Reynosa Dangerous

A 3 hour shootout that paralyses an entire city. Trucks stolen from car dealership to block all major city streets. "Truckloads" of bodies.  Sound like Afghanistan?  This happened on your border last week and the media won't/can't even report about it.

Reynosa is a Mexican border city of 1.7 million people that sits across from McAllen, Texas about 50 miles West of South Padre Island. In 2010 the New York Times published a feature story that chronicled the de facto news blackout with respect to drug violence within the city.

REYNOSA, Mexico — The big philosophical question in this gritty border town does not concern trees falling in the forest but bodies falling on the concrete: Does a shootout actually happen if the newspapers print nothing about it, the radio and television stations broadcast nothing, and the authorities never confirm that it occurred? Traffickers have gone after the media with a vengeance in these strategic border towns where drugs are smuggled across by the ton. They have shot up newsrooms, kidnapped and killed staff members and called up the media regularly with threats that were not the least bit veiled. Back off, the thugs said. Do not dare print our names. We will kill you the next time you publish a photograph like that.

Fearing Drug Cartels, Reporters in Mexico Retreat

Thing have only gotten worse in the past 3 years. Last Saturday:

REYNOSA — Two SUVs rolled up to a house Tuesday in the Quintas gated community and nearly a dozen men climbed out, sporting assault rifles and body armor.

They kicked open the door and raided the property, while some of the men maintained a perimeter around the block.

Gulf Cartel infighting reignites with Reynosa firefights
The drug gangs are so bold that they literally have their own gang uniforms.

 It may have looked like just another day at the office for a SWAT team, but this wasn’t the police. The lettering on the commandos’ vests read “CDG” for “Cartel Del Golfo.”

The gang was there to execute a hit order on Michael “Gringo” Villarreal(the cartel equivalent of an early retirement party).

“An order was given to erase everything and everyone that had ties to El Gringo,” said a source outside law enforcement with direct knowledge of criminal activity in Tamaulipas. “The estacas (foot soldiers) have been told to kill them and keep the loot — cars, guns, money, whatever.”

The gunman went to 6 local car dealerships and stole over 20 cars in order to block the main thoroughfares throughout the city. The cartel body count apparently exceeded three dozen but is impossible to confirm because the Mexican Government won't confirm the incident.
The most shocking part about this incident is the refusal of the American Media to cover this issue. A Google New search of "Reynosa" only results in 3 news stories on the shootout (one from the paper the Rio Grande Monitor and two from television sites) I have been following the drug war in Mexico for years and I was shocked at this violence, how shocked would the average person on the street be? 
The War on Drugs has been extremely costly socially here at home. But in out of sight, out of mind Mexico it has directly resulted in over 50,000 deaths and the complete breakdown of government in the North where there might as well be a civil war going on. Is this really all worth the cost?

Your Post-Daylight Savings Week Link Dump

Last weekend's time distortions carried their way into the week leading to some bizarre happenings--2 of which don't even involve the state of Florida:

Some special asshole in Austin managed to flip his car on the I-35 access road in Austin.  Normally not that big of a deal unless you happen to flip said car into a new car lot.  The guy flipped his car ON TOP of the first row of cars and proceeded to roll his way down the line of new vehicles. Nine vehicles totaled, another nine damaged. Perhaps more impressively he managed to jog away from the scene at a healthy pace. Probably running a half-marathon, after all this is Austin we are talking about. #13.1
 Crash Damages 18 Hyundai (What is the plural of "Hyundai?")

There was less damage in the Bigfoot scene in Roadhouse.

An "unnamed expert" out of the Ukraine is claiming that "militarized dolphins" have escaped from their handlers in the Ukraine.  The dolphins were part of a covert defense program designed to disarm (or trigger) underwater mines and even attack enemy diver with "knives or pistols strapped to the dolphin's head."  We can leave aside the question of how a dolphin fires a pistol strapped to its head because the "Flipper 3" have escaped to the open ocean apparently for mating season.  I'd rather surf with a Great White than a horny stabbin' dolphin.


Ukraine Might Have Military Trained Killer Dolphins Might Have Escaped

Obligatory Denial:
Ukraine Defense Ministry Denies Weaponized Dolphin Escape

We can't leave out Florida:

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A teenager is recovering after police say he shot himself in the penis and testicle while cleaning a gun he just bought.
It happened Thursday morning at a home on the 200 block of Verada Street in Port St. Lucie.
Police say 18-year-old Michael Smeriglio first lied to police saying someone shot him while he was walking down the street. After being questioned by police he admitted to accidentally doing it himself.
Doctors say the bullet went through his penis, his left testicle and then lodged itself in his thigh.
Smeriglio told police he bought the gun last month at a party.
While police were investigating at the home where it happened, they discovered marijuana in the house. That led to the arrest of the homeowner Joseph Lamar James, 22, on drug charges.

Florida Teen Shoots His Own Junk Off

New Brewery Legislation in Texas

Cheers !!!

