Re: [LINUX_Newbies] Re: GNU

Yeah the Olympics are a drain on the tax payers, but business wins big time.
Whether the tax payers get any benefits is questionable since there are so
many tax shelters for business. The community gets world exposure and the
facilities, but much of that brings added cost for upkeep as well.

The Olympics are now big business. The ideal is lost in nationalism and
commercialism. Too bad! Maybe Chicagoans won by losing the bid. Vancouver
has the Winter Games in less than 100 days and it has been plagued by cost
over runs. Security figures into that cost in a big way, costing almost as
much as the facilities and transportation improvements from Vancouver to
Whistler. I am not sure if I will even watch it. It is such a farce with all
of the cheating/doping , poor judging and nationalism that exceeds pride.

BTW, I hear that Microsoft has fudged it so that NBC's internet coverage
cannot be watched on open source. It uses proprietary technology. I wonder
if the BSOD will appear like in Beijing.

Roy
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2009/11/12 Scott <scottro@nyc.rr.com>

>
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 06:44:48PM -0500, Roy wrote:
> > I am sure that our guards are getting testy too. I think that it must be
> a
> > hiring criterion. They were not even armed until recently.
> >
> > Pittsburgh just before the G20 and then we were searched on the way into
> > Arlington cemetery. We got the full treatment, mirrors under the car,
> hood
> > up, poking through our things. We saw lots of security. We had been in
> > previous years without even being checked.
>
> >
> > New York is one of my favourite destinations. My daughter (20) fell in
> love
> > with it and wants to live there. She loves fashion and food, both of
> which
> > you have plenty of. I just love the culture. We went to all of the
> boroughs
> > except the Bronx and Brooklyn. Next time.
>
> The Bronx has the zoo and Brooklyn has the Botanical gardens. I lived
> in Brooklyn, and it was interesting--I lived in a semi-dangerous (at the
> time, think it's gotten better) area, but I could ride my bicycle up 20
> blocks and it was a completely different world.
>
> Pity it isn't 3 years earlier, I
> worked as an admin for a fashion company--if that is where her interest
> lies, there's a remote chance I could still get her some introductions.
>
>
> >
> > I would miss my trips to the States. We have friends and family there.
> > Crossing the border is our biggest problem. Not because we are doing
> > anything wrong. It just takes so much time and effort. I pity the folks
> who
> > do it daily because they work or go to school on the other side of the
> > border.
>
> I have a good friend (from the fashion company). Her passport still has
> her maiden name, and she and her family are Guyanese of Indian descent,
> which can look remotely Arabic. Additionally, her husband is Muslim
> (also a Guyanese of Indian descent) with a name that is somewhat of an
> anglicized spelling of an Arabic name. So, they went to visit her
> relatives in Toronto, the husband coming home a day early. Then, she and
> the son (with different names on the passports or whatever they used),
> followed a day later.
>
> She said they were moderately harrassed--not horribly, but enough. But,
> only coming back, not going there.
>
> >
> > The effect of all of this is people stay home more. Passports cost money
> and
> > this adds to the cost of a family vacation. We used to cross just to
> shop.
> > That was good for us and for businesses in Niagara Falls. Many of the
> plates
> > in the parking lot were Ontario. Now you hardly see one. That's gotta
> hurt.
> >
>
> There is certainly profiling. (See above).
> My wife, who is Japanese, went to Germany recently. Interestingly
> enough, she had no trouble--I guess Japanese travelling to Germany
> aren't considered likely terrorists.
>
> > Yeah, I read that a Pakistani IOC member was held for thirty minutes. He
> > described it as a humiliation and ordeal. I am sure that it did not
> impress
> > them. That's got to suck even more, to lose to a violent overcrowded city
> > with poverty and now power failures. ;) Perhaps they will regret that
> > decision.
>
> Oh, I thought you were describing Chicago for a minute. :)
> (Or NYC).
> Frankly, as a New Yorker, I hope we never get an Olympics.
> From what I understand, they take out a lot more money than they bring in.
>
>
> --
> Scott Robbins
> PGP keyID EB3467D6
> ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 )
> gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6
>
> Willow: I'm a bloodsucking fiend! Look at my outfit!
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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