Official 2012 Olympics Thread

[TNTGODZZ]

I\'m guessing you think one post containing a grand total of one line of text without any rationed argument constitutes unfalsifiable proof because you are English (if I\'m guessing right)? Would you believe me if I told you America is better than the UK, because I\'m an American?

no i wouldnt. and its not due to the fact im biased. ive been to america, and i am going for a fourth time in 2014. the first three were tourists in florida, orlando and cape Canaveral (you get the deal). this time, the family is off to new york, and a tour of California. yes i am english. and im still so very afraid of what your country is doing to itself. the fact that they WONT tell you on a day by day basis of the losses in the Afghanistan war. in the uk, we are told as soon as the family of the soldier will let the media know. and also the fact you cut out the 7/7 bombing tribute... i was so enraged upon seeing that!

[RC1062]

and also the fact you cut out the 7/7 bombing tribute... i was so enraged upon seeing that!

*Quiet voice* To be fair, the American public has no control over that...

[Accelerando]

and im still so very afraid of what your country is doing to itself. the fact that they WONT tell you on a day by day basis of the losses in the Afghanistan war. in the uk, we are told as soon as the family of the soldier will let the media know. and also the fact you cut out the 7/7 bombing tribute... i was so enraged upon seeing that!

*Quiet voice* To be fair, the American public has no control over that...

Not much of the American public seem to care anyway...

'You don\'t have to help anyone! That\'s what this country\'s all about!'

From poverty to education to Iraq to Afghanistan to censorship to the Olympics, forward into oblivion.

So, how about them swimmers?

[Lord Wasteland]

Not much of the American public seem to care anyway...

'You don\'t have to help anyone! That\'s what this country\'s all about!'

From poverty to education to Iraq to Afghanistan to censorship to the Olympics, forward into oblivion.

So, how about them swimmers?

Wow. You are easily stereotyping us. I am warning you, please do not stereotype this anymore. I attempt to help people all the time! And I was born in America, and still consider myself an American.

[GOOMH]

I enjoyed the opening ceremony but the love story thing I thought was cheesy yes give a tribute to the inventor of World Wide Web but couldn\'t you made it more interesting? I like the music from the various periods but I didn\'t hear any Led Zeppelin( Maybe I did but it was so short I didn\'t recognize it). I love that they played two Muse songs but hate that one of them is Uprising ( Great song but it\'s the only Muse song played on my local station which makes it overplayed). I still liked it better than china besides the Cauldron lighting. Still I think they should have had Clarkson drive in an E-Type Jag and light it as it be much more epic.

[Rascal Nag]

The silence we had part way through the history of Britain bit.

No, that was WWI.

Edit: Also, while it was clear it may have had some meaning to the people of Great Britain, if you\'re holding an internationalevent you should at least make a half decent attempt to impress the international audience with what you\'re doing instead of just your own people. Celebrating the NHS was probably the low point for other countries, with the information age/love story bit coming in as a close second for being so cheesy. The children\'s literature part was pretty cheesy as well.

What they should have done, if they want to impress people with their history, was add in segments involving the ancient history of the isles, like the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons (They could have done stuff with Beowulf!), etc. since all were on the isles at some point, Moved on to the agrarian bit they had in the beginning after that, then the industrial age, did the tribute to WWI, then pulled off the industrial revolution stuff and did a portion on WWII, then moved into the mid-late 20th century by focusing on the music (WITHOUT the love story crap), and finally, as the pinnacle, the invention of the World Wide Web.

And each era represented would each bring one ring. The ancient era could chisel one. The agrarian era could 'grow' one, as in have a ring of vines come up from the ground. The industrial revolution portion forged one. The music portion could make a music staff loop around on itself. And finally, the world wide web ending would have a ring which actually has lights on it display 0\'s and 1\'s a la the Matrix come up around Tim Berners-Lee while he types on the computer.

The end.

[RC1062]

No, that was WWI.

It was for both world wars (that\'s how the BBC put it anyway).

[Capt'n Skunky]

The best line of the Opening Ceremonies was from Bob Costas as the North Korean team was being shown.

“Of course the greatest athlete ever in North Korea is none other than the former Dear Leader Kim Jong Il who, according to his official bio, hit eleven holes in one in golf — not over the course of his career, mind you, but in his very first round of golf. At least two of those came off the windmill and the clown’s nose.†- Bob Costas, NBC

What a hoot!

Cheers!

Capt\'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Imandreas]

The best line of the Opening Ceremonies was from Bob Costas as the North Korean team was being shown.

