Anti Gravity:Notes from the Underground; December 1999; Scientific American Magazine; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Neither rain,nor sleet,nor gloom of night will stop readers from sending mail. "Anti Gravity" gets its fair share.The column has run for four years now,and regular readers recognize it as a somewhat offbeat take on science, a break from the rest of the magazine's exposition of the weighty work, the gravitas, of teasing out nature's secrets.

Some of the mail decries the very existence of this column,with the reader feeling cheated out of two thirds of a page of meat and potatoes. To them, I offer only regrets that they care not for the occasional ice cream cone and advice that they turn the page with a greater sense of urgency. Some mail carries the reader's umbrage with me.To them,I offer thanks for sharing their thoughts and advice that they get their own magazine column. (And this note: Letters containing the phrase "I have a sense of humor, but..." inevitably announce the lack of same.) Amazingly, some mail indicates that the reader actually likes the column, proving that there's no accounting for taste.