Events

Via Failbook:

The most powerful earthquake in Japanese history hit today causing widespread damage and a 7.3 m (29 ft) tsunami: Fragmentary early reports of the toll indicate that hundreds of people have been killed. Japanese police officials told the Associated Press that 200 to 300 bodies were found in Sendai, a port city in the northeastern part of the country and the closest main city to the epicenter. Walls of water whisked away houses and cars in northern Japan, where terrified residents fled the coast. Train...

Following up on last night's message from WBEZ, James Fallows today linked back to a piece he wrote last October about why NPR matters: In their current anti-NPR initiative, Fox and the Republicans would like to suggest that the main way NPR differs from Fox is that most NPR employees vote Democratic. That is a difference, but the real difference is what they are trying to do. NPR shows are built around gathering and analyzing the news, rather than using it as a springboard for opinions. And while of...

I'm about to turn in, but I thought this email from Chicago Public Radio that I just received noteworthy: From: Torey Malatia, President and CEO of Chicago Public Media Re: News from NPR I’m writing this to you because you’re an investor in our work here at WBEZ, Chicago Public Media. We are entirely responsible to you, being a community-owned and governed public media institution. I realize that National Public Radio has been in the news over the last two days. NPR is a separate organization from us...

The State of Illinois has finally abolished the death penalty. The repeal takes effect July 1st, but Governor Pat Quinn ended it for all practical purposes today: "Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it," Quinn wrote. "With our broken system, we cannot ensure justice is achieved in every...

More than 10%, it turns out; but of course it depends where you live: One of the things I’ve often heard while living in the European Union is the meme that only 10% of Americans own a passport. (This assertion is usually followed by the quazi-urban legend that George W. Bush never had a passport before becoming president. This I’ve never been able to prove or disprove any satisfaction.) I wondered aloud about this in my previous post, Work in Progress: The United States Explained' and a commentor...

This morning the view from my hotel room looked good. This evening it looks even better: And this is using my little backup camera. Next week I'll bring the big guy. (Of course, next week I'll have a different hotel room, but I'm sure I'll find something to shoot in Boston.)

They are a-changin'. Film at 11.

I've spent a lot of time in hotel rooms in the past couple of years. Sometimes, like this week, I have a good view:

The New York Times recently ran an op-ed urging us to stop lying to ourselves about how great we are, and get on with fixing things: America is great in many ways, but on a whole host of measures — some of which are shown in the accompanying chart — we have become the laggards of the industrialized world. Not only are we not No. 1 — “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” — we are among the worst of the worst. Yet this reality and the urgency that it ushers in is too hard for many Americans to digest. They would prefer to...