I hadn’t noticed, till just now, the auspiciousness of the dates for the Olympics next year. I’ve mentioned before, in conjunction with buying a SIM card in China, the importance of numbers. While I am unsophisticated about this, I do know that eight is considered good luck. How then could I have missed the fact that China hosts the Olympics in 2008, and that they begin in August. In fact, the starting day and time could not be more auspicious: Ba yue ba hao ba dian ling ba fen, the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008, and the Games will begin at 8.08pm. Here’s more on the opening ceremony preparations.