Latest Posts by boozedcowboy - Page 4

Learning to like Physics

I actually cannot believe how much I used to hate Physics until last year, but then I actually took the time and effort to understand it and?? it’s so cool and fun and easy?? unreal.

It literally seemed impossible for me and I legit thought I wouldn’t be able to graduate because I was never gonna pass Physics (I’m a Math major so we actually have 4 required Physics courses). I don’t know what the point of this is but, don’t be afraid of Physics guys!! (or any other subject!!) yes it’s frustrating as hell and you feel dumb for not having a clue about what is happening or how to work out the problems but I swear once it clicks for you (and it will) it’s gonna be great.

So if anyone needs a step by step (for college/uni), here’s one:

Google is your best friend, the internet has plenty of videos/papers/worked out problems for you to check out. The most important thing to look for is drawings and videos that help you visualize what’s going on. In most of general physics, the key is to see what forces are acting, and from that follows everything else.

Know your core equations. Honestly it’s always the same ones in the end.

For mechanics: you absolutely gotta know Newton’s Laws, Work and its relation to Kinetic/Potential Energy. Momentum is also important.

For thermodynamics: First and Second Law of Thermodynamics; pV = nRT, Boyle/Gay Lussac etc (note that they’re all connected), Carnot’s Cycle.

For electromagnetism: Maxwell’s equations. This is as far as I’ve gotten in my studies.

Understand where the formulas come from, rather than learning them by heart. For me, this was necessary because my memory is absolutely shit so there was no way I could remember every variation. But most of the formulas actually do make sense, and once you’ve drawn out a diagram of what’s happening, you can work them out yourself.

For the previous point, I suggest you watch and rewatch your professor’s explanation until you get the gist. Don’t get discouraged if it’s not immediately crystal clear, seek out other explanations if you need to. Then try to do it yourself.

ASK. FOR. HELP. I cannot stress this enough, do not feel ashamed about asking questions in class or during office hours. There are no stupid questions, and you’re paying thousands every year for people to teach you. Also physics is hard, so you’re pretty much expected to not understand immediately. Moreover, I can guarantee there’s at least one other person in the room with the same question who’s too afraid to ask. I was that person, and I failed the class because of it. Don’t be me.

Practice until you’re able to do most variations of standard problems. Once you’re able to do a certain problem, try to change it and see what happens. You don’t have to crunch the numbers all over again, go with your intuition first. Then you can calculate everything and see if you were correct.

This is all I’ve got at the moment. It applies to General Physics because I’m still pretty shit at Mathematical Physics (Rational Mechanics?) lmao, which is why I don’t talk about Lagrangians and such here.

If anyone has any other tips (for Mathematical Physics as well!) , please feel free to add them. Note that I’m from Italy, and this is what it was like for me. Other countries might have different ways of testing or focus on some formulas that I haven’t included. Do what works for you, obviously.

Good luck STEM students, I know it’s hard, but hopefully worth it in the long run :)

I see a lot of dark academia aesthetic involving the classics fields, literature and languages and theater and music, but can the STEM kids get in on this too? Where’s my dark science aesthetic at? where’s my STEM gothic?

•  It has to be a mistake, on the syllabus your professor e-mailed over yesterday. The lab class can’t possibly start at 8pm. Not that you’d notice the time of night anyway, considering that for some reason it’s held in a basement of the STEM buildings that you were sure was closed off. You’ve never seen anyone emerging from its depths, and honestly you’re not even sure how to get down there. But not to worry, your professor assures you when you reply with your concerns. He’ll send his TA to pick you up. Just try not to stare at their hand. Especially if it sparks. They’re still working out the kinks.

• The transparent lightboard you use in your apartment building for working out math equations that require more room is the only illumination piercing your otherwise dim living room. You’ve been working for hours, and haven’t noticed how late it’s become, mostly because you’re pretty sure that you accidentally just determined exactly when the world is going to end. Before you can grab your phone to tell everyone, there’s a knock at your door. “Well done,” the man and woman in dark clothes and glasses that reflect even the minor light so that you can’t see your eyes as they enter your apartment. “A little too well done, we think. You’ll be coming with us now.”

