One never knows what awaits just around the corner. Or for how long it has waited. In 1990, I was contacted by Def Jam Records to do the cover of Public Enemy's upcoming release: Fear Of A Black Planet. This was pretty cool. It isn't the first cover I've done, by a long shot, but it is the first for a major recording publisher. A significant difference in some ways. Lots of similarities in others.

I worked directly with Chuck D on the design for a few weeks. Originally, he wanted the Black Planet to be in the foreground and the same visual size as Earth and casting a shadow upon Earth, completely eclipsing it, putting Earth into total darkness. Great concept, and I immediately saw where he was going with it but, being a physicist, I knew that just wouldn't fly. Can't have something in the close foreground that is the same angular diameter as something in the background and have the former completely shadow the latter. The actual dimension of the foreground object must be less than that of the background object... far less. Its shadow on the background object would be a dark dot upon the surface. Something had to change. It would forever nag me and I'd be defending/explaining it until the End Of Time.

Yes, there is artistic license and I do opt for that some times. This one, however, just didn't lend itself to that route. Artistic license is where one may bend or break the rules; once one knows the rules in the first place in order to intelligently break them. This would totally destroy them and not in a good way.

First off, this is an astronomical image. The primary reason I was hired to do this cover was my reputation in the industry. People and corporations trust me to convey astronomical information in a clear, correct and concise way; all the while making it beautiful and captivating. Our Universe is a wonderment but people understand relatively little about the scale of astronomical objects and the distances between them as it is. I didn't want to add to the confusion by disseminating disinformation; especially to a new audience. Some common ground had to be met or this could really fail on an astronomical scale; to make a very valid pun.

I explained the physics and provided several sketches and diagrams to illustrate the basic point. Chuck got it and let me have full reign on the design. I eventually did two versions. One that matched his original concept as much as possible and another that was more dynamic and fit my sensibilities more. The former won out, but I was happy. For reasons that you'll subsequently learn, I'm glad my first pick wasn't chosen.

Living in Carmel, California, which is not what one would exactly call a cheap place to live, I was working for a local Laser Disc store maintaining their computer and sales system, installing home entertainment systems and taking home unrented discs at the end of the day. Being decidedly tech savvy, this gig was an absolute best fit.

At one home, I went into the daughter's bedroom and was met with the entire wall space completely covered with my artwork! Huge posters galore. I looked around and gasped and they wondered what was the problem. I shared my story and they were, um, dubious. The next day I brought my 8"x10" reproduction transparencies, from which the cover was produced, along with me. They were gobsmacked that this person was hooking up their stereo for them. So was I.

Fast forward another 12 years... A friend called saying that he was watching VH-1 as the results of the Greatest Album Covers popular vote were released. Right up there in lights alongside The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers, The Who: Who's Next, Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon, Madonna: Like A Virgin, Led Zeppelin: Houses Of The Holy, KISS: Hotter Than Hell, Prince: Purple Rain, Bruce Springsteen: Born In The U.S.A., David Bowie: Aladdin Sane, Supertramp: Breakfast In America, U2: Achtung, Baby and The Police: Ghost In The Machine. The full list can be seen at Prince.org. YIKES!

Fast forward another 13 years.... Out of the blue, Joy was contacted by Harry Allen at Def Jam saying that he found "a plaque" that he would like to send. She worked in stealth and it arrived unbeknownst to myself. She kept it under wraps for some time until it was appropriate for me to open it. On Christmas, she presented it; not knowing what was really inside. It was in a huge flat box that was obviously specially made. Opening it, there lay before me a Gold Record! Holy crap... this is what Harry called a plaque? I guess for them, Gold Records are a common thing.

Here's a treatise on the album itself, as seen 25 years after release by Consequence Of Sound: Ranking the Album: Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet. Because of this accomplishment, I've finally made it into Wikipedia.

All this time my award had been misplaced. Waiting. It came at a good time. I have needed an uplift for a while now; too long, in fact. Something like this just can't be surpassed. Thank You Harry and all of the guys at Def Jam. It was great working with you. We should do it again sometime.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

Now that the awards ceremony is complete, we can reveal our newest blown glass award, The 2015 Chesley; bestowed each year to leaders in the genré by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists. It is a fitting addition to our portfolio of unique and imaginative awards and a companion to both the 2014 Hugo and The Planetary Society Cosmos Award; most recently presented to Theoretical Physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking.

