A few random comments:
We just had a brief potential moment of food and drink. People from countries derived from the UK politely attempted to line up (queue), while others, um, did not. A few lucky people got food (including cake!), wine or beer, and even juice or soda by the can. They other 1300 people looked sad. This has been a regular occurrence, with the food and beverages providing only being sufficient for a few hundred (or far far fewer!) people. This is a serious problem that I have thwarted only by being a member of the press. The press room has a constant supply of bottled water.
Anyway – On a more positive note, can I just say it is a blast seeing almost everyone in T-shirts and casual cloths? Kevin Marvel, Pres of the AAS, is in a Hawaiian style shirt. There are all sorts of geek shirts I’ve never seen everywhere. Must ask for websites 🙂
My only real, and not fixable unless I walk away from my keyboard, problem is not knowing what the other bloggers/twitters look like in real life! I saw Carolune yesterday, but I keep looking at name badges trying to spot OrbitingFrog, but have so far failed. Oh well, I guess I need to stand up and be social.
The image above comes from the last day of the meeting. A fan of Astronomy Cast who we’d corresponded with before offered to show me some of the city. It was a fabulous adventure.
Hm, why don’t you just post & twitter a MEETING POINT & TIME for all bloggers & twitterers and see who shows up? E.g. before or after a major plenary or social event most are likely to take part in anyway?
At least people *do* wear badges at IAU GAs, so connecting in real life should be even easier than at a typical tweet-up in a random environment.
If you manage get many folks together, please take a group picture & post it with names inserted!
Hi Daniel, We are planning (via twitter) a meet up. It’s now the random moments in between that are curiouser and curiouser 🙂
Dr. Gay,
I love Astronomy Cast and I find it very easy to keep track of on the go with an RSS feed. I am just wondering if there is any way that you could add an RSS feed for star stryder.
Thanks,
Matthew W. Camp
President of Astronomy Fans Group
Class of 2011
Naperville North High School
I was surprised to hear on one of the shows that at McDonald Observatory that the astronomers operate the telescopes.
I was trained as a telescope operator at Mount Wilson Observatory, and I was told that there and at Palomar that the astronomers were never ever allowed to operate the telescopes. As an operator, I was taught that my primary duty was to protect the equipment above all else, and an astronomer may bend the rules in order to keep getting data.
Hey Pamela! Have fun at the IAU!
I love Astronomy Cast and I think you’re doing an excellent job. Matthew’s right; do you think there’s any chance that you’ll be able to add an RSS feed for Star Stryder?