“You’re Not On Facebook?”

Since we get this question about 100 times a day (alright, alright, once in the last 100 days), we figured it was worth answering.

Will Folks, the founding editor of FITS is not on Facebook.

However his alter-ego, “Sic Willie,” is indeed on Facebook … and on Twitter, too.

Now that we’ve got that straightened out, here are answers to a few other FAQ’s …

Q: What does FITS stand for?

a:  FITS stands for ‘Flexible Image Transport System’ and is the standard astronomical data format endorsed by both NASA and the IAU. FITS is much more than an image format (such as JPG or GIF) and is primarily designed to store scientific data sets consisting of multi-dimensional arrays (1-D spectra, 2-D images or 3-D data cubes) and 2-dimensional tables containing rows and columns of data.

Of course we’re kidding … FITS stands for “Faith in the Sound,” which is a lyric from George Michael’s 1990 hit song “Freedom.”

Q: Why/how did you come up with “Sic Willie?”

a:  Well, our founding editor is a huge Bill Clinton fan – and lamentably “Slick” Willie was already taken.  It is also a reference to the term “sic,” which means “intentionally so written.”  The term is used to inform readers that the preceding text is taken literally (faithfully) from an original source.

Q: Do you write all of this stuff yourself?

a:  Are you kidding?  One person couldn’t possibly write all of this stuff every single day (and hold down a paying gig at the same time) … or could they?

Q: How do you sleep at night?

a:  Like a baby.

Any other questions?  Email ‘em here …

WEB EXTRA

Sic’s Facebook Page

Sic’s Twitter Page

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