Yankee in Canada.com

I have posted my pics from the Outgames Opening Ceremonies to flickr.  The official photos from the Outgames organizers you will find here.  What a show!!

• 
  k.d. lang
• Martha Wash
• Deborah Cox
• Jonas
• Sylvie Desgroseilliers
• Diane Dufresne
• AND! Cirque du Soleil

Getting into stadium was a breeze.  I am amazed at how well these games are organized.  Winding through the belly of Olympic Stadium, the athletes got louder and louder.  The Germans had yellow umbrellas, the Aussies inflatable kangas, the Dutch decked out in orange and the Brits waved pink Union Jacks.  The crowd went crazy when Canada walked (and ran) on to the stadium floor as the show got started.  (As evidenced by my pics on flickr – sorry they are so blurry.)

The only awkward moment was the booing of Federal Public Works Minister Michael Fortier.  At one point the booing was so loud he could not be heard at all.  And we were right in the front.  I understand Stephen Harper can’t be here in person, he’s busy…I am fine with that, but I was particularly curious to note that there isn’t a letter from him in the official programme.  That says something to me.

Montreal has done a first class job organizing these games and you can tell the whole city is behind them.  My first day of swimming is Monday.

1500 FREESTYLE
1. Labine Gary 45 DTSC 19:55.16
4 x 100m medley relay (men)
2. Downtown Swim Club 2 DTSC 4:54.39 (Ball Jeff, Garis Damian, Rojas Norman, and Escobar Carlos)

Total Medals
Gold – 1
Silver – 1
Bronze – 0

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has a new report out, Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers.

Summary of Findings at a Glance

• Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world.
• Telephone surveys capture the most accurate snapshot possible of a small and moving target.
• Contrary to the impression created by the press attention on political blogging, just 11% of bloggers say they focus mainly on government or politics.
• The blogging population is young, evenly split between women and men, and racially diverse.
• Relatively small groups of bloggers view blogging as a public endeavor.
• The main reasons for keeping a blog are creative expression and sharing personal experiences.
• Only one-third of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism. Yet many check facts and cite original sources.
• Bloggers are avid consumers and creators of online content. They are also heavy users of the internet in general.
• Bloggers are major consumers of political news and about half prefer sources without a particular political viewpoint.
• Bloggers often utilize community and readership-enhancing features available on their blogs.

Related
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Princeton Survey Research Associates

Just back from the SLA conference where it was almost painful not to have a working laptop and while at the same time considering making the jump from PC to Mac via the new MacBook, I found the following from Ipsos very interesting.

Demand For “anytime, anywhere” Internet Access Drives Continued Surge In Notebook PC Ownership Around The World

"New York, NY, July 17, 2006 – Growing availability to low cost, high-speed and often wireless Internet service appears to be propelling laptop and notebook sales around the world, helping close the so-called “digital divide” between technology’s haves and have-nots, say researchers from Ipsos Insight in their annual The Face of The Web study of global Internet trends."

The full press release (with charts) is available at:
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=3135

The National Film Board of Canada has developed an archive of fifty NFB animated shorts, including several animation classics.  You can search them by title, director and year of production.

Two of my absolute favs are:

Title: The Cat Came Back
Director: Barker, Cordell
Year: 1988
Length: 07 min 37 s

and

Title: The Big Snit
Director: Condie, Richard
Year: 1985
Length: 09 min 49 s

South Park Studio
http://www.sp-studio.de/

If I were a character on South Park, this is what I think I would look like.  Create your own!

This is an incredible article about the librarians at The Washington Post.  Fellow colleague, Derek Willis is given a full paragraph.  Way to go Derek!

The Post’s Unsung Sleuths
By Deborah Howell
Sunday, July 2, 2006; Page B06

"The reporting that appears in The Post is supported by an infrastructure of research that readers do not see, except as credited in the occasional tag line at the end of a story…"