Brian Gongol
Des Moines Register endorses Mitt Romney for President
That's an unusual move for the Register, which has endorsed Democrats exclusively for the White House since the 1970s. But they're not alone: The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Omaha World-Herald, and the Quad-City Times endorsed him, too. And the Sioux City Journal. It's pretty much a run of the table among any of the major Iowa papers that have released an endorsement already.
Tech Tip: Thoughts on home network security
It could be worse...
Annoyed by political ads? Remember: Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton to death over a political feud...while Burr was in office as the third Vice President of the United States. So you might say things have gotten better.
Telephone or text: 918-2-GONGOL (+1-918-246-6465)
Live coverage of Hurricane Sandy
One thing about the storm hitting the most densely-populated part of the country: Media from Washington to New York to Boston are covering the story with non-stop updates.
Dear Socialist Workers Party: You lost the battle of ideas. Give up.
The frightening thing is the prospect that anyone takes real dyed-in-the-wool, hard-core Marxist-type socialism seriously.
People sometimes see what they want to see in news coverage
The editor of the Des Moines Register deserves credit for talking about a front page that got a lot of attention because people read a lot of different things into the same image.
Pew survey: Likely voters are exactly split between Obama and Romney
As for the actual vote, the superstorm really upended things on the East Coast.
Why it's ethical to eat the meat that got derided as "pink slime"
It's meat, just like any other. The process by which it was collected is a technological advancement that means less of each animal goes to waste. If we're going to have animal agriculture, shouldn't we be as efficient about it as we can?
Gallup survey says 20% of American workers are actively poisoning the work environment
An awful story of a pointless murder in Omaha
Two young women were shot -- and one died. And over in northeastern Iowa, a couple of bank robbers shot two police officers before they were caught.
What's the lifespan of a local landmark?
Sioux City, Iowa, has a set of concrete arches installed in 1980. They were installed to establish a local landmark, but now the site is going to be removed so Interstate 29 can be widened. So, do they try to move the arches, or just consign them to history?
Nuclear power in the UK may have new life as it dies in Japan
Hitachi is going to start managing nuclear plants in the UK
High-end state salaries in Iowa belong entirely to university employees
According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, "The first non-university employee in the state salary database – coming in at 163 – is Som Lerd, a physician supervisor for the Department of Human Services."
Vladimir Putin's new presidential ride
It's a new domestically-built (to Russia) limousine. It may come as a surprise just how many countries have domestically-built limousines for their heads of state.
The good news: American companies are managed better (on average) than companies elsewhere in the world
The bad news: Only 15% score well on objective tests of management quality
Gmail will add extra composition windows
How to create mock-engraved type
Nostalgia makes us do curious things
Like spending $110,000 to move an old house
What's with the violent crime lately?
Two men were arrested for robbing a credit union in Marshalltown, and one of them shot a police officer in the process.