1. “Legacy of War With Perfectly Made Beds” by Amanda M. Fairbanks | GOOD Blog
Saturday marked the seven-year anniversary of the Iraq War. To commemorate the dubious occasion, The New York Times Magazine presented a heartbreaking photo series of the perfectly preserved bedrooms of soldiers killed in action.

2. “Freedom’s Wrong Turn in Afghanistan” by Eric Mang |The Mark
Mang quotes American historian Howard Zinn as an entry point to discuss Canadian complicity in Afghan torture: “How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?”

3. “Canada ‘not closing doors on contraception’, PM declares” by Jane Taber | Bureau Blog
This week, Prime Minister Harper flip-flopped on the exclusion of contraception from his maternal health initiative for the developing world. On Thursday, NDP Leader Jack Layton joined a Parliamentary backlash against the plan’s apparent omission of birth control. Yesterday, Harper retrenched his position. Contraception is still on the table, the PM said, “But we do not want a debate here or elsewhere on abortion.”

4. “AP goes the extra mile to correct decades-old photo caption” by Craig Silverman | Regret the Error
From the department of better late than ever: the Associated Press has issued a correction for a sixty-five-year-old photo that was thought to depict World War II’s hellish Bataan Death March. A complaint from an eighty-seven-year-old US Army vet provoked the AP’s laudable investigation of the error.

5. “The irony of Wente, opinions, blogs and gender” by David Eaves | eaves.ca
This Wednesday, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente published a piece called “Why are bloggers male?,” in which she stated that she doesn’t blog because “It’s more of a guy thing.” Eaves scrutinizes the statistics in her column and suggests — surprise! — that the blogosphere is actually fairly gender neutral.

6. “Beck and Palin: ‘Violence is Not The Answer’” by Ari Melber | The Notion
Responding to “fringe” elements that advocate armed resistance against the US government, Fox News commentators Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin have decried violence as a solution to right-wing outrage. What’s next, Ronald McDonald and the Burger King coming out against french fries as a delicious snack?

7. “Grieving on Facebook” by Julie Hanus | Utne Daily
Is there an appropriate way to mourn the dead online? Facebook thinks so. “Memorialized” profiles of deceased users have become a place for their friends to gather, share stories, and grieve together.

8. “Baby boomers sit atop a ticking pension time-bomb” by Max Fawcett | This Magazine
A crisis is looming for the Canada Pension Plan. When baby boomers retire, the system will be stretched to its absolute limit. But rather than plan for this eventuality, boomers are apparently content to pass the buck to the next generation. Lucky us.

9. “A whole lot of ‘kvetching’ going on” by Rick Salutin | rabble.ca
Tune into the Canadian or American media, and you’ll hear a lot of complaining about “broken” government. Salutin takes an unconventional approach to this topic by claiming that the democratic system hasn’t collapsed: rather, it was built broken.

10. “Congrats Seth!” by Peggy Burns | Drawn and Quarterly
Seth, the great Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and friend of The Walrus, has been nominated for a National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award in the “Best Graphic Novel” category for his work George Sprott. Congrats, Seth! And keep an eye out for The Walrus’s Readers’ Choice Cover Contest featuring his artwork, coming to walrusmagazine.com tomorrow.

1. “Every Japanese Arnold Schwarzenegger commercial ever made” by Ron Nurwisah | The Ampersand
The Japanese have advanced the surrealist form of advertising more than any other culture. In this spirit of innovation in the field, I present this video post. Really, it’s not just because listening to Arnie attempt to speak Japanese is downright hilarious.

2. “Avatar and the politics of our time” by Rick Salutin | rabble.ca
Salutin, a former seminarian, ponders why, in the current political discourse, left wing equals secular and right wing equals religious. Is there no room in the middle?

3. “Toronto’s Disenfranchised Voters” by Myer Siemiatycki | The Mark
Toronto is gearing up for municipal elections this October. Come voting time, however, only a third of eligible electors will turn out at the polls. Is it time to let the city’s massive non-citizen population — about one in seven residents — vote in local elections?

