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22 Aug 2011 21:49

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Biz: S&P’s President Deven Sharma: I’m stepping down, homies

We know what you’re thinking — his departure had something to do with this mess. Well, you’d be wrong; apparently, his departure’s been planned for months. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 21:08

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Music: A duo of songwriting duos lose half their duo; single unrelated duo left

  • Leiber Jerry Leiber, the Leiber of Leiber & Stoller, died Monday at age 78. He and Mike Stoller wrote such noteworthy songs as “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Yakety Yak.” Elvis Presley recorded many of their songs.
  • Ashford Also Monday, Nick Ashford of Motown duo Ashford & Simpson died at 70. He and Valerie Simpson wrote such hits as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.” Two duos, two deaths, one day. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 18:44

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Politics: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein hires a criminal defense lawyer

  • Lloyd lawyers up: The Goldman Sachs CEO has hired the services of Reid Weingarten, an accomplished defense attorney who’s worked for former executives from WorldCom Inc. and Enron — this news caused a predictable dip in the value of Goldman’s shares, which closed down 4.7% on Monday. The obvious market concern is that Blankfein will be dealing with inquiries from the Senate subcommittee charged with investigating wrongdoings of the 2008 financial crisis, and whether his hiring a top-flight attorney suggests looming legal trouble. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 18:22

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Politics: PETA to launch porn site, mingling sex and mistreated animals

  • We live in a 24 hour news cycle world, and we learn the racy things we do are sometimes the most effective way that we can reach particular individuals.
  • PETA Spokesperson Linsay Rijt • Speaking on the intentions of PETA’s upcoming porn venture, to come with the advent of the new .xxx web addresses. The idea, it seems, is to mix together porn with pictures and information about mistreated and abused animals, the porn being the means to grab attention in the most basic way possible. We’re animal lovers, to be sure, but this sounds like an unpleasant and deeply silly idea, and isn’t something we can’t imagine would have any sort of broad appeal. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 17:58

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World: Canadian NDP leader Jack Layton dies of cancer

  • Jack Layton, dead at 61: The leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, Layton had temporarily stepped down in July for cancer treatment. He was widely credited with steering the NDP towards a less leftist platform than the party had typically stood for, its origins being heavily infused with labor interests. This strategy, arguments about ideology aside, gave the NDP a massive boost to its prominence and mainstream, middle-class appeal, and reaped major electoral gains. Best wishes to Jack Layton’s friends and family in such painful times — he will be well missed and well mourned. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 17:08

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World: Kim Jong-Il meets with Russian President Medvedev

  • Kim Jong-Il’s Russian rendezvous: The North Korean dictator is traveling through Russia by means of an armored train, on a route expected to keep him abroad for the next week or so (North Korea is generally much tighter-lipped about his schedule than they seem to have been this time). He’s reportedly scheduled for a meeting with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, which analysts believe may be about a gas pipeline Russia would like to run into South Korea, through Northern territory. The deal could bring North Korea nearly $500 million a year, a very considerable chunk of change. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 10:47

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World: Delayed reaction of the day: Silvio Berlusconi’s plea to the Libyan rebels

  • Now, you might not know this, but there’s a bit of a civil war going on at the moment in Libya. The rebels are fairly close to victory — so close they can smell it. So, right on cue, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a former colonial leader of Libya who was once an ally to Gaddafi and a reluctant partner in the NATO campaign in Libya, has urged the rebels “to abstain from any violence.” Now … look. We can see that there is obvious danger of things escalating, and the rebels do need to be careful to approach the situation carefully. But seriously, this is the wrong time for this comment if he’s going to make it. This is, like, a war, man. Things like this happen. But to tell the rebels to drop their weapons now, at a key time in the country’s history where they’re about to win, seems just a little bit tone-deaf to the current situation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Aug 2011 10:20

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World: Muammar Gaddafi: A man of many contrasts losing his grip on power

