Oh, no: Flooding prospects look even worse for this spring



There is no such thing as a reasonable expectation of obscurity anymore
If you have even the tiniest footprint on the Internet anymore, it's quite possible you could become a celebrity in an instant. Conan O'Brien, whose Twitter account has half a million followers, just declared that he's going to "follow" one random individual. Since the time of the announcement, that random individual has gone from having three followers to having just shy of 11,000. 24 hours ago, she was just another "obscure" person on the Internet. It once held that only politicians and celebrities had to behave as though everything they said and did could appear on the front page of the local newspaper. Today, everyone needs to hold themselves to the same standard. You can go from obscure to celebrity status in a matter of hours, without having done anything to merit the attention. Some people still earn their celebrity, too, but just as unpredictably: Nobody had really ever heard of Chesley Sullenberger before he landed a powerless plane in the Hudson River last January. Since then, he's written a book, had a drink named after him, and been discussed as a potential candidate for public office. What can happen to Sullenberger can happen to anyone -- even without having done anything meritorious.

Chilean government fires head of its oceanographic service for failing to predict tsunami
The service is a branch of the country's navy, and the firing is supposedly due to its failure to issue a clear degree of information about the tsunami that followed the massive earthquake a week ago. What's interesting about the firing is that we've lately discovered just how difficult it is to predict tsunamis. The Christmas tsunami of 2004 took the world almost completely by surprise, and ever since, it seems like every earthquake is immediately followed by tsunami warnings and breathless "breaking news" reports in anticipation of a recurrence of 2004. But one hasn't happened since. Effectively predicting tsunamis is going to require a lot more knowledge than we currently have about the oceans, and a lot more computing power than we've bothered to devote to the task until now.

No child gets a zero
The Omaha Public Schools are testing a policy that says no student can get less than 50% on an assignment, even if they never turn it in. And they can't get less than 65% if they do turn it in, no matter how badly they complete the task. Is this a good idea? The proponents say it'll keep kids from giving up if they start to fall behind. But consider two inversions on the proposal: First, rather than automatically applying 50% to everyone, would it instead make sense to take 50 percentage points away from everyone who did turn in their assignment, then grading on a curve? How is the net result any different? Or, try this inversion: What if the old standards remained, and not turning in an assignment still resulted in a 0% grade, but the letter grades were reassigned, so that 40% was enough for an "A", 30% for a "B", and 20% for a "C". Again, how would the net result be any different?

One mutual-fund company lost $58.4 billion in the last decade
And yet, they still took a huge cut in management fees. The shareholders they were "serving" should be apoplectic with rage. Money managers, taken as a group, take far too much money from the customers they "serve".

Canadian national anthem to remain just a little bit sexist
But the alternative version that had been floated would have been almost impossible to sing correctly. Then again, that's just commentary from down here in America, Canada's pants.



"Google responds to privacy concerns with unsettlingly specific apology"
A very funny Onion satire, with echoes of a very real concern: Google has a lot of access to a lot of details about a lot of people. That kind of access creates real concerns (as well as over-hyped worries), and it's one of the reasons why Google will not control more than 50% of the search-engine market in 2020.

Nobody talks more on their mobile phones than Americans
Puerto Ricans (American citizens, too) talk the most


Northeast Iowa mobile-home park to be shut down because they can't afford a sewer-system upgrade



We should be able to generate original music using a seed function and fractals
Hearing the same old music gets dull, and there's really nothing about rhythm and harmony that can't be generated by a computer. It may lack "soul", but it's really not difficult to imagine computers generating lots of music customized to the listener thanks to the Music Genome Project.

South African president bristles at Britain
It's another example of the importance of institutional memory. The decisions made now may have lingering effects a hundred years or more into the future. President Zuma vocally resents being told how many wives he should have, among other things, and expresses more than a little hostility for the former colonial power of Great Britain.

EPA assesses civil penalty against UPS over hazardous waste



Which health supplements have substantiated benefits?
A fascinating display of quantitative data evaluating which supplements are useful and which are snake oil. Easy to use -- downright intuitive. An excellent display of valuable information.

Since late January, Russia has vastly overtaken China as the biggest producer of spam

A Rube Goldberg-themed music video from OK Go
(Video) Almost impossibly complex. Perhaps the most impressive part is the deft footwork required of the camera operator.

In which religions are the highest incomes found?

