the olympics
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More on Brazil
Politicians have given into the demand that sparked Brazilian protests, lowering bus fares from 3.20 reais back down to R$3.00 (about $1.60 back down to $1.50), massive protests continue throughout the country. The New York Times has a good summary of what’s…
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“Hard Times in the Uncanny Valley”
Colson Whitehead went on a London Olympics adventure, which you can read all about in his multi-part dispatch for Grantland. “I started scoring events in terms of what they’d offer in a human-annihilation-type scenario. Offensewise, archery skills seemed like an…
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Peripherally Olympic
Full of history and intrigue, here’s some suggested peripheral reading to accompany the beloved games: Over at The New Inquiry, native Londoner Laurie Penny agrees to ride the Underground for a full day, then writes about the forgotten history, ghost architecture,…
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Olympic Poetics
“It’s easy to say poets are attracted to sport for reasons that have something to do with form. I’m sure that’s true, but I also think that it has something to do with the possibility of failure and, in the…
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Olympians Crash Grindr
Popular gay dating app Grindr crashed “within minutes” of the arrival of Olympic teams in London today — due to the spike in demand. “It happened almost as soon as the teams got here. Either loads of athletes were logging…
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Pre-Olympic Pre-Emptive Strikes
London authorities are bent on making sure that the Olympics Games will proceed without a hitch. Their strategies include arresting people who they think may pose a threat to that smoothness, in advance, before any crimes are committed. Four men,…
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Sport v. Human Rights
Eurozine’s Mihir Bose lays out the development of modern athletics in connection with human rights, citing the political and ethical pressures involved in not-so-nice countries hosting major sports events. He writes that the International Olympic Committee, among other major governing…
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Morning Coffee
A little architecture porn to start your day, coming to you from Turkey, Japan, and Wayne Coyne’s heroin soaked brain. Evidently there is some sort of sporting event going on right now. Here are some commemorative stamps. Dead fly art…