For those of you looking for answers, tomorrow afternoon Jane MacLaren Walsh will be available to talk about the Natural History Museum’s crystal skull on temporary display in the “Science in the News” case.

At noon, the documentary “Legend of the Crystal Skulls” will screen in the Baird Auditorium on the ground level of the museum. When the lights come up, Walsh will be available for what should be a very interestinga session of questions and answers

While the event is free, seating is first come, first serve.

The crystal skull is on display in the ground level of the Natural History Museum through September 1st. The museum is open until 7:30 pm daily thru the Labor Day weekend.

Though Amy covered most of the city’s summer films a couple weeks ago, I want to shine a special spotlight on DC’s Screen on the Green.

I’ve been a big fan of this outdoor film festival since its debut nine years ago. I remember stuffing a blanket into my brown leather backpack, emailing friends with a meeting location before I left work, and finding a prime viewing spot by the Washington Monument (when the films were screened on the Mall between 12th and 14th Streets).

Little has changed in that time - except now the giant screen is set up between 4th and 7th Streets in front of the US Capitol.

There are three films left. Tonight’s feature is Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace

All of the films are shown on a gigantic movie screen in front of the Capitol Building and start at dusk around 8:30-9:00 pm. Diehards claim their spots on the lawn as early as 5 pm, so you might want to consider getting to the Mall an hour before the classic begins.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

Warfare today mirrors its state during Shakespeare’s time. Science delivered a period of transformation. As technology improved with the introduction of gun powder and the musket, the role of the armored knight and his physical strength lost its military usefulness.

Most of the custom made armor reflect the look of contemporary fashion. While these breast plates and helmets protected the wearer, they also served as vehicles for establishing social status and as a reminder of familial ties.

You can see these old suits in “Now Thrive the Amorers: Arms and Armor in Shakespeare” that runs thru September 9, 2008. The Higgins Armory Museum, the only museum dedicated to armor in the western hemisphere, lends from its collection of military treatises, fencing manuals, gilded arms and etched armor.

Three quarter armor, coats of arms, broad swords and rapiers line the walls of the Folger Great Hall. A free cell phone audio tour provides additional information on family ties, the day’s fashion trends, and Renaissance battle strategies.

Address:
201 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
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Yesterday, when leaving the noontime showing of The Dark Knight at the Uptown Theatre, a friend and I noticed the queue for the next showing.  Eager Batman fans braved the muggy heat, winding all the way round the corner and up the hill on Newark Street NW.   I was already nearly crippled by nostalgia; the first Batman film opened on the day before I graduated from high school, and I waited in just such a line for hours on end.  My friend, however, was thinking back on more recent times.  She remarked that it put her in mind of the lines we’d stood in over the years.  Various Star Wars films, Independence Day, the all-day Lord of the Rings marathon.   We always want to sit on the right side of the balcony, and time our arrival at the theatre (queuing as needed) accordingly.  I can’t think of a better place to see movies (epics, action, sci-fi) in all their larger-than-life glory.  If only it had digital projection…What are your favorite Uptown experiences? 

In 1992, a mysterious package was delivered to the National Museum of Natural History containing an unsigned letter and an enormous, milky crystal skull.

On display for the first time, the 31 pound Smithsonian skull dwarfs the crystal skulls on view at the British Museum in London and the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

Is this one of the legendary 13 Aztec skulls? Does a mystical healing energy emanate from this crystal object? Does it come from Atlantis?

Smithsonian anthropologist Jane McLaren Walsh thinks not. She began her investigation soon after the milky quartz skull arrived at the Smithsonian. She identified modern stone-carving tool marks and determined that the skull couldn’t have been carved before the mid-19th century. Instead, she believes the skull was manufactured in Mexico around 1960.

Is this really a story of New Age hype? Or could there be some truth to the skull’s mystique?

The crystal skull is on display in the ground level of the Natural History Museum through September 1st. The museum is open until 7:30 pm daily thru the Labor Day weekend. Why not head over there after work and check it out for yourself.

DCist reminds me that Screen on the Green has begun!  Yesterday kicked off the 2008 run with the first Bond film, Dr. No.  Sadly, I missed the opportunity to follow Bond to the Caribbean and beyond, because I was sick as a dog yesterday.  By the time the show started, I was in bed.  Oh well.  Here’s the rest of the lineup:July 14 - Dr. No (1962)
July 21 - The Candidate (1972)
July 28 - Arsenic and Old Lace(1944)
August 4 - The Apartment (1960)
August 11 - Superman (1978)

Next week, you’ll note, is The Candidate, this year’s obligatory choice for the movie that’s political and/or set in DC.

Oh, but don’t think that Screen on the Green is your only choice, my friends.  No, no.  You’ll definitely spot me at Cinema Del Ray this week, for one of my favorites:  The Princess Bride, at 7PM Saturday.  And there’s still more:  The Bond festival continues.  (I’ll be the one dancing to the main titles for A View To A Kill.  Yeah, yeah, the movie stinks.  But hey, that’s my favorite Duran Duran song.  You wanna make something of it?)  Check this list to find the film(s) for you.

