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.