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Is it easier to climb the economic ladder in red America or blue America?
In the wake of a new study on upward mobility released last week, economists and writers have been debating that question. To some - and to some readers of my article on the study - the data seemed to suggest that climbing from poverty to the middle class and beyond was harder in conservative states than in liberal ones. Looking at the map that ran in last Monday's Times, the immediate impression is that some of the lowest rates of mobility occur in the solidly Republican Deep South:
The New York Times Yet that immediate conclusion turns out to be misleading. The odds of escaping poverty are nearly identical in liberal regions and conservative regions, at least according to this study, which some economists regard as the most comprehensive mobility analysis to date.
The New York Times The patterns make sense in light of the four factors the study cited as being strongly correlated with upward mobility rates: school quality; family structure; civic engagement, including membership in religious groups; and the size and geographic dispersion of the middle class. These factors do not strongly favor either conservative America or liberal America.
On the one hand, divorce tends to be less common in high-mobility areas, and Democratic states generally have lower divorce rates. But religious participation, another feature of high-mobility regions, is typically higher in Republican states. Standardized test scores are generally higher in Democratic states than Republican ones, but several conservative states, like Kansas, Montana and the Dakotas, have high scores, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
The study also found that some of the metropolitan regions with a notably small number of middle-class households (based on the national income distribution) and a high concentration of poverty are in blue-leaning states. Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore all make that list.
Depending on the precise cut of the statistics you examine, blue America or red America may look slightly better. But the two are effectively tied. My colleague Amanda Cox and I, for instance, looked at all the metropolitan regions - or “commuting zones†- that voted for President Obama in 2012 and compared them with those that went for Mitt Romney. In Obama areas, the chance that a child born into a household in the bottom fifth of the income distribution had risen into the top fifth was 8.1 percent. In Romney areas, it was only marginally higher, 8.5 percent.
When we expanded the analysis to look at children born into the bottom fifth who had made it into one of the top two fifths, the chances were 21.1 percent for Obama areas and 22.1 percent for Romney areas.
These numbers make it clear that mobility does not appear to be more common in blue America. But it would also be a mistake to go the other way and conclude that mobility is less common. Raj Chetty, one of the four economists who conducted the study, said he and his co-authors ran the numbers multiple ways and concluded that there was effectively zero correlation between an area's upward mobility and its political views.
It's true that upward mobility is less common in Deep South. (In the 11 states that made up the Confederacy, the odds of jumping from the bottom fifth of the income distribution in childhood to the top fifth in adulthood were only 6.6 percent, compared with 8.9 percent in the rest of the country.)
But mobility was also notably low in Democratic-leaning Michigan and in the swing state of Ohio. As Paul Krugman noted in his column today, Atlanta and Detroit, which otherwise have little in common, both suffer from low mobility. And while the Northeast and West Coast, Democratic strongholds, have high rates of mobility, some of the highest rates are in Utah, Wyoming and the Dakotas, none of which have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in almost 50 years.
Conservative regions and liberal regions of this country are different in many ways. On economic mobility, though, those differences largely appear to cancel each other out. There seem to be lessons for both blue America and red America in the new data.
Representative Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, is expected to announce his challenge to Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas in 2014, according to two Republicans familiar with his thinking. For Mr. Pryor, a two-term Democrat, the bid would further complicate his efforts to hold onto his already vulnerable seat.
The Associated Press, which first reported Mr. Cotton's plans, said he would announce his decision next Tuesday at an event in Dardanelle, Ark., his hometown.
Mr. Cotton, a 36-year-old freshman lawmaker, was elected in 2012 and quickly became a rising star in his party, with his name buzzed about as a potential Senate candidate almost immediately. Supporters noted his résumé - a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School; an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran and a former McKinsey & Company management consultant - and his folksy drawl and ability to chat easily about his family's cattle farm.
Though the Pryor name is dynastic in Arkansas - Mr. Pryor holds the Senate seat that was his father's for nearly two decades - Mr. Pryor was already facing an uphill fight in his increasingly Republican home state. Mitt Romney won Arkansas with 60.5 percent of the vote in 2012, and voters there elected an entirely Republican slate of House members last year, as well.
