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Sunday Link-Off: Important Topics of Discussion

rachel-mortenson-fredericks14-11I think that I’ve mentioned it before but there are three linkdumps a year that are exceptionally difficult to do: The one following July 4th, the one of the two following Christmas because you can only run so many year-in-review links and this one following US Thanksgiving. We do have some links for you but not as many as usual.

However, to make up for the relative lack of links, here’s the return of an old favourite. It’s American model Rachel Mortenson.

With the recent protests in Ferguson and support protests in Toronto, we shouldn’t be settling for “we’re not as bad as them” as a positive for Canadian society. (Toronto Life)

It’s not just 18-year-olds or Ferguson that has to deal with police racism. A 12-year-old in Cleveland was shot for having an airsoft gun and the police are trying to justify it. (Gawker)

And I’m not the only person who thinks there a shift in the discourse about sexual assault. It looks like the Ghomeshi story has started making investigating sexual assaults a big deal. (MacLean’s)

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Sunday Link-Off: Canada Strong

anais-pouliot-urbanoutfitters14-43When I posted Wednesday’s links, I couldn’t have imagined how the rest of the day would have played out. I’m glad that Canada was able to pick itself up, dust itself off and carry on without being paralyzed with fear or hate.

So let’s kick off the links. Here’s Canadian model Anais Pouliot.

There are a lot of lessons that American media could learn and the CBC gave them a master class in breaking news reporting this week. (Mother Jones)

If this week’s events happened in America, we would all be talking about gun control. However, gun control is pretty solid in Canada compared to America. (Vox)

And this week’s attack in Ottawa isn’t the only time that a attack has been made against the Parliament buildings. (National Post)

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Finger Thing Means The Taxes

alessandra-ambrosio-harpersbazaaraus14-01You’d think that I would have had a lot of time to catch up on my writing this weekend seeing as it was a long weekend here in Canada but no. Between lots of cooking and lots of family visits and a Harry Potter marathon, I’m more behind this week than last.

So while I am busy writing a lot of stuff, here’s Alessandra Ambrosio.

While the pot boom is great for business and taxpayers in Colorado, buying marijuana still comes with a bit of a stigma. Some pot entrepreneurs are working to change the perception of marijuana and the sale thereof. (New York Times)

The American health care system is pretty poor in many ways. Is one of them the inability to support dying patients with terminal illnesses and diseases? (The New Republic)

Want to know why you’re always drinking coffee? It’s all down to your genetics. (Boston Globe)

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Sunday Link-Off: Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving

lauren-cohan-gq14-04Good news! It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada which means copious amounts of turkey. Bad news! We have to sit through the Yanks doing the same in a month-and-a-half. It’s probably a good thing to space out Thanksgiving and Christmas like us Canucks because 1) that means that you’re not freezing during Thanksgiving weekend and can actually go outside; and 2) there’s not a run on the turkeys all at once.

Anyway, since The Walking Dead is back this weekend, here’s Lauren Cohen. Has the show gotten any better since early Season Four? I kind of wish I abandoned it earlier than that.

Ebola is something that should be scaring governments worldwide. The number of people infected is doubling every three weeks right now and is showing no signs of slowing down. (Washington Post)

Two Nation editors interviewed Edward Snowden. The preview includes some interesting quotes already. (The Nation)

Paul Krugman was one of President Obama’s biggest critics at first. Now, he’s changed his tune and thinks that President Obama is a success. (Rolling Stone)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Puck Drop

It’s not often that I run a bunch of sports links in one of my linkdumps but it’s not often that a new NHL season starts. It only comes around once per year and it gets pretty close to a national festival in Canada. Basically, it’s the Canadian equivalent to the start of the NFL or EPL seasons.

So let’s start this post off with a good Canadian girl. Here’s Nina Dobrev.

The story of the 2014 NHL offseason was the analytics boom. While fancy stats are common place in baseball and pretty common in basketball and soccer, hockey lagged behind those sports until now. (MacLean’s) I told my Leafs loving associates about things like Corsi, Fenwick and PDO last year and they ignored me right until the point where the Leafs crashed out of playoff contention and realized I explained what would happen all along.

The NHL’s move to Sportsnet has seen many changes. The biggest change is in the host’s chair which see Strombo replace Ron MacLean whose contentious relationship with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has seen him pushed aside. (The Globe and Mail)

For all the talk that fighting needs to be legislated out of hockey, it appears that the three minutes of ice time per game enforcer may be going the way of the dodo. Less than half the teams will open with an enforcer on their 23-man rosters. (CBC Sports)

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Sunday Link-Off: The Great Delay

adriana-lima-victoriassecret14-14It’s amazing how much someone’s complete disorganization can derail your plans. I was hoping to be able to watch Doctor Who last night but because some people can’t organize a small gathering including not setting a time to be there, ordering food and leaving it to cool to room temperature before serving, and serving store-bought apps after the mains had arrived. So I have to find time for watching and writing Doctor Who and Haven reviews, the F1 recap, a game review, the game trailers roundup and another et geekera post today. And that’s all because one person didn’t have their shit together.

