2008 Olympics, Beijing

ND4SPD · 07-15-2008, 09:37 AM

Have any of you been keeping an eye on prep work for this? Definitely sounds like the Chinese are a bit nervous about making a positive impression to the rest of the world. Anyone from here actually going?

nhfirefighter13 · 07-15-2008, 11:07 AM

I think the Berlin Olympics got better press than this....

gt702 · 07-15-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhfirefighter13

I think the Berlin Olympics got better press than this....

In this country anyway. It has gotten a lot of press, advertisement, and enthusiasm in China for some years already. They had stores set up selling memorabilia 2-1/2 years ago when I was there.

This is a very big deal for them. This is their "coming out party" in effect. So they are definitely taking it seriously.

ND4SPD · 07-21-2008, 04:29 PM

At least two die as blasts hit Chinese buses: media - Yahoo! News

gt702 · 07-21-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND4SPD

At least two die as blasts hit Chinese buses: media - Yahoo! News

Out of approximately 17.3 million people. Your odds would be less than being killed by lightning (1 in 2.3M). But they need to stir the media early.

SheepOfBlue · 07-21-2008, 06:06 PM

Sorry that people got hurt and killed but I have zero intention of watching this olympics. They have gotten corrupt and commercialized with many events being for pros. Not interesting anymore.

luvtolean · 07-21-2008, 06:56 PM

There were posters up in Beijing before they were even confirmed as getting it.

They're training cabbies locally (both culture and english lessons) to deal with westerners, all sorts of stuff. This is deadly serious to the Chinese.

ND4SPD · 07-22-2008, 08:41 AM

Emergency Beijing Olympic pollution scheme begins | Environment | Reuters

I wonder what shutting those factories down mean for retail prices.

Are cheap Chinese goods about to get a little more expensive?

Baketech · 07-22-2008, 09:53 AM

Not even a blip to the juggernaut...

Baketech · 07-22-2008, 09:56 AM

Unrelated, but this is dead sexy...

Thanks to Olympics, Beijing gets its Eiffel Tower, of sorts - Yahoo! News

Heavy-Dee · 07-22-2008, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND4SPD

Emergency Beijing Olympic pollution scheme begins | Environment | Reuters

I wonder what shutting those factories down mean for retail prices.

Are cheap Chinese goods about to get a little more expensive?

They've got special economic zones w/ plenty of real estate that they can (and likely will) relocate necessary factories to. I mean, their infrastructure is designed to facilitate this kind of thing; meaning for example the government assigns project managers to help businesses start up in these areas. Like Bake said, not even a blip.

nhfirefighter13 · 07-22-2008, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baketech

Unrelated, but this is dead sexy...

Thanks to Olympics, Beijing gets its Eiffel Tower, of sorts - Yahoo! News

I haven't watched it in quite a while so I may be completely off, but that reminds me of the News Station building from V for Vendetta. At least it made me think of that for some reason. I can't find any movie images of it online though.

Pretty neat.

ND4SPD · 07-25-2008, 02:29 PM

Pic: Beijing's Air After 4 Days of Anti-Smog Measures | Wired Science from Wired.com

gthotchkiss · 07-25-2008, 03:21 PM

Its gonna take a bit... That place was disgusting, playing basketball for 30 mins got my hands to be solid black (like cleaning breakdust and a dirty chain) from the ball hitting the ground and then hitting my hand.

I can just imagine the fake tickets going around to...

gt702 · 07-25-2008, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND4SPD

Pic: Beijing's Air After 4 Days of Anti-Smog Measures | Wired Science from Wired.com

It wasn't like that the 3 days I spent there. Not perfectly clear, but not too bad. Anyone have a picture of LA right about now?

I also doubt 4 days is enough to see a difference.

luvtolean · 07-25-2008, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt702

It wasn't like that the 3 days I spent there. Not perfectly clear, but not too bad. Anyone have a picture of LA right about now?

I also doubt 4 days is enough to see a difference.

The worst "smog" I've ever seen has been from wildfires in Cali.

But on a non-fire day, in my 2 years living in SoCal I never saw it as nasty as it was in Beijing on one of my visits.

gt702 · 07-27-2008, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvtolean

The worst "smog" I've ever seen has been from wildfires in Cali.

But on a non-fire day, in my 2 years living in SoCal I never saw it as nasty as it was in Beijing on one of my visits.

I'm guessing it was pretty good when I was there, and I do know they have their problems and a long way to go. To me, it looks like many US cities did back in the 50's and even 60's (I have to look back at pictures and trust the remembrance of older people for this), which is the level much of their manufacturing is still at ... but they are catching up fast and doing many proactive things that the US could take some lessons from, but you don't hear much of those in the US news because that doesn't sell papers and ad revenue.

Beijing also gets the dust storms from the west real bad. I am definitely glad not to be there then

luvtolean · 07-27-2008, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt702

Beijing also gets the dust storms from the west real bad. I am definitely glad not to be there then

Yeah, IME the Pacific Rim in general all gets this weird fog-ish stuff that rolls in during summer and looks like that. It's different than Cali smog, I don't really know how to explain it. I was in Tokyo last week and never saw the sun...

seamus · 07-28-2008, 08:56 PM

South Korea gets those weird Gobi Desert dust storms too. Not quite as bad as the ones in Iraq but it was pretty bad.

ND4SPD · 08-07-2008, 11:33 AM

Beijing Olympics visitors to come under widespread surveillance - Los Angeles Times

Quote:

Another technology that raises concern involves the new identity cards China is phasing in for its 1.3 billion citizens. The cards, developed with help from Plano, Texas-based China Information Security Technology, carry radio signal devices and a chip that records not only a person's height, weight and identification number, but also health records, work history, education, travel, religion, ethnicity, reproductive history, police record, medical insurance status and even his or her landlord's phone number.

