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Edition
More than 130 dead as car bombs hit Baghdad
By Martin Chulov (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:43:59 PM
• More than 520 wounded in
second attack since July
• Sunni militants suspected of
being behind violence
Suicide bombers driving two
large vehicle bombs again
penetrated the heart of Baghdad
today, killing 132 people and
wounding more than 520, less
than three months before a
national poll that will be contested
on supposed security gains.
The attacks had been both feared
and anticipated after an almost
identical strike destroyed the
finance and foreign ministries, in
roughly the same area, just over
two months ago. Sunday's
explosions were blamed on Sunni
militants, who had claimed
responsibility for the devastating
summer explosions and pledged
to wreak further havoc in a bid to
destabilise the fragile Iraqi
government ahead of a national
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election planned for 16 January.
One truck bomb, just before
10.30am, destroyed the justice
ministry, housing many of the
city's judges, lawyers and court
rooms, while minutes later a
second badly damaged the
Baghdad governorate, around 300
metres away.
Frequent displays of violence
over five years have conditioned
Baghdadis to savagery, but
repeated scenes of desperate and
dying employees hanging from
crumpled government buildings
appear to have struck a fresh
nerve and further dented public
confidence in Iraq's security
forces. The death toll of the
August bombs was also 132,
according to health officials, with
just under 500 injured, meaning at
least 1,200 Iraqi public servants
have been killed, or maimed by
recent attacks.
"I saw bodies sprawled over the
broken panes of the justice
ministry," said Mohammed Falah,
30, from the central suburb of
Haifa Street, whose newly
25/10/09 - 25/10/09
renovated sandwich shop across
the road was laid waste. "They
were mostly women and the
guards stopped us from helping
them carry the bodies out of the
ruins in blankets. They were
carrying four or five at a time.
When I regained consciousness
there was a woman's leg next to
me in my shop. I picked it up and
gave it to the ambulance."
A firefighter sitting nearby said
he had carried 15 victims from the
ravaged building. "Only one was
alive," he said. Next to him a man
in a blood-soaked shirt, whose
daughter was feared dead in the
ruins, sobbed uncontrollably as he
blamed security lapses for the
renewed carnage. "After the
foreign ministry, they had
promised to protect us," he said.
"What message does it send when
a government can't protect its own
people in its own buildings?"
Exposing the vulnerability of
Iraqi institutions has been a stated
goal of al-Qaida militants whom
the prime minister, Nour al-
Maliki, again insisted are backed
LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
by senior figures from the regime
of executed former president
Saddam Hussein. Extra
restrictions had been placed on
traffic after the August bombs,
limiting lorries to carrying
maximum loads of one tonne
throughout Baghdad before 4pm.
Investigators were trying to
establish how the bombers again
slipped a security dragnet in the
heart of the capital that makes
extensive use of explosive
detection wands at numerous
checkpoints.
Huge craters filled with water
from burst mains marked ground
zero of each explosion. Despite
being ringed by nine-foot high
blast walls, the closest corner of
the justice ministry to the
detonation point was a mere three
metres away. The blast had
ricocheted across the road to a
public works building, setting it
alight and killing at least five
people. Security cameras on the
roof of the public works building
revealed that the justice ministry
bomb was carried by a truck – a
fact that if confirmed is sure to
intensify criticism of security
officials who seem unable, or
unwilling, to impose their will.
In a bid to take control of the
deteriorating security situation,
Maliki inspected the devastation
late today and vowed to find the
conspirators. He again blamed
Syrian leaders for harbouring
Ba'athist figures that he alleged
were directing a subversive
campaign.
Both countries have remained at
loggerheads since August after
Maliki partly blamed Syria for
facilitating the summer blasts.
Syria and Iraq recalled their
Ambassadors after the row and
Damascus denied playing any role
in the carnage.
• Iraq
Martin Chulov
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2 World/
Manuel Zelaya's strange embassy siege
(World news and comment
from the Guardian |
guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:07:51 PM
A journalist holed up with the
ousted Honduran president
describes life on the inside of a
surreal political standoff
It was just past 2am when the
music blasted us from our sleep.
Honduran soldiers had placed
high-powered speakers just
outside the embassy compound
for a night-long, deafening
serenade.
One song in particular, Two-
legged Rat, was repeated again,
and again, and again. The lyrics
are not subtle: "Filthy rat/crawling
animal/scum of life/ill-made
monstrosity/subhuman/mirror
image of hell/damned louse/how
much damage you've done to me."
When the Mexican singer Paquita
la del Barrio performed it she was
addressing a former lover, but the
Honduran military had a different
target in mind: Manuel Zelaya,
the ousted president.
A military-led coup toppled him
in June but on 21 September he
sneaked back into Honduras to
lobby for his reinstatement and, to
the chagrin of the army and the de
facto government led by Roberto
Micheletti, found refuge in the
Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Zelaya's return galvanised
domestic and international
protests against the new regime,
which found itself confronting a
public relations nightmare.
Life inside
It has returned the favour by
making the leftist leader's life a
living hell. In the first two days
electricity, water and telephones
were cut off, and the embassy
remains isolated from the rest of
the Honduran capital by heavily
armed soldiers and police.
Initially Zelaya and more than
300 supporters crammed into 400
sq metres' of mansion. Now that
number has dwindled to 46,
mostly followers and aides but
also five journalists and a
Brazilian diplomat.
It is a strange siege. The de facto
government dares not storm the
embassy and Zelaya dares not
leave, knowing he would be
arrested. Talks between the two
sides have collapsed and no
resolution is in sight. Access to
the building is restricted, with
only UN officials; a local human
rights organisation, which delivers
food; embassy staff; and three
Zelaya envoys allowed to
regularly come and go.
The interim government only
allows certain kinds of food and
goods. Forbidden items include
cigarettes, new clothes, sleeping
bags, pillows, footballs, batteries,
iPods, televisions, cell phones,
refrigerators, raincoats,
prescription drugs: things, in other
words, which could improve the
quality of life.
Sniffer dogs are used to check
that food does not contain drugs.
Sometimes police keep soft drinks
and desserts for themselves.
Zelaya's food comes separately
and is prepared by his daughter
because he fears being poisoned.
Three weeks ago, checks took so
long that the food went off. Thirty
people had diarrhoea, clogging up
the embassy's six toilets. Three
toilets are reserved for Zelaya, his
wife and closest aides.
There are arbitrary rules. For
example, fruit outside of meals
can only enter with medical
prescriptions, and a new lamp can
only be exchanged for an old one.
"The Brazilian embassy is a neo-
Nazi concentration camp," said
Zelaya.
It's an exaggeration, but his daily
life here is far from being that of a
president recognised by the EU
and the US and who is received
with honours by heads of state in
countries like Brazil and Mexico.
Due to security, Zelaya, 57, sleeps
on an airbed in the tiny but
secluded library. The window
faces the backyard, beyond the
range of snipers, and at least four
security personnel keep guard in
the living room next door.
In the first weeks, Zelaya was
sleeping in the much larger office
of ambassador, but then he
thought the room was too
vulnerable. He claims he is being
subjected to an "electron
bombardment with microwaves"
which produces "headache and
organic destabilisation".
To try to protect from these
alleged attacks, all windows of the
office where Zelaya spends much
of his time with his closest aides
or on the phone were covered
with aluminium foil, creating a
sort of low-budget sci-fi movie
set.
This office is also used for meals,
the most relaxed moment of the
day. Zelaya is always
accompanied by his wife,
Xiomara, his closest aides and the
Brazilian diplomat Lineu de
Paula. All use plastic utensils and
dishes for meals served in
Styrofoam containers. "Zelaya is
always in good humour, even in
the most critical days. He always
chooses a victim for his jokes, but
his favourite target is the press
secretary, Luis Galdamez," said
De Paula, who sleeps in the
embassy.
Besides the microwave
bombardment, Zelaya also
complains about the devices
blocking mobile phone signals.
On Saturday, he was forced to
climb the small hill in the yard of
the embassy, the only place where
the connection is not cut off after
a few seconds.
Cowboy hat
One of the few presidential-like
rituals to continue concerns
Zelaya's white cowboy hat. One
of his bodyguards, Eduardo
Muñoz, has the specific function
of holding it in the palm of both
hands like a crown whenever he
takes it off.
Life is harder for Zelaya's
followers. Most of them took
refuge in the embassy on the
second day, after police dispersed
a gathering in front of the
building. In the beginning, they
had to share even the few
toothbrushes available, and most
of them still sleep on cardboard in
the open car park (only Zelaya's
top aides and journalists were
allowed to bring air mattresses).
The siege is becoming more
Internet News Record
intense. On 8 October the police
set up mechanical platforms
across the street with armed
guards on top. One week later,
those platforms were moved
within two metres of the
embassy's wall. At the same time,
two powerful floodlights were
switched on.
The worst days were between 16
and 21 October 16, when army
troops and police officers broke
the silence in the night with loud
noises. In addition to music, they
used horns and imitated the
screaming of animals, including
cats, dogs, horses and cockerels,
waking up almost everybody
inside.
Last week the Permanent Council
of the Organisation of American
States (OAS) condemned "the
hostile action by the de facto
regime against the embassy of
Brazil in Tegucigalpa and the
harassment of its occupants
through deliberate actions that
affect them physically and
psychologically and violate their
human rights."
As Muñoz, Zelaya's hat-holder,
observed: "In Honduras, there is a
saying that the leather will one
day break, either in the thicker or
in the thinner side. But one day it
will break."
• Honduras
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Internet News Record World/ Finance/ 3

Clashes at al-Aqsa mosque Dallas police sorry for

By Rory McCarthy (World
news and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
began with protests in the same
area, but these latest clashes have
been less violent and so far seem
near the site. The Old City, in east
Jerusalem, was captured by Israel
in the 1967 war and later annexed,
language fines
unlikely to trigger a more a move never recognised by the By Daniel Nasaw (World news English, but no such requirement
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:03:13 AM and comment from the applies to private motorists.
widespread uprising against the international community. Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Demonstrations at holy shrine Israeli occupation. Palestinian officials accused the The Dallas police chief, David
erupt into violence as youths fight Several Palestinians were Israeli police of provoking the Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:08:58 AM
Kunkle, apologised at a press
battles with riot police arrested by Israeli police, among violence. Nabil Abu Rdainah, a conference last week. "This is
Israeli riot police firing stun them Hatam Abd al-Qadir, a spokesman for Abbas, condemned At least 39 drivers ticketed in lastsomething I wish hadn't
grenades and crowds of young senior Palestinian adviser on "the storming of Haram al-Sharif three years for being 'non English- happened. It is an
Palestinians throwing stones Jerusalem, and Ali Abu Sheikha, by Israeli forces". He added: speaking drivers' despite absence embarrassment."
clashed in the compound around a senior leader from the Islamic "Jerusalem is a red line that Israel of law Kunkle pledged to investigate the
the al-Aqsa mosque in the heart of Movement, an organisation within should not cross." There have Ernestina Mondragon was incidents, cancel pending charges
Jerusalem's Old City today. Israel. been protests over the incident probably not surprised when she and refund those who had already
It was the latest flare-up in David Cohen, the head of Israel's from the Islamic Conference and was pulled over by police after paid the fine.
several weeks of protests around national police, accused Muslim the Arab League. making an illegal U-turn in "It sounds like a policy," Southern
the site, known as the Temple extremists of inciting violence. • Israel Dallas, Texas. She probably Methodist University law
Mount or the Haram al-Sharif. "The police will act with a strong • Palestinian territories thought it was a fair cop when she professor George Martinez told
Around two dozen people were hand against anyone who disrupts • Religion was given an additional ticket for the Dallas Morning News.
injured, mostly Palestinians, but order on the Temple Mount and not having her driving licence. "Discrimination on the basis of
none were seriously hurt. against those who incite to riot," Rory McCarthy But when the trainee officer fined language ability, and that's
Israeli forces stormed up into the Cohen said. guardian.co.uk© Guardian News her $204 for being a "non English targeting Latinos, and so that
compound behind riot shields and Palestinians, however, have been & Media Limited 2009 | Use of -speaking driver" – a penalty later sounds pretty serious to me."
crowds of Palestinians fled, some increasingly concerned about this content is subject to our signed off by the officer's field- In Dallas, 42% of the population
taking sanctuary in the al-Aqsa right-wing Jewish settlers entering Terms & Conditions| More Feeds training instructor and sergeant – is Hispanic and 43% speak a
mosque. the compound and about rumours Mondragon fought back. language other than English at
The second intifada of 2000 - denied by Israel - of excavations She contested the charge and it home.
was dropped by the court. A The US has no official language,

Do you tweet after sex? subsequent investigation revealed

By Tom Johansmeyer
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 4:40:00 PM
Filed under: Google (GOOG),
Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc
(AAPL), Research in Motion
(RIMM)
Where do you tweet? When?
More important, what's normal?
Are you some kind of freak?
A recent Gadgetology study by
Retrovo.com, a consumer
electronics shopping site, seeks to
ascertain where the line in the
sand is in regards to social media
use (and overuse). If you're 35 or
younger, regular use of sites such
that at least 39 drivers in the last
three years have been ticketed for
although a movement has been
afoot among conservatives to
enshrine English in US law as the
as Twitter and Facebook is being "non English-speaking official tongue.
common (big shock, right?). It drivers". • United States
looks to Retrovo like a new Police officials in the Texas city
addiction may be taking root. of 1.3 million people believe the Daniel Nasaw
Continue reading Do you tweet error originates in a menu on the guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
after sex? computers used in patrol cars. & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
D o y o u t w e e t a f t e r s e x ? Federal law requires that certain this content is subject to our
o r i g i n a l l y a p p e a r e d o n commercial lorry drivers speak Terms & Conditions| More Feeds
BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Oct
2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see
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4 World/ Finance/ Internet News Record

Italy opposition votes for leader Will Blackstone make

By John Hooper (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
had been planning to blackmail
him with a video reportedly
showing the married governor
Berlusconi would enable him to
outflank his rival in the popular
vote.
magic with Merlin?
with a transsexual. Not for the first time, Italy's By Tom Johansmeyer
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:46:21 AM (BloggingStocks)
It was the latest blow to a party prime minister succeeded in
Married Lazio governor resigns that lags Berlusconi's in the polls, wrapping himself in an air of Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:40:00 PM Citigroup(NYSE: C), Goldman
on eve of Democratic party despite a string of sex scandals mystery at the weekend. His Sachs(NYSE: GS), Deutsche
election after video reportedly involving the prime minister. In return from a "private" visit to his Filed under: Private equity, Walt Bank(NYSE: DB), UBS(NYSE:
shows him with transsexual February, the PD's former friend, the Russian prime minister Disney (DIS), Citigroup Inc. (C), UBS), and Nomura(NYSE:
Several million Italians were s e c r e t a r y , W a l t e r V e l t r o n i , Vladimir Putin, was delayed until Goldman Sachs Group (GS), NMR). If all goes as planned, the
today voting to elect the man stepped down after a heavy defeat yesterday, officially because of a Blackstone Group L.P (BX), deal could be good for $3.33
whose unenviable job will be to in a regional poll. snow storm. However, weather Initial public offerings billion.
try to unseat Silvio Berlusconi. Dario Franceschini, a former conditions in St Petersburg were What has Blackstone(NYSE: Continue reading Will
True to its name, the Democratic Christian Democrat who was reported normal for the time of BX) been doing with all those Blackstone make magic with
p a r t y ( P D ) , I t a l y ' s b i g g e s t chosen as stopgap leader, is one year. theme parks it's been buying? Merlin?
opposition group, chooses its of the two main contenders for the • Italy Well, the answer is becoming a Will Blackstone make magic
leader by popular ballot. Anyone succession. But the favourite is bit clearer now. The private equity with Merlin? originally appeared
of 16 or more who is legally Pierluigi Bersani, a tough ex- John Hooper firm is getting ready to take theme on BloggingStocks on Sun, 25
resident in Italy can pay €2 to take communist and former minister in guardian.co.uk© Guardian News park operator Merlin Oct 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please
part. The election was held the centre-left government which & Media Limited 2009 | Use of Entertainments public early next see our terms for use of feeds.
against a background of scandal. lost office last year. this content is subject to our year. Permalink| Email this| Comments
Piero Marrazzo, the PD governor Bersani emerged from a ballot of Terms & Conditions| More Feeds Several investment banks have
of Lazio, the region around Rome, party members with more than already been called to advise on
resigned on yesterday after it half the vote. Franceschini was the transaction, including
emerged that Carabinieri officers hoping that vigorous attacks on

