Brian Gongol
![Threats and Hazards](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/threats.png)
The pirates are from Somalia, which has completely fallen to pieces as a nation-state and has no real central government at this time. The loss of a single oil tanker isn't enough to make world oil prices go wobbly all over again -- but if it becomes apparent that the security of any oil tanker can be threatened by high-seas thugs with guns, that's going to make maritime shipping a more dangerous and more costly endeavor than it ought to be. While there's legitimate reason to look out for the potential for terrorists and others to use high-tech tools to cause trouble, piracy is just old-fashioned crime. The US dealt with it in Thomas Jefferson's day by fighting back -- but one significant difference between then and now is that Jefferson had a nation-state to threaten. Somalia has no such central power, and yet has more people than Sweden.
![The United States of America](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/usa.png)
"We've had nearly three decades to educate the electorate about freedom, responsibility, and the evils of collectivism, and we responded by creating a big-city-public-school-system of a learning environment."
![Water News](http://gongol.com/assets/icons/2005icons/water.png)
The Los Angeles Fire Department deserves credit for using lots of relatively-new tools to help inform the public: They have a weblog, a Twitter feed, and a YouTube channel.