4. “Rogier van der Zwaag” by Jeff Hamada | BOOOOOOOM!
And the belated Oscar for Best Direction of an Incredibly Complicated Music Video That Looks Like CG, But Is Actually an Animated Sequence of 4,085 Photos goes to… Rogier van der Zwaag, for “Grindin’” by (Dutch electro group) Nobody Beats the Drum.

5. “Gracias, Sean!” by Michael C. Moynihan | Hit & Run
After his incoherent speech at this year’s actual Oscars, Sean Penn kept up the craziness by appearing on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and suggesting that critics of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez should be jailed for their “biases.” Um, Sean? You’re not exactly known as Mr. Fair and Balanced.

6. “French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD” by Cory Doctorow | Boing Boing
Fifty years ago, residents of the French town Pont-Saint-Esprit became temporarily insane after eating bread from their local bakery. Five people died, and dozens were sent to the asylum. The mystery of the “cursed bread incident” is finally solved. Uncovered documents reveal that the American CIA spiked the bread with LSD: yet another of its notorious tests of the drug’s efficacy as a weapon.

7. “Is Torture a Leading U.S. Export?” by Scott Horton | No Comment
This week, a former director of the British Intelligence service MI5 made a surprise public accusation about US motives for interrogating captured Al Qaeda members. “Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld certainly watched 24. The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing,” said Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, reigniting a fiery debate about the allied countries’ treatment of terror suspects.

8. “Liberals take another shot at Tory ‘Bonnie and Clyde’” by Jane Taber | Bureau Blog
Lately, her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has likened former Alberta Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer and his wife, junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis, to the infamous crime duo because of his sweetheart deal to dismiss a cocaine possession charge and her blowup at the Charlottetown Airport. Taber points out the illogic of the association: Bonnie and Clyde paid for their crime spree with their lives.

9. “World’s Richest Man: The Carlos Slim Story” by John Hudson | The Atlantic Wire
Forbes has released its annual list of the world’s wealthiest people. At the top of the heap this time is Lebanese-Mexican mogul Carlos Slim Helú, worth an astonishing $53.5 billion (US). His companies are responsible for about 7 percent of Mexico’s entire economic output.

10. “How Cars Are Killing Us” by Andrew Price | GOOD Blog
It wouldn’t be Weekend Links without an infographic. This one, using data compiled by the World Health Organization’s global status report on road safety, shows how cars are killing us with more than pollution.

1. “The State of the Internet, in Infographics and Video” by Patrick James | GOOD Blog
So many good infographics out there. This one, by creative agency Jess3, condenses the net’s mind-boggling growth into a handy four-minute video.

2. “Gender-neutral O Canada: An idea whose time already happened—130 years ago” by Luke Champion | This Magazine
Introducing gender-neutrality into the lyrics of our national anthem is not a new idea. Calixa Lavallée and Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier’s original French version was sans bias, and R. Stanley Weir’s 1908 English poem includes the line now being proposed to replace “in all thy sons command” — “thou dost in us command.” Personally, I think we should adopt “The Maple Leaf Forever” and be done with it.

3. “Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Epilogue: Why Educators Need A ‘Cultural Utility Belt’” by Linda Holmes | Monkey See
Neil deGrasse Tyson is probably the most charismatic astrophysicist alive, as evidenced by his numerous Daily Show and Colbert Report appearances. In this account of a speech he gave to 2,000 physics teachers, he argues that to really connect with students, teachers must be attuned to young people’s cultural reference points.

4. “Does Google Books Do No Evil?” by Mark Leslie Lefebvre | The Mark
In a deal struck between Google and the Authors Guild of America, writers will receive a paltry $60 (US) per book available for unlimited viewings on Google Books. According to Lefebvre, this agreement could lead to the company gaining monopolistic control over digitized literature. Does that sound like its informal slogan: “Don’t be evil”?

5. “Shorts Program: Animated Oscar Edition” by Jandy Stone | Row Three
The Oscars air this Sunday, and once again I am woefully behind on seeing the films up for best picture. But, thanks to the fine folks over at Row Three, I’ve now caught up on the nominees for best animated short.

