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31 Aug 2010 12:49

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U.S.: Piles of manure taller than people found at salmonella-infested farm

  • The decrepit conditions in these henhouses reflect the fact that companies know that FDA inspections are so rare … that there is no urgency to fix their buildings and their operations.
  • The Center for Science in the Public Interest • In response to an FDA report on the Iowa chicken farms at the source of the recent salmonella outbreak. FDA investigators found, amongst other things, eight-foot high piles of chicken manure, some of which was forcing doors open and allowing rodents to enter. An estimated 1,470 people have been sickened so far. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 12:09

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Tech: Google’s Priority Inbox promises to change your life, help you lose weight

  • Just what we’ve been looking for: A video about e-mail clutter. Seriously, though, Gmail’s new Priority Inbox feature allows us to do what we’ve always wanted: Ignore the crap we get (e-mails from readers) and focus on what we really want to read (e-mails from people responding to our Craigslist “Missed Connections” ads). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 09:42

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World: Posted without comment: Danielle and Earl hanging together (very big)

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 09:34

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World: “La Barbie” a pretty major arrest in Mexican drug war

Barbie has sure gotten ugly over the last few years, hasn’t she? She’s also gotten a pretty bad rep as a drug kingpin in Mexico. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 09:27

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Culture: Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan stuck in Australia with his taxes

  • If I’m a tax evader, which I’m not, I must be the dumbest one in the world because they gave me five years notice that they have seized every piece of paper that my tax advisors and lawyers and accountants have ever had. I kept coming back here.
  • Paul “You Call That a Knife” Hogan • On being stuck in the country that made him famous due to insane tax issues. See, Hogan can’t afford to pay even 10 percent of them due to his status as a washed-up movie star. But now he’s stuck in Australia after they forced him to stay in the country after he returned for his mother’s funeral. Hogan, 70, hasn’t worked much in the last few years. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 09:03

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Politics: “Republican candidate” looking pretty darn good this year

  • Gallup’s latest poll of generic candidates favors the GOP big time. While there’s a difference between John McCain and Sharron Angle, the fact of the matter is that the most recent result is the most extreme showing in the 69-year history of this particular poll. And the lead has doubled in recent weeks, too. Which leads one to think Democrats are going to be screwed in November.
  • 10% the lead over “Democratic candidate” in the latest poll
  • 7% the lead in the same generic poll as of two weeks ago
  • 5% the lead in the same generic poll as of one month ago source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2010 08:45

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Offbeat, World: Apparently, mushrooms are a big deal in Italy

  • 18 deaths in Italy as a result of careless mushroom hunting source
  • » A local Italian paper dubbed it “The Massacre of the Mushroom Hunters.” But the source of the deaths isn’t toxins; it’s negligence. Mushroom-lovers have been ignoring safety precautions during their hunts, falling to their deaths off of “steep, damp slopes” as a result. And although the victims couldn’t be bothered to follow basic safety procedure, they did apparently have time to purchase camouflage clothing for their hunts (presumably so the mushrooms don’t spot them coming).
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 Aug 2010 21:07

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World: Not even MacGyver convinced by odd couple’s weird luggage

  • We don’t know yet if these two end up being bad guys or are just really strange people.
  • A U.S. official • Speaking about the detention of two people who had some really weird crap in their checked luggage on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam. (They were detained by Dutch police after the end of the flight, by the way.) One dude had $7,000 in cash for no good reason. The other had a cell phone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol (which isn’t a bomb, by the way), a bunch of cell phones taped together (also not a bomb) and a bunch of watches taped together (not a bomb, either). ABC News has reported that it appeared to be a dry run for a bombing attack, to check how secure the system was, but officials don’t know yet. Let’s hope they were just idiots who were holding a bottle of Pepto-Bismol for ransom. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2010 20:50

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U.S.: Hurricane Earl ready to piss off a lot of elitist East Coasters

  • good The eye of the Category 4 Hurricane Earl will stay off the coast over the next few days. Hooray! *whew*
  • bad The storm as a whole will get very close to North Carolina, Long Island, and Cape Cod. Crap. Nevermind. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2010 20:38

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About: New writer at ShortFormBlog: Everybody welcome Seth Millstein

  • Hello, readers! My name is Seth, and I’m very excited to announce that I’ve joined the writing team here at ShortFormBlog. So … there it is! I’ve announced it! In keeping with the site’s theme, I’ll keep my introduction short. My previous writings can be found at The Daily Californian and my own blog, Shermanesque. I enjoy politics, cities, workplace shenanigans and 1940’s film-noir aesthetic. I hope you enjoy my presence here, and I’ll now return you to your regularly-scheduled program.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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