Bulgaria’s gold rush?
A woodpecker?
Neither of these should be on December’s cover of National Geographic! It should be Saturn! And you can make it happen.
NatGeo is is having a contest to decide what goes on the December issue’s cover. The Saturn image came from Cassini just recently, and judging from the reception it got on my own blog when I posted it the first time, it should clearly be the cover. I mean, woodpeckers are cool, and gold is always nice, but we’re talking Saturn here.
Puhleeze. Like it’s even a choice.
Currently, Bulgaria is winning (barely). You can make a difference. What has Bulgaria ever done for you?
Tip o’ the ring system to, uh, "Cassini Fan" who let me know about this.
October 25th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Well- Bulgaria gave us aqueducts, and public education and roads.
(Uh.. sorry)
October 25th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
If they had a new photo of the Ivory Bill I’d vote for it. But yeah, come on how can you pass up the Cassini shot.
October 26th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Bulgaria, it’s more urgent. Saturn next month.
October 26th, 2006 at 12:43 am
What has Saturn ever done for me?
October 26th, 2006 at 12:44 am
NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM
Page Temporarily Down
We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but certain National Geographic Web pages
are experiencing technical difficulties.
Please check back later.
October 26th, 2006 at 2:15 am
Current tally:
1. Bulgaria: 17,659
2. Saturn: 17,628
3. Woodpecker: 549
And the voting page is down. How convenient for the Bulgarian gold loving editors of National Geographic. It’s a conspiracy I tells ya!
October 26th, 2006 at 2:52 am
It’s not really a contest to pick the cover, as I read it. It’s click on the cover you think will be on the December issue, and then come back to see what the editor’s pick was! So maybe he’ll pay attention to the results, but maybe not.
October 26th, 2006 at 4:02 am
Boo. I can’t even vote, it’s down.
Saturn for the win!
October 26th, 2006 at 4:22 am
Looks like The Ridger is right. I don’t think we’re choosing the cover, we’re just seeing if we can pick the same as the editor. The decision appears to have been made already.
Of course, out of the three, the Saturn image is the best, though I would like to see an image for the Icy Underworld story. Penguins!
October 26th, 2006 at 4:46 am
What really:
NAO Rozhen (rozhen.org) - The biggest observatory in the Balkans region, Rhodope folk music traveling with Voyager. Also a few thousand years of history and ancient culture and so on, aside from the astronomy
But you`re right, we are talking Saturn here and everyone should see the amazing shining Giant.
Greetings to all professional and amateur astronomers from Bulgaria!
October 26th, 2006 at 5:39 am
The Astronomy magazine actually lets viewers pick the covers. Apparently they’ve experienced an unturn in instore sales since deciding to do this. I guess we (the readers) choose a lot better than the editors did;).
October 26th, 2006 at 5:41 am
The Saturn is definitely the most attractive cover - it might get more people to pick it up from the stands. The woodpecker’s shadow is kind of cool as well, but NG hasn’t had a planet photo for a while, so go with the Cassini image!
October 26th, 2006 at 6:00 am
I don’t think we’re choosing the cover, we’re just seeing if we can pick the same as the editor.
Yep. You can confirm this by looking at “Last Month’s Editor’s Pick” - the actual cover was not the most popular cover.
October 26th, 2006 at 6:18 am
The Saturn photo is great, but the wrong shape for the cover. I don’t think NatGeo has ever put a photo sideways on the cover. That photo is fold-out material, not a cover.
October 26th, 2006 at 6:49 am
I’d pick the Saturn photo in a heartbeat, but the site’s still down and the cover selection does appear to be a done deal. As much as I love archaeology and enjoy bird-watching, the Saturn pic is just awe-inspiring. I think it needs to be my new desktop.
October 26th, 2006 at 7:24 am
I dunno… I do like woodpeckers. That is a very cool picture of Saturn, though.
October 26th, 2006 at 8:46 am
I like woodpeckers and Bulgaria. But I have to cheer for the home team… even if it’s a billion kilometers away.
I think y’all are right– it’s just a game, not a decision for the cover. Oh well.
October 26th, 2006 at 8:55 am
If the page were not down, I would vote for Saturn. But it’s a tough choice. Have you ever heard Bulgarian musician Ivo Papasov? The stuff his band plays is some of the most head-ripping music I’ve ever heard! Saturn is just a big ball that would float in my bathtub. I can buy that at Toys R Us ; ).
J. D.
October 26th, 2006 at 8:57 am
“Well- Bulgaria gave us aqueducts, and public education and roads.”
Besides aqueducts, public education and roads, what has Bulgaria ever done for us?
Gold is nice, but I don’t like the photo. The woodpecker photo would be a nicer cover than that. But Saturn beats them both!
Now, if only the voting would work…
October 26th, 2006 at 9:28 am
HI Phil. Great picture of Saturn, I used it on my blog. I hope that Hubble gets serviced too. Wednesday night in LA Katie Couric was SEVENTH in ratings, behind reruns of “Friends” and “King of Queens.” People are much more interested in Saturn and Space.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Saturn cover, hands down. (Stupid voting page still down, though!)
October 26th, 2006 at 11:34 am
J. D.: you’ve got one HUGE bathtub. Must make for some interesting parties…..
October 26th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Gack, the voting page is still down at 2:40 PM CDT.
