Well, here's one of those news items that makes me go "hmmmm..."

According to PlanetOut, six members of the US Armed Services have been discharged so far this year after colleagues outed them to the military - using online profiles on Yahoo or dating sites as evidence. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is being reinterpreted in the Internet Age.... apparently telling anyone on the Internet that you are gay, where it is archived publically and can be read by the U.S. military, constitutes grounds for dismisal.

Just another little reminder from Uncle Sam that the Internet is not the safe virtual space many people believe it to be....

From my fave info center staff... yes, she who sent me the librarian romances, now recommends The Towers Are the Players

So... it's going to be an interesting day. I got up at 4:30 AM today to fly to Toronto for the TIG Board meeting.

Fate being what it is, I have no voice. None whatsoever.

I came down with the flu on Wednesday and slept all day. Yesterday I was feeling way better, and even though my throat hurt, I went to City Hall for 6 hours of meetings regarding the Winnipeg Environment Strategy.

Today I woke up with no voice. I'm pretending to be the strong silent type today :)

Either that, or I'm going to start typing my meeting interventions and boosting the font size so everyone around the room can see. My meetings with staff this morning are going to have to be in the form of sitting next to each other with me typing. Go figure. But, then again, most people here know me best by my typing... so maybe it isn't so weird after all :p

"Saunders set out from Cape Artichevsky in northern Siberia on March 5 and reached the North Pole on May 11. He travelled 965 kilometres across the Arctic Ocean, the equivalent of 23 marathons. He was literally racing against the melting ice to trek as far as he could."

From http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/16/canada/saunders040516

If you're interested in more details about how this 26-year old British man skiied alone to the North Pole, check out his trip Web site.

A parliamentary committee in Canada has now gotten around to recommending that we sign two treaties from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that strengthen copyright law and make it illegal to sell software that hacks into music CDs.

A spokesperson for Heritage Minister Hélène Scherrer said her department intends to prepare new copyright legislation to be introduced in the fall.

News story at http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/copyrightcomm20040513

More info is on the Heritage Canada at http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/index_e.cfm