Both have gone dark. Both are making announcements today at 5:00 EST. This could be big. A BloggoBlockbuster of some kind in the making.
Maybe they have been having a secret affair all along and are moving to CA to get married!?!?!?
Maybe they are starting their own blog, what with Phil being cosmic and Carl being more life sciencey, they could cover EVERYTHING.
Maybe they're coming out with a new Theory of Everything!!!
Who knows?
One thing I do know: I know where I'm going to be a five o-clock Eastern Standard Time today...
... looking at The Loom and Bad Astronomy.
(Hat tip on Phil's announcement from TUIBG ... Maybe Mike will have more observations later)
UPDATE: What if this is linked to the Large Hadron Collider going on line?!?!?!?!?
Comments
I didn't know Carl and Phil were hadrons, but it will be something else when they are run through the collider.
Posted by: kevin | June 30, 2008 1:36 PM
Patience, young Paduwan.
Posted by: Phil Plait | June 30, 2008 1:50 PM
Hey, Phil, how's the weather in Geneva? That things' not gonna blow, is it?
(What's a pad ooo wan... have i been insulted?)
Posted by: Greg Laden | June 30, 2008 1:53 PM
That depends on how you feel about midichlorians. It's a Jedi in training.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | June 30, 2008 1:55 PM
Well, if he is there then he must believe his own posts on how it is totally safe... So that's good.
Posted by: Andrew | June 30, 2008 1:56 PM
This is bigger than OJ.
Posted by: sue | June 30, 2008 1:59 PM
It's a Jedi in training.
OK, that's not so bad then...
Posted by: Greg Laden | June 30, 2008 2:01 PM
Well, unless you're seduced by the dark side. When that happens, your acting abilities go all to hell.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | June 30, 2008 2:11 PM
I just got back from California, and Phil ain't my type. Sorry, Phil.
All will be revealed.
Posted by: Carl Zimmer | June 30, 2008 2:16 PM
Is that EST or EDT?
Posted by: Kevin W. Parker | June 30, 2008 2:43 PM
Stephanie - Who needs to act when you have a black helment and James Earl Jones?
Oh - you meant while being seduced by the dark side. I saw "Jumpers." I don't think it has anything to do with the dark side.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | June 30, 2008 2:48 PM
The end of Episode 3 managed to ruin even James Earl Jones for me, I'm afraid. Judging by the reactions of others in the theater, I don't think I was supposed to break into hysterical giggles at "Nooooo!"
And Christensen's been good in other stuff, although I can't think what without recourse to IMDB.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | June 30, 2008 3:02 PM
I Hear "Discover" Magazine is looking to expand online...
Posted by: Alex | June 30, 2008 3:25 PM
Posted by: lylebot | June 30, 2008 3:38 PM
Posted by: Virgil Samms | June 30, 2008 4:23 PM
This is definitely a part of Phil's devious plan to steal the Large Hadron Collider and destroy THE wORLD !!!!
If you feel the all-consuming urge to head off to the Franco-Swiss border, DO NOT GO! It means the mind-control fungus has taken control of you, and will force you to head off to the Fraco-Swiss border and help Carl and Phil in their EVIL PLAN!
Posted by: llewelly | June 30, 2008 4:51 PM
Posted by: Virgil Samms | June 30, 2008 5:03 PM
I'm in Canada, not Geneva. My LHC trip was months ago! :-)
Posted by: Phil Plait | June 30, 2008 5:54 PM
Well Carl missed 5 EDT, so maybe he did mean EST. Must have forgotten to set his watch ahead last Spring...
Posted by: Virgil Samms | June 30, 2008 5:59 PM
Let's pretend 7 pm is the new 5 pm.
Posted by: Carl Zimmer | June 30, 2008 6:06 PM
Nightey night, Carl. I guess the Rapture will just have to wait.
Posted by: Virgil Samms | June 30, 2008 6:28 PM
Interestingly, Carl is saying to wait till around 7, while Plait is also saying roughly the same thing ... (maybe 7 or 8, he says).
The possibility that these are not related events has gone way down. However, I now have reason to believe that they are not in Geneva about to throw the switch on the LHC.
Posted by: Greg Laden | June 30, 2008 6:43 PM
If it is the LHC, the switch-on should be delayed until they have checked any work done by the French. I have collected several boats from French yards, and every time have had to deal with a French 'engineer' in oily overalls with a few pieces of the boat that were 'left over' when they built it. On one occasion it was an alternator for an engine. Really. I love the French, but if they've anything to do with the LHC, find them, ask for the left over bits, then go through the bit they built and remove the fag-ends (cigarete butts) and spanners that will have been left there. And - LHC peeps - check the wiring on alarm circuits. Discovering they've disconnected the bilge alarm and engine overheating alarm is bad in the North Atlantic. That's happened to me. Finding that stuff on something which could make black holes is another size of feurque-eurp altogether.
Posted by: Peter Mc | June 30, 2008 8:43 PM
Arrr! I'm going nuts...
or should that be
Arr nuts! I'm going...
Hee hee
Posted by: ColinB | June 30, 2008 9:44 PM
If I recall correctly, Dr. BA has turned down SciBlogs (or at least considered and rejected the notion) in the past, giving his autonomy as his reason.
(I tried to leave that at Tangled Up, but am getting a weird 'please type a comment' error.)
Posted by: JanieBelle | June 30, 2008 9:59 PM
So, is Phil the person in Toronto who went to see Expelled?
Perhaps they're going to be hosting the initial publication of Ray's paper. (t.o. in joke)
Posted by: Don Cates | June 30, 2008 10:00 PM
I think they're going to band together and explain to Ben Stein how the Theory of Evolution explains gravity.
Posted by: Citizen Z | June 30, 2008 10:01 PM
[follow-up] That would explain the delays.
Posted by: Don Cates | June 30, 2008 10:02 PM
Speaking of blogs going dark, whassup with Larry Moran's Sandwalk? Server hiccup, or something more significant?
Posted by: Jud | June 30, 2008 10:23 PM
Isn't the answer obvious... astronomy... e. coli...
Living Bacteria found on Mars, and these telekinetic organisms were responsible for 9-11. The server "delays" are obviously because NASA's trying to silence the truth.
It's all so clear now...
:)
Posted by: richard murray | June 30, 2008 11:38 PM
Now both of them are saying it'll be postponed until tomorrow morning.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | June 30, 2008 11:40 PM
Dang. These are my two favorite science-related blogs, and they're both teasing me at the same time!
I'll put my trust in Zimmer. He'll come up with something worth the wait.
Posted by: Measure | June 30, 2008 11:57 PM
Wasn't it the French who built that rifle/machine gun/whatever that got dirt in the works and jammed up if you looked at it crosseyed? I forget which World War it was in, but I'm told the thing worked better as a club than as a gun.
Posted by: themadlolscientist | July 1, 2008 12:04 AM
"All will be revealed. "
"Hide the women and children! Carl Zimmer threatens the Interwebs with full frontal nudity."
My guess: tattoo displaying the secret colonization of E coli on Mars providing a repository for New York City refuse.
Posted by: DDeden | July 1, 2008 12:16 AM
Zimmer pulls a FailFox
Posted by: Virgil Samms | July 1, 2008 9:15 AM
Posted by: Virgil Samms | July 1, 2008 9:17 AM
Virgil: Good question. The only autonomy I lost by joining Scienceblogs is the ability to muck with the code that delivers my site more than a tiny little bit. That is not necessarily a bad thing.
Posted by: Greg Laden | July 1, 2008 10:39 AM