DC has a new geek museum! Uh, I meant to say, DC has a new science museum! The Marian Koshland Science Museum recently opened, and it’s a veriable geek paradise with exhibits on infectious diseases (oh, that makes me tremble with delight!), global warming (sends chills up and down my spine!), the wonders of science (fills me with wonderment!), and more.
The museum also offers workshops and events that sound totally interesting to me (and I don’t care if you don’t find them interesting) — an “infectious” comedy show, stuff in (or perhaps shouldn’t be in) your kitchen, Internet art and culture, and more. For a change, this isn’t part of the Smithsonian Institute system– rather, the Science Museum is operated by the National Academy of Sciences. It’s actually designed for all people ages 13 and up — so don’t quite bring your surely smart little ‘uns just yet. That goes for my 3-year-old and 1-year-old daughters as well, no matter how precocious I think they are. I, on the other hand, will be found there during lunch hour(s) sometime soon, since this place’s not far from my workplace.
Conveniently located at 6th and E Streets NW, the Koshland Science Museum is close to three different Metro stations: Gallery Place, Archives, and Judiciary Square. Admission is $5 for an adult, and $3 for seniors, students, active duty military personnel, and children. It opens at ten a.m. daily, and the last admission is at 5pm. Field trips are accepted and encouraged. The accessibility page says that sign language interpreters can be requested with at least two weeks notice required.
How I knew about this museum was through a very catchy ad. I just couldn’t resist clicking on it, and sure enough, it was an ad for this museum. It shows a deliriously happy man wearing some sort of iPod-looking gadget in front of several video screens, and asks, “Got the Geek Mystique?” That ad seems perfectly designed for a Proud Geek like me!
See you there.
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6 Comments
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What’s the difference between a nerd and a geek, anyway? I’d be interested in your response as well as others posting here.
I’ll have to check out the museum sometime and exercise, as you say, my inner geek.
Speaking of museums, I take it you’ve tried the old tourist standby, the Spy Museum? I was thinking about it this morning and watching the movie, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig, last night on my laptop. Pretty cool movie. Not a lot of stunts and high tech wizardry, but a lot of gung-ho action and death, pretty much what Ian Fleming intended for Bond to be in the first place instead of a prettified dandy.
SIM:
I wouldn’t recommend the Spy Museum. I went there last year, and had difficulty with their i-Caption Palm that you point at the TV monitors to turn on the captions. More than half of the monitors weren’t equipped. And, for an admissions price of $18 (I think), it isn’t worth your time or money. However, the gift shop is open to the public and has some cool geek stuff for the likes of Josh.
SIM: Geeks have social skills. Nerds do not.
A good explanation as any.
You also have different categories of geeks. There are science geeks, tech geeks, literary (sci-fi, fantasy, comic) geeks. ‘Nerd’ is generally more derogatory, in my opinion.
The global warming exhibit is just fabulous! I went when the museum had just barely opened a few years ago and was impressed with the hands-on exhibits they had there. I recommend anyone who wants to learn more about the science behind global warming to go!