Brian Gongol
"The idea was to get people interested in politics, not to cater to their interests at the expense of politics."
What made "Meet the Press" work under Tim Russert. Same goes for virtually any program -- be interesting enough that people who wouldn't normally care about the subject become engaged.
Lots of rhetoric, but not a lot of follow-up
Think twice about chasing storms
They may be awe-inspiring, but they're much more dangerous than people seem to realize
Radio shownotes: Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - September 7, 2014
Football game days are a great argument for self-piloted cars
The idea of self-piloted cars has entered the public consciousness, and there are plenty of people whose knee-jerk reaction is to say, "Why would I want to let a computer drive my car?" Here's a great real-world example why: College football game days. People drive too fast, too close to one another, and drivers are often either tired (having gotten up much too early before a game) or drunk (having had too much alcohol while tailgating). A computer can be neither too tired nor too drunk to drive, and swarms of self-piloted cars can follow one another at greater speeds with smaller following distances at much higher levels of safety than human drivers. And that is just one of many reasons why we should welcome self-piloted cars.
Another big password breach
A list of five million addresses and passwords has leaked online
When does the Federal Reserve pull back on the money supply? Good question.
"I think Einstein needed somebody to talk to"
Charlie Munger on his role as right-hand man to Warren Buffett
The decay of "rich kids" on the Internet
A thoughtfully obscene rant against the flaunters
Mike Rowe doesn't have time for a mindless socialist critic
The former host of "Dirty Jobs" and advocate for skilled trades has quite the way of responding to people who think he's part of some vast right-wing conspiracy
What to call it: ISIS, ISIL, QSIL?
The clearest, most direct language would be "Al Qaeda-land", even if that's not precise. Neither are a lot of other names, but precision is a luxury in this case. They are executing a long-standing Al Qaeda plan, and the leaders come from within Al Qaeda, so it's hard to think of a reason to call it anything else. Doing so only serves to confuse a global public which ought to be galvanized against allowing a group like this to permanentize and legitimize as a state. Don't think it couldn't happen. It's imperative that we use the simple, recognizable language with which we have all become quite uncomfortably familiar since at least 2001. Renaming the threat to something more complicated or less direct doesn't make it any less serious.
LA school district puts brakes on iPads-for-all program
Besides there being something rather fishy about the bidding process, it's never been entirely clear that the program was anything much more than a stunt. When people think that "technology" will somehow be "the solution" to everything, they lose the credibility that comes from having thought through the problem systematically first. Too many organizations get buffaloed into thinking that they just need to spend more on technology of some sort, and that spending will make everything better. There has to be a compelling reason why the technology is going to help, not just a vague hope that it'll be a magic bullet.
Stupid behavior on Twitter sinks a professor's teaching job
Prostitution ring busted at Quad Cities casino
And somehow, none of the hookers look like Julia Roberts, and none of the johns look like Richard Gere.
An interesting perspective on everyone's family tree