From John Whittle
Feedback reports on the International Astronomical Union’s Committee on Small Body Nomenclature linking to “The Last Page of the Internet”, in a throwaway line suggests that some feel astronomers lack a sense of humour (Feedback, 26 February). The company I work for employs many astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, biochemists and other likely readers of New Scientist, many of whom found our vacancies through your pages, and I’ve seen no evidence that any of these groups has a greater or lesser sense of humour.
Having said that, humour in this company is unofficially sanctioned in the selection of names (all beginning with P, for reasons I will not expand on) for our computers. Some names were chosen so that a user’s email icon in Lotus Notes would read “Arthur Dent on Prozac”, say, or “Arthur Dent on Probation”. One branch office went further and named its server PartyOn, so that, when it went offsline, everyone would get the message “PartyOn Down”. But I don’t think an astronomer was responsible for that.
Newton, Massachusetts, US
