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29 Feb 2012 10:32

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World: U.S. scores diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea

  • the deal The U.S. got North Korea to agree to curb its nuclear testing and enrichment processes and allow outside investigators to monitor its main reactor, which is a fairly major breakthrough for the countries.
  • the perk In exchange, North Korea will get 240,000 metric tons of food aid. While the U.S. has long considered offering aid for purely humanitarian reasons, North Korea insisted that it be tied to this deal. source
  • » Significant, if “limited”: This result came after a set of talks last week that initially did not seem to go well, but later proved be palatable for the North Koreans. The two countries previously were close to some sort of deal before Kim Jong-il’s death, but the latest development seems to have gone over. “The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, “but today’s announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2012 10:42

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Politics: Gabrielle Giffords weighs strong on special election for her former seat

  • 671 signatures needed for the special election for Giffords’ old seat
  • 7,110 signatures received by Giffords’ former aide, Ron Barber source
  • » His closest GOP competitor got a fraction of that: Barber, who was encouraged by Giffords to run for the seat, has a major leg up in the April 17 primary for Arizona’s eighth Congressional district. The special election takes place in June. However, while Barber will run uncontested for the primary this time around, Democrats may take him on in the general election in November. A variety of Republicans are running for the seat, which is in a swing district.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2012 10:17

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U.S.: Ohio school shooting: Second person dies; gunman posted dark messages

  • story A second person, 17-year-old Russell King Jr., died late last night of injuries sustained during Monday’s shooting; he was pronounced brain dead. Another person is reportedly in critical condition from the shooting, and two others are hospitalized.
  • backgroundT.J. Lane, the gunman in the shooting, has been identified by the family’s lawyer. Lane posted a Facebook note back in December which ended: “Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the Pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2012 10:30

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U.S.: Ohio school shooting shakes small community; suspect in custody

  • one killed in a school shooting in Chardon, Ohio, a town of 5,100
  • 4 wounded in the Cleveland-area shooting Monday morning source
  • » The shooting took place in the school’s cafeteria: The shooting in Chardon, a small community 30 miles outside of Cleveland, took place before classes started for the day. The 17-year-old gunman was apprehended within an hour of the shooting. Ohio Gov. John Kasich praised the district’s quick handling of the situation, which involved campus lockdowns and returning students home before they got to school: “Please join me in praying for the students who’ve been injured in this horrible crime,” Kasich said. “Praise goes to the Chardon Police and Geauga County Sheriff’s office for quickly getting this situation under control. I’ve pledged Ohio’s full support to them, the school and the local community in this difficult time.” (EDIT: Updated death toll)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Feb 2012 11:25

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Politics: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer endorses Mitt Romney for president

Brewer, whose profile grew significantly as a result of her stances on immigration, says that she likes Mitt’s business background and says that the race will effectively be over after Super Tuesday. Arizona’s primary is Tuesday. (photo by Gage Skidmore) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Feb 2012 10:35

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U.S.: Ironic: The FBI’s having trouble finding and collecting its GPS devices

  • 3,000 invasive GPS devices turned off by the FBI source
  • » There’s one particularly amazing line in this story: “In some cases, he said, the FBI sought court orders to obtain permission to turn the devices on briefly — only in order to locate and retrieve them.” If you remember, the FBI had to stop using tracking devices as the result of a Supreme Court ruling that ruled that the practice was illegal without a warrant. So everyone, have a small chuckle at the fact that FBI can’t find some of its GPS devices.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Feb 2012 10:11

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U.S.: Did Robert Kennedy’s son try to steal his kid? Let’s get amused at the thought

  • he said In a January incident, Douglas Kennedy sparked off a “code pink”  when he tried to take his newborn son for a walk. His lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, disputes this: “It is preposterous and absurd to think that any of the nurses thought that Douglas Kennedy, who they knew very well, was trying to steal his own child.” He faces harassment and endangerment charges.
  • they said However, Eliot Taub, the lawyer for two of nurses at the hospital that night, emphasizes that Kennedy was breaking the rules: “They have been instructed as per hospital guidelines that each newborn cannot leave the ward without written permission by medical personnel,” he said. Let’s cut to the heart of this story: Why would a Kennedy steal a baby? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Feb 2012 23:08

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Tech: Gaming the system: On the rise of YouTube’s search-friendly “reply girls”

  • We’ve yet to see this phenomenon analyzed anywhere in the media, so let’s give this a signal boost: The secret to becoming popular on YouTube is to build heat. Sometimes you create something so great it goes viral on its own. Sometimes you know the right people and the right places. Sometimes, though, you’re good with the timing and keywords. That is actually an effective way to get popular on YouTube — this Pomplamoose clip, for example, was a very well-timed attempt to bank its success on a popular song at the height of its notoriety. But what if you take that philosophy to the extreme? The answer is that you end up with TheReplyGirl. Let’s explain how this works:
  • The concept A woman who claims to go by the name Alejandra Gaitan, above, has been on YouTube since August, and her main routine is to reply to popular videos, load her responses with ads, and wear something revealing, with the goal of enticing a click. She’s not alone — a woman who calls herself Megan Lee Heart, for example, posted a well-tagged video after Whitney Houston died and got 100,000 views. And hundreds of dislikes on the clip.
  • The precedent Gaitan, Heart and others are essentially pulling off an elaborate search engine optimization scheme on YouTube. Their videos show up high on YouTube search results because of strong tagging and they get clicks because of the eye-grabbing visuals. The result is that the videos themselves are extremely low-quality (Gaitan’s clips can be hard to follow at times), but it doesn’t matter, because the goal is to build up ad impressions.
  • Here’s the thing … TheReplyGirl is interesting because it’s a new twist on a relatively old idea — the production of low-quality content that shows up high in search results, which has the side effect of diluting searches. Minus the human being talking, this was basically Demand Media’s business model. The question is, though, will Google step in? They took on Demand, forcing the company to change its model. Will they do the same on YouTube?
  • Edit: Reworded part of this for clarification.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2012 21:48

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Tech: Microsoft appears to be killing off longtime product lines in Windows 8

  • Zune This death was kinda obvious for a while, but now the Zune appears to have zero presence in the upcoming version of Windows. Seriously, they lost their biggest fan like four years ago — the writing has long been on the wall.
  • Live More surprising is the fading away of the Live brand, which anchors many of their online messaging services; “Microsoft Account” will replace Windows Live ID. The company appears to be trying to simplify their brand naming. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2012 14:48

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Politics: Comedian Bill Maher: Now a major pro-Obama Super PAC donor

  • $1 million donated to the poorly-named Priorities USA Action source
  • » But wait … isn’t that a conflict of interest? Granted, Maher, who leans on the liberal side but has called himself libertarian in the past, doesn’t exactly hide his political views, but considering he’s a commentator who regularly questions both sides of the aisle, you wonder if that crosses an ethical line. Then again, will his audience care? On the other hand, as the Christian Science Monitor points out, Maher tends to do better, comedy-wise, when there’s a Republican in office, so this might hurt him a little. By the way, Maher’s announcement, which came during a Yahoo webcast, was a bit of a shock to those in the audience, though Maher had fun with the announcement, mocking the name of the Super PAC he’s donating to.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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