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Reference Document on the Pakistan Crash
Of course condolences to all affected by this crash; and of course, as with nearly all such disasters, it will take a while to figure out what actually occurred. For roundup of first reactions, see...
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Getting Back to Language Mismatches
Previous chronicles here. As a reminder to those joining us late, the point is not that there is anything wrong, or even logically unexpected, about someone from Norway speaking English with a Brooklyn...
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Call Me Tony Kennedy
The Atlantic's "Voices" team is in a 1-1 deadlock on whether Elizabeth Warren is the right choice to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Megan McArdle has come down hard against Ms....
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Security Theater: the Teva Menace
A reader based in Asia writes, via mobile phone: Thought you might appreciate this. just flew back from dc to beijing with my 2 4yr old twin girls. TSA made them remove their Tevas (see pic, hard 2c...
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Adm. Mullen on WikiLeaks
I guess I hadn't fully absorbed the fact that Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was now sending his thoughts via Twitter. His latest, this evening: Impressive grammar, in 140...
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The Teva Menace: Pro and Con
After yesterday's report about four-year-old girls taking off their sandals in the airport security line, one reader writes: Several years ago, a TSA agent at the Islip/Macarthur NY airport made us...
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More on Mullen, Twitter, and the Ethics of WikiLeaks
I mentioned late last night my surprise at seeing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, resorting to Twitter to deplore the ethics of WikiLeaks. After the jump, a note from...
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Today's Oshkosh Action Photo
In my other life, I would have spent this past week and the next few days in Oshkosh, WI, for the annual "EAA Airventure" show/fly-in. This is where many hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts amass,...
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The Wonders of Language: Norwegians in Brooklyn
This is the theme that never stops giving. For instance: I mentioned recently, as an off-hand illustration of improbable matchups, "someone from Norway speaking English with a Brooklyn accent."...
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True/Slant RIP
I hadn't realized, until I looked there just now to check a Miles O'Brien update on "space news" for something I am writing, that the very promising-seeming site True/Slant has closed down this...
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Harmony with Fox News: the Haynesworth Test
A reporter for the local Fox TV station did something I'd been thinking about, which nudged me to try it myself. She took the "Haynesworth test."Le tout Washington DC is in a snarl about the standoff...
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You Learn Something Every Day: "Choropleth"
John Gerth, of the computer science department at Stanford, sent a link to a powerful illustration of the spreading effects of unemployment across the country during this recession. The animated...
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A Different View on True/Slant
I mentioned yesterday that I had enjoyed the site True/Slant and was sorry that, after its acquisition by Forbes, it was closing down. I said that the theme of the era for journalism was "experiment,...
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New Hope for Veteran (Foreign) Teachers in China!
Late last year, I mentioned reports I'd received from foreign teachers in China, who said that their visas were being revoked (or turned down for renewal) as soon as they reached age 60. Main post...
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This Is Not My Normal Beat (Bloomberg & Mosque Dept) ...
... but I have to say that all Americans are New Yorkers today, in the wake of Mayor Bloomberg's brave and eloquent defense of American tolerance, and the resilient strength of America's diverse...
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The Teva Menace Goes On: Now, It's Robeez!
This discussion of "security theater" started with a father exasperated that his four-year-old twin girls had to take off their little sandals before going through the TSA screening machine, and...
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New York as "American Ideal"
In complimenting Mayor Bloomberg's wise statement of toleration for a proposed mosque in lower Manhattan, I noted that this moment made New York seem wholly "American." Tim Heffernan, proud New...
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Alan Klapmeier, the Kestrel, and Lane Wallace
I have been "intending" to write several aviation updates, leading with one that has both personal and business drama, but ... it kept getting put off. Imagine then my gratitude to see that our...
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Compliments (Journalism Division)
1) NY Review. Yes, the Atlantic is the best magazine of all. But for an outstanding single issue of any publication, you'd have to try hard -- and we will! -- to top the current issue of the New York...
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Still Not Sold on Bing
I keep reading and hearing about the growing market share and overall sexiness of Bing, Microsoft's search engine. This does puzzle me, as I have mentioned before -- and will illustrate once again.For...
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