Munedawg Communications

For the holidays, Boston’s Museum of Science has an annual train exhibit featuring model trains and well as other exhibits. I thought that it would be a good idea to see it this year since my brother runs his own handyman business and needed a real break.

We picked a Thursday since it was listed as one of the less busier days, and believe me, this museum can get pretty busy! (It is on the Boston Tourist package, as well as being a local favorite.)

When we arrived, we checked our coats and stuff into a locker. But unlike The Gardner museum, this turned out to be a complicated ordeal! They use an electronic system that took even my brother a bit to figure out, and he even had to help an older couple figure it out!

In the front lobby area is a favorite of science museums, the Foucault Pendulum. Invented by Leon Foucault, it is a dramatic demonstration of the Earth’s rotation, because as the pendulum swings throughout the day, the Earth actually rotates under it and the plane of oscillation changes. If you look closely at the image, you’ll see the pegs that the pendulum knocks down in its 360 degree journey.

The train exhibit was part of general admission, and my brother and his wife had renewed their membership to the museum so we just breezed in and entered a veritable winter wonderland featuring model train layouts that portray various American landscapes.

The layouts featured model trains in various scales, from “HO” to “G”.

The first layout was obviously a western town in the Rocky Mountains, or some other range.

These suckers were whizzing around the tracks! 😊 The Santa Fe railroad, also known as the Atchison, Topeka, and San Fe railroad ran between Atchison and Topeka Kansas and Santa Fe New Mexico. They later merged with the Burlington Northern line to form the freight giant BNSF, more on that later.

They had a lot of nice Easter eggs in the displays. Here was a movie theater showing Gone with the Wind with the Batmobile parked outside! 😁

Even renewable energy was featured in the wind turbines on display.

Main St. with a Volkswagen bus, a UPS truck and a Morton’s Salt truck.

A locomotive pulling a freight cargo around a tight bend.

A winter carnival midway right by the tracks with booths and rides so that they can get the suckers, er customers, as they get right off the train. Incidentally in carny lingo the rigged games are known as “hanky panks” (games where the townie/rube wins every time, but the prize, or “slum”, costs less than the charge per play) “flat stores/flat joints” (a game at which the “agent” has total control over winning or losing) and “alibi stores” (a game in which the agent gives you an explanation of why you didn’t win) 😉. Also a vintage ’70s Detroit muscle car, either a Camaro or Mustang in the parking lot.

But at least some of the booths were sellin’ tasty treats to take the “marks’” mind off their losses! 😀

A dazzling waterfall flowing underneath a truss bridge and a span bridge.

Nice little trailer park with Winnebagos and an Airstream next to a precipitous drop so that Bobbie-Sue can shove her beau Clem off into another life when she’s done with him.

More nice Easter eggs with Han Solo, a gorilla (maybe King Kong), a moose, and an elk.

Also some nice homesteads next to the waterfall.

Covered bridge with the local fauna, in this case a dinosaur! 😀

A freight train pulling box cars and a tanker car.

A fire station, possibly a saloon, water tank, Christmas tree, Waldo (?), and an Etch-A-Sketch, for you youngsters out there, a mechanical iPad! 🙂

A train whizzing by the depot.

Even an alpine aerial tramway! It’s amazing the imagination, detail, and work that went into these layouts. Kudos to the people behind the scenes that made this all happen.

Then on the next layout…

Hey, this city looks familiar! 😀 An incredible Boston layout with lots of detail. A good old-fashioned roundhouse and The Custom House Tower.

Beautiful (and fanciful) recreation of Boston with the Zakim Bridge (a cable-stayed bridge), and both the old and “new” John Hancock Towers (the old tower is also known as the Berkley Building).

Visible in this view are the famous painted gas tanks in Dorchester, the painting colloquially known as “The Rainbow Swash” that was done by Corita Kent.

A switching yard with freight cars lined up waiting for a locomotive.

Uh oh, a derailment! 😒 But help arrived, a supreme being who can put things right, the friendly MOS curator to the rescue! 😀

Stunning! The Prudential Tower displaying a “Go Pats” sign…well they didn’t make it to the playoffs this year.

Nice touch! Apparently an amalgam of the Public Garden lagoon and the Charles River since there are two Swan Boats and a stand-up paddle boarder, and it must be a balmy winter indeed to enjoy these two pastimes! 😀 The Swan Boat originated in Boston:

The Swan Boat story dates back to the 1870s when Robert Paget, whose descendants continue to operate the business, was granted a boat for hire licensed by the City of Boston. Rowing a small boat in the Public Garden lagoon was a favorite summer pastime for city residents during the day and evening.

