...you can always put a bowl of ice cubes in front of a fan...

Ice made in a freezer, which is running on what, exactly?! And it's not like the ice would last even ten minutes in the type of temperatures where you'd be tempted to try this trick... so let's make lots of ice! Or maybe not.

Too often Pablo's assessments are weakened by poor mathematics, overly simplistic comparisons, or, as in this case, asides which are just puzzling from an environmental perspective.

And then there's the premise of this week's apples and oranges "comparison": fans are obviously more energy efficient per full-power unit than a/c units, but offer a completely different kind of heat relief, and need to run constantly.

I can't sleep in a hurricane -- and my ceiling fan would have to be kicking one up to provide the same cooling that my a/c unit provides on its most energy efficient "night" setting, which I can generally switch on for 30 minutes every 4 hours or so to keep the temperature below "sweating".

So why not run the maths on actual usage?

Too hard, Pablo?

I sincerely hope this is not the "new direction" of the Machinist.

...about which the author is fantastically, demonstrably, provably, laughably wrong.

As a matter of fact, the suggestion that nothing can naturally fluctuate into everything sounds a lot like a faith statement on a par with belief in God.

No, it isn't. We (by which I mean lots of peer-reviewed scientists, plus anyone who cares to do the requisite engineering or read the papers) have actually observed the process.

Nothing fluctuating into something is a silly and literary, but reasonably accurate explanation, in fact, for certain quantum processes in machines which I am fairly sure the author himself has observed working.

And once you have nothing "fluctuating" into something, "something" (as long as it's the right something, and it is) becoming "everything" is just a matter of, well, lots of time.

Where's that pesky faith requirement that pseudo-intellectuals are always trying to pin on science's lapel, again?

...and I read 100+ novels a year.

I'll even buy a book for the cover art -- but I never even look at the back cover these days before purchase. Too many novels ruined by idiotically spoiler-laden back-cover "teasers" for me to risk it.

I interpret a blurb on the front cover as a warning sticker. CAUTION: Over-hyped Writing Inside!

Occasionally my eyes _fall_ onto a blurb, and when that happens I always play "complete the sentence". It's a fun game:

The blurb: "A startling new voice..." Famous A. Writer

The full sentence: "A startling new voice in the way that a full bottle-fed diaper can be at 3am."

The blurb: "New Q. Writer writes like an angel..." Best B. Seller

The full sentence: "New Q. Writer writes like an angel: the sort of angel who pretends to fund your new idea, but instead steals it from you and leaves you broken and bleeding with a bunch of worthless stock options."

Maybe (and this is just an idea) publishers can stop demanding writers pester other writers for blurbs, and then writers will write more novels that publishers can sell? Hey? Hey?! More money! Less annoyance! No blurbs! Everyone wins!

...but you, Mr Krich, can fuck off.

...the customs lines still designated for "foreigners," the only country that sees nothing wrong with so blunt a category

This from a citizen of a country that calls foreigners "aliens" at its customs lines -- and fingerprints them all to boot. We're all criminals until proven innocent, eh?

Last time I went through Chinese customs, I got a smile, a stamp next to my business visa, and a thank you. Last time I went through US customs, I was rudely quizzed, fingerprinted, growled at, and made to fill in a form asking me if I was a Nazi in WWII (hint: I'm obviously under 80, morons).

Actually, I don't think I've been quite rude enough: fuck completely off, Mr Krich.

...and yet missed the whole forest.

The whole point of the opening ceremony was domestic. The whole point of the Olympics for China's rulers is domestic. Who, frankly, gives a damn whether Joe Q Sixpack and Suzie A Punchclock in Iowa got it? It wasn't for them.

The entire show, from start to finish, was designed as _internal_ propaganda, reinforcing the idea that although things might be tough, the Party is leading China in the "right direction".

To miss this fact is to miss everything about this opening ceremony, and indeed this games.

You may as well have stayed home for all that you learned in the heat last night, Mr Krich. But then I'm coming to expect facile comparisons and well-worn cliches in place of actual journalism from you.

Thank you, Ms. Sey!

It's refreshing and sobering to hear such honesty and analysis direct from an athlete.

It must be a relief to be "out from under" he pressure that is brought to bear on competing athletes to limit their commentary to banal platitudes, I've always thought it a shame that it's a kind of taboo to hear authentic athlete voices.

Great to hear yours! More please!