Brian Gongol
Graphic of the day: Static Electricity
Chlorine probably doesn't harm reproduction
Sen. Schumer, like Sen. Conrad, needs to lay off the Federal Reserve
On Monday, Senator Conrad butted in on the Fed's decision-making process, which is almost exactly what the Senate shouldn't do. Now, the chair of the Joint Economic Committee is weighing in, saying he thinks the Fed isn't doing enough about subprime lending. Aside from the fact this is all turning (once again) into a case of "no policy without a crisis," it's also an example of politicians trying to put too much pressure on the Federal Reserve. The central bank has to be independent of politics, period. It's likely that central-bank lending won't solve the mortgage market problem, but there needs to be a line between the politicians and the bankers, lest we find ourselves inflating our way to a balanced budget.
Making it easier for the government to wiretap can make networks easier for criminals to hack
Of all kinds of reasons to be angry about the way Congress and the White House have lost their minds over the importance of privacy, here's a practical one: By pretending to make Americans safer, government's methods of collecting some "intelligence" may in fact put us at much higher risk of attack from the outside
Google decides to profit from YouTube by adding commercials to videos
Sioux Center explosion was caused by static electricity and ethanol tanker cars
