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01 Jun 2011 20:50

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Offbeat: For sale: One balloon. Once used in infamous hoax. Boy not included.

  • The money from the winning bid goes to Japan. Buy it outright for $1 million. Want to help the people of Japan and own an insane piece of swag in one fell swoop? Get a hold of our boy Richard Heene, who is selling the balloon he falsely claimed his son Falcon was flying from. Now that the hoax is long-forgotten, the Heene family apparently wants to help out the people of Japan — so all net proceeds go to that. In case you’re wondering if this is a scam, the site where said balloon is being sold claims otherwise: “The winning bidder’s funds will go directly into the Trust Account of Attorney Perry H. Rausher of Calabasas, California. Mr. Rausher will then write a check to a selected charitable organization that is helping the Japanese cause. The Heene family will not receive anything from the sale.” Alright, who wants to start a Kickstarter project to turn this thing into a killer Flaming Lips stage prop? (via Cheat Sheet) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 17:55

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Biz: U.S. auto companies beat foreign competitors in May, with a caveat

  • USA! USA! May was the first month in five years that Detroit’s Big Three automakers beat their foreign competition in total sales, likely welcome news to those who rely on the domestic auto market to make their livings.
  • easy there The Big Three’s big win came on the backs of a terrible month for foreign competition — Toyota was down 33%, and Honda 23%. This allowed U.S. auto companies to take the lead, despite actually seeing a drop in sales. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 17:33

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World: Violence flares in Yemen after Saleh refuses to step down

  • 41 left dead in clashes: The violence flared up as a result of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh once again refused to cede power after 33 years — a decision that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticized. The end result caused last week’s ceasefire to break down, leading Saleh to reinforce his troops and causing bloody street battles — it’s a situation that some diplomats describe as “worse than Libya,” if you can believe that. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 16:54

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World: Syrian protesters rally around memory of Hamza al-Khatib

  • The face of a protest: The above is a childhood picture of Hamza al-Khatib, a slain Syrian boy whose image has become a rallying symbol for the opposition to the rule of Bashar al-Assad. Activists have claimed Syrian security forces al-Khatib tortured and killed by. Be warned, there are extremely grisly images and video floating around the internet of the boy’s corpse that are about as hard to look at as anything, so please be careful. The Syrian protest movement has now galvanized around this boy’s memory, and protesters have plastered this specific image across signs and banners — a chilling reminder of the routine brutalities the Syrian people, even their children, have suffered under Bashar al-Assad’s reign. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 16:11

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Politics: Eric Holder will do whatever it takes to get more of “The Wire”

  • I want to speak directly to Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon: Do another season of “The Wire.” That’s actually at a minimum… If you don’t do a season, do a movie. We’ve done HBO movies, this is a series that deserves a movie. I want another season or I want a movie. I have a lot of power, Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon.
  • Attorney General Eric Holder • Giving voice to the innermost hopes and dreams of “The Wire” fans everywhere. Holder was at an event featuring members from the revered HBO series, which used clips from the show to illustrate the perils children face in areas rife with drug abuse, when he made his forthright demand. We second this wholeheartedly! Also, for all we know, this could be a message from the top —  President Obama himself has made his love for the series known (his favorite character is Omar). source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 15:56

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U.S.: Budget cuts make fire department helpless in man’s drowning

  • ugh On Memorial Day, a man drowned himself in the waters off Alameda. The fire department wasn’t certified for water rescues, and the coast guard couldn’t retrieve him via boat, as it was too shallow. Waiting for a helicopter, the F.D. and coast guard watched the man drown.
  • fix? Seeking to remedy the situation that lets a man drown in full view of rescue teams, the Alameda Fire Department has changed their policy for land based water rescues — the program they’d had for those certifications ended in 2009 due to budget cuts. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 15:04

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Tech: Google still revolutionizing internet search — +1 at a time.

  • It’s the new “like.” Google is expanding its rollout of a way to make searching more effective — the +1 button. Basically, it allows you to recommend search results to your friends and complete strangers in the event they search for the same thing you do. Google seems to think that they can even make searching for things on the web social. Realistically, it should help you sift through the thousands of search results to quickly find the one that’ll help the most. Keep an eye out for it, because a bunch of big sites are going to start using it. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Jun 2011 14:50

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Music: Lady Gaga gets assist from Amazon in million-selling week

  • 1,108,000 number of copies of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” sold in its first week, the tenth-largest week of sales in SoundScan history
  • 1,140,000 number of copies 50 Cent’s “The Massacre” sold in its first week back in 2005; Gaga’s album is the largest sales week since then source
  • » Lady Gaga’s album set a record for digital sales, but Lady Gaga can’t get all the credit. Amazon was selling the album for 99 cents on its first day (even though it kind of backfired), contributing about 440,000 copies in the first week. Not surprisingly, Amazon’s deal upset some retail outlets, namely music stores who lost sales because of the insanely low price Amazon sold the album for. (Best Buy also had a similar deal, where they gave an album away with a cell phone. And it also sold at some kinda weird outlets, like CVS and Whole Foods.)
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 13:34

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Biz: Protip: Sports drinks great for exercise, not for kids

  • Sports drinks probably aren’t the best choice for kids, because they could lead to obesity, according to a new study. Researchers suggest that children drink water for hydration instead, because there aren’t the extra calories you might find in sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. The study also looked at kids that were drinking energy drinks after exercise, coming to the somewhat obvious finding that they’re bad for kids because of the extra stimulants in them — including caffeine. A spokesperson for the American Beverage Association, an industry group, notes that the drinks “are not intended for young consumers.” source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 11:27

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Tech: Google’s Eric Schmidt: We missed the boat on Facebook; it’s my fault

  • Three years ago I wrote memos talking about this general problem. I knew that I had to do something and I failed to do it. … A CEO should take responsibility. I screwed up.
  • Google Chairman (and former CEO) Eric Schmidt • Speaking at the D9 conference, put on by All Things Digital, on the topic of Facebook. Specifically, Google’s failure to do anything to stop Facebook while he was CEO, or at least work together with them. It’s just one sign of many that Google is struggling to keep up with the fast-moving rise of social networking. Another example of this: Google Buzz — which just isn’t very good. Anyway, Schmidt also noted that there is a “Gang of Four” that’s currently defining the tech industry. Which companies are on the list? Google (of course), Apple, Facebook and Amazon. See what he did there? He just slighted Microsoft. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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