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05 Jul 2011 20:32

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Tech, World: Data roaming price caps in Europe don’t go far enough

  • €2.23 the average cost, per megabyte, of roaming data charges throughout Europe — $3.22 a meg!
  • €0.90 the price cap currently being proposed, also per meg, for data usage — starting in July 2012
  • €0.50 the price cap suggested after by 2014 … which is way lower only in context source
  • » To put this in perspective: If you hop on your iPhone and reload this page roughly 80 times, that’s about a megabyte. If you hop on Pandora and listen to half of a two-minute Ramones song, that’s about a megabyte. When AT&T implemented its capped data plan a year ago, many people were upset about the 2 gig data cap for $25 dollars. Doing the math, that plan is roughly 82 megabytes per dollar. If the half-Euro-per-megabyte roaming price cuts in Europe take hold, those 82 megabytes would cost around $59 U.S. dollars, considering current exchange rates. Now multiply that by 25. Exactly our point.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 17:38

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World: Syrian security crackdown brings violent repression to Hama

  • 10 Syrian citizens killed by security forces in the city of Hama source
  • » “Implacable armed repression”: Those were the words France used to describe the onslaught on the Syrian citizenry by security forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, as they lobbied the U.N. to adopt a firmer stance on the issue. The realities within Syria are dire right now — as we’ve mentioned before, human rights groups estimate over a thousand people have been killed, and over ten-thousand detained, so in an extremely depressing way, this number isn’t surprising. French MP Gerard Bapt doesn’t see much will for international involvement, either: “With the Arab League not moving and with a nation like Saudi Arabia saying nothing publicly to condemn the killings by the Syrian regime it is difficult to see international pressure rising beyond the economic.”
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 16:50

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World: Indian official makes anti-gay remark, then steps it back

  • Unfortunately, this disease, where a man has sex with a man, which is absolutely unnatural and shouldn’t happen but it is happening, is spreading around the world and has also come to India. Even in our country the numbers of men having sex with men is significant.
  • Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad • Making comments about the AIDS virus. He later tried to clarify that he didn’t mean gay people, but it’s kinda hard to prove that when he’s quoted saying this. He claims that it only sounded like this because of the way he said it in Hindi, but there’s no way of telling if that’s true. Let’s hope not, because placing a stigma on an entire group of people is wrong, but especially when it comes from government official, simply because it has more impact. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 16:45

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U.S.: DSK accuser files libel lawsuit against the New York Post

  • action In an article from July 2nd, the New York Post cited “a source close to the defense investigation” on the rape allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The source said the accuser got very large tips from guests, then the article stated The Post had learned that she worked as a prostitute.
  • reaction The accuser, a Guinean immigrant and maid at the Sofitel Hotel, filed a libel lawsuit against The Post — and five of its reporters —today. It alleges the newspaper acted “falsely, maliciously, and with reckless disregard for the truth” when they published the prostitution claims. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 16:25

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Offbeat: Main claims discrimination over his pinball wizardry

  • 40 lawsuits filed by John Luckett; he’s also a wizard at litigation source
  • » Who’s John Luckett? Not someone you should know anything about, probably. He’s just filed lots of lawsuits – so many he can’t even sue in California anymore. Right now he’s trying to sue the Las Vegas-based Pinball Hall of Fame because he was told by police to stay away from it after he shoved an employee. He also claims he was thrown out because he was discriminated against for his “pinball wizardry” — that is, his ability to play for so long on only 50 cents. Something tells us that pinball wizards aren’t protected by the EEOC. (via Gawker)
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 16:16

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Politics: Mike Huckabee gains indirect stake in Pawlenty campaign

  • Sarah Huckabee Sanders joins Pawlenty campaign: And yes, she’s related to that Huckabee — the father and daughter teamed up in 2008 when she was the political director for his presidential campaign. With her dad ultimately opting not to run in 2012 following a boatload of speculation, it seems like she thinks Tim Pawlenty is still a force to be reckoned with in the GOP primaries, despite disappointing early reviews. The Pawlenty campaign has said she’ll be leading their efforts in the Iowa Straw Poll, which Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have already opted not to bother with — it looks clear that Pawlenty’s strategy hinges much more on appealing to social conservatism than either of those two. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2011 10:22

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World: News of the World opens up new realm of unethical journalism

  • Surely now we should hear from David Cameron and Ed Miliband. It’s utterly disgraceful that they’ve let this scandal run on for as long as it has. No more cowardice — we want action.
  • Labour parliament member Tom Watson • Reacting to the news that “News of the World,” the U.K. tabloid publication, hacked into teenager Milly Dowler’s voicemail after she went missing in 2002. But it gets worse — apparently, after Dowler’s voicemail got full, they deleted messages in hopes of receiving more of them. But the end result was that it gave her family false hope, because it made them think she deleted the messages. In reality, Dowler was murdered, but News of the World crossed a very strong ethical line in hopes of getting a story. It’s one they’ve crossed before, by the way. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Jul 2011 09:57

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Offbeat: Major League Eating is an organization full of greedy people

  • 69 the number of hot dogs Takeru Kobayashi ate while Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest went on yesterday
  • 68 the record at the event, set by one Joey Chestnut, Kobayashi’s mortal enemy, a few years back
  • 62 the number of hot dogs Chestnut ate during the event yesterday; he was declared the winner yet again source
  • » Why Kobayashi didn’t win: Simply put, he was competing several miles away from the Nathan’s event, at his own event. Last year, the dog-wolfer got into a very public battle with Major League Eating over the fact they wanted him to sign an exclusive contract to compete at the Nathan’s contest. He got arrested. This year, he let his dog-wolfing facilities do the work for him, and the organization wouldn’t recognize it because he wasn’t at Coney Island. A suggestion to Major League Eating: You aren’t Major League Baseball. You’re just assholes. You wouldn’t exist had Kobayashi not made your event what it was a decade ago.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jul 2011 17:58

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Culture: Daniel Radcliffe steps away from the bottle, sets an example

  • Harry Potter liked to party. At least until he deduced that alcohol wasn’t such a boon to his personality: “I became so reliant on alcohol to enjoy stuff… I’m actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I’m really pleasant and I’m not f–king up totally all the time.” In addition to doing away with his drinking habit, Radcliffe has his sights set on doing away with the “curse” of being a successful child star: “If I can make a career for myself after Potter… in the biggest film franchise of all time, no other child actor who comes after will ever have to answer those same bloody questions.” We applaud Radcliffe’s determination, but we’re skeptical if one Daniel Radcliffe could ever cancel out, say, one Kirk Cameron. (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jul 2011 16:53

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U.S.: California’s new district lines no longer in political hands

  • 14 California residents control the state’s political redistricting source
  • » Power to some people! It’s congressional redistricting time in California, which can play as big a role in the outcomes of elections as the candidates themselves. By way of a 2008 ballot initiative against gerrymandering, that power has put in the hands of fourteen citizens. Criticism has come quickly — Latino advocacy groups are saying that the influence of their voters will be diminished by the first drafts of the new map, and retiring congresswoman Lynn Woolsey complains that her once compact Marin County district would stretch more than 350 miles up the west coast. Principally, we object to gerrymandering; it’s an unpleasant underbelly of American politics. That said, subjective judgments that will tilt the balance of power are a necessity of the system, as there isn’t really such a thing as an objectively honest state district map. So, can you really avoid this problem just by bringing in ostensibly less political people? We’re not so sure.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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