Events

Patrick Smith ("Ask the Pilot") wonders why we still can't get airport security right: [T]he primary threat to commercial planes is, was and shall remain explosive devices. The Sept. 11 skyjack scheme is today unworkable for a variety of reasons. Yet those who run airport security refuse to acknowledge this, wasting time and resources ransacking people's luggage for what are, in effect, harmless items. Has anybody at the Transportation Security Administration bothered to peruse the air crimes annals of...

My senior U.S. Senator responded yesterday to a letter I sent in July. He writes: Thank you for contacting me about giving Americans the choice of a public health insurance option that will compete with private insurance plans. I support a public option and appreciate hearing from you. We need health care reform that reduces costs for families, businesses, and the government; protects people's choice of doctors; and assures affordable, high-quality health care for every American. We are crafting a...

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday formally apologized to Alan Turing, the gay cryptogropher who broke the German navy's codes in World War II, saving the lives of thousands of British sailors: Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose...

Lots of interesting (to me, anyway) items on the Intertubes today: Chicago really did have one of the coolest summers ever this year, complete with the longest stretch of sub-27°C temperatures in 124 years. Via The Expired Meter, Chicago ranked first in a list of the worst cities to drive in, because of our lovely red-light cameras paired with 3-second yellow lights. Before you get smug, the entire state of Florida made the list, too. The International Olympic Committee president said the vote will be...

Apparently Illinois has its own rude Congressman: Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican from Illinois, walked out. "Congressman Shimkus was frustrated that the president was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining in the speech," spokesman Steven Tomaszewski said today in response to our question about the late-speech walk-out. I have also gotten clarification of the British way of doing things: Language and expressions used in the Chamber must conform to a number of rules. Erskine...

President Obama's speech last night demonstrated pretty clearly that he's committed to health-care reform, and most of Congress will support him. One Congressman, Joe Wilson (R-SC), decided to channel his inner Preston Brooks and...well, here's what the papers say: Help me out here: does anyone recall the last time a congressman called the president a liar to his face during of a joint session of Congress? He’s the face behind the off-camera shout of “You lie” after President Obama declared that his...

Via Tom Hollander comes Strange Maps, a blog I will have to read through when I get a free moment next year. The blog supports Frank Jacobs' forthcoming book, Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities. The blog starts with "Lunatic Asylum Districts in Pennsylvania," moving through "The Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World" and "Heineken's 'Eurotopia'" on its random walk through maps. Very cool blog. Example: a map showing the best beer in America, based on the number of medals won, with a...

Not my phrase; that's from Mark Twain. I thought of it as I dipped one more time into the well of James Fallows' blog and came up with this: Rock out, Joe Biden. Clarification: "You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is." Well, I get mine from The Atlantic and other similar places. Thus, frequent re-posts from Fallows and Sullivan.

My plan seemed so simple: Book my flights from Chicago to Dubai and, on the way back, spend a couple of days in Jordan and Israel, two countries I'm not likely to see for a long time. Royal Jordanian airlines, however, made this sufficiently difficult to encourage me to look elsewhere. The parameters were simple: Fly only Oneworld carriers, because this trip bumps me to the next elite level. Arrive in Dubai in time for the October 31st start of classes having had enough rest to make it through the day...