Palin rejects 'moderate' candidate

By Daniel Nasaw (World news
and comment from the
Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:16:16 PM
Former vice-presidential
candidate Sarah Palin has joined
leading national Republican
figures in rejecting the party's
nomination for this year's
congressional election in a
northern New York state in favour
of a fiercely conservative third-
party candidate.
Republican voters nominated
Dede Scozzafava, a moderate, pro
-choice candidate who backs same
-sex marriage, to stand for the
seat. But Palin and other high-
profile Republicans are backing a
businessman, Doug Hoffman,
running on the ticket of the
Conservative party, leading many
to question whether the party's
leaders have lost touch with rank-
and-file voters. Scozzafava's
positions on social issues and
support for some Democratic
causes have won her enmity from
the increasingly hard-right
national party.
"Unfortunately, the Republican
party today has decided to choose
a candidate that more than blurs
the lines," Palin said last week.
"There is no real difference
between the Democrat and the
Republican in this race."
The endorsement indicates that
many in the national party are
more interested in ideological
correctness than party affiliation.
They have irritated local
Republican leaders who say
support for Hoffman, who calls
himself the real Republican in the • Sarah Palin
race, will split the conservative • Republicans
vote and hand the election to the • United States
Democratic party candidate, Bill • US Congress
Owens, an attorney and retired air
force captain. Daniel Nasaw
The split illustrates a continuing guardian.co.uk© Guardian News
debate over the future of the & Media Limited 2009 | Use of
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moderates and social liberals from
the national party in recent years,
and its power base has shrunk to
the south-eastern and great plains
states.
Internet News Record
We're Living Through the Best of Times
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:12:32 AM
Jump Point
It's The Best of Times
The Elements of Deflation
It's More Than Half Full
What's a Fed to do? We get talk
about tightening and taking away
the easy credit, but we got the
fourth largest monetization on
record last week. This week we
examine the elements of deflation,
look at some banking statistics
that are not optimistic, and then I
write a reply to my great friend
Bill Bonner about why it's the
best of times to be young. I think
you will get a few thought-
provoking ideas here and there.
But before we get to the main
material, I want to recommend a
book to you. I am on a 17-day, 12
-city speaking tour. It is rather
brutal, but I did it to myself.
However, one of the upsides of
traveling is that I get quiet time on
airplanes to read books. I am
working my way through a very
large stack of books on my desk.
One that caught my eye - and I'm
glad it did - is a book by Tom
Hayes called Jump Point: How
Network Culture is
Revolutionizing Business. Hayes
writes about how we are getting
ready to experience a cultural
change every bit as profound as
the Industrial Revolution. He
argues that as the 3 billionth
person gets online sometime in
2011, it will shift the dynamic of
how we interact as businesses and
consumers. We get to 5 billion by
Finance/ 5
monetizing debt of all kinds won't
eventually be inflationary, I
answer, "We better hope so!"
Let's quickly summarize some of
the ideas I've put forth over the
last few months. Just as water is
made up of two parts hydrogen to
one part oxygen, so deflation has
its own elemental structure.
The first element is Rising
Unemployment. There has never
been a sustained inflationary
period without wage inflation.
Wages are basically flat and
falling. With 9.8%
unemployment, 7%
underemployed (temporary), and
another 3-4% off the radar screen
because they are so discouraged
they are not even looking for jobs,
and thus are not counted as
unemployed (who made up these
rules?), it is hard to see how wage
inflation is in our near future.
2015. The mind boggles. my patient readers, wish I could call me. Think about this. Only a few
Clearly, it is already changing be better at that!) The Elements of Deflation years ago, less than 1 in 16
things, and I am not sure if I buy No long review here. Go to One of the advantages of travel is Americans was unemployed or
Hayes' thesis that 3 billion is a Amazon and read the reviews. that it gives you time away from underemployed. Today it is 1 in 5.
magical number, though it is great One reviewer wrote: the tyranny of the computer to T h a t i s a s t a g g e r i n g ,
marketing. That being said, I I gave the book 5 stars not think. (Am I the only one who overwhelming statistic. Mind-
found something on almost every because it was perfect -- I think f e e l s l i k e I a m d r i n k i n g numbing.
p a g e t h a t I u n d e r l i n e d o r Hayes's enthusiasm sometimes information through a fire hose?) Keynes said that you should
highlighted. This book made me makes him jump to conclusions - But getting the information is s t i m u l a t e t h e e c o n o m y i n
think about the future in ways that but because there are so many important too, as it gives you recessions in order to bring back
my kids already get but Dad ideas and observations here that it something to think about. And I consumer spending. That is not
doesn't. would take ages to put something have been thinking a lot lately going to happen this time. As my
I like to read books about like this together from other about deflation. friends at GaveKal point out, this
"important stuff" by people who sources. I get asked at almost every venue time we will have to have an
have done a lot of thinking about I agree. If you are in business, where I stop, whether I think we Austrian (economic) recovery, or
their subjects, and who can write any business, you need to read will see inflation, or deflation. a business-spending recovery. My
e a s i l y a n d f l u i d l y a n d this. As an aside, I will insist that And I answer, "Yes." And I am argument will be, when I am with
communicate their thoughts all my partners worldwide get this not trying to be funny. I think the them in Dallas in December at
without weighing me down with book and read it. And Tom, if you primary forces in the developed their conference, "Where are we
unnecessary verbiage. Hayes has get this (and I bet one of your world now are deflationary. When
done that. (I am sure some of you, friends will forward it to you), asked if I don't think that the Fed WE'RE page 6
6 Internet News Record
WE'RE
continued from page 5
going to get business-investment
spending when banks aren't
lending and capacity utilization is
at an all-time low?" This, of
course, leads the Keynesians to
jump in and say, "The
government has to step up and
jump-start consumption!" Which
means more debt. Wash. Rinse.
Repeat.
The next element of deflation is
massive Wealth Destruction. Two
bear markets and a housing
market collapse have put the
American consumer on the ropes.
And the next bear market will
bring him to the canvas.
Then we have Reduced
Borrowing and Lending, as
consumers are paying down debt
and banks are reducing their
lending. Both are necessary in a
credit crisis-caused recession.
Bank lending is basically back to
where it was two years ago, and
shows no sign of rebounding.
Banks, as I have written, are
buying US government debt in an
effort to shore up their balance
sheets. Lending to small business,
the real engine of job creation, is
sadly decreasing each month. (See
graph below, click to enlarge).)
Next up in our elemental list we
have Decreased Final Demand
and its counterpart Increased
Savings. Although the savings
rate has come back down to 3%
from 6% a few months ago,
almost every expectation is that it
will rise over the next 3-5 years
back up to the 9% level where it
was only 20 years ago. The
psyche of the American consumer
has been permanently seared.
Consumption and savings habits
are being changed as I write.
And of course we must address
the element of Low Capacity
Utilization. While capacity
utilization is rebounding, it is still
lower than at any time since the
data has been collected, other than
the last few months. It is hard to
see where businesses are going to
get pricing power, when not only
US but world capacity utilization
is still extremely low. The chart
below ( click to enlarge) is not the
stuff that inflation is made of.
And let's just quickly throw in
Massive Deleveraging and $2
trillion in Bank Losses and a Very
Weak Housing Market. Which
brings us to a Slowing Velocity of
Money.
As I have written on several
occasions, prices are a function of
the amount of money times the
velocity of money. If the velocity
of money is slowing, the amount
of money can rise without
bringing about inflation. It is a
delicate balance, but nonetheless
the hyperventilation in some
circles about the coming
hyperinflation is, well,
overinflated. Simplistic.
Economically naive.
The Fed is going to do what it
takes to bring about inflation (in
my opinion). But they will not
monetize US government debt
beyond what they have already
agreed to. If they need to "print
money" to fight deflation, they
can buy mortgage or credit-card
or other forms of private debt,
which have the convenience of
being self-liquidating. Read the
speeches of the Fed presidents
and governors. I can't imagine
these people will recklessly
monetize US debt. You don't get
to their level without having a
stiff backbone. (Yes, I know the
gold bugs will call me terminally
naive. We will have to wait to see
who is right. Peter Schiff, care to
make a bet on this one?)
Bernanke warned Congress again
last week about rising deficits.
Watch the deficit rhetoric coming
from the Fed after the next two
governors are appointed next
year, side by side with Bernanke's
reappointment. There will be a
line drawn in the sand. Some in
Congress will not be happy, but
my bet is that the Fed will
maintain its independence. If they
do not, then my recent letters will
prove far too optimistic (and
many of you protest my rather
less-than-positive suggestion of a
double-dip recession). But I must
admit I cannot imagine that
happening. And there are not
enough votes in Congress to
change that independent status.
There is a day of reckoning
coming with the US debt. And
thank God for that.
Bottom line: The Fed will do
what it takes to keep us from
deflation. They will deal with the
problems of the ensuing inflation.
I wrote six years ago that the best
outcome from all the easy
monetary policy and budget
deficits would be stagflation. I see
no need to change that
assessment. I am not happy with
stagflation, but as I came into my
young adult life in the '70s (see
below), I know that we can deal
with that. The far more worrisome
prospect is continued trillion-
dollar deficits.
It Is the Best of Times
Now let's change the topic. My
friend Bill Bonner, of Daily
Reckoning and Agora Publishing
fame, recently wrote about his
mother. Bill also turned 60
recently. I wrote to him about the
similarities between our mothers.
Both were born in hard
circumstances, on farms that had
no indoor plumbing. They joined
the WACs and met their
husbands. They struggled raising
families. Bill and I both grew up
in rather humble circumstances
(to put a mild spin on it).
That exchange caused Bill to
write about the future our kids
face. He has six kids and I have
seven. He has graciously allowed
all my kids to invade his chateau
in rural France (where they
mingle with his kids), and has
invited us back next summer. I
think Bill is the best writer, the
best "turner of a phrase," in the
business. I often feel like a house
painter standing in front of a
Rembrandt when I read his work.
But Bill is a tad pessimistic. He
makes me look like Larry
Kudlow. He wrote (among other
books) Financial Reckoning Day,
which has just been updated and
is now titled Financial Reckoning
Day Fallout: Surviving Today's
Global Depression. It makes for
some interesting reading.
Now to the point. As I said, Bill
wrote about the future our kids
face. I will repeat what he said
and then respond. Bill's thoughts:
We sat in a cab yesterday, stuck
in traffic in central London. We
watched people walk by and
wondered. What are they thinking
about? What do they want out of
life? What do they think of
themselves?
There were hundreds of
them...different shapes...different
sizes. A businessman in a pin-
striped suit, briefcase in hand,
concentrating on his sales report;
he almost stepped in front of a
motorcycle. A salesgirl,
grotesquely overweight...yellow
hair streaked with
brown...wishing she hadn't had so
much to drink the night before. A
lawyer daydreaming about his
secretary. A man who would have
rather been fishing...still in his
waxed coat. A woman annoyed
about something. A heavy
construction worker, his legs
splayed outward as he walked. A
tense young woman who dared
not look up. A woman worrying
about her son. A man thinking
about buying a new car. One man
trying to remember a line from a
song he learned 30 years ago.
Another talking to herself. One
looked like a doctor taking an
afternoon stroll. Another was
stark raving mad.
All of them walking along...from
one place to another...shuffling
along...the living towards the
dead.
We were thinking of our
children. What a different world
they grow up in. And yet, it is still
WE'RE page 7
Internet News Record
WE'RE
continued from page 6
the same too. A man might have
been stuck on a London street 50
years ago...and hundreds of years
ago he might have watched the
same shopkeepers and carpenters
walk by, each caught in his own
thoughts like a fly in a spider's
web.
Our old friend John Mauldin
wrote to say that his mother's
experience was not much different
than ours. She joined the WACs
during the war...met John's
father...and then nature took her
course.
But both John and your editor
had a big advantage in life. We
both caught the upswing.
Not so with our children. They
inherit a different world. America
was the world's leading nation in
the '50s and '60s. And it was
growing in power and wealth -
rapidly. We grew up with it.
Things were getting better and
better...we were sure we'd live
much grander, richer, and more
exciting lives than our parents.
The sky was always the limit!
Now, America is in decline.
China's economy grows while
hers declines. The Far East has
savings, while she has none. The
Asia nations are net exporters,
making huge profits...while
American industries are judged
too old, too expensive, and too
highly regulated to compete.
Americans have debt up the
kazoo, while their competitors
have little. A young person in
America has to look forward to
supporting 70 million retired baby
boomers...and paying for their
drugs, their food, their wars, and
their bailouts.
For our children - ours and John's
- the situation on a personal level
is different too. Coming from
poor families, we could look
forward to much more wealth and
material success than our parents
ever knew.
We came back to Ireland this
week for a reason that our parents
would never have dreamed of.
Your editor has set up a family
office. It is a very modest affair
by family office standards. The
typical family office manages a
fortune of $100 million, according
to The New York Times. We may
not even be on the same planet
with these rich families; but we
are in the same universe. That is,
we try to think about...and
manage...our wealth as rich
people do...as a family legacy or
an endowment, not as a retirement
fund.
What wealth we have
accumulated - even if it is paltry -
will be held by a family-owned
corporation. Then, the
corporation, run largely by the
adult children, manages the assets
- from our base in Ireland.
Your editor, freed from the
responsibility of managing his
own money, will be free to
wander and think...like a
vagabond, a gypsy, a refugee, an
itinerant mendicant...forced to sup
on whatever is at hand and take
lodging wherever he can find it -
but favoring the Four Seasons and
Chateau Margot when they are
available.
Whatever else this does, it puts
the children in a very different
situation from their parents.
Instead of starting out with
nothing, they're starting out with
something. While this would
seem to be a big advantage to
them, it has huge hidden
disadvantages. Like America
itself, they are in danger of
finding themselves slipping
downhill. Instead of expecting
things to get better, they may find
it hard even to hold onto what
they've got. Instead of the
"Morning in America" that
Ronald Reagan promised, they
may find that it seems more like
evening, both in their personal as
well as their national lives.
'From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves
in three generations,' say the
French. The grandfather begins
without a coat. His grandson ends
that way.
"But what to do? Spend it all
now...so the children begin with
the same clean slate we had?
Move to Brazil or India -
countries with more obvious
upside?
In the deep, cosmic end, it
probably doesn't matter. The
advantage to starting out on an
upper rung of the ladder may be
about equal to the disadvantage of
having to worry about falling off.
Who can know?
Every man has to play the cards
he's been dealt. What else can he
do? He may have a humpback or
a beautiful voice. He may have
had a hard upbringing or a soft
head. He may have a fortune
worth of poetry in his soul but not
a dime in his pocket. As far as we
can tell, every young man starts
out even. Each one begins life in
the same place - where he is. And
every generation takes what it is
given, and makes the best of it.
The real advantage in life is
having the gumption to get on
with it; no one knows where that
comes from.
It's More Than Half Full
Ok, Bill, let's review those
wonderful days from whence we
sprang, so fraught with the
advantages of having nothing. So
potent with opportunity. It was the
middle of the '70s when we
started our careers. Inflation was
high and rising. The Soviets were
seen as a major threat. Japan was
beating our brains out and buying
everything, even if nailed down
(like Pebble Beach and New York
skyscrapers). I had to borrow
money at 15% (or more) to buy
paper in order to meet customer
demands for printing. And guess
what? The banks got into trouble
and called loans willy-nilly. (My
bank even called my mother and
threatened her to pay off my loan
- against written agreements - and
she did. Evil sons of bitches. The
more things change... And that
bank did fail, I report delightedly!
Not that I hold a grudge.)
There were multiple successive
and ever-deeper recessions. Gold
was rising and the dollar was seen
as a joke. Howard Ruff (a good
friend to both of us when we were
starting out!) and almost every
newsletter writer were telling
people to buy gold and freeze-
dried food to protect themselves
against a near-certain economic, if
not apocalyptic, catastrophe.
7
Unemployment was high and
rising for a decade.
The correct answer to the
question, "Where will the jobs
come from?" back then was, "I
don't know, but they will." And
that is the correct answer today.
In 20 years, no one will want to
come back to the halcyon days of
2005. Our kids (all 13 of them)
are getting ready to live through
what will be the most exciting
period in human history. There
will be a century's worth of
change, measured by the standard
of the 20 th century, just in the
next ten years, and then we will
double that pace in the next ten
after that. Medical miracles will
mean our kids and grandkids will
live a lot longer than their dads,
although I intend to be writing
well into my 80s, like our mutual
hero Richard Russell.
There will be whole new
industries developed in the US.
How do I know that? Follow the
money. The rest of the world
spends a fraction of what we do
on research and development.
Where do you go if you are
looking for venture capital?
Do I care if the Chinese and the
"developing" world are far better
off, relatively speaking, than the
US in 20 years? Not a whit. Good
on them. I hope they make
discoveries and inventions and
grow new businesses that benefit
us all. But we are not going into
some long dark night. We, and
our kids, get to choose how we
respond to what is the reality of
WE'RE page 10
8 Finance/ Internet News Record

In Defense of Executive Pay Caps

(Financial Sector and Stocks higher compensation. The government slashes salaries (by as BIG ONE, are hiring executives at put (hopefully) highly competent
Analysis from Seeking Alpha) combination of those two factors, much as 90% in the immediate $30+ million a pop? Every and smart people in charge. There
Submitted at 10/25/2009 4:53:52 AM
it is argued, will drastically hurt short run and 50% as a whole company that I know of has been are many qualified people who
these troubled companies at a once deferred stock options are slashing jobs across the board. will agree to a $10 million dollar
By Alex Parets time when they need these included) for those 25 executives Where is this robust market for compensation package and the
Thursday's announcement by the executives to steer them back to at those seven firms, those high ranking executives coming challenge of turning one of these
Obama administration that they profitability. executives will simply leave the from? These claims are flying companies around. There is no
"will order the firms that received I'm going to spend very little time firm and this flight will damage around with no hard evidence as shortage of top level talent on
t h e m o s t a i d t o s l a s h with the first argument and most firm performance at the time that to where these executives are Wall Street. Money means a lot to
compensation to their highest- of this post on the second. There their leadership is needed most. going and who is luring them people, but it isn't everything.
paid employees" has drawn much w e r e m a n y b a n k s / f i n a n c i a l Most of the articles written and away with these large sums of You don't simply pack up and
criticism and discussion across the companies that took TARP funds discussed, including the one that money. leave because one company is
blogosphere, including right here last fall, some that needed the Will linked to earlier, have Next up is the claim that AIG, going to pay you more.
on this blog. funding in order to survive and reported that BoA and the other five firms No brain drain
The plan, for the 25 top earners at other that didn't need the funding At Bank of America, for instance, aren't going to promote from To the last question: Will
seven companies that received but were asked/required to take it only 14 of the 25 highly paid within because their rising stars turnover in upper management
exceptional help, will on average anyway. executives remained by the time will be able to earn more positions at these seven firms
cut total compensation this year Those that took it and didn't need Feinberg announced his decision. remaining in their positions than really damage firm performance
b y a b o u t 5 0 p e r c e n t . T h e it have, for the most part, already Under his plan, compensation for being promoted to one of these moving forward? Doubtful. As we
companies are Citigroup ( C), returned the funds. The seven the most highly paid employees at few positions where pay has been all know, most of the day to day
B a n k o f A m e r i c a ( B A C ) , aforementioned companies that the bank would be a maximum of capped. They claim that if they decisions are not made by the
American International Group ( took TARP funds were struggling $9.9 million. The bank had sought were to promote these people to CEO, CFO or COO. These
A I G ) , G e n e r a l M o t o r s ( and would have collapsed had the permission to pay as much as $21 high ranking positions, other executives spend most of their
MTLQQ.PK), Chrysler and the government not invested boat million, according to Treasury companies will simply offer them time dealing with members of the
f i n a n c i n g a r m s o f t h e t w o loads of taxpayer money in them. Department documents. At more money and hire them away. board of directors, dealing with
automakers. The government is now a major American International Group, In my very limited experience public relations and marketing
I spent a decent chunk of time shareholder (for some the largest, only 13 people of the top 25 were with Wall Street banks and other issues, wooing potential investors
Friday watching CNBC (I love for others the sole owner) in these still on hand for Feinberg's financial firms, I know that and signing off on decisions made
Fall Break) and following the firms and with that investment decision. everyone at the top of these by their underlings. These
arguments being put forward by c o m e s t h e r i g h t t o c h a n g e These articles are presuming that companies know each other and executives aren't involved in daily
the guests on the afternoon shows management and production these executives all left to take I'm really surprised that people trading decisions or most of what
a s w e l l a s C N B C ' s h i g h l y practices and that includes higher paying jobs at competitors, are taking this claim at face value. actually matters when earnings
opinionated news anchors. compensation levels. I see they left because they believed These companies know exactly season comes around. Sure there
There are two main arguments absolutely no valid legal or moral that the government would who the big whigs and top will be some adjustment to new
being leveled at the proposed argument against the government impose pay restrictions and that performers at each of the other management but the claim that the
slashes in executive compensation intervening to change pay rules or their departure will hurt the firm firms are. You don't have to be departure of an executive will
at these seven TARP-funded business practices. that they left. promoted to CEO of AIG or BoA damage company performance is
firms: 1) The government should Government intervention a good Who's Hiring $30 million+ for people to know that you're big a bunch of bull.
not get involved in decisions thing? executives? time. Maybe the incentives for those
regarding executive compensation Now whether government I have a handful of questions I go back to my previous point: traders who aspire to be members
and 2) Capping compensation for mandated pay cuts for executives because I really don't buy into the where are all these $30+ million of upper management in the
these executives will incentivize are a good thing for productivity logic above. Where in the hell are jobs? How are they going to hire future will deter them from
them to leave these companies or company performance is a these executives moving to? What all of these executives away? putting in all of their effort today
and make it easier for competitors different question altogether. financial companies, in the midst Look, these positions are going to DEFENSE page 11
to lure these executives away with M a n y c l a i m t h a t i f t h e of the worst recession since the be filled and these companies will
Internet News Record
Lesson from Regulation History: Patchwork Fixes Won't Help
the Financial Sector
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:19:59 AM
By Peter Fox-Penner
Improving the regulation of the
financial sector is a prime topic of
conversation amongst financial
economists, and appropriately so.
Most agree that massive failures
of financial regulation were one,
if not perhaps the largest, cause of
the 2008 meltdown.
When the conversation turns to
the specifics of what needs to be
regulated, how regulation should
work, and what agencies should
be involved, the range of views is
tremendous. There is agreement
that some kind of prudent
regulation is needed, as is investor
and consumer protection, but
that’s about it. Fueled by billions
of dollars of lobbying and
purchased research, everyone has
their own idea. One super-
regulator? Council of regulators?
Control bankers compensation
schemes? Exchange-trade them?
The cacophony is deafening.
As an industrial organization
economist, I think this discussion
would benefit greatly from a
consensus on the role and goals of
financial regulation. Paul Joskow,
a dean in the IO economics
community, recently noted that:
“. . .The one thing that we can be
sure of is that we have no
shortage of regulatory agencies
with overlapping responsibilities
for investor protection, financial
market behavior and performance,
and systemic risk mitigation
(prudential regulation) that
collectively were supposed to
work to keep this kind of financial
market mess, as well as scams
that were allegedly employed by
Madoff and others, from
occurring. These regulatory
agencies have overlapping
jurisdiction, opaque goals,
arbitrarily limited authorities, and
histories that can often be traced
back to Great Depression era
financial markets and economic
conditions. These regulatory
institutions have evolved over the
last seventy-five years in a
haphazard fashion that has not
responded effectively to the
evolution of financial institutions,
products, and market but more as
a series of fingers in the dike to
try to keep new leaks from
damaging the integrity of the
entire dam. Regulatory changes,
such as the 1999 repeal of the
provision of the Glass-Steagall
Act of 1933 that prohibited bank
holding companies from other
types of financial service
companies, the SEC’s decision to
end the uptick rule for short sales,
and decision to allow
“sophisticated investor” to fend
for themselves, have been
idiosyncratic… and increasingly
driven more by ideology as
financial markets began to change
quickly than by the find of
comprehensive framework for
regulatory reform that has now
become widely accepted by
microeconomists in other industry
contexts.” ( http://econ-
www.mit.edu/files/3875)
In short, patchwork fixes don’t
work. You have to reform all of
the institutions and markets that
are sufficiently linked to the
imperfections and externalities
you need to fix. As Joskow notes,
it wasn’t that there weren’t any
financial regulatory agencies –
“the list of these agencies is as
long as my left arm” — it is that
there were too many of them, too
many cracks between them, and
no comprehensive analysis of
what kind of processes, tools, and
agencies modern financial
markets need. [As Exhibit A, see
this list of agencies regulating
consumer financial products from
USA Today].
I agree with Joskow that a
comprehensive assessment is
lacking from the financial
regulatory debate. There is fairly
broad agreement that some kind
of regulation is needed for
banking and other credit
institutions (prudent regulation),
regulation of securities and
commodity markets, regulation of
insurance markets, and [more
acrimoniously] regulation of other
consumer financial products. I
search in vain, however, for
serious analyses of whether the
same regulator, using the same
enabling statutes and the same
regulatory instruments, is right for
each of these jobs.
It doesn’t appear likely. The
history of regulation shows that
effective regulators should not
have conflicting, complex, or
multiple missions. An agency
should not have conflicting
incentives, such as those posited
by Raghuram Rajan, between the
Federal Reserve’s role as inflation
fighter and its role promoting
bank stability via regulation.
Similarly, it seems obvious that
the objectives of a bank regulator
to promote well-capitalized and
solvent banks conflicts directly
with the objectives of consumer
financial product regulation.
Regulatory agencies also should
not have many non-regulatory
tasks that interfere with their
focus and compete for this
leader's attention. It is hard
enough for a public agency to get
good at regulating one kind of
market or instrument. Stand-
alone agencies also have a better
chance of getting the resources
they need to do a good job,
avoiding government budget
processes and their attendant
limits and delays. This is not an
argument for duplication, but
rather for separating agencies that
might have conflicting objectives.
Another lesson from regulation’s
history is to keep the mechanics
of regulation as simple and as
transparent as possible. Yes,
regulation always creates
incentives for the regulated firm
to exploit information
asymmetries, and regulators have
Finance/ 9
imperfect incentives as well. But
experience suggests that
regulatory mechanisms have to be
fairly simple to work – often a lot
simpler than most economists
would prefer.
One essential corollary of
keeping it simple is that one has
to sacrifice some product variety
and customized trading for a more
constrained set of regulated
products that can be understood,
measured, and watched. Effective
regulation always constrains
product choices and trading
options. Intended or not, that’s
what it does. It is one way of
making sure nothing falls through
the cracks. Nonetheless, today’s
airwaves are filled with arguments
that regulatory reform will stifle
financial product innovation and
attending benefits.
In addition to limiting product
variety within firms, successful
regulation often has to limit the
complexity of firms’ financial
organization and size. The history
of utility regulation and
liberalization suggests that there is
a limit to the complexity of the
firms that can be regulated
effectively by regulators with
limited time and resources. I
expand on this “too big to
regulate” idea in a second post
following.
Finally, it is widely accepted that
regulatory agencies must strike
the right balance between
LESSON page 12
10
WE'RE
continued from page 7
the day.
Our nation had to almost hit the
wall in 1980 before a Volker
could come along and force us to
take the pain of recession to beat
back inflation. And we will have
to come perilously close to the
wall this time before we take
action as a nation. Way too close
for comfort. Maybe you are right,
and we have a soft depression. I
hope not; but even so, the world
will be better, far better, in 20
years, with far more opportunities
than today.
It was not fun starting new
businesses in the '70s and early
'80s. But we did. I remember
coming to Baltimore and being
(literally) afraid to get out of the
car to visit your offices in the
slums. But that was what you
could afford. A far cry from the
chateau in Ouzilly.
I lived in a small mobile home.
Tiffani was born there, and we
converted part of the kitchen to be
her bedroom. (Yes, I was white
"trailer trash.") But I got up every
morning just like you did and
killed as many alligators as I
could. The rest had to wait 'til the
next day.
And that is the legacy our kids
have. They know what it is to
wade into the swamp every
morning. Never quitting. In
thinking about this, you may be
the father I respect the most. You
have raised your kids to be
multilingual children of the world.
What a work ethic. How did you
get them to scrape window
shutters at your chateaus? (I
actually saw this, and my kids
marveled. Thereafter I threatened
to make them go live with you
when they didn't behave!)
You have given your kids the
opportunity to follow their
dreams, even demanded that they
do so. And such dreams they (and
mine) have. Will they succeed?
Who knows? But they will go at it
with gusto, in a world with more
opportunities than you and I ever
imagined 40 years ago. And, oh
boy, were we optimists back then.
How else could we have done
what we did? If we believed the
rhetoric that the world was
coming to an end, would we have
dared to venture out?
You cannot have raised your kids
to be such bold adventurers
without instilling in them a certain
high level of optimism. I am
going to out you, Mr. Bonner.
You present yourself to your
readers as a bona fide end-of-the-
world pessimist. But you are a
really and truly a closet optimist.
Your whole business empire (and
what an empire it has become!) is
based on finding people who are
optimists, in the sense that they
think they can actually get people
to send them money for what they
write. Which they do! Even if it is
to read why the world will come
to an end, which thankfully it
never does.
You are right in this: it is
personal gumption that makes or
breaks us. There are those who
started out with less than we did
(hard to imagine but true) and
made a lot more. And there are
those who started out with far
more and made less. But there are
very few who are happier than
either of us. Or luckier.
Our kids? It is not the times that
dictate the man (or daughter!), but
the response of the man which
dictates his own time. Today
promises a brighter future for
someone young than any other
time in history, whether they are
in the US or Brazil or China. They
just have to seize it.
And as our kids do just that, and
as the millions of kids of those
who read us do so, and the
billions of kids who are just now
getting ready to bust loose all
work to achieve their dreams, the
world is going to be a far more
fantastic place. Smooth ride? Not
a chance. We didn't get one; and
in thinking through history, there
have not been many smooth rides.
Why should we think that will get
any better? Our kids will just have
to live with our generational (and
individual) iniquities, government
debt and all, and figure out how to
master their own fates. But if I
had a choice to take the '70s or
today? In less than a heartbeat I
would choose today. And I bet
you would too!
Disclaimer: John Mauldin is
president of Millennium Wave
Advisors, LLC, a registered
investment advisor. All material
presented herein is believed to be
reliable but we cannot attest to its
accuracy. Investment
recommendations may change
and readers are urged to check
with their investment counselors
before making any investment
decisions.
Opinions expressed in these
reports may change without prior
notice. John Mauldin and/or the
staffs at Millennium Wave
Advisors, LLC and
InvestorsInsight Publishing, Inc.
(InvestorsInsight) may or may not
have investments in any funds,
programs or companies cited
above.
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Internet News Record Finance/ Entertainment/ 11
DEFENSE
Wow: Judges Now Nixing Lenders’ continued from page 8

