GOOD DAY FOR:
Moving from Zuck to Jobs
Aaron Sorkin, the snappy writer behind The Social Network, officially signs on to pen a Steve Jobs biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Apple innovator. [Death & Taxes]
Relentless strumming
A Texas guitarist breaks the world record for longest guitar solo, surpassing the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes. [TIME]
Seeing-eye horses
The Illinois Senate approves a measure allowing miniature horses to accompany people with disabilities. [The Daily What]
BAD DAY FOR:
Extreme chaperoning
Two Colorado moms chaperoning a high school prom were so disgusted with the “dirty dancing” they witnessed that they reportedly sprayed teens with Lysol and called the girls “sluts” and “whores.” [The Stir]
Google goggles
A new report says that Google’s much-hyped augmented reality glasses won’t be nearly as cool as they appear in their promo video. [New Scientist]
Indulging a friend
A New York man implores his friend to shoot him in the leg so he can “see what it feels like.” The friend complies, and is charged with reckless endangerment. [Newser]
For more winners and losers see: Good day, bad day: May 15, 2012
![GOOD DAY FOR:
One-upping the FrenchIn South Korea, 4,000 children build the tallest Lego tower on Earth. At a height of 31.9 meters, the toy structure bests the previous record of 31.6 meters, held by France. [Tecca]
Evolving with ObamaProducer-rapper extraordinaire Jay-Z comes out in favor of gay marriage. [The Frisky]
Keeping cool under fireA Swiss research institute designs a bullet-proof vest equipped with air conditioning. [Geekosystem]
BAD DAY FOR:
Wiping down the crime sceneA Utah teenager is caught allegedly robbing a house after he leaves behind a backpack containing a USB drive full of his homework. [Newser]
Taking a page from the Don Draper playbookA longtime security supervisor at Newark International Airport is arrested for allegedly stealing the identity of a dead man. [Gothamist]
Double-checking the addressA Mississippi woman spends thousands buying and sprucing up a foreclosed home, only to find out that she actually bought the smaller, more damaged home next door. [Consumerist]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m432pe27Im1qdjbb7o1_250.png)
![President Obama had a famous falling-out with Wall Street after Democrats passed the sweeping financial reform bill, Dodd-Frank, and Obama bruised some egos with tough language about “fat-cat bankers” hurting the economy.
Still, more than three years after he was sworn in, no top bankers are in jail, financial-fraud prosecutions are down by one count, and now JPMorgan Chase just lost a staggering $2 billion on the type of risky credit default swaps that helped drag the country into this financial hole in the first place. CNN’s Jack Cafferty writes:
“[V]oters will hold up the president against his record - and ask how this could happen again. In light of the mess at JP Morgan, it will be nearly impossible for Obama to run as the president who got tough on Wall Street.”
And conservatives are highlighting Obama’s ties to Wall Street. Moe Lane at Red State:
“Now, I personally don’t actually have an issue with Wall Street donating money to candidates. But Barack Obama does – or at least that he said that he did, only that turned out to be a lie. In other words, it’s all about the hypocrisy: if you don’t think that campaign contributions from unpopular corporations are a form of communication, and you campaign on that, then do not take campaign contributions from those unpopular corporations.”
4 ways the JPMorgan mess could hurt Obama](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m42j8br3UA1qdjbb7o1_500.jpg)
![GOOD DAY FOR:
Kardashian influenceThe name Mason skyrockets in popularity, becoming the second most popular baby boy name in 2011 — in part, it seems, because Kourtney Kardashian named her first son Mason in 2009. [Gawker]
AdaptabilityAn Egyptian man, who had apparently been killed by a heart attack, wakes up at his own funeral, and his family quickly changes the affair into a “welcome back” celebration. [TIME]
Random acts of kindnessA man posts his terminally-ill uncle’s P.O. Box address on Reddit; he immediately receives kind words in the mail from all over the world. [The Daily What]
BAD DAY FOR:
Carefree peeingGerman scientists speculate that swimmers urinating in Germany’s Eichbaum Lake could have contributed to the death of 500 fish. [Newser]
21st century multitaskingA New Jersey town begins ticketing people who are texting while walking, after a startling number of people had been hit by cars while doing so. [Consumerist]
The permanence of ownershipNew research finds that 10 percent of all Corvettes built in the last 30 years have been stolen. [Business Insider]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4186wZuDt1qdjbb7o1_250.png)
![Most commentators see Newsweek’s provocative new cover as a cynical rebuttal to rival newsweekly TIME’s breast-feeding head-turner last week. (Newsweek editor Tina Brown reportedly responded to TIME’s cover by saying, “Let the games begin.”)
But Andrew Sullivan, the openly gay writer who penned the cover story, means it seriously — in a figurative way — much like what Toni Morrison meant when she called Bill Clinton the “first black president” in 1998: He just gets it.
Thanks to Obama’s fraught relationship with his mixed race, Sullivan writes, “he intuitively understands gays and our predicament — because it so mirrors his own.” Still, first gay president?
Is this the kind of thing that kept Obama from fully “evolving” on gay marriage for so long? Best opinions:
Obama can’t be happy about this one: It’s sad that the once-mighty newsweeklies are stooping to “stunt covers” like this to sell magazines, says Ed Driscoll at Pajamas Media. But give “Tina Brown credit for one thing — albeit not necessarily intentionally.” Newsweek and TIME have been running near-“messianic” covers of Obama almost nonstop since 2008, and now “at least Tina has put up a cover that will give Obama plenty of derision in flyover country.”
In 2012, this barely registers as shocking: Even a few years ago, Newsweek proclaiming Obama “the first gay president” would have been “a rainbow-wrapped gift” for any Republican challenger, says Rick Klein at ABC News. But “for once Democrats aren’t worried about the image [the cover] projects.” Obama and Mitt Romney both know that, demographically if not politically, Democrats are winning the culture wars. And if nothing else, this cover promises another week “where the Obama economy was not front and center.”
Gay marriage won’t change anyone’s vote: Actually, like Romney, “Obama no doubt wishes the same-sex marriage question would fade into the background, so that issues more important to most Americans — say, the economy — could become the focus of campaign 2012,” says Brad Knickerbocker at The Christian Science Monitor. People have already made up their minds on gay marriage, and Obama isn’t winning over those who oppose it. But people’s views of the economy matter a lot, and on that front he has a lot of persuading to do. Bottom line: “Whether or not Obama is ‘the first gay president’ may make little difference come November.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m41395bobv1qdjbb7o1_500.png)
