LOVE spelled out in chalk in the grassy park near the WorldBeat Center.
Today has been designated World Water Day. The essential message is that we should use our often limited water resources carefully and engage in water conservation.
I read that a World Water Day Celebration was to be held in Balboa Park at the WorldBeat Center, so I headed from downtown up Park Boulevard to see what was going on.
What I discovered was a lot of interesting knowledge and very cool fun!
World Water Day in Balboa Park included a kids poster contest, painting, music, dance, a water blessing, and a global meditation.Kids listen to stories out in a patch of shade on a warm Spring day in San Diego.This board included many great ideas on how to save water. This is unusually important in Southern California because of our ongoing drought.Lots of creativity was being unleashed during World Water Day.A talented artist named Alexander had his work on display.A smile and unique self-portrait by Alexander.
This super friendly, cool artist was working with Live Art by Davina Mendoza.Inside the popular World Beat Center dance and music awaited.Poster inside shows how water is harvested from the air in Ethiopia!Watair creates atmospheric water generators (called air juicers). These devices produce pure drinking water while cleaning the air!The colorful interior of the WorldBeat Cultural Center is alive with dancers and a line of drummers!
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Kids learn about electronics by combining fun pieces from a kit, creating circuits.
Today I checked out a truly amazing event! Expo Day capped off the week-long San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the San Diego Science Festival), and brought out thousands of families and kids, eager to learn about science. STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education, was Expo Day’s principal focus. The seventh annual event nearly burst the seams of downtown’s big Petco Park stadium. There were so many cool exhibits, so much stuff to see, I only managed to experience about half of it! My poor old brain nearly exploded!
Here is a bit of what I saw!
Exhibitor map for the huge Expo Day, concluding event of the San Diego Festival for Science and Engineering.Lots of folks inside Petco Park (baseball stadium of the San Diego Padres) learn about science.This kid is way more interested in a map to cool science stuff than boring bags of cotton candy!A robot was moving mysteriously about, amusing people who were just walking along the concourse.Group demonstrates the structure of some common molecules.The STEM event focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education.Investigating organisms one might find in a mud flat.This balloon soon rose on a column of air and floated out of the tube!Young inventors assemble unique creations using all sorts of ordinary materials.Understanding genetic attributes using Boolean logic. Sounds complicated!Youth would attempt to break a Guinness World Record at Second Hour of Code mass coding event led by a Microsoft professional.I’ve never seen so many hands on experiments in one place!Don’t mess with this guy. He’s a super cool scientist dude!Kids test out non-Newtonian fluids which seem to harden like rubber when struck.Young scientific explorers are shown how to build their own spectroscope! And to think I was confounded by my Etch A Sketch!Test your own mental cognition and speak these colors really fast for yourself!Oh, man! Check this weird elephant out! I love optical illusions!This fancy lab aquarium acts as a flume, used to test the motion of fish and their muscular development.Pointing out a butterfly in a carefully classified collection.Wow! These youngsters are building DNA models! That’s way beyond me!Learning how smoking exposes people to all sorts of toxic chemicals.Girl learns about gyroscopes and angular momentum with a spinning bicycle tire.Some students built cool models of futuristic cities.Awesome robots were all over the place!People were jumping about as this robot dashed about scooping stuff up.This robot participates in the Lego League, trying to score points on an unusual course.This is a mechanical, computerized Rubik’s Cube solver that detects color.Looking down into Petco Park’s Power Alley, where more STEM exhibits were located.Lots of animal life on display included this beautiful long-nosed snake.Lady demonstrates how bio fuels are refined using filtration.Christmas lights helped to teach about energy conservation.Tens of thousands turned out for the big San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering Expo Day.Many businesses were showing their products, discoveries and technological advances.AirZooka vortex generator shoots circular pulse of air at the shimmer wall!This automated machine helps prepare lab samples in medical facilities.Kids left notes on a wall with their bright ideas.Planting some tomato seeds, to watch them sprout and grow at home!More kids making complex molecules with colored marshmallows! I guess they’ll be future scientists!Some art was being created to accompany all the science and technology stuff.This guy uses electromagnetism to launch cans skyward and splatter cucumbers!Petco’s sunny Park at the Park was jammed with families enthused by education.Demonstrating maglev (magnetic levitation) using eddy currents.Young people write down what they like about science!Young astronomers duplicate the colors of an enhanced surface image of asteroid Vesta.This NASA inflatable is the actual size of the Curiosity rover now on Mars.Everyone is fascinated by a cool NASA photograph of the surface of Mars.A member of the next generation lays his hands on our planet.
