Here's an interesting development. Top science bloggers have become a commodity hot enough that a situation like that in European football is emerging. Players are getting snatched from team to team through hostile buyout (Carl Zimmer of The Loom), and the number of really good non-pro players is dwindling (Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer just went pro).
I'm not sure if Carl got offered better pay than at Sb. Both bloggers did get steady writing gigs as columnists for Discover Magazine, which translates to some money (though most likely not much). In an attention-based economy, the market is driven both by money and by access to readers.
My warmest congratulations, Carl and Phil!
More like this
Last week I linked to Carl Zimmer's take down of Casey Luskin.
Imagine a book I would write. On viruses (what else?).
Now, instead of it sounding like it was written by a chimpanzee who learned English from watching 'Waynes World' and 'Waynes World 2' on a loop + 4chan, imagine it was written by an articulate, science-literate human.
Everyone has a bad Monday every now and then, right? Here's one for you: at 7a.m. spilled an entire cappuccino on my laptop and at 7p.m. I hit some black ice on the highway and rolled (and totaled) my truck. That is what I call a rough Monday...but what a banner, no?
I knew I'd love Carl's Microcosm for the delicious irony of using a mere "germ" to illustrate
Time to institute a draft system?
As with many business`s be it football or blogging or writing for magazines Money talks.
The talent better arrange for collective bargaining. How'd you like to have your rights assigned to bayblab? lolz.