Aviation
The 737 Built Southwest, and the 737 Could Be Its Undoing
Southwest rode that market to 46 years of profit, most recently boasting an 11 percent profit margin in an industry where 2 percent is closer to the norm.
“Our outlook is bright,” said Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly in January, “barring any unforeseen events.”
On March 10th, 2019, the unforeseen happened.
The Ancient Computers in the 737 Max Are Holding Up a Fix
A brand-new Boeing 737 Max gets built in just nine days. In that time, a team of 12,000 people turns a loose assemblage of parts into a finished $120 million airplane with some truly cutting-edge technology: winglets based on ones designed by NASA, engines that feature the world’s first one-piece carbon-fiber fan blades, and computers with the same processing power as, uh, the Super Nintendo.
TV
Billy Mays: Quintessentially American
Mays offered not just a product but an entire life of do-it-yourself, business-casual, suburban ease. For two minutes at a time, he all but dared us to pass up the promise of social mobility embodied in a little plastic gadget or a tub of chemicals.
Every Time Charlie Is Illiterate on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
With that much Charlie Work to do, it’s no surprise that he hasn’t had the chance to work on his basic literacy skills; in the words of the Lawyer, he has a tenuous grasp of the English language.
The 13 Different Kinds of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Plots
The Gang Commits a Pennsylvania State Felony (13 episodes).
Books
Is This Book Bad, or Is It Just Me?
The book review is dead. At the very least, it’s very obviously dying. Anyway, we can all agree that it should be killed off, because it’s gotten to be irrelevant. If not downright parasitic. (Though maybe it might be salvaged if the average review was a little meaner.)
American Rust and Other Recession Fictions
Besides getting the economic indicators right, Meyer understands that socioeconomic malaise and personal malaise are two sides of the same coin. He shows, through the eyes of each of the main characters, the human consequences of a sick economy.
George Orwell never thought that his work would outlive him by much. After all, he considered himself “a sort of pamphleteer” rather than a genuine novelist, and confidently predicted that readers would lose interest in his books “after a year or two.” Yet sixty years later, Orwell endures, and I am not sure that this is a good thing.
Education
Wisdom as Secret Learning Objective
It’s 9:38 on a Friday morning, and I’m standing in front of a classroom full of students, trying to convince myself that I belong there.
Ivy League Admissions Are a Sham
I've seen a boringly predictable, on-trend parade of general excellence, like eating a dozen cronuts for dinner. It's interesting in the abstract, but the palate needs cleansing after a while.