October 28, 2004
Transparent Aluminum
This year's OOPSLA "Big Event" was held at the Vancouver Aquarium.
I was here in 1998, when much of the facility was under renovation.
At the reception, I had the opportunity, for the first time to go
downstairs and gaze into the Beluga whale tank. These animals
are a simple gorgeous sight to behold. I found myself laying on my
back and gazing up into the water. I was a ineffably sublime experence.
Still, I found myself, somewhat to my horror, uttering the phrase "Transparent Aluminum", in an oblique reference to a plot element drawn from the fourth
Star Trek movie. I'm not sure what was more frightening, that I dredged this up
in the first place, or that every single person in the room knew exactly
what I was talking about...
Hey, this place has the coolest screen savers I've ever seen.
--Thomas Jay Peckish II, at the Vancouver Aquarium
Photographs (C) 2004 by Munawar Hafiz and Spiros Xanthos
Posted by foote at October 28, 2004 08:50 PM