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05 Dec 2011 23:39

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World: Who’s the newest planet on the universe block?

  • It’s our baby brother! Remember the name “Kepler-22b”. Its surface temperature is a balmy 72 degrees; it orbits a star that is very similar to our sun; its year is even close to ours — 290 days. Don’t worry just yet, though, as scientists haven’t fully discovered what makes up its surface. But “the planet would likely be warm enough to host liquid water on its surface.” The scientists on the study are “getting really close, we are really homing in on the true Earth-sized habitable planets.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 21:44

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Tech: Facebook’s Gowalla buyout was for the talent, not the company

  • While Facebook isn’t acquiring the Gowalla service or technology, we’re sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time.
  • A statement from Facebook • Basically emphasizing that they bought out Gowalla’s staff, not its service. It apparently was a marriage of mutual ambition: “It became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together,” said Gowalla CEO Josh Williams. The statements effectively play into what many have figured about the Gowalla team — they’re a very good company at design, but ultimately, their product was an also-ran in the market, one increasingly surpassed by Foursquare. They shouldn’t feel bad, though — Facebook was an also-ran at location-sharing, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 19:58

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World: S&P could downgrade Euro countries’ credit ratings, because they’re no fun

  • 15 number of European countries S&P put on “creditwatch negative,” meaning that there’s a 50/50 chance of an upcoming downgrade; all use the Euro as currency
  • two number of countries that didn’t get the Euro which didn’t receive the downgrade — Cyprus (which already is “creditwatch negative”) and Greece (which is Greece) source
  • » A serious dent in the stock market’s mood: Earlier in the day, things were looking up — France and Germany, the two responsible parents of the region, pushed a new treaty to convince the rest of the region to shape up, and Italy’s Mario Monti made a good impression on investors by introducing a sweeping austerity plan in the country over the weekend — but the S&P decision sucked the life out of the room. It’s not the first time S&P has played the heavy, either.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 15:09

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Politics: Trump-moderated debate gets first RSVP

  • YES Santorum will attend the Donald Trump debate source
  • » That makes it a Santorum-Gingrich affair. No one else has RSVP’d yet; Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman have both declined the invite, and Karl Rove, who has a bit of influence in Republican circles, has discouraged all the other candidates from attending. Gingrich said he’ll be going “just for the entertainment value,” which is, well, strange.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 14:29

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Politics: Pelosi claims to have “a thousand pages” of dirt on Gingrich

  • I know a lot about [Newt Gingrich]. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.
  • Nancy Pelosi • Giddy at the prospect of Gingrich being the Republican nominee for president. She said she’ll give more details “when the time’s right” which, we can only assume, means “if Gingrich wins the nomination.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 14:15

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Politics: Gingrich leads in Iowa…but so what?

  • 8 points Newt Gingrich’s  (average) lead in Iowa, one month before the caucuses
  • 73% historical win record (in Iowa) of presidential candidates who lead one month out. However…
  • 40% historical win record of candidates, like Gingrich, who only lead by single-digits source
  • » The point here isn’t that Gingrich won’t win. It’s that that attempting to predict election results based on polls is tricky, and remains tricky even when you factor in historical precedent. To drive the point home even further: Ronald Reagan led in Iowa polls by about 9 points a month prior to the caucuses. He ended up losing (to his future VP, George H.W. Bush), but then ultimately came back to win the nomination, making his Iowa loss more or less irrelevant. Every election has its own quirks and nuances; Gingrich is looking good in Iowa right now, no doubt, but so was Herman Cain before him, and Rick Perry before him, and Michele Bachmann before him.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 11:30

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World: Radioactive water leaks from Fukushima nuclear site

  • 45 metric tons of radioactive water got loose from Fukushima source
  • » How bad was it? The water leak was found Sunday on a device used to purify the seawater used to cool off damaged reactors. They stopped the leak by stacking sandbags against the concrete barrier surrounding the device. The water itself, authorities say, contained higher-than-usual levels of cesium 137, a radioactive substance. It’s not clear that any of this water made it to the Pacific Ocean. The reactor was greatly damaged during the March earthquake.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Dec 2011 11:07

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World: Clinton supports electoral fraud investigation in Russian elections

  • Russian voters deserve a full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation and we hope in particular that then Russian authorities will take action.
  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Lending support to claims that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, which did poorly in Sunday’s Russian parliamentary elections, may have committed acts of electoral fraud to make the massive decline look better than it actually was, a claim supported by international observers. The party, in what was seen as a referendum on Putin, lost 77 seats and its pivotal two-thirds majority. “The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted,” Clinton noted. “That means they deserve free, fair, transparent elections and leaders who are accountable to them.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 10:53

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World: Julian Assange gets one last change to fight extradition

The Wikileaks leader has 14 days to make his case in front of the British Supreme Court (regarding a single technicality). This is his final lifeline — if this falls through, he heads to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 10:34

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Politics: The stupidest comment you’ll ever hear about “The Muppets”

  • It’s amazing how far the left will go just to manipulate your kids, to convince them, give the anti-corporate message. I mean this is a Muppet movie for goodness sakes! The only thing green on the screen should be Kermit!
  • The Media Research Center‘s Dan Gainor • Missing the point of “The Muppets” by assuming that it had anything to do with the environment whatsoever. (Rather, the plot had to deal with an oil baron who planned the destroy The Muppets’ film studio, with no real eco-friendly focus.) Excuse me, friend, we just took away your pundit card. You’re not allowed to say anything on television anymore. For your own safety. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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