146 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

"...By January 2014 the construction costs had been reported to exceed the $50 billion mark, making it the most expensive Olympic Games in history.”

 

The modern Olympics are possibly the worst use of public funds, but in the tradition of "bread & circuses" I somehow doubt we've seen the last of these atrocious expenditures.

[amor de cosmos]

I'm sure the contractors made a killing though.

[lanforod]

Qatar is supposedly going to spend over 200 billion for the FIFA world cup.

[Nparker]

I reiterate: bread & circuses.

[Bingo]

 

 (CNN)They were two rising stars of American skiing -- colorful personalities with bright hopes for the future.

Their deaths in an avalanche at a resort in the Austrian Alps have left their friends on the U.S. Ski Team in shock.

Ronnie Berlack, 20, and Bryce Astle, 19 were two development-level ski racers who were among six people skiing when the avalanche struck. The four others were able to ski out of danger.

http://edition.cnn.c...dead/index.html

 

 

[North Shore]

" Posch, a cable car manager at the resort in Soelden where the two Americans were killed, said they and the other four skiers left the safe slopes and went out into an open area Monday.


There had been a lot of wind over the past few days that had moved new snow into the area before the avalanche, Posch told CNN. The avalanche risk was set at level 3 out of 5, with warnings on TV and radio not to go off piste, he said."

Avalanche warnings, warnings not to go off piste, and yet they ducked the rope anyway. Tragically tough way to learn a hard lesson...

Edited by North Shore, 06 January 2015 - 06:40 PM.

[Mike K.]

piste = a ski run of compacted snow.

 

You learn something new every day.