Why I Hate the Olympics

Once upon a time I enjoyed watching some Olympics events like gymnastics. Now I don't care.

1. The IOC has turned what was once grassroots and heartfelt into a moneymaking sponsor-driven ad fest.

They security firms were unable to find enough security personnel needed to secure the games, but they managed to find almost 300 brand enforcers to walk around taping over faucets at local establishments bearing company names that haven't sponsored the event.

Their corporate money-driven greed prevents anyone except NBC, who signed an exclusive contract for over $1 billion, from broadcasting the event so many people didn't get to see it and it wasn't live streamed on the Internet (what was, was plagued with delays and problems). Live events should not HAVE exclusivity contracts; they should be unenforceable. NBC wouldn't have covered the games otherwise?

The IOC has tried to geoblock social media reporting about the event. My ONLY choice for seeing the Olympics is via illegal download (simple, but not interested). Update: Turns out I can see the Olympics on IBA (thanks Bassie).

You can't even mention the word Olympics, the date 2012 and the word games, or any symbology associated with the games without being hit with a lawsuit. A 30 year old Greek restaurant named Olympic Gyro was forced to change its name to "protect the rights" of the corporate sponsors. An 81 year old grandmother making little teddy bears to sell for $1 was shut down.

The IOC went so far as to try to prevent anyone from linking to their site if the link was in a context that wasn't positive (to universal scorn and derision).

Ticket prices range from a mere 15 GBP for cheap seats at events that last 30 minutes to over 700 GBP for good seats in some events. Most seats are 50 GBP or up. (To be fair, there were some 20 GBP seats at the opening ceremony, with other seats ranging as high as 2000 GBP.)

So much for the games of the people.

2. The competition brings out the worst.

Winning is far more important than competing. The World Doping Agency is now an integral part of the IOC, and several athletes have already failed doping tests. Bizarrely, even the players in the mind sports games are subject to doping tests, as if someone playing Chess is ever going to take steroids to win a game!

Never heard of the World Mind Sports Games? They're part of the Olympics, but they don't televise well so no one seems to care.

As for the former humans who now complete, don't even think about it unless you have a ton of money for the computers and science that can analyze your every twitch to sculpt your body and movement into robotic perfection.

Does the competition break down stereotypes and increase world peace? Apparently not, if you consider the recent spate of athletes tossed out of the game for racist tweets. The Lebanese team refused to train near the Israelis and the Iranian team won't compete against them.

Does the competition at least bring pride to their nations? I don't know, but it sure doesn't do anything of importance for them. Did you know that Syria has an Olympic team? Has that registered yet? Who in Syria is going to benefit right now if their team wins or loses?

Does the competition even inspire anyone to exercise? Or do we just live vicariously through those who do?

Countries don't benefit internally from having their players win or lose, and countries don't make peace as a result of the competition.

3. It costs too many resources.

The UK taxpayer has spent more than $14 billion (Sky News reportedly thinks it may end up at over 24 billion GBP) to host the games, and the only one benefiting from that is the IOC and its sponsors. They spent $500,000 just on 17 sandstone toadstools. The people of England could have used that money at this particular time (when they are cutting pensions, sick pay, or simply firing public sector workers). The people lost a vast amount of public space, either destroyed or permanently turned over to corporate ownership. Other countries have spent millions to billions of dollars to send their athletes.

The UK assigned more armed forces to protect the Olympics than they deployed to Afghanistan. Don't these people have anything better to do?

4. It takes up too much media time.

7 rockets aimed at civilians have hit Israel since the start of the Olympics. These were not in response to any activity on Israel's part, just the daily fun time of Islamic militants. Did your news cover that?

The only English language radio I receive here is the BBC, whose reporters appear to be in a continuous state of climax over the games and believe that all their listeners are too.

Around the world, real things are happening; other than a great monetary, privacy, and human rights loss to UK taxpayers and the imaginary importance of winning some games, nothing is happening in London.

Yehuda

P.S. And I didn't even mention the minute of silence controversy. The IOC said that the minute of silence for the Israeli victims of massacre 40 years ago at the Olympics was not appropriate for an Olympic opening ceremony, but the 4 hour ceremony managed to include a minute of silence for people killed in WW1 and WWII. Past Olympics ceremonies have included minutes of silence for those killed on 9/11 and in London on 7/7.

Read: we don't want Arab countries to boycott the Olympics. How about this: tell any country that threatens to boycott the games that they are violating the spirit of the games and then throw them out? Oh right: money.