Apparently they’ve got the result ‘they’ want and that’s how it’ll end!
October 26th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
i like the woodpecker more than the gold rush thing. but saturn gets my vote.. that is when ever the site works again.
October 26th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
“What has Bulgaria ever done for you?”
Is it just me, or does this strike anyone else as a very racist comment?
October 26th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Ozprof Says:
“What has Bulgaria ever done for you?â€
Is it just me, or does this strike anyone else as a very racist comment?
No! And racist wouldn’t be the right word even if it was intended as a serious remark to begin with, which it wasn’t. It would be “something-centric” most likely. This is one time where I want to say, “Lighten up!”
October 26th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
If we can find a way to have Stephen Colbert get out the vote for Saturn on “The Colbert Report” it should be a slam dunk. Hey, it worked for that bridge in Hungary!
October 26th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
did anybody but me realize that there was only about 5000 votes total last month? there are already more than three times that many votes for Saturn alone.
October 26th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Which planet is Bulgaria???? (snicker,I want Saturn…)
October 26th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
The server is still down.
They should change the error message. That page is not down temporarily but rather permanently.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
“Is it just me, or does this strike anyone else as a very racist comment?”
That’s a joke, right?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
is it just me or seriously, what has bulgaria done for me lately.. or ever.
October 27th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Isn’t geography the study of the Earth’s surface? So Saturn’s disqualified and I’ll go for the woodpecker
October 27th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Well, I think by now they can remove the temporarily in “page temporarily down”.
October 27th, 2006 at 5:34 am
It’s your fault the contest page is down Phil! You’re sending so many people over there with the link on your blog it crashed their server!
October 27th, 2006 at 5:35 am
Ok for the odd obtuse out there: my previous comment _is_ a joke!
(you never know)
October 27th, 2006 at 6:07 am
bassmanpete beat me to it. As much as I love that Saturn photo, “geography” means (and we KNOW how much BA likes meaning) “writing of or about the Earth” (basically).
The Saturn photo is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Hey - it WAS taken with what has to be one of the most expensive cameras produced by Earth (do we get to count the cost of the mobile mount?
But it isn’t of Earth, so there is no doubt in my mind that it will be on the December cover anyway.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:02 am
That picture of Saturn has been on my monitor and my cellular phone ever since it appeared on this blog. I love it and I think it deserves to be on the cover of a magazine about the natural world, no matter whether it’s this particular planet or another one in our solar system, or any other one, come to think of it. Space is part of the natural “world,” and the name of the magazine should not disqualify it. Think of how many more people will see and be inspired by the beauty of that particular photo, and become interested in astronomy.
My opinion.
I think it’s cool that there are so many votes that the server crashed, except I’m sorry I couldn’t vote for the Saturn cover.
October 27th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
ioresult, thanks for clearing that up, Iwasn’t sure! (wink)
October 31st, 2006 at 8:32 am
Well the NatGeo cover choice site is up again - and Saturn is winning now. Yup I voted for it too. THanks Phil. See they’ve got asolarsystem supplement agin - updated for Pluto no doubt .. Those old Nat geo. solarsystem /universepostrers can be utterly magnificent.
I wonder if we all sent them an email to say they should let us all vote for the best cover whether that’d make ‘em change policy - People power in action?!
Oh and Bulgarian is a nationality rather than a race… yes I saw y’all were joking anyhow.
—–
He’s NOT the Messiah! Eees a _very_ nawtee boy!
- Brians Mother, ‘Monty Python & the Life of Brian’
——–
Brian : You don’t have to follow anybody. You’re all individuals.
Crowd [all chanting as one] : YES! WE’RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!
Lone voice incrowd : No, I’m not.
- ‘Monty Python & the Life of Brian’
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:06 am
Saturn will be there for another billion years guys. Think local.
BULGARIA should be on.
By the way, it gave you computers. danone and aviation used in battles. Check your facts
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:52 pm
actually a german guy invented the computer, and i’ve never heard of any connection between bulgaria and aviation apart from them buying migs off the russians
November 4th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Omg! Damien are you really serious a computer was invented by the Germans ? Check your history books man!
Pablo is right, just not quite. Bulgaria gave the world computers and bombing and combat aviation (1911). Also it was not Danone, cause Danone is a French company, but yoghurt, which is official national product. It is licensed in EU as well as “rakia” and some more.
The computer was invented by George Atanasov, you have a hint what name to search for.
So I really think that will be interesting to discover some more about the golden treasures in the Balkan region.
Greets
November 10th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Hey whoever runs this website and says that saturn should be on the cover and asking the most racist queston, “WHat has Bulgaria done for you”, should just give up because Bulgaria is so winning the cover. And the real question is “What the hell has SATURN done for us????”. Think about it smart head. If you’re so obsessed with Saturn why don’t you make your own magazine or something. Bulgaria is the right way because it’s real history and people could actually learn more about EARTH.
November 10th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Stanislav, are you serious? If so, I suggest chilling out pretty seriously, and maybe developing a sense of humor.
November 28th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Hey guys, Bulgaria is one of the oldest countries in Europe, preserving it’s name from it’s foundation 681 to nowadays It has rich historical past and has been through a lot that’s why the iconomical situation is not that good.