It’s been a long fight, a good fight, a fight to keep the invertebratistas down in the inky depths. And even though, at the bitter end, we could not keep them at bay, I am very grateful about the response I got from the BABloggees. It was amazing to see so many people jump right in — and not just for me, but for all the science blogs nominated, all of which are excellent. I read most of the nominees every day.
At the risk of sounding maudlin, remember, we are talking about science blogs — and as far as Pharyngula and I (not to mention Panda’s Thumb and others, too) are concerned we are also both skepticism blogs, and anti-antiscience blogs. The world at large categorizes us as geek, dweebs, and sometimes (literally) heartless, and evil, and emotionless. Yet this campaign was run with humor and fun and zaniness. Science fans jumped right in to support whichever side they wanted, and it was amazing and fun to see how it played out.
And I could not have done it alone. If I had, I would only have had 7 votes.
So now, as promised, it’s time to show The List, the long list of people who have supported me and Bad Astronomy by urging their friends to show a little backbone. All of the folks linked below wrote a blurb on their blogs, their sites, telephone booths, and bathroom stalls across the world to put the Bad Astronomy Blog where it is: the very very oh-so-nearly best science blog in the world for 2006.
Now listen up: some of these links are, to phrase it delicately, Not Safe For Work (NSFW). Those have been labeled appropriately. If you are a minor or at work, don’t click them. If you are a grownup and/or at home, click them with abandon.
The List of Bad Astronomy Supporters
- Bay of Fundie — this gets the honorary first link here because he is the one who nominated me for this in the first place. Of course, he also nominated Pharyngula, so his motives are ultimately suspect.
- Universe Today (yay Fraser!)
- Booted Up (and here and here, too… thanks Teri!) NSFW
- U Dream of Janie sometimes NSFW (for the occasional, um, adult situation)
- Skepchicks! very rarely NSFW-ish (it has strong language, but good, clear critical thinking)
- Kissing Corporal Kate
- Canspice.org
- Slackerpedia
- Andrew Hates This Idea
- You Don’t Need My Identification
- Snakes on a Blog
- The Truth Behind…
- Action Skeptics
- We May Think
- NDNL
- Steven Raine
- Expatria, or A Clean Break
- Infophilia
- Skammie
- My Life: Serendipity
- The Squid Zone — Haha! Even squids voted for me!
- Geek Sandwich
- Astro Mark
- Jamie
- Salad is Slaughter
- My Blog
- Crowded Head Cozy Bed
- Sci @ Night
- Yet Another Brain Dump
- The Atari Thief
- I Don’t Care, I’m Still Free
- Astrogeek
- Chrysopoesies
- Scientific Jia Blog
- Tailspin’s Tales
- Wow, Really?
- Jason!
- The Spacewriter (hi CCP!)
- Thinking Telescopes
- Tony Morel
- iFitandHealthy
- Kanazawa Tales
- Primordial Ooze
- Filling the Unforgiving Minute
- The squaw on the hippopotamus equals the sum of the squaws on the other two hide
- Enough for Hollin
- Another Monkey (remember, monkeys are always funny)
- The Devil’s Robot
- Coyote Mercury
- The Greenbelt
- Filling the Unforgiving Minute
- The Blog of Phyz (he also made a banner for me!)
- Selina’s Universe
- Maurizio – Omnologos
- The Inane Asylum
- Hip Suburban White Guy
- The Public Me
- Neon Bubble
- Rezonatti
- The DesignInterference
- Jokermage
- Human Universe
- The Tyrant of the Seven Seas – I Am Amused
- The Inoculated Mind — Karl Mogel interviewed me for his podcast, and has lots of other interesting ones online too!
Again, thanks to everyone. Next year, I’ll start my smear campaign earlier.
December 19th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Great post keep up the good work better luck next year
mark_smith
December 19th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
A few cephalopod-related celebrity deaths and the title would have been yours!
December 19th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
A-ha! Now I have an enemies list!
I warn you all, if late at night you hear a squelch-squelch-squelch-squelch-squelch-squelch-squelch-squelch noise coming up your walk, followed by a couple of squishy raps at your door, you might not want to answer it.
December 19th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
NSFW? Us?
