Olympic Game Of Removing Homeless People From Paris

Hi, long time no post.
I'd of thought that with the whole world watching the French authorities would try not to look like a police state, by evicting the homeless from the streets, so as to spruce up the image of Paris, for the Olympics 2024. After all, France has a long history with the Olympic Games. 
--Fly

With the Olympics 2024 nearly two weeks away, the French government has started evicting thousands of homeless migrants from the capital city of Paris, a New York Times report said on Thursday.

The Olympic Games 2024 are set to be held between July 26 and August 11. As per the NYT report, authorities are asking the immigrants to board buses to cities like Lyon or Marseille. 

These immigrants were reportedly given the assurance that they would get housing in their new locations. However, many of them were living on streets that were unfamiliar to them without assured accommodations or facing potential deportation.

One of the immigrants who was evicted from an abandoned cement factory near the Olympics village told The New York Times that they were expelled because of the upcoming Olympic Games.

"They give you a random ticket," said another immigrant from the Central African Republic, who was on the eviction bus. "If it's a ticket to Orleans, you go to Orleans," he further stated.

Earlier this year, in April, police conducted a large-scale eviction at the country's biggest squat in the south of Paris. The makeshift camp at an abandoned bus company headquarters in Vitry-sur-Seine was cleared by the authorities.

Around 300 people were clutching their belongings in bags, suitcases, or trolleys to depart from the camp. Most of the immigrants were young men. The crowd, however, also had several women with children.

https://news.abplive.com/

 www.patreon.com/stevefly

Who prescribes swimming as antidote to rise in violence?

Who prescribes swimming as antidote to rise in violence, faith-based thinking, led by rise in global temperatures? esp. during the dog days since ancient Egypt-Greece-Rome etc Give #cleanwater they will drink and be healthy, swim together, be merry #Rivercide #Swimming #Dogdays

https://twitter.com/FLYAGARIC2019

 

 

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2020 Sports Timetable Warped Due To Coronavirus

All sporting events cancelled.

Good night.

T4QS Sodcast (including news and sport)

You might as well have an event called, the tallest

I like sport, but i enjoy music and writing because you can bend the rules, like Herman Hesse's 'glass bead game', and Charlie Parker's Be-Bop.
As Doug Stanhope sez about the Olympics: 
"you might as well have an event called, the tallest"

Olympic Sensing - In case swimmers can't count to 32

Over the years, technology has improved the accuracy of results at the Olympic Games. In the Rio Olympics, underwater digital lap counters from Omega will be used in the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle swimming events. They automatically update the lap count when a swimmer hits the touchpad on the wall.--https://www.rcrwireless.com/20160803/americas/rio-olympics-sensors-big-data-tag5

Almost 20% of the 7.4 billion real ($2.25 billion) total budget the Rio Olympics Organizing Committee announced for the games this year was earmarked to implement information technology and telecommunication solutions. Almost 250 companies, including Atos, Cisco, América Móvil, EMC, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Symantec, have provided different levels of technology to build the entire infrastructure, the committee’s CIO Elly Resende told RCR Wireless News. He added that the committee worked closely with the Brazilian telecom regular Anatel to manage and control frequency band spectrum used for the games. 

How about some new sporting facilities for all, and then save your Multi Billion Dollar technology for warfare against the vulnerable and innocent.

In a nutshell - the swimming pool problem

“The trouble with any swimming pool is that it never makes as much money as it costs, they are very expensive things to run.”-Town Councillor Mark Morris.

Read more at:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/politics/2016/08/02/campaigners-vow-to-fight-to-keep-church-strettons-pool/

The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games

Hat tip to boingboing.

