Maybe they just need to hold the Olympics in November?

Two hundred and seventy-nine days until the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to a big sign downtown. And -- unlike some other days -- it couldn't be more beautiful! My family's first two days of residence in Beijing coincide with two days of spectacular weather. Robin's-egg blue skies; not a hint of pollution; the briskness that follows the passage of a cold front from Mongolia/Siberia, without the actual cold.

Looking north from near the Guomao subway stop, toward the half-constructed new CCTV building by Rem Koolhaas:

Looking east along Jianguo Road:

I was here one year ago today, at the time of an African presidents' summit, and it was just as pretty. Maybe this, as opposed to mid-summer, is the time for international games? Just a thought.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2007/11/maybe-they-just-need-to-hold-the-olympics-in-november/7804/