because of slashes in doing because the best of them

Foreclosure Claims Entirely in Court compensation for high ranking

executives. I don't know how
can simply move elsewhere,
thereby undercutting the
(Financial Sector and Stocks proved its claim to a delinquent mortgage registrar, and a second- much a cut in pay from $30 profitability of the firms we are
Analysis from Seeking Alpha) borrower’s home in White Plains, mortgage mortgagee were not million to $10 million will trying to restore.
Submitted at 10/25/2009 9:22:10 AM
Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out informed of the homeowners undercut ambition but I'd venture The odds of top traders sticking
a $461,263 mortgage debt on the bankruptcy and disposition of to say that for someone making around at A.I.G. for $200,000 a
This is probably my fourth post p r o p e r t y . T h a t ’ s r i g h t : t h e assets and claims before judgment $100,000 to $1 million as a trader year are small. There is a grain of
on the tangled web woven by mortgage debt disappeared, via a was made. Nevertheless, the today, the ambition to make $10 a good idea in the recent proposal,
securitization, which puts a court order. district court, the appeals court million and be named CFO of a namely that we should discourage
considerable distance between I see this as a watershed case in AND the Kansas supreme court major company will still be there. firms from getting into a position
home owners and mortgagees j u r i s p r u d e n c e s u r r o u n d i n g all upheld the original summary I'm pretty confident in that. where they need a taxpayer-
which own a mortgage. The issue mortgage-related bankruptcies judgment arguing that MERS was To sum this long post up, I think financed bailout. But the new
is causing huge problems in and foreclosures. The reason this not contingently necessary. all of this discussion of pay cuts policy goes about this the wrong
bankruptcy and foreclosure in is huge is that it echoes the case in While I would expect this case to for executives has been blown out way.
courts around the U.S. Kansas I have written about in be appealed because of the of proportion. I don't think the No one is talking about capping a
T h i s m o r n i n g , G r e t c h e n two previous posts: precedent it could set, I don’t see feds coming in and mandating pay trader's pay at $200,000. The cap
Morgenson has another good • “ W h y m o r t g a g e s a r e n ’ t how it can be overturned after cuts for 25 executives hurts is on the top 25 high ranking
piece out describing how a judge modified and what a ruling affirmation in every court – that is company performance, incentives executives making millions of
nixed all claims by mortgagee stopping foreclosures means” except through a politicization of for mid-level managers/traders or dollars (I have no idea why he
which refused to modify a home • “ What are the legal rights of the verdict. will promote some sort of intra- claims that $200,000 earners will
owner’s mortgage. lenders and homeowners in Notice how PHH and MERS, the industry brain-drain. be capped. Top traders make
The debtors’ revolt is on. foreclosure?”) two lender agents in each cases, UPDATE (11:26pm): The substantially more than that). The
For decades, when troubled are not the actual owners of the NYTimes has a "Room for earners that the pay cap would
homeowners and banks battled At issue is the question of what mortgages. They are the servicers Debate" blog where six experts affect may very well be those that
over delinquent mortgages, it legal rights do lenders or their of the mortgages. This is why provided commentary on the cuts were responsible for running these
wasn’t a contest. Homes went into agents have in foreclosure in the these cases have a lot to do with on executive pay at the TARP companies into the ground. My
foreclosure, and lenders took n e w b y z a n t i n e w o r l d o f securitization firms. The experts are Tyler post above refutes his other
control of the property. securitized mortgages. In the See also: How much money is Cowen, Yves Smith, Nicole points. I don't get to say this very
But some judges are starting to New York case the judge nixed Wells Fargo really making? for Gelinas, John Coffee, and Lynn often, but Tyler is wrong.
scrutinize the rules-don’t-matter the entire claim as the mortgagee how some of this affects earnings Stout. I don't think Cowen This content has passed through
methods used by lenders and their could not prove it had legal claim at money center banks. actually addresses the issue. He fivefilters.org.
lawyers in the recent foreclosure to the mortgage note. With the Morgenson had another article of claims that
wave. On occasion, lenders are m o r t g a g e e u n a b l e t o s h o w merit on this topic last week. See These earners did not cause the
even getting slapped around a bit. ownership, the homeowner might her piece The Mortgage Machine crisis and they are working hard
One surprising smackdown even be able to stay in his home B a c k f i r e s . T h i s c o u l d g e t to bring their companies back
occurred on Oct. 9 in federal mortgage-free, Morgenson attests. i n t e r e s t i n g . from the brink. Cutting their pay
bankruptcy court in the Southern That’s huge – and we should This content has passed through is the last thing we should be
District of New York. Ruling that definitely expect an appeal. fivefilters.org.
a lender, PHH Mortgage, hadn’t In the Kansas case, MERS, a

Trend Alert: Ladies in Red

(ETonline - Breaking News) From Megan Fox to Beyonce, on their best scarlet styles to walk pics.
fashion forward celebs are putting the red carpet -- and ET has the
12 Finance/ Gadgets/
LESSON
continued from page 9
independence and accountability.
The agency should not subject to
immediate political pressure from
industry or politicians, but
through a process of checks and
balances, such as staggered
regulator terms, bipartisan
appointments, post-employment
restrictions, and a high
requirement for expertise, the
probability of capture should be
minimized. This is another reason
to separate regulatory from non-
regulatory organizations.
Similarly, stand-alone regulators
are more likely to be free of
burdensome government budget
processes and are more likely
have the freedom to hire and pay
for the expertise needed to
understand complex, fast-
changing markets.
Should We Be Reassured by the New Round of
Stress Tests?
(Financial Sector and Stocks
Analysis from Seeking Alpha)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 4:31:14 AM
The Federal Reserve will expand
its so-called stress tests of the
banking system to ensure they
have enough capital during
difficult periods, Fed chairman
Ben Bernanke said Friday.
Bernanke highlighted the positive
impact of stress tests conducted
earlier this year on major banks, a
move aimed at ensuring their
financial health and building
In the 1930s, Congress responded
to the financial crisis with three
extensive studies, the Pecora
Commission, the Federal Trade
Commission’s seven-year, 101-
volume study of utility financial
practices, and a similar two-year
study by the House Commerce
Committee. I sincerely hope that
Congress’ financial reform
commission or some alternate
forum fills this need. An earlier
Baseline post reports that the
initial signs were that the
Commission will not delve as
deeply as is needed. Since then,
the commission has been largely
silent in public. I hope this is an
indication that the commission is
working hard, away from prying
political and media eyes, to do a
thorough, objective, and
confidence.
"Building on the success of this
initiative, we will conduct more
frequent, broader, and more
comprehensive horizontal
examinations, evaluating both the
overall risk profiles of institutions
as well as specific risks and risk-
management issues," Bernanke
told a conference organized by the
Boston Federal Reserve.
The highly publicized stress tests
conducted earlier this year
focused on 19 major banks, and
indicated 10 needed additional
compelling look at the full scope
of reforms that are needed.
The rolling discussion of
financial regulation in this and
many other blogs is a fantastic
innovation in academic and policy
discourse. Perhaps it is the 21 st
century version of the Pecora
Commission and its multi-year,
multi-volume reports. Perhaps, it
seems hard to imagine, a political
consensus for comprehensive
change will emanate from a
blogosphere dialog amongst us
policy wonks alone.
This content has passed through
fivefilters.org.
capital.
Bernanke said the Fed would step
up efforts to review bank capital
requirements to avoid a
recurrence of the credit crisis that
has spread around the world.
"Additional steps are necessary to
ensure that all banking
organizations hold adequate
capital," he said.
He noted that the Financial
Stability Board -- a global
watchdog made up of senior
representatives of national
financial authorities -- had called
Licensing Issues at Heart of
Apple's Decision to Kill Snow
Leopard ZFS Plans [Snow]
By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:45:00 AM
From the OpenSolaris forums, by
way of Daring Fireball's John
Gruber comes word this afternoon
that Apple's decision to remove
ZFS support from Snow Leopard
was based on licensing issues.
for "significantly stronger capital
standards," and that the Group of
20 "has committed to develop
rules to improve both the quantity
and quality of bank capital."
"The Federal Reserve supports
these initiatives. The structure of
capital requirements should also
be reviewed," Bernanke said.
This content has passed through
fivefilters.org.
Internet News Record
Specifically, Apple may have
wanted a "private license" from
Sun Microsystems, and Sun
simply did not want to play ball.
Neither side could agree on
suitable terms, so support was
removed. [ OpenSolaris Mailing
List via Daring Fireball]
Sunday
CrunchWord
Puzzle!
By Doug Aamoth
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:00:45 AM
It’s back! Here’s the latest
CrunchGear-themed crossword
puzzle. You can find the answers
to the clues spread throughout this
week’s posts. Enjoy!
CrunchWord Puzzle for Sunday,
October 25th
Internet News Record Finance/ Gadgets/ 13

On an earnings roll, Netflix Entrepreneur's Journal:

eyes streaming video The hidden dangers of
market as new frontier getting a franchise Wattgate 381 "Audio
By David Schepp company will soon partner with Grade" Socket Is For
(BloggingStocks) another consumer-electronics By Tom Taulli
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:40:00 PM
maker to make streaming video (BloggingStocks) Suckers Only [Snake
available on more devices. That's Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:40:00 PM Oil]
Filed under: Earnings reports, on top of deals Netflix has already
Filed under: Competitive By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Forecasts, Products and services, struck with Microsoft
Consumer experience, Corp.(NASDAQ: MSFT) and its strategy, Entrepreneurs, Small Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:00:00 PM

Competitive strategy, Microsoft Xbox, which expires next month, business

(MSFT), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX),
Stocks to Buy
You got to hand it to Netflix
Inc.(NASDAQ: NFLX). At a time
when movie rental houses -- chief
among them, rival Blockbuster
Inc.(NYSE: BBI) -- are struggling
to keep their doors open, Netflix
is prospering, rolling out new
initiatives and finding new ways
for video-hungry consumers to
watch movies.
On Thursday, co-founder and
CEO Reed Hastings told investors
on a conference call that the
and Best Buy Inc.(NYSE: BBY),
with its line of Insignia brand Blu-
Ray disc players.
Continue reading On an earnings
roll, Netflix eyes streaming video
market as new frontier
On an earnings roll, Netflix eyes
streaming video market as new
frontier originally appeared on
BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Oct
2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see
our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
There are certainly many
advantages to getting a franchise.
You receive leverage from higher
marketing dollars, an existing
platform that increases the speed
to market, a brand, and helpful
techniques and systems to
improve success.
Great, huh? Well, as with any
investment, there are risks. And,
you need to get a sense of these
before acquiring a franchise.
This means conducting an
extensive due diligence. So, here
are some tips:
Continue reading Entrepreneur's
Journal: The hidden dangers of
getting a franchise
The Wattgate "Audio Grade"
wall socket costs a mere $147, but
the crisp, unmatchable sound it
helps create in your home are
positively priceless.
It's all bullshit, of course. Like
Monster Cable and that$500
Denon Ethernet cable, there's
more snake oil flowing through
Entrepreneur's Journal: The this "premium" socket than
hidden dangers of getting a anything else.
franchise originally appeared on And as with that Denon Ethernet
BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Oct c a b l e , t h e c o m m e n t s f r o m
2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see "satisfied users" are what really
our terms for use of feeds. m a k e t h i s p r o d u c t w o r t h
Permalink| Email this| Comments "investigating." Buyer beware. [
Parts Express via Boing Boing]

Obama says banks should lend more to small businesses:

Please God, no
By Zac Bissonnette President Obama called on bailed- businesses and make the loans more to small businesses: Please
(BloggingStocks) out banks to lend more money to they need to open their doors, God, no originally appeared on
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:40:00 PM
small businesses. grow their operations and create BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 Oct
Speaking on his weekly radio new jobs." 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see
Filed under: Politics, Financial address, Obama said that "These Continue reading Obama says our terms for use of feeds.
Crisis are the very taxpayers who stood banks should lend more to small Permalink| Email this| Comments
Terrifying talking points out of by America's banks in a crisis, stand by creditworthy small businesses: Please God, no
the White House this week: and now it's time for our banks to Obama says banks should lend
14 Gadgets/ Internet News Record

LawCrunch: Some (more) ideas on why Nokia sued Apple

By Jeremy Kessel
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:51:15 PM

Disclaimer: Jeremy Kessel has a

J.D., but is still waiting for his
(July 2009) California Bar Exam
results. Thus, he is not (yet) a
licensed attorney. Barry L. Cohen,
who also shares some insights
below, is a licensed attorney.
Regardless, this post is not meant
as legal advice or analysis and
should not be construed as such.
As many of you are aware, Nokia
filed a lawsuit against Apple last
week in the Federal District Court
in Delaware. Nokia’s complaint
alleges that Apple has infringed
on 10 of Nokia’s patents for
various, “fundamental” GSM,
UMTS and wireless LAN
(WLAN) technologies. In
particular, the patents cover
wireless data, speech coding,
security and encryption. Nokia motives/strategies behind Nokia’s impasse, Nokia was essentially why Nokia has prompted the suit considering that some 40 other
believes that all 10 patents have latest legal muscle flexing. left with no other choice but to against Apple, this in turn leads to mobile companies have licensed
been infringed by all Apple As I am not yet a licensed pursue legal recourse. another question: Why would these key patents, this is
iPhone models shipped since the attorney (I find out next month), Filing the lawsuit against Apple Apple refuse to license the extremely unlikely (possibly even
iPhone was introduced back in we turned to Barry L. Cohen, is most likely, at least in part, a technologies if they are impossible, depending on which
2007. Esq., who specializes in deliberate strategy to put more imperative for the operation of its company holds what patents).
This begs the question: Why wait commercial and business pressure on Apple to agree to the iPhone? Again, without speaking According to Mr. Cohen, it is
until now, Nokia, to sue Apple? litigation and intellectual property terms that Nokia has requested directly to Apple, we can only more likely a money issue. The
Clearly, without speaking directly litigation and licensing at Thorp with regards to licensing the speculate. It is possible that Apple longer that Apple goes without
to Nokia’s legal team, all of the Reed & Armstrong, for his patented technologies. Because has licensed similar technologies paying licensing fees, the cheaper
following is pure (albeit educated) thoughts on the Nokia v. Apple the 10 patents at issue include from Ericsson(who, along with Apple can sell its iPhone and the
conjecture. Nonetheless, with matter at large. According to Mr. “fundamental” cellular Nokia and Qualcomm hold some bigger market share it can build
intellectual property (i.e. Cohen, because Nokia has been technologies, the lawsuit may also of the largest mobile technology up. Alternatively, Apple may not
copyrights, trademarks, patents, successful in licensing the patents have been motivated by some (or patent portfolios in the world), have wanted to pay or could not
and trade secrets) becoming at issue with dozens of other many) of the other companies thereby eliminating the need to agree on the amount of the royalty
increasingly important and companies, the Finnish company who are already paying licensing license the patents at issue from rate that Nokia was requesting.
relevant to (technology) most likely felt confident that it fees to Nokia and want Apple to Nokia. Or alternatively, Apple Given the scale (i.e. millions of
companies around the globe, it is would be able to reach an do the same. may believe that it is not devices), even a tiny discrepancy
worth taking a few minutes to agreement with Apple as well. Alright, now that we have infringing or that Nokia’s patents LAWCRUNCH: page 15
explore some of the possible When the negotiations reached an explored (somewhat superficially) should be invalidated. However,
Internet News Record Gadgets/ Tech Tips/ 15
LAWCRUNCH:
continued from page 14

in price could result in hundreds
of millions of dollars, going one
way or the other.
Regardless of the actual
motivation behind the lawsuit,
considering that less than 1% of
cases go to trial, it is most likely
that Nokia is using the suit as a
bargaining chip. Both companies,
whether they actually like it or
not, can afford to see cases like
this through to the end, as the
legal costs, even in the mutltiple
millions of dollars, are relatively
insignificant in the big picture for
Nokia and Apple. Rather, suing
Apple will provide Nokia more
leverage in obtaining some variety
of settlement (i.e. receiving
royalties for its patents), and on
the flip side, might even help
Apple save a few bucks if a third-
party mediator is brought in to
help resolve the dispute.
Some may argue that Nokia is a
total hypocrite, given its recent
expensive and drawn-out legal
clash with fellow mobile big shot,
Qualcomm. But, as Mr. Cohen
points out, Nokia is clearly no
dummy (yup, that is a legitimate
legal term). Nokia has clearly
weighed the pros and cons of
filing the lawsuit and what it will
mean to their licensing strategy.
Whether or not the strategy
works, will depend in part on
Apple, who is also not a fool.
Finally, I do not believe (as John
does) that this suit was directly
motivated by Nokia’s recent
financial struggles. As someone
who has studied intellectual
property and has a general sense
of the value that a company’s IP
assets hold, I agree with Mr.
Cohen and everyone else who
thinks that this is ultimately a
negotiation. Nokia is an
enormously powerful mobile
technologies company. Sure it is
facing increased competition from
the likes of Apple, HTC,
Samsung, etc, but I do not believe
this lawsuit signifies some sort of
last gasp, or in the words of
John(no disrespect, of course), a
“mercenary approach, [a way to]
cash in on some of the iPhone’s
success.” For better or for worse,
this is the new way of the
technology road. Companies
spend hundreds of millions of
dollars developing and obtaining
IP assets, and at the end of the
day, they will continue to do
whatever it takes (i.e. sue each
other on an endless merry-go-
round) to protect and enforce their
IP rights.
Ask the Commenter
Roundup [Hive Mind]
(Lifehacker) • I want to synchronize files
between my laptop and desktop.
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:30:00 PM
Suggested applications?
• What is a safe but economical
• How can I easily hardwire an way to frame movie posters?
iPod into an older car stereo? • Does Wikipedia have a mobile
• I'm currently learning JAVA. link to the Random Article
Would it be counterproductive to function?
learn another programming • I need an application for both a
language simultaneously? PC and a Mac that will monitor a
• I need to recieve a few faxes a folder and upload files that appear
month. What online face service there to an FTP site. Ideas?
would you recommend?
• Is there an easy way to record
radio directly to my PC?

Pentax's limited edition Korejanai K-x DSLR reminds us of

Harlequin VW Golf
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:32:00 PM
You Yanks won't be getting your
paws around this without a buddy
in Japan ready and willing to ship
it your way, but those camped out
in the Land of the Rising Sun can
soon jockey for an opportunity to
grab the most colorful Pentax K-x
DSLR of all time. The Korejanai
K-x -- which was engineered by
the same folks behind the ' Self
Destruct Button' USB hub -- looks
as if it had all of its panels painted
a different hue, and as diehard
lovers of the iconic 1996
Volkswagen Harlequin Golf, we
can't help but drool here. Only
100 of these will be sold, and it'll
be bundled with a matching
Korejanai Robot Model. Of
course, the camera itself is
identical to the standard version
save for the paint job, but
somehow we're guessing you'll
appreciate this one just a wee bit
more. It's set to sell for ¥79,800
(around $880), with orders being
accepted starting at 10AM JST on
November 2nd. Best set your
alarms, kids!
[Via Image-Acquire]
Gallery: Pentax's limited edition
Korejanai K-x DSLR reminds us
of Harlequin VW Golf
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Pentax's limited edition Korejanai
K-x DSLR reminds us of
Harlequin VW Golf originally
appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25
Oct 2009 15:32:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
16 Gadgets/ Internet News Record

The Internet balancing

act between wasting time
and striving for greatness
By Nicholas Deleon
(CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:45:11 AM

Nicholas here, fresh off freaking

out over Shogun Rua’s loss last
T-Mobile officially unveils $99 Even night. (I hate to use the word
“robbed,” but Mr. Rua was 100

