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24 May 2010 20:53

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Culture: On the scale of “Dallas” to “M*A*S*H,” the “Lost” finale doesn’t rank

  • 13.5 million wasted their night watching the finale source
  • » As ratings go, meh: While prime-time television is nothing like it was in 1983, it’s worth noting that this total is a eighth of what the “M*A*S*H” finale brought in, and a fourth of the 2004 “Friends” finale. According to junk culture hotbed Wikipedia, it’s only the 55th-most watched finale of all time. Sucks to be network television in 2010.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 20:37

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Music: Cell of Sound: Phil Spector produces album in the Big House

  • She’s fantastic on this album. She sings better than anyone else could have! I trusted her with my life and songs and production—because she’s that good.
  • Jailed songbird Phil Spector • Regarding the album he produced for his wife, Rachelle Spector, while in prison for the murder of Lana Clarkson. The crazy sounding “Out of My Chelle,” with its equally-crazy name, is due for a June release. It’s his first production in over 30 years, though we’re sure he didn’t expect it to happen under these circumstances. If you want to produce our next album, Phil, we’ll give you a pack of smokes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 20:28

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Politics: Sarah Palin misses key fact in Nikki Haley scandal criticism

  • The blogger she lumped in with the liberal media? Conservative. And on Haley’s payroll. Look, we’re pretty skeptical of the claims of Will Folks due to the apparent traffic-courting nature of the admission, but let’s get something clear. FITSnews, the blog in question, isn’t a “liberal rag,” as Palin put it. The blog is listed as a conservative blog on the Washington Post Political Blog Network. In fact, in his admission of the scandal, he notes that he thinks Haley is the best candidate. Seems like Palin’s people either shot before steadying their aim or were trying to mis-represent the facts completely. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 15:10

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Politics: Scandal for SEO? Why the Nikki Haley thing feels weird to us

  • one It was announced on a blog which covers South Carolina politics, by the guy who founded the blog.
  • two The blog is getting a lot of attention as a result of the whole thing, which boosts their advertising revenue and SEO.
  • three They’ve posted multiple times about a scandal that THEY created; seems weird to us, y’know. source
  • » We have an announcement to make, guys: We had a politically damaging (Nikki Haley) scandal fall into our lap (Nikki Haley) for the purposes of increasing our SEO. Doesn’t matter what it was (Nikki Haley) but we’re really sorry (Nikki Haley) that it happened. This is our last statement (Nikki Haley) but only our first post about it. We’re going to do as much coverage (Nikki Haley) as we possibly can.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 11:21

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Biz: Home sales: A big leap to take advantage of a big credit

  • 7.6% boost in previously-owned home sales in April source
  • » Why the leap? Simply put, there was a homebuyer tax credit that was about to expire at the end of April, and it led to a leap in sales to their highest levels since November. Now if only those sales were happening without, you know, big tax credits.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 11:12

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Politics: Rand Paul not exactly getting ripped by Kentucky’s local news

  • Nice find by The Atlantic. Rand Paul may be getting trashed on by the Washington establishment, but local coverage in Louisville seems to not be critical of him at all. This is WAVE, the NBC affiliate in the area. They actually seem to have gotten an interview with David Gregory, too. Too bad they wasted it on boilerplate reporting. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 11:02

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World: North, South Korea really freaking pissed at one another

The guy on the TV looks pretty angry. If you look at the soldiers, ten to one, also angry. If you look at North Korean soldiers right now, they’re probably angry too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 May 2010 10:56

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Tech: Mark Zuckerberg writes inevitable “we screwed up” op-ed piece

  • Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.
  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg • Admitting the privacy options on Facebook kind of suck for many users, and that they plan to change them. He wrote a lengthy op-ed piece for The Washington Post noting just that. One thing he says might be a bone of contention, though: Zuckerberg flatly denies that the company has shared personal information with advertisers. (Note the word “personal” in that statement – your more basic demographic data is fair game.) Oh, and Facebook will always stay free. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 10:43

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Biz, U.S.: Oil spill: Is Obama’s oil-drilling ban actually getting followed?

  • seven new offshore drilling projects have been given the go-ahead since Obama banned new drilling projects
  • five projects have gotten environmental waivers like the controversial one that leaky oil rig got source
  • » Oh, and also: There were even more approvals and waivers approved in the period between the April 20th blast that caused the spill and when the Obama administration announced the changes. Oh boy. That doesn’t look good.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 10:34

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U.S.: Museums forced to sell pricey items to keep the doors open

  • Some of the items are super-expensive. Many museums are finding that they need extra cash, so they’ve been selling some of their items. It comes with caveats, though: The American Association of Museums says they can only use the proceeds to acquire more items or directly care for the items they already have. Even so, though, it’s not stopping fire sales like these:
  • $3.2M the amount that Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society has earned from selling collection items
  • $81k the amount that the Beloit, Wis. Historical Society made by selling a page of an Abe Lincoln State of the Union draft
  • $1M the amount an Oregon museum stands to make by selling a 1880s-era hotel; they’ve faced deep budget cuts source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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