Yahoo! launched its “OpenID Provider service” in beta today, and it includes Flickr support! Which means you can now use your photostream URL to log into sites which support OpenID (a small but growing number). Read the official blog post, or check out the Yahoo! OpenID site to find out more.

Mosaic from mag3737.

We all have our life list of places and things that we’d like to photograph at some point in our lives.

Some of the items are what I like to think of as the “biggies,” the well known landmarks that come to mind when you think big cities or sweeping landscapes. Others are smaller, places that you wouldn’t know about unless you’re a local.

I’m going to add The Old Rusty Cadillac West of Rochelle, Illinois to my list (alongside San Luis Obispo’s Gum Wall and Toronto’s Secret Swing).

Photos from myn91 and jimfrazier via Flickr Central.

The reason I find cinema – or good cinema, specifically – so compelling is that it intuitively blends image with musical score to thread together a story and communicate it on an emotional level. The concept is so familiar that even a screenshot from a film – or a makeshift “cinema photo” – can stimulate a similarly intense sensory reaction.

Photos from Wyckthöor, Oppo Hash, and junku-newcleus.

Be sure to check out whileseated’s complete set of views from the 2008 Presidential Campaigns in South Carolina & Georgia — So Help Me…

…Put on a happy face.

Photos from sx70manipulator, toastforbrekkie, clikchick and -me_shell.

I recently discovered estelucy’s divine photos of beach life in Australia. When people ask me what Australian culture’s all about, I often end up explaining our love of the beach. I have wonderful memories about the hours and hours I spent in the surf, often only coming on to land once in a whole day for a quick refreshment. I can’t say I ever did this though:

“Growing up a surfie girl our boyfriends would urge us to cut out their names in paper, tape them to our stomachs, then sunbake so we’d get a tan tattoo in the shape of their names. Consequently, if I ever get skin cancer I’ll have a melanoma called Bruce.”
Kathy Lette

If I think too long about what time it is back home, my head starts to hurt. You see, for our Australian friends, Australia Day has already happened, but for me here in San Francisco, it’s only just started. Plus, the seasons are reversed, and yes, the water does go down the drain the other way.

Here endeth the 3^rd annual Australia Day post. (And thanks to estelucy for that great quote.)

“My husband is in the Navy, and his ship (stationed in Everett, WA) went down to San Francisco to take part in Fleet Week. I was supposed to go down to meet him, but the trip for me) fell through. I grew up in the Bay Area, so it was really hard for me to not be there to see him and his ship; one of my very first contacts who I made here, and became friends with, lives and works in the Bay Area. He went out to the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday, and took some photos of my husband’s ship coming in through the Gate for me.” — FlyButtafly

Photos from Telstar Logistics and FlyButtafly via Flickr Central.

At first glance, one might think that Andy Goldsworthy was working on a little something new for the south coast of England. Alas, no. Last week the Ice Prince sank 26 miles off the coast dumping over 2,000 tones of timber into the channel. See more photos tagged with “ice prince.”

Photos from Mike Dillamore, lomokev, whereisboo and Spicerman.

If Hollywood was a pedicured purse Chihuahua, Sundance would be that same shivering, anxious dog in a fitted parka and boots.

The little film festival Robert Redford co-initiated in Park City, Utah, has quickly evolved into the blend of art and commerce that its celebrated films embody. Out on a small mountain resort in sub-zero temperatures, you find enough space to watch a film and meet its makers in the same short breath you inhale to keep your lungs from freezing.

It’s the sort of intellect-covered-in-marketing-goo fun that warrants some serious post-festival decompression. Between rushing to take advantage of the shwag stations (read: like shopping in Bloomingdales…for free) to scheduling the evening of back-to-back Hollywood parties, it’s a wonder anyone actually has time to watch the films. It’s a version of LA slightly humbled by geography and weather – the same way the films are a version of their Hollywood counterparts, slightly humbled by budget and niche.

Photos from Stefan Hartwig and hustler of culture.

We had a call today with the Library of Congress team to catch up on what had happened overnight with The Commons pilot project. There was a lot of laughter as we shared stories about watching all the activity overnight, and frankly, none of us could quite fathom how fantastic the response to the pilot has been.

In the 24 hours after we launched, you added over 4,000 unique tags across the collection (about 19,000 tags were added in total, for example, “Rosie the Riveter” has been added to 10 different photos so far). You left just over 500 comments (most of which were remarkably informative and helpful), and the Library has made a ton of new friends (almost overwhelming the email account at the Library, thanks to all the “Someone has made you a contact” emails)!

I’ve never been one to count my chickens, but that’s brilliant!

1. About Eddie O’Keefe, indiamos tells us “The text to the right of his legs is
   
   SOMMER
   PHILA
   
   The Sommer Studio of Philadelphia took other boxers’ portraits, as well. See two more (of Tommy Glavin and Willie Moody) at www.antekprizering.com/photo.html.”
2. It’sGreg says “Ed Geers was purported to be the first man to win a sulky race using a sulky with pneumatic tires.”
3. Well-known baseball fanatic artolog knows that “[Bob Bescher] held the NL single-season stolen base record (81 in 1911) until Maury Wills broke it in 1962.”

Sincerely, thank you. This bodes well.