My daughter, Nora, notes by way of metaphor the story line in the sixth season of Buffy when Buffy realizes she can’t support herself saving people from vampires. “Her younger sister and one of her friends suggest that she start charging people for saving them,” Nora said. Me: I’m guessing that didn’t work out well? …
Continue reading ‘Elephant Diaries: The Superhero Metaphor’ »
On being careful to distinguish what you know from what you don’t: Carl Caves (no one calls him “Carlton”) is the smartest person I know. My wife laughs when I say that, pointing out that I often describe someone as “the smartest person I know.” She is right. As the Journal’s science writer, I have …
One model being discussed in the journalism world as an alternative to the faltering for-profit newspaper model for the production of local news is what we call “the NPR model” – not-for-profit, supported by philanthropies. That is how I would describe the Independent, for example. My aforementioned smart old pal Chuck, one of the founders …
Standing outside the Kwik-E-Mart this morning while on a cycling break, my mates and I had occasion to converse with a homeless guy, who made several important points: Lance Armstrong has been wrongly accused of doping. He is clean. The microwave in the Kwik-E-Mart is broken. (It was cold and our homeless friend was apparently …
The name of this blog means a lot to me. I am an ink-stained wretch. I have largely avoided blogging about the fate of my beloved industry, because I frankly dread the well-meaning thread of comments from ‘Net people who are happy to explain that if newspapers only would do “X”, things would improve. Please, …
I feel a bit like an enthusiastic tourist of late, visiting the Land of the Economists, learning their customs (Their curries, while an acquired taste, are delicious!) and language. Their language uses many words that we foreign visitors also use, but in different ways that can be at first puzzling, but eventually instructive. “Rent” was …
Great comment on an Arnold Kling post on the dangers of looking back to see who successfully predicted this mess: People talking about a bubble is not the same thing as “knowing” there is a bubble…. Just as with the stories about pre-9/11 warnings of a terrorist attack, there are always those issuing warnings of …
Jim Baca shares a delightful letter from his sister, traveling in Bhutan: I was in a temple yesterday for a festival and observed about 60 nine-year old monks in training. The adult monks allowed the 4 of us to lean against the wall and watch. One of the teachers walked by me and whispered, “You …
No doubt conservatives are rejoicing at the NYTimes’ discovery of a way to silence Paul Krugman.
I’m obviously no Malcolm Gladwell, but I’m a journalist too, and this very much captures how I feel about what I do: “I spend my time talking to people who tell me things, and then I write them down,” he says. “I’m necessarily parasitic in a way.” He pauses, as if to consider whether he’s …