My latest from Foreign Policy is out, and it's about a disturbing global uptick in attacks on civilians with small, cheap drones. Please read and share. I've got some more time on my hands nowadays, and I'm planning to start updating this newsletter more
Crete is big, weird, and magnificent - a lengthy, arid slash of an island that humans have been occupying, conquering, and visiting since at least 7000 BCE, with a highly distinctive culture that is somehow both very Greek and highly unique to itself. While the mysterious and aesthetically-gifted Bronze-Age culture
It was Friday evening. I was trying to relax. And then all of a sudden, a dozen people sent me the same link. Drone news. Of course. Why does big-drone related news never seem to drop at 10:00 AM on a Tuesday? Anyway, I will briefly sketch my thoughts
There was once a time, long ago, when I thought I was going to grow up to be a travel writer. I was raised in a family where everyone both traveled a lot, and read stuff along the lines of Gerald Durrell, Jan Morris, and Patrick Leigh Fermor when they
A nightmarish airborne robot-eye, piloted by unknown and possibly unknowable forces operating from an undisclosed location in a secret command-center, lit only by blinking red LED lights. A far-flying remote controlled warplane designed by hubris-poisoned and dead-eyed engineers, hauling a payload of knife-throwing missiles to rain down on enemies of
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what have we learned from this year of watching Elon Musk repeatedly, endlessly fail?
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Some initial impressions from watching DJI and other drones in the air above Israel and Gaza
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What's the deal with me and drones? How did a journalist get into little flying camera robots? Here's my attempt to explain.
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Meta has failed at world domination so far, but Elon Musk has given them a hell of an assist.
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How Mark Zuckerberg's "pivot to video" made the world worse.
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In Southeast Asia in the early 2010s, I watched as Mark Zuckerberg's creation began to destroy Myanmar. Here's why I'm never using Threads.
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My latest for Foreign Policy, disaster feeds on Bluesky, and more.