Gongol.com Archives: 2008 Weekly Archives
Brian Gongol


Show notes from the WHO Radio Wise Guys - February 2, 2008

As Kansas threatens Nebraska over water rights, it warms up to Colorado




A Southerner won't be President
Now that John Edwards has dropped out of the Presidential race, it's virtually certain that the next President will not be a Southerner. That fact doesn't yet seem to have made its way into the public consciousness yet, but after eight years of Bush and eight years of Clinton, it'll be a significant change in at least a couple of ways (not least of which is the accent we'll hear in the news more often than any other). It was also interesting to see just how quickly the Giuliani campaign imploded. And, not that it was noted, but Dennis Kucinich is officially out, too. An interesting piece of news: Paul Volcker has endorsed Barack Obama. Surprising, at least, because Volcker was an inflation hawk as chairman of the Federal Reserve -- which is exactly the right thing to be -- but Obama hasn't shown much seriousness about managing the nation's finances responsibly. Reviewing the economic platforms of the remaining Presidential candidates, Sen. Obama has opposed Social Security reform, voted against expanded free trade, and promoted expanded spending on Medicare. Larry Kudlow also thinks it's a strange endorsement. Mike Gravel, by the way, swears he's still running for the Democratic nomination.

Sioux City may extend its storm sewer fees

The world in 2018
As far out and space-agey as 2018 sounds, it's now as close as 1998 is in the rear-view mirror. Besides, the past and the future intertwine in all kinds of unexpected ways. Who'd have thought that Gorbachev would be back in Russian politics?

Growing sorghum market rides ethanol coattails
Sorghum is a much better dry-weather crop than corn, which means that if it can become a more popular input for ethanol production, it might ease the pressures on clean water supplies by reducing the need for irrigation. Related: Canola harvests are growing, too, as it's being used to produce biodiesel. Like sorghum, canola is more drought-tolerant than corn and thus needs less irrigation. Given some of the spooky scenarios foreseen by some scientists, anything we can do to back off the need for irrigation might serve us well in the long run.

Correction for Firefox security flaw is due on February 5th


Baconizing America, one salt shaker at a time
A stunt to tease attendees at a Jewish wedding turns into a business to produce bacon-flavored salt

Microsoft wants to buy out Yahoo
Offer involves $44.6 billion in cash and stock, and is more than 60% over the market value of the company right now. That's pretty impressive. Would it be enough for the combined company to dislodge Google from its front-runner status as an online destination? That's yet to be seen. The only certainty is that a lot has changed since Google first emerged ten years ago, and that nothing is likely to look the same in another ten.



Despite high prices, now isn't a good time to be in the oil business
Shell, for instance, is dealing with security problems, hostile governments, and lower production

Russia won't allow much oversight of upcoming elections
And, given the pattern of electoral abuse the ruling parties have been up to of late, that's not reassuring. Russia is getting a lot of cash out of oil and gas sales right now, and some of that is being used to show off its military strength.

It's soooo cold
Overnight temperatures in the Midwest have been dropping to 30 and 40 degrees below zero

RAND report: Climate change will disrupt California's water
And the report goes on to say that most of those involved in the process haven't paid attention to the change and need to

Blue eyes have only been around for about 10,000 years

Half-million travelers stranded by train delays in just one city in China
Winter weather is so bad there that 20,000 cars are stuck on just one expressway. People are trying to get home for the Chinese new year, and that's compounding other problems, including food shortages.

Need for new water mains becomes obvious in Omaha



Graphic of the day: So Cold

58% of the public now agrees with economic isolationists
That's very, very unfortunate. Trade begets efficiency, and efficiency begets improvements in the quality of life. That there are stumbling blocks associated with trade is no more a reason to abandon it than the fact that there are stumbling blocks associated with new technology. You learn to adapt to those stumbling blocks, because the benefits that accrue outweigh the losses.

Researchers find switch that tells neural stem cells when to grow and when to stop
It looks like that may help them figure out how to combat the effects of diseases like Alzheimer's

Big banks continue multi-billion-dollar accounting adjustments

More evidence that vaccines don't cause mercury poisoning
A scare has been in place for some time, suggesting that the mercury found in some vaccines lodges itself in infants and causes autism. It looks, though, like the type of mercury used in some vaccination shots is actually expelled from a baby's body faster than the kind of mercury contained in fish, for example.

25% chance of a satellite hit between now and March
A defunct spy satellite has lost power and is slowly returning to Earth. It's bringing 9,000 kg (about 20,000 lbs) of metal with it.

Power rocks absolutely

Stick figure fights back
(Video) Clever animation of a stick figure fighting a desktop cursor

Cost to reduce phosphorus runoff in Iowa: $1 billion



ExxonMobil gets behind an electric car
It's to be built through a Canadian company called Electrovaya. Top speed: 35 miles per hour.

Army War College releases study on Pakistan's nuclear weapons
There's still a great deal of concern over the fact that an unstable government with a history of military coups has nuclear weapons, a big population, and an ongoing rivalry with neighboring India

Only using 10% of your brain? That's an urban legend.
The simple proof: If we only used 10%, then we should expect that most traumatic brain injuries would do little or no harm. But that's quite obviously not the case. Interestingly, some think that we will be able to put our entire brains on computers within 50 years. If it sounds impossible, consider that Heath Ledger will appear in a new film, even though he's dead, thanks to CG.

They may be huddled due to cold, but these are some cute macaques
China is dealing with a set of winter storms that have affected 80 million people, if one can imagine that.

Fire in Maquoketa took every drop the water plant could produce



"Private" photos on SmugMug aren't so private
It appears that even those photos marked "private" may not actually be private unless they have a password attached. That may come as a surprise to those who have used the photo-sharing website for shots they didn't want the whole world to see. It's just another reason to remember that anything that finds its way onto the Internet ought to be considered visible to everyone, whether you like it or not.

Kansas water boss reiterates plans to sue Nebraska



Notes from the Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - January 27, 2008

Big kidney-trafficking scheme busted in India
Bioengineered replacement organs can't come quickly enough

Labor minister in Bahrain says Asian workers are "a danger worse than the atomic bomb or an Israeli attack"
Estimates there are 17 million foreign workers in the Gulf region, mostly from other parts of Asia

Reconstructing the Stasi's secret files
When East Germany fell apart, the Stasi tore many of their records to shreds -- often by hand. Computer imaging technology is allowing people to reconstruct those pieces of paper and figure out just what the secret police knew about them. Score one for technology.