(no subject)

[jay]

After some trepidation... the poster session this evening went quite well. There were a few hundred people wandering around, drinking beer and animatedly discussing geology and planetary science. My poster drew about 30 who stopped and read it. And a well-known scientist in the same field (impact geology) with a similar name (Bill Glass) dropped by and introduced himself.

I was concerned that people would snort and walk away, or make sotto voce derisional comments about the work... I have heard these during daytime sessions. But it didn't work out that way. In fact, one of the more-cantankerous critics (from the Univ. of Calgary...) came up to me as I was packing and told me what a nice classic central-uplift dipole I had found in Haughton Crater. A compliment... I'm pleased! Expecting dismissal of my data and ideas, instead the larger scientific community showed overall mild interest. (big grin)

And it is fun trading field stories, like with the Finnish guy whose study site lies in Russia, who had to get permits from the KGB to fish near their campsite...

And it turns out that a friend is actually the guy responsible for target selection and scheduling for the THEMIS instrument on Mars Odyssey! Jim looked bleary-eyed, tired but excited... but that team is bringing in great data. The nighttime infrared images are surprisingly detailed and vivid.

But my co-author (Pascal) was only around for 10 minutes out of 150... he had to go be interviewed by a Houston TV news program regarding SETI, since Pascal works for the SETI institute. Go figure... but seeking media exposure is very much in-character for him. Simultaneously annoying while being vaguely endearing.

Comments

[geekchick]

Pascal works for the SETI institute.

Heh, I caught the very tail end of an interview with him while channel surfing last night. (I think it was TechTV.)

Glad to hear the session went well.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I asked him about it over dinner last night, and he's done Tech TV, so that was probably him... ever since the Discovery Channel special last fall, he's been in demand. I just stand back and watch the circus, bemusedly...

And thanks, I was happy about the session. (smile)

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

The thing with the fishing? I think I might know why. It seems that certain types of fish can collect radioactive material in such a way as to make it easier to determine the fallout in an area. They might well have been (depending on the timing) trying to hide how bad a disaster Chernobyl really was.

Anyhow, that's my speculation.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

That's plausible... (nods). I'm not sure how far under the Chernobyl plume they were... their crater site is an area on the Arctic Ocean coast, about 300km east of the Finnish border. The Russian Army actually denied them access (on the grounds that they were in a "border area" by being near the ocean) but they went anyway once the KGB approved. Apparently the KGB trumps the army, which trumps the interior ministry and border guards...