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07 Apr 2010 20:55

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Politics: “Hip-hop Republicans” not impressed with Tea Party’s evolution

  • It’s strayed away from the message of wasteful spending and Washington not listening to its constituents, and it’s become more of this rally of hate.
  • Black conservative Brandon Brice • Regarding the Tea Party movement. Brice, who labels himself a “hip-hop Republican,” says that the movement was a lot more diverse a year ago, and now it seems hateful and disrespectful to other races. Not every black conservative feels that way, but this does play into the movement’s image problem. 79 percent of Tea Partiers are white. 6 percent are black. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 20:49

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Tech: Based on hardware costs, Apple’s iPad has a huge markup

  • $260 cost of the hardware in a low-end iPad, which sells for $499
  • $65 cost of the screen alone, the product’s most expensive part source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 20:41

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Politics: Bob McDonnell is sorry if you’re offended he forgot about slavery

  • bad Breaking nearly a
    decade of tradition,
    Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell restarted the controversial practice of making April Confederate History Month.
  • worse In his proclamation, he forgot to mention that the Civil War had a lot to do with slavery and stuff (not just states’ rights), which is why it’s controversial in the first place.
  • oops Today, McDonnell
    apologized (kinda): “I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed.” What about non-Virginians? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 20:32

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Biz, Culture: NBC is trying to subliminally convince you to recycle

  • In this case it fell right into the realm of what we do. We’d have to say no if it hurt the integrity of the show.
  • “The Office” executive producer Paul “Toby the HR guy” Lieberstein • Discussing his network’s push to get his show (and every other on their many networks) to produce one environmentally-themed episode each year. (In the case of “The Office,” Dwight dressed up as a superhero obsessed with recycling.) It’s called “behavior placement,” and like product placement, the goal is to get you to buy stuff. The journalism world has something like this – if a newspaper publishes a weekly section about cars, it’s because they want to sell car ads. But the way NBC handles it is way beyond what most networks do. It’s this sort of innovative thinking that got Jay Leno on the air at 10 p.m. Remember that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 20:17

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Biz: United we merge: U.S. Airways and United Airlines wanna shack up

  • Because, hey, who needs consumer choice, anyway? The two airlines are in the kind of talks that saw Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merge recently, a move which confused the pilots. They’ve almost merged a few times already, most recently in 2008. But with the warm feeling of precedent slicking the runway, the skies could clear. It might just happen this time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 11:27

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Culture: “Dr. Horrible,” 8-bit style: A “Maniac Mansion” for modern nerds

  • Whoever the genius is that created this needs to be given like a million dollars by Joss Whedon or something so he can sell this game. This is a brilliant idea. And hilarious.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 11:19

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World: Landslides, floods lead to heavy death toll in Rio de Janeiro

  • 102+ people killed after a
    heavy rainfall source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Apr 2010 11:15

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Offbeat: Weekend at Bernie’s 3: Dead husband on flight to Germany

  • normal Two women (a wife and step-daughter) tried to to get their 91-year-old patriarch on a flight to Germany.
  • weird They neglected to mention, however, that old boy was dead, which was plainly clear from looking at him. Oops. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 11:05

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U.S.: Debt-ridden California owes a lot of money in pensions

  • $500
    billion     amount the state owes in
    pensions, according to a Stanford
    University study
  • 2,000%
    increase     the amount California’s
    pension burden increased between 1999 and 2009 source
  • » Why is this bad for California? David Crane of the L.A. Times notes that this pension burden is what’s really holding the state back. Because they have this huge albatross on their back, they’re forced to cut other, arguably more important things, like education.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 10:57

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U.S.: Random French tourist: I’m not a hero. I just wanted to help.

  • I don’t really think I’m a hero. Anyone would do the same thing. … I was just happy that I was able to help her, and I am just happy that the family has been reunited.
  • Julien Duret • Regarding a crazy rescue he played a part in over the weekend, where he jumped into NYC’s East River to save Bridget Sheridan, a toddler who had fallen in. And just as quickly as he rescued her (but fortunately not before the New York Daily News caught video of his rescue), he disappeared. Dude was on vacation and it was his last day in NYC. He didn’t realize he was a hero until he got back to France. But he seemed modest about his feat. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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