Brian Gongol
China's economy is probably overheating again
Here's an interesting consequence of that: If their economy is growing too quickly, and the government there acts to slow down the rate of domestic investment in things like construction, then they're going to have to look for new places to invest. Considering the fact that China is selling off US government debt (reducing its holdings by $50 billion from the $940 billion it held in July), it will be extremely interesting to see where that investment money goes. Purchases of foreign companies, perhaps?
Fighting modern-day slavery by making flight attendants more alert
A group is trying to educate flight attendants how to recognize signs of human trafficking taking place on both international and domestic flights. It makes a lot of sense; particularly for international trafficking, air travel is likely to be one conduit through which many victims will pass, and training flight attendants to be aware of the signs makes a lot of sense. It should be almost painfully obvious by now that human intelligence is the most effective line of defense against many crimes -- human trafficking and terrorism included. People need to know how to recognize the signals in the world around them, particularly when those signals are putting off warnings that something might be wrong.
Winery says state universities don't own school colors
The Madison County Winery was threatened by the University of Iowa and Iowa State University for using school colors on its labels. The winery is firing back with a lawsuit saying they don't have exclusive rights to those colors. Aside from the more important question (why isn't UNI represented?), one might wonder why universities in general have become so uptight about their brands and trademarks -- particularly state schools, which are ostensibly owned by the taxpayers who are most likely to be the same ones wearing their school gear. It's not been that long since "Animal House" featured John Belushi in a generic "College" sweatshirt.
Social-media abandonment
How people are acting out on Facebook fatigue by dropping out of online social networks. Just a little more evidence in favor of the prediction that today's technology giants won't be all that giant 10 years from now. The value and role of the Internet itself, of course, is only increasing with time -- a fact that our adversaries and potential adversaries are clearly learning and plotting to use as a tool against the United States. We can build a lot on the Internet; we also, though, need to know how to defend it if it's going to remain a foundation of our economy.
What would happen if everyone grew a single pot of edible plants?
Severe storms this afternoon could cause more flooding in Iowa
