[The University of Leicester] Kim Page
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Number of bursts triggered on by Swift: 1729
(or ground/slew/GUANO detected)


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Random Quotations

The source is referenced where known; I'm a well-trained scientist!

"We dance round in a ring and suppose, while the secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost

"Life is a gamble at terrible odds. If it was a bet, you wouldn't take it!" - `Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead', Tom Stoppard

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see; Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be." - Locksley Hall, Alfred Lord Tennyson; used as the dedication plaque in Star Trek: Voyager

"Looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map. Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France?" - Vincent van Gogh

"Druids used to live thousands of years ago. They used to wear long white robes and had very strong opinions about what a wonderful thing the sun was.
If you find someone who wears a long white robe and talks about the sun a lot, then you might have found a Druid. If he turns out to be about two thousand years old, then that's a sure sign.
If the person you've found has got a slightly shorter white coat, with buttons up the front, then it may be that he is an astronomer and not a Druid."
- `The Salmon of Doubt', Douglas Adams (Note: I've never seen an astronomer wear a lab coat!)

"We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognise something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual." - `The Salmon of Doubt', Douglas Adams

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams

You can't be an astrophysicist properly if you've actually met someone from another planet who's got a second head that pretends to be a parrot. You just can't do it." - Tricia McMillan in 'Mostly Harmless', Douglas Adams

"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards." - Fred Hoyle

"Only two things are infinite, the Universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

"Have you considered amputation?" - Avon to Vila in Blake's 7, in response to a whinge about having a headache.

"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad idea." - `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Douglas Adams

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Douglas Adams

"Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so." - Ford Prefect in `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Douglas Adams

"This must be a Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays." - Arthur Dent in `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Douglas Adams

"I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe."- Arthur Dent in `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', upon discovering that the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe and Everything, to which the answer is 42, was What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9? (Note: 42 in base 13 converts to 54 in decimal; i.e., (4x13)+2=54. He was a clever chap, that Douglas Adams!)

"Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit."- Marcus Tullius Cicero. It means "None dances sober, unless he is completly insane".

"Nihil tam absurde dici potest, quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum."- Cicero:"Nothing can be said that is so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher."

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease, which is invariably fatal." - Quoted in a 1st year Medicine lecture, as relayed by Tiggy Burch!

and finally...

"Don't Panic!" - `The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Douglas Adams