It’s a fine new science museum in Hartford, CT. We visited yesterday and had a pretty good time. It’s unique in that it’s a very “urban” museum. By this I mean it’s vertical. It’s like a skyscraper with a central bank of glass elevators. Each floor houses 1 or two fairly large exhibit rooms with an extraordinary amount of hands-on features. In fact, the entire museum is hands-on. This isn’t a traditional stand-and-read museum. It’s more like a Children’s Museum / Science Museum hybrid.
That being said, a lot of the hands-on activities are not incredibly compelling. They certain look compelling, but when you actually try them out, you realize it’s just a movie with maybe the ability to move a picture around on a screen with a joystick. And I did find a dramatic factual error with their Mars Fly-Over exhibit in the Space section.
They have this movie segment where they describe the largest known universe in the solar system, Olympus Mons. In the narration (and printed on the screen) is the following quote:
It’s caldera is 50 miles wide, approximately the size of New England.
Seriously, it actually says that.
The “ground” floor water exhibit is clearly the winner with the kids. It is supposed to be the “intro” exhibit that gets the kids interested, but it unfortunately turns out to be the highlight of the museum. It’s the best thing in the whole building. Although, I must say that the Force & Motion gallery was particular wonderful, and my kids kept coming back to the Rube Goldberg golf ball machines.
I also very much liked the Eco section that highlighted green technologies for the home. The mini wind turbine particularly caught my attention. I hope that they keep this area up to date as technology rapidly evolves. This section is a PRIME opportunity to partner with Eco Company partners. For instance, I would have loved to receive some sales materials for that home turbine. I want to know more about it from a practical standpoint.
I hate to disparage any science museum because we NEED MORE OF THEM, but it’s hard for me not to be critical. Strangely, the stairs in this vertical museum were closed. I heard more than one person comment, “how can you close stairs? What could possibly be wrong with them?” There was no answer from museum staff. There were often long lines for the elevators.
As with many science museums there were a percentage of exhibits that were inoperable or otherwise malfunctioning. This is always a source of major personal disappointment. If I ran a science museum, I would make it my number 1 priority to have all exhibits up and running every single day. If something breaks, fix it overnight.
I’m sure, however, that this is easier said than done, especially here where they have a number of incredibly complex exhibits in the Force & Motion gallery. They’ve got Mag-Lev trains, a room-filling robotic ball shooting device, a sailing simulator that uses something like 150 fans, etc.
As with other museums, the gift shop is crazy expensive. I noted one item of which I could offer a direct comparison. The previous week, the kids received a large, fluid-filled bouncy ball from Borders book store for FREE with a coupon. I think it was $4.99 without the coupon. This exact same ball at the museum store was an incredible $12.99.
We did not eat at the museum, so we can’t comment on that, but parking was typically expensive for an urban environment. It cost us $9 to park for about 4 hours. Otherwise, we had a pretty good time at the museum. It’s not some place I would visit regularly, but rather for a once a year visit or something. I’m sure it will make a wonderful field trip destination for local schools.
There is no better Carl Sagan. Everyone should be given the gift of this amazing monologue. We should all be so gifted with writing of such perfect clarity and eternal relevance.
The U.S. Mint claims that the American public is resistant to dollar coins and refuses to use them. While in general I understand that comment, from a practical perspective I’m not resistant at all. I just never get them as change. What am I supposed to do? Go to the bank and buy rolls of dollar coins to “do my part”?
If we got them as change we probably wouldn’t have any problem using them. I do understand, however, that both the customer and the merchant are reluctant to use the coins. The merchant probably thinks that the customer will complain about receiving them, and the customer is worried that the merchant will reject the coin.
The U.S. Mint claims that they have “tried everything”. Not really. How about mailing 3 coins currently in storage to every U.S. citizen? That should get nearly 1 billion of them into circulation quickly!
I recently came across this article and I don’t want to forget about it, so I’m sticking it here.
It is a lengthy discussion of the best practices for website authentication. Unfortunately, they do not delve into best practice database schemas, which is what I was originally looking for. But the information is generally excellent otherwise.
Too bad he got the part wrong about Catholics being cannibals… required to eat the magical flesh and blood of a dead person. It is NOT symbolic at all. See below.
Facebook sometimes rules
Regarding the eating of the flesh and blood…
Transubstantiation is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines this doctrine in section 1376:
“The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: ‘Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.”
In other words, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that once an ordained priest blesses the bread of the Lord’s Supper, it is transformed into the actual flesh of Christ (though it retains the appearance, odor, and taste of bread); and when he blesses the wine, it is transformed into the actual blood of Christ (though it retains the appearance, odor, and taste of wine).
