Brian Gongol
Virginia city sued for $3.35 million over low-head dam death
Graphic of the day: Tase Me, Bro
Markets find hidden information
A bunch of investors have decided that a carbon tax of $10 per ton imposed in 2012, and the evidence is revealed in a spike in energy futures prices for that year
Security problem with OpenOffice
It's a great free alternative to Microsoft Office, but a problem with how it handles certain images could make it vulnerable to attack
China evacuates 1.6 million people from Shanghai
36' waves are hitting shores
Russian planes used counterfeit parts
It's one thing to have a pirated DVD -- it's an intellectual-property problem, but nobody dies. But when airlines start using counterfeit parts, that's reason for concern.
Oldest man in the world has no intentions of dying
Marks his 112th birthday by declaring, "I want to live indefinitely. I don't want to die." We're getting a lot better at solving some of the key contributors to mortality, so maybe that's something that could happen in the future.
Idiot at University of Florida goes overboard at public forum, gets tasered
(Video) College kid gets out of control at speech given by Sen. John Kerry. Two observations: First, the police probably overreacted by hitting him with the taser. But, second, the kid was clearly out of control. With protests that the police were going to kill him, he's either psychotic or putting on a show. Students have marched in protest, but here's the question: Given how he acted -- clearly resisting arrest and at one point charging towards the stage -- what would've happened if he'd had a gun and the police hadn't responded and restrained him? The whole story could've turned out differently had he been armed, which, given an objective assessment of his state, could certainly have been the case.
Reasonably good advice about becoming rich
Or, more importantly, not becoming poor. Because that's really the point: Wealth accumulation is first and foremost about avoiding misfortune, and secondarily about enjoying the benefits of having more than enough. The most important part of all is for people to get control of their finances as early as possible.
US Department of Energy will help Chinese factories with energy-efficiency improvements
70% of China's total energy demand comes from the industrial sector, which means that industry is responsible for the majority of China's energy-related air pollution. Since that pollution is now having a serious worldwide effect, this might be a decent role for the US government to take.
Greenspan worries about socialist populism in Latin America
(Article in Spanish)
Britain to sell 72 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia
How long, exactly, do the planners in London and Washington expect the Saudi government to remain stable? That's the first issue of concern in sales like these.
Banking panic in the UK
The sizeable Northern Rock bank got into trouble over mortgage lending, so a huge number of account holders rushed to withdraw their deposits in a classic run on the bank -- to the tune of $6 billion. The Bank of England had to step in to say it would guarantee deposits as a lender of last resort, which naturally opens up a Pandora's box over moral hazard. The British panic made for a mess in Australia and New Zealand, serving as a reminder that what was once local is now very global. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has made a big cut in interest rates to ease fears.
German defense minister says he'd order a shootdown of hijacked passenger planes
But the head of the German Federal Armed Forces Association says pilots should disobey an order like that, because they could be charged with criminal penalties if they did -- even if they had received legitimate orders
