Gongol.com Archives: March 2006
Brian Gongol



Humor and Good News (2006.03.17)
How the World Celebrates St. Patrick's Day

Weather and Disasters (2006.03.17)
RAND Estimate: New Orleans Still Half Regular Size Through 2009
Only 272,000 people expected back three years after Katrina

Humor and Good News (2006.03.17)
Beer from the Kitchen Sink
Keg was tapped into a water line by mistake

Computers and the Internet (2006.03.17)
Keystroke Logging Gaining Prevalence
Crooks no longer need skill to steal your data; visiting the wrong websites can cause the computer to download a keystroke-logging program. From there, password security and credit-card privacy go right out the window. Protection is easy: Get virus and software patches from the original vendor as soon as they come out, use a browser other than Internet Explorer, and don't follow unsolicited offers by e-mail or instant message. They seem like minimal precautions, but so many people fail to take them that there are millions of easy targets out there.

Health (2006.03.17)
Just About Any Diet Can Work, If the Dieter Actually Follows Through
USDA research on 160 volunteers found the best predictor of whether a diet worked was whether people simply stuck with it. The more extreme diets had lower rates of compliance.

Health (2006.03.17)
Four Israelis Under Observation for Bird Flu

Broadcasting (2006.03.17)
Actor Inside "Big Bird" to Get Lifetime-Achievement Emmy

Socialism Doesn't Work (2006.03.17)
Congress Raises Debt Ceiling to $9 Trillion
The increase alone was one and a half times the gross domestic product of Poland

Computers and the Internet (2006.03.17)
FBI Spending $425 Million to Upgrade Computers
That's more than the record February Powerball jackpot, but the agency is apparently rife with computer problems that hamper its crime-fighting capacity

Science and Technology (2006.03.17)
NASA Pretty Sure It's Found Evidence of Big Bang

Broadcasting (2006.03.17)
Philips Recalling "Ambilight" TVs
Flat-panel TVs with background-lighting feature apparently had a nasty habit of arcing and catching fire

Broadcasting (2006.03.17)
FCC Fines Bunch of CBS Affiliates
Each pays $32,500 for airing an episode of "Without a Trace" that included a sexually-suggestive scene