Say what you will about totalitarian regimes, but they sure know how to host large sporting events. Sort of. Case in point – this is either: 1) the Beijing Olympics, 2) dystopian-pan-asian-laser-concentration-camp:

There’s been a lot made of extensive security measures taken at the Olympics. Overall they seemed rather lax; more for show than anything. Beijing right now is an odd mirror of itself as though growth had started 20-30 some years earlier. Traffic restrictions and green initiatives  trick you into thinking it’s almost livable.