What Caught My Eye Today

Olympics - Not to worry I'm not going to bore you with medal results or counts. If you aren't watching the coverage, you probably don't care one way or the other. I will, however, continue to pass along some lesser known factoids about the games, because that's just the sort of cool dude I am. The Chinese government is laying out more than four times the $1.5 billion that Athens spent on security in 2004 (If you look at the percentages, Greece spent about 10 times as much as Sydney in 2000). The hefty increase is due in part to the immense size of the 2008 Games. Beijing alone has 31 venues and 6 other cities will place host to soccer, equestrian events and sailing. In attendance will be 10,000 athletes, 30,000 journalists, and 80 heads of state.

If you think those statistics are impressive, take a look at this next set. Philadelphia food-services company, Aramark is catering its 14th Olympic Games. The sheer scale of the project is just the start: 20 million servings of rice, 743,000 potatoes, over 1 million apples, 154,000 pounds of chicken, 800,000 eggs, 936,000 bananas--all adding up to more than 3.5 million meals. No word yet on the amount of Pepto Bismol that will be consumed. I'll get back to you on that.

Economy - Here's another one of those good news/bad news stories. The good news, which has helped the U.S. stock market to its biggest gains in four months, is that commodity prices, led by oil have been plunging. The bad news is that the decline in commodities is an indication of a slowdown in global economic growth. Well, you know what they say--misery loves company. Why should the U.S. be the only country to suffer? Crude oil is off 18% from its peak of $145 a barrel (currently $118). Nickel is down 47%; orange juice down 33%, platinum down 30%, and soybeans down 26%. On the bright side, lower commodity prices help hold down inflation and ease strains on consumers. Trouble is, the welcome price drop owes a lot to unwelcome world economic weakness. So if I'm reading this right, it pretty much doesn't matter if prices go up or down. Either way, we're screwed. Isn't that nice?

Georgia - Still the country, not the state. Georgia's Foreign Ministry said the country was "in a state of war" and accused Russia of beginning a "massive military aggression." The Georgian parliament approved a state of martial law, mobilizing reservists and ordering government authorities to work round-the-clock. Russian tanks rumbled into the contested province of South Ossetia and Russian aircraft bombed a Georgian town, escalating a conflict that already has left hundreds dead. The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war also increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region, Abkhazia, also targeted Georgian troops by launching air and artillery strikes to drive them out. Talk about a bad situation getting even worse. This is one of those times when the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a solution--its the train coming down on you at full speed.