I’m looking again at the medals standings. Apparently, the Associated Press is sending out standings ranked by total medals won. However, China (and the IOC) rank them by golds won. So those of you looking at American newspapers will see the USA leading the standings …. but pretty much everywhere else China is in the […]

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Mao Zedong was omnipresent in Chinese society, while he was alive. Everyone apparently carried the Communist leader’s Little Red Book, filled with the wit and wisdom of the great leader, who clearly was meant to replace Confucius as the greatest thinker in the history of the country. The Great Helmsman, as he apparently liked to […]

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I was out walking around this morning. It wasn’t hot yet, and the air didn’t seem too awful. (Actually, the weather has been quite livable, the past 2-3 days. Last night it was almost cool. Which was cool.) I have come down with a cold — the Olympic Cold, but a week early; what’s up […]

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Michael Phelps pretty clearly is the greatest swimmer ever. He has eight gold medals at the Olympics. He just went through an incredible grind, showed his skill at every stroke aside from the breast, and has stamina and speed, too. And he’s cool as an ice tray in an igloo. I’m just not ready to […]

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This appeared in the Sunday editions of the Press Enterprise, in Riverside. I had a hunch Sarah Hammer wouldn’t survive the quarterfinals, even though she was thought to be a medals favorite, and I made the trek to the velodrome (45 minutes each way, via bus) … and she in fact lost, and is done […]

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