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07 Feb 2011 11:00

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Politics: California Rep. Jane Harman ditches Congress for pure wonkery

  • what California Democrat Jane Harman will likely reveal plans tomorrow to vacate her seat in Congress.
  • why She’ll be the new President and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center in DC. Ah, think tanks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 10:52

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World: Egypt opposition organizers: “We are betting on the people”

  • The government played all the dirty games that they had, and the people persisted. We are betting on the people.
  • Shady el-Ghazaly Harb • Revealing himself in a public setting as one of the main organizers of the Facebook page that originally influenced the protests in Egypt. He and his group vow to escalate the movement, despite attempts by leadership to portray yesterday’s meeting with opposition as both sides coming together. At least three organizers had been held in extra-legal detention the night before and finally released.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 10:36

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World: Julian Assange’s extradition trial starts back up in the UK

The defense in the extradition trial suggested that there was real risk Assange could be sent to Guantanamo Bay. The prosecution pooh-poohed that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 10:19

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World: Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir: We’re OK with the secession vote

  • We will announce today in front of the world our acceptance and respect for the choice of the people of the south.
  • Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir • Revealing that his country would accept the results of a country-splitting referendum between the north and south. The south chose, by a wide margin, to secede, a result that cuts back Bashir’s clout but could help stabilize the entire region. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 00:23

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Biz, Tech: Three things to know about AOL’s Huffington Post merger

  • one The buyout fits perfectly in with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong’s content strategy. It’s a strategy that led him to buy TechCrunch last year.
  • two The merger of the two companies has the potential to draw in 100 million viewers to a single Web conglomerate with many tentacles.
  • three Arianna Huffington will now be in charge of all of AOL’s editorial content – including such notable things as Moviefone and Mapquest.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 00:10

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Biz, Tech: Huffington Post, AOL getting married, having lots of little articles

  • By combining HuffPost with AOL’s network of sites, thriving video initiative, local focus, and international reach, we know we’ll be creating a company that can have an enormous impact, reaching a global audience on every imaginable platform.
  • Arianna Huffington • Revealing to her readers that, holy crap, AOL JUST BOUGHT THE HUFFINGTON POST FOR $315 MILLION! THIS IS HUGE. LIKE BIG HUGE. This would be the largest deal AOL’s ever been involved in if not for that pesky Time Warner thing that ended up in tears for all involved – especially stockholders. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 00:03

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World: Random North Korean boat crosses volatile South Korean border

  • 31 North Koreans on a mother*#&ing boat (they’re on a boat) source
  • » Why this is a big deal (kinda): The boat crossed the border at the point where North Korea shelled a contested South Korean island a few months ago. The people on the boat, 11 men and 20 women, are being questioned, but there’s no sign that they’re defecting from their country.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

06 Feb 2011 23:39

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Tech: Quick facts: Three strikes against Motorola’s new Xoom tablet

  • strike The device, based on Android 3.0 and getting a lot of attention, has a starting price of $799 – which is way higher than the entry-level iPad.
  • strike The data plans are really expensive for 3G usage – 1 gigabyte is $20, and the plans go as high as $80 for 10 gigabytes. That’s right – $80 a month!
  • out And don’t think you’ll get around this with a hotspot like you can with an iPad. Wi-fi won’t be activated unless you buy a data plan! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Feb 2011 23:27

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World: Egypt: Google’s Wael Ghonim likely to see release tomorrow

  • They told us they’ll probably bring him to us, and that he will likely be escorted by security.
  • Egyptian Hazem Ghonim • Discussing the fate of his brother, Wael Ghonim, who will reportedly be released from Egyptian custody tomorrow. Wael, a Google executive, quickly became a lightning rod for the pro-democracy movement after his unexplained disappearance over a week ago. Turns out that Egypt targeted and arrested him. They had good reason – he was one of the catalysts for the Egyptian protests. “I said one year ago that the Internet will change the political scene in Egypt and some Friends made fun of me :),” he wrote on Facebook not long before his disappearance. Wael was one of the administrators for a key fan page used to organize the movement. But he’s one of many who have been arrested so far – the count is around 1,275, although most have been released. Hopefully, Wael will join them tomorrow – and be able to tell his story. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Feb 2011 21:57

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U.S.: Youngstown State reeling from late-night fraternity shooting

  • one person died in the shooting, near Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio
  • 11 were injured, one critically; a 17-year-old girl was shot in the head; what the heck? source
  • » What happened: A disagreement turned deadly after one of the suspects was being escorted out of the fraternity last night. He and another suspect reportedly reentered the fraternity, which is sanctioned by the university but off-campus, and opened fire. The shooting appeared to be an isolated incident, according to the university president.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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