Is a happy cow going to slaughter better off than one that never existed at all?

When everyone around you appears to be crazy, you might very well be the only sane one left
(Video) Improv group pulls off a spontaneous birthday party in a bar for an unsuspecting patron

Iowa's proposed lake-nutrient rules to be paused and overhauled



Apple files patent-infringement lawsuit over the iPhone
It's going after HTC, which makes a smartphone similar to the iPhone, but built on the Google Android operating system. At least one observer thinks it's a warning shot across Google's own bow, since Google is now making its own iPhone-similar smartphone. Apple itself says the infringements are mainly related to the user interface, which is a sign they're mainly interested in swatting away any competitors that try to make a phone that "feels" like an iPhone to the user.

Russia's grumblings about a US missile-defense system may have backfired
Though there was a lot of backpedaling last year over where the US would station anti-missile defense technology in Europe, it appears that the US and its allies may end up with a much more comprehensive defense system as a result. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Clinton may have inadvertently torqued off the British by suggesting that Argentina might have a right to the Falkland Islands. The islands are a relic of a bygone era of British imperialism, to be sure, but the UK is one of America's closest allies, and the Falklands have some degree of self-determination which probably leaves them better off (with the protection of the British armed forces and self-government) than they would likely get as part of Argentina.

Hard to tell what flooding Iowa will experience this year
The ground is saturated and covered with more snow. But how that hydrology will play out remains in question.

French seawall failure kills dozens



Midwest Airlines could be killed off
Midwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines were both purchased in the last year by Republic Airways. Now, they're talking about creating a "unified brand" for the two. It's a typical move -- companies do a lot of acquiring, then re-branding. And while it could certainly make sense to simplify the backend of operations by merging things like maintenance and reservations systems, killing off a brand name just doesn't ever seem to make sense. Republic's latest balance sheet shows $84 million in "goodwill" -- which, to a large extent, is the brand value of the company and its subsidiaries. Destroying those brands is an expensive proposition that rarely makes sense. Brands can evolve over time, but doing away with them wholesale rarely makes sense; after all, the acquiring company paid some kind of premium to obtain the brand name in the first place. Why pay for it just to destroy it? Related (in the vein of needless destruction): Beautiful train stations that were demolished and replaced by uglier and less useful things.

ABC News to dismantle most of its news bureaus outside Washington, DC
And with ever more of the news being produced from the Washington/New York City corridor, expect the quality of coverage to decline as it becomes one big echo chamber.

Knowledge decay hastens the rise of the judgment economy
People who want to stay employed (or in business) over the long term have to adapt to changing conditions within their business as well as to changes tangential to the business. In the words of Ian Pearson, "[Y]ou don't want to be the animal who is so fantastically well adapted to one tree that they will die if that tree is cut down." Technological change, hastened by competition from around the globe, means that what we know can be of rapidly-diminishing value. What use is memorizing a list of facts when the Internet is close at hand, everywhere? But the decline of knowledge itself as a competitive advantage is matched by the rise of judgment as a matter of supreme importance. Knowing how to look up an answer on the Internet isn't all that valuable; having the judgment to discern whether to trust Wikipedia or a different source is. Knowing the distance between San Diego, CA and South Padre, TX isn't all that valuable; having the judgment to recognize the difficulty in policing a 1500-mile border between a rich nation and a developing one has value. Knowing a stock price is of little value; having the judgment to figure out which ones are under-valued can turn a person into Warren Buffett (whose judgment is famously sought by investors worldwide. We aren't in the "knowledge economy" anymore; we're in the era of the judgment economy.

Twitter is still trying to find ways to make money
More evidence that Twitter, Facebook, and Google are all likely to be overtaken by rivals within the coming decade.

Dubai considers building a vertical farm
We'll have to see whether vertical farms turn out to be sufficiently profitable to be built. Most likely their value will remain economically inefficient until we can find a breakthrough source of clean, cheap energy. Like desalination, vertical farms may have a few limited applications for now, but in the long run they just don't make enough economic sense in a world of expensive energy.

Beautiful true-color photographs of Earth from space

Podcast: Thinking like the boss

Podcast: Browsing in your sleep
A question: What would it take to get you to install an always-on Internet connection in your head?

