Read the full post here. Vairal Video 4 is doing consistently great ST commentary. Quote: “The great European cathedrals were built over generations by thousands of people and sustained entire communities. Similarly, the electric grid, the public-water supply, the food-distribution network, and the public-health system took the collective labor of thousands of people over many…
Nifty. (h/t Brilliant Maps) Quote: “As I’ve noted whenever this subject comes up, the exceptional safety of modern airlines means that when something does go wrong, the causes usually start out as a mystery. That is because nearly every non-mysterious, “normal,” source of risk has already been removed. In the medical world, the adage is: When you hear…
Owls in towels. You’re welcome. (h/t Kottke) James Fallows’ analysis of the speech here. But watch it first. The best documentary of my music ever made. Interesting to hear what the Wrecking Crew thought of Brian Wilson (1942-2025), too. Quote: “The decision to reduce flights is being driven by a sharp drop in bookings, rising…
“Photographer’s Once-in-a-Lifetime Shots of the Lunar Eclipse and Aurora.” Click through above to see more. (photograph credit @DanZafra, h/t 1440) And this was my pitiful attempt as the eclipse was just beginning. Those clouds rolled over the moon at about three-quarters. Ah well. France gearing up for the worst. (h/t 1440) Eek. Glad the JWST…
Frederic Edwin Church, Aurora Borealis, 1865.Click through the image above and scroll down to see more drawings and paintings of the aurora borealis through the ages. From a first class rabbit hole, the Public Domain Review, containing images going back centuries, all in the public domain and searchable, which was how I found the northern (and…
China Airborne by James Fallows
Opportunity or threat? That's what this book boils down to, an examination of just what the government-driven and -financed economic boom in China means to the West. I warn you, there is no pat answer to the question by the end of the book, but your bewilderment will be much better informed.
Fallows writes for the Atlantic Monthly and spent six years in China "not" reporting on it (they wouldn't give him a journalist's visa so he just said he was there as a consultant). He's a private pilot and has written a lot about aviation, including a book called Free Flight, about an American aviation company that built a better plane and were then bought out by the Chinese. Here, he examines the Chinese economy through the lens of China's nascent aviation industry.
# Permanent link to That’s a more interesting flight than I ever want to take.