6. “Polytechnique leads the Genie Awards with 11 nominations” by Melissa Leong | The Ampersand
With so much interest focused on the Oscars, our very own Genie Awards may, once again, get swept under the rug. A shame, because truly great Canadian films like Polytechnique (eleven nominations) and Nurse.Fighter.Boy (ten nominations) deserve our attention.

7. “Michael O’Donoghue Is Plunging Steel Needles into His Eyes From the Grave” by Matt Welch | Hit & Run
Welch laments what he sees as Saturday Night Live’s fall from anti-establishment greatness and loss of cultural relevance. You may quibble with his assertions, but this post is worth it for the Ron Howard–directed presidential reunion sketch starring current and former SNL greats — created for Funny or Die, not the venerable TV franchise.

8. “Open your wallets for plastic cash” by Steven Chase | Ottawa Notebook
Perhaps the most surprising element of Stephen Harper’s new budget is the announcement that, starting in late 2011, plastic will replace paper-cotton as the material of choice for bank notes. The polymer material is apparently very hard to counterfeit, and will allow for more complex designs and security features.

9. “Marketers can (literally) read your mind” by Karl Bates | Futurity
Advertisers have been experimenting with a technique called “neuromarketing,” which uses brain scans to detect a consumer’s reactions to various products. Basically it’s a high-tech focus group, but I think it’s the first step down a slippery slope that leads to commercials being beamed into our dreams à la Futurama.

10. “Changes at Chatelaine” | Masthead Online
Thursday was a brain drainer at Chatelaine — six employees were laid off, including most of the editors who handled the magazine’s newsiest articles. The title has recently slipped in both subscriptions and single-copy sales, but lobotomizing its content seems like an odd plan to reverse course.

By the end of the opening credits of the first episode of MTV’s The Buried Life, the concept seems so attractive, so engaging, so right now, that it’s easy to imagine the studio meeting where it was pitched:

Okay, here’s the setup: four twenty-something guys make a list of 100 things they’d like to do before they die, and we send a film crew to capture their exploits. Maybe they’re in a van — no, a bus — cruising, listening to hip hop. They’re kind of rascally, a little outdoorsy, a little West Coast. They’re smart, not self-indulgent. Maybe they’re even Canadian. Here’s the kicker: every time they accomplish something on the list, they help a stranger they’ve met along the way. Boom! — everybody’s happy.

Apparently, everybody was. MTV ordered a pilot, then a full eight-episode season, with premises ranging from standard-issue fluff (“ask out the girl of your dreams”) to the startlingly sincere (“help deliver a baby”). Since its January 18 premiere, The Buried Life has received killer promotion and, relative to cable standards, record-breaking audiences. In a front-page article, the New York Times cast the show as “MTV for the era of Obama.” (No kidding: tonight’s episode is about an attempt to play basketball with the U.S. president.) There’s nothing else like it on television.

The Buried Life is created, produced, edited and even promoted by its four stars from British Columbia: Ben Nemtin, Dave Lingwood, and brothers Duncan and Jonnie Penn. The bucket list? They started it in 2006, and crossed off twenty-four items in the making of an independent documentary that caught MTV’s attention. The show’s name? Inspired by an 1852 Matthew Arnold poem. The foursome’s bus, christened Penelope? They bought her from a nudist in Vancouver.

During a recent conference call with the castmates, Ben describes the eight-episode run on MTV as only the latest turn for a project that has already grown beyond the quartet’s wildest imaginations. “We were offered a show in 2007, but we turned it down because we weren’t going to be able to control the creative process. We started this [project] as a way to showcase the potential of a group of friends, and it was crucial for us to maintain that vision,” he tells me. “This time MTV came to us and said, ‘We want to pick up what you’ve been doing for the last four years, and we won’t touch it.’ So we produced it, we edited it, we chose the music. It’s still our baby.”

Indeed, The Buried Life has a degree of warmth and familiarity that’s absent from most of its neighbours in the reality television ’hood. (“We have difficulty calling this a reality show,” Jonnie politely interjects when I raise the term. “It’s more of a docu-series — Gonzo cinema.”) A few years ago, a series this earnest might have come across as schmaltzy. But the world is different now. “In the past two decades we’ve had boy bands and George Bush, and we know where all of that led,” Jonnie says. “Now people are asking for something else.”

