thru a homeschool group we went to the Museum of Science to see a lecture on robotics. could've gotten away real cheap, even parking is cheapened. but of course there are revenue streams within revenue streams, so we didn't get away quite unscathed. still, it was fun. the lecture was hosted by... wait for it... Anthony Daniels. come on, you know: the actor inside the gold robot suit in all the Star Wars films. he was fun and engaging, no shades of Galaxy Quest here. a child asked early on, were you in the movie? oh now R2. he was fun to hear. fun to watch too, he moves like a mime. he brought on 3 MIT robotics experts who talked. one of them, a happy geek, demonstrated his swarm of little robots that manuevered around the stage. most excellent. after the lecture there was a chance for hands on/up close demonstrations. we ate lunch in the frantic cafeteria with 10,000 of our closest teenage friends. the place is right on the Charles, with wonderful Boston skyline views. we parked on the roof of the garage, where there was a terrific view of the nearby Zaiken Bridge (that's misspelled, and Google has yet to guess what I mean), the skyline, and a rather astonishingly tall crane. I had ought to have brung my camera. there was a de rigueur Star Wars exhibit that, grr, was a separate charge. it was both hommage to the movies, yawn, and some nifty interactive science stuff. the hommage stuff was interesting, actually, but Lucas has spent a wee bit too much time on such like, and on his brutal marketing quest (Mr Lucus meet Mr Gates), when he could've produced more than a gargantuan pure product of America. I mean, sheesh. Erin got into the interactive stuff, as did Beth. I was too tired but it looked fun. for an extra fiver Erin took a ride on the Millenniel Falcon. Erin went to a Star Trek extravaganza in Vegas with his father a couple years ago, came home with pictures of himself as part of the crew of the Enterprise, right there with Picard and Geordie and the rest. also, a short cd of him in a scene with Captain Kirk, superimposed on the original actor. what a hoot. so all in all it was an educational and informative time for all.