The first in a weekly series of recommended links from The Walrus Blogroll…
1. “The ten most irritating politicians of 2009” by Jane Taber | Ottawa Notebook
In the spirit of end-of-year lists, Globeandmail.com presents the least likeable politicians of 2009. Michael Ignatieff, the subject of our January/February 2010 cover story, tops the rankings.
2. “The top ten stories of the last 4.5 billion years” by The Onion staff | The Onion
Speaking of list journalism, America’s finest news source presents the year-end summary to end all year-end summaries. Number one with a man-made bullet: an interview with a trilobite, who reports, “Yup, this evolution thing is going great.”
3. “Proof that goats cannot be trusted” by Maggie Koerth-Baker | Boing Boing
Research by “Professor Eustace P. Toffeynuts III, Ph.D., D.D.T., L.S.D.” on the subject of goat eyes and their association with the Dark Lord Satan. Read at your own peril: you’ll never be able to look at a goat the same way again.
4. “It’s down to dollars” by Alice Klein | Rabble.ca
The co-founder, editor, and CEO of NOW Magazine presents a primer on the issues facing delegates at the close of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.
5. “The Simpsons turns twenty; next year, it can play its own drinking games” by Linda Holmes |Monkey See
Everyone’s favourite cartoon family celebrated two decades of airtime (in series form) this week. Readers are encouraged to share their favourite character or phrase from the series, as well as which “Simpson-ism” they would like to see banished from Earth.
6. “The end of handwriting, finally!” by Jeff Severns Guntzel | Utne Daily
Commentary and links to an article by Anne Trubek, an associate professor at Oberlin College who’s on a crusade against teaching handwriting in schools. Guntzel and Trubek both argue that teaching typing would have a “democratizing effect” on learning — rather than the “robotic” method by which students are currently taught cursive.
7. “Uganda’s gay genocide in the making” by Cate Simpson | This
Simpson, writing for This‘s “Queerly Canadian” blog, explains how North America’s “ex-gay” movement is at least partly responsible for Uganda’s move to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death.
8. “Judge rules on grammar, syntax” by Simon Fodden | Slaw.ca
We here at The Walrus are naturally quite concerned with proper use of grammar, punctuation, and syntax — and are delighted to see that U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Kressel shares our interest. (Note: any grammatical or syntactical errors in this post are purposeful and satirical ;))
9. “The art of the interview” by Marc Pachter | TED.com
In this video clip, the former director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery shares a wealth of trade secrets, as learned through his “Living Self-Portrait” series of public interviews with famous figures.
10. “Blogger ticks off The Walrus for not linking to the source of his quote” by D.B. Scott | Canadian Magazines
The “civilized” discussion of The Walrus‘s unattributed use of a blogger’s quote in a magazine article — read about it here, here, and here — continues on Scott’s catch-all blog for happenings in the domestic mag industry. (Who’s afraid of hyperlinks? Not us!)
Legong: I know I am replying to this pathetic, racist statement a little late and the whole ignorant rant probably doesn’t even deserve a reply. Wanhenglo, if we were all to generalise about...
Legong: I know I am replying to this pathetic, racist statement a little late and the whole ignorant rant probably doesn’t even deserve a reply. Wanhenglo, if we were all to generalise about...
Sky Goodden: This is startling, refreshing, overdue, and damn good. Thank you, Shary.
Mark: It’s not just in Canada, it seems all over artists don’t get the local recogtnition they should. I was in Malaga where Picasso was born and it is much different, but then he is...
Seenloitering: The “gender analysis” in this article is upside down. Marie Calloway is a threat to the status quo because she threatens the myth that women are morally superior, above...
Jefry: I do not really like to read a story like a novel or a real story but I think this is very interesting and need to be read
Guest: I didn’t want babies or a period any more. I KNEW without a doubt I did not want children so I had been asking for a hysterectomy since I was 19. I finally got it at 39. My...
Djzklj: Pretty interesting article, despite that I don’t wanna make a voyage there
Sanyo Seiki: I love this game! Very addicted! Sanyo Seiki
Anonymous: People are so disconnected from reality these days, it seems like the only thing that matters to them is materialism and celebrity gossip, disgusting! http://poemti.me