Tercentenary Minus Zero, Liftoff!

[beamjockey]

Today is the day! Ben Franklin turns 300. All citizens of the United States, fans of public libraries, wearers of bifocals, users of electricity, volunteer firefighters, and lovers of the Glass Armonica should celebrate.

I persuaded Fermilab's daily newsletter to run a 200-word item and volunteered to write it.

In other news, Stardust made it home Sunday with samples from Comet Wild 2. I plan to give a talk at Confusion next weekend covering Stardust, Genesis, and Deep Impact.

Comments

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

Nothing about the Pluto probe that is lifting off?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

No. I won't say a word about it. Even if asked. Because everyone knows how much I hate the idea of sending a probe to Pluto.

(Seriously, I've been given a briefing and some slides about New Horizons, but I can only cook up one new talk at a time. To get an idea how long this thing has been in the works, see this.)

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

Given the weather, waiting until it lifts off might be advisable. [raps table furiously]