By the way, I happen to know that Kissing Corporal Kate and Crowded Head, Cozy Bed have also migrated to Wordpress during the campaign. (Bad timing all the way for us.)
Call it inside information.
Links fixed by The BA
December 19th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Filling the Unforgiving Minute must be EXTRA-good, since it’s listed twice.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Y’know what sucks? When you screw up a comment and your correction gets held in moderation.
That sucks.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
[...] I swiped this image from a blog that I found in the supporters list at BadAstronomy.  (Lots of GREAT blogs on that list, btw.) How can you not click on a blog named Salad Is Slaughter?. [...]
December 19th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
[...] Found on the BadAstronomy supporters list. [...]
December 19th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Hi Phil!
And PZ: calm down. I’ve had a link to your site for a while, too. Enemies list, indeed!!
December 19th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for fixing those for us, Dr. BA. Sorry for the bother.
December 19th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Damn, more cool sites I have to make time to read daily! My brain overfloweth.
You ran a good race, but everyone knows the tentacles will come when the stars are right no matter how we voted. The stars were right and we’re tentacle fodder now.
EEK!
December 19th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
I never went to the “winners” blog site before. When I linked into the subject site, I read this line “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal”. What? This is #1?
Thank you http://www.badastronomy.com for all of those spectacular astronomical pictures you provided us in 2006. And, we got to see those photographs on the first page load. Fire up your programming imagination for 2007. I am sure that you will thrust into first PLACE. You did not lose FACE.
December 19th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Don’t forget me – I voted for you!
December 19th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Were gonna win this next year buddy! U dont worry bout this. Ride Free!
Pardon me now, gonna have some fried calamari lunch…and get something ready for the Sagan Blogathon!
December 19th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
I do believe that Prof Myers is trying to be a sore winner! (j/k) A well run race by all concerned in my opinion and there’s always next year.
December 19th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
I know with a list that large it’s easy to omit some of the smaller fry, so I’ll go ahead and make my own mention here as one of your very loyal readers (20 linked articles this year and a ballot stuffer).
Well done on a fine year of blogging and here’s to another fine year coming up.
Rich
This Blog Title For Sale
http://www.richmanwisco.com
December 20th, 2006 at 4:23 am
So I put a link on my myspace blog to vote for you, added a comment to your post about linking to the blogs, and no mention.
Thanks Phil for keeping your word.
December 20th, 2006 at 6:30 am
It was a good fight and it was my pleasure entirely to mention you. Keep asking questions! Thanks.
December 20th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Hey! I’m not in there. Did I have to be an unequivocal supporter? I still voted for you twice!
December 20th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Nuts, Karl. You were there, but there were issues with some editing. I’ll put you back in. Sorry!
December 21st, 2006 at 3:18 am
Has an octopus infiltrated this website? My reputation has been blackened by its ink! I nominated Bad Astronomy only. It was in response to somebody else nominating Pharyngula.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:26 am
So no linky to my blog? Fine. Damn, I didn’t know that I had to know you personally. Shoot, I almost wish I voted for Pharyngula now.
December 21st, 2006 at 7:46 am
Thanks BA -no idea my name (ie ‘Sky & Spaces’ – I write for ‘em & recomend ‘em to all Southern hemisphere-ers & any curious northern hemisphere-ers too folks) would be so high on the list!
Thanks again Phil, the Kraken may have won this round but the vertebrates will strike back in ‘07 don’t worry!
Oh & PZ, be warned, I keep a harpoon by the door! Remember who came off second best in “20,000 Leagues under the Sea’?
(Or should that be “Fathoms under the sea?”)
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:32 am
Well, it’s too late now, but why did you lie Phil? I posted a link in your comments as you requested, but you gave me no link to my blog in the above post. Why? That’s what I want to know. Why did you lie, why did you make an empty promise?
Should you have put that you would link to your favorite blogs that supported you? That you would list the blogs that got you the most votes? Sorry if I am but a pebble in the stream of blogging, but you went back on your word.
January 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Since you posted this here in the public, Skammie, let me reply here. I did not lie. A mistake was made, and your link got inadvertantly left off. Your attitude is puzzling: you started right off the bat in an accusatory way, when there was no reason to. Why not assume it was an honest error first and then work from there?
As promised, I have added your link.