---
title: About
author: Lucian Mogoșanu
-date: July 21, 2013
+date: July 24, 2013
---
-This is currently a placeholder for the about page, which will be filled with
-content soon. Really soon.
+[Definition][1]: **tar pit**
+
+1. A hollow in which natural tar accumulates by seepage
+2. A complicated or difficult situation or problem (e.g. "the tar pit of
+municipal poverty")
+
+So, why The Tar Pit? Let's explain this in a quasi-formal language.
+
+Let $P$ be a set, representing all the problems in our universe. Let $K$, a
+subset of $P$, be the set of all known problems. Of the problems $p \in K$, a
+small part are currently subject to research and of those some will be solved
+sooner or later.
+
+However, this is only one of the steps involved in the scientific approach. The
+Tar Pit aims in a different, sometimes opposite, direction: creating and
+exposing problems, that is, finding problems in $P$ that aren't (yet) in $K$
+and discussing problems in $K$ that are worth solving but are grossly
+neglected. As [Jacob Bronowski][2] would put it, "That is the essence of
+science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent
+answer". As [Alan Perlis][3] would put it, albeit in a slightly different
+context, "Beware of the Turing tar-pit in which everything is possible but
+nothing of interest is easy". A word of warning, though: a significant part of
+the things written here are half-baked.
+
+Additionally, this is Lucian Mogoșanu's personal blog and thus will contain
+all sorts of other things that I find interesting. You can find more about me
+on my [about page][4]. To find ways to get in touch with me, see the
+[contact][5] page.
+
+[1]: https://www.google.com/search?q=define:%20tar%20pit
+[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Man
+[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_tarpit
+[4]: http://lucian.mogosanu.ro/about
+[5]: /contact.html
projects / thetarpit.git / commitdiff