Gongol.com Archives: April 2007
Brian Gongol


April 10, 2007

Socialism Doesn't Work Federal budget to go positively insane over next few decades
And yet some people adhere to the notion that elections should be financed through tax dollars. As though we need to pay for one more thing we can't afford.

Humor and Good News Public transit meets Knight Rider
DC-area buses are being outfitted with back-and-forth-sweeping safety lights

Computers and the Internet Patch Tuesday: It's a big one

Weather and Disasters Coming in October: Totally different storm warnings
No more county-by-county warnings; the National Weather Service is going to issue individual warnings for individual storms, and only covering the predicted paths of destruction

The United States of America Outstanding violinist gives free concert in DC and almost no one notices
In a social experiment, that concert happened to be at a Metro station

Computers and the Internet Stay away from sites offering to "borrow" your e-mail credentials

Humor and Good News "Ultra low-rise denim bikini pants"
Just...wow

Business and Finance Dow Chemical swears it's not for sale
Despite a report to the contrary in the Sunday Express

Science and Technology Is climate change a national-security issue?
A bill before Congress would make it so. There's nothing wrong with asking the security folks to consider the possibilities. As an MIT scientist writing in Newsweek has pointed out, we have to be sure that whatever we do in reaction to the real or imagined effects of global warming should be based on ideas bigger than just the climate itself. That's why incentive prizes would be a great approach, even if they're quite annoyingly absent from most public-policy discussions. Nature is going to do strange and unpredictable things, like launching coral reefs out of the ocean with huge earthquakes, so we may never know whether policies intended to cure climate issues will do the right thing -- so we'd better be sure they have other positive effects, too.

Socialism Doesn't Work Will your commencement speaker be a prison-abolitionist former Communist?
If not, then you're not quite liberal enough for Grinnell College

Iowa Bishop of Des Moines retires

Graphics Graphic of the day: Home and Garden

News How conflict in Afghanistan creates local real-estate empires

Business and Finance The house that basketball built
Steve Alford, who's leaving as head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Iowa, has put his home on the market for $1.65 million. Warren Buffett, on the other hand, is the second-richest man in the world, and lives in a home assessed at $710,000, according to the Douglas County assessor. Buffett bought his place for $31,500. The bidding war for college coaches has gotten ridiculous.

The American Way April 9, 2007 Carnival of the Capitalists
The best item: How Social Security could be robbing you of $1 million or more. The need for compulsory private retirement savings accounts is addressed in Ten Big Answers You Won't Get from a Politician.

Computers and the Internet Google is testing telephone 411 service

Water News Head of corn growers' association says ethanol doesn't threaten food supplies

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