--Steve Fly

Abstract:      

Given that Olympic Games held over the past decade each have cost USD 8.9 billion on average, the size and financial risks of the Games warrant study. The objectives of the Oxford Olympics study are to (1) establish the actual out turn costs of previous Olympic Games in a manner where cost can consistently be compared across Games; (2) establish cost overruns for previous Games, i.e., the degree to which final out turn costs reflect projected budgets at the bid stage, again in a way that allows comparison across Games; (3) test whether the Olympic Games Knowledge Management Program has reduced cost risk for the Games, and, finally, (4) benchmark cost and cost overrun for the Rio 2016 Olympics against previous Games. The main contribution of the Oxford study is to establish a phenomenology of cost and cost overrun at the Olympics, which allows consistent and systematic comparison across Games. This has not been done before.

Main findings of the study are, first, that average actual out turn cost for Summer Games is USD 5.2 billion (2015 level), and USD 3.1 billion for Winter Games. The most costly Summer Games to date are London 2012 at USD 15 billion; the most costly Winter Games Sochi 2014 at USD 21.9 billion. The numbers cover the period 1960-2016 and include only sports-related costs, i.e., wider capital costs for general infrastructure, which are often larger than sports-related costs, have been excluded.

Second, at 156 percent in real terms, the Olympics have the highest average cost overrun of any type of mega-project. Moreover, cost overrun is found in all Games, without exception; for no other type of mega-project is this the case. 47 percent of Games have cost overruns above 100 percent. The largest cost overrun for Summer Games was found for Montreal 1976 at 720 percent, followed by Barcelona 1992 at 266 percent. For Winter Games the largest cost overrun was 324 percent for Lake Placid 1980, followed by Sochi 2014 at 289 percent.

Third, the Olympic Games Knowledge Management Program appears to be successful in reducing cost risk for the Games. The difference in cost overrun before (166 percent) and after (51 percent) the program began is statistically significant.

Fourth, and finally, the Rio 2016 Games, at a cost of USD 4.6 billion, appear to be on track to reverse the high expenditures of London 2012 and Sochi 2014 and deliver a Summer Games at the median cost for such Games. The cost overrun for Rio – at 51 percent in real terms, or USD 1.6 billion – is the same as the median cost overrun for other Games since 1999.

Given the above results, for a city and nation to decide to stage the Olympic Games is to decide to take on one of the most costly and financially most risky type of mega-project that exists, something that many cities and nations have learned to their peril.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2804554

Swimming In Lake Flevo With Fly

Swimming Pool closure round up 2013

I notice the same cycle over and over again in the UK, swimming pools closed due to structural costs way beyond what the council can afford (so they say) all over the UK i have seen the same process, first in my own back yard in Brierley Hill, and Coseley baths. But i now see the same argument, the same strategy and bullshit double-speak from the M.P's, councilors and even some of the groups, and people within the groups formed to stand up to the proposed closure and try to SAVE the pool.

It's a sad state of affairs in the UK for swimming and many other water sports that are impossible without the facilities. The sickly relationship between private business and Government muscle in the UK can be tracked and analysed by reducing the focus down to leisure centers, how they spread like supermarkets such as Tesco, and wipe out whatever maybe in its way.

To anybody reading this who is dealing with such scenarios at the moment, my best advice is to get an independent 'estimation' about the structural faults, or the work required to bring the facility up to scratch (according to sticky council regulations) as i have found the costs are usually massive over estimations baed on private contractor work.

One day, a community may build a not-for-profit, or community co-op capable of building and maintaining a leisure center, and/or swimming pool. Good luck, best wishes, Steve 'fly' Pratt.

p.s Here are some recent news clips to support my claims.
 

"A LAST-ditch bid has been launched to save Haslingden Pool by a group of residents who want to take it over from the council.
The Friends of Haslingden Baths, a community group look- ing to take control of the East Bank Avenue centre, are encouraging residents to show how great the need is for the facility by signing a support petition. More than 8,000 people signed a petition in 2011 calling on Rossendale Council to go ahead with a proposed revamp. But the campaigners fear this will be deemed out-of-date by the council which plans to sell off the building unless an interested party with a viable business model is found before September."

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/10566384.Residents_launch_bid_to_prevent_closure_of_Haslingden_swimming_pool/

The pool has ‘concrete cancer’ and needs repairs which would cost around £1.5million, an amount Rossendale Council says it cannot afford.

