Lighten up. It was not a serious comment.

Nope, pardner, I ain’t ever been to Texas, but if they’re as prickly as their cacti and you it ain’t a road movie I want to be in.

Even if most Texans have IQ’s in the genius range, there is one resident that would pull the average way, way down, now wouldn’t there?

Have you ever been to Texas?

I have been there maybe 10 times and have found them courteous and intelligent.

Thanks for that.

This is all extremely sad, is it not?

Not one of these things is actually useful, is it?

It is as if we’d become as stupid as your average Texan. “We’ve now got the largest arses in the world, overtaking NYC and London to be world champions in stupid records” or some such….

“The tallest building in the world is now in Taipei, and it will soon be overtaken by one being built in Dubai. The world’s richest man is Mexican, and its largest publicly traded corporation is Chinese. The world’s biggest plane is built in Russia and Ukraine, its leading refinery is under construction in India, and its largest factories are all in China. By many measures, London is becoming the leading financial center, and the United Arab Emirates is home to the most richly endowed investment fund. Once quintessentially American icons have been appropriated by foreigners. The world’s largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. Its number one casino is not in Las Vegas but in Macao, which has also overtaken Vegas in annual gambling revenues. The biggest movie industry, in terms of both movies made and tickets sold, is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Even shopping, America’s greatest sporting activity, has gone global. Of the top ten malls in the world, only one is in the United States; the world’s biggest is in Beijing. Such lists are arbitrary, but it is striking that only ten years ago, America was at the top in many, if not most, of these categories. “

Times are a’changing..

Totalitarian regimes always do spectacle rather well.

They do exceedingly well in propaganda to exert the qualities of their glorious leaders and their impeccable and flawless regime. Needless to say, China did a pretty good job in organising the Olympics, which India would never be able to pull this off.

However, China is still a 3rd World country with abject poverty and great discontent in non-economic areas, and these displays of opulence and extravaganza are nothing more to hide that. I am counting that India will reach to China’s economic level in a century, but taking everybody aboard, not just the lucky few.

I agree with Halima’s post in #8 that London should not try to emulate the opulence of the Chinese Olympics. There is no other city in the world that captures the spirit of the Olympics than London, and that should capitalise that.

In world where differentiation is what gives British economy its distinction – creativity and innovation is our thing and we should build on that – while not forgetting our grassroots.

I loved the cool blue Britannia dress – vintage and modern.

Poor Australia! Mistaken for Iraq by a dumb American, with many ignorant of some of the brilliant comedy coming out of there and having to choose between the Labour and the Liberal Party (both in name only)…

The bit about how the Chinese can work harder than anyone else if they have to was also faintly menacing, I’m not too sure why.