World Cup 2014 Opening Ceremony: Live coverage of Pitbull and more

What you are seeing is a product of the Walk Again Project. The Verge has an in-depth look at this promising technology:

This demonstration is the debut of the Walk Again Project, a consortium of more than 150 scientists and engineers from around the globe who have come together to show off recent advances in the field of brain machine interfaces, or BMI. The paralyzed person inside will be wearing an electroencephalographic (EEG) headset that records brainwave activity. A backpack computer will translate those electrical signals into commands the exoskeleton can understand. As the robotic frame moves, it also sends its own signals back to the body, restoring not just the ability to walk, but the sensation as well.If you’re interested, the whole fascinating Verge report is well-worth reading.

You can’t explain what you feel, but you know that you feel it. A feeling that wherever you are, there’s someone with you. When you’re brushing your teeth. When you’re walking down the street by yourself. When you’re watching the NBA Playoffs. When you’re ready for the World Cup to start.

It’s because you’re not alone. Pitbull is there. Pitbull is always there.

These children had to practice for months and they NAILED IT.

Row, row, row your boat, gently through the opening ceremony! Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a, um, dream.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

-hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

¡DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALÉ!

¡DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALÉ!

Sad they’ll have to sit out the next opening ceremony in four years.

It’s not a true opening ceremonies until a plant starts dancing.

Now it’s an opening ceremonies.

However, the opening ceremony does feature Pitbull, who is guaranteed to have a REAL GOOD TIME while performing “We Are One”, the official World Cup anthem, which features Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte. While this sounds extraordinarily lame compared to the last concert, it is worth nothing that the Black Eyed Peas performed in South Africa and even interrupted Juanes’ set with some terrible rapping.

The World Cup Opening Ceremony begins at 2 p.m. ET.

The World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet. It’s a chance for everyone on Earth to see some of the best athletes there are on a massive stage. It is the pinnacle of sport.

And it starts with Pitbull!

Before the soccer, the opening ceremony. Though not quite as much of a cultural institution as their Olympic counterparts, the World Cup’s opening ceremonies have been quietly expanding in size, importance and grandiosity over the years. From a quick speech and maybe a few flags, to the frankly brilliant pageant of South African joy in 2010, here’s a quick run through the vital elements of any self-respecting modern opening ceremony.

An opening ceremony without dancing is no opening ceremony at all. One of the most delightful things about humanity is the sheer number of ways that the various nations and peoples have found to rhythmically wiggle themselves. In 1958, Sweden welcomed the world with traditional folk dancers; in 2006, as if to prove how far the continent had developed in the intervening years, Germany deployed a platoon of dudes in knee-socks and waistcoats, then some women dressed as eggs, and then a gaggle of breakdancers dressed tastefully in the latest threads from adidas, Official Head-Spinning Partner of the FIFA World Cup.