Barack Obama: He Completes Us

Danielle!

Haven't posted anything about Danielle Lloyd for a while, so here's a link to her looking amazing in a tutu and black stockings :D

Olympic medals table update

The Olympic medals table, adjusted to take account of national populations:

1. The Bahamas - 1 medal per 307,451 population
2. Jamaica - 1 per 311,592
3. Slovenia - 1 per 401,542
4. New Zealand - 1 per 463,718
5. Australia - 1 per 542,128
6. Armenia - 1 per 593,717
7. Estonia - 1 per 653,803
8. Lithuania - 1 per 713,042
9. Bahrain - 1 per 718,306
10. Belarus - 1 per 745,059

23. Great Britain - 1 per 1,523,598
41. USA - 1 per 3,198,154
62. China - 1 per 16,024,634

World average - 1 per 8,927,224

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. I had another truly shit day.

Olympic medals table update

The Olympic medals table, adjusted to take account of national populations:

1. Slovenia - 1 medal per 401,542 population
2. New Zealand - 1 per 521,683
3. Jamaica - 1 per 560,866
4. Australia - 1 per 588,596
5. Armenia - 1 per 593,717
6. Estonia - 1 per 653,803
7. Bahrain - 1 per 718,306
8. Belarus - 1 per 880,524
9. Denmark - 1 per 914,121
10. Norway - 1 per 928,891

22. Great Britain - 1 per 1,846,785
42. USA - 1 per 3,845,881
59. China - 1 per 17,500,587

World average - 1 per 10,385,014

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. I had a truly shit day.

Olympic medals table update

The Olympic medals table, adjusted to take account of national populations:

1. Slovenia - 1 medal per 501,928 population
2. Armenia - 1 per 593,717
3. Jamaica - 1 per 701,083
4. Australia - 1 per 710,374
5. New Zealand - 1 per 834,692
6. Belarus - 1 per 968,577
7. Trinidad & Tobago - 1 per 1,047,366
8. Norway - 1 per 1,161,114
9. Estonia - 1 per 1,307,605
10. Slovakia - 1 per 1,363,852

25. Great Britain - 1 per 2,437,756
38. USA - 1 per 4,674,225
55. China - 1 per 21,804,010

World average - 1 per 12,891,050

Observer-vations

A couple of items to comemnt on in today's Observer.

Firstly, they're reporting that 'Downing Street aides' have accused David Cameron of visiting Georgia for a 'photo opportunity'. It's also said that Gordon Brown was irritated by the trip.

Personally, I think Cameron should be commended. He's the only British politician who has actually shown any balls and gone to Tbilisi. Unlike the US, which sent very high-level support for democratic Georgia in the form of Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice, nobody from out government could be arsed to make an effort.

Moving on, there's an awful piece by someone called Carole Cadwalladr in which she accuses the BBC of hypocrisy in reporting the story of the little girl at the Olympics opening ceremony while at the same time having Gabby Logan present their Olympics coverage. She basically says that Logan was chosen for her looks and asks how that's any different to Yang Peiyi being substituted for a prettier looking girl in the ceremony.

There are two problems with this argument. Firstly and most fundamentally, Logan is only one of several presenters. There are others who are quite clearly not as attractive as Logan and indeed spend more time on camera, so why single out Logan as if she was the only presenter? Secondly, the only reason there was a story was because although Yang Peiyi was substituted, it was still her voice that was heard. The story was about deception. Were the replacement the actual singer, there wouldn't have been any story.

She then has the gall to claim that the substitution was an example of 'hyper-Westernization', as if to suggest the Chinese have somehow been corrupted by western notions of beauty after thousands of years of living in some kind of utopian society in which looks were unimportant. This is of course, utter nonsense. Looks have confered status since the dawn of man. It's not an insidious characteristic of western society, but an evolutionary mechanism - survival of the prettiest - and it's common to every society on earth.

Olympic medals table update

The Olympic medals table, adjusted to take account of national populations:

1. Armenia - 1 medal per 593,717 population
2. Australia - 1 per 824,034
3. New Zealand - 1 per 834,692
4. Slovenia - 1 per 1,003,856
5. Trindad & Tobago - 1 per 1,047,366
6. Norway - 1 per 1,161,114
7. Belarus - 1 per 1,210,721
8. Estonia - 1 per 1,307,605
9. Slovakia - 1 per 1,363,852
10. Cuba - 1 per 1,427,994

29. Great Britain - 1 per 3,584,936
37. USA - 1 per 5,626,382
--. World - 1 per 16,129,381
52. China - 1 per 28,914,013

The true Olympics medals table

Halfway through the Olympics and I got to thinking that the official medals table isn't really very accurate, because it doesn't take account of a country's population. Surely the success or otherwise of a country's Olympic efforts should be judged relative to its population?

With that in mind, here is my version of the Olympics table after the conclusion of today's events:

1. Armenia - 1 medal per 593,717 population
2. Slovenia - 1 per 1,003,856
3. Australia - 1 per 1,030,043
4. Slovakia - 1 per 1,363,852
5. Cuba - 1 per 1,427,994
6. Mongolia - 1 per 1,498,041
7. Georgia - 1 per 1,543,614
8. Switzerland - 1 per 1,895,380
9. Hungary - 1 per 1,986,183
10. Azerbaijan - 1 per 2,044,429

32. USA - 1 per 6,604,883
36. Great Britain - 1 per 7,617,989
44. China - 1 per 32,440,112

So while China may occupy the top spot on the official table, it's clear that they're punching below their weight, relative to their population.

It's also worth noting that while GB seem quite far down the table, they are actually performing above average because at present, the average population per medal is 20,113,144.

I'll post daily updates until the conclusion of the games.

RIP, Bernie Mac

Bernie Mac
Actor and comedian
5th October 1957 - 9th August 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7551477.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Mac

Justice!