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05 Jun 2011 12:07

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World: Post-Fukushima, Japanese businesspeople dress down to cool off

  • Why are these Japanese businesspeople dressed up like they’re about to go to a cookout? The reason actually has to do with March’s earthquake, if you can believe it. See, Japan has this campaign called “Super Cool Biz,” where the AC doesn’t go up nearly as high and businesses cut their electricity use by 15 percent. Which means that offices shouldn’t get cooler than 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) and workers should probably dress down and stuff. While the campaign isn’t new — it was introduced in 2005 as a way to fight global warming — companies are finally starting to jump on board with the idea due to the earthquake. (Photo by Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press) source
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05 Jun 2011 11:50

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World: Yemen celebrates Saleh’s departure, but not without reservations

  • Sure, he’s gone, but it wasn’t peaceful: Last night, crowds flared up in celebratory tones over the departure of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who left his post under unsatisfactory conditions after he was violently injured during a raid on his palace. The conditions that led to his departure (after he spent more than 32 years in power) have led some activists to be a little less-willing to celebrate it on its own terms. “Our revolution was hijacked by the tribes,” noted Yemeni journalist and activist Shatha al-Harazi. “How can we establish a civil state if tribes still wield so much power? They forced Saleh out with weapons and we failed to force him out with peace.” source
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05 Jun 2011 11:26

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Tech: What the world needs next: Solar-powered laptops

  • This needs to exist someday: As anyone with a laptop already knows, the worst possible place to use a machine like this is in the sun, because the screen is hard to see and you have to pump up the brightness to even compete, meaning that you’ll lose a ton of battery life in the process. But in this concept by designer Andrea Ponti, it actually works with the sun, using it as a source of energy thanks to its built-in solar panels. The Luce Solar Panel Powered PC, a shortlisted entry in Fujitsu’s 2011 design competition, has a battery but doesn’t include a secondary power source, meaning it’s all solar. Which is awesome. source
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05 Jun 2011 11:06

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Politics: Herman Cain fawns over himself in the third person

  • That’s what I think connects with people, Herman being Herman. And you notice, Herman enjoys life — I can smile, I can have a sense of humor, I’m being Herman.
  • Herman Cain • Speaking about himself in first-person and third-person in the same sentence as part of a fawning New York Times piece on his rise as a 2012 GOP candidate. The crux of the piece: His voter recognition is still low, but the Republicans who know him absolutely adore him. He’s a dark-horse candidate, kids — the Howard Dean of this election cycle. Speaking of Howard Dean, did you hear this crap he said about Sarah Palin having a chance at beating Obama? *facepalm*  source
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05 Jun 2011 00:59

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U.S.: The guy who designed DC’s Metro map preps for a redesign

  • A classic design gets a refresh: Nearly 40 years ago, graphic designer Lance Wyman designed a map that’s come to define a city. The result — a map of a fairly self-contained Metro system — has survived numerous station changes and many iterations to remain a truly useful piece of work. With upcoming changes to the Metro system that will make the map significantly more complicated, Wyman’s getting another chance to work on the design, which needs room for Dulles Airport, a new color and a ton of names that have gotten unwieldy over the years (see “U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo“). And people are clamoring for a redesign — seriously, check out this contest right here. If you’re wondering if the 73-year-old Wyman is getting nervous about all this, the answer is yes. This is his ’68 Comeback Special here. (photo by The Washington Post’s Jennifer S. Altman; see a gallery here) source
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04 Jun 2011 18:56

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Offbeat: Protip: Ghosts don’t like it when you have sex in graveyards

  • weird A woman visiting a deceased relative in a New Jersey cemetery used the opportunity to engage in some “extracurricular activities” with a friend of hers. We’ll let you fill in the plot holes here.
  • weirder Unfortunately for her, a grave marker fell on her during this process, injuring her and ensuring a cheesy B-movie will probably use this unfortunate(ly hilarious) incident as a plot device. source
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04 Jun 2011 17:14

