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

05 Aug 2009 10:22

tags

U.S., World: The Smoking Gun lays the smack down on a prank-call network

  • What is Pranknet? The until-now anonymous network, led by Windsor, Ontario resident Tariq Malik, has been a loose collective of shut-ins, some with criminal records, using Skype and chat networks to commit a campaign of terror on chain businesses – largely restaurants and hotels – around the U.S.
  • The crimes In one case, they caused hotel employees to destroy sprinkler systems, causing $50,000 in damages. In another, they convinced a hotel employee to drink a patron’s urine. Most infamously, they convinced KFC employees to go outside, strip naked and urinate on each other.
  • Take cues from TSGThe mainstream media could learn a lot from The Smoking Gun – which is owned by Time Warner, by the way. Here’s an organization that posts funny mugshots, sure, but then posts these killer investigative pieces full of finished homework that lots of people read. Newspapers, take note. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2009 22:14

tags

World: India’s child prostitution levels are beyond absurdly high

  • 1.2 million Indian children sell their bodies for sex. Disturbing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2009 22:06

tags

Culture: Jay Leno’s in the hospital, not on his crummy talk show

  • 17 years since Jay last missed a chance to be unfunny source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2009 14:46

tags

Culture: The ultimate hype man, Ed McMahon, is in the hospital

  • He’s like 85. It sounds pretty bad. McMahon, that guy who said “Here’s Johnny” about 20,000 times in his life, has been in the hospital for more than three weeks with pneumonia and other medical problems. “Ed’s a big, strong, hearty guy and his family and I are hopeful and optimistic about his prognosis,” said his publicist, Howard Bragman. Still, three weeks is a long time. Pull through, Ed! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2009 21:23

tags

U.S.: Facebook allows the class creep to go to new depths of creepiness

  • It started with Facebook High school student Anthony Stancl of New Berlin, Wisc. (outside of Milwaukee) was arrested recently for a disturbing scheme where he pretended to be a girl on Facebook. Know how they tell you to watch out for sexual predators on MySpace and Facebook? Well, it’s kinda like that, but worse. “She” would allegedly talk to the boys in his class and convince them to send the “girl” naked photos of themselves …
  • It ended with blackmail … which “she” would then use to blackmail the students in question into giving him (not “her”) sexual favors. “She” would threaten to distribute the photos to friends or put them online. He apparently did this a number of times between February 2007 and November of last year, and faces up to 300 years in prison. And now we need to take a shower, because we feel very dirty for writing about this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Jan 2009 10:09

tags

U.S.: Peanut butter, one of our staple foods, is off-limits

  • It’s nuts, but the FDA says no. The Food and Drug Administration has told people, in the wake of a salmonella scare that’s hit 474 people in 43 states (and possibly killed six), not to eat peanut butter for the time being. They want to be sure it didn’t come from the source of the outbreak, Peanut Corp. of America. Sigh. But it’s so good! :( source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2009 17:26

tags

Biz, Tech: Steve Jobs on medical leave? SELL! SELL! SELL!

  • -8% loss in Apple’s stock after the announcement source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Jan 2009 17:22

tags

Biz, Tech: Steve Jobs tries to stop being the distraction

  • Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well.
  • Steve Jobs • in a letter informing his staff that he’s taking a leave of absence from Apple until June. He also learned that his health problems were more complex than once thought. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2009 08:24

tags

U.S.: Tainted peanut butter is a public-safety issue

  • We felt it was important to get the word out so if there are institutions that have this peanut butter, they wouldn’t use it.
  • Doug Schultz • of the Minnesota State Dept. of Health. Minnesota has suffered about 30 cases of the outbreak in their state. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

11 Jan 2009 08:17

tags

U.S.: Peanut butter the source of a salmonella scare

  • 499 have gotten sick from the tainted peanut butter, including one death
  • 42 number of states the tainted peanut butter has been found in source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags