Change we can believe in: starting Monday, Cosmic Variance will be bidding adieu to its life as a plucky independent blog, and huddle into the warm embrace of Discover Magazine. There will be a very brief transition period in which the blog disappears entirely, but hang in there — we’ll be back online before you know it.
Now, we know what you’re thinking: you knew us back when we were indie rock, keeping it real, and now we’re going all corporate? Yes, yes we are. If for no other reason than the thankless task of keeping the blog from crashing and handling the technical end of things will be put in someone else’s capable hands, not our clueless ones.
But there are other reasons. Hopefully the association with Discover will open up new opportunities, and bring new readers to our discussions. And we’re happy to be joining an elite community of blogs that are already up and running at Discover:
- Bad Astronomy: Everyone knows Phil Plait and his enthusiastic dissections of what’s right and wrong in astronomy and much more.
- The Loom: Carl Zimmer is another old friend, the go-to guywhen you have questions about E. coli (among other things).
- Reality Base: a great blog by Melissa Lafsky on science, politics, and the wider world.
- Science Not Fiction: Stephen Cass, Sam Lowry and Eric Wolff cover futuristic technologies in reality and in fiction.
- Better Planet: Benjamin Nugent specializes in
portents of disasterenvironmental news. - Discoblog: dispatches from the quirkier side of science.
- 80 Beats: Eliza Strickland scoops up the best science news of the day, and doles it out in bite-sized morsels.
So what does this mean for you, our cherished readers? Nothing, pretty much. You should still be able to get here by pointing your browser at “http://cosmicvariance.com/”; indeed, all of the archives should still be available under their old addresses. Likewise the RSS feeds should work as before; in particular, go here:
And of course our characteristic sprightly insouciance will continue undiminished. Admittedly, the glamorous blue theme we’ve sported since our humble beginnings will be traded in for an orange and white palate. But we’ve always been about the substance, not superficial appearances. Right?
Congrats — even if it will not keep you all in new swimming pools and the latest and greatest in touch screen mobile phones (or maybe it will?), glad to see you have monetized the blog 🙂
(Do you have the right to pull out if it all goes to custard with the new corporate overlords? Can you keep the name, or will you have to post as “The Blogger Formerly Known as Mark” or “The Blogger Formerly Known as Sean” on some “Contractual Obligations” blog run off a rogue server in Venezuela. Just curious)
Hey! Who won the election contest?
Great move, the only thing that stays the same is change.
-Aiya-Oba(Poet/Philosopher)
Wait, the Discover hivemind supports $latex LaTeX$? The Seed one doesn’t.
Sad blogger is now sad.
Spill it. How many millions?
Unlike the USA where internet access is cheap, in some parts of the world it is still expensive. (South Africa) A lot of people access the internet at work. Most of the blog sites get filtered out. When I try to open Bad Astronomy or 80 Beats I get the message – “Access to the requested web page is denied using Burst Technology Filtering Software. The Requested web page is categorized as Free-Hosted Sites.” I hope I will still be able to access your site and that you will not loose any readers through this filtering process.
The problem I have with Discover’s blogs is page weight. Loading on my laptop at home is fine, loading on the go or on my iphone is excruciating with all the ads and extra crap.
I want the old color scheme back! Change frightens and confuses me.
Given how closely the move occurred after the presidential election, there’s got to be something fishy going on between Cosmic Variance and the United States Government. 😉
Seriously, congratulations and best of wishes!
Quote: “Benjamin Nugent specializes in [portents of disaster] environmental news.”
So, is scientific discussion of issues like global warming and environmental pollution wrong? Is it nothing but doom-mongering, alarmist prophecy? Maybe global warming isn’t real after all? Maybe there are no environmental causes of cancer? Are such concerns really all about soothsaying and “portents of disaster”?
Just some harmless trash-talking?
kletter – I believe that comment was an example of what humans call “humor”.
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Oh man! this layout sucks. The older layout was much much easier to read. The reading material is now bunched up against the left hand side of the screen. Guess I will be reading this blog on Google reader now 🙁