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30 Sep 2011 11:05

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Culture: Michelle Obama shops at Target: Today in things that suprise nobody

  • It is not uncommon for the First Lady to slip out to run an errand, eat at a local restaurant or otherwise enjoy the city outside the White House gates.
  • Michelle Obama’s communications director, Kristina Schake • Stating the obvious in the wake of the AP getting a photo of her shopping at Target. To which we say: Duh. Do you think she spends all of her time just hanging out at the White House all day? She’d go crazy. Heh. Most people don’t, however, need plainclothes Secret Service agents to enter the Target half an hour ahead of them just so they can go shopping. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Sep 2011 10:44

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World: Three reasons Anwar al-Awlaki’s assassination is a major development

  • We could say all sorts of things about Anwar al-Awlaki, but we’ll let this Yemeni official say them for us: “He’s the most dangerous man in Yemen. He’s intelligent, sophisticated, Internet-savvy, and very charismatic. He can sell anything to anyone, and right now he’s selling jihad.” A high-profile get for the United States, the al-Qaeda recruiter was killed during an ongoing bombing campaign coordinated with Yemen. Obama is expected to speak on al-Awlaki’s death soon. Why is this such a big deal? Here’s a breakdown:
  • one Anwar al-Awlaki was considered one of al-Qaeda’s top recruiters and had been highly sought after by both American and Yemeni officials for years.
  • two Al-Awlaki was also internet-savvy, using his fluent English and Web presence to draw recruits. Experts say this is a future model for terror recruitment.
  • three Despite his pedigree as a internet-savvy spiritual leader, al-Awlaki was also a U.S. citizen, meaning some see civil rights issues in this situation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 23:15

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Offbeat: Ig Nobel prize: From bladders to wasabi, dubious science celebrated

  • When people reach a point when they are in so much pain they just can’t stand it anymore, it was like being drunk. The ability to hold information was really impaired.
  • Ig Nobel Prize-winning scientist Peter Snyder • Describing his team’s findings — that really having to use the bathroom creates an effect on drivers similar to driving drunk or on limited sleep — at the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony Thursday. Snyder’s bladder-busting team (who won for medicine) was only one of many to get awarded for their weird or dubious honors, including that crazy Lithuanian mayor who used a tank to prove his point about illegal parking (he won the Ig Nobel Peace Prize), a Norwegian group that produced a useless study on sighing (psychology), and a group of Japanese researchers who created a fire alarm that uses the smell of wasabi as its key alarm agent (chemistry). All in all, a pretty Ig Nobel night. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 22:46

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U.S.: California inmates hunger strike en masse … for the second time

  • first Roughly 6,600 prisoners went on a hunger strike in California, protesting the rough conditions due to lack of human contact. Officials said they would review their procedures.
  • then Officials reviewed their procedures, and decided, well, maybe there’s something to this whole prisoner-treatment thing, and said they would make changes.
  • now They haven’t done enough: Roughly 4,200 inmates haven’t eaten since Monday, despite the threat of punishment for inmates on hunger strikes. source
  • » Treating “gang members” differently: Many of the concerns the prisoners have with their treatment revolve around the fact that they were put into fairly extreme prison cells, designed to limit human contact, due to their perceived affiliation with gangs. One of the ways they can get out involves a process called “debriefing,” where the prisoner renounces his gang affiliation and discloses information about possible members — which has the effect of putting the prisoner directly in danger. Activists consider this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t approach to handling prisoners akin to torture. “These are inhumane conditions designed to extract information from someone,” noted Carol Strickman of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an activist group.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 22:13

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U.S.: Flyin’ no more: Boeing plant targeted in prescription drug bust

  • 23 people were arrested for selling painkillers such as Oxycontin, or anti-anxiety drugs, at the plant
  • 14 people were arrested for attempting to buy said drugs at the plant in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania source
  • » More serious due to nature of the job: With the 6,000-strong plant producing such military aircraft as the V-22 Osprey vertical take-off aircraft and the H-47 Chinook helicopter, officials took extra care with this drug ring. “This investigation and prosecution focused not only on the sellers, but also on the users because of the critical role that these employees play in manufacturing military aircraft,” noted U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. Officials say that the quality of the aircraft was not affected by the drug ring, and that current and former employees were arrested.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 18:12

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Tech: Amazon Silk getting privacy complaints: Why this is pretty bunk

  • This makes Amazon like your ISP. Every site, everything you do online [through Silk] will go through Amazon. That’s a new role for someone like them, and I don’t think it’s at all clear that Amazon can step into that, or that it will be apparent to consumers.
  • Center for Democracy & Technology spokesperson Aaron Brauer-Rieke • Offering up this claim that Amazon will use Silk, which Amazon claims will help speed up Web sites on the Amazon Kindle Fire, as a tracking tool. To that, we say this: Are you guys familiar with this Web browser called Opera Mini? It’s not as common as it once was, but for people using old-school phones, it was a bit of a lifesaver. It made the Motorola Razr, for example, a far more usable phone for surfing the Web, due to the way it handles content — through the company’s own servers, which cleared out all the extra stuff and sped up the sites you were downloading. Sound familiar? It’s exactly what Amazon Silk claims to do. Not buying this whole privacy argument. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 15:51

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World: Fighting rages in Sirte, Libyan NTC reclaims airport

  • Dangerous times for civilians in Sirte: The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) has regained control of the Sirte airport, amidst fighting throughout the city. The airport had been under NTC control previously, but two weeks ago loyalists of deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi (who was born in Sirte) recaptured it. Gaddafi loyalists have reportedly used rockets and sniper fire to fend off the NTC’s assaults on the city. Some of Sirte’s 100,000 residents have chosen to flee, as attacks by both sides pose fatal risks to the civilian population. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 11:28

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World: U.S. ambassador to Syria pelted with tomatoes, stones in protest

You might remember the assault against U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford, who’s been critical of Assad’s regime, from about a month ago. That one didn’t involve stones and tomatoes. This one did. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 10:50

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Biz: Here’s another good-sounding economic story … with a catch

  • 1.3% the increase in U.S. gross domestic product in the second quarter, based on updated final numbers
  • 0.3% the improvement in that number from the initial estimates from the April-to-June quarter source
  • » Such evocative language in the source story: But before you get too excited about those three-tenths of one percent, just keep in mind the text that AFP used here: “The better-than-expected figure is unlikely to have a major impact on confidence in the enfeebled US economy, but tints the backdrop in a slight less gloomy hue.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 10:32

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Biz: Jobless claims fall to super-low level … but there’s a catch

  • good news Weekly jobless claims reached their lowest level in nearly six months, which seems like it’s a cause to celebrate, especially since it greatly beat analysts’ estimates. On the surface, it seems like a cause for dancing in the streets, folks.
  • catch However … the Labor Department claims that report is off because of some sort of weird anomaly regarding the calendar, making it harder to seasonally-adjust the numbers. So, things are still crappy for the workforce. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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