“Owing to the deteriorating condition of Minsthorpe Pool and the costs to carry out the major repairs needed at £1.2m, it is recommended that the pool be permanently closed and future provision be considered alongside wider review into all our leisure facilities. I understand the importance of people being able to enjoy healthy and active lifestyles. However, owing to continuing financial constraints placed upon us we have to review all our services, including leisure, and cabinet faces some difficult decisions.”

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/wakefield-pool-closed-as-1-2m-repairs-are-ruled-out-1-5888179

"If you don't have good facilities in the city then you don't have the ability to raise great swimmers.
"I'm very frustrated," added Mr Richardson.
Under the proposals, the Springhead golf course is also earmarked for closure and the council is considering setting up a not-for-profit company to run the city's leisure services on its behalf.
A spokeswoman for the council said the proposals were yet to be discussed and would go out to public consultation, but could not give further details.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-23576382

Olympic 2012 contact list for ads agencies

5.3 Million people,
what a great Marketing ploy,
are Mcdonalds and Coca-Cola still on-board?


"A key component of the London 2012 digital legacy has been secured", the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has said, after awarding the right to use its customer database to three non-profit development agencies.
Two sports promotion bodies – Sport England and Sport UK – will be able to use LOCOG's contact database, which currently holds 5.3 million contacts, to promote sporting events and activities. It will also be available to London and Partners, "the official promotional organisation for London".
Anyone on the database will be given the option to opt out. If they chose to stay on the list, they will receive newsletters "about sport, volunteering and culture ... across the UK", LOCOG said.

LOCOG said it worked with the Information Commissioner's Office "full compliance in data protection regulations covering the transfer". A spokesperson for the ICO said that it had advised LOCOG that it needed to receive "informed consent" for the data to be reused.

"I am delighted that we'll be able to continue to keep these amazing people informed and involved in the legacy of the games," said LOCOG chair Lord Sebastian Coe in a statement. "The group of organisations taking this fan base forward are at the epi-centre of sport, culture and volunteering so I am confident they will continue to keep the public in the loop and deliver great opportunities for everyone to enjoy over the next 10 years."
-- http://www.information-age.com/technology/information-management/123456856/contact-database-is--key-component--of-2012-olympics-legacy

Gold Gold and Gold

Some sports people will stop at nothing to get GOLD.  Man, they're even worse than some of the international bankers and Royals who are obsessed--to the fringe of insanity and a danger to others--with GOLD. Status, elitism and patriotism.

The many, of course do not have such pretentions, but instead enjoy a GOOD game, a fair game, easy, relaxed, shared fun, even with a little competition to build with the co-operation. Unlike the sporting elite who as we have seen recently with characters like Lance Armstrong, lie, cheat and generally are not the kinds of sporting sportspeople they are painted as, by the corporate sponsors (products) and government sponsors.

Ah, anbody fancy a game?

love, fly

"There was an "increasingly desperate emphasis on gold", the report said, and morale dropped as the games unfolded without the anticipated medal haul.

Management appeared unprepared to tackle the absence of success, it said, leaving swimmers feeling "undefended, alone, alienated".
"Swimmers described these games as the 'Lonely Olympics' and the 'Individual Olympics'," the report said, adding that the lack of cohesion meant that poor behaviour went unchecked.
"Some individual incidents of unkindness, peer intimidation, hazing and just 'bad form' as a team member that were escalated to personal coaches were not addressed," it said.
"There were enough culturally toxic incidents across enough team members that breached agreements (such as getting drunk, misuse of prescription drugs, breaching curfews, deceit, bullying) to warrant a strong, collective leadership response that included coaches, staff and the swimmers."--http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21501881

Charlie Brooker and Weekly Wipe Sum up 2012 Olympic pathetics

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/05/olympics-better-than-looked-on-tin

Olympic Double Dope Standards

HI readers, and bleeders

I would not expect any kind of sensible and fair 'drug policy' from the strict Olympic dope police. But recently the issue of 'Marijuana' and SPORTS came up again and spread, like the Blueberry Cheese plant.

