Surfing through the channels on my television one rainy evening a few weeks ago, I came across a curious program on the History Channel - "Ice Road Truckers."

The reality-based adventure reveals the virtually unknown occupation of ice road trucking, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous jobs. It charts two months in the lives of six  men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines over frozen lakes that double as roads through Canada's Northwest Territory. The livelihood of many depends on these tenuous roads, which through the years have been responsible for the deaths of dozens of men.

The desolate white landscape stretches as far as the eye can see in a world where the land meets the sky at an invisible horizon, just miles from the Arctic Circle. The little-known ice road trucking industry, stationed just outside of Yellowknife, is responsible for supporting the diamond mines located there. Canada now stands as the third largest diamond producer in the world, housing an industry that rakes in $1.9 billion a year.

Each year, when the many lakes of this region completely freeze over, engineers build an ice road over them that can withstand the weight of tractor trailers, hopefully. Jackknifing, breakdowns and accidents are commonplace. Since the terrain in this region is virtually impenetrable, and there are so few paved roads, the only way for supplies to reach the mines is by traveling over the ice. The entire industry depends on a two month window of weather and the brazen ice road truckers who are willing to push themselves to the limit in a dash for cash with the constant cracking of the ice right beneath their wheels.

Just how cold is -20C, the temperature at which most folks freeze their gel packs?

There are interesting video clips on the Ice Road Truckers web site which shows what happens to a banana, a cup of Ramen Noodles, soap bubbles and a cup of boiling water at -20C.

As China begins to put the window dressing on The Games of The XXIX Olympiad to be held in Beijing in August 2008, a thought occurred to me: what is the Olympic committee doing to address proper delivery, storage, distribution and transport of the necessary temperature-sensitive perishables and medicinal products used throughout the games?

Those involved in healthcare logistics can attest that China remains one of the most difficult places in the world to assure safe delivery, storage, distribution and transport of these articles.

I went to the official web site of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games(BOCOC) - http://en.olympic.cn/08beijing/setting_stage/list.html. They understand the magnitude and impact these games have on their National public relations, having gone to great lengths and expense to showcase China as a worthy contender on the world economic stage. This comes at a critical time for China and they seem to have left no stone unturned.

The emphasis on "greening the games" is inescapable. Some of the more interesting articles include improvements made on the deplorably bad air quality, (determined by recording 'blue sky' days of which there were less than 100 in 1998) the near shutting down of the worst offenders to air pollution (steel mills) during the games, qualifying hotels to meet minimal environmental standards established by the BOCOC and announcing that nearly 90% of Beijing's raw sewage is now being treated. Environmental conditions are so overwhelmingly poor that the government earmarked over 12 billion yuan ($1.5 Billion )  for environmental renovation and had 2.2 million volunteers plant over 5.3 million trees in an effort to beautify the sun-choked city.

The only healthcare related article I could find gave a hint to the magnitude of the event. They have recruited 200 medical workers from 23 area hospitals to conduct doping control of the athletes. Imagine the logistics involved with that task. The International Olympic Committee has announced that up to 4,600 urine and blood tests will be carried out during the 2008 Olympics. 

There is an unfathomable litany of logistics issues which must be met for an event of this size and scope. It doesn't help that the whole world is watching, waiting and eager to critique China's failures. But while China puts her best foot forward and pursues greening of the games for the worlds' television cameras, I hope that they will put equal effort to what happens when the cameras are off and know that there are those who are still watching, and remember that the devil is in the details.