What good are brown dwarf planets? Let's ask Iain Banks

From Iain Bank's novel The Hydrogen Sonata:

There was something comforting about having a vast hydrogen furnace burning millions of tons of material a second at the centre of a solar system. It was cheery. This was just… dull.

White House Astronomy Night 2015

The White House is having its annual astronomy night on October 19, 2015.

Physics Careers: Founding Computer Science

Today's New York Times has an obituary of Joseph Traub:

Joseph F. Traub, who founded the computer science department at Columbia University and who helped develop algorithms used in scientific computing in physics and mathematics as well as on Wall Street, died on Monday in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 83.

He had a very impressive career.

Astronomy and Physics Job Statistics

I am preserving these links to job statistics, but maybe you will find them useful too. AIP report on Astronomy jobs: This 2015 report includes bachelor's, master's and PhDs, and is for classes of 2010-2012. 538 analysis of starting salaries. See "Astronomy & Astrophysics" at #8. This is salaries for Bachelor's without graduate school, under age 28. AIP Report on Physics Bachelors initial employment: This 2015 report is based on classes of 2011 and 2012. Chronicle Faculty Salary info: By institution or state, but for ALL fields. AAUP report on the economic status of the profession: A detailed report on faculty compensation, by my union. Again, for all fields, not just physics and astronomy.