For some clarity i would ask the reader to consider the question of DOSE. Pot brownies (that Delpopolo claims to have ate) are often made with less than half a gram of cannabis, and a lower dose is better for having an enjoyable high, opposed to a strong Knock Out dose. Almost everybody i know has learnt this with Pot food.

One wonders about how sensitive the Olympic Drug tests are? how many 'particles or UNITS of cannabis' are allowed in the body. ZERO? or are a few allowed for naturally occuring cannabinoids. And what about naturally occuring DMT in the human brain? All athletes and humans, and many animals, birds, insects and plants have naturally occuring DMT (in varying amounts of UNITS) but trace amounts of it are actually present. Are the Olympic Dope Police aware of this fact? so as to build tests that overlook it? I digress.

I still dream that one day Michael Phelps and Judo fighter Delpopolo, and all the other Marijuana using athletes would come out in support (of small doses, maybe infrequent) but still, come out and say that, for them, Marijauna worked. In fact, these SPORTS characters are what the drug reform movement requires to boost the campaign for responsible drug use, and responsible drug policy. The debate should revolve around dose. Like the question how much SUGAR, how much MEAT and how much ALCHOHOL is healthy for each individual, and, can the individuals and their communities make THEIR OWN regulations based upon their practical knowledge and experience with all Drugs, foods, vitamins, drinks and special E-numbered additive sweeters?

Good day, thanks for bleeding.--Steve Fly

Delpopolo is 23, the same age Michael Phelps was when the swimmer was photographed inhaling from a marijuana pipe in 2009. Phelps, who never failed a drug test, apologized, received a three-month suspension from USA Swimming and is celebrated as the most decorated Olympian in history.

"That was evidence that he does do that," Lee said of Phelps during an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Monday. "And you're still going to be able to achieve your dreams regardless. Look at him. He's awesome. He's the best athlete ever in the Olympics. It's a double standard. If you already make a name for yourself, then what happens afterward really doesn't matter. … I'd rather have my situation (of not going) than getting kicked out of the Olympic Village" like Delpopolo.
-- http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/judo/story/2012-08-06/pot-athletes-testing-alcohol/56830434/1

A message to other countries looking to UK Sports

Hi, my name is Steven Pratt, i am 36 years old and I grew up in the UK 1976-2000. I was very FORTUNATE to have had a decent sporting career as a junior swimmer. (8-14 years old). Winning literally hundreds of races including over 20 Hereford and Worcestershire titles, and a douzen Midland District and National titles. I was pretty much unbeatable in Butterfly and Backstroke at the age of 11.

However, after my sports career ended and I could no longer train 8 times a week, i was advised that SPORTS should be my study, and so i studied sports at college, completing a 3 year 'Sports and Leisure studies' course at Stourbridge college. (1993) I gained employment as a Life Guard at the new Crystal Leisure centre in Stourbridge, which replaced the legendary old pool with a new Multi-million pound fun pool: not much fun for serious competitive swimmers though)

After a year or so as a lifeguard I went on to teach swimming in the Dudley area to youngsters for around two years. (and for a while at Brierley Hill Swimming baths, which was demolished under suspect circumstances January 2006. Please seach this blog for 'Brierley Hill' to see more details). All my official (paid) swimming related works ended when i left for America on an intellectual journey. (I should also add that I once gave free swimming lessons to under privaliged children at Layola University, New Orleans in 2003.

Something clicked inside me, when i returned from America to the UK after 4 years swimming in rivers and freshwater lakes such as lake Tahoe and the Feather River, both in California. I realised that swimming in the UK is pretty much limited by the swimming facilities provided, and those facilities are being demolished, at least in my local DUDLEY METRO area. This is a fact i have observed over the last 6 years. This blog lays a testament to these facts.

