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11 Aug 2009 11:18

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Biz: General Motors claims the Chevy Volt gets unreal gas mileage

  • 230 mpg in cities, says GM … why didn’t they do this sooner? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 11:12

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Music: It’s a bit early to pick the best and worst album covers of 2009, but …

albumcovers0811
  • … AOL makes a pretty compelling case for doing it now. One of these album covers was selected as the best; one was selected as the worst. Can you tell which? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 11:01

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Offbeat: Communism in Cuba doesn’t guarantee a toilet paper supply

The state-run company that makes Cuba’s toilet paper says disaster and economics will prevent it from making enough. So Cuba’s gonna import it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 10:52

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Politics: Princeton professor: Interest groups damage the political process

  • Interest groups have clearly eroded the quality of our democratic process. The most obvious way has been through outright corruption. There are many historical examples of how powerful interest groups tried to buy their way to success.
  • Princeton professor Julian E. Zelizer • Discussing the damage that interest groups have done to political discourse. He’s not simply talking about the current situation with town halls and health care, although that’s part of it. He says that in general, interest groups have too much power: “Lobbyists and politicians on the left and right have been guilty of these sins.” He refers to the underrated movie “Bulworth,” which attacked this issue head-on. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 10:42

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U.S.: Most of New Jersey doesn’t want their state to be like “The Sopranos”

  • 93% of Jersey thinks corruption’s a problem; the rest is in on it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 10:34

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Culture: Aussie rock icon Nick Cave has a new book coming out

  • Put Cormac McCarthy, Franz Kafka and Benny Hill together in a Brighton seaside guesthouse and they might just come up with Bunny Munro.
  • “Trainspotting” author Irvine Welsh • Describing Bunny Munro, the main character of Nick Cave’s new novel, “The Death of Bunny Munro.” The book comes out next month, and it’s not the first one Cave has written. Although we’d really like to see a movie come out of this script. • source
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11 Aug 2009 10:26

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World: Burma sentences Aung San Suu Kyi as if nobody’s gonna notice

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11 Aug 2009 10:16

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U.S.: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a tireless campaigner for the mentally disabled

Smithsonian portrait of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
  • She died early Tuesday at 88. Beyond being known as a member of the Kennedy family, Shriver founded the Special Olympics in 1968 just weeks after her brother Robert’s assassination. It was a profound idea – during an era where physical activity was unheard of for the mentally disabled, she started an event to encourage it. She learned about it from her sister Rosemary, who grew up in Kennedy household during an era where many with mental disabilities were institutionalized. Her victories may not have been as loud as those of her famous brothers, but in their own way they were just as profound. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 08:43

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U.S.: Being stuck on a roller coaster is a roller coaster of emotions

  • 24 people were stuck on Invertigo for three hours; yikes source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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