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15 Feb 2009 13:01

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Biz, U.S.: Automaker GM considers the nuclear option

  • General Motors could fold into a new company. The plan, which the Wall Street Journal reported about yesterday, would have the automaker file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reform as a new company. They’re under a lot of pressure to act right now – they got a massive bailout from the government and, along with Chrysler, have until Tuesday to show the government how they plan to restructure. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2009 12:55

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Biz, U.S.: My, isn’t this auto industry quote dramatic

  • If we don’t beat the second half of 2008 this year, then it could be all over. We’re all going to be peeling bark off trees and go back to being an agrarian society.
  • Erich Merkle • An independent auto analyst, on the auto industry’s need to beat its dismal 2008 in 2009. Personally, we like farming. Give us a good mule and a way to cut through the soil, and we’re set for life! • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2009 12:53

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Offbeat: Going fashionable, Barbie-style

NYC’s Fashion Week was loaded with models wearing clothes designed for a plastic doll. source
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15 Feb 2009 12:38

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Tech, World: The Pirate Bay + trial + fans = “Spectrial”

  • What’s going on Administrators of The Pirate Bay, that spot where people download their illegal software from because Adobe charges too much, are going on trial for copyright charges in their home base, Sweden, tomorrow. The torrent tracker has long evaded getting shut down due to the country’s fairly lax copyright policies (and some clever thinking on the part of the owners). They have, however, been raided in the past. source
  • What’s going on Administrators of The Pirate Bay, that spot where people download their illegal software from because Adobe charges too much, are going on trial for copyright charges in their home base, Sweden, tomorrow. The torrent tracker has long evaded getting shut down due to the country’s fairly lax copyright policies (and some clever thinking on the part of the owners). They have, however, been raided in the past.
  • What they’re doing The thing that has won the site many fans is that they don’t go down quietly, going out of their way to avoid getting shut down by whatever means necessary. And in the current case, their related political party, Piratbyrån chose to make a spectacle of the trial, a “spectrial” as they put it, complete with Twitter feeds and a cool hacker-ish Web site. They want to stir stuff up. Should be fun to watch, if nothing else. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2009 11:23

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World: Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai: “We had to act”

  • People have no food, no schools. The country is on its knees. We had to act. We could not be seen to be authors of chaos.
  • Morgan Tsvangirai • The new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, on choosing to form a unified government with President Robert Mugabe. That unified government is already in crisis due to one of Tsvangirai’s close associates, Roy Bennett, getting arrested. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2009 09:09

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Offbeat, U.S.: Utah got bilked by a Nigerian scam. Wait, what?

  • $2.5 million was stolen from the Utah treasury. Oof. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2009 09:05

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World: Today, Venezuelans decide if Hugo Chavez sticks around

  • Term limits? Who needs ‘em? Just to make sure everyone was awake, loud bugles woke up people in Venezuela reminding them that today, they vote on whether President Hugo Chavez can get term limits removed so he can stay in power for decades if he so chooses. People in the country are split on the vote. If Chavez loses, he could have to leave office in 2013. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Feb 2009 20:36

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Offbeat: OK, we know it’s Valentine’s Day. Here’s a number to warm your heart.

  • 1.5 million people split up on this über-depressing holiday source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2009 20:12

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Music: Our latest musical crush: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

  • About the band This NYC band pulls off this neat little trick – initially, they start off heavy and crushing, with noise and feedback bouncing everywhere like the Jesus & Mary Chain, but it slowly becomes obvious that they’re the really the next generation of C86 jangle-pop – which never was all that popular except for people big into Sarah Records acts like Heavenly. Which, strangely enough, we are! source
  • About the band This NYC band pulls off this neat little trick – initially, they start off heavy and crushing, with noise and feedback bouncing everywhere like the Jesus & Mary Chain, but it slowly becomes obvious that they’re the really the next generation of C86 jangle-pop – which never was all that popular except for people big into Sarah Records acts like Heavenly. Which, strangely enough, we are!
  • Where to start The band’s self-titled debut, on the fitting Slumberland Records, is the real twee-pop deal. Worth listening to in particular are the loud-to-lilting “Come Saturday,” and “Stay Alive,” with the most jangly guitars you’ve heard since Toad The Wet Sprocket was still popular. In six months, Belle and Sebastian fans are going to claim that they have a new favorite band. Just you wait. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2009 18:46

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U.S.: Nadya Suleman’s publicist gets death threats, quits

  • They’d put me in the wood chipper and throw me in the bottom of the ocean and hope I die. We’ve gotten her through the worst part of it and now they are putting their venom and anger toward us.
  • Joann Killeen • Former publicist for Nadya Suleman, the much-discussed mother of the octuplets, on the e-mails she got from people angry that Suleman has a publicist. Well, she doesn’t have a publicist anymore. But now she has an agent instead, and that agent will probably score her a book deal. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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