Brian Gongol
Taliban members kill 140 people at a school in Pakistan
There's really no way to measure the kind of cowardice it takes to kill kids who are simply trying to go to school. Any political system, group, or philosophy that thinks schoolchildren -- kids simply learning to read and write and think for themselves -- isn't worthy of the 21st Century and should be wiped from the face of the earth.
Advice for personal productivity
Much of it is really good (schedule relentlessly, plan ahead, focus on your high-value work). Some of it is junk (to-do lists are valuable, no matter what the author says -- it's simply up to the individual to use them in the way that motivates them most effectively). Productivity advice is so heavily dependent upon personality factors that these kinds of prescriptive pieces have to be taken with a grain of salt.
Progress made by humanity in 2014
"Radio continues to be a useful, profitable technology"
Mother calls C-SPAN to chastise her pundit sons for arguing
US and Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations
Russian ruble in trouble
Plummeting oil prices can't be helping
Federal Reserve: Nothing to see here. Just move along, people.
They're now adopting "patience" as a policy for raising interest rates
Dallas theater will run "Team America" in place of cancelled North Korea film
Sony cancelled the release after Carmike, AMC, Cinemark, and Regal said they wouldn't show it.
Social-engineering attack targets Iowa utilities
How will Russians preserve savings as the ruble plummets?
Some may turn to crypto-currency
BlackBerry says: Bring back the tactile keyboard
And they're so doing with the new BlackBerry Classic
It turns out you don't really "burn" fat, you breathe it out
China takes a terribly short-sighted move towards purging foreign-made technology
The "elf on a shelf" is a creepy way to get your kids comfortable with living in a police state
FBI puts blame for Sony hacking directly on North Korea
President Obama's response: "We will respond proportionately and in a space, time and manner that we choose."
Russia's economic (and therefore political) situation is "extremely grave"
Says the former head of the European Central Bank
Pentagon migrates the name of ISIS/ISIL to "Daesh"
You can't fight an evil until you name it
Laptop with health records on 2,800 people stolen in Chicago
Paramount nixes showing of "Team America: World Police"
2014 was a good year for Microsoft under new CEO
Why everyone should know self-defense: Case study #15
Rahm Emanuel's son was robbed near home by two male attackers using a chokehold and their fists. If the mayor's own son isn't safe to walk down the street, who is?
Michele Bachmann leaves Congress
Farewell for now to Craig Ferguson on television
But it looks like he'll be back on the air soon...just not on the "Late Late Show". Television will be worse off without him in the meantime.
Facebook's popularity continues drooping among teenagers
Watch out for vulnerabilities in cheap holiday tablets
Show notes: WHO Radio Wise Guys - December 20, 2014