Oklahoma is so small that ...

One way I impress on people how small Oklahoma is (3.5 million people in the entire state; 1 million people in the OKC metro area; 100,000 people in Norman) is by talking about how, on pretty much every flight into Oklahoma City, I know at least one other person on the plane. This is inconceivable to people living in big, anonymous cities. Still, that data point is about passengers.

Standing in the security line at the OKC airport the other day, I handed my driver's license and airline tickets to a TSA employee. He scanned it and then looked up. "Hey, I know you," he said, "you work at the Severe Storms Lab and are friends with J. L.". And yes, I knew him as a photographer and storm chaser, but didn't know that his day job was is with the TSA. I'd met him a couple of times at parties at the homes of friends who also chase.

So now I have another point of reference. It's a really, really small place when I now know socially at least two people who work at the Oklahoma City airport (the other person works at the check-in desk for an airline).