Gongol.com Archives: October 2005
Brian Gongol



Computers and the Internet (10.14.2005)
Spat Between ISPs Leaves Customers With Incomplete Internet Access

Computers and the Internet (10.14.2005)
Does Knowledge Transfer to the Public Have Anything To Do with Tenure?
Daniel Drezner teaches at the University of Chicago, and was recently denied tenure. But the fact he maintains a website has drawn more attention to that fact than it would for most college instructors. While there's no particular reason to believe the site itself had anything to do with the choice, it does highlight questions about the importance of knowledge transfer between universities and the private sector.

Broadcasting (10.14.2005)
Ridiculous Questions Masquerading as News
Segment on "Is God mad at us?" on CBS questions whether recent natural disasters are a sign of divine irritation. Bill Nye, like a sane human being, suggested that when we concentrate lots of population near coasts, then we should expect a sort of observation bias in the amount of disaster we perceive on the coasts.

Aviation News (10.14.2005)
What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas
...Unless you get really upset and punch out the interior portion of the window on your airliner. That could be worth 20 years in the Federal pen.

Computers and the Internet (10.14.2005)
Bill Gates Lectures College Students; Uses Chalkboard Instead of PowerPoint
It's been documented that PowerPoint is a lousy thinking tool (from PrimeMinister.ca)

Health (10.14.2005)
WHO Chief: Better to Exaggerate Bird Flu Threat than Be Sorry
The little-boy-crying-wolf approach can work for a handful of instances, but the long-run damage to credibility could be huge. Is the present threat (probability times magnitude) of a pandemic so much greater than any other biological threat that it's worth the chance of lost credibility? (from PrimeMinister.ca)