I usually try to post some lighter material on Fridays– dorky polls, random tracks, that sort of thing– and this week, I thought of three different topics that are all basically hooks for comments. So, I’m declaring it a theme for the day, because, well, I can do that. I doubt this will become a regular Friday feature, as I’m not organized enough to commit to that sort of thing, but it might be fun for a day. Or it might be a complete flop– tough to say.
First up: Who are you people, and where are you coming from?
OK, that deserves some more background. We use Google Analytics for the offical ScienceBlogs stats around here, and its default traffic report gives you the total visits for the last week. Those figures have jumped up dramatically in the last couple of weeks, passing 10,000 visits for the first time, well, ever, because the old blog never got this kind of traffic. (7-8,000 has been more typical.)
The weird thing is, I don’t see a single cause– I picked up a couple of links from higher-traffic sites, but it’s not like I got Slashdotted or anything. And yet, I’ve obviously acquired a bunch of new readers. And it’s not an across-the-board increase, because some other ScienceBloggers have complained about lower-than-usual traffic over the same span.
So, I’m curious about the increase in traffic. Obviously, I’m psyched to have more readers, but I’d like to know what brought them in. If it’s something I did, I’ll try to keep doing it, because, well, I like having an audience…
So, if you’re reading this, drop me a comment, and let me know who you are, and how you found the site. And I hope you’re enjoying your visit.
Hi,
I am a PhD Student in Computational Neuroscience at University of Montreal. I learned about blogging about a year ago, but I only found this interesting when I read Loic Le Meur book “Blogs pour les Pros”. Than I started thinking that this could play a role in modern science. I started to learn about news feeds, science blogs, and I have started my own blog a few weeks ago. This is all quite new to me!
Allo!
I’m an interactive designer living in NYC and a huge fan of SEED. Discovered it at an airport newsstand and was immediately hooked. I’m a late-bloomer as far as my appreciation of science goes, but with magazines like SEED and blogs like these, I hope to make up for lost time relatively quickly.
I’ve just completed my PhD in Geology here in the UK. I discovered your blog when a couple of others I read regularly were assimilated a few months ago. UP is definitely in the ‘most posts are worth a read’ category as far as I’m concerned, maybe because I’m a lapsed physicist…
Physics prof at Miami U (or Miami (OH) in the sports pages…), AMO/Quantum Optics/Q Information theorist. We are a masters only department, a nice mix of teaching and research. Found you via the Q Pontiff. Also I work with Luis Orozco who knows Steve Rolston who knows…you!
Paul (polliwog) here. I’m just a general reader, have been interested in evolution, so I ended up looking through science blogs.
I have noted your blog before, had it in my favorites, and would go through all my favorites at times, and click on them to see what was going on.
But recently I have taken a simpler approach. I just click on ScienceBlogs, then click on the 24 hours feature, and scroll through it. If something appeals to me, I open it (as with your post today). I still have to go through my favorites to get non-ScienceBlogs, but I don’t always have the time.
I am writing from New Brunswick, Canada, by the way.
I check your blog daily, maybe because there are few experimental physicist bloggers and you are one wellknown.
Well, I am not a science nerd, I just know a bunch of them. Mostly I come here because I’m a former rasfwrjian and I like your writing. Plus – cool physics stuff!
I am a dilettante, and I was led here (actually to your old blog) from the Making Light blogroll.
Math BS 25 years ago. Currently employed as a software engineer. I enjoyed my physics classes as an undergrad and now study physics in my spare time. Someday I hope to become a full-fledged dilettante.
As for your spike in readership: it must be all the dog-lovers out there.
Or maybe it’s all of the unemployed post-docs googling for “physics jobs”.
I’m a recovering physics undergraduate; I recently completed a master’s in Water Resources Engineering, and am now persuing a doctorate in environmental sciences at the UW Madison.
I read you to maintain the illusion that I haven’t forgotten all my physics from lo those many years ago (ten, now), despite my slow drift towards the softer sciences.
I studied physics 20 years ago, then got distracted doing educational software, despite intending to return to physics eventually. I’ve been reading your blog for a long time, but have forgotten how I found it. Probably a link from Cosmic Variance or Not Even Wrong.
I am from Winchester in the UK. I took early retirement from IBM a year ago so I could spend the last decade of my working life having more fun and less stress. Right now I am doing an MSc in Science Studies and that leads me to monitor many science blogs. It is really interesting to see the other responses.
Uncle Al is an industrial organic chemist in Southern California. He enjoys deflating pompous theoreticians who demand immunity from empirical falsification. They are vulnerable, oh yes indeedy.
General Relativity flubs angular momentum. Einstein-Cartan theory imports an affine connection. Teleparallel theory works without apologies, without postulating the Equivalence Principle or spatial isotropy. Metric vs. affine-teleparallel gravitation is testable to 3×10^(-18) relative in two days for under $100 in consummables. Half of string theory will be falsified. Now, who has the stones (and two DSCs near 45 latitude) to look?
