Tuesday 30 October 2012

Science/Heresy

Every day is an education, especially if you did a degree in theology and then go to a science museum.  The last few days have brought two such museums - the Chabot Space Center, where Hannah was volunteering as a "science ambassador" for Chevron, and then the California Academy of Sciences.

Chabot was pretty good.  We looked through a special solar telescope at the sun as it travelled around the earth, and learnt about the heretics Copernicus and Galileo.  There was a cool planetarium that zoomed all the way out from Venice to the farthest reaches of space ("we don't know what's beyond the edge of the universe," said the narrator.  Ummm...heaven, I think you'll find), and Hannah assisted in various flash mob science activities, none overtly linked to oil.

Today David and I made it to Golden Gate Park, where the Cal Academy tries to lay out some of the counterarguments to intelligent design.  The planetarium here showed a film all about earthquakes and their causes without mentioning human sin once, and we wandered through the aquarium and rainforest before David found what he described as "the best hot dog ever" in the cafe.  That was a miracle, given his fussy eating habits.

I think I've shown our young visitor how important it is to keep an open mind by exposing yourself to new ideas, no matter how outlandish.  As I batted away his objections and questions I reflected on what a gift it is to be able to guide an inquiring soul towards the truth.  Which is, of course: "because I said so".


Hannah puts all the bits together and then prays that it works.


Clear evidence that the moon landings were faked.


Hannah searches for intelligent life.


David looks at the sun.


Whatever.



Finishing with bribery.


Next day: into the city.


Frances and Clare hit one of the unmissable tourist spots.


Experimenting with electricity.


And light.


Hello Kitty!


A spot of biology at the Cal Academy.


Apparently we're related to this guy.  I'm certainly not, but maybe David is.


This is meant to be another ancestor!  Actually, it does look familiar...


Monkey in the treetops.


The prize hot dog.


These guys aren't for sale in the cafe.


And after all that we experimented with our own human endurance (and intelligence) by going for a swim.  On 29th October!  It was...not warm.