Sochi having trouble selling Olympics tickets

[LaCroix]

Still, there will be no empty seats, even if they have to send soldiers to occupy them...

Semi-related news:
German team flips bigots the bird

[GuppyShark]

I look forward to the most fabulous games in history.

[Flagg]

Wait, does it even count as the Olympic flame if it goes out and a different fire source restarts the torch? I seem to remember that being a minor plot point on King of the Hill, once.

Dale saved the day by lighting his cig with the torch then lighting the torch with his cig. Ayup.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

I look forward to the most fabulous games in history.

Elton John will sing at the opening ceremony!

[FaxModem1]

Wait, if the Olympic torch has gone out, shouldn't they have to restart the whole thing in Athens because its supposed to be the original flame from there

If not, the Olympics are even more soulless than I imagined.

[Borgholio]

It went out intentionally when they launched it in a rocket to the ISS. No, really.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24881425

[Beowulf]

Wait, if the Olympic torch has gone out, shouldn't they have to restart the whole thing in Athens because its supposed to be the original flame from there

If not, the Olympics are even more soulless than I imagined.

If you split a flame into two, and keep half in a windproof lantern, is it the same flame? So can you relight a torch from that flame, and have it be the same flame? They keep a backup (or possibly more than one backup)

[mr friendly guy]

I look forward to the most fabulous games in history.

Germany is already obliging with their fabulous team uniforms. I assume they are going to wear that out in the opening ceremony, which I expect to be brilliant since Russia spent so much on Sochi.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Wait, does it even count as the Olympic flame if it goes out and a different fire source restarts the torch? I seem to remember that being a minor plot point on King of the Hill, once.

Dale saved the day by lighting his cig with the torch then lighting the torch with his cig. Ayup.

It was Dale's cigarette, but I think it was Bobby that got the idea and grabbed it, Dale in tow puffing away.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Figured I'd post this here instead of making a new Sochi thread... But the Mayor of Sochi is evidently doing a HECK of a job promoting his city!!!

Sochi mayor claims there are no gay people in Sochi
The mayor of Sochi has added a bizarre twist to the gay rights saga enveloping the Winter Olympics by claiming that not a single gay person lives in his city.
With the controversy surrounding Russia's "gay propaganda" law continuing to rage, Anatoly Pakhomov made comments to BBC television program Panorama that will do nothing to shift the country's reputation away from being unenlightened on LGBT rights.

"It is not accepted here in the Caucasus where we live," Pakhomov said. "We do not have them in our city."

Russia has defended its policy, with president Vladimir Putin arguing that its much-criticized anti-gay legislation was designed to protect children and will have no impact on visitors to the Games, which run from Feb. 7 to 23.

Putin tried to personally defuse the issue last week by addressing it in a series of interviews with international news anchors, insisting that he had a number of gay friends and, somewhat amusingly, was a fan of singer Elton John.

The president may be less than impressed with the timing of Pakhomov's claim, one that can only be described as laughable, especially with Sochi home to a number of gay nightlife venues.

When pressed about Sochi's apparent lack of any gay residents, Pakhomov reportedly snapped: "I am not sure, but I don't bloody know any," according to the BBC.

View gallery
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IOC President Jacques Rogge (R) passes the Olympic flag to Sochi mayor Anatoly Pakhomov. (Getty)
"Our hospitality will be extended to everyone who respects the laws of the Russian Federation and doesn't impose their habits on others."

Pakhomov's wording is consistent with the message regularly delivered by Russian politicians on the topic – namely, subtle undertones of intolerance.

Putin was accused of linking homosexuality to pedophilia when he first appeared to extend a warm welcome to gay Olympic visitors, but qualified his remarks by asking them to "leave children alone, please."

The inflammatory law that was passed last summer has vague wording and it remains to be seen how it will be implemented in practice. Its provisions refer to propaganda promoting "non-traditional" sexual relations to minors and it is unclear what exactly constitutes such promotion.