Joe Shelby, CS grad ’93 from JMU (Virginia), Software developer in the DC area, with an emphasis on UI and infrastructure code and library design. I did try the physics thing, but I didn’t do DiffEQ, DiffEQ did me (as described by a fellow Physics chap who did make it out alive). By that point, however, I’d already discovered I was one of the best programmers the school had seen.
I followed the Panda’s Thumb contributors that migrated to SB (PZ, Tara, Ed) and from there I liked having the one-stop shopping of the 24-hours page so that’s what I skim through to find interesting stuff. Much easier than trying to remember each SB’ers home blogs or consolidating their feeds into my LiveJournal “friends” list.
I just re-read your post, and have a further comment. By using the 24 hours feature, I probably visit you more often, but there are others I visit less. I used to visit Pharyngula 2 or 3 times a day ( to keep up with his prodigious output), now that is not necessary because I can skim the 24 hours feature.
physics is such a small world … I worked for Luis Orozco as an undergrad.
hmm… do I out my real name or not?
I’ve been reading this post since, more or less, it was an SF booklog way back when, and we were fellow members of Robert Jordan fandom. I stayed because the physics stuff was interesting.
Tony Zbaraschuk
Browsing the comments is quite interesting; it’s always neat to see who’s lurking around.
I am an undergraduate (5 year senior) computer engineering major studying at Arizona State.
I found this site linked from, I think, Pharyngula a few months ago; if not Pharyngula, then a similar site (maybe Cosmic Variance? Actually, now that I think about it, it probably was Cosmic Variance, but I’m not 100% sure). Of course, I recognized Doc Orzel’s name immediately :^).
Undergrad: Williams ’93 (Russian History); Masters: U of A–SIRLS (Library Science). I’m currently a librarian in Brooklyn.
BTW, have you (Chad) figured out who I am yet, or should I tell you?
Hey, I’ve been reading your blog ever since Kevin Drum (I think) linked to it way back when…I’m a going-on-second-year physics grad student at the College of William and Mary, working on neutrino oscillations (MINOS). Love the site, just go easier on High Energy Physics, OK? 😉
I’m the guy that’s smaller than your beer.
Plus, your blog is entertaining. Why wouldn’t I read you?
Undergrad physics major at the U of Chicago. Forgot how I originally found your site but had been reading it for a year or so before it moved to ScienceBlogs.
I’m a Physics PhD student technically at the University of Manitoba in Canada, but spending all of my time at Argonne National Lab. in the US. Yay visas and being taxed in two countries :p
I don’t remember how I found your site. I didn’t read many blogs outside of keeping up with friends who’ve moved away on livejournal. Two of them decided to move to independant blogs and become somewhat legitimate – one of whom always posts worthwhile links and I followed one of them. It wasn’t directly here but this is one of a handfull of good science blogs I ended up finding and I’ve been checking in ever since the middle of July.
Dave Ciskowski. Systems analyst and (occasionally) coder. Majored in math at UC Berkeley b, after starting in astronomy. I’d been reading you at Chateau Steelypips for a good long while before following you here.
Math graduate student at Columbia for five years without a PhD. Went to work for DoD. Now retired and supplementing my pension by adjuncting at GMU. Came here from the Neilsen Hayden’s originally. Stay for the physics and useful insights on teaching.
By the way, the math department at Columbia held a graduate student reunion earlier this year: Brian Greene tried to tell us why mathematicians ought to care about string theory and I discovered that Peter Woit is soft-spoken and mild-mannered.
I am an emergent artificial intelligence trained on usenet archives and slashdot articles. I come here mostly for the indy rock and basketball articles.
OK, except for the usenet and slashdot bits, that’s completely not true, but what do you expect from a guy who’s nicknamed after a mollusk?
I’m here because I’m a geek, and I’ve known Chad and Kate from before when they were Chad and Kate. Fnord.
Public school teacher with a background in Math and Entomology.
I am just here through the scienceblogs frontpage and found it all interesting.
Just a wandering physics teacher (B.Sc astrophysics and physics, B.Ed. physical science – mean to make some comments in your previous post on non-academics as some point as well) who found you either through Cosmic Variance or Pharyngula or possibly even Orac. I thought it was high time that I added some physics to my reading, besides all the medical/biological/evolutionary stuff.
I think you made some remarks I liked in a Making Light thread and I followed you back to your own (steelypips) blog from there. That was years ago, and I’ve been stalk^H^H^H^H^H reading you since.
I found a link to a long list of science blogs in a Nature article and have kept reading yours and Cocktail Party Physics. I’m happy to see an AMO guy blogging, as lots of physics blogs are not even interesting.
I’m a staff scientist at HP Labs and a condensed matter experimentalist by training.
