Ongoing Coverage:
Media criticism
11:29 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Views of the News: Wiki-Blackout, Non Sequitur, Newsweek Cover, The Simpsons

Wikipedia Leads Protest on Piracy Bills

Jenna Wortham, The New York Times: "Protest on Web Uses Shutdown to Take On Two Piracy Bills"

Evan Hansen, Wired.com: "Why We've Censored Wired.com"

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It's All Politics
11:29 am
Wed January 18, 2012

McCain's 2008 Anti-Mitt Romney Oppo Research Raised 2012 Themes

A document that purportedly represents opposition research targeting Mitt Romney from Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign was posted online by Buzzfeed reporter Andy Kaczynski.

Immediately noticeable is how many of criticisms of Romney by his rivals during the current race for the Republican presidential nomination could just have easily come from McCain's opposition research of four years ago.

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The Two-Way
11:06 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Reports: Obama Will Reject Keystone Pipeline Proposal

Several news outlets are reporting that the Obama administration will reject TransCanada's proposal to run a pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border.

The Washington Post reports the administration will make it official later today and will allow TransCanada to reapply once it has rerouted the pipeline to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sandhills area of Nebraska.

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The Salt
10:06 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Virtual Victuals: A Gamer Turns Video Game Food Into Real Food

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:07 am

Food can be transformative, especially if you're a character in a video game. When Mario ate mushrooms, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ate pizza and CJ from Grand Theft Auto ate fast food, they became better, stronger, sometimes even bigger.

But now one gamer has made that food even more enticing by putting the virtual food of video games onto her very real dinner table. That's right: Daniella Zelli, a 23-year-old gamer in Edinburgh, Scotland, cooks up dishes inspired by games and shares them on her blog.

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Around the Nation
9:11 am
Wed January 18, 2012

FBI Arrests 3 In Insider Trading Case

FBI agents arrested three hedge fund executives early Wednesday in connection with a massive ongoing insider trading investigation that has involved some of Wall Street's most prominent money managers.

Todd Newman, who formerly oversaw technology investments at Diamondback Capital Management, was arrested at about 6 a.m. in the Boston suburb of Needham on charges "related to stock fraud," according to a spokesman for the FBI's Boston office.

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The Two-Way
8:50 am
Wed January 18, 2012

In Snow-Weary Alaskan Towns, Sun And Smiles Emerge

Credit Spc. Balinda O'Neal / Alaska National Guard Public Affairs
Jan. 9: An Alaska National Guardsman clears a roof in Cordova.

"Life is back to normal for two towns deeply buried in snow along Alaska's Prince William Sound," The Associated Press says. "The National Weather Service said Tuesday the weather is supposed to remain clear in both Valdez and Cordova this week."

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It's All Politics
8:33 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Internet Blackout Puts Washington Online Piracy In Limelight

Credit Wikipedia screenshot
Screenshot of Wikipedia landing page.

SOPA and PIPA (no, they're not the Duchess of Cambridge's sisters) will be on the minds of a lot more people Wednesday because of the online protests by Wikipedia, Google and other popular websites over the anti-piracy legislation with the catchy acronyms currently under consideration in Congress.

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Brian Unger’s satirical reports on culture and politics can currently be heard regularly on NPR.

Unger began his career in broadcasting at WOUB in Athens, Ohio. He then turned his back on Ohio and public radio to fetch David Letterman’s lunch. That’s what interns considered dignified work at NBC.

It was all downhill from there: Unger was tapped to produce the series Obstetrics & Gynecology Update for Lifetime Medical Television. After 26 episodes, Unger left the show and struck out on his own to produce documentary profiles on U.S. war veterans dating back to World War I.

Freelance life, a departure from c-sections and pre-term births, was gratifying but impoverished. Looking for a new challenge, and to keep the heat on in his New York City apartment, Unger accepted a field producer job from TV pioneer Maury Povich. After two years, Unger begged Povich for an introduction to his wife Connie Chung who bought Unger a decent pair of shoes, and hired him as an associate producer on her CBS News magazine show Eye to Eye.

Unger eventually became a producer on the show, staying with CBS News for three years before leaving to be an on-air correspondent for CBS’s magazine show Day & Date. The show was eventually cancelled. Unger was unemployed, again. And Murrow wept.

Now turning his back on news, Unger devoted the next four years of his life to making fun of it as part of the team that launched the award-winning The Daily Show on Comedy Central. As a correspondent and producer on the series, he helped to pioneer the series’ satirical news reports on politics, people and events around the country.

Exhausted, tired of living in motel rooms and without friends, Unger left The Daily Show and began a journey down a different exhausting, friendless path in TV. He hosted NBC’s Later, E! Entertainment’s Talk Soup and the network’s anthology series Hollywood Offramp. He co-created and starred in pilots for Fox and Comedy Central. He produced shows for MTV and Oxygen, including their acclaimed comedy series, O2Be…Anyone But Me.

As an actor, Unger hosted the entertainment newsmagazine Extra until he was fired for not caring enough about celebrity. He also guest starred in NBC’s Just Shoot Me and Three Sisters, and ABC’s I’m with Her and starred in two comedy pilots for Fox, This Week Has 7 Days and No. 1 Show in America. He has also appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, The Man Show, and as a frequent contributor to VH1.

Entertainment Weekly named him one of the "100 Most Creative People in Entertainment" and TV Guide and the New York Observer both lauded his work on The Daily Show. He has written pieces for a variety of publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Unger currently resides in Los Angeles.

The Two-Way
8:00 am
Wed January 18, 2012

LIVE: Jewel (A Bear) May Soon Give Birth; A Webcam Lets Us Watch

Credit Wildlife Research Institute
A very close view of Jewel, taken Tuesday.

As we learned last year with our posts about the Decorah "eagle cam," there's a lot of interest in watching animals in the wild. Especially when there are babies involved.

So here's some important information for nature lovers:

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