Time to check your sump pumps



Damage from Chilean earthquake could be $30 billion

Six essential books in conservative thought
One of the most frustrating things about self-identified conservatives like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck is that they behave like they don't really read. But conservative thought does possess a thoughtful intellectual tradition, and at least six books really are essential to understanding that lineage of thought.

Google plans to offer ultra-high-speed broadband access
They're initiating a plan under "Google Fiber" to offer 1 gigabit per second broadband Internet access throughout at least one community. They're looking for applicant communities of 50,000 to 500,000, though the service won't be free. Consumers will definitely benefit from an offering like this, but on first impression, this seems like another expensive project for Google that might not really be a good return on their investment. Related: An in-depth look at the reasons why most Americans don't have very-high-speed broadband access yet.

Campaign 2010: Elect Ron

Shutting down NASA's Moon mission is going to cost billions of dollars
Contractors working on the rockets and other components of the mission to return to the Moon may still make money even though the President wants to quit the plan

Microsoft wants regulators to look more carefully at Google
The EU is now looking at Google because of antitrust concerns

Conan O'Brien arrives on Twitter
The comedian needed to establish his own footprint online -- so it's a good thing he's finally done so. It will serve him well to have an Internet presence where he can remain in people's minds even while he's off television.


How LG appeals to the inner 80s child



Huge earthquake strikes Chile



Why the West had to win the Cold War
So that today, anyone around the world can use an American website (eBay) to buy a Chinese-made oil painting of a British prime minister (the great Margaret Thatcher)

Killer whale lives up to name, takes third human life
If this were a dog, it would have been euthanized after the first. We have such a peculiar set of standards for right and wrong when it comes to wild animals kept in captivity. For the record, though, a bonsai tree has never killed anyone.

A surprising number of people are hit and killed by New York subway trains every month
Eight people have been hit in the last two weeks -- about twice the usual rate, but even that rate is pretty stunning. Apparently, there's a person hit by one of those trains every three or four days on average. A significant number are suicide attempts, but many are accidents. For perspective, though, 256 people were killed in NYC vehicular traffic last year.

Read this book: "F Minus: This Can't Be Legal"

Radio on demand: Debt to China puts us in diplomatic handcuffs

Radio on demand: Is the iPad anything to get really excited about?



India and Pakistan return to speaking terms
The two countries have to get along in order for the world to have a sustainable sense of security. India is the world's second-largest country (by population); Pakistan is 6th. (Yes, it's really larger than Russia, Japan, and Mexico.) Both countries have nuclear weapons. And they share a very long border. We ignore their relations at our own peril.

Model suggests HIV/AIDS could be halted within 40 years
Better containment of the disease through testing and retroviral drugs could render the scourge virtually non-infectious, which could in turn turn it inert. A hugely expensive proposition, to be sure, but highly promising -- especially considering the cost of treating a still-spreading disease would undoubtedly be much larger.

An intriguing proposal: "Allow anybody who wants to qualify to be a reserve air marshal"

First monogamous amphibians found

A cheap couple of steps to speed up a slow computer

Are companies really doing enough to report on the operational risks posed by their water supplies?




Would rooftop farms be more efficient than "green roofs"?
Good question. A bit of rooftop gardening doesn't sound like a bad idea for urban-dwellers, though one might suspect that there could be long-term risks associated with eating food grown in an environment dense in air pollution. Rooftop gardens might very well have similar benefits in terms of stormwater mitigation and solar absorption as "green roofs", and urban gardening has long been conducted in densely-populated areas like Tokyo and London, so it's not really a huge innovation. Overall, though, unless and until we get some kind of profound breakthrough in producing clean, cheap energy, urban areas simply won't have any useful economic advantage in raising food on a large scale. Small experiments, perhaps, but not likely anything grand. Unless, of course, the vertical farm project turns out to be something vastly more likely than it appears at the present.

Italian court convicts three Google executives
They were busted for privacy rules in a case that one consultant said looked like "prosecuting the post office for [delivering] hate mail"

The naughtier edition of "Back to the Future"
(Video) Vulgar but funny

Is a new arena a better use of tax dollars than protecting water quality?