•   H2 = H 2 0 [ Ωm(1+z) 3 +ΩDEexp {3 Z/z 0 dz 1+z [1+w(z)]}

•  “We are doctors,” in heart if not yet in degree,” the neurologist teaching your afternoon class says, laughing. “We are the ones who stand between that looming reaper Death and all of our patients, scalpels and syringes in hand, and say “not today, old friend. Not this one.” But then the mirth fades from his voice, and his gaze drifts to the left of the lecture hall for some odd reason, fixed on some dark corner. “That’s why it hates us, you know. Death. All of us. We as doctors must be very, very careful in our everyday lives, because Death despises us for stalling its work time and time again, and it constantly has its eyes on us. Waiting for us to relax, to look away. There are rituals, as we get older and Death steps closer every day…” but then they come back to themselves, shaking their heads and laughing. “Not enough coffee for me today, apparently!” Shadows in the corner where no one sits seem to be shifting.

•  The chemistry majors always seem to know something that no one else does. They all keep tiny glass bottles of clove oil in their backpacks at all times, for some reason. You’re starting to wonder if it wouldn’t be smart for you to do the same.

•  The engineering majors know exactly what the chem majors think only they know, and they laugh when you mention the clove oil. “They really think that will protect them,” one future robotics pioneer says to you, shaking his head. “They really think they can stop what’s coming.”

•  Something in the forensics lab whispers at night, but only when a lone student is working down there alone. One of them snags you in the halls one morning and says, “I know you’re not forensics and you’ve never heard it before, but last night I was working on a paper down there and, well. It knows your name.”

• Your roommate is a biogenetics student. She keeps beakers brimming with bubbling fluids in the fridge, and she often seems restless and distracted. You’ve caught her stealing hair off of your brush before, and one night as you watch her mixing and stirring and taking notes as she’s hunched over her desk, you realize that a single blinking eyeball is staring back at you from the green fluid surrounding it in her glass tube.

•  The mathematics students have figured out what the chemistry students know, and what the engineering students have known for years. They all look anxious now, walking around campus and constantly looking over their shoulders. One of them suggests to you that maybe you should start stockpiling bottled water. Just in case.

•  An astronomy major comes barreling into one of your classes one dim and dying afternoon, slapping a star chart down onto a desk in front of a newly enlightened mathematics student, sweating and furious. “You weren’t even going to tell us, you bastard?! You were just going to let it happen while we sat around unprepared?!”

•  A week later. You sit up in bed and your roommate is gone. Their things are gone. Campus is still and quiet, the chem and engineering and astronomy and mathematics students having all cleared out save for you. The bio, forensics, and med students are left blinking, dazed. Clearly you’ve all missed something important, but your roommate responds to your text with assurance that it’s fine. You’ll all know soon enough.

I’ve seen a lot of posts on my dash tonight about users who are threatening suicide, with other Tumblr members posting in effort to try to get ahold of them. I think you all should see this:

IF THERE IS EVER A TUMBLR USER WHO HAS POSTED A GOOD-BYE MESSAGE, SUICIDE NOTE, VIDEO, OR ANYTHING OF THE SORT, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS POST.

1. Scroll to the top of your dashboard.

2. See the circular question mark icon at the top? It’s the third one over from your home symbol. Click on that, and a screen similar to the one in the picture will come up.

3. Where you can type in questions, the box with the magnifying glass at the top, type in the word “suicide.”

4. Click on the first link that shows up. It should say, “Pass the URL of the blog on to us.”

5. Type in the user’s URL and tell Tumblr admin that the user is contemplating suicide and has posted a message indicating that they are going through with it or will be attempting. Hit send! Tumblr administration will perform a number of actions to contact the user and take the necessary steps to prevent the suicide.

