Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

26 Jun 2011 10:57

tags

World: Chinese dissident Hu Jia freed after three-year jail term

The Chinese dissident, shown with his wife Zeng Jinyan, has remained quiet since his release … much like fellow freed dissident Ai Weiwei, who refuses to answer questions. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jun 2011 10:37

tags

Culture: Happy birthday, Cheerios. Our breakfast would suffer without you

  • And the way they’re made is fascinating: Roughly 70 years ago, the country’s most popular brand of cereal (specifically its Honey Nut variation, introduced in 1979) started puffing out of guns at hundreds of miles an hour — so fast that it turns the tiny balls of dough into the tiny little inner tubes that float around in your soy milk every morning. Kix, a fellow healthy cereal, gets made in a similar way. The cereal, notable for its health claims, recently received scrutiny from the FDA, who felt General Mills marketed the oat lumps like a drug. That case is still pending. One case that isn’t pending is the case that Cheerios are awesome. Just sayin’. (photo via Flickr user riebart) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2011 15:09

tags

Politics: Obama announces robotics initiative, makes awesome robot joke

  • You might not know this, but one of my responsibilities as commander-in-chief is to keep an eye on robots. And I’m pleased to report that the robots you manufacture here seem peaceful. At least for now.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center yesterday. About robots. The president plans to launch an initiative that will invest $70 million on robotics, so if these robots rise up and kill their creators, it’s his fault. Just sayin’. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2011 15:06

tags

World: Tony Blair’s address book hacked, thrown up on PasteBin

In case you wanted to get in touch with the toothy ex-British prime minister’s dentist, now you can, thanks to a fresh leak by a hacker group on Friday. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2011 11:34

tags

U.S.: James “Whitey” Bulger’s former enforcer: He’s got lots of dirt

  • There’s a hole dug with a big portfolio full of a lot of dirty public officials and maybe some dirty law enforcement officials that ‘Whitey’ Bulger has had for years, waiting for this day of his capture, so that he can use it for some sort of bargaining tool.
  • Eddie MacKenzie, a former enforcer for recently-arrested mobster James “Whitey” Bulger • Emphasizing that corrupt public officials could have something to lose with Bulger’s arrest. While he won’t name names — in part because it could put public officials (along with himself) in danger. MacKenzie notes that the former mobster was very dangerous in his day, but that his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, may not be fully aware of Bulger’s past. “‘Whitey’ Bulger was very cunning — the Hannibal Lecter of South Boston,” he notes.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2011 11:10

tags

World: Gaddafi just lost the soccer-playing contingent of his base

  • 17 Libyan soccer players side with the rebels, not Gaddafi source
  • » Harsh words for the dictator: One of the players to defect, goalie Juma Gtat, put his feelings as such: “I am telling Col Gaddafi to leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya. In fact I wish he would leave this life altogether.” This is significant for a number of reasons — first, it comes after some notable military defections, and secondly, soccer is particularly huge in North Africa. That means that Gaddafi just lost some pretty significant allies in a public relations war.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2011 20:55

tags

World: Rwandan genocide: Life imprisonment for former gov’t minister, son

  • During the course of these repeated attacks on vulnerable civilians, both [Pauline] Nyiramasuhuko and [Arsene] Ntahobali ordered killings. They also ordered rapes. Ntahobali further committed rapes and Nyiramasuhuko aided and abetted rapes.
  • International Criminal Tribunal Judge William Sekule • Discussing the reasons the two Rwandans — a former minister for family and women’s affairs, and her son — received life sentences from the tribunal, along with many other officials involved in a widespread massacre of ethnic Tutsis in the Rwandan city of Butare. Nyiramasuhuko, a Hutu, ordered the killings on a the Tutsis hiding in a government office. From there … well, just read the quote above. You get the idea of how bad this all is. These convictions close one dark chapter of a story whose book, once neglected entirely, has yet to close. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Jun 2011 18:02

tags

Culture: Not the boss, the CEO? James Spader could join “The Office”

  • Think bigger than the next Michael Scott: While the new boss at the Scranton branch of Dundler Mifflin isn’t quite clear yet, one of the candidates for the position, one James Spader, may be out of the running for reasons completely unrelated to his qualifications. See, Spader might join the show — as Dundler Mifflin’s CEO, replacing Kathy Bates. But unlike Bates, word is that he’d be a regular character on the show. Spader is something of an anti-Ted McGinley — when he joins a show late in its run, he makes it better. Example: “The Practice,” where the Spader-led reboot was so successful producers spun it off into “Boston Legal.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2011 12:35

tags

Biz: Ralph Nader, activist investor? A consumer advocate’s Cisco grievance

  • If they can’t give shareholders value, then they have to give cash.
  • Ralph Nader • Playing activist investor in the wake of frustration with Cisco’s stock. Nader, an investor in the company (he has 18,000 shares), wrote a letter a while back complaining about the company’s low dividends, despite the fact that their stock performance has been week and they have tons of cash in the bank, and the “powerlessness of owner shareholders” that resulted from this. It’s pretty weird that the consumer advocate, of all people, is taking on this role, but hey, maybe he just thinks their shares are unsafe at any speed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2011 11:28

tags

Tech: The Winklevi plan to sue Mark Zuckerberg AGAIN. Seriously.

Dear Winklevi: You have $65 million. Why start up ANOTHER lawsuit, anyway? You guys are like 30. This happened like eight years ago. You won. Why do this to yourselves? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>