Science vacations are the best vacations. I’ve been ridiculously fortunate to visit some great science-related destinations, and I’m trying to figure out which ones to visit next. I’ll share some of my recommendations here, in no particular order. I hope you’ll share your favorites with me and the rest of the Last Word on Nothing […]
Miscellaneous
Ben has since left The Last Word on Nothing but he left this memento of himself, for which we are grateful. Earlier this month I visited Portugal for the first time, where I found much to love: the vertiginous cliffs overlooking the Nazaré beach, the ubiquitous custard tarts and dessert wines, the labyrinth of secret […]
Our neighbors of ten years moved away about a month ago. They were an older couple; L., the husband, was the one we interacted with the most. He was a commercial contractor and drove a big black pickup, but he also made sure to let my wife and me know he had never once voted […]
The Moon is closer during a supermoon and you will be able to tell, because it looks so much bigger and brighter, but your photos of it will still suck.You can still send me the photos you took, and I will appreciate them, as well as appreciate that you thought of me when you saw […]
This post first appeared in November 2023. For reasons I didn’t fully understand myself (marriage? the cat? surely someone or something else was to blame), I was feeling more than usually lazy, or maybe just unwilling to tolerate the discomfort of writing. It felt like a dangerous malaise, and the only remedy I could think of […]
Our little farm is nestled in a pinyon juniper habitat that we share with lots of other creatures. Often enough, we encounter these animals close up. Sightings of foxes, coyotes, deer, elk and turkeys are so commonplace as to have become almost (but not quite) uninteresting. Other creatures we see mostly by the signs they […]
Dear Jennifer, Thank you for your interest in working as a writer/editor for our esteemed organization. While your credentials and experience appear to be adequate, we have received a record number of applicants and have decided to move forward with another candidate who is clearly much better and definitely much hotter than you. Even though […]
In the Navajo vernacular, this time of year we often get what is called male rain, níłtsą́ bikąʼ. These are drenchers that come on strong and swift, rutting out driveways, turning the river a sudden brown, and they’re usually finished just as fast as they started. This happens when upwellings of heat from the ground […]
