'With Glowing Hearts' is 2010 Olympics slogan

[Smitty]

Bar the maze of straw bing moved around by choppers to special show tracking devices I think that are producing a lot of snow higher up with snow machines & along with the snow at that higher altitude the same snow machines will be pushing it down to form the courses of all forms of skiing including the hotdog skiers to showboard people.

Truck it up would be quite a loss of melted snow by the time it arrives & can be moved. Obviously those keen on the Olympics must be on their knees asking for MORE SNOW.

Also if I was a shareholder in one of the major downhill runs for the Olumpics I would NOT be getting the sleep needed for worry would be the main control on the mind

[gossamer]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Five blocks away from the venue for Vancouver's Olympic opening ceremonies, four grizzled addicts huddle in the rain, injecting themselves with heroin behind a trash bin. Welcome to Downtown Eastside. Here, life is gritty, volatile and the slightest misstep can invite brutal retaliation. "It's a jungle," said Glen, a 49-year-old heroin addict who goes by the street name Trouble. "You want to get out of here."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35160185/ns ... -americas/


They make it sound like this is unique to Vancouver, it isn't. Every major city has this problem, but Vancouvers is closer to downtown then some. Locals know to stay clear and most do. It's like night/day when you walk down one street and turn the corner and your in the East Side. Not all are happy with the Drug Injection Sites but as long as it stays in that area, most just pass on the legal battle. Out of sight, out of mind mentality. Hopefully most tourists will have warnings in their hotel rooms because they don't want to do a wrong turn and end up there especially at night.

[deja vu]

An accident waiting to happen:


TransLink has backed off on initial warnings that passengers would have to wait up to two hours for a SkyTrain during the Olympic Games, saying new modelling suggests most queues will be closer to an hour. Spokesman Ken Hardie said Monday the transportation authority had based its original projections on the waits experienced during the opening of the new Canada Line last fall when thousands of people snaked around the various stations, waiting for hours for a free ride.

But new modelling, based on travel patterns and schedules as well as the timing and size of "load-outs" — the number of people leaving a Games venue at one time — suggest passengers shouldn't face the same situation when the Olympics are in town.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Tr ... story.html


Absoulutely crazy.

Any one that has been on the Skytrain knows that this could end up being a disaster. The platforms are not that wide and if people start shoving to get on the next train, there will be an accident. The longer people are waiting the shorter the tempers will be, especially when the number of cars on the train do not even come close to matching the length of a Skytrain platform. People at the back will push the crowd to get on the next train that shows up. What happens to the people that are not close to the last car on the train? Or the ones left at the edge of the platform when the train leaves? Haven't they heard of buses to help move the Olympic crowds?

Throw in the average citizen that has to go to and from work every day and the likely hood of an accident is through the roof. Temp. barriers to keep people in line wont work when you have a large crowd that is left standing on a platform in a hot tunnel or out in the cold night air. The tunnels downtown that lead to the platform would be cramped if your the one next to the wall. Hot, sticky and hard to breathe would be the norm.

This is really bad. Hope no one gets hurt or dies but the real possiblity is there.

[deja vu]

The Olympic clothing RIPOFF has begun in Vancouver.

~~~~~~~




On the fifth floor of The Bay downtown, amid the household goods and tableware department, members of the public can now experience first-hand the true meaning of the Olympics, which is, of course, merchandising.

Here, shoppers can browse through an international village of Olympic retail. Unlike the main floor, which is dominated by Canadian Olympic merchandise, and which has seen a frenzy of locals buying everything from official Olympic bookmarks ($5.99) to official torch relay Replica desk sets ($295), the international pavilion, which opened on Saturday, features Olympic outerwear and uniforms from most of the participating countries. Present are Russia, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, China, Great Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belarus, but not France, which, I am assuming, would, us usual, have nothing to do with the lesser nations.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Faster ... story.html


A childs sweater for 240.00, a fleece jacket for 370.00. All your paying for is a logo, nothing more. Big ripoff and probably the same at every Olympics. Some will be willing to pay it but I think the clothing is way over priced. Wait until the Olympics end and if the merchandise is still for sale, the prices will drop considerably. Get rid of what they could not dump on the Tourists or locals with money to throw around for over priced items.

[Smitty]

Wonder when they will change the name of the Hudson Bay to "China Bay" as it seems more suitable in what they are selling now being so many Chines products? Well it was just a thought over the past few years especially as I worked in the Hundson Bay Co., back in Winnipeg, Manitoba back in around '51 to to '52 to finally move to Banff to go partners with a chap in opening up a sport shop.

We prided ourselves in the best of skiing to mountaineering equipment & clothing basically from Europe, but some products from Canada like in jackets to sweaters & one or two line of boots.

[CielOnTap]

Sick kids stranded as Olympic cruise halted
Published 48 minutes ago
Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter
Make-A-Wish foundation organizers were working desperately Wednesday morning to find a place to stay at the Vancouver Olympics for 11 children whose dream cruise has gone belly up.

“We’re scrambling,” said Jennifer Ritter, national director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Toronto. “We’re connecting with hotels and some people have even been volunteering their private homes.”

The children, including two teenagers from the Toronto area, were among about 1,000 people booked by Newwest Special Projects aboard the Norwegian Star cruise liner as a floating hotel to be docked off Vancouver for the Olympics.http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/759854--sick-kids-stranded-as-olympic-cruise-halted?bn=1

The cruise ship line probably did not want to take a financial risk of opening the remaining rooms when at dock for spot sales of rooms during the Games. Businesses have to make prudent decisions to stay in business.

