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24 Feb 2011 13:02

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World: A bad time (or rather, several generations) to be North Korean

  • YES Kim Jong-Il parties while his people toil in starvation source
  • » Maybe not the biggest surprise. But still, guy’s an jerk, huh? An especially harsh winter season (most North Korean winters being merely normally harsh) has killed somewhere from 50% to 80% of the wheat and barley crop for the spring season, and high food prices have hamstrung the regime as far as import goes. While this might sound like a humanitarian crisis for most governments, Kim Jong-Il’s regime has always been pretty cozy with the idea of starvation and/or malnutrition – a 2009 Washington Post article mentions a U.S. intelligence study that found brain damage by malnutrition derails nearly 1/4th of prospective North Korean soldiers, to say nothing of the estimated 200,000 North Koreans who are wasting away in concentration camps. But, to be fair, you couldn’t ask the Dear Leader to stop spending on things like this.

24 Feb 2011 12:36

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World: Media reports from Libya still scarce, but here’s a little footage

  • “Gaddafi Get Out”: The crackdown in Libya has made it part perilous, part impossible to get proper media coverage of the event. That being so, any time there’s a chance to see footage, shouldn’t we take it? These images are, after all, the only visually evocative way to inform our international consciences, which in matters of decades-long strongman rulers likely should be more burdened. source

24 Feb 2011 12:10

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Politics: Ken Cuccinelli pays backhanded compliment to Washington judge

  • Of the three rulings that are wrong, it is the best written of the three.
  • Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli • Speaking to Regent University about a judge’s ruling that the health care reform law is constitutional. An unexpected compliment, if somewhat damning the ruling with the faintest of praise, Cuccinelli apparently has the most passing respect for the argument advanced by Washington Judge Gladys Kessler, who seems to suggest the insurance mandate is legal because hospitals are themselves legally bound to provide emergency care to those who can’t pay, which is a money drain that is abysmally downplayed in these cost-cutting discussions. Cuccinelli, however, had this final say: “I still don’t think the distinction that the judge relies on holds up. I don’t find it compelling.” source

24 Feb 2011 11:17

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World: Julian Assange loses extradition case: What happened?

  • today Assange lost his extradition case, which says that he must return to Sweden to deal with that whole sex-by-surprise thingy thang that has long been dogging him. He denounced the decision as “a rubber-stamping process.”
  • next steps Assange has seven days to appeal the case, which his lawyers said he would. For now, he’ll likely have another month in the country. “We have to remember that at this point Julian remains uncharged,” said his lawyer, Mark Stephens. source
  • » In case you were wondering, like us: Assange’s people brought up this witness, Brita Sundberg-Weitman, who had some harsh words about Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny. Those words apparently weren’t enough to sway the judge, who noted that she had no direct knowledge of the case – just commentary on Ny as a person.

24 Feb 2011 10:56

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Tech: Apple’s new MacBook Pro makes us long for an upgrade

  • Admit it. They’re MacBook Pros. Of course you want to have sex with these machines. That said – the changes in the new MBP lineup appear to be under the hood rather than cosmetic in nature, with a way faster processor and graphics card, a much nicer camera, and something called ThunderBolt, a potential USB replacement that Apple says is 12 times faster than Firewire and 20 times faster than the ubiquitous port technology. It makes our current unibody Mac seem like a piece of crap we picked up from the scrap heap two years ago. source

24 Feb 2011 10:42

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U.S.: Toyota’s got floormat issues: They just recalled a bunch of cars

  • 2.17
    million
    the number of cars Toyota recalled today for gas-pedal/floormat issues
  • 5.3
    million
    the number of cars previously recalled for similar issues source
  • » What’s the issue? Simply put, the floormats aren’t fully secure, so that when you’re driving, it can move around and get caught inside the gas pedal mechanism. This issue is unrelated the that acceleration problem Toyota’s cars have infamously had recently.

24 Feb 2011 10:32

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World: Christchurch earthquake: Dozens could be inside single building

  • 120 bodies could be in one Christchurch building source
  • » The building in question: The Canterbury Television building, which beyond a television station, also housed an English-language school with many foreign students. The station says that many of its top executives could be in the rubble. None of this count, by the way, is included in the official death toll of 76. So that death toll could go up significantly; shudder.
 

24 Feb 2011 10:15

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World: Gaddafi blames Libyan unrest on al-Qaeda, youths, drugs

  • It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda. … No one above the age of 20 would actually take part in these events. They are taking advantage of the young age of these people [to commit violent acts] because they are not legally liable.
  • Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi • Making the argument that a bunch of kids, goaded by al-Qaeda, are behind the attacks on his country. He also said that many were under the influence of drugs. Like Gaddafi has anywhere to speak about the drugs thing. No totally sober guy would be as weird as Gaddafi is. source

24 Feb 2011 01:58

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Culture: Daft Punk Coke bottles: Because hey, Tron is old news now

  • Because, let’s face it, the one thing that the world needed was Daft Punk’s motif all over a couple of Coke bottles, right? Awesome, yes, but we’re not even sure if Moby would’ve gone for a sellout opportunity this calculatedly commercial. Good work, French guys. source