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01 Jun 2009 23:14

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Sports: Why we loooooove Charles Barkley, reason No. 353,759

  • While Charles often makes jokes about his producer during our telecasts, he used poor judgment on Saturday during our NBA coverage. His comment was inappropriate and TNT apologizes to our viewers. We have spoken with Charles privately about it and will not have any further comment.
  • TNT • In a statement about their NBA coverage and its greatest asset, Charles Barkley, who, despite the DUI and the golf swing, is pretty much the coolest former NBA star ever. He called his producer a five-letter word that starts with a “p” on air, and he gets a slap on the wrist. That rules. • source

01 Jun 2009 22:40

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Offbeat: Turning trash into highly-zoomable photorealistic art

Chris Jordan likes taking data about our how we waste, scaling it up as large as possible, zooming out and creating works of art. He rules. source

01 Jun 2009 22:29

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U.S.: Poll: Dick Cheney won the public mindshare on Guantanamo

  • 2:1 the rate which USA Today/Gallup poll respondents preferred keeping the detention camp open
  • 3:1 the rate which respondents disliked the idea of putting detained terrorists in their home states source

01 Jun 2009 22:08

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Biz: First to go in the GM bankruptcy? The corporate jets.

  • 7 number of “not necessary” corporate jets GM wants to ditch source

01 Jun 2009 21:46

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Sports: Tom Brady’s surgeon thinks he’s an amazing in be … er, rehab

  • With regard to his recovery of strength, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. With an average person, it would have taken probably twice as long to get range of motion and strength back.
  • Dr. Neal ElAttrache • On his star surgery subject’s speedy recovery from a catastrophic knee injury last season. Brady, who previously led the New England Patriots to an undefeated regular (but not full) season, had his knee ganked in the first game of last season, and his backup, Matt Cassel, didn’t screw up too bad while papa bear was gone. • source

01 Jun 2009 21:36

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Culture: Why Eminem isn’t really relevant anymore. Just famous.

  • About five or six years ago, Eminem would have been the one responsible for making a memorable scene like this. Now he’s just the victim. source

01 Jun 2009 21:21

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Biz, Tech: Web advertising is more like the stock market nowadays

  • It’s nice to be able to tell your brand manager or the chief marketing officer which audience is interacting with the unit, what time of day, what day of the week, and what the response is on certain types of offers. Before, nobody could really tell you that.
  • Darren Herman • President of Varick Media Management, on what his company does – looks at statistics on how people are reacting to web advertising, rejiggers some things, and reacts accordingly. The large selection of statistics online make this much easier than it used to be and allow you to track response much better than you could with say, a billboard. As a result of the new data-heavy approach, it’s starting to make sense for laid off workers in the financial industry to move over from Wall St. to Madison Ave. • source
 

01 Jun 2009 21:12

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Biz, U.S.: Currently on Obama’s plate: Financial industry regulation

  • How do we make sure this never happens again? Re-invent FDIC? Kill the Office of Thrift Supervision? Throw out the rule book? The Obama administration is considering all sorts of MacGyver-like techniques to prevent future financial industry screw-ups. Don’t expect them to combine a bunch of organizations together like a puzzle, though. Obama doesn’t think he’ll get enough political support for that, and even some of his closest colleagues in Congress think it’s a bad idea. source

01 Jun 2009 20:56

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Tech: Jesus tap-dancing Christ, MS brought its Xbox A-game to E3

01 Jun 2009 10:53

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Politics, U.S.: George Tiller’s murder shows flaws in “pro-life” movement

  • Nothing exposes this fundamental inconsistency and instability in the ethic of life as a description of the anti-abortion movement more than ‘pro-life’ murder.
  • Theology professor Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite • Who argues that the way to reduce abortions, rather than through fiery, passionate protests, may be through sex education and financial support of poor women stuck in the undesirable position of keeping a child. She says a “pro-life” movement that leads to murder is a flawed movement. Scott Roeder, the suspect in the George Tiller shooting, apparently felt that the murder of an abortionist was justifiable. • source