Blog:

• Sept 29: Congratulations to Canada's Paralympic athletes who collected 72 medals, good for seventh place overall. With so much emphasis put on the able-bodied, it's heartening to see other athletes excel on the world stage. Also, an online poll asked what new sport should be added to the 2012 Games: Rugby received 41% support, while Squash only 24%. I disagree with the results because rugby doesn't need the exposure, it's already popular. Conversely, squash barely registers on the North American media's radar, and would benefit greatly.
• Sept 27: For some, the Labour Day weekend marks the end of summer, but it's Word On The Street for me. This year's event moved from trendy Queen Street West to Queen's Park, a location more spacious and welcoming. However, with a baseball diamond-shaped area to use, the table's location would drive our success or failure. Fortunately, we entered the event as a publisher, not an author, and were given a shaded, street-side booth to sell our books. After an agonizingly slow morning, the pace quickened, resulting in one hundred sales that more than covered our costs. Overall, I'd grade the organization of the 2004 Festival a success, but suggest that speaker's tents move inside the park, allowing more space between the large publishing houses for book worms to browse.
• Sept 14: Happy New Year! Jews across the city will pray for a healthy and safe year ahead for our friends and families and for peace in Israel. L'Shana Tova.
• Sept 9: Hockey runs through the veins of every Canadian. Each time the world's best players assembled for the Canada Cup (now World Cup of Hockey), this nation's focus would be on nothing else. The most memorable tournament was in 1987, because I was there. My sister's boyfriend drove us to Hamilton's Copps Coliseum to watch the preliminary match between Canada and USSR. We had reserved tickets at the box office, but were misinformed and bought from a scalper instead. I got a souvenir pennant and hockey puck and we sat in one corner of the new arena. The game itself I barely remember, but the experience remains vivid. With Canada's success this year, it could herald another golden age of international hockey supremacy. Good luck!

Web Design:

• Beyond Usability: Designing the Complete User Experience

  I was unable to afford this Workshop, but was invited for cocktails in the evening, thanks to a Webstandards.TO member that attended the event. After spending hours drinking with various web characters professionals, I've a better understanding of a web designer's work ethic.

  The night started badly as I left Union Station to witness an anti-Israel demonstration at the Royal Bank head office. Police presence was obvious, as was my anger to the offensive placards carried by protesters. "Globalize the Intifada," and "Zionism equals Racism" were two notably barbaric ideas that have no place among educated and informed people.

• Well documented elsewhere on the web are CSS and standards resources for beginners and professionals alike. For some time I've been making a list, and will contribute to it regularly.

Politics:

• Jewish response to genocide in Sudan:
  • A Statement of Moral Principle, and a Call to Action
  • Genocide Threat In Darfur, Western Sudan
  • Condemn Ongoing Violence in Sudan
• Despairing for Darfur
• The Most Evil Crime
• Hostage in Iraq: Five days in Hell
• The Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil, And The Fight For The Planet
• Spinsanity
• Iraq Coalition Casualties
• How Soon Will the U.S. or Israel Bomb Iran?
• Deathly Silence
• The Responsibility to Protect
• International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty

Of Interest:

• Spacing.ca
• Toronto Arts Online Events
• The Film Reference Library
• The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
• And I Still See Their Faces: The Vanished World of Polish Jews
• Miller's no Brando on the waterfront
• Battling on to save the Earth
• Here Come the Low-Mileage Hybrids
• The Women of Wal-Mart
• Wal-Mart Brings Inequality and Low Prices to the World
• Wal-Mart store near Mexican ruins riles activists

Projects:

• With so many job postings asking for database knowledge, I've decided to study Oracle Application Development at Seneca College. Hopefully, something good will result from this decision. To aid my studies, I've borrowed, "SQL queries for mere mortals: a hands-on guide to data manipulation in SQL," a very easy book to read and understand.