And if you don’t want to head outdoors, there’s always the AFI’s 80s fest (I heart Jake Ryan) or the National Theatre’s Bette Davis fest.  (Damn!  I already missed Dark Victory?  But, but, next to King’s Row, that’s Reagan’s best work!  Good thing I haven’t missed All About Eve yet.)

What’s your favorite summer activity?

Photo by flickr user bossco, under a Creative Commons license.

If you, like me, are a resident of the City of Alexandria City, you may have noticed a terse letter from Mayor Euille in the Alexandria news bulletin that arrived in your mailbox last week.  The Norfolk Southern Railroad has established an ethanol transloading facility at its yard in the West End neighborhood.  Now, apparently they own the facility and have gotten the National Surface Transportation Board to override at least some local ordinances.  The City Manager and City Attorney have admitted that communication (internal and external) was badly handled and the City Council has opened up their records and documents for public inspection.

In short, the City folks are displeased about this facility!  It is apparently located thisclose to an elementary school, and is also near the Beltway and the Blue line.

NSRR has bought some fire equipment for the City, including providing a quantity of the special foam that would be needed in the event of a fire, and conducted some training for Alexandria FD.  They’ve also agreed to certain time restrictions on the number of trucks coming and going from the facility.  I’m not sure what to think, myself.  I wonder how much of this issue stems from NIMBY-ism?  Did the railroad really just unilaterally plop an ethanol facility 600 feet from an elementary school and think no one would notice?   How real is the security concern? (IMO, not very, but then I am quite jaded about “security” these days.)  How real is the risk of fire or explosion?  We have all seen enough news reports of chemical factory or fuel dump explosions - with horrific effects - to worry about it, even though the probability may be incredibly low.

In any event — Alexandria has put together a website where you can read documents and correspondence, or look at a map of the facility and its neighborhood.  What’s your opinion — should we be concerned?

Yesterday I rolled out my new electric bike for a new regimen of (fair-weather) bike commuting, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  But, what a day to choose.  It turned out that a young cyclist was struck and killed by a garbage truck in a tragic, but textbook, “right-hook” collision.  According to the Post, no charges have yet been filed, but the driver and cyclist were both identified in the paper’s coverage.  The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is having a memorial today, and hopefully the MPD will be following up as well. 

D.C. Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke said that he used to commute to work on his bike along the street where Swanson was killed. With rising gas prices, he said he expects to see more cyclists and pedestrians in the streets.”It’s imperative that drivers are cognizant of this and that we all share the road,” Burke said.         

I’m thankful that most of my commute is trail-based - nary a garbage truck in sight.

Dearest Residents of Washington DC,

Hey there. What’s up?

I’m Sean. I’m not actually in Washington DC right now, but I was born in there. True story. It was awesome. Also, you guys have super cool train stations. But you knew that already I’m sure. You also may or may not know, and more importantly may or may not care, but I’m one of the dudes behind this Metblogs thing. We make local blogs and stuff. Blogging in general, and about local issues specifically is a soul sucking, thankless, monotonous, time eating profession that makes no money. But it’s awesome and we love it. Actually it’s all we know how to do, so we just keep doing it. Can you guess why I’m posting something here? Go ahead and try. Come on, there are no stupid answers, only stupid questions. Give up yet?

That’s a shame, you should never give up.

Well, if by chance you happened to read the last buncha posts here you know that many of the writers of this fine site have walked away to start their own site which is called We Love DC and can be found at the web address www.welovedc.com. Didja get that? Let me link it again just to be safe: We Love DC, We Love DC, We Love DC, We Love DC, We Love DC, We Love DC. I forgot if any of them mentioned it so I figured it was worth a plug or two. Anyway, we here at corporate overlord headquarters would like to officially welcome them to the soul sucking, thankless, monotonous, time eating world of blog publishing that makes no money. It’s awesome. Really. I promise. Cross my heart. So yeah, you should check that out, it’s over at We Love DC.

On a completely unrelated note, we seem to suddenly have some soul sucking, thankless, monotonous, time eating blogging positions that pay no money open right here at DC Metblogs. Have I made this sound awesome enough yet. Have I mentioned it’s awesome? Because if not I should do that. Additionally we’re about as hands off as it gets here. We ask that if you write something for the site it somehow relates to DC, but otherwise you can do whatever the hell you want. I guess I should also mention we’ve got a bunch of readers from all around the world who might check out your stuff too which is kinda cool. If you are into that. Or not. Whatever. I guess that assuming you don’t suck, because if you suck they won’t read your stuff no matter what. Anyway, I know I’m quite the salesman and by now you must be scratching at your computer screen trying to physically claw your way into this site, but trust me, that won’t work. What will work is if you post a comment and let me know you’d like to give this a try. Then I can hook it up for you. That’s right, I’ll hook it up for you. Because you are that important.

Smooches. From me, to you.

PS - We Love DC!