It's Friday morning and people around town are joyous!
I've had three or four people tell me how nice it is outside.
I was feeling the same way.
It's cloudy, drab, a little breezy, and it's 28 degrees.
Twenty-eight degrees. Warm and nice, huh?
I guess it's all in comparison to what we've gotten used to.

As the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States approaches, I set up a keyword notification system from the Associated Press to notify me anytime something on the newswire contains both the words "Obama" and "inauguration."

Believe me, there's a more than you can imagine, in text, in images, in graphics and in videos. The whole world is watching.

But sometimes, things come too close together. Take these two photos. I was paging back in my notifications tonight, and found this one:

Elizabeth Bailey, 8, seated with her father, Coast Guard Lt. Jim Bailey of Bowie, Md., cheers during the "Kids' Inaugural: We Are The Future Concert" in Washington, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

That image of the joyous, all-American girl had crossed the photo wire just after this one:

Palestinian girl Ayat, 10, reacts at her house after her uncle Billal Nabham, not seen, was found dead under rubble of a house, after being missing for 20 days, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza strip, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. Israel hopes to pull all its troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated as president of the United States on Tuesday, Israeli officials said. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, Pool)

The whole world's watching.

Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, does a wonderful interview with Thomas Friedman on the eve of the Obama inauguration.