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07 Jan 2011 14:28

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Politics: Some thoughts on Ted Williams’ golden-voiced situation

  • Williams is an interesting figure who represents something far more than his own situation. And as more details come out about Williams, that becomes clear. He’s a product of that specific brand of fading industrialization that cities like Columbus have perfected over the last thirty years. A few years back, when Morgan Spurlock hosted the memorable reality show “30 Days,” he lived in Columbus, Ohio on minimum wage for a month. Spurlock gets beef for his Michael Moore-lite methods, but the truth is, the minimum wage episode was pretty on-point. We imagine Williams being in the background of that episode, thrown away by the society that let him down. And there’s the problem. There are lots of guys like Williams who were also in that scene, who don’t have his miraculous luck. Or the voice. We call them deadbeats. We criticize them for being dregs on society (looking at you, Fox News). Well, what are we doing to fix this? Enforcing drug laws? Citing them for trespassing? Ignoring them? For every Williams with a broken home life and no way to improve his situation, there are thousands of others. And we, as a society, should be asking why. (Now’s a good time to suggest donating to Street Sense. Help the homeless help themselves.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 13:58

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Culture: Ted Williams’ ex-wife: He wasn’t around after drugs took over

Williams’ ex-wife, Patricia Kirtley, had four kids with Williams that she raised by herself for over two decades. She even raised a kid he had WITH ANOTHER WOMAN. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 10:27

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U.S.: NYCers should expect more snow next week, just an FYI

  • We have to keep an eye on that, but the potential is there for another significant snowfall through Tuesday and Wednesday. The potential is there for 6 or more inches.
  • Meteorologist Brian Ciemnecki • Giving an estimate of the chances for more snow (starting today and going into next week) in the NYC area, which hasn’t finished digging out from the last storm yet. Because, let’s face it, New Yorkers haven’t suffered enough. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 10:13

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Politics: Did John Edwards get engaged recently? If so, save the date!

  • claim The National Enquirer reports that John Edwards is engaged to Rielle Hunter, which would be awful timing considering his estranged wife just died like a month ago.
  • denial Edwards’ family denies the allegations, which have more heft because, well, the National Enquirer surprisingly broke the original Rielle Hunter story. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 09:57

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World: Is German farm feed manufacturer behind tainted egg outbreak?

  • 4,700 dioxin-sporting German farms quarantined source
  • » Blame it on the eggs, yeah yeah: The farms have been quarantined in the wake of a tained egg scandal reportedly caused by some possibly contaminated animal feed. Harles and Jentzsch, the makers of a fatty acid used by animal feed producers, noticed high levels of dioxins but reportedly did nothing to stop the spread of the fatty acid. So now, we’re here. Oops.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 09:35

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Biz: Unemployment dips in December, but job growth only moderate

  • 103,000 the increase in jobs last month – decent but lower than expected (and mostly private job growth)
  • 9.4% the decrease in unemployment, which is down nearly half a percentage point source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 03:02

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Culture: We just found the most useless slideshow in online news history

  • Mila Kunis. Ashton Kutcher. Topher Grace. Most of the cast of “That ’70s Show” is still famous and in the news enough that a “Where are They Now?” slideshow isn’t really necessary. But that didn’t stop CNN from making one. The only real surprise is the very last one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

06 Jan 2011 23:25

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U.S.: Check out this awesome interactive census map

  • Ever wonder how many people in your neighborhood went to college? What the average rent is on your block? What percentage of your neighbors were born outside the US? Now you can, thanks to NYT and the US Census. Plug in your zip code and select any number of categories, and you get a spiffy looking map of what’s going down. Try it! source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jan 2011 23:23

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Music: Biggie Smalls shooting mystery gets fresh leads

Apparently, there are new leads in the unsolved shooting of The Notorious B.I.G, and the LAPD is ramping up its investigations. The case has been unsolved since 1997. Good luck, LAPD! source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jan 2011 22:43

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Politics: After reciting Constitution aloud, House Republicans violate it

  • first After reciting the Constitution on the floor of the House, Republicans got to work attempting to repeal health care reform.
  • but Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), however, missed the official swearing in ceremony (a violation of the Constitution).
  • so That means he’s not technically a Congressman, and all of his votes over the last two days have been invalid. Whoops!
  • nowJohn Boehner has to ask Nancy Pelosi for unanimous consent to retroactively validate Sessions’ votes.
  • We’re having a little fun here. This isn’t actually that big of a deal; it was an honest mistake on the part of Sessions (and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, who also missed the swearing in), it will likely be rectified by tomorrow, and Sessions and Fitzpatrick have already been officially sworn in. Still, it’s amusing and slightly ironic that, after making a big show of reading the Constitution aloud on the House floor, two Republicans inadvertently violated it whilst on the House floor. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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