Keep it moving, people. Nothing to see here
It looks like New Delhi has finally got the kinks out of its much-maligned Commonwealth Games.
Since the Games hired a goon squad of langur monkeys to maintain order over bands of smaller monkeys, there have been no reports of simian rampages on tourists or athletes. (Langurs, the jackbooted stormtroopers of the monkey world, are very effective in keeping lesser primates from taking up residence in their territory.)
Meanwhile snake charmers remain posted throughout the Games venues should any more deadly cobras appear from plumbing fixtures. One was found slithering down a drain last week at the tennis center. Games officials downplayed the incident. What, you never heard of snaking a drain?!
No pedestrian bridges have collapsed this week.
Look what we found in the drain.
Those fears about a mosquito-borne dengue fever epidemic in the athletes quarters? Overblown, say officials. No infections have been reported. They add that most doctors and paramedics assigned to the Games are accredited.
But there is one ugly development that seems destined to cast a pall on the Commonwealth Games. What’s worse is that Games officials are complicit.
“There is a lot of demand for the vuvuzela,” Suresh Kumar, chairman of the Indian company in charge of merchandising for the event, told the U.K.’s Telegraph. “We have sold more than 12,000 pieces.”
A total of 50,000 vuvuzelas were imported from China for sale. Indian Sports Minister M.S. Gill even blew one at the athlete’s village Wednesday.
The organizing committee is hoping the low price of each horn (about $5) “will enable everybody to own a piece of the Games.”
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Trained monkeys guard athletes at Commonwealth Games Telegraph
No dengue case reported so far in Games Village Hindustan Times
Earplugs at the ready for the return of the vuvuzela Telelgraph
http://casimira.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/screen-shot-2010-06-14-at-6-04-32-pm.png?w=500&h=311
This screenshot is one I took of my farm in Farmville. See how neat and regular the fields? The trees all in neat lines, the animals well cared for? The flowers lining the fences, my little person neatly ensconced in her enclosure in the middle of the whole thing? You can see that I had a considerable bankroll, over three million coins at this time, and that I was on level 48. I have over 50 friends, and you can see 7 of them at the bottom of the page. My fuel tank is full and I have about 121 more tanks waiting for me to use. My horses are contentedly lounging in their stable, the cats are in the yard and the dogs are waiting to play. The houses neatly aligned, all ready for visitors. The gnomes are roaming the village, the pigeons are flying around and there are picnics arrayed in two of the yards. On my farm everything is in order. It is neat and free of clutter. There is a beauty in its orderliness and my friends regularly visit me and leave gifts in my box. I can tend my farm whenever I want to and I can help my friends on their farms, and leave gifts for them as well after getting free $100 game cards at http://www.gamercard.info of course. I can make financial decisions that have an expectable outcome. If I plant high yield crops and harvest them on time, I will make money. If I let them wither and die, I will lose my investment. It’s clear and simple.
In my real life, things are not so regular. I get overwhelmed sometimes by the vicissitudes of life. People do and say things that are untrue and make me feel bad, and clutter accumulates that seems beyond my control. I never have enough money, no matter how much I work. I am with twelve-year olds all day, and they are the least predictable humans I’ve yet encountered. I find it relaxing and calming to spend a half an hour in the evening on my farm, bringing order to this little environment. On my farm I am in control, and that feeds something in me. I still cook good meals most days and I make a point of getting out and moving my body in real life. I do things with my friends and family, and I love to go out to the Sacramento River as often as the water level will permit it. My farm doesn’t replace anything essential in my real life. It just provides a little time out that I like at the end of the day.