More, $79 Even More Plus plans and percent robbed last night. Later
today: watching Dream 12!) I just
wanted to draw your attention to a
equipment installment option New York Times essay I just
stumbled upon. It’s about the
Internet, and our increased
By Ross Miller (Engadget) numbers don't add up: even with the traditional and over to the non
the steep $350 discount on -traditional (for US, at least) Even dependence upon it. It’s pretty
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:14:00 AM
myTouch 3G, factoring in that More Plus plan, but hey, we're not short, so it won’t kill you to read shuffle. I went from looking up
Right on schedule with the $20 premium would pay for the gonna argue over a beneficial the whole thing. Starrcade to the concept of
whispers, T-Mobile lifted the veil phone during the 18th month, contract-free plan, even if The basic thesis, nearest I can sovereignty in just a few clicks!
off of its new price plan tier leaving six months and $120 of monthly phone payments keep us tell, is that the Internet has taken And I have articles to write, (and
structure, Even More and Even extra payments left that have no paying the company for at least 20 over our lives; that’s not Dream 12 to watch)!”
More Plus, and from the looks of obvious justification to us. months. So T-Mo, any other necessarily a bad thing. Is it Yes, the essay is a little hinky.
it all those leaks were pretty much A d d i t i o n a l l y t h e F l e x P a y / Project Dark surprises in the harmful to spend 20+ hours The question becomes how to
spot-on. The traditional Even equipment installment plan is now cards? Inquiring minds want to playing an online video game at properly allocate your time online
M o r e p l a n i s a t w o - y e a r available, letting you break up the know. the expense of “real life” contact, between the pointless and the
commitment and discounted cost of your phone into interest- [Thanks to everyone who sent this or at the expense of school or slightly less pointless. Do you
phone, with unlimited individual free monthly bills. It seems Even in!] work? Yeah, probably. But, as the download an application that
prices starting at $59 per month More's subsidized phones are Filed under: Cellphones Internet, and computers in kicks you offline, and keeps you
and going up to $99 if you want offered over four installments T-Mobile officially unveils $99 general, move away from a there? Do you study/work from a
unlimited messaging and text, too. (e.g. $37 per month for the $150 Even More, $79 Even More Plus work/school-only phenomenon place that has zero Internet
Even More Plus scrapes the MyTouch 3G) while Even More plans and equipment installment and converge with our lesser access? Or do you embrace the
d e v i c e d i s c o u n t b u t o f f e r s Plus' is two installments (e.g. $25 option originally appeared on activities (entertainment and the fact that, well, this is how we do
unlimited individual prices at $49 per month for the same device at Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 like) we become susceptible to, things from now on: working
for voice / $79 for everything. It the $500 full price). Our initial 11:14:00 EST. Please see our well, losing ourselves in it. That right alongside 18 tabs about the
l o o k s l i k e t h e o n l y m a j o r takeaway from the price tiers is terms for use of feeds. Read| is, “Man alive, I’m been here history of Nintendo and the
differentiator is the subsidized that T-Mobile is doing what it can Permalink| Email this| Comments three hours, and all I’ve been Monday Night Wars?
handset, but here's where the to drive its consumers away from doing is looking up old Ric Flair
promos on YouTube, and then
doing the related Wikipedia
Internet News Record
Switched On: Making
book with ePUB
By Ross Rubin (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:30:00 PM
Ross Rubin(@rossrubin)
contributes Switched On, a
column about consumer
technology.
The ePUB standard, developed
by Adobe, allows consumers to
purchase books at a variety of
digital stores and use them on a
wide range of compatible devices
without the manufacturer having
to explicitly support them. That
may sound a bit like the
PlaysForSure initiative that
Microsoft tried mounting to
challenge the iPod but ultimately
shifted away from (at least for
MP3 players) in favor of the
Zune, but ePUB has a better shot
than PlaysForSure did.
First, unlike PlaysForSure, which
was playing catch-up to the
already dominant iPod, ePUB is
appearing relatively early in the
market; it need not break anyone's
"stranglehold." Second, after
attracting the support of Sony, the
format achieved a significant coup
with the support of Barnes &
Noble, which noted last week that
it was "excited" to be supporting
the format in its forthcoming
Nook e-reader.
Continue reading Switched On:
Making book with ePUB
Filed under: Software
Switched On: Making book with
ePUB originally appeared on
Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009
12:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
Email this| Comments
PhotoTrackr Mini geotagging
device shrinks down, adds
Mac and RAW support
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:59:00 PM
Looking for a geotagging
solution that doesn't discriminate
based on what kind of camera you
have? Looking for one that can fit
snugly into your Fifth Pocket?
The PhotoTrackr Mini looks to be
that very device, boasting a
diminutive thumb drive-esque
appearance and the same
geotagging technology as found in
the original. Put simply, the
device works by syncing the time
of your camera with bundled
software; when you're back from
a shoot (a shoot where your
device also was), you just allow
the application to figure out where
a given shot was snapped at what
time. There's also Mac and RAW
file format support on this model,
neither of which were compatible
with the prior version. Pre-orders
are being accepted now at $69,
and the first shipments are
expected to go out next month.
Continue reading PhotoTrackr
Mini geotagging device shrinks
down, adds Mac and RAW
support
Filed under: Digital Cameras,
GPS
PhotoTrackr Mini geotagging
device shrinks down, adds Mac
and RAW support originally
appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25
Oct 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Gadgets/ 17
When Cyclists Are
Forced to Fly, There's
This Bicycle Luggage
[Luggage]
By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:30:00 AM
Personally, I'm the caliber of
cyclist that's able to ride to
wherever it is I happen to travel,
including to Europe, but for those
of you cut from lesser cloth
there's this bit of cleverly shaped
luggage called AeroTech
Evolution.
If the shape didn't tip you off, let
me explain: Like those golf bag-
shaped monstrosities you see on
airport luggage turnstiles from
time-to-time, the AeroTech is
shaped like a collapsed bike.
Because it's meant to transport
bikes in airplanes.
There's room for two detached
tires/wheels and the frame, the
pedals, and space for other
cycling goodies. Just be sure
you're carting around one of those
lightweight aluminum or carbon
fiber bikes in this thing—steel
frame Huffy's need not apply. [
Core77 via Likecool via Design
Blog]
18 Gadgets/ Economy/ Internet News Record

TomTom iPhone kit

now being sold through
US Apple Store
By Ross Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:07:00 PM

American TomTom loyalists, we

Vuzix Wrap 310 video know what you've been thinking:
how dare those fine folks across

eyewear ships out to Polk HitMaster "Monitor" Means

the pond get first dibs to pick up
the iPhone car kit? Well, steam to
yourself no longer, it's now for

virtual big-screen lovers Inexplicable Faux Instrument sale online via Apple's US store
for the previously-disclosed price
By Darren Murph (Engadget) used in augmented reality Arms Race Actually Exists [Polk] of $119.95. Alas, no software's
included, but you've had enough
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:01:00 AM
applications in the future, so feel By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo) bunch of extra features, which it time to cope with that. Also, it's
free to considering this some sort does. There's 60 watts packed in iPhone 3G and 3GS only -- iPod
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:00:00 AM
Vuzix's $249.95 Wrap 310 is of futuristic investment. Just like the unit's 13-lb. frame; a pair of touch need not apply.
probably the least hideous / those Y2K preparedness tapes you The disdain I harbored for that 2.2x5.5-inch horns; and two 1-in. [Via App Advice]
heinous of the video eyewear bought in '99. ridiculous Altec Lansing Guitar tweeters. Top it all off with a 6.5- Filed under: Cellphones, GPS
options on the market today, and Continue reading Vuzix Wrap Hero "stage monitor" was fading in. sub and you have yourself an TomTom iPhone kit now being
while it's still take a few bottles of 310 video eyewear ships out to this morning, but news from Polk impressive faux stage monitor. sold through US Apple Store
Jack to get us to rock these with a virtual big-screen lovers that they, too, would be entering Oh, and there's also iPod support originally appeared on Engadget
smile, those who are just high on Filed under: Displays, Portable the world of fake music should you want to listen to some on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:07:00
life can now make a set their own. Audio, Portable Video, Wearables accessories revived those feelings real musicians.
In case you're forgotten, these Vuzix Wrap 310 video eyewear EST. Please see our terms for use
anew. Arrives in early 2010 for $100. [ of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email
things provide a virtual 55-inch ships out to virtual big-screen This isn't to say the so-called Polk Hot Hardware via Engadget] this| Comments
screen in front of your eyes, and lovers originally appeared on Polk HitMaster doesn't have a
there's support for iPod / iPhone Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009
connections as well as basic 10:01:00 EST. Please see our
sources such as DVD players and terms for use of feeds. Permalink|
the like. And hey, there's also the Email this| Comments
possibility that these could be
Capmark Financial files for bankruptcy
(Financial Times - US N E W Y O R K ( R e u t e r s ) - weighed on by declines in the of the commercial real estate it might file for bankruptcy.
homepage) Commercial real estate company sector and a heavy debt load assets of General Motors’ finance This content has passed through
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:54:31 PM
Capmark Financial filed for related to its leveraged buyout. arm GMAC in March of 2006, fivefilters.org.
bankruptcy protection on Sunday, Capmark, which was created out had indicated earlier this year that
Internet News Record Gadgets/ Entertainment/ 19

Digital Contents Expo

Tokyo: Futuristic
Media Vehicle
TerraCycle Recycles By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 6:01:39 AM

Tasty Treat Wrappers I stumbled upon this strange

thing today at the at the Digital

Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Into Speakers [Speakers]

By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Cybernetic human robot HRP Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:00:00 PM
Contents Expo in Tokyo, a virtual
reality capsule chair developed by
garbage into electronics, bags and the Iwata-Yano Laboratory at the
other knick knacks, and sell them University of Tsukuba. The so-
on the cheap. called “Media Vehicle” mounts a

-4C demo (2 videos) These recycled speakers are

By Serkan Toto (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:43:09 AM
Japan’s National Institute of
Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology has showcased its
most spectacular robot at the
Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo
today, the “cybernetic human”
HRP-4C. The humanoid can’t
move her legs, but the way she
moves her arms, head and facial
muscles is unbelievably human-
interesting, TerraCycle, but I
These Frito-Lay Cheeto speakers, spherical display and is supposed
for example, sell at Radio Shack to let passengers move around
l i k e . O r y o u c o u l d s a y won't be 100% impressed until for $20. They won't melt your both in the real world (it has 5
unbelievably creepy. you find a way to turn the World's face, but I can see them finding a wheels) and a virtual reality
She usually works as a model, Largest Cheeto into a speaker too. comfortable home on the desk of environment.
bridezilla and a singer by the way. Lame jokes aside, TerraCycle some college undergrad. [ The vehicle looks like it’s
Here are two videos I took at the actually has a decent little TerraCycle via CNET] coming straight out of cult anime
event today, showing the 158cm business plan going on. Put Akira, but I am too heavy to be
tall HRP-4C in action. In the simply, they recycle the world's able to use it and so couldn’t try it
videos, she’s “acting” in case you out myself.
wonder what she’s saying.
Video 1:
Video 2:

'Paranormal Activity' Makes a Killing at Weekend Box Office

(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:48:00 PM
The horror films 'Paranormal
Activity' and 'Saw VI' topped the 'Paranormal Activity' took in an million. successful weekend, grossing
pre-Halloween box office -- see impressive $22 million, while the Director Spike Jonez' acclaimed $14.4 million.
what these frightening flicks sixth movie in the 'Saw' franchise children's film 'Where the Wild
grossed over the weekend... lagged behind, only making $14.8 Things Are' had another
20 Gadgets/ Tech/ TV/
CrunchGear Week in
Review: By Cell Light
Edition
By Bryce Durbin (CrunchGear)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:37:22 AM
Here’s a look at what happened
on CrunchGear this week:
The real life Burger King
Windows 7 Whopper is a
disgusting joke to humanity
Quick Look: 13.3-inch Acer
Hallow-Meme: Internet-Inspired Halloween Costumes
By Pete Cashmore
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:07:33 PM
Don’t have your costume ready
for Halloween yet? Internet
meme site Know Your Meme
Timeline
Orchestral movements by LCD
light
The $259, dual-screen Barnes &
Noble Nook reader gets official
Wait, wait, don’t tell me. NPR
has its own radio.
wants to help. The site has
launched the Hallow-meme
Costume Builder, which aids you
in creating a Balloon Boy
costume, a Kanye West & Taylor
Swift outfit (for couples), a Three
Wolf Moon costume for three
Caffe Inn: The Espresso Machine
That's Right at Home On Tony
Stark's Chest [Espresso]
By Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:00:00 PM
Who knew that the real power
source driving Iron Man onward
and upward into the stratosphere
was really just a strong, trendy
espresso machine?
Designed by Frenchman Charles
people, and many more besides.
It’s a smart move from Know
Internet News Record
Here's the
first ten
minutes of V
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:40:00 PM
ABC's remake of V starts on
November 3 (for four episodes,
then it's going to take a break).
Here are the first ten minutes of
the pilot (even though the video
says eight minutes, it's over 9
minutes long).
It's an effective opening,
introducing all of the characters
and showing us how the aliens
come to our planet. If something
happened like this in real life,
would people really stand in the
street and point and go to the top
of buildings to get a better look or
would we see a big ship and
completely freak out and run out
Teyssier, the "Caffe Inn" concept of town?
is purely aesthetic, offering little Filed under: Video, Reality-Free,
in the way of improvements on V
the tried and true espresso Permalink| Email this| |
machine formula. It does, Comments
however, remind me of Iron Man,
and that's enough. [ Design Blog]
Your Meme, a spin-off from Tags: costumes, hallow-meme,
video-blog Rocketboom: not only Halloween
does it give the site more visibility
this Halloween, but the use of
affiliate links means that the site
could bring in a few bucks from
geeky Halloween revelers.
Internet News Record
Apple punts on lower-cost MacBook
(CNET News.com)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 4:00:00 AM
By not coughing up a low-cost
MacBook, as some had expected,
Apple has ceded a potentially
huge market to PC makers. But is
this just all part of Apple's
marketing genius?
$999 is as low as Apple will
go.(Credit: Apple)
The announcement Tuesday of
the $999 white polycarbonate
MacBook was pretty ho-hum as
product refreshes go (same price,
same color as before) but the
implication was important: Apple
is surrendering a large, emerging
laptop market to Microsoft and its
coterie of PC makers.
Not that it's necessarily a bad
strategy. Market researcher
Gartner said recently that Apple's
shipments in the U.S. grew year-
over-year by 6.8 percent to total
1.57 million during the third
quarter, putting it right behind
Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer.
Comparatively, overall PC
shipments in the U.S. grew by 3.5
percent from a year earlier.
But among those unimpressive
overall PC numbers (HP's third-
quarter shipments grew only 2.7
percent), was an impressive
statistic for Acer: buoyed by
Netbooks, Acer's shipments grew
by 61.4 percent year-over-year,
and it blew past Dell to become
the No. 2 PC maker worldwide
based on this growth.
Granted, Netbooks are a
relatively low-profit segment (i.e.,
Tech/ Tech Tips/ 21
13.3-inch 1280-by-800 LED-
backlit glossy widescreen display,
a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
processor, 2GB of memory, a
250GB (5400RPM) hard disk
drive, an optical drive, and the
standard wireless features. All in
a 4.7-pound package.
For $997, HP will sell you
Turn $10 Worth of
(online) an HP Pavilion dv3t Parts into a DIY
series with a 13.3-inch 1280-by-
800 LED-backlit glossy Pot Rack [Kitchen]
widescreen display, 2.0GHz Intel By Jason Fitzpatrick
Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of (Lifehacker)
profit on a $400 Netbook is going in the mainstream business press memory, a 500GB (5400RPM)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:00:00 PM
to be a lot less than that on a $999 by sticking to its $999 guns. The hard disk drive, an optical drive,
laptop). Nevertheless, they're a Wall Street Journal said that users and the standard wireless features. Pot racks are great for freeing up
hot market. Intel CEO Paul can get roughly equivalent laptops Also, in 4.7-pound package. cupboard space, but they often
Otellini has stated numerous times for a lot less at Dell and HP. And Apple beats the HP by a hair in cost quite a bit of money. If you're
that Intel was able to create a other publications have said that the processor category and loses looking to get those pots up and
market that grew faster than either Apple is not just ignoring new in the memory and storage out of the way for cheap, check
the iPhone or Nintendo Wii. Case market realities but, in fact, departments. If polycarbonate is, out this tutorial.
in point: Windows 7-based Acer ignoring the Mac lineup as a in fact, better than the plastics HP You'll be able to assemble this
Netbooks are now big on the whole in favor of the iPhone. uses, then that aspect of the project for under $10, possibly
Home Shopping Network--which So, do consumers lose by not design would be a win for Apple. less if you get creative with your
claims to have sold more than getting the chance to buy a The real win, though, is for source material. The main
5 , 0 0 0 i n o n e s e g m e n t o n competitive low-cost Apple Apple the company. It avoids the component of the rack is rebar
Saturday. MacBook? The short answer to cut-throat sub-$900 laptop market which, even when painted, may
And that's not the only market that rhetorical questions is yes-- and still sells--quite profitably--a not be ideal for your kitchen. If
Apple is punting on. A new b e c a u s e A p p l e o f f e r s n o lot of laptops. But will Apple be you're willing to spend a little
category of inexpensive, thin alternative to, for example, a thin, able to snub this growing market over the projected $10, a length of
laptops has emerged with the roll light $650 HP Pavilion dm3 of inexpensive Windows 7 laptops copper pipe would lend itself to a
-out of Windows 7 on Thursday. laptop. indefinitely? We should know in more polished look for a
Like Netbooks, these laptops are But an apples-to-apples (pun not about six months when Gartner traditional kitchen.
light (typically 4 pounds) and intended) comparison shows that r e p o r t s f i r s t - q u a r t e r 2 0 1 0 Check out the full tutorial at the
don't include an optical drive. But while Apple skimps on a couple n u m b e r s . ever-frugal blog Wise Bread to
they are relatively powerful and of white MacBook features, it's This content has passed through see the parts list and construction
full featured. The 15.6-inch Acer not an egregiously bad deal for fivefilters.org. tips. Have a handy kitchen hack
Aspire Timeline, for example, $999. Let's do a quick side-by- of your own? Let's hear about it in
with a 320GB hard disk drive and side of the cheapest MacBook the comments.[Wise Bread]
dual-core Intel processor is fairly with a mainstream HP laptop.
well-endowed at only $500. For $999, you get white
Apple is not receiving a lot kudos polycarbonate wrapped around a
22 Tech/ Entertainment/ Internet News Record

If you want to be green, get rid of your dog

(CNET News.com) Well, should you own two
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:39:00 PM
hamsters, that is the eco-footprint
equivalent of your plasma. And
They tell us not to drive one goldfish? Well, it's the energy
Hummers. -sucking equivalent of two cell
They tell us to disconnect our cell phones.
phone chargers, once our cell To continue this cheery mood for
phones are juiced. They tell us to just a little longer, please hark
switch off our laptops, burn these words the New Scientist
candles rather than electric light, quotes-- they were uttered by
and sail boats rather than fly David Mackay, a physicist at the
planes. University of Cambridge: "If a
But do they ever tell us to wean lifestyle choice uses more than 1
ourselves off the animals that we per cent of your energy footprint,
cynically use as substitutes for our then it is worthwhile reflecting on
failed relationships with other that choice and seeing what you
humans? can do about it."
I only ask because an article from The average cat, he estimates,
the New Scientist has wafted in represents 2 percent of a human's
front of my breakfast bowl and footprint. And as for dogs, oh, it
slapped me about my flappy really doesn't bear thinking about.
jowls. It seems to me, therefore, that
Quoting such luminous you have some harsh choices to
believe that a cat has almost the only multinational corporations It is largely to do with the amount
organizations as the Stockholm make in order to ave our world.
same carbon footprint as a VW that do that. So please imagine of meat and cereal that dogs
Environment Institute at York, Your goldfish or your family
Golf. that there is a book, written by chow, but this is surely a vale of
UK, the article purports to suggest plan? Your hamsters or, at the
Here is a sentence from the Robert and Brenda Vale, tears for those who need their
that our pets have all eco- very least, the plasma in your
article that I know may make called"Time to Eat the Dog?: The dogs in so many different ways: to
friendliness of that Northwest bedroom? Your dog or your
some of you rather unwell: "As real guide to sustainable living." get exercise, to get
Airlines flight that forgot to land Audi?
well as guzzling resources, cats Because you are more numerate companionship and to become
in Minneapolis and just kept on Your animal companions or your
and dogs devastate wildlife than me, I will leave you to attractive to members of their
going to Wisconsin. technological ones? Life just
populations, spread disease and examine their figures in lascivious target sex.
Please, I understand that dogs doesn't get easier, does it?
add to pollution." detail. However, the Vales In case you are not quite
and cats are lovely beings that just This content has passed through
Buddy, if you can't carry the estimate that a 4.6-liter Toyota thoroughly depressed by this
want to love you and lick you as fivefilters.org.
family to the mall, you'll have to Land Cruiser has an eco-footprint estimation of our ultimate demise,
long as you feed them and wash
go.(Credit: CC Mike Baird/Flickr) that is less than half that of a might I offer you two further
them.
Yes, I know you thought it was medium-size dog. calculations from the Vales?
However, the SEI seems to

Report: Andrew Lloyd Webber Has Cancer

(ETonline - Breaking News) composer Andrew Lloyd Webber "Phantom of the Opera" and The prognosis is good, however, the end of the year.
has cancer.
Submitted at 10/25/2009 9:06:00 AM
"Cats," is suffering from the early according to the AP, and Lloyd
The famed Broadway composer, stages of prostate cancer, his rep Webber, 61, expects to be able to
According to a Sunday report, renowned for such works as tells the Associated Press. get back to work completely by
Internet News Record Tech/ Tech Blog/ TV/ 23

Amazon suspends wine sales effort In one way, losing a father is a

(CNET News.com) Amazon representatives did not
immediately respond to requests
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:30:00 PM
for comment.
Amazon.com is apparently
Word of the effort leaked out in
according to wine advocacy group
Free the Grapes. But state laws
relief
(Scripting News) lessons learned from the failures
governing direct wine shipping
were incorporated into my future
vary greatly, creating an onerous Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:14:49 AM

shelving its planned effort to sell
wine online.
A little more than a year after
word of the effort trickled out, a
senior Amazon account manager
told wineries in an e-mail that the
company has decided "not to
resume shipping."
"As you know, we were excited to
work with you to build the
AmazonWine business," Dini Rao
said in an e-mail first reported by
WineBusiness.com. "For that
reason, this was a very tough
choice for us. Many of you took
the time and leap of faith to really
support us."
GeoCities Closes Tomorrow: Goodbye, Old
September 2008 when a nonprofit
vintner group announced it had
partnered with Amazon to drum
up interest from its members to
sell wine through the retail giant.
However, its fulfillment partner
New Vine Logistics briefly
suspended operations this summer
before securing additional
financing from Inertia Beverage
Group.
Since the Supreme Court ruled in
May 2005 that states must grant
the same shipping rights to out-of-
state and in-state wineries, winery
-to-consumer shipping has
become legal in 35 states,
exploits, I'd never get caught the
task in managing compliance.
I've been amusing myself with same way twice!
Amazon had dabbled in the wine
illogic this last week, at times So all through my life I've been
business before, investing $30
giggling with the relief I feel at preparing for my father to come
million for a 45 percent share in
the passing of my father. I finally home and catch me doing
Wineshopper.com in 1999, a start-
found a way to explain it in whatever it is is I'm doing.
up that was acquired by
words. Whether I was aware of it or not, I
Wine.com in 2000 before going
When I was a kid, like every was always covering my tracks.
through a series of layoffs.
other kid, when the parents went My subconscious can't get rid of
Wine.com has a storefront on
out and left me alone, I'd do stuff this. It's a program I'll be running
Amazon, through which it sells
that I wasn't normally allowed to forever. But now it has a different
gourmet food baskets but not
do. But I had to be sure to cover ending. He's never coming home.
wine.
my tracks so my mischief
This content has passed through
wouldn't be discovered. The
fivefilters.org.
Worst commercial of
the year nominee: Chris
Farley and DirecTV
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 4:05:00 PM

Friend They use dead celebs in ads all

the time and it doesn't bother me,
By Pete Cashmore the Archive Team’s Geocities slimming down and cutting costs so why does the new DirecTV
(Mashable!) Project is doing its best to archive under CEO Carol Bartz. With the commercial with David Spade and
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:39:50 PM
as many GeoCities pages as company’s focus elsewhere, it Chris Farley irritate and disgust
possible, meaning that selected makes sense to shut down what is me so much?
So, we’ve come to the end of the pieces of Internet history will be essentially an internet relic. Still, For one, it's badly made.
road. The service that hosted the preserved (including hundreds of to those who look back with Unfunny and not very clever.
first website for a generation is set “ U n d e r C o n s t r u c t i o n ” g i f s nostalgia, October 26 could well Plus, it might be too soon, and the
to close down tomorrow. salvaged from the site). be a wistful day. way that Farley died... it's just a
If you’re a GeoCities user, As we wrote of the shutdown spectacular dot com purchase of Do you have fond memories of very strange ad. I wonder why
you’ve been given plenty of earlier this month: $3.65 billion and an equally
GeoCities? Let us know in the Spade even agreed to do it. (
warning, but you can still hop spectacular dot com bust, its
Back in the proverbial day, comments. DirecTV has done this before.)
over there and get your data out GeoCities was the place where closure marks the end of one of
[via Computerworld] Filed under: Video,
today before current owner Yahoo many a modern-day internet nerd the earliest ages of the social web.
Tags: geocities Commercials, Celebrities, Reality
turns out the lights. Meanwhile, cut his or her teeth. After a Yahoo, of course, has been busy -Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
24 Tech/ Tech Blog/ TV/ Internet News Record

