The Olympics

 

We're in Beijing, for the first ever 100% fake snow Winter Olympics.

In fact, some recent snow actually fell there and had to be removed.

An estimated 49 million gallons of water was needed, diverting water from the Baihebao Reservoir.  Officials state that when the snow melts, it will be collected into another reservoir and two lakes for irrigation and agriculture, as well as tourism and landscaping.

The first to claim a gold for Team USA was Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboard cross.

In case you're wondering, that is a downhill race that includes narrow passages, cambered turns, with various jumps, berms, rollers, and drops.

The United States is currently in 3rd place for medal count, with 19 overall: 8 gold, 7 silver, and 4 bronze.

First place is Norway, with 28 overall: 13 gold, 7 silver, and 8 bronze.

I've always liked watching figure skating, especially the couples with all the tricks.

This year, Madison Chock and Evan Bates perform in their second Olympics together.

Their free dance is an alien-meets-astronaut number, of which I read a moving article about.

Here

This is the same performance from the US Nationals.

I don't really want to get into the controversy surrounding Russian skater, Kamila Valieva, but Here is a kind of overview.