On July 6th, 2005, there was an unprecedented air of rejoicing throughout the United Kingdom, as the International Olympic Committee announced their decision to give the organization of the Games of the 30th Olympiad to London, centerpiece of all that is spectacular about the UK. For the first time since 1948, a fully contested Olympic Games would find its way to the hallowed halls, majestic countrysides and spectacular landscapes of England. But since the logic dictates that Great Britain will now be the host nation, should it not stand to reason that Scotland, being a sizable portion of the UK, should in fact play some sort of important role in the staging of these Games? For this particular reason, especially, this website underwent a makeover of sorts. While all our regular features and links remain intact, we made the commitment to devote ourselves to bringing you the latest, most up-to-the-minute information regarding this epic seven-year odyssey that will see its conclusion with the Opening Ceremonies on July 27th, 2012, when sixteen days and nights of competition will leave upon the world a mark not seen on British soil in close to half a century! To better provide visitors to the Bagpipers' Paradise with the expertise and analysis one would demand from a website coverage of an Olympic Games, we have decided to go with the one organization which has the greatest resources available for such coverage: the BBC. That is not to say that we will completely ignore the coverage from NBC Sports (assuming, of course, that the Peacock network renews its television deal with the IOC); recent Olympic coverage from NBC has proven overbearing at best, and difficult to tolerate at worst, despite the rock-solid presence of Bob Costas as prime-time anchor, and the more recent addition of the Spanish-language network Telemundo to NBC's corporate family tree. We here at the Paradise simply believe that U.S. television coverage of an Olympic Games need not necessarily be the proverbial 'only game in town.' Even when discussing the otherwise overwhelming task of bringing the Olympics to television, diversity is a subject which clearly should not be ignored; we hope that visitors to the Bagpipers' Paradise will support our assertions on this issue. Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that only one day after the 2012 announcement, London experienced terror matched only by the horror suffered here in the U.S. on the morning of September 11th, 2001. Surely, there will be some form of acknowledgment of this senseless, immoral tragedy during the Games' Opening Ceremonies; but for now, let it be understood that, despite assembling athletes from close to 200 nations for this global sporting event of epic proportions, we must never lose sight of the fact that these Games will take place even as the world wages a war against a vast and unforgiving network of fanatical, blood-obsessed terrorists whose sole long-range goal is to murder with extreme prejudice those who do not share their beliefs, in the ultimate hope of inflicting their rhetoric across the civilized world. We cannot, we MUST NOT fail to stand up to these evildoers, otherwise we will surely perish. The London Olympics of 2012 must stand as a proving ground for the sanctuary and sanctity of Joy against the forces of Fear. It is to be hoped, therefore, that those charged with the organization of these Games of the 30th Olympiad will use their resources to meet that need. In that respect, we wish them all good luck and Godspeed.