SO MY BROTHER JUST PHONED ME FROM ATOP THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, but what was really interesting was that it was a better cell connection than I usually get when he calls from Ohio.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I’ve been traveling all over China for nearly 20 years and this has been my experience, too. I can yammer away uniterrupted for hours with someone half-way around the world as my train chugs through the Chinese countryside. Back home, I lose a call almost every time I’m on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and my own kitchen is a cellular-free zone..

That’s kind of sad.