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Volatility for biodiesel makers tracks uncertainty about tax credits




GM is once again the world's largest automaker
But at what cost? Some will argue that the Federal government has actually earned (or will earn) a profit on its "investment" in the company. But that means that there was, presumably, a profit to have been made by the private sector instead -- by people who specialize in capital allocation. The government doesn't specialize in that. Nor should it specialize in bailing out companies just because those companies happen to be major employers. Government's proper role is to establish a fair playing field for the private sector, and to ensure that the things society needs that are difficult or impossible to self-fund are provided. (The private sector tends to do a bad job of providing an Air Force, for instance.) When government turns its attention and resources to "rescuing" companies in the private sector just because those companies are big, then we march directly into dangerous territory.

Municipal debts are growing
Part of the problem: Incentive packages for businesses. Economic-development incentives seem rational on a case-by-case basis, but when taken as a whole, they're insanity. Cities do it, and so do states.

29-year-old charged with identity theft...against the Iowa Secretary of State
One has to imagine it wasn't just a random pick, but rather a deliberately political attack

"Anonymous" movement crashes US government websites
Like the Occupy movement, the people at "Anonymous" may have reasonable grievances. But their means (vandalism, particularly) are unacceptable in a civilized society.

Sales of Microsoft Windows products drop by 6%
That's far from being a catastrophe, but it probably indicates that people are turning to alternatives like tablet computers and smartphones to do the things they may have done in the past with conventional desktop and laptop computers. Purchases of new tablets and smartphones are probably just offsetting the replacement of old laptops and desktops -- the kinds of machines that run Windows. Companies have probably slowed their replacement cycles for computers, too.



How Twitter is making live TV more interesting


Thoughtless Occupists don't think about the costs they impose on others
Just putting a few of them through the court process in Des Moines for their intentional arrests is going to clog up the courts for a while. Selfish.

Google claims 90 million users on Google Plus


An influx of data centers in the Midwest?
It's about time people started de-concentrating away from the major metropolitan areas of the country. On a related note: Small data centers are popping up in unexpected places.

The bridge to nowhere...will soon go somewhere
I-80 will soon have an interchange with 105th Street in West Des Moines. Waukee hopes for the best.



Bureaucratic dithering probably cost 100,000 lives in eastern Africa
We need better ways of storing food for the long term and of moving it quickly to where it's needed

Jerry Yang quits Yahoo board


One of Kim Jong-Il's other sons says the current North Korean regime will collapse soon


The problem with passwords


Lee Enterprises thinks it's exiting bankruptcy this month
The company expanded too much and relied on debt to do it

Take two minutes for a self-exam today
Take a minute or two and conduct some basic self-screenings for cancer. Early detection saves lives. There's lots of misinformation about cancer that finds its way around the Internet, largely because we've been trained to wait expectantly for some sort of magic-bullet solution to cancer. But cancer risks can be significantly reduced through a balanced diet, exercise, and early detection and treatment. Meanwhile, science is making great progress towards improving genetic detection, which holds great promise for some types of cancer. Instead of forwarding hoax-ridden e-mails about "cancer cures" and false threats, people should instead remind their friends and family to assess their health once a month.



China's economy is still growing quickly, but the rate of growth is slowing


How President Obama's re-election campaign is using data mining to plan their campaign
It's amazing to see the same people who would otherwise say that government can't be trusted turning over all kinds of information about themselves, voluntarily, to a political campaign. Of course, there's loads of data to be gathered from non-political databases, too. In a sense, it's highly democratic. In another, it's terribly creepy.

Facebook knows your political sentiments -- and now so does Politico


Ralcorp is spinning-off Post Cereals
They bought Post in August 2008, so somebody at Ralcorp has made a huge blunder -- either in paying too much when they bought, or spinning off too soon. But there's no way to categorize a quick purchase-and-resale such as this as a success.

The television show for a generation that's never been told "No"
(Video) SNL may have just reversed years of damage to society (caused by sketches featuring the likes of Chris Farley and David Spade) in one fell swoop

An attempt to revive Atari
Strange that any of us should become nostalgic over a technology company. Yesterday's tech was slow and unimpressive by today's standards -- it's not like rediscovering a family recipe.

So...it turns out they really are making new real estate, after all


Thoughts from the guy who wrote most of Elton John's lyrics


The neurology "time bomb"


On-demand edition of the "Brian Gongol Show" from January 15, 2012
Segments 1, 2, 3, and 4



The worry over SOPA comes to a head in a big protest this week


Could the London Olympics become a starting point for epidemics?


3D printing: Coming soon to a household near you


Impressive or terrifying? Leaning towards "terrifying."
(Video) China races to construct a building worrisomely fast

Is Google giving up on search?