It is named after Chesley Bonestell, the Father of Modern Space Art. As you know, Joy and I are both Space Artists in our own right. We live in Chesley's adopted home town of Carmel, California and carry on his quest to inspire and educate in the areas of astronomy, space exploration and spaceflight.

The inspiration for the design came from Chesley himself. Saturn was his favorite object. He painted it more than any other and those works are the most remembered and revered. It was a natural choice to create a design in glass that would embody this love.

As always, our design process begins with a high fidelity 3D model. It helps us to fully flesh out the shape and experience the completed sculpture. Along the way, we also uncover possible pitfalls that would hamper arriving at a successful completion.

Once we are satisfied with the design, and the client agrees, we move into production. It is then that we learn of the various things that serendipity provides along the way. Some are welcome, although may not be immediately recognized as such, and some are serious roadblocks that stall the operation altogether until solutions can be developed to overcome them. Glass has a mind of its own and learning what it is thinking is part of the glass blowing process that helps one to grow as a glass artist... and as a human being. The glass has a way of teaching the glassblower about him/her self that can be quite humbling.

Perseverance and dedication always pay off and we are rewarded with a glorious creation. We trust that you will agree.

The sculpture base is a blown glass crystal hemisphere; approximately 5" (12.7cm) in diameter; exhibiting an embedded Universe of stars above a planetary chord. Resting atop it is a blown glass Saturn. Its rings are approximately 6" (15.2cm) in diameter. The oblate planet sphere's equatorial diameter is 2.6" (6.54cm) made from five colors of crystal.

We are delighted with it and honored to be part of his legacy.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

We just added a new form of remembrance of your friend with fur to Crystal's Kitty Memorials.

They're called: FurEver FurBalls™ and are really wonderful.

It's a gorgeous hollow crystal sphere memorial, created especially for you in the colors of your kitty. Inside is the fur of your lost pet peering through the clear sections, so that even after they have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, a part of them that only they could create can stay with you, sleeping peacefully on your desk or table, being a comfort to hold. This beautiful piece is approx. 3" wide, with a flat spot on the bottom. The colors of your kitty will be artistically matched and swirled, encapsulating a small amount of fur FurEver sealed within. It comes with a lighted base, imparting a soft internal glow.

I've saved tufts of fur from the large majority of my friends who have helped me through my later life. At various times of the year when these tufts are found on the floor or happen to be released as I brush them, I stash the tufts in a safe place; not knowing what I may do with them later.

Sometimes, I don't get the chance to obtain them in this way. During the process of laying them to rest, a sad time to be sure and not wanting to let go, I will snip off a bit of fur to keep. It is something that only they could make. It is precious to me beyond compare.

Now I know where they can be kept... FurEver.

There are ten who are under the apple tree back where I grew up outside of Rochester. They were my friends when I was little. Their fur I can no longer obtain. They live in my memory, still, but having a physical representation made by someone I hold dear to my heart helps in so many ways that they cannot be described.

I must stop typing now. I can no longer clearly see the screen.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

We're working artists, accomplished in imagery, wood, carbon fiber and blown glass. We also run a rescue shelter for abandoned, orphaned and abused kitties who have come to us asking for help; providing them with a home, rehabilitation, needed medical attention ... and love. It's been rewarding and sometimes heartbreaking, but well worth every second and every penny. All of that is in danger.

Due to a predatory loan from Bank of America / Bank of New York Mellon, and their sub-contractor henchmen Resurgent and then Shellpoint, the latter two who either are shills to circumvent the law governing bank practices or have bought the loan for pennies on the dollar after it had already been written off, after a long and stressful 5+ year fight resulting in what amounts to a predatory loan modification, we are all being forced out of our home and studios.

We really need your help.

We need to procure a place where all of this will fit once more, so that we can continue on. To do that, we need to raise at least $20,000 to help with moving costs and keeping the fires burning. Once the studio gets shut down, we will have no income until it is up and running and we're in production again, creating beautiful things and saving lives, as we're meant to do.

We are moving not only household goods but along with them, a business; a business that requires a lot of equipment and materials that must be handled with care. Some of the equipment is very heavy, yet delicate; as is the glass. Dismantling everything that we've built over the years; unwiring and extracting it, disassembling it, packing it, transporting it and setting it all up again is going to be an arduous task. ... Watching the first half of it happen will also be very painful. Once we're over that hump, things will look brighter.

