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17 Apr 2011 21:51

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U.S.: Disgruntled hacker claims he broke a bunch of wind turbines

  • Here comes my revenge for illegitimate firing from Florida Power & Light Company… ain’t nothing you can do with it, since your electricity is turned off !!!
  • An anonymous hacker named “Bgr R.” • Claiming that he reportedly managed to break a Florida wind-turbine system with the ability to create 200 megawatts of energy. While it’s not clear that he was actually able to damage the turbines, owned by Florida Power & Light subsidiary NextEra Energy Resources, he did provide screenshots of the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems that appeared legitimate. “I want people to know about them and how they really work on SCADA security,” he said in an e-mail interview. One of the key points he showed from the screenshots: The plant’s router password was the ultra-secure “cisco.” Ouch. If this isn’t a hoax, someone’s got a bunch of giant fans to deal with tomorrow morning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 21:33

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U.S.: Yikes: Playboy Mansion spreads disease that infects dozens

  • 123 people got ill from legionella bacteria, aka Legionnaires’ disease
  • 69 of those people got sick on the same day in February as the event
  • 79 people reported their illness on social media sites — fascinating source
  • » Guess where the root cause was? If you said the hot tub at the Playboy Manion, you’d be correct. Oh boy. It’s like the setup is right there, begging for a really bad joke to be made. We … just … can’t … do … it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 21:17

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Tech: Summary: The life, quick demise and slow death of Google Video

  • 2005 Google started their own video-sharing service called Google Video, back when the market was wide open.
  • 2006 The service, an also-ran in the wake of YouTube, became straight-up irrelevant after Google bought the rival service.
  • 2009 Google finally closed off the service to new uploads, but allowed users to keep their old uploads online.
  • 2011 Now, years after everyone stopped using the service, Google’s removing old uploads. Well, at least there’s YouTube. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 20:58

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World: Goodluck Jonathan scores huge lead in Nigerian presidential vote

  • 31.1 million votes counted so far in Nigeria, but millions to go
  • 19.4
    million     number of votes current president Goodluck Jonathan has, a seemingly-insurmountable lead
  • 8.4
    million     number of votes his closest opponent, ex-military leader Muhammadu Buhari, has source
  • » A difficult lead to top: While eight of the 36 states in oil-rich Nigeria still uncounted — a vote count large enough for Buhari to catch up — he would need a lot of votes. That said, some religious conflict will likely come to play in the eight uncounted states, which are largely Muslim. Jonathan, who became president after the death of the last president, is Christian.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 20:29

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Politics: Timothy Geithner: Republicans will raise the debt ceiling (I hope)

  • I want to make it perfectly clear that Congress will raise the debt ceiling. They recognize it and they told the president that on Wednesday in the White House and I sat there with them and they said, ‘We recognize we have to do this and we’re not going to play around with it, because we know the risk would catastrophic.’
  • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner • Speaking with a hushed tone about the need to increase the debt ceiling, the kind of thing the GOP would possibly screw with the debt ceiling. The U.S. government has just $76 billion of breathing room right now, and need to pass an increase by July 8. Problem is, Republicans want a deal to go with this. “In addition to raising the debt limit we want financial controls, we want cuts in spending accompanying a raising of the debt ceiling.” said Paul “Fancypants” Ryan. “And that is what I believe they (Republican congressional leaders) told the president.” Oh God, they’re gonna screw this up. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 11:30

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World: Hillary Clinton visits Japan in show of post-quake support

Here she is with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. Hillary does a great job keeping that presidential poise even as Secretary of State, doesn’t she? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 11:22

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U.S.: Little girl + giant ears = Cosmetic surgery? Apparently

  • Her ears look great. Throughout the checkup after surgery and when she got the bandages off, there wasn’t a peep or a tear out of her.
  • Plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Pearlman • Describing the situation of seven-year-old Samantha Shaw, who had her ears pinned back in a process called “otoplasty,” because she and her parents were upset about kids making fun of her for her big ears. Well, that’s one way to solve the problem, we guess. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Apr 2011 10:59

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Politics: Is Andrew Breitbart right? Did the “silent majority” win in Wisconsin?

  • We’re sure he didn’t mean it the way Nixon did: Back in the late 1960s, Richard Nixon famously made a speech about the Vietnam War where he said this: “And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support.” Yesterday, the owner of Breitbart.com, BigGovernment, and so on suggested this while on the stoop in Wisconsin: “We are witnessing the end of community organizing … the silent majority won.” Even if our boy wasn’t making an apples-to-apples comparison, the words are symbolic. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 10:13

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World: Large death toll after massive storms tear through the Southeast

  • 44+ the death toll reported in the wake of this weekend’s massive storm front
  • 23+ of the victims were North Carolina-based — 14 in one single rural county — the most of any state
  • 100+ number of twisters reported throughout the Southeast over the weekend source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Apr 2011 21:49

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Culture: Will Ferrell’s new Spanish-language film looks amazing

  • Will Ferrell’s Spanish-language juggernaut: With the tone of a Robert Rodriguez film, the acting cast of a Pedro Almodóvar barnburner (with a little help from a “Parks and Recreation” standby) and the wit of a Funny Or Die keeper, we would be underplaying our hand if we didn’t point out that “Casa de Mi Padre” (“House of my Father”) probably isn’t for the Spanish-language market. This is the Will Ferrell we know and love. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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