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08 Jan 2012 22:01

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Culture: Stephen Hawking turns 70, misses his own birthday speech

Hawking, one of many famous people (Elvis, David Bowie, Kim Jong-Un) to have a birthday today, was recovering from an infection, but pre-recorded the speech ahead of time. He’s turning 70, despite doctors predicting he wouldn’t pass 25. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jan 2012 11:44

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Politics: “No Child Left Behind” turns 10, education experts want to leave it behind

  • It is time to acknowledge this failure and adopt a more effective course for the federal role in education. Policymakers must abandon their faith-based embrace of test-and-punish strategies and, instead, pursue proven alternatives to guide and support the nation’s neediest schools and students.
  • A policy assessment written by Lisa Guisbond, Monty Neill and Bob Schaeffer • Suggesting that No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era education law passed under bipartisan circumstances, should go the way of the dodo. The policy, now seen as an example of ineffective government overreach by many, celebrates its 10th birthday today, and politicians who once supported the law — including Rick Santorum, who voted for it and tried to push an intelligent design amendment into the bill — no longer do. Guisbond, Neill and Schaeffer’s report, which suggests revisiting the law based on the lessons learned from the past decade, is available to read over here. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2011 22:23

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Politics: Happy birthday, Obama. Here’s Romney’s gift. Aww, he shouldn’t have.

  • We’d like to see the gift receipt, please: Centering around a critique of the unemployment rate in Chicago, this ad (“Obama Isn’t Working”) was released the day before President Obama visited his hometown on Wednesday. As Obama will be celebrating his 50th birthday on Thursday, could this be a “present” from Team Romney? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jun 2011 10:37

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Culture: Happy birthday, Cheerios. Our breakfast would suffer without you

  • And the way they’re made is fascinating: Roughly 70 years ago, the country’s most popular brand of cereal (specifically its Honey Nut variation, introduced in 1979) started puffing out of guns at hundreds of miles an hour — so fast that it turns the tiny balls of dough into the tiny little inner tubes that float around in your soy milk every morning. Kix, a fellow healthy cereal, gets made in a similar way. The cereal, notable for its health claims, recently received scrutiny from the FDA, who felt General Mills marketed the oat lumps like a drug. That case is still pending. One case that isn’t pending is the case that Cheerios are awesome. Just sayin’. (photo via Flickr user riebart) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

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 Wales‘ Joe-Millerish mug. Happy birthday, kids, and we’re sorry you’re no longer the most-famous Wiki-leader, Jimmy (friggin’ Julian)! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Oct 2010 11:26

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Music: Yoko: John Lennon would TOTALLY use Twitter to protest war

  • 99% of the world is taking a stand against wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. John would have done that but he’d have loved the new communication media. He would have been writing statements and sending them out to the world as a blogger and a tweeter.
  • Yoko Ono • Suggesting that John Lennon, who would’ve been 70 today, would have used Twitter to protest the Iraq war. Dude did that silly bed-in thing to protest the Vietnam War, so why not? “When we did our bed-ins for peace against Vietnam the world just laughed at us,” she said. Ono, by the way, is getting up there – right now, she’s 77, though her interviewer says she doesn’t look a day over 50. Here’s the REAL question: Would Lennon put up with the crap over their albums not getting on iTunes? Seems like he wouldn’t. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2010 11:12

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Politics: Happy birthday Charlie Rangel! Ethics trials are good presents

  • Strangely enough, some guests can’t attend his party. Rangel, who turns 80 today, plans to have a $200-a-plate dinner gala tonight, with the proceeds going to Rangel’s ethics-stained reelection campaign. He has invited a number of political bigwigs who may or may not show up – including Bill Clinton (can’t make it), David Paterson (not confirmed), Charles Schumer (not confirmed) and Michael Bloomberg (not confirmed). Worst of all, the night’s entertainment, Aretha Franklin, can’t make it either, due to a rib injury. The 20-term congressman recently made a passionate speech about his plight. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 May 2010 10:03

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About: Taking the weekend off: Something about a birthday or something

  • Here’s the problem. Ernie wanted to take the weekend off because he was turning 29 on Sunday and wanted a break, and asked Julius to cover for him. Unfortunately, Julius assumed that since Ernie was taking the weekend off, he could too. He’s a pretty lazy robot. Anyway, so we’re taking a break for the weekend. We’re going to use this time to think for alternatives to Lala, now that Apple has left us high and dry. Back Monday. Peace.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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