  • More than any of the region’s autocratic leaders, perhaps, Gaddafi was a man of contrasts. He was a sponsor of terrorism who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks. He was a brutal dictator who bulldozed a jail wall to free political prisoners. He was an Arab nationalist who derided the Arab League. And in the crowning paradox, he preached people power, only to have his people take to the streets and take up arms in rebellion.
  • The Associated Press • In a lengthy piece glancing over the long rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It’s a good read that goes a long way to explain the often-confusing nature behind a man who gave North Africa fits for decades, and even occasionally showed up in the West to offer up a little bit of fresh weirdness. No place was that more obvious than when he went to the United Nations to speak in 2009. It was a weird, rambling speech that left more that a few world officials bewildered. In some ways, though, it proved the leader’s last big gasp. Less than two years later, it appears that his regime has been all but taken away. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Aug 2011 16:19

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About: What I learned this summer, from departing intern Justin Jones

  • Editor’s note: Justin Jones, our summer intern, has spent the past few months updating SFB and learning a couple of tricks along the way. As he begins his time back at the University of Florida again and leaves our humble abode, he wanted to share with you a few things he learned over the past few months. Enjoy. Oh, and thanks for the help, Justin. Much appreciated. — Ernie @ SFB
  • On people Community and the people who make it are critical, and it’s awesome here on Tumblr. I already had experience with that. What I didn’t have experience with is manning a Facebook and helping with the Twitter, and I learned how to do it in a way that interacted with all of you! I thought it was challenging, but in the end it ended up being really fun and a great learning experience.
  • On accuracy When you’re trying to post something quickly, it’s easy to misinterpret something from the source you’re getting it from. Having a fact error is the worst sin a journalist can commit (other than mispelling someone’s name), so I learned to double check everything before I posted it — and realized that sometimes only an editor will catch your mistakes.
  • On relevance Not every article you run across is relevant to your audience, or even important to post about based on what we’re trying to achieve with SFB. It’s a careful judgement you make each time you write a post, and one I honed with time — and I think this is my favorite thing I learned, because it’s that important. Not only that, but I hadn’t even thought about it much before.
  • » In addition to all of this, I also learned how to write in such a tight space. ShortFormBlog’s style is to keep things, well, short. It’s not as easy as it looks to summarize an entire news story into a quote and 100 words. I think it’s invaluable skill to have, and I learned from some pretty awesome guys. So now I’ll thank Ernie, Seth and Chris for having me around this summer — and for teaching me so much. I know now that I’m better prepared for my last three years in school, and I’m ready to take on some of the more challenging classes in the journalism college here at UF!
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Aug 2011 14:18

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World: Libyan rebels: The advantages and disadvantages they face

  • The rebels in Libya might have acted too soon. While they are converging on Tripoli now, they aren’t certain as to how much support Gaddafi still has there — and it might end up being really bad for them. They have another disadvantage too. The fighting in Tripoli is urban warfare, which is extremely difficult and grueling for soldiers, who face a much-stronger Gaddafi force. But don’t count them out, here’s what the rebels do have going for them:
  • Unclear uprising While it’s unclear if the population in Tripoli is loyal to Gaddafi or not, the rebels are pretty much relying on the possibility that they aren’t. Gaddafi knows how important it is for them to be loyal, too, so he’s been doing demonstrations and making speeches for weeks to keep them on his side.
  • Gaddafi’s departure? It’s likely that Gaddafi isn’t in Tripoli anymore — he’s not making the extravagant television appearances or showing up in public. It’s unclear where he is. If he leaves Libya altogether, (similar to Saddam Hussein, when he disappeared from power in Iraq and was later found near Tikrit), that would turn the tide.
  • Rebel reserves The rebels are coming in from a few different places (check the video if you haven’t yet) so they will be better off soon. the problem with this lies with the fact that the reinforcements might not get to Tripoli in time, especially depending on the resistance they encounter on the way to Tripoli. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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