Although face paint will probably wear off by then, it's never too early to start following the 2010 Olympic Games.
People both for and against the Games have exactly six and a half years to pound us and each another over the head with various messages and they're not losing a single second.
Here are a few sites to bookmark and visit again and again, or as often as you stomach, to stay in touch with the Games.
Olympic Sites
www.nogames2010.com - Although this site would appear to be operated by the No Games 2010 Coalition, it's actually a rather unsporting attempt by the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp. to head off any criticism of the Games. The Bid Corporation actually bought this domain name right under the noses of the coalition, basically spitting on their cake.
In the Vancouver Sun, Green Party leader Adriane Carr criticized the move as undemocratic, as it discourages debate and different points of view.
According to the Bid Corporation, they have bought rights to more than 40 different Internet domain names in order to protect Olympic trademarks. Sure they did.
www.nogames2010.org - This is the site that the No Games coalition went for when "nogames2010.com" was taken by the Bid Corporation.
Although this group of Games opponents has a snowball's chance in hell in getting the Olympics revoked, they still serve an important role as an Olympic watchdog, ensuring that governments and corporations are badgered into keeping the development of the Games open and honest.
They will also continue to advocate for the poor, the environment, and taxpayers throughout the process, and may actually be able to do some good for these causes in their losing battle.
www.winter2010.com - This is the official site of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp., and although the corporation will dissolve over this summer now that the bidding process is over, I assume that they will continue to maintain this as the official site. The News and Events section is regularly updated with updates, and there is a lot of background here on the bid, bid supporters, bid people, and the plan for hosting the Games themselves.
www.olympic.org - This is the official site of the International Olympic Committee, and includes a news section, a sports section, and a media centre for the Games. You can read about different events, as well as the history of Olympics, from its beginnings in ancient Greece to the present day.
With results from every Games archived, it's also a good place to settle bets.
www.paralympic.org - This is the site of the International Paralympic Committee, the official governing body for the Paralympic Games, with news updates, historical information, and links to sport organizations.
www.coc.ca - The Canadian Olympic Committee is the governing body for Olympics in Canada, linking together all of the participating amateur sports associations in Canada.
The COC also helps to organize and represent Canada at other world events, like the Pan-Am Games, the Commonwealth Games, and various world championships in Olympic sports.
Sport Sites
www.nhl.com - During the last Olympics in Salt Lake City, the NHL threw its full weight behind the Games, running commentaries on teams, players, and politics. With hockey destined to be a key part of 2010 Winter Games, this is a good place to stay on top of what's happening with the pros.
www.fihockey.com - The home of the International Hockey Federation, which includes women's international hockey.
www.fis-ski.com - The International Skiing Federation, or FIS, is the world governing body for six Olympic sports - Alpine, Freestyle, Snowboarding, Cross Country, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. Although this site is pretty cold and lacks any context, the results are posted as they happen, so it's not a bad place to go if you follow these sports.
www.canski.org - This is the official site of Alpine Canada Alpin and the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, with bios, news and results.
www.freestyleski.org - Follow the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team and development team as it criss-crosses the globe in search of medals.
www.csf.ca - The home of the Canadian Snowboarding Federation, which runs the national, development and junior programs for alpine and freestyle snowboarding.
www.isu.org - The International Skating Union is the place to go to follow figure skating, ice dancing and speed skating.
http://icing.org - The home of International Curling.
File swappers run for cover
With the music industry lawyers now targeting freeloaders as well as filesharing software manufacturers, computer users are giving their modems a break.
According to Nielsen Net Ratings, traffic dropped 15 per cent on Kazaa and 16 per cent on BearSharethe past month, apparently in response to an announcement by the Recording Industry Association of America that they would go after the heaviest users of the fileswapping services.