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Offbeat, U.S.: Homeowner revenge: Bank of America branch gets foreclosed

  • They’ve ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated.
  • Attorney Todd Allen • Describing the process he went through to get his clients their money back. That’s right, he foreclosed on the bank, forcing the bank to pay back attorney’s fees by padlocking the doors. Maurenn Nyergers and her husband, Florida residents who paid for their home in cash, received a false foreclosure request from Bank of America, forcing them to fight the charges in court. The homeowners won their case, but Bank of America didn’t pay the fees after five months, so (with a little help from the Sheriff’s Department), on went the padlocks and out went the computers, furniture and money from the tellers’ drawers. An hour later, the bank manager resolved it like that. Gotta love it. source
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04 Jun 2011 13:52

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World: VIDEO: Cockpit footage of British choppers hitting Libyan targets

  • From the cockpit of a British Apache helicopter: The British Ministry of Defense released a selection of videos of helicopter strikes at various Libyan targets, including the clip above. The Telegraph, where we grabbed the video above, suggests that the footage emphasizes a key point; by knocking out these relatively small targets one-by-one, both the rebels and the forces are slowly wearing away at Gaddafi’s infrastructure. “Helicopters and war planes will take out the check-points from the air; the rebels seize the ground,” writes Richard Spencer, who suggests the coalition has formed an alliance with the rebels on the ground in all but name. If it sounds like this is going to take a freaking long time, that’s because it probably will. source
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04 Jun 2011 02:32

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Politics: Weinergate devolves into flood of conspiracy theories

  • Anthony Weiner‘s got a lot of problems this week, but they’re sorta inflated. First off, the story is kind of at a point where fatigue is very high. However, despite technical evidence, including a very obvious yFrog flaw that would’ve made it easy to post a rogue tweet on Weiner’s account, the congressman’s performance this week has proven to be a complete liability, giving conservatives enough rope to hang him with. (By the way, just wanted to point out — we discovered the @PatriotUSA76 angle 15 hours before DailyKos broke it.) But at this point, only the die-hards are really, truly following this story. One of them, by the way, is a reporter for Mediaite — Tommy Christopher. We criticized Mediaite for their aggressive coverage Thursday but will give some credit today. You guys did some good work that deserves praise. More info:
  • useful Mediaite’s piece on Dan Wolfe (@PatriotUSA76) makes the strongest argument yet of Wolfe building a Wiener conspiracy … around underage girls. Daily Kos looks really bad in the piece, by the way.
  • crazy Not long after Wolfe deleted his Twitter account, the blog Ace of Spades HQ posted a screed on why he’s “irrelevant” in the scheme of Weinergate using a kinda-convoluted poker metaphor. Hrm.
  • crazier Have any patience left? You might lose it after reading the “interview” a conservative blogger did with Wolfe — essentially a long, unedited chat log. Take an Adderall before reading this; you’re gonna need it. source
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03 Jun 2011 20:10

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U.S.: Convicted killer in Yale slaying receives 44-year sentence

  • Annie was and will always be a wonderful person, by far a better person that I will ever be in my life. I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I ruined lives, and I’m sorry for taking Annie Le’s life.
  • Former Yale animal-research technician Raymond Clark III • Speaking during his sentencing, during which he received a 44-year sentence for the killing of Annie Le, a Yale graduate student whose tragic murder turned her family’s excitement over her wedding into overwhelming grief. The sentence, which will keep the 26-year-old in prison until he turns 70, wasn’t enough for some members of Le’s family, who had hoped he’d receive a life sentence. If it’s of any solace to the Le family, he won’t get paroled early, because Connecticut doesn’t allow parole for convicted murderers. The case drew a large amount of media interest — due in part to the fact that it happened on a highly-secured part of the Yale campus that few people could get inside. Which meant that it was relatively easy to figure out that Clark, who accepts full responsibility for the crime, was the culprit. source
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