The rest of the referenced article goes on to essentially say, “yeah but it is really symbolic”. This article is a brilliant representation of the whole of religion. A perfect example of the classic “picking and choosing” of specific, contradictory scripture to fit any desired outcome. In this case the desired outcome is to not look like a bunch of loonies for eating magical flesh and blood every week.
If you don’t think picking and choosing of scripture to fit an agenda happens, please witness this extreme example. You will be stunned.
Pretty much everything you think about so-called “organic” food (all food is chemically organic) is wrong. Organically grown food is nutritionally identical to food produced by conventional farming. Why would you willingly pay more for designer food that is identical to normal food?
The answer, of course, is marketing. You have been told for the past 5 to 10 years that the term “organic” equates to both “healthy” and “environmentally friendly”. And you believe it. You have faith in it. Have you ever personally investigated whether or not that claim is true? Did you know that the very same companies that produce so-called “industrially farmed food” (the word “industrial” is used purposefully to scare you) are the same ones producing “organic food”? People love to buy organic food because it strikes back at Big Agriculture, but Big Agriculture owns the organic food producers!
“Nearly 100% of organic food in supermarkets comes from a producer owned by one of the major food companies that also sells regular food.”
Everything about organic farming is less efficient.
Crop yields are less, so more land is required to generate yields equivalent to traditional farming.
Organic pesticides and fungicides are derived from plants in order to make you believe that it is somehow “safer”. This is the “All Natural” logical fallacy. “All Natural” NEVER means “safe”. These new, organic pesticides and fungicides are 70% LESS efficient than traditional fertilizers that have been certified safe for decades. This lack of efficiency requires more applications, more passes with farm vehicles, more soil compaction resulting in the need for excess tilling, etc.
Organic fertilizers are far less efficient than traditional fertilizers, and they are far too expensive to use in large scale farming. Both organic and traditional fertilizer ultimately deliver the same chemical load. The difference lies in the amount of fertilizer required.
But eating organic food keeps me safe from evil pesticides!
“Despite claims in the organic community, there’s never yet been a confirmed case of anyone becoming ill from consuming produce contaminated with residue from pesticides or herbicides, either organic or synthetic. Both are certified safe for human exposure, and both are applied at trace levels well below safety standards. In no way does limiting yourself to organic produce decrease your risk of dangerous levels of exposure to pesticides. The risk is practically zero either way.”
But what about genetically modified food? I don’t want to eat anything that’s been tampered with by evil scientists.
If you feel this way, then you are a complete moron. You have absolutely no idea what’s going on. Do you know who Norman Borlaug is? He is known as the Father of the Green Revolution. He was the guy who pioneered the use of genetically modified crops to feed starving people in developing countries. He created strains of pest-resistant rice that would grow in arid environments. This is apparently something that God couldn’t, or wouldn’t do on his own. (jab!)
Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work with genetically modified organisms. The United States Congress, in 2006, awards him that Congressional Gold Medal stating that:
“Dr. Borlaug has saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived, and likely has saved more lives in the Islamic world than any other human being in history.”
Dr. Borlaug has the largest negative body count of any person who has ever lived. I phrased it that way purposefully in order to hit you with the following link from the anti-Borlaug… Jenny McCarthy. Jenny’s ignorant crusade against childhood vaccination has directly resulted in the deaths of over 500 people. Jenny McCarthy Body Count
As someone commented on the The West’s comment section, “This is exactly the sort of guy who should be eaten by a crocodile…sometimes you need to thin the herd a little.” I agree! The guy is the perfect candidate for pruning via natural selection.
A man who survived a terrifying crocodile attack when he jumped into its enclosure in Broome on Monday night believed he might die when it closed its jaws over his leg.
Michael Newman, 36, of Perth, denied he was drunk when he scaled the fence at Malcolm Douglas’ crocodile park in Cable Beach and climbed into a pen, hoping to pat and sit on one of the beasts.
He said as the crocodile, “Fatso”, took hold of his leg, he grabbed hold of the fence with both hands.
“I said ‘Artisian, let me go, let me go’ – and he opened his mouth and let me go. It happened so quick,” he said.
“When it grabbed me, I thought I’m in trouble here – I’m not coming out of here. I knew if it had have grabbed my rib cage or something different … if it had his whole mouth open and grabbed me sideways somewhere big, that’s when it uses all its biting power.”
Mr Newman claimed he had been dreaming of crocodiles for several weeks before arriving in Broome and had wanted to see one in real life.
“I’d never seen a crocodile in my lifetime. I went to Cable Beach one day for a swim and to get a suntan and I came across this crocodile park,” he said.
