The days are long and the years are short

Borders, I mean Flourish and Blotts, got some of the other stores on Ellsworth Avenue to relabel themselves for the night last night.

Ben and Jerry's became Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and put up signs "Wanted Bellatrix Lestrange"

McGinty's Irish Pub became Ye Leake Cauldron.

The whole street was crowded. And there were a few serious cases of drunkenness. The police were out in force.

The crowd was very diverse; Hispanic, Indian, black and white. I was surprised. I remember the science fiction crowd being very, very white. Of course, most of the people were younger than me.

There was a man with a stroller and a humongous number of children. I wonder if he borrowed a few.

We didn't stay long; too crowded, too drunk, and too late for Emily

Suzi C. emailed me that there was going to be a model of the James Webb Space Telescope in front of the National Air and Space Museum "this upcoming weekend". I can't find reference to it on the Smithsonian site. But I just found it on Northrop Grumman 's site (and I don't think it was there when I started writing this post). I am glad to find out that it is the weekend of Mother's Day, not the 5th and 6th, which is already gone.

By the way, Northrop Grumman is totally not spelled the way that it sounds!!

Apparently, Walt Disney was very interested in the the idea of human space travel. He commissioned three animated non-fiction movies in order to convince the American public to share his interest. "Man and the Moon", "Man and Space". "Mars and Beyond" were shown on TV between 1955 and 1957. Von Braun was the technical adviser on these shows. (link)

So did that influence the placement of Disney World in Orlando, just 45 miles from Cape Canaveral? A nice family vacation can include both easily.

Speaking of family vacations, May 11-13 is the 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown. It would be nice to check that out, but I don't think we can (since Tim will be in Valley Forge, PA on the 11th). But Jamestown will have exhibits all year, especially for the anniversary.

I had to drive downtown this morning and park in Dupont Circle. It's not exactly Embassy Row (I mean that literally, it's two blocks from Embassy Row on Massachusetts Avenue), but I parked by the Embassy of Peru and had to walk past Uzbekistan's to get where I was going. All the flags were at half mast, for the VT shootings. I wonder if the protocol officers call each other. I'll bet they do, it's too important to be left to chance or noticing what your neighbor is doing.

I know that the embassies are doing it more out of respect for their host country than actual sorrow. I do wonder if the American Embassy flag in Baghdad is always at half mast. I wonder which countries have flying the flag at half mast as a custom. It could be ancient, flags and banners have been very important in government functions even when the government was a single king.

PS. Driving in DC is no fun at all. I wouldn't do it (I'd take the Metro), except I had to pick up heavy boxes.