saint.panda

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!!

Yeah, he was already in victory pose 10m before the finish line and he didn't even realize he broke the world record until after his victory round. On a different matter, Liu Xiang, the Chinese 110m hurdles God, dropped out due to an injury. Fuck. An entire nation is weeping because of that now.

That shouldn't be too hard to find. I'll see what I can do.

Have a picture? I can send you one if I can find it.

Watched the 100m sprint final in the stadium. Craaaaaazy.

Just got back from watching Bolt run the 100m in 9.69 seconds. Everybody in the stadium went absolutely nuts!

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Welcome!

One of the girls was only 13 last year and this article was released by Xinhua, the national news agency http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/p/2007-11-03/22383268989.shtml And it would seem that not even the Chinese can avoid the blue screen of death

Yup, they're lying and almost everybody here knows that, but nobody can prove it.

You might also consider installing Google Analytics to see where all that traffic is coming from and more. Very useful tool.

Website looks nice. On Safari (Mac) the menu bar makes a tiny expansion downwards when I click on one of the links in the menu bar. It looks like the font changes to one size bigger for a split second. On Firefox (Mac), the link that I click also changes its font for a split second and then changes back again. But this time the font doesn't get bigger but changes to something that looks like Times perhaps.

Watched wrestling today. Both finals were Russia against Azerbaijan, and Russia won both. China almost had a bronze but it wasn't meant to be, oh well. Great atmosphere and I'm getting quite addicted to that Olympic spirit. Phelps had another good day today.

Even the 5th ranked team would have broken the world record, crazy indeed. That new speedo suit must be well worth its $500 price tage. The swimmers also uniformly praised the great conditions in the Aquatics Center.

Happy Birthday!!

It was a very entertaining game. China held its own in the first quarter with great perimeter play and also thanks to the USA's own dismal 3-point performance. But China scored too few points in the 2nd quarter and also committed way too many turnovers. After that the US team found its rhythm and it was game over for China. Yi had a terrible game up until the last quarter but by then it was already too late. Yao didn't do too well either.

I would say that the Olympics have worsened the fate of those on the other side of the wall. Migrant workers were pretty much deported out of the city, officials have rounded up dissidents with more vigour than usually in fear of stealing headlines and countless people were forced to move out of their homes to make place for more modern facilities (compensation: not much and at the point of a gun called prison). Those who have argued for the beneficial effect of the Olympics on China have made three specific claims, none of which holds water: (1) human rights improvements, (2) "green" Olympics, and (3) Chinese image polishing. (1) is simply not true. Although Chinese are much freer (except for political freedom) than they were 30,20 or even 10 years ago, that's not due to the Olympics, which has actually brought more political repression to the city. (2) is laughable. Forcing factories to shut down one month before the Olympics and creating a odd/even faceplate car rule during the Olympics won't usher in the next green revolution. What should be implemented are sustainable policies not one-off measures like these. Fortunately, they are doing that due to growing dissatisfaction of a growing middle class about environmental conditions as in most developing countries. Nothing needs to be said about (3) as the Olympics have been more of a PR disaster than brand polishing for China. And doing stuff like vetoing sanctions against Zimbabwe in the Security Council will keep it that way for some time to come. The Olympics also present a huge minus on the balance sheet even though official numbers will never tell you that. The Bird's Nest alone is about $500 million over budget (800 instead of the planned 300). From the beginning the Olympics has been about the government presenting itself as a strong leader to its people. Living in Beijing, you get the feeling that the media and government don't really care about the rest of the world. Having dumped its Communist ideology, the Communist Party now stakes its survival and legitimacy on tight political control, economic advance and nationalist pride. The current Olympics embody every part of that stance. And that's why it's quite important for China to get first in the gold medal count this time. -- But back to sports: the 4x100m swim relay was absolutely fantastic. Too bad the US won (by 0.06 second), but it was a great race!!

That's nothing compared to when they actually painted the streets green in the build up of their bid for the Olympics some years ago. As much as I love China (the people, not the government), its bid should have been rejected. But now that it's here anyway, I might as well enjoy it (which I do!).

I've got tickets for the 100m track finals. The opening ceremony really was mind-blowing, but I also agree with the Washington Post when it wrote that no democracy could or should so much on an opening ceremony. Either way, I thought it was great (my lucky uncle even saw it live) and most Chinese think the same way. The China-USA basketball game yesterday was also fun to watch.

Happy Birthday!!

Somebody pmed me, but I forgot who it was.

HD 580 > ESW9 = HD 25-1 > triple.fi 10 Pro > KSC-75

Happy Birthday!