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20 May 2010 11:02

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Politics: The White House ready to accept Joe Sestak as one of their own

  • You have the whole world telling him he’s crazy to do this. It’s pretty remarkable when you can stand up against those odds and take on the longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania history.
  • Campaign Group founder Neil Oxman • Regarding Senate candidate Joe Sestak, who his media company made much-heralded commercials for. Sestak, two days after winning against Arlen Specter, is currently getting loved and appreciated by the Obama administration, which backed Specter’s campaign to the point where they reportedly offered Sestak a position in the cabinet if he was willing to quit the campaign. Now, they’re willing to give him a chance. He proved his worth. Sestak won against the odds. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 10:48

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Politics: Rand Paul’s honesty on the Civil Rights Act bites a little hard

  • Could Rand Paul saying that businesses shouldn’t have to serve black people be misconstrued as racism? One could argue, in fact, that you could take the “mis” off the front of that. Remember – this guy is probably going to be a Senator. There’s a lot to take from this clip, but our favorite bit is Maddow asking this pointed question: “But isn’t being in favor of civil rights but against the Civil Rights Act a little like saying you’re against high cholesterol but you’re in favor of fried cheese?” Paul is just being honest, but man, it makes Paul look BAD. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 10:34

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Biz: Jobless claims went up this weekend; stocks freak out

  • +25,000 the jump in new initial jobless claims, the first jump in over a month
  • -3% the size of the average drops for the three major stock indexes source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 10:25

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World: Pakistan’s a nation of young, social-networking-loving people

  • 170M the population of Pakistan, which is more than just the Taliban
  • 25M the number of people currently on the Internet in Pakistan
  • 60% the share of the population currently under 25 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 10:13

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Politics: Additional comments on “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!”

  • It’s a noble cause, but right now it feels like trolling. Look, we think free speech is great and want to encourage it, but this whole controversy feels like an excuse not to defuse a free speech issue, but to amplify it. In that NYT article we just posted, there was a quote from Twitter which sort of said it all. “One day,” the user said, “they will ban breathing in Pakistan.” You want to promote free speech? Fight for this guy, who just wants to watch a clip of a dog riding a skateboard. Don’t fight against him. Enable him. People like him will eventually encourage the cause you’re fighting for if you help him out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 09:46

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World: Pakistan’s Facebook ban extends to YouTube, but not Twitter

Thanks to the high number of Mohammed depictions on the video site, they had to shut that down, too. Again, this was a good idea because … source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 01:06

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Music: (Sine) Wave of the future: Multitouch musical instruments

  • what roger linn can do Linn has created a cool new musical instrument that plays music on a touchscreen in a pretty innovative way. The organization (in chromatic scale) is key to this setup being fairly easy to play. The downside: Amazon bought the technology Linn used to make the device.

  • What Bebot can do It’s actually kind of reminiscent of an iPhone app called Bebot, which allows you to play a touch-sensitive synth in a similar fashion. It doesn’t use a scale in the way Linn’s awesome instrument does, but it does have a cool robot who sings your tunes. Hooray!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 May 2010 00:45

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Politics, World: Thailand’s use of military force may hurt long-term

  • Was the military force used against the Red Shirt protesters a good idea? At least one expert says no. “By opting for a military rather than a security solution, the government has lost the opportunity to craft a settlement for an orderly transition,” said University of Leeds professor of southeast Asian politics Duncan McCargo. McCargo notes that the Red Shirts had lost their leader and the country had the chance for diplomatic talks (including some mediated by the UN), but passed on them them. Now, the country has deep, violent conflicts instead of compromise. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:40

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World: How volatile is Thailand’s government, anyway? Very

  • 1946 the year King Bhumibol Adulyadej took power
  • 20 number of prime ministers the country has had since then
  • 3.2 the average number of years the prime ministers get to server
  • nine number of coups the country has had during Bhumibol’s reign source
  • » It’s a rough system of government. In 1932, absolute monarchy ended in the country. Since then, 17 constitutions have been drafted. Only two of those allowed for entirely elected (rather than appointed) parliaments. Current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed to the job after Thaksin Shinawatra was booted from office during a corruption trial that dissolved his political party. Thaksin was protested against, too. Those protesters wore yellow.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:24

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World: Thailand tries to pick up the pieces from a day of chaos

  • Physically we can rebuild Bangkok quickly, but I don’t know how long it will take to cure the psychological damage. We will never forget May 19 in our life time.
  • Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra • Regarding the chaos that surrounded the city in a major way yesterday. The chaos left buildings ablaze for hours, left many injured and forced the government to set a curfew for a third of the country. In the wake of the chaos, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that he would harshly punish the “terrorists” who vandalized Bangkok. Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster started this mess in the first place, gave credit to the Red Shirts for surrendering, claiming that the end of the protests saved a lot of lives. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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