Concern Who It May
When should one use 'who', and when 'whom'? A simple enough question on the face of it, but in practice a path through a quagmire.
Generally, making a choice between 'who' and 'whom' in constructs does not lead to a significant change in meaning. But it may. Consider the stock phrase "to whom it may concern." Here, the term 'concern' means 'be of interest'. By way of contrast, in the phrase "concern who it may", 'concern' may mean 'trouble', 'worry', or 'annoy'. Annoy who it may!
Joggers love their head phones. If you ask them why, they’ll tell you it keeps them motivated. The right song can transform what is by all rights an arduous half hour of ascetic masochism into an exhilarating whirlwind (or, in my case, into what feels like only 25 minutes of ascetic masochism).
Music-driven joggers may be experiencing a pleasurable diversion, but to the joggers and bikers in their vicinity, they’re Tasmanian Devils.
As a young woman from France working as a civil servant in Liverpool in 1999, I once stumbled upon a book in a discount book shop, which was going to change the way I would look upon things. The book was called “Baby Wars: The Dynamics of Family Conflict” by Robin Baker and Elizabeth Oram.
I just posted a tweet storm from this week's 215th AAS Conference. The specific session was a workshop on "Astronomy Employment: Past and Future". The panelists were Beryl Benderly (Science Careers journalist), Rachel Ivie (AIP), Jim Ulvestad (NRAO), and Steve Beckwith (Univ. of CA), and their opinions were both frank and highly welcome at dispelling illusions about the ivory tower of academia.
This is the cold, hard reality of professional astronomy, presented from the inside. Here are the quotes and tweets from the workshop.
"More people are beign qualified as scientists than can be employed" (B. Benderly) #aas215
Defrosting The Freezer
There are many ways to defrost a freezer. You can just switch off the power and wait for room temperature to permeate the ice. You can use a heat source such as a hair-dryer or hot air gun. Or you could chip away the ice and dump it where it will melt naturally due to local atmospheric temperature.
As I write this, Britain is shivering in its worst winter for 30 years. A temperature has been measured in Scotland insignificantly different from the current temperature at the South Pole. Supplies of grit, salt and gas are being rationed.
A large number of comments have been posted on newspaper websites claiming that our current U.K. weather disproves the theory of global warming.
