Is This the Best Space Image Ever?

I don't know, but Wired Magazine seems to think it is.  It's actually courtesy the Hubble telescope and celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Hubble's being out there looking around.

Better take a look now, because even interplanetary space voyagers apparently don't live forever.

(I'd have put the picture here, but it wouldn't be as impressive as Wired's version.)

Ian McEwan, reconsidered

I've read a small amount of Ian McEwan, and seen a movie or two. (Cement Garden is very good and very weird.) I think up till now, I've kind of held myself back from his work, as I had a sense of him as being a bit cerebral. But after hearing him interviewed last night, I've reversed my decision. What is it with these Brits and their charming accents and their unassuming manner and excellent education? As a red-blooded American, that should be enough for me to hate them. Sigh. I don't. In fact, I am just the tiniest bit in love.

Don't trust me, though. You can judge for yourself at Rick Kleffel's website

Science in the 21st century

A friend sent this to me and I liked it a lot.