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.
Mexico’s battle with drug gangs
31 January 2008
Marching as to war
Drug gangs ratchet up the violence in Mexico as judicial reform begins
Mexico and NAFTA
24 January 2008
Tariffs and tortillas
Trade is not to blame for the poverty of Mexican farmers
Pemex
19 December 2007
Running just to stand still
How to reform the flawed behemoth that is the world’s sixth-biggest oil producer
Higher education in Mexico
6 December 2007
A doctor takes charge
Big university, big scientific ambitions
Natural disasters
8 November 2007
Protecting life but not yet livelihoods
Mexico’s floods fit the pattern of this year’s hurricane season: preparedness has restricted loss of life but not economic damage
Guatemala’s elections
8 November 2007
At least there’s hope
A half-hearted mandate for Colom
Central America
tags: The Economist
The Merida Initiative
25 October 2007
Just don’t call it Plan Mexico
A controversial scheme for American aid to help its southern neighbour fight drugs looks useful but underwhelming
Nicaragua
11 October 2007
Ortega’s crab dance
History repeated as opportunism
Central America
tags: The Economist
Felipe Calderón passes some reforms
20 September 2007
Reforms at last
The president shows himself to be a successful dealmaker
Felipe Calderón’s presidency
13 September 2007
Mexico’s teetering president
Bombed pipelines and battles in Congress, but the reforms go on
Mexico and the United States
23 August 2007
Death in the desert
The impact of tighter border security
Struggling towards the north
23 August 2007
Death in the desert
The impact of tighter border security
Report from Haiti
2 August 2007
A small success for the UN
Security is improving in what was a Caribbean failed state. Poverty and policing are harder to tackle
The Caribbean
tags: The Economist
Education in Mexico
19 July 2007
“The teacher” holds back the pupils
Elba Esther Gordillo, an old-fashioned union boss, has a stranglehold over her country’s failing schools
Central America and trade
12 July 2007
Trading arguments
Costa Rica’s referendum on CAFTA
Central America
tags: The Economist
Felipe Calderón attempts energy reform
21 June 2007
Having his cake and eating it
Felipe Calderón unveils a bold fiscal reform package