Found Footage: iPhone OCNN: Chad

costumes are either genius Ochocinco to Launch
or deeply misguided Twitter News Network
By Michael Rose (The 500-foot charging cable trailing
Unofficial Apple Weblog By Pete Cashmore
behind them as they trick-or-treat (Mashable!)
(TUAW)) their way around the subdivision.
There's a part of me that wants to Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:05:06 AM
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:30:00 PM
tell these guys to apply their wild, Grey's Anatomy works
Chad Ochocinco’s Twittering has
Filed under: Humor, Cult of Mac, i n v e n t i v e e n e r g y t o m o r e
repeatedly gotten him into trouble just fine without Izzie
iPhone, Holidays productive pursuits. And yet...
You have to hand it to Reko and there's another bit of reptile brain
with the NFL, but he’s or Meredith
nonetheless embraced his online
Bobby for their stick-to-it- that simply sits and watches, in By Jonathan Toomey (TV
fans, launching an iPhone app and
iveness; they were behind a awe. Squad)
hatching plans to fly Twitter users How that’s different from simply
similar set of iPhone costumes in Thanks to John for the tip!
to games. using Twitter as he does now is Submitted at 10/25/2009 6:00:00 PM
2007, but those didn't have the [via MacRumors Forums]
Now the irrepressible Cincinnati unclear, but perhaps there will be
fully-functional power of these TUAW Found Footage: iPhone Let me take that one step further -
Bengals receiver is indulging his a centralized site aggregating all
new outfits. Yes, those are LCD costumes are either genius or - Grey's Anatomy is great without
love of Twitter yet further: he these Tweets. It’s a move that’s
TVs on the front (not touchable, deeply misguided originally Izzie or Meredith.
claims to be launching a Twitter- likely to further anger the NFL,
sadly) showing content from the appeared on The Unofficial Apple For the first time since the
based news network with which has been caught in a cat
(almost certainly) jailbroken Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 25 Oct announcement of her temporary
Motorola. He’s branding it the and mouse game over
iPhones mounted on top; yes, 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see departure from the show,
“Ochocinco News Network” Ochocinco’s Twitter use.
each getup weighs 85 pounds our terms for use of feeds. Katherine Heigl wasn't in this past
(OCNN) with the slogan, “If I It’s intriguing to ask whether this
because it includes a car battery to Read| Permalink| Email this| week's episode of Grey's
break it, you might as well believe may be a trend: what becomes of
power the display. I can see how Comments Anatomy and Ellen Pompeo,
it”. sports reporting once the sports
the illusion would be broken by a who's on maternity leave, was
The details are sparse, but it stars command publishing and
seems the plan is to equip players only featured in two very brief
distribution platforms of their scenes that book-ended the hour.
with Motorola phones and have own? Reviews: Twitter
them Tweet out news before the The episode expertly blended the
Tags: ochocinco, twitter Seattle Grace docs with the Mercy
major networks get wind of it.
Westers and featured a very cool
Rashomon-esque story ( CSI did
Good API design at Twitter the same thing a few years ago).
Continue reading Grey's
(Scripting News) off a list instead of a special when I think they made a mistake, Anatomy works just fine without
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:49:58 AM
Twitter account. It turns out and I'm even happier to applaud Izzie or Meredith
there's an API call that retrieves when something works incredibly Filed under: OpEd, Grey's
I ' v e b e e n p u t t i n g o f f the timeline for a list, and it works simply, and well. Anatomy, Episode Reviews,
programming with Twitter lists, exactly like the API call that Thanks!! Reality-Free
but I shouldn't have. retrieves the timeline for an Permalink| Email this| |
They did a really good job, as account. So much so that I didn't Comments
usual, with the API. even have to change the glue It Just Worked™.
The project -- convert the page of script, I pass in a different URL That's the Holy Grail of APIs.
Berkeley people's tweets to run and it just worked. I am happy to criticize Twitter
Internet News Record Tech News/ 25

Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible

By Admin (ReadWriteWeb) | Codero: Managed hosting | design, marketing and online speak for your online business or
Submitted at 10/25/2009 9:00:07 AM
Groupsite: Social collaboration | advertising services, search personal blog.
TechSmith: Screen recording | engine optimization, e-commerce .Me potential is enormous and it
Our mission at ReadWriteWeb is NaviSite: Managed hosting | solutions, and domain simply asks for you to be creative
t o e x p l o r e t h e l a t e s t W e b Verio: Small business hosting | registration. and coin the name that suits you
technology products and trends. PayPal: Online payments | Media You can register for Aplus.net best. If you have a great, original
We're fortunate to have a great Temple and SixApart: our hosts here. idea for a domain name, register
group of sponsors who support and blogging software Thank Aplus.net on Twitter for .Me before it's taken. To check
this goal. So, once a week, we Crowd Science making ReadWriteWeb possible. out other ideas, explore the world
write a post about them; about Crowd Science gives online Hakia of .Me.
who they are, what they do, and p u b l i s h e r s r e p o r t s o n t h e Hakia is a semantic search Thank Domain.ME on Twitter
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R e a d W r i t e W e b s p o n s o r ? Thank Crowd Science on Twitter scalable web and application with their meaning score. The computing experience for email,
ReadWriteWeb is one of the most f o r m a k i n g R e a d W r i t e W e b hosting platform (Cloud Sites) Contexa system then matches shopping, and data transfer.
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26 Sports/
CHECK
continued from page 25
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making ReadWriteWeb possible.
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software for individual and
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products to capture content from
their screens in ways that help
them communicate more clearly,
create engaging presentations for
diverse audiences, and analyze
product usability and customer
experience.
With products localized into five
languages and a distribution
network of resellers in more than
30 countries, TechSmith's global
reach is continually expanding.
Thank TechSmith on Twitter for
making ReadWriteWeb possible.
NaviSite
NaviSite is a leading provider of
enterprise hosting and application
Internet News Record
Brady throws 3
services for a diverse client base.
Leveraging a diverse network of
2000, the company became a
wholly owned subsidiary of NTT
Thank PayPal on Twitter for
making ReadWriteWeb possible.
TDs as Pats rout
16 enterprise-class data centers
across the US and UK, NaviSite
Communications, one of the
largest companies in the world
Our Gracious Hosts and Blogging
Software
Bucs in London
offers a predictable technology and supports its operations ReadWriteWeb is hosted by By Associated Press
environment and a complete suite through NTTs highly reliable and Media Temple and is published (ESPN.com)
of infrastructure and application scalable Global IP Network. using SixApart's Movable Type. Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:25:39 PM
solutions. Through this network, customers If you've ever wondered what
NaviSite's product and service and partners can extend their ReadWriteWeb looks like behind Fast Facts
offerings include: global reach with access to the scenes, or if you've never seen • The Patriots won in blowout
• Vast custom application business solutions around the the Movable Type publishing fashion for the second straight
development capabilities, globe and in more than 200 interface - that's it on the left. We week, having won their last two
including SOA solutions, countries. recently upgraded to MT 4.23, games by a combined score of 94-
eCommerce, and Web 2.0 Today, Verio leverages its which is the latest version. We got 7.
applications. financial strength and stability to onto this release as soon as it was • Tom Brady surpassed 300 yards
• Full stack of enterprise hosting support its growing customer available - in fact our contacts at in consecutive games for the first
services for mid-market base, extend its product leadership Six Apart emailed the actual code time since 2007.
companies, including shared, and expand its global footprint for to us before it was up on their • Dating back to 2005, the Patriots
dedicated, and complex hosting, partners worldwide. website. That's customer service have won 17 straight regular-
SaaS enablement, and colocation. Thank Verio on Twitter for for you! season games against NFC
• Best in class managed hosting, making ReadWriteWeb possible. Thank Media Temple and opponents.
such as virtualization and utility PayPal SixApart on Twitter for making • Tampa Bay is 0-7 for the first
computing. PayPal is a safe, easy way to pay ReadWriteWeb possible. time since starting 0-9 in 1985.
and get paid online. The service The companies above pay our The Bucs have lost 11 straight
Thank NaviSite on Twitter for allows anyone to pay in any way rents or mortgages and we games dating back to last season,
making ReadWriteWeb possible. they prefer, including through appreciate it. We hope you'll stop their longest losing streak since
Verio credit cards, bank accounts, buyer by their sites and see what they've losing the first 26 games in
Verio is the recognized industry credit or account balances, got to offer. franchise history in 1976 and
leader in delivering online w i t h o u t s h a r i n g f i n a n c i a l Have you got a smart company 1977.
business solutions to SMBs i n f o r m a t i o n . that could use some more visits by • Josh Freeman was just 9 for 26
worldwide. Distributed through its PayPal has quickly become a the sophisticated readers of a blog passing before getting pulled.
network of OEM and viaVerio global leader in online payment like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a Starting quarterbacks are 11-for-
channel partners, Verio's solutions solutions with more than 153 line and let's talk. 38 against New England over the
provide web hosting, application million accounts worldwide. Thanks to all our sponsors and last two weeks.
hosting and SaaS applications that Available in 190 markets and 18 our readers for your support! • This was the third regular-
enable SMBs to drive online currencies around the world, Discuss season NFL game at London's
success. PayPal enables global ecommerce Wembley Stadium.
Verio has emerged as the by making payments possible • Rapid Reaction
preeminent provider of web a c r o s s d i f f e r e n t l o c a t i o n s , -- ESPN Stats & Information
hosting services worldwide. In c u r r e n c i e s , a n d l a n g u a g e s . This content has passed through
fivefilters.org.
Internet News Record
Cartoon: It's a Big Ol' Blogosphere
By Rob Cottingham
(ReadWriteWeb)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:28:58 PM
Ever have that moment when you
wonder if what you're about to
post will alienate you from the
rest of the online world forever?
I get that sometimes, which says
a lot more about my own
insecurities and the extent to
which the social Web replicates
the social dynamics of high
school than it does about any real
risk. My social network includes
some very forgiving, open-
minded people... and the online
world is much, much bigger than
anything I've tapped into so far.
Sponsor
When I think of, say, the
TinkOMatic Keeps Tabs on Classifieds, Job
Searches, and More [Search]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:00:00 PM
You know auctions, listings, and
other sales are perpetually afoot
online, but you lack the time to
scour Craiglist, Ebay, and more in
search of the obscure and
awesome things you want. Let
TinkOMatic do the legwork for
you.
TinkOMatic aggregates and
monitors searches for items, cars,
rentals, real estate, and job
listings. Currently TinkOMatic
pulls from eBay, Craiglist, Kijiji,
and Oodle. You can use the site to
Vancouver social media scene, I
think of people I know: family,
friends, colleagues, clients, dev
partners and the like. And yet
that's a tiny percentage of my
neighbors who are engaged in
social media.
conduct a real-time search, but the
real value comes in if you don't
find what you're looking for. Save
the search within the TinkOMatic
dashboard for future monitoring,
and you can get instant
Just an example: when I look
through the list of the top 100
Vancouver Twitterers by number
of followers, I don't recognize the
vast majority of names. That tells
me that a big conversation is
going on (or a lot of small
notification by setting an alert
with Google Alerts.
The site overcomes the limitation
of having only a handful of
default search partners by
allowing you to plug in RSS feeds
Tech News/ Tech Tips/ Sports/ 27
Steelers' defense
conversations) that I'm not a part
punishes Vikings
of.
Which is cool. It's a big ol'
with two TDs
blogosphere, and I can't possibly By Associated Press
hope to keep tabs on any more (ESPN.com)
than my small corner of it. Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:42:59 PM
It's also a handy reminder to
avoid the temptation of Fast Facts
generalizing about the social Web • A pair of fourth quarter
from our own experience if it. For defensive touchdowns led the
any of us who wants to Steelers over the Vikings, who
understand how the Web and the lost for the first time this season.
way we use it are evolving and • Lamarr Woodley returned a
make some intelligent guesses Brett Favre fumble 77 yards and
about the future of social media, Keyaron Fox ran back an
breaking out of our comfortable interception 82 yards, both for
scores.
little circles and exploring a little
is critical. • The Steelers have won 10
More Noise to Signal. Discuss straight at home since last season,
including the playoffs.
• Favre threw for 334 yards, his
most in a game without a
touchdown pass. It was also
Favre's most passing yards in a
loss since 2006.
• Sidney Rice had 11 catches for
136 yards and has 312 receiving
from sites you want indexed along yards in his last two games.
with the default search results. • The Vikings lost for the first
TinkOMatic will do its best to time this season and were unable
parse the feed into a meaningful to eclipse their 6-0 start from
chart for you. Check out the video 2003. The loss also ended the
below to see TinkOMatic in Vikings' six-game road win
action: streak.
TinkOMatic is a free service and • Rapid Reaction
can be given a full trial run with -- ESPN Stats & Information
the guest account, sign up for an This content has passed through
account to save your settings fivefilters.org.
between sessions. Have a favorite
tool for monitoring multiple item
searches at the same time? Let's
hear about it in the comments.
TinkOMatic[via Mashable]
28 Tech Tips/ Internet News Record

Five Best Portable Apps Suites [Hive Five]

By Jason Fitzpatrick PortableApps development tree.
(Lifehacker) Geek.Menu uses the same
Submitted at 10/25/2009 9:00:00 AM
convenient installation files from
PortableApps.com that the
Once upon a time easy remote original PortableApps suite uses.
computing was a pipe dream, now The layout is similar but
people routinely carry gigs of data Geek.Menu has several key
around on flash drivers smaller enhancements—you can check
than a modest pack of chewing them out here—like support for
gum. Manage your apps and data TrueCrypt, creation of categories
with these portable application within the menu structure, and
suites. automatic application execution
Photo by basheertome. on menu startup. You'll
Earlier this week we asked you to note—from the screenshot
share your favorite portable above—that Geek.Menu doesn't
application suite with us. We've come preloaded with software. To
tallied the votes and now we're get Geek.Menu off to a quick start
back with the top five you can download the
nominations for your review. A PortableApps suite and swap out
note on the reviews: portable the menu systems.
applications suites usually contain Lupo PenSuite(Windows, Free)
dozens and dozens of individual Lupo PenSuite mashes up a
applications. We'll be unable to familiar looking menu with a
list every single one here and we huge offering of applications.
urge you to visit the site of the Taking a note from the LiberKey
suite to check out the full school of portable suite
application list. quite a few you've never used could download all the individual on the machine. You can find production, Lupo PenSuite throws
Liberkey(Windows, Free) b e f o r e . P o r t a b l e A p p s portable components separately of dozens and dozens of Linux everything at you but the kitchen
LiberKey doesn't have the S u i t e ( W i n d o w s , F r e e ) course, but what really ties d i s t r i b u t i o n s w h i c h c a n b e sink. Need to tinker in the
polished menu found in the PortableApps is the Grand Daddy e v e r y t h i n g t o g e t h e r i s t h e modified or tweaked to run off a W i n d o w s R e g i s t r y ? L u p o
PortableApps suite, but its menu of portable application sites. PortableApps menu system. Seen portable drive. If you're just PenSuite has 8 applications just
is functional and conveniently B e t w e e n J o h n H a l l e r — t h e in the screenshot above the menu getting started with using a for registry editing. You can
a r r a n g e d b y p r o g r a m t y p e . founder of the site—and the system is clean, includes a backup L i v e U S B v e r s i o n o f L i n u x check out the full app log at this
LiberKey opts to put things in dozens of developers, packagers, utility, and makes organizing your however we'd suggest taking a link. If you're looking for a suite
categories labeled according to translators, and the hundreds of portable apps and documents peak at one of our past features on that sports everything from a web
what they do, so even if you've people that participate in the simple. portable Linux use: Battle of the browser to a dvd burner and
never seen an application that is forums, the sheer number of Portable Linux (Free) T h u m b D r i v e L i n u x everything in between including
included in the LiberKey suite people working to polish the Many of you took the stance that Systems—one of the contestants, security tools and torrent clients,
you'll have a pretty good idea that PortableApps suite has resulted in running portable apps in Windows Puppy Linux, is pictured in the Lupo PenSuite has quite a list of
it's a Color Picker or Security a very comprehensive package. was great but way too restrictive. screenshot above. If you want to offerings.
Tool based on the folder you find The PortableApps suite includes Booting a computer into a distinct get a sense the number of Live Now that you've had a chance to
it in. It's a useful feature given basics like Firefox for browsing operating system gives power Linux versions out there, check look over the contenders for the
that the Ultimate installation and Pidgin for instant messaging users the ability to run the out The LiveCD List here. top portable applications suites,
i n s t a l l s a r o u n d 2 5 0 but also includes—in the full machine as their own without any Geek.Menu(Windows, Free) FIVE page 29
applications—you're bound to see package—Open Office. You risk to the native operating system Geek.Menu is a branch in the
Internet News Record
Turn an Orange into a Fragrant
Candle Holder [Entertaining]
By Jason Fitzpatrick
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:00:00 PM
Scented candles don't always
smell quite, well, natural. Turn an
orange into a candle holder and
you've got a festive-looking table
decoration that can give off
customized scents.
Over at Beekman1802, a blog
devoted to seasonal living and
hand-made products, they have a
tutorial on a novel way to reuse
the rind of an orange. The full
tutorial at the link below is loaded
with pictures. The shorter gist:
slice an orange in half, scoop out
the meat, cut a hole in the top
half, put a tea-light candle inside,
and you're in business. The little
black objects you see in the photo
above are cloves, pushed into the
rind. As the candle holder heats
up it releases the smell of oranges
FIVE
continued from page 28
it's time to cast your vote:
Which Portable Application Suite
is Best?( poll)
Amazed that your favorite didn't
make it? Can't believe the number
of portable application suites out
there? Let's hear about it in the
comments.
Tech Tips/ Economy/ 29
Classic Cinema Online
and cloves into the air.
Below you can see our in-house
try at creating an orange tea-light
cooking cutter for extra style
points:
Have a fun entertaining hack that
Streams Free Classic
holder. We couldn't find a
grapefruit spoon to hollow it out
super cleanly—we apparently
takes something mundane—like
the humble orange here—and
turns it into something
Films [Movies]
By Jason Fitzpatrick Action to Westerns and even old
lack the culinary-fu to beat an interesting? Let's hear about it in (Lifehacker) cinema shorts and news reels.
orange into submission with a the comments. Orange Rind They routinely feature selections
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:00:00 PM
regular spoon—but we made up Votives[via ReNest] of movies based on the time of
for it by using a star-shaped Whether you're in the mood for year, holidays, and other notable
some classic animation or some events. This week of course it's
Car bombs in Iraqi capital leave 136 old-school spooky films to get c l a s s i c s p o o k y , s c a r y , a n d
you in that Halloween spirit, supernatural movies in honor of
dead Classic Cinema Online has Halloween's approach. Even if
(Financial Times - US hundreds of films in dozens of you're somewhere you can't sit
hit the Iraqi capital.
homepage) categories. down and watch a film from
The first bomb struck an
Classic films have a certain yesteryear, browsing the awesome
intersection near the Justice
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:15:17 PM
charm to them, the small budgets, movie posters is worth the
Ministry and the Ministry of
simple special effects, and archaic price—free!—of admission.
Twin car bombs exploded outside Municipalities and Public Works
dialogue all lend themselves to Have a favorite spot to catch
two government buildings in at about 10.15 on the first day of
creating a sort of celluloid- some vintage media? Whether it's
central Baghdad on Sunday, the Iraqi work week, when streets
wrecking pillars of the state’s are always crowded. quaintness that tends to get lost in film, television, or radio, we want
authority and leaving at least 136 This content has passed through modern "Is that real or CGI?" to hear about it in the comments.
people dead and 520 wounded in fivefilters.org. blockbusters. Classic Cinema Online[via
one of the worst attacks to have Classic Cinema Online has M a k e U s e O f ]
gathered together hundreds of
films in categories ranging from
30 Tech Blog/ TV/ Sports/ Economy/
Who or what will be the Right now on
BitTorrent of Realtime? Cinematical
(Scripting News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:17:53 PM
A market develops, a bunch of
people get it started, then
someone at a big company
discovers it, changes its name
(sometimes they don't even do
that) and relaunches it as if it were
something wholly new. The press,
many of whom were aware of the
earlier efforts, goes for it.
"Everyone knows" that it only
matters when a big company does
it. However, if you look at history
that's often not true, it's often the
small guy who ends up defining
the market, despite what the press
thinks.
A classic case is P2P. Ten years
ago there were all kinds of early
efforts, some remarkably popular
(thinking of Napster) and the
industry launched a huge hype
balloon. Conferences, white
papers, press tours, alliances,
books, VC, startups, etc etc.
Billions of dollars thrown at it.
What ends up taking the prize?
BitTorrent! An open source
project launched by a bunch of
Bradford to Have Surgery, Enter Draft
By Michael David Smith
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:00:00 PM
by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Oklahoma
Oklahoma quarterback Sam
Bradford said Sunday that he
nerds, without much PR. I don't
know if it was the best
technology, but it certainly was
good enough. It wasn't glitzy or
even particularly easy to to use. It
worked, and most important, you
could get the movies and TV
shows you wanted.
It's a good bet that in five years
we'll look back and most of the
companies staking out realtime
today will be forgotten and
something like BitTorrent will
rule this space, gently of course.
plans to have season-ending
shoulder surgery and enter next
year's NFL Draft, bringing the
college career of the reigning
Heisman Trophy winner to a
premature end.
Bradford, who might have been
the No. 1 overall pick if he had
By Kona Gallagher (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:01:00 PM
The folks at our sister site
Cinematical are working hard to
give you news and reviews of the
best -- and worst -- the silver
screen has to offer. Here are some
of their musings on the latest
blockbusters, indies, and
everything in between:
• I have zero interest in the Saw
franchise, but Paranormal Activity
looks super-creepy. Apparently
America agrees with me, because
Paranormal Activity beat Saw VI
at the box office on Friday.
• I remember renting the 1988
version of The Blob on VHS from
our library when I was a kid. Now
you can see it for free, just like I
did! Except instead of VHS, you
can totally watch The Blob on
SlashControl.
• Vampires may be the new hot
thing, and as Jenna Maroney told
entered this year's draft, suffered a
shoulder injury in the season
us on 30 Rock, werewolves may
be next, but after that? Witches
are the new hotness.
• I've always felt a kinship with
Amelia Earhart, ever since I put
on my mom's riding pants, boots,
scarf, and a short wig for
biography day in the 5th grade. So
maybe that's kind of a sad reason
to want to see Amelia, but there it
is. You can read Cinematical's
review of Amelia here.
• Speaking of Amelia Earhart,
Cinematical Seven has 7 biopics
worthy of their subject. And
Amelia isn't the only film on the
list featuring Hilary Swank.
Filed under: Site
Announcements, Reality-Free
Permalink| Email this| |
Comments
opener against BYU and
aggravated the injury against
Texas last week. He said he's
ready to move on:
Bradford to Have Surgery, Enter
Draft originally appeared on
Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog
on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:00:00
Internet News Record
Air base dispute
hangs over
Obama Japan trip
(Financial Times - US
homepage)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:35:49 AM
Differences over a controversial
plan to relocate a US marine air
base on the Japanese island of
Okinawa appear ever more likely
to cloud a landmark visit to Tokyo
next month by Barack Obama, the
US -president.
Washington is strongly pushing
for Tokyo’s new Democratic
Party of Japan-led administration
to stick with plans to move the
Futenma base from its present
urban site to a less populated
location on Okinawa’s northern
coast, with Robert Gates, the US
defence secretary, insisting last
week that it was “time to move
on” with the relocation.
This content has passed through
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EST . Please see our terms for
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Permalink| Email this| Linking
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Internet News Record
Jane After Dark: Ally
McBeal, season one
By Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:03:00 PM
It's always interesting when
you've been hearing about a series
for years and then finally sit down
to watch it. All the little pieces
and pop references of Ally
McBeal are starting to come
together, like Fishisms, The
Biscuit, dancing babies and
Vonda Shepard. I have seen the
light. Well, at least season one of
the light.
I mentioned in my preview last
week that Ally McBeal seems like
a mix of The Days and Nights of
Molly Dodd and My World and
Welcome To It. Having reached
the end of season one, I still feel
that way, with maybe a little
Buffy the Vampire Slayer thrown
in (hey, don't throw things at me,
Ally looks like Buffy).
Molly Dodd because Ally is
funny, desperate, strong and cute.
My World because of all her
fantasies, though not always in
UFC 104 Video: Final Words From LA
By Ariel Helwani (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:46:00 PM
by Ariel Helwani
Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC
LOS ANGELES -- The UFC 104
post-fight press conference was
buzzing after the controversial
Comedy Central's Jeff
Dunham Show is a
smash
By Allison Waldman (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:04:00 PM
On Friday night, Fox's Dollhouse
was only able to draw 2.1 million
total viewers, a mere 0.8 with
adults 18-49. That may be
because Jeff Dunham's "dolls" are
more popular. Dunham's dolls are
dummies and he's a ventriloquist.
His new Comedy Central series,
The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3
million viewers, the highest ever
premiere for a show on that
cartoon form as was the case with network the same night, Friday,
John Monroe / James Thurber. October 23. As my mother might
Continue reading Jane After s a y , " G o f i g u r e . " T h e J e f f
Dark: Ally McBeal, season one D u n h a m S h o w .
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Oh and the numbers got even
Reality-Free, Jane After Dark better later that night when a
P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | repeat drew 7.9 million. And for
Comments the demo geeks out there that feel
the 18-49 adult demographic
number is the really, really
important guide for TV ratings,
Dunham hit a 2.6, more than three
main event between Lyoto
Machida and Shogun Rua.
Below is a highlight video
package of the conference, which
featured comments from Machida,
Rua, Dana White, Cain
Velasquez, Joe Stevenson and (Warning: video contains some
Anthony Johnson.
TV/ Sports/ Game/ 31
PSA: Best Buy's 'buy
2, get the 3rd game
free' sale starts today
By Alexander Sliwinski
(Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 9:00:00 AM
Last week's rumor of Best Buy's
"buy 2, get the 3rd game" sale
beginning today rang of truth. The
offer is good on all Wii, PS3 and
Xbox 360 software that's $60 or
less, which is pretty much
times Dollhouse's demo.
everything not involving plastic
peripheral bundles.
Continue reading Comedy
Central's Jeff Dunham Show is a
Best Buy is typically pretty well
smash
stocked with software, but with a
Filed under: Other Comedy
sale like this, it's probably best to
show up early today to get the
Shows, OpEd, Video, Music and
Variety, Celebrities, Ratings,
games you're gunning for. We'll
keep an eye on Amazon to see if it
Reality-Free
matches this sale like it did Toys
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"R" Us' from a couple weeks ago.
Comments
PSA: Best Buy's 'buy 2, get the
3rd game free' sale starts today
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Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST.
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32 Sports/ Internet News Record