Stourbridge Baths, Brierley Hill Baths and Coseley Baths have all been demolished, thats 3 pools that would be full of local swimming talent, training for competitive meets and possibly our future National champions? Water Polo, Sychronized swimming and diving could have been praticed in these pools if only they would have been saved. I hope not to sound like a moaning old bitter man, going on about what might have been and what coulda' or shoulda' happened. I find most political activity does not agree with my personal outlook on life, community, health, fitness and goodwill.

In the case of the destruction of swimming facilities by the local Dudley Metropolitan Council (Dudley Metro Culture Police) I cannot say it LOUD and CLEAR enough. Please STOP. Or at least, replace what you knock down with something else, and not a Tesco supermarket, thankyou very much.

As i have been saying for the last 6 years, the voices of the swimmers themselves, and the local community have been totally and utterly ignored on the issue of swimming, but now, during the OLYMPIC fever M.P's all around the country have started popping up with their cheap little speeches about SPORTS and PRESTIEGE and how proud we should be and how we should develope new SPORTS facilities across the country. (Aha, i say to myself, this is a trick, a cheap trick to ride the Olympic fever and come out of it as the good guys again, the saviours who will NOW begin to plan new sports parks, new sports programes and sports sponsorship corporations. Oh, thankyou for doing this, for cutting the blue ribbon. For giving us these new sports centers.

So i wanted to send a message of warning to anybody reading this blog post, SPORTS in Britain have been ravaged and crippled by both Labour and Conservative governments, SPORTS to mean two things: the facilities at which sports take place, and the inherent meaning in the term SPORTS. The Olympics have cost 25 Billion Pounds, 9 Billion of which is from the UK tax payers, or from the people. The three Dudley swimming pools I have mentioned above , together, would have required approx. 4 Million to repair and keep open. And, I estimate by now (August 2012) would have given more than 5 Million unique immersive swimming experiences to the community.

Since the pools were not being built but knocked down in Dudley i turned my interest to the Rivers and Canals, imagining them to be clean enough to swim in at some future point, and what it would take to achieve this, and, if anybody else though it worth doing. From that point i discovered the impossibility of swimming in the Stour due to pollution and obstructions in the first place. Then, once again i was confronted with the only option of doing it myself, since a meeting with my local M.P did not come to anything, not even an email or call to say No, just iced out: (i asked for funds, or donations to aquire a pair of river waders, some rope, and a hook, to begin cleaning the River Stour).

And so, you see, i found out that in the larger scheme of things, to me, our rivers are far more important than a swimming pool, and if we could maintain a river properly it could provide a free, zero emissions, zero running costs, swimming facility. As with a lake. Cherish your natural water facilities. This is my message.

Steven 'Fly Agaric 23' Pratt
Amsterdam
Aug. 6th 2012.

The Silly Olympics (Monty Python)

The Silly Olympics! Monty Python, yes.

No hope without dope (and some Dolphin DNA)

No Hope without Dope (how about whale DNA Mr Phelps?)

Hi, I would like to address two hot-potato's from the 2012 games so far, the doping acusation made by an American swim coach about a young Chinese record breaker, and the 'twitter' drama following a journalist twitting a 'semi-public' email address:

I would point out that the 'comment' from the swim coach did not require twitter to spread an 'unchecked' and 'subjective' message around the world, via the world press (FOX, NBC, CNN, BBC) that not only labels a 16year old girl as a 'drug user' but kicks up the whole Olympic doping debate. As far as i know the swim coach has not been banned from speaking to the world press, yet the twitter journalist is banned due to communicating somebodies email address who did not like that.

And my next point has already been put out there, nobody raised the alarm when Michael Phelps won 8 Gold medals in Beijing.

"I think it is not proper to single Chinese swimmers out once they produce good results. Some people are just biased," Jiang Zhixue, who leads anti-doping work at China's General Administration of Sport, told the state news agency Xinhua.

"We never questioned Michael Phelps when he bagged eight gold medals in Beijing."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/31/china-ye-shiwen-critics-olympics?newsfeed=true 

Ye Shiwen's world record Olympic swim: brilliant, or too good to be true?

