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The Difference Between Obama and Romney, Distilled
For the past few weeks Frontline has been running a series of online discussions, based on "artifacts" it has uncovered from the pasts of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. You can read the first week's...
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Why We Don't Let Foreigners Vote
The September issue of Australia's high-end monthly magazine, conveniently named The Monthly.I direct your attention to the story by Peter Conrad.The article is interesting enough (though you'll have...
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The Best Weekend of the Year in San Francisco
Six years ago this week, on a trip back from China, I visited one of my sons in San Francisco and then mentioned how surprising and encouraging it was to see the city rapt and excited by a Blue Angels...
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Neanderthal Me
I have been involved for the past 2+ days with travel for and events at the (again very interesting) "Atlantic Meets the Pacific" session, held with UC San Diego in La Jolla. More on that, and other...
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On Debates and the Election: Could 90 Minutes Really Change Everything?
I will see if I can get this done before the doors close on this US Airways flight out of San Diego and back to DC. [Update: No such luck. Doors were closed and electronic devices went off -- and I'm...
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'Where You Been, Boy? I Missed You!'
My interpretation of President Obama's first-debate setback has been different from Andrew Sullivan's. But we are absolutey as one in marveling at this "here's how you do it" lesson from Bill Clinton...
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'At 5% Neanderthal, You Are An Outlier'
That is the kind of mail I am now receiving from scientists, after the revelation two days ago that I have an unusually large share of Neanderthal DNA (5%) in my genetic makeup. Plus, the accompanying...
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Your VP-Debate Prep Sheet: Follow Along at Home
I had all sorts of rococo viewer's-guide suggestions before the initial Obama-Romney debate last week. Obama is a great orator but only a so-so debater; Romney a so-so orator at best but often a very...
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Your VP-Debate Prep Sheet, Page 2: 'Romney = Bush'
A little while ago I posted a debate-prep sheet for Joe Biden, suggested by someone who hopes that he wins tonight's debate and that his ticket wins next month's election.Here's a contrary, Plan B set...
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Your VP Debate Summary: Ryan Did Well, Biden Did Better
Still haven't looked at The Twitter or any web sites, though I did watch this with friends, so I don't know how this comports with the prevailing view. But for me the points are:Vice presidential...
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VP Debate Morning-After Reaction
I said last week that the unimpressive Obama first-debate performance didn't seem any different on a night's reflection than it had while underway.For me it's not the same with the VPs. My sense of the...
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Undecided Voters Speak!
The more I see the CNN/etc panels of undecided voters, the more I'm convinced that Saturday Night Live told us all we need to know about their "low-information" status.But after I made that point a...
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No Love for the Undecideds
I don't plan to drag this out indefinitely, but a very large number of readers are unimpressed with the rationales others have offered for not knowing how to vote this year. Background:Â Â Â - I...
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Your Real-Time Cyber-Attack Map
I have no idea how reliable the info shown here is, but it certainly is interesting. Especially to me, as I climb onto a plane bound for southern China via Japan. It's an animated real-time...
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Pre-Debate Patriotic Buildup
Take a look a this wonderful time-lapse video, from Bryan Chan of the Los Angeles Times, of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final trip, at ground level, across Los Angeles. It's not embeddable, but the...
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Two Points on the Second Debate
Which I didn't watch in laboratory isolation as I did the first time but with background commentary via The Twitter (via a VPN to get around the Great Firewall).1) Obama was as strong and "on" tonight...
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The Picture That Encapsulates the Debate
As a bonus two-point update (from inside a car! in China! an unfortunate first - but at least I'm not driving) of the two earlier debate points:1) The Obama team had clearly thought about one long-term...
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Inside Foxconn
On Tuesday night, near the end of the presidential debate, Candy Crowley asked the candidates about manufacturing competition with China:IPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in China,...
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Inside Foxconn #2: Strolling
Rushing for a plane at the Hong Kong SF airport, so here is a modest additional installment. First two further points of context:- Since some people have asked, the arrangement for me to go into...
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The Last Debate: What the Candidates Should Be Asked
In rounds One and Two of the presidential debates, more attention was on how Mitt Romney and Barack Obama presented themselves than on the specific policy points they were trying to make. You might say...
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