Gongol.com Archives: 2014 Weekly Archives
Brian Gongol



Business and Finance Quantitative analysis won't solve everything
It's really only of late that we as a species have figured out how to crunch numbers in a really big way, and that's causing quantitative analysis to come into its own as a tool for decision-making. Just like anything involving humans, maturity with this tool involves synthesis and well-roundedness. Know your weaknesses and compensate for them. Understand how quantitative analysis can help, and know the boundaries of its usefulness. Know your own strengths and enhance them, using quantitative analysis as an aid, not a substitute.

Computers and the Internet Jelly: The new social network designed to network your other social networks

Threats and Hazards Now you know the playbook for goverment's efforts to hide information from the public
Either our government agencies and departments are (and should be) transparent, or they are not. And if they should be, then manipulative and sneaky behavior by bureaucrats should not be tolerated. The taxpayers, after all, should be the boss.

Computers and the Internet Recognizing people in the reflections of others' eyes
Now possible thanks to ever-improving digital photograph resolution

Business and Finance When innocuous comments on Twitter evolve into advertising




Computers and the Internet AT&T is expanding 4G service in Iowa
Data service is clearly racing far ahead of voice quality in the list of attributes demanded by customers

Threats and Hazards A total system failure
If terrible things happen (like the release of an inmate into society, who subsequently goes on a murder spree), then someone needs to take a serious look at the system that created the awful result. There's no excuse for not fixing the system now.

Computers and the Internet Unfortunately, many of your worst fears about cyberstalking aren't even as bad as reality
Greater access means greater potential for mischief

Aviation News Progress visualized
How far one could travel in a day, by year

Aviation News Ah, flying: Such unmet potential for glamour.



Science and Technology Ford exec suggests that the automakers track your driving
Then he tried to take it back

Broadcasting Basement renovation in a Star Trek style
Nuts but strangely impressive

Weather and Disasters Should rain storms have something like a Richter scale?
It's a compelling idea. Saying that something is a "once-in-100-year" storm doesn't really tell us how severe the impact will really be. It just makes it sound like a rarity, and one for which preparation is not really necessary. Converting to a report on the severity of the storm would actually offer useful information.

Iowa The Iowa State Fair won't end up being cashless after all
If people knew how dirty their cash really is, they'd welcome a change to clean, unused tickets with open arms.

News Democracy or stability in Egypt: The pro-democracy case

Business and Finance Generally: The fewer words in your title, the more impressive it is



Threats and Hazards Target says it wasn't just credit-card numbers that got stolen


Weather and Disasters America's coldest large cities
The list is arbitrary, but gives some towns a set of dubious bragging rights

Computers and the Internet If your carmaker (or the car itself) collects data on your driving habits, who can have it?


Computers and the Internet Barnes and Noble sees Nook sales drop 66%
The competition among other e-readers (mainly the Kindle) is too fierce, and prices for full-featured tablets have fallen too much for the Nook to have much staying power

Computers and the Internet Google nudges Google Plus into an open-messaging service




Broadcasting Show notes: WHO Radio Wise Guys - January 11, 2014
The show is broadcast live on 1040 WHO Radio in Des Moines and can be streamed or replayed on iHeartRadio.

Business and Finance Reminder: Social Security and Medicare cost 15.3% of your salary/wage income
Yet they're still badly underfunded. Something's being done very badly.

Business and Finance Why investors should be taking action over executive compensation
CEO pay is going up, and it's completely uncoupled from performance for investors

Agriculture Farmers plan a big shift from corn to soybeans this year
The invisible hand is making the push: Corn prices are way down, but beans haven't fallen as much

Broadcasting Watch an interviewer ruin a perfectly excellent interview
(Video - note strong language) Charlie Brooker is a very smart and very interesting guy. But he is positively smothered in a 2012 interview in Edinburgh. Watch that interviewer ruin the opportunity to let him freely say interesting things, then watch any old episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He's clearly capable of handling an entire monologue all by himself. But he's sufficiently confident in himself that he doesn't need to step all over his companions. The difference between the two styles is like night and day, and should be mandatory viewing for anyone who interviews anyone else (ever).

Broadcasting Jay Leno on CNN?
One can see why the rumor would gain traction -- Leno probably wants something to do upon retiring from the Tonight Show (again), and CNN is looking for some kind of magnet for viewers. But what a dull and uninspired proposal. Leno's humor depends upon a sort of bland condescension that isn't far from Piers Morgan's openly hostile condescension. But it's nothing really original or attractive.