TUMBLR: THIS COULD SAVE A USER’S LIFE. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE SUICIDE THREATS.

Reblog this to keep other users aware. Suicide isn’t a joke, and neither is someone’s life. If you didn’t know this, someone else may not, either. Pass it on.

Astrophysics/Astronomy Recs

Academic Earth: Astronomy (multiple courses)

Class Central: Relativity and Astrophysics (course)

NASA Astrophysics (govt. website)

MIT Astrophysics II  (lecture notes)

Astrophysics and Cosmology by Prof. Somnath Bharadwaj (lectures)

Matrix Operations by Richard Bronson  (maths textbook)

Linear Algebra by Seymour Lipschutz & Marc Lars Lipson (maths textbook)

The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack (book)

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson (book)

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (book)

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene (book)

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (book)

YouTube channels 

recently i saw a post on my dash compiling study music, so i decided to make one of my own! here are some of my favorite playlists on youtube to listen to while i’m working, hope you enjoy!

japanese music

japanese jazz when driving on a warm night

do you like some japanese jazz fusion?

japanese songs i think you should listen to at least once

japanese pop/rock songs to cheer you up! bc studies are hard (help me pls)

calm japanese song to forget all the chaos now 

japanese city pop mixtape vol. 11- seaside city

japanese pop/rock songs to cheer you up during quarantine

summer side | smooth 80′s japanese funk 

🌻 9:00am : shiny morning time (indie/jazz)

japanese blues/jazz while floating towards the surface

korean music

korean r&b mix

loona; energetic, upbeat bops

chill/study kpop playlist

bts late night study playlist 2020

bts playlist to study//sleep//chill 2020

listening to a chill bts playlist in your car on a rainy night

seventeen chill playlist

playlist created and curated by seventeen themselves

red velvet soft & chill playlist

iu’s best songs

songs that make me feel like i’m in a high-teen romance kdrama

･ﾟ☆✧ soft n’ chill ♡ | kpop playlist

classical music

a playlist for a 19th century villain scheming against his enemies

your pianist roommate may have made a pact with the devil, but you are too afraid to ask 

dark academia slightly obscure playlist

dark academia classical music but its only ballades

a playlist to you feel inside of ‘pride and prejudice’ while you’re waiting for your Mr. Darcy

a playlist of beethoven proving he’s an immortal god

that’s why tchaikovsky is the best composer

hope y’all enjoy some of these finds, and feel free to add your favorite study music in the notes so that people who need them can find something new to listen to! 

Happy 2 year anniversary of the jewel and absolute joy that is the miniseries of Good Omens 

Good Omens + Tumblr (pt. 6) See also (pt. 1) (pt. 2) (pt. 3) (pt. 4) (pt. 5)

i love cats so much they just purr and meow and secretly plot your destruction but they are so cute i love them

the bitch is back, bitches

I have no memory of this happening, nor of me typing this

idk if i should blame this on sleep deprivation or simply having a wohoo ass brain but i literally thought that i can see mushrooms growing out of my phone in the colours of the app im currently on so i switched to tumbl to make it more interesting so yeah

idk if i should blame this on sleep deprivation or simply having a wohoo ass brain but i literally thought that i can see mushrooms growing out of my phone in the colours of the app im currently on so i switched to tumbl to make it more interesting so yeah

Elias Bouchard trying romance with his sailor husband

I JUST CAME ACROSS IT AND I WAS SO SO CONFUSED AHAHAHABBA

I can’t believe Simon Fairchild made a tumblr back in 2012 just to make the “do you love the color of the sky” post and harvest the low-level dread it brought for years. 

having a really cool art teacher brought the best artistic abilities in me, abilities i didn’t know i fucking had. 

I draw for myself? the fuck is that. boring. what the hell

I draw for arts class? oh my god how did i do this? did i get possessed by an artist? do i have hands?

