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28 Jul 2011 14:45

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Politics: Firebrand Rep. Joe Walsh has a pretty big financial problem

  • $117,000 owed in child support source
  • » That’s a lot of money: Walsh, a member of the Tea Party who calls for the country to cut spending and pay its bills, is having trouble paying some of his own, according to a recently filed lawsuit. He’s had other financial troubles, too — he lost a condo in a Chicago suburb to foreclosure, but he eventually got that cleared up. Our question: Should Walsh’s own issues be on the table, considering the way he goes after the government’s fiscal issues?
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2011 14:30

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Tech: Twitter revamps ad offerings to entice more advertisers

  • “Promoted tweets” will now show up directly in Twitter users’ feeds. But they won’t be like ordinary tweets — they’ll appear near or at the top of users feeds, with a little promoted thing nearby (see above). Before, promoted tweets would only show up if a user searched for something relevant — now they’ll show up if you follow a company’s account. “When we decide to follow a favorite brand, business or charitable organization, we expect to be among the first to get a special announcement, access to exclusive content or a great offer,” Twitter stated in a blog post. “That’s why starting today, we’re introducing a way to ensure that the most important tweets from the organizations you follow reach you directly.” Essentially, advertisers pay to ensure visibility. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2011 14:13

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World: if you think Breivik was alone in his thinking, you’re wrong

  • Mr. Breivik managed to commit two terrorist attacks in a single afternoon. But the hatred and contempt from which he drew his deranged determination were shared with many others throughout the international right-wing blogosphere.
  • Joshua Gaarder, author of “Sophie’s World,” and Thomas Hyland Erickson, professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo • In a New York Times opinion piece emphasizing the right-wing blogosphere’s influential nature — especially in terms of the Norway terror attacks, perpetrated by a man with ties to the right-wing in Norway. Plenty of people on the Internet are bigots in an extreme sense, extreme enough to encourage behavior like Breivik’s. It’s a sad and scary truth, but it’s one that needs to be taken seriously — no man works alone. He may have been a lone wolf in his actions, but he certainly wasn’t alone in his thinking. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2011 11:28

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World: Battles in Somalia over trying to get aid to the people that need it

  • 6 killed in a contentious battle to keep the aid flowing in Somalia source
  • » Militant group al-Shabab won’t allow UN aid: With millions of people prevented from receiving necessary aid in a region of the world that really needs it, African Union and Somali government officials have been forced to fight to gain ground against the al-Qaeda-tied group. Could you imagine leaders denying help to the people in their control when they absolutely need it? We couldn’t, but this is the instability that Somalia currently knows.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2011 10:58

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Biz: Exxon Mobil’s back to their track record of insanely massive profits

  • 41% the increase in Exxon Mobil’s profits in the current quarter
  • $10.7B the amount the company made in the second quarter (kind of a lot)
  • $14.8B the company’s largest quarter ever (in 2008), just for perspective source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2011 10:43

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Tech: Signs the 3D fad is over: Nintendo drops 3DS price significantly

  • $80 price drop after only five months on the market source
  • » Poor sales might be the cause: Amid reports that 3DS sales are roughly 39 million units off of projected forecasts, the device, noted for its unique 3D screen (which does not require glasses, by the way), is dropping from $249.99 to $169.99 next month. The 3DS, while well-reviewed, faced a number of problems at launch, including bad timing — with the console having just come out before the devastating earthquake hit Japan, Nintendo’s home and a key sales market. On top of all that, Nintendo is facing unprecedented competition in the portable market, what with mobile phones getting in on the territory Nintendo exclusively dominated for years. Oh, and 3D is hard on the eyes. That seems like a good reason.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jul 2011 23:52

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Politics: McCain invokes “Lord of the Rings” in debt ceiling tirade

  • The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor.
  • John McCain • Ripping the Republican Party on the Senate floor. He later derided House Republicans’ approach to the debt-ceiling discussions as “the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Jul 2011 22:53

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Culture: Massachusetts politicians cut “It Gets Better” clip

  • If you thought this was the last time you’d get to see United States lawmakers in an “It Gets Better” video, think again! John Kerry, who was absent from the previous effort, has made up for it by posting an IGB clip of his own, where he appears alongside a bunch of other Massachusetts politicians to help comfort LGBT youth. The gang’s all here—and by “gang,” we mean “Massachusetts congressional delegation”—except for Scott Brown, who’s afraid of getting primaried from the right in his re-election campaign busy focusing on jobs and the economy. Regardless, it’s nice to see more lawmakers stepping up to the plate here.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jul 2011 21:57

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Tech: Laptop broken? Enroll in an Owensboro, KY public school

  • FREE Macbooks for kids in Kentucky! source
  • » We were generally supportive of the 2009 stimulus package, but aspects of it are starting to seem a bit questionable, to say the least. Case in point: 2,200 students and staff in the town of Owensboro, Kentucky will soon be enjoying a free Macbook Air, courtesy of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While we’re all for providing students with the technical competency needed to compete in the 21st-century global economy, you don’t really need to give everyone a Macbook Air to do that. The cheapest Air is $999; if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Apple gave Owensboro a 50% bulk discount, that’s still over a million dollars of federal money being spent so kids can have free laptops. Opponents of “wasteful government spending,” your Exhibit A is right here.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jul 2011 21:34

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World: Somali aid begins to trickle in, but honestly, they need a flood

  • ten number of tons of emergency food delivered to Somalia earlier today
  • 3,500 number of children that can be fed with the food for one month source
  • » A drop in a chaotic bucket: With millions reportedly affected by widespread famine and political factors preventing aid from getting to over 2 million people, a lot more has to be done to ensure the health and safety of many affected by the historic drought currently hitting Africa. The World Food Program estimates that as many as 11.3 people in the region need aid. Fortunately, world organizations like the European Union are starting to chip in more money.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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