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31 May 2009 23:11

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Offbeat, U.S.: “Hello, President Obama’s office. How may I help you?”

Darienne M. Page is the White House Receptionist – she gets paid $36,000 a year to sit at a desk and run Obama’s life. That’s low for D.C. money, BTW. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 11 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 22:58

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Culture, Music: Hedonism hearsay: A roadie sez Jimi Hendrix was murdered

  • ‘I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a b*%^# was going to leave me. If I lost him, I’d lose everything.’
  • James ‘Tappy’ Wright • A roadie for Jimi Hendrix, reciting what manager Michael Jeffery supposedly told him – that he killed Jimi because he was about to leave for a different manager. You should always take claims of things that happened 38 years ago with a grain of salt, especially when tied to a book (“Rock Roadie,” written by Wright), and written about by Robert Gibbs’ least favorite news resource, the British press. (It’s the Daily Mail, though. They’ll say anything, right?) • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 21:40

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Sports: Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, is toppled from his French Open throne

You know, this clay doesn’t seem quite so messy when you’re winning on it. Now it just feels like you’re rolling in the dirt. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 21:24

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World: The last Titanic survivor dies. Her fate was sealed as a baby.

  • 97 years of being known as a Titanic survivor, and nothing but source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 21:18

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Politics: George Tiller’s greatest foe, Operation Rescue, denounces his murder

  • We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.
  • Operation Rescue • In a statement released to the press. The organization was famous for their stance against the late-term abortion specialist, and it’s somewhat bizarre to hear this statement from an organization that published the addresses of him and his employees, as well as the church where he was murdered, and had a “Tiller Watch” section of their Web site, which they conveniently took down today. (Thanks, Google cache!) May we argue that the discourse of this entire debate, on both sides, has gotten out of control? • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 21:07

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U.S.: George Tiller was the wedge in the ultimate wedge issue, abortion

  • protest Tiller’s clinic started getting regular picketers in 1975 and was a constant target of militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. The clinic was bombed by anti-abortion activists in 1985, and he was shot in both arms by activist Shelley Shannon in 1993.
  • trials Earlier this year, Tiller was acquitted of 19 counts on claims that second opinions given in his late-term abortion cases were not independent. Kansas law requires that prior to a late-term abortion, a patient receive a second opinion completely unrelated to the first.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 20:44

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U.S.: Key quote from George Tiller, the abortion doctor murdered today

  • The women in my father’s practice for whom he did abortions educated me and taught me that abortion is about women’s hopes, dreams, potential, the rest of their lives. Abortion is a matter of survival for women.
  • George Tiller • A Wichita, Kansas-based doctor who specialized in late-term abortions. His office is one of just three in the country. Tiller started Women’s Health Care Services in response to the outrage he felt after hearing a tale of an illegal abortion, done after his father declined the procedure, in which the mother died. Tiller died today after being murdered while attending church. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 

31 May 2009 12:11

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Politics, Tech: The evolution of the art of writing in the age of blogs

  • print Philip Greenspun of MIT argues that, before the Web, you could either write books or mid-sized articles of four to five pages. Publishing was constricted.
  • web When the internet first came about, he argues, it allowed for long articles – 20 to 30 pages – to be easily printed. But short bites didn’t make sense online.
  • blogs His argument concludes that blogging solved the biggest problem of the media age – now people can easily write short. Well, that’s what we’re doing, anyway. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 12:02

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World: Big Ben, the giant clock (not your fat friend) celebrates a milestone

  • 150 years of constant, boring timekeeping source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2009 11:54

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Culture, Offbeat: How a kid somehow built a career out of this stupid video

  • Brandon Hardesty translated the modest success of this video into a lucrative film career in just over two years. He now stars in “American Pie” sequels and Adam Sandler movies. We kid you not. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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