#honestly I know phD students and yeah they're just like that

[icekingsimon]

So I was reading The Enchiridion and Marcy's scrapbook, and this stood out to me...

Not just that Simon was attending a Russian university (odd choice given that this university hasn't existed under that name since 1924. weird!), but also that he's a graduate student! Simon didn't get the chance to finish his degree.

Who let this student travel the world doing field research on magic

[eonars]

THE WHINERRRRR I've been at this summer training program half a day and I already hate itttttttt

When I first got in a couple of them (fellow phd students in the doctoral network we're a part of) were asking me about my background and stuff because they'd all just been talking about their background in embryonic research and reproductive biotechnology and what fucking ever and I was like yeah um I did environmental consulting for proposed development projects and was also a math and science tutor for kids and got a fuckin LOOOOOOK from them bro :/ and like genuine surprise of oh so all this stuff is new to you? You're gonna learn it all here? Like YES? THIS IS A SUMMER TRAINING PROGRAM NOT A SUMMER ALREADY KNOWS IT PROGRAM. And then they were like you only brought that backpack with you? And I was like yeah my supervisor booked my flights and only got a carryon but it's whatever and they were like wowwww my university got me a checked bag I could neverrrr fit everything into a backpack like that. Poor you. Then one guy was like what's that fish you have tattooed? And i was like oh it's m.zebra I did my bachelor's thesis on them and he was like ugh. I could NEVERRRR have something *work* related tattooed on me (he has no tattoos but told me all about how he's perfectly planned two sleeves of japanese motifs on one and nordic runes on another) and then when we got in I was like you know I might just hand wash a shirt or two bc by the time I get enough stuff for a load of laundry I'll be out of clothes and this girl was like omggggg I just feel SOOO BAD for you with that tiny backpack I don't know how you did it. And then tattoo expert was like honestly if I went to America when I was 20 and they told me I couldn't drink a beer I'd GO CRAZY how come you guys can join the army and vote and do all this stuff before getting a beer?? And I was like you're aware I have no power over this right? And then later on in the night he was like yeah I see those videos of Americans making mac and cheese with like bricks of cheese and stuff it's fucked up and I was like no yeah I'd come home from work and fry a whole block of velveeta every day. And then he was like that are those runes on your hand and I was like they're not runes. Also every time we smell weed he's like haha look at her the Californian she's so excited. Anyway I kinda hate it here I wanna go home four of us are sharing one bathroom and the shower doesn't drain at all and the whole thing floods and I feel like everyone is being so patronizing to me cause I'm some dumb inexperienced American and they keep making snides about how I got into a really good project and how norway has the best pay out of all the European countries associated with this program and why am I being so cheap and taking public transport from the airport when I'm getting the norway pay?? Anyway I almost cried in bed last night. Onwards and upwards I'm here til next Wednesday.

[celestie0]

what do you think about grad school and maybe getting a masters or phd? like for you😭 i’m curious what more do you feel about academia

hiii bb!! ouu yeah i think with the way things are in job market rn, at least for a science degree, having a masters is a MUST and phd too if you want to teach or go into research...just an undergraduate degree for any STEM job i have noticed doesn't suffice unless you're like a comp sci major or have hella connections or something lmfaooo (or if you're a trust fund baby)

i'm actually going to med school so my four years of undergrad were spent working towards that goal, and not really with thoughts of phd or masters, but i did think about doing a masters during my gap year (which would've been this past year) since my school offered a few one years masters programs that i was interested in. it was gonna be a sort of back up plan for me in case i didn't get in anywhere, but ultimately i just had faith in my application n didn't want to spend money on a year of masters tuition haha

but it's hard for me to say for other fields, such as humanities, on what i think of the necessities of masters/phd programs...i'd imagine it's the same though, you'd probably need to pursue a lot of higher education to be qualified to teach or publish etc. in premed, you've got options of going to nursing school, PA school, med school, so i guess there are ways to pivot that don't involve masters programs if you still wanted to be a healthcare provider

