Society

New Jersey’s Jon Bon Jovi teams up with Iranian singer Andy Madadian to lend their voice to the Iranian Protesters of ‘09 with a half-English, half-Farsi rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” According to Wikipedia, the handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to “we are one”. You can watch the full video here after the jump.

Reviews

Neolibrarium, a site which specializes in Books, Book Reviews, and pretty much anything having to do with literary works, is in the early stages of a daunting mission: to publish 40 posts (mostly book reviews) over the span of 40 days.
While 40 posts on a normal blog over 40 days does not sound like much, each of these posts is a full-fledged book review, meaning that 40 books will also be read over 40 days. When seen through this viewpoint, the self-assessed task seems that much more impressive.

It's funny. Laugh

Since “Angels & Demons” takes place mainly in the Vatican, and is festooned with the rites and ornaments of Roman Catholicism, I might as well begin with a confession. I have not read the novel by Dan Brown on which this film (directed, like its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code,” by Ron Howard) is based. [...]

Law

This is an absolutely brilliant, concise, and infuriating article on why the Enablers will get away with it. Quite simply, our politicians are compromised, and any fact-finding information would point too many fingers back at them.  Some select quotes:
It’s probably not going to happen, though, in the comprehensive way that it should. The reason is [...]

business

Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, 71, who pleaded guilty to 11 charges in March, was sentenced to prison by District Judge Denny Chin Judge Denny Chin has sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison. Chin gave Madoff the maximum of 20 years on several of the counts, which will be served consecutively. For a brief moment, the courtroom erupted with applause. Madoff’s lawyer had asked for a 12-year sentence. “We seek neither mercy nor sympathy,” said Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer. But he has asked Judge Chin to “set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case.”

Politics

New Jersey’s Jon Bon Jovi teams up with Iranian singer Andy Madadian to lend their voice to the Iranian Protesters of ‘09 with a half-English, half-Farsi rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” According to Wikipedia, the handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to “we are one”. You can watch the full video here after the jump.

Technology

Microsoft, still not giving up on its Zune platform, just verified rumors that had been swirling around for months: there will be a new version of the Zune player, this time with touch screen capability, HD Radio tuning, and HD Video output. The specs point out a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in WiFi, and web browsing.

Rants

Dear Washington,
I don’t know how to say this… I don’t want to hurt you. But things just haven’t been the same between us since the 30’s.
You’ve become very overbearing and, at times abusive. I feel like it’s your way or the highway and like you don’t listen to me at all.
Your spending is out of [...]

Life

New Jersey’s Jon Bon Jovi teams up with Iranian singer Andy Madadian to lend their voice to the Iranian Protesters of ‘09 with a half-English, half-Farsi rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” According to Wikipedia, the handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to “we are one”. You can watch the full video here after the jump.

Dallas/Fort Worth

Chrysler LLC is seeking to immediately drop 789 dealers from its retail network, according to documents filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Chrysler studied the sales, location, market share, finances and facilities of each of its dealers to identify the strongest of its 3,200 dealers. In 2008, Chrysler sold 303 vehicles per [...]

Texas

What do you do when your residents are suffering through the worst economic climate since the Great Depression? Well, if you are a state in the U.S., you tax them some more.

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, the total cost of new taxes and fees to states’ residents would total up to $23.9 BILLION dollars, and that is on top of the $726 million tax and fee increases in 2009.