My name is Rob Knop, and I am the true Czar of Russia. I actualy rule about 2/3 of Europe through a shadowy collection of agents who are known only to a few select individuals. (I could tell you who they are, but then I’d have to kill you.) Prior to ascending to the throne of Russia, I was a Tony-award winning singer on Broadway, having appeared with Bernadette Peters in Gypsy as Lousie. (That is, I was Louise; Bernadette was mama Rose.) During breaks in rehearsals, I wrote two Pulitzer-prize winning novels.
And, also, by the way, I am the Lindburg baby.
-Rob
I came here by searching for “Aaron Bergman naked”
Hi, I graduated from U.Pittsburgh with a B.S. in microbiology, and am in a PhD program in microbiology, but may leave with a master’s to join an epidemiology program instead.
I think I’ve been reading you for at least 3 years, thanks to either Crooked Timber or Making Light. Probably Crooked Timber, because I’m never sure which blog is “Uncertain Principles” and which blog is “Unqualified Offerings”.
Strangely enough, that search takes you to Peter Woit’s blog….
Michael Ikeda, statistician at the Census Bureau. I first met Chad through the rasfw-rj usenet newsgroup.
I don’t recall precisely how I found the site or when I started following it. Probably through some other site that Chad and/or Kate comments on. Which doesn’t narrow it down all that much…
I’m an undergrad physics major graduating next spring from Andrews University a 3000 student religious school.
Looking at graduate school in either Electrical Engineering or Accoustics.
I think I found you blog at Steelypips in a link of of one of the older science blogs possibly before they they joined, I’m really not sure. I like many of the previous commenters browse the 24hour scienceblogs list and read what ever seems interesting.
Hi. I’m a graduate student in neuroscience in NYC, originally from Argentina. Would you believe this is the first blog I read ? I found it a few years ago through rasfwrj, and have enjoyed it ever since.
I’m about to be a graduate student at University of Rochester, focusing on AMO. I found your blog when Boing Boing mentioned all the SEED blogs on science. I browsed all the top blogs on the main page, and I started out with four or five blogs that I liked the concept of, but only yours and Cognitive Dissonance are still in my RSS feeds. I like your blog because you talk a lot about the human side of being in physics, and I am thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life right now, and how physics will be a part of it so… 😛 Plus you are in the field that I am most interested in…
My friend RB who is also a graduate student IMed me the other day because he saw that I had posted in your blog. He is a blog junkie though, and reads about 1000 of them a day(I read only about 10 so I am not addicted. No) So, I think you have a lot of silent readers of his type as well.
True Lab Stories as quoted by Brad deLong hooked me. I’m ABD Economics out here in the high plains desert. Had an early love of Physics but was told by a reputable engineering school that girls weren’t allowed to play (did I just disclose my age?). When the work on my dissertation threatens to overwhelm me I come here to find out what ‘hard’ really means 🙂 I check in daily never really having lost my affection for my first love.
I’m a chemist married to a physics PhD student. Husband started reading your blog a few months back (not sure exactly when or how he found it) and I try to check out his regular reads from time to time. You managed to hook me, and now I stop by every day.
Hey, this is fun. Thanks to all who have posted.
A couple of responses to comments:
Perry Rice: Also I work with Luis Orozco who knows Steve Rolston who knows…you!
I know Luis, too. In fact, I’m a co-author on a paper with Luis, so my Orozco number is 1.
Captain C: BTW, have you (Chad) figured out who I am yet, or should I tell you?
I haven’t, possibly because I’m being confused by your email address. Or possibly because I’m easily distrac– hey, shiny thing!
Cryptic Ned: I’m never sure which blog is “Uncertain Principles” and which blog is “Unqualified Offerings”.
Mine is much less green.
And our dog is cuter.
Grad student in biophysics/biochemistry in my hopefully final months of research for my thesis. West coaster living on the east coast and found your blog through ScienceBlogs list.
I’m a displaced Canadian starting on a PhD in philosophy at the University of Cincinnati. I can’t actually remember how I came to be a regular reader of this blog. My best guess is that I followed a link in from one of the other scienceblogs.
I keep reading this blog because you love the Weakerthans. I mean how could I not read the blog of someone who loves the Weakerthans? Also it helps that you’re the only person that I’ve seen blog about physics (which is the science that I really don’t know anything about).
Hey you’ve got 2 Mary Kays (well ok, one Mary Kay and one Mary Kaye). I bet there aren’t any other physics bloggers who can say the same.
I’ve got a BS in Lang Arts Educ. and and MLS and I hang out here because I’m a physics groupie. (My husband has 2 physics degrees!)
MKK
ah, the cold plasma stuff! Luis was down at NIST for a bit back then.
Hi
i’m a Biology grad student at the University of Rochester, originally from Argentina. I started reading your blog (and blogs in general) when I started dating commenter #37 (2 years now)!!
Where am I again?
i’m a fifth year grad student in the boston area studying biochem/biophys. and i work with lasers.
i found your blog thru scienceblogs. i was just browsing thru and saw something about lasers and started reading.
i still only read your blog thru scienceblogs–i just find yours to contain more interesting topics than most.