No Timmy, its because of Science...
So today, also known as my wife's birthday, was spent at the Boston Museum of Science in -- well it is in Boston. There was a discussion on the recent "Pluto Fiasco", which I am still entirely uncomfortable with. Later in the day some kids were running around with signs that said "Give Pluto a Chance" they were all wearing the same yellow shirts that indicated they were on a robot-soccer team. The robots play soccer, not the kids. Anyway as they were running around the museum I couldn't help but think of "Never Been Kissed" . There was this scene in the movie were the theme for the prom is set up as couples in history or famous couples something like that. Anyway Leelee Sobieski's character is dressed up with the other "nerds" as DNA it was really cute and one of my favorite parts of the movie. But that isn't the rest of the story.
[Total side note before I get started. I love the little bit of HTML that I know, so if the links and bold and italics get obnoxious, I apologize, soon the novelty will wear off and I will revert back to the plain text, shortest distance between two points, person that I am; but, for the the time being you will have to suck it up.]
The rest of the story is that science museums are really fun, and if you haven't been in a while, I highly recommend them. But. And this an epoch but. You really only need to go to them about every 10 years. I went to a science museum in Toronto when I was somewhere between 7 and 9 and they haven't changed much. Which is really sad when you think about all of the wonderful advances in science over the last twenty years (and yes that is about the time period we are talking about). I am not a scientist, I like science, enjoy knowing about it and I even have one or two fields of science where I would say that I know more than the average person. But the Boston Museum of Science didn't really seem to live up to the potential I had set aside for it. You see Boston is the home of some pretty ridiculously prestigious colleges, MIT and Harvard to name the two that are closest to the museum. There didn't seem to be a whole lot in there for parents, though. There were a lot of really refreshing exhibits that, I hope, sparked a scientific interest in young children with the hands-on aspects of them. But the planetarium was a real let down, there have been some really impressive advances in what we know about the universe and our neighboorhood of galaxies. We are finding binary sun systems, more suns like ours with planet (or dwarf planet) systems, we are finding more information about star factories and more things about what makes the universe tick. And none of this was represented in the exhibits. It was the same tired shit that they were teaching me in eighth, ninth and tenth grade and that is just sad. I was also sort of shuffling around between a lot of the exhibits pretty quickly and there were a lot of those little creatures (the ones that make the really high-pitched nearly human sounds; oh yeah, kids) around I didn't want to get in the way of their learning -- their parents were doing a plenty good job of it with out my help. Anyway I am not saying don't go, I am just saying that if you are, go with low expectations, otherwise you might leave hungry.
Which, consequently, I did and I paid for it dearly. After the museum we all (my wife, my in-laws, her grandfather and I) went to an Indian restaurant in Belmont. The food was out of this world and I ate way, way, way too much. I have the tendency lately to order vegetarian at Indian restaurants because I don't really care for chicken and I don't trust anything else, and I didn't deter from that plan tonight. I ordered Shahi Paneer which is farmer's cheese in a tomato ginger curry sauce. It was spectacular. But here is the rub and where I am paying for it. I also ate a little bit off of everyone else's dishes, so I had some tandoor Shrimp, Chicken tikka, Malai kafta, and Lamb Korma. When I got to the point where a rational human stops, leans back, wipes his mouth and says, "Ahhh, that was delicious, I am going to stop so I have room for desert." I opted for this internal monologue.
"Well you are going to be full in about 3 minutes, really full in about 5. There are only three pieces of the paneer left and Rob doesn't have too much of the lamb left. It would be a real pain in the ass to get a box for this stuff, you better just power through it."
Which I did. And I am paying for it. Because I also had desert and masala tee. I spent the ride home from Boston stretched across the back of a Toyota Prius (which totally off topic has the quietest engine I have ever not really heard it is really amazing) with my head in my wife's lap. Now I am going to go to bed and dream horrible dreams, while my colon gets ready to kick the shit out of me tomorrow.
Sweet Dreams!
[Total side note before I get started. I love the little bit of HTML that I know, so if the links and bold and italics get obnoxious, I apologize, soon the novelty will wear off and I will revert back to the plain text, shortest distance between two points, person that I am; but, for the the time being you will have to suck it up.]
