Viral marketing: What makes a movie a hit today? Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:21 pm PST Exclusive to Yahoo! News - By Peter Guber Guest Contributor As a boy growing up in Boston, the movie theaters were always filled with a glow, a glow from the vast number of smokers, puffing away during the show. This was a time, in the … Full Story | Top | Why the Web may unleash the largest construction boom in history Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:05 am PST The Christian Science Monitor - The Internet has already reshaped our mental space. Thanks to the Web, the way we read, recall, and relate is vastly different from the way it was just 15 years ago. Today, an even bigger change is afoot. The Internet is about to change our physical space. And this change may well usher in the largest construction boom in human history. Full Story | Top | Ireland's exodus: By the numbers Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:27 am PST The Week - Tens of thousands of Irish people are leaving their country for continental Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere, in a wave of emigration not seen since the potato famine Full Story | Top | Why Isn't the GOP Learning From Chris Christie? Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:21 pm PST The Atlantic Wire - Daunted by the bitter budget battle in Wisconsin, GOP leaders in "several states" are softening their positions on public employee unions, reports the Associated Press. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) implored GOP legislators to abandon a "right to work" bill. In Ohio, GOP senate leaders have watered down a bill prohibiting collective bargaining rights for public employees. Michigan's and Florida's GOP governors have agreed to take a "conciliatory approach" to union groups. The question that should come to mind for Republican strategists is why now? Whether one considers the fight against public unions an example of malicious Republican scapegoating or genuine budgetary problem-solving is beside the point. Politically, there's a strong argument to make that union-bashing has never been a more popular issue. In his cover story in The New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai makes precisely that argument in his assessment of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent successes: Not only are public employees' contracts no longer untouchable for any politician who wants to stay in office, but it turns out that the opposite is true; taking the fight to the unions is a good way to bolster your credentials as a gutsy reformer with voters who have been losing faith for years in public schools and government bureaucracies. This, more than anything else, is the lesson that Chris Christie has impressed on his contemporaries. Full Story | Top | Quote of the Day: Gates Says No More Wars Like Iraq and Afghanistan Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:54 pm PST The Atlantic Wire - "In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it." -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a speech to West Point cadets Friday. Full Story | Top | Number of Abortions Performed Drops in Latest CDC Tally Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:54 pm PST The Atlantic Wire - The Center for Disease Control has released its data on abortion statistics for the year 2007. One of the most noteworthy findings is that abortions were nearly at a 10-year low during that year. "The new report indicates 827,609 abortions were done in 2007," notes the pro-life Web site LifeNews. "The 2007 total is the second lowest since 1998, with only the 2005 figure of 820,151 showing fewer abortions." Nationwide, numbers have been on a gradual decline since 1998, except for a spike in 2006, as seen on the graph below. Full Story | Top | Is DOMA Dead? Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:31 pm PST The Nation - The Nation -- On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder stunned lesbians and gay men and allies by announcing that the Obama administration will no longer defend Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Full Story | Top | Do Journalists Hate Their Jobs? Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:18 pm PST The Atlantic Wire - An informal survey of 146 journalists who lost their jobs two years ago when the Rocky Mountain News closed has revealed a surprising finding: A majority of the journalists who've left the industry say their lives are now better--even though most are making less money. The results come from John Temple, the former publisher of the paper. In a piece for The Atlantic, Temple writes that a number of his former employees say "more time with family, learning new skills, and new opportunities made up for the loss of a job."His survey found that 70 percent of the laid off journalists are making less money today than they did at the Rocky Mountain News. So what's happening here? Is journalism such a soul-crushing profession that when its adherents leave and subsequently earn less money they're actually more satisfied? Maybe, maybe not. If anything, the experience of journalists at the Rocky Mountain News seems to be an outlier. Another recent survey by The Journalism Shop, questioned 124 writers, editors, news editors, managers and artists who were laid off at The Los Angeles Times. Though the respondents weren't directly questioned about quality of life, the responses were anything but upbeat. âWeek-to-week takes on a whole new meaning,â wrote a man in his 40s. Full Story | Top | White House Picks First Gay Man to Be Social Secretary Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:55 am PST The Atlantic Wire - President Obama has tapped Jeremy Bernard to be White House social secretary, making him both the first man and the first openly gay person to hold the job. Bernard was an early supporter of Obama and raised a lot of cash for his 2008 presidential campaign. The job was once held by Desirée Rogers, who was celebrated for her glamour in several glossy magazines before eventually stepping down following Michaele and Tareq Salahi's crashing of a state dinner. Full Story | Top | As Protests Spread to Iraq, Famous Shoe-Thrower Arrested Again Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:14 am PST The Atlantic Wire - Thousands gathered across Iraq to protest the government led by Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki Friday, but one guy was noticeably absent: Muntazer al Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoe at President Bush in 2008. Zaidi was arrested on Thursday ahead of today's "Day of Rage." Full Story | Top | U.S. and Europe to Take Action Against Libya Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:33 am PST The Atlantic Wire - The U.S. will join its European allies in pursuing economic sanctions against the Libyan government during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday. International pressure is mounting against Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi and his violent crackdown on anti-government protesters. Qaddafi is digging in in Tripoli as opposition forces, who now control the eastern half of the country, advance toward the capital, raising the specter of civil war. Full Story | Top |
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