Everyone's got lingering congestion this year, so as someone who's no stranger to phlegm, and inherited the folk wisdom of a stage actress (the show must go on!) I share with you my recipe for making things better:
2L water
the juice and rind of one lemon (just dump the juiced rinds in, don't zest them, you maniac)
a small thumb of fresh ginger, sliced in coins
about a dozen cloves, some star anise, peppercorns, and maybe whole cinnamon or allspice or whatever else you like, in a tea ball (except the cinnamon if it doesn't fit, obvs)
good dollop of honey, to taste
Bring the water to a boil then dump in all the stuff. Keep it hot but not boiling – a slow cooker is good for this. Keep this pot on a low heat all day and serve yourself a mug every so often, adding water as necessary. At some point you will need to add a new lemon and some more honey, but the spices can generally carry over two pots if you're drinking it regularly.
The acid helps clear the gunk, ginger is good for the circulation, and clove/aniseed/pepper have some sort of decongestant/soothing properties. Honey is both nice and antiseptic, and apparently is a cough suppressant as well? Anyway, I just got over another run of Covid and this was wasn't 100% effective but it worked better than phenylephrine.
gotta write a research paper for astronomy now whoops
shouldn’t be too hard tbh
done
So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!
Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.
Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.
Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks
Your priority goes like this:
5 minutes due YESTERDAY
5 minutes due TOMORROW
Half-hour due YESTERDAY
Half-hour due TOMORROW
Hours due YESTERDAY
Hours due TOMORROW
5 minutes due LATER
Half-hour due LATER
Hours due LATER
DAYS due YESTERDAY
DAYS due TOMORROW
DAYS due LATER
At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.
Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.
So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.
You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!
told my project partner all she had to do was write the sql script following the logical schema i drew so carefully
this is what she came up with 🤦♀️:
where are the foreign keys, where are the semicolons, and why the hell are there STRINGs in an sql script
do i yeet her out of the window or do i yeet myself out of the window
Introducing Scientist Maker 1.0, a mini dress-up game promoting visibility of science in visual media! You can customize your scientist’s eyes, facial expressions, hairstyles, and give them science-y accessories!
Here we have a chemist, an astrophysics student, a environmental science student, a math student, a programmer, and a microbiologist!
The website is here: https://picrew.me/image_maker/634561
Any non-commercial uses are welcome! Please credit @alchemysciviz if you are using it!
Podcasts
astronomy cast : hundreds of podcasts! Great for beginners and general facts, but keep in mind that those are from 2006, so some technical things may no longer be relevant
Videos
crash course : amazing synthetic videos about astronomy, those are my personal favorites
Websites
astronomy basics : all you need to know if you’re a great beginner!
Free online courses
probably the most complete one I’ve ever seen
khan academy astronomy courses are quality af
Books
list of books about what to see and how with a telescope
another list of books about astronomy in general
telescope books
astrophotography
Sky maps
sky maps per month
very good starwheels aka planispheres
How to observe
basic skills
10 steps to begin
the perfect all-in-one stargazing guide: I can’t recommend this highly enough!!
Telescopes and things
telescopes
telescope reviews : aka what to chose for what you want to see
everything about telescopes : super useful when you start using one!!
Starting
everything you need to know depending on what equipment you have!!
all you need version 2!
General
catching the light
hundreds of tips
For computers
stellarium
googlesky
astroplanner: plan your observation!
winstars: 3D planet/stargazing!
planetarium
+ full list of softwares and websites
For mobiles
starwalk2 (android version): alright guys, this one is my absolute favorite at all times. Like, really. Have you ever wished you could point a device at the sky and know exactly what’s above you? And have a description of those things? Even in the middle of the day?? Well, now you can yaaay! :D
astronomy.com
universetoday
skyandtelescope
space.com aka my personal favorite
astronomynow
sci-news
All the random facts
here +other links: x x x x
Backgrounds
hubble site gallery
ESA/Hubble gallery
HD wallpapers
NASA gallery
Even more resources
friendsoftheobservatory
NASA
European Space Agency
ISS Live
I really hoped it helped! Thank you very much for reading! Zoya
Jan 9, 2021
It wasn't a great week. But I did more than I thought I could. Importantly, I completed a difficult internship application. After a full burnout from last semester, I guess this was a good start. A lot of stuff that happened this week was revision of previous concept and I hope it won't be much difficult to catch up.