Spring Cleaning
A few random off-topic links I've meaning to post for a while, but didn't get around to until now...the perfect way to end an Easter weekend since, quite frankly, who wants to talk politics?
1. This walk score site is pretty neat - just type in an address and it tells you how walking-friendly the place is (based on proximity to stores, restaurants, etc).
It turns out 24 Sussex isn't the best place to live if you don't have a chauffeur...it scores a lowly 29 out of 100. However, before the Harpers consider a move, the alternative isn't any better.
2. The off-kilter F-U Penguin blog is quite a riot. "A blog where I tell cute animals what's what" (hat tip - CW)
3. Via the Onion, Obama Depressed, Distant Since 'Battlestar Galactica' Series Finale. As for my thoughts, the finale was beautifully executed and provided closure - an "A" episode right up to the discovery of old earth. However, I had a major problem with the take-home message which was, in effect, that it was better to wipe the slate clean and to commit civilizational suicide. To me, that said they could not learn from what they'd been through and added an element of pointlessness to the entire struggle - as a society, they just gave up...at a time when giving up was irrational.
4. James Bow has a lengthy treatise on partisanship up on his blog that's well worth a read. I know it's a bit cliche to bemoan partisanship in the political system, but maybe we would be better off if we all toned down a bit.
Being blindly partisan is fun when it comes to something like cheering for a hockey team because the whole concept is illogical and trivial in the first place, so why not go all in (yes, the referee is always biased against the team I'm cheering for)? But government and governance matter. So while there's clearly a place for partisanship in our system (it gets people to run, vote, and pay attention), I think we'd be better off if the partisanship we saw wasn't quite so dogmatic. Parties are institutions and politicians are people - institutions and people have flaws. Maybe, just maybe, one party isn't always right and the other one isn't always wrong.
5. Speaking of which - hockey predictions! Yes, yes, I know this isn't off-topic since the politicians will certainly find a way to climb over the boards, but regardless, here goes: Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Detroit, Vancouver, and Chicago all advance. Canucks over Devils in the final.
1. This walk score site is pretty neat - just type in an address and it tells you how walking-friendly the place is (based on proximity to stores, restaurants, etc).
It turns out 24 Sussex isn't the best place to live if you don't have a chauffeur...it scores a lowly 29 out of 100. However, before the Harpers consider a move, the alternative isn't any better.
2. The off-kilter F-U Penguin blog is quite a riot. "A blog where I tell cute animals what's what" (hat tip - CW)
3. Via the Onion, Obama Depressed, Distant Since 'Battlestar Galactica' Series Finale. As for my thoughts, the finale was beautifully executed and provided closure - an "A" episode right up to the discovery of old earth. However, I had a major problem with the take-home message which was, in effect, that it was better to wipe the slate clean and to commit civilizational suicide. To me, that said they could not learn from what they'd been through and added an element of pointlessness to the entire struggle - as a society, they just gave up...at a time when giving up was irrational.
4. James Bow has a lengthy treatise on partisanship up on his blog that's well worth a read. I know it's a bit cliche to bemoan partisanship in the political system, but maybe we would be better off if we all toned down a bit.
Being blindly partisan is fun when it comes to something like cheering for a hockey team because the whole concept is illogical and trivial in the first place, so why not go all in (yes, the referee is always biased against the team I'm cheering for)? But government and governance matter. So while there's clearly a place for partisanship in our system (it gets people to run, vote, and pay attention), I think we'd be better off if the partisanship we saw wasn't quite so dogmatic. Parties are institutions and politicians are people - institutions and people have flaws. Maybe, just maybe, one party isn't always right and the other one isn't always wrong.
5. Speaking of which - hockey predictions! Yes, yes, I know this isn't off-topic since the politicians will certainly find a way to climb over the boards, but regardless, here goes: Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Detroit, Vancouver, and Chicago all advance. Canucks over Devils in the final.
posted by calgarygrit at
8:40 p.m.
9 Comments:
Canucks over Devils in the finals? That's a bold prediction!
You heard it here first, Washington over the Devils in the finals in 6.
By
Trevor, at 11:28 p.m.
That F-U Penguin site is too funny for words. Just what I needed after a long weekend of yardwork. Thanks for the link.
By
LMA, at 12:23 a.m.
Canucks over Devils? Really? I love the idea--I live across the street from GM Place, so, really, I do love it--but I have a hard time seeing the Canucks get through both Detroit and San Jose.
Hey, stranger things have happened. Canucks win the Cup, and the Liberals get a majority...
By
Anonymous, at 1:55 a.m.
Boston?
BOSTON?
I hope your hockey predictions are as bad as Jim Flaherty's economic ones...
ps. devils out in round one
By
Anthony, at 6:11 a.m.
Antonio - I'd give the Habs a 1 in 3 shot at the upset.
I think years of being a Liberal in Alberta has just left me with a sense of pessimism on virtually everything...
By
calgarygrit, at 9:25 a.m.
I've been neglecting James Bow for too long; what a dynamite link. It reminds me of a personal favorite quote that I found on facebook profile -
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Nietzsche
By
Ashley_Wilkes-Booth, at 10:53 a.m.
On BSG, good point, I think they needed a good way to explain away the lack of evidence. Should have used detectability as an excuse.
By
Gauntlet, at 3:24 p.m.
I think the NHL should publish a cough syrup report in addition to injury reports. It would be safer for the players not to allow hopped up players to fight and it would retard the organized fixing that is endemic in all Asian sports right down to highschool. And for example, the provincial lotteries could warn gamblers about performance enhancing substances.
Did A.Ference get screwed over by the Flames because of his environmentalism?
By
Phillip Huggan, at 2:14 p.m.
In my view one and all must glance at this.
By
muebles cuenca, at 2:58 a.m.
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