climbed to a whopping $1.4 trillion by September, 2009.

Q: So, Obama says deficits have been cut in half while he has been president. Is that true?

A: Yes, but it's not all his doing. The economic recovery, though modest and fitful, has resulted in businesses and individuals paying more taxes. And the spigot that rushed out spending in 2008-2009 has been turned off. In addition, the interest on the national debt has been kept low thanks to low rates set by the Federal Reserve and the government related mortgage companies of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made payments to the federal government that have been greater than expected.

Another factor in the lower deficit is the automatic spending cuts that kicked in March that reduced spending across the board in domestic and defense spending. Those cuts took effect because Republicans and Democrats could not find common ground on a broader budget deal that would have tackled issues like tax revenue and spending on big benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that if those automatic spending cuts remain in place, deficits would drop to 2 percent of the economy in 2015.

Q: That all seems like good news. Is there still a problem?

A: Yes, long term. CBO has said that as interest rates begin to rise, the interest on the national debt will grow. Moreover, the Baby Boomers have been reaching retirement age and as a growing number of that generation ages, the demands on Social Security and Medicare will grow dramatically. That, together with rising health care costs and federal subsidies for health insurance under Obama's health care law, will push government expenditures up.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid together are the biggest component of the federal budget. The cuts in domestic and defense spending help, but do not represent the growth in the budget. By 2023, government and private forecasters project that deficits will begin to rise annually. By 2038, CBO says the deficit will push the national debt to about 100 percent of the economy — a percentage unseen since just after World War II.

Q: So how can that be, that deficits have been going down, but will climb steadily later?

A: Think of your own budget. Imagine you want to tighten your spending. You eliminate the weekly movies you and your spouse go to every week and cut out that premium channel subscription. You stop buying craft beers and those Friday night restaurant outings, they're out, too. In time, you'll begin to see the savings. You could get even more dramatic — sell one of your cars. But you have a son and a daughter who will be going to college in three years. That balloon payment on your mortgage will kick in around then, too. You'll have to borrow again and spend more, and you won't have any belt tightening left to do. The federal government is no different as the Baby Boom generation hits Social Security and Medicare age, and as interest rates on the debt rise.

Q: What kinds of solutions are out there?

A: Bottom line is that politicians can only lower deficits by cutting spending and/or raising taxes. But no solution is easy and would require significant political compromises. The president, in his budget, proposed $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years. That includes $400 billion in saving in Medicare, and $580 billion in new tax revenue from closed loopholes and tax breaks and $230 billion from changing an inflation measure that lowers annual benefit adjustments. White House spokesman Jay Carney conceded Friday that achieving that size of a deal in the next six weeks before new budget and debt ceiling deadlines would loom would be difficult to achieve. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan spelled out a narrower approach that would take some of Obama's budget ideas, including increasing premiums for wealthier Medicare recipients, and coupling them with changes in the tax code that close loopholes and lower rates.

The major sticking point will always be revenue, however. Democrats and the president insist that any changes in major benefit programs must be accompanied by tax increases. Republicans staunchly oppose that.

Q: What are the chances they can get something done?

A: Obama and Congress have tried before. A deal in the summer of 2011 would have required a super committee of Congress to find an agreement. Their failure prompted the automatic cuts from which both parties are trying to get out from under. Lawmakers tried again earlier this year to keep those automatic cuts from kicking, they failed again. And less formal negotiations between Obama and a small group of Republican senators also was unable to lock in on a specific proposal. That inability has led to a crisis-to-crisis style of governing. Perhaps the shutdown and a near miss with breaching the nation's debt ceiling provide new sobriety to the debate.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn at http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-gop-talks-leading-back-deficit-debate-220610158--politics.html
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Legendary Picks Up Sci-fi Script 'Reminiscence'

A second big spec script sale just landed.

Legendary has picked up Reminiscence, a sci-fi thriller by Lisa Joy, a writer and co-producer on TV’s Burn Notice.

No producers are attached as the script went straight to buyers and sources say the script sold in the seven-figure range.

Alex Hedlund will oversee production for Legendary.

No plot details are being revealed, but it does fall in Legendary's tentpole-sized genre fare wheelhouse.

Additionally, the project will fall under its distribution deal with Universal.

Joy worked on TV's Pushing Daisies on top of Burn Notice and is next working on Westworld for HBO and Jonathan Nolan. She is repped by UTA and Bloom Hergott.

The deal follows Universal's pricey pickup over the weekend of the spec Section 6, which was also in the low seven-figure range.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/THRComicCon/~3/RlhV-FQq-7k/story01.htm
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Why Is The Higgs Boson A 'Big Whoop' For All Of Us?