NFL Diary: Steelers 27, Vikings 17

(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) should have caught. If this Brett view. We’re at the two-minute goal, LaMarr Woodley scoops it
Submitted at 10/25/2009 8:52:54 AM
Favre shows up every week for warning, with a third and four up — and then the beefy
the rest of the year, Minnesota coming up for the Vikings. Four- linebacker rumbles 77 yards to
The Journal provides minute-by- will be just fine. down territory, obviously. other way for a touchdown.
minute analysis of the Pittsburgh Perhaps more noteworthy, 3:58: You could see that ball Before that play, the worst case
Steelers’ 27-17 victory over the though, was the play of the being stripped from for Minnesota seemed to be a
Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field Viking defense, which lacked Roethlisberger by Asher game-tying field goal. Instead,
in Pittsburgh. Guest blogger Steve standout cornerback Antoine Allen long before it happened. they’re now down 20-10 with
Kornacki offers commentary on Winfield (who may not be back you’ll still have time for the Steelers catch a break, though, as 6:23 left. That whole drive,
the game and the Fox telecast. until December). True, Pittsburgh onside kick and — if it works — a it bounces out of bounds. The which began all the way back
Associated Press The Steelers’ didn’t really try to test the corners Hail Mary. Instead, Favre throws Vikings get it at their own 26 with at the Viking 3, netted Minnesota
Mike Wallace scores on a 40-yard who replaced him, but the fact to Peterson for about 10 yards, 3:21 to go. 45 yards or so would a total of minus-seven points.
touchdown reception late in the remains that Minnesota gave up and the clock ticks down to four put the Vikings in position for a That is probably the game.
first half. very few big plays today, and also seconds. game-tying field goal, but 3:42: Apparent go-ahead 10-yard
The cliche about the game being forced a key turnover by Rashard 4:10: Twice this quarter the obviously Minnesota fans are touchdown pass to Rice is
closer than the final score Mendenhall. The 14 fourth- Vikings made it into the Steeler thinking bigger right now. nullified by a tripping penalty on
indicates really does apply to this quarter points that sealed the red zone needing only a field 3:55: The Steelers’ third and Jeff Duggan. Moose doesn’t like
game. Minnesota was threatening game for Pittsburgh had nothing goal to tie. And twice they three play is whistled dead — the call. Oddly enough, the Heinz
to take the lead twice in the fourth to do with the Viking D. committed turnovers that were delay of game on the defense. A Field crowd does.
quarter, with crowd-silencing As for Pittsburgh, this is its first returned for touchdowns. first down for Pittsburgh. 3:38: Peterson’s done very little
drives deep into Steeler territory. truly impressive win of the year, 4:07: Well, there’s the game- Childress looks confused. So am I today, but he comes through with
One ended with a pick-six, the with the other victories coming k i l l i n g B r e t t F a v r e I N T and so are the Fox announcers. a big run here — 19 yards, to the
other with a 77-yard fumble a g a i n s t a v e r a g e - t o - d r e a d f u l everyone’s been waiting for. Not Penalties might end up being the Steeler 21. Then he takes a short
return for a touchdown by the competition. Steelers fans can feel sure he should get all of the blame difference, though: The Steelers second down pass near the 10.
Steelers’ LaMarr Woodley. The very good about their team’s on that. He was trying to find can burn some serious clock now. Vikings are well within field-goal
Vikings really were close to defense (as always), which won Chester Taylor on a quick screen. 3:53: The Steelers take over at range.
winning the game, even if the the game today. The offense Taylor didn’t seem ready, and the their own 30 with six minutes to 3:36: After going to the booth
Steelers ended up covering the six wasn’t quite as impressive, ball went through his hands — go. If you believe in momentum, and checking with the patrons at a
- p o i n t s p r e a d w i t h a l i t t l e struggling to move the ball and and right into Keyaron Fox’s. The the Vikings have it right now. local Buffalo Wild Wings, the ref
breathing room. convert key third-down plays. Steeler linebacker then took it 3:49: We had an official down, reports that it was, in fact a catch,
Before the game, I wrote about Roethlisberger finished with just back 82 yards for the game- after he was hit during Harvin’s and awards the Vikings a first
this being a chance for Favre and 175 yards on 14 completions; clinching score. 27-17 Steelers touchdown. It’s 20-17, after the down at the Pittsburgh 46. 9:54
the Vikings to prove that their fast he’d been averaging close to 300 with under a minute left. Vikings make the extra point, left in the game now.
start is no fluke. I think they did, passing yards per game coming 4:05: A 29-yard pass play to with 6:09 to play. 3:31: Vikings intent on killing
even though they lost. First, Favre into today. Still, after its 1-2 start Peterson and the Vikings are in And the official was helped off themselves with penalties.
himself played a tremendous this year, Pittsburgh, at 5-2 now, field-goal range. the field before the XP, but seems Holding, illegal shift, and now a
game, completing 34 of 51 passes is in pretty good shape as it hits its 4:04: Message of that Tostitos ad: to be OK. false start bring up a third and 18.
for 334 yards. Included in that bye week. If you buy our chips, your mother 3:48: Let me clarify that. When I Favre’s pass to Rice is caught,
were some very clutch fourth- 4:14: Game ends on a Favre sack. will stop bugging you to make said “That’s probably the game,” I but the receiver is ruled out of
quarter throws that brought the 27-17 is the final. The Vikings are babies? meant to say, “Percy Harvin will bounds. Childress is going to
Vikings to the edge of victory. undefeated no more. 4:01: Favre tries to find Rice with probably take the ensuing kickoff challenge this, and he should:
Yes, he threw a costly pick, but he 4:12: 14 seconds left and the the long ball. But as Moose back 88 yards for a touchdown.” The replay seems to show that
actually deserves the benefit of Vikings are at the Pittsburgh 35. correctly notes, the sliver of Vikings get within 20-16. (barely) both feet hit the ground
the doubt on this one — it was a Favre stays in. Why not just try sunlight still shining on the Heinz 3:44: Holy potatoes. The ball is NFL page 33
quick screen that Chester Taylor the long field goal? If it’s good, Field turf was blocking Rice’s stripped from Favre on third and
Internet News Record
NFL
continued from page 32
in bounds.
3:29: Has Fox ever explained
why Siragusa isn’t allowed in the
booth, and instead roams the
sidelines for the whole game?
3:27: Favre airs it out for Harvin,
who can only get his fingertips on
it. But then comes a clutch third-
down completion to (who else?)
Rice. Viking are now out at their
own 37.
3:25: Moose and the Goose both
want pass plays here, to get the
Vikings away from the goal line.
Favre finds Rice out at the 14 on
second down. Now they have
some breathing room.
3:23: So much for that.
Mendhenhall coughs up the first-
down carry and the Vikings come
up with the ball. Huge, huge break
for Minnesota. Favre takes over
at his own 3. 14:08 to play.
3:21: Woah, there’s a potential
game-breaker. Roethlisberger hits
Holmes, who eludes tackle after
tackle and takes it all the way
down inside the Viking 10. A TD
here would make it a two-
possession game.
3:21:“Don’t go away,
everybody,” says Moose. OK, you
talked me out of it….
FOURTH QUARTER
3:19: Quarter over. 13-10
Steelers. Time for more “Lie To
Me” promos!
3:18: Another nice run for
Mendenhall, this time for 17
yards. Something tells me that
Zook, his old college coach, will
have plenty of time next fall to
catch his old star in person…
3:15: Favre’s third-down pass
slips out of Harvin’s hands, which
means it’s time for Chris Kluwe
Fun Fact #4: He “has immersed
himself into the MMORPG World
of Warcraft” and “plays a troll
named Loate,” according to our
good friends at Wikipedia. This
time, the punt is good for 52
yards. Pittsburgh takes over at its
own 24 with under a minute left
in the third.
3:11: Vikings force a three-and-
out (there’s that surprisingly good
defense again!) and will get it at
their own 24. Just under three
minutes left in the third.
3:09: Minnesota is now ready for
the end-around. Time for a new
gimmick, Tomlin.
3:07: Looks like we might have a
very fun fourth quarter, one
worthy of the buildup for this
game. Maybe one of these teams
will still self-destruct, but the
story so far is how strong they’ve
both been on defense. This isn’t a
huge surprise for Pittsburgh, but
Minnesota’s D has only been
average this year — and was
supposed to take a big hit today
with the absence of Winfield.
3:03: The Vikings ignore Adrian
Peterson on second and third
downs, so out comes Longwell,
who connects from 18 yards. 13-
10 Steelers now with 4:44 left in
the third. That drive ended very
well for the Steelers. I think we all
expected Peterson would be
running it in to the end zone after
that long completion to Rice.
3:02: Favre misses Rice on
second and goal, but it raises an
interesting rules question, since
his throw actually bounced off the
crossbar on the goalpost. I
wonder if it would have been a
legal catch if Rice had somehow
come down with that.
2:58: Interesting fourth-down
decision coming up here. Fourth
and 1 at the Pittsburgh 35.
Childress doesn’t blink. They’re
going for it, and….what a great
call! Play action, a pump fake,
and a wide-open Sidney Rice,
who takes it all the way down
inside the Steeler 5.
2:56: Favre finds Harvin on a
third and 7 near midfield. It was a
free play, though, since
Pittsburgh jumped offside.
Minnesota refuses the penalty and
the Vikings are now at the Steeler
44.
2:53: Love these NFL/United
Way ads about discouraging
childhood obesity. How about
slapping a maximum weight on
linemen?
2:49: Sapp nearly redeems
himself with a pick on third and
goal. He doesn’t come away with
the ball, but he keeps Ward from
making the catch and forces Jeff
Reed to make another
appearance. His 27-yard field goal
puts the Steelers up 13-7 with just
over 11 minutes left in the third
quarter. Big sigh of relief for
Viking fans here. That drive
could have ended a lot worse.
2:47: Wow, another stupid, costly
penalty on the Vikings —
personal foul against cornerback
Benny Sapp, who pointlessly
lunged at Roethlisberger, who
was on his way out of bounds
after finding the marker on a third
and one carry. Now the Steelers
are inside the 10.
2:44, part two: Oh dear. Vikings
hurt themselves with a facemask
call against Paymah, which
moves the Steelers inside the 30.
Then Mendenhall carries it down
to the 18 on first down.
Pittsburgh is now in the red zone,
and we’re not even two minutes
into the half.
2:44: Just like in the first half,
Mendenhall takes the handoff on
the Steelers’ first play and runs to
the outside for 16 yards.
Pittsburgh already in Minnesota
territory.
THIRD QUARTER
2:28: Favre takes a knee to end
the half. Very tough way to go
into halftime for the Vikings,
who were looking at building on a
7-3 lead just a few minutes ago,
but who now trail by three
heading into the lockerroom. And
a big confidence boost for
Roethlisberger and the Steeler
offense, which will get the ball
first coming out.
2:24: Big completion to Mike
Wallace, who is wide open at the
Viking 40. Roethlisberger spikes
the ball to stop the clock, then
finds him again on the next play
— and the prunish old newsman
does a celebratory flip as he
reaches the end zone. Steelers go
up 10-7 with 23 seconds left in
the half.
2:23: Neither QB has thrown an
INT yet — but Big Ben has come
closer, twice so far on this drive
alone.
2:22: Mewelde Moore carries for
six yards on third and one,
bringing the Steelers out to their
own 38 with 54 seconds left in the
33
half. Now they’re thinking field
goal.
2:19: But he doesn’t. Kluwe
boots it to the Steeler 9, where
Big Ben takes over with 1:39 left
in the half. He finds Holmes for
14 yards on first down — and
Holmes is able to get out of
bounds, too.
2:18: Well, so much for that field
goal. Our man Kluwe will come
on to punt on fourth down. But
first, Mike Tomlin takes a
timeout, Not a bad move, given
the possibility that Kluwe will
screw this up royally.
2:16: Steeler fan Nina, a
commenter in Atlanta, emails:
“Does Brett Favre ever throw
interceptions?” It’s funny. You’d
never know he’s thrown 312 in
his career based on his
performance so far this year.
2:13: Nice third-down catch by
Visanthe Shiancoe. Vikings now
set up with a first down at their
own 40 at the two-minute
warning. A field goal would be
very nice here, especially with
Pittsburgh getting the ball to start
the second half.
2:10: Roethlisberger is rushed on
third and five and nearly throws a
pick. Minnesota takes over with
3:30 left in the half.
2:08: Did the Patriots also pay for
their videotaping equipment with
Visa debit?
2:07: Finally, Ryan Longwell
comes on for the XP to make it 7-
3 Vikings, with 5:12 to play in
the half.
2:05: On third and goal, Moose
NFL page 34
34
NFL
continued from page 33
frantically shouts for a pass play.
Vikings inexplicably ignore him
and hand the ball to Peterson who
scampers into the end zone
virtually untouched for a 6-3 lead.
Long delay for no apparent reason
on the extra-point attempt….
2:03: Fox robot update: He/she/it
had a football coming back from
that commercial.
2:02: Childress runs on the field
to make sure a timeout gets called
on second and goal. I must say,
he was wise to grow that beard.
2:00: Third and 1 from the 12.
Peterson gets the call and takes it
to the 3. That’s his second-best
run today. Vikings in good shape
to take the lead here.
1:58: Favre seems to be finding a
rhythm here. Three short passes to
the outside here, two to Bernard
Berrian, move Minnesota to the
Steeler 21.
1:55: A 28-yard completion from
Favre to Harvin on third down
puts the Vikings in Pittsburgh
territory, at the 39-yard line.
Moose responds by excitedly
reciting a cliche.
1:53: It’s still been 11 years since
Favre has been past his own 33-
yard line in Pittsburgh.
1:50: So far, the absence of
Winfield doesn’t seem to be
hurting Minnesota at all. Karl
Paymah delivers a hit that forces
Hines Ward to drop what would
have been a big third-down
conversion. Steelers punt and the
Vikings get it back at their own
24.
1:46: The drive immediately
conks out, and here comes our old
friend Chris Kluwe. Fun Fact #3:
Kluwe is “well known as an avid
Guitar Hero 2 player,” according
to infallible source Wikipedia.
This time, by the way, he punted
well: a 54-yard kick that sets the
Steelers up at their own 23. 12:27
to go in the half.
1:45: Moose is calling for the no-
huddle offense!
1:44: Best offensive play of the
day so far for the Vikings:
Peterson on a 15-yard carry on
first down, bringing the ball out to
the Viking 33– their deepest
drive so far.
SECOND QUARTER
1:40: That’s the end of the
quarter. All things considered, the
Vikings have to be happy.
They’ve done nothing with the
ball (have they even been past the
Pittsburgh 30?) and twice the
Steelers started in
Minnesota territory — but all
they have to show for it is three
points.
1:38: Actually, it was a 39-yard
kick. Jeff Reed nails it and with
51 seconds left in the quarter, the
Steelers are up 3-0.
1:36: Big Ben finds Santonio
Holmes in the end zone on third
and five. But the celebration is
short-lived: Heath Miller is
flagged for offensive pass
interference. Now it’s third and 15
from the 18 — and Big Ben is
taken down by Jared Allen back
at the 23. Now the Steelers are
looking at a 40-yard kick.
1:34, part two: Wallace gets the
call again, this time on a reverse.
He takes it down to the Viking
13. Top that, Morley Safer!
1:34: Call stands. Moose can’t
figure out why Childress would
challenge that one. Maybe he just
wanted to burn a timeout?
1:30: On third down,
Roethlisberger finds rookie wide
receiver/longtime “60 Minutes”
correspondent Mike Wallace for a
first down. Or is it? Coach
Childress is challenging this one.
1:26: Since it looks like we’re
going to see him a lot today, I
think I’m going to start providing
a series of Fun Facts about
Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Fun
Fact #1: He was born on
Christmas Eve! Fun Fact #2: He
doesn’t appear to be a good
punter. That one just went for 19
yards. Pittsburgh gets it at the
Minnesota 39 with 4:26 left in the
first.
1:24: Peterson goes for minus-
three on first down. He has now
carried three times for minus-two
yards. Harrison takes down Favre
on second down for a loss of six.
Third and 19 coming up here.
1:22: Favre finds Percy Harvin
on third-and-five for a first down.
I thought there might have been
movement on the right side of the
Vikings’ line on that one, but
whatever.
1:20: Another three-and-out, and
the Steelers waste terrific field
position. Minnesota gets it at its
own 17, with just over 8 minutes
left in the quarter. Imagine how
excited Moose will get if the
Vikings produce positive yardage
on this drive!
1:18: Back in the studio, Curt
Menefee informs us that the
Patriots, playing in London, have
taken a 7-0 lead over the
Buccaneers. But with the
exchange rate, I think that works
out to 9-0.
1:14: Favre is sacked by James
Farrior on first down and the
Vikings go three-and-out, with
minus-four net yards. Moose
Johnston, in the booth with
Albert, calls it “a real confidence
boost for Favre.” Because he
could have been sacked twice, I
guess? Steelers take over at the
Minnesota 49 after the punt. 9:45
left in the first quarter now.
1:12: As Fox displayed its
sponsors’ names after that
commercial, the Fox robot was
taking batting practice.
Hmmm…why would Fox be
trying to make us think about
baseball right now?
1:09: Good job by the Vikings D
here. After the Mendenhall run,
they managed a sack of
Roethlisberger and, despite good
protection by the Steeler line,
covered the downfield receivers
well and left Roethlisberger with
no good options on third and
long. Vikings get the ball back on
the punt.
1:07: Rashard Mendenhall carries
for 15 yards on first down. I credit
the training he received from his
college coach, genius tactician
Ron Zook.
1:05: There’s that second-ranked-
against-the run Steelers D. James
Harrison trips up Adrian Peterson
for a loss on second down. Favre
is forced to throw on third and
four, and it goes incomplete.
Steelers take over at their own 26
after forcing a three-and-out.
1:03: Vikings win the toss and
Internet News Record
take the ball. Favre trots out on
the field. It’s his first visit to
Pittsburgh in 11 years, Albert tells
us.
FIRST QUARTER
12:58: The most important
pregame note is that Antoine
Winfield, the Vikings’ all-pro
cornerback, will be out at least for
the next month. Winfield was
injured during last week’s game
against Baltimore. He didn’t
practice this week, so the fact that
he’s not playing today isn’t news.
Still, his absence could make Ben
Roethlisberger a very happy man:
With Winfield out last week,
Baltimore’s Joe Flacco came
alive, leading the Ravens’ to three
fourth-quarter TD’s and nearly
stealing the game.
12:56: Yesssss! We get Marv
Albert’s son calling the game for
Fox. Unfortunately, that also
means we get Tony Siragusa.
12:55 p.m. ET: Were getting
close to kickoff, so lets look a
little closer at whats at stake for
both teams today. The game is
being touted, not surprisingly, as a
“Possible Super Bowl Preview”,
and maybe thats what it will end
up being.
But Pittsburgh probably needs a
win more than Minnesota does. At
4-2, the Steelers would be the
fifth seed in AFC if the playoffs
were to start right now. Their
schedule after today isnt that
imposing, and as one of the
leagues most consistent teams
over the last six seasons, no one
really thinks theyll have trouble
NFL page 35
Internet News Record Sports/ Economy/ 35

