"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

The smell of AnnaтАЩs Starbucks latte wafted in from her office next door, and he could hear her on the
phone already. She too did a lot of talking on the phone. тАЬI donтАЩt know, I have no idea what the other
sample sizes are likeтАж. No, not statistically insignificant, that would mean the numbers were smaller than
the margin of error. What youтАЩre talking about is just statistically meaningless. Sure, ask him, good idea.тАЭ

Meanwhile Aleesha, her assistant, was on her phone as well, patiently explaining something in her rich
D.C. contralto. Unraveling some misunderstanding. It was an obvious if seldom acknowledged fact that
much of NSFтАЩs daily business was accomplished by a cadre of African-American women from the local
area, women who often seemed decidedly unconvinced of the earth-shattering importance that their
mostly Caucasian employers attributed to the work. Aleesha, for instance, displayed the most skeptical
politeness Frank had ever seen; he often tried to emulate it, but without, he feared, much success.

Anna appeared in the doorway, tapping on the doorjamb as she always did, to pretend that his space
was an office. тАЬFrank, I forwarded a jacket to you, one about an algorithm.тАЭ

тАЬLetтАЩs see if it arrived.тАЭ He hitCHECK MAIL , and up came a new one [email protected]. He
loved that address. тАЬItтАЩs here, IтАЩll take a look at it.тАЭ
тАЬThanks.тАЭ She turned, then stopped. тАЬHey listen, when are you due to go back to UCSD?тАЭ

тАЬEnd of July or end of August.тАЭ

тАЬWell, IтАЩll be sorry to see you go. I know itтАЩs nice out there, but weтАЩd love it if youтАЩd consider putting in
a second year, or even think about staying permanently, if you like it. Of course you must have a lot of
irons in the fire.тАЭ

тАЬYes,тАЭ Frank said noncommittally. Staying longer than his one-year stint was completely out of the
question. тАЬThatтАЩs nice of you to ask. IтАЩve enjoyed it, but I should probably get back home. IтАЩll think
about it, though.тАЭ

тАЬThanks. It would be good to have you here.тАЭ

Much of the work at NSF was done by visiting scientists, who came on leave from their home
institutions to run NSF programs in their area of expertise for periods of a year or two. The grant
proposals came pouring in by the thousands, and program directors like Frank read them, sorted them,
convened panels of outside experts, and ran the meetings in which these experts rated batches of
proposals in particular fields. This was a major manifestation of the peer-review process, a process
Frank thoroughly approved ofтАФin principle. But a year of it was enough.

Anna had been watching him, and now she said, тАЬI suppose it is a bit of a rat race.тАЭ

тАЬWell, no more than anywhere else. In fact if I were home itтАЩd probably be worse.тАЭ

They laughed.

тАЬAnd you have your journal work too.тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs right.тАЭ Frank waved at the piles of typescripts: three stacks forReview of Bioinformatics, two for
The Journal of Sociobiology. тАЬAlways behind. Luckily the other editors are better at keeping up.тАЭ