Last time I was in Hong Kong, the air pollution was pretty bad… and the bad air was not from HK itself, but flew from mainland China. I can only imagine how bad the pollution is for cities like Beijing and Shanghai etc.

Forget tree hugger concerns and save Bambi wildlife stuff like in the west. Unbreathable air and undrinkable water can stop a country dead in it’s tracks if it isn’t dealt with in a timely and efficient manner.

For too long China’s rapid growth has gone unregulated with virtually no emission sandards and virtually no water management and chemical waste standards. And it’s all accumulated too fast and now it’s caught up with them and starting to cause problems for them.

Every action or non action has a long term consequence in some form or another. The US and Japan have been learning that lesson the hard way over the decades also.

In fact, The world’s greatest distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has decided not to run the marathon event because the city’s pollution irritates his breathing.

And all this with the latest news about China’s ever growing demand for oil. China alone accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s recent increase in demand for oil, burning through twice as much now as it did a decade ago.

And what’s more is that most of the new car ownership is big gas guzzling vehicles. As one successful businessman said, “In China, size matters,” “People want to have a car that shows off their status in society. No one wants to buy small.”

Car ownership in China is exploding, and it’s not only cars but also sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and other gas-guzzling rides. Elsewhere in the world, the popularity of these vehicles has tumbled as the cost of oil has soared. But in China, the number of SUVs sold rose 43 percent in May compared with the previous year, and full-size sedans were up 15 percent. Indeed, China’s demand for gas is much of the reason for the dramatic run-up in global oil prices.

What’s wrong with this picture??? Unfortunately, I’m afraid China is going to have to pull in the reins a little on this growth explosion they are having. Things just aren’t like the turn of the last century when the world was a little less populated and a little less polluted and recources were plentiful. Things are just different.

I have read about the pollution too… it was thought that the situation might improve approaching the event, but it doesn’t happen as hoped. The Chinese are planning some extreme measurements now, including limiting car usage and closing some nearby factories if needed.

It’s going to be a challenging Olympic obviously.

Part of the problem they said is there’s not much wind which allows the smog to linger. Visibility was only a half mile in some places. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes’ Village on Sunday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.

“it doesn’t really look so good, but as I said, yesterday was better,” said Gunilla Lindberg, an International Olympic Committee vice president from Sweden who is staying in the Athletes’ Village. “The day I arrived, Tuesday, was awful.”

On Sunday, temperatures of about 90 degrees, with 70 percent humidity and low winds, created a soupy mix of harmful chemicals, particulate matter and water vapor.

Some athletes are staying in South Korea, Japan and other places to avoid Beijing’s air for as long as possible until the start of the games.

Lol, between the pollution and terrorists threats, Bejing has got to be feeling a little pressure. This event is very important for China. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly.

The Chinese government has been warning that terrorism is the biggest threat to the Olympics.

Also, you have to remember that terrorists usually to try to make a statement to the world, not just one country in particular. And an international event like the olympics is a perfect venue to do that.

In the 1972 at the olympics, 5 Palestinian Arab terrorists murdered eleven Israeli athletes at their hotel, and that was at an olympics was in Munich, Germany. So national location doesn’t matter to terrorists. It’s the high profile event that they are attracted to.

The Turkestan Islamic Party comander said in a video that,”We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely, using the tactics that have never been employed,”

They believe that this group is the same as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an underground separatist organization in the Xinjiang region of western China, which advocates independence for the area’s Muslim Uighur inhabitants. China often warns of the danger posed by the group.

anyway, back to topic.
i never really paid attention to the flowers they present to the winners.
lol, yes, only the medal matters.
this bouquet is simple, but pretty nice.

You are nobody to me . YOU HEAR ME ? you are loser !!!

Don’t you ever open your big mouth of yours .
I am better than you ,and smarter too .
Dislike or hate me all you want , i don’t care . Because i live better than you ,and rich too . I inherited huge sum of money ,from my parents .

Now ,bug off . You stupid idiot . I don’t care about you or your Malasia .You big mouth * …