Toy Universes

I have recently been thinking about the “idea of this blog”, about its contents, scope, and audience, as contrasted to the time and energy that I have available to invest on it.

It is clear by now that I have not been able to blog here as frequently as I should, but this was somehow expected. Also, although I love writing, it seems that, as I age, it becomes more and more difficult for me to write, specially technical content, even if brief, as blog posts are supposed to be (at least, in this blog).

Another factor that is bothering me is: the subjects that I have chosen to blog about, although being my favorites, unfortunately are not related to what I am presently working on (professionally). As time passes, I feel more and more detached from those subjects, and when I do find  time or energy to write about them, it seems to take me forever to remember what I once knew, to keep up with otherwise new information, or simply “get into” the matter. Time runs out soon and I have to turn myself to something else.

In addition, this blog has never achieved a good statistics, it is really very poor in that regard. I have had other blogs in the past and this one has – by far – the worst statistics on visits. It is even worse than my shutdown blogs, which still receive traffic. I presently have another blog, called Matemática Replay!, written in Portuguese for Brazilian (or Portuguese-spoken) mathematics students (fundamental and high school levels), which receives a very high traffic, even though it is not frequently updated as well. Yet, I feel much more motivated to write there because I know it is being useful for the students and teachers.

Do not get me wrong: I do not write blogs just to gain traffic or attention towards myself. Since I have started blogging, back in 2005 or so, my sole purpose has been to write useful content and to learn in the process. Of course, having a good traffic is important because then you have an idea that the time spent is turning into something useful to others. I also think it is very important to revert the knowledge that I have gained – however small – back to society. But is it really worth the effort if it is rarely accessed? If I have such a hard time writing and the resulting posts end up not as good as I would like them to be?

As I age, and yes I am getting old, I must be even more selective on how to spend my time and energy. For example, I have stopped commenting on other scientifically-oriented blogs because I came to understand that what I write is quite often misunderstood. I came to the conclusion that I do not write (at least, in English) as well as I thought. So it may be the case that the present blog does lack clarity or some other feature that otherwise would increase the number of interested people. Therefore it may be not only a question of content but also of form.

In summary, I am re-thinking about Toy Universes, how to make it a useful and interesting blog, how to make my writing worthy and better, given that I have such a difficult time with it. So this post is just a short note to eventual readers – and a reminder to myself – that this blog might suffer some changes in the future.

I am not sure what those will be, and when, but eventually they must come.

There is an interesting site for students looking for online material and tips, so that they can work towards their interests by following freely available, high-quality material, written by professional scientists. According to that site,

OnlineClasses.org endeavors to be your comprehensive source on the best programs available online, as well as a resource for study tips, frequently asked questions, and other relevant information that will make your online education experience the best that it can be.

Toy Universes has been featured in their recent compilation “50 Awesome Blogs for Physics Geeks“. There you can find many  interesting sites and useful blogs in physics. We are happy to be included among great, consolidated blogs. Thank you!

Dear Readers!

If you have been reading my latest Twitter posts, you may know that I have been quite busy preparing a complete Christmas dinner for my family and relatives. Also, in the next days until New Year’s Day or so, my attention will continue to be focused on being a host. So it may be a little quiet around here. Also, I will be travelling in January. In Brazil, it’s holliday time. I will be back from vacation in February, and hopefully my blog will return to full power. In the meantime, if I find a window in my time frame, I may end up succeeding in writing a post. I have a lot of plans for my new blog and I am very motivated in developing them here. I hope you will enjoy them as well, as they become realized with time, and I count with your participation.

Best wishes,

Christine

To my surprise, while accessing this blog via my iPhone, an ad by Google entitled “Einstein was Wrong” popped-up just below the title of one of my posts. I use the free server services by WordPress to host this blog. I have searched a bit about the issue and found the answer here. Since I use the free services, I have no control over such ads. This post is just to make clear to readers that I do not directly support the contents of such ads, but since I use the free services, I will have to accept the situation. Eventually, I may choose to pay for removing the ads, but for now, I and my readers will have to live with them.

“It is a mathematical fact that the casting of a pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity of the universe.”

— Thomas Carlyle

[In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 190:1.]

Welcome to Toy Universes!

Please read the “About” page at the side bar for further information and guidelines about this blog.

I am very glad to start this new project, and I hope that it will be an interesting and productive journey.