Check this out: cool gizmo showing Olympic medal hauls thru history

The NYT has a very, very cool way of presenting Olympic results by country in the form of a map that changes over time. Think about that, then click here to take a look.

China's Olympic Stadium (yuck!)

So, the NYT just published their architectural review of the Beijing Olympic Stadium. It's a glowing review.

Many of you have already seen the stadium, and surely anyone who watches the Opening Ceremonies this week will see it as well. It is nicknamed the "Bird's Nest" for the threads of steel that compose the outside of the stadium.

The Chinese are very, very proud of the stadium, and see it as a symbol of their nations' progress. There is also symbolism at play, as the stadium design echoes a Chinese delicacy, Bird's Nest Soup. (I guess the American parallel would be an arena shaped like a Krispy-Kreme donut, or perhaps a stadium resembling a Papa John's Pizza.)

I'm not an architecture critic, nor Chinese, but having seen the stadium up-close, I gotta say that the stadium is waaay oversold. It is, in fact, ugly, unless you find a pile of paperclips sexy, or think that wax drippings are cool. When I saw the Stadium, I had to ask if it was complete. When told yes, I had to process the fact that the Stadium was actually built according to plan, and that, amazingly, someone actually authorized it.


In my case, I had to process all of this while standing in the break-down lane of a Beijing highway. My guide on the way back from the Great Wall had offered to stop by the Stadium on the way back to Beijing. I enthusiastically accepted, but didn't realize until too late that their version of "stop by" meant pulling over on the highway, with cars whizzing past inches away.

Still, I managed to take a few shots, including this one.

Bizarre image of the day......

Apparently the Chinese anti-terrorist squad will be deploying during the Olympics on Segways. Better hope no bad guys can run faster than 12 mph!

China is widely publicizing it's anti-terror precautions during the Olypmics as much inside the country as externally, as I noticed on a TV segment featuring such a team (riding SUVs, not Segways) on TV during my last trip to China last fall. Though China is often perceived to be passive internally, and therefore more concerned about external terror threats, IMHO, internal terror group pose as big of a threat, as China is anything but a homogeneous country.

Hat tip: Deadspin.