Little Hideout

Yesterday was hard.

I'm in some courses all this week, and I don't understand anything that 3 of the 4 speakers say. And I've just met the new PhD student of the department, and he's really smart and he's understanding most of the things. And on top of that my advisor is asking me to finish a big amount of writing. I feel really stupid and discouraged.

So, list of positive things to take into account this week:

- All of the courses are about PDEs and not Dynamical systems (which is my research topic). It's normal to not understand most of them.

- It is a great opportunity to see how people of other topics work, and what are they interests. You don't need to understand everything perfectly. Let go and enjoy.

- I learned a lot from yesterday's poster session, and from other students.

- Next year I would have a very smart PhD partner from who I could learn a lot.

- I am a slow-learner when understanding new topics, and that is okay. I could have other qualities that make me a good mathematician.

Don’t worry. Start now. Get up, take a few deep breaths, stretch, count to ten with your eyes closed. Then take out your books and a notebook and a pen. Get on with it. Start reading, annotating, take down your notes. If you feel your focus faltering, sit back, take a few deep breaths, walk around a bit, get back to your books. It’s never too late.

OMG! They are incredible!

Japanese tea bag maker Ocean-Teabag has been making waves by creating little parcels of aroma in the shape of marine animals. Luckily for us, their wide range of tea bags are available at online Japanese novelty retailer Village Vanguard, maker of such fine products as Space Tea and cat-shaped kitchen utensils.

Ocean-Teabag’s earliest designs included beautiful dolphin tea bags filled with blue mallow tea leaves. Steeping them turns your otherwise normal pot of water into a tranquil ocean. Proving to be a hit among tea lovers, Ocean-Teabag expanded their repertoire to many other sea creatures including the sea turtle (butterfly pea jasmine tea)…

the distinctive ocean sunfish (Japanese hojicha — roasted green tea)…

the graceful manta ray (tropical mango tea)…

and even a blood-thirsty shark (blended herb tea).

The newest addition to their robust series of marine creatures is a tea bag shaped like an innocuous sea cucumber. This little parcel is filled with jasmine tea, as well as a smidgen of sea cucumber powder to lend some authenticity. Ocean-Teabag warns that some people who have a sensitive tongue may find it tasting a little fishy.

The company also crafted a deep sea series that will satisfy even the most adventurous of tea drinkers out there. A few such examples are the anglerfish (earl grey tea)…

the creepy giant isopod (Eastern Beauty oolong tea)…

the horseshoe crab (white apricot tea)…

…and lastly the king of them all, the enormous giant oarfish. ( Delicious Assam tea of epic proportions! ) Just like its namesake, it measures a whopping 19 centimeters (7.5 inches). Drinking tea becomes an art when half of your tea bag hangs out of your cup.

 While the notion of turning your cup of tea into fish-inhabiting waters is not new, these tea bags will hopefully conjure up images of gentle ocean waves in your mind. 

WHERE TO FIND THE TEA

Friendly reminder that Vincent van Gogh willingly checked himself into an asylum so that he could get better, resulting in him creating some of the most iconic paintings of his entire career, done in the asylum, when he was being treated 24/7, because he finally didn’t have to struggle with his demons and could instead focus on his muse, WHICH WERE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!

Remember this little insignificant painting?

How about this one?

Check this one out:

All of these and more were painted in the asylum when he was receiving treatment for his mental illnesses and I know I just said that but I said it again and I’m saying it a third time until you dramatic abled assholes understand!

VINCENT VAN GOGH

- KNEW THAT HE WAS MENTALLY ILL

- WANTED TO CHANGE THAT

- WENT TO AN ASYLUM

- GOT THE HELP HE NEEDED

- PAINTED SOME ICONIC MASTERPIECES AS A RESULT!

SO DON’T YOU DARE COME OUT HERE WITH THIS, “I WISH I WAS DEPRESSED SO I COULD BE AS CREATIVE AS VAN GOGH” BULLSHIT BECAUSE EVEN HE KNEW THAT HIS DEMONS WERE HARMING HIS WORK, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HIS HEALTH, AND HE DID EVERYTHING WITHIN HIS POWER TO FIGHT THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY OF HIS LIFE, UNTIL THEY ENDED UP WINNING! 

A 392 year-old shark found in the Arctic. This guy was wandering the oceans back in 1627.

Could you imagine?

You’re Charlotte Scott. You’re determined to get your math degree as a woman in the late 1800s. You fight sexism and condescension every day and somehow wrangle your way into a special and prestigious exam. And then this happens:

“In 1880, Scott obtained special permission to take the Cambridge Mathematical TriposExam, as women were not normally allowed to sit for the exam. She came eighth on the Tripos of all students taking them, but due to her sex, the title of “eighth wrangler,” a high honour, went officially to a male student.[1]

At the ceremony, however, after the seventh wrangler had been announced, all the students in the audience shouted her name.

***

The man read out the names and when he came to ‘eighth,’ before he could say the name, all the undergraduates called out ‘Scott of Girton,’ and cheered tremendously, shouting her name over and over again with tremendous cheers and waving of hats.

— contemporary report, “Charlotte Angas Scott (1858–1931)” in Women of Mathematics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook[1]

***

Because she could not attend the award ceremony, Scott celebrated her accomplishment at Girton College where there were cheers and clapping at dinner, a special evening ceremony where the students sang “See the Conquering Hero Comes”, received an ode written by a staff member, and was crowned with laurels.[1]

After this incident women were allowed to formally take the exam and their exam scores listed, although separately from the men’s and thus not included in the rankings. Women obtaining the necessary score also received a special certificate instead of the BA degree with honours. In 1922, James Harkness remarked that Scott’s achievement marked “the turning point in England from the theoretical feminism of Mill and others to the practical education and political advances of the present time”.[1]“ — wikipedia

😭♥️

Later on, Charlotte became one of the core mathematics faculty of Bryn Mawr College, and also is seen as one of the key figures in the transition to abstract mathematical proofs, as well as the first female member of the New York Mathematical society, later known as the AMS. What a cool lady.

i love angry women. if ur a woman and ur fucking pissed off i love you

“Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.”

— Carl Jung