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07 Feb 2012 01:35

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U.S.: Earthquake drills: Millions remember New Madrid by hiding under desks

  • 2.2 million people in eight states to participate in a “ShakeOut” source
  • » Get ready Tuesday morning: In honor of Missouri’s earthquake awareness month and timed in honor of the New Madrid Earthquake, millions will take part in a giant earthquake drill that starts at 10:15 CST. Will you take part? You never know when another earthquake might hit.

26 Apr 2011 14:03

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World: Health effects of Chernobyl disaster still hard to quantify

  • Chernobyl at 25: Today marks 25 years since Chernobyl blew up, plagued as it was by a mixture of poor decision-making by its chief operator, Anatoly Diatlov, as well as a critically flawed reactor design. All these years later, officials and experts still debate the health effects resulting from the crisis; the UN concluded about 6,000 youths would/have suffered thyroid cancer as a result, while other scientists and organizations insist the magnitude of the problem is much greater, in the tens of thousands. Now, the containment sarcophagus around Chernobyl is decaying, to boot, so the building of “the shelter,” an enormous arch that would cover the entire plant, becomes more important than ever for the surrounding areas. source

20 Jan 2011 13:54

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Tech: Wikipedia celebrates a decade, gets animated

  • It’s hard to believe it’s already ten years old: Wikipedia has been with us for a while now, and over its decade lifespan it has left an indelible mark on the culture of online information. We’ll let this beautifully animated video take it from here (thanks Simon Owens of Bloggasm).

16 Jan 2011 11:37

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Culture: Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia’s future: We’ll make it easier to edit

  • We have to support our old power users because they build the site. But we also need to have a ramp for new users.
  • Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales • Explaining the the encyclopedia’s next move, as it celebrated its tenth anniversary, involved simplifying its complex editing process. “If you click edit and you see some Wiki syntax and some bizarre table structure — a lot of people are literally afraid,” he explained. “They’re good people and they don’t want to break something.” This would be the probable next step for the site to expand its audience from 400 million to what Wales hopes is 1 billion by 2015. Despite this, the organization has no plans to change its model, which involves fundraising, usually involving Jimmy WalesJoe-Millerish mug. Happy birthday, kids, and we’re sorry you’re no longer the most-famous Wiki-leader, Jimmy (friggin’ Julian)! source

05 Dec 2010 10:34

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Culture: Pearl Harbor, in train form (minus the bombs … and the island)

Pearl Harbor happened in Hawaii, on an island. Yesterday, near Los Angeles, on a train … they tried to relive the moment, complete with actors. Fascinating. source

19 Sep 2010 10:48

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World: In Thailand, the Red Shirts are back, albeit more peacefully

The protesters – at least 10,000 of them – were back to mark the anniversary of the bloodless coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. source

13 Sep 2010 10:16

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Tech: Now you feel old: Super Mario Bros. turns 25 today

  • Happy birthday, brah! 25 years ago today, the greatest video game of any generation, “Super Mario Bros.” was released upon the world. With its iconic imagery (which is still often a target of parody and admiration today) and its trendsetting gameplay, pretty much any game with even a minor dash of depth to it owes something to “Super Mario Bros.” for proving it was possible. Still one of our favorite things about life in general. source
 

11 Sep 2010 10:44

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U.S.: Nine years later: Politics kept out of 9/11 remembrance ceremony

Suggestion to everybody: Keep the politics out of it today, just like they did. Nobody wants to hear about it. We’re personally collectively sick of it. source

29 Aug 2010 20:34

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U.S.: Obama says that he’ll work harder for Katrina victims

Here’s Obama speaking at Xavier University today. He said that he hopes that Katrina’s legacy after five years can be “not one of neglect, but of action.” source

20 Aug 2010 11:30

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World: UK to Libya: Don’t celebrate the Lockerbie Bomber’s release

  • Any celebration of Megrahi’s release will be tasteless, offensive and deeply insensitive to the victims’ families. We have made our concerns clear to the Libyan government.
  • A spokeswoman for the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office • Telling Libya very publicly not to celebrate the anniversary of the release of Abedelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber, who was released over seemingly terminal health issues, only to live the entire year after his release. As you might imagine, it’s a sore spot for the British. source