Holding pattern...

I have to give a 20-minute talk today at noon. I haven't given a 20 minute talk in, like, ever. Ok. That's not true. I did it just two weeks ago. But I got heckled a lot at that talk, because I was telling people something they didn't want to hear (namely that it's time scientists stepped up and took responsibility for the fact that the public don't know what they are doing...). This time, I'm going to be telling them something they don't want to hear about---stellar astronomy is a hard sell in a radio astronomy crowd. Most radio astronomers are interested in either

a) the nuts and bolts of radio astronomy, nearly literally. They love to know all the gory details about the circuitry, and the closure phases, and the system temperatures and the antenna gain. Blah, blah, blah. or

b) they are interested in extra-galactic astronomy. i.e. other galaxies, or the origin of gamma ray bursts, or supermassive black holes and their jets. Not stars. Not even dying ones.

So, walking in the door, I'm at a disadvantage. This is not an unfamiliar situation. As a physics professor, I'm used to talking to people who think they don't care about what I have to say.

On the other hand, also as a professor at a teaching institution, I'm a MUCH better speaker than most. I could be talking about paint drying and be more interesting than a lot of these presenters. (Very smart people, mostly personable in person, somehow convinced that all talks should be as devoid of personality as possible...)

But still, I will find it hard to get anything done this morning. My talk is ready, already. So I'm in a bit of a holding pattern, trying to concentrate on AIPS, while in the background of my head, there's a loop running of what I want to say in my talk. It's very distracting.