June 2012
3 posts
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Programs that keep people out of poverty
These safety net programs, all of which were expanded as part of Obama administration stimulus measures in 2009 and 2010, kept an additional 7.5 million people out of poverty during the recession.
Republicans have called for drastic cuts to almost all of these programs. They want to shorten the length of unemployment benefits and remove 1.8 million people from the food stamp program (I write...
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The Mets' many one-hitters
Before Johan Santana’s no-hitter last night, there were 24 one-hitters over at least nine innings in Mets history. From Rob Neyer:
Tom Seaver threw five one-hitters. Nolan Ryan threw a one-hitter. John Matlack, Gary Gentry, and David Cone all threw two one-hitters. Steve Trachsel — yes, the immortal Steve Trachsel — threw two one-hitters in one season. Of course, any number of...
WatchI will be watching all 27 outs of Johan Santana’s no-hitter last night, the first in Mets history, on a loop in my brain for the next few days. You have been advised.
May 2012
23 posts
Lifescrapers Episode #4 - Teddy Randazzo
thematthewbriancohen:
Teddy Randazzo -
This week, I spoke with Teddy Randazzo. Teddy is an obnoxious troublemaker who drives his Honda Accord in front of my apartment at all hours of the night, blasting loud music and making horrible screeches with his tires. I talked with Teddy about his behavior and the lifestyle that can afford him to stay out so late and be so rude to other people.
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Tours
I like tours. Not taking them, but the fact that they exist, that there are people out there taking them. I, personally, don’t have the patience or the attention span for tours, generally speaking. Not because I don’t want to take tours; I just understand my own limitations. So I rarely take tours. But I like people who do.
I’ve worked in two buildings now that happen to offer...
Dan Harmon Poops: HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING? →
danharmon:
Kids:
A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because…
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SKOMP tonight at 10 at Players Theater! →
This show has sketch, improv AND Matthew Brian Cohen’s official stamp of approval. Make sense for once in your life and come to this show so Matt Cohen doesn’t have to come your house and wrestle you.
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Obama backs same-sex marriage →
msnbc:
President Obama endorsed the right of same-sex couples to marry on Wednesday, a landmark pronouncement made in light of mounting pressure from gay right advocates.
Obama became the first U.S. president to back the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry, a reversal from his own views as stated in the 2008 campaign, when he said he opposed same-sex marriage but favored civil unions as...
A news story you probably haven't heard about and...
Alfredo Juan Armendariz, a regional administrator for the Environment Protection Agency, resigned this week after remarks he made two years ago — in which he compared the EPA’s prosecution of illegal polluters to the Romans’ crucifixion of rebels — surfaced online.
Here’s what he said: “It was kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the...
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Romney took a very different tack on China in 2007 →
Mitt Romney has been slamming China on the campaign trail as a “currency manipulator” and demanding that the administration get tougher in its stance toward China. He called the Obama administration’s handling of the Chen Guangcheng incident a “dark day for freedom.”
So, what does that mean? You guessed it — there’s video of Romney taking pretty much the...
“Up with Chris Hayes is a television marvel: a deeply smart, highly intellectual...”
– Chris Mooney, science journalist and author of “The Republican Brain,” a new book I’m fascinated with.
As I’ve learned in the past four weeks, there is room for a smart, incisive, deliberative, substantive, nuanced, thoughtful show on cable news.
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April 2012
30 posts
Jon's Ego (in print form!): If you folks missed... →
jonbershad:
If you folks missed those Documentary shows that just wrapped up, you missed out. Super, ridulously fun. How did it have 100x better dialogue than the professional musical I saw directly before it?
In other news,* I accidentally stumbled upon my new catch phrase while leaving: “Tell everyone I…
Hey, thanks Jon! Do you have a pose to go with that new catchphrase? If you want...
Talking Del Close and the Early Days of Chicago... →
improvnonsense:
I did this interview with Alex Baze for splitsider.com. You read splitsider, right? Don’t be dumb: read splitsider.
splitsider:
He was in his late 50s when I was taking classes from him and he had a shitty apartment and slept on a futon and all he ever did was hang around Improv Olympic, watching or teaching, never really performing. His classes were so insane. It was a three...
Matthew Brian Cohen - Tumblr Fun Edition: It's... →
thematthewbriancohen:
Unsubscribe from all other inferior podcasts! Finally, I am proud to officially launch my bi-monthly-ish podcast, Lifescrapers: Tall Stories of American Lives.
Very rarely do I do something that I am completely proud of, that is so incredibly my comedic voice and sensibility. This is that thing….
I’ve unsubscribed from all other podcasts and deleted all the...
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Romney: Welfare parents 'need to go to work' →
Three months before Romney said “all moms are working moms,” he said parents on welfare “need to go to work” so they can “have the dignity of work.”
We aired the new video on the show I work for, Up with Chris Hayes. What I’m especially proud of is that the clip led to an important, intelligent discussion about how our government and society value the...
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'Presidentiality' selected as a Webby Award... →
An online video series I produced with Win Rosenfeld for Need to Know on PBS, called “Presidentiality,” has been selected as an Official Honoree in this year’s Webby Awards. That’s like the equivalent of Honorable Mention, I think (there are five actual Nominees and then a Winner). There were over 10,000 entries, so just to be selected as an Honoree is nice. The other names...
Best Improv Scene
williebhines:
Reblog and describe the best improv scene you ever saw.
Death by Roo Roo: One of the first UCB shows I ever saw, around 2007-2008ish. Gemberling sat down silently and Curtis Gwinn entered through a door and labeled him “Grandma.” For the next two minutes or so, all Curtis did was force-feed him, saying something like, “Grandma, you gotta eat your food!”...
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How Do You Tell Time On Mars? →
Timekeeping on Mars is a bit like telling time on Earth, because the planets are similar in lots of ways. To start with, the Martian day, or sol, is 39 minutes and 35 seconds longer than a day on Earth. This isn’t a lot, but it adds up quickly when you’re living on Mars time—as the Curiosity team will. And a Martian year lasts 668.59 sols, about 1.88 times an Earth year. Seasons last much longer...
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Researchers find ancient planets as old as the... →
Researchers have discovered a pair of “ancient” planets 375 light years away orbiting a star that is 12.5 billion years old — nearly as old as the universe itself. In addition to just being cool (researchers believe this star may be a surviving artifact of the creation of the universe) the discovery is also ground-breaking, because planets are not supposed to orbit stars that...
“We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest.”
– John Ryley, the head of Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News, defending hacking by journalists at his network. He ACTUALLY said that hacking into the emails and voice mails of the subjects of stories is “editorially justified,” in this case because the subjects were suspected of criminal...
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