I was all set today to write a solid science posting, toying with the coming of  giant Joro spiders , but was thumbing through my unread magazines piling up from my global journey, and one article caught my fancy.  First, did you know that the Paris Summer Olympics will begin on July 27? In  776 BC, the first Greek Olympics,  and for the next dozen to follow, there was only one event.  The stadion was a foot race of 600 feet. A century ago, in the Paris Summer Olympics of 1924, they had tug of war, croquet and something called  jeu de paume , although this latter sport was just for exhibition.  The last time this "tennis" type game was official was in the 1908 London Olympics.  The modern Olympics returned in 1896 with 43 events in nine sports. This year, there will be 32 different sports for 329 medal events.  In 2020 Tokyo, 33 sports and 339 events. However, no more baseball ( Major League teams complained ), softball is gone, and so is karate.  But not to fret, as the 2028