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23 Mar 2011 23:25

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Politics: 2012 hopeful actually making people forget who he is

  • 14% of Americans knew who Gary Johnson was at the beginning of this year
  • 12% were aware of the 2012 hopeful’s existence a month later
  • 11% know him now … a bit worrisome for a 2012 candidate source
  • » Okay, okay. It’s probably just statistical noise. Nevertheless, if the former governor of New Mexico is indeed planning a run for President, he really needs to put himself out there more, lest he become this year’s Fred Thompson.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 22:41

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Politics: Who’s afraid of Rahm Emanuel? Not Bart Stupak!

  • Rahm [Emanuel] doesn’t scream and shout at me, ’cause he knows better. I’ll just tell him to go to Hell and move on.
  • Bart Stupak • Reflecting on the passage of health care reform last year, and his dealings with Obama’s old right hand man. The former congressman from Michigan says that he is “proud to have voted for [health care reform],” despite still getting “accosted” by the law’s detractors. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 22:26

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Politics: Romney rolls out ambiguous plan to undo health care reform

  • problem As Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney passed a bill that served as the basis for the Democrats’ health care reform bill (which celebrates its first anniversary today). This is perceived by many to be a serious problem for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign hopes.
  • solution If he becomes President, Romney pledges to “issue an executive order paving the way for Obamacare waivers to all 50 states.” However, as Ezra Klein points out, Romney is vague on details, and it’s unclear exactly what type of executive order he could, or would, issue. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 16:08

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Tech: Probe: Blame design flaws, not just BP, for Gulf Oil Spill

  • Hey, let’s not forget about this: A report compiled by risk management firm Det Norske Veritas on last year’s oil spill in the Gulf came out today. (They were hired by the federal government, not BP, by the way.) They claim that design flaws scuttled the blowout preventer; as the well lost control, the drill pipe bent and buckled, which blocked the shear rams. Shear rams are the means by which the blowout is supposed to be prevented, as they’d cut through the drill pipe to safeguard against the well’s pressure level. Sadly, these sort of industrial fail-safe systems don’t always work as well in reality as in theory. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 15:44

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Tech: Appocalypse Now: Controversial apps wither under scrutiny

  • drunks Four U.S. Senators (Schumer, Lautenberg, Reid, and Udall) have asked that app stores stop selling map apps designed to help drunk drivers avoid random sobriety checkpoints and police cars.
  • “cures” Answering not to elected officials, but to the pressure of public relations, Apple has pulled the religious “Gay Cure” app from its store, which supported “freedom from homosexuality.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 15:11

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World: Tokyo tap water unsafe for babies, young children

  • As smoke again rises, a warning on water: The workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant were again forced to evacuate as black smoke began to rise from Reactor 3, which as the video details is the lone reactor to utilize plutonium, making such a sight somewhat more serious than normal (though certainly, smoke pouring from any nuclear reactor is bad news). At the same time, parents in Tokyo are being told that babies and young children should not drink the tap water, as it contains high levels (nearly double the legal limit) of radioactive iodine. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 14:55

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World: Shrapnel bomb rocks Jerusalem bus stop this morning

  • four years since a bomb was last set off in Jerusalem
  • 24 people injured, as the bomb shot out shrapnel
  • one person killed in the incident, an Israeli source
  • » The old tension beginning to boil again: This bomb attack comes on the heels of rocket and mortar attacks launched from Gaza on Wednesday, which wounded one person. That attack was called retaliation by some Palestinians, in response to Israeli air strikes that killed eight people, amongst them three children. So, basically, this is all (still) shot to hell, and with Israeli/Palestinian peace talks having fallen apart last year, it’s anybody’s guess what the future holds for this most bloody and depressing of conflicts.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Mar 2011 14:36

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Politics: Hugo Chavez could have saved those Martians, dammit

  • I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet.
  • Venezuelan President Huge Chavez • Speaking on Tuesday, on the occasion of World Water Day. In making this theoretical argument about the mighty Martian State’s fall at the hands of capitalism and imperialism, Chavez at the very least couches this rather presumptive notion by saying it “would not be strange” to see such civilization, and that “maybe” that’s what happened. This is more humility, or at least hedging, than some who make unfalsifiable claims are willing to show. That said, it seems desperate to make a political point by any reference conceivable, and for a man whose real world behavior is at times bizarre and at times willfully ignorant (that being the most charitable way to describe his denial of Gaddafi’s force against citizens), this pseudo-scientific claim bolsters the idea of Chavez the eccentric. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 13:33

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World: Scuba-capable Japanese man saves wife, mother

  • problem Hideaki Akaiwa was at work when the dual threats of earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan. He went home to find his neighborhood was under ten feet of water, his wife and mother nowhere to be found.
  • solution Akaiwa strapped on scuba gear and swam some 200 yards through debris (his estimate) to his house, where he found his wife. He found his mother that way, too, in the 2nd floor of another home. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 11:25

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Culture: Oh, Paris Hilton: This might perhaps be a tad racist, guys

  • We were making out, but then we went somewhere where it was bright and I saw that he was black and made an excuse and left. I can’t stand black guys. I would never touch one. It’s gross (pauses). Does that guy look black to you?
  • Paris Hilton • Quoted in celebrity interviewer and creepy guy Neil Strauss’ new book “Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead.” Granted, it was from an interview she did in 1999, when she was 18 (she was talking about an unnamed actor from “Saving Private Ryan”), so let’s not be too hard on her. (Others have disagreed with this point.) But that said … Hilton followed up by saying this in response to the question “How black does a guy have to be?” “One percent is enough for me.” We’ll just leave this here. Whew. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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