WELCOME
Thanks for coming to visit my website. I write about science, technology, foreign affairs, and other subjects.
Follow me on Twitter: @kkakaesDrones and Aerial Observation
I edited and wrote part of a short book published by New America in July 2015 and freely available online, about how drones are being used in new ways around the world. It's meant to be useful to people who want to fly drones.The Pioneer Detectives
I published a short book with The Millions.
It's the story of the Pioneer Anomaly, a long-standing mystery. The book is short and fun—the length of a novella—but also, in the words of Amazon's reviewer, "powerful and sad". If you've got any curiosity about how NASA works behind the scenes or why scientists believe what they do, I think you'll enjoy the book.
It is available on Amazon as a Kindle Single and also on Apple's iBooks.Drone Wars
I wrote a chapter on the long history of drone technology going back to the early 20th century in this edited Cambridge University Press volume.
Nicaragua
14 August 2008
Tearing up the rules
Daniel Ortega bans his foes
Central America
tags: The Economist
Refrigerator factory diary
8 August 2008
Birth of the cool
Notes from The Little Tramp’s stamping ground
Energy reform in Mexico
24 July 2008
Crude and oily
A controversial referendum and the future of the state oil company
Telecoms in Mexico
10 July 2008
Slim’s pickings
More competition should help to drive down exorbitant phone charges
Cuba and the European Union
26 June 2008
Anyone for cocktails?
Outsiders bet that bigger changes are on their way (with Michael Reid in London)
The Caribbean
tags: The Economist
Mexico and the United States
19 June 2008
A wary friendship
Amid bad temper and wounded pride, Mexico and the United States inch towards compromise on a plan to boost the fight against drug crime
Drug violence in Mexico
15 May 2008
Can the army out-gun the drug lords?
Four top police officers, and more than a hundred people, are killed over the course of a single week in drug-related shootings
The Dominican Republic: elections
8 May 2008
Two cheers for Fernández
The president heads for a third term
The Caribbean
tags: The Economist
Mexican banks
1 May 2008
Riding high
Mexico’s fast-growing banks appear unusually unaffected by the financial crisis north of the border
A tale of two Mexicos
24 April 2008
North and south
Why can’t its stagnant southern states catch up with the rest of Mexico?
The Race to find the World’s Biggest Underwater Caves
15 April 2008
In the April 2008 issue of Discover magazine, I wrote a story about two explorers, one British and one German, who are among the world’s leading cave divers, and of how they found the connection between Sac Actun and Nohoch Nah Chich, in the Yucatan peninsula, finding what was at the time the world’s biggest underwater cave.
Mexico’s energy reform
10 April 2008
Regeneration
Felipe Calderón sends a modest plan to Congress, which girds for battle
The Caribbean Economy
3 April 2008
A storm brews
Worrying about an American recession, inflation and Venezuelan aid
The Caribbean
tags: The Economist
The Return of AMLO
19 March 2008
The resurrection
The return of a former opponent adds to the president’s troubles
Guatemala and justice
19 March 2008
A test of will
A new UN body tries to fix a broken justice system
Central America
tags: The Economist
Mexico and human rights
14 February 2008
Big, expensive and weirdly spineless
A much-needed human-rights watchdog continues to disappoint