Brian Gongol
Graphic of the day: Overweave
EPA issues list of recommended practices for water utilities
A virus for the TI-89
More-powerful calculators become susceptible to attack
Google's new "Street View" feature captures a weird array of everyday moments
Long list of public conservatives voice support for Senate immigration bill
How a cheese danish proved that TSA security can miss big weapons
"What drives our nation's bleak long-term fiscal outlook?"
Not a quote from some knee-jerk think-tank: Those are the words of the GAO. Their answer to the "bleak" question: "Spending on the major federal health programs (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) represents a much larger and faster growing problem [than Social Security]. In fact, the federal government's obligations for Medicare Part D alone exceed the unfunded obligations for Social Security." And which of the 2008 Presidential candidates is talking seriously about the problem? Almost none of them. Almost all of the Democrats and too many of the Republicans deny outright that there's anything wrong with the big budget issues. And by "big," we mean an 88% projected increase in income taxes (over the long term) just to close the fiscal gap. This is a sound-the-air-raid-sirens emergency. According to the GAO, "Waiting even 10 years would require a revenue [tax] increase of about 50 percent or non-interest spending cuts of about 45 percent." Forget the border. Forget terrorism. Forget global warming and high petroleum prices. Unless this situation is wrestled to the ground, the government won't be able to deal with anything else. Related: The cost of cancer drugs may be high, but who would volunteer to go without?
Wiretapping the Internet
New regulations are now in effect that require just about any Internet service provider to install surveillance equipment that makes snooping easier for law-enforcement agencies.
Federal Reserve asks banks to be nice to people who can't pay their mortgages
There's a spooky undercurrent in that message, and in the signal that big banking firms are getting aggressive about finding good bankruptcy attorneys.
Despite China's growth, most Chinese are still peasants
Socialism perpetually promises more than it ever delivers
How to not get killed by a rip current
Swim with the current, but at just enough of an angle to break free and return to shore
London's hideous Olympics 2012 logo
Another JavaScript-related security hole found in Internet Explorer
And there's a new problem in Firefox related to what's called an "IFrame", along with a bunch of new security concerns about programs from Google
