Brian Gongol
Putting a check on bad e-mail habits
Oil-pipeline attack in Nigeria shuts down lots of production
Nigeria is one of the top five suppliers of crude oil to the United States. So when we hear that one of the major pipelines out of the country has been attacked by a terrorist group, it should give us considerable pause to consider whether it's a smart idea to be so dependent upon such unstable parts of the world for one of our critical national needs. No country is energy-independent...but we could do a lot better at being a lot less energy-submissive.
Federal warning forthcoming on chemical dangers
Water agencies resist push to get rid of gas chlorination
New research uses math to figure out how to fight leukemia
The field of computational biology (using math to figure out how to deal with living systems) has really taken off in recent years, and one study seems to have shown that by using mathematical models, doctors can figure out exactly how much chemotherapy to apply at just what times to ensure that leukemia patients have the best-possible survival rate. Treatments can be individualized to the specific patient for maximum effectiveness. This is exactly the kind of research (and field of business) that Microsoft ought to be getting into instead of pursuing Yahoo and other online businesses. Surely there must be hundreds (or even thousands) of applications for computational approaches to better medicine that we just haven't tried yet.
Today is self-exam day
Take a minute or two and conduct some basic self-screenings for cancer. Early detection saves lives.
Ravenna gets its water system back
A very analog version of Tetris
The Tetris-shapes ice-cube tray. A much-overdue idea.
OpenOffice issues security updates
The free office-software suite is now up to version 2.4.1. The database program is still clunky, but the spreadsheet is getting close to Excel quality, and the word processor is almost equal to Word (with a few features that surpass Word's). OpenOffice is one of the top programs on the list of free programs every computer should have.
Federal funding of $2 billion released for Iowa flooding recovery
20% of Americans say they're going online once a week to do something campaign-related
That's an amazing figure, especially considering how long this campaign has gone on. One of the big problems out there is how thoughtlessly people will forward on inaccurate e-mail that simply confirms their previously-held biases rather than looking up the truth.
Why the US needs better fiscal education immediately, if not sooner
USA Today reports that credit-card companies raised limits and lending to some pretty ridiculous figures as home-equity values appeared to balloon upward. And now, many people who got deep into credit-card debt are finding that they owe lots of money and don't even have that home equity left-over to pay for it -- as though liquidating the value of one's home to pay for consumer spending was a good idea to begin with. (It's absolutely not.) The US desperately needs a better system of financial education. Total revolving debt in the US is reported to be nearly $970 billion, which is something like $3,000 per person in a country of about 300 million people.
Flooding threatens Cedar Rapids water supply
Speech is only free if people can say things that really make you mad
Which is why it's distressing that the United States may be one of the only places left in the world where First Amendment-style rights are effective. Even Canada has far less free-speech freedom than America does.
See the future: Look at Japan
Their population-growth rate has fallen faster than that of the US, so anything they're doing now to adjust to demographic trends is probably something we ought to be paying attention to. There's no doubt they'll be huge innovators in the use of robots and computers to provide elder care.
Notes from the Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - June 15, 2008
Japanese army returns to China, but by invitation this time
Sled dogs encounter polar bear: Hilarity ensues
