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Wednesday Link-Off: Bursting the Bubble

jessica-lowndes-btsports13-04It’s the middle of the week which means it’s time for the links. It also means I’m going to pay a visit to my local comic book establishment today. Every week, we have the new release list over on et geekera if you’re looking to buy some comics. Anyway, let’s start with Canadian actress Jessica Lowndes.

It seems like a cliché to say that people who knew a murder never saw it coming but many people who knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev never saw it coming. (New York Times)

If you weren’t paying attention to the NRA convention, you missed some weird things. (The Guardian)

It’s only fitting to jump from one area of the Republican bubble to another. A NASA-headed study shows that weather patterns are getting more extreme as a result of climate change. That would explain the ridiculous amounts of snow I got this winter. (LA Times)

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Sunday Link-Off: Macho Madness

elisabeth-moss-gq13-03Normally, I’m in good shape when it comes to planning and writing each week. This week, not so much. I have an idea what I want to do. Tomorrow, will be the IndyCar race recap. Later this week, Jackie and I will be talking superheroes. With Injustice coming out next week, we’ll be looking at the eternal Superman vs. Batman battle and run a quick demo impressions post. Okay, so I have a plan for next week. I just haven’t written anything yet.

Anyway, since Mad Men is back this weekend, here’s Elisabeth Moss.

Temporary college football powerhouse Auburn was up to no good in its glory days. That’s not much to anyone’s surprise but the extent of the corruption might be. (Roopstigo)

But in the sake of fairness, I should point out that damn near everyone is denying that Auburn story. (SB Nation)

You may not have heard of Ed Felten but he’s one of the most influential computer scientists slash hackers of our time. Now, he’s turning his attention away from customer software and onto the so-called automated selection algorithms of the likes of the TSA. (Wired)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Dealing with Problems

emilia-clarke-gq13-01Hope you’ve enjoyed the racing coverage over the last couple of days because there isn’t much chance of a racing post through next week. We’re working on some neat things over the next stretch, though, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, since Game of Thrones (AKA Game of Owns! [I’ll show myself out]) is back this weekend, here’s Emilia Clarke.

Senator Rob Portman was against gay marriage until his son came out to him. After that, Portman had to toe the party line during the 2012 election campaign. His son, Will, talks about coming out to his father and the effect it had on both of them. (Yale Daily News)

Matt Lauer is both the most popular and most hated man on The Today Show. He might be the face of the show but not everyone is happy with how he made that happen. (New York Magazine)

Rob Ford’s alcohol problem may be getting him in trouble and his staff is getting concerned. (Toronto Star)

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Sunday Link-Off: News Madness

gracie-carvalho-next13-01It’s the end of the week which means it’s time for some links. This week will be pretty interesting because I’m planning to debut an IndyCar column this week. It’ll be along the lines of the F1 recap columns and hopefully you enjoy it as much as the F1 column. Along with that, we should have a couple of video game posts. Not sure what else we’ll have this week but we’ll figure it out.

For now, let’s start out with Gracie Carvalho.

You may know Matt Ufford from Kissing Suzy Kolber or SB Nation but before he became a prominent blogger, he was a US Marine. For the ten-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, Ufford writes about his experience as a member of the first wave of Marines in the invasion and the lasting effect it had on him and his men. (GQ)

Now that the Steubenville rape case has been settled, it’s time to turn our attention to a similar case in Torrington, Connecticut, where people seem far more against the victim than in Steubenville. We need Anonymous to get some attention on this case and repay the victim bullying. (The Register Citizen)

Some say that now is the best time in history for access to news and information. However, local news is suffering because of free and open access to news on the internet. (The Atlantic) If free access to news would but an embarrassment of a newspaper like The Sault Star or a glorified press release aggregator like Soo Today out of business, I’m all for it.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Out of the News

kim-cloutier-femilet13-01Well, I haven’t heard many good things about yesterday’s gaming column about how gamers rights are virtually non-existent. I’ve heard that I’m a bit of a whiner for thinking that gamers deserve to be treated like everyone else and trying to keep people from being hosed by terrible games. Like I said yesterday, that’s the sort of in-fighting that will hurt us all in the long-run.

Anyway, one thing I won’t get complaints about is featuring Kim Cloutier.

The legendary free weekly newspaper The Boston Phoenix is closing its doors. File this one under why we can’t have nice things. (Gawker)

It’s not just small local papers that might be on the way out. It seems as though local TV newscasts could soon follow in their print brethren’s footsteps. (New York Times)

The two Steubenville football players charged with rape were convicted. While most people weren’t exactly sympathetic to those guys, CNN treated them like victims. (BuzzFeed)

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Sunday Link-Off: In the News

elisha-cuthbert-maxim13-01It’s the end of another week which means it’s time for some of our favourite links from around the interweb. Let’s start today’s link with Elisha Cuthbert. Maxim just named her the hottest woman on TV (or something like that). Score one for Canada.

