( Read more... )

• While putting our Christmas decorations up a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that I only hear the word "stocking" in connection with Christmas these days. Does anyone actually wear stockings anymore?
• Well, the best Christmas present we telescope freaks could ask for is a successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, now scheduled to ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Ok. Some waiting. It's tough to pinball your way around five European countries in two weeks without a little bit of butt-in-chair time. Then again, it allowed us to catch our breaths. We just got back and I'm still jetlagged. Longitude is a bitch. (I'm only now realizing that keto flu may also be involved. More on this in a future entry.)

But the ( Read more... )

Context: Back in 2004 I began a novel about a priest who resigns ( Read more... )

On the 10th of December, I declared Christmas Music! I yanked ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Christmas Day. Somewhere between those who cannot abide religion and those who cannot live without it is a group that doesn't get much press: Those who sense transcendence and are drawn to it, but who cannot frame a rational response to the impulse. "I'd love to have faith in God but I don't ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

By sheer coincidence, I was asked a few days ago what sort of Christmas music I was listening to this year, just as I was massaging a playlist together for a mix disc I made for myself a few weeks back. So here it is: 23 Christmas songs from my personal Christmas music collection, which ( Read more... )