Sometimes I forget that my time constraints force me to make a choice between writing on my blog and reading other people's, and so I start reading random stuff in physics blogs I am acquainted with, to then find myself listlessly drifting from a site to the next in a uninterrupted chain, often circular. It is a walk on the wild side, fortunately a typically short one.

I do have a few physicist friends who blog, and I visit them regularly just to keep in touch with what is up with them; check my links column to know who they are (although I have been rather lazy with adding to that list all the sites I would recommend). Here, instead, I am rather talking of all the others, who are apparently quite popular -the Source, the Joker, and a few others- but fail to arise my interest, for one reason or another.

Be sure to understand: I think they have terrific columns, and the success of their sites, as well as their personal visibility, is their best exhibit for a proof. Nonetheless, I just cannot bring myself to get involved with their choice of topics. I most of the times feel both inadequate and bored, in some quantum superposition: my knowledge and ideas on the topics they choose are little more than those of an outsider; besides, they usually do not interest me either. And on the other hand, I have no time, nor energy, nor the willingness to get involved.

And then there is their constant talking about each other's topics, which somehow irritates me. It usually goes like this: Blog A, the most visited site, talks about something new, or just controversial. Blog B immediately realizes it is in danger of failing to discuss the hot topic, and parasitically starts a similar discussion, providing different flavor and opinions. Blogs C and D in turn pick it up from B, add a little additional content, and make some possibly flippant comments on the whole matter, linking  back to A. A discussion is then likely to grow in the comments thread of one of the participating sites, for the delight of its owner. Finally, science journalists arrive on the scene after the smoke has settled, and pick on the corpses left rotting on the floor.

I know that this is a way to attract readers, and increase a blog's visibility. But for some reason, I fail to appreciate the attractiveness of such a circus. In this blog the pieces deal with things that interest me, not with things that are all the rage. This allows me to keep motivated to write, rather than becoming a slave of the mechanism.

So if you are looking for breaking news on anything but experimental particle physics, you are reading the wrong site. If, however, you like that particular topic, I hope you will stay with me, and leave the discussion on the "biggest issues" to others. As Galileo once wrote,

"Io stimo piu' il trovar un vero, benche' di cosa liggiera, che il disputare lungamente delle massime questioni, senza conseguir verita' nissuna" 
("I value more the finding of a piece of truth, albeit on a silly thing, than to endlessly debate about the most important issues, without achieving any truth" -TD's loose translation)