Ellington

The Summer Olympics officially begin Friday with the opening ceremonies in Beijing. What could go wrong in China over the next two-and-a-half weeks? Plenty, says Slate, starting with biblical-style plagues of locusts, (TV) darkness, bad air, too much rain and too little water. Other worst-case scenarios include terrorism, Tibet-inspired trouble and tainted food.

Previous Comments

ID

132935

Comment

I'm really concerned about the air quality over there. There's no telling what harm may come to the citizens of China over time, even with warnings and masks. What if those big clouds of coal-induced smoke start traveling to this side of the globe?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-08-08T14:36:21-06:00

ID

132946

Comment

The air quality index (or whatever they call that thing) is 95 in Beijing, which is not very good at all. And I thought Los Angeles had smog.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-08-08T22:08:02-06:00

ID

132951

Comment

Did anyone see the opening ceremony last night? The artistry and choreography were beyond what I expected. Too bad such a wonderful event was followed by a terrorist attack the next day.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-08-09T09:58:13-06:00

ID

132954

Comment

I agree, L.W. It was totally cool. Of course, I had a LOT of beer before it started. :) So, it was probably MORE amazing to me because I was seeing it in double. ;)

Author

Lori G

Date

2008-08-09T11:57:51-06:00

ID

132955

Comment

Only you, Lori. Only you. :-P

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-08-09T12:04:23-06:00

ID

133219

Comment

China put on a marvelous display at the opening ceremonies. I was sober and still thought it great. Beer and magic, that had to be a great sight, Lori. I heard a jealous American say some of the display was fakery or trickery. I don't give a crap. It was still beautifully excellent!

Author

Walt

Date

2008-08-19T14:04:55-06:00

ID

133250

Comment

Clearly, Michael Phelps' record-setting eight gold medals in one Olympics is the headliner. If it weren't for his performance, I don't think Americans would nearly be as interested in the Olympics. I know I wouldn't.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-08-19T16:30:49-06:00

ID

133251

Comment

I've been totally enraptured by the Olympics, from Phelps and the U.S swimmers to the men's and women's gymnastics to the diving, volleyball, 100 meters, 200 meters, the American women who got the silver in pole vaulting...I’m hooked. I wish they had Olympics ALL THE TIME. (OK, that could get dull.) But I've gotta say I'm enjoying this fortnight!

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2008-08-19T16:37:08-06:00

ID

133270

Comment

Some of the games are getting to me. They are not a sport. I think I saw one event of marble shooting and jacks. Donna knows what jacks is since she's not much younger than me. I bet she played them with her friends. When it rained and we boys couldn't go outside, we used to play jacks with our sisters. Of course, we didn't want anybody outside the house to know. Smile.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-08-20T08:47:01-06:00

ID

133278

Comment

I wish they had Olympics ALL THE TIME. Between NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and even Oxygen, you got it. Oh, I forgot, you don't have cable or satellite at home. Well, you could sleep at the office. There's also this little thing call the Internets.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-08-20T09:43:30-06:00

ID

133280

Comment

I heard a jealous American say some of the display was fakery or trickery. I don't give a crap. It was still beautifully excellent! I heard that some of the fireworks were computer-generated because they feared that the real fireworks would not show up on camera. That doesn't really bother me. What DID bother me was having a stand-in lip sync a song because they thought the actual singer wasn't cute enough. She's just a little girl. That was not cool.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-08-20T10:03:35-06:00

ID

133281

Comment

Between NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and even Oxygen, you got it. Oh, I forgot, you don't have cable or satellite at home. Well, you could sleep at the office. There's also this little thing call the Internets. No, I mean every day. Year round. It's so nice not to have to *think* about watching something and just watching it. ;-) And we do have cable...I call it "twelve-dollar cable." It's just local channels + WGN and CSPAN...basically like 2 through 20. And the cable company doesn't like to tell you they offer it, but they have to. ;-)

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2008-08-20T10:09:07-06:00