Alpha Protocol [PC Game]

Alpha Protocol

• Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
• Publisher: SEGA
• Genre: Action RPG
• Release Date: June 1, 2010 (US)

About Alpha Protocol

Loyalty carries a price and no one knows this more than agent Michael Thorton. A talented young agent cast out by his government, Thorton is the only one with the information needed to stop an impending international catastrophe. To do so means he must cut himself off from the very people he is sworn to protect. As players determine how to accomplish different objectives, the decisions made and actions taken in each mission will ultimately transform the type of secret agent Michael Thorton will become. Every choice the player makes as Michael Thorton will carry consequences for his future and the fate of the world.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.0 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2200+
• Memory: 1 Gb
• Hard Drive: 12 Gb free
• Video Memory: 128 Mb
• Video Card: nVidia GeForce 6800 / ATI Radeon X1600
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
• Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.5 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+
• Memory: 2 Gb
• Hard Drive: 12 Gb free
• Video Memory: 512 Mb
• Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800 / ATI Radeon HD 2900
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Download Alpha Protocol – Direct Links

Part 01 – 700 MB

Part 02 – 700 MB

Part 03 – 700 MB

Part 04 – 700 MB

Part 05 – 700 MB

Part 06 – 700 MB

Part 07 – 700 MB

Part 08 – 700 MB

Part 09 – 700 MB

Part 10 – 700 MB

Part 11 – 700 MB

Part 12 – 700 MB

Part 13 – 700 MB

Part 14 – 700 MB

Part 15 – 402 MB

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www.elj-games.blogspot.com

Star Trek Online [PC Game]

Star Trek Online

• Developer: Cryptic Studios
• Publisher: Atari
• Genre: RPG
• Release Date: February 2, 2010 (US)

About Star Trek Online

Set in the year 2409, Star Trek Online allows players to immerse themselves in the future of the Star Trek universe, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations in an ever expanding vast universe. Command a starship as a Federation or a Klingon Captain, outfit it with custom systems and recruit, train and mold a crew into an elite force for exploration and combat. Missions take players into thrilling space battle, planetside for face-to-face combat and even inside starships.

System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD Graphics
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
• DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
• HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
• Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
• Disc: 6X DVD-ROM
• Keyboard
• Mouse

Recommended System Configuration

• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+
• Memory: 2GB RAM+
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
• DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
• HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
• Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
• Disc: 6X DVD-ROM
• Keyboard
• Mouse

Download Star Trek Online – Direct Links

Part 1 – 700 MB

Part 2 – 700 MB

Part 3 – 700 MB

Part 4 – 700 MB

Part 5 – 700 MB

Part 6 – 700 MB

Part 7 – 700 MB

Part 8 – 656 MB

www.elj-games.blogspot.com

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

• Developer: Gearbox Software
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Genre: Shooter
• Release Date: October 7, 2008 (US)

About Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Gearbox's third entry in the venerable Brothers In Arms series heads up to the front as with the first of the series for next-generation systems. Delivering on the franchise’s compelling story, unrivaled authenticity and intense squad-based action, Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway drops you into Operation Market-Garden, the largest airborne operation of World War II. Lead Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division as they fight to open "Hell's Highway" in a daring bid for a quick end to the war. The game , makes use of the new Unreal Engine 3 technology for its delivery of the war experience, with new cutting-edge gameplay features and a completely redesigned online component.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/Vista
• Processor: Pentium D @ 2.6 GHz / Athlon FX-55 Equivalent
• Memory: 1 Gb
• Hard Drive: 8 Gb free
• Video Memory: 128 Mb
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows Vista
• Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.6 GHz
• Memory: 2 Gb
• Hard Drive: 8 Gb free
• Video Memory: 256 Mb
• Video Card: nVidia GeForce 7600
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 10
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Download Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway – Direct Links

Part 1 – 700 MB

Part 2 – 700 MB

Part 3 – 700 MB

Part 4 – 700 MB

Part 5 – 700 MB

Part 6 – 700 MB

Part 7 – 700 MB

Part 8 – 700 MB

Part 9 – 700 MB

Part 10 – 23 MB

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www.elj-games.blogspot.com

Fast is Slow

Last year, a few days before Tisha Baav, I arrived in Raanana. On Tisha Baav I went to the Carlebach shul for the first time and, as I sat down, I volunteered to the gabbai and Rabbi that I could read a chapter of Eicha if they needed. They smiled and assured me that they had planned the reading well in advance, so thanks but no thanks.

And then one of the readers didn't show up and they frantically signaled to me from across the darkened room. I was asked to read chapter 2 with zero preparation time.

My previous Eicha reading experience had been chapters 3, 4, and 5, so chapter 2 was a new experience for me. I know the trope (and I think I sing them well) but I stumble a little over the Hebrew when reading for the first time. So I read very slowly, which is all the better for Eicha anyway.

