Dan Steinberg's existential Olympic crisis: "Due to some unforeseen circumstances, this is my last entry from Beijing. It's just as well, really. Not to make chop suey out of chopsticks, but the Olympics really is a whole bunch of people agreeing to ignore the obvious absurdities—the grown men jumping on trampolines, the little girls swinging on bars, the inflatable panda mascots dancing with thunderstick-wielding cheerleaders to the soundtrack of "High School Musical"—and to agree that, for some reason, the Olympics matter." [ WaPo]