• $2.2B in losses this year, despite a strong upswing at formerly faltering Merrill Lynch
• $4B the amount Bank of America spent on killing off those pesky bailout funds
• $5.6B the amount Bank of America lost at its global credit cards division; oof source

• Apparently, they did, according to sources. The desktop rivals may be ready to share the same phone after Google overstayed its welcome on the iPhone last year. Apple’s considering making Bing the default search engine, as well as making it an option on Safari. This would show exactly how far the business relationship has fallen in the wake of the Google Voice app fiasco, the Nexus One, Android, etc. Can you imagine using Bing on the iPhone? The more interesting note, though? Apparently Apple’s thinking of creating its own search to compete with Google. Whoa. source

• 6.1 aftershock this morning; no new damage reported source

• Will it cause new deaths? It’s possible, but as many Haitians have been sleeping in the streets for fear of this very thing, not as likely. Fingers crossed.

• Our history Before we worked on ShortFormBlog, we worked at this great little publication called Bluffton Today (disclosure: we started this Wikipedia article), a pretty innovative small-town newspaper. The owner, Morris Publishing Group, has been very supportive of the idea, despite their recent financial struggles.
• Their troubles Morris, another victim of the recession, had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. It’s a reorganization of debt – one that reportedly takes $278.5 million off the table – that they say will not affect their papers, employees or advertisers. They’d still remain on the hook for about $100 million in debt.
• fingers crossed While it’s likely Morris will survive this change in their corporate standing mostly unscathed, we do worry about Morris missing opportunities to do innovative things like Bluffton Today – or with their larger publications in Jacksonville, Fla. or Augusta, Ga. We have our fingers crossed for them – and our friends. source

• The second they turn into superheroes is when it starts getting good. Jeff Zucker is portrayed exactly like the kind of jerk he should be, and Coco is shown with a gaggle of supporters. Awesome.

• She called Curt Schilling a damn Yankees fan. source

• 
  skeletal
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  wannabe
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  improving
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  mopey
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  revived
  

• In the past, if someone was difficult, you could just tell them to leave. But you can’t do that anymore. You talk to someone, and a couple of minutes later, it’s on Yelp.
• Small-business owner Diane Goodman • Regarding the minor total nightmare Yelp has become for her business. Goodman overreacted to a post on the site, contacted the poster, and the poster responded back by putting her messages in the Yelp review. The result turned into an altercation at the poster’s house. With its 8 million user-submitted reviews and 26 million views, a negative review can cause significant damage to a business. As well as Diane Goodman’s mental health. source

• cause Clearly in a favorable spot due to his status as the 60th-vote blocker in the Senate, Scott Brown took victory over Martha Cloakey in the Massachusetts Senat race tonight.
• effect Know that supermajority vote the Democrats had for a number of months that ensured they could get some stuff done (and that they wasted)? It’s gone, boys. source

• Well, that #(&(@&@ sucks. Screw them. China, currently kings of the sassy-kid-talkin’ “I do what I want” bandwagon, are forcing phone companies in the country to censor text messages with “illegal or unhealthy content,” mostly by suspending service to unwitting dirty-joke-makers. Just to make sure China blocks this post after we put it up:

china tiananmen square human rights porn sex sex censorship communism google xxx sexual content pornography tibet dalai lama playboy china tiananmen square human rights porn sex sex censorship communism google xxx sexual content pornography tibet dalai lamachina tiananmen square human rights porn sex sex censorship communism google xxx sexual content pornography tibet dalai lama

• There, that should do it. source