Oklahoma Sooners' Sam Bradford plans to enter Disney chief tells

Hollywood to
NFL draft after surgery rewrite the script
By ESPN.com news services came back for this season. And I about six months away. sacked by Texas cornerback (Financial Times - US
(ESPN.com) came back to play, not sit on the "I'll be up to the challenge," Aaron Williams in what will homepage)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:31:53 PM
bench. That's the reason I tried to Bradford said in the statement. likely be the last play of his Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:32:55 PM
play after the injury. I'm very Bradford led the Sooners to the college career. The Sooners, now
Bradford To Undergo Surgery, disappointed that it didn't work BCS championship game last ranked No. 22, lost for the third Bob Iger, the Walt Disney chief
Enter Draft Bradford To Undergo out differently. season as a sophomore, setting time this season to fall out of the executive, has issued a stark
Surgery, Enter Draft "Under these circumstances, and school records with 4,720 yards national championship race and warning to Hollywood, saying the
ST. LOUIS -- Heisman Trophy after talking to several people, this passing and 50 touchdowns while jeopardize their chances at a film business is “changing right
winner Sam Bradford will have is the right thing for me to do at throwing only eight interceptions. fourth straight Big 12 title. before our eyes” after a turbulent
season-ending shoulder surgery this point." Oklahoma lost to Florida 24-14 in Bradford also holds several other year in which studios have been
and expects to enter the NFL draft Bradford passed up the chance to the championship game, and school records, including career forced to re-examine their
in April. be a first-round NFL draft pick Bradford announced less than a touchdown passes (88) and yards business models.
Big 12 blog this year -- he was projected as week later that he intended to passing in a game (468). DVD sales have been
ESPN.com's Tim Griffin writes high as No. 1 overall -- to play return for his junior year -- along "We want Sam to pursue the best Hollywood’s leading cash
about all things Big 12 in his another season with the Sooners, with classmates and fellow NFL option for his recovery and generator for the past decade but
conference blog. who he grew up following as a prospects Gerald McCoy, future," coach Bob Stoops said in sales are tumbling and have not
• Blog network: child in Oklahoma City. Jermaine Gresham and Trent a statement. "We obviously feel been replaced by revenues from
College Football Nation After he was hurt against the Williams -- for another chance at this is best for his long-range platforms, such as digital
The Oklahoma quarterback Longhorns, reaggravating a sprain the title. future. Sam has led us to two Big distribution.
injured his right, throwing of the AC joint in his shoulder, It ended up being the exact 12 championships and an This content has passed through
shoulder twice this season, most Bradford initially said he was opposite of what he expected. appearance in the national title fivefilters.org.
recently against Texas on Oct. 10. going to wait until the end of the He broke 2003 Heisman Trophy game, and has demonstrated
The school announced Sunday season to make a decision about winner Jason White's school uncommon leadership skills. He is NFL
continued from page 34
that Dr. James Andrews will his future. He then called a news record for passing yards in a an absolute role model as a
perform the operation Wednesday conference for Wednesday on career one play before he was hit student-athlete and loyal making the playoffs. After all,
in Birmingham, Ala. Bradford is campus, then canceled it about by BYU linebacker Coleby teammate. theyre just two near-misses (three
expected to address reporters two hours before it was scheduled Clawson just before halftime in "We appreciate the incredible -point road losses to Chicago and
following the Sooners' practice on to take place. the season opener. The Sooners contributions he has made to this Cincinnati) from 6-0.
Monday night in Norman, Okla. He accompanied Oklahoma to its ended up losing that game and program and university." Still, a loss today would make the
Bradford will hold a news 35-13 road win at Kansas on again at Miami without Bradford Information from ESPN's Joe defending Super Bowl champs an
conference at 6 p.m. Monday. Saturday. before he returned to throw for Schad and The Associated Press underwhelming 4-3 heading into
"I dreamed about coming to According to his statement, 389 yards in a win against Baylor. was used in this report. their bye week. And their four
O k l a h o m a m y w h o l e l i f e , " Bradford expects his recovery On the second series against This content has passed through wins this year (against hideous
Bradford said Sunday in a time to be four to six months. As archrival Texas, Bradford fell on fivefilters.org. Tennesse, Detroit and Cleveland
statement. "That's the reason I of Sunday, the April 22 draft was the shoulder again when he was teams and a middling San Diego
squad) really shouldnt impress
Google’s Android takes on Apple anyone. So a loss to the Vikings
— the best team, by far, that the
(Financial Times - US been setting the bar in touch- Android-based phones – handsets look for a rival to Apple’s device. Steelers have yet faced — could
homepage) screen smartphones, could soon that use the open source Google This content has passed through raise some questions. A solid
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:33:50 PM
be overtaken by an army of mobile operating system – are on fivefilters.org.
Google-powered handsets. the march as non-iPhone carriers NFL page 36
The Apple iPhone, which has
36 Sports/
NFL
continued from page 35
win, though, will affirm
everyones assumption: This years
team is at least as good as last
years.
Minnesota, meanwhile, has
exceeded everyones expectations
so far. Thats not saying much,
since everyone seemed to expect
that the Vikings, after Brett
Favres last-minute unretirement,
would be a bastion of disunity,
infighting, and backstabbing.
Instead, theyre undefeated and
two-and-a-half games ahead in the
NFC North.
The question, as I wrote before,
is how long Favre can maintain
his torrid early season pace.
Theres a sense that the Vikings
success is built on a flimsy, fluky
foundation. So, actually winning
today isnt the most important
thing for Minnesota: At 6-0, they
can absorb an L. Playing a tough,
close game on the road against
the defending champs will earn
them respect. Getting blown out
on the other hand.
Pregame: The subject of Brett
Favre and the 6-0 Minnesota
Vikings recently came up in a
Hamlin Holds on for Tums 500 Win
By FanHouse Newswire
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:37:00 PM
by FanHouse Newswire
Filed under: Denny Hamlin
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) --
Denny Hamlin turned a dominant
car into a winner at Martinsville
Speedway, passing Jimmie
Johnson with 138 laps to go
Gchat exchange between me and
my friend Jeff.
Remember when everyone just
knew that it was going to be a
train wreck? I asked.
It wont end well, he assured me.
Hell break down.
YeahBreak down in tears of joy
after leading them to a Super
Bowl triumph!
Like the proverbial half-full or
half-empty glass, there are two
ways to treat the 1,347 yards, 12
touchdowns, 109.5 quarterback
rating, and six wins that Favre
has produced in the seasons first
six games: Either hes re-
established himself as a
championship-caliber gunslinger,
or hes proven absolutely nothing.
Certainly, theres ample reason to
be cynical. Just think back to last
year, when Unretired Brett 1.0 led
the Jets to an 8-3 start — only to
throw nine picks in a hellish five-
game closing stretch in which the
Jets squandered a once-certain
playoff berth. Or to the three
seasons before that, when he
threw a combined 25
interceptions (with just 11
Sunday and holding off the Chase
leader on a series of late restarts.
Helped by a long green-flag run
that established him as the
dominant car, Hamlin pulled
away after a restart with 52 laps to
go, ending Johnson's remarkable
run of five trips to Victory Lane
in the last six races at the shortest
circuit in NASCAR's Sprint Cup
Series.
touchdowns) over the final five
games of each campaign. So why
get excited about another quick
start?
The reason, Favre partisans
would respond, is that Unretired
Brett 2.0 seems to be playing
with more focus and discipline
than weve seen from him in years:
His 12-to-2 touchdown-to-
interception ratio is the best hes
ever posted in a six-game stretch.
And this year, hes aided by
Adrian Peterson — hailed this
week by Pittsburgh coach Mike
Tomlin as arguably the best
football player in the world —
whose mere presence in the
backfield puts defenders on edge.
Todays Vikings-Steelers game
will be the stiffest test yet of
Minnesotas grand Favre
Experiment. The Steelers rank
third in the NFL in total defense
— and second against the run.
Before today, the best defense
Favre faced was that of his old
team, Green Bay, which is now
eighth in the league. (And the
second best he faced was San
Franciscos 15th-ranked D.) If
Hamlin easily pulled away again
on another restart with 12 laps to
Favres sterling TD/INT ratio can
survive the trip to Heinz Field, he
should win over skeptics.
That said, even if the Vikings
manage to put some points on the
board, theyll still be in trouble,
since their 18th-ranked defense
was exposed in last weeks 33-31
escape job against the Ravens.
The Vikings surrendered 448
yards in the game, allowed three
fourth-quarter touchdowns, and
survived only because Steven
Hauschka missed a 44-yard field
goal as time expired.
That kind of performance wont
cut it in Pittsburgh, where Ben
Roethlisberger is averaging nearly
300 passing yards a game — and
the entire offense is churning out
more than 400. For all the
attention that Favre has attracted,
it may be that Minnesotas defense
actually has more to prove today.
go, and again when a late crash by
Scott Speed forced a two-lap
sprint to the finish of the 501-lap
event.
"The last run or two at the end,
the 11 had their stuff right,"
Johnson said of Hamlin's Joe
Gibbs Racing team. "I was just a
little too loose to do anything with
them."
More Coverage: Tums 500
Internet News Record
Cleveland Indians sign
ex-Washington
Nationals manager
Manny Acta to 3-year
deal
By ESPN.com news services
(ESPN.com)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:53:59 PM
Indians Hire Manny Acta Indians
Hire Manny Acta
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland
Indians hired Manny Acta to be
their manager, giving him the job
about three months after he was
fired by the Washington
Nationals.
Acta signed a three-year contract
with a club option for 2013,
Indians spokesman Bart Swain
said Sunday. Additional terms
were not disclosed.
"I am very excited to become part
of the Cleveland Indians family,"
Acta said. "I look forward to
working with this talented group
of young men who seem to
possess a lot of energy and
passion for their work."
CLEVELAND page 37
Results
Hamlin Holds on for Tums 500
Win originally appeared on
Fanhouse Motorsports Blog on
Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:37:00 EST .
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feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Internet News Record Sports/ 37
CLEVELAND
Florida Gators regain No. 1 spot in continued from page 36

Acta was offered the Houston dugout, clubhouse and with our

AP poll Astros' managing job before

agreeing with the Indians, sources
told ESPN The Magazine's Buster
fans."
The 40-year-old Acta, who was
drafted by the Astros as a 17-year-
By Associated Press TCU jumped two spots to No. 8 Halloween night.
(ESPN.com) after a 38-7 victory at Mountain Virginia Tech is 14th and Olney. old first baseman, also
West Conference rival BYU. LSU Houston is 15th. Air of Insuperiority interviewed for Houston's opening
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:17:52 PM
stayed at No. 9 and Oregon Pittsburgh moved up four spots to If the Indians are looking for this offseason. The Indians will
NEW YORK -- Flip-flop. moved up two spots to No. 10. No. 16 after a 41-14 Big East progress, their new managerial introduce him at a news
Florida regained the top spot The Ducks host USC on Saturday victory against South Florida. The hire, Manny Acta, will have only conference Monday.
Sunday in The Associated Press in a game with huge Pac-10 Panthers have their highest one way to go -- up. Acta owns Cleveland tied for last in the AL
poll from Alabama, which was championship implications. ranking since they were 15th in one of the worst records from the Central after coming into this
ranked No. 1 for a week ahead of Florida began the season as an October 2003. past 50 years among managers season with high expectations.
the Gators. overwhelming No. 1 in the AP Ohio State, Miami, Utah and with at least two years of The Indians fired manager Eric
The Crimson Tide needed a poll. Alabama started five and West Virginia round out the top experience: Wedge in the final week of the
blocked field goal on the last play steadily gained on the Gators 20. The Indians chose Acta after a season.
to beat Tennessee 12-10 on before finally jumping past them The final five includes three second interview over former Acta went 158-252 in 2½ years
Saturday, while Florida pulled last week, when Florida needed a teams that were unranked last New York Mets manager and with the Nationals, who fired him
away from Mississippi State in field goal in the waning seconds week. No. 21 South Carolina current ESPN analyst Bobby after a 21-61 start this season. The
the fourth quarter for a 29-19 to beat Arkansas at home. moved up two spots and No. 22 Valentine and Indians Triple-A Indians, though, dismissed Acta's
victory. The Gators received 30 Alabama's All-American nose Oklahoma moved up three. manager Torey Lovullo. The team poor record and appreciated the
first-place votes to Alabama's 23. guard Terrence Cody blocked No. 23 Arizona is in the AP had been expected to interview way he developed some of the
No. 3 Texas got seven first-place Daniel Lincoln's 44-yard field- ranking for the first time since Dodgers hitting coach Don Nationals' young players.
votes after its 41-7 victory at goal attempt on the final play Oct. 22, 2000. No. 24 Mississippi Mattingly this week. "I believe we will grow together
Missouri. Saturday to keep the Crimson and No. 25 Notre Dame re- "We are very excited to have as a team," Acta said, "with the
The last time two teams flip- Tide undefeated. entered the rankings. Manny Acta on board as our ultimate goal of bringing a
flopped in the top two spots of the Florida led Mississippi State 16- BYU, Kansas and Texas Tech major league manager," Indians championship to Cleveland and its
AP Top 25 from one week to the 13 in the fourth quarter, then dropped out after losses. general manager Mark Shapiro fans."
next was 1992, when Miami and s c o r e d t w o t o u c h d o w n s 3 3 Copyright 2009 by The said in a statement. Information from The Associated
Washington did it. seconds apart to put the Bulldogs Associated Press "After speaking with an Press was used in this report.
Like Texas, No. 4 Southern away. This content has passed through impressive array of candidates, This content has passed through
California, No. 5 Cincinnati, No. No. 11 Georgia Tech starts the fivefilters.org. we feel that Manny is a very fivefilters.org.
6 Boise State and No. 7 Iowa held second 10, followed by Penn State strong and experienced leader
their places in the latest media a n d O k l a h o m a S t a t e . T h e who possesses great energy and
rankings. Cowboys host Texas on enthusiasm along with
tremendous communication skills
and a positive mindset that will
command a presence in the
38 Sports/
MLB Playoff Diary: Angels at
Yankees, 8:20 p.m. ET
(WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:30:52 PM
The Journal provides minute-by-
minute analysis of tonight’s Game
6 of the American League
Championship series as the New
York Yankees host the Los
Angeles Angels at Yankee
Stadium. Guest blogger Jonah
Keri offers commentary on the
game and the Fox telecast. Feel
free to email Jonah with questions
or comments before or during the
game, which starts around 8:20
p.m. ET. Getty Images Mark
Teixeira has one homer and four
RBIs for the Yankees in the
postseason.
Pregame: An intriguing pairing
of lefties pitting the old veteran
Andy Pettitte against the upstart
Joe Saunders. A match-up of
sluggers, with Kendry Morales
and Vladimir Guerrero squaring
off with Alex Rodriguez and
Mark Teixeira. Another chance
for umpires to either redeem
FanHouse Top 25: Alabama Still the One
By Brett McMurphy
(FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:00:00 PM
by Brett McMurphy
Filed under: Alabama FanHouse
writer Brett McMurphy shares his
Top 25 ballot each Sunday
morning.
College football's version of Mad
themselves or make us again pine
for more technology.
But the storyline to watch in
Game 6 of the ALCS is the battle
of managers, with the Yankees’
Joe Girardi going up against the
Angels’ Mike Scioscia. Girardi
has made a series of perplexing
moves, drawing the ire of New
York’s media and confused stares
from Bombers’ fans.
Most notably, Girardi has
replacing same-handed pitchers
against same-handed hitters to ill
effect, including his removal of
David Robertson in favor of
Alfredo Aceves, a decision that
cost the Yankees Game 3 of the
series. Girardi’s pinch-running
Max Beyond Thunderdome will
be played out on Halloween night
in Stillwater, Okla., and Eugene,
Ore.
In Stillwater, Oklahoma State
hosts Texas in a battle for the Big
12 South lead, while USC visits
Oregon in a huge Pac-10 contest
Press' top-13 teams this week.
in Eugene. All four teams are
ranked among the Associated
fetish has also come back to haunt
him; subbing in Brett Gardner and
Freddy Guzman and not running
with either of them crippled the
middle of the Yankees lineup to
no good effect. When Gardner’s
gotten the green light, he’s been
gunned down.
Meanwhile, Scioscia’s decision
to pull John Lackey in Game 5
(and replace him with suspect
lefty Darren Oliver) nearly ended
the Angels’ season, and his
handling of the pitching staff has
been suspect. Then again, given
this is nowhere near the Angels’
bullpens of old, perhaps Scioscia
simply lacks good options.
With three of the five games in
this series decided by a single run,
don’t be surprised if one at-bat
decides the game; and that a
manager’s decision influences
that at-bat, and maybe decides the
series.
In a slight variation of
Internet News Record
Yankees vs. Angels:
Game 6 Live Chat
By Andrew Johnson force an all-or-nothing Game 7
(FanHouse) Monday night in the Bronx.
Submitted at 10/25/2009 6:00:00 PM
In a series that has seemingly had
it all, it's a pair of left-handers in
by Andrew Johnson the most vital game yet. Andy
Filed under: Angels, Yankees, Pettitte, with all of his postseason
M L B L i v e B l o g g i n g , M L B experience, takes the hill for the
Playoffs, American League Yankees against the Angels' Joe
Championship Series Saunders. Join the MLB
Let's try this again. The World FanHouse crew for a live chat
Series is just three days away, but from first pitch to final out
there is still a little business to starting at 7:45 PM ET.
take care of in the American Yankees vs. Angels: Game 6
League. Live Chat originally appeared on
After rain got in the way of Game Fanhouse MLB Blog on Sun, 25
6 on Saturday, the Yankees and Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST . Please
Angels will go at it Sunday night, see our terms for use of feeds.
with New York looking to book Permalink| Email this| Linking
its first World Series trip since Blogs| Comments
2003 and Los Angeles looking to
Thunderdome,"two teams enter, Fanhouse NCAA Football Blog
one team leaves" with their on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:00:00
national title hopes alive. EST . Please see our terms for
The winner of each game is still use of feeds.
in the running for a spot in the Permalink| Email this| Linking
BCS title game, while the loser Blogs| Comments
can start making alternate bowl
plans.
FanHouse Top 25: Alabama Still
the One originally appeared on
Internet News Record
Jets RB Leon Washington
Out After Gruesome
Right Leg Injury
By Chris Burke (FanHouse)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:10:00 PM
by Chris Burke
Filed under: Jets, NFL Injuries
The Jets could be without running
back Leon Washington for an
extended period of time after he
suffered what appeared to be a
brutal right leg injury at Oakland.
Washington was injured on a six-
yard carry -- his only rush of the
game -- when a player rolled onto
his ankle. At first glance, it looked
as if Washington's ankle or lower
leg bent in awkward fashion, and
it would be surprising if further
tests did not find a break. As
Michael David Smith pointed out,
it looked terribly reminiscent of
the play that ended Joe
Theismann's career.
Washington appeared to be in
tremendous pain after the play
and was carted off. The Jets
announced that he would miss the
rest of the game.
Jets RB Leon Washington Out
After Gruesome Right Leg Injury
originally appeared on Fanhouse
NFL Blog on Sun, 25 Oct 2009
17:10:00 EST . Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink| Email this| Linking
Blogs| Comments
Sports/ Game/ 39
Guitar Hero co-founder
expects DJ Hero to
have slower initial sales
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:30:00 PM
EA job listing mentions It's rare that we hear anything but
doe-eyed optimism from
publishers of yet-to-be-released
next-gen project for games -- however, Activision's
Kai Huang, co-creator of the
Guitar Hero franchise, recently
Boom Blox team voiced some fairly realistic
expectations for the upcoming
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) supererogatory, is supported by disc-spinning rhythm title, DJ
two other EA job listings he (or Hero. "We're expecting this to be
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:30:00 PM
she) previously uncovered-- both the type of game that may come
We've heard sly references and of which reference Project Natal out of the gate a little bit slower,
seen mysterious job listings or the unnamed PlayStation but continue to grow over time,"
indicating that Xbox 360 and PS3 Motion Controller. Unless the Huang explained during a speech
owners would soon know the joy studio is changing directions to at the PLAY Digital Media
of tower toppling -- however, work on a motion-controlled Conference in Berkeley.
we've not seen anything as Mirror's Edge(which would be Huang mentioned that while
concrete as a recent help wanted unimaginably dangerous on overall sales will be bolstered by
ad from EA's Boom Blox team. Natal), the odds of an upcoming the Hero part of the game's
According to the listing, "our last h i g h - d e f B o o m B l o x moniker, the DJ portion may scare
two titles were Wii-based, but our announcement seem pretty good. potential players off -- causing
next titles will be for the next EA job listing mentions next-gen Activision to focus on in-store
generation." We assume they project for Boom Blox team demos to push the product on
a c t u a l l y m e a n t h e c u r r e n t originally appeared on Joystiq on p a s s e r s b y . I f w e w e r e
generation's high definition Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST. unenlightened of DJ Hero's
consoles. Otherwise, whoa, we Please see our terms for use of existence, we'd probably be
just confirmed the PS4. feeds. snared by the siren call of the
This job listing, which was Read| Permalink| Email this| d e m o u n i t ' s m a s h - u p o f
initially discovered by internet Comments "Hollaback Girl" and "Give it to
detective extraordinaire Me." Curse you, Stefani/James!
GUITAR page 40
40 Game/ Popular News/
Rumor: Assassin's Creed 2 Warren Spector would
Achievements and love to make a new
Trophies surface discreetly DuckTales (ooh-oooh-ooh)
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 11:30:00 AM
Once again, we've bitten the
bullet of plotline spoilification for
you lot, and measured the
believability of two recently
released lists of Achievements
and Trophies for Assassin's Creed
2. Our initial impression is that
they seem legit -- but they also
contain references to a number of
plot points and gameplay
mechanics you may want to
remain in the dark about until you
get behind the wheel of Ezio
Auditore Da Firenze.
Check out the rumored list of
Achievements and Trophies after
the jump. We'll contact Ubisoft to
see if we can confirm their
authenticity.
Read: Assassin's Creed 2
Achievements
Read: Assassin's Creed 2
Trophies
Continue reading Rumor:
Assassin's Creed 2 Achievements
and Trophies surface discreetly
Rumor: Assassin's Creed 2
Achievements and Trophies
surface discreetly originally
appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 25
Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please
see our terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Internet News Record
GUITAR
continued from page 39
[Via VG247]
Guitar Hero co-founder expects
DJ Hero to have slower initial
sales originally appeared on
Joystiq on Sun, 25 Oct 2009
15:30:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Sheriff in balloon
saga doesn't shy
from soapbox (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:15:08 PM
By Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) query, Mr. Spector. Perhaps we
no longer live in a world where FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The
Submitted at 10/25/2009 5:30:00 PM
mallards can bounce through sheriff at the center of the
As promising as Epic Mickey is lunar canyons on walking sticks. runaway balloon saga says he's
starting to sound, we're secretly Perhaps you can take us back to not enjoying the media spotlight,
pining for a different Disney- that beautiful time, someday. You but that's never stopped the John
based offering helmed by Warren know, when you're not busy Wayne fan from using it to offer
Spector -- something of the billed, fusing Mickey Mouse and Bob brash opinions on hot topics.
winged and web-toed variety. We Ross. Larimer County Sheriff Jim
speak, of course, of DuckTales, [Thanks, Koshi.] Alderden once used his blog to
which recently came up in a Warren Spector would love to label a nearby city "the imbecilic
Game Informer interview with the make a new DuckTales (ooh-oooh borough of Boulder" for being too
ghostly developer. "I want to do a -ooh) originally appeared on secular for his taste. At a
D u c k T a l e s g a m e , " S p e c t o r Joystiq on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 nationally televised news
mentioned. "I can't convince 17:30:00 EST. Please see our conference Oct. 18, he declared
anybody at Disney to let me do a terms for use of feeds. that much of what's on TV is
DuckTales game. How can that Read| Permalink| Email this| "garbage."
be?" Comments Alderden, who has worked in law
We don't have an answer for your enforcement for 37 years, wasn't
well known outside his home
county until Oct. 15, when the
saga of a boy feared carried away
on a balloon captivated a live
SHERIFF page 42
Internet News Record Popular News/ 41

NJ town grieves for slain priest, accused janitor (AP)

