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Are Transponders the Main Problem? In a Word, No.
My friend and colleague Gregg Easterbrook has an op-ed in the NYTÂ today saying that one big lesson of the 9/11 attacks, which should be re-learned because of the Malaysia 370 mystery, is that pilots...
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Why Cities Work Even When Washington Doesn't
Is America in an irreversible decline? Four years ago, when I came home after a long stay in China, many people viewed China as unstoppable, while America seemed to be falling apart. Fortunately, what...
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Why Doctors Still Use Pen and Paper
The health-care system is one of the most technology-dependent parts of the American economy, and one of the most primitive. Every patient knows, and dreads, the first stage of any doctor visit:...
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As the Australians Announce Their (Possible) MH 370 Finding
Main point: sympathies for the tremendous strain on the families involved -- Chinese, Malaysian, and others from around the world. Secondary point: as I write it's not clear whether the Australian...
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Greenville, Burlington, and American Futures
The new issue of the magazine is out. (Subscribe!) Among the articles is one by me on some of the cities we've seen on our American Futures project. These include Greenville and Greer, South Carolina,...
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The Glamorous Life of a Journalist, Couples-Getaway Edition
For previous Glamorous Life installments, check here and related links. Reinvention and resilience across the nationRead more As my wife Deb and I have traveled around the country, we've stayed with...
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Why You Still Have to Fill Out All Those Paper Forms at a Doctor's Office ...
David Blumenthal MDIn the new issue of the magazine (subscribe!) I have an interview with Dr. David Blumenthal. He is now head of the Commonwealth Fund, but during the first few years of the Obama...
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On the Ramifications of High-Tech, Big-Data Medical Care
As mentioned this morning, in our new issue I have an interview with Dr. David Blumenthal about the paradox of modernization in the American health care system. We all know that everything about...
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When a Man Is Tired of Wingsuit Videos, He Is Tired of Life ...
... as Samuel Johnson might have sayeth, if he had gotten a look at these things. We've previously explored the wonders of wingsuit-flying in China and assorted sites in Europe (plus underwater). Now I...
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The Use and Misuse of Information Technology in Health Care: Several Doctors...
Our new issue has an interview with Dr. David Blumenthal about why it has taken the medical system so long to adopt electronic record-keeping, and what it will mean when the switch occurs. (Blumenthal...
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After the Latest MH370 Report, How to Think About Speculation
Once again I am spending most of today in transit, and the doors of a (commercial) flight are about to close. So this is a placeholder note about today's announcement from the Malaysian prime minister...
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The Vermont Lake Monsters, and Other Updates From the Road
The photo above is from the small South Carolina city of Greer, which is midway between Greenville and Spartanburg and whose downtown-revitalization efforts I mention briefly in my article in our...
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William of Occam, Thomas Bayes, and the Fate of MH370
Three perspectives worth mentioning this morning. 1) Mysterious disappearances were once the norm. A reader who runs a tech firm writes: It's interesting to remember that this sort of mysterious...
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Another Bloomberg Editor Explains Why He Has Resigned, Over Its China Coverage
Four months ago, the New York Times ran a big story contending that Bloomberg editors had quashed an investigative report about corruption among leaders in China. The Times story, clearly based on...
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Bloomberg and China, TL;DR Version
A little while ago I put up an extended Q-and-A with Ben Richardson, the latest member of the Bloomberg news team who has resigned in protest of the company's approach to stories that might offend the...
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Let's Talk Electronic Medical Records (Cont.)
Our new issue has an interview with Dr. David Blumenthal, who was in charge of the Obama administration's effort to promote the use of electronic medical records (EMRs). We've had two previous rounds...
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Jimmy Carter on Colbert
No doubt I'm biased, but I thought our 39th president did a great job on the show last night—as did Colbert, in being mock-disrespectfully jokey right up to the limit of what is seemly with an...
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Bloomberg in China: It's Not About the Terminals, It's About the Data
In an item yesterday about the latest Bloomberg-in-China flap, I quoted a note I'd received late last year from someone inside the company: Outsiders think the worst explanation for this controversy is...
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'Where Do You Go to Church?' The Video and Mapping Versions
Reinvention and resilience across the nationRead more Last month Deb Fallows did several popular posts -- here, here, and here -- about regional variations in the question you ask someone when you've...
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The Freedom and Risk of Wingsuit Flying: Sean Leary
I mentioned last week that I was admiringly fascinated by wingsuit videos but could never imagine leaping off those cliffs myself. In the video below, Sean "Stanley" Leary, a very well-known figure in...
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