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Back to the Filibuster
I write in solidarity with my Atlantic colleague Josh Green, and Ezra Klein of the WaPo, who along with others are turning up the heat again on the long-overdue issue of Senate dysfunction, starting...
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Further Defense of the Panda-Men
Previously here and here, and below. Many, many people have written in to say that dressing up as an adult animal is a known, "normal" way to deal with baby animals. Eg: >>Although the guy in the...
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DADT and ROTC
Congratulations to all whose negotiation and persuasion over the years led to yesterday's vote repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell rule for the military.Among the consequences: this removes the last...
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Last on Pandas for Now
Following the previous panda-men chronicles (here, here, here), it's worth checking out this animation -- the expressions change constantly at the real site, and generally become eerier and more...
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What's Under That Sari? (TSA vs. Indian Ambassador Dept)
Ten days ago, the Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg reported on an embarrassing TSA episode in Mississippi. India's ambassador to the United States, Meera Shankar, was subjected to "enhanced" pat-down...
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'Every Time I Try to Get Out....'
... there turns out to be another panda complication to pull me back in. This one I have to respect, because it's a panda-man .... in the China Daily. From today's news:As is so often the case, it is...
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If You're Looking for a Good Time in Lame-Duck DC
Consider going to Capitol Hill and dropping in on the Senate during its marathon sessions in the frantic few days before it takes its Christmas break.During normal tourist times in Washington, getting...
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On Comments and Community: A New Plan?
(See update below.)Â If you're at all interested in the pluses and minuses of the kinds of discussion the internet makes possible, please read Alexis Madrigal's account, this evening, of the handling...
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Placeholder Tech Leads, Plus Wish List for Chrome
Someday, in my "spare time," I will get around to tech items like these:1) The satisfactions of finally attaining, through the combined and complementary efforts of SugarSync, DropBox, Gmail, and a few...
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Security Theater for Christmas, in Europe and DC
Last month postal authorities in Japan said that parcels bound for America and weighing more than a pound would have to go by sea rather than air, because of new U.S. security rules. Previous...
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More on Life in the Cloud
I mentioned yesterday that my wish for Santa was that he do the actual write-up on several tech items I keep meaning to get around to. Here is second-best: a reader who sends in a supplementary...
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Quick Catchup Items: TSA, ROTC, Filibuster
... to get these out of the inbox, and then offline:1) Many people have sent in mentions of this story from Sacramento, about an airline pilot who posted a YouTube video of what he considered "security...
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Merry Christmas, 2010
Just now, Christmas Day afternoon, 2010, our back yard in Washington DC. It's been a long day for reindeer worldwide.
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Boxing Day Special: A Physicist Opts-Out
OK, back to business. A physics professor from a college in the East replies to this item, in which a software engineer explained why new "enhanced" backscatter-radiation TSA machines can't be assumed...
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Scanner Status Site: Your Reports Wanted
Earlier today I mentioned the report from a reader who had enjoyed his first enhanced pat-down. This reader, Ari Ofsevit, has noticed the same thing many others have reported: the high variability in...
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One Time Only: Scientist-on-Scientist TSA Smackdown
Yesterday I quoted a physics professor on why he would never willingly go through the new "enhanced" backscatter-radiation TSA screening machines. Summary: "There is no such thing as a risk-free dose...
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The Revolving Door, Pentagon Edition
Congratulations to Bryan Bender and the Boston Globe for an excellent investigative story on the now-prevalent pattern of flag-rank military officers going to work for defense contractors as soon as...
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China Doesn't Have Our TSA Problems, But....
... some other issues persist. Via a Chinese friend, a sign at Beijing's main airport: If you know any Chinese, you understand how an auto-translate system could garble what the sign means to say...
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What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Unfortunately it's the normal mid-winter get-a-cold time for me, during the current anything-but-normal East Coast cold wave. Most alarming news story of the week: this NYT column saying that rising...
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Today's TSA Billet-Doux
An employee of the US Air Force writes: >>I'm a 24-year-old male with an implanted defibrillating pacemaker. I grew up in Southern California and now work in Washington D.C. I've flown back and...
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