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The Latest Chinese Pollution Crisis
Through the year before the Olympics, while we were living in Beijing, I used to do daily views-out-the-window as a guide to the challenge the air-cleanup-people faced. For instance, here was a...
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The Glamorous Life of a Journalist, Amazing Kreskin Edition
In the mailbox over the weekend, from someone I do not know. For previous "glamorous life" entries see here, here, here, here, here, etc. The subject line on this latest message was "Expert Available -...
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Security Tip: Disable Java Now
I'm skeptical about many of the "worst virus ever!!!" warnings that storm across Internet-land from time to time. But the latest advisory, about a potential very seriously vulnerability in the Java...
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The Scientology Ad
Ta-Nehisi Coates beat me to the punch* in quoting the magazine's official statement on the "sponsored content" advertorial from the Church of Scientology that was on our site for about 12 hours...
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More on the Glider-Borne Terror Threat
A few days ago I mentioned the glider pilot in South Carolina who was handcuffed, arrested, held overnight in a cell, questioned by the FBI and DHS, and finally released after 24 hours all for doing...
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The Java Menace, Cont.
As I mentioned two days ago, tech people I take seriously are themselves taking seriously the threat of computers being hacked through a vulnerability in Java code. For the record, some updated...
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How Bad Are the Dreamliner's Problems?
The Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" is a beautiful airplane in some serious trouble right now. You should read our Megan Garber's look at the news yesterday. But also please check Patrick Smith's overview...
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Bye-Bye to the Rapiscan Backscatter Machines
Good news from our friends at TSA: they are getting rid of the hated (by me) Rapiscan "backscatter" screening machines like the one shown at right. These are the scanners in which you stand between two...
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The Numbing Toll of 'Daily Gun Deaths'; Plus, 'Obama Overreach'?
This morning I was on the "Domestic News Roundup" hour of the Diane Rehm show, on WAMU in Washington. The topics naturally started with the latest gun-safety proposals and went on through Chuck Hagel,...
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Why I Get More Than One Newspaper, Part 3
This morning's assortment, on the kitchen table. The NYT, the WaPo, and the WSJ are all reporting on the House Republicans' decision not to force an all-out fight on the next extension of the federal...
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A Fascinating Look Inside North Korea
If you haven't yet seen Sophie Schmidt's chronicle of her recent high-level visit to North Korea, by all means check it out. It's full of atmospheric photos like this one (from her site) and acute...
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WSJ Harmonization Watch: An Ongoing Series
For background, please see these three past items: first (illustrated at right), second, and third. They compare the play and headlines of stories in three major papers -- the New York Times, the...
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Obama's Startling Second Inaugural
This was the most sustainedly "progressive" statement Barack Obama has made in his decade on the national stage. I was expecting an anodyne tone-poem about healing national wounds, surmounting...
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The Two Most Powerful Allusions in Obama's Speech Today
On reading it through after hearing it, this is another carefully crafted speech. More so, I would say, than Obama's first. But these two parts got my attention the instant I heard them:1) Lash and...
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The Glamorous Life of a Journalist, Fan Fiction Edition
From the press-release category of the inbox just now. Previously in the "Glamorous Life" series here (which includes earlier links).This image has nothing to do with the message below, but you will...
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Flying While Half-Arab (and Half-Jewish): The Lawsuit
A little more than a year ago I mentioned the case of Shoshana Hebshi, a young American woman who lives in Ohio, is married, and has twin sons. Hebshi was born in California to a Jewish mother and a...
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Oh Those Feisty Dames, Benghazi Hearings Edition
Thanks to Brian Glucroft, based in China, for this screenshot of CNN.com's coverage of Hillary Clinton's testimony about Benghazi: "Testy," "fiery," "tearful" for the secretary of state. Good thing for...
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One Man's Defense of Java
I'm not that one man -- I'm the one who has been passing along various warnings about possible vulnerabilities in the Java programming language.But for the record, here's another side of the story,...
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Ten Minutes to Help You Understand China's Environmental Emergency
If you don't have time to watch all 30 minutes of the "G+ Hangout" that ended an hour ago, about the current pollution emergency in China, I strongly recommend that you watch at least the last 10...
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Plane Crashes, 3 People Walk Away
Thanks to many people who have written in about the small-plane crash on Tuesday night near the airport in Danbury, Connecticut (KDXR for you aviation people). This gets my attention because the plane...
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