We're not asking for a handout.
We're asking for a hand UP.

It isn't easy for us to ask. Sometimes, a person just can't do it alone. ... But there's strength in numbers. We have launched an IndieGoGo Campaign to raise necessary funds to help us get a new home and studio. In return for your support, we're offering our work and some exclusive perks created for our campaign. Please check them out and discover something you'll love to own. If you don't see something you like but have something in mind, do get in touch. We'll make it happen.

Please read our story to learn more and don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any. Be sure to check out our websites to see the many inspiring things that we create... read our biographies to learn who we are... see our client list and spin its companion globe... visit BengalMania.org to read and view the videos of the home that we have made for our rescues and see the rich lives that they have with us.

Be a part of our team. Share our campaign with your friends. Receive some great art and know that we, our rescues and rescues still to come will be forever grateful and thankful for your kindness.

From all of our family, a fervent Thank You!

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

The past couple of years have been fairly busy around the Holiday Season as we thankfully try to keep up. Many of our creations are shipped to clients across the oceans. Prospective customers also ask if we ship to their country. The thought occurred to me one day that it would be good to have a visual representation of where our creations have journeyed across the planet over these many years. A list is good and our Clients + Collectors page serves well, but an interactive globe showing the many locations would be perfect.

Many technologies were tried and some were a tad taxing on the user's CPUs/GPUs, so rejected. Finally found one that was light, responsive and user-friendly, so began modifying it to suit our needs. The initial markers were huge, however. With the density anticipated, especially in large cities, I had to come up with a way to substitute with something more in scale. Took a bit of sleuthing and some hacking the code but got it done.

Then came the question of which Earth map to wrap the globe with. The choice between centuries old cartography created by Giovanni Cassini and the view of our planet from space and a current geophysical map was just too difficult to make. Each of them have their good points and the user would also have their preference.

Answer: All Of Them, of course. (It's me. What'd you expect?)

The original globe loaded three maps and one could dissolve between them. This wasn't efficient, because manipulating three maps is essentially unnecessary and just drags the system down. So, I set out finding a way to allow loading maps on-demand; replacing the one current. This went through many iterations. All of the maps are served from tile servers, so as you rotate the globe and/or zoom in, higher resolution tiles are requested. Not to make a pun, but I think we now have the best of all worlds:

There are seven maps wrapped upon the globe. Each is available for view by selection in the control panel and are zoomable to varying degree, depending upon the source data resolution.

• The top level is Giovanni Maria Cassini's 1790 Map of the continents and oceans between them and shows the routes of three of Captain Cook's Voyages.
• "The Blue Marble" - A view of Earth from space assembled from spacecraft remote sensing data. This gives us the land and oceans, as they would appear without any clouds.
• "The Black Marble" - A view of Earth as seen from orbit on the local nightside of the planet, with terrestrial lights aglow.
• "Natural Earth" - A photographic view of Earth from space with clouds.
• Terrain Map - Assembled from spacecraft remote sensing and topographic data, this gives us land elevation, ocean bathymetric depth and textures.
• Terrain Map with Labels combines the Terrain Map with the Road Map.
• Road Map is current cartography data. It is zoomable to reveal geographic boundaries, cities, towns and individual streets. Depending upon your hardware and connection, the higher resolution tiles may take a bit of time to update for clarity and smooth rotation.

Adding the latitude/longitude of each location to place a marker proved to be daunting at first but I developed a method that became fairly efficient. Still tedious, but it was good to see the markers accumulate and kept me going. Rather than enter each individual address, which would be something of an invasion of privacy, I found that either just entering the town if small or postcode if a larger city, resulted in a rich dispersion that prevented markers from sitting directly on top of each other. Took a while, but well worth it.

We hereby present for your amusement (and our amazement):
The Spherical Magic Clients, Collectors + Patrons Globe.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

Give Me Some Space! Many of our friends, colleagues and visitors to our blogs and websites are Space Buffs. Either they work in the space industry as scientists, astronomers, astrophysicists, teachers, space artists, or are just plain crazy about space. We are, too, and we work the space theme into a LOT of our creations. We have developed many different artworks in glass of various types and, as such, they are spread all through our websites. This requires persons seeking a unique gift that is space-related to become detectives and uncover many locations; perhaps missing just the special treasure that they have been searching for.

