Gongol.com Archives: November 2006
Brian Gongol


November 1, 2006

News Major-market newspaper circulation continues to slide
People are depending heavily upon the Internet for political news and information; no real surprise there

Threats and Hazards PowerPoint slide from briefing says Iraq getting closer to chaos
An observer thinks it may have been intentionally leaked to provide political insurance against a backlash against a future withdrawal, but perhaps just as important as the content is the form: Try to read the PowerPoint slide and comprehend it the first time through. It's impossible to do: legends, colors, and relativistic graphs with no metrics clearly strain to make a point, but to no avail. Yet another example of poor communication through PowerPoint. Related: A suggestion that targeted assassinations may be in order.

News It's good to be king
Essay complains that the owner of a newspaper chain instructed all of the papers to endorse the same statewide candidates for office -- but if you can't do something like that, then what's the point of owning the newspapers in the first place? If he owned several websites that each targeted a different audience but cross-posted the same opinion piece to all of them, what would be the harm?

Science and Technology Forecasts for when each area code will run out of numbers
Nationwide, we're pretty much out of numbers as of 2036

Weather and Disasters Thai monarch "grants" food to flood victims
In 2006, some people still get to become national rulers because they won the genetic lottery. That's wrong.

Broadcasting Bob Barker will retire in June
The producers haven't announced who will replace Barker, but he promises that in his post-"Price is Right" life, he will "refuse to do nude scenes"

The United States of America President as GOP's "optimist-in-chief"
But where, oh where, is our fiscal-conservative-in-chief? The GOP record right now is abysmal, but the Democrats are too busy putting their feet in their mouths to pretend they're interested in fiscal conservatism. Except for the rare moderate who may have a shot at being western Nebraska's first Democratic member of Congress since 1958.

Water News Majority of groundwater supplies in Britain threatened by pollution

Graphics Broadcloth