Linked from Tealin: The UK Theme, commissioned as an arrangement that would mark Radio 4 as a service encompassing all of Britain. Very cool, and absolutely guaranteed to activate Spike’s trigger. :D

Anyway, today Deep and I saw the Body Worlds exibit, and it was AMAZING. Today was its last day in Philadelphia, but if you ever get the chance to see it as it tours through the states, DO SO. I was delighted at how the knowledge gained from my Figure Modelling class (not to mention episodes of House) added to my experience. Deep is pre-Med and a bio major, so we had quite the discussion going on! Oh, the geekery!

I was particularly impressed by the sections devoted to the growth of the fetus and to the cardiovascular system. I don’t know how Gunther von Hagens got his hands on so many little baby corpses, and I don’t really want to know. They had specimens from three weeks onward, the smallest being less than a centimeter in size. I marvelled at each incremental stage in the fetus’ development, especially at the point where the fingers and toes came into being, each digit half the size of the head of a pin. It was like a pro-lifer’s wet dream, with the possible exception of the evil demon-baby fetus that looked like it was eating a piece of its own skull. Moving on.

The cardiovascular section was just insane. Through some unfathomable process, von Hagens had stripped the body of everything BUT the veins, arteries, capillaries, etc. Just look at this photo of the cardiovascular forearm (I got the catalog, mom!). And they had FULL BODIES constructed this way! It boggled the mind.

Afterwards, we made a brief circuit of the Franklin Museum, as I had never been there before, and we walked through The Giant Heart. I was slightly disappointed that this was not the same giant heart as was featured in last week’s episode of House. Then I got over it.

Speaking of, this past week’s Veronica Mars? Priscilla Banks, haha! Made my day. As for the Oscar statue, fingerprints: yes, hair: wha? Why would hair be on the murder weapon? At least now we know what Kendall was doing in the boys’ bathroom.