February 2009

Monthly Archives

  • Oregon Beer Tax Would Increase Tax on Beer by 1,900%

    Oregon’s government is thinking about increasing the state beer tax. Taxing cigarettes is one thing, but is a beer tax taking it too far? The Oregonian reports: The Oregon state tax on beer is less than a penny a glass. It’s among the lowest in the country, untouched in more than three decades and guarded […]

  • Taiwanese University Offers Porn Analysis Class

    From Ananova: A university in Taiwan has opened a course to teach students how to appreciate and analyse porn movies. The Mass Communication Department of Providence University opened the course this semester, reports United Daily News. To pass the course, students must give a 15 minute presentation in which they analyse an audience’s psychological reaction […]

  • 5 Big Businesses Behind Valentine’s Day

    The National Retail Association estimates that people will spend an average of $102.50 on gifts for Valentine’s Day this year. Men generally spend twice as much as women. If you’re gaping, take solace in the fact that it’s 16% less than last year. Nonetheless, the five Valentine’s Day supply companies listed below will be cashing […]

  • 25 Valentine’s Day Bailout Hearts

    We discovered the ACME heartmaker online recently, and couldn’t resist creating a variety of Valentine’s hearts with snarky economy-related quips. See which of these Valentine’s Day bailout hearts would speak most loudly to your sweetheart–or least favorite person on the Street:

  • Twitter Stops a Senate Coup

    The Economist reports on how a tweet let Democrats keep their Senate majority yesterday: YESTERDAY morning, Virginia politicos caught wind of a rumor that one of the Democrats in the state Senate was about to switch parties. Because the Democrats had a 21-19 majority, that shift would have flipped control over to the Republicans. Then […]

  • 25 Valentine’s Quotes You Can Say in Public

    These are mellower quotes that err on the humorous side of things: 25. “True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.” Erich Segal 24. “Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand.” Anonymous 23. “I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love […]

  • GM Layoffs: 10,000 Dismissed; Bailout Money Goes to Brazil

    General Motors latest round of layoffs will target 10,000 salaried workers. The New York Times reports: General Motors, which must submit a satisfactory restructuring plan to the government next week to keep billions of dollars in loans, said Tuesday that it would lay off 10,000 salaried workers worldwide this year and reduce pay for those […]

  • Nissan Layoffs: 20,000 Jobs Bite the Dust

    The New York Times reports on the latest layoffs to hit the global marketplace, courtesy of Nissan: Nissan Motor on Monday joined Toyota, Mazda and Mitsubishi in forecasting a loss for the current financial year, and announced it was cutting 20,000 workers in one of the most aggressive cutbacks so far by a Japanese company […]

  • Iceland Appoints Gay Female Prime Minister

    It’s interesting that moral quibbles take a backseat to perceived leadership efficacy when economic times get hard. Remember the Clinton years, which happened to be boom years, and the womanizing controversy? Running an impeachment trial on purely moral grounds seems like distant history in light of today’s economic crisis. Now, Iceland, one of the worst-hit […]

  • Madoff Client List Includes Rich and Famous

    The UK Guardian reports on the recently released Madoff client list, which includes quite a few rich and famous people: A list of the many thousands of people who invested with Bernard Madoff has been released, including several prominent British society figures and a number of well-known Americans from the world of politics, sport and […]

  • USDA Unaware of How Many People it Employs

    Remember the peanut recall? It may have something to do with the USDA’s organizational, err, challenges. AgWeb’s Washington Insight blog reports on USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s Monday press conference: How many people actually work at USDA? In an interesting development, Vilsack said he cannot find out how many thousands of employees he has at USDA. […]