The Buried Life might be the first big-deal youth program to focus on that “something” — to study it, cater to it, and harness its potential. From the very beginning, the group’s website has invited visitors to comment on the original list and, better yet, build new lists of their own. Related Facebook and Twitter pages offer additional means for contact. “People are craving a different kind of connection, a more interactive one,” Jonnie says. “It’s clear that young people want to participate; they jump at the opportunity to get involved. It’s not enough anymore just to watch.”

Each member of the group has his favourite list item and, likely, his favourite part of their newfound fame. All four have similar things to say about the way their list addresses happiness, satisfaction, and accomplishment. “Those things aren’t destinations. You don’t just get there and everything’s perfect,” says Duncan. “Maybe the thrill is in the chase, maybe it’s not, but that’s what was missing from our lives before — we didn’t take chances. We were craving the opportunity to do more, but we weren’t doing it.  Now we’ve made it to a different place.”

Jonnie concurs. “This is bigger than us, and it’s something anybody can relate to, connect to, interpret. That’s why the project found success: it transcends generations and gender,” he says.

Can it really be so simple? Ben reminds me about list item no. 53: make a television show. “We’re proud of what we’ve done, but at the end of the day [the MTV series] is just an item on the list,” he says. “Hopefully it will be a good way to get the word out on the project, but what keeps us going is support from our online community — people posting their own lists on our website or Facebook, the conversations we start and the connections we make.

“We’re just getting started. We’ve got big plans.”

(Image courtesy of theburiedlife.com)

1. "Greening the Games" by David Suzuki | The Mark
Canada’s preeminent environmentalist compares the carbon footprints of Olympic Games past, present, and future.

2. “16 Years of International Hockey Memories” by Mike Chen | From the Rink
On the eve of tomorrow’s shinny showdown — Canada vs. USA on the big pond — look back on the best of Olympic and World Cup men’s hockey since 1994. (Or worst, depending on rooting interest: the video gallery begins and ends with Sweden winning gold.)

3. “John Babcock, 1900–2010, R.I.P.” by Milnews.ca | The Torch
Contrary to hasty reports, Gordon Lightfoot endures, but this week still ends with one less hero. Rest easy, John Babcock, the last Canadian veteran of World War I.

4. “Bowerbirds / In Our Talons” by Jeff Hamada | Booooooom
Booooooom notices an old-but-very-good video for Bowerbirds’ infectious “In Our Talons.” Director Alan Poon employs stop-motion animation to maximum effect here — and again in Zeus’s “Marching Through Your Head,” a more recent project that he co-directed with Walrus contributor Adam Makarenko.

5. “Road scholarship: the slippery facts about road salt” by Nick Taylor-Vaisey | This Magazine
Everything you never wanted to know about the substance that’s been officially considered harmful to the environment since 2001, yet shows no sign of disappearing from winter roads any year soon.

6. “Way Too Similar?” by Jörg Colberg | Conscientious
Literary plagiarism is easy to spot; artistic poaching is harder to prove. Vancouver photographer David Burdeny is under scrutiny over similarities between several of his pictures and earlier compositions by several of his peers. Click this link to decide for yourself.

7. “In defence of Jim Jones” by Shaun Usher | Letters of Note
Nine months before Jones orchestrated the mass suicide of more than 900 of his cult followers, San Francisco politician and gay activist Harvey Milk sent this odd letter of support to Jimmy Carter: “Rev. Jones is widely known in the minority communities here and elsewhere as a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness.” Milk’s unrelated murder happened ten days after the Jonestown Massacre.

8. “The Hidden History of Resistance in Womens’ Prisons” by Danielle Maestretti | Utne Blogs
In The Walrus’s March issue, Marian Botsford Fraser writes about prisoner Renée Acoby in the feature “Life on the Instalment Plan.” In this post, Maestretti points to related stories — including one of her own, about prisoners who self-publish zines — in recent issues of New Politics and the Utne Reader.

