Gongol.com Archives: February 2021

February 18, 2021

Threats and Hazards "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren"

Dwight Eisenhower's words echo today. He was speaking of overspending, of course, but there's something similar (and complementary) to be said about paying for the necessary maintenance of our material assets. Sporadic flurries of spending on roads and bridges do not make for real infrastructure "investment".

Computers and the Internet Why are news sites so user-unfriendly?

They still haven't figured out a way to let people pay for a reciprocal pass, so that if you're a subscriber to one or two local newspapers, you don't hit a paywall at every other one. Practically every local zoo and aquarium has figured this out. It's really not that hard.

Weather and Disasters Most people are trying to do the right thing

Alert snowplow driver rescues little boy wandering away from home in dangerous cold

News Want to see the word "meanwhile" used like a sword?

In a tweet about Sen. Ted Cruz's mid-disaster trip to Mexico, the Houston-area Fox affiliate said "Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun with his family amid a crisis in Texas, FOX News confirmed. Meanwhile, half a million Texans remain without power and at least 20 people have died."

Weather and Disasters Icebreaking on the Chicago River

This looks like way more fun than almost any other job in public works.