Organization (what's that?) to the rescue!
We've gathered all of our Blown Glass Space items: Planet Ornaments, Planet Bottle & Wine Stoppers, Planet Lighting, Astronomical Jewelry, Steampunk Rockets and spacey Greeting Cards into one rich location for easy browsing and ordering; as gifts for someone you know who will really appreciate your creativity or as a gift for yourself. Why not? You've been good... haven't you?

Tell Your Friends Far and Wide:
"Give Me Some Space!" Check it out and be sure to hit the Like and Google+ buttons there to spread the word. There's also a Share button, so you can easily send a hint to friends or family who just don't know what to get for you. Share this post, too, if you can. We'll surely appreciate it.

Be sure also to hit the "Holiday" menu at the top to see all of the other holiday creations that we have available. There's everything from traditional ornaments and candle holders to jewelry. Your support will make a real difference in our studio.

Thanks and Happy Holidays! Here's the link to The Space Collection

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

Our first HUGO Award can now be revealed. The committee places an embargo on the design, only to be released to public view during the Science Fiction WorldCon where they will be presented. Up to that point, we have to provide a secure login area on our web server, so that the committee and we may work together during the refinement and production phases.

The design is related directly to the location of this year's WorldCon, Loncon3, in London, England. The signature HUGO Rocket is resting upon a moon surface, with the very recognizable Gherkin Building as a locality-specific backdrop just behind.

When we developed the design, I fully modeled the sculpture in 3D, as we do in most all of our commissions. This helps to not only better see the finished product and design toward that end, but to more easily create it in Real 3D. We know the size of everything, how it all precisely fits together and, in this case, the design model was used directly in the physical process.

We employed our 3D printer to reproduce the lunar surface contour as a positive, to be used in making the negative molds into which the crystal would be cast. The model of the building gave us a precise curve that was measured against to create the slumping molds, so that the completed fused shape would nestle within the groove cast into the lunar surface. A bushing for each rocket/base combination was printed and inserted into a clearance bore in the crystal, so that there is no contact between the rocket or its mounting bolt and the crystal.

The completed sculpture is very heavy, as one would guess when all of the major portions are solid stainless steel and glass. It must be shipped disassembled, as the crystal would likely suffer damage in transit, no matter how well packed. The leverage that the long rocket has is too great to risk it. To that end, a complete set of assembly and handling instructions are made available on the 2014 HUGO Award web page. There, you can see the 3D Model Design Video and our Award Presentation video, which gives a peek into our backgrounds and how we create.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

This Artist's Refrigerator Does It Superlatively

All work and no play dulls the mind. For Halloween, Joy thought that it would be a great idea to dress up our refrigerator as a parody on a certain police box. Our fridge is nice looking in it's own right, but the doors are non-magnetic stainless. The fun we used to have populating the fridge with odd stuff held on with magnets of all kinds (some of the magnets we have are really cool) was no longer possible. It'd have to be all taped on. Inelegant, and spur of the moment additions are out the window if ya gotta go searching for the tape dispenser.

Our fridge sits at the end of our galley kitchen and is already the focal point. As long as we can't cover it with bits of stuff, may as well cover it, period, with something really fun and inspiring. We're artists. Inspiration is essential.

It's a French Door, bottom roll-out freezer style, so the double door design of a Police Public Call Box fits right in and the proportions are right, too. How to make it happen?

Good question.

Joy originally started working on the idea and then ran into a snag. Looked good in her head but when it came down to doing it in reality, stuff didn't quite line up with the fridge parts. Figuring out how to place what, where became a hurdle. The refrigerator still needs to be functional after the makeover. Getting everything integrated, so that it looks great and works well was paramount, and it took some finesse. Tall order but not outside of our capability, by any means. After all, We Build Cool Stuff! & that ain't easy.

She had trepidations about asking me about anything to do with this, as she thought I'd nix the whole thing. As if... In addition to the many things I am, you may readily gather that I'm a horologist. Always have been fascinated with time and timekeeping devices. You could say that H.G. Wells and I grew up in different times together. There are a few clocks in my collection that are over 150 years old; as testified by the Kitchen Clock sitting on the counter, along with a face from an Ansonia Dew Drop that needed some TLC.