Should increasing energy efficiency be more important than expanding supply?


A yacht for the Queen?
Monarchies do silly things -- like giving a national birthday gift worth tens of millions of dollars to the Queen of England

Show notes from the Brian Gongol Show - January 15, 2012




S&P downgrades debt of 9 of 17 Eurozone countries
That's pretty harsh...but it's also probably long overdue

Pandora founder wonders if Facebook is pushing instant sharing too far
And they probably are

A video board at Wrigley Field? Bah!
It's practically heresy

Cedar Rapids got ripped off by giving away economic-development incentives




We live in a very strange world: Mortgage interest rates are below 4%

Forget the $100 laptop, an even cheaper tablet is here
An Indian company is making a tablet now for $50

Insurer Aon says it's dumping Chicago for London
Exactly how many of their Chicago-based employees do they expect to take with them to the UK? Technically, in the short run, the company says it's only moving about 20 people, and that it will expand its operations in the US, starting with Chicago. But plenty of promises can be made in the short term that don't pan out in the long run, especially once people have stopped paying attention. Illinois has a terrible tax situation for companies, and this may be a symptom of that disease. But pulling up stakes on Chicago and going to London instead? That's a pretty dramatic move.

Someone in a Mickey Mouse costume knows how to dance
(Video)

When Warren Buffett visits the doctor, does he tell them he's "self-employed"?
The question, of course, is really just rhetorical and a little tongue-in-cheek, but it is funny how the "self-employed" are treated differently from those who are employed by others. Sometimes it's hard to see how the distinction is relevant, as at the doctor's office.

Polk County proposes a big plan to fix the courthouse problem
The question isn't whether something should be done -- it must. The real question is whether any alternatives would be better



"To whom thy secret thou dost tell, to him thy freedom thou dost sell" - Benjamin Franklin
Ever stopped for a minute to think of the blackmail value built up inside Facebook? Not just what you've told, but whose profiles you've viewed...whose pictures you've lingered upon...which comments you made three years ago. It's like everything every mob and oppressive secret police agency has ever tried to collect, all in one database. No matter what their terms and conditions say now, nothing guarantees they won't ever use or sell this information against 800 million people. Just the blackmail value in telling employers which employees were on Facebook during working hours is enough to make one shudder.

Michelle Obama is on Twitter now
Only some of the messages put out under her name will really be originally hers. This hearkens back to recent comments about the need to hear directly, in an unfiltered way, from our public officials. Now, whether the First Lady really does her own Tweeting or not doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. But to reiterate the larger point: It would be good for society if our leaders actually had the self-discipline and dedication to sit down for ten minutes a day to compose and share their thoughts on the things that matter with the rest of us.

Microsoft places a big bet on smartphones
The company probably sees that Nokia's weak, BlackBerry is fading out, and Apple's reached a ceiling on the number of people willing to pay a premium for their much-vaunted "user experience". Android phones have reached a majority in the US market, but if the other competitors are weak, Microsoft might have found an opening using a flavor of Windows 7 to run the phone. Windows 7 has turned out to be a really good operating system, and Microsoft would be smart to capitalize on it.

US manufacturers say China is dumping cheap wind-turbine towers on the American market
Dumping has to be one of the least-certain ways of gaining monopoly power, but nobody should be surprised if it's actually true that the Chinese government is doing whatever it can to aid its own manufacturers as they try to keep people employed and put a lid on unrest in the hinterlands

$10 million is yours if you can make a Star Trek-style body scanner
It's another X-Prize (one of a series of inducement prizes) that seeks to concentrate the benefits of far-out-there research in a way that might accelerate the pace of technological advance. This one is being named for Qualcomm. The public is being invited to submit comments on what they'd like to see in this dream diagnostic machine until April 30th. They're going to pick 15 diseases and award the prize to the machine that does the best job of nailing down those diseases. Inducement prizes are a great tool, because the awarding agency/individual/government/company doesn't pay a penny until the winner shows proof of a result. By concentrating benefits, they make far-flung goals look more interesting and thus concentrate research efforts in their pursuit.

Live a happier life by making fewer decisions
That's one of the reasons why checklists are so attractive -- by taking the thought out of routine tasks, they allow the individual to concentrate on the really big decisions that need to be made in life

Some people are just really slow learners
(Video)

Get ready for a slew of ridiculous new top-level domains
Don't expect to be going to www.whatever.gongol anytime soon. They cost $185,000. Give this one a 65% chance of being a total boondoggle. Just like people still aren't convinced of dialing 1-888 or 1-877 rather than 1-800, they're not going to be convinced of using anything other than good old .com anytime soon.

The Onion: "Area man's hard work finally pays off for employer"
It's surprising that there wasn't more of a rush toward independent contracting during the late economic contraction. One would think that people are getting tired of being conventional employees.

