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

19 Dec 2011 01:04

tags

World: Three things you didn’t know about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2011 20:31

tags

World: Czech Republic peace icon Vaclav Havel, on becoming a dissident

  • You do not become a ‘dissident’ just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.
  • Former Czech Republic leader Vaclav Havel • Writing in his 1978 essay, “Power of the Powerless,” about his dissident status in the former Czechoslovakia, a status he eventually broke free from after he rose to become the country’s leader. Not that he took a particularly normal path to the top — before he became a noted peace activist and political leader, he was a playwright whose works were banned in his own country following the 1968 Soviet invasion of the then-Czechoslovakia. Havel died Sunday at 75. He’s a figure that should’ve had a bigger international profile. Perhaps he’ll gain one now that his life has hit the history books. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2011 11:33

tags

World: Filipinos struggle to recover after deadly tropical storm

  • I called him, and he said in a very quiet voice, ‘The water is up to our stomachs, and we can’t get out. The current outside is strong.’ After that, the phone went dead.
  • Iligan, Philippines resident Mary Ann Melancio • Talking about the heavy flooding that may have led to the death of a co-worker and his family on Saturday. Sunday, after she and her co-workers tried to find them, they were greeted by a dim scene: “We walked back to our place and could see the bodies of dead people and animals along the road. I have never seen a tragedy like this in my life.” Officials say that 652 have died in the weekend’s flooding caused by Tropical Storm Washi, and another 800 are missing. Roughly 35,000 people are in evacuation centers as a result of the storm, which left heavy flooding in its wake. Rescue efforts are ongoing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2011 11:20

tags

Politics: So … who’s paying for the payroll tax cut, anyway? Homeowners

  • $17 per month charges on new homeowners’ mortgages source
  • » Those who refinance will feel the pinch, too: To help pay for the $33 billion cost of the extended-by-two-months payroll tax cut, the federal government will increase the cost for homeowners to get their homes insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who currently back nine out of ten home mortgages in the U.S. The fee, currently around 0.3 percentage points, would jump by 0.1 percentage points, which translates to roughly $17 per month for most homeowners. However, this fee would not affect current homeowners unless they refinance starting next year. Is this the best way to handle the extension?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2011 11:03

tags

World: Piers Morgan’s tabloid past haunting his TV host present

  • So heartwarming that everyone in U.K.’s missing me so much they want me to come home.
  • CNN host Piers Morgan • Joking earlier this year in regards to allegations he faces over possible involvement in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Morgan, a former tabloid newspaper editor who’s built a second life as a TV host, will take part, via video-link, in a judicial inquiry into the alleged practices of “News of the World” and other British tabloids. Morgan’s past could come to haunt him in the future. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2011 10:27

tags

U.S.: Horrific elevator attack: Woman set on fire by man she allegedly knew

  • In these screenshots shown above, the suspect in this deadly attack is shown dousing a woman with gasoline and lighting a Molotov cocktail, which he then threw at the victim. According to authorities (who haven’t released the identity of the man or the motive in the attack), the man knew 74-year-old new york city, nyc, nyc elevators, nyc elevator attack, Molotov cocktail, firebombing attack, Deloris Gillespie, and was waiting for her when her elevator came down. He then ambushed her. The man walked into a police station Saturday night, reeking of gasoline, and implicated himself in the horrific death. Awful situation all around. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2011 10:14

tags

Tech: Sprint, amid controversy, plans to shut off Carrier IQ software

  • 26 million number of phones Sprint had sold that used Carrier IQ’s software, the company revealed Thursday
  • zero number of phones that will have the feature enabled from here on out, the company said Friday source
  • » Killing a major headache: With public scrutiny going against them, Sprint, the largest user of Carrier IQ, has decided that the public relations cost was too much, according to a statement released Friday: “We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected. At Sprint, we work hard to earn the trust of our customers and believe this course of action is in the best interest of our business and customers.” Really, though, the problem is that they enabled it in the first place.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2011 01:29

tags

Politics: Unlikely pensioner of the week: Rick Perry is “retired” … kinda

  • $150k the amount in salary Rick Perry has made from being governor in 2011
  • $7,698 the amount perry has made monthly since his pension kicked in
  • $240kthe amount he bumped his income to with the maneuver source
  • » All the benefits of retirement and working! Rick Perry is 61 years old, and for most people, that’s closing in on retirement age. However, Perry is running for president, and could still be the guy to beat (you never know). But with his military and government service, he was able to score his pension now, according to the state’s Employee Retirement System. He has no regrets: “That’s been in place for decades. … I don’t find that to be out of the ordinary,” Perry said. “ERS called me and said, ‘Listen, you’re eligible to access your retirement now with your military time and your time and service, and I think you would be rather foolish to not access what you’ve earned.’” Is the move off-key considering the fact that he’s a noted critic of entitlement programs?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Dec 2011 21:39

tags

U.S.: “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore gets time in prison, shoes

  • 7 years in prison for a bizarre, lengthy, name-building crime spree source
  • » At least he got a movie deal, right? Over two years and a reign of terror that stemmed from an extremely poor childhood, Colton Harris-Moore built a reputation as a folk hero who stole food, broke into vacation homes, taught himself how to fly … and for the kicker, stole planes. The Washington resident’s run from the law ended in the Bahamas, where he crashed a plane into a swamp and was arrested in a gunfire-heavy scene. His sentence was fairly weak, considering the circumstances. “I can see why people are sympathetic to him,” Island County, Wash. Prosecutor Greg Banks, who was content with the verdict, said. “It’s still a significant amount of time for someone who’s never been in the adult system.” Sounds like it’ll make a great movie.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Dec 2011 21:13

tags

Politics: Worst compromise ever: Democrats get slight payroll tax cut extension

  • deal The Democrats, after much pushing, got through a modest two-month extension of the payroll tax cuts which Republicans had long fought against. This sounds like a pretty crappy victory.
  • compromise However … it came at a cost: Democrats had to give up on their plan to tax millionaires, and Obama has to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. Wow, they sure twisted the GOP’s arm! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>