But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Tu talked about his connections in the Kaohsiung area, and agreed to recruit people in Taiwan’s armed forces to gain access to confidential military material in exchange for money, prosecutors said. Tu recruited retired sergeant major Wang Jui-chi (王瑞祺), who was in charge of an ammunition depot in Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山) while he was in the Army Logistics Command, they said. Tu introduced Wang to the Chinese officials and Dong gave Tu cash to give to Wang, they said.

Touch here? Stroke there? Stop here? Do it again? The impressive fragility of the device only reinforces this sense — to do it wrong by dropping or misgesturing might lead to unknown consequences.

My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.