Brian Gongol
Show notes from the WHO Radio afternoon drive hosted by Brian Gongol - July 28, 2008
Yet another set of brutal storms in Iowa
How bad is the US financial picture, really?
Medical errors cost at least $1.5 billion a year
So says a new study, which finds that 10% of people who die shortly after surgery did so because of preventable error. Human suffering aside, that's enough money to pay for the health care of every GE employee for a year. Unfortunately, though, projects to prevent errors are sometimes halted by paranoia about legal liability. We could use less legalism and more "Do the right thing."
More security for Gmail users
The service now offers a secure-login-by-default option that helps increase the security of one's e-mail access. Most people probably ought to make the switch, unless they find it's absolutely killing their access times.
Australian government wants to spend billions on a national Internet system
But, of course, the proposed system wouldn't even match what's currently commercially available. The universal access they're seeking to ensure sounds nice, but rather than setting up a government-funded system, it would seem much more useful for them to simply figure out what's holding back access in places where broadband isn't available, and then see if there are government policies in place that are making it harder for the market to supply that service. This is a classic case of government delivery of a public service not necessarily representing the best way of getting something useful to the people. Broadband Internet access is certainly on its way towards being an economic necessity, but that doesn't mean the government has to be the supplier. Iowa's ICN system is a fine example of a similarly well-intended program that today is perpetually in a state of limbo since it's been leapfrogged technologically by newer, private-sector technologies. Much of the network is delivered via 1.5 Mbps connections, which today can be matched by wireless broadband.
Prince William, Drug Enforcement Cop
Don't bother sending Senator Obama any restaurant suggestions
Is Northrop Grumman building a next-generation stealth bomber?
