Lucid Points

I’m sorry to say I watched the whole 8 minutes of this.

This is funny.

Yesterday, a wonderful day by any measure, Ashley, Mom and I visited Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.  My objective was to see if the museum could hold its own with others, such as The Met, Guggenheim, and AIC, among others.  It does, and then some.

The museum, nestled in a hollow around a spring-fed pond of water, contrasts and compliments the peaceful nature surrounding it.  Making the walk from the parking near the entrance of the facility is calming and sets the mood properly for entering.  I’ve never been to a museum in which a mood is set even before walking through the front doors.

From the outside, the facility looks deceptively small.  Its not small.  It is probably larger than you imagine it.  And the amount of art is expansive as well.

Among my favorites:

• Samuel Beals Thomas, with His Wife, Sarah Kellogg Thomas, and Their Two Daughters, Abigail and Pauline (1830) by Edward Dalton Marchant
• Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife (1885) by John Singer Sargent
• Landscape by Robert Scott Duncanson
• Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell

You. Must. Go. Now.

Harry Houdini was born March 24, 1874 and died Hallowen Day, 1926.  Besides being a great illusionist, escape artist and magician, he spent a great deal of time debunking spiritualists, and took a rather dim view of superstitions of all types.

He continued to work of exposing spiritualists even after his death.  Houdini and his wife Bess agreed on a secret phrase, “Rosabelle believe” that he would “speak” to her after his death to prove the existence of life after death, or at least the ability to reach the living.  Bess tried several times after his death to communicate with Houdini.  She never heard the secret phrase, and after 10 years of trying to contact Houdini, she gave up saying “ten years is long enough to wait for any man”.

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Celebrating Harry Houdini’s March 24 bday, a little excerpt from my novel, “Rosabelle, believe”
• HAPPY 138TH BIRTHDAY HOUDINI! HOUDINI, the legendary double-jointed magician!
• Houdini Speaks From Beyond the Grave!
• Was Harry Houdini America’s first international super spy?

ars technica:  FAA to revisit the use of certain personal electronics on flights

Really?!?!  After all these years?

Do you really think these devices interfere with the planes avionics?  If they did, planes would be falling out of the sky everyday.  I’ve forgotten to turn off devices hundreds of times.  Think I’m the only one?  Hell no.  Every day, on every flight, electronic devices are not turned off during take-off and landing.  Its bullshit.

But, as the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.  Get this: some electronic devices are permitted.  Here is the list:

• Heart pacemakers (kinda hard to turn these off, huh?)
• Hearing aids (makes sense)
• Electric shavers (that’s annoying)
• Portable voice recorders (WTF?!?!)

Seriously, if devices such as Blackberries, iPads and Kindle readers could bring down a plane, we would know about it.

Image via Wikipedia

In a shocking display of fiscal prudence, FEMA uses a Waffle House Index to determine the severity of a natural disaster.

Ummm, Waffle House.

Waffle House

RIM is going downhill – Android and iOS is kicking it to the ground, and so far, nothing new is promising. Ingrained attitudes could be the problem. Check out this BBC interview that is halted by co-CEO (really? “co-CEO”? There is a lesson in corporate structure) of RIM, Mike Lazaridis.

As much as it would be cool, there will be no Tatooine-like sunsets for us, in spite of articles on HuffPo and news.com.au. The incorrect articles have been festering for a few days.  They’re wrong.

To find the real truth, head over to Phil Plait’s  Bad Astronomy Blog. Simply, no one knows WHEN it will go supernova, it will be brighter than Venus, but not a second sun. Oh, and surprisingly, the Mayans have nothing to do with it.

The good news is that since it is so close Phil compares the scientific value as like being able to study a supernova under a microscope. Perhaps a real boon to astronomical discoveries, especially for amateur astronomers.