RomanArmyTalk

Wow

Watched the Opening Ceremonies

If only the NBC sport casters would

a) SHUT UP
b) not talk about current world affairs
c) learn how to pronouce the names of countries
d) stop guessing at what some politician/athlete/cute little kid.... must be thinking...

If only the NBC Director would not ZOOM IN on scenes that required the camera angle to be broad... "PULL BACK!!"

If only the NBC broadcast didn't include interruptions for commercials.

If only....

Other than the above as a short list of MY complaints the Ceremony was SPECTACULAR

The friggin jinormous LED screen ; 2008 drummers at the opening; the LED screen...... the popping up and down square towers...

Sean / Hibernicus

Quote:If only the NBC sport casters would
...
b) not talk about current world affairs
...
d) stop guessing at what some politician .... must be thinking...

If only the politicians had decided to stay away. If sport has nothing to do with politics (Olympic Spirit, et cetera), there's no reason for politicians to go there and spoil the party. :wink:

Unfortunately, the modern games were politicized even more quickly than they were commercialized . That's a pity, because sports fans can see politicians doing their thing every day of the year.

That's a pity, because sports fans can see politicians doing their thing every day of the year.

Yeah and doing them badly!!

... to which of course must be added that the ancient Olympics were politics. I think one of the most interesting, and probably correct, interpretations of the Peloponnesian War is Simon Hornblower's thesis that both sides wanted to control the panhellenic sanctuaries, and that Thucydides' power analysis is just too intelligent.

Quote:... to which of course must be added that the ancient Olympics were politics. I think one of the most interesting, and probably correct, interpretations of the Peloponnesian War is Simon Hornblower's thesis that both sides wanted to control the panhellenic sanctuaries, and that Thucydides' power analysis is just too intelligent.

Sadlly it seems to be true Jonah.

Pheidon with his logdae was even dictating Olympic event outcomes in the 8th century. And all the calamities of earth fell upon the Phokians because Thessalians and Thebans coveted the Delphic Oracle.

An Armenina prince contested contrary to the law and became an Olympic Champion because the Romans said so!

Nothing new really

Kind regards

Quote:Pheidon with his logdae was even dictating Olympic event outcomes in the 8th century. And all the calamities of earth fell upon the Phokians because Thessalians and Thebans coveted the Delphic Oracle.

An Armenina prince contested contrary to the law and became an Olympic Champion because the Romans said so!

Theodosius deserved a gold medal, for abolishing the games... :wink:

Quote:Theodosius deserved a gold medal, for abolishing the games... :wink:

Bahh! He only wante to heard people in the churches because it was politically convenient for him!

Or perhaps he thought that mass murder of 15000 people in an amphitheare was more fun :twisted: :twisted:

Kind regards

If only the money on this stupidest of stupid events had been spent on the greenhouse effect or even better on the hungering people in the world,

it would have been much better.

M.VIB.M.

Mind you, one of the benefits of the opening ceremony was finding out that the Papua New Guinea national anthem is called "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy"......that was worth my BBC license fee alone.

Due to a post holiday stomach upset, have been watching much more Olympics than planned (should be at Dover), but I did like the BBC commentator talking about one of the British yachtsmen "He had a stomach upset in the run-up to this event, but he seems to have put his illness behind him....."

Quote:the Papua New Guinea national anthem is called "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy"......that was worth my BBC license fee alone.

:lol:

When I saw the guy floating, I almost expcected a guy with a free tibet shirt to fly over and exstinguish the flame.

I thank the powers that be that the Chinese have been buying up oil driving up the price!

Means the US'll be doing more (FINALLY!!!) to get at our own OIL, getting at new OIL (Chinese are xploring off the Florida cost), building NUCLEAR!! yay!!

Also more wind, more solar, lower permit fees to build rammed earth homes, earth bermed, etc.. more call/demand/political will to let homeowners install PV solar themselves, also small wind turbines...

We have oil off of S Diego.... there it is! Right there!!! Look....

Nuclear also means cheaper desalination.. and that's good as S Diego lost a huge share of Colorado River water (court ruling)

And then maybe we'll stop turning food into a expensive polluting fuel additive.

Of course the REAL solution to ending world hunger is the free market, free education, representative republics, freedom of the press, free speech, universal suffrage, end of Govt protections for local farmers, end of STUPID restrictions by the EU on genetically altered wheat making it near impossible for AFRICAN farmers to grow wheat that's salable to the EU, (or the dumb US restictions on cane sugar imports) reduce or end taxes on ALL business.. If farmers can grow extra food and sell it at free market rates there'll be INCENTIVE to grow more. Money and profit are EXCELLENT motivators. . also reduces child birth rates... educated people with extra cash have fewer children...

If BIG OIL is evil what does that make GOVERMENT which profits more off of oil than private industry??

Oh btw: BEACH VOLLEYBALL is a goofy Olympic sport.

Sean / Hibernicus

Well, George W seems to enjoy it...






George Bush learns some traditions of beach volleyball
2:23 PM, August 9, 2008

Before taking in the spectacular and awe-inspiring opening ceremonies at the Bird's Nest, President Bush met with the U.S. men's basketball team, otherwise known as the Redeem Team.

Although it must have been a thrill for Mr. Bush to shake hands with Kobe, Mello, King James and Coach K, it's difficult to imagine that the president's trip to Beijing didn't peak when he received an up-close and personal beach volleyball lesson at Chaoyang Park from defending gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

As if things weren't hot enough for the president, who had just come off a sweaty mountain bike excursion, the AP reported that May-Treanor bent over to allow him an opportunity to experience a unique element of beach volleyball.

The president needs some work on his passing, mis-hitting a pair off his knuckles. When May-Treanor passed the ball back to him, he acted like he was going to dive after it but decided to stay on his feet.

Then May-Treanor turned her back to the president, offering her bikinied rear for one of the traditional slaps that volleyball players frequently give each other.

"Mr. President, want to?" she asked, repeating an offer she made when Bush gave a pep talk to the U.S. athletes before Friday's opening ceremonies.

Bush smilingly gave a flick with the back of his hand to the small of her back instead.

According to the Countdown to Crawford blog, the trip to the park was "a break in a trip through Asia marked by public criticism of China's human rights policies, private huddles with advisors about the crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia over the breakaway South Ossetia region and a meeting Sunday with President Hu Jintao of China."

-- Tony Pierce

Photo: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press




http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympic ... h-mee.html

Quote:Well, George W seems to enjoy it...

The Dutch prime minister is also discussing human rights: [size=75:2jhu1etm][note to moderator: where's the sarcasm emoticon?][/size]