Topic: 8/8/08 at 8:08:08 PM

[Cobra951]

The olympics start.  What is it with eights and the Chinese?

Would that be 8 AM their time?

[scottws]

To the Chinese, 8 is a lucky number.  On the Today show this morning they said that people pay extra to have an 8 on their license plate or in their phone number in China.  I think they said the word for 8 is very similar to the word for success.

[WindAndConfusion]

faat = eight
baat = prosperous
(or maybe that's backwards)

Also, the number 8 is associated with dragons. Somehow this is considered lucky.

[KontrollerX]

It was pretty sweet what they did with the boxes.

Looked like they were trying to re-inact something from an anime show. 

[Cobra951]

Oh, I see.  What's on now is a rebroadcast from this morning at 8 AM EDT, which I guess corresponds to 8 PM in Beijing, and it was already the 8th there.  Damn all these time zones and the international date line.  So confoosing.

The scale and precision of the performances were something new to me.  People were playing pixels with an unbelievable amount of accuracy.  Yeah, those boxes were a highlight.  Awesome.  Depressing in a way.  The effete individualist West doesn't stand a chance against these people, not without nukes.

[iPPi]

faat = eight
baat = prosperous
(or maybe that's backwards)

Also, the number 8 is associated with dragons. Somehow this is considered lucky.

The other way around.

[Quemaqua]

Cobra said it.  Beautiful and amazing, but also kind of depressing.  I'm not a fan of China, but I think the artistry of the people there is at times jaw-dropping.

[idolminds]

Had to tape it. Will watch later.

As much as I generally dislike sports, I love watching the olympics.

[Quemaqua]

I do enjoy the Olympics too.

Odd phenomenon this year... there's seems to be an inordinate number of attractive women competing.  Maybe I'm just getting old and lonely, but it seems like every time I turn on the tube they're covering women's events and most of the girls are really cute.

Also, Olympic soccer kicks my ass.  I really need to stop watching and do something else.  God it makes me miss playing.  It was so many years ago, but it was the only sport I ever enjoyed, much less got competitive about.  If I tried now I'd fall over and die after five minutes.

[Ace_O_Spades]

Olympics... Meh. I just can't get excited about them this year because they've become far too political. That and Canada traditionally sucks ass at the summer olympics.

I won't be watching any of them. But I do hope something goes terribly wrong with the Chinese's carefully crafted plans for the games. It would just make me giddy to see them get egg on their faces after the astronomical amount of money they've spent and the spectacularly oppressive shows of force they've conducted to ensure everything goes "just so"

Wake me up in 2010

[Quemaqua]

Yeah... it's bittersweet, because I think we'd all sort of like to see China's government get what's coming to it, but... eh.  Whatever.

Saber Fencing was awesome.  US took all 3 medals, and there were some pretty fantastic matches on the way there.  Jacobson (silver) lost pretty definitively to Zagunis for the gold at the last, even though she was kicking ass on the way up, and Rebecca Ward (bronze) had some great matches.  I got to watch a lot of it last night.  I enjoy fencing, and it seems like they never have any on TV, so I was happy to see some.

Caught the Women's 10 meter air rifle, too, and saw Katerina Emmons (Ukraine) get the gold for that.  Other than that I've mostly been trying to catch soccer.

[Ghandi]

Yeah... it's bittersweet, because I think we'd all sort of like to see China's government get what's coming to it, but... eh.  Whatever.

What's coming to it? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, just wondering.

As far as the games, I watched the opening ceremonies and was quite impressed, to a degree. I expected good things, but as always I am disappointed with their government. A spectacular display of human achievement coupled with a disappointing display of human achievement. And yet we fuel such disappointments with our fucking purchases at Wal-Mart. /grumble.

I watched Phelps win a medal a few hours ago. Great performance. After winning a record time, he said -  “I would like to not swim that anymore,” he said after his gold medal performance Sunday morning. “It’s one of the hardest races and I’d like to try other events.”

Good stuff.

[Cobra951]

What's coming to it? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, just wondering.

As far as the games, I watched the opening ceremonies and was quite impressed, to a degree. I expected good things, but as always I am disappointed with their government. A spectacular display of human achievement coupled with a disappointing display of human achievement.

Huh?

I know they are communist & oppressive, but there's something about the culture that seems to thrive on collectivist ideals.  I doubt very seriously they're going to get "what's coming to them" in our lifetimes (certainly not mine).

