On persistent blogging, mental health, and a lesson from finite-time thermodynamics

Every once in a while, one finds in chemical physics a lesson for life.  I have found one.  The lesson comes from the field of finite-time thermodynamics.  The lesson is simple:

Maximum power and minimum entropy production are incompatible under time constraint.

I found this reviewto be an excellent reference on the origin and foundations of this important physical principle.

It is clear to me that this principle is one of those that is always in your face -- so close, in fact that it is possible to miss it.  Still, it is always there.  Every time I am too rushed to put something back, it is there.  Every time I get a reminder that, in the course of herding kids, I have failed to put my clothes in the hamper, it is there.

Indeed, it is all over this blog.  Why did I start it?  I have not contributed much, my last entry being in 2010 after the publication of my first sole-author paper, which I suppose was a momentous enough occasion.  The analogy goes like this: blogging clarifies my own mental state, reducing its entropy.  For some time now, I have been focussing on going hard and fast, and have not been concerned about the accumulating entropy.

All of a sudden, I am finding that my engine is wearing down.  Maybe its time to think about entropy production.  The last few years have included several significant knocks to the frame, including but not limited to having three kids in a span of less than four years.

Time to start blogging again?