i am doing astronomy in the final block of my science course. today, the course text pointed me to the website of the european southern observatory. apparently, they have a Very Large Telescope (VLT). another telescope they are thinking about is an Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). i did start to wonder whether there would be a BLT - Bloody Large Telescope - but no! the man in charge of acronyms at the observatory is way ahead of me.

apparently their next telescope (due for completion by 2020) is called an OWL. that would be ... OverWhelmingly Large telescope.

i laughed and laughed. i told mattgreen about it. he paused for a moment.

mattgreen: well, that's all very well, but what i'm really worried about is the MDT.
alicey: (starts giggling)
alicey: (starts thinking about what ridiculousness mattgreen has come up with, and laughs harder and harder until the tears roll down her cheeks and she can hardly speak)
mattgreen: (accusingly) you've guessed it, haven't you?