The sharp-eyed will spot the cow-spotted device on the south counter; it's my Italian espresso machine. There's a TARDIS cookie jar on the north counter near the vintage Kitchen Clock. The cookie jar gets triggered as I leave the kitchen with my espresso and a cup of cocoa for Joy each morning. Gotta have as much fun whenever you can, while you can. Keeps you sane or, in my case, crazy. Anyhoos, a time travel refrigerator is right up my pit lane. What's not to like!?

Compounding the problem, not to make a pun, the front stainless steel surface is a compound curve; not flat like a Police Box. Not so simple. Then there's the top. In order to make it really complete, the Police Box roof had to be devised that would mount on the top of the fridge, overhang the sides, clear the doors, hold the beacon sitting on the apex and still allow access to the cupboard above. Then there's the ice maker and control panel to be able to access. Still, it was clear that it's something that somehow needed to happen, so it was time for a bit of "Johnsonizing".

Interleaving this with a large and intense commission that has been consuming the studio for some months, during times when we were waiting for epoxy to cure or just taking a break to let the mind relax, we'd advance the design to the point where a prototype was finally in order. Once that was a success, then the rest would follow. The brain began percolating and I thought it would be great to hear the de-materialization sound when the doors opened. Processed a couple of sound files and got that working, then moved on to the beacon for the roof.

In its completed form, the telephone door provides access to the ice maker and control panel. The sound plays every time the big doors are opened and the rechargeable beacon on the roof is the icing on the Police Box cake.

Once I settled upon the "ADVICE & ASSISTANCE OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY" I knew what I had to do. The "ICE" in "ADVICE" was just too ripe. We're also thinking of highlighting the "ICE" in "POLICE". After all, it is an Ice Box.

Now, if we only could get it to go back in time to when food was less expensive and stock up. Of course, when it came forward, we'd have to ignore the stale dates. Makes me smile every time I see it and laugh when I open it for some refreshment. All refrigerators should be this happy. You can have one of your very own to light up your kitchen.

Since I took this shot and shared it, my photo had started it's journey into Viraldom and history. Huge sites like ThinkGeek and their Facebook page, I F***ing Love Science, Doctor Who and the T.A.R.D.I.S., ThatsNerdalicious, GeekAlerts, Reddit, ZDNet, The Huffington Post, United Kingdom and even a little blurb on IMDb. Our fridge has also been spotlighted on InnerSpace TV show in Canada and a newspaper article in Australia.

Who knew? (Get it?)

We've been trying to negotiate with The BBC for a license to use their logo and produce official high end, short run items (we have quite a few designed and they're killer) so that people can have something of value that isn't assembly line stamped out. We have found that there is a large market for this higher level of creations; a very large market that has been left wanting.

Seems the only way we're going to be interesting to them, though, is to produce boring t-shirts and socks, because that is all that the BBC America guy knows. Anything else goes right past him. That's why we're trying to work with BBC Worldwide. There are PLENTY of short run products out there already. What's wrong with these? Don't want free money? We've been trying to do the Right Thing for quite a while. In fact, WE contacted THEM right off, thereby putting ourselves squarely on the radar. It'd be great if that were acknowledged, at least, and appreciated at best.

Of course, some time later a different arm of the organization contacted us. They were being a bit obtuse about it and tried to make the case that we're counterfeiting. Ummm, no, not selling anything with the logo on it. Not producing anything that competes in any way with, or is a rip-off of, any of your products, so it's not counterfeiting. It's parody. Besides, since when can something long in the public domain be Borged by a corporate/government giant and then trademarked after the fact? Police Call boxes have been around since shortly after the telephone was invented in the 1800's and the first ones were in the United States!

Perhaps it's time to get public opinion to weigh in on the matter. Fans can be pretty powerful in their own right. If we just let it drop, big corporate tactics, culture and power win over top of the small guy... again. As long as we don't use the "T" word, which is trademarked, in connection with it, they've left us alone; but it would be better to be able to produce these other products we have waiting in the wings.

Ever hear of a win-win situation? Here's one staring you in the face, BBC. Wake up and smell the tea.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

Joy's recent post about: The creation of a Solid Fruitwood and Hardwood Baptismal Font to accompany one of our Cast Glass Baptismal Basins.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/

Sometimes, surprises can be a very good thing. Many times they're not but this one is very welcome and special, indeed. Late Friday afternoon a message arrived from Donna Stevens, our good friend at the Planetary Society, informing us of their surprise.

