And we're off.....

..straight away, the buffoons have an excuse already...."possible computer error?"

North Korea walks off pitch - Wrong flag displayed

Hmmmnnnn, wonder how the opening ceremony will go?

Oohh, musn't upset the money men now must we! They've got to be allowed to earn their profits......

Stiffer sentences for Olympic criminals

So the first batch to appear in court will be G4S then?

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Mitt Romney is apprehensive about the way London is running the Olympics. I hope he's enjoying his visit.

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me@rescam.org

North Korea walks off pitch - Wrong flag displayed

Now what would the Brits do if the Tri-colour was shown in place of the
Union Jack...rub their hands with glee for they know that this error was going
to be worth two free pints of Guinness...and the Irish would be only too pleased to cough-up....any chance of arranging this, Sirius.

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

In the past, the games commenced after the opening ceremony...so this time around, how is it that the games have commenced several days before the actual opening ceremony?

@Nick...

Now what would the Brits do if the Tri-colour was shown in place of the
Union Jack...rub their hands with glee for they know that this error was going
to be worth two free pints of Guinness...and the Irish would be only too pleased to cough-up....any chance of arranging this, Sirius.

If you could arrange that, I'll make sure you'll get all the Guinness you can drink throughtout the games... :)

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Well this is going to be one medal GB won't win.....

GB (1) vs Senegal (1)


...Next......

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I go for No.2. As regards sitting in corners, I'm still in the same one I was
in at the start of the debacle over the Olympics.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

There's only one country in the Olympics I object to & that is Team GB!

Whenever a Scotsman/Welshman/Northern Irishman won, it was always "Well done Britain"

But when ever they lost, "it was "ah poor Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland"

With every little pissant nation competing, then it should be England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland competing as seperate nations.

Personally, I've just put a nice bet on with Ladbrokes - GB to win, if they're lucky, no more than 30 medals, with most of them being bronze & silver!

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There are many qualifying events that take place before the opening ceremony. I know it was that way in China and in Greece.

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me@rescam.org

Whenever a Scotsman/Welshman/Northern Irishman won, it was always "Well done Britain"

But when ever they lost, "it was "ah poor Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland"

Which country does Wiggins come from for when he won the T'd France all that
was mentioned is that he was part of the GB race team.

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The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

U.S. beach volleyball team vow to keep wearing bikinis despite new dress code

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me@rescam.org

Whenever a Scotsman/Welshman/Northern Irishman won, it was always "Well done Britain"

But when ever they lost, "it was "ah poor Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland"

Which country does Wiggins come from for when he won the T'd France all that
was mentioned is that he was part of the GB race team.

Bradley Wiggins: Eccleston celebrates Tour win

Maybe if they tried football that way, they might just be able to win the World Cup more than once.

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Mitt Romney is apprehensive about the way London is running the Olympics. I hope he's enjoying his visit.

Oh yeah, He almost caused an International incident by His disparaging remarks about the London Games, the Guys an airhead who's running for President and He insults the officials over in the UK, how embarrassing...

The Brits to their credit had the perfect retort, "It's easy to run the Games in the middle of Nowhere"... Perfect...

Now as to sports If I were in better shape and had some practice & pointers in one sport(with a rifle) and some instruction in Archery I could have competed, When I was in My teens and was going to Boy Scout summer camp I did some archery, After that 1st week everyone in Troop 71 knew without a doubt that I was the best at archery in entire Troop and yep I had no practice(outside of watching some Robin Hood movies on TV that is), I never hit in the Yellow area which contains the Bulleye, but I always hit in the Red area, maybe It was that generic bow that looks like a capital D that was holding Me back, Mind You I went to camp for a week every year for 5 years, from age 12 to 17. Now as to the other sports that would be with a Rifle, I'd just need some tips and some practice, as I was a trained US Army Marksman w/an M16 rifle(plus I have the medal to prove it too, for Rifle and Grenade, rifle is at semi & full auto), If it moved within 600m or if it didn't I could nail that target with 1 shot and back then I could barely see the target, I thought I was aiming at the head, but considering what I know now, I needed glasses back then when I was 18, I won't even go into why I couldn't hit the still target at 1200m(the shot fell short as I could see the dust fly below the target, but I couldn't hit the dang thing, drat and double drat)...

Oh and why no practice? My Dad didn't want Me to have something like that in My hands, He thought I'd be irresponsible, the same reason He never got Me a bicycle, My Brother got Me My 1st bicycle which I took care of after learning on My own how to do, patching a flat tire, making sure the tube and the stem were in the right place, the right amount of lube on the chain, that sort of thing, the Boy Scouts I joined on My own as He didn't encourage Me in anything, not even in School...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Calm down, dears. Its only the Olympics! Thanks go to Michael Winner for the inspiration. lol

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Don't take life too seriously, as you'll never come out of it alive!

Hi Iona, I like what I see on TV of the UK, I'm watching the Olympics now of course, Cavendish was mentioned on the Isle of Mann...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan Won Gold in Men's Cycling Road Race.

You Da Man.

GivingTheOlympicsSunnyDaysFourthAngel

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Slightly off topic, what did the non-Brits out in SETI-land think of the Opening Ceremony?

I am British (a Scot) and I sometimes had to think hard to get the cultural connection or the "in joke". Although I enjoyed the ceremony, my pleasure was tinged with relief that we hadn't messed it up in some big way.

So .... what did you non-Brits think of the Opening ceremony? Interesting, confusing, boring, funny, quirkily British, or just a complete pain?

One last thing .... whether you think the Olympics are a waste or not, they are taking place, so we might as well enjoy them for what they are.

Regards to you all

Tom

I'm obviously a non-Brit, except by ancestry, so far, so good, as I'd said i liked the opening ceremony which I watched from the beginning to the end, I even saw Sir Winston wave as the Queen and "Mr Bond" flew in that helicopter, the pilot's a show off though as Flew through the bridge under the 5 rings.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

The Good

Opening Ceremony wows World Media

The Bad

Empty seats investigated

The UGLY

What a muppet!

Conservative MP Aidan Burley: "The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen - more than Beijing, the capital of a communist state! Welfare tribute next?. Thank God the athletes have arrived! Now we can move on from leftie multi-cultural crap. Bring back red arrows, Shakespeare and the Stones!"

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The empty seat issue already seems to have the answers in they were -

(a) unrealistically priced to the public
(b) sponsors did not turn up. If that was the case then an ultimatum should be offered - attend your next block seating and all subsequent ones or loose the privilege which will be shared with the local London public
(c) Burn off the journalists that did not bother to turn up

Problem solves and a minimal investigation ...

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues