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Olympic rant..

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:45 pm
by cowsmanaut
So, 2010.. Olympics in Vancouver. Great, it's a real honor to have them Olympic games in Vancouver. Seriously it is! However... They Olympic planning team has done a piss poor job at planning, and not just that.. they have decided to take over peoples daily lives in order to make quick $$ or to give a few people their 15mins of fame. The cost of this to the lives of many of us is not at all cool.

Examples:

torch bearers. Many average people were given the chance to have the 15 mins fame, they get an outfit and a torch and get to be on TV, carrying the torch down the street. Many of them walking down the street basking in the moment. Smiling, waving.. taking their sweet time. The result of that in my area was a main street which is needed to allow travel in and out of my area ie, the only way in and out for a large number of people, was blocked for this event, from 7am to 1pm. Not fully, but it was not at all organized. My wife left 1.5 hours early to be sure to get to work. I went by foot, and even by foot it took me twice the time it usually takes. Because as a pedestrian, I wasn't even allowed to cross the street because of these torch bearers. You have this main road, normally 4 lanes(two each side) you take one of those sides and completely cut it off. However, you do not take care to split the other two into incoming and outgoing traffic. You just leave it as is.. ok.. that's really stupid.. but moving on. I watched a police officer on a motorbike go down on the wrong side of the road.. not for any real reason.. just wanted to.. and his action was to wave people out of the way. This resulted in complete confusion.. the cars then all pulled over and stopped.. confused looks on their faces unsure how long he wanted them to be there.. he didn't.. he just wanted to go around.. maybe catch up with his buddy to have a little conversation because he was bored. So no what little traffic there was.. has now come to a complete and confused stop. We have people standing on the sides of the road waving and yelling at anything that goes past them.. that MIGHT have something to do with the Olympics, and a friend told me there was another police officer threatening people on the edge of the road with his bike, swerving and reving his engine. He witnessed this happen to a mother and her child. No legitimate reason.. just wanted to.. @#$%ing jerk.

next example is our lovely University, and most other schools are closed. But why is that do you ask? Well quite simple really.. they want to sell the parking. So you, in the middle of your second term are not allowed at ALL on campus.. forced 2 week "vacation" .. now to some it's not so bad. However, the world moves on without you. This fractures your concentration as well. How hard is it to get back to full speed when you've been forced to stop? It works for studies too.. when you stop learning, reading, doing.. you need time to get back into it again. So a two week break (aka party time to some students) means an overall loss. They are trying to arrange to tack on the extra two weeks.. however, how about those people who lecture at different schools? This offset of two weeks potentially screws their entire schedule.. and it's not likely they are to be paid for the extra two weeks.. what if they other school is in another country or province? they don't have this delay. Or perhaps they got a consession to do teaching one day a week for a specific period of time but not the rest of the year. This throws all that off for the company. No one else seems to think of any of this.

We have thousands of tourists every year, however, we have never needed to close roads, schools, etc. This is simply an example of people doing whatever the hell they want, screwing with the regular person's life.

Do we need people winding down every street in BC stopping traffic to see a torch? no.. we don't. The people who came out for it.. left the second the passed them.. no joke. They ran past them and they all started to say, ok let's go, and left. It was a simple curiosity nothing more.. people could have seen ONE torch bearer run one street near the already closed Olympic area on TV and online and that would have been enough.

Do we need to provide our schools parking to tourists? hell no.. we don't do it any other time.. why the hell should we do it at the expense of our students educations? For the olympics? screw that... Some suggest it's because there is to be no parking on the side of the road, but you know what.. that's downtown only.. not out here... and if you suggest it's to help the hotels who don't have enough parking.. how the hell is that our problem.. poor hotel.. didn't think that they might need one parking space per room.. gee.. that's kinda stupid don't you think?

So again.. it's an honor.. but it's about the sports.. not the 15 mins fame, or the cash grab.. it's not about stopping peoples lives so someone can try to win a gold medal for their country.

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:38 am
by Bit
Ah, peanuts.
Our city became politically a bit more important the last years - so they placed some events there.
In my eyes - ridiculous ones, but - who am I to decide? At least not one of those poor ones who get regulary their shops closed because of the safety mile. And I also can wait those few seconds when they bring the important people with a horrible speed through the city (wonder why I have to drive 30 at night there when also just cats are crossing). But you won't know about the stories that they did to the people when Bush visited! Or (we do have some american areas here and will be soon worldwide target #1 - so, please someone care for Iran, I won't taste their tests here!!!) the panic after 11/9...

