Brian Gongol
"Share your ideas to stop the oil spill"
That's the title of an e-mail issued by the US Department of Energy, soliciting online suggestions from the small-business community for ways to manage the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's hard to tell whether the request is innovative, ridiculous, half-baked, or a combination of all three. Where's the incentive to respond? In other words, what does a respondent get if his or her idea works? "The thanks of a grateful nation" isn't going to be enough to motivate people who are working to build the businesses that will have to pay the future taxes that the very same government is running up with its pathological addiction to debt, so there needs to be some kind of concentrated benefit to coming up with the right answer.
Analyst who leaked Iraq footage to Wikileaks gets arrested
Apparently, he just couldn't help himself and had to brag about leaking the video...to a former hacker, after reading the guy's story in Wired magazine. Stories like this make it really difficult to believe that anyone could keep up some of the more exotic and elaborate plots and cover-ups of which organizations (often governments) are frequently accused, like the supposed discovery of intelligent alien life at Area 51. The bottom line is that if one guy can't even keep his trap shut about his own work, how can a conspiracy of hundreds or thousands be expected to hold for any length of time? Someone's going to spill the beans sometime.
Hong Kong consultants say India has the world's worst bureaucracy
That the country continues to enjoy economic growth despite stifling red tape really illustrates just how much potential India could probably unleash if only it would get rid of the obstruction.
Using burglar alarms to stop fires
New Zealand has a problem with arson in schools, but they can't afford to retrofit all of the school buildings with sprinklers. But they might be able to stop the crimes with burglar alarms, which are much cheaper.
Cover-band drummer decides to add a little something extra to ZZ Top
He ends up looking like a cross between one of the audioanimatronic characters from the Rockafire Explosion at Showbiz Pizza and Animal
Podcast: Why incremental improvements matter
Podcast: Whatever happened to powerline broadband?
Is 12% ethanol coming to a gas pump near you?