Robert and his wife Julia were opera fans and the idea for the swan came from the opera Lohengrin. The Richard Wagner opera is based on a medieval German story in which Lohengrin, a knight of the Grail, crosses a river in a boat drawn by a swan to defend the innocence of his heroine, Princess Elsa.

Actually I guess it is supposed to be the Charles River since it also has a Duckboat! Whizzing through the scene is an MBTA Commuter Rail train, with its distinctive purple livery.

A combined commercial and residential area; typical of many Boston neighborhoods. Near the top, a freight train. Lower, commuter rail cars. On the bottom street tow trucks, a familiar sight on Boston streets in the winter with all the parking bans! 🤨

Fenway Park! Home of the Boston Red Sox. Ah yes, baseball in the snow! 🙂

A commuter rail train, racing to keep on schedule!

The Boston Fire Department, on the scene of a fire in a commercial building!

Kenmore Square (sort of) with the world famous Citgo sign.

Car removal and snow removal! 😜

Excellent! Too bad you don’t see cabooses on modern trains anymore. They’ve been replaced by a small yellow box called an EOT (End Of Train device) which supposedly fulfills the caboose’s functions.

According to Wikipedia:

[Old way]

A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting; as well as in keeping a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles.

[New way]

Railroads proposed the end-of-train device (EOT or ETD), commonly called a FRED (flashing rear-end device), as an alternative. An ETD could be attached to the rear of the train to detect the train’s air brake pressure and report any problems to the locomotive by telemetry. The ETD also detects movement of the train upon start-up and radios this information to the engineers so they know all of the slack is out of the couplings and additional power could be applied. The machines also have blinking red lights to warn following trains that a train is ahead. With the introduction of the ETD, the conductor moved up to the front of the train with the engineer.

Lame! 😕

The Coolidge Corner theater? Man, those tow trucks don’t let up! 😕 This is very realistic, by the way. I had lived in Watertown (an immediate suburb of Boston) and they always have winter parking bans but I had always thought that since there are so many streets in the city there was no way they sent some idiot(s) around in the dead of night to check on everything. Unfortunately I was wrong! 😫 When I had to park a company vehicle, a Ford F-150 pickup truck, overnight on the street where my apartment was I discovered that some mofo had ticketed the vehicle to the tune of $15 American! That sux! 😕

But on to happier things… 😃

A train simulator that you could drive.

A throttle and controls for lights, wipers, horn, radio, etc.

My brother Greg at the controls! We had fun driving this machine! 😊

And the final layout, the Museum of Science and Science Park!

The East Wing of the museum, well really the “south-east” Wing with the dome of the Hayden Planetarium and the older, obsolete T-Rex which had been moved to the outside. There are Green Line trolley cars with the distinctive electric whips on the top to provide power (well in the real versions at least) and a flatbed tow truck attending to what almost looks like a self-driving vehicle on the Charles River Dam Rd.

Overview of the museum.

A young man finding out info about a train line in New Zealand.

A Brazilian train ticket booth on display.

The Museum of Science building and Science Park built out of legos by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Lego Club. Excellent job folks!

Nice view of the planetarium and Science Park. I love the trees. 😍

Great cutaway! Lego versions of the T-Rex model and Triceratops skeleton and the Theater of Electricity Van de Graaff Generator.

They even have the windmill on the roof!

It’s true that this day wasn’t that bad as far as crowds go. I was expecting the train exhibit to be mobbed, but it was just right, as far as I’m concerned. There was an influx of elementary school groups early in the day, but that’s to be expected on a week day. Then later on there was a group or groups of junior high students, etc. but again, not an overwhelming tidal wave like the crowds you can get on the weekend. We ate lunch at the cafe, which had changed slightly since the last time either of us had been there. They used to have a rather large and good salad bar, which had been eliminated surprisingly. But my brother was able to get a pre-made salad while I went for the mini pepperoni pizza. A good and tasty lunch! 😋👌

We then caught a showing of the Train Time IMAX film at the Mugar Omni Theater.

