The Rio Olympics and the Zika Virus

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Rio Olympics and the Zika Virus

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

The Chef de Mission of Australia's Olympic team Kitty Chiller is meeting with Olympic Village and IOC officials after a small fire at the team's accommodation revealed fire alarms had been silenced.

Lmao

# ? Jul 30, 2016 05:01

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# ? May 26, 2024 21:00

Lizard Combatant: Sep 29, 2010; I have some notes.

quote:

Kitty Chiller

# ? Jul 30, 2016 06:45

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

quote:

Just days after his controversial quip that Australian athletes might have felt more at home in their Olympic accommodations if a kangaroo had been placed outside, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor has placed the blame for the problems in the athletes’ village on the city’s Olympics organizing committee.
“The athletes’ village was ready. Then the organizing committee took charge for three months, and there were extremely serious management problems. During those three months, people intruded into the apartments and a lot of things were stolen,” said Rio mayor Eduardo Paes in an interview with a Sao Paulo newspaper picked up by AFP.
“The doors were left half-open. The organizing committee was careless, objectively speaking,” Paes said.

[Related: How Rio is helping its stray cats and dogs leading up to the Olympics]
Paes, who has been in office since 2008, maintains he only learned of the problems in the village late last week and that Brazilians were not the ones at fault.
“It wasn’t a Brazilian in charge of the Olympics village. Only foreigners,” said Paes. “At least people can’t say the Brazilians are disorganized. The boss was Mario Cilenti.”
Cilenti is Argentinian, so it perhaps comes as little surprise that the embattled mayor would try and pin the blame on him when you consider the contentious relationship that the two South American neighbors maintain with one another.
It’s been reported that Cilenti has since been relieved of his duties as executive director of the athletes’ villages, although there’s been no official confirmation of this from the Olympics committee.
The problems with the village – which range from exposed wiring to leaky plumbing and clogged toilets – first came to light Monday, when the Australian delegation announced it would be staying in a hotel because its accommodations were uninhabitable. Meanwhile, the Italian delegation decided to take matters into its own hands, hiring contractors to complete its unfinished block of apartments.

THEM DIRTY FOREIGNERS RUINING THE OLYMPICS

# ? Jul 30, 2016 06:48

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

Less than a week before the 2016 Rio Olympics are set to start, the Brazil Ministry of Justice terminated its contract with a private firm that was supposed to provide security for the games. The ministry cited “incompetence and irresponsibility” from the Rio de Janeiro-based firm Artel, and moved to strip them of their duties.

It’s not hard to see why the Ministry of Justice reacted so harshly. With only a few days left until the first venues are set to open, Artel admitted that they have only hired 500 security personnel.

They were supposed to hire 3,400.

These staff members were going to be responsible for screening visitors outside each Olympic venue. X-ray machines and body searches are now going to be handled by local police forces to secure areas that are expected to have tens of thousands of screaming fans.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 14:30

AriadneThread: Feb 17, 2011; The Devil sounds like smoke and honey. We cannot move. It is too beautiful.

uh, is this the police force that went on strike over not getting paid?

# ? Jul 31, 2016 15:21

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

AriadneThread posted:

uh, is this the police force that went on strike over not getting paid?

as reasons to strike go, that's a pretty good one IMO

# ? Jul 31, 2016 15:28

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

AriadneThread posted:

uh, is this the police force that went on strike over not getting paid?

Yes.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 15:29

Lime Tonics: Nov 7, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

AriadneThread posted:

uh, is this the police force that went on strike over not getting paid?

Also the same police force that mugged that jun-jitsu dude. Who will guard the guards? After that, who guards those ones? The sailing venue collapsed too.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/17181259/main-ramp-collapses-rio-olympics-sailing-venue

Oh, and 3 IOC members decide russias fate,

International Olympic Committee sets up 3-person panel to rule on Russian entries

The IOC's ruling executive board, which met Saturday for the final time before Friday's opening of the games, said the panel will decide on the entry of Russian athletes whose names have been forwarded to compete by their international sports federations and approved by an independent arbitrator.

"This panel will decide whether to accept or reject that final proposal," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "We want to make it absolutely clear that we are the ones making the final call."

The move comes amid a doping scandal that has led to the exclusion of more than 100 Russian athletes connected to state-sponsored cheating. More than 250 Russian athletes have been cleared to compete by the federations.

The panel will have to make its ruling before the opening ceremony, just six days away.

"We're working on a very, very tight timeline," Adams said. "It has to be finished by Friday at the very latest."

Same link, second story. I think the IOC might be shady, I have a feeling.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 15:50

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

this olympics is pretty much free market to the max

# ? Jul 31, 2016 16:43

Defenestration: Aug 10, 2006; "It wasn't my fault that my first unconscious thought turned out to be-"
"Jesus, kid, what?"
"That something smelled delicious!"; Grimey Drawer

Xandu posted:

There's no shortage of rich dictators that want to host the olympics. But in democratic countries where people have a say, it makes very little economic sense.

edit:

Would be nice to see a return to that, right now the IOC dictates way too much poo poo.