The Rothenberg Political Report rated the Arkansas Senate race a “pure toss-up,†along with the open Senate seat in Montana and Senator Mary Landrieu's seat in Louisiana.
Mr. Cotton's office would not confirm reports that he is planning to run for Senate, but did say he plans to discuss his future plans generally next week in Arkansas.
“On Tuesday, Tom is inviting his hometown and all who have supported him along the way to hear about his fight to represent Arkansas' values in D.C.,†said Caroline Rabbitt, Mr. Cotton's communications director. “He looks forward to sharing his plans to continue that fight in the coming year.â€
Mr. Pryor's campaign did not wait for Mr. Cotton's challenge to become official before going on the attack.
“In seven short months, Tom Cotton's reckless and irresponsible voting record has alienated Arkansas farmers, seniors, students, women, parents and the business community by voting against such measures as the farm bill, student loans, the Violence Against Women Act, and trying to cut Social Security and Medicare,†Jeff Weaver, Mr. Pryor's campaign manager, said in a statement. “Instead of putting Arkansas first, he has put his own political career ahead of the people of Arkansas and sided with Washington insiders and special interests. When the people of our state review Tom Cotton's record, they won't like what they see.â€
However, American Crossroads, a conservative “super PAC,†was eager to see Mr. Cotton's bid go forward.
“One of the weakest Democrats in the Senate this cycle is now facing potentially the strongest Republican challenger of the cycle,†Steven J. Law, the group's president, said in an e-mail statement. “Representative Cotton is a conservative leader and rock star candidate. Arkansas is now one of the very top pickup opportunities for Republicans this cycle, and we are excited to get engaged in the race on behalf of Rep. Tom Cotton.â€
As a number of prominent Republicans trade barbs and jostle to become the party's standard-bearer after a disappointing showing in the 2012 election, a new poll finds a majority of Republican voters support significant changes in the party's direction, but there is no consensus on what direction the party should take.
Two-thirds of Republican voters said their party needed to address major problems to do better in future presidential elections, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday, and nearly 6 in 10 said the party needed to reconsider some of its policy positions.
No single Republican stood out as the face or voice of the party: 22 percent of respondents volunteered the answer “nobody†when asked who led their party. The most mentioned name, House Speaker John A. Boehner, garnered only 9 percent.
Asked about several party leaders, all elicited stronger favorable than unfavorable responses. Representative Paul D. Ryan, the 2012 Republican candidate for vice president, had the highest favorability rating at 65 percent, followed by Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky at 55 percent and Marco Rubio of Florida at 50 percent. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was not far behind, with 47 percent favorability, but had higher unfavorable opinions (30 percent) than Mr. Ryan, Mr. Paul, or Mr. Rubio.
And while slightly more than half said that nominating more women and racial and ethnic minorities to run for office would help the Republican Party perform better in national elections, about 4 in 10 Republicans said they did not think that would help.
Among those who said changes in policy standpoints were necessary, the most commonly cited issues were immigration and abortion, followed by gay marriage.
Regarding specific policies, the general sentiment for Republicans was to move further right, particularly on government spending. On immigration, about 4 in 10 Republicans said the party's position was “about right,†while the same number said Republicans were not conservative enough. On gun policy, most Republicans agreed with their party's stance.
However, on gay marriage, Republicans were almost evenly scattered, with 33 percent saying the position was about right, 31 percent saying the party's stand was too conservative, 27 percent saying it was not conservative enough. On abortion, 4 in 10 Republicans said their party's position was about right, but half of Republicans were divided on whether it should be more moderate or more conservative. (Asking voters whether about their party's approach to an issue is conservative enough or too conservative has two drawbacks: First, there's a level of subjectivity - each person's definition of conservative can vary -Â and second, the question requires the respondent to have knowledge about the party's stance on the issue.)
What may be most worrisome for Republican leaders is the declining number of Americans who see themselves as Republicans, and the growing ranks of independents. In this most recent Pew poll, just 19 percent identified as Republican, a steady decline from the 30 percent who identified as Republican a decade ago. When those who said they were independent but leaned Republican are included, the total Republicans grow to 37 percent, just slightly down from 42 percent in 2003. Pew's recent poll found 29 percent of Americans identified as Democrats, roughly the same as the 32 percent who said so in 2003. However, when including leaners, Democrats are holding steadier numbers, with a total 47 percent today, compared to 44 percent in 2003.
