Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

29 Nov 2010 10:53

tags

Biz: Massmart deal: Wal-Mart looks to buy way into South African market

  • 51% the amount of Massmart Wal-Mart wants to make its own
  • $2.3B the amount they’re willing to pay for the South African chain
  • no the unions aren’t quite on board with this decision as of yet source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:35

tags

U.S.: Obama announcing federal employee pay freeze

  • This is gonna hurt federal workers en masse. Obama will offer details in a press conference in a little while, but expect DC residents to feel the hurt, as 600,000 federal workers reside in this little out-of-the-way villa. Hey, Obama, could we make a suggestion for you, as outside observers? Cut the pay of the highest-paid federal workers – the bureaucrats with random non-public-facing jobs, but raise it for TSA staffers, because they’re not getting paid enough to take their arguably more important job seriously. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:23

tags

World: Rogue Afghan police officer plays turncoat, kills NATO soldiers

  • 6 NATO troops killed by an Afghan policeman who went rogue source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:14

tags

Culture: Spider-Man musical: Big budget, rocky production, rockier first show

  • $65
    million     the amount the “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” cost to produce – easily the biggest ever for a Broadway show
  • $4
    million     the cost of a two-week delay in getting things up and running; it finally got a performance in last night
  • five number of times the play had to stop during due to technical problems that still plagued it
  • 10′ number of feet Spidey was hanging above the stage after the shortened first act
  • one number of embarrassing catcalls the play had – during a break in the action in act two source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:00

tags

U.S.: Wikileaks: Wow, there’s a lot of espionage in these cables

  • Is it a natural part of diplomatic activity to have diplomats collecting biometric data? … [It’s] a contravention of how diplomats are supposed to conduct business.
  • Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson • Expressing the organization’s level of surprise at the extent of the espionage they found. The State Department claimed that its diplomats were in fact not spying.  “Contrary to some Wikileaks’ reporting,” wrote State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley, “our diplomats are diplomats. They are not intelligence assets.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 01:30

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: John McCain all over place with DADT rhetoric

  • Was Obama an inexperienced politician when he said he’d repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell”? Well, he ran a better campaign than this dude back in 2008. (Thought we’d forget that, didn’t you?) Anyway, John McCain was on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday trying to explain how the current gays in the military policy makes sense, in a way that’s giving Candy Crowley some real meat to chew upon. Meanwhile, large chunks of Americans think the policy should be repealed. And that includes this guy’s wife.
  • See, I’m not like Obama at all! The storyline we’re expecting to see in the next few months goes like this: Democratic senators, like Claire McCaskill, will be falling over themselves to differentiate themselves from the president. Don’t expect her to have a fat lip from playing basketball anytime soon.
  • Soft Black Friday story ruined It seems like your normal mid-afternoon CNN story that you can completely ignore until around the 45-second mark, when the anti-fur protesters show up. Then it gets interesting. Hey protesters: People who watch CNN in the daytime don’t buy fur; they can’t afford it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 00:47

tags

Biz: Cyber Monday set for traffic increase similar to Black Friday’s

  • 107
    million     number of people expected to shop online today, Cyber Monday
  • 96.5
    million     number of people that shopped online last Cyber Monday source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Nov 2010 00:19

tags

U.S., World: Five random facts from Wikileaks’ diplomatic cable leak

  • one China was behind the hack attack that led Google to temporarily withdraw from the country. (Duh.)
  • two Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah wants the U.S. to attack Iran to kill off its nuclear program. (Hmm.)
  • three The Afghan vice-president came a-knockin’ in the UAE with $52 million dollars in his luggage.
  • four The U.S. worries about Silvio Berlusconi’s tight friendship with Vladimir Putin, but not Leo’s.
  • five Obama would only meet with Slovenia if they took a Gitmo detainee from the U.S. Wow. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 00:02

tags

World: Haiti not alone: Here’s what happened in today’s Ivory Coast runoff

  • one runoff vote after a good-natured, successful election in October
  • five security officials were killed today not long after the vote started
  • many reports of voter intimidation throughout the African country source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags