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30 May 2011 11:28

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World: Libya: Can South African president Jacob Zuma pull off a deal?

Our boy is reportedly in Libya to try to broker a power-sharing deal between Gaddafi and the rebels. Will the South African president’s presence get Gaddafi (shown) to budge? source
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30 May 2011 11:06

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World: Close friend: Ratko Mladic lived an normal life through 2002

  • He lived normally until 2002. Everybody came by to pay their respects… He was not the type of person to sit around and do nothing.
  • Ratko Mladic’s friend, Aleksandar Mihailovic • Revealing that his former neighbor, the suspected war criminal for whom he built a house, lived a fairly normal life in Belgrade between the end of the Bosnian war and 2002, when he disappeared without a trace for nearly nine years. Mihailovic (a real-estate magnate) paints a picture of a man engaged with his community — one who liked telling stories, eating at restaurants and playing soccer. He, however, spoke with the blessing of the Mladic family, emphasizing in no uncertain terms that he came out on the side of the former general. “Everything that happened followed the fall of Srebrenica,” he said. “Do you think a person of such capability, such professionalism, would allow what is undeniably a horrible crime?” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 May 2011 14:48

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U.S.: Screw the Food Pyramid; let’s switch to the Food Plate instead!

  • Meet the worst graphic ever created. You may have heard about this thing. It’s called the MyPyramid. There’s some random dude running up it to remind people to exercise, which it’s honestly never done for us. But there aren’t any numbers, no good explanation, and few details to explain what people should eat. It’s one of the greatest travesties the USDA has ever created. It’s as terrible as the 2012 Olympics logo, except worse, because it’s meant actually teach people how to eat healthier; that hasn’t happened. And it might finally get replaced by a completely different shape. Finally. About time. A little history:
  • pyramid In 1992, the USDA introduced the Food Pyramid as a way to explain to people how much food they should be eating. It wasn’t considered a success.
  • pyramid In 2005, USDA officals replaced the pyramid with “MyPyramid,” a vertically-oriented chart derided for being even more confusing than the original version.
  • plate? Perhaps hearing the cries of those who want to see a simpler food graphic, the USDA plans to launch a version of the graphic that revolves around a simple plate. source
  • » Why this is a good idea: Simply put, the basic idea behind this graphic needs to be as simple as possible, and while the original graphic wasn’t terrible, its replacement was. What we’d like to see is a shape that looks like a cafeteria tray, with compartments for each piece. However, the independently-produced Power Plate (which notably doesn’t include meat products at all) is also a worthy option, too. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 May 2011 13:33

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World: Amid divisions, Israel investing lots of money to improve Jerusalem

  • $100 million to keep Jerusalem an “undivided capital” source
  • » Israel’s long-term plan: While Obama continues to push Israel to return to their 1967 borders, Prime Minister Benjamain Netanyahu has plans for the capital, now a single piece thanks to the Six-Day War, which changed those borders. “The city was united 44 years ago,” he noted, “and we returned to our ancestral lands. Since then Jerusalem has flourished.” The multi-year package would increase funding for tourism, education grants and also give bio-technology companies incentives to work in the long-divided city.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 May 2011 12:51

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U.S.: Ratko Mladic’s son: He wasn’t involved in massive massacre

  • Whatever was done in Srebrenica, he has nothing to do with it. His orders were to evacuate the wounded, the women and the children and then the fighters. Whatever was done behind his back, he has nothing to do with that.
  • Darko Mladic • Defending his now-under custody father, Ratko Mladic, from allegations that he led a mass murder of thousands of Muslims — men and young boys — during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. The massacre, one of the deadliest in Europe since WWII, has led to the elder Mladic to disappear from the public eye for nearly two decades before his capture last week. Investigators say that any denial of his involvement in the case is a delaying tactic to buy the notorious Serbian general more time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2011 23:31

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U.S.: “Weinergate”: Scouring Anthony Weiner’s rogue tweet saga

