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

06 Dec 2011 10:59

tags

U.S.: Mine company pays penalties over deadly West Virginia mine blast

  • $209 million the amount Massey Energy’s parent, Alpha Natural Resources, will pay in penalties over the 2010 mine blast
  • $47 millionthe amount that will go to individual families and those injured in the deadly blast source
  • » The mine blast killed 29 miners: One of the first things that became clear after last year’s deadly West Virginia mine blast was that the company in charge of the mine, Massey Energy, did a very poor job of following regulatory standards. This is their punishment. While the company will avoid getting prosecuted as a result of this settlement, individual Massey executives could face prosecution as part of the agreement. Does the punishment reflect the crime?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Dec 2011 10:24

tags

U.S.: Bernie Fine accuser admits to sexually abusing boy himself

  • The only thing that transpired was the same stuff that happened to me. This kid has been through a lot because of the way I controlled him and abused him.
  • Bernie Fine accuser Zach Tomaselli • Admitting to the Associated Press that, years after he says former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine sexually abused him, he did the same thing to another young boy. Fortunately, Tomaselli says that he’s getting help and realizes the error of his way. The revelations came out as a result of the case that Tomaselli is involved in — which will likely lead to a plea bargain for as much as three years in jail and a spot on the sex offenders’ registry — and his lawyer’s attempt to suppress the confession from the press. However, Tomaselli came clean, because he said he was “sick of hiding behind my attorney.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Dec 2011 00:29

tags

U.S.: Storytelling through acronyms: A top bureaucrat’s bad weekend

  • FAA the head of this agency received a …
  • DUI while driving in the area nicknamed the …
  • DMV D.C., Maryland and Virginia corridor source
  • » At least he wasn’t flying while drunk, right? After being a pilot for Eastern Airlines for 25 years, Randy Babbitt became the Federal Aviation Administration’s head in 2009. This weekend, he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road in Fairfax, Va. He has since asked for a leave of absence from his office.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Dec 2011 00:04

tags

World: Afghanistan: We need foreign aid for at least twelve more years

  • Your continued solidarity, your commitment and support will be crucial so that we can consolidate our gains and continue to address the challenges that remain.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai • Thanking those who pledged their support of Afghanistan during an event on Monday, in which representatives from about 100 nations and international groups met on Monday to discuss the continued financial support of the war-torn country through 2024. Foreign troops plan to exit the country by 2014, but the country will need financial help building and sustaining its own security forces. The nations there offered support — but only on the condition that the next stages in the country avoids violence and terrorism, supports the constitution, and continues to build a positive human rights record. Absent from the meeting was Pakistan, who boycotted the United States’ presence after a deadly, controversial border attack last month.  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 23:39

tags

World: Who’s the newest planet on the universe block?

  • It’s our baby brother! Remember the name “Kepler-22b”. Its surface temperature is a balmy 72 degrees; it orbits a star that is very similar to our sun; its year is even close to ours — 290 days. Don’t worry just yet, though, as scientists haven’t fully discovered what makes up its surface. But “the planet would likely be warm enough to host liquid water on its surface.” The scientists on the study are “getting really close, we are really homing in on the true Earth-sized habitable planets.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 21:44

tags

Tech: Facebook’s Gowalla buyout was for the talent, not the company

  • While Facebook isn’t acquiring the Gowalla service or technology, we’re sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time.
  • A statement from Facebook • Basically emphasizing that they bought out Gowalla’s staff, not its service. It apparently was a marriage of mutual ambition: “It became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together,” said Gowalla CEO Josh Williams. The statements effectively play into what many have figured about the Gowalla team — they’re a very good company at design, but ultimately, their product was an also-ran in the market, one increasingly surpassed by Foursquare. They shouldn’t feel bad, though — Facebook was an also-ran at location-sharing, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 19:58

tags

World: S&P could downgrade Euro countries’ credit ratings, because they’re no fun

  • 15 number of European countries S&P put on “creditwatch negative,” meaning that there’s a 50/50 chance of an upcoming downgrade; all use the Euro as currency
  • two number of countries that didn’t get the Euro which didn’t receive the downgrade — Cyprus (which already is “creditwatch negative”) and Greece (which is Greece) source
  • » A serious dent in the stock market’s mood: Earlier in the day, things were looking up — France and Germany, the two responsible parents of the region, pushed a new treaty to convince the rest of the region to shape up, and Italy’s Mario Monti made a good impression on investors by introducing a sweeping austerity plan in the country over the weekend — but the S&P decision sucked the life out of the room. It’s not the first time S&P has played the heavy, either.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 15:09

tags

Politics: Trump-moderated debate gets first RSVP

  • YES Santorum will attend the Donald Trump debate source
  • » That makes it a Santorum-Gingrich affair. No one else has RSVP’d yet; Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman have both declined the invite, and Karl Rove, who has a bit of influence in Republican circles, has discouraged all the other candidates from attending. Gingrich said he’ll be going “just for the entertainment value,” which is, well, strange.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 14:29

tags

Politics: Pelosi claims to have “a thousand pages” of dirt on Gingrich

  • I know a lot about [Newt Gingrich]. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.
  • Nancy Pelosi • Giddy at the prospect of Gingrich being the Republican nominee for president. She said she’ll give more details “when the time’s right” which, we can only assume, means “if Gingrich wins the nomination.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2011 14:15

tags

Politics: Gingrich leads in Iowa…but so what?

  • 8 points Newt Gingrich’s  (average) lead in Iowa, one month before the caucuses
  • 73% historical win record (in Iowa) of presidential candidates who lead one month out. However…
  • 40% historical win record of candidates, like Gingrich, who only lead by single-digits source
  • » The point here isn’t that Gingrich won’t win. It’s that that attempting to predict election results based on polls is tricky, and remains tricky even when you factor in historical precedent. To drive the point home even further: Ronald Reagan led in Iowa polls by about 9 points a month prior to the caucuses. He ended up losing (to his future VP, George H.W. Bush), but then ultimately came back to win the nomination, making his Iowa loss more or less irrelevant. Every election has its own quirks and nuances; Gingrich is looking good in Iowa right now, no doubt, but so was Herman Cain before him, and Rick Perry before him, and Michele Bachmann before him.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>