Clik here to view.
Where the Phrase 'Vast Wasteland' Came From
Two days ago I mentioned Newton Minow's presentation at the National Press Club on the 50th anniversary of his own "vast wasteland" speech, as JFK's newly appointed young chairman of the Federal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Chart That Should Accompany Every Discussion of Deficits
All the time, and every day.It's this one, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, released yesterday (and also highlighted by Andrew Sullivan and Ezra Klein today). Why does this chart...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It Looks Like You Are Giving a Keynote
It was inevitable. The more we mock and disdain Clippy, the more he weasels his way back into our lives and conceivably even our hearts. I mentioned last month that Microsoft itself was bringing Clippy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thank You, John McCain
I am late to this topic, because of travel, but on this sort of thing better late than not at all. And I wanted to get it on the record while it still concerns events "today":Congratulations to Sen....
View ArticleClik here to view.
'Gingko Fever in Chongqing': The Billion-Dollar Trees of Central China
When I was off in China earlier this year, one highly memorable series of guest posts was by the writer and technologist Xujun Eberlein. In a five-part sequence -- parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 -- she unraveled...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Timely and Enlightening: John McPhee on Cajun Country Floods
The New Yorker has brought out from its paywall archives John McPhee's wonderful 1987 piece "Atchafalaya." This is about the very stretch of the lower Mississippi River in the news today because of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hope for American Science
Congratulations to Matthew Feddersen (left) and Blake Marggraff (second from left), both 18 years old, of Lafayette, California, on taking first prize in the Intel International Science and Engineering...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Software Reviewing as it Should Be Done
Over the decades I've often written about "interesting" programs, or "software for thinking," from Lotus Agenda (also here) or Lotus Magellan in the olden days to Zoot (about to come out in a new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hāfó Welcomes You! 哈佛歡迎你!
Sign of the apocalypse, and clearest evidence yet that the world really is going to end this Saturday? The latest omen of how a debt-ridden America must truckle to its Chinese paymasters? Or, on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life Is Strange (Donald Rumsfeld Dept)
Consider Donald Rumsfeld. Age 30: elected to Congress Age 38: White House counselor, with Cabinet rank Age 40: US Representative to NATO Age 42: White House Chief of Staff Age 43: Secretary...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Problem of Covering Colorful but Doomed Campaigns
Three weeks ago, just after Barack Obama's "long-form birth certificate" press conference (and boy does that seem like a long time ago), I argued that a lot of the blame for the whole embarrassing*...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On Speaking Second Languages (or: Why All Esperantists Understand One Another)
I mentioned yesterday how much easier I found Chinese, as a language, when someone other than an actual Chinese person was speaking it. And by "actual Chinese person" I mean someone for whom Mandarin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Uncle! Uncle Newt, That Is.
Last night I manfully argued that it was worth trying to turn some of the spotlight away from the carnival that is the Newt Gingrich campaign.Just now Andrew Sullivan has asked: are we really supposed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tonight's 'VIP Airplanes In Peril' Update
Last month I was tut-tutting about the Washington Post's scare-mongering "near miss" coverage of a fairly routine maneuver by a plane with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden aboard. Today I can sound less...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Tweets of Donald Rumsfeld, Cont.
Yesterday I mentioned the fascinations of Donald Rumsfeld's Twitter stream. Among them: that a man who had exercised so much public and private power for so long was now sending out crowd-count Tweets...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who Says the Press Only Covers Bad News? (Brain-Eating Worm Dept)
Looking for diversion from political skirmishes, the DSK mess, the Middle East, and other sources of malaise? I live to serve, and I hereby oblige with today's eel-related update.Various tainted-food...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gas Price Trauma: The Taiwanese Explain It All
I know, it's a weakness: using too many of these NMA Taiwanese animations. But once again I succumb to temptation. This rap-video explanation of the effects of rising oil prices is weirdly charming in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Update to that Deficit Chart
Last week I mentioned the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities Chart that analyzed the sources of the federal budget deficit. For old time's sake, a thumbnail of that chart is at right. The original...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In Case the World Doesn't End Today
You can make the most of your continued corporeal existence by taking part in the other big event scheduled for May 21, 2011: International Learn to Fly Day.You can find an event somewhere near you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doing a Favor for Jon Huntsman
As the field of potential Republican 2012 contenders continues to thin out, simple math makes prospects brighten for anyone still around. Among those is of course Jon Huntsman Jr, former governor of...
View Article