Sunday Link-Off: Electioneering

jenna-coleman-voguegala16-05So both conventions are done and now we just have to survive three months until the election. I’m not even in America and I wish they’d just get it over with. I’m already sick of hearing the same nonsensical and unhelpful stuff from literally everyone. My problem with politicians is they say they will do things but never how. The how is where political differences exist. My right-wing friends want to fix the economy by giving more money to businesses to spend. I think that they won’t spend a dime if it doesn’t help him but consumers will spend if you give them more money. See, that’s political philosophy that this campaign is lacking.

Anyway, it’s Sunday so it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick off with Jenna Coleman.

Six Michigan state employees have been charged in relation to the Flint water crisis. (USA Today)

A Federal court struck down North Carolina’s voter ID law after finding that it targeted black voters in an apparent attempt to disenfranchise them. (Washington Post)

The Koch Brothers have no idea what Donald Trump is on about when he says that he turned down a meeting with the billionaire political funders. (The Hill)

Continue reading

Sunday Link-Off: Deal or No Deal

eva-longoria-gqmexico12-01After a few rather slim linkdumps, the internet is back up and running which means we have a regular sized set of links today. Since I have some photos queued up that I keep meaning to run at the start of the links, here’s Eva Longoria.

America’s fiscal cliff was solved just in time by the US Congress. It’s just a temporary thing because there is a debt ceiling crisis looming in which the Republicans will play chicken with the world economy again by threatening to default on their debt. Anyway, the bad blood between Democrats and Republicans almost meant that this deal didn’t get done. (Politico)

The folks at Bloomberg did an in-depth recap of this summer’s infamous maple syrup heist. Yes, it was that big a story. (Businessweek)

The hacking group Anonymous scares a lot of people but they’re often a force for good. For example, they uncovered evidence in the case of a rape allegedly committed (innocent until guilty) by high school football players in Stubenville, Ohio. (The Atlantic Wire)

After the jump, Normstradamus has a golf column, Guy Fieri has more crappy food for you and a massive NYE TV fail. Continue reading

Wednesday Link-Off: In-Depth

I’m still waiting on G4 HD to show up here in the Western part of Canada (as deemed by the CRTC) so I don’t get to see much of Alison Haislip which is a damn shame.

A perpetual discussion at my 9-to-5 is the correct use of the English language. That’s why I have to link to this list of the nine most misused words in the English language. (Cool Story)

In slightly less happy but much cooler news, here’s a look inside the Essex County Homicide Task Force which tackles crimes, in among other places, Newark. (Star-Ledger)

And speaking of crime, here’s an in-depth look inside the corruption that mires FIFA. (Grantland)

After the jump, what’s not coming to the NHL R&D camp, Warren Buffett wants to pay more taxes and when safety cars aren’t so safe. Continue reading

How Blood Stain Pattern Analysis Works (Infographic)

Fans of crime shows on TV like CSI, NCIS and Dexter will probably have seen all sorts of blood splatter at the scene of the fictional crimes. But how many people know what different blood spatter patterns actually mean? That where today’s infographic comes in. It’s a look at the different types of spatter, the causes of spatter and what it can help you determine. For the murder mystery fan, this infographic is your new best friend for the new TV season. Continue reading

Entertainment Link-Off: Notorious

I’ve drawn in for Jackie for this week’s edition of the Entertainment Link-Off. To kick things off, here’s Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive Katrina Bowden. If you watch 30 Rock (which I haven’t since the first episode with the exception of the Night Court episode), you might have seen her.

The FBI don’t have a reputation for being the most open agency of the US government but they made an effort this week. They’ve made files from their investigation into the murder of Notorious BIG open to the public. (LA Times)

After the jump, Snooki goes to WrestleMania, the richest characters of all-time, and a Star Wars parody of Friday. Continue reading

Not News of the Week

It’s time for the weirdest and wackiest stories from around the world. It’s time for the Not News of the Week.

If you were looking for a detour in downtown Houston last week, you might have gotten lost. A prankster changed an electronic “DETOUR” sign to “POOP.” The prankster also got in a crack of “:) LOL” before workers regained control of the sign. Apparently hacking the computer controlling an electronic sign in Texas is punishable with up to a $500 fine. That hasn’t deterred anyone from doing it, though. In 2009, a sign in Austin was changed to read “Zombies in area! Run!” Continue reading

Not News of the Week

It’s time for all the news that’s not fit for print. It’s time for the Not News of the Week.

A man in Kentucky has come up with a new excuse to get off on DUI charges and it has to do with him trying to get off. He claimed that the erratic driving that caused him to be pulled over was because his girlfriend was performing oral sex on him while he was driving. The man was pulled over by the cops, failed several field sobriety tests and blew 0.54 on the breathalyzer. I’m not a lawyer but I think that the judge would swallow this defense. Continue reading

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How TV Forces the End of Jury Trials

It’s not often I go into heavy stuff like this but reading an article about a brewing scandal in Formula One got me thinking about trials. The article made note of the fact that the law says that all people are considered innocent until proven guilty. But I think that the idea that people are always considered innocent until a judge or jury of their peers says otherwise has become antiquated and no longer holds true in modern society. I think that TV crime dramas and the 24/7 news media obsession with crime stories means that most people think that a person must be guilty if the police have charged them. I think that means we should soon see the end of jury trials in our innocent until proven guilty society. Continue reading

Not News of the Week

If it’s not worth talking about, then it must be the Not News of the Week.

We’ve all pocket dialled at least once but it’s never really led to anything more than using up a few minutes of our phone plans. For one man in Illinois, a pocket dial led to a SWAT team to surround the school where he worked. The man, a teacher by day, was driving home with his phone in his back pocket when he butt dialled his wife. She heard the muffled sounds of hip hop music so she called 911 assuming her husband was being held hostage at work. For three hours, a SWAT team scoured the school looking for the man and his kidnappers but it wasn’t until police went to his home three hours later that they called off the search. By that time, there were three media helicopters and several dozen people watching outside the school. That would probably make it the most expensive butt dial in the history of cell phones. Continue reading

Not News of the Week

If it’s not worth talking about, then it must be the Not News of the Week.

It’s not often that a Hollywood celebrity finds themselves in the Not News but not every celeb has a tale like Dick Van Dyke. A couple of weeks ago, he went on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and told this story: “I went out once and fell asleep on (a surf) board. I did. And I woke up out of sight of land, and I looked around and I started paddling with the swells and I start seeing fins swimming around me, and I thought, ‘I’m dead.’ They turned out to be porpoises. They pushed me all the way to shore. I’m not kidding.” He’s 84 years old. Could that be the senility kicking in? Continue reading