Former NHL Ref Kerry Fraser Reviews The Mighty Ducks →

Kerry Fraser with Mike Hetherington:

Aside from the force and location of the blow (on the back of Banks), the referee must also consider if Banks was aware of the impending hit and if he had the ability to defend himself. It is reasonable to expect that Adam Banks was incapable of either one of these conditions. While judging the illegal act on its merit the referee can't help but factor in the resulting injury. 

In the final assessment McGill delivered an aggressive cross-check directly from behind that caused Banks to crash into the goal post and sustain an injury. C'mon Ref would impose a 5 minute major and game misconduct to McGill for cross-checking. The goal scored by Adam Banks would obviously stand and the Hawks would have to place a player in the penalty box to serve McGill's major penalty prior to its expiration (rule 20.3). No relief would be entitled the Hawks regardless how many goals the Mighty Ducks might score during the major penalty.

There are no words to express just how amazing this article is. Also—The Flying V wasn’t offsides!

/via Deadspin

‘My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself.’ →

John Kaag:

Genuine criticism, the type that leaves an indelible mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existential imprint on you as a person. I’ve heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people.

I don’t trust anyone who critiques my writing and doesn’t find stuff wrong with it.

Zen Pencil’s ‘Jim Henson: A Puppeteer’s Advice’ →

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Eventually, I’m going to have to just create a ‘Zen Pencils’ tag, because Gavin Aung Than doesn’t release anything that I don’t want to share with others. His latest, as he explains, has even more meaning to him than usual:

Reading Henson’s biography was incredibly motivating for me. Henson used an art form that was seen as crude, childish and primitive to create television and films that have brought joy to millions. At the height of its popularity, The Muppet Show was the most-watched program in the world. Henson (along with his fellow puppeteers) also created characters beloved by generations.

It made me want to revisit some of the characters I have introduced in Zen Pencils (not that I’m comparing mine with Kermit and Co.) and illustrate how they have changed my life. I thought combining Henson’s wonderful quote with my own story and characters was the perfect way to celebrate my 150th comic. So this is the Zen Pencils origin comic.

How To Make Prison Style Sweet and Sour Pork With Andy Roy

Munchies:

You learn something new everyday, and if you weren't locked up in Pelican Bay State Prison in the early 2000s, then today you are going to learn how to make a prison-style sweet and sour pork.

This 5:33 video takes the food television medium into an entirely new dimension and I don’t know if it will ever be the same again.

And do you even more than one guess to figure out who Munchies is owned by?

/via Devour

Go Inside Marc Maron’s Garage →

Melissa Locker:

On Maron and in Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, we go deep inside Marc’s head, but fans rarely get to venture into his garage.

Before the new season of Maron kicks off on IFC on May 8 at 10/9c, our six-part web series will take you into Marc’s garage where all the Maron magic happens. Find out what kind of presents his fans send, what type of music he likes to listen to and what real Marc thinks of TV Marc.

There’s more light in it than I expected.

Your Weekly Mad Men HW: Season 7, Ep. 3

The writing about ‘Field Trip,” the third episode of the final season of Mad Men, is a fairly breezy read this week, as this was a plot furthering episode and so no crystal balls or tea leaves need to be consulted in order to understand what happened. Instead, we get some answers to some of the larger questions that have been looming: Is Don really experiencing a genuine humbling? Will Don go back to SC&P? Will Don and Megan stay together? Is Betty still a shitty mother?

For my money, I’m not quite convinced that all of the answers we’re given are carved in stone. Humblings, even genuine ones, can be sidetracked. SC&P, much like Don and Roger and Jim Cutter, is old and stodgy and treading cultural water (hence the juxtaposition of white guys ((and gals)) in suits in a quiet conference room making financial decisions against the messy, bright, copy writer bullpen that eerily resembles the open offices that will be “invented” in 40 years. And our hero, Mr. Draper, floating nervously in between both). Don and Megan? Well, they’ve already reopened the lines of communication by the end of the episode. And Betty—well, Betty will always be a shitty mother, actually, That you can take to the bank.

