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On DFHs, PTBs, and 'Framing' the Coal Question
The estimable environmental writer David Roberts, of Grist, has posted an item that is gracious about many aspects of my current cover story on the inevitability of coal -- but that challenges its...
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American Bigshots Doing the Country Proud Overseas
1) Hillary Clinton, genuinely funny and admiration-generating in a stint this week with two of Australia's broadcast comics, Hamish and Andy. Really, this is worth watching for a side of Ms. Clinton...
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Mr. Zhang Builds a Hotel
This video has already gotten some attention in internet-land. But I feel entitled to mention it myself, since it has to do with the Broad corporation (远大) of Changsha, Hunan Province, which I wrote...
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National Opt-Out Day
Items on security, security theater, a proper climate of caution, and an excessive climate of fear:1) A very powerful column by Salon's Patrick Smith, in his "Ask the Pilot" series, explaining why...
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The Case for the Southern Hemisphere
University of Sydney campus, mid-November:Â Now, back to northern hemisphere mid-November as I've always known it: dark late autumn, vs bright late spring. It's been nice.__PS: In response to notes from...
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Behind the Scenes: Making the 'Chinese Professor' Ad
To review: last month I marveled at the slickness of the "Chinese Professor" ad and said, as I still believe, that it's the commercial most likely to be remembered from the 2010 campaign. Much back-...
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Body-Searching Children: No for the US Army, Yes for the TSA
Please read the note below. A US Army staff sergeant, now serving in Afghanistan, writes about the new enhanced pat-down procedure from the TSA. Summary of his very powerful message: to avoid giving...
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Walk Like an American: The Most Frightening Tale of All
A reader in Michigan reports: >>I am a white American and have lived here for almost my entire life. I have never lived in the New York area. But whenever I visit Manhattan, I am very frequently...
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More on Obama in Indonesia
An American with experience in Southeast Asia writes about the president's handling of the Indonesian language and an Indonesian crowd, as mentioned previously here. Worth reading as a complement to...
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On the Kilt Question (TSA Dept - updated)
My colleague Jeffrey Goldberg has nominated me for the honor of going through TSA "enhanced intimate pat-down" procedures on Opt-Out Day while wearing my ancestral garb* of a kilt. To which I say,...
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Walk Like an Asian-American
Previously here, with related links. Today several messages on the topic that got this all started: the physical, behavioral, and other traits that may distinguish many Asians from many...
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'The Americans Make Us Do This': Lessons in TSA Liberty from the ChiComs
Two more views about "security," from opposite sides of the world. First, a reader who travels frequently between China and the United States compares the airport-security experience in the two...
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Airport Security Reports: 'Where Are the Airlines?'
Really, I'm not trying to overdo this, but reports keep flowing in 1) This is being sent from the United/Air New Zealand holding area at Sydney airport, waiting for the flight to Los Angeles. Sydney...
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Where Did Our Debt Come From?
Chuck Spinney, who spent his career as a budget analyst in the Pentagon -- that's him, on the cover of Time for his defense-reform work in the Reagan era -- has an idea about the answer. The green in...
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A Chance to Help Save the News Business
The Knight Foundation awards up to $5 million a year for innovative projects in reviving journalism, especially through use of new-media technology. There are two weeks to go before this year's...
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TSA Update: Preparing for My First Grope
Today: Off the plane SYD-LAX, realize to my horror that exiting the US Customs gate means exiting the "secure" area altogether, so ahead lies.... another TSA screening, to transfer to a domestic...
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Security Theater: The Ripples Spread to Japan
A reader who has followed Japanese postal regulations conveys the latest security announcement. Short version: items weighing more than 1 pound can no longer be shipped to the U.S. by any means...
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'Dear Sen. Klobuchar: Let's Rethink the TSA'
Two reasons for posting the letter below, which is addressed to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, and which I'm using with permission of the author, James Ehrler of Stanchfield, MN. One is to kick off...
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Security Theater Cont: Choose Your Line
1) Just got through the screening line at San Diego airport, scene of the famous "don't touch my junk" showdown several days ago. Was prepared to opt-out of the new "enhanced" screening machines and...
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Every Time I Try to Get Out...
... they keep pulling me back in. More on the TSA / Security Theater front.1) From a reader in China -- where, as it can't be said often enough, dissidents are locked up but normal travelers are spared...
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