Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

02 Jan 2011 12:25

tags

Politics: Tea Partiers upset because they get upset about everything

  • Choice quote of the freaking day: “For them to legislate when they’ve collectively lost their mandate just shows the arrogance of the ruling elite. I can’t imagine being repudiated in the way they were and then coming back and saying ‘Now that we’ve been repudiated, let’s go pass some legislation.’ ” That’s a Tea Party dude, Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots, ripping Democrats for taking advantage of their lame-duck session to get some actual work done. Then after ripping the Democrats, he ripped the GOP for letting it happen: “The Republicans, frankly, have been a disaster. They stood strong on some things, but the only reason they stood strong is because we stood behind them with a big stick.” Nobody cares, Mark. Stop whining. (thanks inothernews) source

02 Jan 2011 12:15

tags

World: Did mob attack on Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara fizzle out?

  • Everything is calm at the hotel, we’re very serene.
  • Alassane Ouattara spokesperson Patrick Achi • Expressing relief that the planned mob attack of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where the Ivory Coast’s should-be leader is staying, seems to have fizzled out. We’re glad it did too, because it could’ve led to fresh civil war in the country. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen. In other news, current leader Laurent Gbagbo unsurprisingly ignored a deadline to quit on New Year’s Eve. source

02 Jan 2011 12:05

tags

U.S.: Dear early-bird tax filers: The IRS isn’t ready for you guys yet

  • good Obama got the tax compromise through late last month, even if it didn’t have absolutely everything he wanted in it. There’s no more uncertainty, which is good.
  • bad As a side effect of it coming so late in the year, the IRS can’t take as many as 50 million itemized tax forms until late February, due to tax code changes. Sorry, guys. source

02 Jan 2011 11:47

tags

U.S.: Bad idea: Pretending to be a comedian when you’re in the Navy

  • Dear Capt. Owen Honors: Look, we know it gets lonely when you’re out to sea, but you’re not Dane Cook. You’re held to a higher standard than Dane Cook, as our good friends at the Virginian-Pilot reminded you when they put this video on their site. There’s a lot of not-kosher comedy in here, OK for, say, Carlos Mencia or Denis Leary. But for the people on the U.S.S. Enterprise who had to watch these terrible excuses for comedy, they were just a wee bit offended. Leave the comedy to Louis CK (or these guys) so you don’t get reprimanded. source

02 Jan 2011 11:23

tags

Tech: On iPhones, alarm clocks, and the quality of our own internal clock

  • so, our alarm didn’t go off this morning. Weirdest thing. It was set and everything, but it simply didn’t make noise. Fortunately, our internal clock managed to wake us up at 9 a.m. so it wasn’t too bad. But apparently the problem is widespread. See, our alarm clock? It’s an iPhone. And for some strange reason, the alarm stopped working on everyone else’s phones, leading to people not waking up in the morning. While Apple claims the problem will disappear on January 3rd … uh, wow. How did this happen in the first place? Isn’t this something you might test when you’re building your Jesus-phone? source

02 Jan 2011 11:09

tags

Biz: Is American Airlines screwing over online travel sites?

  • It appears American Airlines is burning online travel bridges. In recent weeks, both Orbitz (who couldn’t reach a contract with the airline) and Expedia (who voluntary took them out) have ditched the airline. Is it possible that these sites have been so successful at their mission that they’ve actually forced airlines to make their flights cheaper? Well, to test this theory, we looked online at American Airlines’ site for travel deals to from DC to Dublin (where we’re taking our girlfriend in the next few months). The average cost at a site like Orbitz was roughly $650 per person for a flight and hotel. The lowest price at AAvacations.com? $1260 per person. It’d be way harder to figure out that was an awful deal if we had to go to every airline to compare prices. AA’s efforts to strongarm online travel sites are simply bad for consumers and should not be supported. Who else has good deals to Dublin? (photo by lrargerich) source

02 Jan 2011 10:44

tags

Offbeat: Other weird harbingers to ring in 2011: Falling blackbirds in Arkansas

  • 1,000+ blackbirds randomly fell from the sky source
 

02 Jan 2011 01:58

tags

U.S.: Protip: If your water bottle falls into Lake Michigan, let it go

  • My whole family was like that, we all have lead feet. Who would care about a water bottle? … I’m just like in damn disbelief.
  • Debra Hilling • On the death of her son, Michael. See, Michael, who couldn’t swim, jumped into Lake Michigan in an attempt to recover his girlfriend’s water bottle, which had fallen in. You know, on January 1st, in Chicago. The emergency call was received at 12:08 a.m., by the way, just minutes into 2011. Fark calls it “The first Darwin Award of 2011.” We just call it extremely unfortunate. See, Michael’s first anniversary with his girlfriend was Friday night. Now we’re really sad. Poor guy. source

02 Jan 2011 00:18

tags

Politics: Joe Miller: I don’t have Lisa Murkowski’s phone number

  • In his first interview after announcing his concession, in the very first question, Miller dropped the kind of land mine that ensures it’ll be hard for him to be elected dog catcher in Fairbanks. Seriously? You’re not going to call because you don’t have her number? Stop being a loser and call the woman already. E-mail her if you have to. Use Skype or FaceTime or something. Oh wait … see this page right here? There’s a list of all of her offices, with their phone numbers. It’s a holiday weekend, but we bet that if you called one of those offices on Monday morning, Joe, they might get you in touch with the Senator. Just a hunch.

01 Jan 2011 21:54

tags

Biz: Henry Paulson personally lost $1 million in the housing crisis

  • See? Treasury secretaries suffer just like the rest of us. You can call Henry Paulson a lot of things, but one thing you can’t call the Bush-era Treasury Secretary is “unaffected by the financial crisis.” See, Paulson’s home just got sold on the D.C. housing market, and it went for far less than he bought it for. Let’s check the numbers already:
  • $4.3M the cost he paid for his home, near the National Cathedral, in 2006 (which is swank, BTW)
  • $4.6M the amount Paulson, no longer a bureaucrat, put the home on the market for in April
  • $3.25M the amount Paulson’s home finally sold for a couple of weeks ago – a $1 million loss source