(Yahoo! News: U.S. News) afternoon saying that wasn't the many years. He's the last person I "He was just a normal family man and his head from a kitchen knife,
Submitted at 10/25/2009 3:25:56 PM
only possible investigators are would have suspected." trying to make a living," O'Brien officials said. Hinds also had
pursuing. Feliciano had worked at the said. "I couldn't believe it when I defensive wounds on his hands
CHATHAM, N.J. – An arrest in "Detectives are also pursuing church 17 years and his family is heard what he had done." and face, Bianchi said. An
the brutal slaying of a Roman other motives that are being part of the parish. His son is a Hinds, who was born in nearby autopsy determined the cause of
Catholic priest has brought little developed from the many witness graduate of the church school, Morristown, was a regular sight in death was severe trauma.
solace to his parishioners in this interviews we are conducting, as which runs from kindergarten the neighborhood around the The slaying rocked the New York
affluent community, who widely well," the statement said. through 8th grade, and his church where he walked his City bedroom community of
view the suspected role of the In a statement issued earlier daughter is a student there. cocker spaniel, Copper. about 10,000 residents, where the
longtime church janitor as a Sunday afternoon, Bianchi said a Neighbors and friends in Easton Parishioner Michael Marotta, 47, last violent death occurred in
second tragedy. man believed to be Hinds dialed said the Feliciano family moved said he would not have hesitated 1990. The median family income
More than 150 people at St. 911 from Hinds' cell phone and to the gritty working-class to leave his three children in the is $132,000 and authorities and
Patrick's Church for Sunday's requested police services. The call community — 45 miles west of care of either Hinds or Feliciano, residents had initially suspected
early Mass prayed for the Rev. Ed was cut off, so the 911 operator Chatham— from a house next to whom he described as caring, that Hinds died at the hands of a
H i n d s , w h o s e b o d y w a s called the phone number back and St. Patrick's in 2004. Hinds took quiet, hardworking men. Marotta, needy outsider who had come to
discovered in the church rectory it went into voicemail. The 911 over leadership of the parish in whose 10-year-old son is enrolled him for help.
Friday, and for Jose Feliciano, operator then called back a second 2003. at St. Patrick's School, lives down "Everyone thought it was an
who is charged with stabbing the time and Feliciano answered, Police shooed reporters and the street from the church. outsider because Father Hinds
priest 32 times with a kitchen indicating to the operator that passers-by away from the "Everyone loses in this," Marotta always opened the church to the
knife. there was no emergency. No Felicianos' home on Sunday said. "The church, the broader needy," Langborgh said.
"This is a tragedy for this police services were dispatched. afternoon, their squad car parked Chatham community and the Parishioners learned of
community," the Rev. Owen Feliciano's bail was set at $1 a few feet from a front yard statue Hinds and Feliciano families. It's Feliciano's arrest Saturday near
Moran said after leading Mass. million and he was being treated of St. Francis of Assisi. The disheartening." the end of 5 p.m. Mass.
"It's a tragedy for Father Ed and Sunday at an area hospital, community of 27,000 people has a Bianchi said Feliciano and Parishioner Juliette Peros told the
his family, and it's a tragedy for Bianchi said, without providing median family income of $42,000. another man found the body Star Ledger of Newark that
the Feliciano family." further details. Residents described Feliciano as Friday after Hinds failed to show several people cried when the
Authorities say the slaying Bianchi said investigators found a quiet family man who was up for 8 a.m. Mass. Bianchi said announcement was made and a
occurred at about 5 p.m. Thursday the priest's cell phone, bloody protective of his children and Feliciano was performing CPR on woman seated behind her yelled,
after an argument between Hinds clothing and bloody towels at chatted amicably with neighbors the priest when officers arrived "Jose! No, Jose!"
and Feliciano in the rectory. Feliciano's home in Easton, Pa., each night as he walked his and his halfhearted attempts "It's so sad," said parishioner Pat
Morris County Prosecutor Robert and in a park across the street. beagle, Fria. struck them as suspicious. Patello, 52. "I don't think this
Bianchi told CNN on Saturday "It's just not believable," said John O'Brien, 61, said neighbors Hinds was dressed in his clerical town will ever get over this."
that the two men argued "over parishioner Dan Langborgh, 47, were initially puzzled by the team robes and appeared to be brewing This content has passed through
F e l i c i a n o ' s c o n t i n u e d who lives across the street from of assault-rifle wielding SWAT coffee in the rectory kitchen at the fivefilters.org.
employment." However, his office the church. "Jose is a very nice officers that descended on the time. He sustained wounds to his
issued a statement late Sunday guy who has been around for home Saturday. upper torso, the back of his body
42 Popular News/
SHERIFF
continued from page 40
television audience of millions.
Since then, he's been a frequent
presence on TV, in newspapers
and on the Internet.
At first, he told the world he
believed Richard and Mayumi
Heene when they said they feared
their 6-year-old son was aboard
the balloon. The boy was later
found at the family's Fort Collins
home, where he said he'd been
hiding because he was afraid he
was in trouble.
Two days later, Alderden accused
the Heenes of perpetrating a hoax
for publicity and said he would
recommend criminal charges. He
said he had only pretended to
believe the couple to gain their
confidence while deputies
investigated.
Since then, he's received e-mails
that praise him as a hero or
denounce him as a bumbler. A
Denver Post editorial suggested
his public pretense about
believing the Heenes will make
residents more cynical about law
enforcement.
But people who know Alderden
say he's a dedicated officer who
has raised his department's
professionalism in this county of
290,000 residents.
"He's no-nonsense" but has a
sense of humor, said Lance Clem,
spokesman for the Colorado
Department of Public Safety, who
served with Alderden on a state
crime task force. "I would call
him a likable guy."
Alderden describes himself as a
patriot. He's a big fan of John
Wayne and calls his blog "The
Bull's-eye: Straight Shooting
From the Sheriff."
When his son, 32-year-old John
W. Alderden, served 10 days in
the Larimer County jail over a
traffic fine this year, the sheriff
said he ordered his staff to treat
his son like any other inmate.
"As a father, I am embarrassed
and disappointed in him," the
sheriff told the Fort Collins
Coloradoan. "We spoke by phone
when he was in booking, and he
asked for the money to pay his
fine. I declined."
Calls to the son's home phone
were not answered Friday.
In a blog entry Wednesday, the
sheriff said he didn't like the
media attention the balloon case
generated but that was proud of
his department's response. He
didn't respond to an interview
request Friday.
Alderden was born in 1951 in the
Chicago area. A biography
provided by his office said he
holds a bachelor's degree in
business administration but
doesn't say where he went to
school.
He started his law-enforcement
career in 1972 with the police
department at Colorado State
University in Fort Collins. After
stints with the Estes Park and
Steamboat Springs police, he
joined the Larimer County
Sheriff's department as a patrol
deputy in 1979.
He rose through the ranks until
then-Sheriff Richard Shockley
promoted him to undersheriff in
1990. Shockley told The
Associated Press that he fired
Alderden in 1991 because they
disagreed on management style.
Shockley said his own approach
was participatory but that
Alderden "was more of a
structured authoritarian, if you
will."
Alderden then worked as a
criminal investigator for the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation
in suburban Denver until 1998,
when he returned to Larimer
County, ran against Shockley and
won.
It was a hard-fought race, with
Alderden arguing for fewer
restrictions on private citizens
carrying concealed weapons.
Shockley, now 71 and heading
the corrections department for the
sheriff of Hamilton County,
Tenn., said he has no hard
feelings.
"As far as I can tell, he's done a
good job there over the past 10
years," Shockley said. "The
people of Larimer County have
elected him three times, and who
am I to question how he does
things?"
Alderden has raised his
department's morale and
standards, said Kathay Rennels,
chairwoman of the Larimer
County commissioners. She rates
his performance as "excellent"
despite their tangles over budget
issues.
But Alderden has been sharply
critical of the commissioners on
issues ranging from benefits for
same-sex couples to his right to
express his views on the county
Web site.
When commissioners approved
benefits for the unmarried
partners of county employees,
including same-sex couples,
Alderden ridiculed the move in
his blog. He objected to the cost
but said moral and religious
objections were also valid.
When commissioners suggested
Alderden shouldn't use the county
Web site to espouse his opinions,
he called them the "Board of
County Censors" and moved his
department's Web pages to
another site outside the
commissioners' control.
Alderden also took aim in his
blog at the Fort Collins City
Council for debating whether
Christmas displays on city
property should be more secular
and less Christian. He said
Christianity was under attack and
invited the public to help decorate
a privately funded Christmas tree
— "not a holiday tree" — on the
grounds of his county-owned
complex.
Alderden, a Republican, was re-
elected in 2002 and 2006 without
opposition. He can't run again
because of term limits, and his
plans after leaving office in
January 2011 aren't clear.
___
On the Net:
Jim Alderden's blog,
http://www.larimersheriff.org/Bul
lseye/
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Internet News Record
Video shows Calif.
police beating of
student (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:12:48 AM
SAN JOSE, Calif. – A cell phone
video that shows police officers
repeatedly hitting an unarmed
university student with batons and
a Taser gun has prompted a
criminal investigation into the
officers' conduct, a San Jose
police spokesman said.
The video, posted by the San Jose
Mercury News on its Web site
late Saturday, shows one officer
hitting 20-year-old Vietnamese
student Phuong Ho with a metal
baton more than 10 times,
including once on the head.
Another officer is seen using his
Taser gun on the San Jose State
math major.
The final baton strike in last
month's incident appears to take
place after handcuffs have been
attached to Ho's wrists.
"It takes me back to the day I saw
the Rodney King video on TV,"
said Roger Clark, a police expert
and a retired lieutenant with the
Los Angeles Sheriff's
Department.
The last baton strike ought to
bring a felony charge, Clark said.
Officers arrested Ho on suspicion
of assaulting one of his
roommates. He was not armed
when police arrived and he told
the newspaper he didn't resist
arrest.
The confrontation began Sept. 3
VIDEO page 44
Internet News Record
Police vet more than 1,000 tips in girl's death
(AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 1:52:34 PM
ORANGE PARK, Fla. –
Investigators had more than a
thousand tips but are still trying to
figure out what happened when 7-
year-old Somer Thompson
disappeared on her walk home
from a north Florida school last
week.
At a fundraiser Sunday for
Somer's family, children played in
a bounce house as adults watched
carefully. They vowed to find the
girl's killer and raised about
$18,500 so her mother doesn't
have to go back to work
immediately.
Somer's name and photo were
everywhere at the carnival-like
fundraiser, which was held in a
tree-lined park in the town's
center. A silent raffle, a bake sale
and even glittery makeovers for
little girls were offered to help the
family after the girl went missing
after school Monday. Her body
was found in a Georgia landfill
Wednesday.
"I've been crying since day one,"
said Amanda Wendorff, a co-
organizer of the fundraiser.
"When it's a child, it just touches
a community."
Wendorff, the wife of a Clay
County Sheriff's deputy, has four
children of her own. She urged
people at the carnival to be on the
lookout for anyone suspicious —
underscoring the fear that is
running deep in the community.
Meanwhile, detectives from
local, state and federal law
enforcement agencies are
combing through tips: more than
1,150 calls from people around
the U.S. have poured in regarding
the little girl.
So far, no one has come forward
to say they saw the girl abducted
or attacked. Investigators have
ruled out all 161 registered sex
offenders who lived within a 5-
mile radius of Somer's home.
Thompson's mother, Diena
Thompson, has praised the hard
work of investigators.
"These detectives — excuse my
language — are busting their
(expletive) to find it. Because it's
an it," Diena Thompson said
Saturday, referring to the killer of
her daughter.
When reached by The Associated
Press by phone Sunday,
Thompson declined an interview.
"I don't want to think about doing
any news until after I bury my
baby," she said.
A public viewing and funeral are
planned for Monday and Tuesday,
but graveside services and the
burial will be private.
Dozens of mourners and
supporters have held nightly vigils
outside the Thompsons' home.
They have gathered around a huge
makeshift memorial of Hannah
Montana balloons, stuffed animals
and candles that have burned so
long that the wax has melted into
the grass.
"I'm shocked that this could
happen in this type of
community," Somer's maternal
great-grandmother, Marie Spires
of New Richmond, Ohio, said
Saturday. "And that no one would
see or hear anything."
An autopsy has been completed
and investigators know how
Somer died, but authorities won't
Popular News/ 43
disclose their findings or any
details about the body.
Spires said she doesn't know how
the little girl died.
Family and friends described
Somer as a friendly little girl who
rode her scooter around the
neighborhood.
"She never met a stranger. She
was very friendly," said Robert
O'Cain, a neighbor. "She was
always looking for other kids to
play with."
Tina Justyna said her daughter,
11, would often go to the library
with Somer at school — and the
pair would look at books about
kittens and puppies. Her daughter
is devastated that Somer is gone,
she said.
"I don't let her watch the news,"
Justyna said. "She lost one of the
few friends she had."
___
Associated Press writer Ron
Word contributed to this report.
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44 Popular News/
VIDEO
continued from page 42
when Ho's roommate, Jeremy
Suftin, put soap on Ho's steak.
The two scuffled, and Ho picked
up a steak knife, saying that in his
home country he would have
killed Suftin for doing what he
did.
Police were called, and four
officers responded.
Officer Kenneth Siegel
encountered Ho in the hallway,
but couldn't understand the
student's accent, police reports
said. Ho then ignored a police
command to stand still, reports
said.
When Ho tried to follow Siegel
into his room, officer Steven
Payne Jr. moved to handcuff Ho.
Payne wrote in his report that he
pushed the student into a wall and
then forced him to the floor when
he resisted being handcuffed.
Ho, who weighs more than 200
lbs., said his glasses fell off. As he
went to pick them up, the officers
struck him, he said.
Another one of Ho's roommates,
Dimitri Masouris, captured the
events on his cell phone. An
officer can be heard on the video
shouting, "Turn over!" Ho can be
heard moaning and crying as he's
struck.
"In philosophy, they call it
'dehumanization,'" Ho told the
Mercury News. "So when they
think me a dangerous guy, they
don't treat me like I was human.
They hit me like an animal or
something."
Masouris said he considered the
police response excessive. He
sold the tape to San Jose lawyer
Duyen Hoang Nguyen, who is
representing Ho.
The Mercury News obtained a
copy of the video and showed it to
Daniel Katz, San Jose's assistant
police chief. The police
department is taking the matter
very seriously, he said.
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said
the incident would be investigated
by the internal affairs division of
the San Jose Police Department
and the results forwarded to the
Santa Clara County district
attorney for possible criminal
prosecution.
"Both investigations must respect
the constitutionally guaranteed
right of due process, which
belongs to all parties to an
investigation," Reed said Sunday
in a statement.
The city's large Vietnamese-
American community is already
angry over the police shooting of
a mentally ill Vietnamese man in
May, the newspaper said in an
editorial about Ho's beating. The
lack of public disclosure in the
investigation that followed was
also a problem, the paper said.
Police experts said the grainy,
shaky video is difficult to view
and may not show actions by Ho
that justified the officers'
response. Nevertheless, several
said the video raises serious
concerns.
"Once he is handcuffed, then he is
helpless," said Frank Jordan, a
former San Francisco police chief
and mayor. "If you can show that
his hands are behind his back, and
he is handcuffed, that is where
you get brutality. That would be
excessive force."
Siegel and Payne didn't respond
to written requests for comment
sent through department officials
and their union.
___
On the Net:
Video of beating,
http://bit.ly/1XjyYE
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Internet News Record
Rio police transfer 'drug
barons'
(BBC News | Americas | World another faction sparked a week of
Edition) deadly violence.
In what is thought to have been
Submitted at 10/25/2009 12:20:49 AM
an unprecedented action, a police
Brazilian police have moved 10 helicopter was shot down, killing
m e n s e e n a s l e a d i n g d r u g three of those on board.
traffickers from a jail in Rio de The authorities in Rio appear
Janeiro to a high security prison in determined to track down those
another part of the country. behind the attack.
The move comes as Rio police As the violence continues, a
hunt for members of drug gangs demonstration was held on
who shot down a police helicopter Saturday on the world famous
last Saturday, killing three Copacabana beach calling for
officers. peace.
A week of gang violence in the Protesters dressed in black and
city's shanty towns has left 40 wearing white masks - suggesting
people dead. they were corpses - lay in
The authorities reportedly believe supermarket trolleys simulating
orders for attacks are coming the way one murder victim was
from gang leaders who have found earlier this week.
already been jailed. The man had apparently been
It is commonplace for gang tortured before being killed. A
leaders in Brazil to continue to graphic picture of onlookers -
direct criminal activity from including children - standing
inside jail using mobile phones. beside his body was used in
It seems the authorities hope that newspapers in Brazil and around
by moving the prisoners, it will the world.
help to bring the latest outbreak of Despite the calls for peace,
violence in the city under control. intense gun battles in Rio on
The ten men were moved amid Friday between drug traffickers
tight security from a jail in the and police caused panic among
west of Rio de Janeiro to a residents near the shanty town of
maximum security prison in the Vila Cruzeiro in the north of city.
state of Mato Grosso do Sul There is no sign yet of an end to
where, initially at least, they will this sustained and deadly period
be held in isolation. of violence.
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Internet News Record
Harvard: Lab workers poisoned by
tainted coffee (AP)
(Yahoo! News: U.S. News)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:24:47 PM
BOSTON – Six Harvard
University medical researchers
were poisoned in August after
drinking coffee that was laced
with a chemical preservative,
according to university officials.
In an internal memo first reported
in the Boston Herald's Sunday
editions, the school said the coffee
came from a machine near their
lab that later tested positive for
sodium azide, a common
preservative used in labs.
The six reported symptoms after
drinking the coffee Aug. 26,
ranging from dizziness to ringing
in the ears, and one passed out.
They were treated at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center and
later released.
The memo, written by Daniel G.
Ennis, executive dean for
administration, and Richard M.
Shea, associate dean for physical
planning and facilities, does not
say whether officials believe the
poisoning was intentional.
"As always, we are mindful of the
need to be diligent about
laboratory safety and security and
the importance of proper
management of laboratory
chemicals," the memo states.
"We are in the process of
installing additional security
cameras throughout our buildings,
and we are strengthening the
security systems that manage
access to the laboratories during
both normal business hours and
off hours," it goes on to say.
The researchers, which include
staff and students, all work in the
Harvard Medical School's
pathology department in its new
Boston research building. They
were using mice to investigate
how diseases interact with the
immune system.
Harvard spokesman David
Cameron on Sunday said
university police are investigating
along with the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration
and the Boston Public Health
Commission.
"Essentially, there is an ongoing
investigation of what appears to
be a single isolated event," he
said. "Because many details are
unknown, (the medical school's)
leadership is taking additional
precautionary measures to help
ensure the well-being of the
community."
Cameron said as far as he knows
the lab has not been a target of
threats or animal-rights protests.
He said the university delayed
notifying the public about the
incident because officials were
unsure of what they were dealing
with.
Once officials found out, they
immediately began letting people
know, he said.
"It wasn't until fairly recently that
they were able to be 100 percent
sure that this is what it is," he
said.
Harvard police spokesman Steve
Catalano would not say if
authorities believe a crime was
committed.
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Popular News/ 45
'Hero' pilot's mayday
call heard
(BBC News | Americas | World Captain Mansell was five
Edition) minutes short of the destination
Submitted at 10/25/2009 2:47:29 AM
when he was forced to ditch the
twin-engine Britten-Norman
The final mayday call from a Islander.
British pilot who died after His employers, Divi Divi Air,
ditching his passenger plane in the said he had used his skills as a
Caribbean Sea has been released. "good pilot" to save lives.
Robert Mansell, 32, originally Simon Janzen, from the
from Knowle, West Midlands, company, said: "He's a hero. All
was hailed a hero when he died the passengers survived and he is
while saving his nine passengers the only one missing. If he wasn't
by ditching his plane. a good pilot, he couldn't have
In the recording he tells the ditched it so everyone could be
controllers he has lost an engine. saved.
He was flying between the south "Other pilots wouldn't have
Caribbean islands of Curacao and known what to do but he landed
Bonaire on Wednesday when he the aircraft so that everyone could
crashed. get out safely."
In the recording, Captain Mansell Bonaire, which along with
asks for the aircraft controller's Curacao is part of the Netherlands
attention, then says: "Divi aero Antilles, lies about 50 miles off
one four requesting a switch to the coast of Venezuela.
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46 Popular News/ Economy/
Easter Island to curb
immigrants
(BBC News | Americas | World
Edition)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 10:47:10 AM
The inhabitants of Easter Island
in the South Pacific have voted to
restrict immigration amid
overpopulation fears.
More than 90% of those who
voted in this weekend's
referendum said they were
worried about an influx of
residents from Chile.
Chile has administered the
remote island outpost, famous for
its carved stone statues, since the
19th century.
The referendum was organised
by the Chilean government, which
says the island is struggling to
cope.
Constitutional change
With a population of just 4,000
people, Easter Island might not
sound that crowded.
But the island is just 20 miles
(32km) from one end to the other.
It is also more than 2,000 miles
from the Chilean mainland, which
generates all sorts of problems.
Disposing of rubbish in a
sustainable, environmentally
friendly way, for example, is
becoming increasingly difficult.
Some 50,000 tourists visit the
island each year to see the famous
Maoi, the enigmatic carved stone
heads that are dotted around the
island.
As tourism has increased,
hundreds of Chileans have moved
in from the mainland to work in
hotels, bars and as taxi drivers.
The Chilean parliament must
now approve a change to the
constitution to bring the new rules
into effect.
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The coming days: The week ahead
(The Economist: News
analysis)
Submitted at 10/25/2009 7:00:40 AM
The coming days
Oct 25th 2009
From Economist.com The trial of
Radovan Karadzic for war crimes
gets under way, and other news
• THE trial of Radovan Karadzic
is set to begin at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia in The Hague on
Monday October 26th. Mr
Karadzic, who led Bosnian Serbs
during the war of secession that
accompanied the collapse of
Yugoslavia, has been charged
with war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide. He is
accused of atrocities against
Croats and Bosnian Muslims and
most notably is charged with
ordering the 1995 massacre at
Srebrenica of over 7,000 Muslim
men and boys. See article
• THE Obama administration's
plans for coping in the future with
teetering giant financial firms will
be unveiled on Monday October
26th. Details of a new bill that
will give America's government
the power to dismantle stricken
banks is intended to belie the
notion that some financial firms
are “too big to fail”. The
legislation may also be extended
to cover huge insurance
companies.
• THE constitutional court of the
Czech Republic is scheduled to
rule on Tuesday October 27th on
a challenge by a clutch of senators
that has delayed the country’s
ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
Vaclav Klaus, a committed
europhobe, has so far refused to
sign the treaty, which is supposed
to streamline the functioning of
the European Union. But an Irish
Yes vote in a recent referendum
means that his signature is last
obstacle to adoption of the treaty.
If, as expected, the Czech court
were to dismiss the call for a
fundamental reassessment of the
treaty, it seems likely that Mr
Klaus would reluctantly sign.
Internet News Record
Then European leaders will begin
the process of a picking a
“president” for Europe and a
foreign-affairs spokesman. See
article
• FIGURES for GDP growth
released on Thursday October
29th will give an indication of the
state of America’s economic
recovery. The economy is
expected to show a return to
reasonable growth in the third
quarter after contracting by 0.7%
in the previous quarter compared
with the same period a year
before. Although the recession
may be over, celebrations will be
muted. Unemployment is
expected to rise even as the
economy recovers: the jobless rate
is now at 9.8%, a 26-year high.
See article
Back to top ^^ Readers'
comments
The Economist welcomes your
views.
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