9. “Four Infographical Morsels No. 4” by David McCandless | Information is Beautiful
There’s a lot to recommend in this post, but the dazzler is “Timelines,” an elegant, painstaking survey of films and television shows that mess with time travel.

10. “NBC confuses Terry Fox and Michael J. Fox” by Craig Silverman | Regret the Error
Hey, America: Bill Clinton sucked in Parliament, and George Clinton was your second-worst president ever.

(Photo by focusedcapture available via Creative Commons license)

1. “CNN Un-Dobbed!” by Leslie Savan | The Notion
In spite of CNN’s obsession with “technoverkill,” as demonstrated by its endless use of the Magic Wall, Savan praises the network for its return to something resembling old-fashioned journalism in the post–Lou Dobbs era. CNN’s coverage of the Haiti earthquake and its cross-platform investigative series, The Stimulus Project, are prime examples of how journalistic integrity can survive in the era of the politically charged twenty-four-hour news cycle.

2. “Four world records Canada should be ashamed to hold” by Kim Hart Macneill | This Magazine
I do not feel any different about my country because the Olympics are being held in Vancouver. I do not subscribe to the blind patriotism our media is promoting in the lead up to the Winter Games. No doubt, Canada is one of the best countries in the world, but there are serious problems we must face as a nation. Macneill presents four issues that have been glossed over in the Olympian hype.

3. “Can Walmart Compete With Whole Foods?” by Andrew Price | GOOD Blog
Everyone’s favourite big box is getting into the organic food market with a program that sources produce and meat from local farmers. Directly in Wal-Mart’s sights is Whole Foods, the organic grocery retailer that has become every foodie’s preferred choice. When compared head to head, products from Whole Foods win the taste test, but products from Wal-Mart win the price test.

4. “Forgive us, Haiti” by Amy Goodman | Rabble.ca
One month has passed since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated much of Haiti. In the aftermath, media coverage has focused on relief and recovery efforts, with very little explanation about how Haiti became the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation in the first place. Goodman provides the necessary background.

5. “Saving Haiti’s Cultural Treasures” by Bonnie Czegledi | The Mark
Looting has become a major problem in Haiti following the earthquake. Though looters are thus far mostly focused on securing food and other survival items, some observers worry that attentions will turn to the country’s valuable cultural artifacts. In a pre-emptive response, UNESCO has banned the import, export, and sale of Haitian treasures.

6. “Tweaking reality — Photoshop turns 20” by D.B. Scott | Canadian Magazines
Adobe’s ubiquitous image-editing software celebrates its twentieth birthday next week. The application has endured its fair share of controversy, yet it has become an indispensable tool for the publishing industry. Scott delves into the creation of the program — and links to an amusing site dedicated to horrors of over-Photoshopping.

7. “Stephen Harper delivers paen to patriotism in B.C. Legislature” by Jane Taber | Bureau Blog
Though the content of Steven Harper’s speech to the B.C. Legislature on Thursday was little more than one last chance for rah-rah patriotism before the Vancouver Games, the circumstances surrounding the address were fraught with controversy. First of all, shouldn’t he have delivered this speech to Parliament? Oh yeah, it’s been prorogued. Second, did the province’s Speaker of the House, Bill Barisoff, even invite the PM to come?

8. “Chip-and-PIN is broken” by Cory Doctorow | Boing Boing
If, like me, you’ve been annoyed by the new “Chip-and-PIN” technology in credit and debit cards, here is more fuel for your fire. Turns out these new cards aren’t as safe and secure as advertised: rather, they’re ridiculously easy to use fraudulently.

9. “Where People Still Love Newspapers” by Danielle Maestretti | Utne Reader
Kenya, that’s where. The East African country’s appetite for daily newspapers is so strong that some newsstands offer rental services, charging US$0.13 for thirty minutes of reading time to those who cannot afford the fifty-cent purchase price. Though dailies are in major trouble all across North America, new titles are popping up in Kenya on a regular basis.

