[X] My Assistant

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Although "The Science Guy" still has the rest of the week to work on his rating, I was wondering how others rated the "gloggers."

[Stu]

First of all, congratulations are due, I think, to everyone for stepping up and writing their pieces; a very, very hard job, not just filling Emily's shoes but writing anything for such a vast, knowledgeable audience!

Having said that, to be perfectly honest, only a few "gloggers" left much of an impression on me and made me actually want to go back the next day and read what they'd written. Apart from confessing to my great disappointment with Neal deGrasse Tyson's entries - I was expecting so much from a guy who is never less than hilarious, witty, punchy and dynamic when speaking... yet IMHO his posts just came across as a bit self-indulgent and off topic (I mean, how many times can you make the point that 'normal people' are interested in the universe too? A lost opportunity, I thought... ) - I won't comment on those that didn't, it's not really fair, and again congratulations and thanks to them for taking the time to contribute. But those that impressed me...

* Jim Bell - ah, Jim, always insightful and always ready with the handing out of the nuggets of Mars info. 8/10

* Rosaly Lopes - some very interesting posts, with some good insights into the Cassini mission. Very easy-to-read writing style too, I thought, nice and informal. 7/10

* Mark Adler - what a star! Excellent writing style, like a conversation with his readers; really made me wish he had a regular blog of his own (this is where some smarta** tells me he has, I know... ) Some fascinating MER stories, and a "must read" for the time he was on. 8/10

* Doug Ellison - never heard of him, but clearly he knows nothing about space exploration, or whales. No idea why he was there...!

No, seriously, at the risk of coming across all brown nosey (wonder if our US friends will get that reference?!?!) I thought Our Doug did an outstanding job. Of all the posters I genuinely think he put the most effort into the job, and made the best use of his time. Now before anyone says it, yes, I know his circumstances were rather different - the others are, largely, pro scientists with high pressure missions to work on, etc - but in the few days he was in Valencia Doug wrote his heart out for us and for PS readers, cramming his posts with information and accounts - and some quirky humour too, to stop it being dry and stuffy. Like "Whaley", that was inspired, but also very clever writing, combining the SETI theme with a more familiar reference everyone could identify with.

Not everyone "gets" Doug, or his style. Some take him the wrong way... and we all know who I'm talking about here... but stuff them, because as an ambassador both for UMSF and the space enthusiast community in general, I thought Doug did a superb job glogging, one definitely deserving a 9/10.

[ugordan]

Can't pick a number one, but If I had to single out four of them, I'd pick these guys (in no particular order) as being the most enjoyable as well as informative read:
Jim Bell, David Seal, Mark Adler & Doug. No particular comments about any of them, I just get the feeling blogging came as a natural thing to them. Perhaps they should start their own blogs (I see that was already suggested to Dave)!

I also found John Spencer's entries great (wish he wrote more than 3!), Rosaly Lopes' Io and Titan entries were nice and Andrew Westphal's more generic overview of being in the science business, as well as his trials an tribulations on Stardust.