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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

28 Oct 2010 10:36

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Biz: In this post, we try to find silver lining in mediocre jobless numbers

  • good New jobless claims this week are at their lowest number in about three months. Not great, but a definite improvement!
  • better Continuing jobless claims fell to their lowest level since late 2008. Hopefully that keeps up so we can stop complaining. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 10:21

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Tech: MySpace’s new redesign: Better than that crappy logo

  • This may lose us cool points, but we hate the logo and love the design of the new MySpace site. It’s clear that they actually gave designers a lot more freedom, and now it looks like somewhere we wouldn’t be embarrassed to find ourselves. We also hear that they’re limiting the amount of freedom you can have with individual page design, to which we say about freaking time! Leave the design to the designers, or at least set a high bar like Tumblr does. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 10:03

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Politics: Meg Whitman’s money may not win California’s governor’s race

  • 49% of folks plan to give Jerry Brown another whirl as governor
  • 39% plan to take Meg Whitman’s eBay know-how into the governor’s chair
  • 12% plan to vote for Arnold again even though he’s not running source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Oct 2010 09:50

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World: An update on Indonesia’s deadly twin disasters

  • 34people killed by Tuesday’s eruption; it erupted again, too
  • 343 people confirmed dead in the massive tsunami in Indonesia
  • 338 people still missing; officials fear as many as 500 could be dead
  • 16k people displaced by the tsunami, which created 10-foot waves source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Oct 2010 23:21

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Politics: Dear Rand Paul head-stomper: You’re not getting an apology.

  • I am offended and outraged by the words of Tim Profitt. Profitt said the attack was ‘not a big deal,’ that Lauren ‘instigated it’ and that ‘she should apologize’ — words that are eerily familiar to many women who have faced assault and abuse.
  • MoveOn.org spokesperson Ilyse Hogue • Chewing on the piece of meat thrown to her by Rand Paul head-stomper Tim Profitt. Profitt, see, had the gall to say this about the stompee, 23-year-old MoveOn.org volunteer Lauren Valle: “I would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you.” He also blamed his stomping on, get this, “back problems.” Are you sure you don’t live in San Diego instead of Kentucky, Tim? Because you certainly know how to stay classy. To be clear, guys, we’re not criticizing the Paul campaign: They’ve been pretty smart about dealing with this incident. No. We’re criticizing Tim Profitt. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Oct 2010 22:50

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U.S.: Metro opens doors, sure, but they closed on DC terror suspect

  • dumb You’re a guy who has a crazy idea to blow up parts of the DC Metro system, because that’s a good idea and stuff.
  • dumber You end up working with people you think are members of al-Qaeda, offering up significant details on your plans.
  • dumbestYou find out that they’re members of the FBI. Farooque Ahmed, this is your life. Don’t mess with the DC Metro. source
  • » And yes, we know: This is a serious situation. Lots of people could have died. But here’s our feeling on the matter. We’d rather be brash and fearless-sounding than give into the kind of FUD that these sort of threats encourage. That’s what terror suspects want.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Oct 2010 22:22

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About: Today on ShortFormBlog, we learn about imitation & flattery

  • Since our friend Charles Apple wrote about this, we should probably make a public comment here. We’re sure that the creators of Sigaw Mo meant well when they created a site that was very inspired by our own, down to the same plugins. Filipinos deserve a great source of short news, yes. But our look and feel is our look and feel. And we have to defend it. So, to be clear, we’re flattered by, but do not endorse, Sigaw Mo, which has a link on the bottom of its site to this one. And if you’re the owner of Sigaw Mo, who we’ve e-mailed multiple times already, please contact us so that we can discuss this. Here at ShortFormBlog, we don’t like to crack skulls or stomp on people’s heads like Rand Paul supporters. We prefer conversation. (Update: Alex of Sigaw Mo has graciously offered to take the design down for now. We really appreciate it.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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