Grounds for Sculpture

Before I dropped Scott off at JFK, we had a few hours to kill after getting some lunch at Whole Foods. So, Scott suggested going to the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. I'd always seen signs for it off of I-295, but had never gone. You can also see various random sculptures as you are on NJTransit. I assumed that, like in Evanston, the Grounds for Sculpture was an open air public park. Instead, it's a paid entrance park. We went anyway. It was worth it. Some of my favorite sculptures are hidden in little alcoves in the woods or around really tall bushes.

But, despite the beauty of the sculptures and the trees turned into sculptures, the best part was the peacocks. They have a bunch of male and female peacocks that just roam around the park. Some of males were making loud noises which helped us to find out where they were all hanging out. They put on a little show/display for us.

Will and Katina

Scott made this, including the frame and the installation of the mirror. So cool.
It says "Will & Katina, June 2005." "Katina" and "2005" are reflected in the mirror.

Who needs science policy...?

When you have people who edit your reports in the White House? This article Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming in the New York Times tells the story of a White House official who would insert and edit reports from places like National Academy of Science. "The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of the phrase "significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties," tend to produce an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts say are robust."

It's like taking a sentence like "X is a credible threat" to "X is an 'insignificant' threat." Who needs scientists if you're just going to make it up anyway?

Oh, as Rich points out, science is about finding results that you may not have known about before, not about making a decision and then fitting science to what you want it to say.