The current edition of Asimov’s is a double issue, for October and November. This is apprently an annual thing, but whatever the reason for it, I got a magazine with twice as many stories as usual, which probably creates a false impression of the worth of the magazine. I’ll have to check out a regular-size […]
Month: September 2007
Book Report
It turns out that there’s actually a small clause in the standard publishing contract that requires any author with a blog to post periodic updates on the progress of the current writing project. Who knew? Well, OK, there’s no contractual obligation, but really, I have the blog, and I need to fill it with something, […]
Picture Contest Winner
Some time back, I proposed a contest: The person who comes closest to the actual number [of pictures taken in Japan] without going over will win something cheap and tacky from Japan that I will buy before I leave. I haven’t fogotten about this, I’ve just been too busy to do all that much with […]
Itadakimasu
At dinner with my parents last night, we were talking about the dinners at Sumiyoshi, the ryokan we stayed at in Takayama. I haven’t gotten around to uploading those pictures yet, but I dug this one out: It’s not the best picture of Kate, but she does provide a sense of scale… It was a […]
Sacred and Profane
The city of Nara, near Kyoto, is full of temples and shrines dating back to the eigth centruy, when it was briefly the capital of Japan. One of the largest shrines in the city, the Kasuga Taisha shrine, is dedicated to deities that use deer as their sacred messengers. As a result, deer are allowed […]
The Academic Physics Job Market, Part 2
It’s job-hunting season in academia, which also means it’s talking-about-the-job-market season. After writing the previous post, I noticed a post on the same topic by Steve Hsu, who was interviewed for a Chronicle of Higher Education article (temporary free link, look quickly!) about the lousy job market in science. Steve has most of the relevant […]
The Academic Physics Job Market
In the neverending debates about the current state of physics– see, for example, Bee’s thoughtful post about The trouble With Physics, you will frequently hear it said that the academic job market in physics sucks. But what, exactly, does that mean in quantitative terms? It’s job hunting season in academia now– still a little early […]
Barney and Betty Hill: The Final Word
On September 19, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving through rural New Hampshire, and had an odd experience that has become probably the most famous alien abduction story in the history of UFO folklore. As it happens, they drove right past the town where SF author and Making Light blogger Jim Macdonald lives. Now, […]
How to Clean a Mirror
Let’s say you have a mirror– not some cheesey $2 makeup mirror, but a research-grade aluminum mirror– and it has some crud on it, say a film of junk deposited during your Summer Institute for Hot MEtal Chemistry. Like, say, the mirror on the right in this picture: How do you get that mirror clean?
Dark Skies and Security
I’m in a Department of Physics and Astronomy, so several of my colleagues are astronomers. We also have a rather nice on-campus observatory, used for student research projects. Unfortunately, the combination means that we have a running argument with the rest of the campus regarding lights. The rather nice observatory is basically useless if there […]