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17 Jan 2012 20:48

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Culture: Marketing experts: Paula Deen’s diabetes switch-up a weird branding choice

  • I think it’s completely gross that Paula Deen made $$$ pushing food that makes you sick and will now make $$$ pushing the medication for it.
  • Twitter user @BradWalsh • Discussing TV chef Paula Deen’s decision to announce that she suffers from diabetes — and at the same time using the opportunity to play spokeswoman for a major diabetes drug company, Novo Nordisk AS. Branding experts think this is an poor way to handle the issue. “It’s a big change to expect consumers to buy into,” said Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor New York. We’re with the branding dude. It’s as if she’s trying to reboot herself because she’s in a corner. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jan 2012 11:21

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Politics: Wisconsin: Scott Walker could face a recall very freaking soon, guys

  • 540,208 signatures gathered source
  • » That’s way more than enough, but … In a huge sign of support for the unions that suffered greatly at the hands of Scott Walker, over half a million signatures were gathered against the Wisconsin governor. The signatures, which will get submitted to the state’s Government Accountability Board today, could be enough to force a recall election against the governor just over a year into his term. However, it’s important to keep in mind that gubernatorial recall elections are rare, and have only succeeded twice in U.S. history. The most recent, though, was the 2003 recall of Gray Davis in California, so it’s certainly not unprecedented in the modern political climate for a governor to lose a recall election. But will there be an opponent formidable enough to defeat Scott? Maybe Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost against Walker in 2010 but knows a thing or two about coming back strong after getting his butt kicked.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2012 11:50

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Biz: Zappos nailed by security breach, millions of customers affected

  • 24 million customers affected by a major security breach source
  • » A consumer-focused brand suffers: A data breach with far-reaching implications, this couldn’t have happened to a better company. Anyone who’s ever bought shoes from Zappos knows the company has a rep for doing whatever it can to make the customer happy. “We’ve spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers,” wrote Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. “It’s painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident.” According to the company, sensitive data, including the last four digits of customers’ credit card numbers, may have been acquired in the cyber attack.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2012 10:13

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U.S.: Penn State: Joe Paterno clears the record in first interview since firing

  • I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was. So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.
  • Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno • Speaking to the Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins about the situation with Jerry Sandusky — the first interview he’s given since leaving the school. Paterno’s firing (after a 61-year career) came late at night, under rushed circumstances. Since then, Paterno has fought a variety of health issues, including cancer and a broken pelvis, but agreed to the interview in an attempt to clear the record. Among other notable things in the interview: Paterno encouraged Sandusky to retire at an early age because he was spending too much time with the Second Mile foundation at the cost of football; and when told by assistant coach Mike McQueary that something was amiss, he said he “didn’t feel adequate” to deal with the issue, so he handed it off to superiors. And he was lost in terms of handling it further, afraid that he might mess something up by exerting too much influence one way or another. “In hindsight, I wish I had done more,” he said. Officials say that Paterno has no legal liability in the case, and that he worked with officials the whole way through. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2012 00:23

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World: UN’s Ban Ki-moon gets tough against Assad’s handling of Syrian conflict

“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence, stop killing your people,” the UN Secretary General said Sunday. “The path of repression is a dead end.” There’s no misinterpreting that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2012 23:26

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Politics: Peace out, Jon: Three reasons Huntsman’s quitting the race

  • Great for the general election. Not so great for the primaries. Jon Huntsman was long the odd man out in the 2012 election, the guy with just enough support in most polls to show up at most of the debates, but never enough to be the focus of them. While his politics found fans (particularly his early pro-science stance, which stood out from the rest of the GOP and he later flip-flopped on), he was attempting to be the un-cola in a year when every other candidate in the race was trying to prove exactly how conservative they were. Huntsman will end his campaign Monday (a day after winning an endorsement from The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper) and will offer his support to Mitt Romney, a guy he didn’t hide his animosity towards. Here’s why:
  • one Huntsman never faced the kinds of controversy that faced Mitt Romney or Ron Paul did, he did face skepticism from the conservatives that he needed to impress during the season’s primaries. They skewed right; he skewed moderate.
  • two His most recent job was the U.S. ambassador to China, giving him three negative marks: One, he was a foreign affairs candidate in a campaign focused on the economy, he worked under Obama, and it gave some on the right xenophobic fodder.
  • three Perhaps the most damaging? He put all of his eggs in one basket — New Hampshire — in hopes he’d pull out a squeaker which he could build on. And his third-place showing was not enough to set that long-term momentum. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2012 10:05

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Tech: SOPA fight leaning towards opponents, as Rupert Murdoch’s feed suggests

  • So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.
  • Rupert Murdoch • Posting on Twitter yesterday afternoon about the Obama administration’s stance on SOPA, which discouraged the bill in its current form. CNET’s Greg Sandoval says that Murdoch’s reaction is a strong sign that the entertainment industry is starting to lose the battle, with a key provision of PIPA and SOPA — which involved the DNS system — getting removed from both acts. Murdoch, meanwhile, was quick to rip Google for what he perceived as their strong influence on the White House statement: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said on Twitter. On the plus side, at least Rupe isn’t making gambling jokes that could be misinterpreted. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2012 10:54

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World: Like a scene from Titanic: Deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship crash

  • “Have you seen ‘Titanic?’ That’s exactly what it was.” The Italian cruiseliner that went aground near the coast of Tuscany on Friday evoked a deadly situation that, to say the least, harkened back to that fateful incident. The Costa Concordia crashed on the tiny island of Giglio, forcing a tip-over that killed three and left nearly 70 others unaccounted for. The ship had a very chaotic, disorganized evacuation — putting roughly 4,200 people in danger — partly because the crew delayed the evacuation drill until days after the cruiseliner started moving. The ship was supposed to have an evacuation drill on Saturday, despite the fact that some had been on the ship for several days. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2012 10:33

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Politics: Why Obama wants Congress to allow him to merge federal agencies

  • what President Obama plans to ask Congress for the right to merge together a number of sprawling trade and commerce agencies with somewhat similar purposes.
  • why It’s an effort to cut resources and minimize overlap, and the move would save $3 billion over 10 years. The election-year timing is also a consideration for Obama. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2012 09:43

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World: Two years later, Haiti continues its slow march towards recovery

  • Where does haiti stand after the deadly 2010 quake? While about $15 billion of aid money is still missing in Haiti, progress is still being made. “Recovery is here. It is painfully slow, it is agonizing to watch, but it is recovery,” said Harvard professor Paul Farmer. He has spent three decades in Haiti and is opening a new hospital. Big factories could also stimulate the country’s economy, creating 20,000 jobs at just one plant. Progress can also be measured somewhat superficially; HuffPo “Good News” writer Cameron Sinclair finds the silver lining in other ways. He noted the lesser-but-still-positive positives of Haiti, such as its fast WiFi and rich history. (Perhaps that’s looking too hard in the forest to see trees, but y’know.) So, while recovery is still being sought after, it is still coming. And in some ways, it is already here. (Photo by Ken Cedeno / The Washington Post) source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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