We're already seeing it for the winter olympics, with Beijing and Almaty the only takers for 2022.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 18:23

Blut: Sep 11, 2009; if someone is in the bottom 10%~ of a guillotine

I like the idea of having a permanent Olympic base in Greece. It would make far sense logistically.

Where would a likely permanent base for the winter Olympics be, though? That would probably a far more contentious choice.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 19:08

Yoshifan823: Feb 19, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Blut posted:

I like the idea of having a permanent Olympic base in Greece. It would make far sense logistically.

Where would a likely permanent base for the winter Olympics be, though? That would probably a far more contentious choice.

Take all of the cities that currently have hosted Winter Games and rotate between them, adding in new cities only when they have the infrastructure necessary to host. So Vancouver, SLC, Turin, Nagano, Lillehammer, maybe Pyongyang if it goes well, etc.

Alternately, just give it to SLC and put Mitt Romney in charge so he can stay out of politics for good.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 19:21

Kawasaki Nun: Jul 16, 2001; by Reene

Blut posted:

I like the idea of having a permanent Olympic base in Greece. It would make far sense logistically.

Where would a likely permanent base for the winter Olympics be, though? That would probably a far more contentious choice.

What makes more sense about Greece than any other point on the globe?

# ? Jul 31, 2016 19:59

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

Kawasaki Nun posted:

What makes more sense about Greece than any other point on the globe?

It's literally the origin of the Olympic games?

# ? Jul 31, 2016 20:13

Kawasaki Nun: Jul 16, 2001; by Reene

A Buttery Pastry posted:

It's literally the origin of the Olympic games?

That's not a very good logistical argument.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 20:36

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

Kawasaki Nun posted:

That's not a very good logistical argument.

Pretty sure the thing that would make "far more sense logistically" is the permanent Olympic base bit, Greece just gets the gig because of its origins there. I don't think it should be totally discounted from a logistical perspective though, in a scenario where it had a permanent setup. I mean, Greece is relatively close to the center of world population (and close to a bunch of rich countries), and the country is also so geared toward tourism anyway that it'd just be business as usual except a bit more. A Mediterranean climate is of course also really useful for the Olympics, ensuring clear skies for the games.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 20:48

duz: Jul 11, 2005; Come on Ilhan, lets go bag us a shitpost

Kawasaki Nun posted:

What makes more sense about Greece than any other point on the globe?

They could use the money.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 22:05

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

Kitty Chiller is now claiming that Australian athletes got their poo poo stolen while evacuating from the dumpster fire. :allears:

# ? Jul 31, 2016 22:43

Futuresight: Oct 11, 2012; IT'S ALL TURNED TO SHIT!

SynthOrange posted:

Kitty Chiller is now claiming that Australian athletes got their poo poo stolen while evacuating from the dumpster fire.

They left Rio? :grin:

This Olympics is very careful what you wish for. In my ignorance I had imagined Rio as a pretty nice place but they had to just go shine a light on it.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 22:55

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

SynthOrange posted:

Kitty Chiller is now claiming that Australian athletes got their poo poo stolen while evacuating from the dumpster fire.

A basic rule of fire safety is that you grab anything you don't want to lose when the alarm goes off. You'd think Australians would know that, considering their country turns into a raging inferno every year.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 22:57

clockworkjoe: May 31, 2000; Rolled a 1 on the random encounter table, didn't you?

A Buttery Pastry posted:

A basic rule of fire safety is that you grab anything you don't want to lose when the alarm goes off. You'd think Australians would know that, considering their country turns into a raging inferno every year.

No, the rule is to get the gently caress out immediately because there's a fire.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 23:25

got any sevens: Feb 9, 2013; by Cyrano4747

Lid posted:

Less than a week before the 2016 Rio Olympics are set to start, the Brazil Ministry of Justice terminated its contract with a private firm that was supposed to provide security for the games. The ministry cited “incompetence and irresponsibility” from the Rio de Janeiro-based firm Artel, and moved to strip them of their duties.

It’s not hard to see why the Ministry of Justice reacted so harshly. With only a few days left until the first venues are set to open, Artel admitted that they have only hired 500 security personnel.

They were supposed to hire 3,400.

These staff members were going to be responsible for screening visitors outside each Olympic venue. X-ray machines and body searches are now going to be handled by local police forces to secure areas that are expected to have tens of thousands of screaming fans.

So now they don't even have the 500 guards? That's stupid.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 23:32

duz: Jul 11, 2005; Come on Ilhan, lets go bag us a shitpost

clockworkjoe posted:

No, the rule is to get the gently caress out immediately because there's a fire.

No, that's just what you're told, that's not what anyone who has to do it regularly does.

# ? Jul 31, 2016 23:50

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

If you have to do it regularly, either you're in the wrong line of work or you're a fireman.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 00:48

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

Arsenic Lupin posted:

If you have to do it regularly, either you're in the wrong line of work or you're a fireman.

