Sean Carroll, of Preposterous Universe, has joined forces with Mark Trodden (of Orange Quark), and new bloggers SLAC particle phenomenologist JoAnne Hewett, USC string/brane theorist Clifford Johnson, and Chicago cosmologist Risa Wechsler. They’ll be collaborating on a new weblog entitled Cosmic Variance, and I’m looking forward to following what they do with it.
This may be part of a new trend of consolidation in the physics weblogging industry, following the lead of the String Coffee Table and the massive, multi-national, government-subsidized Quantum Diaries site. Will small, independent, artisanal producers like myself be able to compete with huge combines like Cosmic Variance, with their professional software and expensive ($6.95/month!) web-hosting services? Or will we be driven out of business as our profit margins are squeezed to the vanishing point? Wait a minute, I’m not making a profit at this anyway…
Actually, today I’m in Austin, Texas on personal business. I suppose I should be looking up Jacques to see if he, Lubos and I can organize an even bigger competing organization.
If Peter and Lubos combined efforts, it would be called “Not even close”.
-drl
“Saying things like this to impressionable graduate students is really educational malpractice.”
Yes. You should totally start a blog with Jacques.
As long as you don’t compromise your independence…
I’ll second the Peter/Jacques/Lubos blog idea. Reading that would take entirely too much of my time 🙂
Peter, you should definitely team up with Jacques and Lubos. I would certainly read that blog.
You are forgetting the economies of scale in their operation. $6.95/5 = $1.39. You don’t stand a chance.