The rest of the story is that science museums are really fun, and if you haven't been in a while, I highly recommend them. But. And this an epoch but. You really only need to go to them about every 10 years. I went to a science museum in Toronto when I was somewhere between 7 and 9 and they haven't changed much. Which is really sad when you think about all of the wonderful advances in science over the last twenty years (and yes that is about the time period we are talking about). I am not a scientist, I like science, enjoy knowing about it and I even have one or two fields of science where I would say that I know more than the average person. But the Boston Museum of Science didn't really seem to live up to the potential I had set aside for it. You see Boston is the home of some pretty ridiculously prestigious colleges, MIT and Harvard to name the two that are closest to the museum. There didn't seem to be a whole lot in there for parents, though. There were a lot of really refreshing exhibits that, I hope, sparked a scientific interest in young children with the hands-on aspects of them. But the planetarium was a real let down, there have been some really impressive advances in what we know about the universe and our neighboorhood of galaxies. We are finding binary sun systems, more suns like ours with planet (or dwarf planet) systems, we are finding more information about star factories and more things about what makes the universe tick. And none of this was represented in the exhibits. It was the same tired shit that they were teaching me in eighth, ninth and tenth grade and that is just sad. I was also sort of shuffling around between a lot of the exhibits pretty quickly and there were a lot of those little creatures (the ones that make the really high-pitched nearly human sounds; oh yeah, kids) around I didn't want to get in the way of their learning -- their parents were doing a plenty good job of it with out my help. Anyway I am not saying don't go, I am just saying that if you are, go with low expectations, otherwise you might leave hungry.
Which, consequently, I did and I paid for it dearly. After the museum we all (my wife, my in-laws, her grandfather and I) went to an Indian restaurant in Belmont. The food was out of this world and I ate way, way, way too much. I have the tendency lately to order vegetarian at Indian restaurants because I don't really care for chicken and I don't trust anything else, and I didn't deter from that plan tonight. I ordered Shahi Paneer which is farmer's cheese in a tomato ginger curry sauce. It was spectacular. But here is the rub and where I am paying for it. I also ate a little bit off of everyone else's dishes, so I had some tandoor Shrimp, Chicken tikka, Malai kafta, and Lamb Korma. When I got to the point where a rational human stops, leans back, wipes his mouth and says, "Ahhh, that was delicious, I am going to stop so I have room for desert." I opted for this internal monologue.
"Well you are going to be full in about 3 minutes, really full in about 5. There are only three pieces of the paneer left and Rob doesn't have too much of the lamb left. It would be a real pain in the ass to get a box for this stuff, you better just power through it."
Which I did. And I am paying for it. Because I also had desert and masala tee. I spent the ride home from Boston stretched across the back of a Toyota Prius (which totally off topic has the quietest engine I have ever not really heard it is really amazing) with my head in my wife's lap. Now I am going to go to bed and dream horrible dreams, while my colon gets ready to kick the shit out of me tomorrow.
Sweet Dreams!
posted by V. at 10:52 PM
2 Comments:
Found you! You funny big time.
Thank you for the link-- I'll do the same.
I think that more must be said concerning this "Pluto Fiasco". Here on the west coast, the reaction to Pluto's execution has been slightly stranger than the occasional group of pre-teen protestors. During a recent jaunt through the desert (from LA to Phoenix), I was fortunate to meet a man who claimed to be taking a pilgrimage to D.C., where he hoped to convince President Bush that Pluto should be reinstated as a planet. His main argument? "I'm from Pluto, so I know for a fact that it exists." There's really no arguing with that kind of logic, is there? What's more, his van was filled with stuffed animals, and I've found that it's usually difficult to take somebody seriously when they have a thing for plushies. Moments after he told me about his Pluto connection (completely unsolicited, I might add), I personally witnessed him getting arrested at a desert reststop. Whatever proof he had of his Pluto heritage may be lost forever, and with it Pluto's chances to win back the galaxy's respect. A sad day, indeed.
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