Hotels have false alarms all the time. Especially if a bunch of teenagers are staying there for some sporting even or something.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 01:08

PenguinKnight: Apr 6, 2009

Arsenic Lupin posted:

If you have to do it regularly, either you're in the wrong line of work or you're a fireman.

or you live in an apartment where no one knows how to cook and has ancient wiring like I do. There are at minimum 5 times a year where a fire breaks out in our building alone

# ? Aug 1, 2016 02:47

Fanatic: Mar 9, 2006

Arsenic Lupin posted:

If you have to do it regularly, either you're in the wrong line of work or you're a fireman.

When I lived on college campus the fire alarm would get triggered about once a week by a drunk student. The local fire dept hated us.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 02:56

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

Dude. I had no idea how sheltered a life I was living. (And yeah, in college it was totally a thing.)

# ? Aug 1, 2016 03:40

AlliedBiscuit: Oct 23, 2012; Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?!!

Fanatic posted:

When I lived on college campus the fire alarm would get triggered about once a week by a drunk student. The local fire dept hated us.

Were you in my dorm? The fire alarms started on move in day, and continued all year. My friend counted out more than 50 by the end of the school year.

In Rio news, I read a story about a Chinese hurdler from a couple days ago. Some dude throws up on him, and while the hurdler is cleaning up in the bathroom, someone stole his luggage. Apparently the vomit-attack is a common con there. Blame it on Rio!

# ? Aug 1, 2016 04:28

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

Yeah I'm in a large apartment block and it regularly gets tripped. We have a few stages of alarms. 1st one is 'get out if you need exercise or have nothing better to do'. 2nd is 'maybe get your valuables together, we're going to do an warning over the building intercom. 3 is the actual fire.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 04:38

Random Asshole: Nov 8, 2010

In my old apartment complex we had a very loud and obnoxious fire alarm that triggered about once a week, usually because someone was cooking.

Naturally, it failed to trigger the night the building partially burned down, we got woken up by someone going door to door at 5 AM telling people to get the gently caress out. We might have died if not for him.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 05:14

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

duz posted:

No, that's just what you're told, that's not what anyone who has to do it regularly does.

Pretty much. I've "evacuated" around 50 times in the last two years due to highly sensitive fire alarms and people doing things they weren't supposed to. It really doesn't take long for people to just really not give a gently caress. That said, I'd probably be out the door pretty quickly if I had somehow ended up in a potentially burning Brazilian building.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 06:12

Nonsense: Jan 26, 2007

A very apt political statement left behind to future generations. Fire alarms that cause crime.

# ? Aug 1, 2016 18:07

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

The Olympics' opening ceremony will represent a slice of life in Brazil, including a mugging scene with supermodel Gisele Bundchen the unlikely victim.

I so want this to be true.

# ? Aug 2, 2016 02:15

dex_sda: Oct 11, 2012

Lid posted:

The Olympics' opening ceremony will represent a slice of life in Brazil, including a mugging scene with supermodel Gisele Bundchen the unlikely victim.

I so want this to be true.

They're gonna hold the opening ceremony outside the stadium huh?

edit; lmao you're not kidding, it's being reported in a bunch of places. If this happens satire is truly obsolete

dex_sda fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Aug 2, 2016

# ? Aug 2, 2016 10:32

IndianaZoidberg: Aug 21, 2011; My name isnt slick, its Zoidberg. JOHN F***ING ZOIDBERG!

Lid posted:

The Olympics' opening ceremony will represent a slice of life in Brazil, including a mugging scene with supermodel Gisele Bundchen the unlikely victim.

I so want this to be true.

What is the likelihood of stadium collapse during the opening ceremony?

The odds I am going with is 1:25.

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:09

Yinlock: Oct 22, 2008

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that they feel that it's totally okay to hold an international event in the middle of a virus outbreak.

I guess I'm just being paranoid though, what about inviting people from all over the world to a place with a fairly debilitating virus that apparently also attacks the reproductive system and has multiple avenues of infection could possibly go wrong?

EDIT: To take it to a hyperbolic extreme, it's like "Welcome to the International Games held in AIDStown, the town where everyone has and contracts the dangerous HIV virus. Also there's no law, because at this point gently caress it."

Yinlock fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Aug 3, 2016

# ? Aug 3, 2016 00:04

Nonsense: Jan 26, 2007

The showers are literally holes in the wall.

# ? Aug 3, 2016 00:17

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

Yinlock posted:

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that they feel that it's totally okay to hold an international event in the middle of a virus outbreak.

I guess I'm just being paranoid though, what about inviting people from all over the world to a place with a fairly debilitating virus that apparently also attacks the reproductive system and has multiple avenues of infection could possibly go wrong?

EDIT: To take it to a hyperbolic extreme, it's like "Welcome to the International Games held in AIDStown, the town where everyone has and contracts the dangerous HIV virus. Also there's no law, because at this point gently caress it."

but there is vast sums of money to be made

# ? Aug 3, 2016 00:21

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# ? May 26, 2024 21:00

joepinetree: Apr 5, 2012

Of all the reasons to criticize this Olympics, Zika is the silliest. Infection rates are ridiculously low this time of the year in Rio.

# ? Aug 3, 2016 00:23

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