I've been asked to give a talk at my alma mater in a week. (Abstract!) I'm looking forward to it!

While reviewing my slides I'm putting together, I ran across these fun facts:

Highest elemental melting point: Tungsten (74W), ~ 3,400 C
Temperature of Sun’s surface ~ 6,000 C
Fusion reactor: ~ 20,000,000 C

This is why I like fusion. And preparing talks like this -- because it reminds me just how awesome it is to be working on real fusion devices. :)

The title says it all. What an honor!

Dad's been working this case for quite some time, and it's still going on -- sometimes, seeming like a dramatic courtroom novel instead of being real life.

Links:

Minnesota Lawyer
Firm Press Release

Way to go, Dad!

Just a little stumbling on the WWW today yielded a rather fascinating, in-depth analysis by Gene Hargrove of who Tolkein's Tom Bombadil really is.

Why would I end up reading such a long, in-depth analysis? Well, it's primarily because I always found Bombadil's presence annoying in the LoTR. He always seemed out of place -- and I could never get over the fact that he had tremendous power over the Ring: immunity to its effects; seeing Frodo while wearing the Ring; and even making it vanish.

Hargrove's argument is that Bombadil and wife Goldberry are in fact two of the Valar: Aule and Yavanna.

And boy, does it make sense. At least, it makes sense to total Tolkein nerds like myself who have read the Silmarillion more than once. He does a great job of pulling together writings of Tolkein's letters, the Silmarillion, and others, fitting things into place.

And it now gives me a nice, consistent view which explains Bombadil's power over the Ring.