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04 May 2010 23:25

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Culture: Some guy buys a Picasso painting worth more than some GDPs


  • $106.5
    million     for Picasso’s “Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust),” which is the most any rich jerk has ever paid for a painting in the history of ever source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 23:25

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Politics: Two ways Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli is kind of a douche to U.Va

  • first He revoked legal protections from
    gay workers at the university,
    causing a massive outrage
    throughout the state that Gov. Bob
    McDonnell had to clean up.
  • second He’s now trying to subpoena the
    university for the records of a
    former pro-climate-change
    professor, Michael Mann, causing
    more angry outrage. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 22:52

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Biz: The Dow lost a big chunk of its recent winning streak today

  • 15% amount the Dow gained over an eight-week period until last week
  • 2% amount the Dow lost over an eight-hour period earlier today source
  • » Why the slide? Investors are looking at Greece’s massive debt problems and seeing the possibility that this could happen in the U.S. and other countries. Dudes are getting nervous.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 22:45

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Culture: RIP Ernie Harwell, legendary baseball dude; Twitter chokes up



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 22:21

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U.S.: Data dump: Vital statistics on Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad

  • Is Faisal Shahzad a weird amalgamation of terrorism and the financial crisis? The Times Square suspect, who admitted to being a lone wolf today (whether or not you believe that is another question), was a financial analyst who lost his job during the financial crisis. He was also Pakistani-born and had a family who was forced to move back to the country after they lost their home. In the midst of that drama, he somehow became radicalized. Here’s some info on the dude you probably didn’t know.
  • 04/17/09 he became a U.S. citizen
  • two number of kids he has; his family (including his wife) now live in Pakistan
  • 11 number of years he had been floating between the U.S. and Pakistan
  • $273k original value of the
    home     his family lost to
    foreclosure last year
  • » His education: Shahzad, like many immigrants, first came to the U.S. on a student visa in 1998, and followed it through with a computer science degree from the University of Bridgeport in 2000 and, later, an MBA in 2005.
  • » His career: From 2006 until June of last year, he was working as a financial analyst for the Affinion Group, which has a shady business history, according to Wikipedia. It’s not clear whether he quit or was fired. Neighbors claimed that he worked on Wall Street.
  • » His financial state: He owed too much money on his Shelton, Conn. house, so he told the broker to let the bank take it, and told him he was moving back to Pakistan. He had been living in his new apartment in Bridgeport for just a couple of months. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 11:17

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Politics: Sen. Arlen Specter’s party-changing ploy may be in trouble

  • 47% of primary voters plan on voting for our boy Arlen
  • 39% prefer Joe Sestak in May 18th’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary
  • 14% of voters are ready to give
    Arlen Specter fits source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 11:10

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Music: Good luck: The Hold Steady wants to be this year’s Phoenix

  • Like the Hold Steady, Phoenix were on a steady rise, then made an amazing record and got some important looks. (‘Saturday Night Live’), then the Cadillac commercial. Things happened in succession to move the band to the next level.
  • Vagrant Records COO Jon Cohen • Regarding the Hold Steady’s steady rise to prominence and their chance of a next-level breakthrough. Unfortunately for Craig Finn and company, Pitchfork just handed the band’s new album, “Heaven Is Whenever,” a middling review. The site’s rating, 6.2, is kind of a low number for a band that spent half a decade getting feted by critics. “this remains an uncharacteristically weak effort by a good band that may be in danger of running out of stories,” writes Stephen M. Deusner, who called it a transitional record. They might get past that, though – middling reviews never stopped Death Cab or Coldplay, did they? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 May 2010 10:59

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Biz, U.S.: Craigslist profits from sex ads, attorney generals notice

  • first States complain because
    Craigslist allows anyone
    to post sexually-oriented
    ads which can be used
    for illegal prostitution.
  • second In an effort to appease
    the states, Craigslist
    charges for the section
    for purposes of creating
    a paper trail.
  • third A group of 39 states,
    noticing the profits made
    from the for-pay section,
    subpoena Craigslist over
    the ads. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 10:47

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U.S.: Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad judged for crappy planning

  • Experts say it wasn’t a well-put-together bomb. Among other things, they say the device used alarm clocks from the ’60s rather than modern remote detonation devices, and relied on the clocks to set off fireworks that would cause a much larger blast. Essentially, they’re noting that the device seemed like it was ACME-quality. Ouch. Poor Faisal. He was just suspected of blowing up Times Square. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 10:35

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U.S.: Times Square incident: Faisal Shahzad says he acted alone

“OK, this is where that car bomber dude lives. Scan the place for munitions, stat!” Shahzad was caught thanks to a traced cell phone call. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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