The 2014 Winter Olympics was held in Sochi this month, amidst social and political controversy, lukewarm interest, and even lukewarm-er weather, requiring a LOT of fake snow to be blown during the unusually balmy weather. While I sincerely admire anyone who can be the best in the world at their particular sport, I didn’t really plan on watching the games, and I still couldn’t name you a single gold medalist this year. Russia’s anti-gay policies, among other human rights abuses, didn’t help to romanticize the locale. But when news broke a couple weeks before the opening ceremony that the local government had contracted with a local pest-control company to round up and kill as many stray dogs as possible, my ears really perked up.