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24 Oct 2010 23:13

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U.S.: Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of data: Catholic abuse scandal data dump

  • 48 priests accused of sexual abuse in the San Diego area
  • 144 alleged abuse victims are currently suing the diocese over the allegations
  • 10k the number of pages of documents the diocese released under court pressure
  • 2k the number of pages lawyers for the accusers say the church is hiding source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 20:48

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Offbeat: Guy’s life work: Sorting books, collecting belly lint. No, really

  • 22.1 number of grams of belly lint a British librarian gathered, which set a Guinness World Record
  • 26 number of years it took this dude to acquire all that belly lint; we admit to being weirded out source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 19:46

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Biz, Music: The super-rich Jay-Z knows how to build a brand for himself

  • Jay-z may not have that vitamin water money to his name like 50 Cent, but he does OK for himself. The rapper recently showed up on the cover of Forbes with Warren Buffett, and he’s managed to continue to bring in millions of dollars on his own brand by signing the right business deals and finding ways to creatively work with partners. One could argue that you could have a whole business strategy class on how Jay-Z works in business, because he knows how to time his moves very well, and has really only had a small handful of flops (that first collaboration he did with R. Kelly comes to mind). Some more details:
  • $450 million in total net worth, which is pretty rad
  • $150
    million     the size of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s profit-sharing deal with Live Nation, which is profitable despite the lack of signed artists
  • $204
    million     the amount Jay-Z received for Rocawear in 2007 – but get this; he kept creative control of the line and heads day-to-day operations
  • 45M the number of albums he’s sold so far; all of his albums have gone platinum in the U.S.
  • 10 the number of Grammy awards he’s won in his two-decade career (show off)
  • 11 the number of chart-topping albums in his career – nine solo and two collaborations source
  • » Other business ventures: Don’t think that he stops with clothes and songs. He also has a restaurant chain to his name, The 40-40 Club; a Greenwich Village bistro, the Spotted Pig; a co-ownership stake in the Carol’s Daughter beauty line; and best of all, an ownership stake in the New Jersey Nets, which will end up in Brooklyn in 2012 thanks partly to him.
  • » And he’s just getting started: The next thing on Hova’s agenda? He has a book coming out with a fairly interesting concept – basically, he took the lyrics to dozens of his hit songs and explained them in depth. “Decoded” also has Microsoft on board for the advertising campaign. Because that’s how Jay-Z rolls. He gets corporate sponsors to back his projects, and the corporations win because they can bank on Jay-Z’s name to give them cool points. And let’s face it, Microsoft can use as many of those as they can get.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 18:45

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Tech: Dumbest phone we’ve ever seen? Company takes minimalism too far


That sound you hear is the sound of some clever company attempting to sell an overpriced phone with a pen and a pad of paper as something innovative. Move along. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 13:10

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Culture: Dear SNL: Why isn’t Jay Pharoah playing your Obama yet?

  • Great SNL clip, one that pretty much perfectly nails Obama’s get-out-the-vote conundrum. Problem is, it’s kinda, well, sad that Jay Pharoah, who has a very good Obama parody, is still being forced to play bit character while Fred Armisen’s mediocre Obama takes center stage. In this clip, Pharaoh is literally standing behind him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 12:43

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Culture: “Paranormal Activity 2” no “Blair Witch”-style flash in the pan

  • $41.5
    million     the amount “Paranormal Activity 2” made in its first weekend; the first film, released a year ago, had a “Blair Witch”-style theatrical run
  • $13.3
    million     the amount the unsuccessful “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2” made in its first weekend; it made just $26 million in its entire run source
  • » Another thing to point out: The theatrical run of the first “Paranormal Activity” has the distinction of making a huge amount of money in a small number of theaters. In its third weekend, it made $7.6 million in just 160 theaters, scoring an unheard-of $49,379 per-theater average. And they didn’t even need 3D to pull it off, either. They just needed $15,000 and a great gimmick.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 12:24

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Tech: MacBook Air: Not first to the ultrathin laptop game, by the way

  • .11″ the width of Apple’s latest MacBook Air, released last week for a mere $999
  • .38″ the width of Sony’s Vaio X505, a similarly designed laptop released  back in 2004 for $3,000
  • .78″ the width of HP’s Omnibook Sojourn, released way back in 1998 for $5,799 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Oct 2010 12:01

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World: Wikileaks: Nick Clegg (smartly) chooses not to shoot the messenger

  • I think anything that suggests that basic rules of war, conflict and engagement have been broken or that torture has been in any way condoned are extremely serious and need to be looked at.
  • British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg • Suggesting that the British government needs to investigate the torture claims brought forth by Wikileaks’ massive Iraq War data dump. Just yesterday, the country’s Ministry of Defense, which condemned the group for releasing the data. Clegg, on the other hand, has a very refreshing response to the whole thing: “We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious.” If only more world leaders would take that approach to Wikileaks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 11:48

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U.S.: Remnants of Gulf Oil Spill (remember that?) still hanging around

  • Fun fact about the Gulf Oil Spill: A few days ago, the federal government said there were only a few “trouble spots” where oil was still hanging around. Strangely enough, this photo of a miles-long oil spot was taken after they said that. Wonder what happened. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 11:40

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World: Haiti’s real cholera fear? A massive outbreak in Port-Au-Prince

As high as the cholera outbreak’s death toll has been so far, the real danger is if it devastates massively-populated Port-Au-Prince. A few cases have already hit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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