1 If I remember correctly, the US kitchen plan was killed... by Chinese complaints to the US State Department.  I can't find a news article to back that up, though, so it might be a figment of my vivid imagination.

I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to be able to see air...

2

The marathon will be the piece de resistance. How many runners will collapse on the course? How many will stop again and again with coughing fits?

The winner will cross the finish line, then bend down and cough up a lung while the crowd cheers.

3 Obviously, this pollution was caused by Americans...

4 I'm sure that someone will figure out a way to blame it on Bush.

5 The Sydney Olympics went off surprisingly smoothly, and that's speaking as someone who commuted into the CBD five days a week throughout.

Pretty sure they lost money, though.

6

They're ridiculously expensive to put on, and the host cities always end up taking it in the teeth. I don't understand why any city would want to have the Olympics.

Prestige, I guess. Something like that.

7

I think interest was indeed flagging, then the LA (?) Olympics posted a huge profit.  Everyone since then has been dreaming of the same luck. Interestingly, I believe the Winter Olympics usually at least break even.  (I got to ride a bobsled at the Calgary site and it was a fantastic experience.)

I think they should build a permanent site in Greece where the originals were held, then let them be "sponsored" by individual countries.  The corruption and hubris of the Olympic Committee is rivalled only by the UN, however, so that will never happen.

(Totally off-topic side note: tonight I watched the wost anime I've seen in years: Shuffle. Consider yourselves warned.  I was into the vodka before the end of the second episode.)

8 Re: comments 3 and 4:  If only Bush had signed Kyoto...

9 ... it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference, because China, as a "developing country" is exempt from most of its provisions. 

Note also that our not signing Kyoto only means it's not binding on us.  The rest of the world is welcome to go to hell in its own handbasket.

But they can pay for the ticket.

10 That photo alone sent me into a three-minute coughing fit.

11 Shuffle has nothing on some of the things documented on Chizumatic. Also, X the Movie.

12 I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to be able to see air...

I'm fairly sure that stuff isn't actually air.  Jesus.

13

Wasn't the Mt. St. Helens eruption in May of 1980, not '81?

Anyway, I've seen a photo of Portland in which the volcanic ash filled the air in a dirty fog, and the street-lights were shining.

It was supposed to be mid-day on the day of the eruption.

That thick ash is reminiscent of the dirty air in the picture.

14 That is merely unseasonable fog caused solely by the failure of the American Dictatorship to sign, ratify, and implement Kyoto. el Presidente for life Mr. Constitution had these words to say: 'He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur'. Sources within his dread secret police organization, known as 'The American People', say that this is an idiom similar to 'when pigs fly' as far as the Kyoto treaty is concerned. They also suggest that the rest of the world would be wise not to push it.

Actually, Air is only invisible because our eyes are set up to use the frequencies it is transparent on, and ignore things with its optical properties (index of refraction). In its liquid state, or if the composition varies greatly, this should change. I've seen normal water vapor fog that bad or worse, I think. Still, this part is fairly worthless pedantism, and not neccessarily accurate at that.

15

Intermittent eruptions went on for a year. Portland didn't get hit on May 18, 1980. The picture you're remembering was from Yakima, not Portland.

16 This thread has spiraled down into nitpicking and derails, so I'm going to close it now.