As many of you are aware, Joy and I create the Planetary Society's Cosmos Award blown glass Saturns to be bestowed upon individuals for their outstanding public presentation of science. Each is produced in collaboration with Rick Sternbach, of Star Trek Production Design fame, who commissions us and also crafts the fine ebonized base over which our delicate glass sculptures float.

This particular one, the third in the series, was presented to Theoretical Physicist Dr. Stephen Hawking at The University of Cambridge, England. Superb, in and of itself, but wait... there's more!

Turns out that The Science Museum in London has mounted an exhibit: Stephen Hawking: A 70th Birthday Celebration.

From The Science Museum:

"The display features objects and papers primarily sourced from his own archives including handwritten notes on work with Roger Penrose, his drawing of the Hawking Radiation mechanism, the annotated script for a 1999 guest appearance on The Simpsons, and the blue suit he wore for a zero-gravity flight in 2007. The display also includes a specially recorded message and a selection of personal photographs from Hawking’s life and career that haven’t been seen before. A rarely-seen 1978 portrait by David Hockney is also featured.

This first ever display of items from the Hawking archive encourages visitors to reflect on the relationship between Hawking’s scientific achievements, particularly the work that established his reputation in the 1960s and ‘70s, and his immense success in popularizing astrophysics. Hawking and his daughter Lucy have been involved in the selection of objects for display."

Among these items significant to his life is our beautiful Saturn, floating amid the many diagrams, sketches, papers, books, photographs, models and mementos collected over the years. To say that we are honored again is an understatement. The juxtaposition of creativities, his with ours, is staggering. Never in my wildest dreams... (and I have some pretty wild dreams).

I had hoped that we would somehow come to meet one day. Dr. Hawking held the Lucasian Chair, a professorship of mathematics once held by Sir Issac Newton, Charles Babbage and P. A. M. Dirac, among only fourteen others since the chair was deeded in 1663. Meeting in person, someone in this esteemed professorship would be sobering, indeed.

Cosmology and philosophy have always been favorites of mine. Some time ago, I had a moment of clarity where many things align, fall into place and one can see farther than before. An understanding of the Universe came that was different and I knew that the only person to discuss this with was Stephen Hawking. It would surely be an interesting conversation. But how? Suddenly, I was presented with the possibility that my time had come. The stars had aligned and we were creating the Cosmos Award for him.

One cannot plan something like this. It does, however, come under the heading of: "Be careful what you wish for."

The presentation was to be in Pasadena and we would take time to drive there to attend the ceremony. Best to deliver the delicate Saturn than to needlessly risk damage during shipping, when we're not all that far away. It's been a long time between road trips, anyway, and getting out would do us good.

Alas, it was not to be. Just prior to the date, another surprise came; this one not so good. His doctors deemed travel was not advisable, so the ceremony was cancelled. The presentation would be in England instead. A Planetary Society contingent traveled there but we were not among them. We consulted on the crating specifications in which to ship the award to England, to ensure that it would not be damaged and, indeed, it did arrive safely; we just weren't accompanying it. That was the extent of our involvement in making the presentation a success and we are both very happy to have made this small contribution.

Still, it is a sobering thought to step back and realize how fortunate we are to have one of our children in his office where he can experience it each day and then to have it chosen to be in this wonderful exhibit, so that many may see it, too. The exhibit runs until April 9 if you happen to be in the area.

I wish that we could travel there to see it. A side trip to Cambridge would be in my mind constantly.

Events like these are what keeps a creator going. You work along in obscurity and then, Boom!, the light shines brightly but ever so briefly. Sobering to realize that the things we create will be here long after we are gone; cared for by people whom we will never meet. At least they will know that we were here and perhaps wonder about us, as we wonder now about them.

Mysterious, life is.

For further reading:

• Planetary Society: Charlene Anderson's Blog Post
• Planetary Society: Charlene Anderson's Blog Post UPDATE
• The Science Museum: Stephen Hawking: a 70th Birthday Celebration
• BBC News: In pictures: Science Museum's Stephen Hawking Exhibition
• MSNBC Cosmic Log: Stephen Hawking's Curios Explained
• More Brushes With Greatness: BJ's Short Bio

Joy and I both wish to convey our thanks and appreciation to the wonderful people at The Planetary Society for including us in their adventure.

Have you had a brush with greatness? Please let us know your thoughts by sharing in a comment.

Copyright © B.E.Johnson - All Rights Reserved.
For more, visit: http://blog.imperialearth.com/