Man fined $400,000 for offering to buy American Airlines
Court says you can't do that if you have "no significant assets". However, it's being reported that Delta may be thinking of a buyout while American is in bankruptcy.



Apple's CEO gets paid a nauseating amount
Did he create $378 million in value to the world last year? Put another way: Did he create more value for the company than Apple would have gotten from 3,780 people, each paid $100,000? Or: Did he do as much for Western civilization as 1,512 generals and admirals? If your answer is "Yes", then your name is probably Tim Cook. Or you're sleeping with him.

Google to Twitter: Nyah-nyah


Anyone stupid enough to rename himself "Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop" is stupid enough to be taken off the streets for the good of everyone else


Sen. Al Franken knows how to ask for money


The in-efficiency expert
(Video) A Rube Goldberg page-turner

Hostess files Chapter 11


Kids having a conversation in sign language
(Video)



Google's bold move to buy Motorola has a downside
Motorola's weak performance hit Google's stock price pretty hard today. Google's trying to fashion a modern-day conglomerate, but it's making some odd choices along the way.

Repugnant KKK flyers are being distributed in Cedar Rapids

Political attitudes may be rooted (partially) in how people think
Literally, that is -- how their brains process information. Some research hints that whether one is inclined to follow the cues of others may be a left/right thing.

De-commoditizing the nightly news
Network television is figuring out that they have to deliver differentiable products in order for anyone to prefer one newscast over another

A nation-sized game of chicken
Britain's prime minister has laid down a gauntlet, telling the head of Scotland's government that they need to bring up a referendum on leaving the UK within 18 months or shut up until the next Parliament

Now the banks are borrowing from their former debtors
European credit markets have turned so sour that banks are getting big companies to essentially lend them cash to stay open

"Larry, you can barely say it now"
Facebook allows teacher to get her revenge on an idiot former student



Rep. Ron Paul's gold standard won't fix problems with banks
Then again, those who just want to break up the big banks might not have it right, either: Canada's banking industry is dominated by giants, but they haven't had anything close to the problems of the American banks that have a much smaller proportional hold on the banking sector here. But the gold standard is an antiquated idea and shouldn't be revered.

Don't be fooled by economic and stock-market "cycles" -- just focus on the fundamentals
Looking too hard for patterns in the past keeps people from seeing the reality of the present and the future.

Excellent breakdown of the Iowa Caucus results
A breakdown of which candidates perfomed well among different demographic groups, by county. Very interesting.

How Americans spend our time
Interesting facts: About a third of people with jobs work on weekends. On average, men work about 40 minutes more per day than women. About a quarter of us work at least part of the day from home. Half of women do housework on an average day, while only one in five men do. TV takes up half of our leisure time. Kids appear to cost adults about an hour of leisure time per day, compared with their childless peers.

Show notes from an afternoon on WHO Radio - January 6, 2012

Violin destroyed over PayPal policies



Unrest continues in northwestern China
The giant Xinjiang region is home to a whole lot of oil and natural gas, so no matter what political cost is to be paid, China's central government will probably be keen to hold on to it. But there's been violence in the area between the government and some of the residents, who (depending upon whom is asked) are either terrorists or just people trying to flee the Chinese regime. Regardless, the situation challenges the Western stereotyping of China as one homogeneous unit. The country's borders are an artificial construct, and there's a great deal of ethnic and racial diversity within China. We'd be smart to start seeing China for what it is, rather than the cartoon we sometimes make of it. We'd also be very wise to realize that the borders of China today almost certainly won't be the borders of China in 50 years, or probably even 20 years.

VW decides to shut down employees' BlackBerry email outside working hours
Email will be delivered only starting a half-hour before and ending a half-hour after the scheduled workday. Classify this under "Interesting". Some people certainly don't want to be bothered outside working hours, and they shouldn't be. Others, though, enjoy strategizing their work hours and can use idle time in the grocery line or while waiting for a pot of water to boil to make that work time flow better.

A new look for the Washington Post
They're making some adaptations to the print edition to make it easier to digest quickly. Meanwhile, the newspaper's ombudsman thinks they're "innovating too fast" with new digital products and experiments. That may be how it feels on the inside, but when he says that "innovations are just tossed against a wall to see what sticks", he's actually describing the kind of thing that too many companies (in media or otherwise) are afraid to do with the Internet -- and should. Good ideas, instead of being tested, experimented-with, and tweaked to fit, are lost forever in red tape and fear. One must play with technology until it breaks, then figure out what broke, fix it, and start again.

The fractal nature of ZIP Codes
Since they aren't grid-based, there's an organic element to how they're ordered. It's actually rather pretty to behold.

