Brian Gongol
Has the Federal Reserve decided that managing the international value of the dollar is one of its jobs, too?
The Fed's job should be keeping inflation stable and slow, and that's really about the only job it should have.
DARPA and NASA decide it's time for a 100-year business plan
Specifically, it's a plan to get humans into deep space exploration -- en route to other star systems. The 100-year business plan is a woefully under-used business technique. It's easy to forget about the long term (or even the medium term) when business is booming, but as the disastrous economic conditions of the last couple of years have really made it obvious that short-term thinking (and debt) have become a seriously toxic recipe. In a good sign, though, it looks like some companies are getting their acts together: Ford, for instance, is getting rid of debt as quickly as it can and in the process giving investors the impression that the company might actually stick around for the long term.
Update on the financial situation at West Glen
It's a West Des Moines development that went up mainly during the height of the property boom. Times appear to be pretty tough for other developers in the area.
High-speed video...played in slow motion
Someone recorded a pass through a train station from a high-speed train, and seeing it in slow motion looks a lot like a the "bullet time" sequence from The Matrix
Make it once, share it often
The BBC is going to let the rest of the world start using the iPlayer, a platform for distributing television and radio programs. It makes a lot of sense -- once the programs have been produced, the only real marginal cost is to the bandwidth required to send those programs around the world.
Podcasts from the Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - November 21, 2010
The entire show in four segments: "Why I want someone to write Thanksgiving carols", "That's not really pumpkin pie", "It's time to start paying for our infrastructure", and "No, really, Des Moines taxes are way too high".
The brilliant "Pearls Before Swine" gets the animated treatment
Happy Thanksgiving
