Shaken Up

I had always thought Silicon Valley was named after all those California babes with silicon implants. Well, turns out that's not true. Silicon Valley is the the area that the Information Technology Highway passes through. Once I discovered that I was actually quite relieved. Anxious to get the core of the area, it meant I could seek out new technology instead of having to spend my time in plastic surgeons' offices.
So today I hit The Tech Museum of Innovation. This turned out to be the kind of place that gives museums a good name. It was completely hands on and full of summer camp kids learning about science. It even has its own Imax theatre, where I spent 45 minutes trying to convince myself I was really on dry land and not submerged at the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago.
Back in the museum, I found one exhibit that wasn't really necessary. A group of excited children were standing on a platform waiting for an assistant to hit the button.
"Which one do you want?" he said. "A little one, or a really big one like the 8.3 earthquake in Tokyo?"
"A really big one," they squealed with delight as he hit the button.
Within minutes the platform started rumbling and the kids were shaken about. They even got their picture taken as they screamed.
Since I have been worrying about earthquakes ever since I landed in California, it struck me as a strange place for such an exhibit. Surely you only have to wait long enough?
Having had enough of science and IT for one day, I decided to take refuge in the San Jose Museum of Modern Art over the road. Even they were technology crazy. They had two major exhibitions. One on light, the other on robots...