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31 May 2011 10:46

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Biz: Key economic indicator: Homes see double-dip in prices (uh-oh)

  • bad The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home pricing index, a key economic indicator which compares home prices in the top 20 U.S. markets, fell heavily in March compared to a year earlier.
  • worse The numbers confirm a double-dip in home prices (below April 2009’s previous nadir), which could spell bad news. Does a double-dip in home prices mean a double-dip for the overall economy? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 10:20

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U.S.: Another powerful guy in same boat as Dominique Strauss-Kahn

  • Stop us if you think that you’ve heard this one before: A prominent banking official staying at a high-class hotel in New York City. A maid comes into his hotel room. He’s inside. And he reportedly tries doing some pretty sketchy stuff to said maid. She tells authorities, and now the prominent official is in custody, waiting to be charged. If this sounds just like the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, you’re right. If you think we’re talking about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, not so much. This, instead, is the story of Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar, the former head of Egypt’s Bank of Alexandria, who is accused of doing essentially the same thing two weeks later at Manhattan’s Hotel Pierre. Ugh. We didn’t expect a possible copycat crime here. (photo of said hotel via edenpictures’ Flickr page) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 09:53

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Politics: Michele Bachmann: Sarah Palin and me friends, not opponents

  • We’re friends. And I don’t consider her a competitor … I think there’s enough room for a lot of contenders. And I think there’s no question in 2012, the Republicans will field a wide bench of contenders against President Obama. And I think the comparison will be very favorable.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann • Trying to offer a retort to the idea that she wouldn’t be able to run for president if Sarah Palin were to run, presumably because the politicians are so similar that they’d hurt one another’s chances in 2012 (though Bachmann, let’s be honest, has a lower profile). “I compare myself to Barack Obama. Not to any of the other Republican candidates,” she claimed. Bachmann, who benefited in her 2010 run from a Palin endorsement, was on various news programs this morning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 21:00

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Tech: Algorithm smooths out pixel art, make SNES games look better

  • Obligatory Mario-related post of the day: Some genius at Microsoft teamed up with another genius at The Hebrew University, and together they developed an algorithm that “depixelizes” pixel art, so that it looks smoother yet retains its essence and overall shape. Obviously, the most pressing application of this technology was to update Super NES games to look cooler, so that’s exactly what these guys did. A clip of the technology (applied to Super Mario World) is above. To give you an idea of how far they’ve come, here’s a clip showing a comparison with the original game on the left and another less-effective algorithm (which you might remember, if you’re a total nerd, from ZSNES) on the right. There are plenty of more demonstrations on their website, which we highly encourage checking out. This rocks. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 19:33

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Politics: Why we’re taking a break from more Weinergate news

  • At a time when the GOP is playing games with the debt limit, a member of the Supreme Court is refusing to recuse himself from matters he has a financial interest in, and middle class incomes are stagnant, many want to change the subject. I don’t. This was a prank, and a silly one. I’m focused on my work.
  • Rep. Anthony Weiner • Trying to draw a line in the sand on this whole Weinergate story, which has certainly gotten a bit crazier over the past day. The Atlantic Wire has a roundup of the story, which has gotten to the point of farce. CNN also got Weiner on camera today, where he seemed at least a little annoyed to be taking the questions. But ultimately, though, this piece of evidence (grabbed by Soup) is the strongest against Weiner doing anything wrong. Also, has anyone noticed how Mediaite has kinda gone crazy over this story? We love the site and everything, but they got a Photoshop expert to analyze the photo. A bit much, eh? They’re not the only ones, but you know what, we’re going to leave this mess alone for a while. The EXIF data is good enough for us. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 16:48

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World: Defecting Libyan Generals: We’re keeping our troops

  • eight Libyan Generals defected to Italy today, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry
  • 100+ Libyan soldiers accompanied their generals, who met with Italian intelligence agents in Tunisia source
  • » This comes the same day that South African President Jacob Zuma is meeting with Gaddafi to try and negotiate a cease-fire between him and rebels. Will these defections spur a change of heart in Gaddafi, convincing him to finally relinquish power and allow his crumbling regime to die? Probably not, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed just in case.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 16:13

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U.S.: Courtney Love confirms: Crack cocaine improves one’s math skills

  • While the drugs screwed me up in a lot of ways, they improved me in certain others. I’ve never been good with numbers, but when I was on crack I could do math really, really well. I became a fucking whiz at calculus. But I also became kind of psychotic, unfortunately.
  • Courtney Love • In an interview with TheFix.com [h/t: Andrew Sullivan]. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 May 2011 15:43

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Politics: ABC reports on fraudulent service claims, medal fakeries

  • They’re going to come out of the woodwork. This is like Christmas for a phony.
  • Former U.S. Navy SEAL Don Shipley • Speaking to ABC News about fraudulent “war heroes” seizing the opportunity of Memorial Day for a little beginning-of-summer fakery. A couple of ABC reporters, Lee Ferran and Vic Walter, have reported that the incidence of people lying about serving in the military has gotten much worse since the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of SEAL Team 6. It’s also reported that five people have been charged with claiming to be medal winners, or illegally wearing military service medals in 2011. We’ll admit, we had no clue it was illegal to wear a service medal that you didn’t earn, but beyond the legality of it, we think we can all agree — this is a disgustingly manipulative, lowly brand of fraud to be perpetrating. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 15:13

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Politics: Hackers attack PBS over WikiLeaks documentary

  • WikiSecrets The title of a PBS Frontline documentary, which examines the massive cache of classified materials exposed by WikiLeaks, as well as the detained Bradley Manning. It’s been viewed as unfavorable to the organization.
  • Tupac lives! The fraud story the folks at PBS found splashed on their website, after hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks and Manning attacked the site. As it turns out, he’s been living with Biggie in a house in New Zealand all this time! source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 14:45

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U.S.: Gen. Martin Dempsey tapped as Joint Chiefs Chairman

  • Martin’s memorable Memorial Day: President Obama announced today that Army General Martin E. Dempsey is his nominee to serve as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dempsey’s nomination will go before the Senate, where Obama’s folks have been known to languish against a partisan opposition. Seeing as military issues and figures have generally become matters of bipartisan veneration, though, we reckon this very high profile job will be an exception to that political rule. Interesting tidbit: Dempsey was sworn in as the Army’s Joint Chief on April 11th, 2011, making this an impressively quick promotion. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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