Clik here to view.
More on China and "Playing by the Rules"
While traveling endlessly (if you happen to be in Manchester, NH, this evening, come on by -- it's all for a good cause) I have stored up a lot of good reader material on what the accumulation of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Pilot's Revolt: Today's Security Theater Update
This episode has been widely discussed on line, but so many people have written to make sure I haven't overlooked it that, in a for-the-record spirit, I note it here.Late last week Michael Roberts, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The TSA and Me: Allies at Last
In the endless quest for balanced coverage on all topics, two better-news items about the TSA and the effort to distinguish "security" from "security theater."1) "Recognizing a problem is half the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
There Will Always Be A New England
Downtown Manchester, NH, yesterday afternoon. No larger point; it's just interesting when places look the way you expect them to. While you're at it, support the New Hampshire Humanities Council!
View ArticleClik here to view.
Liu Xiaobo and the '300 Years' Problem
Unfortunately I am way behind in discussions of Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese civil-liberties activist whose selection for the Nobel Peace Prize has predictably touched off indignant responses...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Airline Electronics: Rosen-v-Virgin America
Two tech items for today.1) Power Outlets on Virgin America. This week Jay Rosen, of PressThink and NYU, chose Virgin America for a trip to Las Vegas, in part because of VA's tech-friendly features. It...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why We Don't Rely on the WSJ for Our Football News
From today's sports section:Yes! They're an unblemished 0-0 in the NFC East -- just as long as you don't count, umm, that opening-day, highly-touted, controversial-final-play, division-rival upset loss...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Phenomenal "Chinese Professor" Ad
Via Ben Smith of Politico, this amazing ad from "Citizens Against Government Waste," which is the first spot from this campaign season you can imagine people actually remembering a decade from now....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Best Headline in Recent Memory. Plus, a Good Magazine You May Not Know About
NY Times story today on "humane" slaughter techniques in the poultry industry.__________Punning headlines are usually lamentable -- I saw "War and Peas" on a story about new farms being established in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reality Check on Liu Xiaobo
Ten years ago, tech-savvy Westerners were confident that, once the internet spread across China, the central government's power to control what people thought and knew would surely evaporate. As argued...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nerds Only: About AC Power on an Airplane
Recently I mentioned Jay Rosen's complaint about Virgin America: the airline advertises normal 120 volt AC sockets at (most) seats, but Rosen said the power kept being cut off during his flight.I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why NPR Matters (Long)
I have known and very occasionally worked with Juan Williams, and I don't want to say much about him. I think Andrew Sullivan is very astute in pointing out the difference between the complex way...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Most Useful Graph You'll See About 'Currency Wars'
It's this one, from the "Geo-Graphics" feature on the Council on Foreign Relations site today: What does it show? That when the Chinese government let the value of the RMB go up starting in 2005...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nobel Peace Prize Winners on Behalf of Liu Xiaobo (updated)
Fifteen past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize have issued a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao, asking that the newest winner, Liu Xiaobo, be released from his 11-year prison sentence, and that his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Scrivener for Windows: Beta is Here
I mentioned last month that Scrivener, the Mac-only writing program I've relied on for the past two-plus years, was considering a PC/Windows version.A "public beta" of that version is now out, for free...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Really Nerds Only: Final Words on AC Power on Airliners
Following previous entries here and here, on whether you could actually operate an airliner full of laptop users all plugged into 120V AC sockets -- or whether, on the contrary, the necessary...
View ArticleClik here to view.
'Where's the 2009 Winner?' Obama, Liu Xiaobo, and Ignorant Certitude
Yesterday I posted an item about the open letter from 15 past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, calling on China's government to release the latest winner, the imprisoned civil-liberties activist Liu...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Google's $5 Million News Donation
This has been widely noted elsewhere, for instance here on the Atlantic's site and here by Fortune, but for closing-the-loop purposes I should mention Google's announcement today that it is giving $5...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Obama Didn't Sign the Nobelists' Letter
As mentioned previously here and here, 15 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize signed a letter this week asking the Chinese government to release the latest winner, Liu Xiaobo, from prison and his wife,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Security Theater: The New War of 1812
[Update after the jump.] My plan had been to lay off the TSA/Security Theater dispatches unless some actual event made it seem odd not to say something. That event has now arrived, in the form of...
View Article