~~~~~~

The Hudson Bay is selling bottles of maple syrup in the $17 range--the syrup is from Canada, Smitty. The clothing is mostly made in other countries. I remember two years ago, a few children's T-shirts and maybe one for women were made in Canada, per the tags.

Aboriginal merchandise No obvious link as to which Host Nations are selling merchandise for the Games and where that link is. I think there must be a separate building on the Games Site downtown that will feature Aboriginal products.

~~~~~~

Local student to lend hand at Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games
By Laura Lennie, News Staff
News
Jan 15, 2010
Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School Grade 11 student Lindsay Tarbutt is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
Next month, the 16-year-old will travel to Whistler, B. C., as part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Youth Participation program.

“I have to buy some new winter boots because it’s cold up there,” she laughed. “I’m going to need to buy a lot more hoodies and sweatshirts.”

Lindsay will join other youth volunteers acting as Event Services hosts at Whistler Sliding Centre, which houses the bobsled, luge and skeleton events. Hosts act as greeters, marshals, ticket-takers and ushers. http://www.stoneycreeknews.com/news/article/article/199981

She is getting one of the better volunteer experiences that a high schooler can get. And it can qualify towards the mandatory 40h that Ontario high school students have to attain prior to graduation.

[guitarblues]

The hockey shirts for the European teams--kind of a neat idea if spectators want to show their fan or sport support for a team far from home ice. But they are seemingly all red shirts with colors not meant to be seen off-ice.

[Smitty]

You have a good point CielOnTap, but while I pity the kids that were booked on the ship & possibly the frustration of whatever to the Swedish Cruise Ship people.

I also think the firm realized that not as many people were booked on the ship, some probably thinking they w ould book a room once they arrive like a hotel that does not move. And that the outdoor events might flunk. After all they have been looking at the weather like us or even closer. Remember they have to pay quite a staff to keep that ship in best of running order, electricity, heating, fresh water, washrooms, to also the staff taking care of the rooms daily, to the luxery like restaurant plus the cooks to chiefs to you name it.

For instance if you rented a building with intent to make some money & looked at the outcome right now only to find you were loosing money then you have to back out completely & try to sell your products close to cost, if lucky, so look at the above ship & the costs to them to also what Vancouver is probably chanrger for them to be moored for so many weeks.

True they claim to be sorry about this, but they saw the future, so best to back out & give the payers of the rooms, back their money to Americans to people from England & so many others.

Remember Cambell had tried to talk some other large fair cruise ships into doing the same only they turned him down.

So on a final note the maze of trucks are still picking up loads of snow from Manning Park & trucking it some three hours, another three hrs back to pick up more so the costs go up, to the comp skiing area though cost is pretty darn hight. Something AGAIN Campbell to the ski slope people had not taken into consideration & in honesty I did not think along this line as well even a few weeks ago.

[deja vu]

It's one big mess now Smitty. The kids are the biggest losers and they should have just let the people that booked stay on the ship and let these very sick kids have their wish.

They wont find hotel rooms for the kids this close to the games. Unless the parents of the kids know the homes being offered you dont know that it is a safe alternative. A beautiful ship is gone and a home in the burbs doesn't have the same meaning. The ship would have put them right in the thick of things, now they will be lucky to even see Vancouver. These kids can't spend hours waiting for Skytrains to get around. Being at the ship terminal put them in a great location without relying on the transit system.

[Smitty]

It definately is a mess especially to these kids which are not like all normal teeners, like my Amateur Wrestling teams at times. Fortunately for my teams they were to stay over-night at the home of a fellow wrestler & parents or homes of some of the teachers. True I was left running around & worried for those kids were MY responsibility while being in Greater Vancouver or away from home to my driving & such there & back.

This situation of these kids, so mentioned in prior post, is so different. Care has to be given to all of them at the time. Had the ship not taken off then such a problem would have not happened for those in charge of them would have been very familiar with them & ALL on the same ship.

I keep on thinking of the Winter Olympics & who would have expected this mess on the ski slopes where the competitors were to compete? Yes I might have seen a bit of fog or some yrs ago at a World Championship there was SO MUCH snow then & still coming down that they had to cancel the event as it had to be finished in THAT day while the Winter Olymics could have handled a lot of snow at the time over the few weeks though there would have been problems on the tickets of the spectators & that could have been coffected with ease.

A bit of a change, but some one up in top complained about some of the truckers hauling extra trailers of MORE snow, was complaining that was not as clean as expected. Good gosh when you are on a machine digging up snow you can once in a while pick up a bit of dirt. What did they expect---the snow to be even better then at Whistler in its prime?

Also the trip is three hours from Whistler to another three hours back to pick up another load & that is pretty hard on the truckers one has to admit. They needed some rest, some food, to fuel up & to make sure their trucks are in best of condition for this trecking.