“Of course the greatest athlete ever in North Korea is none other than the former Dear Leader Kim Jong Il who, according to his official bio, hit eleven holes in one in golf — not over the course of his career, mind you, but in his very first round of golf. At least two of those came off the windmill and the clown’s nose.†- Bob Costas, NBC

What a hoot!

Cheers!

Capt\'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

This. Definitely this.

[Rascal Nag]

It was for both world wars (that\'s how the BBC put it anyway).

I guess NBC over here forgot to add in that part...

[Cthulufaic]

Hey guys Italy got the entire podium for the Women\'s Fencing, pretty nifty huh?

[Menelmacar]

I\'m sure the people of Britain think it\'s a good spending of their billions (and oh that lovely private industry providing 2% of the cash, sure took the burden off the people there), I\'m sure they feel safe now that six surface-to-air missile sites have been set up on top of resident\'s buildings, I\'m sure they appreciate the fine 5,000V six metre fence surrounding the 'village'. I\'m sure everyone feels just great that the whole thing was kicked off (passing the torch) by a race started by Hitler & Co... Can you believe their tagline is 'inspire a generation'?! Training the populace to function with the police state - one international event at a time.

[Accelerando]

Wow. You are easily stereotyping us.

Perhaps, but it\'s hard for me to argue against the notion that Americans generally just don\'t give too much of a damn when our government constantly holds off from making any kind of meaningful decision whatsoever about poverty, education, etc. our infrastructure is crumbling, our banks are cheating us and other nations of the world, Occupy Wall Street seems to have fizzled out (or at least its media coverage) and so on. You could argue, as RC1062 did for the cutting out of some Olympic footage, that the American people did not have much of a say in the matter — but who other than the American people make up the corporations, government, the mass media, the banks and all the other institutions who are or may be messing with our lives?

All governments must exist by the support of their people, whether explicit or implicit. It\'s not just our votes but our dollars that make that possible. The fact that a nation of 330 million people can\'t right such a small wrong as its mass media glossing over an important international event troubles me, to say nothing of the other, bigger wrongs I listed — and if someone should accuse me of expecting unrealistic things of so many people, they should remember that the supposed unrealism of such an expectation is exactly the stereotype Wasteland is talking about. Rich businessmen and politicians may have the money to buy power over you, but all of that is meaningless if that power and money isn\'t backed up by the hard labor of poor American working grunts, however 'necessary' they\'ve been convinced their dedication to the lesser evil is.

I attempt to help people all the time! And I was born in America, and still consider myself an American.

Good! I congratulate you. It\'s people like you who maintain my hopes for the future. I am an American myself, and I do try to help people. I don\'t feel America as a whole tries very hard, though.

[RC1062]

I\'m sure the people of Britain think it\'s a good spending of their billions (and oh that lovely private industry providing 2% of the cash, sure took the burden off the people there), I\'m sure they feel safe now that six surface-to-air missile sites have been set up on top of resident\'s buildings, I\'m sure they appreciate the fine 5,000V six metre fence surrounding the 'village'. I\'m sure everyone feels just great that the whole thing was kicked off (passing the torch) by a race started by Hitler & Co... Can you believe their tagline is 'inspire a generation'?! Training the populace to function with the police state - one international event at a time.

*Looks at the the funding every other nation puts in to their military* *Looks at funding no longer being put into British military, along with the ships and weaponry dropped recently*

Yep, I feel slightly less naked now.

You also forgot the jobs and business it brings. How many people have come to Britain or will be coming to Britain over the course of the Olympics? Where are they planning to stay? Are they bringing their own food? Maybe they would like to take a tour around London or a different historic city or town?

As a young person living in Britain who dislikes sport I do feel inspired by the Olympics. What you may not realise is that us young people in Britain statistically do not do enough exercise. The hope is that holding this world renowned sporting event will encourage schools and pupils to take part in sporting events.

I don\'t understand the 'Hitler and Co' reference. Please could you elaborate?

[Paprika]

Hey guys Italy got the entire podium for the Women\'s Fencing, pretty nifty huh?

Another fencing fan! Great!

I was on the edge of my seat for both the medal fights, really intense stuff. I\'m going to the Men\'s team foil, can\'t wait!

[Endeavour]

The opening ceremony didn\'t compared to the amazing one in Beijing four years ago.

[Accelerando]

As a young person living in Britain who dislikes sport I do feel inspired by the Olympics. What you may not realise is that us young people in Britain statistically do not do enough exercise. The hope is that holding this world renowned sporting event will encourage schools and pupils to take part in sporting events.

What a joke. America has hosted the Olympic games a total of 8 times, more than any nation in the world, yet it continues to have the highest obesity rate in the world and higher rates of readmission to hospitals from heart attacks, and despite hosting 6 of those Olympic games after World War II, American recreational exercise rates did not change dramatically while overall activity went down over a period of 50 years to at least 2004. While Britain isn\'t exactly America, I\'m not holding my breath for any miracles.

You also forgot the jobs and business it brings. How many people have come to Britain or will be coming to Britain over the course of the Olympics? Where are they planning to stay? Are they bringing their own food? Maybe they would like to take a tour around London or a different historic city or town?

You forget how long these jobs and business last. Olympic games and thus the tourist business they provide are ephemeral by nature, since they end after ~2 weeks, and afterward far fewer international tourists will want to come to London just to see an empty stadium. Stadiums are sometimes reconverted and become profitable sites, but generally there is no real guarantee of this.

The construction of the stadium itself could be counted, but it\'s business largely paid for, as Menelmacar wrote, by the government and in turn its taxpayers. Post-Olympic stadium operation and possible elevated (though not nearly Olympic) tourism rates could eventually help to restore the lost money, but the Olympic games in general do not exactly have a shining track record of leaving social and economic success in their wake. It\'s also worth noting that the original (completely farcical) budget estimate on London 2012 was around $3bn, while the taxpayer-financed budget has since ballooned in size over 4x to $14bn, and this is considering that most parties in Britain were starkly opposed to the games when they were first proposed.

The Olympic infrastructure could be beneficial to London in the long run, but the costs at least will take an equally long time to recoup. Sort of cancels out in that case —and if the Games don\'t bring long-term economic benefits, well, London is SOL (and I\'m not referring to the Sun).

[Menelmacar]

Alright so - this is my opinion... The people of the U.K. will not benefit in any way from hosting the Olympics. The \'affordable housing\' promised is going to be in 13/15 of London\'s most impoverished areas, taxpayer money (you do know that rich people can afford to pay people to get around as many taxes as possible, right?) spent on building McDonalds and Westfield shopping complexes... They\'re spending the people\'s money so they can spend more money. Do you see how if McDonalds wants to open a \'restaurant\', they should be paying for it\'s construction?

I\'m sorry but to me it seems SO wrong, I\'m sure lots of people enjoy it and the athletes work hard - does that justify the billions in (already immoral, imo) tax going down the drain? Stuff that should by rights be spent on roads, education, etc. is instead being spent on \'100 days of traffic delays\' and unmanned drones (I know the UK has the most CCTV coverage in the world but do they know about the drones? They\'ve only been allowed officially in the U.S. for a few months...) when things really aren\'t looking good for the UK financially. Would you like a surface-to-air missile site set up on the roof of your home? Know that the people of the UK were forced into paying for it.

The a bit about Hitler & friends- from wikipedia.org 'Carl Diem devised the idea of the torch relay for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin that was organized by the Nazis under the guidance of Joseph Goebbels. Krupp armaments company produced the torches in wood and metal, inspired by an olive leaf. The Olympic Flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometres by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin.' just a bit of trivia really but you know there\'s that guy with Godwin\'s law in his signature ;D

[DeviouslyDeviant]

Aussie Aussie Aussie OI OI OI!!! We are going to pwn everybody w00t!!!

[RC1062]

*Grumbles quietly*

Well the public transport system has definitely been improved...

At least the games result in something, we throw lots of money into lots of other black holes... :-[

Edit: And yes, thought about that after noticing it was the 36th reply.

[Kryten]

As was predicted, the Chinese are winning by a big margin, with nine golds compared with the US\' five, and the three of the next competitors. Rather unexpectedly though, North Korea is beating basically everyone after those two, including Russia and the host nation (well, that last one\'s not too surprising).

[Lord Wasteland]

As was predicted, the Chinese are winning by a big margin, with nine golds compared with the US\' five, and the three of the next competitors. Rather unexpectedly though, North Korea is beating basically everyone after those two, including Russia and the host nation (well, that last one\'s not too surprising).

How is North Korea doing so well with gold!?

[Paprika]

Anyone into Canoe Slalom? I\'m off to see the final today, exciting stuff!

[kimmstreep]

Ceremony gone fantastic and huge crowd enjoyed themselves due to different celebrities performances.All had in different mood and make ceremony perfect in london.

[szpw]

I wonder what it's like for the people who live around the Olympic areas in London...