Brian Gongol
How the iPod can help radio -- instead of hurting it
The Declaration of Independence
A worthwhile read for Independence Day
100 years ago, power companies built beautiful generating plants
"Biofuels are the single largest source of fuel growth in non-OPEC nations"
So says a new report on energy. But it also notes that there's no way that biofuels (as currently being produced) can make up for the new demand expected over the next few years. Overall energy demand keeps rising faster than most of our new ways to supply it.
Plug-and-play radio -- literally
People are slow to make the transition to digital radio broadcasts in a lot of places, so the BBC commissioned a company to come up with a digital radio receiver that looks like a bunch of Lego parts that snap together, with different modules for different users and different needs
Omaha MUD wants state to remove sales tax on tap water
Mechanic for Continental Airlines to stand trial over Concorde crash eight years ago
Viacom sues to get list of every video viewed on YouTube ever...and wins
A Federal court in New York has shown blistering disregard for privacy by telling Google to turn over the records -- which include the IP address of the user viewing each video -- to Viacom, which claims its programming has been hosted illegally on YouTube. Good luck keeping that data from reaching the public.
A catalog of most (if not all) wars since about 1800
The Chinese government apparently thinks that future wars will be fought with flamethrowers and Segways. Or maybe that's just how they intend to disrupt political protests.
HP markets "simplified" computer to the elderly
Mozilla wants everybody to upgrade to Firefox 3
They'll be ending support for Firefox version 2 in December. People still using Internet Explorer version 6 ought to upgrade to version 7 to avoid a security hole in the older version. Meanwhile, the Windows version of Apple's Safari browser has been updated to take care of its own major security hole. It may be a little early to upgrade to Firefox 3, but they have issued a security update for Firefox 2 that it would be very wise to get.
The massive anti-quake ball that keeps Taipei 101 from falling over
Someone actually took video of the massive motion-dampening system that's designed to keep the enormous tower from moving too much in the wind or in case of an earthquake -- like the one that happened recently, which the video records.
Burlington faces expensive flood-cleanup bill
EconDirectory update for July 2, 2008
More than 300 websites devoted to business and economics, most updated weekly or daily
Lots of North Platte removed from flood zones
Rosie Jetson becomes a professor
A commissioned report on the future suggests that robots, artificial intelligence, and other forms of computing will take up the task of training and educating us in much of what we now view as down time. Some of that will take time. But technology is already turning our conventional expectations of education upside-down. Take, for instance, the fact that you can view more than 2,000 lectures from the Indian Institute of Technology for free on YouTube, or that you can take 1,800 non-credit courses for free over the Internet from MIT. Progress is already being made at a rapid clip in this field, but it is far from certain that every community will use it equally well. States like Iowa, which have low population density but excellent public universities and good Internet access available across much of the state, ought to be right in front of this educational parade of the future, offering low- or no-cost opportunities to their taxpayers to gain accredited degrees from home. After all, the text message revolution has arrived for people in their 30s and 40s, so it's not as though we're a nation of technophobes.
Creepy Google cameras have done a lot of traveling lately
A quick look at the Google "Street View" maps shows that they've been taking pictures of lots and lots of places lately. Related: Google Health is now a public tool.
Water pollution could dampen the Olympics
We've forgotten everything about pre-9/11 air travel
An argument about whether shoulder straps on airline passenger seats make sense leads to a question about why the window shades on a plane have to remain open during takeoff and landing. One response cites the need for passengers to remain oriented in case of a crash. But we seem to forget that the hijackers of the pre-9/11 era used windowshades to control passengers' ability to see what was going on outside (and, presumably, to signal rescuers). It's as though we have completely forgotten how things used to be. That's unfortunate, since we ought to remember why we do things -- lest we do them for no good reason at all.
Jay Leno raises $100,000 in one night for Iowa flood victims
Democratic convention planning nightmares: Hilarious or foreboding?
Counting up all of the voluntary self-regulations -- from biodegradable balloons to multi-colored foods to hand-sorted trash to impossible-to-find organic domestic-union-made baseball caps, organizers for the upcoming Democratic National Convention are finding a big gap between good intentions and reality. On the surface, it's kind of funny. But then when you dig deeper, and find that some attendees are upset that the Republican-affiliated Coors Brewing Co. will be helping with the bioenergy production. Good intentions -- like having an efficient, air-and-water-friendly convention -- are a fine thing. But the number of self-imposed rules and regulations, many internally contradictory or just plain wildly inefficient, may give the rest of the public some idea of how an over-eager batch of people might want everyone else to behave, and how they might impose their will via legislation if given a free hand to do so. It would all seem different if they were setting up rewards for good behavior -- like charging $1 extra for every plastic cup used, redeemable upon its return. But instead, they're going to hire hundreds of garbage monitors.
Show notes from the Brian Gongol Show - June 29, 2008
China has more cell-phone subscribers than we have people. Your cell phone could be giving you a stroke. Bill Gates quits his day job. And lots more.
Even open computing offends totalitarian governments
Reports suggest that the Chinese government is blocking access to a website that offers access to free, open-source computer programs. It may very well be due to some programs appearing on the site that encourage people to get around the government's Internet restrictions. But it should be a reminder that totalitarianism is alive and well -- and that it is distinctly threatened by technology.
Dot-com boom may become the dot-whatever-we-want boom
The organization that determines what domain names can be has decided that .com, .org, and .net (and their international relatives) aren't enough, and they're going to start offering brand-new top-level domains (that is, the stuff following the dot) for $150,000 and up. Doubtful that it'll go far: Most people are comfortable with the existing three and don't want to try remembering anything else -- just like (800) numbers have a lot of toll-free brethren like (888) and (866), none of which have the same memorability of good old (800).
New theory of humor: Your brain is rewarding novel associations
In other words, when you observe a pattern with a surprising result, the brain rewards you with a good feeling for acknowledging it. Thus, evolution produces people who feel good when they figure out new things. That, over time, ought to produce better human beings.
Cholera outbreak in Vietnam: At least 600 cases since March
The World Health Organization is blaming the outbreak on poor sanitation, which is one of the biggest and most persistent problems in poor but fast-growing countries like Vietnam -- which, as few Americans probably realize, is the 13th most-populated country in the world.
You may be better off taking many guesses than just one
Half of Chinese now have cell phones
The effects in the long run could be dramatic. Cell phones with text messaging and Internet access can only, over the long term, enable revolt -- should the people want it. Related: The spread of cell phones (and the way people use them) could be leading to more strokes.
Lots of apparently-healthy people in middle age have unknowingly had minor strokes
Britain's creeping surveillance state
Police-monitored closed-circuit TV cameras everywhere, used -- and abused -- for purposes beyond the nominal crime-fighting uses, even when a study shows that better street lighting is seven times more effective than cameras?
A brief profile of Charlie Crist
The governor of Florida is one of the people talked about as a potential vice-presidential candidate for John McCain
A history of the future of women