Speaker by Various Artists

Inside, one can't help feeling overwhelmed. Beer is just 5 yuan! That's only about one Kiwi dollar. Nothing warms the cockles of a captive market's collective heart more than seeing an opportunity for price gouging nobly spurned. Soft drinks go for the same price as at the cheaper convenience stores around town and there are plenty of water fountains where you can turn the dust coating your mouth into mud for free.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing in NZ. The more they gouge here the more inclined I am to "cheat" the system by not turning up.

re- the para Olympics. We happened to be in Athens whilst these were on 4 years ago. Wonderful atmosphere there and well worth attending.

The modern Olympics started as an amateur celebration of Corinthian values. It has now been hijacked by yet another round of butchers so their steroid laden automatons can do their bidding, then die in less than 20 years. But who cares? China's Olympic Unit 731 will have delivered their part of this modern version of bread and circuses and the dictators can engage in a bout of jingoistic chest beating about the progress of China. I loathe this exercise in corruption and hypocrisy so much I am actually actively boycotting the Olympics this year.

Anyway, things have changed a lot here in a decade, and now public hoickers are liable for a 50 yuan fine. I have yet to see this law being enforced, but according to a fascinating report in China Daily, "Spitting cases fell from 4.9 percent to 2.5 percent," from 2005-2007.

Percent of what? one wonders.

Very nice work -- your writing talents managed to lure me into reading about a subject in which I otherwise have zero interest!

I subscribe to the Run Only When Chased school of sports thought.

It's great to know the technical name for this exercise regime. I've been a devotee for years.

I didn’t catch New Zealand Paralympic representative Jessica Hamill winning the shot putting on Sunday, but hopefully that wasn’t the last time the NZ flag flutter will triumphantly in the artificial breeze.

How odd. That doesn't seem to have been reported at all here.

Putting aside the "China is evil/boycott the Olympics" politics for a moment, Herzog and de Meuron did a pretty incredible job on that building...
Between the Tate, this and that Philarmonic Hall in Germany (not sure if that's finished yet?) they've put together some of the best buildings around really...

How odd. That doesn't seem to have been reported at all here.

Yes, but what was it in? The paralympics are still a few months away yet, so may have just been a minor warmup tourney of some form...

Oh good! A voice neither toned or worn from years sporting endeavour nor a presenter with a vested interest to Hype The Event (cue cheering) talking about the Chinese Olympics.

Where else (honestly, where?) but on a blog.