November 30, 2023

Still feeling drained and tired. At least we have snow and it's incredibly beautiful...

clearly trying to stop fixating on "productivity" has actually improved my focus

Collaborating on a project with several colleagues, the grad student is unable to identify exactly what he is contributing.

26.3.24

it's time for one more big effort! I'm determined to get this all done now.

(and I'm in love with my vintage desk I bought second hand only last week; plus my gran's blanket is keeping me cosy. So I'm beginning to feel I'll be alright!)

37/100 days of productivity

19/100 days of productivity | 19/01/2024

study break = trying the buns from home weekend special (tea and custard - yum)! found a cute little cafe to do some reading

Research alert! Imagine putting flippers on a 24-foot Komodo dragon. That’s how Amelia Zietlow, a Ph.D. student at the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, describes Jormungandr walhallaensis, a newly identified species of mosasaur that was named in part after a sea serpent in Norse mythology.

Living some 80 million years ago during the Cretaceous, this mosasaur is thought to represent a transitional period between other well-known species. In addition to flippers and a stumpy, shark-like tail, Jormungandr had a bony ridge on its skull that would have given it the appearance of having “angry eyebrows.”

24.04.2024 // slowly becoming one with this desk. the wires bother me a lot so i've sought advice from a friend on how to organise them better. hopefully, they'll stop looking like such dump. a colleague also donated her french press to the office, which means that i don't have to spend $10 on coffee everyday because frankly, that is utterly absurd and I had, in fact, stopped drinking coffee for a while. but can't do without that caffeine; it keeps me functioning.

Hey Tolkien people and history buffs of Tumblr, I'm in need of your assistance. Does anybody know if there was an actual historical inspiration (or many) to the narrow, no rails, stone bridge of Khazad-dûm?

For context, I'm trying to use it as an example in my theoretical physics dissertation on the dynamics of pedestrians moving in a single line, but I've already met with some resistance from advisors with No Taste. All my google searches have conducted to analyses of the effectiveness of the Khazad-dûm scene in the book & movie, instead of an analysis of the actual "physical" bridge.

I know I could use other modern examples from construction scaffolds or bus and plane boarding/exiting schemes for single-line movement, but that's boring. Uninspired. Everyone does it. What I want is a badass illustration from The Lord of the Rings, and a JRR Tolkien quote on my very theoretical, so abstract that is basically useless, physics dissertation.

A physicist calls for aid.

Kis szakmai szőrszálhasogatás rovatunk bemutatja: a vaníliát

Láttam egy tusfürdőt, aminek a címkéje szerint orchidea- ÉS vaníliaillata van. Na most...

A vanília IS orchidea! Szóval ez olyan, mintha azt mondanánk, hogy "láttam madarakat és gólyát" - végül is talán nem helytelen, "csak" értelemzavaró.

Az orchideafélék - vagyis magyarul (az ellenség megtévesztésére) a kosborfélék - családjába (Orchidaceae) tartozik a vanília nemzetség (Vanilla), itt az egyes fajokat magyarul már nem különböztetik meg (amennyire ez a Wikiről lejön), elsősorban a Vanilla planifolia nevű fajt használják fel fűszertermesztésre. Ez a faj Mexikóban őshonos és egyetlen, szintén ott őshonos méhfaj képes csak beporozni - úgyhogy amíg Edmond Albius ki nem dolgozta a mesterséges megtermékenyítés módszerét, csak az őshazájából tudták exportálni és hát ezért volt kheczi drága az igazi fűszervanília. Na jó, valójában ma is kheczi drága, mert hiába tudják már máshol is termeszteni, a kézi megtermékenyítés továbbra is fáradságos munka. Vannak nagyon jó leírások, hogyan is csinálni, sőt természetesen videók is, ide be is vágok egyet:

Persze ez gyakorlatilag önbeporz(at)ás - az a kis bigyó, amit itt csak flapnek neveznek (de a fenti linkekben a rendes nevén), amit hátra kell hajtani, hogy lenyomhasd a porzót a bibéhez, az a rostellum (magyarul csőr), ami pont az önbeporzást hivatott megakadályozni és egyébként ő maga is egy módosult, meddő bibe. Ez utóbbihoz nincs linkem, de bro, just trust me. Ja, várjál, van (Ctrl+F, meg hát angolul, de na)! ;) De ebből is látszik, hogy a kosborfélék virágának milyen lenyűgözően bonyolult a felépítése (amivel remekül lehet szopatni a BSc-s diákokat, de persze én nem vagyok olyan...). A vanília tokterméséből lesz végül a fűszer.

A vaníliának még egy érdekessége, hogy kúszónövény. Gyűjtöttem is pár nagyszerű képet az inaturalistról* (kép 1, kép 2 és 3), hogy lássátok vadon, de van még, ahonnan ez jött (csak olyanokat linkeltem direkt, ahol engedélyezték a képmegosztást).

*(egy igen nagyszerű közösségi oldal és adatbázis, ahová bárki feltöltheti a megfigyeléseit állatokról, növényekről, gombákról stb. és szakértők segítenek meghatározni (nem, ez nem fizetett hirdetés, őszintén imádom))

Had a workshop in Athens with my lab and got to visit the Akropolis on our last day

a lot of people in my program really only do their studies and to my other PHD's I urge you: make sure you have other things going on! I have a near endless list of weird hobbies and sports and other interests and I just want you to know that you don't need to eat, sleep, and breathe only your topic and subject! Read a fiction book for fun, paint something badly, find a nice shop to browse in, go for a walk in a green area, take a break and don't rush through it. Pleasure and relaxation are valuable and worth your time. The point of a PhD/Masters is not to work in a hard and unsustainable way until you are done but instead to learn how to be an academic, what type of academic you are, and how you want to live your life/balance your academics and everything else!

When you are studying/working, don't be afraid of being wrong or doing things messily or poorly. On hard days, give yourself leeway, add an extra scoop of sugar to your coffee or tea, and listen to the rocky theme!

February 11th, 2024

I still feel exhausted and it's so hard to bring myself to do anything for work. There's a few things I should get done but I just can't. Luckily I have a week off. I'll have to work a few days but there'll also be time to relax.

tuesday, march 26th 2024

stats exam in 2 days means lots of studying today. it feels like some of this stuff we learned forever ago, but I remember the concepts way more than I thought, so this is a good sign. Means that study sessions tomorrow and Thursday will be way less heavy lifting and more so a review.

i got back from Atlanta on Saturday and am slowly getting back into the swing of things! i have some writing i'd like to get done, but other things (mostly coursework and future presentation related) are more of a priority right now. it'll all work out in the end :)

btw march flew by like 2 girlies in a nissan altima, i'm not sure how to feel

Repairing his run-down laptop, the grad student is tempted to obliterate the anxiety-ridden piece of junk instead.

9.3.24

Life and work are so so busy but I wanted to give at least a bit of an update!!

This second rotation of my PhD programme is so, radically better! My supervisor is amazing and I'm loving the science very much, it's really exciting and the rhythm of the work suits me so well! It's changed my whole attitude towards my PhD which is a huge relief. Things feel brighter. Meanwhile I'm settling into my city and starting to build up a social life, which was hard at first! So I guess if you're having a hard time making a new start - new job, new city, new degree - you can take this as a sign to take heart, because this came around the corner and took my by surprise. ❤️📖🌸🔬

35/100 days of productivity

1/100 days of productivity | 01/01/2024

baked orange cupcakes on new years eve; started my bullet journal with the yearly spread at a french cafe.

wishing everyone a lovely year ahead ~