Anyway, it’s Sunday so it’s time for the links. Here’s much-awaited return of Adriana Lima.

With the US trying to keep their least favourite countries from getting nuclear weapons, why are they allowed to keep theirs? To protect the world from asteroids. (NBC News)

How hard is getting credit nowadays? Former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke couldn’t refinance his mortgage. (Wall Street Journal)

Who wants a We Are The Best story? While Don Cherry would probably get criticized for pronouncing Canadian superiority, the next time someone complains about Canadians proclaiming that we are the best, refer them to this statistical analysis of Canadian greatness. (MacLean’s)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Goodbye Summer

emily-ratajkowski-gonegirl14-05I don’t know about you guys but summer kinda sucked here in Northern Ontario. Last week had sustained good weather and temperatures above 20° which was so exceedingly rare during summer proper that I’m not sure it actually counts as summer. And just like real summer, last week’s reprisal seemed unusually busy so sorry if I’m a little lacking on longer form content this week.

Anyway, here’s Emily Ratajkowski who is apparently an actress now.

John Oliver may not want you to believe this but Last Week Tonight is doing some of the best real journalism on TV. (The Daily Beast)

The Republicans would support sending troops in to fight IS but the majority of the American people don’t. With midterms coming up, it’s not a good time to politic on policies opposite to what the people want. (Politico)

If you have money in Russia that you want to take out of the country, get on it fast. Their economy ministry is looking into capital controls to stem a cash outflow that could top $100 billion this year. (Bloomberg)

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Sunday Link-Off: Dropping the Ball

yara-khmidan-beachbunny14-14It’s been a while since I’ve done a sports focused linkdump. Over the last couple of years, we’ve kind of transitioned from being a sports and pop culture blog to a pop culture and sports website. Okay, it’s almost the same thing but we’re doing more video game and entertainment posts than sports posts. It’s nice to go back to our roots every now and then.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that we’re starting off the links with a picture of a woman because Google Image Search is still the best friend of this blog. Here’s Yara Khmidan.

Not surprisingly, while Rob Ford was in rehab, the Toronto Police were looking to see if the crack videos could form the basis of criminal charges against the Mayor. (The Globe and Mail)

With the Conservative Speaker of the House of Commons seemingly playing favourites to help his party, it’s time for him to resign and let someone competent take the role. (The Chronicle Herald)

You see, Forbes, when you’re a respected publication and you hand over your website to anyone looking to make a quick buck by democratizing writing as if it’s bloody WordPress, stuff like this happens. A community contributor wrote a piece called “Drunk Female Guests Are the Gravest Threat To Fraternities.” It went over quite well. (New York Daily News)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Who Do You Trust?

A little bit of science and a little bit of actual observation allows you to reach a valuable conclusion: Is there anybody in the world that we can really trust? Sure, there are a few people that we can rely on but the people we really need like government and elected officials? Sometimes I’m not so sure. Some of today’s links don’t fill me with much optimism.

And on that semi-depressing note, it’s Wednesday so let’s do the links. Here’s Jessica Chastain.

Canadian workers are facing the toughest economic circumstances and least worker-sympathetic government since the 1930s. (Counterpunch)

Not happy with that characterization of the government? How about calling them an anti-democracy government? They aren’t answering the Opposition’s questions in the House of Commons and the Conservative speaker doesn’t care. (MacLean’s)

We might disagree about the cause of global warming but the facts are that the world is getting warming. For example, this past August was the hottest on record. (American Geophysical Union)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Politically Incorrect

alejandra-guilmant-dineilabrazil14-02Well, Canada is still talking about Doug Ford taking over for Rob in the Toronto mayoral race. I don’t think Dougie has a shot but it would be interesting at the Ford homestead in 2017 and 2018 if Doug is the mayor and Rob wants the job back. If you’re not talking about Toronto politics, chances are you’re talking about the sad state of the NFL which seems to get worse daily.

And now, it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Mexican model Alejandra Guilmant.

Some people were willing to write-off the Liberal surge as a Justin Trudeau honeymoon. Now, the Liberals appear to be back and a threat to Conservative dominance. (CBC News)

Doug Ford was expected to be the brains behind Rob Ford’s mayorship. Instead, his been more hindrance than help. That doesn’t bode well for his candidacy. (The Globe and Mail)

And Doug’s candidacy for mayor wasn’t a last-minute plan thrown together to keep the Mayor’s sash in the family. It was implemented at the last-minute but Rob’s drug and alcohol issues meant this contingency plan was in place for months. (National Post)

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