Brian Gongol
Graphic of the day: Water Emergency
Two-thirds of planet will be under "water stress" in 20 years
Windows, Mac, and Linux users need to get a Flash player update
A trio of critical security problems have been identified and patched. Meanwhile, a fight has broken out between Microsoft and Mozilla over a potential computer attack that uses Firefox to hack into Microsoft Internet Explorer, and a Swiss company is promising to auction security vulnerabilities to the highest bidder.
"We are not lacking in energy so much as we are lacking in energy storage"
That's the truth. As with food supplies, energy supplies are determined by how much we can create, how much we use, and how effectively we store it in between. Some people are concerned that the trade-offs between energy as food and energy to move machines could mean the end of "cheap" food.
Free societies with market economies are better at responding to natural disasters
Political accountability plus economic capital means fewer people die and more heads roll (metaphorically) when something better could have been done.
Mercy Hospital replaces open-back hospital gowns
The new version no longer offers a rear-view, so to speak. Mercy is also shifting into gear to build a new hospital in West Des Moines. Groundbreaking will happen on July 19th. Des Moines remains the coolest city in America, and one that's widely loved by the people living here.
Why try to crystal-ball the stock market?
Columnist suggests that it's time to pull out of the stock market, since it's now at new highs. A high isn't necessarily a reason to sell, any more than a low is a reason to buy. The question is whether the individual can buy for less than something is worth or sell for more than it's worth.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall
The speech happened 20 years ago. A lot has changed since then, much of it for the better. And a curious number of things could happen over the next twenty. Related: A vision statement for the future. It overlooks a couple of important things like individual liberties and growing markets, but it contains some nuggets of optimism worth considering.
