Gongol.com Archives: November 2005
Brian Gongol



Computers and the Internet (11.25.2005)
File Sharing Appears to Increase Sales for All But Top 10% of Artists

Water News (11.25.2005)
Third Day Without Water in Big Chinese City
100 tons of toxic chemicals went into the river two weeks ago; now they're without water. And yet some people would have you believe socialism's good for the environment.

Socialism Doesn't Work (11.25.2005)
Chavez Trying to Buy Love with Cheap Heating Oil for Massachusetts
The US needs to keep a sharp eye on what's happening in Latin America; it's our best hope for future security. Related: One sign the US government has no idea what it's doing with Cuba is that the plan for a post-Castro transition is 400 pages long. If it's that long, then no one has read it.

Socialism Doesn't Work (11.25.2005)
Public Broadcasting in UK Makes Criminals Out of TV Viewers
The BBC offers excellent world news coverage, but is it worth huge mandatory licensing fees and agents driving around in "detector vans"

News (11.25.2005)
British Report: Public Schools Do Terrible Job Educating Brightest Students
Huge performance gap between kids who enter public, private schools at high levels of performance -- the public-school kids end up way behind the private-school kids. Societies can't afford to ignore the performance of high-achieving students; it's from those students that innovation and enterprise later emerge.

Computers and the Internet (11.25.2005)
Who Should Fear Google?
Wired does a reality check -- eBay and CraigsList should probably be on alert, Microsoft probably has time to think about it

The American Way (11.25.2005)
Eastern European Countries Produce Further Evidence Favoring Rule of Law
Openness to trade plus the rule of law appear to be the best predictors of economic fortunes for countries escaping poverty

News (11.25.2005)
Iranian Parliament Screwing with New President
They refuse to approve his nominee for oil minister

Business and Finance (11.25.2005)
Fed May Be Ready to Back Off Monetary Tightening
About another half-point to go?

News (11.25.2005)
Video Appears to Show Chinese Woman Being Abused in Malaysian Prison
Echoes of Rodney King, but with the added punch that the police officer was wearing a Muslim headscarf while forcing the woman to strip