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20 Jul 2009 23:08

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U.S.: Note to Cambridge cops: Don’t arrest black Harvard professors

  • My colleagues and I have asked the question of whether this kind of egregious act would have happened had Professor Gates been a white professor. We think that it has to be investigated, and we are deeply saddened by what happened.
  • Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. S. Allen Counter • Regarding the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s top African-American scholar. Gates was arrested after attempting to get inside his home, only to find the door jammed. A neighbor spotted him and his cab driver, thinking it was a break-in, and called the police. Gates, who had gotten inside by the time police came, was harassed by an officer and ultimately put in custody for a number of hours. So let this be a lesson to you: If you’re a cop in Cambridge, ten to one, a black guy trying to get into a house in a nice neighborhood is probably doing nothing wrong and someone notable enough that the New York Times will report on it. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 22:42

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U.S.: California’s budget agreement: Everyone comes out on the short end

  • Politicians Facing the kind of political deadlock only captured in movies, it’s surprising they even pulled it off. “There isn’t a whole lot of good news in this budget,” said Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg. source
  • Politicians Facing the kind of political deadlock only captured in movies, it’s surprising they even pulled it off. “There isn’t a whole lot of good news in this budget,” said Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg.
  • The poor Welfare checks get cut – or go away entirely – for many families. Health care gets cut for thousands of children, along with their grandparents. To cut the budget by $26.3 billion, social welfare goes the way of the dodo. source
  • Politicians Facing the kind of political deadlock only captured in movies, it’s surprising they even pulled it off. “There isn’t a whole lot of good news in this budget,” said Democratic Senate leader Darrell Steinberg.
  • The poor Welfare checks get cut – or go away entirely – for many families. Health care gets cut for thousands of children, along with their grandparents. To cut the budget by $26.3 billion, social welfare goes the way of the dodo.
  • Cutbacks State workers will continue to get their days cut. Prisoners (unless you’re a Manson) will get out early, making the streets “safer.” But despite all of this, politicians managed to largely avoid raising taxes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 17:01

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Tech, U.S.: A balanced diet: fruit, veggies, social media, grains, micro-blogging

To simplify your life, Wired has released suggested serving sizes of media. According to them, you should be reading us for up to an hour a day. We concur. source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 5 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 16:44

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U.S.: Defense Secretary Robert Gates has needs, and he’s filling them

  • 22,000 more troops are being added to the Army source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 16:31

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Culture: Futurama is back! They just might have to, umm, rejig the cast a bit

  • The good news: Futurama will return in 2010. The bad news: it might be with a new cast. The reason: money, of course. Word on the street is that original cast members John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal and Billy West want a bit more than Fox is willing to cough up. Does it matter if it’s just a cartoon? source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 16:28

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Music: Beastie Boy MCA’s suffering from cancer; we made a rap in his honor

  • “My name is Adam Yauch and I am sad to say / I’m the guy with cancer known as MCA / It’s very treatable; it’s centered in a gland / But the Beasties canceled shows and we are very sad” / (enter Mixmaster Mike scratching for four counts) / “And I’m Mike D and I bust on the mike” / “And I’m Ad-Rock and we’re both still alright” / “We got his back until his back is straight / And we can both tour still with MCA”source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 15:47

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U.S.: Another aircraft crash in Afghanistan makes for some unnerving numbers

  • four NATO aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this month, including two helicopters and two fighter jets source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Jul 2009 15:17

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U.S.: Vanity Fair’s grammar divas edit Palin’s resignation speech. Ouch.

This is what happens when you put Sarah Palin’s resignation speech in the same room as Vanity Fair editors. I think we can assume that they really enjoyed doing this. source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 12:36

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Biz, Tech: Has the RIAA finally come around to seeing DRM as bad?

  • All DRM has ever done is annoy consumers who actually paid for their music. No single piece of DRM has ever stopped anyone from pirating music, it’s quite the opposite as the music industry now realizes.
  • TorrentFreak’s Ernesto • Discussing the demise of the Recording Industry Association of America’s reliance on digital rights management to protect its content. In recent months, the music industry group has abandoned the approach: In an upcoming issue of SCMagazine, chief spokesperson Jonathan Lamy says, “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” That sounds pretty definitive to us. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2009 12:12

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World: A suspect identified as Indonesia mourns the Jakarta bombings

According to Indonesian TV, the suspect had ties to the Jemaah Islamiah radical group. The Jakarta hotel bombings killed 9 and injured 58. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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