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15 Dec 2011 20:43

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Politics: Three things we’re watching for during tonight’s debate

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 20:20

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U.S.: Howard Stern will be on NBC primetime. Get ready for plenty of #%&@s.

  • I am going to tell you your kiddie has no talent…this nonsense of Howie and Sharon putting through less than talented people has got to stop. Under my administration, there will be no Frank Sinatra impersonators winning.
  • Howard Stern • On his new job as judge on “America’s got Talent,” replacing Piers Morgan, who’s going to focus on his popular CNN show. Some people are not on board with the new addition to the show, while others are ready for the honesty he’ll bring to the table. Especially Stern. “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but feelings are going to be hurt,” Stern said. Will this discourage some of the softer competitors from trying out or force a tougher crowd? Who knows. We’re just excited to see what names Stern plans to call little children. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 11:39

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U.S.: Death penalty: Statistics show significant decline in support, enactment

  • 78 number of death sentences handed out in 2011, which is way down from last year
  • 43 number of executions that happened nationwide this year; that’s down by three
  • 13 number of executions in Texas, the state with the most; they were also down from 2010 source
  • » A decline in the overall numbers: According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the death sentence number is the smallest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. And public support is starting to fade: According to stats from Gallup, support for the death penalty is at its lowest level in nearly 40 years. Opposition is at its highest level since 1972. Keep this in mind when Rick Perry leads a crowd to cheers during a discussion about the death penalty. Or when cases like Troy Davis‘ widely-contested execution build support against the death penalty.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 11:16

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Biz: Christmas miracle? New unemployment claims hit 3.5-year low

  • 366,000 the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits last week — a number that’s been on the decline for months
  • 365,000 the number of people who filed during a week in May 2008, the last time that the jobless benefits numbers were quite this low source
  • » However: Don’t get too excited, guys. While the heavily-fluctuating number is certainly better than it’s been in a long time (and the unemployment number is at its lowest level in a long time), the comeback is far from here. Example: During the financial crisis, the U.S. lost roughly 8.8 million jobs; less than a third of those jobs have returned. On top of this, many are still unemployed, and their benefits could run out soon if Congress does not act on the extension for unemployment benefits. Yeah, sorry we have to be such downers, but let’s look in perspective here.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 11:01

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Politics: Tea Party groups gain increasing sophistication ahead of election

  • The Tea Party movement is more organized, more focused and more potent. What happened in 2010 was not the end. It was just the beginning.
  • Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) • Discussing the growing sophistication of the Tea Party, which has helped him personally. As an example, the leader of the Myrtle Beach, S.C.-area Tea Party, Joe Dugan, has been statistically tracking each vote politicians have been making, and based on those numbers, his group will choose to support or turn their back on a candidate. It worked very effectively in South Carolina, where each of the ten candidates Dugan’s group supported won their elections — from dog catcher on up. Dugan’s group is far from the exception, Reuters found that Tea Party groups are increasingly becoming far more sophisticated in their approaches to supporting candidates, which could prove important in 2012. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 10:44

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World: Ex-French president Jacques Chirac found guilty of corruption

In a victory for French anti-corruption activists, the ex-president was convicted Thursday. He won’t go to jail, but will receive a two-year suspended sentence which will show up on his criminal record. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 10:11

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Tech: Hallelujah: Microsoft will automatically upgrade Internet Explorer

  • before Internet Explorer was a bit of an anger-inducing product for Web developers because users would be slow to upgrade their browsers, leading to large numbers of users on IE6 and IE7 years after those browsers were out-of-date. Despite Chrome and Firefox having automatic upgrade options, for years, Microsoft resisted. Developers cried.
  • now In a major change in policy, Microsoft will automatically update browsers for home users — to IE8 for Windows XP users and IE9 for Vista and Windows 7 users. They won’t die entirely, though — corporate IT users can block the upgrades, and there will be opt-out mechanisms. But maybe this might be the death knell to IE6? God, let’s hope so. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Dec 2011 04:01

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U.S.: Madison Ave. tragedy: Freak elevator accident kills woman in NYC

  • 10 a.m. the time at which Suzanne Hart, an NYC advertising executive, died in a freak elevator accident Wednesday
  • 7 p.m. the time at which officials were able to fully to fully extricate her body from the elevator source
  • » How often does this happen? It’s fairly rare for an elevator to cause such an issue in NYC — despite the fact that roughly 60,000 elevators operate in the skyscraper-heavy city, there were just 53 accidents in 2010, only three of which were fatal. (Accidents of this nature, however, aren’t unprecedented; Jerry Fuchs, a prominent indie rock drummer who played with !!! and LCD Soundsystem, amongst others, died in 2009 after falling into an elevator shaft.) But the level of shock amongst her co-workers at Y&R — which had its employees work from home in the wake of the news — was strong; Hart was a well-respected figure in the advertising world. And to make things worse, the company was in the midst of moving to a newer building with a better elevator. This story is just awful.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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