I never intended to start a blog. There are two reasons for this and me not being vain enough to bore others with my thoughts isn't one of them. I have a lot of interesting and original things to say, unfortunately the interesting ones aren't original* and the original ones are not that interesting. Well, that hardly ever stops anybody from cluttering the blogosphere with their bullshit. Then there's the other thing. You know that guy who has strong opinions on every minor thing in the universe? From types of fonts through obscure indie metal bands to conflict in the middle east. I know you do - he is the one commenting all the links on your fb wall. Tv pundits and retired mathematics professors are particularly guilty of this. The problem with me is - I'm that guy in reverse. I am clinically uncertain of everything besides basic math (and even in this area I have some doubts). Every time I post on the internet, I agonize over each statement I make in fear it might be wrong, or worse - meaningless. And unless I'm just relaying cold, boring facts, I can never be sure. This is why instead of posting I just sit back and shut up most of the time. Bertrand Russel famously said that "the whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts". It certainly feels like the truth, but don't I know some really wise people who seem quite sure of their views and are very verbal about them? Are they maybe not that wise? I honestly don't know.
How did this blog start then?
Like all great inventions this blog is a product of laziness. In short: i learned about a shocking fact that was at the same time highly entertaining, 100% true and generally unknown. Tired of retelling the story to each aquaintance I met, I decided to write it down and just send everybody the link. In the form of a blog seemed the easiest way to do it. In case any non-polish speaker ever reads this, my shocking story was this: Poland's most renowned economic university theaches pseudoscience under the guise of "Technical Analysis" course. The whole field of divining the future from stock charts is questionable to say the least, but what passes for science in this lecture is downright absurd. Pseudosciences that found their way into the curriculum include: astrology, numerology and ermanometry - which is probably the dumbest thing i have seen in my life**:
Seriously - check it out, it will enrich your life. After having dealt with the TA nonsense i abandoned the blog and went on with my boring life.
What made me revive it?
What made me revive it?
Someone convinced me that every young scientist (like me) should practice written communication, especially if he is not a native english speaker (again me). And the medium of a blog is as good as any. I could of course just write for myself and not show it to anyone, but where's the fun in that? So with this new goal Craboyle returns. Having depleted the only topic in the middle field on the Venn diagram of originality, entertainment and accuracy I will have to cut back on some of these qualities. There will be rants about things I don't know shit about, unfair generalizations, name calling, obscure references, unintelligible jargon and disregard for social norms in general. In other words - your average personal blog. Minus the holiday photos, favorite bands and family stories. Expect new entry once a month - I can't be bothered to update more often, plus this is roughly the frequency at which i come up with a semi-original thought.
*this sentence for example - it's taken from Hugo Steinhaus' review of some young mathematicians thesis
**i know what you're thinking - "clearly, the guy has never been to 4chan". Not true. Anybody can be 4chan-stupid but it takes college education to make someone ermanometry-stupid