i did watch an interesting video recently about the whole trap of the phd/masters pipeline, where students get a degree and think they'll be able to land a decent job post grad from wishful thinking, spend lots of time unsuccessful in the job market, then scramble to apply to grad school, and then even if they feel as though the phd program they're in isn't really giving them what they want from it, they don't want to quit because at that point it'll feel like sunken cost, and it damages their mental health and motivation and is basically this recurring loop where the system forces students to continuously stay in school and do excessive amount of research/work for criminally low compensation, just to become overqualified candidates for barely minimally paying jobs. ofc all in the name to benefit the insanely rich and wealthy. honestly most grad students i meet are stressed and so incredibly jaded, i can't imagine that it's easy on them at all. a lot of universities hardly pay them any sort of livable wage for the work that they do

as for academia in general, i think it's worth it to become educated, as it can open doors. obviously there are different paths for all people, some people choose not to go to school, some people go to trade school, others go to school much later in life. i remember i worked w this one doctor who was a mechanic for thirty years and he went back to school to get his undergrad degree and then went to med school, all while he was in his 50s, and now he's a practicing physician! i thought that was really incredible and inspiring. school is something that's there for you whenever you want it, need it, or feel ready for it. i think it's worthy to invest in your education, but you have to go into it knowing that you're going to make the most of it. in that, pursue higher education if you have a plan of why you're there and what you're going to do when you're there, and not just for the sake of earning a degree or putting off working because you'd rather just stay a student. the reason why someone from harvard might work at the same job as someone who went to community college is ultimately because the person who went to CC might've made more of their experience n harnessed connections/skills n probably had a much more clear idea of what they wanted to do with the education they were earning compared to someone who might've been coasting through a reputable school because once they got in, that was all they cared about (lol i sound bitter saying this, no hate to big name schools, but it's such a common misconception that just because you get a degree from like an ivy league, you'll be set for life. and same applies vice versa. some of the smartest ppl i know are people who did CC for two years and then transferred to a four year university. they saved hella money and got the same degree in the end, with the same exact if not better job opportunities. similarly, i've worked at clinics/hospitals where some of the doctors went to UCLA and others went to caribbean med school, but they all ended up at the same place in the end)

GOD THIS BECAME SO LONG i swear whenever i answer asks on my computer it becomes an essay loool but yea these are just my general opinions about college, higher education, and academia in general? i hope this answers and that i didn't misinterpret the question hahah but thank u for the ask bb!!

[saucerfulofsins]

phd student here (just advanced to candidacy): i honestly feel like academia is meant to break us. my first advisor bullied me into almost committing suicide, and it's been ROUGH... but that said? i think you finishing your degree in spite of everything matters so fucking much. both on a grand scale (academia needs more people from "untraditional" educational and life experiences) and a minor scale (proving something to yourself and to the people around you who've played a part in breaking you). i believe in you because i believe in me. fighting is hard, but sometimes things turn a corner when you least expect it—networking at a conference i didn't even want to go to accidentally solved a big gap in my advising situation.

sending all the best vibes in your direction. you are smart, capable, and will end up in the right place eventually. academia destroys souls, and you're not alone. ❤️

Hey ❤️❤️

I like seeing it from that side. Maybe not doing it AS well as I could have if I'd have the circumstances other ppl write theirs in (I started mine first with a rejection of my initial topic,then switching to a topic I had taken NO courses or associated courses on, and all of this while I had the very real concerns I might have cervical cancer as a trans man... the day I found out I didn't was the day I found out my supervisor would be leaving, leaving me with about 10 weeks to write a MA thesis which obvs didn't happen and then shit REALLY hit the fan). I wouldn't consider anyone else's grade under my circumstances a true reflection of what they're worth, either. I should add that my MA program is a research master, preparing you for academia and after which you'd move on to a 3-4 yr PhD program in my country. If your grades and project are good enough, of course. Mine? Aren't.

I applied to some PhD programs last yr but only major/big name unis and I think that might have been a mistake too. I had an interview and everyone there sounded so smart, had so much background, and I'm from the countryside with parents that barely finished their high schools (with levels that wouldn't get anyone into uni).

But yeah. You're right. In the end this is one grade, and it's a passing grade, and I... I mean I won't get into a big name uni with this rn and I don't think I wanna pursue a PhD rn anyway just because of all the pain but also the backlog I have compared to everyone else there. I just really wanna figure out a way to stay involved in academia without ending up in this locked down situation where, as you say, there's an attempt to break down everyone that doesn't fit the way the established order thinks we should.