You might think that the Russian meteor suggests that we need a better meteor impact detection system but that’s just not possible. (Wired)

When CBS dropped the Early Show for This Morning, the idea was to give hard news a spot on morning TV. It’s not gaining traction against the fluff on ABC and NBC but I like the idea. (Los Angeles Times)

Speaking of fluff, for the February 14th broadcast day, CNN dedicated 758 minutes to the stranded Carnival cruise ship. That’s 52% of all minutes of that day. If you use a low estimate of only 25% of the day being dedicated to commercials, that’s about 70% of actual broadcast time dedicated to one non-story. (BuzzFeed)

After the jump, a goalie gets his revenge, the NYT profiles Mrs. Coach and yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Year-in-Review 2012

kate-upton-vogue12-07It’s time for our year-in-review linkdump. Rather than the usual assortment of fun and/or timely links, it’s time to look back at the year that was. It’ll also make our lives easier if we end up doing a year-in-review podcast but that would mean we do a podcast which means it’s not likely to happen.

Anyway, let’s kick this post off with our 2012 woman of the year, Kate Upton. If you’re wondering how we select the blog’s woman of the year, we use maths and search results. If you don’t like our pick, you only have the internet to blame.

For the second time, Barack Obama was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. The other time was after he won the 2008 Presidential Election. (Time)

From proper news to the terribly written news, it’s a look at the worst columns of 2012. (The Atlantic Wire)

But if you’d like to read something a little better, the NYT has their 100 most notable books of 2012. (New York Times)

After the jump, we look at 2012 in pop culture, sports and more. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: The Right Time To Talk

chrissy-teigen-beachbunny12-07It’s the end of the week… Or maybe it’s the start of a new week. It all depends on your perspective and calendar. Maybe we should go with new week after the last couple of weeks. Anyway, let’s get started with one of Twitter’s common sense advocates, Chrissy Teigen.

The gun control debate might finally get going in earnest after Friday’s shooting in Newtown. If you’re looking for facts about mass shooting in the United States, start here. (Wonkblog – Washington Post)

Everyone that says that we shouldn’t politicize the Newtown shooting is politicizing it by trying to let any discourse over gun control end quietly. When they stop using that line, those trying to protect “freedoms” will start parroting these lies. (Think Progress) The fact of the matter is that if gun control would eliminate freedoms, traffic lights and speed limits should go too. If you think if this wouldn’t have happened if the kids and teachers were all packing heat, you are also obligated to believe that people should be free to buy cocaine, heroin, crystal meth and bath salts without fear of criminal penalty. It’s just the same damn thing.

The truth is that now isn’t the right time to talk about gun control. It’s too late. Everyday is the right day to talk about gun control. (The Daily Beast)

After the jump, the media’s coverage of the shooting, a breakdown of the new Wii Mini and Gangnam Style martial arts. Continue reading →

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Greed isn’t Good: Why Supply-Side Economics Doesn’t Work

Despite his numerous gaffes, including but not limited to offending foreign allies, calling 47% of Americans freeloaders, suggesting that airplanes need windows that roll down and blaming Obama for the unrest in the Middle East that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Mitt Romney is still reasonably close to President Obama in the polls.

The main reason why Romney is still in the race (apart from bias of the electorate) is that he is being portrayed as the candidate with a plan for economic recovery. The problem I have with Romney’s economic plan is that there’s no detailed plan in place. However, we know the basic of the Romney plan. It will involve tax cuts for the rich and corporations and government spending cuts to balance the budget. This is called supply-side economics. Recent history shows that supply-side economics don’t work. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: A Call To Action

It’s the end of the week. It’s go time for links. Conveniently enough, it’s also go time for the Italian Grand Prix so you’re probably not reading this immediately upon posting. Anyway, since we’re supporters of increasing the popularity of Canadians on the internet, here’s Rachelle Goulding.

I like to think that what we link on these linkdump posts are fact-checking links. However, it’s close so here’s a very detailed look at why Romney and Ryan must be defeated this November. (Kurt Eichenwald)

Documentary film maker Michael Moore has also weighed in with a call to action for people to do what they can to prevent a Romney presidency. (MichaelMoore.com)

The Republicans jumped on President Obama after the recent underwhelming job report. They didn’t mention that their obstructionist politics prevented a further job creation promotion plan from being passed. They’re too busy playing politics to actually try to help America. (Think Progress)

After the jump, an in-depth examination of Bill Clinton’s convention speech, a proper examination of why gay marriage isn’t evil and the Parks & Rec gag reel. Continue reading →