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

08 Feb 2011 10:44

tags

World: Recently-freed Egyptian protester Wael Ghonim inspires many

  • I want to tell every mother and every father of the people who died, I am so sorry, I swear to God it’s not our mistake. It’s the mistake of the people who are in charge of the country and don’t want to leave their positions.
  • Egyptian protest figurehead Wael Ghonim • Talking on Egyptian television about the people who were injured and killed while he was held in captivity for days. Ghonim’s statements, which were very teary-eyed and heart-wrenching, have proven inspiring to protesters today, who are reportedly showing renewed vigor on the streets this morning. “I’ve been following since it started, but after last night I realized I couldn’t stay away any more,” says Ahmed Osman, who was inspired to join the protests in Cairo based on Ghonim’s statements. “Our demands are simple, and they haven’t been met.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 10:19

tags

Offbeat: Real headline: “Man Stabbed to Death by Rooster During Cockfight”

The bird was wearing a blade that stabbed a man in the leg, severing a major artery. In other news, cockfighting is an evil sport that hurts animals. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 10:08

tags

Biz, Culture: Groupon CEO Andrew Mason tries to explain awful ad campaign

  • Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it’s cool to kill whales. In fact – and this is part of the reason we ran them – they have the opposite effect.
  • Groupon CEO Andrew Mason • Attempting to explain that his company’s controversial Super Bowl ads were in fact – IN FACT – meant to be respectful to other cultures and environmental causes. “The last thing we wanted was to offend our customers – it’s bad business and it’s not where our hearts are,” Mason concluded. Too bad nobody took the ads that way. Commenters on the blog post are savaging him and the company for trying to be a little too clever with its commercial approach without explaining its reasoning. They could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble had they actually put a domain name on the ad somewhere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 09:53

tags

World: Dividing Sudan: Forgive us of our foreign debt. Please?

  • $38B the amount Sudan owes in foreign debt – $30 billion in debt arrears
  • 1993 the last time the country could get a loan from the World Bank
  • 75% the amount the country hopes to get forgiven before it splits source
  • » The spit has something to do with it: The size of Sudan’s debt could effectively limit the region’s ability to get a fresh start as it splits into two. Southern Sudanese official Gabriel Changson Chang is making a hard push for the changes before the countries divide. “We want both the north and south to be economically viable,” he says. Current president Omar al-Bashir has made similar claims as well, and with good reason: Half of the country’s population currently lives on less than $1 a day and need some sort of food aid.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 02:26

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: Reporters talk about their Egypt battle scars

  • Somehow, these guys made it out. Perhaps one of the most harrowing reporter stories to come out of Egypt this week comes from Fox News reporter Greg Palkot and cameraman Olaf Wiig, who were smoked out of the building they were staying in, only to get caught in a crowd of pro-Mubarak supporters. Palkot has some pretty severe injuries. Yikes. A lot of reporters probably were put in situations similar to this, and it’s good to note that their hard work kept the cameras on the country as things started to waver. source
  • Anderson Cooper gets scared, tooIn one of the more harrowing clips from the past week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he of getting punched in the face by some pro-Mubarak supporters, is in some random room trying to report the news. He left the country not long after this episode, a victim of having a well-known face in an area not kind to journalists.
  • Are things really getting better?On tonight’s show, Rachel Maddow brought up the plight of Ayman Mohyeldin, the Al Jazeera reporter who was detained by authorities for a few hours before finally getting released. Mohyeldin’s words, Maddow argues, show that the narrative doesn’t support what’s actually happening in Egypt. It’s way worse.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 23:45

tags

U.S.: 2012 field starts to solidify, but still lots of uncertainty

  • in It’s looking very, very likely that Haley Barbour will seek the nomination for President: an unnamed advisor said that “he’s running until he says he’s not.”
  • out John Thune, who up until recently seemed like an almost-definite yes, looks to be having some second thoughts about running (or, more specifically, his wife is).
  • odd Apparently, Bob Riley (who?) is now also considering a run. Because, you know, there aren’t enough obscure candidates in the race already. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 23:00

tags

Offbeat: Scientists to oysters: You have become irrelevant

  • They are functionally extinct – in that they lack any significant ecosystem role and remain at less than one percent of prior abundances in many bays.
  • An elite team of researchers • Reporting on a recent study on oyster habitation. This is quite the indictment of the humble oyster: “Hey, not only are 85% of your reefs destroyed; you’re also completely unimportant to your surroundings and have no impact on anything.” Sheesh. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Feb 2011 22:33

tags

U.S.: The downside of placing a moratorium on deepwater drilling

  • 8,000 jobs lost due to recent oil drilling restrictions source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 22:16

tags

Politics: Why you’re paying less in taxes than you were two years ago

  • 13% drop in income tax payments since Bush’s last year in office
  • 33% decrease in taxes paid by corporations since 2008; that’s a big drop
  • 1950 the last time taxes (as a percentage of the entire US economy) were this low source
  • » But don’t get too excited. While lower taxes may sound nice on paper, the real reason for this drop isn’t as much due to policy changes as it is the recession. See, people (and corporations) are making a whole lot less money than they were a few years ago; hence, they’re paying less in taxes. And that sucks for just about everybody involved. However, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota places a lot of the blame on our nation’s tax code itself, calling it a “simply indefensible” policy that’s “hemorrhaging revenue.” Still, our primary focus should probably be on pulling our economy out of the toilet. Then we can fix the tax code.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 21:00

tags

U.S.: Green River Killer charged in yet another cold case

  • 49 separate murder charges for the infamous Green River Killer source
  • » Why he’ll probably plead guilty this time, too: Infamous serial killer Gary Ridgeway has a large incentive to just nod his head and accept a guilty plea. Back in 2003, Ridgeway made a plea to avoid the death penalty, and is instead spending life in prison for the many murders he’s been convicted for. Today, he was charged in the death of Rebecca Marrero, who was declared missing back in 1982 but whose remains were only found in December. Ridgeway admitted to her death but there was not enough evidence to convict him until now.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>