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21 Jan 2011 15:24

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Biz: Jeff Zucker’s last gasp with NBC: “I leave you in good hands”

  • For me, that chapter’s ending, but for all of you it’s an exciting new beginning. With Comcast, I leave you in good hands and have no doubt that you will continue to do great things. I look forward to following your progress.
  • Departing NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker • In a memo to his employees on the company’s financial performance, the last such report before the soon-to-complete Comcast deal. Zucker, the man probably most responsible for the Jay Leno/Conan mess, is leaving a company he’s worked at for a solid 25 years. Sorry, we’re finding it hard to type. We have something in our eyes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 14:59

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Biz: Warner Music Group looking for buyer; do you guys take $50s?

The Warners, which are actually doing rather well compared to their music-industry competitors, saw their stock rise in the wake of the news. Hope we can stil afford it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 14:42

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U.S.: Thiopental sodium: Key lethal injection drug headed off the market?

  • This will be a challenge for [medical] customers and we regret that. But we don’t want to put our Italian facility at risk that the product will be misused.
  • Hospira spokeswoman Tareta Adams • Discussing the company’s decision to pull a key drug used in lethal executions off the market. The drug, thiopental sodium, is widely used by prisons all over the country, but in the wake of manufacturing issues in 2009, they had to stop producing the product. They were about to restart production at an italian factory, but an order by that country’s parliament forced Hospira to agree not to allow the Italian-produced drugs to be used in lethal injections in the U.S. So now, American prisons will be screwed or forced to use other medications to do the same thing. In Oklahoma, the drug pentobarbital, usually used to put animals down, was used in an execution there after a court decision. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 13:54

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Politics: Paul Ryan’s Republican State of the Union response: The right guy?

  • Paul Ryan, here’s your potential moment. If the GOP wants to get any leverage on Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address, they’d be crazy not to go with someone like Ryan for the response. Already a political lifer at age 39 (almost 40), his thoughtful approach to the budget crisis, which still emphasizes extreme cuts, is at least put a little bit more nicely than anything Mitch McConnell has ever said. Obama even takes him seriously, and we’ve taken notice of him in the past, too. The thing is, if Ryan keeps at what he’s good at – his honest likability, his sincere belief in the issues and his nicer approach than some of his colleagues – he’ll do better than some of the other guys recently in this spot, like Bobby Jindal (though Bob McDonnell did well in 2010). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 13:31

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Biz, Tech: Even though Google’s stock is expensive right now, it’s still a “buy”

  • $640+ the stock’s recent price peak, before yesterday’s management shakeup
  • $627 the stock’s price as of when we wrote this, post-announcement
  • $800+ the price some analysts are expecting the stock to hit someday source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 13:21

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Tech: 13 years later, “Duke Nukem Forever” finally has a release date

  • 5/3 we’re holding these jerks to this; no delays source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 00:33

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Tech: Things we don’t really need: an Angry Birds TV series

Angry Birds
Apparently, they’re making the hit smartphone game Angry Birds into an animated TV show. We think this is about as good of an idea as that Geico/caveman TV show a while back. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Jan 2011 00:08

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U.S.: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal will save taxpayers money

  • some think it will make us unsafe. We think (in addition to not making us unsafe) it’ll save taxpayers money. While the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a done deal, the Government Accountability Office nevertheless conducted a study on the fiscal impact of the program. After reviewing all cases of expulsion under the program over the last six years, they found that maintaining the program was quite costly (and we don’t mean from an emotional standpoint).
  • $193 million to implement the program over six years
  • $52k cost of expelling each service member (this includes finding and training replacements)
  • 39% of those expelled either spoke a foreign language, or held a “critical occupation” in the military source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 23:15

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Culture: Fox, unsurprisingly, nixes “Jesus Hates Obama” Superbowl ad

  • Here’s the surprising thing: The ad itself is pretty innocuous. It depicts an Obama bobblehead being pushed into a fishbowl by a Jesus bobblehead, apparently by way of telekinesis (it’s a bit unclear). All in good fun, right? And all that’s being advertised is a comedy website that peddles anti-Obama mugs, T-shirts, and (presumably) bobbleheads. So why the controversy? Well, the website is called “Jesus Hates Obama.” So, yeah. Probably not gonna fly during the biggest television event of the year. (We should note that, according to the site’s front page, they don’t actually believe that Jesus hates Obama; it’s just a provocative title to catch people’s eyes). source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 23:03

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Politics: SCOTUS: Should Scalia & Thomas have skipped campaign finance?

Liberal group Common Cause argues that the justices should’ve recused themselves from last year’s campaign finance decision for ties to Koch Industries and advocacy groups. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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