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I think this former Californian has it about right : Listen up, California. The other 48 states—your cousin New York excluded—are sick of your bratty arrogance. You’re the Lindsay Lohan of states: a prima donna who once showed some talent but is now too wasted to do anything with it. After enjoying ephemeral highs and spending binges, you suffer crashes that culminate in brief, unsuccessful stints in rehab. This cycle repeats itself every five to 10 years, as the rest of the country looks on with a mixture of horror and amusement. We’d feel sorry for you if you didn’t constantly flip us the bird. Instead, we’re making bets on how long it will be before your next meltdown. Oh, wait—you’re already melting down. You’ve racked up nearly $70 billion in general obligation debt, and that doesn’t include your $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Your own analysts predict you’ll face a hole of at least $80 billion over the next four years. Your government’s run by a brothel of environmentalists, lawyers, public-sector unions and legislative bums. When they’re not taxing or spending, they’re creating regulations and commissions like the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and the California Blueberry Commission. Many businesses would leave if it weren’t for your sunny climate. Which may explain why you’re so obsessed with climate change. If your climate changes, no one, including your Hollywood friends, would tolerate you anymore. So you’ve created a law to tax carbon emissions—no matter that it will kill jobs. It’s not as if you don’t recognize that you’ve got problems. Roughly three-quarters of you say you’re headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. You’re even more depressed than Illinois and New York, and you’ve got sunshine 10 months of the year! She goes on to talk about the rogues gallery of kooks we just elected to our top offices. All of this explains why on the day after the election I woke up angry and somewhat depressed when I probably should have been elated at the progress the GOP made nationwide. I knew that by electing Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsome, and rejecting Prop 23 while approving Prop 25, we had just decided as a state that we don’t want to improve our situation, but in fact desire a quicker decline.

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Radical Cleric Calls for Killing Americans

A US-born Islamic cleric linked to attacks by al-Qaida in Yemen on US targets called for Muslims around the world to kill Americans in a new video posted on extremist websites Monday. (Nov. 8)

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Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one

So, just as was rumored , it seems Dell pushed a small handful of Venue Pros to Microsoft’s seven flagship stores for sale today. We just spoke with a friendly rep who told us they were “going fast” and didn’t sound too confident that we’d be able to get one by the time we got down there, but theoretically if we did, it’d be $199 for a new line (or an eligible upgrade) or $449 outright. If you manage to score one, that’ll put you about a week ahead of everyone else — they aren’t expected to be available straight from Dell’s site until the 15th. On a related note, Dell’s website is showing two configurations for the phone — an 8GB and a 16GB model — though none of the stores we called could tell us which one they were stocking. Let’s hope for 16, eh? [Thanks, Andrew and @FocusedProverbs ] Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Playboy Strips Away Some of Its Art Collection

Playboy to auction more than 100 different pieces of its art collection at Christie’s in New York City. (Nov. 8)

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GreenFest 2010: Bill McKibben Interviews Bryony Schwan

Bill McKibben speaks with Bryony Schwan at Green Festivals 2010 in San Francisco in this TreeHugger exclusive. Bryony Schwan is the executive director and co-founder of The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes the new science of biomimicry. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Conn. Man to Death Row for Home Invasion

A Connecticut man was condemned to death for a night of terror inside a suburban home in which a woman was strangled and her two daughters tied to their beds, doused in gasoline and left to die in a fire. (Nov. 8)

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During the campaign the Dems frequently warned voters that the GOP planned to “shut down the government” if they got into power.

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Microsoft slide chronicles the journey from Portable Media Center to Windows Phone 7

In case you missed it, Wired has a new piece out on the (very brief) history of Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately, the article pulls all punches, and skates through some bizarre statements from Microsofties, including calling Kin “a worthwhile risk that resulted in important lessons,” and the real head scratcher of the piece: “Software is like making a movie and building a skyscraper. You’re not quite sure how it’s going to stand until it comes out in the end.” Still, we were glad to find this slide (pictured above) in the article’s photo gallery, chronicling the journey of the Metro design language from Microsoft’s ill-fated Portable Media Center , to the vaguely successful Zune products, and around at last to the newly available Windows Phone 7. A bit of comeuppance for 2004′s ahead-of-its-time, PlaysForSure-laden iPod killer? We like to think so. Microsoft slide chronicles the journey from Portable Media Center to Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Yemen preacher urges Muslim scholars to promote jihad

DUBAI (Reuters) – A radical U.S.-born Sunni Muslim preacher wanted dead or alive by the United States and Yemen urged Muslim scholars on Monday to promote jihad against U.S. and Israeli interests in the region. Anwar al-Awlaki also accused Shi’ite power Iran of trying to extend its influence among Arabs in the Gulf region in a 23-minute video recording posted on Islamist websites on Monday. The video appears to have been made before a foiled plot…

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Nashville Musician Shingles His Roof With Records

Nashville Musician Matt Glassmeyer is, according to Jazz.com , a bit of an inventor. Now we learn that he is a repurposer, using 350 damaged records to build a roof on his porch…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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