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China Roundup: New Film, Hazy Air, Tallest Building
For today's roundup:Film I mentioned last week how much I admired and recommend the documentary Last Train Home. The same company is about to begin screening another documentary called China...
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Heard of the 'Great Northeast Blackout?'
Later on I'll quote some more of the very interesting "is American infrastructure in trouble? or not?" messages that have come in. This is just a data-point note:Nearly seven days after the historic...
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Let's Talk Infrastructure! Reports From Brooklyn, Berkeley, and Kentucky
I won't string this out forever, but the inbox is bulging with thoughts about whether U.S. infrastructure is actually declining and if so, why; whether people in DC should stop whining about the...
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Your Weekend 'Interesting Software' Update
1) If you are a Mac user, be sure to check out the remaining days of the "Writers' Festival 2012" special on the idea-organizer Tinderbox and several other programs. Tinderbox is very complex software...
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Aerial Disaster Wrapup, from France and China
France This is a placeholder for eventual (or so I intend) further parsing of the reports on the Air France 447 crash into the South Atlantic three years ago. I had several reports at the time and...
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As Cirrus Goes, So Goes Hawker Beechcraft
Early last year, at the Asian Aerospace show in Hong Kong, I watched eager Chinese purchasers line up for tours of all sorts of aircraft, including business jets large and small. As I describe in my...
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Uber vs. Washington DC: This Is Insane
Here's the headline version of what comes below: As a longtime resident of DC, I am accustomed to misadventures in governance in our "taxation without representation" existence here. But a fight over a...
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Bonanza of Extra Reading on the Uber-in-D.C. Saga
I mentioned last night (other-side-of-the-Pacific time) my amazement at what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to hobble a new competitor in the District of Columbia's universally unloved current...
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Chronicles of Casino Capitalism: Kicking Off a Series
In the past few days several disparate themes have seemed to take on a connected shape. Or maybe I'm just tired. Still, I am thinking of:Discussions over the past two weeks about why the world's...
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Penn State: On the News!
From the website of Penn State's president just now. Good to know that the most newsworthy item for university leaders is the excellent shoulder surgeon at Penn State Hershey. But to put Penn State...
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From the Inbox: 'Say No to Rice!'
From one of my political mailing lists just now. Actually, more than one -- multiple copies have arrived in the past few minutes. We're all drowning in political emails these days, but this one seemed...
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Chronicles of Casino Capitalism: Bankruptcy Bonuses
It is impossible to know what to notice or be upset about any more. So I'll just follow a little thread I happen to be familiar with.- As mentioned two days ago, the Hawker Beechcraft company, based in...
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From a Wolverine: The Case for College Sports
Taylor Branch delivered the roundhouse punch to the NCAA and its hypocrisy/standards last year in our pages. Louis Freeh et al delivered a damning judgment on Joe Paterno's Penn State earlier this...
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Chronicles of Extreme Weather, Illustrated Edition
Here is the standard Google Earth view of the west end of Lake Superior, including my beloved second-home-town of Duluth and the idyllic Apostle Islands:And here is a satellite view after the "never...
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On 'Swiftboating' Mitt Romney
Many readers are wroth about my having used the word "Swiftboating" yesterday, in an NPR conversation with Guy Raz, to describe the controversy over Mitt Romney's Bain background. (That same show, by...
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A Corporate Veteran Writes ...
... with a suggested question for Mitt Romney, bearing on when he was and was not responsible for the plans and decisions of Bain Capital:If you weren't in charge at Bain in 1999-2001, who was? If...
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'I'm Running for Office, for Pete's Sake'
I am sorry to run this into the ground, following this and this. But ... To say this as plainly as possible: Mitt Romney's refusal to release his tax returns is untenable. He can't stick...
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College Sports: the Horse Feathers Factor
For a momentary diversion from politics, beer, global disaster, and China, let's round out a discussion thread from last week. As a reminder: a Harvard alum said that things were hideous at Penn State...
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Travel News, Parramatta Eels Dept.
The New York Times had a highly trafficked feature a few days ago highlighting travel tips from tech-world sophisticates. Two I agree with:if you have work to do or a stack of magazines to pore over,...
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In-House Items: Mayer and Yahoo, Mondoweiss
In keeping with my Big Tent theory of our publication, I figure that it's usually not my business to weigh in, pro or con, on items by other people in our magazine or online. Except, of course, to urge...
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