The Pew Research Center poll was conducted by landline and cellphone from July 17 to 21 among a national sample of 1,408 adults, including 497 Republican or Republican-leaning voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points for Republican voters.
Nearly 50 years after John Lewis stood among the “Big Six†civil rights leaders before throngs of mostly African-American demonstrators, gathered on the National Mall for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he stood in the Capitol on Wednesday and declared the work of the movement unfinished.
At 23, Mr. Lewis was the newly elected president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the youngest speaker at the historic march, which took place on Aug. 28, 1963. Now, at 73, he is a Democratic congressman from Georgia and the last surviving speaker from the march.
“We have come a distance since that day,†Mr. Lewis said on Wednesday. “But many of the issues that gave rise to that march are still pressing needs in our society today: violence, poverty, hunger, long-term unemployment, homelessness, voting rights and the need to protect human dignity.â€
Congress is scheduled to be in recess on the anniversary of the march, which comes as President Obama is traveling the country to promote his economic agenda focused on job creation.
The crowd on the National Mall in 1963 swelled to about 250,000 people, who gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial to draw attention to economic inequality. It is most remembered as the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream†speech.
John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican House speaker, tied the march to centuries-old efforts to bring about racial equality, highlighting Frederick Douglass's escape from slavery and advocacy for abolition, Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Alabama in 1955.
“This is the story of how a president, a slave, a seamstress and a minister locked arms across time to deliver us from oppression, a story that shakes us forward and shakes us free, a story with room enough for each of us to press on for some cause, some dream, bigger than ourselves,†Mr. Boehner said.
Remembering Dr. King's call to act with “the fierce urgency of now,†Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic minority leader, noted that the march had propelled the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as broader social and economic progress. Over the next 50 years, African-Americans increased their presence in the House to 43 members from 5 and established the influential Congressional Black Caucus.
“We have kept moving forward,†Ms. Pelosi said. “Each step is a sign of progress, and we have a moral obligation to press on.â€
But Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, warned that the progress made during and since the civil rights movement was “under siege.â€
“Since the Supreme Court's decision to strike down portions of the Voting Rights Act, states once again are free to erect barriers to discourage American citizens from exercising one of the most fundamental rights, the right to vote, without intimidation or obstruction,†he said, singling out efforts by Texas and other Southern states to tighten voting laws after the Supreme Court freed them in June from the requirement to obtain preclearance from the Justice Department.
Mr. Reid said he had directed Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to examine “these dangerous voter suppression efforts†- which he said unfairly targeted the poor, the elderly and minorities - and propose steps the Senate can take to protect voters.
“Those who value the progress started 50 years ago by the March on Washington should take this assault on freedom as seriously as you've taken anything,†he said.
Civil rights groups plan to observe the 50th anniversary with a march on Aug. 24 from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial, and another on Aug. 28 that will stop at the Justice and Labor Department buildings.
Congress is heading home for its August recess having passed the first significant energy legislation, aside from some tax changes, since 2009, after the Senate approved two bills on Thursday that clear the way for faster licensing of hydroelectric projects.
“I wouldn't call it major,†a Senate aide acknowledged. But apart from the stimulus in 2009 and various tax credits, including one for wind energy last December, Congress has not reached agreement on any energy legislation in four years.
The Senate unanimously approved two bills that had been passed by the House in February. They are hardly radical; they streamline the procedure for licensing small hydroelectric projects.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy Committee, pointed out that only 3 percent of the 80,000 dams in the United States are set up to generate electricity. “Hydropower is our greatest untapped potential for generating cost-effective, carbon-free energy,†she said in a statement.
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, the chairman of the committee, added, “Capitalizing on the power potential of existing dams, pipes and conduits is the kind of practical thinking our country needs to generate more renewable energy and cut our carbon footprint.â€
Some questions that are far more contentious remain on the legislative docket. Mr. Wyden and Ms. Murkowski are two of the main sponsors of a bill to restart the search for a nuclear waste burial site. It is sure to face tough sledding, partly because Republicans in the House are still hoping to revive the Yucca Mountain project near Las Vegas, which was killed by President Obama, partly at the urging of Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader.
