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On the Military Revolving Door
Recently I mentioned the excellent Bryan Bender takeout in the Boston Globe about the stampede of retired admirals and generals into jobs with defense contractors. An employee of a Naval research lab...
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Year-End Bonus: More Scientist-on-Scientist Smackdown
I've had a change of heart. After announcing previously that I would forgo additional back-and-forth from scientists about the hazards, or safety, of new TSA scanning machines, I've received enough...
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Billy Taylor
The great jazz pianist and teacher Billy Taylor died yesterday, at age 89. Several months ago I wrote about the late-1950s TV show "The Subject is Jazz," which included this appearance by Taylor. He's...
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Antidote to Truthiness: Garrett Epps on Health-Care Lawsuits
[See UPDATE below] One of the basic functions of journalism is to say: This is true, and that is false. There are other functions, but establishing bedrock "world is round / sun rises in the east / 1+...
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'What's the Point of Shanghai?'
Paul French is an English writer who has lived for years in Shanghai; his latest book, with Matthew Crabbe, is about the political, social, and business implications of the new youth-obesity wave in...
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Much Better -- Thanks for Asking (Chinese Medicine Dept)
Three days ago I mentioned that, in the slough of the normal mid-winter phlegm-fest, I'd decided to look for relief to .... magic Chinese "Yin Chiao" herbal pills, as below.I am happy to report that I...
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An Interesting Year-End 'Charitable' Possibility
I am living proof of the way tax codes change behavior. Unavoidably on December 31, I start thinking of all the worthy causes I "should" have been supporting during the year, and rush to mail out...
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Oh Calm Down ('Huntsman 2012' Dept)
Several friends in China have written to ask what I think of this Newsweek report that Jon Huntsman Jr., currently the US Ambassador to China, is planning to run for the GOP presidential nomination...
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Playing a China Card: Hidden Genius in the (Bogus) Huntsman Story?
I mentioned yesterday how preposterous I thought it was for Newsweek to tout the idea that Jon Huntsman Jr, the Republican ex-governor of Utah now serving as US Ambassador to China, was about to enter...
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Pierre Sprey on Book TV: Tonight at 9
Thirty years ago, Pierre Sprey (left) was, like John Boyd and Chuck Spinney, one of the protagonists of my book National Defense. He is a great, innovative thinker who is always worth listening to, and...
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John P Wheeler III
I was stunned to learn tonight that my long-time friend Jack Wheeler has been murdered in Delaware. He was last seen getting off an Amtrak train from Washington at the Wilmington, DE, station this past...
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Never Underestimate Fox (Updated)
[See UPDATES below, including links to bio info.]Late last night I mentioned the shocking, still unexplained news that John P "Jack" Wheeler, a graduate of West Point -- and Harvard Business School and...
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ROTC and Columbia: the Jack Wheeler Legacy
As I've mentioned here and elsewhere, the late Jack Wheeler's big cause over the past year or two had been the return of ROTC programs to on-campus operation at Harvard and other elite schools from...
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John P. Wheeler as 'Outer Planet'
Several readers have written to ask -- some genially, some less so -- why I sounded so peeved about the Fox News headline on news of Jack Wheeler's death. "Cops: Former Bush Aide Killed, Found in...
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I'm Sure This Was Just an Accident of Page Layout...
... but, as so often with serendipitous humor in the China Daily, we're left to wonder: intentional? or Found Art? From the NYT home page just now:No larger point. And, yes, I realize it was probably...
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News from Inhabitant Public Radio®
Read a little bit of this. Explanation after the jump. Bleak but funny. ___Police examine genocide of longtime troops adviserVietnam Business NewsCopyright © 2011 Inhabitant Public Radio®. For...
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'Many Mental Patients Simply Walk Out'
I mentioned yesterday that I was "sure" it was an "accident" that the NYT juxtaposed two stories on its home page about artificial-heart devices. The first story said that former VP Cheney had gotten...
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Ellen Weiss Out at NPR (Juan Williams Aftereffects)
In the heat of the Juan Williams episode last October, I argued here that while the NPR leadership had made a mistake in its huffy-seeming dismissal of Williams, it was important to separate criticism...
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Truthiness, Cont.
I mentioned earlier how hard it is for some news organizations to say, "2+ 2 = 4," as opposed to "experts say 2+...." A few reader updates.1) Truthiness in Dallas. A reader sends a picture of a plaque...
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In My Other Life
A journey of small-plane pilots across several oceans: If you've got the time (and a plane), here's where to find more. Next year, or the year after, or.... I'll invite Jeff Goldberg, from the next...
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