It's just super difficult to keep believing in yourself when you're turned down and turned away at every junction in your life. After so many years (I'm 31 now) it's just. There's a point where it feels too much. At the same time I took an entrance exam to uni at 21 which I failed, and which I took to be a sign I shouldn't pursue uni at all. Clearly I was wrong there. I just.

I just wish there were more ways of learning than just the one specific kind universities (and high schools for that matter) dictate rn.

I also wish you the best of luck in your own degree, now and in the future! I know a PhD is another step up from a MA and I cannot imagine how rough it must've been for you especially with your first advisor. You don't deserve that (and lbr no one does). If you ever want a listening ear abt what you're working on, even if it's something I know nothing about, feel free to contact me!

[ashton-ryder]

The anxieties slipped out in minute ways; in the way his fingers tap his arm, the way he rocked back and forth on his heels as he went into deep thought. "Yeah, that'll be a good idea, but we also have to account for the possibility of them getting smarter. A stunt like that will draw a lot of attention, if they're smarter than we think, they might learn and avoid it the next time," perhaps it's a sliver of humanity that Ashton want to believe there is, "we can work in that action plan and save it for a worth while opportunity." Ashton never expected to fall back in the line of action after being out of it for 4 years, like the gears are warming up to go back into full speed, but here we are. It was nostalgic, it was comforting, and it was unnerving.

Ashton flashed a grim half smile at Nat's question, "you'll be surprised what you can find at embassies." Those buildings honestly feel like a double edged sword, in some cases it's meant to be a safe haven for their citizens in another country, in other cases... they're the last line of defense for their citizens in war. A few more tests, experiments, and it felt at least that they now know more than they did when they left the apartment building, it'll make the quarantine day worth it at least with some newfound information on the zombies. They spent a few more moments without any action, Ashton writing down the entire report while Nat munched on a sandwich. "Huh, softball sounds like fun," doing college while in service was a completely different experience and he often wondered what it'd be like, going to campus, taking up a sport.

"Ha, where did you hear that from?" Ashton dryly joked, slinging the rifle back over his shoulder. Before the outbreak he rarely told anyone about his time with the marines. Just a PhD student, that's all they needed to know. But it's not like he can hide the obvious anymore unless he wanted to be completely useless and feign ignorance. And none of that sat well with Ashton. "I used to be a marksman during college too, I guess," he shrugged, playing off her answer, which was while, half true, perhaps half disturbing if one didn't have deduction skills. He peeked over the edge and watched the horde movements, its been quiet for awhile now and he kept his book, getting ready to move on. "Think we can give the CVS a quick raid before the Embassy?" Since they were standing a top a treasure trove of pharma gold, might as well see what they can get now that the zombies were probably out and gone due to the sound.

“We could make a trap with a stereo and gasoline if we’re trying to cull numbers,” she offered. It sounded fucked up, strategizing about how to best kill hordes of what had once been and could possibly turn back into people. Would it haunt her? What was the cost, morally? These wretched creatures didn’t have the level of brain functioning to wonder the same. No, Val was right when she told not to hesitate. These zombies would tear her apart piece by piece if they could.

She hadn’t considered the issue of a bullet potentially acting as a lure. Maybe a crossbow, which she’d learned to shoot badly during a winter term for the poor fucks who were stuck through the holidays at college. “A flash grenade?” Nat asked. “Where would we get one of those?” Maybe at a military base or warehouse, though most of those guys had evacuated. That being said, helicopters couldn’t carry that much, so there were probably useful things left behind. Her mind fell into a different mode as the two continued their tests for a couple of hours, and she nibbled delicately on a sandwich as they waited for the horde to forget the sound and shamble on. “I used to play softball in college,” she finally replied, then flexed her arm. “From what I’ve heard, you’re a pretty good shot. Might come in handy if we run into any trouble at the Embassy.”

[annadeedee]

Hi!! I'm a first year college student who's going to be majoring in math. As someone who's doing their PhD in math (o mighty one) how would you suggest I get to a point where I can read a paragraph/proof in a math textbook and not go "what the FUCK". It takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to even comprehend what each theorem says and yeah that makes the study process very long and arduous. Also for reference I like reading classic math texts for the ☆aesthetic☆ (and also cuz ig they're classics for a reason?)

