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

15 Aug 2010 23:52

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: Alvin Greene says stupid crap about aliens

  • Alvin Greene tops himself Oh boy. In this Fox News clip, radio host Keith Larson tackles the South Carolina senate candidate, who talked about illegal aliens on his show: “We wouldn’t want illegal aliens from Pluto or Mars taking advantage of our taxpayers too.”
  • Fox, obama see eye to eye?Strangely enough, on “Fox & Friends,” Obama did in fact get some support for his comments about the Ground Zero mosque. Maybe it wasn’t like the biggest thing in the world, but it definitely raised our eyebrows.
  • Social Security dems’ ace?Cenk Uygur (best known for his radio/YouTube work with The Young Turks), made a pretty sound point about the Democrats’ strongest arguing point in the midterms: Social Security. The ad at the beginning nails it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 23:11

tags

Tech: Embracing the future: A quick note on our YouTube embeds

  • As you may or may not know, YouTube’s embeds have traditionally used Flash. It’s a big, clunky beast that isn’t really made for the future. It’s not particularly sleek. But, fortunately, Google has a plan for all that. A few weeks ago, they launched these new YouTube embeds that can automatically adapt to the browser, whether it supports HTML5 or Flash. Plus, it’s an iFrame format (and way cleaner than the old style), so, it loads independently of the page. We’re trying them out for now. Please let us know what you think. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 22:56

tags

Offbeat: Pillow fight! German flight attendants cooler than U.S. ones

  • No chutes here. This lovely German flight attendant (she flies with Lufthansa) watched as her pillow-throwing job turned into a hilarious pillow fight. In the U.S. she would’ve grabbed two beers and gone down a chute. In Germany, they can laugh. Laugh! And laugh some more.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 22:40

tags

Culture: “Expendables” success: When did Stallone last have a #1 hit?

  • $35 million, “The Expendables'” first weekend take source
  • 2003 the last time Stallone topped the box office, that time with (we kid you not) “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over“
  • 2001 the last Stallone starring role to top the box office, that time with the long-forgotten “Driven“
  • » Other notes: First of all, “The Expendables” is the biggest opening in Sylvester Stallone’s long career, not counting for inflation; “Spy Kids 3-D” is easily the second-biggest. And despite his many movies and A-list status, only five of them have made more than $100 million, with “Rambo: First Blood Part II” being his biggest moneymaker. Oh yeah, remember “Cop Land,” that fat cop movie he did? That opened at No. 1, too.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 21:42

tags

World: The U.S. may be ready to put a little more trust in Afghan troops

  • With more Afghan forces, we can be on a path to transition in more places around the country. The success with the [Afghan] army in particular, I think, bodes well for in fact beginning to have some transitions maybe as early as this spring, but certainly beginning in the summer.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates • On whether the U.S. and NATO might be willing to let Afghan security forces take on securing more stable parts of the country. Gates says they could be ready as soon as early next year – a promising sign, considering how long this war has dragged on. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 21:31

tags

Biz: It’s official: China’s economy is bigger than Japan’s, way behind U.S.

  • $1.28B the GDP of China’s newly 2nd-place economy in the second quarter of 2010
  • $1.22B the GDP of Japan’s economy in 2nd quarter 2010, which fell behind China for the first time
  • $14B the GDP of the U.S. economy throughout 2009, which is way out in front source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 21:04

tags

Tech: The iPad wasn’t Apple’s original tablet; that was 31 years ago

  • In 1979, Apple released the monstrosity to the left. The graphics tablet, which is akin to carving out words in stone compared to something like a modern Wacom tablet, required you to put a special card into your Apple ][ desktop to use it, and even then only worked with a handful of programs. Neat little bit of history. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Aug 2010 20:37

tags

U.S.: Philip Markoff’s suicide took closure away from victim’s family

  • Their grief for Jullissa is as fresh today as the day over a year ago when Markoff took Julissa away from them. The long-awaited criminal prosecution was their only opportunity to confront him, and now he has taken that away as well.
  • Lawyer Djuna Perkins • Discussing suspected Craigslist Killer Philip Markoff’s prison suicide today. Perkins, the lawyer for Julissa Brisman’s family, emphasized that her clients were “shocked and dismayed by the news.” It was a long way down for Markoff, a medical school student who was about to get married before he reportedly started attacking massage therapists that he met on Craigslist and got arrested, presumably with a life sentence in the cards. Crazy situation for sure. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 12:05

tags

Biz: Would you buy a tablet-only Rupert Murdoch newspaper?

  • Only if the app is better than the WSJ app. The News Corp. main man may not win any points for his paywall push or his insanely-slow Wall Street Journal app, but he’s going to make another run at the model, instead focusing on the general interest. “We’ll have young people reading newspapers,” Murdoch said during a recent earnings call. “It’s a real game changer in the presentation of news.” Just don’t make it take five minutes to download like the WSJ app. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 11:58

tags

Politics: Democrats may be screwed in November, but at least they know it

  • bad Some voters are really angry at Democrats for their bold agenda, and the Dems could lose big in November.
  • good On the plus side, they won’t be taken by surprise like they were in 1994, and can defend from attacks accordingly. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>