• 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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    • My First Unicorn

    Thursday, November 20th, 2008

    Original 1984 My Little Pony Collection – now available at Hasbro!! The little girl inside my heart is squealing with delight at recognition of her beloved first pony ever, Windy! She’s the one in the middle. The unicorn! *gush!*

    Farewell, Phoenix

    Monday, November 10th, 2008

    Phoenix Mars Lander sent its farewell transmission from Mars today: 01010100 01110010 01101001 01110101 01101101 01110000 01101000 <3 (Translation: Triumph and Love.) After that, the only messages in the tweetstream were ones labelled as coming from Phoenix mission ops, explaining that “Phoenix is no longer communicating with Earth.” Poor little droid! R.I.P. I’m actually teary-eyed now… although I guess I knew [...]

    My First Computer

    Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

    My first computer was a Radio Shack MC-10. With it, I learned elementary BASIC programming, and I’ve been a geek ever since. According to my research just now, the MC-10 was released in 1983 but discontinued in 1984, which means I was about five or six years old when I started programming. I can’t remember [...]