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19 Jan 2012 21:53

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Politics: DebateSC FanFic: Newt Kills The King

  • As John King is in the middle of a question about Gingrich’s ex wife, the former House Speaker’s rage slowly builds, until suddenly, a crazed look strikes his face. He leaps into action, barreling forward through podium and charging across the stage. The former Representative from Georgia leaps off the podium, pulls a switchblade from his sock in whilst mid-air, and plunges the knife into John King’s chest. As the audience sits in stunned silence, he picks up the fallen moderator’s mic, wipes the sweat off his brow, and says, “The King is dead.” The crowd goes wild, and Gingrich goes on to win South Carolina by 30 points.

19 Jan 2012 15:32

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Politics: Wikipedia’s blackout funnels huge number to look up congresspeople

  • 8 million users looked up their House Rep. by Wikipedia yesterday source
  • » Well, that sure worked: During the “great blackout” yesterday, one of the only things you actually could do with Wikipedia was get the information about your local congressperson, so to lodge a complaint against the SOPA and PIPA legislations that were the order of the day. This stripping down to such a basic, singular function proved to have just the effect Wikipedia had hoped for, as evidenced by the figure above; this surge in popular outcry clearly rattled quite a few on Capitol Hill, as numerous former supporters have changed their tunes.

19 Jan 2012 14:25

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U.S.: DC Metro workers accused of robbing fare machines to buy lottery tickets

  • Stealing to gamble: Two DC-area Metro workers have been arrested, accused of a scheme to steal coins from fare machines and spend them on lottery tickets. Federal prosecutors allege the duo, John Haile and Horace McDade, defrauded the machines while on shift together; the investigation was launched after a source reported that Haile would regularly buy lottery tickets using bags of $500 or so, all in coins. Is it that hard to find a Coinstar, man? Haile’s records, and this is the crazy part, show $150,000 in unexplained income since 2008. As lottery officials told the authorities, to secure even just the winnings confirmed to them, he had to have been buying “an extraordinary amount of tickets.” (Photo by Eric Fisher) source

19 Jan 2012 13:56

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Biz: More on Eastman Kodak’s filing for bankruptcy protection

  • 131 years in the making: As we mentioned a couple weeks ago, the former film titan, whose  business put cameras in the hands of millions of people, now enters a new phase in its long history, bankruptcy proceedings. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called it “difficult and disappointing news,” which is understandable; their company was headquartered in Rochester, NY. Since 2003, Kodak has laid off about 47,000 employees, and now in bankruptcy protection their already weak stock price has plummeted to 34 cents per share. If you want to get really depressed about this story, read Alexis Madrigal’s great piece on the company’s historysource

19 Jan 2012 09:50

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Politics: Rick Santorum: Maybe possibly could be the sorta-winner in Iowa

  • yeah … An early count showed Mitt Romney leading the Iowa Caucus, but a mere eight votes ahead of Rick Santorum, who peaked just before the caucus.
  • … but … Now the vote has been certified, and it seems that Santorum has the lead in votes — Rick is now 34 votes ahead of Mitt in the state.
  • … um But don’t call it a victory just yet; irregularities in some precincts prevent Santorum from declaring victory; Romney’s camp calls it a virtual tie. source