And a bill promoting energy efficiency, sponsored by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, and Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, was approved by a Senate committee but has not been taken up by the full Senate.
Other issues have not even made it that far, including legislation regarding a carbon tax to address climate change and a restructuring of the electric grid, which is not set up to meet modern environmental goals.
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Minh Uong/The New York Times A type of digital cash, bitcoins were invented in 2009 and can be sent directly to anyone, anywhere in the world.
Depending on whom you ask, bitcoins are a goofy geek invention with as much long-term value as Monopoly money - or a technology development that could transform currency the way e-mail and texting have transformed correspondence.
A type of digital cash, bitcoins were invented in 2009 and can be sent directly to anyone, anywhere in the world. You don't have to go through a financial institution, which means no fees and no one tracking your spending habits. With a current market capitalization of $1 billion, bitcoins are beginning to be more widely accepted. You can use them to pay for a pizza or make speculative bets that could end up financing your child's college education.
But bitcoins, and other digital currencies, have also come under scrutiny. Liberty Reserve, an online payment system, was shuttered in the spring by New York authorities, who said the company used its digital currency, known as LRs, to launder up to $6 billion. And law enforcement officials have voiced concerns that bitcoins could also abet illegal transactions. Bart Chilton, a commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, suggested that bitcoins might be ripe for regulation.
Moreover, some critics say the bitcoin infrastructure is insecure, as hackable as any other computer-based system.
“The way the basic bitcoin system works is both incredibly solid and incredibly clever from a technical standpoint,†said Nicholas Weaver, senior staff researcher at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, which studies and advances a range of emerging technologies. “The system's security is fragile, however, and the economic model behind bitcoin is, well, crazy stupid.â€
Nonetheless, paying with bitcoins can be a weirdly fun way to make transactions. Here is a primer on how to do it.
Like gold, bitcoins, which are both a currency and a commodity, are in limited supply (there is a cap of 21 million total) and have to be “mined†before they are put in circulation. Anyone can mine for bitcoins by downloading software, known as the bitcoin client, which algorithmically crunches a bunch of numbers to legitimize or authenticate a sequence or “block†of past bitcoin transactions. So bitcoins are basically minted as a reward for contributing to the smooth operation of the system. Validating a block yields 25 bitcoins, which are currently worth $2,675.
The fluctuating price of bitcoins, also like gold, is a function of supply and demand, as well as psychology. “Bitcoins have value because people say they have value,†said Andrew White, a former I.T. manager for the Wikipedia Foundation and now a digital currency entrepreneur in San Francisco.
Unlike fiat currencies like the United States dollar and virtual currencies like Facebook credits and the one invented by Liberty Reserve, bitcoins are not created or controlled by a central authority. But with the blistering rate of bitcoin transactions these days, you need a pricey and complex computer rig to effectively run the bitcoin client and procure some bitcoin bounty. An easier way to get bitcoins is to just find someone willing to sell them to you.
Julian Tosh, an I.T. systems administrator in Las Vegas, for example, lets friends and family buy items on his Amazon wish list and pays them back in bitcoins. “This works well as long as I need stuff,†said Mr. Tosh, who also presides over a Wednesday “Bitcoin Lunch Mob†in Las Vegas, which gathers to discuss and trade bitcoins.
But maybe you don't personally know any bitcoin enthusiasts like Mr. Tosh or the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, who own around $11 million worth and have filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to form a bitcoin investment trust. If so, you might try localbitcoins.com, which lists people in your area who are willing to exchange bitcoins for cold hard cash. The market price Tuesday afternoon was $107 for a bitcoin. Be sure to check out sellers' profiles and reviews to make sure they are reputable. And, of course, it's always a good idea to meet in a public place to make the transaction.