Podcast: Thinking like the customer

Podcast: Digital footprints



Another reason to live longer
A long-term survey suggests that lifetime self-assessments of happiness peak around age 74. What's most significant about that observation is that life expectancy at birth in the United States didn't even reach 60 until the Great Depression, or 70 until the Vietnam War era. We have a lot to learn about continuing to extend human life expectancy, but there's every reason in the world to think that longer, healthier lives will prove to be more fulfilling with time. We ought to consider death something other than an inevitability, and with continuing enhancements to personal medicine, bionic organs, and electronic enhancements to the human brain, we may find that death is not necessarily inevitable for us all. Trees can live for thousands of years; why couldn't we? And as we seek to "cure" the problem of death, we ought also to address aging as a chronic condition to be delayed and managed. Pain and debilitation shouldn't be inevitable in one's elder years. Perhaps we'll discover someday that happiness really peaks at 148.

Twitter and Facebook are not the right places to end a relationship
An e-mail may be sterile and a text message remote, but breaking off a relationship in public via a social-networking website isn't just tacky -- it's deeply inconsiderate. Moreover, it makes a personal matter a subject of public record...and public records on the Internet never really die.

Iowa union boss calls member a "scab"
And accidentally sent an e-mail using that language to the subject of the epithet. Bullying isn't just for playgrounds. Labor unions can serve a useful purpose, but when they become tools for individuals' political gain and social status rather than the protection of their member workers against abuse, they wear thin their welcome.

Hamlet would've been much better with a "Will and Grace" component
(Video)

A sad but unavoidable consequence of protecting the water



Given a magic wand, Bill Gates would pick cheap energy
Clean, cheap energy would probably do the most good of any possible economic input to the enhancement of human well-being. We need vast amounts of energy to transport ourselves and our goods (transportation which carries ideas and technology and education, as well as more mundane stuff). We need vast amounts of energy to create fertilizer (through the Haber-Bosch process, for instance) and to effectively store food as an insurance policy against disaster. And, in an ideal world, we could use unlimited energy to get machines to do our mundane tasks for us at an affordable price -- freeing humans to do the thinking and creating and innovating that will make the human race better off. And, of course, those ideas could use the electricity to run the computers to run simulations and test new ideas before we apply them to the real world, too.

The Internet may hurt struggles for democracy as much as it helps
It's easy to see the ways in which it can help -- fostering communication and discussion and aiding the spread of ideas. But its negative effects, though perhaps counterintuitive, may be just as significant: Creating internal strife among reformers where none would have otherwise existed, fostering disinformation, and encouraging reactionaries to organize just as well as reformers. In the end, ideas are what matter most. The tools those ideas use to spread may be far less significant.

Views of the great US Air Force boneyard
Where lots of old planes go to be mothballed.

Argentina wants to pick another fight with the UK over the Falkland Islands

The end of the "grasshopper generation"?
Having rested on the proverbial laurels of our past productivity, the United States has a growing problem of government promises that have been financed at the expense of our future prosperity. And those problems have been worsened by the practice of directing many capable minds into unproductive activity treating business like a casino. Fortunately, though, great ideas still matter and there's no practical reason why we can't apply a little bit of willpower to the act of getting things back on track.

Tougher stormwater standards could arrive in two years



Why America's national debt is handcuffing us
The President has met with the Dalai Lama, and the Chinese government has expressed its anger over the meeting. In an ideal world, the United States could tell China's government to take its protests and shove them. Unfortunately, we can't do that. China is dumping American government debt -- to the tune of $35 billion of it between November and December 2009. Debtors simply aren't free to tell their creditors to shove it. And, sadly, our options for managing the debt are constrained, making it even more unlikely that we can act like we still have the freedom to do what we think is best in the world without having to acknowledge the demands of the countries that have funded our behavior.

Johns Hopkins team thinks blood tests can track cancer
They're making such rapid progress with genetic screening and testing that they think they'll soon be able to do follow-up with cancer patients using genetic tests to determine whether their tumors have been halted or are recurring. While the ultimate goal certainly will be to tell people whether they're genetically predispositioned to have certain cancers in the future, this intermediate step -- enhancing treatment for people who already have cancer -- is a great move forward.

Chris Rants drops from the Iowa gubernatorial race
Iowa's in serious need of some decent new leadership. The state's budget is a catastrophe, and though that doesn't make Iowa unique among the states, it's still a colossal problem.

Is space the place to be for the entrepreneurs of today?
The CEO of the X-Prize Foundation thinks that some asteroids could be worth $20 trillion in raw materials

Does anyone have a "reasonable expectation of obscurity" anymore?

UK prime minister's staff calls anti-bullying helpline



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