Britannica, also known as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, has a new site devoted to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  This site is interactive, highlights notable events and athletes, includes the history of the Winter Olympics and uses the rich content of Britannica to further explore any related topic.

For example, this year’s logo is based on the inukshuk near English Bay, Vancouver.  Which Canadian territory uses an inukshuk in its flag?  If you used Britannica you would know.

While watching the Olympics I run across countries that I would never otherwise think about.  Like Latvia.  When I was a child my school took a field trip to the Festival of Nations.  The only thing I remember was that  in Latvian traditional costume, single women and girls get to wear crowns.  “All the single ladies (all the single ladies).  All the single ladies (all the single ladies). All the single ladies (all the single ladies). All the single ladies (all the single ladies).  Now put your crowns on”.

If you want to learn more about Latvia than what I just shared with you, then explore Britannica’s Country Snapshots or their Country Comparisons.  Both of these are full of data in easy-to-use sites and allow you to see how Latvia stacks up against its neighbors.  Don’t forget to check out the main article on Latvia – use the table of contents for the article on the left.

I don’t remember what my point was, but as long as you stay focused on what’s important – in Latvia single women wore crowns – then my work is done.

To celebrate Black History Month I thought I would highlight the  African American Studies Center.  This is a wonderful resource for history, womens’ studies, American studies, and several other disciplines.  It’s loaded with background information and images.  It’s got easy-to-find primary source documents, like the text to President Obama’s inauguration speech.  There are maps, timelines, statistics, and charts.  Yeah, yeah, statistics and charts.  Boring.  Here’s the good stuff;  Watch world-changing events like the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C and the Brown v Board of Education victory.  And since the Olympics start this week, how about a journey back to 1936 when Jesse Owens won the gold medal in Berlin.  USA! USA! USA!

While there aren’t tons of videos in this resource, it’s got a lot of images and excellent text for background information.  Like I said, it crosses several disciplines, so try to remember it next time you need background information, biographical information, charts, images, primary sources, maps, timelines or statistics.  Forego Wikipedia and get the good stuff from the African American Studies Center.