1) Having furniture again.
2) Internet access at home. (I can write blog entries from home again!)
3) Getting cable TV again (I missed Futurama!).
4) Eating chicken soup with matzoh balls and a big spinach salad instead of McDonalds, pizza, and Texmex for the tenth time.
5) Access to my own coffeemaker.
Sometimes you need the luxuries taken away to appreciate them. It’s been a tough week, but I’m back. I’ll have more astronomy stuff to say soon.
Phew!
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
-- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising
DISCOVERmagazine.com: Latest Articles on Space DISCOVER Blogs: The Loom
May 31st, 2007 at 8:05 pm
good to hear the Bad Family is getting settled, looking forward to new posts as always!
May 31st, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Don’t you know every Futurama episode by heart now?
May 31st, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Congradulations, Dr. Plait. Hope the neighbors are all ok: http://www.depletedcranium.com/philhal.jpg
May 31st, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I want to buy a telescope for looking into the sky… what kind/size do you recommend for around $100 or so?
May 31st, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Congrats on setting up your new homestead. Is there room in the back yard for your telescope?
May 31st, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I thought Happiness was a mild cigar from Benson and Hedges, to the strains of Bach’s Air on a G-String
(Shows my age re UK TV adverts)
May 31st, 2007 at 10:16 pm
No No Sticks, if you are from UK then “Happiness is a warm gun”.
I thought that matzos were a protected species?
May 31st, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Happiness is watching one bigger thing after another i.e.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r22t-A-eJ3k BOOM!
if only our star were a little bigger, skiing in colorado would suck though
June 1st, 2007 at 12:22 am
There’s just one thing
That we all crave
From the cradle
To the grave
A state of grace
Or state of mind
A point in space
Or point in time [...]
Some have it all
But still have less
What we all need is happiness [...]
(Roger Taylor, “Happiness”)
June 1st, 2007 at 1:33 am
Welcome to Boulder. You’ll discover that after 10pm all of the clouds will vanish as the air here is so dry that they can hold together.
Try driving up hiway 119 to Nederland and then north towards Ward on hiway 72 or what is know as Peak To Peak hiway.
Just before you get to the University of Colorado research entrance is a pull off there is a pull off where one can see just about 360 of stars, except towards the west. Seems there some stupid mountain in your way.
Enjoy and pack your trash.
Ed
June 1st, 2007 at 2:05 am
Nederland?
June 1st, 2007 at 2:21 am
Good news, Bad!
June 1st, 2007 at 3:51 am
Welcome to your new home Phil. Glad to see you made it safely with no worse effect than fast-food burnout.
Since you have been to CO before, I wont try to play the role of tour guide. However, I would encourage you to check into the various star parties that are offered this summer. In particular, on the new moon weekend in August (9-12), WUTS (Weekend Under the Stars) is happening in Foxpark, Wyoming. I went up there for the first time last year and it was terrific. Tons of cool scopes, super dark transparent sky, and a small but dedicated group of really neat people. And it’s only like $10.00 with no reservations required. From your location, it is about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive.
Also, check out S&S Optika. Its the ony really good retail shop in this area for telescopes. Kathy Haven owns and runs the place and she is this sweet little old lady who looks like she would be more at home at a quilting bee than selling optical systems, but she really knows her stuff. Pay that place a visit when you have a chance, its worth your time.
June 1st, 2007 at 3:51 am
There really isn’t anything like having access to your very own coffee maker. When I move, there are always 2 things I move myself…my coffee maker and my computer. I’d go nuts without them…
Glad your stuff made it and you’re getting settled in!
June 1st, 2007 at 4:00 am
4) Eating chicken soup with matzoh balls and a big spinach salad instead of McDonalds, pizza, and Texmex for the tenth time.
Hang on, I thought happiness was outsourcing food preparation!
Maybe I’ve been taking Adam Smith a little too seriously…
June 1st, 2007 at 4:13 am
Good luck in your new home Phil!
June 1st, 2007 at 4:17 am
Oops, I didn’t mean “luck”! I meant I wish you all the best in this new environment, may you let good things come to you!
June 1st, 2007 at 4:43 am
I am suprised that you didn’t just eat at Zolo and hang out at the Foundry Billards Club.
June 1st, 2007 at 5:04 am
What’s Futurama? The only one I know is a guitar from the late ’50s/early ’60s – I think George Harrison used to play one before fame & money ‘forced’ him to buy a Gretsch (or three!)
June 1st, 2007 at 6:32 am
Jewel,
Did you know that Coffee is one of the 4 basic food groups?
Coffee
Cookies
Beer
Pizza
Chocolate isn’t a food – Chocolate is a vitamin
June 1st, 2007 at 7:38 am
bassmanpete:
“What’s Futurama? The only one I know is a guitar from the late ’50s/early ’60s – I think George Harrison used to play one before fame & money ‘forced’ him to buy a Gretsch (or three!)”
Futurama is an animated TV show from the makers of The Simpsons which, in my opinion, is far far superior to The Simpsons.
You should buy the box sets, BA. You don’t have to wait for them to be shown on TV.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:04 am
Ahh Matzoh ball soup. One of my favorite comfort foods.
Congrat’s on the new home and welcome to CO.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:15 am
Phil: You are wrong, Futurama is in fact a guitar that George Harrison played on during the Hamburg years with The Beatles.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:17 am
Hello Sisyphus. Feeling a little boulder today?
June 1st, 2007 at 8:58 am
How long has it been since someone’s mentioned that Futurama is the best television show?
Futurama is the best television show.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:16 am
“far, far superior to the Simpson”? sadness overwhelms me.
I almost took a job in Denver to get out of the Hoosier state, kind of regret not taking that job now.
I did vacation once outside of Pueblo at a little rinky-dinky place called the Lazy J resort or something (don’t let the resort part fool you) in Coaldale. Anyway, amazing view of the stars at night while sitting along a river (Arkansas River?).
I’m suddenly jealous
June 1st, 2007 at 10:10 am
Yeah, Phil…you don’t have Futurama on DVD?!? What’s up with that? I am sure your laptop has a DVD player on it, so this problem is solvable with a little planning
Enjoy your new home!
Rob
June 1st, 2007 at 10:49 am
Nederland is a cool little town. They have a very, um… interesting… festival there……
http://www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/
June 3rd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
hamlet………….. the mild cigar……
June 3rd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
In case you hadn’t heard, the Futurama made-for-TV 1hr long trio of movies was canned and were instead expanded in to an entire new season of Futurama coming to Comedy Central in 2008, although Fox still has the option of picking it up for a mid-season run in their fall 2007 lineup. Ahh what a glorious day that will be …