[quote]Panic might be the mother of innovation, because Zika panic has spawned a host of creative solutions, from anti-Zika condoms to facial masks and sperm-freezing.
…
During official ceremonies and at the Olympic village, South Korean competitors will reportedly don long-sleeve, “Zika-proof” uniforms infused with mosquito-repelling chemicals.
…
Look up “Zika prevention” on Amazon.com and you’ll find safari-esque mosquito hats that function like mobile bed nets; bug-repellant bracelets that sound impressive but are “based on little “competent and reliable scientific evidence” according to the American Mosquito Control Association’s Joseph Conlon; and so-called high-tech ultrasonic pest repellers that have come under scrutiny from the from the Federal Trade Commission.[/quote]
Of course, the Russian track and field team has the best anti-Zika measures.
The IOC needs to be shut down. It is absolutely corrupt. After shutting down the IOC the Olympics need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. Rio 2016 is just the latest episode in the shit show that is the Olympics.
The Olympics should just be abolished. They were never really what they were intended or claimed to be, but in the last 40 years or so they have turned into the very opposite of a display of sportsmanship and international cooperation. Not only is the IOC 100% corrupt, but most of the national committees are totally corrupt too. There’s too much money and too much politics involved for reforming the games to be possible. So just put an end to them and everyone outside the committees will be happier.
The various individual sport world cups and world championships can still occur, desynchronized and administered separately. Even without the money, the media focus, and the hype these events may still whiff of corruption (especially football of course, since FIFA is as corrupt as the IOC but that’s a special case), but at least they mostly aren’t actively destructive to the cities and nations in which they take place.
My kids became swimmers after watching Michel Phelps in the 2008 Olympics. It probably is completely corrupt, but I wouldn’t want to see them go away. Some kids dream about going to these things to compete. The Olympics matter, despite all the bullshit and corruption. If you do away with the Olympics, there will still be bullshit and corruption in the world, but we won’t have the Olympics.
Completely agree with Tim here, what benefit would abolishing the Olympics have? So many of the sports featured in it would not be watched in separate world competitions (e.g. how many watch the swimming championships relative to swimming in the Olympics). There is a clear benefit in clumping these kinds of physical competitions in one big event.
Yeah, I agree with various Tims. Burn the IOC to the ground and salt the earth, absolutely, and yea let no two stones sit upon one another.
But the Olympics do have value. Just put them somewhere permanently (hey, can anyone think of a Mediterranean state that could use a big chunk of infrastructure-spending stimulus?) and put a new, less corrupt governing body in place (now this I have no idea how to do, but anything will be by definition less corrupt than the IOC).
I guess, from other pictures, and what is stated in that article, is that is supposed to be a bank of power outlets for the room. This room appears to have no outlets.
Here’s a good one: There was a fire evacuation in part of the Olympic village. Some of the Australian athletes had Zika-protective shirts stolen while they were evacuated. One lost a laptop. And in another part of the building, a different member of the Australian team slept through the evacuation because the alarm didn’t actually go off: the alarm had been disconnected (probably due to work being done in the building).
I’m really enjoying these Olympics so far. The opening ceremonies yesterday were lovely, and really clever in how they created spectacle on a low budget. And I loved the environmental message.
But the real opening ceremonies for me is always the cycling race that takes place the next day. In China, the race took us close to the Great Wall, and through hills, and through city streets. In London they took us through quaint countryside and iconic London streets. And this morning, the race took us through beautiful hills and beaches. Great stuff.
Some finish, too, with that crash and then the poor guy who got cramps (or at least that’s what it looked like). Was glad to see he held on for bronze.
