Photos not allowed?

Today I found myself walking past the UW Medical Research buildings where my friend and I heard the brain research talks on Wed. There is a series of new modern buildings on the south end of Lake Union with a wonderful large courtyard space where we sat the other night with a drink and some nice tidbits to eat before the talks. (it was a special event for donors....) The courtyard opens on to the streets surrounding the buildings. As I was walking through taking some photos, a fellow came out of the nearby building and told me I couldn't take any photos. Why not, I asked. Copyrights. Architectural copyrights. Goodness, I had deja vu back to Cairo in Jan during the revolution when cameras of Westerners were bring taken.(not mine, fortunately.) but this is the USA and it's just a building open to public access! What about if I stood outside on the street to photograph it? that's OK. Across the street. OH my. This picture was taken from the sidewalk right at the entrance to this space, probably not far enough away. From the inside I wanted to catch those glass balls against the bright blue sky -but this is from the other side. I think I need to write someone to find out what this is all about.

The talks, alas, did not give me any tips for augmenting memory. One was very far out science fiction, about implanting computer chips to produce certain functions that aren't working in the body. Much brain mapping research was done here at the UW. The other was about assessing the risk factors for dementias - there are good (but not cheap) tests - however, one can't do anything to prevent it (yet) so I wonder why one would want the test in the first place. The population with blast trauma coming out of Iraq and Afganistan are at risk.

Sorry this is so wordy. Tomorrow I had something planned for my 500 blipday but the computer has been giving me mega trouble and would barely upload any photo today so we'll see.....might turn into a backblip.