A/H1N1 Influenza Symposium Preparations ..

The New York Academy of Sciences hosted a symposium yesterday in the World Trade Center that explored the latest findings associated with "swine flu", more correctly known as the A/H1N1 Influenza. This symposium was broadcast live as a "webinar" and is also being made into a podcast and streaming video (both of which will be available next week, and which I will be linking to). This photoessay shows some of the preparations carried out for this event. I am working on more substantive essays and they should be published here beginning next week.

As you can see in the above image, Darwin is strategically located by the entrance to greet all the guests as we enter the NYAS hall on the 40th floor of the World Trade Center, Building 7.

A close look at those documents on the wall behind Darwin reveals that yes, they are hand-written originals! Most are hand-written pages from The Origin of Species, Alas, the glass ruined all my images, but if you ask me nicely, I might be convinced to post my less-than-attractive images anyway, despite the glare (and no, I do not use flash, the glare is ambient light and therefore, unavoidable, even when photographing at an angle).

The view from the windows is spectacular. In the above image, I am looking east towards Brooklyn. If you look closely, you will notice the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

Above is a a spectacular view from the windows, looking southeast, towards Wall Street. In the lower right hand corner of this image, you can see part of the hole from the WTC/9-11 event.

Another view above, looking northwest, over the Hudson River. This is where the pilot landed his plane after striking a flock of geese.

The entrance to the conference room (above), guarded by a portrait of the current NYAS chairman (below);

And a look inside of the meeting room .. I was happy I had dressed up for this, since everyone else had, too.

Okay, I know I am being silly, but I am sure you can see that the carpeting was custom made. This carpeting pattern reinforces the origins of the NYAS, which started out as a life sciences oriented organization, only later adding physical sciences and engineering under their umbrella of sciences;

The IT people setting up for the "Webinar"; a live streaming presentation. The coordinator said the webinar was sold out quickly and they could have sold twice as many slots as they did. I assume they will be expanding their wireless use to accommodate similar demand for future events ...

And the camera crew setting up for what will eventually be a streaming broadcast ..

After part one, refreshments were provided. The cookies were especially fabulous. It's been roughly one year since I've eaten cookies, so I was especially happy about this;

Refreshment tables, after the locusts had descended. It's nice to know that even professionals do not lose their locust-like appetites, so I didn't feel unusual in my own fondness for snacks ...

More substantive essays will follow about the specific presentations.