How to address the APS

Consider an actor in a hit show on I Broadway, and contrast him with a physicist addressing The American Physical Society. The actor has all the advantages. He is speaking lines written for him by a master of the art of commanding the interest of an audience (remember that we are postulating a hit show). He has a gift for acting, and also a long experience in the art; otherwise he would not be in the cast. Even so, he is not allowed to speak his lines in any way that occurs to him. Every phrase, every inflection, every gesture, even the position that he is to take on the stage, has been tested or even prescribed by a professional director, who does not hesitate to give him mandatory instructions, or even to alter the lines if they seem ineffective.

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