  • Look, we don’t want the Weiner story to be true. But we’ve done enough tweeting in our day to know all the tricks for reading someone’s social media tracks. We spent a couple of hours digging through tweets to find out more info. And, to us, there seems to be some evidence pointing in both directions on this story. The key thing for us is the existence of the rogue tweet, which was captured by TweetCongress.org even after it was deleted. But there’s also stuff that makes us wonder. The patient zero — the first person to retweet Anthony Weiner’s NSFW tweet — was this guy, who we’ve found in our research to be overly fixated on the congressman even BEFORE the tweet in question. In fact, he posted about a cheating scandal just like this one over TWO WEEKS AGO. Really? How was he so quick to hit the trigger on this? Some other things we noticed from the scandal:
  • for On Twitter, Weiner noted the Seattle time of his Friday TV appearance. The recipient of the NSFW tweet, from Seattle, retweeted.
  • for The person at the center of the drama deleted her Twitter account — which was active as of yesterday — after the tweet.
  • for The girl in question said Weiner was her “boyfriend” in an April tweet. Yeah, so? Her and every other liberal teen female has!
  • against To disprove that the photo was of Weiner, Daily Kos has a test of the NSFW photo that suggested it was ‘shopped. Hm.
  • » The important things to take from this: We don’t think Weiner did anything wrong as of yet, but we do think that there is a lot to suggest one of two things: One, this was possibly a scandal planted by someone who had closely followed the congressman’s Twitter account (because, based on our research, people have), and there were somewhat bizarre things that may have connected Weiner to the girl. Given the track record of Big Journalism, where the story originated from, we’d like to see a better source tackle this thing, because we don’t trust Breitbart as far as we can throw him. We rate this an “inconclusive.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2011 15:24

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U.S.: From politics to personality, do online filters create blind spots?

  • The downside of online personalization: Eli Pariser, who’s the board president for MoveOn.org and the author of “The Filter Bubble” (above), says that there’s a pretty troubling blind spot with online personalization — it hides opinions you may not like, but are important to know nonetheless. “People love the idea of having their feelings affirmed,” he notes. “If you can provide that warm, comfortable sense without tipping your hand that your algorithm is pandering to people, then all the better.” It’s a problem with wide implications — it can reinforce views, produce blind spots, and prevent you from challenging your own opinions. Your opinions deserved to be challenged, kids — including by Google. source
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28 May 2011 14:30

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U.S.: Obvious thing of the day: Computers in offices make us fat, lazy

  • We have transitioned from jobs that primarily involved doing physical activity on our feet to ones where most of us make our living while sitting.
  • Pennington Biomedical Research Center researcher Timothy Church • Describing why we use far fewer calories at work now than we did 30 years ago. To put it simply, we sit around a lot, a fact which anyone could tell you by the mere fact that they too sit around at their computers all day. Could someone create … like a Wii version of Excel or something like that? So we might have to exercise while adding things to a spreadsheet or blogging or cutting out a photo in Photoshop? Or could you turn our computers into treadmills that only power on while we’re running on them? Seems like all this technology at our disposable makes us lazy and fat or something. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2011 14:02

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World: Hosni Mubarak has to pay huge fine for Egypt Internet shutdown

  • $90 million the amount Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian leaders were fined for their role in shutting down Internet and mobile phone service for five days
  • $34 million the size of the fine Mubarak has to pay personally, an amount that has to be paid immediately to the country’s national treasury source
  • » A fine still owed, appeal or not? The fine, which the judge ordered must be paid now, still must be paid even if Mubarak and the other defendants appeal the decision. Legal analyst Aly Hassan puts it as such: “The court ordered an immediate payment and the fine may be increased by the state if the damages increase during the year as compensation for lost revenue.” When Egypt’s Internet went down in January, it was an unprecedented event on the world stage — never before had anyone thought that a political leader had the power to shut the whole thing down.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2011 12:29

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World: Egyptian Gaza border opens, finally giving Palestinians a way out

  • Opening this door does not mean Egypt wants to allow bombs and explosives … Egypt wants to allow safe passage of individuals who want to conduct their lives.
  • Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath • Expressing his approval for Egypt’s decision to permanently open their Rafa Border to Gaza, the region’s main outlet to the outside world. It’s all a part of the Egyptian government’s desire to build a stronger relationship with the Palestinians. Hamas’ Deputy foreign minister, Ghazi Hamad, calls this “a unique move and a positive development.” As for those allowed to leave the tiny, dense region of Palestine, they’re thrilled to finally get to leave. “The closure did not affect only the travel of passengers or the flowing of goods. Our brains and our thoughts were under blockade,” said Khaled Halaweh, a 28-year-old man who hopes to study at Alexandria University, but hasn’t been able to leave the Gaza region in seven years. source
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