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23 Jul 2010 23:42

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Politics: Rick Sanchez’s journalistic high horse rings hollow to South Florida

  • One thing you may not know about Rick Sanchez is, before he became the iconic anchor who obsessed over finding interesting tweets, he was a longtime if-it-bleeds-it-leads-style anchor in South Florida, often focusing on the most lurid, ratings-grab stories he could find – which reportedly hit a peak during the overblown Elian Gonzalez era. At least thats how Broward-Palm Beach New Times puts it. So, the irony of him talking about journalistic integrity, as he does in the Fox News-chiding clip above, is a little striking to folks in the Miami area. (Thanks Billy Wachsberger) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 23:08

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Biz: SEC settlement: Dell pays for pumping up earnings with Intel’s money

  • $4.3 billion the amount Dell reportedly received from Intel from between 2003 and 2007 for using their chips exclusively
  • $100 million the amount Dell has to pay in fines today; the Intel fees are subject of antitrust inquiries source
  • » Don’t forget: This was largely the same era during which Dell knowingly sold millions of computers with 97 percent failure rates. So if you want to talk about business practices which eventually led to lawsuits and SEC settlements, look no further than Dell circa 2005.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 22:45

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Biz: Nutritionist’s nightmare: Unhealthy food ads during cartoons stay put

Current federal advertising standards make it OK to advertise cereal and other fairly unhealthy foods during cartoons. Attempts to change this? Stalled. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 22:37

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Culture: “Machete” never meant to be immigration statement, but kinda is

  • It’s kind of funny because it’s not really what the movie is about, and I didn’t want people to think that it was. I just felt like I had to say something about it so I cut that trailer. There’s so much grandstanding and those of us who live near a border know how unsolvable the issue really is.
  • Director Robert Rodriguez • On how his upcoming “Machete,” which he premiered at Comic-Con, somehow ended up in the middle in the immigration debate. That’s because he cut a version of the self-described Mexploitation film’s trailer that tackled the immigration debate. The film, which has stacked its cast since the days of the original “Grindhouse” fake trailer, has drawn some political blowback for the trailer, but considering the attention it’s drawn, it only makes us want to see the Danny Trejo career summation even more. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 17:48

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U.S.: D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee drops hammer on teachers

  • 261 teachers were fired just before the new school year
  • 165 were cited for having poor classroom performance
  • 737 more educators are on thin ice for the next year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 17:39

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U.S.: Deepwater Horizon’s alarm too noisy, so they shut it off

  • Apparently, there were a lot of false alarms. They apparently were annoying and woke up sleeping workers. That’s what a chief technician for Transocean, the company that ran the oil rig, said about the reasons that safety systems were knowingly turned off – which helped lead to the disaster that killed 11 people and caused the ocean to flood with oil. In other oil-company-friendly news, BP got transparent about their Photoshopped images and posted a set of images up on Flickr – the ‘chopped images and the originals. Which is funny, because none of the images needed any Photoshopping at all. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 17:24

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Tech: One Laptop Per Child = Old news, thanks to India’s ultra-cheap tablet

  • 1,500 rupees the cost of the Linux-based tablet prototype they showed off
  • $35 dollars the amount that is in American dollars (in other words, cheap!) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Jul 2010 16:41

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Tech: Apple: White iPhones somehow harder to make than black ones

  • White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
  • A PR statement from Apple • Noting the technical limitations caused by in creating the white iPhone 4. Apple is certainly running into a lot of problems with the phone this time around, aren’t they? Considering how smoothly most of their other launches go, it’s almost absurd. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 14:44

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U.S.: Bad uses of top-secret clearance: Accessing child porn online

  • bad Dozens of Pentagon officials and contractors with clearance have been tied to purchasing child porn.
  • worse While some cases have been prosecuted, many have languished over a number of years. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 14:29

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Biz: Kenneth Feinberg: Wall Street gave out a lot of ill-timed bonuses

  • 17 number of firms that made “ill-advised” executive payments during a bailout period
  • $1.6B the amount these firms reportedly paid in the late 2008 and early 2009 periods
  • no pay czar Kenneth Feinberg won’t ask for it back; it’ll open up a can of worms source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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