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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Nov 5, 2012
November 5, 2012
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Shopping around:
Now that Halloween is past (except in New Jersey, when it's officially tonight), stores will be decking the halls and twining the tinsel to keep holiday gift-shopping front-of-mind for hapless shoppers. But a recent survey shows that bothers the bejeezus out of consumers.
Over three-quarters (78 percent) of Americans surveyed by web and mobile app test automation company SOASTA say they don't want to hear Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. Another 75 percent believe Christmas decorations should also not be put up until after Thanksgiving.
And they definitely want e-tailers to have their digits in a row for Cyber Monday: three-quarters of survey respondents say stores should concentrate on providing a specific Cyber Monday website, or a dependable app (73 percent) that can handle the mass of sales that take place on the mega-shopping day. (Kaye)Big Bucks:
No big surprise that the millions of dollars being spent during the current election cycle have been spent on negative advertising. A Wesleyan (University) Media Project study says that 86-percent of PRESIDENT OBAMA's television advertising and 79-percent of MITT ROMNEY's advertising have been negative.
By comparison, President Obama and JOHN McCAIN spent an average of 69-percent of their TV budgets on negative ads by this point in 2008. GEORGE W. BUSH and JOHN KERRY had about a 58-percent negative average in 2004. (Pacelli)The Weather:
Scrap the 100-year storm. Some experts say cities may need to prepare for the 500-year storm after Hurricane Sandy.
As authorities hustle to restore power, pump out subway tunnels, and alleviate gas shortages in New York City, some say that after the historic storm, mere recovery may not be enough. To prevent a Sandy-like disaster again may require putting in place protections for the next monster storm.
With the total bill for Sandy recovery expected to be in the tens of billions of dollars, New York and similarly vulnerable cities may not be able to afford not to invest in precautionary measures.
FYI: Hurricane Sandy dumped 8.5 billion gallons of water on Manhattan. (Maiman)Bottom feeding:
Warning: note sexual content. Really.
Remember the name JOSLYN JAMES, aka mistress #8 from the TIGER WOODS scandal? The triple-X actress must have fallen on pretty hard times because she'll be freelancing at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada. TMZ.com reports the adult actress will be working at the brothel the week of December fifth through 12th and encourages clients to book early --apparently reservations are filling up fast. (Lee)Grace notes:
Friday night's Hurricane Sandy benefit special on NBC raised $23-million dollars for the Red Cross. It was one of the best hours of entertainment ever put on television with performances from BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND, JON BON JOVI, BILLY JOEL, CHRISTINA AGUILERA, STING, MARY J. BLIGE and AEROSMITH's STEVEN TYLER, JOE PERRY and BRAD WHITFORD. MATT LAUER hosted with help from BRIAN WILLIAMS, JIMMY FALLON, JON STEWART, TINA FEY, KEVIN BACON and WHOOPI GOLDBERG. (Marino)
Everyday heroes:
A video of a helicopter pilot retrieving a kid's toy airplane from a tree has gone viral.
Orange.co.uk says the two-man copter was flying over a house when they saw the boy crash the plane into some trees. The pilot knew that the child would be unable to get to the plane, so he swung into action. Swooping low, the pilot hovered over the treetops while his co-pilot reached out and grabbed the toy. The video has over a million views (here). (Still) -
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