Bitcoins can be easily transferred and stored using a digital wallet app on your Android mobile device. Popular wallet apps include BitcoinSpinner and Bitcoin Wallet. There are no iOS bitcoin wallet apps and Apple did not respond to e-mails seeking an explanation. But Blockchain has an online wallet service that you can access using any Internet-connected desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
You can also get bitcoins through Mt.Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange and where the currency is traded as a commodity. But it's a cumbersome and lengthy process, requiring wire transfers and scanning identity documents. The company, which is based in Japan, also charges a 0.6 percent fee for all transactions.
Keep in mind that the United States Department of Homeland Security in May seized Mt.Gox's United States accounts, saying it misrepresented the full extent of its financial operations. The company did not respond to requests for comment but continues to function as before the seizure.
Another option is Coinbase, a bitcoin transaction platform, which recently announced a $5 million infusion of venture capital. While it's still a nascent venture (not even a year old), the service hasn't had any major hiccups yet and is relatively simple to use. You just enter your bank account and routing number, how many bitcoins you want and click “buy.†You can also send bitcoins to others through your Coinbase account. Just know you'll be charged a 1 percent transaction fee.
Once you have your bitcoins, the fun part is spending them. Bitcoin. travel, BitcoinsInVegas.com, Spendbitcoins.com and Reddit have directories of businesses that accept bitcoins as payment. And Bitpremier.com lists high-priced luxury items (cars, jets, yachts, etc.) you can buy with bitcoins.
To make a purchase, all you have to do is type the receiver's key code or scan their QR code into your bitcoin wallet and you're done. Like cash transactions, you can't cancel payment later, so be sure it's what you want before you click “send.â€
Brewster Kahle, a founder of the Internet Archive in San Francisco, said he routinely used bitcoins to pay for lunch at a local sushi restaurant. He's interested in the technology and appreciates the libertarian aspect of it. “Bitcoin used to be just in the land of computer geeks, but not anymore,†he said.
More businesses are accepting bitcoins lately thanks to Bitpay, which supplies software for processing bitcoin payments. The merchant pays a 0.99 percent fee per transaction versus the 2 to 4 percent fees charged by credit card companies. Bitpay will also immediately convert bitcoins to dollars if the merchant desires.
“Bitcoin users are pretty enthusiastic, so you get instant loyal customers,†said Adam Penn, owner of Veggie Galaxy, a restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., which began accepting bitcoins through Bitpay in May. “So far, it's been a no-risk revenue generator.â€
Also last month, Bitpay announced a partnership with the mobile gift card app Gyft, which will allow people to use bitcoins to purchase gift cards from hundreds of retailers including Brookstone, Lowe's, Gap, Sephora, GameStop, American Eagle, Nike, Marriott, Burger King and Fandango.
“It's a huge development,†said Mr. Tosh in Las Vegas, who predicts Gyft's embrace of bitcoins will lead to widespread use of the alternative currency. “Pandora's box has been smashed.â€
Or maybe not. The legal trouble at Mt.Gox sent a shiver through the market as did S.E.C. charges last week that the founder and operator of the lesser-known Bitcoin Savings and Trust in McKinney, Tex., was running a bitcoin Ponzi scheme.
Still, bitcoin advocates point out that, despite some bad actors, the actual system has not had a major security breach. Nevertheless, even the most ardent bitcoin boosters urge caution. Bitcoins have appreciated more than 700 percent since this time last year - an increase some have compared to a bubble bound to burst.
“It's supervolatile, so I'd tell people to go slow,†said Peter Vessenes, chairman and executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes the currency. “Never hold more bitcoins than you're prepared to lose.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on August 1, 2013, on page B7 of the New York edition with the headline: Virtual Currency Gains Ground in Actual World.
Compared with offices of the past, the modern workplace is paradoxically both more informal and more relentless. Doors have been replaced by cubicles, formal desks with tables, and long-planned meetings with ad hoc collaboration. Work and home have blended, to the general benefit of work: more and more of us are available at all times, on smartphones and tablets, for e-mail and instant messaging.
The look and function of office productivity software, including icons like scissors and clipboards, have been slower to change. As mobility and collaboration become standards of work, however, the design and function of things like document creation and sharing are changing too.
