I Just Want You to Link Me

• Johnny Weir plans to skip the 2011-2012 skating season, but still plans to compete in Sochi.  This link is worth it just for the picture of Weir at Gay Pride 2011, with a hairstyle that makes him look like a balding Mexican woman.  Meanwhile, Evgeni Plushenko, who finished second to American Evan Lysacek in Vancouver, has had surgery and kissed and made up with the International Skating Union, so he's planning to be in Sochi.
• I have no idea what this is, but it's happening in Sochi.
• Gamesbids.com reports that Russia's railway infrastructure project is on time, for what it's worth.
• Microsoft is now the the official software supplier to the Sochi Olympics and I have absolutely no idea what anything in the article means.  Russia, of course, has been swimming upstream for years trying to join the World Trade Organization and, for years, a lack of respect for intellectual property rights has been a key sticking point.  Microsoft, in particular, has complained for years about the free distribution of its products in Russia.  Microsoft's most recent interaction with Russia was its condemnation of the Russian government's, uh, selective enforcement of IP rights, a favorite way of the government to shut down uncooperative NGOs. 
• And finally, Around the Rings has a pithy Q & A with Olympic organizer Dimitri Chernyshenko about the "look" of the Games.  

Happy reading, all.  Enjoy the weekend!