Those poor young sportspeople are just a cheap resource for those who really make their money with that all. The rest of the year they have hardly the money to survive and train. In fact they vanish from the unemployed lists with that, good for some statistics too. This olympic idea... see where Greece is today... they could need a lot of tourists again...
(what do you think is the monster of Loch Ness good for - or Lourdes in France - or Area 51?)

But altogether - there are worse ideas than Olympia.

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:28 pm
by Jan
Yeah, yeah, yeah, indeed. And besides, we have the first gold medal! :lol: *

No, seriously, I understand your anger and disappointment, Cows. But still, be happy that you live in Canada. Much worse things happen here every day (we had the Skiing World Championship in the Czech Republic last year, as a source of unbelievable corruption, economic mis-management, irresponsibility and arrogance of politicians - by the way, the local University was closed too), not talking about the countries more to the east.

* won by a girl from my hometown (skating on the 3 km track), so the whole town is happy now :D

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:14 pm
by Bit
See cows, it's all balanced in the world.

Just watching a TV-movie how the destruction of the meteors forced evolution.

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:35 pm
by Jan
I hope I wasn't misunderstood - I didn't want to say "do nothing, it's OK, you see, in Eastern Europe it's even worse" - it would be a bad argument. Actually, it's great that you have mentioned and described these problems, Cows. What I wanted to say was "don't be too disappointed or sceptical, because it could be much worse - it's still not bad, it's still not lost, there's still a way back if the people are active." Or something. :wink:
Bit wrote:it's all balanced in the world
Of course it's balanced, you little tinker, because otherwise the World would just fall down or flip over! :)

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:59 pm
by Bit
hmmm - I think a sphere would start to rotate :P

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:04 pm
by Jan
Ha! But the Earth is not a sphere, but a geoid (or, if you simplify it a bit, Bit, an ellipsoid)! Ha! Gotcha! :)

(well, OK, an ellipsoid would start rotating too, but it's not important, is it?)

(wait, the Earth is not rotating already, is it? :shock: )

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:32 pm
by cowsmanaut
it would appear there are protests going on over a number of things that are also caused by Olympic non-thinking. For example increase of debt and spending on the olympics. Displacement of low income housing causing an increase of homeless of up to 3000 people. Destruction of a natural habitat to build the Olympic highway so they can get to the games faster... change of laws and fines giving police the right to enter your house for only a flag.. and a side effect of the olympics is the forced sex trade increasing. A whole lot of negative elements surrounding what should be a great event. Something to inspire and invigorate..

anyway.. Canada has taken a medal too :P Womens ski I think..

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:37 pm
by Gambit37
Wow, and I thought I was Grumpy!

All I can say is that being totally not interested in sport, and yet having become inexplicably obssessed with the Snowboard Cross (man, it's exciting!), I can't really sympathise. Sorry! ;) :P

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:41 am
by Gambit37
And you just won Silver in the Men's Snowboard Cross :-)

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:50 am
by beowuuf
cows did???!!! cool!

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:53 am
by Gambit37
Yeah, it was amazing! This space suited bovine just came out of nowhere! Would have stolen the show if he didn't trip up at the end over his air pipes and got pipped to the post for Gold! ;)

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:00 am
by Bit
Gambit37 wrote:And you just won Silver in the Men's Snowboard Cross :-)
of course silver, check history: gold at home is impossible for Canada
*puts on helmet and runs down the hill* 8)

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:13 am
by Sophia
YAY! GO PEOPLE WHO FROM THE SAME COUNTRY AS ME! I LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE FROM THE SAME COUNTRY AS ME! EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT SOMETIMES!

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:51 am
by Jan
Of course, of course, I'm not a nationalist, Sophia. I'm totally indifferent. And, as a high-class intellectual, I'm ostentatiously not interested in sports.

*rubs hands over another medal for the Czech Republic*

No, seriously, I'm not a nationalist, of course, but I'm still happy if someone from the Czech Republic or Slovakia wins a medal, or is successful in any other way or field of human activity. But I'm not an intellectual. I do not relax reading Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky - I relax watching football or ice-hockey. I do not go to cafés to discuss art, literature or philosophy. I go to a pub, drink beer and talk about sport and girls. :wink:

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:41 pm
by Maven
I wondered if you were close enough to go see the olympics. Or to be affected. I guess now we know. :)

Eight years ago the Winter olympics were down in Salt Lake City. I have spent an awful lot of time in that area. I got my degree at BYU less than an hour away and worked for a company there for many years. I still get down there quite a bit for various reasons. But while the olympics were there I didn't go within 100 miles of the place. On purpose. I thought about visiting for the opening or closing ceremonies or maybe going for one event, just for the experience, but decided against it. I get a better viewpoint from TV anyway. And I didn't have to deal with the issues you brought up.

