Can't talk about Olympics without talking about the lip-syncing little lady, right?

I admit it, last week was a long one and I fell asleep during the Opening Ceremony, so I missed most of it... but I heard about this... a 7-year-old Chinese girl had the perfect voice but not the perfect look to be a part of the show. So a 9-year-old substitute lip-synced to the 7-year-old's voice. How sad is that? Check out an article here.

To me, this happening is one thing, but the Chinese officials standing behind the decision, once exposed, is another. And, according to an article published today in the Washington Post the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stands behind the Chinese officials in their decision as well.

While if I step back and think like the director of a large production, I might find some understanding in this, the messages sent to each of the little girls in this situation truly has the potential to be detrimental. The "pretty" one may come to depend solely on her looks to "get her places." Or perhaps become less confident in her abilities beyond her looks. The "good singer" girl may become self-conscious of her looks and feel like she isn't good enough. The girls, who will surely have thousands more life situations that will help shape who they grow to be, may grow up and be well rounded "normal" people. Either way though, this is a sad thing that was done -- to both of them.

How does Olympic swimming time keeping work?

That's the question I asked. I thought the folks who stand at the end of the pool had a little button in their hands like the Jeopardy buzzer and they looked for the swimmer to touch the edge of the pool and clicked and that stopped the time for that swimmer. Well, I was wrong. My brother insisted that there was some kind of touch pad in the pool and the swimmers triggered it themselves. He was right - and forwarded me this About.com article called "Olympic Swimming Rules - Equipment, Officials, and Awarding Medals" to prove it. I am now assuming this is accurate. What the article talks about certainly has the potential to be more accurate than my idea. The touch pad timing thing is on page 3. But the article is interesting overall if you are newly interested in swimming perhaps because of all the attention Michael Phelps is bringing to the sport.