So what to read? There’s Alan Sepinwall for the clinical breakdown, Matt Zoller Seitz for the more thoughtful clinical breakdown, Molly Lambert for the razor-sharp artistic discussion, and, of course, Tom & Lorenzo for what all of the costume design means.

Coming Home

Coming Home is the story of New York Rangers forward Dominic Moore and his wife, Katie. Above is just a clip. To watch the full E60 video, head here. Careful—there won’t be a dry eye in the house by the time it’s over.

I cheer for every New York Rangers goal. But I cheer when Dominic Moore scores just a bit louder.

/via Blue Seat Blogs

Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers →

Scott Samuleson:

The problem facing the humanities, in my view, isn’t just about the humanities. It’s about the liberal arts generally, including math, science, and economics. These form three-fourths of the so-called STEM (science, technology, economics, math) subjects, but if the goal of an education is simply economic advancement and technological power, those disciplines, just like the humanities, will be—and to some degree already are—subordinated to future employment and technological progress. Why shouldn’t educational institutions predominately offer classes like Business Calculus and Algebra for Nurses? Why should anyone but hobbyists and the occasional specialist take courses in astronomy, human evolution, or economic history? So, what good, if any, is the study of the liberal arts, particularly subjects like philosophy?  Why, in short, should plumbers study Plato?

I tell people all the time that there are just too many people in college who don’t belong there. But that’s because of the cost. Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn how to think. Not everyone needs it, or wants it, but you shouldn’t have to mortgage your future to try.

‘On Sept. 14, 2001, no one was thinking about how the war would eventually end, only that it needed to begin.’ →

Gregory D. Johnson:

The White House said that the operations in both Libya and Somalia drew their authority from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a 12-year-old piece of legislation that was drafted in the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks. At the heart of the AUMF is a single 60-word sentence, which has formed the legal foundation for nearly every counterterrorism operation the U.S. has conducted since Sept. 11, from Guantanamo Bay and drone strikes to secret renditions and SEAL raids. Everything rests on those 60 words.

Unbound by time and unlimited by geography, the sentence has been stretched and expanded over the past decade, sprouting new meanings and interpretations as two successive administrations have each attempted to keep pace with an evolving threat while simultaneously maintaining the security of the homeland. In the process, what was initially thought to authorize force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan has now been used to justify operations in several countries across multiple continents and, at least theoretically, could allow the president — any president — to strike anywhere at anytime. What was written in a few days of fear has now come to govern years of action.

Culled from interviews with former and current members of Congress, as well as staffers and attorneys who served in both the Bush and the Obama administrations, this is the story of how those 60 words came to be, the lone objector to their implementation, and their continuing power in the world today. The story, like most modern ones of America at war, begins in the shadow of 9/11 with a lawyer and Word document.

It’s difficult to believe that the same outfit that churns out listicles like “18 Incredibly Important Cheese Puns To Make You Smile” (It’s cheesy, but it’ll make you feel grate!) could also be the same folks that commissioned and published “60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History,” the piece I quoted and linked to above. But they did and wow, did Gregory D. Johnson hit it out of the park.

The piece was published three months ago; I only came to hear about it after it inspired an entire episode of Radiolab (which, it goes without saying, is a must-listen), so I’m not breaking any news here, but with the weekend coming up, this is a piece of writing you, dare I say, have a responsibility to spend some time with.

The Leica T →

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Dan Seifert:

Earlier today, Leica unveiled its new Leica T camera system. It's an all-new mirrorless camera platform with a distinctly different design than anything Leica has produced before. Leica had a little help along the way: the company called upon Audi's design team to work on the project, and the final result looks very similar to an iPhone or other modern, unibody metal smartphone.

Wow. I mean—wow. This link actually gives a bit of a write-up, as well as a promo video, but the link in the title takes you to straight-up Leica-Audi-aluminum (al-loo-min-e-um)-mirrorless camera porn.