Brian Gongol




Video mixes Apple's "1984" ad with a distinctly anti-Hillary Clinton tone -- and then plugs Barack Obama's candidacy. It's probably an overstatement to suggest that Teddy wouldn't have put up with this sort of thing -- after all, political cartoons could be pretty savage in his day -- but there's something missing from the nyah-nyah of this unbelievably long run-up to the 2008 election. For all the attention being paid to first impressions of the candidates, little is being paid to what the platforms of the 2008 Presidential candidates really are.



The Iranian government is cracking down on political opposition -- by means including mass arrests of people protesting for better teacher pay. The Iranian people aren't the problem; their government is. The US needs to step up its broadcast services to places like Iran immediately to capitalize upon the need the people there have for news and moral support.

Wants an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. That's easy for him to say; he'll probably be dead by then. The EU is already considering a 20% cut by 2020. But too few policymakers seem to be aware of the alternative: Incentive prizes aimed at finding better ways of using energy without crushing the economy.

Johns Hopkins researchers have genetically engineered a type of mosquito that's malaria-resistant and hardier than regular mosquitoes. The thought goes that if these mosquitoes can push out the regular type, then fewer people might catch malaria and die.


For some Earthlink customers, nothing: That is, the company didn't tell them what was up

Who knew? "Wake Up with Whoopi" apparently does well in the ratings in the few markets in which it airs. Her IMDB biography is full of colorful nuggets, including the obvious but always-overlooked fact she doesn't have eyebrows.

And given the international reach of the Web, will they do any good? Will there be unintended consequences if the "Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass" Act goes through Congress?

Automatic scripts being used by fake sites to dump spyware and other junk computer code onto unsuspecting visitors