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04 Sep 2010 23:50

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Music: One-word album reviews: Pourin’ a 40 for Paste Magazine

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 22:21

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World: Christchurch, New Zealand quake’s cost almost entirely monetary

  • no
    deaths     the good part about yesterday’s big quake in New Zealand
  • $1.4 billion the estimate of damages from the quake; that’s the bad part source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 21:19

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U.S.: Thad Allen: The Macondo oil well is no longer in danger of leaking

  • I’m very pleased to announce that with the new blowout preventer on this well, and the cement that was previously put in … that this well does not constitute a threat to the Gulf of Mexico at this point.
  • Thad “I don’t get paid enough for this #(&@” Allen • Claiming that BP’s leaky well is no longer a threat of breaking anymore. There’s a lot of stuff blocking the Macondo well, like a 5,000-foot column of cement. And it’s only going to become more secure soon enough – the bottom kill still needs to be done. At which point work will focus on the relief well and abandoning the old well. So, that’s something. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 21:04

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Culture: Dramatic fight at the U.S. Open, from three different angles

  • From the court Here’s what tennis fans saw if they were watching at home. And yeah, it was epic enough that it actually stopped the match. Bonus points for the use of the word “fisticuffs.” It’s not often that a boxing match breaks out at a tennis match.
  • From a distance Here’s a shot from a little bit away. You can’t make out what the guy is saying here. He never lays a hand on the lady, but still gets hit pretty badly. The dad falls down hard. The young guy is blamed even though he did nothing wrong.
  • From up closeHere’s the real story: The old couple was upset that this dude liked using the F-word, so she yelled at him. Then her dad dramatically decked him. Sorry lady; it’s a public forum. On a side note: Shut up, “Throw the Bum Out” dude. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 20:15

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Offbeat: South Korean woman turns bad luck with driving tests into free car

This unlucky woman here, Cha Sa-soon, gained notoriety because it took her 960 tries to get her driver’s license. But by golly, she did it. She got a free car. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 19:52

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Music: Kanye West basically flooded Twitter with Taylor Swift apologies

She deserves the apology more than anyone. Thank you Biz Stone and Evan Williams for creating a platform where we can communicate directlySat Sep 04 13:29:37 via webKanye West
kanyewest

  • 356 days later, this. Holy CRAP. OK, the Kanye West/Taylor Swift thing needed closure, but Kanye offered up a bit more than that. Earlier today, he posted 70 tweets about the whole VMAs incident a year ago. We repeat. 70 tweets. We appreciate the fact that he can gather his thoughts finally and say some really sincere things, but Jesus Christ, dude. Get a Tumblr. (Footnote: Kanye only follows two people, one of them Taylor Swift, but Swift doesn’t follow Kanye.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 19:34

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Politics: Ray “Banana Dude” Comfort: Stephen Hawking is full of crap

  • It is embarrassingly unscientific to speak of anything creating itself from nothing. Common sense says that if something possessed the ability to create itself from nothing, then that something wasn’t nothing, it was something – a very intelligent creative power of some sort.
  • Ray “I like bananas and Kirk Cameron” Comfort • Making a bizarrely circular argument in favor of intelligent design in the wake of Steven Hawking’s “there is no God” thang the other day. Remember, this is the guy who hangs out with Kirk Cameron. And made a silly argument for creationism using a banana. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Sep 2010 11:30

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World: Tony Blair + anti-war protesters + eggs = A protest omelet

So yeah, apparently some people in Ireland aren’t willing to let bygones be bygones. Blair’s been gone; then he had to write that stupid memoir. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 10:30

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Biz: General Motors’ IPO may not mean taxpayer payback at first

  • $70
    billion     the amount GM needs to make on its IPO to ensure the government gets all of its bailout money back
  • $50
    billion     the amount GM could make on the IPO at the low end; the cruddy economy may be a factor source
  • » Other considerations: The IPO is obviously only a starting point – the rest of the $43 billion the automaker still owes taxpayers could be made back later. But as a jumping-off point goes, it’d be nice to see the IPO on the high end, around $90 billion. (Edit: We’re dummies and we mistyped these earlier. Sorry.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Sep 2010 10:17

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U.S.: Blackwater, er, Xe, apparently gamed the system for contracts

  • 31 affiliates of Blackwater helped them get CIA contracts source
  • » Why this is bad: Blackwater is still managing to get federal money despite their rep cemented by that incident where a bunch of Iraqi civilians got killed. They’ve made $600 million from classified contracts, according to one government official, and just got another $100 million to provide security at Afghan bases. And they’re doing it in such a way as to stay low profile in hopes that nobody notices it’s the same company. Guess that didn’t work.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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