Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - July 6, 2019
Please note: These show notes may be in various stages of completion -- ranging from brainstormed notes through to well-polished monologues. Please excuse anything that may seem rough around the edges, as it may only be a first draft of a thought and not be fully representative of what was said on the air.
Breaking news to watch
Segment 1: (11 min)
BUT FIRST: The opening essay
Border Patrol Facebook group controversy
The moral of the story:
Segment 2: (8 min)
Totally Unnecessary Debate of the Day
The moral of the story:
Segment 3: (14 min)
Guest: Amanda Kolson Hurley | Senior Editor, Citylab | Author, "Radical Suburbs"
Segment 4: (5 min)
Guest: Amanda Kolson Hurley | Senior Editor, Citylab | Author, "Radical Suburbs"
Segment 5: (11 min)
Technology Three | The week in technology
This news isn't "fake", it's "enhanced"
The ABC television affiliate in Chicago is going to start integrating more animation and visual effects into news stories in order to enhance the product. It's being done in tandem with a journalism school, but this for sure will require very careful scrutiny.
Facebook says it's clamping down on "sensational health claims"
At least, they're doing so in the news feed by busting down posts that appear to make exaggerated claims about health (using algorithmic management of phrases that are associated with those kinds of claims), and by doing the same for posts that appear to be selling something on the basis of exaggerated claims. Good, probably. But it did not escape one reporter's notice that nothing was said about groups, where really bad misinformation spreads like wildfire.
World's tallest modular building finished at 459'
There are actually two of them, side-by-side in Singapore. Most of the 40-story building, made of precast concrete, was fabricated in Malaysia.
The moral of the story:
Segment 6: (8 min)
Have fun
67 years, and no more MAD Magazine
Weird Al Yankovic isn't the only one who's going to miss the publication. Satire is an important art form, and while MAD has always been a sort of gateway drug to higher forms of satire. "The Hollywood Reporter" says they have sources confirming that it will only feature new content in end-of-year specials, but in the words of a MAD cartoonist, "for all intents and purposes, MAD is folding."
The moral of the story:
Segment 7: (14 min)
Hot (social) topics
Earthquakes in California
Segment 8: (5 min)
21st Century conservatism
"Bad ideas are spreading like the plague"
A thoughtful contribution from Stephanie Slade: "What unites the left's flirtation with socialism and the right's move toward nationalism is the willful discarding of long-understood, dearly learned truths about how to make the world a better place." The only comfort to be found in the resurgences of hard-left socialism and witless nationalism is that the classical liberal tradition has survived these clashes before, and ultimately triumphed. It's just that there's so much collateral damage in the meantime.
The moral of the story:
Unsorted and leftovers:
Live read: iHeartRadio app
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Calendar events to highlight
Recap
♫ Listen to the full episode from July 6, 2019 here
① Integrity can't be a part-time thing. It's part of you on the job and off the job, as well. And if you can't demonstrate it all the time, then you don't have it. We don't shed our viewpoints when we come into the workplace -- often, that is part of the very case that human-resources departments make for recruiting from a talent pool that is diverse in viewpoints and personal backgrounds. A civil and robust interaction among these views is good for many organizations, and our ability to put aside our personal differences (even on deeply personal matters like religion or politics) is essential to making a modern economy function. Integrity comes from the same root as integrate: The Latin word "integer", or "whole". You cannot have integrity only in part of your life; it is either a full-time thing, or it is nothing at all.
② When should a grown man be allowed to wear flip-flops?
③ and ④ Interview with Amanda Kolson Hurley, senior editor at CityLab and author of the new book "Radical Suburbs" (available on Amazon, of course). Her book tells a much deeper and more important story about suburbs than the lazy stereotype of white picket fences and monotony. And the history of the suburbs actually has big lessons for Des Moines and the surrounding environs.
⑤ Technology Three: (1) This news isn't "fake", it's "enhanced". (2) Facebook says it's clamping down on "sensational health claims". (3) The world's tallest modular building is now finished -- at 459' tall.
⑥ MAD Magazine is fading away.
⑦ If the aftershock is bigger than the original earthquake, doesn't that make it a cluster? If so, Southern California is in line for big trouble.
⑧ Classical liberalism fights back. "Bad ideas are spreading like the plague", writes Stephanie Slade -- but classical liberalism has beaten terrible philosophies before, and with some courage, we'll beat them again.