The new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, certainly is dark, almost relentlessly so. We are all dirtbags and will do dirtbag things when confronted with dirtier dirtbags seems the general tone of the movie. There’s lots of mayhem and it’ll require a major willing suspension of disbelief to believe anyone could actually pull off everything the Joker does. But no matter, there’s lots of violence and blowing stuff up. The ending reinforces the tone; the public are sheep and should be lied to, fighting evil makes you do evil, and we are all compromised and degraded. Ptui.

Upon leaving, Sue said, Hollywood only seems to have a couple of plots and they’ve about run out of ideas about them.

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That’s what Silicon Valley Insider is saying. Edward’s PAC paid his mistress’ company $114,000 starting five days after she incorporated the business to produce four videos for YouTube, making her maybe “the best-paid web video producer in the business.”

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CindyForCongress.

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It’s hardly ever what politicians do but shouldn’t have that takes them down. Almost always it’s the coverup. Even his former campaign manager is furious at the evasions and lies.

None of which should detract from Edwards’ genuine commitment to helping the poor, but probably will.

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Psst, want to cop some grease?

Rendering plants in Northern California and elsewhere are reporting losses of $15,000 per month due to the increasing amount of grease theft.

While some of the thefts could be by those making biodiesel in their backyard, chances are it’s more organized than that.

Eight years ago yellow grease was trading for 7.6 cents per pound and now it trades closer to 36 cents a pound, or $2.73 a gallon. If a thief can load up a 2,500 gallon tanker truck, that’s $6,825 dollars — not bad for a few nights of work.

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(Detail of map from University of Colorado. Click for full map.)

While the US has certainly been training and arming troops from Georgia, Russia has been doing the same in South Ossetia, and indeed their tanks have entered there - in other words, they’ve invaded another country.

Hold on for this shocker.

Analysts said the escalating conflict in South Ossetia risked major consequences for a region that has become a test of the post-Cold War balance of power, as well as a key energy transit point for Europe which needs oil and gas from Asia.

Lest we overlook the obvious, Russia wants control of that just as much as the US does.

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Among fifth- through eighth-graders [at surveyed schools], more than a third know a friend or a relative who has been shot to death.

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Tata’s Nano is a $3000 car with a roomy interior that accommodates a family of four. For a 1300-pound car, it’s got a powerful engine that gets 47 miles to the gallon. And Tata could sell 30 million of them in India alone. Huge markets in Africa and South America await as well.

A test driver from Wired said not only is it a real vehicle not a toy, but it’s a cool machine too.

From Wikipedia.

A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is a term describing a technological innovation, product, or service that uses a “disruptive” strategy, rather than a “revolutionary” or “sustaining” strategy, to overturn the existing dominant technologies or status quo products in a market. Disruptive innovations can be broadly classified into low-end and new-market disruptive innovations. A new-market disruptive innovation is often aimed at non-consumption, whereas a lower-end disruptive innovation is aimed at mainstream customers who were ignored by established companies.

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