Hope and the Butterfly Effect

After Heidi and I had spent some time at the World War Two Memorial (That recap comes next week) and our snack of a giant egg roll, we decided to make our way over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I am not sure if I had ever been there before but if I had it had to be a long long time ago.We walked in the front door and I grabbed a map booklet so we could find our way around. Heidi apparently knew where the good stuff was as we went directly upstairs to the 2nd floor. As we walked around I happened to notice a sign that simply stated "The Hope Diamond" with an arrow pointing to the left. I had to pause and think for a moment. OK, I am quite sure there is only one Hope Diamond. While museums are famous for displaying replicas, would the Smithsonian display a replica of the Hope Diamond and then claim it was "The" Hope Diamond? I also wondered, if this was THE Hope Diamond, was I supposed to know that it was in the Smithsonian? Very curious and slightly confused, I turned left. Sure enough, there was a display surrounded by people peeking in.Yup, sure enough it is THE Hope Diamond. You would not believe how difficult it was for me to crack open the display case, switch the diamond out with a cheap look-a-like and then sneak off with the real Hope Diamond. All with people watching. Thank goodness I am a master illusionist! I wonder how much the Hope Diamond would go for on EBay? After looking at the fascinating Gem display we made our way up to the 3rd floor. There we found the display Heidi was looking for. The Butterfly display. Heidi sprang for the tickets to get into the Butterfly experience and in we went to play with over a hundred butterflies.The hoses and spray nozzles along the wall keep the room warm and humid, just the way butterflies like it. Not exactly how humans like it, though.This butterfly's wing pattern is supposed to look like an owl's eyes. This is supposed to scare away predators. While it didn't exactly scare me away, I also didn't eat the butterfly, so I think we'll call it a draw. I also suspect the slightly wacky lady running the place would have either killed me or had a heart attach if I'd have eaten one of their butterflies.While there is plenty of room in the display for all of the butterflies, there isn't enough room for all of the people with cameras running around looking for "The Perfect Shot." Elbow's flying and a little pushing and shoving. One gentleman even had a telephoto lens. When you are less than 8 inches from a butterfly what will a telephoto lens do for you? Who knew there was such a thing as Bug paparazzi?This was my favorite butterfly. Pictures really don't do the color justice. As you moved around the reflecting light changed angles and colors. Very pretty for sure! As we left the butterfly experience we stopped in the exit air lock and did the critter dance to make sure no butterfly stow-aways were trying to hitch hike. The title of this post is a not-so-vague reference to the classic oversimplification of Chaos Theory. I enjoy reading about chaos theory as one of my favorite forms of mental yoga. The original Butterfly Effect quote has been misquoted and abused over the years. The original statement was:Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?