Big Bang University

Locals will recognize NASA's Caltech/Jet Propulsion Lab, which looks like a college campus. I remember being surprised about that when I first saw it. I think I expected something high-tech and sleek, like from a sci-fi movie about a "jet propulsion lab," because I didn't know what a "jet propulsion lab" was. I still don't.

My neighbor is one of the geniuses who developed the Planck Space Telescope. It just started collecting data last week. On its mission to "collect light left over from the Big Bang explosion that created our universe," this telescope is looking to help scientists like my neighbor answer the question of how the universe came into being.

I live across the street from that guy. He's nice. How does he even have a conversation with me?

If you enlarge this photo you can see the birdie.