Hi! Thank you for your question! I have several thoughts, in no particular order:

It is absolutely normal for proofs to take significantly longer to read than "regular" texts. You are not just passively absorbing information, but actively re-creating the argument and building it for yourself.

honestly, if a proof isn't going to make you go "what the FUCK" initially, the writer may just omit it altogether and say it's trivial. Sometimes they do it even when it is not. Not every math book is equally well-written.

that being said, most modern math textbooks phrase their claims in a fairly standardized language, stating the necessary elements and leaving out the unnecessary ones. You will get used to it and be able to parse it properly with practice.

practice doesn't just mean reading, it involves writing down your own proofs and running them through other people. math is not a solitary endeavor, it is a collective activity. Through building your own proofs (and doing it wrong many times), you'll understand how and why other mathematicians wrote what they did in that particular way (and the bits they skipped, and how you can fill in the gaps)

if that is too vague for you, my practical beginner's advice when you're trying to parse a statement is to clearly write down the assumptions (mark them in colors if that helps you), separate them well from the (desired) conclusions they imply, and make sure you understand the underlying logic structure of the statement and the things that need to be shown.

on that note, get very comfortable with propositional logic, lest you try to prove "A -> B" by showing "¬A -> ¬B". You'd think that's a silly mistake, but you'd be surprised. And not all arguments are structured as simply as that.

yes, I know you asked about making the process faster and I told you to slow it down even more BUT you will become significantly faster and all of this will become second-nature. You WILL get better at this and it will get less frustrating (though the math will get harder... so maybe the frustration just gets shuffled around to more fun aspects of the math process)

TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE. If you think you've understood something, try to explain it to someone else. If there's a problem with your reasoning, their questions will help. If you don't understand how the proof jumped from one claim to the next, the other person might have an insight. Even just imagining how you would explain it to someone is going to help. Be honest, and recognize when you're hiding things or hand-waving them away.

Draw lots of pictures. Try to find examples. Try to find counterexamples.

I'm very curious, which classic math texts are you reading? As a fellow fan of old math writing, my big warning is that 19th and early 20th century math is significantly harder to read than modern proofs, and that's not a reflection on your abilities. If you don't know what poincaré is rambling about, don't worry, neither do most people. there's historical context missing, assumptions about your math background, very woolly formulations... I once read a German paper from the 1920s where the writer refused to write "Hausdorff-Raum" and instead used "Raum im Sinne von Herrn Haussdorf". Every. Time. Modern writers (mid-20th century onwards, I'd say?) write much more clearly and concisely.

Best of luck with your studies! Math is great, I hope you have as much fun with it as I did :)

[margridarnauds]

i think you seem very intelligent and i enjoy reading your posts about celtic studies. that field strikes me as uniquely thankless (which i hope doesn't sound like a huge drag, it just seems both overwhelming and underappreciated) so your commitment to it is to be admired!

I got this about a month ago and I kept putting off responding to it because I honestly spent a good few minutes flailing when I got it. Thank you, Anon, and I hope that you're able to see I got it even after a month.