Historically we have watched the olympics as a family activity. You get to see people working hard doing constructive things. You get to see artistic skill and amazing showmanship. You get to see the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. And you don't have to worry about innuendos or violence or vulgarity much. It really is television at its best. But this year we've been pretty busy doing our own constructive things. Besides which, we've disconnected our satellite TV and now we only watch what we can download from the internet. I expect we'll download some of the ice skating routines and ceremonies and such, but watching races after you already know who won just isn't quite the same.

The bonus of having had the olympics there is that you end up with highways and stadiums that you can use for decades after they are gone. The construction that happened in Salt Lake City was a pain for the couple of years preceding the olympics, but now, even eight years later, the traffic congestion is noticeably less than it was before, and they use the buildings for conferences and shows and such. There really was some good long-term planning that happened there. Theoretically the short surge in local business from the tourism that happened was supposed to pay for all that. Not sure if it really did or not.

And you get a chance to update your stereotype image. Lots of people had ideas of Salt Lake City as Mormons who run around in long skirts and bonnets and stovepipe hats and grow beards or have horns or something. After actually visiting there they got to see what the city really was like. I don't know what kind of stereotypes other people have of Vancouver, but I guess I thought there would be lots of people wearing beanies and drinking a lot of beer and saying things like "Take off, eh?" But then I went there and I thought it was a rather nice city. And the surrounding area was beautiful.

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:41 pm
by cowsmanaut
to be honest, I'd like to enjoy the olympics. However, it's kind of like trying to punish someone you want to spend time with, animal, child, etc. You feel they deserve the treatment of being ignored for a time until they understand what they've done. However it doesn't change the fact that you may still have moments where you want to do something nice.. but they're still supposed to be punished.

However in this case.. they have no clue, nor a care that I'm punishing them. That I'm very dissapointed in the way things have been going and how much worse I keep finding out things are because of them ignoring needs, or trying to cut corners. Spend on the non needed.. Why do we need a new stadium? We have one.. a huge one.. why does it have to be an olympic named one?

So, like I say... I want to be happy it's here.. to be more supportive.. but it's hard facing the bad things caused by it, and the uncaring temperment of the people responsible.

Some say just go out and take advantage to see people from around the world.. wow.. what a nice excuse. Wait, I'd rather do that in person..as some of you know. I went to London to meet many of you. I went to France to meet my current wife. I'd rather GO to the country, than have the country come to me... a egyptian fellow will not bring with him the pyramids.. I want to go see.. be submersed in the cutlure. An asian person, black person, east indian person, egyptian person.. it's not like I have not seen one before.. I live in the multicultural center of the world it seems. Canada is a place that everyone seems to want to live. I've mentioned it before but BC is supposed to have one of the higher ranking cities in terms of living conditions.. though.. I suspect it's going down because of these events.. but anyway.. point is.. I see people from around the world every day.. students from around the globe... I talk to you people here often enough.. again.. people from around the globe. So, that excuse doesn't work for me.. :P

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:33 pm
by T0Mi
Some of the matches of the soccer world championship in 2006 took place in Stuttgart and while the preparations were going on (with all the negative side-effects) I thought to myself "oh my god, this is gonna be a gathering of the most [...] people mankind has to offer: football fans and hooligans." I was wrong, as usual. The longer it lasted, the more I could enjoy it. I've seen one of the matches at a place were they had puplic viewing on a giant screen and everyone was smiling at each other and there was an atmosphere of friendship and happiness. Not too many drunk people, no agression. Only after the Germans lost, one italian fellow tried to climb on the hood of my Boattail. I had to 'kindly' guide him back on the right way. Beside that, everything was quite peaceful. Even as our turkish friends lost. ;-)

Re: Olympic rant..

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:44 am
by Bit
Sophia wrote:YAY! GO PEOPLE WHO FROM THE SAME COUNTRY AS ME! I LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE FROM THE SAME COUNTRY AS ME! EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT SOMETIMES!
Bah - you're just jealous that you aren't allowed to be member of the hockey team :P