Those aren't vaguely-related, though. Basel III outlines best practices for banks, how low/high-risk operations should be distributed and a whole bunch of similar topics. CRD IV is, broadly speaking, the EU-compliant implementation of those. It's just that I was expecting more, high-level maths for this kind of position. Something closer to "global and local gauge invariance in open systems" not "sophomore data analysis". I mean, they were explicitly looking for maths/physics post-grads, so it's not like it wasn't at least somewhat justified.

I never really learned how to even identify stress. It goes unnoticed (by me, friends usually see it first) until physiological problems (lack of appetite, nausea, loss of weight etc.) start messing me up. That's why I'm not sure if it's really that I'm stressed, but I'll heed your words regardless. If you have other tips or insights I'm all ears.

Actually, I didn't receive any emails (responses, shout-outs, badges) from Hubski since 4th of June. Didn't change settings (send everything), email address (gmail btw) or anything else.

And I mean didn't receive anything. It's not even in the spam folder.

If you need any data I can post them here or send them via mail.

I had an interview with a bank for a statistical model validation/analyst position. It was strange, to say the least. Out of at least forty questions they asked me, maybe five were about anything math-related (and kinda basic), everything else was Basel III or CRD IV or differences between them. Feels like that ratio should be reversed, but whatever. Anyway, I only skimmed those, and it was clear I'm muddling through something half-remembered, so it's unlikely I'll ever hear from them again. At least the coffee was good.

My flatmate threw a nice bit of contract work in my direction over the weekend, which was actually a fun little project. I'm looking into getting more of those throughout the summer, seems like a better option than alternatives.

Other than that, I'm taking some time off to do reviews before entrance exams. Don't think that I need to do more of those, but it's a good excuse to avoid seeing other people. I've been a lot more anxious lately, but I can't put my finger on any 'why' other than doing well on admissions. Maybe I'm a lot less stress-resistant than I thought, dunno.

You can develop an intuition for anything when you spend 2+ years looking at only that thing.

You're probably right, but some things come easier than others. I'm less confident in my knowledge about the basics of mechanics of continuous media than general relativity, and the former is actually somewhat related to my specialization.

I think doing research in grad school is one of the most stable jobs out there.

It remains to be seen. I'd like it to be true, but different countries, education systems etc. For sure, I'll write some "this is how PhD in Poland looks like" post in the future, but right now I only know things second-hand.

Regarding that article:

I can usually at least appreciate most of Hossenfelder's complaints (mathematical beauty != promising physics), but this particular piece is truly terrible. "Two women working in tandem won't give birth to a child in four months" is an almost too perfect rebuttal to those time calculations she brought up.

As far as 'mathematically well-defined problems' go, all I can do is to kinda smirk at that idea and ask how she defines well-defined problems. Seriously, where's the cutoff? What's the verdict on Navier-Stokes? Are ill-posed problems OK? What about ill-posed problems where unique solutions are only ensured by the arbitrary choice of norm? 'No' to any one of those means that fluid dynamics and phase transitions aren't physics. 'Yes' to either one of those opens the gates to all kinds of ST.

I could go on.

/rant, agreement otherwise.

I'm reading the translated abridged version at the moment, but so far managed to locate the first nine volumes at various libraries located all over Warsaw. Dead tree format, some only accessible on site.

Out of curiosity, which volumes are you looking for? I could look/ask around local antique shops over the next few weeks. Chances are slim, but it can't hurt.

Are you still doing homotopy type theory (or was that your side-interest? it's been a while)? Tell more about your research, if only to remind me of some of the details, please.

By the way, by the looks, you remind me of my geography teacher. It's definitely a compliment, I had a major crush on her in high school. :)

Come on, man. What is this, some weird spin on impostor syndrome or something? There are better ways to start a day.

I can tell you this: after diving into plasma physics deep enough to get some sense of it, I am more than confident that I wouldn't be able to do your research. Not because I'm lousy with experiments, which I am, but because I couldn't even begin to develop this kind of intuition.

That said, I'd like to read your dissertation someday. If I'm half as smart as you claim, I might have something cogent to say about it after, like, a year.

As of about an hour ago, I'm no longer a student. BSc² -> MSc², yo.

PhD application process in progress.

A Study of History by A.J. Toynbee. Picked it up last week, so far I'm liking it slightly better than Durant's approach. That said, it could be because Toynbee was translated to Polish and footnoted to hell and back, so I don't break the flow with near-constant dictionary look-ups. The English versions, both abridged (unrestricted access) and full (waitlisted), are on the archive.org.

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by S. Hawking. I actually got it around Christmas from my brother, but only recently risen to the top of the pile. It's probably the lightest book by Hawking, so take it however you like. IMO it's worth recommending for his brand of optimism alone.

That's the spirit! Keep throwing everyone who disagrees with you into the same bag, call them names based on affinity, and insinuate they're all the same: fundamentally wrong for not sharing your dogmatic view of the metaphysical. Doesn't make you sound like an unreasonable, bigoted fundie in the slightest.

That didn't feel nice, hasn't it?

I suppose you're going to tell me that you tried civility for years and it didn't work. That said, I still remember that your literal first words uttered to me on IRC, even before I made an account here, weren't "hi", "welcome" or "hello", but "do you believe in god?" followed by some very disgruntled/loaded lines to my deliberately ambiguous "mostly-secular humanist" response. It took you months to change my first impression, and I still recall that introductory bit at times like this. Figured it's worthwhile to share it with you.

Changing other people's mind is more complex and time-intensive than whatever you're doing, especially on concepts as personal and rooted in tradition as faith. It applies to all sides of the argument. As it stands now, you wouldn't be able to convince me, a doubting deist physicist, to the lack of the importance of god or religion. Please, consider at least adding some variety to your usual approach.

Games

My Warhammer campaign concluded last weekend, the first ever for all but one of my players. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the tensions were so high throughout the night that I got honest to god dissatisfied, impatient grumbling for taking an extra pee break. Got told to stop being silly when I asked if a player wants to retire her crippled character (squire who lost right arm while securing everyone else's retreat). Instead, she wants to make it work, debilitating game mechanics be damned. That's the spirit! I love it when people are that invested.

After polling rest of the group in secret, I got nothing but overwhelming support when I asked what do they think about her getting knighted so early in the story. For sure, the next arc will start on a high note.

I can't overstate how impressed I am with their attitudes and ability to play off each other so easily, doubly so for seeing these traits in relative newbies. Those games are only as good as people playing, and I clearly have some awesome souls around my table.

Uni and research

Defending next week, physics on Monday and maths on Thursday, but there's more! I was recommended by one of the TAs for a summer internship with an organic chem research group. And they're going to pay me for it too! Suckers, I'd do it for the opportunity and cafeteria vouchers alone.

Pi-hole is basically plug-and-play, users only need to change one or two router configs, but I suppose you're now going to complain about the cost and having to faff with another appliance hogging another one of those precious electrical sockets.

EDIT: Seriously, though, putting your bellyaching aside, you can simply paste a pre-made host file into C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Just make sure it comes from a trustworthy place and be aware that you need to update it manually every once in a while.