Will Kindle become THE e-book platform?

Last evening [19 Nov 07] Charlie Rose interviewed Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. The main topic of the evening was the release of Kindle: Amazon's new wireless reading device.

A number of electronic book platforms have been tried, but this is the first to combine electronic paper display with cell phone connectivity. The initial batch of Kindles has sold out quickly, but like game consoles, more are being made as quickly as possible.

The topic of libraries was mentioned briefly during the interview. Reminiscences of childhood public library use were fondly recalled. But, the word research was not mentioned in that context. Bezos mentioned that he likes to have access to lots of information. Does his research staff send his search results to his Kindle?

In the long evolution of the medium for the written word from ostracons and clay tablets, thru papyrus, parchment and paper, will Kindle be the next stage?

17P/Holmes - a bright visitor

A comet that circles the sun about every 5 years has suddenly brightened spectacularly. 17P/Holmes is visible as a fuzzy blob in the northern part of the sky. With the moon dark, this weekend should provide wonderful opportunities to see this celestial object. Look for it in the constellation Perseus. 17P/Holmes last brightened back in 1892, the year of its discovery.

See Comet Holmes Tonight by ‘Sky & Telescope’ has sky charts.

Images from around the world:
Comet 17P/Holmes Photo Gallery from SpaceWeather.com


This JPL site has a neat 3-D orbit diagram. Scrolling up and down shows how 17P/Holmes lines up vis-à-vis the ecliptic plane.

17P/Holmes at Wikipedia has an overview and a sky map.

‘Astronomy Magazine’ has a Comet 17P page with sky chart and podcast
[1 Nov 07].

For historic background and more images see 17P/Holmes OUTBURSTS at
Gary W. Kronk's Cometography.

And the astronomy blogs are buzzing:
Astroprof’s Page has several postings. Astroblog includes an engaging animation.

NEW BOOKS at Manoa: October 2007

Adaptive optical system technologies II : 22-26 August 2002, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA.
Wizinowich, Peter Lindsay and Bonaccini, Domenico (Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers.; International Commission for Optics)
QB 84.5 .A295 2003

Advances in adaptive optics II : 24-31 May, 2006, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Ellerbroek, Brent L. and Calia, Domenico Bonacini
Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering ; v. 6272.
QB 84.5 .A38 2006 Parts 1, 2 & 3

Astronomy for the developing world : proceedings of special session no. 5 of the 26th IAU General Assembly held in Prague, the Czech Republic 21 and 22 August 2006.
Hearnshaw, J. B. and Martinez, Peter
QB 61 .I573 2006

The Cassini-Huygens mission. Volume 1 : overview, objectives and Huygens instrumentarium.
Russell, Christopher T. [editor]
QB 671 .C38 2003 vol. 1

The Cassini-Huygens mission. Volume 2 : orbiter in situ investigations.
Russell, Christopher T. [editor]
QB 671 .C38 2004 vol. 2

The Cassini-Huygens mission. Volume 3 : orbiter remote sensing investigations.
Russell, Christopher T. [editor]
QB 671 .C38 2004 vol.3

Comets and the origin of life : proceedings of the Fifth College Park Colloquium on Chemical Evolution, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A., October 29th to 31st, 1980.
Ponnamperuma, Cyril [editor]
QB 721 .T37 1980

The Galileo mission.
Russell, C. T. [editor]
QB 661 .G37 1992

Exobiology in solar system exploration the proceedings of a symposium held in August 1988.
Carle, Glenn C., Schwartz, Deborah E., and Huntington, Judith L. (Exobiology Program (U.S.); Ames Research Center)
QB 54 .E87 1992

Life in the universe : from the Miller experiment to the search for life on other worlds : Conference on Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life (7th : 2003 : Trieste, Italy).
Seckbach, J. [editor]
QH 325 .C76 2003

Origin and distribution of the elements : Symposium on the Origin and Distribution of the Elements (1st : 1967 : Paris, France.
Edited by Ahrens, L. H. (Unesco)
QE 515 .S94 1967

Planetary probe atmospheric entry and descent trajectory analysis and science : international workshop : 6-9 October 2003, Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST), Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa (UTL) Lisbon, Portugal.
Wilson, A.
TL 789.8 .E83 SP-544 2004

Planetary systems : the long view.
Celnikier, Ludwik Marian and Tran, J. Thanh Van
QB 600 .C45 1998

The solar system and beyond : ten years of ISSI.
Geiss, Johannes and Hultqvist, Bengt (International
Space Science Institute; European Space Agency)
QB 505 .S55 2005

Stellar populations as building blocks of galaxies : proceedings of the 241th (sic) symposium of the International Astronomical Union held in La Palma, Tenerife, Spain, December 10-16, 2006.
Edited by Vazdekis, Alexandre and Peletier, Reynier
IAU Symposium ; 241
QB 1 .I58 no. 241