Attacks on homosexuals such as the gruesome murder of a 23-year-old man in Volgograd last year have led to LGBT campaigners seeking a significant improvement in gay rights, but Putin and his ministers have defended the law at every turn, even using the desire to increase Russia's birth rate as justification for discouraging homosexuality.

Pakhomov accepted the Olympic flag from then-International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge at the conclusion of the Vancouver Games in 2010 and is likely to be a prominent figure during the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

He is a member of Putin's United Russia political party and won the mayoral election in 2009 with 77 percent of the vote, ahead of outspoken Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, who claimed the results had been falsified and were a "massive fraud."

The United States government has already made its stance on Russia's law clear, with president Barack Obama speaking out against it before announcing he would not attend the Games – while including three gay former athletes as part of the White House's official Opening Ceremony delegation.

[K. A. Pital]

"I don't know any gays" = gays do not exist. Bravo!

[Dr. Trainwreck]

The Mayor of Sochi is awarded the Official Iranian Seal of Approval.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The Mayor of Sochi is awarded the Official Iranian Seal of Approval.

Why does he need Iranian? He might even get a "Defender of the Church" from the Orthodox Patriach of Moscow!

[mr friendly guy]

Mahmoud Armadinejad also claimed that Iran has no gays either.

[Borgholio]

The Mayor of Sochi is awarded the Official Iranian Seal of Approval.

Reminds me more of Baghdad Bob...

[Thanas]

The Mayor of Sochi is awarded the Official Iranian Seal of Approval.

Reminds me more of Baghdad Bob...

Or Obama.

[Flagg]

The Mayor of Sochi is awarded the Official Iranian Seal of Approval.

Reminds me more of Baghdad Bob...

Or Obama.

Yeah we all know how much Obama hates the gays...

[Thanas]

Baghdad Bob was not railing against gays either, so hooray for missing the obvious point.....

Obama is quite good at pretending nobody ever did anything wrong or needs to go to court.

[Flagg]

Baghdad Bob was not railing against gays either, so hooray for missing the obvious point.....

Obama is quite good at pretending nobody ever did anything wrong or needs to go to court.

Oh I got the point, it was just a stupid one to make when the topic at hand is the lie about gays not existing. I'm not a huge Obama fan as I've made clear (heads on pikes would have been a fine outcome for the war criminals) but not every goddamned thing needs to be about how much you hate Obama.

[Thanas]

And what has Baghdad Bob to do with gays? Nothing? So don't lay into me for a point you simply just do not like while ignoring the other things.

[Flagg]

Sigh... You really don't get that bashing Obama for being a twat about shit that pisses you off in a thread about an issue on which Obama has been exemplary is a tad inappropriate?

[Thanas]

The issue to me is politicans pretending bad stuff does not exist. There is no worse pretender in the western world than Obama on that account right now.

[Irbis]

Why is it costing so much more than normal?

They had to build new city, all facilities, and hotels from scratch. This, plus cost of storing spare snow just in case in what is basically warmest region in Russia.

I look forward to the most fabulous games in history.

Germany is already obliging with their fabulous team uniforms.

They could just ask Hasbro for Rainbow Dash themed design as free ad, but they had to produce this...

Though uniforms at least look passable next to logo.

The issue to me is politicans pretending bad stuff does not exist. There is no worse pretender in the western world than Obama on that account right now.

Yeah, like he (successfully) pretended DADT doesn't exist anymore? Or like when he pretended to endorse same sex marriages? Or like when he pretended to not notice delegates he sent to Sochi are gay?

[K. A. Pital]

The issue to me is politicans pretending bad stuff does not exist. There is no worse pretender in the western world than Obama on that account right now.

Obama's record on gay rights, however, is much better than his war and torture record. If you want to remind everyone how bad Obama is, that's best done in a war or torture thread. Of which there are plenty, since new facts of torture and war crimes are uncovered, like, every month. Seriously, Thanas. I agree with Flagg, there are better moments and places to hate Obama.

[Thanas]

Very well.