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

19 Aug 2010 22:10

tags

Politics: NYC locals to outsiders on “Ground Zero Mosque”: Back off, OK?

  • First of all, this is real America. The people who detached themselves from New York are all of a sudden embracing New York.
  • New York Rep. Peter King • Criticizing his fellow Republicans for pushing the rhetoric against the Park51 building (a.k.a. the “Ground Zero Mosque”) way too far. King is against the building, but, like many people in the New York metro area, thinks that the controversy is being used to score political points rather than take a serious interest in a big NYC issue. Fellow Rep. Jerrold Nadler (who has been one of the center’s biggest supporters) agrees: “It’s disgusting. It is an attempt to exploit for purely political motives a sensitive issue. And to exploit people they obviously don’t really care about.” Well-put. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 21:56

tags

Offbeat: The NYT’s latest fake trend story: People with expensive fish tanks

“Hear that? It’s our owners getting interviewed by some reporter about our mansion.” Anyone who spends six figures on a fish tank needs to be made fun of. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 21:41

tags

Culture: Lady Gaga should overtake Britney Spears on Twitter any day now

  • 5.646
    million     the number of followers Spears has; she’s at the top of the heap but won’t be for much longer
  • 5.635
    million     the number Lady Gaga has; Justin Bieber could top her within six months, though source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 21:35

tags

U.S.: That Iowa egg company behind the salmonella outbreak is bad news

  • 380 million tainted eggs is a huge problem for Wright County Egg. But by no means is it the first huge problem the firm has faced. In fact, the DeCoster family, which owns Wright County Egg as part of their larger farming conglomerate, has had a number of legal problems in recent years, including these gems on their permanent record:
  • $2.1Mthe amount founder Austin Jackson DeCoster paid in penalties for immigration violations in 2003
  • $1.5M the amount the company was nicked for sexual harassment allegations (including rape!) by the EEOC back in 2002
  • yes the company has also had to pay fines for animal cruelty at another egg operation in Maine – just this year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 11:21

tags

Culture: Steven Tyler as “Idol” judge: This oughta be a huge failure

It’s official (according to Aerosmith’s bassist); Tyler will replace Simon Cowell in the judge’s chair. Could you imagine him being a good judge? Seriously? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 11:09

tags

U.S.: The 2010 federal budget’s deficit projection: It’s down … slightly

  • $1.342
    trillion     the budget deficit projection of the Congressional Budget Office today
  • $1.368
    trillion     the projection of the CBO in back in March (like we said, slight) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 11:08

tags

Culture: Wanna get a virus? Do a search for “Cameron Diaz.” Seriously

  • If you do a search for her, there’s a ten percent chance you’ll land on some malware. We did a search for her to find this image. We took our chances. For you guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Aug 2010 10:58

tags

Politics: Obama should really think harder about where he vacations

  • People would rather see their President in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, or the Wisconsin Dells than in the Kennedy realm of Cape Cod.
  • Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley • Regarding Obama’s upcoming vacation to Cape Cod. While presidents are likely to get criticism no matter where they vacation, Obama’s is even more acute because, well, the economy’s in the crapper, and it feels a tad tone-deaf. He should really consider what Bill Clinton did, according to journalist Ken Walsh, an expert on presidential retreats: “President Clinton, for instance, took polls to figure out where he should go on vacation when he ran for re-election. He took polls to figure out where Americans want the president to go. Well [it was] national parks, so President Clinton went to national parks.” So yeah, Obama, you should head to Montana, not send Michelle to Spain. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 09:36

tags

Biz: New jobless claims back up above the magical 500,000 mark

  • 500,000number of jobless claims last week, the highest level since November
  • 12,000the increase in claims from the previous week source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 09:29

tags

Tech: Facebook Places launch: The announcement was super-weird to us

Is it just us, or are Facebook product launches kind of like secret society rituals, what with the gongs and bizarre in-jokes and stuff? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>