When I first got it, I wanted to say something about how we tend to focus on the negatives, how my second year of my PhD is much better than the first, that things have improved so much and that, really, it isn't that bad....then things tanked pretty much overnight and I'm at a level of disillusionment that I don't think I've ever been in. I'm not sure if I have a place in the field and, to be frank, I'm not sure if I want one even if there is. I'm tired of the backstabbing, I'm tired of the passive aggression, I'm tired of knowing so much dirt on so many people in the field and not being able to say anything, I'm tired of seeing burnout and being overworked treated as the norm because, after all, they're just preparing us for the world of academia. We don't get weekends. Our third years in particular are ridiculously overworked (next year for me: yay.) My work doesn't get respect in my own department, I don't get respect in my own department, I'm mainly convenient as a pet or a mascot more than a colleague and the second I try to act like a colleague, I'm smacked down. I feel more at ease in conferences that take place thousands of miles away than in my own home department, how is that right? I've had senior scholars who are known to be cantankerous and abrasive be kinder to me and my work than people who only entered the program a couple of years before me. Why? Now, I don't have any family who entered academia, unlike a number of academics, but my impression was that the ones who should have a student's back the most are their own department. Why have I had to rely on my friends in other departments to be my emotional support instead of the people who know, better than anyone, what it's like to be in this program? And even abroad, I see senior scholars kicking down grad students on Twitter, I see entire schools of thought in the field being used as cheap punching bags, I see so much casual homophobia, transphobia, and sexism that's politely disguised (because the problem's always been in being openly bigoted, so you make your bigotry polite and scholarly and you're grand), I see some departments waging harassment campaigns against other departments for...what? Why? What did they do? And I wonder "how did we get to this point?" Were we so focused on creating great scholars that we forgot to create great colleagues? Or even just good people?" Yeah, they learn multiple languages, both medieval and modern, but can they talk to the people around them without tearing them down? Does something just die when you stay in the field long enough? I'm not sure that it's possible to stay and be a good person -- I think a lot of people either become numb and decide that it's normal or stay with the idea that they can change it, but can we really change it? At the moment, I'm just a ball of quiet, impotent rage; I refuse to do to a grad student what was done to me -- I refuse. And I don't know whether just being nice is enough when so many of these problems are part of the wider structural problems with academia -- by staying on, even if you just want to support the grad students and the undergrads, are you just playing into the system more?

And I'm just. Supposed to smile and accept it. Support my department in public for the sake of PR, even though we all know it's a joke.

And the sad thing is I know it can be better. I had that. I'm not saying it was always perfect or there were never times where I was depressed or sad -- it was tough to be an international student for the first time, especially during the early stages of the pandemic -- but I'm saying that I know what it was like to have a genuinely supportive atmosphere, enough so that I mistakenly thought it was the norm. I don't know what happened here, but there is some deep rot in this department that got there before I did, and it's a microcosm of the rot that exists in the field. And there are good people here, there are people who want to make the department a better place, but that's useless when that rot is so accepted and so normalized. It's more a case of trauma bonding than anything at this point. And I'm trying, as best as I can, to protect the ones who are coming after me even though I know that the cycle never really ends. I know of so many young Celtic Studies grad students who have actively told me that they're not looking to stay around -- grab the PhD and run. At first, I thought that they weren't prioritizing their careers properly, that relationships and love fade away but a career, tenure will be there for you, the work we do is important and will last for decades after we're gone if we do it right -- I was going to be the exception, I was going to be the ambitious one, I was going to be the Girlboss Academic who was going to kick ass and take names because I was just that smart and that badass...now I realize, at 25, what I didn't realize what I was 20, and that's that it's all castles in the air. If you have the chance for love, the chance for family, and you're forced to choose between this and that...why wouldn't you choose them?

And now I'm just here wondering whether I ever really want to so much as write another word in a Celtic Studies article again, or whether I want to go back on campus. I was actually grateful on Friday that I had Latin class because that was on a different place on campus -- I didn't have to go back to our headquarters or interact with anyone. I don't want them to have my work, I don't want them to see it, I don't want my name to be associated with my department's if and when I publish it because it isn't theirs and, when it gets done, it's going to be done without them. I will actively look out for conferences where people in my department are least likely to submit to (because I want to believe that there'll come a time when I want to write papers again), just so they don't get to see my work because, as far as I'm concerned, they've lost the right to it. For years, the one thing that kept me on, more than anything else, was my unending love of my material and my love of the field. They managed to numb me to that. Like, when I think of my favorite texts at the moment, there's just this...numbness. With a twinge of just...despair. But not that....happiness that there should be. I'm working on Middle Welsh translation work so I don't look at Old Irish -- it's still more Celtic than I'd like, but I can't risk nuking my entire week just because I'm pissed and hurt. (A part of me's still tempted to come down with a cold on Monday -- I've never skipped a day in my entire college career, but desperate times, desperate measures.)

