June 16, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 16, 2016, how I waited for a, b, and c.
Five years ago today: June 16, 2012, the crew in action.
Nine years ago today: June 16, 2008, the cat stowaway.
Random years ago today: June 16, 2015, on pulse width modulation.

           Neat, as in today you get a first-hand account of the experience known as the “new science museum” of downtown Miami. There is nothing really that new about it and whoever is in charge is raking off the millions, hand over fist. I can identify with that and there is a lot to be said about doing what you are told, and that is what you get in the staff at the said museum. First, take a look at this shark photo. There’s more to it. (I took this picture with a $28 camera.)

           This is one of two small juvenile sharks in the tank. The advertising poster that shows a swarm of sharks is photoshopped or something. This specimen is maybe five or six feet long. There is a juvenile hammerhead as well. It is about the minimum display needed to amuse the kids in the audience. Barely.

           At sunrise, it was raining so I suggested I hit the museum. Not meaning any given place, JZ pipes up that there is a new science museum downtown. So we pile in the truck and head for the harbor area. I’ve been there before and they built the area without adequate parking. There is no good parking anywhere near downtown Miami. So if you park at the aquarium, rumor is the fee is $32.

           That means we parked five blocks away for $10, but just you beware. These lots have tow trucks standing by if you go even five minutes past your ticket. We watched them boot this vehicle while the ladies were returning only a block away, both pushing baby carriages. Actually, if you look close, they put two boots. And the driver sped away before the ladies could rush up to the lot.
           As if anybody driving an expensive SUV was trying to rip off a mainly empty parking lot over a few extra minutes. This might be the US of A, but remember, it is still the Third World of south Florida. Cubans are most prejudiced (against whites and against other non-Cuban latinos).

Picture of the day.
Paris, France.
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           Sorry, no pictures of me at the museum. I repeat that I have yet to meet anybody from Miami with the aptitude to take a picture with an ordinary camera. The concept of holding it steady and pushing one button is bewildering to them. No, I’m not kidding. I tried teaching JZ by letting him take dozens of photos over the years and finally gave up. They seem to require a $400 camera that takes the steady picture for them. But, if you refer back to the shark photo above, there’s your proof my little $40 unit, in the hands of a competent photographer, can take wonderful photos from difficult angles in poor lighting conditions.

           Others can’t manage to snap a photo standing flat-footed under ideal circumstances. Here is a silhouette showing the just visible downtown Miami skyline during one of the few breaks in the day-long storm. No, you don’t get many photos of the museum exhibits. Because the camera batteries went dead trying to show JZ how to take a picture, ha! Here are some things you should know about the museum before you head over there.

           There are a perplexing number of admission prices. Since we didn’t have any coupons, memberships, family passes, or (it turns out) JZ’s library card, we had to pay $23.85 each. The full adult price is $28.85, like I said, they are raking in the money. I know museums are not cheap to run in downtown Miami, but damn, do they have to gouge the public? Although you are charged full price, there are sections of the building that are not complete and others that are simply closed. Yet they continue to be advertised. Rip-off!
           Nor is there anyplace to grab a bite to eat or a coffee. Well, technically, there are some expensive sidewalk vendors ($4 for a coffee, and they only have foreign styles) or there’s the grapes and crackers for $6, the cheapest food on the menu. There is a little sign saying that the museum will have food and drink in the future. Sure, we believe you. Oh, and the vendor were outside in the pouring rain between the two wings of the buildings. They were under umbrellas, but not the customers.

           You can tour the whole museum in around two hours of walking and gawking. Don’t miss the kid’s science or the 3D movie. The aviary has maybe six birds, mostly the species you’ll see on the roadside anywhere around here. The entire show is more about amusement than education or information. I found the outlets and thermostats on the walls more interesting than the art.
           We saw the animation presentation of the meteoroids. It was a budget job with information a good twenty years outdated. The usual about mining the larger chunks and nudging them out of menacing orbits, but nothing new. The most interesting to me was a section on the fourth floor with jet engines and dinosaurs. What, you ask? Oh, the museum fancied it clever to show how flight evolved from early dinosaur feathers to space travel.

           Here’s mockup of a rocket engine, showing itself a direct descendant from the German A-1 rocket of 1944, a design that has never been materially changed. The museum contains quite a number of fish tanks, did you know the ocean water nearby is so polluted that the tanks require artificially maintained purity? The big tank is three stories high, the best view is from underneath. That’s where the shark picture was taken.

Quote of the Day:
“Be kind, for everyone you meet
Is fighting a hard battle .”
~ Plato
           Conclusion? The museum is worth visiting once. The dominance, and huge success, of Disneyworld has pretty much forced all other operations to follow a children’s theme. There are not adult-oriented museums except art and in all my years in Florida, I’ve only met two people who’ve been to any. The average cost per adult at the Frost Science Museum is probably around $50 if you stop for coffee and include the parking. There was an art museum annex, but it would have meant walking through the rain, so we skipped that.

           This being Florida, there was an absolute absence of single women between the ages of 18 and 44. Not even one, unless she had kids, which is hardly single. If there had been one, I would have found her. I mean, of course we were looking for women. Me for the good ones, JZ for the bad ones. Two of the most eligible bachelors in town, and no women there to get met. It actually makes sense. Very few women in Miami would spend $50 to take a chance we’d be there when they can meet all the men they want for free by getting drunk. Which seems to be their primary vector.

           The rain continued blasting so we drove around to his various brother’s houses for errands and decided to call it a day. What I got most out of the day was this picture, a tree with purple flowers. I grew up in a prairie town where other than dandelions and weeds, flowers were rare. Certainly, there were not flowers on the trees. In Miami, they are so common they plant them, like this one, in the underpasses.
           This much walking around is my limit, so I got dropped off at home and JZ went out to the Irish pub. I zonked until the next morning. Besides, I don’t care for that pub. It’s all men except the odd pair of grouchy women who show up once in a while to sniff the seats. I managed to read a chapter on Hawaiian lava forms. That’s your pahoehoe and aa. C’mon, MicroSoft spell-checker, those are American words. And one picture on page 144 was upside down.


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