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

03 Mar 2011 13:33

tags

Culture: BYU forward Brandon Davies suspended for… consensual sex?

  • The showers only run cold: Brigham Young University, named after the Mormon leader of yesteryear, has a basketball team, and a rather good one. They also, however, have a student honor code that states you can’t have premarital sex. Which lead to the deeply peculiar (especially within the “win-at-all-costs” realm of collegiate athletics) revelation that BYU pivot Brandon Davies had been suspended from the team yesterday for having consensual sex with his girlfriend. Obviously, as long as they’re not violent or forced over non-believers, religious tenets are anybody’s personal right. But there’s a decent chance not all of those players are Mormon, and from the view of a secular player sitting on that bench, it must be frustrating to have your season disrupted by this. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 13:14

tags

World: Strain on border crossing out of Libya eases with extra support

  • YES airlifts are assisting Libyan refugee border crossings source
  • » Just get me outta here: Much to the relief of aid agencies and arbiters, the enormous surge of people fleeing Libya by way of the Tunisian border, estimated in recent days at around 150,000, is now getting support from aerial transport, easing the burden on the escape route. Aircraft have been activated from Britain, Egypt, and France, among others. This relieves much concern about a pressurized, very volatile situation the last few days due to the intense crowding being endured by these refugees.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 11:25

tags

Biz: Workplace productivity goes up. We suggest it goes back down.

  • 2.6% jump in productivity levels in the recent quarter source
  • » Suggestion for the workforce at large: Be less productive. It will encourage employers to hire more people if they can’t get done what they need to get done with the people they have. And as a result, the unemployment rate will go down because these greedy bastards won’t be able to use their profit picture to screw over millions of unemployed people who can’t find work. You bastards need to stop working so hard. Clock out half an hour early one day for no reason. Sit at your desk and reload Tumblr repeatedly. Blow a deadline. Make yourself not so much replaceable, but appendable. You need an assistant, right? Right? (Note, since people are taking this post seriously: This is “A Modest Proposal,” a Swiftian joke.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 10:59

tags

U.S.: Twenty years after Rodney King, the LAPD’s view on cameras evolves

  • Early on in their training, I always tell them, ‘I don’t care if you’re in a bathroom taking care of your personal business…. Whatever you do, assume it will be caught on video.’ We tell them if they’re doing the right thing then they have no reason to worry.
  • LAPD officer and recruit supervisor Sgt. Heather Fungaroli • Offering a fairly fresh assessment on the how the police department now views video. Twenty years ago, a video clip turned their whole view on the matter inside-out. The clip of Rodney King’s beating by multiple police officers, and the subsequent “not guilty” verdict in the case, led to a major riot in the city that drew national attention and led to 50 deaths. These days, the police force is quickly putting more cameras in police cars and even has its own videographers to cover incidents – advances which not only ensure better cop conduct but can help exonerate them in legal cases. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 10:45

tags

World: United Nations: Libyan refugees leaving country en masse

  • 180k number of people who have fled Libya, the United Nations says
  • 95k of those refugees have crossed into Tunisia from Western Libya
  • 83k of those refugees headed into Egypt from Eastern Libya source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 10:34

tags

World: Libya’s negotiator? Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez wants to mediate

Hugo Chavez and Muammar Gaddafi go way back, which is why Hugo wants to help moderate the peace process in Libya. But details of Chavez’s plan are lacking. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 10:19

tags

Biz: Unemployment: Jobless claims numbers hit three-year low

  • 362,000 the number of new jobless claims – down 20,000 from the week before and overall fairly low
  • May ’08 the last time the numbers were lower than this – with suggests a positive downward trend source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Mar 2011 10:06

tags

World: Dutch helicopter crew captured by Libyan (well, Gaddafi’s) forces

  • cause Three Flying Dutchmen (sorry), attempting to rescue Europeans stuck in the country, were captured by Libyan forces last Sunday – the first sign of Libyan forces going after Westerners.
  • reaction The Dutch government has actually kept this story under wraps; it didn’t break until a newspaper discovered it. There’s a fear the Libyan government might use the pilots as propaganda tools. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Mar 2011 01:12

tags

Politics: Union rep: We’ll turn lemons into lemonade

  • This isn’t a fight we looked for, but it is one we can turn to our advantage.
  • Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO Deputy Chief of Staff • On the Wisconsin budget battle. Unions really seem to be reveling in this fight; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says that his organization has “never seen the incredible solidarity that we’re seeing right now.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2011 23:35

tags

U.S.: Bobby Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan to stay in jail

  • NO RFK’s assassin won’t be granted parole (again) source
  • » Why parole was prevented again: The parole board in the infamous case claims Sirhan Sirhan hasn’t shown an understanding of the “magnitude” of his crime. “At this hearing, you’re interrupting me time and time again, demonstrating a lack of control and impulsitivity,” California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Mike Prizmich said to Sirhan.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>