Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

19 Jul 2009 22:09

tags

World: Apparently some terrorists had it in for Mousavi, but not anymore

  • 1 foiled attempt to assassinate Iran’s
    Mir Hossein Mousavi source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 4 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 21:39

tags

U.S.: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt dies at 78

The former school teacher and author of ‘Angela’s Ashes’ died in New York City from metastatic melanoma today. He was 78 and left behind a lot of very, very good work. source
Posted by Nathalie Heiberg • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 18:30

tags

Politics: A lefty says that Sarah Palin is an example of the rise of idiocy

  • She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn’t say what she read because she didn’t read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity.
  • The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan • Describing why Sarah Palin often didn’t know what the heck she was talking about on TV. Noonan’s quote (Noonan is a conservative, BTW) is something of a centerpiece of Salon columnist Gene Lyons’ thrashing of not only Palin herself but her quote-unquote idiotic fans, calling her a product of TV celebrity culture. Lyons goes further: “President? Get real. Sarah Palin couldn’t manage a Wal-Mart.” Ouch. Those claws sure dig deep, don’t they? • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 17:45

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: Trashing on Canada, remembering Cronkite

  • A friend in Canada … On “Meet the Press,” top-ranking Sen. Mitch McConnell discounts the idea of health care for all Americans using an argument involving both Ford Motor Co. and a friend of a friend who died because Canada wouldn’t allow him to get a medical procedure. Hm.

  • A friend in Canada … On “Meet the Press,” top-ranking Sen. Mitch McConnell discounts the idea of health care for all Americans using an argument involving both Ford Motor Co. and a friend of a friend who died because Canada wouldn’t allow him to get a medical procedure. Hm.

  • “It was about news” CBS’ Bob Schieffer, who’s had a full weekend of comments about Walter Cronkite to make, makes yet another one on CNN about what made Cronkite stand out – he cared about the news above all else. “He loved no scoop better than HIS scoop,” Schieffer said.

  • A friend in Canada … On “Meet the Press,” top-ranking Sen. Mitch McConnell discounts the idea of health care for all Americans using an argument involving both Ford Motor Co. and a friend of a friend who died because Canada wouldn’t allow him to get a medical procedure. Hm.

  • “It was about news” CBS’ Bob Schieffer, who’s had a full weekend of comments about Walter Cronkite to make, makes yet another one on CNN about what made Cronkite stand out – he cared about the news above all else. “He loved no scoop better than HIS scoop,” Schieffer said.

  • From bad to worse Fox News had a friendly chat this morning with Obama budget wizard Peter Orszag, who says that the economy is worse than anyone thought – backed by unemployment figures. “You can’t go from job losses of 700,000 a month … to job growth like that,” he said.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 16:29

tags

Politics, Tech: Digg’s DiggBar gets kinda shady in its linking style

  • The more disturbing part is that they’re expecting us to use their diggbar urls to deceptively push their site to our followers. If I broadcast a link to the New York Times, people expect to see the New York Times when they click that link. They do not expect to land on Digg.
  • End of Web blogger Matthew Rogers • On a recent change of functionality in the DiggBar, a service we admittedly initially liked. However, the functionality has changed in such a way that the links no longer lead to the source of the content for logged-out users but to the Digg page for that article. Granted, we’ve read some of Rogers’ other posts and feel that he generally comes off a bit hard-line on things, but in this case, we feel that he’s right. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 16:08

tags

World: Iran’s vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, resigns amid criticism

  • He apparently wasn’t hard-line enough for leadership. Just days after getting into office, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei has decided to step down from his post. Mashaei, a top aide to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, found himself under a lot of political pressure due to his moderate stance on Israel. When Ahmadinejad named him as his vice president, the furor could be heard from miles away. Now we could be wrong about this – and let us know if we are – but is someone who isn’t hard-line enough really the problem that Iran has right now? (Oh, FYI, expect more protests this week.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 15:34

tags

Biz: Why Exxon is an evil, unbelievably greedy company

  • Over the years, Exxon Mobil has been making major profits at levels larger than most of the countries in the world. They’re No. 2 on Fortune’s Global 500. source
  • Over the last 17 years, after a deal that went sour, they’ve actively sabotaged oil fields in Texas, filling them with junk and plugging up wells with explosives. source
  • In response to all of this, the company could have to pay some $1 billion in fines to the state – which, considering, seems a bit like a slap on the wrist. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Jul 2009 14:59

tags

Sports: Screw you, Stewart Cink! You stole Tom Watson’s old guy thunder!

Watson (left) got as close as the final hole in the British Open, before blowing a putt then blowing a playoff to Cink. Screw you, Stewie! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 14:23

tags

Biz, Tech: The search collaboration that wasn’t may be back on

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jul 2009 14:04

tags

Music: Tune Test: Trevor Giuliani’s a bit all over the map (in a good way)

trevorgiuliani0719

Who: Trevor Giuliani

What: "Subcontrario (In Stereo)"

Release: July 21, 2009

Listen: "Wasting Your Town"

Snap judgment: Trevor's a folk-popster in the vein of Josh Rouse (though with vocals that have a lot in common with early Pedro the Lion). The production, at times simple and expansive, stands out – it never settles on a single sound, most notably on "Van Singing" and "Big Decisions." "Wasting Your Town" is the straightest pop number here, while the percussive "Nubian Forest" has the most surprises.

Physical: Buy the CD

Digital: Buy the MP3s

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>