For decades, adjusting fonts and type sizes was used persuade clients and co-workers in office documents. And people e-mailed one another attachments of work they had created alone. But now, an emphasis is placed on fast turnaround, effective presentation on small screens, and the use of pictures and graphics as much as words.
A big part of mobility is cloud computing, which allows all kinds of documents to be stored in remote data centers and used anywhere. Google recently made Google Docs, its word processing software, part of Drive, its online storage service. Microsoft's storage service, called Skydrive, is still separate from its mobile version of Word, but it is possible to use the service on most new smartphones.
But several start-ups have also emerged, trying to radically rethink the way we work, in some cases from a mobile-first point of view.
Evernote, another online storage company, allows users to write, edit and share notes together, instead of e-mailing multiple versions of a Word document to one another.
Some of Evernote's features still borrow from images of old-fashioned work in their design, like making text bold or italic in a document. But it also offers more modern features, like letting users strike-through text, add images or audio and even search through a document's metadata to find its version history.
In Quip, a new word-processing start-up, pictures and tables are referenced by touching the “@†key on a pop-up screen keyboard, a nod to Twitter's way of linking people together.
Quip also gives a lot of screen real estate to the person who owns the device and other people. Instant messaging, photos of other people where they edited, and annotations can occupy a big chunk of the screen, or be removed to just work on a document. It is a more collaborative world, and the look is meant to encourage others to jump in when they see someone else is online.
Not everything changes, however. You may be looking at a mobile phone in a coffee shop, or looking at a tablet in a conference room, but for some reason Quip still calls the main screen “Desktop.†One thing about the future: It's still full of the past.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: July 31, 2013
An earlier version of this post misspelled the name of Crocodoc.
Motorola Mobility's new phone, the Moto X, reflects the company's desire to change the way people use smartphones. Two twists of one's wrist while holding the phone, for example, will open the device's camera.
Q. Instead of forwarding messages one by one in Outlook 2010, is there a way to send a bunch of separate e-mail messages as one big message?
A. Microsoft's Outlook 2010 program offers an easy way to round up different messages and combine them into one master message to be forwarded on to new recipients, which can be helpful if you need to collect all the mail related to a certain event or project. To do so, select the separate messages in your Outlook mailbox by clicking them while holding down the Control key.
Once you have selected all the messages, go to the Home tab, then to the Respond group, and click the Forward icon. Outlook then collects the messages you selected and adds them as an attachment to a new message that you can send. On the recipients' end, the forwarded mail can be read by clicking each subject name in the attachment area of the main message.
The process works similarly in Microsoft Outlook 2011 for the Mac. Those using Apple's own Mail program can also forward multiple messages as attachments by selecting them in the mailbox, going to the Message menu and choosing “Forward as Attachment.†Selecting just the Forward option also corrals all the selected messages, but it combines them all into text blocks within the message body instead of making them attachments.
Using Java With the Firefox Browser
Q. Firefox has disabled Java on my Windows computer, but I still need it for certain sites I use all the time. Is it safe to just download Java and install it again so those sites will work?
A. Java - a programming language often used to create games, applications and so-called applets that can be embedded within Web pages - has had a number of issues within the last year, which has led some security experts to recommend uninstalling the software. As part of its own security efforts, Mozilla now purposely blocks some versions of the Java browser plug-in from running in Firefox.
The Java software itself is still probably on your computer, despite the browser's refusal to run it. However, Mozilla does allow you to reinstate Java for sites you regularly visit and trust.
Mozilla's site has instructions enabling Java again if Firefox is blocking it. If the Java browser plug-in is actually missing, you can find steps for reinstalling it on a Mozilla support page if you absolutely need to use the software.
Java is different from the JavaScript scripting language used by many Web sites to create pop-up menus and other elements that make pages more interactive. Mozilla has information about the JavaScript settings in Firefox on its support site.
The rush of compelling ideas for new smartphone apps has slowed. In 2007, Twitter still seemed pretty revolutionary for the way it bridged the gap between public figures and private ones, between celebrity and anonymity. The most widely used new app these days, at least among my 20-something cohort, is Snapchat. It allows the bored user to send innumerable so-called selfies to any friend unlucky enough to have signed up, with the assurance that all pictures will disappear in the span of 10 seconds.
