This September has felt like the busiest month of the year so far. While the beginning of the September marks a return-to-school time for most, for people working at HPE, it marks a start of an abstract writing sprint for HPE’s annual innovation conference: the Tech Con.
Few weeks ago, I have placed a new little widget on my iOS screen called Pretty Progress, tracking the percentage of time passing through the year. As of writing this paragraph, we are currently at 63% into 2024. Time really flies, and this little widget is a small, at-a-glance reminder of that. It’s also almost four months since the last post here. Let’s get that fixed.
As April is reaching its ending, the weather in Brussels is finally turning more and more enjoyable. The unpredicatble madness of April weather conditions (we refer to it as the month of “April fool’s weather” in Czech) is drawing to its end. The alleyways all across the city are colouring themselves in lush hues of green (and pink, in case of the cherry trees).
📅 Previous write-ups: 2022
📍 like in previous year, I am writing this in my family’s cozy living room in Starý Plzenec, Czech Republic
Prior to starting my PhD back in the early months of 2019, I remember spending long evenings on Google, Quora and Reddit, looking for people who shared their opinions and perspectives on the big life decision I was facing in the time: “Should I go to grad school and start a PhD programme?”. At that time, I was just about to finish my Masters degree in Nanotechnology back in Czechia, and have also just returned from nearly a year-long stint at ICFO (Institut de Ciències Fotòniques) in Catalunya, Spain, where I did my Masters project and wrote my MSc. thesis.
Scientific writings and manuscripts are usually rather dry, technical and difficult to comprehend. However, not EVERY paper out there is taking itself as seriously as is the usual norm in academia.
Below, I have collected a list of papers that either focus on research of less serious, funny topics, investigate a fun phenomena, and papers with playful article names and puns. The inspiration for this list came from my student society, where we hosted informal journal clubs to practice presenting. Typically, the more silly the paper presented was, the more people have shown up. :)
📍 writing in the living room of my family’s house in Starý Plzenec, Czech Republic
I have a little confession to make: I have always wanted to write an article like this. To have a look back over the last twelve months of one’s life, reminiscing, pondering, looking forward to (hopefully better) tomorrows, and then share it in public. I did compile such reflective write-ups into my own private diary in the past - but I believe writing and sharing this publicly brings some advantages: