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Since July 5 2010, we have been led to believe that "today is the day that Marty McFly arrives when he travels to the future" (In 1989's Back to the Future Part II). Alissa Walker helpfully explains the background to that original mistake here. Anyway, it you won't believe it but today REALLY IS the day Marty McFly arrives in the future, or to put it another way, THE FUTURE IS HERE.
Still a distinct lack of hoverboards as promised by the film, but one thing you can still find in North Houston is a DeLorean DMC-12, as seen in all three films of the Back to the Future trilogy:
The original Delorean Motor Company (DMC) was formed by John Zachary DeLorean in 1975 and ended in receivership and bankruptcy in 1982. It is estimated that there are over 6,500 DMC-12 cars still on the road (out of 9,000 built). A number of businesses still exist to provide parts and service. One is DMC, based in Humble, the location of the above DMC-12s.
They have been planning to sell custom-made electric DeLoreans for some time but has been stuck in a years-long legal battle over ownership of the name. Yesterday, just one day before Back to the Future Day, the lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in exchange for DMC having the rights to use the DeLorean Motor Company name, trademarks and logo. So it looks like there will be a new future to look forward to!
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Wise words from Sergeant Phil Esterhaus of 'Hill Street Blues'. The location for the exterior view of the Hill Street Police Station was Maxwell Street Precinct House shown above (it is now used by the University of Illinois Campus Police).
One thing you don't need to worry about is drinking beer made from treated sewage, like these:
These are from projects in Oregon and Wisconsin and were available to sample at the Water Environment Federation's annual conference in Chicago. Although they look official they are not yet commercially available. Someone has to convince the FDA and others that these are safe to drink. Of course, it is a bit of a nonsense to worry about using treated sewage, since all drinking water is treated and, due to the natural water cycle it is "recycled" in some way. An excellent piece of analysis from Australia by Paul Frijters concludes that "The water you drink has been piss at least 10 times already!"
But anyway, let's be careful out there...
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Former President William Howard Taft was the first President of the University Club, a private hotel and club on 16th Street, just a short walk from the White House:
Right next door to the University Club is the residence of the Russian Ambassador. Rumor has it that some of the upper floors of the University Club were once used by the CIA to spy on the Russians. Nowadays they just have a donkey and an elephant in the front of the club:
The donkey is the Democratic symbol. First associated with Democrat Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign in which (after being called a Jackass) he showed a donkey on his campaign posters. Cartoonist Thomas Nast used the donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous. Nast also invented the other symbol—the Republican elephant - in Harper's Weekly cartoon in 1874.
Highlight of this trip to DC was a visit to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) and then, down the Navy Steps to the West Wing entrance:
I also got some kisses from President Obama:
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Leaving school for me was a simple affair. Here's me after my first day:
After the initial disappointment of learning this was only the first day, and not the end of school I went on to spend a further 11 years at school. Leaving was a simple affair, no ceremony or fanfare.
Contrast this to the US High School system. The picture above shows High School graduation. Using the Houston Texans' Stadium (capacity 71,500) all the High Schools in the district descend one Saturday in June to put approximately 4,000 graduates through the graduation sausage machine. Each school gets approximately 90 minutes to process their students so there's no waiting around - trip on the way up the stairs to the stage and you get trampled.
Now you'd think the song of choice for graduation day would be School's Out by Alice Cooper, but this is 2015 and he's so 1972. So instead we have Kanye West:
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Tonight Rush played the Houston Toyota Center on their R40 tour. This is expected to be the last major tour they will perform. Here's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson breaking out the double-neck guitars for Xanadu:
Set 1:
The Anarchist (Clockwork Angels, 2012)
Clockwork Angels (Clockwork Angels, 2012)
Headlong Flight (Clockwork Angels, 2012)
Far Cry (Snakes & Arrows, 2007)
The Main Monkey Business (Snakes & Arrows, 2007)
One Little Victory (Vapor Trails, 2002)
Animate (Counterparts, 1993)
Roll the Bones (Roll the Bones, 1991)
Distant Early Warning (Grace Under Pressure, 1984)
Subdivisions (Signals, 1982)
Set 2:
Tom Sawyer (Moving Pictures, 1981)
Red Barchetta (Moving Pictures, 1981)
The Spirit of Radio (Permanent Waves, 1980)
Jacob's Ladder (Permanent Waves, 1980)
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude (Hemispheres, 1978) Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage Part 1 & 3 (A Farewell to Kings, 1977)
Closer to the Heart (A Farewell to Kings, 1977)
Xanadu (A Farewell to Kings, 1977)
2112 Part I: Overture (2112, 1976) 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx (2112, 1976) 2112 Part IV: Presentation (2112, 1976) 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale (2112, 1976)
Encore:
Lakeside Park (Caress of Steel, 1975)
Anthem (Fly By Night, 1975)
What You're Doing (Rush, 1974)
Working Man (Rush, 1974)
Nothing from Power Windows (1985), Hold Your Fire (1987), Presto (1989) or Test for Echo (1996) but then they did play for 3 hours!
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The chicken in the above picture (taken in Tobago) is trolling the Church's Chicken guys. He's probably got some Dutch Courage drinking Trinidad Rum, from the House of Angostura:
This place has been distilling rum since 1830, starting in nearby Venezuela. They moved to Trinidad in 1876. They have quite a lot of inventory:
What to have with your rum? Coconut water. And even if you aren't having rum, have some fresh coconut milk and jelly:
This video shows how they open the coconut, first so you can drink the juice and then so you can scrape the jelly off the sides of the nut with a piece of the husk (no plastic spoons here):
What to have for breakfast (with your rum and coconut water)? Doubles. Note quite Double Doubles from In-N-Out Burger or coffee from Tim Horton's. This time a traditional channa (curried chick-pea) and bara (bread) based snack from street vendors like this:
It's called doubles because they give you two bara:
Make sure you get plenty of pepper sauce on your doubles, and if your mouth is too hot afterwards have a rum and coconut water.