Sizing up the 2012 Olympic host wannabes

Wired magazine looks at the Race to Win the 2012 Olympics from a techie perspective.

Personally, I'm rooting for London, though either Paris or Madrid would do. My biggest fear is that the European host cities will split the votes and NYC will end up hosting it. Really, don't we get enough tourists as it is (though I don't mind the Europeans as much as I do the flyover-state types who can't navigate the sidewalks)?

Now, this might look good on paper...

Express Lane
As part of the $189 million transportation budget, the city created a traffic modeling system that dynamically maps the 53,000 roads and 2,300 bus, 900 commuter rail, 100 subway, and 50 ferry routes in the metropolitan area. Olympic priority lanes will put athletes and officials on the fast track; on average, participants will reach competition venues from Olympic Village in 21 minutes.

Ha!

I like Madrid's bid, especially this:

Eat Right
All Olympic village food will be organically grown, as part of Spain's organic farming initiative. (Athletes, coaches, and officials will consume 90 tons of groceries a day, for a total of about $48 million in grub during the games.)

But anyway, go London! Or Paris! Or Madrid! Or Mosc... okay, maybe not Moscow.

Speaking of the West Side Stadium, da May-uh doesn't want the rest of Manhattan feel left out. He wants to throw money at the East Side too. At least he's promising to, since it's election year and all. "It's eminently doable," says Bloomy. That's the kind of gung ho attitude I like in a mayor.

Sarcasm aside, I like the plans, and the area between East River Park and the Seaport can use some sprucing up. Manhattan could use something like the Brooklyn Heights Promenade or Fulton Ferry. But we'll just have to see if anything can get built in New York with public money.

Believe it or not, there are many foreigners living in New York and reading what they report back to their home countries gives an outsider's perspective of the city. One such account is a piece about summer in NYC for Belfast Telegraph, which isn't of much note except for the writer placing Union Square in the Lower East Side. I mean, really. I think that skips over like 3 whole neighborhoods.

Mark Cuban thinks sponsor logos on NBA uniforms is a good idea.

I don't have a problem with it either - as long as it doesn't look like a frickin' Mexican soccer jersey that's only two patches away from looking like a Nascar jumpsuit, it won't look all that bad. Go ahead, I say. And it'll be nice when people stop thinking I'm supporting Carlsberg beer when I wear my Liverpool jersey.