In keeping with the theme of this blog I felt the need to give a quick update on some important legislation currently making it's way through the Texas Legislature.  Anyone who has been to the "tour" at Rahr Brewery has asked the same question: "Why the F can I only get 3 beers?!?!?"  Turns out it was a consequence of the State's antiquated alcohol laws. The last update to the state law was in 1993 back when Miller Lite could be considered a small batch beer.
The new rules allow breweries to sell beer on site (say for like a $1.00) and also be able to bottle small batch beer for sale locally with only a $250.00 state fee. The bill has made it through what is  called "committee," a huge hurdle, and is backed by both small and big beer interests. Look for it to become law by September 1, 2013.

Highlights:

Highlights of the beer-related bills passed Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce:

• On-site sales for breweries: Production breweries that make less than 225,000 barrels of beer annually would be allowed to sell up to 5,000 barrels’ worth directly to customers for consumption on site each year. Take-away beer and growler fills to go still would be prohibited.
• Off-site sales for brewpubs: Brewpubs could make up to 10,000 barrels of beer annual and sell some on site and package beer for off-site retail sales. Once it reaches the 10,000-barrel limit, a brewpub would have to switch to a production brewery license or stop growing.
• New limits on self-distribution: Breweries that produce up to 125,000 barrels annually would be allowed to self-distribute up to 40,000 barrels. Out-of-state breweries also would be allowed some self-distribution rights.
• Distribution rights: Breweries could not receive payment from wholesalers for the right to distribute their beer in specific geographic regions. The breweries would be allowed, however, to continue to share marketing, promotional and some other costs with distributors.
• Note: The legislation moves forward as Senate Bills 515, 516, 517, 518 and 639.

http://blog.chron.com/beertx/2013/03/beer-legislation-passes-committee-on-path-to-senate/

Detroit: It's So Cold in the D

Detroit is best known as the home of America's automobile industry but is more currently becoming the country's first large failed city.  So of the statistics are staggering. The population of the city has fallen 25% to 700,000 since 2000. That's right, 1 in 4 residents picked up and moved.  Copper thieves have plunged the city's highways into darkness. The mayor has openly suggested bulldozing of houses to improve home values. Half of property owners are overdue with their property taxes. It's been the butt of one of the most hilarious Onion headline ever.

Then today the man
who was mayor from 2002 - 2008 was convicted of corruption in one of the most blatant pay-for-play scandals you will ever see.

Kilpatrick could face more than 10 years in prison for two dozen convictions, from racketeering conspiracy to bribery to tax crimes. Once hailed as a hip, young big-city leader, he was portrayed at trial as an unscrupulous politician who took kickbacks, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means.
"Kwame Kilpatrick didn't lead the city. He looted the city," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in victory.Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings at city hall. A high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the middle man, passing bribes from others.
Internal Revenue Service agents said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his salary as mayor, from 2002 to fall 2008.

This all comes at a time when the state is about to appoint an emergency manager the personally oversee Detroit's finances in order to avoid a massive (and ultimately unavoidable) municipal bankruptcy. The city itself has over $14 billion in long term obligations mostly in the form of pension liabilities and bond payments. That adds up to around $20,000 PER RESIDENT for existing long term debt-- at the number how do they ever hope to pay for CURRENT services like police and fire????

The legacy of Motown has given way to "It's so cold in the D."

If you have an hour to kill check out http://www.forgottendetroit.com/, it's a blog that chronicles the abandoned and forgotten buildings in the city.

College Level Game Theory

"Now I'm waiting for reports from some of you... Listen, I'm not joking. This is my job!"

A computer science professor at John Hopkins had the following policy for exam grading on a curve:

[E]ach class’s highest grade on the final counts as an A, with all other scores adjusted accordingly. So if a midterm is worth 40 points, and the highest actual score is 36 points, “that person gets 100 percent and everybody else gets a percentage relative to it,” said Fröhlich.

This is a really bad policy for at least two reasons. The first is that the highest grade on the test is very likely to be an outlier when compared to the distribution of the rest of the class.  For example the highest grade  could be a 36 while the class average is 18 and the second lowest grade is 25.  This would result in the high score being 100%, the second highest score being 69.4% and the class average being 50%.  The only passing grade would be be the top scoring outlier.  Not exactly an ideal result.
The second reason this is a bad idea is that collusion among the students could result in every student getting the same grade which would result in every student getting a perfect score of 100%... and that is exactly what happened here.

“The students refused to come into the room and take the exam, so we sat there for a while: me on the inside, they on the outside,” Fröhlich said. “After about 20-30 minutes I would give up.... Then we all left.” The students waited outside the rooms to make sure that others honored the boycott, and were poised to go in if someone had. No one did, though.

