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26 Oct 2010 09:51

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World: One of Saddam Hussein’s top aides sentenced to hang

Tariq Aziz was one of Saddam’s most public faces during the former Iraq leader’s regime of terror. Which explains why Aziz has been sentenced to a similar fate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2010 09:34

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World: Highlights from Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Index

  • 1st is Denmark, which suggests that very little is rotten there
  • 22nd is the U.S., which fell out of the top 20 due to the financial crisis
  • 78th is China, which may not like Google but is less corrupt than you think
  • 146th is Iran; they’re tied with Libya (both are too high on this list, honestly)
  • 154th is Russia, which makes a lot of sense if you know Russia
  • 164th is Venezuela, which at least has a fan in Oliver Stone, right?
  • 172nd is Sudan, which has Darfur and child soldiers to answer for
  • 175th is Iraq, what with their undecided election and everything
  • 176th is Afghanistan, what with their bags of money and everything
  • last is Somalia, which makes lots of sense considering it’s Somalia source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 22:28

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Politics: Three-term Mayor favors two-term limit

  • thenIn 2008, two-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg convinced the City Council to change the city’s law and allow him run for a third term.
  • now After winning a third term, Bloomberg will be voting this November to reinstate a two-term limit for NYC mayors. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 21:14

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Tech: Digg realizes that too many people are working for them

  • six the number of people who work on Reddit’s entire site
  • 67 the number of people who work on Digg at the moment
  • 25 the number of staffers Digg will be cutting to get profitable source
  • » Cutting the “overhead”: Why is it that Reddit has a much smaller staff, yet is completely kicking Digg’s butt at the moment? Good question. Either way, Digg (which is unprofitable) is cutting 37 percent of its staff in an effort to rebuild lost momentum in the platform and cut significant costs. “It’s been an incredibly tough decision,” wrote Matt Williams, the company’s brand-new CEO. “I wish it weren’t necessary. However, I know it’s the right choice for Digg’s future success as a business.” Also, a product refocus is coming very soon to correct the last one.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 21:00

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World: Protip: Don’t hold outdoor swimming competitions in 100-degree heat

  • If the water temperature was 87 degrees, that’s so warm … it’s hard for your body to get rid of the heat.
  • Extreme survival expert Ken Kamler • Discussing what happened to Fran Crippen, a U.S. competitive swimmer who died in a race in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend. Crippen was swimming in very extreme conditions – it was over 100 degrees outside and the water temperature was around 87 degrees, which is the average temperature of hot tub water. Hot tubs are already warm and sweaty enough without the movement. But Crippen was swimming a ten-kilometer race. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 20:31

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Tech: Google’s Android’s app store: Quickly catching up to Apple

  • 100,000 number of apps in the Android store, a threefold increase since March
  • 300,000number of apps in the iTunes store – they had a huge head start
  • 200knumber of new phones that get activated daily
  • 270knumber of developers working on apps
  • 32countries have paid app sales source
  • » Problems to solve: Many developers make their Android apps for free (and rely on in-app ads to pay the bills) not because they want to make them free, but because the payment process is so convoluted that many people don’t feel like going through it. Also, a major problem that developers have which iPhone developers don’t have to deal with at all is the fracturing of the platform – there are dozens of phones on the market with tiny but important quirks.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 20:05

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U.S.: Four Loko: All of the bad parts of getting drunk, combined

  • One of these cans of Four Loko packs the punch of a six-pack of beer. Worse, the drinks also include five cups of coffee. Remember that story we posted a few weeks ago about the college party that went south and left a bunch of kids sick? They were drinking this. (Update: Our friend Steve Dorsey tipped us off to a sexual assault trial in a Detroit suburb that also involved Four Loko. And high school students. Use your heads, guys. This stuff is dangerous.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

25 Oct 2010 16:32

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Politics: Something smells fishy about this race

  • you’ve gotta give him points for originality. In the race for California’s 47th Congressional seat, GOP candidate Van Tran has found a novel way to create a negative association with his opponent, Loretta Sanchez. Tran recently sent out a mailer with a picture of Sanchez, accompanied by a pungent scratch-and-sniff pad. According to a GOP aid, it’s “a horrible odor–like a combination of 5 or 6 of the worst possible scents you can imagine.” A dirty tactic? Perhaps. But certainly a creative one. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 15:54

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Politics: Conservative groups dwarfing liberals in undisclosed funds

  • $75
    million     anonymous donations to conservative/Republican campaigns this cycle
  • $10
    million     anonymous donations to liberal/Democratic campaigns this cycle source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 11:12

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Politics: Obama not rocking the vote for congressional candidates

  • 2.5M the number of young voters Rock the Vote was able to register during the Obama-fied 2008 elections
  • 280k the number of voters they were able to register this time around (that’s kind of a big decline, guys)
  • 44% Obama’s current approval rating among college students – good luck getting out the vote with that, guys source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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