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Dateline NBC: Inside the Financial Meltdown

Chris Hanson, the man who brought you ‘To Catch A Preditor’ brings you an inside look into the financial meltdown in the worst recession the United States has seen since the last great depression. People like Paula Taylor who dreamt of owning their own home, asks  “Why would they tell me as a lender, that I can afford a mortgage, if they know they’re not going to get their money back?” Even consumer financial experts such as Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School think there are methods to the madness, which she compares to sales men hawking products they know are defective. “This is about buying toasters that at the moment they were sold the person selling them knew that they were going to exploded.” Warren said.

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A Budget Equal to the Task Before Us

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 21, 2009 | 10:15 PM EST

“These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long:  the high cost of health care and our dependence on oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit.” — President Barack Obama.

Watch as the President reflects on lessons from his time spent outside Washington recently, which only reinforced the core principles in his budget.  The budget will be his central focus throughout this week:

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Obama on Leno, First President to Show his Face

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 20, 2009 | 02:08 PM EST

Part 1

Well it’s actually an amazing thing to see a U.S. President on TV, featured on a show that doesn’t look like something your grandparents would watch on a Sunday afternoon in an effort to enhance their nap. For the first time in history the “coolest” U.S. President has appeared on Jay Leno.

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Why Do Some Men Hit Woman? Oprah Asks, Men Answer

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 19, 2009 | 4:38 PM EST

“I Just remember walking up to her and just smacking her.” Sir, who abused his wife for over two years said in the opening credits.

“Before we start the show today, I would like to say how deeply saddened I am by the passing away of actress Natasha Richardson.” Oprah said in the opening of the show. “Three woman die every day, that’s eleven woman ever year. That number may not mean anything to you, unless the woman was your mother, your sister, your daughter.” Oprah continued.

In the interview Serb does not feel any remorse for what happened in the story that he’s telling. “So what stopped you from killing her?” Oprah asked. “Um, the grace of god, reality has come back to me as the rage would kind of decrease, calm down.” Sir replied.

“You said you felt awful after the first beating, you took the gun to your chin and the gun wouldn’t fire. If you felt so awful why did  you hit her again? Oprah asked as the interview continued. Sir replied “It Was uh, out of a fit of rage. I look back now I can see that at that time when the rage would come, it was kind of, like right now where it’s tunnel vision, and I was trying to express my anger and disappointment the only way I knew how, through abuse.”

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Oprah to Confront Men Who ‘Beat Woman’

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 18, 2009 | 07:43 PM EST

This article was written a day before the Oprah Show episode: ‘Why Some Men Beat Woman’ aired on NBC. Click here to read the article regarding the actual show after it aired.

With the scandal surrounding Chris Brown and Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey has decided to confront men (like Brown) who abuse or hit their girlfriends/wives. On the show Oprah will hope to be able to answer why Rihanna’s story is personal to Tyra Banks, and show viewers can can help stop relationship violence.

The show will feature also feature actress Robin Givens who will apparently come forward about her abuse by a man that (assuming) she had dated.The show will air Thursday March 19, 2009 at 4:00 PM EST. Upon the completion of the show I will post a review and a full article explaining what was said and what happened on the show.

Obesity may shorten your life

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 17, 2009 | 10:32 PM EST

A new study shows that being obese can shorten your life. Gary Whitlock, a researcher from the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom said “Moderate obesity typically shortens life span by about three years. By moderate obesity, I mean weighing about a third more than is ideal, which for most people would mean being about 50 or 60 pounds overweight.” Mr. Whitlock continued “More than one in three middle-aged Americans are now in this category, Whitlock said. “By contrast, weighing twice your ideal weight — say, an extra 150 pounds — shortens life span by about 10 years,” he added.”

Although this obesity level is still not common, albeit it does equals the known 10-year reduction in life span caused by smoking. “So, smoking is about as dangerous as being severely obese, and about three times as dangerous as being moderately obese,” he said.

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The New Dell Hustle: Trying to Outdo Apple

The stylish, ultraportable laptop features a chassis milled from a single piece of aluminum, a scalloped backlit keyboard, an edge-to-edge glass display, and a choice of onyx or pearl colors.

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 16, 2009 | 04:48 PM EST

Everyone these days is taking note when it comes to design ingenious and beauty in regards to Apple’s products. Everyone including Dell, who just released it’s new Adamo Laptop, ts first stylish, high-end, ultraportable laptop that flexes the company’s design muscle against Apple’s MacBook Air. “Dell’s Adamo is aimed at the affluent PC buyer willing to trade style for horsepower and features found in more mainstream laptops. The system is unique for Dell because it’s clearly meant to appeal to people not interested in a low-cost business or consumer system, which is Dell’s typical offering.” Antone Gonsalves of InformationWeek said.

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Social De-Engineering: Kevin Mitnick Locked out of his own FaceBook Account

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 17, 2009 | 12:11 AM EST

Ironically Kevin Mitnick, a social engineering master who went to jail for impersonating others to get information to access computer networks without authorization, couldn’t access his own Facebook account for weeks because administrators at the social networking site didn’t believe he was who he said he was.

“It has frustrated me to no end. I used to be very influential at proving I was someone else. And now I can’t even prove I’m the real Kevin Mitnick. It’s kind of sad,” Mitnick said, chuckling in a telephone interview on Monday. Facebook fixed the problem, shortly after the interview, but only after CNET had called them.

Mitnick, who’s been an avid  Facebook user  for about two years, said he realized there was a problem February 22 when he couldn’t access his account. He sent them an e-mail asking what the problem was and was informed that he had violated the site’s terms of use by registering with a fake name. So Mitnick, being the changed man that he is,  sent them an e-mail from his corporate e-mail account at Mitnick Security Consulting to help prove he was the real Mitnick and not any of the imposters behind the six dozen or so other “Kevin Mitnick” accounts on Facebook.

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Lindsay Lohan ‘Chris Browns’ Samantha Ronson

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 16, 2009 | 11:02 PM EST

OMG It’s happening again! Another celebrity domestic violence scandal! Wow, what’s up with these singers turned boxers these days? Ironically enough the China Daily reported that Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson’s latest fight became so violent police were called. Three Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to calls about a domestic dispute at the couple’s Beachwood Canyon home on Saturday morning (14.03.09).

Just when the police thought everything was cool though, the 22-year-old actress and her 31-year-old DJ lover refused to let officers in, screaming at each other so furiously police reportedly called for backup. Neighbors heard shouting and “things hitting the wall loudly”. One object – believed to be a vase – even smashed a window. A source said: “One of the windows on the side of the house was completely shattered, like someone had thrown something through it. You could see the shards of glass on the cement walk below.”

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Get Ready: Cut and Paste is coming to IPhone OS 3.0

Written By: Fareed Warrad | March 16, 2009 | 10:25 PM EST

Apparently Kevin Rose announced on a live session of the Diggnation show at South by Southwest that Apple may be including a Copy and Paste feature in the next IPhone OS. He also said that more details will be available Tuesday. During the announcement Rose said “The new update will bring, at last, copy and paste, Kevin says. It works thusly: You double tap a word and it gets magnified, much like the cursor-placing magnification in the current version. You then pinch to choose the highlighted text (which is apparently indicated by a set of quote marks). Last, you choose from a button: cut, copy or paste.”

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