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Today is the International Day of Happiness! Happy thoughts and deeds were underway in downtown San Diego this morning, just outside Horton Plaza. I swung on by to check things out!
International Day of Happiness in San Diego at Horton Plaza.Early morning vows of how people will make the world a more happy place.Smiling at my kids more.Smiling and saying hi to everyone I pass by today.Sharing my lunch with someone less fortunate.Being a good father and role model.Help make the world a happier place!
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Someone displays a cool-looking drone and describes its operation.
While drones might not be delivering pizzas anytime soon, they do make for an interesting hobby. I could clearly see that when I wandered into a cool event by sheer chance. International Drone Day was celebrated today at the Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego field near Mission Bay.
I was walking along the San Diego River Trail when I glimpsed something strange flying about behind a line of trees. Whatever it was didn’t behave like a bird. I had to go investigate!
What I discovered was a large gathering of electric drone hobbyists. They were flying their unique propeller aircraft, checking out different equipment, and enjoying hot dogs out in the San Diego sunshine!
In the event you pass by one day, the small field is located on the north side of Sea World Drive, just east of SeaWorld. I had visited once before, the day I blogged about birdwatching along the river estuary. On that day RC model aircraft were circling in the sky. I’ve added one pic from that visit, as you’ll see.
International Drone Day in San Diego brought out a bunch of serious hobbyists.A quad hovers above the special flying area on a breezy day near Mission Bay.People checked out drones of every size and description.A smaller drone displayed on a table.This larger drone was designed to be aerodynamic.Drone builders and enthusiasts were in heaven in San Diego today.It looks like high-tech drones have replaced humans already!This field is used by Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego, and their radio-controlled aircraft.Guy sets his drone down in preparation for a demonstration.A crowd watches the action. My camera barely captured one distant craft in flight.Other days, electric-powered RC model airplanes take off and glide from this field.I took this photo on a prior occasion. That radio-controlled plane is huge!Drone on the ground makes for a cool, futuristic pic.Club members prepare their drones for the High Noon “All Up”!
At noon, all the drones took to the air at once! Unfortunately, my pics of the spectacle came out pretty lousy. So use your mind’s eye! According to the announcer, 32 drones hovered above the field at one time. The San Diego team’s High Noon “All Up” took place simultaneously with 150 other teams celebrating International Drone Day around the world.
What will I discover next? It seems that anything is possible!
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Saint Patrick was seen in downtown San Diego banishing snakes and frowns.
A long, warm, wonderful walk today filled my trusty old camera with lots of photos! First up: some fun images from San Diego’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
Last year I took pics up and down Sixth Avenue (just west of Balboa Park) where the parade was staged, and this morning I did exactly the same thing. Predictably, cool sights were everywhere my eyes turned!
This smiling gentleman is dressed in the uniform of the Knights of Columbus.Crowd gathers early before the big St. Patrick’s Day parade kicks off.Lots of dogs were wearing the green this morning.Green hats and fun festive stuff on the grass by the sidewalk.Shriner mini cars are always a popular part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.These clowns are relaxing in the shade as a sunny San Diego day heats up.This cool old Ambulance and Patrol vehicle awaits start of parade.The distinctive Shriners float doesn’t look Irish to me, except for a bit of green!The Best-Rate Repair Company float is making its first appearance this year.This guy in a traditional kilt will be playing the bagpipes for everyone to enjoy.Marching band instruments lie on the grass before start of the St. Paddy’s parade.The Academy of Irish Dance gets their elaborate float ready.These super nice San Diego Roller Derby ladies posed for my camera!Motorcyclist in green heads down Sixth Avenue where the parade is staging.These cool old-fashioned penny-farthing bicycles will take part in the parade.Everybody was busy getting ready as the 10:30 morning start approached.Serviceman helps affix some Irish green to the front bumper of a car.The Young Marines were carefully folding a large American flag as I walked down Sixth Avenue.A smiling Irish clown perfectly captures the spirit of this wonderful annual event.
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Derek McAlister prepares to open his amazing act with some fire juggling at Seaport Village beside the Marriott Marina.
Rubber chickens were flying this afternoon. There seemed to be a whole flock of them at the Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival! The event continues into this evening, and then more acts follow tomorrow. If you’re in San Diego, check it out!
My favorite performer was Murrugun the Mystic. This is why.
All of the buskers were fantastic! Many of these pics were taken from a bit of a distance, but they provide a taste of the fun…
Derek McAlister climbs a 20-foot Chinese pole and performs fantastic aerial acrobatics at the Spring Busker Festival.Street performers had exciting shows all day at two plazas in Seaport Village. Tomorrow, too!Alex Clark, with training from Cirque Du Soleil, balances atop ladder while juggling knives.Girl throws rubber chicken up to plunger-headed, unicycle-riding “Groovy” Guy Collins, who has starred on the Travel Channel.The Frisbee Show featured juggler and comedian Greg Frisbee.Boy volunteer balances two spinning balls atop two rubber chickens!CREW is a San Diego-based percussion group that creates super cool music with everyday objects.Unusual instruments produce fun beats as busker festival visitors sit in sunshine by San Diego Bay.Some important tools of the busker trade.The Checkerboard Guy David Aiken had everyone laughing with his funny antics!
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Murrugun the Mystic from AMC television hit Freakshow begins his busker festival danger act with fire eating.
Today I witnessed the grittiest performance I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a few.
I went to the Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival today and enjoyed a number of excellent, very entertaining acts. But the one that really stood out was performed by Murrugun the Mystic. He’s one of the stars of the AMC television reality show Freakshow.
While in a great deal of pain, Murrugun was first in the world to shoot a flaming arrow out of his throat! Let me describe his entire act…
Unfortunately, I filled up my camera’s memory card midway through his fire eating, just before he got to the really big stuff. At the end of some more conventional (but great) fire eating tricks, he really wowed the crowd. He filled his throat with a large quantity of kerosene combined with light gasoline, then produced two MASSIVE fireballs from his mouth. You had to see it to believe it! These balls of flame must’ve measured 6 feet in diameter. Oh, man! It was a bummer my camera ran out of memory! Afterward, he promptly rinsed his throat out with mouthwash and then water, because the flammable mixture is highly carcinogenic.
Next Murrugun balanced his entire body weight on a demonstrably sharp samurai sword. He leaned over the horizontal blade and supported himself on his stomach, lifting arms and legs from the ground.
Next came the bed of nails. I was volunteered, along with five other guys in the crowd, to help Murrugun wow the gathered audience. Each of us tested the nails, and while they weren’t sharp as pins, they were definitely pointed. Murrugun lay on the bed of nails, placed a board over his torso, and four of the guys, weighing a total of about 910 pounds, stepped up onto the board! I and another fellow helped to balance the four. Ouch! While this sort of thing has been performed for thousands of years, and the many nails effectively support a whole lot of weight, I wouldn’t want to be sandwiched between them and the combined mass of four guys!
Now the show got interesting in an alarming way. Murrugun used a very long pole to support “The Knives of Death”. I believe that’s what he called them. These five long knives faced downward from a ring, and should they topple down from the top of the pole, they’d probably impale poor Murrugun. I’m not sure how his act was supposed to proceed. The knives were balanced atop the pole. Suddenly down came the knives from on high and Murrugun lay flat on his back. The knives mostly missed him. But one sliced his leg. A good three inch gash was visible, and blood. He seemed stunned. He very gingerly hobbled to the back of the stage area, checked himself, and it looked to me like he then decided to tough it out. The audience didn’t seem to know how to react. Like them I just watched, astonished.
He was obviously hesitant and in pain. He told us he’d now perform a world’s first. He’d shoot a flaming arrow from his throat.
