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

01 Aug 2010 22:09

tags

Culture: Dear Shark Week fans: We present to you SharkBuilding.

  • The Discovery Channel sure knows how to pull out all the stops. For our friends not currently in the D.C. area, here’s what the Discovery Channel building in nearby Silver Spring, Maryland looks like. Why does this shark look so cute? It should look like it’s about to chew apart your entrails (or at least tear off your arm)! Shark Week is like Hanukkah for nature fans, except instead of presents you get more shark-related reality television. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 21:57

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: According to Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer has balls


  • Talkin’ ’bout cajones On “Fox News Sunday,” Sarah Palin totally stumbled through what she was trying to say, only to make an amazing comeback by suggesting that Jan Brewer has the cajones to take on immigration – and Barack Obama doesn’t.

  • Gettin’ used to AmanpourCNN’s “Reliable Sources” seems to not know what to make of Christiane Amanpour’s first appearance on “This Week,” with Howard Kurtz and his guests stumbling over themselves to say the same thing – she’s new.

  • Anthony Weiner = cajonesPeople in New York, you have pretty much the loudest congressman in history. And we mean that in the nicest way possible. We swear. This scene in Congress last week is a method acting tour de force disguised as anger at the GOP.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 21:30

tags

Culture: “Inception” coasting its way into August atop box office

  • $27.5M the amount “Inception” made this weekend alone
  • three the number of new movies that tried to topple it this weekend
  • $193M the amount “Inception” has made in three weekends source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 21:13

tags

Culture: Bad day: Barack Obama hopelessly finds himself at WNBA game

“I’m doing this for Sasha. I’m doing this for Sasha. I’m doing this for Sasha. Keep reminding yourself, Barry. I’m doing this for Sasha. I’m doing this for Sasha.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 20:55

tags

Tech, World: The BlackBerry’s data-encryption scheme won’t fly in the UAE

  • what The United Arab Emirates is planning to block data usage from BlackBerry devices – a move which could be replicated by India and other countries.
  • why Because BlackBerry devices send encrypted data to a server in Canada, where our friends in the UAE and other countries can’t see it (grumble). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 20:35

tags

Tech: JailbreakMe makes it possible to jailbreak your iPhone by accident

  • So, we bet you want to jailbreak your iPhone 4. Well, JailbreakMe has you covered. Using your iPhone, go to this here site. (If that site’s not working, check out this one. Oh, and read more here.) If you’re not using an iPhone, it won’t do anything, but on your iPhone, it’ll jailbreak it – using the cloud. This. Is. A. Big. Deal. Apple can’t be happy about this. This makes “stupidly easy” seem like a major understatement. (Warning, though: There are some issues with FaceTime and MMS for you iPhone 4 kiddies, so be careful. Oh, and trust us when we say DON’T DO THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 12:14

tags

Culture: A man’s life, recalled in thousands of Polaroid photos

  • A wild idea with a sad ending. A couple years ago, Chris Higgins of Mental Floss came across a man’s photos – apparently, he took one Polaroid every day for 18 years, in a period ranging from 1979 to 1997. What forced him to stop? Well, he got cancer. What started out as an goofy collection of photos grows much sadder and more emotionally gripping – and then, one day, it stops. Jamie Livingston‘s life. What a gut punch of a find. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Aug 2010 12:03

tags

Culture: Conrad Black on prison: Prison really sucks and it’s unfair

  • It had been an interesting experience, from which I developed a much greater practical knowledge than I had ever had before of those who had drawn a short straw from the system; of the realities of street level American race relations; of the pathology of incorrigible criminals; and of the wasted opportunities for the reintegration of many of these people into society.
  • Formerly jailed newspaper magnate Conrad Black • In an article for the National Post discussing his time in prison. Short version: Prison isn’t a lot of fun and he learned a lot about what prisoners go through on the other side of the situation. He noted the nature of some of the injustices, specifically the disparity of cocaine versus crack-cocaine sentencing. He described prisoners as  “an ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead; they are no one’s constituency.” As it is, though, he learned a lot in his 28 months and 18 days. Is there a chance he’ll return? It’s possible; he’s only out on bail. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 11:49

tags

Biz, Tech: The best way to get around patents? Focus on emerging markets

  • Want to build your own iPhone? You may run into patent trouble in the U.S. if you get too far, but if you pick the right emerging market, you may be able to pull it off without running into patent trouble. Indian-American scholar Vivek Wadhwa throws out this knowledge – the “Patent-Free Zone” – to budding entrepreneurs on TechCrunch. Put simply, you could go to Mexico – where Apple doesn’t have many patents filed – and create a similar product there without much legal trouble. And it extends to any number of products. It’s actually a smart approach – as long as you have the right product and the right market. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 11:37

tags

U.S.: Michigan’s oil spill: Do oil-industry regulators lack teeth?

  • 800k gallons of oil flooded Michigan’s Kalamazoo River this week
  • yes regulators had warned the owner of the leaky pipe to fix it
  • yes the owner of the pipe just ignored the regulator (great job!) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>