And, frankly, I know there's a medium possibility that at least some of them will see this, because I'm not allowed the luxury of anonymity, and I don't particularly care because, frankly, what are they going to do? Chew me out in front of the whole department? Say I'm not being scholarly or collegial? Oh, wait, that's already happened. (Maybe if they do see this, they'll go through my source list for the Mythological Cycle and realize I do, every once in a while, know what I'm talking about with regards to my own specialty, shockingly enough.) Kick me out, thus threatening me with a good time? All that happens is I go from one lifelong abusive situation to another one, albeit without getting paid to endure it, but at least I get my dogs. And they need me, still. They need the cheap teaching fodder in a couple years' time, just like they need someone to run conferences for them. So, they might not want me there and I might not want me there, but if I have to deal with them, they have to deal with me as well.

All I can say is that if I was really as weak as they think I was (or if I'd just had the money to say 'no'), I'd have left within my first month here and I wouldn't have been wrong to do so. That and that I'm always very grateful for the support I see online, especially from people who also get...this....everything. It makes me feel marginally less alone about the whole thing. Just hearing that I'm competent makes all the difference in the world -- This message meant more than you realized.

[sing-you-fools]

it's funny. sometimes i feel like this about my own writing. "these characters are adults why are you writing them like this" and then i have to be like bitch YOU are an adult YOU are approaching 40 your HUSBAND is 40 writing your middle aged characters with some traits you and your friends have is NORMAL ACTUALLY

and the fact is, those traits haven't really changed much over time in my friends. i mean, people work on their personal issues and grow. sure (though since op's about Bruno yeah he didn't have much opportunity for that) but the personality doesn't change. a lot of the quirks may come and go, but there will always be quirks. personality traits are just personality traits. a lot of "personality" stuff that differs is really just life stage.

a twenty year old new mom and a forty-five year old new mom are going to have a lot more in common than a thirty year old suburban white picket fence stay at home mom with four kids and a thirty year old single PhD student living in a cramped city apartment. so you've got to account for how their life stage affects them, sure! but that's not their age. and the core personality is still there. a huge nerd will always be a huge nerd. the athletes in my family have always been athletes. the goofballs have always been goofballs. you know?

honestly, your older characters should, when they have the opportunity, be even more intense and weird. because we absolutely can be! a lot of us just stop caring what anyone else thinks.

one of my favorite quotes:

I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.

-@neil-gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

and as for Bruno, i can personally assure you that i have only gotten more autistic as i age, so you're probably good 🤷🏻 (and seriously, a single and childless 50 year old man living in his mom's house in a tiny village simply isn't going to be all that different at 50 than at 25, and that's before all the trauma, so as long as you're accounting for that [i know some people don't seem to bother and that's a whole different rant that i won't inflict on the people who ended up here from writeblr but i know op does], once again, you're probably good.)

man I remember at one point I was like "am I babying Bruno too much" and was just giving him like...regular traits;

[capybaraonabicycle]

Yes, please!! I need a(nother) scientist companion so badly. Especially an alien scientist would be so good. Please let Ruby be an alien scientist wearing a shimmer?

I mean, the Doctor has been travelling with scientists already. Osgood is one of them (and their dynamic is amazing) and Bill and Martha to some extent, also River a little. And then we had Erica and Nasreen and the Vinvocci, too. And I think scientists were more common in classic who? There is Liz at least, and Mel? Also the Brig? And I mean, Romana's a timelord, so she probably knows a lot about higher science, too? Maybe I just really need to start watching classic who finally; I'll probably get all my lovely scientist scenes I crave, then.

But having the companion be a scientist would be amazing for their relationship with the TARDIS (although they honestly already slept on Ryan there), they'd be so curious about her, performing all sorts of experiements and the TARDIS would equally love to mess with them and show them cool stuff.

"Hey, Doctor, foamglass burns in the non-visible spectrum in the wardrobe!" "What? No, it doesn't? Sorry, I think she put up a perception filter in that corner. Might have pushed a wrong button - or maybe she's mad I spilled some apple juice earlier. Or she's just having a mood."

Also yes, MAD experiements together with the Doctor - they regularly get banned from deck 14, sometimes from all of the rooms outside the console room when they've been particularly bad.

And then the Doctor loves to technobabble, right? So, here's what's happening

They have an avid listener. Forget movie nights, the Doctor is getting out a chalkboard and a pointy stick to explain whatever it is that's coming to mind - monologues for literal hours. And then the companion interrupts at some point and they break out into passionate debates over things normal people do not really have an opinion on? Like which one's the best of Bernoulli's theorems or which element of the periodic table is the coolest.

