Art
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Archimedes Palimpsest at Walters Art Museum
The Walters Museum in Baltimore has some leaves from the Archimedes Palimpsest on exhibit (through Jan 1, 2012). I took the kids to visit the exhibit today. Very nice venue, and the exhibit was well laid out. While the museum is kid-friendly (they hand out satchels with crafts/activities related to the exhibit for the kids to work on), looking at “old books” didn’t hold the attention of a 5-year old for more than 30 minutes (which I thought was a lot). Granted, about 10 of those were a video presentation. Little Olivia fell asleep in her stroller… The Archimedes Palimpsest is a Medieval parchment manuscript. The currently visible part of…
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Symposium: Dawn of the Andean Civilization
Last Saturday I attended a very interesting all-day seminar in Washington, DC. The Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC has an annual symposium at the U.S. Navy Memorial’s Naval Heritage Center. At right is the design on the symposium T-shirt. It is a feline character (I’m going to assume a jaguar) from an adobe mural at Huaca Partida, Nepeña Valley, Peru (something like > 1500 years ago). Neat. This location is very convenient; right at the Archives Metro stop on the Green line. This year’s topic was “The Dawn of the Andean Civilization. The link above goes to the symposium website; here is a synopsis: ChavÃn de Huántar, the massive ceremonial…
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Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival
Last Saturday Kirsten and I went to see Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest, a play by Tom Ziegler and directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. We absolutely loved it! This coming weekend is the final weekend. Grab tickets and go, you won’t be disappointed. It is basically a one-woman play (Kimberly Schraf plays Mrs. Kemble). The Fascinating story of Fanny Kemble; one of the most famous actresses to grace the 19th century American stage, an early feminist, and abolitionists. This evening is her farewell tour, as her extraordinary solo performance of the Tempest interweaves with episodes from her own tempestuous life. –(from www.baltimoreshakespeare.org) There is another actor (no speaking role, but very good)…
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Chautauqua Institution
Last month, our extended family had a wonderful vacation at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, NY (upstate, western NY state). Highlights of the week were lectures by Professor Donald Johanson (pictured below signing my copy of Lucy’s Legacy), as well as: Annie Griffiths Belt, National Geographic photographer Wade Davis, ethnobotanist, photographer, author, The Serpent and the Rainbow Kobie Boykins, NASA engineer, Mars Expedition Rovers program Mattias Klum, National Geographic photographer, filmmaker We rented a house on the grounds, and spent a week enjoying lectures, concerts, beautiful weather, and wonderful grounds. It’s like a really nice small town, gated. It’s a very family-friendly environment, and there is nice beach on the…
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Author roundtable with Catherine Asaro, Greg Bear, etc.
Tonight I went to a booksigning and a panel of SF authors at Reiter’s Scientific Bookstore in DC. Among the authors present were: Dr. Catherine Asaro, Greg Bear, Bud Sparhawk, Tom Purdom, Tom Ligon, Yoji Kondo (Eric Kotani), John Hemry (Jack Campbell), Charles E. Gannon, and Dr. Arlan Andrews. The roundtable discussion topic was “How Science Fiction Changes Everything” – How Science Fiction Serves the National Interest. The Washington Science Fiction Association also sponsored the event. Some (all?) members of the panel are also members of SIGMA: SIGMA is a group of science fiction writers who offer futurism consulting to the United States government and appropriate NGOs. We provide a…