everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Month: June 2004

  • Picture Thread

    I have no idea who this poor fellow is but this hilarous running commentary on one of the subjects in a photo taken at a party is a gem of collective image discourse!

    via Joi Ito

  • Questions

    Izumi and the kids are away in Japan for a month so Tyler could attend the last few weeks of Japanese kindergarten and hopefully pick up some of the language – a bit of an experiment. Before he left he asked me why things get smaller when they move further away into the distance. Good question – I had to think about that one for a bit. My answer was that if they didn’t get smaller, they wouldn’t fit.

    Any other ideas?

    UPDATE: Mie put the question to Dr. Hal

  • Mad Ernie Fletcher

    Mad Ernie Fletcher

    Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher was the source of widespread panic in the Capitol yesterday when the Governor’s Beech King Air 200 lost its transponder signal 13 miles away from the DC area airport. The air traffic controllers with the FAA knew about this but neglected to inform the folks that run air security for the Capitol who took the Governor’s plane for an incoming bogie.

    Lawmakers, dignitaries and mourners preparing for Ronald Reagan’s funeral ceremony raced from the Capitol Wednesday after police feared an airplane was headed for the building and warned: “You have one minute to impact.”

    Police in the Capitol had urged people running down staircases to run faster. An officer shouted at one photographer trying to look back through a camera, “You don’t have time to look back.”

    “Incoming plane!” another police officer shouted at reporters asking what was going on.

    Women, many wearing formal dress for the Rotunda ceremony, kicked off high-heeled shoes to enable them to run faster.

    Air scare forces brief evacuation of U.S. Capitol

    Don’t be surprised to hear of reductions in Kentucky’s federal assistance.

  • Nashville

    jacks.jpg

    Greetings for Nashville, Tennessee where I am writing to you from the Factiva booth while we wait for the sound crew to finish hooking up the A/V equipment for tomorrow. I’m here for the next few days for the annual gathering of the Special Librarian’s Association where we will show off our latest developments.

    The conference is being held in the massive Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center which is more like a self-enclosed cruise ship than a resort. Many of the 2,000 rooms face inwards with balconies overlooking huge enclosed atriums, each with their own Southern theme. It’s very much like a Disneyland with climate controlled temperatures and constant lighting so you begin to forget what the weather is like outside.

    I later went for a run out around the town (we’re about 20 minutes northwest of downtown) and got more a feel for what it’s like around here, basically strip malls until you get down near the Cumberland River which is a nice lazy river like the Deleware back home. Passed quite a few lots selling RV Mobile Homes with names like Pioneer and Intruder (only $136k), it’d be nice, just once, to see one of these called something less intrusive like, Whisper.

    Update: I’ve posted photos from the trip.

  • Ride of the Valkyries

    Ride of the Valkyries

    I’m not normally a muscle bike type of person but the image of the new 1800cc Honda Valkyrie caught my eye. I think I feel a mid-life crisis coming on!