I spent some time in Beijing a while back, and it is very common for people to wear face masks there due to diesel and other particulate pollution.

You will also see Chinese tourists in the US, who are used to wearing these things, wearing them here. I saw some tourists in DC during the cherry blossom thing, walking around with them on.

It's also common for people almost anywhere with asthma to wear a face mask.

Does anyone have a problem with people going about in public looking like any of the following pictures:











Secondly, would you support the right of any jurisdiction to require Chinese tourists not to wear a face mask and a hat?

Some tens of thousands of children will starve to death today. That kid in England dodged the grim reaper.

I'll be in South Africa for a while, and shot this mountain descent with my phone, due to the unusual hazards along the course:

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Lufthansa is announcing a new class of lounge. In addition to the Star Alliance, Senator, and First Class lounges, they are adding a full service Incognito Class Lounge for fugitives and heads of state at all airports served by Lufthansa.

The one at Franz Kafka International Airport in Prague opened today:

Oy...



You'd think just about everyone would have gotten the memo by now.

You just don't want to meet the world cycling champion this way:

This is an interesting timeline of codes and ciphers used by Benjamin Franklin.

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~room4me/america/code/frankli2.htm

Cryptology was, of course, essential in those days, because there was no secure form of long distance communication. Unless you could afford your own couriers to send single messages (who could still be captured or otherwise waylaid) letters were carried by traders and other travelers who were going in the direction of your addressee. These would be exchanged at various points, such as inns and taverns in order to route them to their destinations.

All of the founders had a keen interest in codes and ciphers, since they never would have assumed that any correspondence was physically secure from being read by any number of people along the way.