Yesterday Bill Nye came to Reed! How awesome is that? The line into Vollum Lecture Hall spread halfway across campus — literally as far as the non-x-ray-vision eye could see. Most people got turned away, and my friends and I were half a dozen folks away from entering the simulcast room. Thomas left the line only briefly to use the bathroom, and of course that was when they decided to let in a few more of us… suffice to say his bladder’s one moment of weakness caused him to miss out on the entire thing, minus the Q&A session at the end. And — sorry, everyone who didn’t get to go — it was awesome! Bill Nye is still the hyper skinny 12-year-old-at-heart he’s always been, now promoting science as a way to stop global warming and “change the world“! His enthusiasm is totally contagious, and not at all patronizing. He reminds me of my dad — and not just because he also worked for Boeing and Sunstrand — because he is in total awe of his place in the universe: “I’m a speck on a speck orbiting a speck in the middle of specklessness!” And pretty cool specks we are, too.