• Who am I?

    I am Qrystal; or at least, that's my dot-name! Har har. (My name is really Crystal, but that's not as internet-searchable; hence, switching the C for the little-used letter Q.)

    I am here because I enjoy writing. I do this mostly for myself, but I also have a passion for helping others learn things from the things I write. Now that I am done my Ph.D. in Physics, I am stepping away from academic research so that I can indulge in some creative ways to share my knowledge and inspire the appreciation of scientific thinking in others. I am also working as a tutor, which is one of the jobs I've most enjoyed doing in my life so far.


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  • Twitter’s New Retweets: a proposal for change

    Posted by Qrystal on November 19, 2009 at 21:36.
    Category: Miscellany. Tags: .

    Here is the feedback I just sent to twitter about their new retweet feature:
    The new retweet feature has a lot of potential, but it’s being overshadowed by the fact that it isn’t the same as the organic retweeting that emerged from how we use twitter.  It seems the main [...] Continue Reading…

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    Dreaming of a Droid

    Posted by Qrystal on November 14, 2009 at 14:58.
    Category: Life. Tags: .

    Oh xkcd, you make me laugh so often, but it’s especially potent when the content is so timely.  Boo iphone, yay androids!

    Currently trying to resist, with all my might, going out and getting myself an htc hero. However, I can’t quite pin down why I’m resisting so much.  Am I afraid [...] Continue Reading…

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    For the Love of Writing

    Posted by Qrystal on November 12, 2009 at 11:15.
    Category: Life. Tags: nanowrimo, thesis, writing.

    It may not be obvious from this blog yet, because I don’t post nearly as often as I would like, but I really truly love writing.  I just keep trying to restrain myself from doing it, especially recreationally, because I know I should be writing my thesis instead.  Somehow, [...] Continue Reading…

    2 Comments »

    Mental Battlefield

    Posted by Qrystal on September 24, 2009 at 13:51.
    Category: Life. Tags: .

    So. It is down to me, and it is down to me*. Me versus me, as it seems: my tendency to avoid That Which Must Be Done**, versus the desire to get finished That Which Must Be Done.

    For the longest time, I was not alone on this battlefield. Two [...] Continue Reading…

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    A Limerick Haiku

    Posted by Qrystal on September 11, 2009 at 17:42.
    Category: Poetry. Tags: humour, limerick.

    Oh wow, a limerick haiku!
    I thought ‘twas too tricky to do!
    But then I found this,
    and I’d be remiss,
    if I didn’t share it with you!

    –a limerick by Qrystal, to introduce the following clever way of meshing limerick and haiku styles:


    There was an old man
    From Peru, whose lim’ricks all
    Look’d like haiku. [...] Continue Reading…

    1 Comment »

    Date and Time Notation

    Posted by Qrystal on July 8, 2009 at 19:10.
    Category: Concepts. Tags: date, geek, notation, time.

    Please consider the 12h time to be a relic from the dark ages when Roman numerals were used, the number zero had not yet been invented and analog clocks were the only known form of displaying a time. Please avoid using it today, especially in technical applications!
    I took a [...] Continue Reading…

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    Logical Quotation Style

    Posted by Qrystal on June 24, 2009 at 17:44.
    Category: Concepts. Tags: .

    It is counter-intuitive … to mutilate literal strings with characters that don’t belong in them.
    — Some #funwithgrammar from a guide to hackers’ writing style, which describes how some quirks are for the sake of humour but others are for the sake of clarity.

    Here, we are exploring an aspect of [...] Continue Reading…

    1 Comment »

    Fears in Peripheral Vision

    Posted by Qrystal on June 24, 2009 at 1:11.
    Category: Life. Tags: thesis.

    When something is faced head-on, you can often find that it’s nowhere near as big as you thought it was when it was only in your peripheral vision.
    — A quote from Catherine Cantieri’s ebook entitled, “How to Harness a Hobgoblin: The #1 Strategy to Unleash Your Creative Productivity” available [...] Continue Reading…

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    Giggling away crankiness

    Posted by Qrystal on June 19, 2009 at 12:57.
    Category: Life. Tags: .

    At risk of giving TMI (ah, but who cares, really?) this xkcd comic was particularly appropriate for me this week (yeah, yeah, I know, the comic is almost two weeks old… I’m behind in reading my feeds, but I’m okay with that!). Thankfully, I read it when I [...] Continue Reading…

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    Beer cozies

    Posted by Qrystal on June 4, 2009 at 1:43.
    Category: Advice. Tags: beer, camping, fun.

    In doing some research for my Northern Ontario trip, I came across the following awesomeness:

    Beer can cozies, put to the test! The main takeaway:

    “Depending on their material, beer can cozies can be effective in keeping beer cool even in extremely hot weather. The two cozies that performed the best [...] Continue Reading…

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