High Flyers

I found these two miniature Japanese kites at a yard sale six years ago.  They have been hanging on my den wall ever since and the colors have gotten very faded.  Still, they are nice reminders of my own kite flying adventures from years past.

This morning I entered the search term, "Japanese kites" into Google and was surprised when I clicked on the "Images" option to find not only a fine collection of kite images but also a very nicely designed page on the subject including a row of tabs at the top pointing to categories of kite lore and images.

I was also reminded that Google in its early days had actual humans who maintained lists of links on popular topics.  The explosive growth of the web and automated search algorithms have moved us light years beyond those days.