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

28 Apr 2010 20:12

tags

U.S.: Financial reform debate’s a go in the Senate, finally

  • Forget the full Senate vote. They shook hands on it. In what’s a pretty big #(&(@&& deal, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agreed to bring financial reform to the floor. BBC notes that a vote failed three days in a row, but eventually went through after Democrats nearly forced an all-night session. Republicans claim they won some concessions, though. While Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who’s been working with bill mastermind Christopher Dodd, says he still disagrees with many parts of the bill, but has been promised that Republican amendments would be considered. So that’s something. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 12:25

tags

Culture: Jay Leno’s new “Tonight Show” looking like Conan’s in the ratings

Faint lines: First weeks of Conan vs. Letterman last year. Bold lines: First weeks of Leno vs. Letterman this year. Note that Conan and Leno are doing about the same. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:21

tags

Politics: Pundits try to put the Goldman Sachs saga into words, struggle

  • Can this be easily explained? No, but these pundits are gonna try. Here’s a five-minute long video of TV news types trying to explain what some say is easy to explain but others say is really hard. Either way, it’s hilarious to watch them play with metaphors. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:11

tags

Politics: The 2010 election prospects for both parties, in map form

  • Harry Reid’s Nevada seat is currently listed as “toss-up.” The Washington Post put together this huge map suggesting what’s happening with all of the major Congressional races this year. There are a LOT of toss-up states in the Senate alone. Is it enough to switch the balance of power significantly? We’ll see. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:05

tags

World: Twitter currently chewing on Gordon Brown’s “bigotgate”



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:59

tags

World: Gordon Brown not a fan of “bigoted women,” winning elections

  • She’s just a sort of bigoted woman who says she used to be Labour.
  • British Prime Minister Gordon Brown • Regarding a woman she met when he was out with the commoners today. Eight days before a major election. Too bad for him, because he was wearing a mic when he said it. Nick Clegg’s looking like a more viable option by the day, while Labour’s looking like a major fail. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:37

tags

Offbeat: Puerto Rican shooting victim’s funeral ditches the boring coffin

  • This isn’t a Madame Tussauds wax figure. No, this guy is actually dead, he’s been embalmed, and he’s sitting on a motorcycle (which he was given by his uncle) at his wake. The deceased, David Morales Colón, was recently killed in a shooting at the far-too-sad age of 22. It’s the way he probably wants to be remembered. When we die, we want to be embalmed sitting at a coffee shop, typing on a MacBook. Less fun, but more accurate. (Thanks @putneydm) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Apr 2010 10:23

tags

Biz: AOL’s profit picture looks a lot worse than it did a year ago

  • $48
    million     decrease in AOL’s profit
    between this quarter and the
    same quarter a year ago
  • 4.6
    million     number of people who STILL subscribe to AOL’s legacy service after all these years source
  • » Why the cruddy profits? It’s worth keeping in mind that AOL is a different company than it was a year ago. The company, fresh after leaving the disastrous merger with Time Warner which hurt both companies, is in the midst of making a big push into content, away from its core subscription business. (Disclosure: We freelance for AOL News occasionally.) Even considering that, their profit picture is significantly lower than expected – instead of the analyst-expected 70 cents per share, they could only muster 39 cents per share. Part of this is due to the quickly-falling legacy subscriber base and part of it is due to continuing advertising declines.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:05

tags

U.S.: Laura Bush on the deadly crash from her teenage days

  • In those awful seconds, the car door must have been flung open by the impact and my body rose in the air until gravity took over and I was pulled, hard and fast, back to earth. … The whole time, I was praying that the person in the other car was alive. In my mind, I was calling ‘Please, God. Please, God. Please, God,’ over and over and over again.
  • Former First Lady Laura Bush • Regarding the deadly crash which happened when she was 17 and living in Midland, Tx. She wrote about it in her new book, “Spoken From the Heart.” The 1963 crash, which happened when she and a friend were rushing to a drive-in theater, took the life of a star athlete at her school, Mike Douglas. Douglas was driving a Corvair, the car her husband’s future third-party presidential opponent, Ralph Nader, made the subject of “Unsafe at Any Speed.” Bush also notes that many things made the intersection a fairly unsafe one – including a small stop sign, which Bush ran, and a pitch-black road with a dangerous intersection. Still though, harrowing experience for the First Lady to go through, and probably one that had a deep effect on the rest of her life. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:03

tags

Biz: Protip for WellPoint patients: Don’t get breast cancer before Friday

  • After much criticism, the insurer will back off of canceling policies after on May 1. After a Reuters feature put pressure on the massive insurer by noting many patients were getting their policies canceled almost immediately after getting breast cancer, Democrats put lots of pressure on them to change the policy. They would have had to change it anyway due to the new health care law, but the Democrats got them to change it early. The company claims “there have been a lot of misrepresentations and inaccuracies in recent days,” but the decision would help bring clarity to the company’s stance. Good move. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>