I just found out our lord and saviour David Tennant has been in my small country for filming and I have been evaporating for the last hour

who the fuck invented the tag hurt no comfort I just wanna have a little friendly chit-chat with them

I HAVE AN EYE INFECTION AND I CANT SEE CLEARLY AND I THOUGHT THE MAN WAS WILL GRAHAM

I WAS SO CONFUSED LIKE WHY THE HELL IS WILL TALKING WITH BABY YODA

I CAN'T

- Nikos Kazantzakis

Good Omens 1941

The Bombshell

Bit obsessed by this.

I know for a fact Crowley absolutely ABSOLUTELY loves Hamilton the musical. He watched it everytime it was staged and always cries when he knows the ending is near.

I just know

Writing Tips/What Beta Readers Taught Me

Since I’ve been learning a lot from my beta readers, I’d thought I’d share what I’ve learned (and just some general writing tips) here. (Mind you, this is just off the top of my head so not everything from the beta notes is included.)

- Besides themes find the “glue” that hold your story together. For example, in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the glue was the Fire Nation War (and trying to stop it). This main goal was present throughout all four seasons, including in the side-quests. All characters had different motivations for teaching Aang, but the war kicked off all the events and was why Aang was learning the elements to begin with.

- In order to help the characters feel more like real people, have them react differently to the same event. For instance, when a character dies, Person A could be sad about it while Person B could be angry.

- Don’t be afraid to extend out scenes for tension.

- Have your character asks questions. Especially if they’re new to a place/culture.

- If you want to do a twist, drop small clues leading up to it, so it won’t come out of nowhere.

- Don’t have the characters share everything with each other.

- For research, try to find a video/source with a first-hand experience. For example, for anxiety, try and find a video with a person talking about what its like to have anxiety.

- It’s always good to have a second pair of eyes of your writing.

- When it comes to descriptions, use the five sense to help draw the reader in. Namely touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste.

- Have the character’s choices impact the plot, not the other way around. For instance, Aang running off after learning he was the Avatar was what allowed the Fire Nation to succeed in the war. 

- Find the main theme of your story (see chart) and revolve everything (character arcs, chapters, etc.;) around it. This will help cut out fluff chapters and make the writing more cohesive.

I watched half of Bad Samaritan so I had to pause and watch Davd Tennant compilations otherwise I think I would have just been left scarred for life

trying to find a fic that you binge read some time ago and then forgot to save is truly an olympic sport and I accept no criticism

to recap

Adam Williams (supernatural s15 vfx coordinator) logs onto twitter at 1:36 pm est

confirms that the leaked scripts are real and were stolen and leaked by a fan

tells a j2 fan he sees destiel as canon and real BUT that dean isn’t bi

follows up by saying dean is…. biromantic and heterosexual? welcome back split attraction model i guess

wont stop saying “dangler” instead of dick

says “I’m 100% straight but I’ve had two boyfriends” and that’s how he sees dean

“so how can destiel be canon” he says “I don’t think Dean wants to penetrate Castiel’s anus with his penis. A kiss wouldn’t hurt though. 🤔”

mentions he’s read nsfw fanfic

doesn’t understand what a content warning is

approves of a fan calling dean “Cassexual”

calls himself an alpha and says dean would top

THIS FUCKING TWEET HELLO? CRYING

says he’s more of an “alpha” than misha collins ?????

compares bi dean fans to QAnon supporters

says he’s never seen riverdale

it’s been under an hour since the first tweet

help

why do your homework when you can *reads the entire hurt/comfort section*

I SWEAR I SWEAR I SCREAMED ALL THIS MORNING AFTER BINGING IT

I sat through Casanova only to have THIS KIND OF ENDING????????????

my current coping mechanism is blaming crowley for every minor inconvenience from my life

Dear Doctor Who fans,

thank you

I get it now :D

currently absorbed into (at least) 3 fandoms because of my obsession with David Tennant

watching good omens for the first time:

rewatching good omens: