Every Sunday I will write a new six-sentence story. It might be aimed at any age of child. Each story features a downloadable coloring or activity page, which for this week can be found here. It’s a perfect relax-with-your-kids-on-a-Sunday-afternoon treat! 
He couldn’t run for anything,
His discus just fell flat.
He tried his hand at javelin
But he got burned out with that.
He had no legs to kick a ball
So soccer was a “no.”
Winter sports just weren’t his thing;
He didn’t like the snow.
But he had to be in something;
The Olympics were his aim!
So he put his fiery form to good -
He’d be that famous flame!
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks (or unless you have, you know, a life outside your computer) you probably know that Steve Jobs had a keynote a few days ago and announced Apple’s newest product, a work in progress for the last 15 years or so – the Apple iPad (I’m not even gonna start…iPad? Really?). Within approximately 3.4 seconds the internet exploded with pundits, bloggers, and armchair electrical engineers denouncing the product and it’s potential. This wasn’t due to any real failure on Apple’s part, or even to their own overhyping – the problem was that Apple sent out a postcard.
Yup. A few weeks ago Apple sent a postcard to the “few the lucky few” who were to be invited to attend the Keynote. I’m pretty sure my own invitation got lost in the mail, cause me and Steve-o (that’s what I call him, Steve-o) we’re tight. Apparently the postcard read, “Come see our latest creation.”
THEN THE INTERNET HAD A CONNIPTION.
Bloggers, tech gurus, news crews, and apparently every 4 year old with a play phone started making predictions about what the iPad or iTablet or iReallySmallComputerThingy would be. There was more fan fiction surrounding this announcement than all seven books of the Harry Potter series combined.
“It’s gonna have a full internet browser and let you get online anywhere for free!”
“It’ll have bluetooth and firewire and facial recognition and bluray!”
“It’s gonna have two cameras to create 3D movies!”
“It’s gonna be as small as the tip of your finger and only get bigger when you say the magic words!”
“If you put it under your feet you can use it as a small hovercraft like in Back to the Future!”
And with every blog, every email, every viral prediction on YouTube, the hype got bigger and bigger and bigger until EVERYONE EXPLODED. We fed off each other like cannibalistic rabbits, each prediction getting larger than the rest, until finally the internet agreed that Apple would be announcing something between Minority Report, iRobot, and those really cutesy things from Wall-E.
So it only followed that disappointment reigned with Apple’s announcement of a revolutionary new device that will change the face of publishing the way the iPod and iTunes changed the face of music. We didn’t *want* something that would change the face of the publishing industry. We didn’t *want* something that would change the way we interact with media, or browse the web, or send pictures to Gramma. We wanted something that would change us. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs (contrary to popular folk wisdom) is not God, so we’re going to have to be happy with the pretty-freaking-awesome piece of technology they have (ridiculously) decided to dub “the iPad.”
As a photographer, I’ve been looking for a good visual external hard drive to unload images during a long shoot. This might do just the trick and more. Besides, I’m always needing an excuse to play with the latest iWhatzit. (Apple? You listening? Care to apply for a patent name change?)
