I didn’t want to have to do this.
I have always felt lucky to get along with a lot of really smart and interesting people. I make an effort to check in with countless skeptical blogs, forums, individuals, and organizations on a regular basis, and I hate to play favorites.
That’s why when I noticed that the annual Weblog awards included two of my favorite science blogs, I hesitated to endorse one over the other. On the one hand, there is Bad Astronomy. Phil Plait’s writing is educational, funny, and engaging, and I have read it for a very long time. On the other hand, there is Pharyngula. PZ Myers is similarly amusing and informational, plus he likes squid as all reasonable people do. The voting has been neck and neck for the past day, so I didn’t necessarily want to ask you all to vote for my choice, since both, I felt, were equally deserving.
Not anymore.
Now, it’s personal. Wednesday, Phil announced the start of voting, getting in a minor jab at PZ. Sure, that was a low blow, but a mature party would merely ignore it. Not so with PZ. Yesterday, PZ posted this entry, insinuating that Phil’s amazing nude photo in the Skepdude 2007 Calendar should somehow negatively affect his performance in the polls. INAPPROPRIATE, Mr. Myers! It’s officially on.
PEOPLE. If you love me, if you love Phil, if you hate both of us but still love nudity and skepticism, then DAMMIT PEOPLE, VOTE for Bad Astronomy! We can’t let PZ’s kind of negative campaigning triumph.
I would vote for Phil anyway, cos his website is one I can access from my work computer.
Alas, my work computer won't let me go vote, either. So I'll have to wait till I get home tonight.
I'm so confused. I love Astronomy, and it was the BA who lead me (from slacker astronomy via skepchick) to the Skeptics Guide podcast which is a highlight of my week.
And yet, squids and evolutionary blogging is all great too. And I love PZ's writing, and and and and…
OK, I'm going to have to vote for the BA, if only so that PZ has to pose for next years Skepdude calendar…
Like slashnull, I too was led to this blog from the BA site. This alone would have been enough to make me vote for Phil. Now I check this blog for updates even more often than I do the BA blog (sorry, Phil!).
I wonder how many others have come here through the same path?
Actually, I found out about Skepchick through James Randi's site.
(Sorry, Phil! If it means anything to you, Carl Sagan is one of my heroes!)
Rav,
Carl Sagan rocks! Sagan's Cosmos series, and James Burke's "Connections" series were far and away the most transformative TV shows I watched as a kid.
Too bad Carl's not around anymore to have his own blog!
OOOOOH! Another Burke Fan! I have BOTH those guys' series on my Science wishlist at Amazon!
Did you ever watch Rohmer (sp?) as he wandered around Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel and Jordan– He really deflated the myths and showed what good archaeology could really tell us about a certain storybook we grew up with.
James Burke fans unite!
Rebecca is right… we cannot allow this kind of negative campaigning to succeed. We must prevent the Bad-Ass-tronomer from suffering the same fate as John Kerry, Max Cleland, and many other fine, swift-boated candidates. Let's all make a statement against dirty politics…
Get nekkid and VOTE FOR PHIL !!
I once spotted James Burke at Logan Airport in Boston. After watching him covertly (while I'm sure he wondered "Why the HELL is that guy staring at me?!") long enough to remember his name, I went up to him and gushed about how much I had loved his show. He seemed simultaneously pleased at being recognized, yet also vaguely weirded-out by my obvious hero worship.
I don't think I would have been able to muster the courage to speak to Sagan in the first place!
By the way, I see that PZ has threatened to pose naked if he DOESN'T win the vote. Frankly, I think these kinds of extortionist/terroristic threats are just another example of the depths to which politics in our country has sunk since 9/11. Vote for change! Vote for Phil!
Slashnull: "OK, I’m going to have to vote for the BA, if only so that PZ has to pose for next years Skepdude calendar…"
Funny, I'm thinking of voting for PZ for that exact reason.
Ha…if Phil doesn't win, I'LL pose for the next Skepdude's calendar. And that's something that NO ONE wants.
Vote for Bad Astronomy :)
You would think after the Bulgaria incident they would have learned. None can stand against us, you will be assimilated etc etc…
/insert maniacal laughter here/
P
I voted for Phil as soon as I saw his post. I knew a bunch of other blogs I read were nominated, but I like Phil’s the most. May he grind all others into the dust.
I didn't find the Pharyngula post to be any more negative than the BA post.
PZ is obviously a hypocrite. First denouncing the BA for appearing in the calendar, then suggesting to be in next year's edition to get more votes.
That sounds like a politician blowing with the wind :P
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I intend to be eaten first. So I’m voting for PZ. ;)