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The North Country
This is what April 17 looks like in central Minnesota. It is a view out the window of the guest house of St. John's Abbey, in Collegeville, a large Benedictine monastery.If you happen to be in the...
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For the Love of God, Just Call It a Filibuster
I am in Internet-range for only a few minutes, so let me just type this right out:Today a provision that would increase background checks for gun purchases was blocked in the Senate, even though...
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Not About Chechens: 'Future of U.S. Space Policy'
I am emerging from a prolonged article-and-travel blotto period, as prefigured here. Thanks to those who have sent leads and material in the past two weeks, none of which I have answered or dealt with....
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Why We're Still in Love With the American Dream
Mike Babiarz/Flickr Housekeeping note: As previously mentioned, I've been on an unexpectedly long Internet hiatus, first finishing off one Atlantic project -- and then preparing for another, about...
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The Glamorous Life of a Journalist, Cont.
LAX, 830 am, locating the only working electric socket along this corridor, knowing that the six-hour (United) flight coming up has no power ports or connectability. Reviewing final-final changes on...
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Most Misleading Headline/Photo Combo in History Award
For your consideration: today's Times of London. The story is about a queen who has abdicated, making way for the (aging) next generation -- but, in Holland. As of the moment I put this up, it is still...
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The Glamour Never Stops
I mentioned earlier how the travel day began yesterday, at the only working socket in a corridor at LAX.Because of luggage complications, it turned into an unexpectedly long day and night en route....
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About That Terrifying Bagram Crash Video
By now you've seen the tragic footage of a Boeing 747 cargo plane crashing soon after takeoff from Bagram airport in Afghanistan. What does this look like, from an aviation perspective? To get the...
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The Glamour Has Always Been There: David Broder Edition
Recently I posted a couple of pictures illustrating the role that airport-terminal floors play in the Atlantic's article-production process.My friend Matt Broder, son of the late Washington Post...
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Interesting Software Watch: Scapple Is Out of Beta
As the years wear on, my esteem grows for the writing program Scrivener as the single best bargain ever offered in the software world. And I mean: ever. It was originally for the Mac but now comes in a...
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Rauch, Runciman, Rowe: Three Rs for Today's Reading
Here are three pieces of writing very much worth reading -- not necessarily right at the moment, between emails and hassles, but when you have time to digest each of them.1. Jonathan Rauch, "How Not to...
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Today's China Notes: Dreams, Obstacles
In reverse order, obstacles first: There's not much debate about the scale or impressiveness of what China has achieved in the past 30+ years. Through that time its economy was (largely) opened, and...
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A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Hand: Iran Dept.
In the six months -- yes, it's been that long -- since Barack Obama's election, the drum-beats from the United States and Israel about bombing Iran have partly died down. Not totally, of course; recall...
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'Beijing Welcomes You'
The downtown view on May 5, 2013, at 5pm China time:This item's headline is of course an homage to the official slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games: Beijing huanying ni, 北京欢迎你. Beijing Welcomes...
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'Interesting' Software Follow-Up: Scrivener, Google's Orphans
1) Scrivener Guide. Over the years, and most recently here, I have extolled the virtues of Scrivener as a major step forward in computerized writing tools. I'm grateful to my friend MG in the United...
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Two Sobering China Reads -- and Some Cheer
1) Recently I mentioned some of the obstacles that might slow China's path to ever-greater prosperity and influence. In a similar vein, consider an essay from Ely Ratner, of the Center for a New...
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Kicking Passengers Off Planes: A United Captain Weighs In
Last month we went 15 rounds over the saga of the United flight from Denver to Baltimore that made an unscheduled stop in Chicago, so that a family could be taken off the plane by police. The parents'...
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'It Had Been Alive': An Essay on Guns
John Stockwell is a Marine and former CIA agent, known for (among other things) his book In Search of Enemies.He sent this message about why he, as a person well familiar with guns and shooting, no...
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Here Is a Way I Did Not Expect to Spend the Evening
Watching the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (center) advise the Spanish/American chef Jose Andres (right) in the flair and nuance of creating iPhone videos, when they crossed paths this evening in Beijing. I...
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Today's Google Doodle Is My Favorite in a Long Time
I don't know who at Google had the wit to think that the 93rd birthday (?) of the late Saul Bass (??) was an occasion calling for celebration via a "Doodle" -- a one-day tribute on the home page. But...
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