I have been neglecting my duties, so here’s a reminder. Grrlscientist has now proven her insanity by agreeing to marry me. And, just to make sure there is no doubt, she has actually married me. So, in return, I want to send her somewhere cold and uncivilised.
Grrl has entered a competition to go to Antarctica, organised by Quark Expeditions. To win she has to get more votes than anyone else. Now, my attempts to persuade Nature that they should insist on submissions being accompanied by a proof that all of the authors voted for Grrl have fallen on deaf ears. Science said they would do it only if PLoS did it as well. Dr Zivkivic said he would try, but just didn’t have the time.
At the moment, Grrl is in third place, under her real-world pseudonym of Devorah Bennu. Second is the son of Donny Osmond, and first is a Portuguese penguin impressionist. We should be able to get Grrl up to second place, at least.
Why should you vote for Grrl? Well, The Beast will be wanting a quiet life by then, without being hassled by her.
Or else.
And she’ll be able to write about her experiences down there on her blog, Living the Bloody Cold Life (Shiverer, Uninterrupted). I hope you all know how good her writing is: as seen in blog and well known science journals beginning with N and S as well as elsewhere.
To vote, just click here, and register. That process is painless, and spam free. If you have problems registering, email Quark Expedition’s marketing manager, Prisca Campbell ([email protected]), who will then register your email address by hand.
Voting finishes at the end of this month, so time is getting short!
Of course, tell all your friends to vote for Grrl as well, and reblog, retweet, and put out adverts in the local rag. Otherwise you’ll never be able to look at a korma in the same way.
For the honour of the scientific blogosphere?
she has actually married me. So, in return, I want to send her somewhere cold and uncivilised.I’d better make sure my husband doesn’t find out about this. I may find myself nominated for the first manned flight to Mars.
You may remeber voters who voted for other competitors that they can change their vote.
I was mighty tempted to vote for the lovely young lad from Argentina whose picture featured sculpted abs slinking into his Calvin Kleins…but I would hate for him to catch a cold.
Done.
Good point. Martin!
I know there are a couple of other science bloggers in the competition who have far fewer votes. But i like them as well, so it seems a bit unkind to aggressively go after their votes.
Thanks Audra.
Cath – I heard that he was thinking of taking you on a “holiday” to Scunthorpe.
i am happy to accept other competitors’ votes, but will not ask anyone to give them to me because i KNOW how much work went into getting them!
but donation is GREAT!! in fact, one competitor (andrew evans, 500 votes) already talked to me today on the phone to tell me that he wants to donate all his votes to me. he is going to change his essay, blog links and video to reflect this on monday, after he returns from a writer’s workshop he is attending in maine. andrew cannot actually donate his votes in a block (BUMMER!!) but he CAN ask his supporters to change their votes, which is what he plans to do. we remain in touch and will work on strategy in the coming weeks.
oh, i asked him if i can announce this on my blog, and he said this was fine, so that information is already posted (yes, i am very excited).
We did it the other way round: went to Antarctica, then got married…
By the way, Bob – I’m getting the impression that you don’t want to be the ‘guest’ Grrl may get to take along on the trip? This would be the perfect honeymoon, surely? 😉
I’d be happy to be Grrl’s guest. If she invites me. She might want to take The Beast instead.
She’d have to smuggle The Beast – you can’t take animals to the Antarctic. There used to be a cat litter tray at Palmer Station, including some Tootsie Rolls for turds, to confuse the tourists that come in on cruise ships… oh, wait… 😉