Last week marked the fortieth anniversary of the 1963 assassination of United States President, John F. Kennedy. Kenneth Rahn, Professor Emeritus at the University of Rhode Island, writing for The Guardian, says the horrific shooting was far more straight forward than many people believe:
It is over. We must realise that this horrible event was not some evil plot. It was the product of chance, not conspiracy.
Rahn is part of a group who have studied all aspects of Kennedy’s assassination and have concluded there was no conspiracy, and that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin. There was no second shooter on the grassy knoll.
The real story of the assassination is this: Kennedy was killed by one misfit guy, a cheap but effective rifle, a good vantage point from the building where he worked and a run of fortuitous events.
Originally published Thursday 27 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
For years Adobe have been sending me invitations to a variety of seminars, conferences, and product launches. And last week I finally decided to RSVP yes, and go along to the Australian launch of something called Adobe Creative Suite, held in Sydney.
Creative Suite is a collection of Adobe products rolled into one package, and includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Go Live, and In Design. Part of the reason, we were told, in bringing these products together as one package is to reduce confusion as to which versions of Adobe’s software products are compatible with each other.
To demonstrate the features and advantages of the new suite, two of the product developers acted out a nice little role-play, mimicking designers in a studio, working on a project to a tight deadline. Their work, on their computers was, meanwhile, projected onto a screen above the stage.
All rather cosy, fun, and informative, and topped off with a nice smattering of gags and one liners. For all the great choreography though, it was the ending of the playact that let the production down. The two actors decided, almost arbitrarily it seemed, that the “show” was over, and with no transition at all, one of them was suddenly hauling a lectern across the stage, so he could declare that segment of proceedings closed.
Then again, maybe I blinked and missed something. And another thing, what’s the fixation with Hawaiian shirts? Why do they seem to be regarded as an enduring statement of retro non conformist zaniness? From theme parties, to casual wear on office mufti days, the Hawaiian shirt seems to constitute the continual butt of a never ending joke.
I only mention this because the Adobe road show crew were wearing them, (er, so we would know who they were) but isn’t it time we did things another way? Nothing against Hawaii, or Hawaiian shirts either, of course, but surely, say, black t-shirts, with the Adobe logo, and, say, the word “staff” emblazoned upon them would work just as well?
Originally published Tuesday 18 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
I didn’t realise that Hal, AKA HAL 9000, the supercomputer in Stanley Kurbick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was regarded as a robot, but apparently he is. That’s why Hal was, recently, inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.
There he joins other illustrious bots and ‘droids, including R2D2 from, of course, Star Wars. This hall of renown, brought to us by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, is not restricted to fictional robots though, as the Mars Sojourner Rover is also honoured with a place.
Originally published Sunday 16 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