Last night I did the same thing: I volunteered to read, was told that they have it all covered, and then again one of the readers didn't show up.

This time the missing person was the reader for chapter 1, the remaining chapter that I had not previously read. So I fumbled and sung my way through it, and hopefully didn't ruin anyone's enjoyment of the evening.

Another example of my roller coaster philosophy: I don't know what I'm doing, it looks scary, I volunteer.

Final Fantasy VII [PC Game]

Final Fantasy VII

• Developer: Square
• Publisher: Eidos Interactive
• Genre: RPG
• Release Date: June 24, 1998 (US)

About Final Fantasy VII

FINAL FANTASY VII has quickly become one of the best-selling Role Playing games of all time. Combining fully polygonal characters with pre-rendered backgrounds and a stirring musical score by Nobuo Uematsu, FINAL FANTASY VII is a worthwhile addition to any RPG collection. The story centers on the young mercenary Cloud Strife, who is fighting against the evil Shinra, Inc. Along the way, he meets an unforgettable cast of characters such as his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart and the grumpy pilot Cid Highwind. All together, it is an unforgettable and engrossing single-player game that can last for over 60 hours!

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows 95/98
• Processor: Pentium @ 133 MHz
• Memory: 32 Mb
• Hard Drive: 260 Mb free
• Video Memory: 4 Mb
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 5.0
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

 

Download Final Fantasy VII – Direct Links

Part 0 – Installer

Part 01 – 1.95 GB

Part 02 – 328 MB

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www.elj-games.blogspot.com

Dirt (Colin McRae) [PC Game]

Dirt (Colin McRae)

• Publisher: Codemasters
• Developer: Codemasters
• Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Genre: Racing

About Dirt

A reinvigorated McRae rally ride, built for next-gen systems for the realistic feel of racing off-road. This edition goes beyond the series' point-to-point rallying to deliver its most diverse selection of extreme off-road competitions yet. Sensational gravel, mud and dirt racing events from the world over will include perilous Hill Climb, collision-packed Rally Cross events, and grueling C.O.R.R. (Championship Off-Road Racing) events. The game also features international rallying competitions, with official cars on tracks based on real roads and locations around the globe. McCrae expands on beat-the-clock racing and include events with multiple cars on track to satisfy gamers who want to push their on-the-edge driving further. This 2007 edition also features official cars and official events across a wide variety of off-road and rally disciplines, the most authentic and thrilling tracks ever in a McRae game, and modes that make the most of online multiplayer.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP
• Processor: Pentium 4 @ 3 GHz or Athlon 64 3000+
• Memory: 1 GB
• Hard Drive: 12.5 GB Free
• Video Memory: GeForce 6800/Radeon X1300 or better with Shader 3.0 Support
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard & Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/Vista
• Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.66 GHz or Athlon X2 3800
• Memory: 2 GB
• Hard Drive: 12.5 GB Free
• Video Memory: GeForce 8800/Radeon x1950 with Shader 3.0 Support
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard & Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Download Dirt [PC Game] – Direct Links

Part 0 – Installer

Part 1 – 620 MB

Part 2 – 620 MB

Part 3 – 620 MB

Part 4 – 620 MB

Part 5 – 620 MB

Part 6 – 620 MB

Part 7 – 620 MB

Part 8 – 620 MB

Part 9 – 109 MB

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www.elj-games.blogspot.com

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising

• Developer: Codemasters
• Publisher: Codemasters
• Genre: Shooter
• Release Date: October 6, 2009 (US)

About Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising

Building on the original game's heritage, Operation Flashpoint 2 aims to deliver the most realistic modelling of conflict scenarios in a new contemporary theatre of war. By offering a multitude of military disciplines, gameplay delivers warfare more realistic and intense then ever before, while an extensive multiplayer component creates battles on an incredible scale. The game challenges a new generation of players to survive the chaos and rapidly evolving situations of military combat in a new and contemporary warzone.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP SP2/Vista/7
• Processor: Dual Core CPU @ 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 1 Gb
• Hard Drive: 8 Gb free
• Video Memory: 256 Mb
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP SP2/Vista/7
• Processor: Quad Core CPU
• Memory: 2 Gb
• Hard Drive: 8 Gb free
• Video Memory: 512 Mb
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c or 10
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

Download Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising – Direct Links

Part 0 – Installer

Part 1 – 620 MB

Part 2 – 620 MB

Part 3 – 620 MB

Part 4 – 620 MB

Part 5 – 620 MB

Part 6 – 620 MB

Part 7 – 620 MB

Part 8 – 422 MB

Crack

www.elj-games.blogspot.com