Airborne Elephant Watch: London

The Olympics have not yet begun, but there's already a hot contender for this year's Thomas P. Friedman Award for best "Islam is scary" story composed exclusively of materials that can be found in an ordinary taxi.

From Roqoo Depot.

It's NPR's faith-based correspondent, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, for

Olympians' Dilemma: 'Starve My Soul' For Ramadan?

with the Olympics falling during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the 22-year-old athlete had to make a choice: be in top physical condition or maintain a primary tenet of his faith.

She didn't find any religious authorities to say that you had to fast (you can postpone it, as with pregnancy or sickness), or any Muslim athletes who would in fact be fasting, though she thought there must be some of those from the more conservative countries or in some of the less aerobic sports, so the amount of controversy she found on the issue would be exactly 0.0, but she filed the story anyhow.

Best of luck to Egyptian 10.000-meter open-water swimmer Mazen Aziz, who loses 11 pounds in a typical race!