Sunday, January 30, 2011

This Blog Is A Physics "Gossip" Site?

I'm often curious as to how people find this blog. Very often, a lot of people stumbled upon it via Google search. But other times, they get here through various links that people have put up on their own blogs and websites. To those web hosts and bloggers, I thank you very much!

But then, in this case, I am not sure if I deserve the "honor". Somehow, this person has a link to all the physics sites, including this blog, and called it "Physics gossip sites". Yowzah! I know sometime I go off the deep and and rant about stuff. But gossip? GOSSIP? I don't gossip on here, or at least, I very seldom do! How awful to be considered as a physics gossip site after all the physics papers and physics news reports that I've discussed and dissected.

But I suppose I should get all worked up over it, because the blog is in good company, being listed with Resonances and Cosmic Variance as also being physics gossip sites.

Maybe the word "gossip" means something else in another language....

Zz.

6 comments:

Kent Leung said...

haha. I guess I agree that this is a "physics-gossip" site, emphasis on the compound adjective. I mean, I don't think it is a physics news site for instance.

I mean in the new Oxford dictionary, the definition for gossip is: casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.

So if you replace "people" with "physics" then I think it's not a bad classification of this blog! :-)

ZapperZ said...

Gasp! Take that back! How could you?!

:)

Well, do you think the characterization of "... typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true..." applies here? I mean, I make quite an effort to cite sources and to make sure the information is "confirmed".

In everyday usage of the word, I don't think this blog is a "gossip" site. I consider TMZ and Perez Hilton as being "gossip" sites. I believe neither of them have ever cited PRL papers as part of their discussion.

Zz.

Craig said...

They must have seen the most attractive physicist posts... :)

Radha Pyari Sandhir said...

But of course this is a 'gossip' site! I mean, come on, you talk about why dark matter is such an elusive, cold bitch... who CERN has been sneaking around with...how high maintenance the QGP is... :P

I'm actually cracking up at how this blog has been classified as a 'gossip' site. How silly of them! Especially since you make an admirable effort to verify facts and explain things lucidly. I think it's faaar from 'gossip'.

Ah, well. What do they know?

Keep it up! :)

ZapperZ said...

Actually, I think if I increase the level of "gossip" on here, I might even get more hits and publicity! I mean, look at the one time I tried to be shallow and superficial by doing that silly "Most Attractive Physicist" poll. This blog got unbelievable number of hits because of that! :)

So watch out! I might just start gossiping on which physicist is sleeping around with a young starlet in Hollywood AND getting her to do the typing for all of his manuscripts!

Zz.

Radha Pyari Sandhir said...

Heh, sounds good. ;)

Man...I want to find a hot, famous, rich person to type out my reports for me. And debug codes for me. And make awesome coffee for me...