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22 Feb 2012 21:16

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Tech: Crazy but true: Google wants to be your cable TV provider in Kansas City

  • then In May 2011, Google made Kansas City, Missouri the second location of their highly-sought-after Fiber Project. The deal? A reasonably-priced one gigabyte-per-second fiber optic internet connection for roughly 50,000 to 500,000 people. Google: Your internet company.
  • now Google just filed for a video franchise license with the Missouri Public Service Commission. Reports claim Google will do something similar in Kansas next week — suggesting Google’s ready to tackle Time Warner Cable on the television front, too. source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2012 16:17

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Tech: Storify comes to the iPad: Full story curation, at your fingertips

  • “Whether you’re at a conference or at home … you now have storytelling at your fingertips.” Storify co-founder & CEO Xavier Damman’s totally psyched about bringing his popular online story-telling tool to the iPad. While Storify, which pulls content from a variety of social networks, does not contain all the functionality of it’s Internet-based counterpart, the team at Storify is confident that they’ve successfully migrated the core Storify experience to iOS. The team also added an additional function not found on the Storify website: The ability to tweet, inside the app, while creating a story. Have you tried it yet? source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2012 15:48

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Politics: Meet the billionaires funding the 2012 Republican primary season

  • five donors find themselves in the spotlight: Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, casino moguls Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, Paypal co-founder (and Facebook investor) Peter Thiel, and Houston home-builder Bob Perry
  • $30.4 million donated by the five people, the largest donations going to the Super PACs Winning Our Future and Endorse Liberty; however, American Crossroads leads the pack with $15 million collected source
  • » A massive financial mind share: That’s almost $1 out of every $4 collected by all super PACs this election cycle, and certainly seems to explain exactly how we ended up with the remaining crop of Republican candidates that we have. Bob Perry is a former Tim Pawlenty supporter who switched to Team Romney with a $1 million dollar donation, while the Adelsons — who are ready to boost their support for Winning The Future from $10 million to $20 million — have provided the lifeblood of the Gingrich campaign. Of the remaining four candidates, only Rick Santorum finds himself without support, via Super PAC donations, from one of these five wealthy conservatives.
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2012 14:06

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Politics: Congressman wants to take away TSA’s spare change … literally

  • $409,085 in change left in 2010 source
  • » But where does it all go? Since 2005, Congress has allowed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to use forgotten money left behind by passengers as part of their operating budget, although the agency says it works hard to return the money left by passengers. But a new proposal in the House of Representatives, introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), would change that. Miller’s proposal would send all forgotten monies, collected by the TSA, to the USO instead, and may expand the bill to include higher value items like sunglasses, cameras, and computers. He’s convinced that taxpayers and travelers alike would both prefer it this way. But we’re wondering, what do YOU think of this new plan?
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2012 11:33

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World: Deadly Argentina train station crash kills dozens, injures hundreds

  • 40+ people reported killed in a train crash at Buenos Aries’ busy Once station, a major terminus
  • 550+ people reported injured in the crash, blamed on a brake failure which happened during rush hour source
  • » The second major crash in six months: In September, another major crash on Argentina’s rail lines killed seven and injured 214 as a train crashed into a bus. This crash sounds even worse, with word that many are still stuck in debris awaiting rescue. More as we get it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2012 11:01

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Politics: Corporate tax rates: Where Obama and the GOP agree, and where they differ

  • 32% the current corporate tax rate in the U.S., which many companies lower by using tax loopholes, leading to an extremely complex tax code
  • 28% the rate Obama wants to lower that too, while closing up many of the loopholes in the process, which might lead some companies to pay more
  • 25% the rate the GOP wants to lower it to; closed loopholes would have to be tempered, though, so companies wouldn’t pay any extra source
  • » Revenue-neutral or revenue-raising? The differing views of how the corporate tax policy should be reformed strike at the heart of differing philosophies the two parties have. Both agree on some basics — they’d like to figure out ways to get multinational companies to create jobs in the U.S., for example. “My message is simple: It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America,” Obama said during the State of the Union in January. However, they differ greatly on the ultimate solutions. Do we need to give such big tax breaks to massive oil companies? Democrats say no. Republicans say taxes across the board are too high. We hope they solve this, UFC-style, in “The Octagon.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2012 21:40

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Politics: Chris Christie’s gay friends are cool with him opposing their right to marry

  • My friends, whether they be homosexual or not, know me, and they know that I’m not bigoted.
  • Chris Christie • Regarding his recent veto of a bill that would have legalized gay marriage in New Jersey. Politicians who oppose marriage equality use this defense a lot, because hey, it’s easy to speak on behalf of your unnamed gay friends and say that they’re cool with your anti-gay marriage views. Any of Christie’s gay friends care to come forward and confirm this? source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2012 21:00

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World: Video: What the massive mortars hitting Syrian rebels look like

  • The largest mortars used by the U.S. military are 160mm. The bad boys shown in this video of a torn-apart building in Homs are a much-larger 240mm (according to Human Rights Watch), and can be fired from as far as 20 kilometers away. Where did they get these heavy mortar rounds from? Most likely Russia, which produces the “Tulip” weapons system that fires weapons of this nature. (The towed M240 might also be used in these attacks.) So, to put it simply, Syria is lobbing giant weapons in its fight against the rebel movement. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2012 16:03

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Politics: Polling suggests Romney, Santorum running tight race in Michigan

  • 32% Mitt Romney’s support in Michigan, according to new polling by Mitchell Research/Rosetta Stone
  • 30% Rick Santorum’s support in Michigan, according to the same poll — he had been broadly leading recently source
  • » But the margin of error washes the slate clean. With a possible discrepancy of 4.7%, Romney’s 2-point lead could be a practical tie with his arch-rival of the moment, Rick Santorum. Or Santorum could, in fact, be ahead of Romney. Nonetheless, recent polling provides at least a bit of relief for the Romney camp; Santorum had opened up more impressive polling leads over Romney, but the recent trend seems to show a tightening, at bare minimum. Expect an exciting primary come February 28th; a loss by Romney would be devastating to his chances.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2012 14:51

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Politics: Democrats liken Virginia ultrasound bill to sex crime with bill set to pass

  • Object sexual penetration is a serious sex crime in Virginia. It is very difficult to look at the bill and look at the OSP statute together and think that you are not asking doctors to commit a sex crime. …Consent is a key element in the criminal statute, and there is no consent required in the ultrasound statute.
  • David Englin, Democratic delegate from Virginia • Explaining the new tactic taken by Democrats in Virginia, in their effort against a bill expected to pass the state legislature that could mandate unwanted, penetrative ultrasounds for women seeking abortions. That happening under any other circumstance would, as Englin suggested, be considered a sex crime in Virginia, carrying a prison sentence of five years. The ultrasound mandate in the eyes of its supporters bears no inherent medical relevance, exactly – the logic seems to be to try to dissuade women from having abortions by forcing them to look at their own ultrasounds. The bill is currently opposed by 55% of Virginians, according to recent polling, but is expected to pass the legislature and be signed into law by Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, one of the most conservative governors in the country. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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