-
Is the New Chinese Airliner a Kind of Flying iPhone?
Earlier this week China’s state commercial-aerospace company, known as COMAC, rolled out the new C919 airliner it has been…
-
The Two-Stroke Engine: A Remnant of Poor-Country Technology in Rich Countries
In response to the item immediately below, which kicked off this Thread, I’ve gotten reports from different corners of the…
-
Local-Level Democracy: Beginning a Chronicle
Over the past two years, my wife Deb and I have been increasingly impressed by the importance, vitality, difficulty…
-
China Launches the C919! Should Boeing and Airbus Look Out?
Today the long-planned Chinese rival to Boeing and Airbus, the C919, made its debut in Shanghai. Huzzah…
-
Wondering Why We Like Fresno?
For previous installments in the Fresno saga, please check here. Early last year, in our American Futures saga, we reported…
-
First Time I Have Seen This in an Uber
The main appeal of Uber and Lyft is predictability. If I’m trying to find a regular taxi, I have…
-
In Defense of Reading, E-Reader Style
Two more notes by readers on the how tablets, phones, and computers are changing the process of reading. Novel…
-
More on Machines, Reading, Thinking, and Life
In some of the installments you’ll find lower down in this thread, I mentioned both the internal and the external…
-
We Hate the Internet, but It Saves Our Skins (cont).
Yesterday I mentioned the astonishing (to me) news that, by cramming a wad of Post-it notes underneath the cover of…
-
The Way We Read Now
As a business matter, the Atlantic has placed tremendous emphasis through the past two decades on integrating all the different…
-
We All Hate the Internet, but Sometimes It Saves Our Skin
Or: how 50 cents’ worth of Post-it notes, and a brief bout of searching, saved me hundreds of dollars just…
-
![]()
Library of Congress Today's Aviation News: The Good and the Weird
How a demonstration of calm competence becomes a "terrifying" episode
-
![]()
Michael Holley/Wikimedia 'What Was It Like Before Electricity, Daddy?'
A report from the dawn of time
-
![]()
Wikimedia Commons Can We Learn Anything From the Germanwings Disaster?
A technologist says the day of airliners flown by remote control is closer than we think. Is that good news or bad? Plus, why it's better to be a co-pilot and other lessons from the latest crash.
-
![]()
Creative Fresno California's Centers of Technology: Bay Area, L.A., San Diego, and ... Fresno?
How would you build a high-tech center in a vast farming zone? You might start by applying tech solutions to farming problems of water use and sustainability in all forms.
-
Tinderbox Update, Plus The Brain
It's been a while since the latest update on this front, so here is a quick mention of developments…
-
![]()
Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems Interesting Software Update: Tinderbox How-To, Jerry's Brain
New looks from two old favorites
-
![]()
UC Davis and Esri Talking With Dan Richard About High-Speed Rail
The chairman of California's costly and controversial infrastructure project explains why (in his view) it actually will get built—and whether its champion, 77-year-old Governor Jerry Brown, is likely to be able to take a ride.
-
![]()
Wikimedia Sobering News Out of China, Part 4 Million
"Pinging Baidu without a VPN takes 17ms on average with 0% loss; pinging the Atlantic without a VPN takes 350ms and about 40% loss." Chronicles of a country walling itself off
-
![]()
ProPublica Fun With Chinese Agitprop, Presidents' Day Edition
A preposterously nationalistic video celebrating Internet censorship, which gets less funny the more you think about it
