OT: Sochi must be Russian for "FUBAR" (Updated 2/6)
Two days to the start of the 2014 winter olympics and it seems the Russians aren't quite ready for their guests to arrive. The media began to arrive today and found non-function toilets & water, hotel rooms unfinished and littered with stray dogs & cats and a breakfast buffet one could only describe as "interesting" to say the least. They have begun tweeting pictures and descriptions of the city and I'm pretty sure this isn't what Putin had in minds when he got the games.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552200/Welcome-Sochi-Journalis…
UPDATE: Looks like they are now running out of pillows:
"Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014.:
Apparently they didnt expect the athletes to arrive in the Olympic Village.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:02 PM ^
No, OMG Shirtless downvotes everything.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:06 PM ^
OMGShirtless gets a free pass to downvote what he pleases without question (no matter how odd his personal code of MGoConduct may seem). Them be the perks for being the one who finally exposed RDT as a fraud.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^
Cromulent doesn't sound anything like Fubar.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:48 PM ^
Cromulent is my nom de guerre. Not my "real" name.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:55 PM ^
Yes, I was kidding. Obviously I know your name is Fuvar.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:19 PM ^
February 6th, 2014 at 8:39 AM ^
Mulva?
February 5th, 2014 at 10:07 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:06 PM ^
Although it's appropriately named [it's a listing of WWII slang, including Yank, Brit, Aussie & German), relieved I didn't give it to you for your birthday.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:09 PM ^
It's Snafu?
February 6th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^
at a ceremony presided over by Bureaucracy.
Wonder if this will finally convince the IOC that they really should think about issues like "do we really think these ding-dongs can pull this off" before they sign off on having the Olympics in the Third World. Can't imagine that the summer games in 2016 are going to be a lot better.
February 6th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^
Hey, at least their children are legally protected from having to hear any dastardly pro-gay propoganda. Thank goodness for small miracles, right?
February 5th, 2014 at 7:51 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:49 PM ^
Fucking A dude I'm with ya...
Fucking pussies wanting clean water and beds to sleep in. Let em drink cow urine and sleep on the floor with stray dogs like real men.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:50 PM ^
The Rooskie athletes are all used to this. Team USA, not so much.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:00 PM ^
Non-dangerous water and working plumbing is for WINNERS!
February 5th, 2014 at 9:10 PM ^
Rachel Phelpsova?
February 5th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
I've been reluctant to poke fun at Russia for Sochi until the games start. After seeing these pictures and all the other reports, there's a good chance money directed to the games has been "syphoned off." Pretty sure bathrooms in homes of local govenment officials don't have this problem:
February 5th, 2014 at 7:50 PM ^
I don't even understand that picture. Is the lid over the cover, which is backwards? WTF
February 5th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^
Having lived in Moscow for a while during the wild west days of the 90s, I completely understand that picture. The man who installed that lid was drunk.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:23 PM ^
But that seat isn't installed at all, it's just turned upside down. It was likely layint there next to the toilet, awaiting installation. If you know how they attach, you can see that it's not possible that it's installed backwards, at least not with the seat flipped up liket that. If they had left the seat down, it could have passed...
February 5th, 2014 at 8:06 PM ^
See... pictures like this one I am reluctant to believe. Any reporter could have flipped that lid, and most would sell their own mother for a story. Now, I think Sochi may in fact a shithole, but this. This was done for publicity.
All this is coming from a guy who had a contractor install the lock for my brand new set of French doors on the outside. I realized something was amiss when I tried to open the door and was locked in my house. I had to go all the way around to the back yard to unlock the door. By that time, dude was gone, so I had to flip the door handle myself. True story.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:09 PM ^
How could a reporter have flipped that lid? I'm not a toilet expert, but wouldn't that require some fairly substantial effort?
February 5th, 2014 at 8:22 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
Well excuse me Mr. Mike Holmes. Not everyone is an expert contractor.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
I think I like Lord Grantham. This is the funniest (and nicest) of your various MgoPersonas.
I vote you keep this one and don't get yourself nuked. I don't know if you're trying harder or what but for my money I hope this one sticks.
You're definitely making me laugh.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:24 PM ^
He's great when he remembers his meds.
February 6th, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^
Mike Holmes is Canadian. It is olympic time. Mike Holmes is dead to me.
AND BEFORE YOU GO ALL "NIK STAUSKAS" ON ME, I AM NOT ROOTING FOR HIM TO DO WELL IN CURLING EITHER!
February 5th, 2014 at 9:17 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:48 PM ^
Among some of the interesting things floating around from what I have read, a German photographer arrived to find his room full of construction debris and non-functioning appliances.
Outside Chistya Prudy, there is apparently a bag of cement - leaking, of course - in a palm tree.
An SI reporter had to climb out of a first-story window to get out of his hotel because the doors lock from the inside. A Postmedia journalist had their bathtub come loose from the wall.
I couldn't find the tweet, but there is a photo of a hotel room with working wi-fi - you know it works because it is hanging out of the wall.
Someone also tweeted out that in their hotel, several of the outlets are indeed merely plates screwed to the wall.
One hotel had a non-functioning elevator and stairs which were unlit and of varied height.
There's more, but yeah, this sniffs of impending disaster somehow.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^
Here's the photo you were looking for (it's in the article I attached) on the internet
February 5th, 2014 at 7:52 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^
I heard on the radio today that all media members are required to log in with unique user names and passwords to use wi-fi and are monitored for what they do and say. There is also word the phone lines are all tapped.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^
Still waiting for Edward Snowden to complain about all this.
Yeah, didn't think so.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:11 PM ^
Wouldn't be surprising. To my knowledge, Russia and the United States have no extradition agreement. This means hackers, if they're even caught--which is unlikely to begin with--are likely not going to be punished.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:01 PM ^
to send care packages to both the athletes and media covering them?
February 5th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
That was awesome. I think I'd rather have my toenails pulled out with pliers than work with Olberman but man oh man is he good on a rant.
Thanks!
February 5th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^
He can be pretty effective when he's being extra-douchey...but here? I mean...there's no real dispute that the entire works is f'ed.
The last part of that video, about the dogs...man, that gets me pretty pissed off.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:51 AM ^
of "put it in the bin provided" was lame. The segment was eye opening, but the delivery sucked.
February 6th, 2014 at 6:34 AM ^
February 5th, 2014 at 8:18 PM ^
getting slimier, more hypocritical and money focused they don't hold a candle to the Olympics or World Cup. There is greed, fraud and cooruption across the board from the way these events are awarded all the way to how facilities are built and who builds them.
These Olympics in Sochi will be the perfect embodiment of that seedy underbelly.