Author: Steve Murray

Leave a comment Posted on July 13, 2014July 12, 2014 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: The Final

Since today is the World Cup final, I thought that this would be a good time to bust out a bit of a duel to start this linkdump. On the left is German model Alena Blohm. On the right is Florencia Fabiano. No, it’s not a Man Lab Showdown. It’s just a little end of the World Cup treat.

Anyway, lots of links to get to today. Along with the obligatory World Cup links, we start with links about Canada.

Stephen Harper’s government has spent this term running into opposition at every turn. At most turns, he’s lost the battle. (Toronto Star)

Gang culture isn’t something one would associate with Canada and certainly not Winnipeg. However, gangs have led to Winnipeg being Canada’s murder capital. (Vice)

Is Mayor Rob Ford associating with accused drug dealer Sandro Lisi again? (The Globe and Mail)

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Leave a comment Posted on July 11, 2014July 10, 2014 by Steve Murray Humour

The Best of My Life Is Average

It’s been a long time since we last did an entry in our long ongoing series that we called the best of the interweb. (Well, the interweb that is outside of The Lowdown Blog.) For this return, I thought we should go back to one of our old favourite sites for more of the best stories from My Life is Average. I like this site because it’s a bit more relatable to everyone’s average lives and some of the stories on the website are the sort of thing that regularly happen to people. That doesn’t mean that these stories aren’t funny.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 10, 2014July 8, 2014 by Steve Murray Video Games

Battlefield Hardline Beta Impressions: $60 of an Expansion Pack

I know that it’s been a few weeks since the Battlefield Hardline beta has wrapped up but I think I’ve documented (either here or on The Lowdown) how busy I was during the month of June. Now that I’ve finally got a little bit of free time, I’m going to start pumping out reviews and other long-form pieces with a bit more frequency.

So let’s start with the beta for Battlefield Hardline. It was launched with great fanfare at the end of EA’s E3 keynote and was so popular that the Battlefield website crashed as people tried to get into the Beta. With all that hype, it would be hard for BF Hardline to live up to it. And, wouldn’t you know it, Hardline didn’t live up to the hype.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 9, 2014July 8, 2014 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: 1-7 Nation Army

Well, that was a soccer game yesterday. I was expecting to be talking about a Brazil final with Argentina but that’s definitely not happening now. So I guess we’ll see who will be the second team in the World Cup final later today.

In the meantime, there’s lots more happening in the world than a bit of soccer. But let’s start this off by cheering up the Brazilians with Lais Ribeiro.

Warren G. Harding is often considered one of America’s worst Presidents. If not for a cover-up of a lengthy affair, Harding may never have won the Presidency. (New York Times)

Major Canadian law firm Heenan Blaikie collapsed earlier this year. Here’s a look at what went happened. (Canadian Lawyer)

The BBC is taking the first step to clean up the news. They’ve banned giving equal time to climate change deniers. It’s just the facts from now on. (Salon)

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Leave a comment Posted on July 8, 2014July 7, 2014 by Steve Murray Sports

IndyCar – Pocono 500: A Second Time For Firsts

When he was dropped from Formula One by McLaren, many people thought that Juan Pablo Montoya was done in motorsports. His prime was behind him and he was going from the pinnacle of motorsports to stock cars, a discipline that he never run before in his life. Naturally, that run wasn’t as successful as his time in CART or F1.

After his NASCAR contract expired at the end of last season, it looked as though Montoya was going to spend the rest of his careers in sportscars. Instead, Roger Penske snapped up the long-time Ganassi driver to run in IndyCar and what an inspired move it was. It started something of a career resurgence for Montoya capped off (thus far) with a win in the Pocono 500.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 7, 2014July 6, 2014 by Steve Murray Sports

F1 British Grand Prix: All You Need is Luck

As the old saying goes, sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Lewis Hamilton would certainly tell you that after the season that he’s had so far. Heading to Silverstone, he’s had Mercedes’ only two DNFs along with a 2nd in Monaco because of a yellow flag caused by his teammate, Nico Rosberg.

This time, it was Rosberg who was bitten by bad luck. His first retirement of the season cleared the way for Hamilton to be the one to take advantage. With Rosberg suffering a gearbox failure, it was Hamilton who picked up the win in his home Grand Prix.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 6, 2014July 5, 2014 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: Fireworks

There are two weeks that are an absolute curse to a blogger. One is that stretch between Christmas and New Year’s when the internet basically shuts down. The other is the Canada Day / Independence Day stretch where you want to shut down at the start and the American blogosphere shuts down at the other end and nobody gets anything done. It makes for some short linkdumps is what I’m trying to say.

We do have some links though. If you’re interested in the return of Rob Ford or what the WWE is banking its stock price on, this is a good post for you. First, since this is a post-Independence Day post, let’s start with Arianny Celeste.

Rob Ford is back running the show at City Hall. Is he the new man that he claims to be? (Toronto Sun)

And Ford is only 10 points behind Olivia Chow in the latest poll despite two months in rehab. Despite being closer than any other politician would be, he’s probably not close enough to pull off the comeback. (ThreeHundredEight)

The Grid magazine, Toronto’s free weekly news magazine, is closing its doors after three years due to poor finances. Now who will profile the lovely and talented Robyn Doolittle? (The Globe and Mail)

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Leave a comment Posted on July 4, 2014July 3, 2014 by Steve Murray Sports

IndyCar – GP of Houston: Sweeps Weekend

One of the storylines that troubles the rules makers in motorsports is if dominance sells. Last weekend, we saw two races dominated by two different groups but the result was dominance. On the Saturday portion of the Houston doubleheader, it was the Colombian contingent of drivers mimicking the success of their country’s World Cup team with a sweep of the podium. Sunday saw a team dominate with Schmidt-Peterson scoring their first-ever one-two sweep.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 3, 2014July 2, 2014 by Steve Murray Sports

F1 Power Rankings: British Grand Prix

After a trip to Austria for the return of Red Bull’s home Grand Prix, is it time for someone to spoil the home festivities in Britain? The British Grand Prix is the home race for the vast majority of teams with all but three having a factory in England near Silverstone.

Will the likes of Ferrari, Sauber or Toro Rosso spoil the party? Probably not but does that mean that a British driver will join a British team on the top step of the podium? Well, there’s one man who the Power Rankings says has a good chance.

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Leave a comment Posted on July 2, 2014July 1, 2014 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: Canada Day Hangover

Well, I was able to scramble together the usual Canada Day post on the blog. I had to do it at the expense of the IndyCar recap so expect that later in the week. I’m thinking it’ll be on Friday so there’ll be room for the usual F1 Power Rankings on Thursday. And hopefully I can pull that all off without adding more grey to my hair.

Anyway, it’s the day after Canada Day so to ease you back into the week, I have some lovely links for you. But first, let’s start with the lovely Anais Pouliot.

A new document leak from Edward Snowden says that all but four countries are subject to NSA surveillance. Those four countries are Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. For once, I don’t think you can blame Canada. (End the Lie)

Did you know that Facebook has been playing around with your newsfeed to manipulate your mood? It might be legal but, like most Facebook doings, it’s shady. (The Atlantic)

I don’t know if this officially qualifies as an irony but the co-founders of Tinder, an app designed to facilitate hook-ups and one night stands, are being sued for sexual harassment. (BuzzFeed)

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