OK, reading Lorelle’s Wordpress blog (this blog uses WP, so Lorelle has lots of good advice I can use) I saw that she links to Wired.com’s sexiest geeks contest. I won’t comment on how I feel about their choices vis-a-vis sexiness (and using Latin French phrases just brings the sexy, doesn’t it?), except to note that one person listed there is astronomy’s own Mike Brown, who with his team discovered Eris, the big iceball past Pluto that has caused so much angst among the "how-do-we-define-a-planet" community.
Mike is currently, well, how to phrase this delicately? He’s not doing so well in the polls. But we all know astronomy is the sexiest of all sciences (besides, I suppose, scientists who study sex — but I suspect they take a lot of the fun out of it, too), so I will hold hope that people will figure this out.
I’ll also note that they have men and women in the same poll, which is pretty unfair, given the probable demographics of Wired online. And before you accuse me of being sexist, check out the results so far: the two people way out in the lead are both women.
And hey, speaking of voting, PZ and I are still neck-and-tubule. I was ahead by a few votes for a while, but he’s in the lead by about 90 once again. That poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (one minute before midnight) Friday night.
December 14th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Man, it’s all just sex, sex, sex with you, isn’t it?
December 14th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Phil, off-topic, but…with Christmas coming around, is there any chance you could do a piece on the International Star Registry? I’ve searched through the archives and only found peripheral references to the ISR. I just did an entry of my own, but I’d like to hear what you have to say on the topic.
http://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-not-to-buy-for-christmas.html
And what about those companies that will “broadcast your voice into space”? Seriously. How much money do these operations take in each year?
December 14th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Hate to be the one to say it, but vis-a-vis is french, not latin. Then again, french is a lot sexier than latin!
I’ve only got so many computers, but I’m doing what I can in the voting stakes…
December 14th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Sneaky Squid is not a relative of mine.
Although I have heard that Sneaky, Skulking, Stealthy, Secretive, Shady, part of the 7 Squids (from Shoggoth and the Seven Squids) are just trying to up their blog link count :).
The two “Black Squids” of that family, Frank and Forthright have chosen to stay out of this whole voting thing.
December 14th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Rob, nuts. I fixed it, thanks.
Harold, I wrote an article for Skeptical Inquirer on this topic that was published recently.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Excellent. Thank you.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Remeber to vote for Bad Astronomy Blog!
http://www.reitstoen.com/plait.php + page with Dawkins, Shermer, Randi…
I’ve put a banner on my page, just to do my part
Hope it helps, even if i don’t have too many visitors.
December 14th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Hey, Reitstoen, I have several clips online at YouTube as well: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBadAstronomer
December 14th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Given the comments, it certainly does seem the poll is heavily skewed toward male tastes, but Mike Brown is definitely the sexiest geek - I mean what’s sexier than finding the largest dwarf planet known so far? He’s got the whole cosmic thing going…that kind of knowledge is definitely sexy. (Almost as sexy as supernovae.)
Anyway, Mike Brown isn’t on the bottom of the poll anymore.
December 15th, 2006 at 6:00 am
RE “Astronomy is the sexiest of all sciences” —-
I have a T-shirt that states:
“Date an Astronomer! Who else can promise you the Sun, Moon and stars . . . AND DELIVER!
December 15th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Sorry, Phil. I have to vote for Lada. She was a classmate of mine. She was a freshman at Caltech when I was a senior. (Well, super-senior, actually.)