Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

13 Dec 2011 09:16

tags

Culture: Yes, www.disney.xxx has already been reserved, so don’t even ask.

  • It’s an unfortunate part of what one does today in order to do business and maintain the integrity of the institutional name, the brand name, the organization, the students, whatever it is that one has built the equity in that what we have to do in this digital age.
  • Barbara Brooks, from The Strategy Group • Commenting on why universities and other not-pornographic groups are buying their .xxx URLs before someone else does. With the recent addition of the .xxx web address to the market, universities (among others) have began buying them for themselves so that the address don’t fall into the wrong hands. ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley says that this will “clearly signpost adult entertainment on the Net. For those people who want to find adult content, they can easily find it.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2011 23:31

tags

U.S.: San Francisco’s new minimum wage sets the double-digit standard

  • $10.24 San Francisco’s new minimum wage source
  • » Happy New Year, indeed. Starting Jan. 1, San Francisco’s minimum hourly wage will jump above the $10 mark for the first time. That’s about $3 higher than the federal minimum wage and higher than anywhere else in the country, due to the fact that the progressive city ties its minimum wage to inflation and the quite-high cost of living in the area. But with wage hikes, various fees and the sagging economy, employers might have to start laying off workers again to keep up.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Dec 2011 13:49

tags

Tech: Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto retiring, not retiring; honestly we’re not sure

  • Is Nintendo’s game-master retiring? Wired’s readers had reason to worry Wednesday after an article led them to believe that Shigeru Miyamoto, the company’s top game designer, would be stepping aside and working on smaller projects. (It was an easy conclusion to make: The headline was literally “Nintendo’s Miyamoto Stepping Down, Working on Smaller Games.” He also said, in these exact words: “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position.”) However, Nintendo denies the report; they told PC Magazine that, in his Wired interview, that “he attempted to convey his priorities moving forward, inclusive of overseeing all video game development and ensuring the quality of all products.” The company also noted that he wanted to take on smaller projects to rekindle his early love of making games. Were there translation issues? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Dec 2011 12:25

tags

Culture: Today in useless, obvious studies: Cereals are way too sugary

  • Call us when Cap’n Crunch calls a press conference about this. Thanks to a recent study from the Environmental Working Group, we now know how much sugar is in some cereals. The amount of sugar, by weight, is highest in Honey Smacks (55.6%) and Golden Crisp (51.9%). Did anyone still consider typical kids’ cereals to be healthy? Feed ’em some Total instead. (This message is not brought to you by General Mills.) (photo by Horia Varlan on Flickr) source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Dec 2011 23:14

tags

U.S.: Texas food stamp tragedy: Awful in more ways than one

  • tragic On Monday, a mother in Texas shot her two children before killing herself. She died at the scene of the shooting. The children later died in the hospital — the daughter on Wednesday, the son Thursday. Just two hours before the shooting, daughter Ramie Grimmer updated her Facebook status to say: “may die 2day.”
  • more tragic Rachelle Grimmer killed her children in a food stamp office, after being denied food stamps on multiple occasions. She had been trying to apply since July but had been unable to do so, due to paperwork issues. The family was extremely poor and had been visited by Child Protective Services twice over neglect issues. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Dec 2011 00:29

tags

U.S.: Storytelling through acronyms: A top bureaucrat’s bad weekend

  • FAA the head of this agency received a …
  • DUI while driving in the area nicknamed the …
  • DMV D.C., Maryland and Virginia corridor source
  • » At least he wasn’t flying while drunk, right? After being a pilot for Eastern Airlines for 25 years, Randy Babbitt became the Federal Aviation Administration’s head in 2009. This weekend, he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road in Fairfax, Va. He has since asked for a leave of absence from his office.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Dec 2011 00:04

tags

World: Afghanistan: We need foreign aid for at least twelve more years

  • Your continued solidarity, your commitment and support will be crucial so that we can consolidate our gains and continue to address the challenges that remain.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai • Thanking those who pledged their support of Afghanistan during an event on Monday, in which representatives from about 100 nations and international groups met on Monday to discuss the continued financial support of the war-torn country through 2024. Foreign troops plan to exit the country by 2014, but the country will need financial help building and sustaining its own security forces. The nations there offered support — but only on the condition that the next stages in the country avoids violence and terrorism, supports the constitution, and continues to build a positive human rights record. Absent from the meeting was Pakistan, who boycotted the United States’ presence after a deadly, controversial border attack last month.  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Dec 2011 23:39

tags

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

01 Dec 2011 23:38

tags

U.S.: Weather weirdness: Snow in the south, winds in the west.

  • Intense wind storms over the west this morning: Strong Santa Ana winds began Wednesday night; they caused damage (as seen above in home footage near Pasadena) and major power outages. Around 25,000 were without power under Southern California Edison’s jurisdiction. The National Weather Service said that the winds will likely continue through Friday, causing more flight delays. As you might imagine, Winds of this strength are causing some concern. Let’s hope that (on top of all this other stuff) one of California’s four seasons doesn’t start soon: Fire, landslides, earthquakes and riots. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2011 23:13

tags

World: Egyptian elections: Muslim Brotherhood lead, Salafis surprise

  • The Salafis have been underestimated from day one, because it is hard to imagine how this guy with a long beard and some aggressive ideas can actually gain much support.
  • Shadi Hamid, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Doha, Qatar • Discussing the elections in Egypt. So far, the Muslim Brotherhood’s party has received 40 percent of the Egyptian Parliament’s votes. Meanwhile, the Al Nour party, formed by ultra-conservative Salafis, has secured 25 percent. The Islamist party began re-entering politics after Mubarak was ousted, and rallied around millions of Egyptians who were already organized politically. That’s at least double the members of the Muslim Brotherhood. While they may not have pulled ahead in this election, the Salafi sect has become a prominent political force nonetheless. (EDIT: Modified wording based on reader suggestion.) source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>