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Two Stories to Read Today
1) "Anatomy of an Afghan War Tragedy," by David Cloud, in yesterday's Los Angeles Times. This is the most vivid recent rendering of a truth that in our bones we all understand: that the most...
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Momentous April Days in History
Today our Technology channel has a marvelous series of essays on the meaning of mankind's voyages into space, on this the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight. They're all interesting, but...
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Throwing Like a Tim Lincecum
Fifteen years ago, in an article called "Throwing Like a Girl," I described the "kinetic chain" involved in producing a "proper" baseball throw -- or a tennis stroke or serve, or a football pass, or...
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The Chinese Crackdown: Arrogance? Or Insecurity?
If you'd like to take several steps ahead in understanding the current crackdown and repression in China, I recommend a post that appeared a few minutes ago on the reliably acerbic site The Peking...
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I Guess I Should Never Taunt Spammers
Several days ago I was making fun of spammers for their implausible "Dear Friend: Please send money to my Swiss/Nigerian bank account" messages. Well, the message below is no more plausible in its...
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On Obama's Debt-and-Deficit Speech
The Atlantic's Clive Crook, whom I ran into in the office coffee shop immediately after he posted his opinions, didn't much like Obama's deficit speech today. "Waste of breath," etc.I felt differently....
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Honor Roll
I've meant to do this through the whole week I've been back in Washington, but things keep coming up. So before anything else comes up and it moves too far into the past, I want to make a point of...
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It's Been a While Since I've Mentioned NMA of Taiwan
So I figure I can get away with showing another of Next Media Animation's mock-news CGI videos, this one about the legal ups and downs of Facebook. It covers the 9th Circuit's dismissal of the...
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Aviation Bests and Worsts, Featuring Sen. Inhofe
Previously in Bests and Worsts here.Best: Want an idea of what it's like to take a "$100 hamburger" day trip in a small plane -- these days, probably more like a €500 quiche in Europe? The short video...
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Hacking Update: Please Do These Things if You Use Gmail
As mentioned yesterday morning, my wife's Gmail account was taken over by what has proven to be a very destructive hacker. The spam message the hacker sent out seemed droll; the consequences turn out...
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Voices from China #1: The 'Post 1980s Generation'
The news these days is from Libya, Capitol Hill, Fukushima, Syria. But something really important is underway in China -- economically, politically, culturally. One recent indication, of hundreds: The...
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Hacking Epidemic: No Joke, Lock Down Your Gmail Now
Two days ago my wife's Gmail account was taken over, with quite sweeping effects. SEE UPDATE BELOW. Yesterday I mentioned the two simple steps Gmail users could take to minimize the chance of such an...
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Did Sen. Inhofe Get Off Easy? Chapter and Verse (updated)
I mentioned yesterday that, thanks to The Smoking Gun's FOIA request, the FAA records of Sen. James Inhofe's unauthorized landing in Texas last October have been released. They show him landing on a...
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Undoing Medicare: The Real 'Death Tax'
See UPDATES belowFrom my days as a school kid I remember the original debate over creating Medicare. At the time, my dad -- a small-town doctor and at that stage a conservative -- was, like most...
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More on the Ryan Plan, Medicare, and the 'Death Tax'
I mentioned yesterday Merrill Goozner's contention that Rep. Paul Ryan's "serious" plan to undo Medicare should be considered the real "death tax." Now, some readers' views. From reader AS: >>We...
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'It Happened on the Way to War': An Inspiring Story
If you're depressed by the devastating takedowns of Greg "Three Cups" Mortenson's versions of his exploits and philanthropy in Afghanistan, two days ago by the Los Angeles Times and tonight on 60...
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On the Gmail Hack: You Do Not Want This to Happen to You
This morning in the email inbox are messages from five new people using Gmail on the "Help! I ,have been mugged at GUN POINT! ,in Spain , please wire me your Moneys now" theme I mentioned earlier. All...
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Those Wacky Canadians!
Several items from up North, in response to the "serious" Rep. Paul Ryan proposal to get rid of Medicare. Previous entries: why Ryan's plan -- approved by the House last week with only four Republicans...
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Good News from Boston: 44th Straight Marathon for Ben Beach
I ran the 1969 and 1970 Boston Marathons, plus several other races, with Bennett Beach, my friend on the college paper. But he had started a year before that, and he has finished every single Boston...
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Today's (Needless) Hysteria: the S&P Panic
I agree with Clive Crook's puzzlement about the S&P downgrade "bombshell" today: "S&P adduces no new information that I can see. Competent ratings of opaque instruments such as, oh,...
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