A stream of speakers followed, most of them conservative activists in the anti-environmentalist Wise Use movement.
Protesters greeted one another and shared their backgrounds in small groups as a steady stream of speakers rallied the crowd for two hours from the stage.
Before Sanders appeared on stage, a stream of speakers appeared to warm up the crowd.
The Democrats' 2008 convention was gaveled to order with a stream of opening speakers who began laying the foundation for the tasks that Mr. Obama and his advisers hope to accomplish during the four-day event.
Liberal arts colleges generally don't provide the intellectual stimulation that research universities -- with their steady stream of seminar speakers, graduate students, and postdocs -- generally do.
By comparison, Mr. Smith, 35, who built a successful high-tech company, has shared a stage only with members of his own party, a steady stream of stalwarts that includes Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Representative Dick Armey, the majority leader, and Representative Tom Delay, the majority whip.
I attempt a running commentary, more a stream of consciousness, relayed to speakers around the building: "I'm being pushed back…my hands feel really heavy…legs feel heavy…feet being pushed down…my head pushed back…I can feel my face being stretched".
Speaker diversity: With so many games on show, Microsoft had a steady stream of more than 20 different speakers on stage, including a grand total of three women.
Singers and speakers sometimes repeated text (including the words "repetition" and "habit") and sometimes offered brisk flights of stream-of-consciousness imagery.
When waiting for the next train, they also have to listen to a constant stream of music which plays out of speakers on station platforms.
