Christie’s and the Roman Helmet

Last May, a man armed with a metal detector stumbled on something almost magical in a farmer’s field in the Eden Valley of northwestern England. Buried under the earth were 74 metal fragments, some large, some small, but all clearly part of a Roman helmet. And not just any Roman helmet. When the conservators at […]

Outright Gifts

I drove up to an auction in the Pennsylvania hayfields, parked in the field to the left because the lot to the right was reserved for buggies and horses. Maybe five auctions were going on in different parts of the fairground and everywhere were Amish in black and dark jewel-colored clothes, Mennonites in black and […]

Abstruse Goose: Life Paths Integrated Over Time

Abstruse Goose sure has it in for athletes, doesn’t he.  Fine with me.  I’m less happy that he doesn’t arrange a life path for people who are born modestly, live modestly, work like dogs (actually not like any dog I’ve ever met, friendly mooches), have modest success and a gratifying life.  Boy, is that ever […]

Abstruse Goose & Some Urgent Questions

I’ve never understood how we go about ascribing character traits to animals. Every cat I’ve known fits Abstruse Goose’s checklist, but aren’t we both just making stuff up?  No dog I ever had could remotely be described as “faithful” or “devoted;” they’re in it for the free lunch, period.

Work Stoppage

Even though Heather is Canadian, Josie and I have prevailed and Last Word on Nothing is having a holiday today, the American Labor Day during which labor is celebrated but nobody works.  We’ll be back on Tuesday and we hope that before then you won’t have gotten discouraged and quit.  Please, come back. Actually Labor […]

Science Metaphors (cont.): Sublime

Sublime:  you don’t hear it much except as an adjective meaning really, really good, used the way “divine” or “glorious” “wonderful” are used, just another adjective, nothing to do with divinity or glory or wonder.   But really, sublime describes something that takes you beyond the ordinary — Glenn Gould plays Bach sublimely —  something […]

The Latest from Expedition Titanic

Hurricane Danielle and its 40-foot-tall waves drove Expedition Titanic back to port on Monday, but not before crew members recorded this haunting HD video of the RMS Titanic on August 29th.  Each time I watch this footage, I feel a sense of awe and emptiness. So much silent, eerie, lacy beauty, so much spooky preservation–all under […]

Studying All the Things in Infinity

Today,  I’m venturing backstage at Last Word on Nothing,  a rather frantic place at the best of times. Ann has just published a very cool new book on a group of astronomers who created this beautiful map of the universe, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Her book is called A Grand and Bold Thing, and […]