Archive of Writings
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Do you dig Astronomy Cast?
Than Digg it @ Digg.com
The popular social networking site Digg.com has added a new Podcasting section to their site. If you use Digg, please go to digg.com, click on Podcasts on the top bar. Search for astronomy cast and then click “Digg it” on the number beside our show.
This is a popularity contest. The more diggs we get, the more people will find out about Astronomy Cast. Thanks, Fraser and I really appreciate it.
AAS-AAPT 07, T-6 and counting
My first trip to AAS as a journalist was the 2003 Seattle meeting. This year the conference returns to that great rainy city of the North west. If you’re going to be there, I’d love to see you. If you aren’t going to be there, but want to keep track of what I’m up to, watch this site for frequent updates.
The List
What exactly makes someone culturally literate? What books should you read? What movies should you see? What about those things specific to Nerd or Geek Culture? What things does a person need to know to be able to make relevant quips at a cocktail party or to include appropriate quotes in conversations? What experiences are necessary to grok “grok” and comprehend the clichés of our counter-culture?
Up, Up and Away
There are certain days as a teacher when you know you have done your job right. For me, one of those days was today. One of the classes I teach is “Space Physics.” In this 3 credit class, my students and I go on a tour de force of the history of spacecraft and exploration of our solar system. At the beginning of the semester, none of my six students had ever watched a space shuttle launch on TV, and their interest in the class existed, but let’s just say they didn’t seem eager and excited to learn as much as they could. But today, the last day of the semester, I saw that all this had changed. These were excited students, ready to take what they had learned and run (or rather fly) with it as far as they could. For some of them, that distance was a few hundred feet straight up.
Childhood’s Shadow
Life is one of those things that we can only control so much. It is a great fallacy of the media that anyone can become anything. It is a damaging lie to say that the experiences of childhood bear no reflection on the personality and potential of the adult. It isn’t nature or nurture, it is nature and nurturing each working together to define what we can and can’t become. In the end, we are each nothing more than a mixture of experiences and potentials combined in a pot of desire.
Burn a Bit too Brightly
A friend once sent me the following quote from Pearl S. Buck.
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.”
This quote strongly resonated with me. It recognizes that in some individuals, emotions run too strong, and like the human orchid, we blossom with powerful beauty when kissed by the Sun, but die instantly in the slightest frost. This quote recognizes that to some of us, a kiss isn’t just a kiss, but rather it’s a promise that there will be a tomorrow. It recognizes that to some of us a raised voice is a violent slap. And it recognizes that some of us don’t know how to let go of the things that have captured our mind, heart and soul – no matter how small the obsession.
In discussing strong emotions with like-hearted souls, I learned that we’ve all realized that sometimes (usually?) we ruin things simply by emoting too strongly.
A Blog Begins
One of the strange trends of our overly technical time is the proliferation of Blogs. I blame the Christmas form letter for starting it all. Give a mom a PC, and she will give the world carefully formatted Christmas letters detailing how little Johnny learned to use the toilet and how baby Sarah lost her first tooth in grandma’s homemade toffee. Then came email. Short letters burst wildly across the world, sent to 1000s and demanding response from none. And then came the almighty Blog. The forwards ended. Direct contact ended. Want to know something about someone – go read their LG or Blogspot or [insert other electronic diary programs here].
ARCHIVAL: Fly an airplane, no … not really
NOTE: This post original appeared on my Livejournal account. The other morning I saw Sam, the man who runs our mail room, out smoking as I walked into the building. He and I see each other several times a week – his smoke break and my arrival often coincide –...