I could see his hands visibly trembling while he tried for a few seconds to piece two slender hollow rods together, which formed the shaft of the arrow. He gradually composed himself. He lubricated the long shaft, which was possibly two to three feet long, lit the pointed end, then proceeded to swallow the unique arrow. He bent over, and after attaching the arrow end to a slingshot-like device, shot the arrow out of his throat and through the air! He missed the balloon in the bullseye, perhaps 10 or 15 feet away, but not by much!
I know that street performers–and circus and carnival sideshow performers–have a difficult profession and can endure a lot of hardship. But what I witnessed this afternoon was truly heart-rending and impressive. It seemed no amount of pain could slow down Murrugun’s showmanship and passion for his art.
Murrugun the Mystic noted that because Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus have decided to eliminate elephants from their show (the news just out), perhaps there’s a chance the circus sideshow will make a comeback. That is Murrugun’s wish and personal mission. Can you help make that happen? Here’s his Facebook page.
Thanks, Murrugun, for privileging me to be a tiny part of busker history! Good luck!
Murrugun the Mystic makes his grand entrance near Seaport Village’s gazebo in the Plaza East.Fire eating preceded balancing on a sword, being crushed on a bed of nails, enduring knives of death, and shooting a flaming arrow from his throat!
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At the corner of Ash and Front Street, a San Diego firefighter volunteers to collect donations to assist burn victims.
If you’re driving about San Diego County today and you see a fireman standing at an intersection holding up a boot, throw lots of money in!
Today a small army of San Diego firefighters are volunteering to collect donations for the Burn Institute. The Burn Institute’s mission is to help the victims of severe burns recover from a devastating and very difficult situation. The organization has a strong focus on children. Be generous!
Television reporter and firemen spread the word about today’s Fill the Boot campaign throughout San Diego.Fill the Boot generously to help the Burn Institute help children who’ve suffered from critical burns.
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Thousands of Chargers fans head toward the entrance of Qualcomm Stadium for a special public hearing.
Many San Diegans are passionate about their Chargers. The very real possibility that the much-loved NFL team might leave our city has energized the loyal fan base.
This evening a big rally and special public hearing concerning the possible construction of a new stadium in San Diego took place at venerable but decaying (almost half a century old) Qualcomm Stadium.
I work in Mission Valley very close to The Q, so after I clocked out I headed over to check out what was going on in the parking lot. Loads of fans turned out–thousands! Some arrived early and tailgated as if it were a Sunday football game.
Here are some colorful pics before it got dark outside!
Social media driven Save Our Bolts rally attracted a huge crowd of diehard fans.Rapper led passionate crowd chanting Save Our Bolts for many live news cameras.Legions of local football fans waved banners of blue and gold.Handmade signs express hope that Chargers football remains in San Diego.These mega fans were proudly displaying a unique, patriotic Chargers flag.Check out this super cool Chargers custom pickup truck!A long line of people waited to enter Qualcomm Stadium to attend or watch the public hearing.Lots of kids were excited to be part of the big event.Many fans, with hearts full of hope, would observe the proceedings on the old stadium’s Jumbotron.Ladies thank Mayor Faulconer for expediting the process to hopefully keep our much-loved NFL team in San Diego.
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Putting up big Mardi Gras arches along Fifth Avenue in San Diego’s Gaslamp.
I won’t be going to Mardi Gras in downtown San Diego this evening. I suppose I’m a boring old party pooper. But I did walk through the Gaslamp Quarter this morning while preparations were underway. Check out a few photos!
Mardi Gras poster features Snoopadelic (Snoop Dogg).Workers set up and test electronic video displays for the evening festivities.Three old firetrucks were decorated with Mardi Gras masks and ornaments.These firetrucks are ready for a big, happy carnival in the Gaslamp Quarter.And this cool guy told me he’s also ready for Mardi Gras!This fun pedicab is covered with Fat Tuesday ads and flashing lights.A table brimming with glittery colorful masks and beads.Guy getting banner ready for thousands of downtown revelers.Looking up Fifth Avenue, where people will celebrate Mardi Gras in San Diego.
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