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Olympics

I watched the opening ceremony over the weekend (after all these years i still rave about TiVo).

Am I the only one who is intimidated by the sheer amount of human power involved in the theatrics? I was impressed and a little scared at the same time.

Paranoia kicking-in.

Did they do that on purpose, to show how much cheap labor they can employ, to pull almost anything off?
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Ilya said…
The purpose was certainly to "out-open" any previous Olympics.
August 12, 2008 at 2:56 AM
John the Scientist said…
It's not cheap labor, Comrade, they were People's Liberation Army Song and Dance Troupes. I'm all for the PLA spending its money on what we basically pay for via private donation in the US - the USO.

Plus, it distracts the brass.
August 15, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Some dude stuck in the Midwest said…
I agree. BUT! Rice is really cheap in China. I don't think the spending on the performers was that big.

I wonder if the spending will be reported anywhere. What do I need to hack to get that info.
August 15, 2008 at 1:20 PM
John the Scientist said…
Oh, there are whole departments in the US government whose job is to track the extracurricular activities of the PLA. Somehow, I doubt that they will share that information with us, however...

It's not the rice that bankrupts them. It's the other stuff like the use of military jests to cart around the Admiral and the songbird he's boinking, instead of using them for training of real troops.

And every hour spent boinking the songbird is an hour not spent studying our military. :D
August 15, 2008 at 2:39 PM
Some dude stuck in the Midwest said…
I am quite paranoid and a sceptic.

Saying that. :)

I don't believe that PLA needs a lot of training. They can take anybody by numbes alone.

Remember Stalingrad and Zagranotryads. Overwhelming by numbers is the only strategy I would expect from Chinese army.
August 15, 2008 at 3:18 PM
John the Scientist said…
Numbers didn't do them any good at Inchon!

And the Germans would have beaten the Russians at Stalingrad if their supply lines had not been over-extended.

I'm a student of the PLA because my FIL fought them (and the Japanese).

I agree, if we invaded them, they would look like the Russians at Stalingrad.

But they suck at force projection. They would quickly look like the Germans far from their borders. Hell, they can't even project force to Taiwan, and they know it, because until they started their planned retreat, the Nationalists kicked their butts on Hainan.
August 15, 2008 at 4:25 PM
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