They have a companion who doesn't need the explanation half the time. "Oh, it's a particle accellerator! The electromagnetic - " "- field propels the charged particles around that curve there, got it. Let's go!" pulling a sulking Doctor with them who didn't get to go off on tangents. (I am pretty sure this one has happened in canon and I just can't name an example right now)

They get into an explanation battle, throwing theories back and forth and everybody else gets highly annoyed. Like, gleefully theorising during the apocalypse and everybody else is like "it's nice that you're having so much fun with the radiation beam turning us all into dust but maybe get us out of here before that happens?!" (also definitely has happened in canon)

The Doctor explains higher Gallifreyan engineering to them and like, maybe they want to know more, so the Doctor tosses them some old books from the acedemy or their notes or something (because the Doctor is a hoarder, so they're probably somewhere on board the TARDIS). And we all know the Doctor is a genius but also pretending to be a lot smarter/more knowledgable than they actually are, sometimes. And they probably were a terrible student. So the companion starts reading and notices all the mistakes in the notes and missing pieces in the explanation. "Hey, Doctor, you said the plasma waves just bended whatever way randomly." "Yeah, they do, total coincidence, no one understands how." "But it says here, there's actually a way to calculate it, using a - terrassian matrix?" "Te-terrassian matrix? Pff that was disproven ages ago!" "Really? There's no account of that in any of the books you gave me and it seems like the calculations work out. Are you sure you haven't just forgotten-?" "No. Yes. - Yes, I'm sure, no you can't understand it, it's ✨magic✨. Alright?!" "...whatever you say, Doc."

Also repeatedly demanding to get to read the Doctor's PhD thesis (or rather one of them) and being put off until later yet another time.

And they are getting their own sonic or at least something similar because as soon as the Doctor takes it out they are up there in their space, peering over the Doctor's shoulder, trying to get a glance at the reading. Also casual, wordless handing the sonic over as soon as one of them has scanned something for the other to see until neither knows in whose possession the sonic is at a given time. "We should probably sonic that" - mutual frantic tapping of pockets ensues, at some point probably starting to tap the other's clothing as well.

Okay, I made my scientist know a mix of a bunch of natural sciences now. They would probably only be an expert in ONE field. Or two or something. What I am just trying to say is: I'll take them all, I'd have so much fun no matter their field of expertise.

Also.

A one-sheeted hyperboloid would be a great column for the console! And then on the top it could smoothly turn into a dome bending back down! It would look so cool!

And, yes, Foucault's pendulum proves the Earth turns. They had one at one of my universities, actually, I loved standing there and staring at it for minutes until it finally kicked over one of the little figurines. So satisfying.

I will do some work now, because I should have been doing that instead of coming up with scenes for the last hour :) But maybe later I can write a little more on cones and conics, if you want? Hopefully?

I've tried two times already and each time tumblr has crashed. So maybe I shouldn't tell you. But maybe third time's the charm. (if this doesn't work I'll give up)

ANYWAY. I am in love with your new description!! It is absolutely perfect!! Conic sections my beloved <3

And then adding the imaginary unit i (making quadric in general and conics in particular easier to work with) and getting to iconic! It makes so much sense mathematically and is so fun.

Plus you're a cone, so related to conics (see above).

Just, like, 10/10, never change it. (or do change it because your descriptions are generally fun and I don't get to tell you what to do <3 but yeah this one's my favourite so far!)

Oh my god this is so cool!!! Like what? I'm so glad it ended up making sense in math (i didn't intend it obviously), it's just as cool as when someone finds accidental symbolism in my writing, but better bc i wouldn't be able to see it myself.

I did not know there was a difference between parabola and hyperbola (actually, i wasn't aware that hyperbola existed lol). I tried looking up how they are different, and google told me that hyperbola has greater eccentricity, which... i have no idea what that means, but i think mathematicians are the best at naming their stuff. Like - eccentricity! It's so charming. Hyperbola is also a great name, bc it shares it's name with a literary device, and as we know physics (and math) and poetry (and puns, apparently!) are the same thing bc everything rhymes