:: baltimore gig ::
Happy Birthday to Hubble (HB2H).
I wasn't at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) today, where I understand they were having cake.
The free beer on Wednesday was most welcome, on the occasion of someone's contract getting renewed. Ray Lucas regaled me with stories, about his trip to Alaska north of the Arctic circle, about galaxy morphology, about the intricacies of Hubble management and scheduling.
The space telescope turns 20 today. I celebrated by going to the Maryland Science Center and watching Hubble 3D, the Imax film, with about 15 other mostly graying folks.
I'm able to blend right in as an old man, a boomer / senior as we're now known.
Kenneth Snelson's Easy Landing stood out dramatically in front of the museum. I took a lot of pictures, one of which I posted to his Facebook wall.
Kenneth and I go back. We used to correspond a lot more. I've stayed with him and his dear wife in downtown NYC a couple times, hung out in his studio. He is a kind and brilliant guy.
I was glad to see Women in Black at Baltimore harbor.
Bill Mahrer is interviewing Jack Kevorkian on HBO on Real Time as I write this. Bill is a long time Kevorkian fan. The movie You Don't Know Jack, with Al Pacino playing Dr. K, debuts on HBO tomorrow.
"I'm Blogging This" says my T-shirt.
I'm flying back to Portland tomorrow.
Happy birthday to my dear mother (HB2M), peace activist par excellence. She turned 81 the day before yesterday.
Bill isn't a big fan of funding a colony on Mars (has that been proposed?), thinks we need to set an example of belt tightening. He wants the USA to get rid of its "big stupid boat" i.e. its "empire".
picture by Julie
