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Easter Egg Roll Rorschach Test: Obama Reading to Kids
Here's a quick and easy way to tell people's political orientation without going into all these tiresome "sequester"-type details. Have them watch a little bit of this video, shot earlier today at the...
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The Way We Live Now: United Airlines and 'Disruptive' Passengers
This is a long item; to read it in "classic view" click here. The messages below were some of those that came in over the weekend, after I mentioned my intention to say more about United Airlines....
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'Watching the Lights Go Out'
In school many students have been exposed to Daniel Keyes's book Flowers for Algernon. It came out in 1966, when the author was in his late 30s; it has sold millions of copies and remains in print; and...
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A Little Outliner, Named 'Little Outliner'
Three years ago I mentioned an intriguing, easy, collaborative cloud-based outliner named Thinklinkr. It doesn't seem to be around any more, and its official blogsite doesn't appear to have any entries...
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Michael Kelly
Ten years ago today Michael Kelly, then the editor of the Atlantic, was killed while serving as an embedded reporter with the Third Infantry Division during the early stages of the invasion of Iraq. He...
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4 Things to Read About China
1) Yan Lianke, in the NYT, on "China's State-Sponsored Amnesia." Sample:[Widespread Chinese ignorance of the "June 4 1989 episode"] reminded me of something another teacher told me. She had asked her...
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Today's United Report: 5 Ways of Thinking About an Airline
1) On Tuesday morning I wrote to United Airlines' media relations office about the incredible but apparently true story of a pilot who made an unscheduled landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport, on a...
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Airline Captains, Judgment Calls, Corporate Culture
I really intended to let this subject sit for a while, but I have seen two things that I think are worth passing on. They make this a long item, so consider "classic view."The two items do not include...
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United Airlines Replies, About That Diverted Flight
OK, I want to wrap this up as much as you do. But I said that if I received any statement from United Airlines about a flight that was diverted to Chicago because of an onboard dispute, I would give...
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World Is Getting Better, Canned Beer Dept
This is what I saw one minute away from my house in DC this morning.Good news: Excellent craft beer in cans! Click on the photo for a beer-pornish enlarged and highly detailed view. And, that same...
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Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Kelly
I have been in transit or otherwise offline since early yesterday, and so I am seeing only now the item that Ta-Nehisi Coates posted about the Atlantic's Michael Kelly, who was killed ten years ago...
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From the Director of the Film That Made a Pilot Divert a Plane
On re-entering Internet land after 24 hours, I see a zillion responses to the mysterious case of United flight 638. This is the one on which parents traveling with young children complained about a...
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Ten Years Ago: The al-Dura Case
I've been running a series of "Ten Years After" items on the political, financial, strategic, and moral ramifications of the American invasion of Iraq, which was in its early stages in April, 2003.As...
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Chronicling Decline From Inside
Last week I mentioned Dr. David Hilfiker's ongoing chronicles of how the world seems to him, and how he is able to express his experience of it, as his Alzheimer's disease progresses. Readers mentioned...
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American Infrastructure Watch: Two China-Based Reports
Over the years I've chronicled the activities of Liam Casey -- an entrepreneur originally from Cork, Ireland; then based in Southern California until he couldn't get a green card; then working since...
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Air Travel as Rashomon: Mammoth Wrap-up of United Airlines Theories
The crunch time is at hand for a "real" article, so I will be away from this space for a number of days. Much like a python sending a whole pig through its system as long-term sustenance, I offer here...
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Why You Should Get More Than One Newspaper, Cont.
This is the kind of item I can post while finishing a print-magazine story. A friend in China sends this compare-and-contrast photo:In case you can't read these, the headline on the left says "Fast...
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One More Thing Not to Worry About: Airliners Turning Into Drones
Here's another quick item I can take six minutes to post while still in article-deadline-hell mode. It's a warning, from a computer-security conference in Amsterdam, that hackers equipped merely with...
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Video Tribute to 2 Decades
The best part of the 1980s:The best part of the 1960s -- OK, there were a lot of them, but this is one that is particularly unbelievable in retrospect. The "Hah!" at time 1:50 is the part that I...
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Housekeeping Notes, Plus Classic Air Travel Video
In a day or two I will resume normal programming here.In the meantime, many people have written to ask whether I was being literal and sincere in saying that Nancy Sinatra's "Boots" video was "the best...
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