Inside the Grand Floridian / Word Travels Fast
Inside the Grand Floridian
We always enjoy visiting the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World. And while the buildings themselves are pretty neat from the outside, they look even better on the inside.
The large open space inside the main lobby building is really something to behold. With its grand piano, caged elevator, bird cage, high ceiling. suspended chandeliers, and even a band occasionally playing, it feels worlds away from any theme park anywhere.
Photo location: Grand Floridian Resort, Walt Disney World, Florida
A three-exposure (-2, 0, +2) HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in GIMP
Word Travels Fast
You may have heard that there was an earthquake on the East Coast on Tuesday. By now, of course, it has been all over the news. But to me, it was interesting to watch just how quickly the word got out.
As I had just finished lunch (although the earthquake happened at 1:51pm, it was only 12:51 here in the Central time zone), I was looking at the Twitter feed on Tweetdeck on my computer. Whenever a new tweet comes in, Tweetdeck immediately shows it on the screen. No refreshing of any kind required.
Things were going along normally, when all of a sudden one of my Twitter friends said, “Was that just an earthquake?” And then right after that, there were literally dozens more tweets from people all over the Northeast mentioning that they had felt it. Then, after a few minutes, the news outlets started to get into the act on Twitter as well. But it was still several minutes before any news stories were posted on any websites. And by that time, it was old news to me.
Of course, when the news stories were posted, they did have more details, which was helpful. But just from a standpoint of getting the word out, normal people on Twitter had all of that beat.
So, two things:
- If you really want to know what is going on in the world,, Twitter is a good place to start.
- I evidently have several Twitter friends in the Northeast, judging from how many felt the earthquake. Not that I minded being left out of that event.
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. - Psalm 24:1-2
