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

03 Feb 2010 23:25

tags

Politics: Murray Hill Incorporated: Finally, a candidate we can believe in

  • Yeah, this is pretty cheeky. But Murray Hill, Inc. is really running for Congress in the Maryland 8th District. They even have the kind of press release that should be studied by people who write press releases. “We want to get in on the ground floor of the democracy market before the whole store is bought by China,” they write. We hope they win so the Supreme Court is forced to reconsider its decision about giving corporations the same rights as people. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 22:35

tags

Biz, Tech: Why does Wal-Mart have a limit on buying new release DVDs?

  • five the number of copies of a newly released DVD you can buy from Wal-Mart; Target also does this
  • 40% the percentage of DVDs that kiosk company Redbox buys from Wal-Mart or Target; hmm source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 22:26

tags

Tech, World: Italy’s trying to screw over YouTube for some stupid reason

  • The background In 2006, a video of a child with Down’s syndrome getting attacked showed up on YouTube. Italy has gone after Google for the video big time, suing major executives and arguing that they should screen their content. Google argues this is a bad idea because it’s impossible.
  • The changes Now, Italy is considering taking the policy a step further. They want to force user-generated content sites like YouTube to be liable for what it posts by screening all the content that goes through and getting licenses to distribute the content online. Gah. What a bad idea.
  • The motives? Who’s the Prime Minister? Oh yeah, Silvio Berlusconi. Anyway, some suggest the government’s putting the hammer down due to Berlusconi trying to protect the content of his total-conflict-of-interest media and entertainment companies. Tinfoil hat time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 22:08

tags

U.S.: Don’t not sweat it: Self-help guru charged in sweat lodge deaths

  • helpful James Ray is a world-reknowned self-help expert who’s shown up on TV shows, including “Larry King Live” and “Oprah.”
  • harmful During a sweat-lodge meetup Ray organized in New Mexico last year, three people died and 20 people got sick as a result of the bad idea.
  • helpless Ray was charged today on three counts of manslaughter in the wake of the sweat lodge deaths. He says it was an accident. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 21:57

tags

Politics: Why are we holding back Rahm Emanuel’s hilarious profanity?

  • Issues of derogatory comments that make fun of one group or pit one against the other don’t do anything to further our political discourse, And for that Rahm apologized and we’re looking to move forward.
  • White House spokesman Bill Burton • Regarding the fact that Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel called some liberal activists “#(&(@&# retarded” in a closed-door meeting. Sarah Palin jumped on it for some reason, and now Emanuel is being forced to apologize. Can we just say that it’s retarded that Emanuel is getting trashed on for using the word “retarded”? Sure, there are stereotypes at play here, but come on. Rahm walks into a meeting room in the White House and says something worse than “retarded” without even trying. This man should be praised for his uncompromising, innovative use of profanity, not chided for it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 21:43

tags

Music: It was drugs: Jay Reatard’s cause of death finally revealed

  • He died from “cocaine toxicity,” and alcohol was in his system. The plot to this film has been written way too many times. Live fast, die young, take in lots of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll in-between. And a medical examiner confirmed that this, too, was how Jay Reatard died last month. On the plus side, his legacy will be put on wax once again for more to hear: Albums by his bands The Reatards and The Lost Sounds will be re-released by two of his former labels. Sob. He was one of the greats. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 21:32

tags

Biz: A good sign for jobs? Monster.com buys HotJobs from Yahoo

  • $225 million for a job-listing-site mega-merger source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Feb 2010 21:19

tags

U.S.: Michigan Governor: We aren’t just about cars anymore

  • Where the old Michigan economy was all about autos and manufacturing…the new Michigan economy is much broader: clean energy, life sciences — like bio-economy and medical devices — homeland security and defense, advanced manufacturing, film and tourism.
  • Micigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm • In her final State of the State address before being term-limited out of office. The state, which has felt the worst effects of the recession, needs a change in mentality. Granholm says she plans to help the state leapfrog the auto industry in its entirety, while not quitting it entirely. With less than a year left, can she pull it off? With the economy in such dire straits, she needs to. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 13:00

tags

Biz: The Adventures of Newsday Customer No. 36: Week in review

  • Today, they ran a story about a mannequin in the HOV Lane. For most papers, they’d think, holy crap! Perfect viral news opportunity. But not the Cablevision-run Newsday. They’re trying to make the newspaper into the Web equivalent of a cable channel. It’s designed as if it’s a TV station’s Web site, not a newspaper. And in our week of subscribing, that was the prevailing message: We don’t understand the market. Here are some quick numbers.
  • 18 number of e-mails we got from Newsday; two-thirds of those were “breaking” news
  • 8 number of text messages we got from the service; seven of them had links to ads
  • no it’s not worth the $5 a week, and no, we still haven’t been charged, either, guys source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 11:48

tags

Biz: Everyone’s talking about Ray LaHood and Toyota this morning

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