Today is Lurker Day, as explained by Chris at Creek Running North, Lauren at Feministe, and PZ at Pharyngula. (Three of the coolest blogs on all the internets, I should add.) That is, lazy bloggers avoid posting original content by asking their readers who never (or rarely) comment to drop by and leave a note saying who they are and what they like about the blog. (Other blogs also ask for something called “constructive criticism,” or perhaps even for suggestions for improvement; we here at CV see no need for such things. But if you are so moved, knock yourselves out.)
I’m especially curious as to two demographic questions: how many readers are professionally science-related in some way vs. how many are from the so-called “real world,” and among the former, how many are students vs. embittered elders. No pressure, obviously; consider this just a chance to pipe up and say hi if you haven’t yet had the chance to comment.
A student in Probability. I find this blog very interesting and well written (especially Science related articles, but also occasionally other topics)
Lurker.
Physicist.
In transition between student and embittered elder.
I will dare to go out on this limb as it appears the majority of you are scientists or of a scientific mind.
I’m very new to the blog world and I’ve only been reading CV for a couple of weeks now and enjoy it thoroughly. I was turned on to it by JoAnne. We went to high school together. It was great fun to see her name in lights and read her musings. And then of course I drifted about and read all of your posts. Great stuff! You are all – for lack of a better descriptor – cool. 🙂
Alas, I am quite unscientific. I have no interest in becoming a scientist, I am not studying to be one, and only really know the one (mentioned above) whom I like very much. I am really more of a spiritualist (GASP horror, one of THOSE!) I am also one of those “real world” “kindergarteners” who hears a great whoosing when 99% of the science stuff flies past my head. However, I find your science utterly fascinating. And whether I get it or not, I recognize how important it is to all of us.
I do appreciate your off-topic musings – as it shows me you all live in the “real world” with me.
I’m not a lurker, but I don’t think I’ve said anything about my academic background here. I did graduate work in cultural anthropology (which I am happy to admit is not a science), but didn’t finish my PhD due to frustration with certain aspects of the field and my department, and a general realization that I’m not cut out for academia. I fiddled around doing educational software development for a few years, and for the last five years I’ve been working as a medical writer, specifically a writer of patient education booklets and pamphlets (y’know: “Understanding Your Colon”). I got into the job because the company I work for likes to hire writers who can self-educate about the medical stuff, not because I have any background to speak of in medicine or biology (I don’t). I’m quitting my job soon (expecting a baby at the end of the year) and am planning to go back to school part time, probably starting next summer, to do some remedial education in human biology and physiology so as to make myself more employable as a freelance medical writer. I have an idea I’ve been rolling around in my head for several years for a book about diabetes — not a how-to-manage book (there are plenty of those already) but a book on what could broadly be called the politics of diabetes. I’m interested in the social aspects of the disease, how it’s portrayed in the media, politics and funding of R&D, and history of and developing trends in medical management of the disease. I’m not sure the book will ever happen, but I hope so.
So, not a scientist, not an academic, but with a foot on the edge of these worlds.
Lurker. I’m a low energy nuclear physicist grad student slaving away at one of our nation’s
salt minesnational labs. I learned GR from Sean’s notes back in the day and enjoyed his previous blog before this one.I’m a grad student at University of Michigan; finishing my PhD in string theory this year and looking for a post-doc. Definitely a lurker here. Also lurk at Lubos’ blog but not really tapped into the rest of the blog o’ sphere…
I’ve posted a few times. I’m a first-year graduate student at Chicago. Currently investigating the dialectic of doing fun theory vs. getting jobs. Also marvelling over Benjamin Franklin’s wit regarding science and religion in his letter to Ezra Stiles (an alma mater of sorts…).
BA Math ’80. 20+ years as S/W engineer.
I periodically go on Math/Phys binges. The last one was when I tried to get through MTW’s “Gravitation”; the current one was due to discovering Geometric Algebra via D. Hestenes and the Cambridge GA group; on thing led to
another and I’m lurking on fizz-blogs.
I notice most lurkers commented on the political postings one way or another; most seem to be saying they hold their noses and read you anyway.
Physics grad student. My two cents about the blog would also be that it’s much more interesting when the bloggers are addressing their fields of expertise. I can go anywhere for left-wing political discussion. Informed discussion by experts on cosmology and the like is substantially rarer. (No offense intended by this comparison but) Consider the quality of Lubos Motl’s political discussions versus his physics.
Dissident: That piece about the post-doc life doesn’t ring terribly familiar to me – I’ve known dozens of post-docs over my (overly extended, on-again-off-again) graduate career, and while most, if not all, worry about getting a good next job, hardly any work 80-hour weeks (unless you count the time when they’re yes, *always* thinking about their craft), and most (if not all) made over $30k/year (the median in 1997, in physics, was $34k, according to this article in Physics Today).
If anything, a good post-doc appointment seems like a lot more fun than gradauate school or being pre-tenure faculty. The former get paid barely enough to live on, the latter have just as much worry about job security as a post-doc, and both of those have to teach all the time *while* doing research, unlike when you’re a postdoc (although I realize I’m mostly speaking about theoretical physics here).
Occasional poster to Preposterous and now here. BA in English, but unofficially minored in History of Science. My first book is out now (linked in my name), and if it doesn’t completely bomb…I hope to do more.
Director John Madden, on NPR’s Fresh Air today: “The idea of ‘hip’ might seem completely incompatible with higher mathematics, but it’s really not.”