First things first, although I love the MOS Omni Theater, for a very long time they had an essentially antiquated intro narrated by Boston native Leonard Nimoy that showed off the sound system of the theater, etc. So that if you saw two films back-to-back you had to suffer through this a second time. And I’m sorry, in this day and age people understand the IMAX theater concept; they have them all over the country nowadays of course. We discovered that they have finally updated the damn thing (still preserving an audio clip of Leonard from the original which is great and although it is very well done it is still too long! 🙄) Waaa-waaa-waaa 😢! Now that I’ve got this off my whiny little chest, let’s get into the meat of this steak sandwich! 😊

Train Time is very good, and gives a good overview of the freight train business here in the U.S. It is divided into sections featuring BNSF employees giving an overview of their various jobs with the company and has NOVA style graphics and animation to illustrate the various railroad technologies. I was slightly disappointed that it didn’t show the passenger side of trains in the U.S. and a criticism could be made that it is a giant ad for BNSF, but still very informative and enjoyable. I almost dozed off at one point but that wasn’t because of the film, it’s just because like the Hayden Planetarium they have really comfortable seats! 😁

This is in contrast to the National Parks Adventure IMAX film that I had been anticipating for months and thought that it would of course be fantastic, and frankly when I finally saw it, it wasn’t! 🙄 I thought it was a huge disappointment, even though it did have some incredible shots and was narrated by Robert Redford. It was one of those IMAX films where they had a goofy story woven through it where they had supposed adventurers re-exploring America’s various national parks but were obviously actors and this crap took up valuable time which they could have been showing more majestic shots of the wonders of nature here is the U.S.

We then explored the Exploring AI exhibit. They had a lot of provocative displays that were very informative but actually their generative AI exhibit was on the blink; it had disconnected from its server! Now that ain’t very smart! 🙂 The WordPress Automattic AI would eat it for breakfast:

INPUT: A modern typewriter devouring a large mainframe computer at a science museum.

Hmmm, it’s fantastic but not as violent as I was hoping…let’s try it again…

Brilliant, but I want some surreal Naked Lunch type of mayhem! 😜I guess I will have to find Automattic’s evil twin! 😈

Then to the best part of the AI experience: the robots! 🙂

Actually I think I had already seen this robotic big cat previously at the MIT Museum, it is an attempt to create a speedy quadruped robot. And from this we come to the cutting edge of robotic technology, which of course is Boston Dynamics. They have developed many amazing robots including the Big Dog and the amazing Atlas. But what has really caught the public’s imagination is their robotic dog, Spot.

This isn’t your father’s robot dog!

But is instead a sleek beast that actually functions in the real world, not a prop designed by an underpaid BBC prop man.

Various sensors and a power switch. Ya gotta have that! 😀

Even after seeing videos of this robo pup on TV and YouTube didn’t prepare us for actually seeing it in action in real life! It is quite an experience! See the video below (I know, a contradiction because you’ll be experiencing the encounter in a second hand way, but that’s the best we can do with the current technology 😉):

I agree with the young boy, I want one too! And a totally realistic robot/android girl like “Valerie” from the Nu Outer Limits show episode “Valerie 23”! 😀 Slap!!! 😵

And we played around with an exhibit that allowed you to control the screen with your whole body.

Interactive displays are the best!

We also visited some of the ship models they have in the Blue Wing.

A Greek Trireme, a galley warship with three levels of rowers as well as sails. Most of the ship was dominated by the rowers themselves but that wasn’t a problem since usually the Greeks didn’t travel far out into the Mediterranean Sea during their journeys and made frequent coastal stops.

A Viking longship. The Viking’s explored the then known world with these relatively small craft. I once had a discussion with this guy Bill, who worked at the cable station where I produced several shows, about the Vikings and he was claiming that they had travelled as far south as the Mediterranean, a notion which I had scoffed at the time. It turns out, they sure as hell did! It shows you how stupid I can be at times.🤪 And I remember that at the time I had adopted a superior, “know-it-all” tone with him. Not a good memory. 😒

And, of course, the Vikings did “discover” the Americas 1000 years before Columbus.

When we were going between the wings, we briefly stopped at the second floor of the lobby area. (This museum, like Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, is massive so bring your walking shoes if you plan a visit.)

View of the (icy) Charles River and the River Loom kinetic sculpture that mimics the complex wave patterns that you get out on the Charles. I’ve experienced them first hand while kayaking; it can get pretty choppy out there! 😀

The Gaia Globe by UK artist Luke Jerram, a more updated version of the venerable globe they have had in the Green Wing. Apparently this is on loan to the museum so it won’t be there forever.

