Check Olympic medals at the New York Times!!!

The NYT has an amazing and really useful tool to check the medals and it's regularly updated!

Some monthy Python are always good.

Non-Hispanic population swept away in the US

The US census bureau released their latest study about American population which concludes that by 2042 all minorities combined will outnumber non-Hispanic white people. This change,although expected, will happen quicker than expected, in 2050. The projection also advance in two decades, 2039, the year when the country's population is going to reach 400 million.

The new race spreading will be that the overall population is going to be composed by 46% non-Hispanic white people (currently 64.7%), 30% Hispanic people (currently 15%), Asians 9% (currently 4%) and AfricanAmericans 15% (now already 14%, the smaller growth amongst all minorities).

The new racial and ethnic map in the USA will represent a mentality change and reshape the politics in the country.

Picture from Countenance.

Spanish Basketball Olympic Team accused of racism but guilty of stupidity

Spanish media took a picture from the Spanish Basketball team and they decided that it would be funny to act 'Chinese' in the picture. Maybe it was funny at the moment, now is just giving them a big headache. As The Guardian informed they weren't being consciously racist, but probably pretty stupid.

Since I saw the news in The Guardian I have began reading in different Chinese media (and international media too) an increasing attack against the team. I am convinced it was not a clever think to do and not exactly disrespectful, however, thanks to the media, this is being magnified and exaggerated.

The way Spaniards are pictured in most countries all over the world have always been and probably will continue to be through stupid topics (many times these are not even true). You shall think this is not the same as talking about race, it is about culture, and in many places around the world people takes culture and traditions more than seriously, and Spaniards don't make an international issue about it.

The team shouldn't have done that, but little stupid things can NOT be used as an excuse every now and then to create a conflict. People worldwide have to learn respect and, more important, to be able to go through misunderstandings and differences.

This would help us all.

Picture from The Guardian.

China fakes the Olympics

Spectators watching the fiery footprints trekking across Beijing's sky for the opening day of the Olympics Friday saw a digitally enhanced tapestry of images, according to several news agencies.

In fact, the images had been created up to a year in advance and were superimposed onto live footage of the event to embellish what might have been a less dramatic show if the city's hazy weather had put a damper on the ceremony, said MSNBC.com, which said that the Beijing Times first revealed the enhanced video.

The Daily Telegraph said Beijing Olympic Committee members had also reasoned that the pilot in any helicopter that would have followed the route of the fireworks display, which consisted of 29 footprints walking along the city to symbolize 29 Olympiads, might be at great risk.

The 55-second display took almost a year to create, visual effects team leader Gao Xiaolong told the Daily Telegraph. It consisted of fireworks and massive footprints appearing as if walking over the city. While the display did in fact take place, the organizers wanted to be sure the effect would not be plagued by weather issues that could have distorted the view.

It was not only seen by millions of television watchers, but attendees at the ceremony seeing the fireworks display on giant screens at the Olympics arena, Bird's Nest National Stadium, were also treated to the elaborate, if fake, display.

"Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible," the Daily Telegraph reported Xiaolong as saying. "They sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to re-create the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."

Text from News Day.

Picture from Kotaku.

The Only Gay in the (Olympic) Village!

Matthew Mitcham is a 20 years old hottie who is noted for being the first openly gay Australian to go to the Olympic Games.

Mitcham is competing in the 10-metre platform and 3-metre springboard events at the Beijing Olympics and won gold in the 2008 Diving Grand Prix event in Fort Lauderdale, USA.

I am wordless

Li Ning, Addidas and Nike... everything is possible!

For those who don't know - everyone outside China I believe - Li Ning is a Chinese sports brand which takes its name from its founder, Li Ning, who won three gold medals for gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics.

So far so good, but the problem lays down to the logo and slogan of Li Ning. The brand's logo is suspiciously looking like Nike's swoosh and the slogan, "Anything is Possible" which one would say weirdly sounds like adidas' "Impossible is nothing".

Li Ning is not an official sponsor of the Olympics, however the brand has had its first big hit. I bet you that Adidas, large sponsor in China, is NOT happy about it.

China's devotion for brands hasn't yet translated into the ability to create them. Chinese companies have to learn that branding is basic to play in the big league and at the moment I haven't seen any signs they understand it.


How the IOC have allowed this flagrant international "launching" of a company shamlessly based on copying, I wonder if they are going to do something about it... well I don't.

Picture from Danwei.

Google fights Baigu back!

Baidu Inc. dominates China's Internet search market even with Google Inc. and the key to the mistery is in the amount of ilegal amount of free unlicensed music downloads that Baidu offer.

Google now is about to fight back in a joint venture with Top100 Inc. with free music downloads (licensed).

The idea: Better-quality files will draw users away from unlicensed downloads, and give labels and search companies valuable data needed to make money from advertising, say people familiar with the plans. Also let record labels know how often their music is downloaded.

At the moment just Vivendi SA's Universal Music is the only big company in the project but EMI and Sony BMG are thinking about it.

We'll see how this works, if it does be sure you'll be able to read it here.

Picture from Music 2.0 and information from Shanghai Daily.

Mariscal and Roca for Beijing Olympic Games

Mariscal Designed the limited series of hand basins that Roca has produced for the Chinese market on the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games, Mariscal has come up with a commemorative decoration, starring some of the most popular Olympic sports: swimming, tennis, cycling and the marathon.

Pictures from Decoestilo.

Dee Lite - Grove is in the heart

I am sure that Gwen from Tempe would have done a nice moves there. However I am sure revival Gwen would have her own lyrics... Gwen is in the heaaaart!

Here it goes for you... THE NINETIES! From New York (and youtube)! A prove that you need almost no money to do something good (and tacky). Let's get high!

We love you Gwen.