The Secrets Of Vancouver BC, Canada

Brian Williams Left Us A Note:

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor:
After tonight’s broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we’re going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week.  Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials — for companies like Tim Hortons — which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games — you’ve made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn’t hear one car horn in 15 days — which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States…when you know we’re listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Also, to the American Hockey team… Thanks for coming.

Great Moments From The Games: Our Girls Know How To Party

The snowboarders have nothing on our girls, who now carry the “bad boy” image for the Winter Olympics.

They caused a bit of a ruckus, but you can’t fault them for showing how Canadians party.

IOC to investigate Canadian women’s celebration.

After being told of the celebrations by a reporter, Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of Olympic Games, said, “I don’t think it’s a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing, but not in public.” Of course, no one would ever see footage or pictures of the women celebrating in the same matter inside the locker room. No, definitely not. It isn’t like it was a huge event for Canada whatsoever. We’d just have to rely on second-hand stories and Zapruder-like footage in years to come when remembering the vivid Canadian celebration in front of their country.

The one sticking point with the IOC was the fact that Marie-Philip Poulin, who’s 18 years old, was part of the celebration and not legally old enough to drink in British Columbia.  She doesn’t turn 19, legal age, until next month. OK, fair enough for that. But what sort of punishment would the IOC give to Canada, one its two world powers in the sport? Or is this just a PR case for them to continue to be ahead of the National Football League in keeping the fun out?

To calm down the IOC, Hockey Canada released a statement apologizing for display:

“The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone,” the statement read.

“In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn’t have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment.

“Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience.”

This will blow over like the Miller mask issue once the IOC actually looks at what they’re “investigating” here and understands how ridiculousness they look yet again.

If you’re currently not employed by the IOC and can handle it, the Canadian press has a small gallery of photos of the celebration.

The complete photo collection is here.

Good Thing The Emergency Shipment Arrived

Another first for the Winter Olympics…

With the historic medal tally comes another historic feat:

Rowdy curling crowds; spontaneous street parties; public drunkeness. You don’t have to look far for evidence that the crowds at Winter Games in Vancouver know how to have a good time.

And, as if anymore proof is needed that a wild Olympic atmosphere permeates B.C.’s largest city, now there’s an apparent condom shortage.

That’s right. As you read this, an emergency shipment of condoms is desperately making its way across Canada to the West Coast city.

Health officials in Vancouver have already provided 100,000 free condoms to the roughly 7,000 ahtletes and officials at the Games. That’s about 14 condoms per person. But as of Wednesday, those supplies started running dangerously low.

So naturally, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS research decided to step and make sure there were no hitches in Olympic action.

“When we heard about the condom shortage in Vancouver, we felt it important to respond immediately,” said Kerry Whiteside, CANFAR’s Executive Director. The organization assembled three large boxes of about 8,500 condoms, much to the relief of libidos at the Olympic Village. They’re expected to arrive on Thursday.

Free condoms first started to be distributed at the Olympics in Barcelona at the 1992 Games. This appears to be the first time that a shortage has struck the Games.

photo credit: George Eastman House

A Cool HD Video Of Vancouver

Something for those that haven’t had the good fortune of making it to Vancouver. The city at its best for your Sunday viewing.

“Vancouver City” video created by Innerlife Project and TimeLapseHD

Go Canada!!

Here’s How We Roll In Vancouver

Don’t even try to drive in Vancouver. I’ll be so happy when all the people go home.

The train actually isn’t that bad… maybe because the Olympics have kept our bums off the train.

And that green stuff along the tracks.. it’s almost  back. Spring is here. The rest of Canada should see it in a few months.

Has David Suzuki Lost The Battle?

David Suzuki is getting grumpy in his old age. He tries his best to  make the environmental case – at any cost.

His argument is getting more animated, and his facts are getting fuzzier. Give him his way and we’d all be exterminated.

NY Times Pees On Our Parade

As the Grey Lady brings up the subject none of want to hear about until after Canada wins Gold in hockey.

A $1 Billion Hangover Awaits an Olympic Party

Organizers insist the operating budget will break even. But that forecast includes $423 million in emergency money from the International Olympic Committee, and detailed financial information will not appear until after the Games are over.

As for Vancouver’s municipal government and the taxpayers, the bad news is already in. The immediate Olympic legacy for this city of 580,000 people is a nearly $1 billion debt from bailing out the Olympic Village development. Beyond that, people in Vancouver and British Columbia have already seen cuts in services like education, health care and arts financing from their provincial government, which is stuck with many other Olympics-related costs. Many people, including Mrs. Lombardi, expect that more will follow.

While the mood in the city has picked up since the start, when many people were suffering a severe case of buyer’s remorse, the looming budget realities make it unlikely that all will be forgiven or forgotten.

“While it’s very hard to see all the costs, I think people are going to pay for it for a long time,” said Lee Fletcher as he walked past several flowering cherry trees near his apartment outside Stanley Park, a large tract of forest tucked up against the city’s downtown. “Some people are going to benefit hugely, not the average guy. The average guy is going to see his taxes increase.”

Let’s hope the positive reviews of the Olympics translate into the crowds coming to Vancouver this summer.The protestors seem to have gone away and the party is in full gear.

We all know what happens after a great party… just don’t tell us until we are sobered up.

photo credit: TylerIngram

Ads I’d Like To See

Not sure how well it would go over here…

Pennsylvania Facing A Depression

Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha dead at 77.

John was best known for his pork he brought home to PA, including his airport that may now get more traffic from this link, than it does passengers.

The John Murtha Johnston-Cambria County Airport got an estimated $150 million in federal funds that he steered to it.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington labeled him one of the “most corrupt” members of Congress.

Murtha gave no ground. “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in March 2009. “My job as a member of Congress is to make sure that we take care of what we see is necessary.”

PA is going to feel the hurt.