Blogs

Location

So I've been very busy, as usual.  Some of the changes to the website you can see, like the new look for the front page and more information about Tour of the Universe by Children of the World, and some of them you can't, but they make the site run smoother.

This one I'm really excited about.  When you created your user account, you entered your geographic information.

Location

I woke my friend up at 3:30 in the morning (no easy task, I assure you). By the time we were out the door it was about 4:00 (the delay was mostly because of the first part--waking my friend, who protested very much, even though he had agreed willingly enough the night before... but that was before he stayed up until midnight).

"Have you gone outside yet? If it's cloudy, I'm going to kill you," he said.

"No. I've been too busy! You finish getting ready. I'll be right back." And I go outside. Sure enough, we're socked in with clouds. I take a deep breath and go back inside.

"Okay," I say. "So... it's cloudy.

Location

Wow, a lot has happened since my last blog!

Right now, we're working toward the release of an exciting project called Tour of the Universe by Children of the World. It's a multimedia celebration of astronomy, and we're accepting submissions of astrophotography, cosmic art, photos of children, and audio clips--from all over the world. I've been reworking the website to make it possible to collect all the materials. We've been very busy!

But as I write this I'm on a beach in Thailand, where I've been living for the last year (in my superhero secret identity, I was teaching English to Kindergarten kids).

Location

I just came back from a trip to Hawaii where I gave three talks on light pollution (I was elected to the International Dark-Sky Association board this January) and attended 2 StarParties celebrating IYA2009 hosted by the local astronomy clubs and Mauna Kea.

Locations

Today I got a cool note from the mayor of Chicago! Hand-signed and sealed... pretty cool!

He says:

Just a note to thank you for sending me your photos and the copy of the November 2008 National Geographic Magazine regarding light pollution.  Your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated.

Please accept my best wishes for much continued success in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Richard M Daley

Mayor

My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday... I said, "Hubby, can you get this packet directly to the Mayor's office?" He hand delivered (by police escort) straight to the mayor's office receptionist... on my birthday!  The sweetie.

Location

Tomorrow I'll be doing a light pollution podcast with the president and vice president of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.
They sent a list of questions to me that may come up:

Location

StarPals is on the cutting edge of some truly exciting developments, made possible by new technological advances.