I've been sitting here watching the opening Olympic ceremonies - which I do for every Olympics even if I have very little interest in the actual athletic contests - and I'm just amazed at the show the Chinese put on. It was quite beautiful, and obviously planned out down to the tiniest detail. I just don't remember the parade of nations being this long, or there being this many countries I'd never heard of, or the commentators being so goddamn annoying. I also find it a little ridiculous that McDonalds is calling itself the "official resturant" of the Olympic games. But then there's the Nike ad that uses a song by The Killers (are they going to release a new album soon, anyone know?), so that was a highlight. I watch the games because they represent the best that nations have to offer as they put aside their idealogical differences for the sake of the enduring competative spirit of international athletics.
A little boy who helped rescue classmates from the earthquake rubble is part of China's parade delegation. What an incredibly brave little boy!
And holy crap, they have a lot of competitors - this line is never ending (there are 1,099 members of the Chinese delegation...).
The official website of the
2008 Beijing OlmpicsNBC's coverage of the 2008 games - includes live feeds and medal updates for each contest
And now for something completely different...
Via Laughing Squid:
Hamlet, as told on Facebook's news feedWhat science makes possible:
Mapping pronounced brow ridges and occipital lobesComplete fossils
1 comment:
'"For the first time, we've built a sequence from ancient DNA that is essentially without error," said Richard Green of Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.'
This story was fascinating and exciting, but I hate it when they say that science is without error. Science is essentially based in error, error that hopefully leads to a greater understanding of the past.
Thanks for these stories!!! If you hadn't posted these, I wouldn't have seen them. My connection loaded them and I felt like I was involved in the world for a few minutes. :) gracias.
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