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12 Apr 2011 16:49

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World: Heart attack may derail Mubarak corruption investigation

  • Hosni Mubarak admitted to hospital: Mubarak, who was to appear before investigators on charges of corruption (subpoenas have been issued for him and his sons), has reportedly suffered a heart attack. Reports suggest he’s receiving treatment in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort near the Red Sea where Mubarak has lived in exile since being driven from Egypt earlier this year. The former strongman is 82-years-old, and in failing health many Egyptians fear he will die before facing justice. Journalist Jano Charbel: “The fallen dictator must be locked up in a prison cell, not placed in a five-star hospital.” source

12 Apr 2011 16:18

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Offbeat: Obama brain surgery scar conspiracy hits the web

  • At absolutely any cost: Conspiracy theories can be dangerous at their logical extremes. That said, they can also be pretty funny, when the jumps in logic and assumptions become so pronounced and inane that you can almost see the rumor’s creator feverishly hammering a square peg against a round hole. With that in mind: this picture proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our President has had brain surgery. See that innocuous looking, faint line through the side of his hair? That’s hard proof. And if somebody’s been tinkering inside Obama’s brain… well, just think of the implications of that! (h/t Mediaite) source

12 Apr 2011 14:50

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Offbeat: 95-year-old man dies, donates penis to museum

  • People are always donating some organ after they died. It’s no more remarkable to donate a penis than it is to donate an organ like a kidney. He liked to be in the limelight, you know? He was a funny guy. He was a boaster, a braggart… he liked to be provocative.
  • Sigurdur Hjartarson, head of the Phallological Museum in Iceland • Talking about his latest acquisition, the penis of the late Pall Arason, a 95-year-old Icelandic man who had agreed to the donation. He penis was pickled for preservation following his death, and despite the museum having had similar pledges from other people throughout the years, Arason’s phallus is now the first and only successfully donated human specimen at the museum. Of course, you go for the human penis, but you stay for the 67-inch sperm whale penis. source

12 Apr 2011 14:29

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World: Syrian security forces reportedly killing Syrian soldiers

  • issue As we mentioned yesterday, there have been reports that members of the Syrian army have been shot and killed by the government’s own security forces, because the soldiers had refused to open fire on protesting civilians.
  • example Witnesses have told Al Jazeera and the BBC that Mourad Hejjo was one such soldier; his family and a human rights monitors say he refused to fire as the army moved into Banias, and was thus killed by security force snipers.  source

12 Apr 2011 11:23

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Biz: The weather’s getting nicer? Time to start bitching about gas prices

  • $4.11 the average peak price per gallon that gasoline reached back in July of 2008
  • $3.77 the current national level, culled from a survey of 100,000 gas stations nationwide
  • six the number of states reportedly paying more than $4 per gallon right now source

12 Apr 2011 11:05

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Politics: Donald Trump combines best qualities of Ross Perot, Charle Sheen

  • I think the Republicans are very concerned that I [may] run as an independent. I could also possibly win as an independent, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I’m not doing it for any other reason. I like winning.
  • Donald Trump • Suggesting he would pull a Ross Perot and run for president independently if he doesn’t win the GOP nomination. With a little Charlie Sheen at the end. Oh God. Will ol’ Sideshow Don quit it? source

12 Apr 2011 10:56

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World: Belarus authorities lacking leads in train-station bombing

  • issue Belarus suffered its first major post-Russia terror attack yesterday at a train station in Minsk. The bombing killed 12 and injured more than 150. President Alexander Lukashenko says authorities plan to “turn everything inside out” to catch the suspects.
  • confusion The problem baffling experts? They don’t know of any major ethnic or religious divides, and most of Lukashenko’s political opponents (he’s been in office 17 years) are under constant surveillance.  So they don’t really have an idea of any sort of motive. source
 

12 Apr 2011 10:38

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World: Ivory Coast’s Ouattara has a mess on his hands in Abidjan

  • Until we can convince the population it is not a witch hunt, they won’t come forward. We’re working on it. But once the amnesty expires, we will let the law deal with anyone who doesn’t cooperate.
  • Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara • Describing some of the troubles he faces with calming down the situation in Abidjan after the capture of Laurent Gbagbo yesterday. He needs to assure that those nervous after the street violence understand that there’s a period of amnesty for those who come forward, and that things will calm down after this point. In other words: Cool your jets. It’s a pretty rough stigma to live down, as Mamadou Senogo, a person in a French refugee camp notes: “I will be staying at the French army base camp until the whole city is secure. There are too many hotheads running around with guns outside.” source

12 Apr 2011 10:04

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Tech: The rise and fall of the Flip Video recorder: That was quick

  • 2006 The first version of the “Pure Digital Point & Shoot” video camera came out, inspired by the success of a disposable video recorder sold at CVS. A year later, it’s renamed Flip.
  • 2009 A couple years after Flip caused a mini-revolution in the way digital video was created (It’s like it was designed for YouTube!), Cisco bought the company in question for nearly $600 million.
  • 2011 For some reason, the company decided to stop focusing on home users. Among its victims? Flip, which was nicked by the rise of the smartphone. Why don’t you sell the technology, Cisco? source

12 Apr 2011 01:57

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U.S.: Texas legislators: What the heck — let’s raise the speed limit!

  • 85 miles per hour on some Texas highways — legally?! source
  • » For what it’s worth: Many of these roads already have a pretty high speed limit already — 500 miles of West Texas highway allow for cars that drive 80mph. So they’re just putting already-fast cars on a slippery slope, which we think makes them go even faster. And they’re not alone — in Kansas, you will likely be able to drive 75mph an hour on some roads, thanks to a law that passed the legislature April 1. Sammy Hagar needs to rewrite his meal ticket, stat.