He said he had talked to one of the crocodiles through the fence, who he dubbed “Artisian” and it had opened his mouth and looked at him.
“Then he closed his mouth – and as the mouth closed, it went ‘boof’ and sounded like two iron bars hitting. Then he swam into the water.”
He said he had been passing the crocodile park with a torch on Monday night and “thought I might go for a browse, for a look around.”
He denied he was drunk at the time.
He said he heard crocodiles splashing around in the dark and saw a five metre crocodile through a fence making a growling noise, so he put his hand through the fence to feel its skin.
“I just wanted to play with it, to experience something that I’d never experienced in my lifetime,” he said.
“I couldn’t reach it, so I thought to myself well, I’ll jump the fence and go from behind its tail and pat it and sit on its back. Within one split second … it had me.”
He pointed to his injured leg, wrapped heavily in blood-spotted white bandages.
“The skin here was ripped off and it put a big hole through the side of my leg here – I think they stitched it up,” he said.
He limped back to the Diver’s Tavern and was later taken to hospital for treatment to several deep gashes in his right leg and a shattered knee-cap.
“I felt the blood splurting out of my leg – and as I put pressure on my leg I could feel the inside of my knee-cap, which was all cracked and shattered.”
Police later found the croc with its mouth resting on Mr Newman’s torch.
Mr Newman is expected to remain in Broome Hospital until at least the end of the week undergoing further treatment to avoid bacterial infection.
“I know they’re dangerous animals and stuff – but people, don’t they go and hand feed them in the pens?” Mr Newman said.
“I was thinking if someone else could go up and hand feed them, I could go up and pat them – but unfortunately they move so fast. I thought it was a slow creature and stupid, but they’re quick.”
He said he would never go near a crocodile again and would advise other people to do the same.
“I would say no, you’re not doing it, because you’ll end up in heaven.”
Fear of the devil is holding up the census in India as groups of religious believers refuse to participate for fear of being associated with an imaginary evil force.
The fear of the ‘Beast’ or the Devil in the Christian-dominated state of Mizoram has caused almost 1,000 families to refuse to enroll their names in the National Population Register (NPR) taken up along with the Census 2011 here from May 15.
The dread stems from Chapter 13 Verse 17 of the Book of Revelations in the Bible which says “… and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the Beast or the number of his name.”
The problem has stemmed from the Unique Identification Authority of India stipulating that none one could buy or sell property without the Unique ID card.
According to adherents of the belief, since buying or selling of property made one a follower of the Beast, one having the UID card, which authorised property transactions, automatically made one a follower of the Devil.
Their local church authority tried in vain to calm fears by saying that the believers didn’t need to fear the imaginary Boogie Man because their imaginary Sky Pixie God was stronger than the Boogie Man. How they could possibly know or verify this is anybody’s guess. Apparently the masses feel the same way because they aren’t buying it.
Meanwhile, the rational, educated people in India are shaking their heads.
An American described as a “good-humored Christian who was ‘on a mission’ to kill or capture Osama” was arrested in Pakistan today. This story is pretty amazing, but of course I’m only posting it to make fun of the magical irrationality of religion.
Our subject is named Gary Brooks Faulkner, and he is described by his brother as “very passionate, and, as a Christian, he felt, when Osama mocked this country after 9/11, and it didn’t feel like the military was doing enough, it became his passion, his mission, to track down Osama, and kill him”
Why could this man think that he could track down and kill Osama? Well, the obvious answer of course…
Asked why he thought he had a chance of tracing bin Laden, Faulkner replied, “God is with me, and I am confident I will be successful in killing him,” Khan said.
“I think Osama is responsible for bloodshed in the world, and I want to kill him,” Khan quoted him as saying.
If god wanted Osama dead, couldn’t god simply snap His Godly Fingers?
And wait a minute. Osama claims that god is with HIM. This is a Jihad after all, is it not? God must love helping both sides kill each other. Oh but maybe Osama’s god is not the same god as Faulkner’s. That must be it.
Wouldn’t it be easier if the gods just fought themselves? Or maybe…. hmmm….. just maybe human beings have a strong desire to kill each other and enjoy using religion as their justification. I wonder if that could be true.
August 23, 2010 11:44am by swood | 
It’s a fine new science museum in Hartford, CT. We visited yesterday and had a pretty good time. It’s unique in that it’s a very “urban” museum. By this I mean it’s vertical. It’s like a skyscraper with a central bank of glass elevators. Each floor houses 1 or two fairly large exhibit rooms with an extraordinary amount of hands-on features. In fact, the entire museum is hands-on. This isn’t a traditional stand-and-read museum. It’s more like a Children’s Museum / Science Museum hybrid.
Recent Comments