Brian Gongol
Google to China: You've crossed the line. We're finished.
Google says it's not going to play by Chinese government rules any longer after discovering a massive breach of Google's security by Chinese government hackers. Chinese use of the Internet remains broadly enigmatic; the government there still wants to censor the public's access, but the country has long been a colossal producer of spam. As China tries to move forward, the government there is going to find that holding people back from free exploration online will also keep them from creating great commercial ideas. Fear and censorship -- even when it's self-censorship out of fear rather than outright government intervention -- make a nation intellectually poorer. It's very unpleasant that Western countries have cooperated with the Chinese government and its censorship techniques. That they might someday be double-crossed in the process wasn't unforeseeable.
"Wet" information technology
Some European researchers are going to spend about $2 million on a three-year project to build a computer system that works a lot like the human brain. It probably won't do a whole lot of computing. But imagine what might happen if they can figure out how to duplicate the process used in the brain -- we could be on the verge of discoveries like a biological-style supercomputer or prosthetic brain components for victims of head trauma. Science is quite a magnificent thing.
The right words at the right time
When is a stock-swap transaction most efficient?
Photos don't really show a frozen wave, but they're still beautiful
It's perplexing why people make up stories about fantastic and amazing photographs, when the actual stories are themselves truly engaging and wonderful. Why tell people that a photo shows a wave on Lake Michigan that was flash-frozen by cold temperatures, when that photo actually shows ice in Antarctica that has been subjected to some of the most powerful forces of nature? Isn't the real story more engaging than some fantasy?
Haiti's biggest needs: Water, food, first aid supplies, and shelter
