Pic-Spam

I've been staying up in Northeast DC this last week. It's given me a chance to explore a part of the District I generally don't visit.

What's quite striking is the concentration of Roman Catholic organizations in this small area. I'm not quite sure why. I think Catholic University planted itself first and the others clustered around. Though there had to be someone with an odd sense of humor to park what was then a women's college (Trinity) next to a seminary and a monastery. I also thought it might be the proximity to the large hospital complexity nearby, but that seems a bit morbid.

So I will spam you with pics. First up, the Franciscan Monastery. It's formally called the Commissariat for the Holy Land, as the Franciscans are one of the groups charged with protecting Catholic shrines there. The church is different in that the four arms are all the same length - it doesn't have that long center aisle. The gardens and grounds are famous, particularly for the replicas of shrines that are in Jerusalem and some other places.

I had great weather for my walk. The roses were on their last bloom, but the air still smelled wonderful.


( Come this way to see more )

ETA: "The floor plan of the church is the five-fold Crusader Cross of Jerusalem, and it is built in the Byzantine style after Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, with some modified Romanesque influences." I always associate mosaics on church walls with the Byzantine era.

Next up, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic Church in the United States. I first saw it when I was a junior in high school. I wondered if it was as gaudy as I remembered.

(no subject)

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!

Last post of the day, I promise

lanning pointed out this article on how men won't be inspired to enter science fields because science fiction has become too feminized. I honestly thought the article was satire or something, but no, he's serious. The article is so full of holes it made me laugh. But suffice it to say that science fiction is what made me comfortable with computers and other science topics. I think there are other women out there who feel the same way. OTOH, I remember being mocked for my interest in it when I was a teenager. I think this guy must have been among the mockers.

"Science fiction is a very male form of fiction. Considerably more men than women are interested in reading and watching science fiction. This is no surprise. Science fiction traditionally is about men doing things, inventing new technologies, exploring new worlds, making new scientific discoveries, terraforming planets, etc. Many men working in the fields of science, engineering, and technology have cited science fiction (such as the original Star Trek) for inspiring them when they were boys to establish careers in these fields.

The current generation of boys will not have this inspiration from science fiction, at least from science fiction on television and in movies. That’s because there is an undeclared war on real science fiction on TV and in movies."

http://www.the-spearhead.com/2009/10/09/the-war-on-science-fiction-and-marvin-minsky/