Writer

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld

Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld has spent his working life being handed things he did not yet understand. He started at the bottom, a developer in a bullpen, and worked his way up to running IT. The places were a strange assortment: consulting firms, accounting firms, a biotech startup, a tech startup in Silicon Valley and, of all places, Chiquita. Four small businesses of his own along the way. The work never really changed. Get into something unfamiliar, find out what is actually going on, and help someone make a hard decision with it. HeadLines Decoded is that job, pointed at the news.

Selected work

A blank paper invoice on a worn wooden desk with a heavy red PAST DUE stamp across it and a brass desk globe behind it in raking afternoon light

Politics The Day the Planet’s Invoice Came Due The date landed six days later than last year. Almost all of that came out of a spreadsheet, and the… 31 Jul 2026

Two blurred cards side by side in a navy folio with brass scales on a chamber desk, illustrating the SAVE Act married-name mismatch.

Series Parts The SAVE Act, Part 4: The Married-Name Problem Sixty-nine million women changed their surname when they married. Their birth certificates did not, and the bill has no answer… 31 Jul 2026

Title card for the article: Disneyland After Dark: A Few Hours at the Original

Series Parts Disneyland After Dark: A Few Hours at the Original The park Walt actually walked. What the original gives you after sunset that the newer ones cannot. 31 Jul 2026

Editorial illustration of a lone worker with an ID lanyard walking toward an office building at dawn as a family watches from a warmly lit doorway

Lifestyle The Quiet Return of the 9-to-5 Hybrid is still the word on the careers page. The week underneath it has quietly become earlier, longer, and less… 30 Jul 2026

A blurred engrossed page under a brass magnifying glass in a navy folio on a chamber desk, illustrating scrutiny of a certified birth certificate.

Series Parts The SAVE Act, Part 3: Certified Birth Certificates The document the whole bill turns on. What a certified birth certificate is, what it costs, and how long it… 30 Jul 2026

Title card for the article: Magic Kingdom After Dark: The Case for a Few Hours

Series Parts Magic Kingdom After Dark: The Case for a Few Hours You do not need the whole exhausting day. Come at five, stay through the fireworks, and the flagship gives you… 30 Jul 2026

A navy bill folio with a blurred page, a passport-style booklet and a card on a chamber desk, illustrating the SAVE Act document rules.

Series Parts The SAVE Act, Part 2: The Documentary Proof Requirement Your driver's license probably will not do it. Which documents count as proof of citizenship, and who does not have… 29 Jul 2026

A navy enrolled-bill folio, brass scales of justice and a blurred engrossed page on a chamber desk, illustrating the SAVE Act.

Series Parts The SAVE Act, Part 1: What It Actually Is A bill about proving you are who you say you are. What the SAVE Act would actually require, before anyone… 28 Jul 2026

A person wearing IXI autofocus glasses that look like ordinary eyewear

Health Autofocus Glasses Are Coming: How Close Are We to Replacing Fixed Prescriptions? Glasses that refocus as your eyes do, in a frame that looks ordinary. How close IXI and ViXion actually are… 27 Jul 2026

A split scene of a glowing laboratory and a lone figure walking at dawn, joined by a ribbon of light.

Series Parts Decode Your Wellbeing: What a Week Inside the Longevity Boom Adds Up To A week inside the longevity boom, and a strategy for living in it without becoming either a mark or a… 27 Jul 2026