December 4, 2007: Pollution at Beijing Olympics site

20minutos.es images of the day had this one... a shot at the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Think they're ready?

Boy, I hope thats a pre-dawn image.....

Yechhhh.
Beijing's pollution is a mix of industrial/transport smog and desert sand/dust. They're planning to pretty much shut down most of the industry in the lead up to the games and let things clear for a while. They did this for the Asian Games in Shanghai a few years back and it worked pretty well.
But then it will be back to normal. Chinese pollution reaches Japan and sometimes crosses the Pacific and approaches Alaska. Yechhh.

The good news: Blind man's buff is a new Olympic discipline. - Bad news: No mixed teams.

about 40:1, men to dozers...over-populluted?

Anyone look close at the cob-job they've built? looks like a job for the 3 stooges.

I remember Hong Kong being like that as well at certain times as the weather changed, but never quite that bad.

From this (somewhat) brighter image, I would say these are guys are gov't workers. Almost everybody is doing NOTHING. Hands in pockets, sitting down. Sheesh, reminds me of highway workers here.

Also, there is something about this pic. Might've been 'shopped to accentuate the overall gloominess?

Not 'shopped. A friend brought home some pics from a vacation, where the visibility was even worse.

Cyclefrance posted some a while back, also.

I'm worried for the athletes. They're supposed to be in peak condition, breathing this?? Some of them are asthmatic too.

One of these things is not like the others...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumbulu I'm worried for the athletes. They're supposed to be in peak condition, breathing this?? Some of them are asthmatic too.

I read recently that the planning for the games allows for some events such as the marathon to be postponed or even canceled if the air pollution is too bad that day.
Imagine what that would do to an athlete's carefully planned event preparation. Oh, sorry, not today - maybe tomorrow...

Check out the foreman in the red hard-hat. Observing, as usual. What ever happened to leading by doing?

the women's world cup competition was in china a few months back. they used fields that are to be used for the olympics. the fields were in crappy condition. i mean really bad. the players also said that the air quality did effect their stamina. china is not ready for the olympics yet, and i am skeptical that a few more months will make it any better.

and you may all think i'm crazy but i still believe that the olympics will actually result in some large foreign investors' decisions to stop investing in China.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lookout123 and you may all think i'm crazy but i still believe that the olympics will actually result in some large foreign investors' decisions to stop investing in China.

all those things were reported on the evening news by "journalists". we don't trust them. we listen, but we don't trust them.

the olympics will have pretty much 24/7 coverage on tv that we can watch with our own eyes. that coverage will be with sports reporters and analysts. we'll listen and trust what they say because they aren't smooth and polished enough to not mention stupid stuff they see. they'll talk about the way pollution is affecting athletes.

a lot of rich folks go to the olympics. they'll see first hand. when meeting with their advisors they may or may not decide that "emerging market" has emerged enough for awhile and put their money elsewhere.

Maybe there'll be a boycot

Who farted?

Oh that was me. Sorry.