Of Photons and Phaetons

We just got back from our excursion across the Long Island Sound to Stony Brook, where the Rocket Scientist had a science experiment appointment.

His purpose was to use the Synchrotron at Brook Haven's National Lab. Who can resist a visit to something called a Synchrotron? Me, that's who -- even though he explained it is an accelerator which was gonna bombard his sapphire crystal samples with X-rays blah blah blah.

He told me afterward he encountered a small wrinkle entering the lab, since his university-issued, adhesive-backed Visitor's badge fell off his shirt pocket unawares and disappeared en route to the facility. This is one case where cutting down on the fabric softener would have eliminated a wrinkle ....

While his samples were accelerating in the Synchrotron I opted for a tour of the Long Island Museum in nearby Stony Brook, N.Y. It features a special exhibition about Long Island life circa 1950 in addition to an impressive permanent gallery of 19th-century island artist William S. Mount.

But the highlight of the museum was its carriage house filled with a comprehensive collection of  carriages from earlier centuries. I now know more about the difference between a phaeton and a brougham than I do about the difference between a synchrotron and an accelerator. Hoping that bit of knowledge comes in handy some day ....

Unfortunately cameras were prohibited in the carriage house. However, I did snap this one fashion statement from the '50s exhibit:

Like it?

 
... Other than the tornado, the only glitch in the trip was finding the hotel. Look, armed with GPS, Rand McNally and Google, we usually feel confident navigating new territory. However, I believe someone at the hotel inadvertently activated a cloaking device, since whenever we had to return there we got lost.

Look, when even a rocket scientist doesn't know where the hell he is, then that's big trouble. Kind of like being on Gilligan's Island without the professor. The only explanation is a cloaking device, right?

Fortunately since we were on an island we were bound to come across the hotel eventually. It was nice enough once we found it. The only anomaly there was the zucchini plants growing in the front landscaping.

 Now I'm wondering if they are somehow connected to the cloaking device ....




Back to the tornado. The Rocket Scientist wasn't in any danger because he was in a lead-lined bunker, Ok? I was a dripping wet mess in my car with only a moon roof separating me from accelerating waves of H2O molecules bombarding overhead.  A few minutes earlier, a museum curator returning from lunch reported a tornado that was spotted near the island's southern coast was heading north. So I dashed through the deluge to my car to look for an umbrella. That would surely be great protection in a tornado, right? After a fruitless search, I sprinted back into the museum to await a phase change of those H2O molecules.

Fortunately the tornado dissipated or decelerated or whatever. Unfortunately, the 1950s-era clothes dryer in the museum's Life in Levittown display was only a prop.

Anyway, if you are on Long Guyland's North Shore I enthusiastically recommend a visit to The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. 

Here is a link:

http://longislandmuseum.org/





Don't forget to pack your umbrella. And your anti-cloaking device.












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