Brian Gongol
Show notes from the WHO Radio Wise Guys - March 1, 2008
Schwarzenegger wants to keep kids in school by driving his tank around
When technology fails, call Robin Williams
The comedian stepped up and performed about ten minutes of improv when a telecommunications glitch halted a talk at the TED conference
Governors want a second economic-stimulus package to pay for infrastructure
Was Ronald McDonald just disgruntled?
Futurist predicts few people will work in offices in 20 years
Ian Pearson thinks telecommunication will have improved so much by then that many people will opt to work from home and let robots and computers do a lot of today's office busy work
"Garfield" without the title character is often funnier
A bunch of cartoonists find it funny, too. For instance, an examination of Jon's pants takes on a totally different life without the feline commentary. Sometimes subtraction is even more interesting than addition -- as when shadows become part of a story
Environmental groups plan big push on Congress
Expect riots in the streets if they try to rename Wrigley Field
Sam Zell, who led the buyout of the Tribune Company (which owns the Cubs and the Friendly Confines) wants the Wrigley Co. to ante up for naming rights to the field. So far, the company hasn't announced plans to do so, but one can only imagine how upset Cubs fans would be if someone tried to rename the field. It's had the name since 1926. when the Wrigley family owned the team. One sportswriter says any naming rights would be moot, anyway. The Wrigley Field sign has to remain up no matter what.f
Consulting firm says it's designing a 5,000-foot-tall building
It's supposed to be twice as tall as the Burj Dubai, which is speeding towards becoming the world's tallest building -- even though no one outside the project knows how tall it's supposed to be when it's finished
What you need to know about Vladimir Putin, right now
Excellent 21-minute segment from "Frontline" this week highlights the political climate in Russia -- and it's unsettling
Who would rather a prop plane to a B1?
An online survey over which should feature on the cover of the April "Air and Space Smithsonian" magazine has a single-engine propeller plane in the lead over the B1 bomber
"Baby Got Back," Gilbert and Sullivan style
(Video) Homo sapiens has been evolving for 195,000 years, and this is the pinnacle?
Interstate fight breaks out over borders and water
Hullo, zeeba neighba...
The crocodile accent in Pearls Before Swine is supposed to be a mix of Russian and Tarzan
The next generation of kids won't understand "Shake it like a Polaroid picture"
Polaroid is ceasing production on instant film. Not that they can be blamed; who uses it anymore? But the nostalgia impact will be significant.
Income inequality doesn't tell the whole story
Trade and technology are improving living standards for just about everybody
UNI student government campaign goes up about 20 notches
One ticket for NISG president and veep has purchased billboards and cable TV ads
It's not just peak oil we should be thinking about
One portfolio manager thinks a whole bunch of commodities -- especially metals -- may be on the verge of becoming unaffordable for nearly any purpose
Should intellectual property be property-taxed?
Could be an interesting way of dealing with the now-thoroughly-messed-up and far-too-long copyright terms recently installed by an idiotic government in Washington. It would be better to just get back to basics and return to shorter copyright terms, but if they're not going to do that, perhaps other back-door means of letting things drift into the public domain should be pursued.
Ultra-Catholic Ireland will lose two thirds of its priests within 20 years
What the YouTube outage tells us about Internet vulnerability
First, it's a reminder that many governments still try to keep people from seeing the things they want to see, and that's a fundamental violation of personal liberty. The government of Pakistan apparently found a YouTube video offensive and tried to block it for political reasons. Second, the fact that they not only screwed up their own domestic access to the website, but also that of everyone around the world, should tell us that the Internet is more vulnerable than we should like.
Evita as a map
Free trade shouldn't be used as a political weapon
The Democratic political candidates' promises to use free trade as a point of leverage against Mexico and Canada just isn't smart. Free trade is ultimately a good thing because it allows us to specialize, which in turn allows us to get more of what we need and want with less effort. It shouldn't be used as a means of menacing our neighbors.
Cloud vortices from space
USAF says it's not changing policy, even if Russia is screwing around with bombers
But the Air Force Chief of Staff says he thinks Russia might be posturing because it knows the US has been having problems with the F-15
Florida power outage: A reminder of the need for backup power
Google's chief economist answers some questions from the masses
The first question he answered -- about Google's energy strategy -- came from a familiar source
It may be impossible to watch the universe forever
The US needs a new public-diplomacy strategy
But it sounds like most of the people in power want to go in the wrong direction, focusing on public diplomacy as an advertising strategy rather than as a way of telling the truth and letting people see the value of our way of life
What's the new NYC taxi going to look like?
Nobody knows quite yet -- but given new requirements, like the one that will force all taxis in Gotham to be hybrids by 2012, there's lots of room for improvement
Who looks to the future today?
A small selection of promotional artworks from the 1960s on behalf of US Steel serves to highlight just how much effort was once put into selling the future as a concept of goodness in its own right -- and to highlight how little of that is done today. Life is many times better today than in the 1960s -- so why isn't anyone telling us just how wonderful the 2040s are going to be?
Student government at New Jersey university cuts off funding for student newspaper
The incident came about because the paper hired an attorney to look into the student government's use of closed-door meetings. The incident goes to reinforce a couple of long-standing observations: First, independence comes from ownership. Second, it doesn't take a lot of money or a lot of power to turn people with power into small-scale totalitarians in their own right. Related: Media impressions still matter, a lot. Rants on the radio appear to have worsened ethnic conflict in Kenya lately.
It's possible to win by too wide a margin
Vladimir Putin's hand-picked nominee to become the next president of Russia is hoping to get enough votes to win (which he almost certainly will), but if he wins by too much, it'll certainly look suspicious
"Corporate social responsibility" gone awry
BBC show hosts a roundtable discussion on corporate social responsibility. One guest rationally and intelligently defends the free market, while two others jump on him like rabid hyenas.
The vegan strip club
Absolutely hilarious real-world television news story
Age yourself
Online computer age-progression service lets you see what you'd look like older -- or as a different race. Seems to work best under Internet Explorer.
Russian government intimidation of US, German broadcasters hurts freedom
Notes from the Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - February 24, 2008