The Atrium featuring world-renowned sculptures like the Archimedean Excogitation by George Rhodes and Polage Art by Austine Wood.

Then we visited the Live Animal Care Center, a perennial favorite ’cause it’s got live critters! 🦝😺🐵🦊🐯

A green tree python (Morelia viridis) resting on a branch. Apparently these don’t grow as large as other pythons.

A lizard blending into his or her environment.

A toad blending into his or her environment!

We then decided to expand our minds further by visiting the Innovation: Earth exhibit. They had a lot of nifty things to play with that showcase various “green” technologies.

Interactive plasma tubes.

It’s like the plasma globe that I have but bigger and better.

An infrared selfie…actually it was a demonstration of how special windows can prevent heat loss in the winter.

A clever autonomous trike, but honestly I think it would be too dangerous on real streets.

Its electronic “brain”. The wonders of modern electronics!

We then went from the Blue Wing to the Green Wing to complete our immersion in the animal kingdom, since we had seen some live critters it was now time to see some dead ones! 😕🙂 First off, The Colby Room.

A re-creation of Francis T. Colby’s trophy room. He was a soldier, diplomat, and big gamer hunter who gave the museum $700,000 in 1953 in order to produce a replica of his trophy room at his home in Hamilton, Massachusetts (he also had a home in Africa, so that he could have a quicker commute). And hey, money talks folks!

And what a sight it is to behold! A man’s singular obsession to wipe out all the species of the planet Earth! No, let’s not hunt for food that will sustain us, let’s just kill because it gives us a thrill.

The Great White Hunter’s personal ethno nicknacks from his travels. Well, a man has to unwind after a hard day’s work of killing the Earth’s precious creatures.

Ernest Hemingway was a friend and visitor, which lent a certain literary flair to this collection. Naw, sadly it didn’t. 😒

But it is true that the museum has some interesting specimens in its natural history collection.

TIP: If you’re in the area visiting this museum, I’d also recommend visiting the Harvard Museum of Natural History near Harvard Square. They probably have a bigger natural history collection than the MOS.

We marveled at whale jawbones, a giant clam (a favorite of old movies, Gilligan’s Island, and Doctor Who), and some really nice shells.

Various coral.

A real (stuffed) munedawg. This is actually the posture I assume when writing this very blog, at least when in in total “rant mode”.

And then on to the amazing Natural Beauty: The Harold Grinspoon Collection. Harold Grinspoon is a real estate magnate and philanthropist (or, according to The Wizard of Oz: “good deed doer”) who has donated this magnificent collection to the MOS.

A nice big chunk of malachite, a green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral with a chemical composition of Cu₂(CO₃)(OH)₂.

A really nice petrified wood slice speciman. These special fossils of ancient trees form when minerals such as quartz and agate invade the wood tissues and turn it into stone.

A petrified wood trunk of an Araucaria tree.

A cross-section of a petrified tree.

A Harold Grinspoon sculpture.

A messenger from space!

A large crystal of gypsum. Gypsum is a staple of the construction industry and is used to make drywall and plaster.

Pretty quartz crystals.

My brother said that he loves the old dioramas that they still have at the museum partly out of nostalgia and I agree, and they are well done. According to the museum:

Artist Francis Lee Jaques, famous for his ability to blend background paintings seamlessly with three-dimensional foregrounds, painted many of these along with several other Museum dioramas.

When he was on lunch break, Jaques’ wife sometimes snuck into the hall and painted little, hidden gremlins into his backgrounds. Look for her handiwork in the Crane Beach diorama!

And because apparently it wasn’t cold enough for us that day we also decided to check out the Arctic Adventure: Exploring with Technology exhibit…which actually was quite cool, in both senses of the word.

We got to drill ice cores to find out more about the paleo climate of our planet.

Nice!

We got to fly sophisticated drones over a frozen terrain! 😀

“Ice Station Mike October Sierra.” Instrument buoys sensing water temperature, salinity, pack ice drift, and whale populations while we analyze the incredible influx of data back in the safety of the base. As Flavor Flav would say: “Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaahhhhhhh buoy!!!”✌️😎

But at this point both my brother and I had reached the information overload stage and decided that we had seen enough, so we left the cold to go back into the cold! That is after some more fun and games with the overly complicated locker system!

But all in all, a good day at one of Boston’s venerable institutions. 🙂