Death and the Science of Nostalgia

Note to self: don't marry anyone who will murder you.
My aunt's sister (so not an actual relation of mine, but her kids are my cousins' cousins) was stabbed to death a few days ago by her husband. She was 36. The kids, boys ages 2 and 4, were in daycare. The husband is claiming self-defense, but he stabbed her a lot of times for it to be self-defense. Totally fucked up. Apparently the husband called his father after he killed his wife to say "holy shit, I just killed my wife, what do I do?" and the dad had the sense to say call the police and do NOT pick the kids up from daycare, they do not need to see their dead mother on the kitchen floor. Just. So. Fucked. Up.

In lighter news, (move over water-skiing squirrels) I became a member at the Museum of Science and Industry today. They had a student rate and membership includes free passes to the Omnimax movies and special exhibits, so as long as I go one other time with a friend this year, it's worth it. Not that I really had $55 to blow, but I do love my museums. It also got us into the CSI exhibit, which was conceptually very cool but pretty lame when you got down to it. I dragged NBF with me, and he's ex-navy, so the whole navy exhibit and U-505 thing became more interesting for me with his bonus commentary. Some of you may remember from childhood when the submarine sat outside the museum and you had to go down this weird long hallway and you could look through the periscope and see Lake Shore Drive. Your tour guide was the one who told the story of the sub's capture and explained the enigma machine, which you could stare at while you waited in line to enter the hallway. Now, U-505 has its own big huge impressive (and entirely indoor) exhibit and they restored the ship and the story is all interactive but non-human and they charge an extra $5 to tour the sub itself and the periscope just looks around the exhibit room. Oh, the price of progress.
Another kick in the groin of nostalgia, the big sparkly thing that somehow used sunlight to spin around (the sunnier, the faster) in one of the stairwells is gone. I was terribly distraught, and asked a number of museum personnel what happened to it. They didn't know, but the museum changes exhibits more frequently than, say, the aquarium or Art Institute, because science tends to evolve faster than, say, art or fish. Still, I don't understand why they haven't gotten rid of the fucking circus exhibit. I hate that thing. It's stupid and dark and creepy and clown-laden. Fuck that shit, I want my sparkly back.