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28 Oct 2010 22:23

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Biz: Get rich quick scheme: Suing McDonald’s for making you fat

  • 12 x 65 = the number of years a Brazilian McDonald’s employee worked at the restaurant, and the number of pounds he gained while working there
  • $17,500 the size of the judgment for the Brazilian, who should have a Marie Claire article written about how ugly he is any day now source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 22:14

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Politics: … and here comes the denial from the Kendrick Meek camp

  • report Politico sets the Florida Senate race on its head with a claim that BILL FREAKING CLINTON tried to convince also-ran Democrat Kendrick Meek to quit the race so Charlie Crist would win.
  • denial Meek’s campaign manager Abe Dyk denied it: “The article is not true. Kendrick Meek was never dropping out of this race, is never dropping out of this race and will never drop out of this race.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 22:05

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Culture: The Daily Show’s three most popular episodes Obama-related

  • 3.58M the number of people who watched Obama (the candidate) on The Daily Show back in 2008
  • 2.92M the number of people who watched his wife Michelle on the show a few weeks later
  • 2.84M the number of people who watched Obama (the president) on the show last night source
  • » And we must point out, kids: Jon Stewart did a hilarious intro before he introduced Obama last night. But the conversation went on so long that it never aired. Fortunately, Comedy Central was able to introduce us to the joy that is “Keeping the President Waiting.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 21:23

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Biz, U.S.: BP and Halliburton make stupid mistake, punish the entire Gulf

  • The fact that BP and Halliburton knew this cement job could fail only solidifies their liability and responsibility for this disaster. We now know what BP and Halliburton knew, and when they knew it. And now we know they did absolutely nothing about it.
  • Rep. Edward J. Markey • Sounding incredibly pissed (for understandable reasons) about the whole situation with the Gulf Oil Spill. Why, you ask? Well, it seems our friends at both BP and Halliburton knew weeks before that the cement mixture they were using to seal the well was unstable and didn’t work particularly well. But, in a brilliant decision which had amazing effects on the Gulf region, they used it anyway. And by “brilliant” we mean awful. And by “amazing” we me disastrous. Heckuva job, BP and Halliburton. Heckuva job. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 19:09

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Politics: Bill Clinton to Kendrick Meek: Quit so Charlie Crist can win

  • what Bill Clinton asked Florida Democrat Kendrick Meek to drop out of his Senate race – twice.
  • why Meek is splitting the vote with indie kid Charlie Crist, meaning Marco Rubio is gonna win.
  • reaction Meek apparently agreed – twice – and then changed his mind both times. Fail. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 15:53

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Politics, U.S.: Cost-benefit ratio: Meg Whitman spends high, polls low

  • Everybody knows that the California Governor’s race is really, really expensive. Meg Whitman has dropped  $162 million so far on her bid, with Jerry Brown spending an only-modest-by-comparison $25.5 million. However, Whitman’s spending (including $22 million this month alone) hasn’t been able to buy her a lead in the polls. The latest Public Policy Poll has Brown leading by 11 points, 53-42. This made us wonder: how much has each candidate spent for each percentage point they hold in the polls? The results were somewhat lopsided:
  • $481k the price Jerry Brown pays for one percentage point in the polls. Not a paltry sum, to be sure.
  • $3.8m the price Meg Whitman pays for one point in the polls. That’s eight times as much. And she’s still down! source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 15:11

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Culture: Christopher Nolan sheds light on “The Dark Knight” sequel

  • the title …of the new Batman movie will be “The Dark Knight Rises,” according to an interview with Christopher Nolan, who’s returning to direct it.
  • the villain …will not be The Riddler, as many had speculated. Nolan wouldn’t reveal who it will be, but he did also rule out Mr. Freeze. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Oct 2010 11:19

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U.S.: JFK grave’s worn-down typography getting a little TLC

Today, typographic legibility is in the news. Why? Because the letters on JFK’s gravesite are getting hard to read. Time to restore them to their former glory. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 11:00

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Politics: Karl Rove, that ever-present plotter, is attacking Sarah Palin now

  • He says she lacks the “gravitas” to be president in 2012. Now, let’s admit it. There’s probably a few people who agree with this assessment completely. But this is Karl Rove, so you know that there’s probably more going on here. And of course, during his interview with the Daily Telegraph, he also stuck the dagger in: “With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of ‘that helps me see you in the Oval Office’.” Our take? Karl Rove gets no benefit from Tea Partiers getting more influence. And, well, let’s face it. Common sense (which we learned from Mr. Hanley in our AP Government class) dictates that if you’re running for political office, you need to appeal to the center to win elections. Karl gets that. The Tea Party, in some ways, fights this logic completely. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 10:49

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U.S.: What does the DC Metro terror plot mean, security-wise?

  • Metro, like any other transit system in the world, has a high level of vulnerability. There is no getting around that. You do your best with dogs, police and cameras.
  • DC council member (and DC Metro board member) Jim Graham • Offering a little bit of insight into the metro system’s security processes. Obviously, this is of major concern considering that some guy was trying to plot terror attacks against multiple metro stations. Graham, who says that bag checks may not be out of the question in the future (and who wears a pretty impressive pair of glasses that we’ve always admired from afar), notes that when they’ve been tried in the past, such as during George W. Bush’s second inauguration, the process has been very cumbersome. “The entire system was jammed,” he said. “People just could not move, because of the necessary slow pace of checking everybody.” We hope that, if it is in fact necessary, they can find an easy way to do it. Wonder how much it costs to install full-body scanners at every single station? It must be cheap, and the DC Metro clearly has the money to spend! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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