Yesterday I was reminded of one of my favorite aspects of the Web, the ability to look up dimly remembered items from childhood and find out more about them, thanks to fellow enthusiasts. I was chatting with my mom about a new mini-dehumidifier I’d bought - it is filled with silica beads that are initially blue but turn pink when full of water. The reminded me of a postcard I had many years ago, that changed color (between blue and pink) with various weather conditions. This in turn led to a recollection about “Things of Science” - a kind of Fruit of the Month Club for geeky kids that my parents gave me. I loved it - every month you were sent a box containing everything you needed to conduct a scientific experiment.
There were a variety of subjects, but the one I remember most clearly was the one about how photocopiers work, complete with a packet of black powder (this must have delighted parents). A quick search led me to this page (who is surprised to find it at MIT) and sure enough, there is my experiment, Xerography, in 1979! Turns out that Things of Science, as the quaint name might suggest, has been around since the 1940’s. I’m sure these kits were responsible for my interest in science and particularly chemisty, although much of the credit must go to my extraordinary chemistry teacher at MDI High School (”A Latex Free School - no Balloons or Rubber Bands”), Joan “Dr. D” D’Agostino. OK that bit about latex is just too wierd, but true, I just looked at the MDIHS web page. I knew things had changed since my time, but, no rubber bands?
I did want to mention a couple things that happened while I was AWOL from the blogosphere… my mother came to stay in August and we had two really great outings, despite a recent article in one of the newspapers here detailing how miserable and expensive days out in Britain could be. We visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park, which definitely exceeded expectations. The setting was magnificent - the plants alone would have been worth a visit, but the animals of course stole the show. I particularly liked the enormous giant tortoises working their way slowly across the lawn while munching grass, and the slightly scary fruit bat exhibit.
The other event was a performance of The Tempest by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, starring Patrick Stewart. A colleague very kindly gave us two tickets for a matinee that she could not use, and off we went. I had recently read a rant by Germaine Greer about everything that was wrong with Stratford, but I honestly could not fault it. We parked easily, had a lovely lunch in a small restaurant in town, saw the pretty riverfront which is dominated by the theatre, not a shopping mall as in Banbury, and enjoyed the play enormously. I would recommend it to anyone.
