This post was written only for the included picture
For some reason, I receive a copy of C&E News a week after everyone else does. In light of that, I was unaware until now of what I'm about to talk about. In last week's issue, which featured Priestley Medal winner and world's smartest chromedome George Whitesides along with two excellent articles about him, there were a number of articles and clips that, shall we say, were scooped earlier by blogs I read. I counted four, but the number of blogs I read is pretty small, so I'm sure the number is even larger than that.
- I did a lil' post on nitrile-alkyne cross-metathesis a few days before C&EN got to it.
- The so-awesome-I-could-crap-my-pants Buckycatcher was covered by Kyle's Chem Blog a good week before C&EN covered it, and Kyle was nice enough to include an interactive 3D structure, too.
- The article on Afican-American chemists, written by the illustrious Beth Halford, was almost certainly inspired by a post on, where else? ChemBark.
- I covered our group's Nature cover story... two days after C&EN covered it, but mine's better and thus does not undermine my argument. (Okay, a lot of people covered the story, but whatevs. Mine's still awesome.)
So there you have it. We might not have C&EN's readership, graphic designers, copy editors, Beth Halford, glossy print, or access to Richard Schrock, but we WERE first(ish), and that counts for something, I guess. I'm not going to extol the virtues of the blogosphere- frankly I find it to be more of a hobby than anything, and little more than that- but it is nice to see that my work is potentially being copied by the higher ups. Jokes aside, there's really only one thing that bloggers have over news outlets like C&EN in my opinion, and that is honesty. Honesty in your opinions and honesty in issues that are potentially important. Honesty in your portrayal of how you feel- it's not often you see the word "fuck" in C&EN, but you see it a lot on blogs, and I, personally, love that.
And that is where I will stop praising bloggers, as I don't want to turn into one of those assholes who constantly self-praises the blogosphere and are really annoying. I guess it's just nice to be able to stick it to The Man* sometimes.
*By The Man, I am referring to the vacuous corporate governing entity that hippies are constantly sticking it to, and not Bob Grubbs.
**I made that picture after watching Good Night and Good Luck, which I loved. It was truly a musing from the Gods.
18 comments:
For someone who blasted Paul on self-congratulating the chemical blogosphere...
Also, receiving C&EN late is no excuse to not be on top of their articles since they are published on their website. Plus, there was a time you could read articles before they were even 'officially' published. Good ole' days.
Mitch
lol, I'm a hypocrite. I have no shame. I did, however, base my C&EN dates on the online publication dates. I don't like reading C&EN online if I know I'm just going to end up flipping through it later- it's not so integral a part of my life, and anything really important is gonna be covered by someone else anyway, and probably in a more entertaining way.
I am cracking up at the thought of Rudy Baum reading this post and pondering whether to encourage his reporters to use more curse words.
While I love to trumpet chemistry blogs, there's no way Beth Halford's post was inspired by ChemBark. The only thing ChemBark inspires people to do is vomit.
It's much more likely that the NOVA special on Percy Julian or Black History Month itself had something to do with it. I think that's what editors call a "timely piece".
I get mine a week late, too, but I read the alkyne-nitrile ASAP only a few days before the C&EN article went online. Vienna RSS + ACS feeds = magic.
"it's not often you see the word "fuck" in C&EN, but you see it a lot on blogs, and I, personally, love that"
For what it's worth, you scooped me on my comment, too. You've got quite a streak going here.
I seem to get my C&EN very early. That may have something to do with the fact that they are printed about 20 miles from me.
Perhaps Bob Grubbs at one time even had hippie sympathies?
Barney- looks more like he's compensating for the front in the back. Nevertheless, holy crap that's hilarious. I can't wait until thirty years from now when I wonder why on earth I wore that. Which one are you in that pic?
I'm the longhair in the front and that's my little brother the gynecologist in the back (my sister the Hawaiian psychologist wasn't yet born). Hell, I might as well take this opportunity to announce the first grubbs grandchild, Thea Grubbs-Aubrecht, who makes her grandfather jealous with her fine head of hair. She's three weeks old as of yesterday, though she had remarkably expressive finger control shortly after her birth. You heard it here first (unless you heard it elsewhere).
congratulations!!!
Congrats...and I love the Osh-Kosh-B-Gosh in the photo.
Congrats, Barney.
Put that finger control to good use, buy a musical instrument: a great way to encourage a gifted child.
Thanks everybody.
Paul, I think that pair of overalls were later worn by my siblings and who knows who else. I have to get a pair for Thea--they supposedly make good handles for corraling young escapees (these might come in handy if we bring her down to Boston in August).
Matt, we've already got a piano, an accordion, a melodica, and two guitars. If she wants to learn to play drums, we can have a family band. For now, she just shoots the occasional bird, shows the metal horns periodically, and is getting good at punching herself in the face.
Congrats! (At least she isn't punching anyone else in the face.)
That comes when she's in pre-K, PsiStar.
Barney: Take it from someone with experience: overalls are very nice for that last-second grab and haul-back-into-custody maneuver you need to pull sometimes, especially if out in the yard.
Hey Ex,
I get LOTS of ideas from blogs. You guys do great stuff.
I can tell you that while y'all may have scooped us on those news stories, we didn't get those particular ideas from blogs. We thought those papers were cool too.
Paul is right, in part, about the inspiration for the diversity story. It was also a subject we really hadn't written about in a while.
Finally, anyone who's ever met me knows that I'm a big fan of colorful language. Someday all our readers will feel the way you do.
Beth, this post (like most of mine) was mostly in jest (but you knew that, I'm sure), but I think there's something to be said about the small but slowly increasing influence of blogs, like you hint at. But MOSTLY it was in jest. Mostly.
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