SHIRT MY FRIEND GOT ME

Mark Twain in the lab of Nikola Tesla, spring of 1894. Twain is holding Tesla's experimental vacuum lamp, which is powered by a loop of wire which is receiving electromagnetic energy from a Tesla coil. Tesla's face is visible in the background.

Silicon Cities (2017) by: Heiko Hellwig

above and below, 2022, ig

When it's tough and when it's hard... Don't forget to thank your mom 🥰

Life update 🌟

Hello everyone, I have been missing in action for a couple of months, and I haven't really explained myself properly... I have hinted at having some big life changes coming my way, but it was way bigger than I could've anticipated.

Basically, I have lost almost all financial support, so now I have to financially support myself, including paying for the scholarships (which isn't much since I am almost at the end of my Bachelor's degree, thankfully).

It was a very difficult situation, and here and there I really had to strap in to make it thru, but I believe the worst has passed. Now I am financially stable, but I am still struggling with balancing everything on my plate, studies and a full time job. Our curriculum is designed so you only have that on your plate + an internship, not a full time job also. All that combined with my not-so-great mental health... Yeah it's a struggle.

So yeah. I initially made this blog for motivation to finish my studies, but during this time my studies became such a sore spot for me, because all of it made me feel inadequate, since I really struggled to study as much as I've wanted to, and my schoolwork took a massive hit. I know it's silly considering my situation, but that's how I felt, and hell I still do. That is the feeling I have to learn how to deal with.

If you are in a similar situation - please know you are not alone. I know in a sea of pretty pictures and motivational quotes it can feel like you are not doing enough, but you have to live and learn by your tempo... Or your health will pay the price, which is something I am still paying. And hell, it ain't worth it!

Thank you for reading this, lots of love 💝💖💝

sometimes you run into something that just overturns your understanding and builds a new, more coherent picture. this is one of them.

they taught us about diffraction theory at uni - Fresnel, Fraunhofer all of that, we did experiments with lasers - but it never occurred to me to analyse lenses in terms of diffraction. it makes so much sense now! i was never entirely satisfied by the ray approximation to light, so seeing what's really going on in the lightfield and how you can use a diffraction plate as a lens, with each ring contributing higher order Fourier terms to the image, is like. crazy cool.

4/100 days of productivity

Today was a hard day, but I went to an interesting lecture, and I was super happy about it! The other test didn't go so well, and I have started doing my project... which BTW the due is tomorrow at 12AM... I hope to finish it by then! Overall this week is hellish for me and honestly I can't wait to just lay down a bit 😅

james mccrae