Bad Timing

I don't know why this sort of thing amuses me, but it does.

I'm currently rereading Greg Bear's Forge of God, and just noticed something. As the news of the alien incursion begins to leak, there is talk of a hearing in the U.S. Senate. One government official makes an annoyed reference to having to explain things to Sen. Proxmire. (Proxmire was notorious for denouncing governmental projects that, in his judgement, were wastes of money; this is not, itself, a bad thing, except that Proxmire's judgement was untempered by any understanding of science.)

The book was written in 1987, and the story set in 1996. Proxmire retired from the Senate in 1988.

Bad timing, Mr. Bear.

Forecasts

They're predicting snow tonight, stretching into tomorrow evening. Not a lot of snow, no more than six inches in all, if the forecasters are correct. It hasn't started snowing yet, but it's certainly chilly and damp enough for it. It's not altogether clear that there'll be classes tomorrow.

It may not matter, for me; I seem to have a bit of a sore throat. I'd hate to miss tomorrow, though. I've scheduled a quiz in my calculus class, and the geometry seminar is supposed to meet, for the first time in three weeks. (The last two Fridays, we've been interviewing candidates for a faculty position, and that's run late enough that there hasn't been time for the seminar.) I've made some interesting progress, and also run into a very annoying wall; I'd like to have a chance to discuss it with my colleagues.

We'll see how I feel tomorrow, and how the city looks.