As much fun as activitybook.org is for me, I need to take a bit of a break until mid-July. Between getting married in a couple of weeks, the nice weather outside and my job, I foresee that it will be tricky to squeeze in blogging time.

See you in a little bit,
Marty

The Tasmanian devil, the real critter and not the cartoon character from the Looney Tunes universe, has been designated an endangered species by the Australian government. The demise of the devils is due (how’s that for alliteration) to a communicable form of cancer that leads to facial tumours that impair the animal’s ability to eat, thus causing starvation. Over 60% of the Tasmianian devil population has been wiped out.

The organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver is being taken to court in an effort to have Women’s ski jumping added as an official event at the Games. On the one hand the lawsuit is a bit of an oddity given that the International Olympic Committee (”IOC”) decides what events are to be officially sanctioned and not an individual organizing committee. However, it is sure to bring a good deal of attention and perhaps pressure on the IOC to reconsider its stance. The IOC, thus far, has refused to allow women to compete based on the claim that there are not enough women ski jumpers of a high enough caliber. That seems to be a dubious claim

In the quest for competitive success, U.S. swim team members have taken to mimicking the swimming techniques of sharks and dolphins.

Interested in the dynamics of today’s music industry? Rolling Stone has a solid article for you. While this article is not exactly chock full of new pieces of information, it is thorough.

Here is a perfect example of a “why didn’t I think of that.” Coffee and liqueur ice cubes. Get the recipe here.

What can be better than a beautiful song and claymation? Enjoy the Weepies, who are a husband and wife duo.

The New York Times interviews Matt Walsh, who worked for the New England Patriots’ videotape crew, and gets an inside perspective on what went on while the team videotaped their opponents.

Evidently the ‘Best Celebrity Hair’ competition has been running in Canada for years. Sandra Oh was the big winner at the 8th annual event.

Mattel Inc. is in the midst of its trial MGA Entertainment Inc. based on ownership of copyright in the girl’s toy franchise ‘Bratz’. The underlying claim is that the designer who conceived of the Bratz developed the toys while an employee of Mattel. If Mattel is successful in its claim, it will reap hundreds of millions in damages and hundreds of millions each year in licensing and other revenues.

PBS is bringing back the Electric Company, although updating it for today.

Bloomberg reports that recent economic changes in China, the rising yuan and increasing labour costs, are leading to textile and other manufacturing jobs moving to cheaper areas like India and Vietnam.

Vietnam’s laborers earn an average of 1.669 million dong ($104) a month, 41 percent less than China’s lowest-paid workers in the central province of Jiangxi, according to World Bank data.

India’s wages are lower than Vietnam’s, averaging 3,843 rupees ($87) a month, according to CEIC. India is copying China’s special economic zones, building more than 400 that will provide low-cost land and rents, five- to 10-year tax breaks and duty-free imports.

Missed this one - Stop Smiling’s blog posts that a lost novel by Vladimir Nabakov (you know, of Lolita gravitas) will see publication.

Organizers of the World Series of Poker have changed the rules and split up the tournament into two parts, with each one being months a part from the other. The net result is that the integrity of the event being called into question, all at the expense of the possibility of greater sponsorship dollars.

Consider the possible implications:

– Players get coaching. If a rank amateur manages to get through to the final table, then, if they have any sense, they will employ a top player to coach them for the next four months. Even if this means giving away 10 percent of their final table purse, this will be good value for them.

This effectively means that the nine sitting down in November will have a completely different skill level to the nine that would have sat down in July. Is this fair to the more skilful players?

Volvo takes automobile safety seriously. So seriously that it has set a goal to eliminate in-car deaths and injuries by 2020.

via autoblog

The original handwritten lyrics to John Lennon’s anthem ‘Give Peace a Chance’ are up for auction and are expecting to fetch 300,000+ Euros.

Intentional or not, some bullies are now using peanut butter in their arsenal of threats and weapons against those who are allergic.

Syria as returned 701 artifacts to Iraq’s National Museum. The artifacts, were seized from looters and others who stole or came into possession of the artifacts from the Museum after the fall of Saddam’s rule. As good news as this is, there still are over 7,000 other pieces missing.

via arts journal

Gordon Ramsay will be opening a restaurant in either Vancouver or Toronto.

Scrubs, which is an uber favourite television show of mine, will be saying goodbye to NBC and moving to ABC for 18 more episodes next season. I am so happy that Scrubs lives on.