| |
 |
Monday, May 31, 2004 |
Sky and Telescope
I buy a lot of magazines; not as many as I used to do, what with the
web and all, but it's still an addiction, even if there's not enough
time to make any kind of dent in them. Some favorites are Cooking Light
(Bruce Aidell's recipe for brined salmon in the current issue is
fantastic -- I've made it three times in the last two weeks, and it's
wonderful every time with guests oohing and aahing over it), Sky and
Telescope (which I've been reading off and on since I was in the 8th
grade -- more than 30 years now), Bay Nature, among others.
The current, June, issue of Sky & Telescope, with "Return to
Saturn" on the cover is a must-read, a terrific issue, and a good
lesson in how print magazines can stay alive in the day of the web.
Astonomy on the web is, of course, really strong; there are hundreds of
great sites, nothing beats APOD
for a daily treat, and NASA's sites for the Mars Misions and Cassini
are wonderful at keeping you up to date, all just for starters.
But this issue goes one step beyond, in providing a wealth of deep
articles. The prevues of the Cassini and Huygens mission to Saturn are
really good, giving a good roundup of what to expect from these
exciting probes over the next couple months. There is a very fine
article on the history of the Hubble Deep Field
photographs (with some fantastic pictures, though I wish they'd have
printed them larger). Finally, there's a really fine article on the
astronomy of James Joyce's Ulysses. One of the big pleasures of Ulysses
is that every little detail of the book is closely worked out, and
consitent both within the book and with the outer world, and this
article nicely shows that; it's a wonderful instance of some authors
bringing together two seemingly very different subjects.
There's a lot more in the magazine. It's thick -- 158 pages -- which is
in itself a wonder these days, but it seems to me to illustrate how a
strong editorial package that covers a full sprectrum of topics can
still do well in the day of the web. I was reading an article recently
about how Google is damaging the trade magazines, and I can certainly
see that. Sky & Telescope isn't a trade magazine, but it appears as
if they are doing well agains the assault of the web, and I hope they
keep it up. I highly recommend this issue.
10:17:24 AM Permalink
|
|
The Greatest Intelligence Coup of the Century?.
When future histories of espionage are written, will the United States's attack on Iraq be classified as the greatest intelligence coup of the century? The Iranian intelligence agencies planting false information and getting the United States to remove their enemy, Saddam Hussein?
Political Wire: Quote of the Day: "When the story ultimately comes out we'll see that Iran has run one of the most masterful intelligence operations in history. They persuaded the US and Britain to dispose of its greatest enemy." -- Former State Department counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson, quoted in The Guardian. According to the article: "Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq." [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
9:16:15 AM Permalink
|
|
© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
|
|
|
|
|