Why picking a good baby name is important
Among other things, a "bad" name could keep your offspring from finding a good mate someday. This is why there's good reason to follow some basic rules when naming a child.

An ambitious New Year to you

365 days of Toronto
Photographer takes a year-long pinhole exposure of the city. Pretty cool.



Observations on how to pick a smartphone

How the just-in-time delivery model could put entire economies at risk
We know disasters can happen -- like the Icelandic volcano. So why do we put our essential systems at risk?

Why everyone should know self-defense: Case study #9
Three guys got assaulted outside a West Des Moines bar on New Year's Eve. You never know when there's a violent thug around the corner.

City of Des Moines sets wheels in motion to send Occupy protesters home
They've had enough time to kill the grass on public property

Early candidate for 2012 idiot of the year
Smoking enough pot -- inside a hospital -- to set off a smoke detector is a real act of idiocy

Jamaica and Australia are on track to dump the monarchy
Just 236 years after the United States

MidAmerican Energy is buying up wind farms
In addition to constructing its own

More Americans are going back to work
The unemployment rate is falling nationally, and the number of discouraged workers is declining. A large number of people (194,000) also left the workforce between November and December. The unemployment rate is extremely closely-tied to education; those with bachelor's degrees and higher have a 4.1% unemployment rate, compared with 13.8% for those without a high school diploma. In related news, Iowa's governor has proposed some reforms to the educational system here.

Iran's government is cracking down on Internet access
Always worry about a government that wants to clamp down on its people's ability to communicate

Three freight trains crash near Chicago
The crash led to a fire and a chemical spill. Chicago is a very serious choke point along America's east-west transportation routes.

"[A]nybody would be crazy to think that there would not be wicked corrections [in China] from time to time"



The ten closest political races in US history
This year's Iowa caucuses place third. Google has produced some very rich data on the caucus results.

At age 70, Stephen Hawking says women remain "a complete mystery"
He's done groundbreaking thinking about things like black holes, but it's the female of the species that puzzles him

Old photos, re-positioned in the present
The very clever DearPhotograph.com invites people to take old pictures and re-shoot the very same place and tell a micro-story about what's changed



How concrete is good for your health
Most Americans don't have dirt floors, but people in other nations do -- and that exposes them to a range of creepy diseases. Concrete floors in their houses can make them healthier, and concrete on the roads to their homes can open up trade and increase prosperity. Funny how little incremental improvements that we often take for granted in the United States can have such a profound impact elsewhere. Of course, just paving the roads isn't enough to ensure that people will live well -- China's been paving everything in sight (or so it seems), and one of the consequences is that air pollution there is going to be unhealthy for people to breathe from now until at least 2030, and perhaps much longer. One of the reasons people criticize capitalism is that they tie it (mentally) to industrialization and pollution. But the truth of the matter is that free markets under the rule of law in societies where people have the right to elect their own representatives are the ones where pollution is most aggressively attacked. That's because the will of the people (which, generally, is a cleaner environment) gets enacted by the government, which in turn imposes regulations that give private parties an incentive to do something about cleaning up that pollution. Nobody has any incentive to invent a double-hulled oil tanker in a country where the government is the party responsible for moving the oil and has no accountability to the people it harms by spilling it.

Cornell University researchers think they can make things briefly invisible
An experiment with "compressing" light allowed them to create a tiny gap in the apparent perception of time. It's not enough to let anyone rob a bank (the gap was 50 trillionths of a second), but it's interesting science nonetheless.

The Iowa Caucuses in real-time

Blind test gives no edge to Stradivarius violins over modern makers
In fact, the violinists who tried them out side-by-side in a Pepsi Challenge-style test actually preferred the new violins over the really expensive antiques

Why everyone should know self-defense: Case study #8
18-year-old shoots home intruder on New Year's Eve. He broke into her house with a knife. Everyone needs to know some form of self-defense.

Google's rules on paid links may have ensnared one of Google's own operations
They have a requirement that paid links include some special code that tells the Google search bots to not follow those links. Someone on contract to promote Google's Chrome browser apparently failed to follow those rules.

The Cubs don't need Zambrano anymore
His attitude doesn't seem to have done any good for the team, so it was time to let him go



An economic scorecard for the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates
Everyone makes their own choices about how to pick a candidate. This is a chart for those interested mainly in economic issues.

Republican caucus locations for Dallas County, Iowa
Caucus locations often differ from the general election voting sites. Many polling locations don't have enough room to accommodate the people who will show up for the caucuses, which are a lot like town hall meetings.


100 years ago, freak snowstorms still caught people in covered wagons
We should never be too quick to forget how dramatically technology influences (and improves) our lives. And technology is driven faster and more broadly by free-market economic incentives than by any other cause known to humankind.



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