I hope that everyone is geared up for this Sunday. It’s the annual Memorial Day 1,250. From 8:00 AM EDT through to sometime around 11:00 PM EDT, there’s motorsport of some sort on TV . While there’s the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, the day kicks off with the Monaco Grand Prix.
Last year, it was Nico Rosberg who came out on top of the battle of Monte Carlo. This year, he heads into the race with momentum after scoring his first win of the season. Can he make it two in a row?
A little late but probably better for it, it’s time for the Wednesday links. Today, we’ve got a bit of a ‘Murica themed edition of the links. It includes such timeless links as how many Americans are married to their cousins and… Yes, that is an actual statistical analysis someone did. And, yes, it was an American site that did it.
Anyway, let’s get to the links. We’ve got a lot of pictures from the Cannes Film Festival and let’s start with Miranda Kerr.
How to do the Republican Presidential candidates want to assure you they aren’t all gung-ho about war? They’re now blaming faulty intelligence for the Iraq War. Faulty intelligence that most people saw through. (Mother Jones)
The question everyone wants the answer to: Just how many Americans are married to their cousins? (FiveThirtyEight)
Could Stephen Harper be considered one of the worst Prime Ministers of all-time? Of recent memory, yes. In 50 years, he could go down as one of the most forgettable. (National Observer)
For the first midseason test of the 2015, all the teams, except Manor-Marussia, stayed on after the Spanish Grand Prix for more running at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. While the teams have already run two pre-season tests and a Grand Prix weekend at the track in the last three months, teams are still doing development work.
So everyone who pirated the first four episodes of the season had to wait a month for this. I bet they were disappointed. After being left with a massive cliffhanger at the end of Sons of the Harpy, there wasn’t a whole lot of action or adventure in this week’s episode of Game of Thrones. If anything, it’s almost as if this was an episode ten to last week’s episode nine. Not that such a comparison would make most people happy.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I was really, really busy last week. I thought that weeks before and after long weekends were supposed to be fairly easy. Instead, I’m busier this week and weekend than I have been at any point in the last six months. I’m not sure that I can call this a holiday weekend.
But enough of my petty bitching and moaning. I can’t imagine anyone else cares. So let’s just do the Sunday links. Since it’s a Canadian long weekend, let’s kick off with Canadian actress Nina Dobrev.
It’s been a long time since “mission accomplished” was declared in Iraq but it may play a big part in how the 2016 Presidential candidates security and diplomacy policies are evaluated. (Washington Post)
It’s not just his own record that Jeb Bush will be running on. He’ll also be judged on the actions of Bush’s past. (New York Times)
With new agreements for direct publishing onto Facebook, the likes of the New York Times and BuzzFeed could be compromising their editorial standard for traffic. (TKTK)
Who doesn’t love a good car chase in a movie? Apparently, most of the movie going public loves car chases too based on how much money Furious 7 made at the box office. But for all the money that Furious 7 and the Fast and the Furious franchise has made, you wouldn’t consider them to have any iconic car chases.
The folks over at TitleMax had a look at great movie car chases through the years and didn’t pick anything to examine that hit theatres beyond 1981. Maybe practical effects should be the norm in car movies and not CGI cars jumping between skyscrapers in the Middle East. Not that I’m calling out any particular movie.
Sometime, it’s easy to come up with a theme for a post. Other time, you find two links that are vaguely related to some common theme so you can toss that in as a theme. So we have a link about botches in wrestling and another about CZW. Well, that’s just tailor-made for Botchamania.
Anyway, it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s change things up and kick off with Zooey Deschanel. At least her show survived to next season not many people seem to stick around Fox for long.
Toronto FC fans shouted sexually vulgar remarks at a City News reporter on Sunday. Writing this intro to the link made me realize how easy it is to say something like that and generalize a whole group of people who don’t deserve it. These people don’t represent TFC or its fans but we almost make it sound that way when generalizing the story like this. (Toronto Sun)
One of the men that heckled the reporter was fired from his day job. I’d imagine he’ll have some wrongful dismissal action on the way. (CBC News)
If you’re a minimum-wage worker in the US and want to get above the poverty line, you only need to work 50 hours a week to get there. And where is a worker supposed to find time for a family. (Wall Street Journal)
Every so often, we take a look at the most epic fails from the week that was in the Fails of the Week. This week, we have five pictures and videos that we think are the most epic fails of the week.
Well, except for the final video. That’s a special 10th anniversary fail since it’s ten years since the video first hit the internet.
For all the passion that the Spanish have for motorsports, they really do have a terrible Grand Prix. The Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona has been absolutely dreadful since they put in the Tilke-chicane in the final sector. They can support four MotoGP races but I’d put it down to high ticket prices and terrible racing as to why Spain can seem to barely support one Formula One Grand Prix.
Anyway, there was a race yesterday in Spain. For the first time this season, Nico Rosberg found his way to both the pole and the top step of the podium as he scored his first win of 2015.
Another week has come and gone. It seems as though I don’t know where the time goes but I still don’t think that time goes quickly enough either. Maybe it’s more like everything I am obligated to do in my life seems to take forever while I don’t have enough time for other things in my life like reading and blogging and friends and hobbies.
Anyway, if it’s Sunday, that must mean that we’re here to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard.
The Globe’s Elizabeth Renzetti wins the day with her column about why Ontario parents fighting against sex ed are doing more harm than good. (The Globe and Mail)
It didn’t take conservative attack ads to derail Justin Trudeau’s momentum. All he had to do was back the government’s so-called “anti-terrorism” legistlation. (ThinkPol)
On that note, the former Bradley Manning says that the US government needs to be more open and transparent about it’s doing. (The Guardian)
The Lowdown 