ND4SPD · 08-14-2008, 10:41 AM

Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture - Fourth-Place Medal - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

ND4SPD · 08-24-2008, 06:15 PM

Somalia's runners provide inspiration - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

bwhip · 08-27-2008, 12:00 AM

Check out this photo. Not sure how they did it, but it's pretty cool!

Beijing Olympics Stadium: about 30 min. before Men's 100m Final

gt702 · 08-27-2008, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwhip

Check out this photo. Not sure how they did it, but it's pretty cool!

Beijing Olympics Stadium: about 30 min. before Men's 100m Final

Cannon's "stitch" function will help you line up the shots and then put them all together for you. As for animating, I'm not sure, but likely the same software that lets you do 360 degree tours on the realty sites.

Very cool picture, and I wish I was steady enough to get my stitched panoramics that good.

nhfirefighter13 · 08-27-2008, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwhip

Check out this photo. Not sure how they did it, but it's pretty cool!

Beijing Olympics Stadium: about 30 min. before Men's 100m Final

There are several ways of doing that.
Photoshop and others will stitch together multiple images, like GT mentioned.

I've also seen images shot on/through a convex- dome like mirror that records a 360 degree view in one go.

As far as the animation goes, I think it's basically just a Flash-type program.

07-15-2008, 09:37 AM	#1
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	2008 Olympics, Beijing Have any of you been keeping an eye on prep work for this? Definitely sounds like the Chinese are a bit nervous about making a positive impression to the rest of the world. Anyone from here actually going? __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

07-15-2008, 11:07 AM	#2
nhfirefighter13 Whales are fast! Join Date: 12-13-2006 Location: Concord, NH Age: 33 Bike(s): The Mighty Nissan! Posts: 3,028 Images: 58	I think the Berlin Olympics got better press than this.... __________________ http://www.kezerphotography.com "If thou hast not a sword, sell thy cloak and buy one." -Luke 22:36

07-21-2008, 04:29 PM	#4
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	At least two die as blasts hit Chinese buses: media - Yahoo! News __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

07-21-2008, 06:06 PM	#6
SheepOfBlue SRA President Join Date: 12-18-2006 Location: Huntsville, AL Age: 46 Bike(s): CBR1000RR, RC51, VT500FT Posts: 6,393	Sorry that people got hurt and killed but I have zero intention of watching this olympics. They have gotten corrupt and commercialized with many events being for pros. Not interesting anymore. __________________ A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way

07-21-2008, 06:56 PM	#7
luvtolean Join Date: 12-13-2006 Location: SF Bay Area, CA Bike(s): 2008 BMW GS-A Posts: 6,339	There were posters up in Beijing before they were even confirmed as getting it. They're training cabbies locally (both culture and english lessons) to deal with westerners, all sorts of stuff. This is deadly serious to the Chinese. __________________ Someone needs to present the facts and the physics rather than just the rhetoric. Poor old Carmelo doesn't understand the physics of a motorcycle. - Jerry Burgess, on spec tires and changing engine rules

07-22-2008, 08:41 AM	#8
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	Emergency Beijing Olympic pollution scheme begins \| Environment \| Reuters I wonder what shutting those factories down mean for retail prices. Are cheap Chinese goods about to get a little more expensive? __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

07-22-2008, 09:53 AM	#9
Baketech "Able was I ere I saw Elba..." Join Date: 12-14-2006 Bike(s): VFR800 - CBR929 - VFR800 Posts: 1,729	Not even a blip to the juggernaut... __________________ "Ten times more charming than that Arnold on Green Acres..."

07-22-2008, 09:56 AM	#10
Baketech "Able was I ere I saw Elba..." Join Date: 12-14-2006 Bike(s): VFR800 - CBR929 - VFR800 Posts: 1,729	Unrelated, but this is dead sexy... Thanks to Olympics, Beijing gets its Eiffel Tower, of sorts - Yahoo! News __________________ "Ten times more charming than that Arnold on Green Acres..."

07-25-2008, 02:29 PM	#13
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	Pic: Beijing's Air After 4 Days of Anti-Smog Measures \| Wired Science from Wired.com __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

07-25-2008, 03:21 PM	#14
gthotchkiss Join Date: 12-18-2006 Age: 24 Bike(s): a bike Posts: 516	Its gonna take a bit... That place was disgusting, playing basketball for 30 mins got my hands to be solid black (like cleaning breakdust and a dirty chain) from the ball hitting the ground and then hitting my hand. I can just imagine the fake tickets going around to...

07-28-2008, 08:56 PM	#19
seamus is feelin alright Join Date: 12-13-2006 Location: Rocket City Age: 34 Bike(s): 1KRR; VFR; FMX650 Posts: 5,462	South Korea gets those weird Gobi Desert dust storms too. Not quite as bad as the ones in Iraq but it was pretty bad. __________________ Ducit Amor Patriae Richard Herald, The Gentle Giant The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools. --- Thucydides

08-14-2008, 10:41 AM	#21
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture - Fourth-Place Medal - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

08-24-2008, 06:15 PM	#22
ND4SPD I'm BATMAN!!! Join Date: 12-12-2006 Bike(s): Trek Posts: 8,046 Images: 25	Somalia's runners provide inspiration - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports __________________ "This is your life - are you who you want to be?" Learn all you need to know about Mac OS X

08-27-2008, 12:00 AM	#23
bwhip Every ride a gift... Join Date: 12-13-2006 Location: Idaho, USA Bike(s): 1098S-SXV550-849-Ruckus Posts: 3,898	Check out this photo. Not sure how they did it, but it's pretty cool! Beijing Olympics Stadium: about 30 min. before Men's 100m Final __________________ My Gallery