Brian Gongol
Police to public: Please don't report crimes on Facebook. Pick up the phone and call us.
It seems like a ridiculous request to have to place, but it may simply be necessary in the future for police and other emergency agencies to acknowledge that people are going to use whatever tools they want in order to reach them. For now, it's certainly reasonable to expect people to pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1...but in the not-so-distant future, they're going to have to become more like private-sector businesses that have to take customer inquiries in whatever form they're submitted -- phone, fax, e-mail, text message, tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn requests, and so on. There was a time when the police had to adapt to using phones in the first place; we need to act quickly to make sure our public agencies are properly equipped to take reports in whatever form they are submitted tomorrow. (Meantime, the public needs to learn which systems are considered "five-nines" reliable for submitting emergency information, and which are not. Hint: Only the phone makes it to five nines.)
UN says a million Syrian children are now refugees
That's greater than the entire population of South Dakota.
Children around the world with their most-prized possessions
An interesting dip in the sociological pool
Gov. Branstad rejects two bids from INS to buy the ICN
The ICN (Iowa Communications Network) is a statewide fiber-optic network, and the state wants to sell it -- but not at the prices offered.
Verizon Communications may pay $130 billion for 45% of Verizon Wireless
That 45% is currently owned by Vodafone
Extraordinary means of repression in North Korea
Being an ex-lover of the dictator apparently earns one the death penalty
Syrian groups claim responsibility for crashing parts of New York Times and Twitter
