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04 Mar 2010 23:36

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World: Define “genocide”: The U.S. reignites WWI-era tensions with Turkey

  • The U.S. calls the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks “genocide.” Turkey pulled its ambassador from the U.S. today after the a house panel changed its stance on one of Armenia’s darkest hours. The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee made the decision in committee, voting 23-22 to tell Obama to refer to it as such. It’s unclear if it’ll reach the floor. Many historians refer to the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, but Turkey views this as an affront to their honor. Not that this isn’t an awful issue, but it seems like bad diplomacy to change stance seemingly at random. (In fact, the Obama administration was wary on lighting this particular fire.) But on the other hand, we bet Armenians don’t feel that way. So we can see both sides of this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 22:06

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Tech: TiVo seeing green as a result of winning a huge patent case

  • $300M the amount EchoStar owes TiVo for essentially ganking their idea
  • 8M the number of DVRs that could be affected by the court’s decision
  • 52% the amount TiVo’s stock went up as a result of the massive ruling source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 21:56

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Biz: Yelp’s defenses of its service get increasingly angry-sounding

  • Their P.R. site, strangely enough, doesn’t allow comments. Recently, local business review site Yelp, while quite popular, has faced criticism over the way it works with the local businesses it indexes, including rumors that the site purposely favors advertisers. Recently, Yelp’s blog has been on the defensive. It culminated today with a tart-tongued post which clearly hadn’t been looked over by a lawyer, because it makes allegations that might annoy those suing the company. (Lawyers want a piece of us ’cause we got some venture capital!) Here’s a sample:
  • February 26: Conspiracy? “The allegations are disappointing, not only because they are false, but because they ignore empirical evidence in favor of conspiracy theories.” source
  • March 1: We’re weird “We’ll be the first to admit that, by conventional standards, Yelp can seem weird. We’re different than other review sites and that can throw people off.” source
  • March 4: Rawr “So it’s no surprise that today another lawyer has filed a virtually identical lawsuit making the same inaccurate claims. (Don’t worry; they’re still not true.)” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 20:31

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U.S.: A common flavor-enhancer just got recalled for salmonella. Yikes.

  • 50 foods that contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein recalled source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 20:23

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U.S.: David Paterson’s bad day: The latest in the NY governor’s scandal

  • one His communications secretary resigned, saying he couldn’t “in good conscience” support Paterson.
  • two Paterson’s scandal continues to broaden, with ill-gotten World Series tickets under deep scrutiny.
  • three Paterson said he’d be governor Friday, but stayed silent when asked if he would be governor next week. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 20:14

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U.S.: Pentagon Metro shooting: Just be glad you don’t need a train

  • This floor looks overloaded with people. It’s a freaking mess, and it’s all caused by one guy who decided to shoot a couple of Pentagon police officers. The injuries to the officers weren’t life-threatening, by the way. Careful out there, guys. (Photo by @whrobinson) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 20:05

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U.S.: Students protest California’s frustrating university budget cuts

  • My heart and my support are with everybody and anybody who wants to stand up for public education. I salute those who are making themselves heard today in a peaceful manner on behalf of a great cause.
  • University of California President Mark Yudof • Regarding the major protests being staged at his and other universities across California and in 17 other states. The protests are in the wake of massive budget cuts to the state’s educational institutions, which have the effect of lowering the quality of education and raising the cost of tuition. For his part, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the cuts are terrible, but necessary, due to the state’s $20 billion budget deficit. Rock, meet hard place. In between? An education system. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Mar 2010 19:54

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U.S.: The Pentagon shooting has the D.C. metro area in a tizzy

  • two Pentagon police officers were shot and wounded in the attack
  • one suspect is in police custody; nobody can leave the Pentagon source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 19:06

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U.S.: There apparently was a shooting near the Pentagon. Twitter’s on it



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 11:08

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Offbeat: Fat guy puts his middle finger into a huge free speech battle

  • Robert Ekas dared to flick off a cop with his middle finger and got ticketed by the cops despite the fact he did nothing wrong otherwise. How did he handle it? He filed a lawsuit, claiming they violated his right to dissent. When you’re driving, it’s the best dissent tool available, apparently. It’d be funny to see if this went anywhere.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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