10. “Mammoliti’s Curfew: Scapegoating Toronto’s youth” by BerBer Xue | Shameless Wire
In response to what he perceives to be a rash of youth violence plaguing the city, Toronto mayoral candidate and city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti is pushing a mandatory curfew for the city’s teens. Responding from the youth perspective, Xue points out that Mammoliti is playing on the fears of the populace and not providing a real solution to the problem.

Design is everywhere. As I sit at my desk and look around, everything I see is the result of design: my coffee mug, my business cards, my computer monitor, the format of these words on my screen…everything. All of these products required designers of one form or another, people whose lives are devoted to making things in the best way possible. All too often, though, the considerable talents of designers are devoted to Western consumer fluff. I am virtually certain that a very talented and creative person spent countless hours designing, fretting over, and redesigning the slightly irregular handle of my mug. While this detail does slightly improve my drinking experience, imagine what could be done if that same designer focused instead on ideas that could accomplish real good for the world.

Of course, many designers are already doing exactly that. Their work is celebrated by Emily Pilloton, a San Francisco–based product designer and founder of Project H Design, a non-profit group that “supports, inspires, and delivers life-improving product design.” The following are five products featured in her recent book, Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People.

The Hippo Water Roller
Fetching water is one of the most important and difficult tasks for people in the developing world. Simply put, water is a fundamental part of life; the problem is it’s rather heavy. Compounding the issue is the fact that the job is often assigned to women and children who can typically carry between ten and twenty litres per trip. Buckets and jerricans are inefficient and can lead to physical ailments: imagine how your neck would feel after carrying a twenty-litre bucket of water on your head for up to eight kilometres. Now imagine doing this several times a day, for your entire life.

The Hippo Water Roller redefines the experience of fetching water. The barrel can hold up to ninety litres of liquid, and since it is designed to be pulled or pushed instead of carried, it has an effective weight of only eighteen kilograms. A price point of US$90 means limited availability for people in the developing world, but those interested in donating to the project can head to Hipporoller.org.

Adaptive Eyecare
There are approximately one billion people in the world who require vision correction but remain untreated. The primary obstacles to receiving treatment are cost and access to doctors. The Adaptive Eyecare system provides a solution to both of these problems. Designed by British physicist Joshua Silver, it features glasses with lenses made of two fluid-filled flexible membranes that can correct up 90 percent of all vision problems. Best of all, the prescription can be adjusted by the wearer at the time of fitting with little-to-no medical supervision. Combined with a low price point of only US$10, the Adaptive Eyecare system offers affordable and accessible eye care. The only thing lacking is style.

Antivirus
Contact with improperly secured, contaminated needles causes 260,000 HIV and 23 million Hepatitis infections every year. The problem is that needle users lack the proper methods of safely separating the needle from the syringe. Antivirus offers a clever solution that takes advantage of a product with near-universal availability: aluminum soda cans. A simple plastic cap is permanently attached to the top of an empty can. After performing an injection, the user inserts the tip of the syringe into Antivirus and breaks it off, safely sealing the needle inside. Standard cans can store up to 400 needles each, allowing for reusability.

SkySails
You’ve heard it before and I’ll say it again, green technologies will not be adopted en masse until there is a significant monetary incentive to do so. Hello, SkySails. Maritime shipping, while being the most efficient means of transporting cargo, is also one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide, producing approximately 813 million tonnes per year. Unlike traditional, mast-mounted sails, SkySails are attached to the bow of the ship by a retractable cable, pulling the vessel in the direction of the wind. By using these large-scale, paraglider-shaped wind propulsion systems, shipping companies can reduce annual fuel costs by up to 50 percent. Cutting that number in half could only be a good thing. SkySails save money and the environment, a win-win scenario if there ever was one.

Plumpy’nut
In the battle against malnutrition, taste may be one of the most important weapons. While there are many foods designed to provide maximum dietary value to the undernourished, children often balk at the flavour. Plumpy’nut delivers 500 calories and fifteen grams of protein per serving, with a taste enjoyed by children around the world: peanut butter. Perhaps the most attractive part of this product is that it can be manufactured by local franchises in developing nations. This not only keeps the price low (around US$0.06 per bar), but also provides much-needed employment in poverty-stricken areas.

