Gongol.com Archives: April 2006
Brian Gongol



Health (2006.04.20)
Federal Government Reveals Plans for Responding to Pandemic Flu
If the plans are anywhere as inadequate as they were for the Hurricane Katrina response, it's time to bunker down in a hole in Idaho

Weather and Disasters (2006.04.20)
Video of the Iowa City Tornado
Another video shows a lightning-backlit funnel

Health (2006.04.20)
Study Says Katrina Evacuees Have Measurably Poorer Health than Peers

Socialism Doesn't Work (2006.04.20)
Members of Both Congress and Bush Administration Want ISPs to Keep Records of Customers' Internet Habits
No surprise: They're using the "to protect the children" defense that is so often relied upon to propagate nonsense in the US

Threats and Hazards (2006.04.20)
Iran's President Ahmadinejad: Israel "Heading Towards Annihilation"
The world would be much better off if every political leader were required to be drinking at all times. Think happy hour at the UN. Facetious? Maybe. But most of our problems are a result of people needing to calm down.

Business and Finance (2006.04.20)
Bosses Judge People Based on How They Treat Wait Staff in Restaurants
Office Depot CEO: "Why would people treat me differently? Your value system and ethics need to be constant at all times regardless of who you are dealing with."

Iowa (2006.04.20)
Register Buys Monopoly on Des Moines Newspapers
They're shutting down the Press-Citizen family of papers, which the Register bought two years ago

Weather and Disasters (2006.04.20)
How Iowans Report Tornadoes to 911 Dispatch
"I just called a minute ago, the one that's south of Iowa City, that's going to be a big tornado." 1,000 buildings were damaged.

Health (2006.04.20)
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Continues to Spread
815 of the nation's recent 1,000 cases are in the state

News (2006.04.20)
Defense Department Reveals Who's Being Held at Guantanamo

Science and Technology (2006.04.20)
Save Gas By Not Driving a Hybrid
There's no use trying to save the environment if the hybrid car a person drives ends up using more energy per mile than a comparable non-hybrid. But that's just what some hybrid cars do.

Business and Finance (2006.04.20)
Bus Service Plans to Copycat Southwest Airlines, Ryanair
Cheap tickets, non-stop travel from city to city, and an online sales model. Enter Megabus.

Science and Technology (2006.04.20)
Human Brain Shuts Down Self-Awareness During Complex Tasks
Losing one's self in a process may be a thoroughly biological thing to do

Business and Finance (2006.04.20)
Britain Gets a Private-Sector Lottery
Will compete with the government-sanctioned one, which gets preferential legal treatment. Lotteries are generally a regressive tax on those who can't do math, but why should the government have a monopoly? They're certainly not an essential public service.

Threats and Hazards (2006.04.20)
Iran Trying to Recruit British Terrorists

News (2006.04.20)
Nothing Fun About Being Trapped in a Tram
70 people got stuck in a broken New York suspension tram. Whatever happened to EPCOT's PeopleMover?