The physicists who discovered the so-called 'God Particle' were awarded the Nobel Prize this year, but one writer says people still aren't paying enough attention. Scientist Ainissa Ramirez tells host Michel Martin why more people should care about the Higgs Boson, and why they probably won't.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We've talked before on this program about why Latinos in the U.S. are more likely to tweet and use other social media than other Americans. Today, we're going to hear from a Latino tech leader who wants to boost the Latino presence in the science and business of technology. We'll talk about that in just a few minutes.

But, first, more good news about science and innovation. This week, the Nobel Prize for physics was announced, and it went to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs for their discovery, the Higgs boson, popularly known as the God particle. Our next guest is really excited about this and wants you to be, too. Ainissa Ramirez is a materials scientist. She wrote a guest post for Forbes called "The Higgs Boson: Why You Should care About The God Particle. And, Sadly, Why You Don't." And she's with us now. Welcome, thanks so much for joining us.

AINISSA RAMIREZ: Great to be here.

MARTIN: You said in your post that the Higgs boson is the biggest scientific discovery of the 21st century, period. Why?

RAMIREZ: Good question. The Higgs boson links us to the Big Bang. There was an equation that had lots of different parameters in it, and it worked, if we found the Higgs boson. And we continued to use this equation without finding it. And, in the last year or so, we actually found it. So it confirms what we believed. So it's wonderful to have a theory, but it's great to have proof. And so that's why the Higgs boson is so significant.

MARTIN: Why is it called the God particle?

RAMIREZ: The God particle, well, that's a misnomer. And I think that's a marketing term. I think there was a book that came out a couple of years ago, and that was the title of the book, "The God Particle." The scientists actually wanted to call it the God [bleep] particle because it was so hard to find. It's been something that scientists have been looking for for over 50 years. But the God particle is a - it's a term because it's an ethereal thing - it's very difficult to find. Sort of like, air is all around us, but we can't really see it. This particle, the Higgs boson, is all around but it's not something that we can see, and it was really hard for us to find how we can see it.

MARTIN: Well, is it in part, though, because it does verify the scientific understanding of the creation of the universe? Is that why?

RAMIREZ: Absolutely. It's the link. So 13.7 billion years ago, there was this big bang, and we went from nothing to something. There were all these particles that were flying around and they had no mass. And now we live in a universe where there's mass. How did they get the mass? Well, it was the Higgs boson, which creates the mass, and that was the missing link. So it connects the beginning part of the universe to now.

MARTIN: One of the things you also said in your post is that there's this disconnect between the scientific community - if I can use that term - and the rest of us. You said that a few thousand scientists are losing their minds, crying and hugging each other. The rest of society is trying to figure out why this is a big whoop. Why do you think that is? I mean, it used to be that people were very engaged in science. I mean, the moon launch, you know, for example, you know, people landing on the moon. The whole country kind of stopped what they were doing to watch this, right? So why do you think that is?

RAMIREZ: Everyone remembers where they were when the moon launch happened. I think I was being propped up by my family to watch the screen, although I didn't know exactly what I was looking at. What's so obvious is that there's a footprint on the surface of the moon - tells us that we've made an accomplishment. A couple of scratches on paper just doesn't have the same effect, but it's also a footprint. So I think that's one of the things that was a disconnect. It's so obvious when a person leaves our planet to go to the moon. The other thing is that I think we need to spend a little bit more time as scientists to explain what we're doing to the general public.

And that was what my call to action was in that blog. We have a small percentage of people who are losing their minds, having huge parties and the rest of the world doesn't really know what they're excited about. So if we spend a lot of money to put together these huge experiments - the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs Boson was found costs on the upwards of about $10 billion. Let's spend a little bit of that money just educating people. Now maybe scientists aren't the best people to do that. I mean, we're very, very consumed with what we're doing. We're very, very busy and we may not have that skill set to make things accessible to other people. So in that blog, I was saying, well, let's employ. Let's get some help. Let's consider a PR firm or let's make a videogame or let's get Peter Higgs - one of the folks who got the Nobel Prize - let's have him do a cameo on a television show, so that we can just make this a little bit more personal about what's going on.

MARTIN: You said, I think the nerds got it wrong by not inviting everybody to the party, which is kind of different from the way we usually think about it as, you know...

RAMIREZ: That's right.

MARTIN: The nerds not being the ones who get the invitation. But can you help us understand a bit more about why this - what will change in our lives because of this discovery? I mean, as you pointed out, you know, people going to the moon kind of opens up all kinds of possibilities about travel, about seeing other worlds. What are other things that might change as a result of this discovery, this understanding - or this verification of this theory?

