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16 Jul 2009 23:09

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World: Six reported dead after two bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia

  • Two fatal blasts hit the Indonesian capital Friday. Local news stations are reporting that the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotel were targeted in the two separate attacks, just two weeks after the country’s presidential election. source

16 Jul 2009 22:34

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U.S.: The fastest route to aggravating a professor: writing about their politics

  • You think you’re so [expletive] cute with your little column. I read your piece and all you want is attention. You’re just like Bill O’Reilly. You just want to get up on your [expletive] soapbox and have people look at you.
  • A faculty member at the University of Oregon • To Dan Lawton, regarding his column on the lack of Republican professors at the school. He wrote that having two registered Republicans and 98 registered Democrats on staff was a bit too much of a disparity for his liking. Lawton’s column caused quite an uproar, garnering 68 comments (and counting) plus a whack-load of responses from people both praising and criticizing his observation. The comment above fits in the latter category, as you probably guessed.  • source

16 Jul 2009 21:30

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World: RIP Kodachrome film, you will (maybe) be missed (by some of us)

Last month, Kodak announced it was killing off one of its signature products. Check out these pictures taken before Mama took their Kodachrome away. source

16 Jul 2009 20:43

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Biz: This guy’s “augmented reality” business card is kinda trippin’ us out

  • Well isn’t he just a fancy pants. James Alliban, an ActionScript developer from London, has created one of the trippiest business cards we have ever seen using something called “augmented reality.” We don’t really get how it works, but Muggles probably aren’t supposed to anyway. source

16 Jul 2009 20:03

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Biz: Moonfruit can thank Twitter for its insane rise in popularity

  • You can’t buy a campaign like that. It would have cost us millions.
  • Internet entrepreneur Wendy Tan-White • On the success of Moonfruit’s creative, Twitter-powered marketing campaign. The web hosting company gave away ten Macbook Pro laptops to people who used “#moonfruit” in their tweets, which pushed the hashtag to the top of the trending list. Since then, their website has seen a 200% rise in visits from the UK and an astounding 1,000% rise in visits from the US.  • source

16 Jul 2009 16:51

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U.S., World: Veterans are not handling the transition from Iraq, Afghanistan well

  • 37% of returning military have mental health problems source

16 Jul 2009 16:43

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U.S.: Hilary sez she’s still doing her job OK even with a ganked elbow

  • Her words: “I broke my elbow, not my larynx.” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has been out of the spotlight for a few weeks because of a broken elbow, but she still has a full role in the Obama administration, trashing on critics who say otherwise. Her only problem? The vetting process is so tough that administration officials are still not in their positions six months after the inauguration – they want to guarantee clean politics, apparently. source
 

16 Jul 2009 16:28

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Tech: TechCrunch on publishing leaked documents: It was “fair game”

  • That doesn’t mean we are entitled to do anything we like in order to get to that information. But if it lands in our inbox, we consider it fair game. And if we have reason to believe it will be widely published regardless of what we do, the decision isn’t a hard one.
  • TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington • Regarding his site’s decision to post confidential documents acquired by a hacker and sent to them. (We admittedly published one tiny piece of the puzzle, linked from them, but would happily take it down by request.) This policy is perhaps a bit loosey-goosey and might just get them in trouble. • source

16 Jul 2009 15:43

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World: Summer camp: a week of sunburns and heartbreak…and swine flu!?

  • 3 Canadian summer camps hit with a swine flu outbreak source

16 Jul 2009 14:49

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U.S.: NASA: We’re a bunch of freaking idiots who delete moon footage

  • They deleted the tape! Yeah, that one! NASA, we’re sure with the same look that you had when you busted up your dad’s Dodge when you took your ex-girlfriend on a romantic camping vacation, admitted to accidentally deleting over the most iconic tape in their entire collection, the one that turns 40 this month. You know, the moon mission. The one with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Fortunately, they had some company, Lowry Digital, remaster the heck out of the footage to make it even better than the original. But still, idiots: Don’t delete tapes with important American history on them in a desire to save cash. source