Congress is heading home for its August recess having passed the first significant energy legislation, aside from some tax changes, since 2009, after the Senate approved on Wednesday two bills that clear the way for faster licensing of hydroelectric projects.
“I wouldn’t call it major,†a Senate aide acknowledged. But apart from the stimulus in 2009 and various tax credits, including one for wind energy last December, Congress has not reached agreement on any energy legislation in four years.
The Senate unanimously approved two bills that had been passed by the House in February. They are hardly radical; they streamline the procedure for licensing small hydroelectric projects.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy Committee, pointed out that only 3 percent of the 80,000 dams in the United States are set up to generate electricity. “Hydropower is our greatest untapped potential for generating cost-effective, carbon-free energy,†she said in a statement. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, the chairman of the committee, added, “Capitalizing on the power potential of existing dams, pipes and conduits is the kind of practical thinking our country needs to generate more renewable energy and cut our carbon footprint.â€
Some questions that are far more contentious remain on the legislative docket. Mr. Wyden and Ms. Murkowski are two of the main sponsors of a bill to restart the search for a nuclear waste burial site. It is sure to face tough sledding, partly because Republicans in the House are still hoping to revive the Yucca Mountain project near Las Vegas, which was killed by President Obama, partly at the urging of Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader.
And a bill promoting energy efficiency, sponsored by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, and Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, was approved by a Senate committee but has not been taken up by the full Senate.
Other issues have not even made it that far, including legislation regarding a carbon tax to address climate change and a restructuring of the electric grid, which is not set up to meet modern environmental goals.
The rush of compelling ideas for new smartphone apps has slowed. In 2007, Twitter still seemed pretty revolutionary for the way it bridged the gap between public figures and private ones, between celebrity and anonymity. The most widely used new app these days, at least among my 20-something cohort, is Snapchat. It allows the bored user to send innumerable so-called selfies to any friend unlucky enough to have signed up, with the assurance that all pictures will disappear in the span of 10 seconds.
Follow the Race
Q. Instead of forwarding messages one by one in Outlook 2010, is there a way to send a bunch of separate e-mail messages as one big message?
A. Microsoft’s Outlook 2010 program offers an easy way to round up different messages and combine them into one master message to be forwarded on to new recipients, which can be helpful if you need to collect all the mail related to a certain event or project. To do so, select the separate messages in your Outlook mailbox by clicking them while holding down the Control key.
Once you have selected all the messages, go to the Home tab, then to the Respond group, and click the Forward icon. Outlook then collects the messages you selected and adds them as an attachment to a new message that you can send. On the recipients’ end, the forwarded mail can be read by clicking each subject name in the attachment area of the main message.
The process works similarly in Microsoft Outlook 2011 for the Mac. Those using Apple’s own Mail program can also forward multiple messages as attachments by selecting them in the mailbox, going to the Message menu and choosing “Forward as Attachment.†Selecting just the Forward option also corrals all the selected messages, but it combines them all into text blocks within the message body instead of making them attachments.
Using Java With the Firefox Browser
Q. Firefox has disabled Java on my Windows computer, but I still need it for certain sites I use all the time. Is it safe to just download Java and install it again so those sites will work?
A. Java â€" a programming language often used to create games, applications and so-called applets that can be embedded within Web pages â€" has had a number of issues within the last year, which has led some security experts to recommend uninstalling the software. As part of its own security efforts, Mozilla now purposely blocks some versions of the Java browser plug-in from running in Firefox.
The Java software itself is still probably on your computer, despite the browser’s refusal to run it. However, Mozilla does allow you to reinstate Java for sites you regularly visit and trust.
Mozilla’s site has instructions enabling Java again if Firefox is blocking it. If the Java browser plug-in is actually missing, you can find steps for reinstalling it on a Mozilla support page if you absolutely need to use the software.
Java is different from the JavaScript scripting language used by many Web sites to create pop-up menus and other elements that make pages more interactive. Mozilla has information about the JavaScript settings in Firefox on its support site.
Motorola Mobility's new phone, the Moto X, reflects the company's desire to change the way people use smartphones. Two twists of one's wrist while holding the phone, for example, will open the device’s camera.