For the wider public, and perhaps many people in the sport as well, it is a matter of debate and personal opinion as to whether Ye deserves the benefit of the doubt or not. There is no evidence to condemn her other than her own brilliance, and it is hard to judge a 16-year-old girl on the basis of that alone. Instinctively, many fans will want to believe in her talent. Others, scarred by years of doping revelations across a range of sports, would say that view is naive. Ye could simply be the shining light of the first products of the heavy investment the Chinese made in the sport before the Beijing Olympics. -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/30/ye-shiwen-record-olympic-swim?intcmp=239

#NBCFail: Backlash as Twitter locks out reporter Guy Adams

The Independent’s Los Angeles correspondent Guy Adams has account frozen after criticising US TV network.-- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nbcfail-backlash-as-twitter-locks-out-reporter-guy-adams-7987906.html

Lockdown 2012: Security at the Olympics

A fact full and condensed summary of the massive expenditure and cock-up's at the London 2012 Olympics.
--fly

Lockdown 2012: Security at the Olympics

For the XXXth Olympiad, which opened last Friday in London, organisers have placed a heavy emphasis on security. One figure that illustrates this emphatic approach to security: for every one athlete competing, there are four security personnel working at the Games (see our visualisation below).

The British Army is providing 17,000 personnel, 70% more than the number of British troops currently deployed in Afghanistan. Some 3,500 of these soldiers were called up at the last moment, bailing out the private security company G4S, undisputed gold medalists in the field of cock-ups.
 
http://owni.eu/2012/07/31/visualisation-olympic-security/

Feedback from Chinese Olympic ceremony

July 27, 2012. Cafe Zen, Amsterdam. (Watching the early opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on T.V, which was in fact the Beijing Games on replay)

How to compare the Occident and Orient in 2012? just look at the stylistic features and sources of inspiration for their respective Olympic openiong ceremony. One rooted in many thousand year old traditional arts and crafts that reflect the natural world, the other somewhat recent fictional characters from the world of make believe, television and film, the projection of recent popular mythology. Both have merits and points of criticism. 

FEEDBACK!

Ideographic dance, synchronized floor painting, atop huge scroll projection onto surface, trad. Oriental instruments strings lift canvas into air, camera flashes, red glow. Billions of body mind eye systems synchronize, remotely.

People emerge, like seeds from center flower in silver glowing suits red, blue, and little white lights glow in crowd. Tai Chi and Kung Fu in stone henge collection of monoliths, more light fantastic projections, nothing on seeper. Water projections, waterfalls but no water! imitation of school art square all within the scroll large multi colored Crayola type brushes in hands of children, surrounded by perhaps thousansands of Tai Chi, kung Fu practitioners. Amber lights, paint brushes dayglo in back sacks Large Trad. Chinese landscape painting rises into the air.

Space-man suspended on chords, now the space theme, some men in a pentagon stance atop a sphere, now earth and stars, fireworks shoot miles into the London night sky. Projected out of the sphere some Escheresque--concentric circles--10 tracks, opposite directions, giant whales swim around stadium pano while duo of singers, fireworks all over London and Beijing smudge a red hue. Faces projected around stadium.

Olympic flames enter stadium surrounded by nations flags blowing in wind, passing the fire a Chinese man lifts into the air, his torch almost going out, gasping for air, then he is lifted onto the panorama rim of the stadium, running in slow motion under spotlight, behind him the scroll unravels classic sport footage. He runs the whole stadium and lights up the fuse, massive flames flare up (I get the feeling of old Greek Olympics) more fireworks pop off up the river Thames for many miles, it seems.

Footage of Beijing Olympics?, oh yes. Anomalous incidents and crashes, falls, slips, balls in the face, arse in the face, great rallies, exceptional performances and near death and very dangerous looking images of sport, memorable due to great stupidity and great genius mixed.

I missed the rest of the ceremony, thankfully, my first impressions kept a positive note, i thought. --Steve fly