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Van Dyk’s captors insisted that bin Laden is no longer in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and, for various reasons, he believes them.

Jere Van Dyk, who was imprisoned by the Taliban for 45 days, explains the historical and cultural facts that are crucial for understanding the war-torn country—and why our goals there […]

Using connections he’d made living with the Mujahideen in the 1980s, Van Dyk set out to discover the relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but ambition and deadlines pushed […]

Several times during his 45 days in captivity, Van Dyk was sure his life was about to end. Exercise, studying, and prayer helped him keep his wits.

A conversation with the journalist.

I would only build the things that I need,” says Fried. “I’m really a big proponent of building products that we’re going to use.

Always hire after you need someone, “after it hurts,” not before. When companies ramp up fast in anticipation of work to be done, it can be really hard to hire […]

When companies have a “free only” business model—thinking they’ll make money later—they’re usually betting that “there’s going to be this magic switch they can flip.”

Competition doesn’t put start-ups out of business. Rather the businesses tend to put themselves out of business by hiring the wrong people, being afraid of making money, and spending too […]

Raising money upfront puts you in the wrong frame of mind. A ventured-backed company has to spend money. A self-funded, bootstrap company has to make money.

If you really want to get creative and work on something, you need uninterrupted stretches of quiet time. Jason Fried says you need to keep the distractions out.

It’s best if people stay away from each other while they are working, because when people are all together all the time, they tend to constantly interrupt each other.

A conversation with the co-founder and president of 37signals.

The conductor’s mother is a violinist in the New York Philharmonic, but he says her presence has assumed it’s proper proportion. “I’m lucky that she’s playing really, really well, and […]

The conductor demonstrates some of the basic hand motions involved in his craft.

A conductor has to allow his face to show the character of the music. “Sometimes your face looks more serious, sometimes it looks more animated, sometimes it looks more pensive. […]

An orchestra has a momentum as it plays. Its flow can be affected and redirected, but the conductor must do it in an natural way to avoid jarring turns.

A conductor is a motivator—his main job is to “bring everybody together and to get them to cooperate.”

One of the most important skills a conductor must have is the ability to really focus. Gilbert says the confidence that comes from being well-prepared helps him get in the […]

The conductor describes what he was thinking and feeling during his first performance with the New York Philharmonic.

The conductor tries to make music as honest and natural as possible—but that doesn’t mean he keeps himself out of it. Gilbert says composers don’t necessarily know the best way […]

The idea of showing the tempo to help musicians play together is basic—but conducting so much more than that. It’s about inspiring them and making the musicians feel that there’s […]

A conversation with the music director of the New York Philharmonic.

For the International Bach Competition in Germany, the 14-year-old pianist played a fugue from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, a piece which helped her become the first American ever to win the […]

A great tower would have had a place at the World Trade Center site. But instead we’re doing a building that is “not that different from a lot of commercial […]

“Green” architecture has become so central to the making of architecture that it’s not longer a big deal.

There’s a tremendous interest in sustainability and green architecture, and a greater sense that buildings reflect their larger context.

The rise of celebrity architects has made building design part of the general cultural dialogue. People want to see more buildings that “arouse their passions, whether positively or negatively.”

Technology can sometimes create the illusion that a building can be created without a creative hand, or without a creative idea behind it. That’s not true at all, says the […]

The economic downturn has drastically cut the volume of new buildings. But the pause may “cleanse a lot of the crap out of the system.”