Diners can't do without smartphones, so restaurants are (mostly) tapping into the spirit

LOS ANGELES -- Ding. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That's the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cell phones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, smartphones now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via small glowing screens.

Table text: Restaurants versus smartphones

Diners can't do without their smartphones, so restaurants are (mostly) tapping into the spirit.

Indonesian pilots' drug lifestyles worrying

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - Yet another arrest of a pilot, this time from Lion Air, over the alleged use of crystal methamphetamine late last week has raised concerns over the safety of Indonesia's airline industry, with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) suggesting that a large number of pilots could have drug problems.

Table text: Diners can’t do without their smartphones, so restaurants are (mostly) tapping into the spirit

DING. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That’s the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cell phones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, smartphones now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via small glowing screens. Like an analog world-munching Pac-Man, the modern smartphone has morphed into instant ...

Indonesian pilotsâ drug lifestyles worrying

Yet another arrest of a pilot, this time from Lion Air, over the alleged use of crystal methamphetamine late last week has raised concerns over the safety of Indonesiaâs airline industry, with the N .....

The story of a 104-year-old life: ‘Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind,’ reviewed by Michael Dirda

Just before World War I, Jacques Barzun — roughly rhymes with “parson” — used to play marbles with the great French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. When, in 1920, Barzun’s parents decided to emigrate to America, their 12-year-old son began to improve his elementary English by reading Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” and by carrying a pocket dictionary with him wherever he went. Seven ...

Friday the 13th: the superstitions and the skeptics

If the mere thought of leaving the house this Friday the 13th has you spooked, you're not alone. Associating the date with bad luck has deep historical roots, which is not to say there aren't plenty of people who consider the superstition pure bunk.