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08 Apr 2010 11:00

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Culture: Avant-garde film or Nike commercial? Tiger Woods ad a bit odd

  • If you can’t get rid of him, might as well traumatize him. Woods, who lost his beloved father a couple of years ago, gets to hear his voice asking the kind of questions one in Woods’ situation might not want to hear. It’s a vaguely brilliant move on Nike’s part, but on Tiger’s, it doesn’t really help him.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 10:52

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U.S., World: U.S., Russia hang out, catch up, sign big-deal nuclear pact

  • “Hey Dmitry, I’m already here, might as well sign this thang!” While you were being completely unproductive this morning, playing Farmville and catching up on “Saved By the Bell” reruns, our boy Obama was signing a treaty with Dmitry Medvedev to severely scale back both countries’ nuclear ambitions. It’s the first arms treaty the two countries have signed in about 20 years. You should follow his example. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 10:41

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Tech: Bioprinting: It’s an inkjet printer for skin cells, burn victims!

  • We literally print the cells directly onto the wound. We can put specific cells where they need to go.
  • Wake Forest University student Kyle Binder • On a skin-grafting alternative device which he helped design. The thing works just like a inkjet printer for skin, spraying skin cells onto places that need them. It’s only been tested on mice so far, but bioprinting offers a lot of potential as a replacement for skin grafts, in part because the cells used are so young that they properly grow back into the skin. Mice were first, but pigs (who have similar skin to humans) are next. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 10:32

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World: Here’s more on the overthrow of the Kyrgyzstan government

  • This isn’t even the first overthrow Kyrgyzstan has had. Five years ago, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the bum who was thrown out (but still hasn’t resigned), rose to power in a similar fashion. Former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva is now in power after this. Although you can’t pronounce Kyrgyzstan’s name, it’s an important country for the U.S., because their Afghan War supply line runs straight through it. Andrew Sullivan has more. The Business Insider has even more than that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 10:24

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World: By the numbers: The Kyrgyzstan government overthrow

  • 65+ number of people killed
    in yesterday’s violent
    uprising
  • 400+ number of people
    injured in the
    successful overthrow
  • six number of months the interim government plans to rule source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 01:57

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U.S.: Dear “misunderstanding bomber”: Next time, use nicotine gum

  • We admit it, we were watching a movie when this happened. It was called “The Foot Fist Way.” It stars Danny McBride as a tae kwon do instructor. It was entertaining, but not nearly as entertaining as this mess of accidental terrorism. Like that movie, this story had an anticlimactic ending. Here’s a timeline:
  • 5:19 Plane leaves Reagan National Airport in D.C. and heads to Denver; happens daily.
  • 8:30 Dude lights a smoke because he can’t wait a #(&(&@ hour for the flight to land.
  • 8:40 Military escorts the flight to Denver because they think he has a friggin’ bomb.
  • 10:07 ABC reports that dude is the second coming of the shoe bomber. Others follow.
  • 11:00 It’s proven he didn’t have a bomb, but instead an insane nicotine habit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

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
 
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