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08 Oct 2010 15:11

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Tech, World: Thanks, Libya: Bit.ly links could become a thing.ly of the past.ly

  • standing out, clever.ly A popular way to make your name stand out nowadays is to have the domain end in .ly, something hugely popular Twitter-centric services such as Bit.ly and Hootsuite (though its ow.ly and ht.ly services) have taken advantage of. The two-letter length also helps. Oh yeah, Mitt Romney uses it for his mitt.ly domain.
  • unfortunate.ly for themPerhaps this wasn’t thought through all the way, because the .ly domain is owned by Libya, a country not exactly known for its sparkling human rights record. And the country is upset about all the NSFW links that get shared on the services, putting entire business models in danger. Uh-oh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Oct 2010 12:06

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World: Three negative side effects of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize win

Liu Xiaobo, posted by laihiu on Flickr

  • This of course doesn’t take away from Liu’s win at all. After a year when the Nobel Peace Prize committee faced heavy criticism for selecting the relatively fresh Obama as their pick, they’ve redeemed themselves by picking someone on the front lines of peace activism – only the third currently-incarcerated winner in the award’s history. (He’s serving 11 years in prison, a harsh sentence, on fairly minor charges.) Of course, China doesn’t see it that way, and it could – at least in the short term – do more harm than good for the world at large. Some (mostly unfortunate) side effects from the win:
  • (photo by Flickr user laihiu)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2010 20:33

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World: Good to know: Guards at U.S. bases in Afghanistan have Taliban ties

  • Let’s say that you’re the Pentagon, and you’re fighting a war in Afghanistan. Now let’s say that you have bases for your soldiers. And let’s say that they need guards. Who do you hire? If the answer is private Afghan security firms with little oversight, *ding ding ding* you’ve won a prize. Now, let’s offer up an extra wrinkle for you guys, and this is the one the Senate is getting all caught up on. Apparently, some of these guards have ties to the Taliban, that nebulous enemy that you’ve been fighting for almost a decade. (That’s not even to mention the guards with ties to Iranian intelligence or the ones with criminal ties.) Whaddya do? You get really pissed off, that’s what. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2010 20:16

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World: Things we’re glad we’re not doing: Digging sludge from the Danube

To our friends in Hungary: We feel really bad for what you’re going through. The scale of this environmental crisis is unspeakable. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2010 10:55

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World: Gruesome 10:10 ads, or why Richard Curtis is no Edgar Wright

  • Fun fact: This ad in favor of cutting carbon emissions is written by Richard Curtis. You know, the guy who directed “Love Actually” and “Notting Hill.” And the narrator is none other than Gillian Anderson. Oh yeah, for no stupid reason whatsoever, they gruesomely blow up kids in this video. Because that’s not going to piss off sponsors or anything. Sony’s already dropped out. Yeah, yeah, wry British humor. But come on. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2010 10:21

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World: Show-off: Mario Vargas Llosa wins Nobel Prize for literature

This Peruvian dude is the first Latin American Nobel Prize winner in literature since 1990. What you’re witnessing now is this guy’s head getting big. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 20:12

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World: Rogue police officers thought about killing Ecuador’s president

  • Remember last week’s near-coup in Ecuador? Apparently, it didn’t go as far as it could have. According to a recording released by the Andes news outlet on Tuesday night, rogue police officers talked about killing President Rafael Correa. “They should kill Correa so this will end,” an unidentified someone said on the recording. “Kill Correa and this demonstration will end.” Is it true? If it is, Correa dodged a bullet – possibly literally. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Oct 2010 20:45

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World: Hungary covered in disgusting red sludge. No, it’s not ketchup.

If you’re attempting to stop a toxic sludgefest, this is the outfit you should wear. Jesus Christ. You’d think a Roger Corman movie broke out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2010 10:10

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Biz, World: In anti-deflation bid, Japan drops its interest rate to around zero

  • 0%-0.1% the interest rate in Japan
  • » Why did they do that? Well, the country has been trying to fight off deflation for a little bit, so their latest plan is to cut inflation down to a near-zero rate to help boost lending. It’s the first time they’ve had a near-zero interest rate since 2006. Hopefully things won’t get worse, though: This is kind of a move of last resort. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2010 23:09

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World: In Pakistan, drones reportedly kill German citizens with extremist ties

  • Do these guys have ties to the European terror threats? That’s our question. Generally, when the U.S. has drones go on the attack in Afghanistan or Pakistan, it takes a couple days to figure out exactly who got hit. This time, however, they knew very quickly. The drones nailed a group that included at least four people with German citizenship and reported extremist ties. Americans are keeping tight-lipped about any further details in the case, but the timing obviously leads to a lot of big questions. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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