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All day long, the TEDxOilSpill event is streaming live on the web from Washington DC, featuring a series of talks and presentations from 28 speakers covering all aspects of discussion related to the oil spill, from cleanup efforts and technology to new options for alternative energy.Check out the full schedule HERE, which includes many notable guests like Sylvia Earle and Philippe Cousteau.  The event concludes at 7PM EST.

TEDxOilSpill Conference Live Stream (VIDEO)

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People ask what it's like, and all I can say is, "It's worse than you can imagine."And I don't really want to talk about it, because there is nothing I can really tell them, except perhaps to relate small personal recollections or impressions, and those disappear so quickly, or become cliche.

The Gulf Oil Spill From an Artist's Perspective

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Explaining the process to those who may also wish to be ex-journalists one day.More...

Journalism

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Since Michael Hastings's Stan McChrystal jam dropped in the pages of Rolling Stone, all of your media ethics panels have been a-roil over whether Hastings admirably performed the traditional tasks of a journalist to the letter -- I say yes -- or whether Hastings's actual job is to coddle his sources with goopy flattery so that he can maintain access to said sources (and continue, presumably, to coddle them), like Lara Logan contends, inexplicably.Glenn Greenwald has much on this topic. But elsewhere, NPR's Bob Garfield, host of "On The Media", discussed the matter with Jamie McIntyre, who covered the Pentagon as a senior correspondent for CNN for 16 years.  McIntyre, as you might expect, says that the story highlights the differences between beat reporting and freelance journalism:More...

Jamie McIntyre, Former Pentagon Correspondent, Backs Hastings And Admits A "Dirty Little Secret"

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All the talk these days in politics is about how polarized America has become. There is certainly plenty of partisanship reverberating through the hallowed halls of Congress, what with the constant threat of filibusters and the passage of the health-care law by "budget reconciliation." Not a lot of bipartisan pizza parties happening on the Hill, that's for sure.And the polarization is deafening on the airwaves and in cyberspace. Between the websites, talk radio, and talking-heads on cable TV, there is not much love felt by those on each side of the political aisle. The tone of these discussions, usually angry and personal, doesn't help either. As long as everyone is bound in their ideological cloth and in a hyperemotional state, any attempts at reasoned conversation between those of apparently divergent views will be a nonstarter.More...

Can We Find Common Ground?

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Larry King will retire as host of CNN's "Larry King Live" after 25 years, he announced Tuesday evening.King will step down from the program in the fall, but remain with CNN.More...

Larry King Ending 'Larry King Live' On CNN In Fall

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In my recent blog on branch reform, I got some reader feedback that some have apparently interpreted my positive reporting of the effectiveness of direct channels as evidence that I am 'against' branches. This is not the case. However, I do think that branch networks are currently in a precarious situation and bank's might find themselves saddled with a costly anachronism if they don't anticipate where the customer behavioral shift will take branch networks in the very near future. There is hope - but it will take a determination to revisit what branch networks really do for banks and customers.The data shows that branch growth in the west is flat. Given that branch networks were already suffering in the 90's, we shouldn't be surprised that branch networks today --when customers are rapidly adopting new ways of banking-- are under even more pressure.More...

What the Bank Branch Will Become

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Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is unleashing a fierce line of attack on President Obama in a new web video over the placement of new warning signs near the state's border with Mexico.The signs -- being established in Arizona's desert recreation area south of Interstate 8 -- read:More...

Jan Brewer Ad Blasts Obama Over Arizona Border Signs Amid Immigration Law Uproar (VIDEO)

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Many women accept the burdensome symptoms of PMS as a fact of life. But with changes to diet and alternative treatments, there is hope for the most painful of monthly patterns, both emotional and physical.WATCH:More...

PMS Relief: How To Beat PMS Symptoms (VIDEO)

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National restaurant chain Chipotle has launched a campaign to help children across the nation get healthy school lunches. Chipotle is asking the public to forward their junk e-mails to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com -- for each e-mail sent, a donation will be made to the nonprofit organization The Lunch Box.The mission of the organization is to ensure that "all children...have access to healthy food to grow their bodies, minds and future." To accomplish this, the nonprofit works with schools to teach them how to provide nutritious meals with locally grown food.More...

Chipotle, Lunch Box Team Up For Campaign Turning Junk Mail Into School Meals