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19 Oct 2009 10:18

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Politics: Senator: Should college be a three-year deal, instead of four?

  • The three-year degree could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car. And that’s both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world.
  • Senator Lamar Alexander • Describing why a three-year undergraduate program, rather than a four-year, could become beneficial for students, schools, and parents alike. Alexander suggests that it’s problematic that many school facilities stay closed for nearly half the calendar year. He also notes that by condensing the college experience into three years, it costs less – in the case of Hartwick College, which is trying a three-year program, 25% less. We think there’s social benefits to not pushing college through in three years that Alexander’s not considering, probably because he’s old. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 09:58

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Music: Cello-playing dude covers LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great”

  • LCD Soundsystem never sounded so … regal. “Someone Great” is one of LCD Soundsystem’s best songs, and experimental cellist Andrew Carter brings it into a realm of beauty that not even the original reaches. We’re impressed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 09:46

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U.S.: Here’s a sobering statistic on the homeless in this recession

  • 10% of those helped in the last year lost homes to foreclosure source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 09:34

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Biz, World: From insider trading directly into the Tamil Tigers’ pocket?

  • Raj Rajaratnam gave as much as $5 million to a Tamil organization. The Sri Lankan-born billionaire at the center of the insider trading scandal on Wall Street may have helped the now-defeated Tamil Tigers on the side. U.S. records show that Rajaratnam gave $5 million to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, and that money could have made its way to the Tigers. Which, if true, could complicate his saintly reputation in his homeland. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 09:17

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Culture: Kurt Vonnegut’s unpublished short stories see the light of day

  • I was sitting in a bar one night, talking rather loudly about a person I hated — and a man with a beard sat down beside me, and he said amiably, ‘Why don’t you have him killed?’
  • From an excerpt of “Look at the Birdie” • A previously unpublished Kurt Vonnegut short story that’s out this week. The excerpt from “Birdie” features the protagonist in the midst of a colorful bar conversation – you know, the kind of colorful bar conversation we’re often involved in. Vonnegut died in 2007, and “Birdie” is his second posthumous work. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 09:05

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Culture: Jan Moir and The Daily Mail have a lot of complaints on their hands

  • one controversial article about the death of Boyzone’s Stephen Gately that blamed his homosexuality
  • 21,000 formal complaints about the Jan Moir article to the U.K.’s Press Complaints Commission since Friday source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 08:57

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World: Hamid Karzai has too much power over the Afghan election

  • He can somehow create an electoral deadlock. Despite the fact that the UN looked into the results of the election, and they’re designed to be an impartial third party, a UN-led probe into vote-rigging is on hold in Afghanistan because Karzai’s upset. Why? Because the UN’s throwing out questionable votes, which will cause a runoff election. And Karzai, for obvious reasons, doesn’t want a runoff. Karzai better deal with it, because he could be affecting whether the U.S. puts more troops in his country by fighting the electoral fraud charges. source
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19 Oct 2009 08:46

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U.S.: Obama says the stimulus helped hugely in schools

  • 250,000 education jobs saved, eh? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2009 01:52

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Tech: Think you have a solid antivirus on your PC? Double-check, bro.

  • Lots of times, in fact they’re a conduit for attackers to take over your machine. They’ll take your credit card information, any personal information you’ve entered there and they’ve got your machine.
  • Symantec’s Vice President for Security Response Vincent Weafer • Describing the nefarious ways that fake antivirus software works. Weafer says that there were as many as 43 million attempted downloads of realistic-sounding antivirus software with names like “Antivirus 2010” and “SpywareGuard 2008.” But they’re really just vectors to take over you computer. Even worse, Weafer notes that there was an affiliate program for middlemen who wanted to earn as much as 55 cents for each PC they infected. The top affiliates were bringing in hundreds of thousands each month through early Conficker virus server TrafficConverter.biz. • source
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