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How Russia Transformed a Subtropical Beach Resort To Host the Winter Olympics
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Duncan Geere reports at The Verge that Russian resort as Sochi, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, is humid and subtropical with temperatures averaging about 52 degrees Fahrenheit (12 C) in the winter, and 75 degrees (24 C) in the summer. "There is almost no snow here — at the moment it's raining," says Olga Mironova, a local resident. It's estimated that the cost of staging the Olympics in Sochi has been greater than the previous three Winter Games combined — ballooning to a whopping $51 billion including the cost of implementing an extensive system of safeguards to ensure there'll be sufficient snow in Sochi for the games including the cost of implementing one of the largest snowmaking systems in Europe. The system includes two huge water reservoirs that feed 400 snow cannons installed along the slopes that can generate snow in temperatures of up to 60 degrees fahrenheit (16 C). If that snow isn't enough, then the authorities will fall back on 710,000 cubic meters of snow collected during the winters of previous years leading up to the games. To keep it from melting in the region's hot summers, 10 separate stockpiles have been kept packed tight under insulating covers high up in the mountains, safe from the sun's rays. Down in Sochi itself the other half of the games will be held in five indoor arenas that will host figure skating, speed skating, hockey, and curling, and an additional outdoor area will host the opening and closing ceremonies. In each of these indoor arenas, underfloor cooling systems are installed so that the ice stays frozen above it using propylene glycol, which doesn't freeze until temperatures reach 8.6 F (-13 C). Climatologists predict that even under a best-case scenario, almost half the venues that have hosted the Winter Olympics over the last century would be unable to do so by 2080 without resorting to extensive and expensive artificial snowmaking techniques.""
It would even be clearer to most people here if you did it in kelvins rather than Fahrenheit.
Its down to the monumental institutionalised corruption in Russia where everyone from the highest level apparatchik down to the brick layer is on the take.
These games are also a show of the absolutely incredible depth of corruption in Russia. The initial budget of $12 billion has ballooned to over four times to some $50 billion – the most expensive winter or summer Olympics in the history. The 45-kilometre road from Sochi to the outdoor venues alone cost $8 billion, enough to pave the finished road with 5-millimetre thick gold. It was a common arrangement in the Olympic construction projects to use the money as follows: 30% for the actual construction work, 35% to the officials and 35% to the "oligarchs" who oversaw the project. And let's not forget how the Sochi locals who happened to live near the coming Olympic venues have been brutally forced on the streets without any compensation for their expropriated property, thanks to a special law that Putin had passed in Duma. You should see the documentary Putin's Games for some background on the mind-boggling amounts of corruption in these games.
43.5 degrees N (more northerly than Buffalo, NY) is not "subtropical."
The word "subtropics" refers to a particular location. The word "subtropical" can refer to any area that has characteristics similar to the subtropics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_locations_with_a_subtropical_climate
Hey lookie there: Eurasia -> Russia -> Sochi
Ok. I'm frankly sick and tired of all this media campaign of discrediting the Russian olympic games. I mean, this article is completely ridiculous.
As a comparison, the weather in Sochi is similar to the one in Grenoble (at least from a temperature point of view). Now, the thing is that I live in Grenoble, which was also the location of the olympic games in the 60's. Like in Sochi, right now it is raining in Grenoble, and the temperatures are around 10 degrees Celsius. Despite this, just yesterday I went skiing at the resort which hosted the downhill event in the 60's and guess what? Perfect skiing conditions, all slopes were open and no artificial snow has been used in the last 4 weeks. How is this possible? Well, most of the events at the winter olympic games are hosted in the mountains, which in the case of Grenoble are 2000 meters above the level of the city. I don't know about Sochi but the Caucas mountains have peaks of over 5000 meters.
Just comparing the temperatures in the biggest city which happens to be located near the actual mountains which host the games is completely stupid!
Now, doesn't the lack of shower curtains and door knobs seem a bit pedantic?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Yes, it's time to give up! http://imgur.com/3ZidINK and to use the metric system also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
While the indoor activities may well be in the City of Sochi, the activities which actually requires a large amount of snow (alpine and nordic) are actually arranged in Rosa Khutor, which may only be 50 km away, but happens to be approximately 1000 meters above sea level, something which does have an impact on the climate.
There may be lots of things wrong with these Olympics, but there is no need to exaggerate.
Right up until the end when GLOBAL WARMING.
Oh just wait until you come to Canada, neighboring the US especially in Southern Ontario or Alberta you have: Meat, veggies, fruit and bulk goods weighed in, grams and lbs. Lumber by the ft, and meter, road signs in various spots in mph and km/h. Liquid in containers, in fl oz, quart and ml, or liters. And to top it all off you get screwed over when buying gasoline.
Then again, you could go to the UK and get baffled by stones.
Om, nomnomnom...
reporting largely to Americans
Are you sure about that?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
You can easily divide a foot, for example, into thirds, halves, quarters. Not so much with base 10.
If you can't easily divide the number ten into two equal halves, then perhaps you have bigger problems than just which set of units to use.
All systems of measurements are based on arbitrary references.
The difference is that SI is a coherent system of base and derived units with very simple relationships between them, all based on the number 10 and a series of greek prefixes.
Nobody ever asks themselves (*kids still learning the basics excepted) how many meters are in a kilometer. Knowing that, nobody is going to be left wondering how many grams there are in a kilogram or how many newtons in a kilonewton. The keyword is coherency.
SI is coherent within itself and with the numerical system used by nearly everyone on this planet (base 10). Imperial units are neither.
Also, SI is used in all but three countries. Don't you think those three countries might have done things wrong?
SI is better, but ease of unit conversions is at best a minor advantage. You know when the last time I had to convert between centimeters and kilometers was? Probably when I was in school, learning about using metric. I don't convert between inches and miles either -- there's just no point in most people's lives.
In fact, the only units that I have to convert between regularly are time units, and metric doesn't help you there.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
In fact, the only units that I have to convert between regularly are time units, and metric doesn't help you there.
I did highschool physics in Europe with SI units...But oh, the horrors whenever, we saw a page from an American physics book :)
More than half the book was about unit translation... it's convenient have kilograms, meters match up with the gravitational constant.
Maybe you're right that it doesn't matter that much on a daily basis. But if you ever read the nutritional information on a product over here (I'm currently in the US) you'll see that it's per "serving" and:
- servings are defined in cups (or something crazy)
- fat per serving is grams, and
- total contents of the package is defined in pounds.
To deduce anything from the nutritional information on the product is very hard... In most other countries, it's grams of fat per 100 gram, and total contents of the package is in kg or grams... Enjoy.
I did highschool physics in Europe with SI units...But oh, the horrors whenever, we saw a page from an American physics book :)
More than half the book was about unit translation... it's convenient have kilograms, meters match up with the gravitational constant.
I studied physics in the US -- both at high school and university level -- and I can tell you that nobody actually does physics using US units. Typically an introductory course will include an early segment on converting to and from metric, but the students can generally forget all about it because the coursework will all be in SI units.
I've seen a couple old textbooks where the authors seemed to get a kick out of forcing people to convert back and forth (exercises would include mixed units), but I've never seen a book or a class in the last 20 years that did that beyond some initial work on making sure that the students know how to convert between units.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?