(Images courtesy of hipporoller.org, adaptive-eyecare.com, yellowone.dk, skysails.info, and nutriset.fr)

1. “Humanoid robot from GM and NASA” by David Pescovitz | Boing Boing
Robotic technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and automakers are at the forefront of development. Honda and Toyota are already producing humanoid robots that have enough manual dexterity to play musical instruments. Now General Motors, in partnership with NASA, is getting in the game by manufacturing robots designed to assist astronauts. Does anyone else think this “Robonaut” looks like a busboy from the Mos Eisley Cantina?

2. “Why did the police take aim at pedestrians?” by Dylan Reid | Spacing Toronto
January saw a rash of pedestrian deaths in the city of Toronto, with fourteen accident-related fatalities within the first twenty-five days of 2010. City police have responded by cracking down on the pedestrians themselves. Reid points out how this action ignores the other half of the equation, namely the behaviour of drivers.

3. “District 9’s Director on What Aliens Will Look Like” by Morgan Clendaniel | GOOD Blog
Neill Blomkamp, director of last year’s critically acclaimed District 9, discusses why the alien creatures he created for his film do not reflect his view of what “real-life” aliens will look like. Most interestingly, he discusses why he believes our civilization may just be the most advanced in the galaxy.

4. “Integrity Isn’t Just a Military Value” by Laura Flanders | The Notion
Flanders applauds the direction that Barack Obama is taking on the U.S. military’s controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, but goes on to explain that what America really needs is a comprehensive, nation-wide law that applies to all professions — not just the armed forces. In many states, it’s still legal to fire someone based on sexual orientation.

5. “2010 Olympics Inspire Wave of Vancouver Books” by Jenn Laidlaw | Beyond Robson
Vancouver is set to enjoy its moment in the international spotlight that is the Olympics, and the publishing industry is betting that the attention will translate into book sales. As a young city with a relatively meagre population (compared with other North American metropolises), Vancouver has never really received its due in the book world, other than predictable coffee table tomes that celebrate its geographic setting. Laidlaw examines two new books that look at Vancouver in ways never before explored in literature.

6. “Facebook’s Six-Year Evolution” by John Hudson | The Atlantic Wire
In 2009, Facebook surpassed MySpace to become the most popular social network in the world; on Thursday, it surpassed 400 million users. In the six years since the site went online it has endured its fair share of controversy, focused mainly on privacy issues and user revolts against its many redesigns. Hudson provides commentary on and links to other retrospectives of its unrivalled success.

7. “Auteur Directors Directing the Super Bowl” by Kurt Halfyard | Row Three
Super Bowl XLIV will be played this Sunday in Miami, pitting the Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints. This video by director Andrew Bouvé asks and answers the question: what if Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Jean-Luc Godard, or Werner Herzog directed the Super Bowl? Funny how they all wind up looking like NFL Films productions.

8. “Shackleton’s Whisky Dug Up in Antarctica” by Robert Mackey | The Lede
Whisky lovers and Antarctic history buffs rejoice! A team of researchers has found three crates of Scotch whisky (and two crates of brandy) buried by polar explorer Ernest Shackleton during his failed 1909 bid to reach the South Pole. Now a crack squad of whisky scientists has the chance to analyze the samples and recreate the long-lost recipe for Shackleton’s preferred blend of Whyte & Mackay whisky.

9. “Liberals Wouldn’t Have to be So Condescending if The People Who Disagreed With Them Weren’t Such Idiots” by Nick Gillespie | Hit & Run
Don’t be taken by the cheeky headline. This is deep thinking about a guilty secret of many liberals: the condescending inability to comprehend conservative and neo-conservative viewpoints.

10. “Is redesigned Monopoly the worst thing ever?” by Mark Medley | The Ampersand
Monopoly, the venerable board game born out of the Great Depression, is about to celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary. To mark the occasion, Hasbro has completely redesigned the game. Set to be released this fall, Monopoly: Revolution features a circular board and inflation-adjusted prices (ex. $2 million for passing Go). Is it the worst thing ever? Probably not, but for some die-hard fans, it certainly seems to be.