This is a really good example of a basic game theory problem played out in the real world.  Usually this wont work because a single individual has a massive incentive to cross the picket line and be the only person taking the exam.  As long as they score a single point then their grade will be 100% and everyone else will get 0%.  The reason that didn't happen here was the use of peer pressure by waiting outside the exam room to make sure no one went in and being ready to run in and take the exam if necessary.
There is a lesson to be learned here.  People are very, very good about gaming a system. Whether it is unemployment, food stamps, etc., people will make decisions that maximize their utility and not give a shit about the consequences to the government or others.  The key from a policy standpoint is to make sure that you don't create "moral hazards" where people are incentive to keep accepting benefits rather than go out and get a job.  Do you know why they always ask how much your annual income is when you buy life insurance?  Most companies won't write a policy for more than 10-15 times your annual income (make $100k a a year then max out at $1.5 million in coverage).  The reason for the limit is that at some point your wife will start doing to math that a few million dollars sounds a lot better than having her boring husband around leading to some "accidents."  Moral Hazard indeed.
http://www.volokh.com/2013/02/17/when-everyone-wins-with-a-zero

A could other funny examples of college classroom shenanigans:

Carry a student to your final exam:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/openbook.asp
(I highly recommend an Asian girl, their weight/smarts ratio is unparalleled)

The "Do you know who I am??" blue book toss:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/doyouknow.asp

The reverse blue book toss gambit:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/stolen.asp




The "Bird Foot" exam:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/birdfoot.asp

The old "eraser clock throw:"
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/eraser.asp

Daily Dose of Random Awesomeness 2-15-2013

If you see what I see: a vermin-infested, tree-scavenging, hole-digging, soulless rodent, then you've come to the right place. On the other hand, if you're like the irritating minority of weak-minded and girlish sweetmeats who see a cute woodland creature, then take your slumber party somewhere else: you don't belong here.

Someone has ISSUES.  (Including me, because I actually stumbled upon this in Google search earlier)

http://www.squirrelassassins.com/

Lawrence keepin' it real on the Teen Jeopardy Tourney:

 "Alex, I don't know the answer, and frankly, I don't care, because it's time for you to GIVE ME MY FORTY RACKS."

The Jeopardy Teen Tournament. Just. Got. Real.

Pretty incredible footage coming out of Russia this morning.  A 10 ton meteorite traveling at or 30 Kilometers a second exploded over the skies of Russia blowing out thousands of windows and injuring over one thousand people.

You can see the meteorites streaking across the sky at 4min 40sec and the wildly violent sound of the explosion and shockwave at 7 min.

Obligatory:

Don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing!!!

Jimmy Kimmel, the Super Bowl and... Hitler ????

So I'm on the treadmill at the gym last night (Rule #1 =  Cardio!) and notice one of the nightly cable news programs is running a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel Show. The clip is a bunch of interviews of people being asked about who won the Super Bowl. The only problem is that the Super Bowl hasn't happened yet. Still we get people very confidently talking about the winner, MVP, etc. 

Normally I would chalk it up to people being stupid (they are) but that's a lazy analysis so let us dig a bit deeper.

In the aftermath of WWII a fundamental question was asked.  Why had virtually the entire German population gone along and actively participated with the German war machine and the Holocaust ??? Was the entire military "just following orders?"  Was the entire civilian population just being patriotic or overwhelmed with nationalism ???  Were the German people just evil as a country and race?

In 1961 after the start of the trial or the Nazi Adolph Eichmann a series of studies began that later became know as the Milgram Experiments.  The setup was simple:

The Test Subject (T) was to administer a series of questions provided by the Examiner (E) (who is wearing a shiny white lab coat) to a Learner (L) that is separated by a wall.  If a wrong answer is given the T presses a button administers an electric shock to the L.  The shocks get progressively worse (or so T is led to believe) which each wrong answer to the pain that L is screaming out in pain. The E's job is to assure the T that it is perfectly safe and that they will not be held responsible for injuring or killing the L.

Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible. A few subjects began to laugh nervously or exhibit other signs of extreme stress once they heard the screams of pain coming from the learner.

If at any time the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, in this order:

1. Please continue.
2. The experiment requires that you continue.
3. It is absolutely essential that you continue.
4. You have no other choice, you must go on.

If the subject still wished to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment was halted. Otherwise, it was halted after the subject had given the maximum 450-volt shock three times in succession.

Surely very few people made it to the final massive 450-volt (twice the voltage of a clothes dryer outlet) shock??

In the first set of experiments a whopping 65% of test subjects made it to the final shock. A prior poll of 100 students in a psychology class at Yale predicted that just 3% or fewer would give the final shock.  Implicitly, this means they expected only sociopaths, sadists and outlier to be able to inflict that kind of pain on a total stranger. The result was the exact opposite-- the outliers were the only ones to speak up and refuse.

Here is a recreation form 2009:

So what does this have to do to Jimmy Kimmel ???  The Super Bowl spot clearly shows how easy it is to convince a complete stranger to abandon a fact they have in their head to please someone with a camera and a microphone. I would bet that everyone of those people thought that the Super Bowl had not happened yet they ate up the lie with a spoon in order not to be potentially embarrassed on camera or displease the person with the microphone.  It's disturbing on many levels

So what is your stupid point, Professor?

Before you go putting on a white lab coat and trying to order your wife/girlfriend/whatever around I think there are better lessons to be learned. I think the point of all this is that we need to be more cognizant of our individual actions when confronted with these types of situations. We all laugh at the Kimmel idiots, but really, how many of you would have doubted yourself and unwittingly gone along with the farce?