RAMIREZ: Well, those are the things that are hard to tell at this point. When the electron was discovered back in the 1890s, it wasn't clear what we were going to do with that. But this conversation wouldn't be possible without electrons because we use it for communication and the like. But it's more than the endpoint of science, it's the journey that's actually important. So on our way to finding the Higgs, we created this little thing called the World Wide Web.

We needed a way to communicate with scientists that were in hundreds of countries, and thousands of scientists for them to interface and have ways to communicate. And, you know, the Postal Service was no way that they were going to be able to handle all that amount of data. So we found a way to communicate and that was the World Wide Web. And you and I can't live without that today. So it's more than the end goal, it's the pursuit that makes us better people. And that's what I think the folks at CERN should share. You know, there's a lot of inventions that occur in the pursuit of these different things.

MARTIN: You know, it's interesting. On the one hand, though, we live in a world in which science and technology is more powerful and present than ever. It is accessible. So many people have a smart phone. So many people throughout the developing world do their banking on their phone, right? And yet, on the one hand, you feel that there's still this - what do you think it is? A lack of understanding of how we get there? You see what I'm saying? What do you think the disconnect is? We don't really invest in it? We don't really care about how we get there? It's like a pot - we just want to cook in, we don't care how it's made?

RAMIREZ: Yeah, it's a good question. I think that there's an infinite amount of information. What we need to do is have individuals that help us understand it. You know, I love Wikipedia. I tell my students not to use it when they're writing their papers, but I do love Wikipedia. It's a first stop. But some Wikipedia entries are just so high-level. I don't understand what's going on. I'm saying that when you get that information, it's great to be accurate and to tell us things precisely, but make it understandable. Maybe we need a next level down. So there's not a dearth of information. I don't think that's the problem. I think it's the understanding that's missing.

MARTIN: OK. So now we're friends. What is a material scientist? Now that you've told me, I have permission to ask you and you're not going to make me feel stupid. What is a material scientist? What do you do when you're not trying to explain all this stuff to us?

RAMIREZ: A material scientist is a person who's interested in how stuff works - and stuff is materials. The reason why you're sitting in that chair and it's not falling apart, the reason why the sky is blue - these are things that chemists and a material scientist would be interested in. And the thing that blew my mind when I first took my material science course is that everything that we understand has to do with the interaction of atoms. Now atoms are about 1/100th the thickness of your hair.

So imagine pulling one of your hairs and whittling it 100,000 times. That would be the width of an atom. The way that these small particles interact is what prevents me from falling through the floor, for my pen working, all these things. So I'm interested in how - I guess I would call myself an atom whisperer or an atom hacker because I'm interested in how - understanding the behavior of atoms. And then, suggesting that they behave in new ways so that I can create new properties of the stuff that I'm using.

MARTIN: I feel so much better now.

RAMIREZ: Does that make any sense?

MARTIN: Yes.

RAMIREZ: OK, good.

MARTIN: Ainissa Ramirez is a material scientist. She is the author, most recently of "Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game." And she was kind enough to join us from the studios of Yale University. Ainissa Ramirez, thanks so much for speaking with us.

RAMIREZ: Oh, thank you for having me.

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Teen star Ko files petition with LPGA to turn pro

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Amateur sensation Lydia Ko is turning pro and has asked the LPGA Tour to waive its age limit.

The 16-year-old from New Zealand already is a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour — both wins at the Canadian Women's Open — and last year became the youngest winner in LPGA history. She also contended at the Evian Championship last month in the year's fifth and final major championship.

The LPGA Tour confirmed that it received a petition from Ko asking that it waive its minimum age requirement of 18.

LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan was traveling from Asia on Thursday and not immediately available to comment. Whan, who two years ago granted such a petition to Lexi Thompson, has sole discretion whether Ko can join the tour early. The LPGA said Whan would be in contact with Ko and her family.

Ko's mother, Tina Hyon, told Golf Channel's website Wednesday night in an email that her daughter would play as a pro in the LPGA Titleholders in Naples, Fla., in November. She also might play in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Born in South Korea, Ko moved to New Zealand when she was 6 and began taking lessons at Pupuke Golf Club in Auckland. She recently received the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the top-ranked female amateur for the third straight year.

Ko would have earned nearly $1 million this year if she had been a pro.

Michelle Wie was 15 when she turned pro, though she played a limited schedule and did not ask for LPGA Tour membership.

Lexi Thompson was 16 when she won on the LPGA in 2011. Whan granted her petition to join before turning 18, though it did not take effect until the 2012 season and Thompson played her first round as a member the day before she turned 17.

Associated Press
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Petersen Automotive Museum Trimming Its Inventory Of Classic Cars

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July 19, 2013 in Logistics and Transport

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Petersen Automotive Museum Trimming Its Inventory Of Classic Cars
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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) ? The famous Petersen Automotive Museum is trimming its inventory of classic cars.

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