Math undergraduate from Lund, Sweden, with an interest in some of the fundamental questions in physics and computer science. One thing I like about CV (and many academic blogs in general!) is how you sort of get to know the authors — you get to see another side of the professors which sometimes can be hard to catch as a student, at least on my level.
Though it should be stressed that I continue to read academic blogs on their academic merit, and to be honest with you there’s sometimes a bit too much politics in here for my taste. Actually, that’s why I stopped reading Preposterous after a while, I felt the science/politics ratio was too poor for me.
That’s not to say I don’t like most of your writings. I’m still here, ain’t I? Continue the good work!
I’m a middle-aged software engineer who’s been an amateur cosmologist since I was a teenager. Now I spend too much time on blogs and am trying to figure out if I can manage a career change, since while software pays the bills, it doesn’t excite me as much as it used to (and frankly, has never excited me as much as science.)
I’m a senior in college, majoring in physics. I’m looking for a graduate school where I can pursue Intelligent Design/String Cosmology. Any recommendations? I’ve heard Baylor might be a good choice.
Well we are into day 2, so it is really not lurker day anymore is it.:)You know who I am, right?
I am not a lurker either. I have spent the last couple of years following the dialogue of gentlemen/ladies of superstringtheory and others facets of science, who are at the leading edge of science. Those who resist stringtheory, to see where they are leading us.
While I am not to swift sometimes, my heart has always been in the right place:)
As to being a bitter “ole fool” and “not real” like Dickt, I bath in the realization of completing years of raising family, and find my wife and I, at the peak of what life has brought us in terms of family and Grandchildren. My adult children now return what I had given them and am very proud of them.
There’s not much I have not seen in this avenue. It has always been out of the kindness of my heart and respect, that perspectives were introduced. I am very proud of this, and now, such moments bring more blessings.
There is no one here that really can say that this journey “has not” taken me to new perceptions, as a lay person. “My journey” is my blog. My attempts, at understanding. I hope to continue to learn from people here.
You are my elders:)If such a stance is held, the respect for us little ones, takes on a even greater responsibility. If you learn to look in the face of these new little ones, you’ll understand how great that responsibility is.
Museums are more then just recollections of article and material things. There have been people behind them all along.
To the resurgence of the Wunderkammern then, and the real world.:)Do you think one could hide the abstract from the integration of science, and how we can now see this planet of ours?
Keep up the good work here
Was aqualung a lurker?? Well then i am not one. But as a retired humanties type (philosophy and religion first, then teacher education) i have always studied(academically for 40+ years), and continue to study, consciousness, which is inextricably linked to cosmogony, and thus requires me more and more to strive to understand cosmology and theoretical physics. I grew up in a household of scientists–mother taught med school, father was one of our nation’s rocket scientists, sister has a Ph.D. in nutrition science(specializing in food for research animals), brother is MD/Ph.D. in advanced cancer therapies. There was no other path for me except to pursue undergrad and graduate work in the history and philosophy of religions.
btw—it just became Fall at 1414 hrs(PDT) or 2214 GMT
Happy autumnal equinox and may those of you at risk in the western Gulf Coast be safe and wise.
I’m just a regular guy. Most of the science stuff here goes right over my head (I’m an English and History) guy, but I still check back three or four times a week. I like the blog. When I do understand the science stuff, it’s fascinating.
Having had the pleasure of taking both Sean’s undergrad GR course a couple of years ago as well as his and Shadi Bartsch’s Atheism class I thus found my way to Preposterous.
I’m now at CERN for a year with the ATLAS experiment on the LHC…then probably heading out to Stanford, but we’ll see. So far it looks like I’m in for the long haul (in experimental research, that is).
I enjoy just about everything written here…but most of all the politics and evolutionary discussions. (Sean should just post his course notes for that one!)
~dave m.
Was a lurker at Preposterous, now am lurking here 🙂
Third year Physics Student at Georgetown University, at this point planning on going on in my studies to pursue a PH.D. in Theoretical Physics.
I also am put off by the politics at times-it can be overbearing.
Cheers,
NM
Lurker (transferred from Preposterous Universe).
Science journalist–I cover physics, technology, and related policy, and follow the blog for professional interest. The occasional wondrously obscure arguments with other physics bloggers (most notably a certain Harvard string-theorist) are also quite entertaining. Thanks for blogging!
I’m mostly a lurker, but I’ve posted occasionally. Being an astronomer, I fall into the “professional scientist” category. I’m mostly an observationalist (extragalactic), though I’ve done a little bit of theory (pure Newtonian gravitational dynamics, I’m afraid; none of yer fancy 21st Century stuff). BA in astronomy and medieval history — two separate subjects, not one weird combined major! — PhD in astronomy from the cold upper Midwest, postdoc in the Canary Islands and now in Germany.
This is generally a very good blog, though I sometimes feel there are perhaps too many posts per day to keep up with regularly ;-). The most interesting topics for me are the science-related ones, particularly as they feed my thinking and musing on just what it is we scientists are doing, and how, and how we can do it better.
I lurk on a couple of the physics blogs, posting at http://www.illuminatingscience.org occasionally. I’m doing an honours year in maths at the University of Queensland, and will probably start a PhD in atom optics theory next year.
The very frequent posts make this blog very good.
I’ve been a grad student in a prestigious astrophysics department for a long time now — and still many have not caught on to what a fraud I am…