[Ghandi]

I doubt very seriously they're going to get "what's coming to them" in our lifetimes (certainly not mine).

Of course not. But then again, when you speak of "them" you mean the government, and not the people. The people have no say in it, after all.

I know they are communist & oppressive, but there's something about the culture that seems to thrive on collectivist ideals.

Sarcasm, I hope?

[Cobra951]

No.  I'm serious.  I doubt a Western society would have put up with the Chinese government long enough for it to get that powerful.

[Ghandi]

Powerful enough to dictate a good deal of our economic policy? I don't understand where you are coming from. 'Western society" has done little to stop them.

[Cobra951]

No, I meant if China was a Western society rather than an oriental one, their government could not survive and thrive.  There would have been a bloody revolution by now.

[Ghandi]

Well I hope you aren't sampling your western audience from American citizens, who would almost certainly be apathetic to a revolution.

In any case, I think that we as a nation have shown our willingness to succumb to propaganda. How are we any different from the rest, at the most primal levels?

[Cobra951]

I'm trying very hard not to come off as prejudiced here.  It seems to me that Eastern cultures value extended groups more than self.  Western societies are individualistic.  They would not tolerate a government like China's for long.  It would implode somehow, or there would be all-out war.

[Quemaqua]

I totally get what Cobra is saying, and generally agree, but I also agree with Ghandi in regards to what we currently have in America, which is a bunch of rotten, spoiled morons whose number one goal in life is to get away easy.  Okay, that's a total generalization, but do we really have enough good people left to fight any fight on our own fronts?  I'm not convinced.  I think we're so pathetic and lazy now that we'd rather just suffer through ridiculousness than actually try to stop it.

[Cobra951]

I have to confess to becoming soft over the easy years myself.  Now that things are getting genuinely hard for me, I scarcely know what the hell to do.  In the jungle, I'd be dead.

[Ghandi]

I'm trying very hard not to come off as prejudiced here.  It seems to me that Eastern cultures value extended groups more than self.  Western societies are individualistic.  They would not tolerate a government like China's for long.  It would implode somehow, or there would be all-out war.

First, there will be war no matter what.

But most importantly, the notion of "self' becomes diluted when government priorities outweigh those of the individual. Western societies are only as individualistic as the government allows. Elite opinion dominates elite politics, after all. We have no say in the end unless we are part of the group.

But the Olympics are truly a spectacle of humanity. I love watching them.

Also, GO PHELPS DESPITE YOUR HUGE SUPPORT WHICH IDOL AND QUE HATE!!!

[Quemaqua]

In response to Cobra:

Exactly.  Now think of us poor young people who have never even known anything else.  We have no survival skills.  Most of us are too fucking lazy to even balance our checkbooks, if we even keep checks in the house.  Half of us don't even have house phones because we're tied to cells, and our bills are all paid online.  We wouldn't know what to do without the internet, much less without necessities during hard times.  Wage a war?  Fat chance of that.  We'd probably crawl into a hole and quietly starve to death rather than face danger for a cause.

[Cobra951]

We're creatures of our environment.  We can't blame ourselves for that.  We have enough challenges ahead without the guilt, whether we can handle them or not.  But there's a difference between not being strong enough about new challenges and being a complete lazy idiot.

[Quemaqua]

True, and I'd wager there are still plenty of people strong enough to face new challenges.  However, the question remains: in an environment tailored to breed the complete lazy idiot, are there enough strong people to pull that lot's weight and save them when the chips are down?

[KontrollerX]

The gangbangers and redneck gun nuts will EASILY carry the load until the rest of us learn to shoot.

The Chinese wouldn't stand a chance as its just like George Carlin said.

The only thing this country excels at is killing people. 

[idolminds]

Holy shit, did you guys watch the mens freestyle relay? Epic.

[nickclone]

I like the Olympics, but I love watching water polo. I haven't seen any matches of that yet.

[Quemaqua]

I saw a little, earlier, but I haven't seen a lot.  It's one of the events that doesn't tend to get enough TV coverage.

Lots of records being broken this year already.  Crazy stuff.

[nickclone]

I saw a little, earlier, but I haven't seen a lot.  It's one of the events that doesn't tend to get enough TV coverage.

Lots of records being broken this year already.  Crazy stuff.

I've been hanging out with friends this past weekend and they don't give a rat's ass about the Olympics, so I haven't been able to watch like I want. I missed the USA/China basketball game, but I got to see Phelps kick some ass. I hope to catch some water polo soon...