Gongol.com Archives: June 2007
Brian Gongol


June 27, 2007

News Australian census shows big increase in average incomes over ten years
It also says that 40% of people living in Australia are either immigrants or the children of immigrants. Note to American nativists: That's much higher than the 22% of people in the US who are immigrants or who have at least one foreign-born parent. And yet Australia isn't falling to pieces by any means.

Humor and Good News Pickpocket targets 72-year-old former Marine boxer. Bad decision.
The 72-year-old won. The 27-year-old gets a trip to the jail, after his trip to the hospital. The surveillance video of the incident ought to be used in "scared straight" classes.

Computers and the Internet Terrorists are using cell-phone forwards to surreptitiously distribute messages
By encrypting messages in photos of actresses, for instance, they're able to get normal people to unwittingly pass along their data

Weather and Disasters Aerial survey of tornado damage in Cumming and Norwalk
Storms on June 22nd dropped an F1 tornado and an F2 tornado on the southern Des Moines metro area

Business and Finance $300,000 will buy a lot of copies of "The Intelligent Investor"
An eBay auction for a "power lunch" with Warren Buffett is now at $300,100, with two days left to bid. While there's no doubt that Warren Buffett is an interesting guy who certainly has plenty to say about money, those $300,000 will buy 84 "B"-class shares of Berkshire Hathaway, with enough money left over for at least a couple of copies of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham -- the man who taught Buffett value investing in the first place.

Graphics Graphic of the day: Bursting Through

News Tony Blair retires and Gordon Brown takes over in UK
And yet, even in 2007, the new Prime Minister has to say, "I have just accepted the invitation of Her Majesty the Queen to form a Government." Monarchies just don't make sense.

Socialism Doesn't Work Gasoline is now being rationed in Iran
Even though it's the #2 oil producer in OPEC, Iran can't refine enough gasoline to keep up with demand. Some Iranians have responded by burning gas stations, which seems like a seriously dangerous way to indicate one's displeasure. Since the people only got two hours' notice, there were lines at the gas stations with everyone trying to get their allotment as quickly as possible. In almost all cases, rationing is an especially awful way to deal with shortages. Better to let prices adjust to reflect the imbalance between supply and demand.

Iowa Vilsack's new job: Spend $50 million to get candidates to talk about education
The project is being funded by the Gates Foundation

News India and Thailand will expand defense cooperation and ink bilateral free-trade agreement

News Avoid driving in South Australia
Cops there have been told to pull over 20 more drivers each year. Naturally, the government says it's about safety. Also naturally, the opposition party says it's about money. South Australia is significantly below Australia's national average income.

Health Iowa has the fastest ER care in the nation
Related: Paramedics in Calgary are going on strike because they say they're being overworked.

Business and Finance Jack Bogle predicts long-term returns of 7% in equity markets

Water News Health advisory posted for Beed's Lake

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