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17 Mar 2011 14:41

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World: Some uninspiring anecdotes on Japan’s nuclear record

  • one A Japanese nuclear plant had its workers mix uranium by hand in buckets, instead of using machines as it was supposed to. This somewhat predictably exposed hundreds to increased radiation, and two later died.
  • two Kei Sugaoka, now in California, used to be a plant engineer. He recalls being told to cut out video of the plant’s steam-leaking pipes before sending it for review. He told this to TEPCO, but no action was taken until he went public. source

17 Jun 2010 11:12

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Tech: YouTube adds video-editing, the final piece of its viral puzzle

  • The worst part of uploading video to YouTube wasn’t the uploading itself, but the editing. It took time to edit and forced you to use a separate interface and separate program. Cloud-friendly Google couldn’t just let this happen, right? So, now, they’ve finally added video-editing to the site, making it significantly more useful for regular users who want to take their Flip or iPhone 4 videos and throw them on the Web quickly. source

26 Aug 2009 01:35

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Tech: Poll: Wikipedia’s about to limit edits to the site. Should they?

  • It’s for the common good or something. The New York Times reported yesterday that that big, crazy experiment in knowledge, Wikipedia, is about to make some big changes to its policy. Within a few weeks, the user-edited encyclopedia will have an extra layer of editing for articles on living people – a volunteer with a lot of time on their hands will approve each edit. It’s not too unlike what they do for really popular articles like Britney Spears or Barack Obama, except expanded to EVERY living person. What do you think – is this a road they should go down? Vote above. source

31 Jul 2009 19:32

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Culture: On Judd Apatow’s “Funny People”: Dude needs to cut his stuff

  • Sandler’s George Simmons is a guy who, when fate offers him the chance to be a good person, chooses to be funny instead. Judd Apatow’s problem is just the opposite; he could be the funniest director in Hollywood if he stopped being such a good guy.
  • Slate columnist Dana Stevens • In a review of “Funny People” where she argues that while the film is good, director Judd Apatow has problems with the way he’s approached Hollywood in the wake of his success – the number of producer credits (on films of varying quality), the way he brings an all-inclusive feel to his productions – which are fairly clear in the film. Apatow doesn’t want to cut from the flick, so he didn’t, creating a good but overlong movie in need of editing (especially in the last half hour). The overall reviews lean that way too. It has a 61% on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than his previous directorial efforts. • source