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21 Dec 2011 22:41

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Offbeat: KTLA weatherguy walks off during live television

  • Raining on his parade: A weather personality for KTLA Los Angeles stormed off during a live interview after someone back at the station cut his weather segment short.source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2011 11:41

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U.S.: Eight men charged in Chinese-American soldier’s suicide

  • No plea bargaining. There must be a strong message sent that this type of unlawful misconduct cannot be tolerated. … They have to create an atmosphere in which Asian-Americans feel safe.
  • OCA New York chapter president Elizabeth R. OuYang • Discussing the apparent suicide of Pvt. Danny Chen, a Chinese-American soldier found shot to death in a guard tower in Afghanistan. Chen died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, one which may have been precipitated due to hazing by other soldiers. Eight men have been charged in Chen’s death on an array of charges, including manslaughter and negligent homicide. Officials with ties to the Chinese-American community, like OuYang, have pressed for a deeper investigation by Army officials, but the Army has largely remained mum on said investigation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2011 11:04

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U.S.: By witness counts alone, the odds are stacked against Bradley Manning

  • twenty number of witnesses prosecutors called against Bradley Manning, who faces charges of leaking classified information, over a four-day period
  • two number of witnesses the defense called before they said they were done — it took them part of Wednesday morning source
  • » What could happen to Manning? The man who allegedly gave Wikileaks its biggest coup could face the death penalty if convicted in his case — though the Army’s prosecutors have made it clear that they will not ask for that. Among the people who have testified against Manning: Jihrleah Showman, a former team leader of Manning’s who claims he once punched her in the face, and Adrian Lamo, the “grey hat” hacker who gained infamy in some circles for turning Manning in to federal authorities.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2011 10:46

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World: Kim Jong-Un: Fully in charge of the North Korean military

  • He will, however, share power with his uncle … at first. Just before the death of his father was announced Monday, Kim Jong-Un issued his first military order. He told all members of the North Korean military to quit their training exercises and return to their bases. This is a biggish deal because South Korean officials didn’t actually think he was in complete control of the military. Meanwhile, as the country currently has no military strongman, it’s likely that Kim will share power with Jang Song-thaek, the brother-in-law of Kim Jong-Il, and the North Korean military. It’ll be interesting to see what changes in the country’s dynamic after this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 22:47

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Politics: Supervillain? Or Newt Gingrich?

  • “Celebrating our next president’s best ideas:” This wonderful little website presents you with a proposal, and then asks you to guess whether it came from Newt Gingrich, or a supervillain from a movie/comic book/etc. It’s harder than it looks; we follow Gingrich pretty well, and we only scored 50%. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 22:16

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U.S.: Unemployment fell in majority of states last month

  • 43 states have seen a decrease in unemployment since October source
  • » As goes the country, so go the states: Or maybe it’s the other way around? Well, either way, figures released today by the Department of Labor show that unemployment, in addition to falling to its lowest level in two and a half years at the national level, also decreased on a state-by-state basis in all but seven states. This is promising, as it suggests that the uptick in employment is a nationwide trend, and not the result of, say, five or ten states doing abnormally well for one reason or another. Note: The usual disclaimers about the problems with how unemployment is calculated apply.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 21:37

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Culture: Happy would’ve-been 50th birthday, Bill Hicks. Here’s your finest moment.

  • Alright, this makes up for the last post. Bill Hicks, an fearlessly acerbic comedian famous for his brave commentary, would have turned 50 last Friday — had he not died of liver cancer in 1994, at the peak of his popularity. Slate did us a favor and posted his greatest moment, this 1993 “Late Show With David Letterman” routine, which stayed in the vault for 16 years after (according to Hicks himself) CBS balked at his jokes about Christianity. (Which, mind you, are nowhere near as bad as the action made them out to be.) We couldn’t even imagine what sort of brutal jokes he’d make about the current state of reality television, based on his super-dark Billy Ray Cyrus bit at the beginning. Letterman, regretting what happened, aired the performance in 2009, with Hicks’ mother at his side. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 21:05

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Culture: More thoughts on Wesley Durden, TLC and ethics in reality television

  • I understand that a lot goes into putting these shows together, but there has to be a better way to deal with actual reality when it creeps into our reality programs.
  • Tucson Weekly’s Dan Gibson • Offering up a good point on last night’s news that a reality show contestant, Wesley Durden, committed suicide, but the TLC show, “Next Great Baker,” hid it from the audience until he had been eliminated from the program. “They did throw a card up at the end,” Gibson points out, “but this still seems like a series of bad decisions to me and wildly insensitive to the guy’s family and friends, but maybe we’re still all supposed to be upset that the same network runs a show about Muslims or something.” And that, friends, is a great point. Here’s a network that’s getting criticized for the wrong thing: Instead of getting wrongly criticized for airing reality shows about Muslims, they should be getting rightly criticized for their intense focus on ratings in the face of the ethical treatment of the people it puts on its shows. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 20:23

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Politics: Gary Johnson: Exclude me GOP?!? I’m gonna run as a Libertarian, jerks!

After showing up in a grand total of one major debate (in which he made a dog poo joke), the former New Mexico governor will take a stab at running on a third-party ticket. Think he might have a shot? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 19:43

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U.S.: U.S. Government: Don’t let homemade version of bird flu get beyond lab

  • It’s very important research. As this virus evolves in nature, we want to be able to rapidly detect … mutations that may indicate that the virus is getting closer to a form that could cross species lines more readily.
  • National Institute of Health science policy director Dr. Amy Patterson • Discussing a lab-produced version of bird flu that NIH officials have warned should not get out of said labs. The reason? It apparently can spread very easily among mammals — leading to fears that terror groups could get a hold of the virus and use it for biological warfare. Which of course is exactly the kind of thing non-sciencey folks love hearing. The NIH, however, says that releasing reports in scientific journals on the disease could ultimately help us understand more about the disease in the long term. We’re seeing flashbacks of this Dustin Hoffman movie in our heads right now. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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