The Olympics are over. Who won? Depends on how you count…

All Medals Total
1. USA (110 medals)
2. China (100)
3. Russia (72)
4. Great Britain (47)
5. Australia (46)
6. Germany (41)
7. France (40)
8. South Korea (31)
9. Italy (28)
10. Ukraine (27)

Gold Medals Only
1. China (51 gold medals)
2. USA (36)
3. Russia (23)
4. Great Britain (19)
5. Germany (16)
6. Australia (14)
7. South Korea (13)
8. Japan (9)
9. Rep.of Michael Phelps (8)
10. Italy (8)

Weighted*Medals Total
1. China (223 points)
2. USA (220)
3. Russia (139)
4. Great Britain (98)
5. Australia (89)
6. Germany (83)
7. France (70)
8. South Korea (67)
9. Italy (54)
10. Japan (49)

Population per Total Medals
1. Bahamas (165k people per medal)
2. Jamaica (247k)
3. Iceland (316k)
4. Slovenia (406k)
5. Australia (465k)
6. Cuba (470k)
7. New Zealand (475k)
8. Norway (478k)
9. Armenia (500k)
10. Belarus (510k)

Population per Gold Medals
1. Jamaica (452m people per gold medal)
2. Bahrain (760m)
3. Mongolia (1.31m)
4. Estonia (1.34m)
5. New Zealand (1.42m)
6. Georgia (1.47m)
7. Australia (1.53m)
8. Norway (1.59m)
9. Slovakia (1.80m)
10. Slovenia (2.03m)

Population per Weighted* Medals
1. Jamaica (101k people per point)
2. Bahamas (110k)
3. Iceland (158k)
4. Slovenia (225k)
5. Norway (227k)
6. Australia (240k)
7. Bahrain (253k)
8. Mongolia (263k)
9. New Zealand 267k)
10. Estonia (268k)

GDP per Total Medals
1. North Korea ($370m per medal)
2. Jamaica ($870m)
3. Mongolia ($964m)
4. Armenia ($1.55b)
5. Georgia ($1.59b)
6. Krygyzstan ($1.74b)
7. Tajikistan ($1.85b)
8. Cuba ($1.88b)
9. Belarus ($2.04b)
10. Kenya ($2.11b)

GDP per Gold Medals
1. North Korea ($1.11b per gold medal)
2. Jamaica ($1.48b)
3. Mongolia ($1.93b)
4. Georgia ($3.18b)
5. Ethiopia ($4.23b)
6. Kenya ($5.90b)
7. Belarus ($1.68b)
8. Zimbabwe ($16.2b)
9. Bahrain ($16.9b)
10. Panama ($19.3b)

GDP per Weighted* Medals
1. North Korea ($202m per point)
2. Jamaica ($343m)
3. Mongolia ($385m)
4. Georgia ($796m)
5. Kenya ($1.02b)
6. Ethiopia ($1.06b)
7. Cuba ($1.16b)
8. Krygyzstan ($1.16b)
9. Belarus ($1.21b)
10. Tajikistan ($1.23b)

* Weighted to Gold = 3 points, Silver = 2 points, Bronze = 1 point

Jon Abad linked to this cute little kids version of the Dark Knight trailer.

Enjoy!

Last night I went out to dinner with a few of our contractors for this job in Ohio. What an interesting life they have led. One of the guys named Steve works in New Jersey. In 1991 he and his new wife learned of an opportunity to work in Italy. He described it as one of those romantic dream-like jobs. Who wouldn’t want to go to to Europe and work in Italy? Well, he went home to talk to his wife. They talked about it while they ate dinner and while they cleaned up. What would they have to give up in going over there? They talked about it more on the patio after dinner. How different would the cultures be? And they talked about it more before bed. All night it was the subject of their conversation.

Their conclusion? No. They didn’t think it was a realistic idea. they just couldn’t see themselves leaving the states.
Three months later the company offered them a chance to go to Turkey for four years. They went.

Do you think you’d be able to pick up and start work at a distant place? To go to somewhere like Turkey, Saudia Arabia, Ukraine, or Jerusalem for a multitude of years?

One thing Steve mentioned was that his life was very cooperative. At the time of the decision, he’d just got married and he didn’t own a house or have any kids. There was little reason not to go. When the time came to decide on Turkey the best counterargument they came up with was “there’s no way we could go to Turkey… we have a BBQ next weekend.”